Most enemies in beneath take way too much health.

[Joseph Sneed]

The crab is practically a one hit KO and even most enemies take at least a 3rd of your health on each hit. Health upgrades help but honestly you need multiple to survive a single additional hit. It also does not help that shields are inconsistent about blocking beams from crabs/minions. It really feels like this mode needs armor that you can use at the cost of speed/stamina as nether of those upgrades seem worth it imho

[SupaPlayer]

Beneath is largely movement and upgrade focused. For crabs, you need to stay moving to throw off their aim. For minions, get to cover, strafe, or crouch right next to them to avoid the laser (and you can block the minion laser with your fists to entirely negate damage). I never use shields in Beneath because of inconsistent durability, obstruction of vision and the fact they don't block your whole body as you partly mentioned. I say to always stay moving, find cover, buy permanent health boosts for a run when needed in the shop

[Joseph Sneed]

Originally posted by Supa Player:

Beneath is largely movement and upgrade focused. For crabs, you need to stay moving to throw off their aim. For minions, get to cover, strafe, or crouch right next to them to avoid the laser (and you can block the minion laser with your fists to entirely negate damage). I never use shields in Beneath because of inconsistent durability, obstruction of vision and the fact they don't block your whole body as you partly mentioned. I say to always stay moving, find cover, buy permanent health boosts for a run when needed in the shop

The shield thing would be helped if there was a riot shield upgrade after the steel shields as when you can manage to get the shield off of the centurion its way more usable because you can see through it and get it lined up with what you are trying to block. Honestly the crab is 90% of this complaint as even the enemies in the ruins do not deal anywhere near as much damage. Kind of surprised the crawler is all the way down there as it does so little damage its more of an annoyance than threat. Honestly nothing down there feels like as much of a threat as the crab because once you unlock the black katana and enchant it it will kill anything basic in one hit and shard lords in a few as even the centurion only takes like 6 hits with it. Thing also basically does not break with the durability upgrades as I have always replaced it before it does often clearing at least 2 floors with it before doing so. It is honestly game breakingly good and should be way rarer as I often find at least 1 per level with some having like 3-4 when it should be more like maybe 2-3 per run.

EDIT: Also I just checked, the shield does not block the crabs beam. I have died to the crabs more than literally anything else in this game mode.

[Yextiny]

+1 crabs do too much damage. I think the prevalence of the black katana is a good thing for the pace of the game, as some enemies have way too much HP & nobody likes to spend all day kiting enemies and doing the DPS equivalent of flicking frozen peas at their head.

[Joseph Sneed]

Originally posted by Yextiny:

+1 crabs do too much damage. I think the prevalence of the black katana is a good thing for the pace of the game, as some enemies have way too much HP & nobody likes to spend all day kiting enemies and doing the DPS equivalent of flicking frozen peas at their head.

Its more that it makes like 75% of the other unlocks unnecessary. The only other weapon even worth unlocking is the shotgun.

[Yextiny]

Originally posted by Joseph Sneed:

Its more that it makes like 75% of the other unlocks unnecessary. The only other weapon even worth unlocking is the shotgun.

There are definitely some balance issues, but, broadly speaking, I think those are best addressed by making bad weapons better instead of making good weapons worse. Nobody likes a nerf, and everyone loves a buff.

[M.D Geist]

Originally posted by Joseph Sneed:

The crab is practically a one hit KO and even most enemies take at least a 3rd of your health on each hit. Health upgrades help but honestly you need multiple to survive a single additional hit. It also does not help that shields are inconsistent about blocking beams from crabs/minions. It really feels like this mode needs armor that you can use at the cost of speed/stamina as nether of those upgrades seem worth it imho

Sir you have a solution and you must take it. I can literally do an entire run using shotguns and maybe utilizing a green katana if I'm feeling saucy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl4UIBEPXXo

[M.D Geist]

Originally posted by Joseph Sneed:

Originally posted by Yextiny:

+1 crabs do too much damage. I think the prevalence of the black katana is a good thing for the pace of the game, as some enemies have way too much HP & nobody likes to spend all day kiting enemies and doing the DPS equivalent of flicking frozen peas at their head.

Its more that it makes like 75% of the other unlocks unnecessary. The only other weapon even worth unlocking is the shotgun.

If you unlocked a bunch of the weapons I have bad news for you.

Literally start a new profile, start a new run, and do not unlock ANY weapons except the katana, the pistol, the shotguns and whatever you do don't unlock the harpoon gun.

The less things you have unlocked the more likely you are to find guns, and katanas and those are the most useful things in the game.

When you do your first run or so, you will have to avoid the fire spewing dragons at first, and if you can make it through your first entire run, you will likely be able to get through the second one with ease.

[Joseph Sneed]

Originally posted by Yourebuying:

Originally posted by Joseph Sneed:

Its more that it makes like 75% of the other unlocks unnecessary. The only other weapon even worth unlocking is the shotgun.

If you unlocked a bunch of the weapons I have bad news for you.

Literally start a new profile, start a new run, and do not unlock ANY weapons except the katana, the pistol, the shotguns and whatever you do don't unlock the harpoon gun.

The less things you have unlocked the more likely you are to find guns, and katanas and those are the most useful things in the game.

When you do your first run or so, you will have to avoid the fire spewing dragons at first, and if you can make it through your first entire run, you will likely be able to get through the second one with ease.

It literally says on every single weapon unlock that unlocks do not affect the spawn rate of other unlocks.

[Yextiny]

Originally posted by Joseph Sneed:

Originally posted by Yourebuying:

If you unlocked a bunch of the weapons I have bad news for you.

Literally start a new profile, start a new run, and do not unlock ANY weapons except the katana, the pistol, the shotguns and whatever you do don't unlock the harpoon gun.

The less things you have unlocked the more likely you are to find guns, and katanas and those are the most useful things in the game.

It literally says on every single weapon unlock that unlocks do not affect the spawn rate of other unlocks.

Chiming in with a +1 to J Sneed here: I've unlocked most of the upgrades & have had no problem finding 1-4 laser katanas per level.

Also, getting back on topic: Having gotten as far as Islands 1, the crystal crabs are still an outsized threat vs even later-game enemies. A hydra might take a tiny bit of my health if I'm not careful, but a crab can just laser off 50-100% of my health bar from a distance.

[Joseph Sneed]

Originally posted by Yextiny:

Originally posted by Joseph Sneed:

It literally says on every single weapon unlock that unlocks do not affect the spawn rate of other unlocks.

Chiming in with a +1 to J Sneed here: I've unlocked most of the upgrades & have had no problem finding 1-4 laser katanas per level.

Also, getting back on topic: Having gotten as far as Islands 1, the crystal crabs are still an outsized threat vs even later-game enemies. A hydra might take a tiny bit of my health if I'm not careful, but a crab can just laser off 50-100% of my health bar from a distance.

I am about where you are as I just finished the second boss and am working on the trickster and I agree. There is no enemy that is as dangerous as the crabs even most of the shard lords are less dangerous once you get used to them. The 2 enemies most likely to prematurely end my runs are the crabs and teleporters. I am not even sure I have died to anything else that was not contributed to by one of those 2 enemies or a boss enemy of somekind. The others at least feel reasonable when it happens though.

[M.D Geist]

Originally posted by Joseph Sneed:

Originally posted by Yourebuying:

If you unlocked a bunch of the weapons I have bad news for you.

Literally start a new profile, start a new run, and do not unlock ANY weapons except the katana, the pistol, the shotguns and whatever you do don't unlock the harpoon gun.

The less things you have unlocked the more likely you are to find guns, and katanas and those are the most useful things in the game.

When you do your first run or so, you will have to avoid the fire spewing dragons at first, and if you can make it through your first entire run, you will likely be able to get through the second one with ease.

It literally says on every single weapon unlock that unlocks do not affect the spawn rate of other unlocks.

I have tried this with multiple profiles, and I do believe that if there is a minimal amount of unlocks certain unlocks repeat.

The profile I used where I unlocked everything, shotguns were far more sparse, and often times I had to make do with a harpoon gun instead.

Perhaps they've refined it, however the alternate profile I play every run is awash in shotguns and I cannot seem to run out of them. Whereas conversely with the other profile, I come across them far less.

Either way, take my advice or don't, but shotguns are the solution to most problems, that and a laser katana obv, the shotguns do however make things a lot easier. That and getting the ammo buff and time bomb basically make things way easier, especially the gorgon type things you find in the caves, for some reason, at least in my game, once I get the time bomb buff, they almost always seem to get the time bomb countdown.

[DeathSpectrum]

SWEEP THE LEGS BROTHER!!!! SWEEP THOSE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ LEGSSS!!!!

[M.D Geist]

Also if you have not unlocked shotguns yet, the worst part of your run is going to be the crystal caves, the crystal caves are ass without guns, you had better hope you got the time bomb power because otherwise you're going to be managing a bunch of gorgons because it will be unlikely that you will kill many or most of them with the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ bladed weapons you find laying around if they're not katanas.

Once you're out of the crystal caves, things actually get a bit easier without shotguns, you have to take your time and use the added space to your advantage whereas if you have guns you can run through blowing everything away.

The caves are annoying but beautiful, they're cramped and have twisty passages that all look alike, easy to get lost sometimes, worse if you flee one area only to go into another area full of enemies, but after the first run you should have enough weapons unlocked that it is never a serious problem ever again.