Pearls aren't as bad as you'd think.

[Jenkem Junkie]

It doesn't feel worth it if you're wasting something like Shaped Glass for one, but if you come across a shop with more than one pair of beads or get beads as a drop from multiple lunar pods then pick them up and use a Cleansing Pool. Beads have no downsides other than costing lunar coins to buy, so you aren't risking anything by picking more than one of them up. Think about it like this, both types of pearls offer 10% health regen. Monsoon lowers health regen by 50% from Rainstorm. Having 5x of any pearl or a mix will basically turn Monsoon into Rainstorm with a more aggressive AI director and a faster clock. Beads don't have any downsides and aren't that hard to come across seeing as every map has at least one guaranteed spot where a Newt Shrine will always spawn. Titanic Knurls are also helpful for this, but I find they're less common than Cleansing Pools. If you come across enough you can even go all the way and get Drizzle health regen in Monsoon. Any Irradiant Pearls that drop also increase every other stat by 10% as well as health regen, so picking up a lot of beads can almost guarantee you'll get at least 2.

And even if the shops don't have beads while you're hunting, there's always a chance it'll spawn with a 57 Leaf Clover, an Aegis, an Alien Head, Brainstalks, Brilliant Behemoth, Ceremonial Daggers, Hardlight Afterburners, Rejuvenation Rack, Resonance Disc, Sentient Meat Hook, Shattering Justice, or an Unstable Tesla Coil. Not to mention it can spawn with good greens like AtG Missiles, both Bands, Pauldrons, Fuel Cells, Scythes, Feathers, Infusions, Guillotines, Predatory Instincts, Razorwire, Rose Bucklers, Ukuleles, War Horns, Wax Quails and Will-o'-the-Wisps.

[squat_instructor]

it's not bad in a vacuum but spending 2 coins on it especially considering you might not even find the pool in the run is a bit much

[Jenkem Junkie]

Originally posted by Sailor_seller:

it's not bad in a vacuum but spending 2 coins on it especially considering you might not even find the pool in the run is a bit much

I don't think it's that bad considering finishing a run with beads nets you 15 Lunar Coins vs the standard 5, plus whatever might drop from enemies. It's just tedious grinding for them which is why a lot of people cheat absurd amounts of them in. Regardless, 15 Lunar Coins is going to give you more than enough to buy your way into at least two shops (2 coins total), and hopefully the first one has 4 pairs of beads for sale, and the second one has 1 (10 coins total). All in all, if you get a good run then you've only spent 12 coins total and still have enough to enter the shop one more time and buy one more item.
Not to mention the chance of a map spawning with a blue portal.

[squat_instructor]

Yeah you get 15 coins but effectively you should subtract all coins you've spend in that run (assuming you spent any) and on top of that not all runs you spend coins in end up with successful obliteration with beads.

In my experience runs can be boiled down to 2 major development paths:
- you fall behind and die or obliterate early if you can
- you become unstoppable and stomp everything

The second scenario might be fun a few times but each next will be more boring and lunar items make that boring part come sooner. So I personally don't struggle with coins since I rarely use them but I feel for someone who is struggling AND gains coins in a legit way the investment is just too high for the return you get compared to other lunars.

[squat_instructor]

Also if you're doing what you described you pretty much limit yourself to getting beads only because you wanna trade them in for a pearl and if you take any other useful lunar you will risk losing it in the pool.

[Jenkem Junkie]

Originally posted by Sailor_seller:

Yeah you get 15 coins but effectively you should subtract all coins you've spend in that run (assuming you spent any) and on top of that not all runs you spend coins in end up with successful obliteration with beads.

In my experience runs can be boiled down to 2 major development paths:
- you fall behind and die or obliterate early if you can
- you become unstoppable and stomp everything

The second scenario might be fun a few times but each next will be more boring and lunar items make that boring part come sooner. So I personally don't struggle with coins since I rarely use them but I feel for someone who is struggling AND gains coins in a legit way the investment is just too high for the return you get compared to other lunars.

I don't know, I find pearls to be far more worth it than something like Corpsebloom or Transcendence. Especially considering they don't have any downsides. Besides, why would you spend coins on anything during an obliteration run (other than beads)? It's not like the game gets challenging until after the 2nd-3rd loop when the director starts spawning elite bosses every 2 seconds. All you have to do is run immediately to the teleport and don't go for any items unless you come across a chest on the path and have enough money to pay for it. Characters like Acrid, Engineer, Loader, and Mercenary all make this even easier. Acrid and Engie because of CC, Loader because of Barriers, Charged Gauntlet and the ranged gauntlets, and Mercenary because of invincibility frames.

[squat_instructor]

I'm talking about runs you started without the intent to obliterate asap but you did because it didn't go all that well as opposed to runs where your initial goal is to obliterate at stage 7. In the first case you might spend coins while in the second you will just look for beads (+ coins to summon the portal inself)

[Jenkem Junkie]

Originally posted by Sailor_seller:

I'm talking about runs you started without the intent to obliterate asap but you did because it didn't go all that well as opposed to runs where your initial goal is to obliterate at stage 7. In the first case you might spend coins while in the second you will just look for beads (+ coins to summon the portal inself)

Fair point, can't really argue with that.

[Ittrix]

I'm pretty sure cleansing pools are for lunar items that are bad later in runs. The pearls are just a bonus- not something you actively hunt.
Think corpsebloom and transcendence. Both of these items are extremely powerful.
Whether you're a vet player who needs them or not is a seperate issue- most newbies could benefit from double healing or 100% free healing if they duck behind a rock.
However, when you have 80 healing items and will heal to full in a second, preventing all healing or limiting it to 10% healing a second is obviously bad. So... ditch the item when you see a cleansing pool. It's a valid option now.

[BurningFalcon]

So

The pearl is listed as Boss-Item, but you can't pick the pearl from the boss-item pool with the artifact of command

Any ideas how we get the pearl with command? (I already picked up the pearl once, so it's truly unlocked)

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by BurningFalcon:

So

The pearl is listed as Boss-Item, but you can't pick the pearl from the boss-item pool with the artifact of command

Any ideas how we get the pearl with command? (I already picked up the pearl once, so it's truly unlocked)

You don't. Pools don't spawn with Command on.

[BurningFalcon]

Originally posted by Jimmy Hunter:

Originally posted by BurningFalcon:

So

The pearl is listed as Boss-Item, but you can't pick the pearl from the boss-item pool with the artifact of command

Any ideas how we get the pearl with command? (I already picked up the pearl once, so it's truly unlocked)

You don't. Pools don't spawn with Command on.

I know that pools don't spawn, but why are they listed as boss-items? Is the pool considered a "boss"`?

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by BurningFalcon:

Originally posted by Jimmy Hunter:

You don't. Pools don't spawn with Command on.

I know that pools don't spawn, but why are they listed as boss-items? Is the pool considered a "boss"`?

Because they did? I'm not sure why you necro'd a thread to ask a question that you should be contacting the Devs to ask about.