Gathering Swarm

[Quizer]

I'm amazed how many people ignore the Gathering Swarm charm. It's quite clearly the best charm to help you get started in the game, maybe even more important than the compass.

I've seen other games where upgrades that help you collect stuff are unnecessary or just not that good, but in this game, it's really strong, letting you stop worrying about having to collect all the small geo pieces yourself and even collecting them out of unreachable places like spikes, non-acid water and off-screen pits (though you have to wait a bit for that last one). It means you get the geo needed to buy actually useful upgrades that much sooner and just makes your life that much easier.

[eyoSenn]

Never really have a problem with money in this game

[MatthewHager312]

Money is all over the place. With a little grinding, you can have as much as you want.

[World's best Fox]

My general use loadout always had the compass and gather charms. makes exploring so much easier

[CJones]

I literally spend probably the first 50% of the game with Gathering Swarm equipped (minus boss fights). It's the second charm I buy after the Compass. So much money falls into spikes, acid or pits it's not even funny.

[Quizer]

Yeah... Gathering Swarm won't save Geo from acid, not unless it's deep enough down that the swarm triggers before it drops in, but for everything else, it will carry them to you if you just wait a bit, even if it bounces off-screen into a pit or out of a room exit. When I watch let's plays, I'm amazed how much Geo people leave on the ground or even just overlook. Wouldn't they rather have all that powerful gear you can buy sooner rather than later?

Other than the first map, the Gathering Swarm is the first thing I buy in a playthrough. I will prioritize it over even the quill, if I don't have enough by the time I return to Dirtmouth for the first time.