Is it possible to get the monarch wings before desolate dive?

[Rocket]

Topic. And how would I do it, if possible?

[Boksha]

I never bothered, but... buy the Lumafly Lantern from Sly, use that to get into Crystal Peak, get Crystal Heart, use that to reach Lost Kin?

[DeathWantsMore]

Uhm. Get Lumafly Lantern, go through 2nd entrance to the Crystal Peak, get Crystal Heart, get Simple Key from the City of Tears, open Royal Waterways, reach Elevetaor Shaft, exit to the Ancient Basin, bench, Broken Vessel and voila.

[Songbird]

You can actually just go grab Monarch Wings without anything past Mantis Claw and without using the Royal Waterway with a clever enough route, provided you're not playing Steel Soul mode. You'd have to get to eastern City via Blue Lake (which involves some clever tricks to get onto the ledge above Salubra's house), then head for Ancient Basin via the spike-filled shaft that the waterway dumps you into (to be clear, you don't actually use the waterway, I'm just describing where it is). The Crystal Heart is not at all required in the Basin since you can just nailbounce across the spikes.

Other paths would be getting the Tram Pass and using it to go directly to Ancient Basin, going through the Royal Waterway, or simply getting into Crystal Peak with the lantern and playing "normally" from there.

Desolate Dive is actually not required for the true ending or any of the other major items whatsoever, even without flashy tricks. The Tram Pass, Royal Waterway exit, or Blue Lake path (which can easily be accessed with the Crystal Heart once you know where it is, even ignoring tricks to get there early) will all get you into the eastern bit of the map (avoiding the path that begins from smashing the coffin in Resting Grounds), and the lantern gets you into Crystal Peak.

[Boksha]

Originally posted by Lupus Albus:

The Crystal Heart is not at all required in the Basin since you can just nailbounce across the spikes.

The Crystal Heart isn't needed to get across the spikes; it's needed to get up the ledge at the end of the spikes. If you nailbounce across, you can't get enough height to reach it.

[paladin181]

Originally posted by Boksha:

Originally posted by Lupus Albus:

The Crystal Heart is not at all required in the Basin since you can just nailbounce across the spikes.

The Crystal Heart isn't needed to get across the spikes; it's needed to get up the ledge at the end of the spikes. If you nailbounce across, you can't get enough height to reach it.

If you die there and bring your shade you can do it.

[Boksha]

Neat.