[SPOILERS] Charm tips for difficult parts of the game (Boss and places)

[Saphir]

[HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD]
There are several parts in the game that are either incredibly difficult, or simply annoying to complete because of a repetitive task, this is a list of charms you should use in each situation if you're struggling with a boss/place along with some tips. This list includes spoilers from the beginning of the game to the end so be prepared. Charms are in bold to recognise them more easily from my wall of text.
Starting off with the dream bosses:

Lost Kin

The only necessary charms are [Defender's crest] ,and maybe [Spore shroom] ,allowing you to not care in the slightest about his ads as they die before they reach you. A range upgrade/[Quick Focus] and [Quick slash] can also be useful. The only thing that's hard about this boss are the annoying ads which those charms take care of,after that point it's just a bit of pattern memorisation. ALWAYS heal when he is on the ground unless you're at full health,otherwise you won't be able to hold your hp up.

Soul Tyrant

I didn't struggle much with this boss as his patterns are pretty simple. taking [Grubsong] , [Quick focus] and [Fragile strength] did it for me with a bit of retrying for the patterns. Heal during his projectile line attacks and dash straight at him when he uses a projectile,the missile will go down and touch the ground this way. For the second phase, heal up before going down and do a small jump and dash when he does repeated slams since doing this guarantees you avoiding each slam.

Failed Champion

There is apparently a cheese tactic involving all the blue heart charms,it did not work for me so i used instead [Quick focus], [Quick Slash], [Grubsong] and [Stalwart shell] (longer inv). You absolutely need the shadow dash for this one in my opinion and go under him each time he jumps attacks you. Hit about 3 times and then dash out for his next attack. When he panic slams the ground just stand on a corner and attack above if something is falling onto you.

The Flower Quest

Best option is to take the route passing by the blue lake and infected crossroads. Start from queen's gardens and clear the whole path of ennemies from the gardens to the Grey Mourner making it much easier. Never sit on a bench as it will respawn everything. Also take the [Glowing womb] on you if you want to make sure you don't take damage (the minions will kill your ennemies for you). You need to be able to swim in acid for this route to work. The path is blue lake>crossroads>fog canyon>gardens.

The Trial of Fools

I have yet to try this one but i'd say [Grubsong], [Quick focus], [Quick slash] and maybe a range upgrade could work.

The Radiance

I went with full blue hearts on this one, using all 10 notches and put all blue charms on,finishing with literally 1 hp because I goofed a few times. The radiance fight is mostly made of avoiding attacks,get a few hits in (2-3 max usually) and repeat. using abyss shriek with those charms is necessary and does a lot of damage. For first phase,use one when you're full on soul, and keep your soul at max before the second phase, then just spam shriek as much as you can while avoiding damage during the second phase to finish it quickly. If you still struggle I recommend watching a video of someone beating it as it shows how and what to avoid in priority and taking a pause to fight it calmly if you're getting impatient.

The White Palace

Equip [Grubsong], [Hiveblood] and [Deep focus] and you won't have to deal with hp problems. The rest just depends on your plateforming skills which will determine how much time you'll spend there. When you're down 3 hp let hiveblood heal one and deep focus the 2 others to fully heal without losing soul.

The Fallen Warriors

If you struggle with one of them,the best choice is usually to just come back later in the game and fight them once your nail upgrade makes them trivial to fight. If you want to fight them on the spot, i'd recommend a range upgrade and [Quick focus] for most of them.

Hornet (2)

The best way to deal with her is to wait for her to attack then strike back. [Quick Focus] is absolutely necessary if you want to heal and a range upgrade such as [Mark of Pride] can be great. Also make use of the nailmaster's slash when you can as you usually don't have time to get more than 2-3 hits in. [Quick Slash] can be good too. If you struggle with health replace [Mark of Pride] for [Shape of Unn] and [Grubsong]

Any boss that has literally 0 downtime to let you heal should be fought with [Joni's Blessing] on. [Grubsong] is almost always a good choice of charm except if you're not healing a lot.

Don't hesitate to use [Fragile] charms during dream boss fights as they do not break when you die in the dream. You can super cheese most basic bosses by using the [Shaman Stone] with [Spell Twister] and [Soul Catcher] along with upgraded (shadow) spells. Start with full soul and you'll deal so much damage they'll die before they can kill you. Absolutely does not work against any boss stronger than the basic ones. Does not work for Hornet either as she usually moves around too much.
If you struggle with something else in particular comment down below and I can help with that.
Side note: For the people having trouble with primal aspids, the best way to deal with them is killing them with a great slash,it oneshots them with the spiral nail and above

[Darc Vader]

Originally posted by Saphir:

[HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD]
There are several parts in the game that are either incredibly difficult, or simply annoying to complete because of a repetitive task, this is a list of charms you should use in each situation if you're struggling with a boss/place along with some tips. This list includes spoilers from the beginning of the game to the end so be prepared. Charms are in bold to recognise them more easily from my wall of text.
Starting off with the dream bosses:

Lost Kin

The only necessary charms are [Defender's crest] ,and maybe [Spore shroom] ,allowing you to not care in the slightest about his ads as they die before they reach you. A range upgrade/[Quick Focus] and [Quick slash] can also be useful. The only thing that's hard about this boss are the annoying ads which those charms take care of,after that point it's just a bit of pattern memorisation. ALWAYS heal when he is on the ground unless you're at full health,otherwise you won't be able to hold your hp up.

Pretty much agree with everything here, I just want to note that you should use either Spore Shroom or Defender's Crest, not both, as the combo obscures the screen and makes it incredibly difficult to keep track of Lost Kin when he jumps around (Imo at least).

Soul Tyrant

I didn't struggle much with this boss as his patterns are pretty simple. taking [Grubsong] , [Quick focus] and [Fragile strength] did it for me with a bit of retrying for the patterns. Heal during his projectile line attacks and dash straight at him when he uses a projectile,the missile will go down and touch the ground this way. For the second phase, heal up before going down and do a small jump and dash when he does repeated slams since doing this guarantees you avoiding each slam.

I don't really think quick focus is necessary for this fight. The only time you have where you can guarenteed heal is already long enough that you can get 2 heals in, so the notches are better spent elsewhere.

Failed Champion

There is apparently a cheese tactic involving all the blue heart charms,it did not work for me so i used instead [Quick focus], [Quick Slash], [Grubsong] and [Stalwart shell] (longer inv). You absolutely need the shadow dash for this one in my opinion and go under him each time he jumps attacks you. Hit about 3 times and then dash out for his next attack. When he panic slams the ground just stand on a corner and attack above if something is falling onto you.

Definitely agree with waiting for shadow dash to take on this one. Also, probably the only boss I'd personally say quick focus is a large gain, since it gives you more time to react to falling rocks which if you heal in the wrong place, even if you are safe from the biss, can screw you over. A good choice that I think many overlook for this fight is Sharp Shadow; since Failed Champion is quite large, the increased range on the shadow dash means you're less likely to dodge an attack, only to end up on his body and take a hit anyway.

The Flower Quest

Best option is to take the route passing by the blue lake and infected crossroads. Start from queen's gardens and clear the whole path of ennemies from the gardens to the Grey Mourner making it much easier. Never sit on a bench as it will respawn everything. Also take the [Glowing womb] on you if you want to make sure you don't take damage (the minions will kill your ennemies for you). You need to be able to swim in acid for this route to work. The path is blue lake>crossroads>fog canyon>gardens.

Another option that is quite useful for the flower quest is Quick Slash + Grubberfly's Elegy (+ Fragile Strength). You can attack from range with respectable damage, and since you fail if you get hit anyway, not beingg at full health is a non-issue. I do agree on the route too, that's the best I've found so far. Another tip I have for the quest specifically related to the last room: Sharp Shadow. The increased range means the first jump-dash is quite easy (no jump required and less pixel perfect placement for the dash). Though it makes the last dash slightly mire dangerous as you may overshoot and hit the roof.

The Trial of Fools

I have yet to try this one but i'd say [Grubsong], [Quick focus], [Quick slash] and maybe a range upgrade could work.

Nailmaster's Glory is a phenomenal investment for the Trial of the Fool. For the cost of 1 notch, armored squits, primal aspids, soul twisters, death loodles, and mantis petras become significantly easier, and great slash is almost never a bad idea on anything even if they don't go down in one hit.

Shaman Stone helps in much the same way, as a powered up Shade Soul one shots many if the more annoying enemies, including aspids.

Notably, Quick Focus actually isn't all that useful in the arena. There are a significant number of times where a single slow enemy can be left alive and dream nailed for soul and healing, and the hardest part of the Trial of the Fool makes it impossible to heal anyway, as there is no floor.

The Radiance

I went with full blue hearts on this one, using all 10 notches and put all blue charms on,finishing with literally 1 hp because I goofed a few times. The radiance fight is mostly made of avoiding attacks,get a few hits in (2-3 max usually) and repeat. using abyss shriek with those charms is necessary and does a lot of damage. For first phase,use one when you're full on soul, and keep your soul at max before the second phase, then just spam shriek as much as you can while avoiding damage during the second phase to finish it quickly. If you still struggle I recommend watching a video of someone beating it as it shows how and what to avoid in priority and taking a pause to fight it calmly if you're getting impatient.

Again, Shaman Stone is a great investment here, with what I believe to be the fastest way to kill Radiance is via full strength Abyss Shrieks, and you can add Spell Twister to spam them even faster. Another standout charm that is much better in this fight than most other places is Shape of Unn as being able to shift around while healing during cetain attacks(notably the radial light beams and the vertical nail rain) can mean the difference between a win and a loss fairly easily.(Obviously don't use with a lifeblood build)

The White Palace

Equip [Grubsong], [Hiveblood] and [Deep focus] and you won't have to deal with hp problems. The rest just depends on your plateforming skills which will determine how much time you'll spend there. When you're down 3 hp let hiveblood heal one and deep focus the 2 others to fully heal without losing soul.

You hit the nail on the head here, though one thing I'd like to add is that if you throw on Grubberfly's Elegy it will increase the amount of soul Grubsong restores when you are hit, possibly removing the need for Hiveblood entirely (I'm not entirely sure if the increased soul plus double healing is enough to break even, but if it is then that massively reduces the downtime waiting to heal).

The Fallen Warriors

If you struggle with one of them,the best choice is usually to just come back later in the game and fight them once your nail upgrade makes them trivial to fight. If you want to fight them on the spot, i'd recommend a range upgrade and [Quick focus] for most of them.

Nothing really to add here.

Hornet (2)

The best way to deal with her is to wait for her to attack then strike back. [Quick Focus] is absolutely necessary if you want to heal and a range upgrade such as [Mark of Pride] can be great. Also make use of the nailmaster's slash when you can as you usually don't have time to get more than 2-3 hits in. [Quick Slash] can be good too. If you struggle with health replace [Mark of Pride] for [Shape of Unn] and [Grubsong]

Not sure if you really have time to heal anyway, outside of when you manage to stagger her.

[quite]Any boss that has literally 0 downtime to let you heal should be fought with [Joni's Blessing] on. [Grubsong] is almost always a good choice of charm except if you're not healing a lot.

Don't hesitate to use [Fragile] charms during dream boss fights as they do not break when you die in the dream. You can super cheese most basic bosses by using the [Shaman Stone] with [Spell Twister] and [Soul Catcher] along with upgraded (shadow) spells. Start with full soul and you'll deal so much damage they'll die before they can kill you. Absolutely does not work against any boss stronger than the basic ones. Does not work for Hornet either as she usually moves around too much.[/quote]

All of this.

If you struggle with something else in particular comment down below and I can help with that.
Side note: For the people having trouble with primal aspids, the best way to deal with them is killing them with a great slash,it oneshots them with the spiral nail and above

Tl;dr:

• Quick Focus is less useful than it seems a lot of the time, as only the actual focusing is sped up, and you still have to go through the start-up and end lag. You also often can't heal outside of specific times anyway.
  
• Sharp Shadow increases the range on the dash as well as adding damage. In some situations, that is the more important feature
  
• In many cases, the best defense is a good offense.
  

[Saphir]

I did not know about the longer dash of sharp shadow and got grubberfly's elegy really late game so i did not think about using it. though on my fight with the radiance i tried with a full heal build (shape of unn,quick focus+deep focus) and completely failed,though replacing one of the blue charms with shaman stone would have been a good idea. i usually like healing a lot even in the middle of the fight so i really like quick focus which is why i use it so much

[CJones]

I almost always look at Quick Focus and think "for three slots, Shaman Stone is WAY more powerful."

And it almost always is. Shaman Stone + Abyss Shriek crushes the Soul Tyrant and The Radiance. It not only makes spells do more damage per hit, it makes them have a larger area of effect, which often causes them to hit more times.

[Darc Vader]

Originally posted by Saphir:

I did not know about the longer dash of sharp shadow and got grubberfly's elegy really late game so i did not think about using it. though on my fight with the radiance i tried with a full heal build (shape of unn,quick focus+deep focus) and completely failed,though replacing one of the blue charms with shaman stone would have been a good idea. i usually like healing a lot even in the middle of the fight so i really like quick focus which is why i use it so much

Yeah, I don't think I've seen anyone else mention the increased range on it, which is odd to me since it's basically become the primary function of the charm in my mind and the damage is fairly negligible.

Quick Focus + Shape of Unn actually makes you move faster while healing, so that may be why you ended up getting hit a lot: overshooting the dodge and running in to other hitboxes.

[CJones]

Yes Sharp Shadow is great for combat since you can dash through so much stuff. But it's terrible for platforming, since so many platforms are spaced out with your normal dash range in mind, and you can't jump out of dashes.

Also, fun fact, Dash Master causes Sharp Shadow to do more damage.

[CJones]

I just redid the Failed Champion fight. Healing is almost completely pointless, becasue you don't actually get any soul for hitting the armor, and he gets up almost immediately after hitting his head.

So yeah, Quick Slash + Steady Body + Sharp Shadow worked really well. Stand right next to him and just wail on him. Any time he winds up an attack, dash through him. Any time he jumps, walk or dash under him and just keep attacking. The only thing you have to be careful of are the rocks.

Even without any spells, he goes down surprisingly quick with this method (with the Pure Nail).

[CJones]

And I just redid Soul Tyrant. First thing I can say, my Failed Champion setup did not work at all

I switched out to Shaman Stone + Spell Twister + Grub Song + Long Nail + Soul Catcher. Get in single hits where ever you can, than unload all you magic on him. Shade Soul fired just above the ground with catch him on the ground or in the air. He'll often get hit and teleport backwards into it and get hit again.

[Sausagetalk]

Not to undermine your efforts, but this would be better placed in the "Guides" section, seeing as that's what this is.

That said, here's my critique

Imo, the best loadout for any boss is to be rolling Fragile Strength. Especially against Radiance. It's a massive damage boost, and your only penalty for failure is spending a little geo and time fixing it, or just not using it again for that fight. I spent several attempts avoiding using it because "Oh no I might break it." Then I slapped myself for being so stupid and beat Radiance on the first try with it. Against Radiance you should always roll Joni's Blessing if you're not going full "Glass Cannon"(Fragile Strength, Quick Slash, Mark of Pride. You can add in another offensive charm and overcharm if you're feeling extra gutsy). He simply doesn't give you the freedom to heal the damage, even with Quick Focus, and the massive amount of damage doesn't leave much room for error without the boost. Even if he didgive you time to heal, you'd have to heal twice for every hit. It's better to just learn his attack patterns and try to get hit less.

Imo, the best investment for Trial of Fools is Hiveblood. I was having some trouble with it but as soon as I equipped Hiveblood I one-shotted it. It gives you a method of healing during the most intense part.

[Darc Vader]

The problem with using Hiveblood for the Trail if the Fool is that if you need to be healing in that part, you likely don't have the 10(?) seconds it takes to heal back your one hp. If you're good enough at dodging to reliably get Hiveblood heals, you really shouldn't be having too much trouble with it in the first place.

Also, CJones, I believe you can heal in the Failed Champion fight by dream nailing him when he's down. You can get a good amount of soul without triggering his get-up right away. Keep in mind that he will get up even if you don't hit him, but you should have more than enough time to get a heal or 2, especially if you have Dream Wielder on (also quite an underrated charm).

Edit: Sharp Shadow isn't a general use charm for me though, I put it on when I specifically want the increased range. Particularly the 2 aforementioned places and along with dashmaster, general travel if there's a bench where I'm going where I can switch back to my general builds.

[CJones]

Originally posted by Darc Vader:

Also, CJones, I believe you can heal in the Failed Champion fight by dream nailing him when he's down. You can get a good amount of soul without triggering his get-up right away. Keep in mind that he will get up even if you don't hit him, but you should have more than enough time to get a heal or 2, especially if you have Dream Wielder on (also quite an underrated charm).

Good idea. I'll remember that for my third time through.

[oogabooga2987]

Originally posted by Saphir:

[HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD]
There are several parts in the game that are either incredibly difficult, or simply annoying to complete because of a repetitive task, this is a list of charms you should use in each situation if you're struggling with a boss/place along with some tips. This list includes spoilers from the beginning of the game to the end so be prepared. Charms are in bold to recognise them more easily from my wall of text.
Starting off with the dream bosses:

Lost Kin

The only necessary charms are [Defender's crest] ,and maybe [Spore shroom] ,allowing you to not care in the slightest about his ads as they die before they reach you. A range upgrade/[Quick Focus] and [Quick slash] can also be useful. The only thing that's hard about this boss are the annoying ads which those charms take care of,after that point it's just a bit of pattern memorisation. ALWAYS heal when he is on the ground unless you're at full health,otherwise you won't be able to hold your hp up.

Soul Tyrant

I didn't struggle much with this boss as his patterns are pretty simple. taking [Grubsong] , [Quick focus] and [Fragile strength] did it for me with a bit of retrying for the patterns. Heal during his projectile line attacks and dash straight at him when he uses a projectile,the missile will go down and touch the ground this way. For the second phase, heal up before going down and do a small jump and dash when he does repeated slams since doing this guarantees you avoiding each slam.

Failed Champion

There is apparently a cheese tactic involving all the blue heart charms,it did not work for me so i used instead [Quick focus], [Quick Slash], [Grubsong] and [Stalwart shell] (longer inv). You absolutely need the shadow dash for this one in my opinion and go under him each time he jumps attacks you. Hit about 3 times and then dash out for his next attack. When he panic slams the ground just stand on a corner and attack above if something is falling onto you.

The Flower Quest

Best option is to take the route passing by the blue lake and infected crossroads. Start from queen's gardens and clear the whole path of ennemies from the gardens to the Grey Mourner making it much easier. Never sit on a bench as it will respawn everything. Also take the [Glowing womb] on you if you want to make sure you don't take damage (the minions will kill your ennemies for you). You need to be able to swim in acid for this route to work. The path is blue lake>crossroads>fog canyon>gardens.

The Trial of Fools

I have yet to try this one but i'd say [Grubsong], [Quick focus], [Quick slash] and maybe a range upgrade could work.

The Radiance

I went with full blue hearts on this one, using all 10 notches and put all blue charms on,finishing with literally 1 hp because I goofed a few times. The radiance fight is mostly made of avoiding attacks,get a few hits in (2-3 max usually) and repeat. using abyss shriek with those charms is necessary and does a lot of damage. For first phase,use one when you're full on soul, and keep your soul at max before the second phase, then just spam shriek as much as you can while avoiding damage during the second phase to finish it quickly. If you still struggle I recommend watching a video of someone beating it as it shows how and what to avoid in priority and taking a pause to fight it calmly if you're getting impatient.

The White Palace

Equip [Grubsong], [Hiveblood] and [Deep focus] and you won't have to deal with hp problems. The rest just depends on your plateforming skills which will determine how much time you'll spend there. When you're down 3 hp let hiveblood heal one and deep focus the 2 others to fully heal without losing soul.

The Fallen Warriors

If you struggle with one of them,the best choice is usually to just come back later in the game and fight them once your nail upgrade makes them trivial to fight. If you want to fight them on the spot, i'd recommend a range upgrade and [Quick focus] for most of them.

Hornet (2)

The best way to deal with her is to wait for her to attack then strike back. [Quick Focus] is absolutely necessary if you want to heal and a range upgrade such as [Mark of Pride] can be great. Also make use of the nailmaster's slash when you can as you usually don't have time to get more than 2-3 hits in. [Quick Slash] can be good too. If you struggle with health replace [Mark of Pride] for [Shape of Unn] and [Grubsong]

Any boss that has literally 0 downtime to let you heal should be fought with [Joni's Blessing] on. [Grubsong] is almost always a good choice of charm except if you're not healing a lot.

Don't hesitate to use [Fragile] charms during dream boss fights as they do not break when you die in the dream. You can super cheese most basic bosses by using the [Shaman Stone] with [Spell Twister] and [Soul Catcher] along with upgraded (shadow) spells. Start with full soul and you'll deal so much damage they'll die before they can kill you. Absolutely does not work against any boss stronger than the basic ones. Does not work for Hornet either as she usually moves around too much.
If you struggle with something else in particular comment down below and I can help with that.
Side note: For the people having trouble with primal aspids, the best way to deal with them is killing them with a great slash,it oneshots them with the spiral nail and above

what abt nkg I thought maybe fragile heart all nail arts abyss shriek Quick slash Quick focus and whatever else

[Clockwork17]

Ah yes, a fellow Grubsong fan.