Having some difficulties with Hardcore mode! Any tips?

[Corehowl]

As the title suggests, i've got some problems getting through Hardcore mode on ludicrous difficulty (which i suppose should be the hardest mode this game can get), so I would appreciate if you guys/gals could give me some tips or something to make my journey a bit easier. Any help is appreciated!

[Miraglyth]

ionic has posted a few tips in the first reply of this topic[forums.bscotch.net] on the BScotch forum.

I'm kind of hoping the "exploration and discovery overhaul of Crashlands" mentioned in the patch notes includes something to make hardcore less of a grind and less ridiculous with its instant-aggro-instant-killing regular enemies, though it's probably naive one tip might simply be "patience and hope they make it remotely reasonable someday".

[Corehowl]

Thanks for the help, but i've already received some tips from Crashlands discord server. And thankfully, with those i've completed Ludicrous Hardcore mode.

[Miraglyth]

That was fast. Are there any tips on how to stop instant-aggro-crit death nonsense?

[Corehowl]

Well, I mean, you just have to get at the very least 70% toughness and some of the other resistances (get all the elemental resistance trinkets and stick with them till the end of the game) and if you know the attacks and damage types of the next boss you're gonna fight , I suggest using juice to switch your resistances accordingly (don't worry if you run out of juice and you think
the world is gonna end, every second you spend farming juice is another second in which you haven't died yet). Always, ALWAYS max your armor before you fight the bosses. You also have to get very good at dodging (dark souls style). Oh and don't forget about the butt-clenching. (I just realized that i could write much more than this and put it in a guide, but for the basics, that's pretty much it)

[Miraglyth]

Originally posted by Corehowl:

every second you spend farming juice is another second in which you haven't died yet).

No, it's just another second of your life that you've lost when you DO get "hit" by an enemy whose attack has a janky hitbox and lands a critical hit.

So... what I'm taking from this is that it really is just "hope that the one time they do hit you it's not a crit" for a playthrough that takes over 10 hours?

UGH.

[Corehowl]

Sort of, yeah! Pretty much be as careful as possible and take no chances.

[Miraglyth]

Originally posted by Corehowl:

and take no chances.

If there was a way to prevent receiving crits (which are instant death I remind yet again) on the very rare occasion you get hit, I wouldn't.

Crits in a 10+ hour hardcore mode is like adding slipping to a competitive 2D fighter. Completely anathema to the design and all it's ever going to do is seriously anger the people who it screws over.

Who never even wanted the most unfair hardcore mode they've ever seen in their casual game.

[Corehowl]

Well then i gotta tell ya "Brace yourself!". Its HARDCORE mode for a reason after all. Nobody said that you have to play it. I just did it for the achievements (and icons).

[Miraglyth]

Originally posted by Corehowl:

Nobody said that you have to play it. I just did it for the achievements (and icons).

Yep, and if those achievements didn't exist I wouldn't. Some of us are completionists; for us the addition of this absurd "game" mode objectively makes the game worse.

I bought this game as a fun mainly-casual romp. I certainly didn't buy this game to burn through hours of my life in some badly-designed sustained-perfection nonsense. If it had existed, or if they were open about the fact that it was one day going to exist, I would not have bought the game. Its addition is a thematic betrayal.

[Corehowl]

Look man, adding hard content to complete to the game is not a bad thing and it most certainly doesn't make the game worse.
Firstly, you should appreciate the fact that they're still updating the game, a lot of game developers abandon their games after release.
Secondly, making a transition from super casual to super hard doesn't seem that bad, it helps you see both sides of the coin. And the hardcore mode doesn't feel badly designed either, especially with the addition of variety in weapons, but I do have to admit that this is the first game i've ever completed on Hardcore mode and so I don't have much experience with these things.

Basically, I think that difficult games > casual games (that's a matter of opinion of course, so yours might be different).

[Miraglyth]

Originally posted by Corehowl:

Basically, I think that difficult games > casual games

And that's why you're happy that they basically turned this game into a bait-and-switch.

I on the other hand prefer games whose design philosophy is not "I want to make players hate this game", which is what the addition of hardcore makes this one.

Any time any game is updated to be worse, I don't appreciate it. And I don't see why I should. This bizarre idea that games are somehow "dead" after the last update they get is very strange. Great games stay great even after they stop being updated, you know.

Tonight I've followed the BScotch forum in which Ionic mentioned bosses scaling to the highest-level weapon you've ever equipped. It turns out that with just level 1 gear, the Baconweed Fairy and Baary are so much easier than with level 11 gear from Crystal Kiln. The problem is Blockstock who appears to be resistant to physical; without better weapons, you can't really get any sources of elemental damage.

[Uaine]

Just curious for when I get around to trying a ludicrous run - what are the mechanics of critical hits? Do they bypass all resistances, or just hit for some multiple of normal damage? If I've juiced toughness plus relevant elemental resists to 90%, is a crit still going to one-hit you on ludicrous?

[Miraglyth]

I think defenses still count, so with 90% resistance one critical from most attacks won't kill you? But it's been long enough since I played non-hardcore mode (aka "actually fun mode") that I don't have any concrete memories about that.

[drrrkosaurus]

Hey there - I just beat Harcore on Ludicrous, just an hour or so ago. I hadn't played in a while before, but jumped back in straight to this difficulty when they added the new achievements. A few thoughts on this - -
It took me ~10 hours on my successful run after 39 deaths (of varying success - previous best was 4 bosses slain if this helps clarify difficult scaling). Savannah & Bawg are where most of my time was spent. It definitely feels more difficult here, then just coasted it out to the end.
Worth noting - - I've read the game scales to your highest level equipment. Just make sure everything is level matched when you fight a boss & of good general quality early on when you don't have the Juiceforge.

The general strategy was something like this:

> Play the game like normal in Savannah, saved all the bosses for the end, just scout it out for instant access later.
> Embiggen Wompit to Epic (though just preference)
> Unlock & craft ~6-10 of the various elixirs (unlock them & farm out some essence)
> Actives: Had wrench, flamethrower, fingarang, smash racket (use whatever else until then)
> Passives: Batshoes > Resistances (change according to the boss) > Baconband > Retina Mounted Spice Injector > Anything else offensive
> Suggestions on running around - - never pick a needless fight. If the creature is orange, be careful. Red - - probably don't even bother. Farm everything while you're running around early on to help the JF efforts later run more smoothly. I placed Signs to indicate Crystal clusters to come back to later on for quick juice farming.
> For bosses: replace wrench with another ranged weapon (whatever they're not immune to). Chug all those potions and take them down. You & your pet will be just about 50/50 in damage to the boss with all the dodging you have to do. Just run around and toss ranged hits / do a Smash Racket driveby.

> Savannah bosses seemed to be the most time consuming & tricky, given the lack of equipment maxing
> Take down Jessica asap in the Bawg to get the JF.
> Ultimately I ran through all of the Bawg workstations & stopped upgrading on the last one here, with all pieces Legendary.
> Tundra - - just breezed past everything to get to the bosses. Really not hard to do this.
> Lastly, on Hewgo, more just a nuisance but the healers were super effective on him. Just have to take those out first.

> Definitely check the Crashlands wiki to see what resistances you need for each fight ahead of time, swap things around / spec change, then fight.

> Most important attribute is definitely Move Speed once you have the Juiceforge. I had ~30% at the end. Then spec everything into appropriate Resistances ***. This can't be said enough. After unlocking JF, I had no offensive attributes & had no issue with the occasional 1 hit I would take through a fight; it would do maybe 10% health, which would be auto-healed from Elixir. Comparing the beginning of the game to the end game is a stark difference.

[Miraglyth]

How did you attack Blockstock and IHO? My experience with the former, and everyone I've spoken to especially about the latter says it takes 30 minutes of perfection to be able to wear its absurd health bar down no matter what you do, and the wiki doesn't mention anything about boss weaknesses.