Finished an umbrella run with no upgrades (boss spoilers)

[admiral1018]

Having gone through this game a few times, including a couple of umbrella runs, I wanted to try something a bit more challenging. So I attempted an umbrella run with no soul upgrades (I did collect the shrine crystals though, as I wanted to 100% the save file).

While much of this run is similar to a normal umbrella run, a few fights are significantly different due to the limitations of not being able to upgrade any of your abilities. Most obvious is the limited magical power. Your fully upgraded spells deal +150% damage, so not having that really slows down most fights as magic is your primary source of damage. The second biggest issue is not being able to upgrade speed/dodging via Haste. For anyone doubting the usefulness of this upgrade, this type of playthrough will set you straight. It has a major change on some of the boss strategies and severely punished poor timing.

These were the four fights I found much more difficult on a no upgrade run, even relative to a typical umbrella run.

4. Fourth Avarice Fight (for the tablet) - This was a fight I was able to do the first time on every other playthrough, but the lack of upgrades really drags it and makes it dangerous in new ways. The first phase with all the grunts and horse archer actually made by thumb hurt, as the only viable strategy is kiting all the enemies, dodging the three arrows, and then firing a single fire blast during the pause, hoping to hit as many grunts as possible. The second fight with the Iron Knight and the two fire mages is relatively safe if you keep the Iron Knight on the very far side of the room, as he doesn't do the charge attack if you're past a certain distance. The strategy the is basically to circle the far edges of the room, hit the fire mages for spells points if they appear near you, and shoot a fire blast or two at the Iron Knight when you have an opening. The third phase was by far the hardest. This is the one with the two large fleas and the golden armored grunt. Because of your limited speed, you have almost no ability to outrun the fleas to create any real safe distance. The best bet is hoping your fire spell lands and using the small fleas that fall off for spell points. Once the armored grunt is alone, the hookshot slash and roll away make easy work of him. After this, the final phase with all the different mage types is quite easy.

3. Betty - Betty is pretty challenging in any scenario, but the lack of upgrades really changes the way this fight has to be approached. Because of your limited movement/dodge speed and the lack of any weapon range increase, you can't reliably get in hits on Betty at any point other than after she does the third roll (until the end, at least, when you can get in hits during the pound move). Her counters are simply too quick that you will take damage most of the time. This causes the fight to drag on significantly, since you're limited to two attacks per round and need to wait for Betty to go through the full routine each time. This ended up being the longest of any boss fight in this playthrough.

2. Red Silent Servant (Bow Upgrade) - This fight never really gave me much difficulty in any other playthrough, but your limited damage and the Servant's high amount of HP really drag the fight out and turn it into a slog. The only time you can get in meaningful damage is during the ground slam attack (the one that shrinks you). I would completely empty my magic meter firing arrows during that phase, then focus on refilling my spell points before the Servant started grappling around again. This fight isn't hard in terms of requiring special techniques or a new strategy, but all the added time opens the door to mistakes and taking additional damage.

1. Grave Digger - WOW. This was, by far, the hardest fight of this entire playthrough. There are a few main difference between a no upgrade run and a normal umbrella run that make this one brutal. First is the fact that your umbrella without any Strength upgrades require two hits to kill the summoned mini-grave enemies, and your slower attack speed (due to no Dexterity) make it very likely that you will take damage if there is a crowd nearby. The second big issue is that this fight has a time limit. Yes, most players probably never see it, but if you take too long in the second phase of the fight (once the summons start), the Digger will eventually do a mass summon, filling the room with dozens of enemies and ensuring your death (image below). If you're cornered in that scenario, it's game over. As such, you need to master crowd control and constantly be inflicting fire damage at all times during that phase. Using the hookshot for some extra damage and spell points when the summon starts also works pretty well. But man, was this fight tough.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2851397291

All the other fights, including the Lord of Doors, were not much different than a standard umbrella run and not particularly hard without upgrades.

Overall, incredibly fun experience. I suppose I could try another run also ignoring the shrine crystals, but I think I've played enough Death's Door for a while.

[admiral1018]

Bumping my own topic, as I'm about to try this again without collecting any shrine crystals this time. If anyone has finished the game that way, definitely let me know your experience.

[Hotel Security]

Nice work on the run. I never tried a no-upgrade run but it's really nerfing the magic blasts that would be the big difference. And, I feel that, even with the reduced power, I'd still be spamming magic blasts for every bossfight...they'd still just take longer to do damage.