A Noob's Guide to the Trial of Fools

This guide will help you through the Trail of Fools, a hurdle that took me way too much time to complete. Hopefully, If you're as bad as I am, This will save you the ridiculous amount of time I put in. I'll talk about each wave of the trial, and which charms I used.

Introduction

Hi, I'm Deekester. I just beat the Trial of the Fool and wanted to pass on the knowledge of how I did it to other people like me who aren't particularly great at the game. Obviously, this guide will contain spoilers for the Trial of the Fool. But if you didn't want it spoiled, why are you reading a guide about it anyway?

Now, with that out of the way, the Trial of the Fool is an endgame challenge and should be treated as such. Unless you're a god amongst men or a masochist, I recommend having at least the monarch wings and the pure nail. The shade cloak is also extremely helpful for fighting certain enemies.

And lastly, LEARN TO POGO!!! This is the act of bouncing off of an enemy's head using a downward attack while in the air. I can't stress enough how much this helps with the aerial section about halfway through. In addition to this, most of the enemies can be attacked without being able to retaliate if you pogo on them. It's not required to complete the trial, but it makes things so much easier.

Also, Huge shoutout to Phobian, who posted a guide for the trial before me. A lot of what I'll be telling you I learned from their guide. I do have some tips of my own that didn't get covered. So, without further ado, let's get into it, shall we?

My Charm Loadout

Another thing that I would recommend is to get all of the charm notches first, including the one from Grimm. This lets you use the full loadout, which is:

Mark of Pride: Gives you extra range for safer attacks. It also makes pogos much easier.

Quick Slash: More DPS, which is really helpful for most of the enemies. Again, easier pogos too.

Hiveblood: The milk in our cheese strategy, Hiveblood allows you to consume less spirit over time and lets you heal in the air, which is not normally possible. Whenever you take damage, back off for a few seconds and let Hiveblood do it's job. The trial is not timed, so take as long as you need.

Nailmaster's Glory: In my experience, the most annoying enemies to deal with are the ones you can kill with a single great slash. This helps out a lot when dealing with the flying enemies such as soul twisters or aspids, which are top priority focus targets in fights. Remember your ABC's, Always Be Charging. If you ever have any downtime, charge up a great slash.

The Cake Walk

When you first enter the arena, a heavy fool and sturdy fool will spawn. Focus down whichever one you prefer, then 2 squits will spawn. Focus them down and then kill the sturdy fool once he's alone.

2 shielded fools will spawn. You'll learn to love these guys since they're one of the few enemies that allow you to heal safely in between waves. Ignore them and start charging a great slash. a primal aspid will spawn in the air between the fools. Hit it with a slash as soon as it spawns and deal with the fools when you're ready. I didn't need this tip much since I've usually had enough soul to get to full hp anyway, but you can dream nail shielded fools. This lets you infinitely generate soul for heals. So if you need the extra soul, go ahead and do this a few times.

2 winged fools and 2 baldurs will spawn. Focus down the fools first, either by pogoing or just facetanking them. Then kill one of the baldurs. If you're missing health, you can heal by jumping over the remaining baldur and waiting for it to roll back. Then kill it once you're at full hp.

2 platforms will appear, shorly followed by 2 sturdies. Ignore them unless you need soul, and charge a great slash to kill the aspid that will spawn shortly afterwards between the platforms. The spikes will kill the 2 fools

After the aspid is down, a winged fool and 3 obbles will spawn. Kill the fool, then carefully take down the obbles.

2 furious vengeflies will spawn after all he enemies are killed, one near each platform. either hit them twice or with a great slash, and avoid their bodies, since they will explode after a few seconds.

2 heavies will spawn, but same as the sturdies from earlier, ignore them and hop up the left wall. belflies will start raining down and will kill off the fools. DO NOT LEAVE THE WALL. If your fingers get tired from wall jumping constantly, you can use the crystal heart to stay rooted to one spot. Not only does this cause less strain on your fingers, it's a useful technique for getting to the other side of the arena quickly in the future.

Loodles, Why Did It Have to Be Loodles?

Now, this section is more annoying than difficult, but if you try to rush thorough it, you can take a lot more damage than is necessary. Just be patient and you'll beat it.

After the belflies stop spawning, 3 loodles will come in, one at a time. They die to one great slash, but can be hit 3 times if you need the soul. They move randomly, so you can't predict their patterns like most enemies. This makes them fairly easy to heal around (most of the time) since they don't focus on you, but they can mess up your strategy.

After those 3 are dead, 6 platforms will appear, along with some loodles. Chill out under the center platform until a loodle comes close, then kill it with a great slash. Repeat until they're all dead and heal as needed.

The next wave is practically identical to the first. You should be fine.

The Tower of Terror

After you finish the waves of loodles, a tower of 4 platforms will spawn. Jump on them as soon as possible since spikes will spawn too. Then 2 squits will spawn. Have a slash ready to kill one, which will cause an aspid to spawn to your left. The next spawns are an aspid, then an aspid and a winged fool. If you move one platform above the aspids, they sometimes wait just below and to the side of your platform. From there, they can't hit you, and can actually be hit with great slash if you time it right.

Once you've finished off the last enemy, some garpedes will start moving across the screen. I found it easiest to start on the second-highest platform, then jump down to the one below to avoid them.

Then, a winged fool and 2 squit will spawn. Bat away the squits when they charge at you and just spam attacks at the fool when it approaches.

And with that, you're done with one of the 3 hardest sections. Congratulations on surviving this long.

Intermission

In this section, most enemies that die will spawn a new enemy. So be ready for constant fighting.

Once you drop down from the last wave, a heavy and shielded fool will spawn, but be prepared to jump up and kill the aspid that will spawn between them. Don't kill the shielded fool. you'll need him for healing later. After killing the heavy, a mantis traitor will spawn. I fight them by dashing in their direction when they attack. If you have the shade cloak, you come out on the other side and avoid their dash. After you kill the traitor, prepare to slash a mantis petra. Just be patient with these. if you're paying attention, their attacks are very easy to dodge. Finally, heal up and then kill the fool.

Next, a traitor and 2 petras will come in. Kill the petras first, and once you do, another petra and a heavy will spawn. I like to take out the petra, followed by the traitor and then fool.

Spelling Bee(tles)

Once you kill off the last enemy in the wave, IMMEDIATELY go to the far right wall and charge a great slash. After a few seconds, 2 soul twisters will spawn. But, by hugging the right wall, you limit their spawn positions to the space to your top-left. This allows you to jump up and kill them both in one hit, before they can act. After you've finished them, 3 mistakes will spawn on the ground. If you need health, kill 2 and run away to heal. If not, kill them and prepare for a miniboss. DO NOT HEAL after killing the mistakes.

A soul warrior will teleport in and attempt to downstrike you after a few seconds. Just remain calm, most of their attacks are extremely easy to dodge if you're careful.

After you've beaten the warrior, some platforms and spikes will spawn, followed by a volt twister. These guys use Uumuu's lightning attack, so they're predictable and slow but muck up the battlefield if you don't plan out where you run from them. They die to 4 hits or 2 slashes, and can be used to safely heal. Just wait out their attack and then heal once before dodging. Keep repeating this until you're full hp again.

When you kill it, a soul twister will spawn. Use platforms to block projectiles and wait for openings to strike.

Another volt will spawn, same deal as before.

Next, yet ANOTHER volt will spawn, shortly followed by a soul. Focus down whichever suits you best in the moment. The volt is easier but less dangerous, and vice versa.

Finally, the platforms will lower, and you'll have to fight another warrior, but this time he has a soul twister as backup. Hooray!!! Again, don't heal before this wave. I prefer to focus down the twister. just bide your time and wait for an opening, then kill the warrior as normal once you're done.

You've now made it through most of the tricky stuff. Just one difficult section and the boss left.

Mortar Kombat

Here's the part where Hiveblood starts getting really good. You can go without it but it makes everything past this point less of a headache to deal with. From this point forward, if you take ANY damage, retreat up the wall and wait for Hiveblood while kiting flying enemies.

Firstly, the walls will enclose you in a small pillar and a winged and sturdy fool will spawn. Kill the winged first, then focus down the sturdy.

Charge up a great slash for the 2 lesser mawleks that will spawn. a slash followed by an attack is enough to kill each.

Same deal for next round, but this time with a winged as well. Kill one mawlek, then the fool, followed by the other mawlek.

The final and toughest enemy of this section, the Brooding Mawlek, will appear. Just spam attacks at it from max range and dash away if it jumps up. Don't worry too much about the projectiles. You'll have time to heal up after.

You'll then be pushed into an even narrower space, and garpedes will start raining from the ceiling. Move to the right of the first one, then move into each gap that shows up. It's safe to heal 2 levels before the first garpede reaches you, and again once you're on the right side. You need every mask of health you can get for the next room and this is your last opportunity heal up.

Pain in the Aspid

Once the garpedes stop, jump up to the top of the wall while charging a slash. Kill one of the 2 squits before it can attack (the bottom and top-most spawns) and then kill the winged fool that comes with them. In general, you want to always leave a squit as your last enemy of the wave, since they're easily avoided while you wait out hiveblood.

After the first enemies are dead. an aspid and squit will spawn. Kill the aspid first (it spawns on top)

The strategy is identical for the next wave, which features a petra in place of the aspid.

Now, this is the part where knowing how to pogo is a lifesaver. 4 obbles will spawn on the sides of the arena. Move to the top and pogo off of them until only one is left. At this point, 2 wings will appear, pogo off of them before finishing the last obble, since they're actively trying to kill you.

Once you've cleared the wave, you'll be pushed downward into a tiny box with spikes at the bottom. There will be 2 waves of one squit each, which both spawn in the center. Either use a slash or shade soul to kill them quickly. You don't want a prolonged fight.

After this, you're finally given the entire screen and some platforms, but don't think you're done yet. The game still has one more cheap shot to throw at you before you continue. Start healing as soon as you land on a platform, but the middle one can be unsafe.

Tons of loodles will start spawning all over the arena. Just heal whenever you can and focus on dodging. The loodles will all kill themselves on spikes eventually, so no need to attack. You have to either be very good or very lucky to avoid taking damage here.

A Brief Respite

On the bright side. You've made it through the most challenging part. The final boss is easy compared to the last bit. But before you can fight her, you have to take on a few more waves. These are slightly tricky, but you're probably in bad shape after the last section and they give you the chance to recover.

The wave begins with a heavy and sturdy fool. Kill the heavy, which will cause a mantis traitor to spawn. a petra and shielded fool spawn when he dies, so kill everything but the shielded fool.

A shielded fool and soul twister will spawn. Kill the twister like before, then finish off the fool.

A volt twister and heavy appear afterwards. both are easy to avoid, so hang back and wait for a good opening to strike.

2 squits and baldurs will spawn on either side of you. focus the squits then use one baldur to heal up.

Next are a winged, heavy, and shielded fool. Focus the winged first, which will summon a sturdy. Kill the remaining enemies, using the shielded fool to heal up completely. The next part is the boss, which will give you no time to heal.

How to Tame Your God

You've finally made it to the final battle. Compared to the rest of the trial, God tamer should be easy. You have 2 options for this fight. Focus down God tamer herself, or her mount. If you choose to focus down God Tamer first, you'll get her out of the way, which makes it easier to fight her mount. If you focus the mount down first, you have to deal with God Tamer the whole time, but she'll give up when her mount dies. I'll refer to the rider as the tamer and the mount as the god in this section.

As soon as the fight starts and the tamer jumps onto the ground, fire 2-3 shade souls in their direction and then retreat up the left wall. The tamer only has a jump attack, while the god has a poison spit ability like the fungal ogres, and a roll attack like the watcher knights. If you're at the very top of the left wall, none of these attacks can hit you. From there, keep using descending dark whenever you have the soul, and use the invulnerability frames to get back up onto the wall. Whenever the god starts using his poison spit attack, you have enough time to jump down and downstrike it 2-3 times before it jumps up at you. If you take ANY damage during all of this. stay on top of the wall until Hiveblood heals you.

Keep repeating this process until they're both dead, and you'll finally have beaten the trial. You get over 2000 geo, an achievement, and the ability to 100% the game. Congratulations!

Example Video and Closing

I know some people can't learn as well from just reading a guide, so here's a video of me beating the trial. Sorry about the lag. Overwolf kinda sucks, but it's the best recording software I have.

So that's the guide. Hopefully this helped you overcome this challenge. If i missed anything, or you have feedback, let me know in the comments. I can add in any advice that i get later.

[Someguyidk]

You guys forgor abt the most important charm : dream wielder!!!

[asparagus]

try to use sharp shadow, it carried me through the aerial sections and always use nail arts against primal aspids and the battle squits!!!!!

[Grim Gamer]

GUYS your forgetting quick focus and deep focus that worked really well for me

you might need all the charm notches for this to be via- no even accsesable

[KC]

I never used nail arts because its torture to do platfroming while holding down x on controller

[KC]

alright, well, Im just going to add that if you have the dreamnail, you can leave on mistake left alone and use it to heal to full and full soul

[Shigbeard]

Also as an FYI, try using OBS studio for recording. I know it has "Broadcast" in the name but you can just local record all the same.

[Shigbeard]

I honestly did the whole thing with Mark of Pride, Soul Catcher, and Quick Focus. Never used nail arts, i find they are too gimicky when pogo and good movement are sufficient anyway.

[DJTron]

Yeah, the big thing is that it can be annoying and time-consuming if you get bad rng. If you play it right you're not in any danger at all but some impatience can really mess you up.

[bobime, dorime, demomium]

The Loodle section is my favourite one. It's just so easy with Nailmaster's glory and great slash.

[ChicuLink]

i just did it with quick focus, grimmchild lvl3, nailmasters glory, long nail and unbreakable strength. try it out!!