How to Beat Hardcore Difficulty (with pictures!)

Played through the normal difficulty campaign? Tired of going through training sandboxes because for some reason the game doesn't give you the option to have every item unlocked? Do you actually want a challenge that makes you regret living? Welcome to Hell(split)'s Hardcore difficulty! Hardcore on Hellsplit is quite the challenge, the enemies may be a bit same-y, but reckless mistakes are punishing and dying makes you wish you were dead IRL. Learn how to not die in this in-depth guide and learn a few things about the enemies and levels in the game!

Author's Note

I will no longer be updating this guide as most of the content present in the game as of 1.17 has made no drastic changes to the Hardcore campaign's gameplay


This guide should still work and mostly goes over how to utilize (and abuse) the game's mechanics to win Hardcore, as well as providing insight to Sword weapon gameplay and enemy types + weaknesses!


I will still play and test the game every update to see how Hardcore is affected by different updates/patches, but as it stands, this guide is FINAL!

1.17 and 1.16 Thoughts and Changes

GUNS AND BOWS
These things are really powerful and hit for NASTY damage. The guns are especially strong, but their downside is easily countered by their slow animation speeds and the fact that it takes a holster slot to keep ammo on you.

Guns are slow since you need to do an animation to pull the flint back, reload the gun, then aim and fire and repeat those animations all over again for each round. The biggest upside being that they are EXTREMELY versatile in horde clearing or single target damage, so they can easily demolish Dark Knights with closer ranged weapons like the Hand Cannon.

Bowsare a nice less powerful option to guns since you can still have the option for heavy arrows and you can reclaim spent arrows to fire again. It's faster to equip, draw, and shoot compared to the guns, but I personally find bows to be better because you need to be quick this fast-paced game known as Hellsplit Arena


ARCHERS
In order to save you and myself the time, the ARCHERS are enemies that will appear in chapter 1 and will stay relevant throughout the game. They're annoying, they'll chunk your health if they hit you, and this raises the value of shields AND cold potions by an extreme amount. One thing to note: They will fire faster the closer you get to them, so keep strafing to either side and be ready to close in. They also have a sword as a sidearm for when you get into melee range, so they stay strapped and you still gotta be careful of that.

If you struggle with archers in later levels, don't be afraid to buy the Knight Shield or use any other shield before unlocking it since you need it for the final fight!

However, they're pretty easy to kill; the only hard part is getting THROUGH to them while they try pelting you with arrows. Keep a health pot on demand and be sure to rummage around for any fruits if you can to stay healthy if you got hit by one or two arrows.


EXTRAS
Now as I said before, shields are much more valuable, but why cold potions as well? Now you have a reason to slow down the fight - to get to the archers. As you progress through the story, you'll encounter much tougher enemies in terms of durability, and eventually Dark Knights. When you have Dark Knights on you while archers are pincushioning you, the next best thing to a shield is having cold enchantment to slow down their animations and movement, allowing you to create a window of opportunity to get back onto a melee killing track.

[INTRO] I'm new, what's different in Hardcore?

Well, the only thing that's different luckily for you, is nothing like increasing health or damage of the enemies, but moreso has to do with the fact that zombies and skeletons will dodge and block more frequently. I don't actually know the full list of things that are different, but these are the main two things I've noticed as I played and died over and over again.

It might not be a huge difference, but having undead that constantly block and dodge your attacks will fatigue you faster irl. Since you need to match with their agility so they don't get any free hits on you.

Also, the Phoenix Potion starts being useful here since you don't want to die. To use the Phoenix Potion, if you have it in your belt, drink it and you'll have an extra life. The description says that it doesn't work for a long period of time, but to me when I tested it out in Training, it lasted up until I forced myself to die. So you should be able to finish the level with that extra life you decided to pop the Phoenix Potion in. And you can buy as many as you want. So save them for bosses and/or levels like Chapter 3 and 4 when things get tougher.

ADDENDUM: Phoenix Potions become unlockable later in Chapter 3; not really a problem since you're mostly going to need them in mid-end Chapter 3 and all of 4

[CHAPTER 1] How do you get through chapter 1?

Chapter 1 and its boss is extremely easy. A bunch of unarmored zombies and a boss skeleton. You don't even need to use any weapons. However I should mention: dying in this game means restarting from the very first chapter and the very first level, redoing the bosses you've killed, and re-unlocking the weapons and armor you've missed out on. Luckily for you, if you purchased a set of say Plate Armor or Templar Armor before you died and have a Longsword before you died, you keep those weapons as long as they remain in your sheathes.

INVESTMENTS
You don't need to invest in anything. If you want to be safe, buy Brigandine, otherwise you're fine. Save up until Chapter 2 when you're able to purchase the Longsword which costs 12,800 coins.

OTHER LEVELS
You'll enter the Armory and the Fort levels, both of which are easy since they're unarmored zombies. You can find bombs and explosive barrels around but BE CAREFUL as turning around with snap-turn for some reason SOMETIMES causes your bomb/barrel to explode in your hand and you'll be left at death's door. When this happens, quickly find apples and bananas around the map to heal yourself up.

ENEMIES
As far as levels go, you will only face the basic unarmored zombie. Easiest way to dispatch of them is jumping, kicking them onto the ground (or grabbing their arm or neck), then punching into their chest and ripping their hearts out or ripping their heads.

You can rip heads effectively by grabbing the very top of the head and gripping either upper arm or neck in both front and back sides and tearing the head away. If it doesn't work, make sure your hand is at the very top of the head and the other hand is not grabbing the head in any way.

The Fire Skeleton champion boss guy is an easy boss. You're able to move around the arena once you spawn in. Once you do so, face the right to an open gap in a stone wall in front of a stone house.

Once you've face this direction, go towards the gap in front of the stone building and wait for the boss to come out. Once the skeleton is out and he jumps into the arena, start running into him and punching and kicking wildly until he falls to the ground.
Beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of him until he explodes into a moshpit of bones. Congrats! You beat Chapter 1!

[CHAPTER 2] Things get a bit spicy here

In Chapter 2 you'll eventually be introduced to the skeletons. They're easier to kill when you get a good hit on them, but they're extremely agile. Shields become a lot more common and this becomes the bane of my existence. When a skeleton rolls and you make a downward cut if he has a shield, sometimes the shield will block it and they'll try to either attack you or backstep or roll again... Mid-roll.

INVESTMENTS
You will unlock Heavy Brigandine and the Longsword eventually at around level 9. Save up until you can at least purchase the Longsword as two-handed swords are extremely versatile and handy in this game, and certain HEMA techniques can actually be used, which I also respect. Lamellar will also eventually be unlocked later on. You can purchase either or, but whichever one you decide on buying, do not purchase anymore armor until you've unlocked Plate Armor at Chapter 4, since it costs 55,000. You can also try to save up for Heavy Plate Armor which is 90k, which I'll make a separate investment list on later.

OTHER LEVELS
Every other level will be training levels, though specifically Frozen Lake, Bar, and Knight's Court (i think, i don't remember chapter 2 much since it's easy) will be your maps. Frozen Lake comes before you unlock the Longsword, so if you haven't kept a weapon like the axe or club, that's fine. It's just gonna take more time to beat since chainmail and helmeted zombies make their appearance here as well for some reason. This means you won't be able to rip their heads off or tear their hearts out. Try ramming them with the Horse and then beating them on the ground or while you're grabbing them.

Once you get the longsword, you can start using the first half-swording technique. To do this, simply grab the blade of the longsword with both hands and use the crossguard like a two-handed hammer and smash away at their helmets!

ENEMIES
As I said, you start off with unarmored zombies and skeletons. To beat the skeletons, simply run into them until they ragdoll on the floor, or jump kick them, or simply punch them. Grab their bodies, then punch away until they explode into bones. Chainmail zombies start appearing, and to kill them, simply lure them to a trap or drop kick them and drag them to the trap to kill them.

Once you've unlocked the Longsword, chapter 2 becomes a breeze and it will be your friend in chapter 3. It is best to always two-hand the longsword to make better swings. Also, for some reason if you swing too fast, the game sometimes has a hard time recognizing the swing so you won't end up doing damage. Do it too slow, and you already know how it goes. The idea is to make strong, wide swings and complete the direction of your swing to make it effective. Perfecting the swings of every two-handed sword weapon will one-shot break helmets, one-shot weak shields, and severely damage better shields. This gets better if you also have better swords like the Bastard Sword and the Claymore.

Chapter 2 should be a breeze after unlocking the Longsword. The bosses are enemies that will also appear in Chapter 3, so they're easy to defeat.

Once you've spawn in, you'll face forward. The Three Royal Guards will spawn from their tombs and enter the arena one at a time. All the more easier! Once one steps into the arena, run straight into them and knock then into the ground. Once they're on the ground, use the half-swording technique and bash their helmets in quickly until it breaks and then stab them or keep beating their brains out. Rinse and repeat until all 3 are dead. Flawless Victory!

So actually, I'm not sure if they changed it or if I was slower this time, but they spawn a LOT faster this time around and multiple Royal Guards can be in the arena at the same time. Yes, this does make it harder, but simply knock them over, beat down their helmets and stab them with half-swording and you'll instantly kill them like any other Chapter 3 enemy. FLAWLESS VICTORY!

[CHAPTER 3] Pain and Suffering

Chapter 3 starts getting difficulty. You now have to deal with helmeted zombies and skeletons with better shields. Sometimes with even weapon boosters. You unlock the Templar Armor here, but to be honest you could skip the Templar Armor. You do unlock the Bastard Sword, which is the better longsword since it's slightly longer and girthier, so you can chop things in half more easily and get some nice noticeable reach advantage while fighting.

INVESTMENTS
Start buying Full Health Potions and keep a Phoenix Potion on your belt. You otherwise don't need to buy any armor, and the Bastard Sword is optional. The BS can't be sheathed in your side sheath, which is the only sheath aside from the back-left sheath that doesn't sometimes remove the weapon from existence when you enter any level. So yeah, keep in mind to put you longsword into your left sheathe before entering or exiting a level.

Before the boss fight, purchase a Poison bottle for the fight and keep it on your belt along with the Phoenix Potion. Otherwise, keep a Full Heal pot in your belt at all times. Sometimes you get hit a bunch and the apple/orange expires after you bat an eye towards it, so it's nice to have a full heal at your disposal.

OTHER LEVELS
Frozen Lake and Knight's Court return, the two maps with horses in the back. Abuse your enemies with the Horseback riding and two-handing Longsword.

Torture Chamber is also another map and is a fun execution map. Just stand by the lava pit upstairs and throw enemies in, occasionally throw a bomb if it doesn't explode on you. Remember if a bomb explodes in your face, it's better to take the full heal than rush for the fruits if there's enemies in the way or you're not sure if you're gonna die after tanking a literal bomb in your hand.

ENEMIES
Heavily armored (chainmail+helmet) zombies and skeletons will spawn. Better shields. You think your longsword is obsolete? No, it's not. Try to attempt perfect swings. Fast moving-- but not panicked or super fast swings or thrusts at your target. Make full horizontal swings when targeting the shields or the helmets. If it's an open helmet, try to thrust into their faces (sometimes the helmets are weird and you'll hit the helmet instead of the face). To make that easier, use half-swording by holding the handle of the longsword with your dominant hand, and then using your other hand to hold the blade itself so you have a lot more control when thrusting. See below image

Although sometimes, thrusting into their faces gets weird because you might either miss, they might dodge, their ragdolled body is making weird poses blocking their heads, or the helmet despite having an exposed face will block your stab. Or all of the above.

Make swift vertical swings downward or swift horizontal swings from left-to-right on skeletons. Skeletons even with armor are easy to kill, but the shields make it unbearably stupid. Hitting a weapon also for some reason stops the momentum of your blade, so try not to hit the weapon if possible. A good swing can instakill even an armored skeleton at the right spot. If the skeleton rolls, face them and right as they're finishing their roll animation, strike down on their shield-holding arm at the right distance and you'll severely damage or outright kill them.

Yes, you can still grab enemies, but it's not recommended since you can get struck by a weapon-enhanced undead.

If you get poisoned and you haven't been hit at all, take the full-health potion after a few groans from your character. Poison can kill you super hard. Fire can tick away at your health fast, and ice is the least worrying of them since it does't deal damage. Every time you're poisoned or burning, pop the full-heal.

Now you're at the boss! This boss can one-shot you. The Ogre can actually be decapitated, but it's risky and moreso a lucky or well-timed hit. You can't move at all while the narrator is giving his speech about how the Ogre is so awesome and cool and dangerous so you can't cheese this. Surprisingly, he CAN be knocked down, but this is EXTREMELY risky. I won this by buying the poison bottle, enchanting my longsword/bastard sword, and making swings with the very tip of the sword.
Try to bait his attacks by standing at the edge of his attack range and then stepping back as he winds up an attack. Once he finishes one or two attacks fully, strike him once or twice, then step away while the poison eats away at him. Eventually he'll drop dead from a sword strike or the poison and you've beat Chapter 3!

[CHAPTER 4] player: I'm so good at this game! game: Narrator boss fight

Welcome to Chapter 4, you may notice that things will get a bit more difficult and cramped in this chapter now that you have to deal with Dark Knights, armored undead with better shields, and weapon boosters. This is where I died many times, but mostly because I was being reckless. This tests your skills in using your weapons, knowing when/how you should attack, and using the environment. Spinning traps will carry you if you're struggling, but that makes chapter 4 boring as hell.

INVESTMENT
Assuming you did not buy the Bastard Sword, buy the Claymore (31.5k) and Plate Armor (55k). Plate Armor first. If you can't afford it, you can buy the Templar Armor. The Claymore however, is a must-have and others may disagree with me. Why is the claymore a must-have? You have long reach with this greatsword, so you can hit and easily knock down Dark Knights with good swings. It can one-shot helmets and shields with good swings, and easily blow through skeletons like cardboard.

If you want to save up for Heavy Plate Armor, you can, but I advise you at least buy either Claymore or Bastard Sword to compensate since you want to have extra reach when dealing with Dark Knights. Buying HPA is a lot easier when you've died late and catch back up to Chapter 4 since you'll have the armor you've bought and the weapons in your sheathes when you die, allowing you to save more money on the way, get through every level faster, and knowing more about enemy movement patterns and weaknesses as you go through the motions again.

If you want my opinion on the HPA, it is quite durable! You can take more hits from Dark Knights and some hits from the King. 90,000 gold coins for this piece of armor is definitely a worthy investment. However, a claymore with regular plate armor does the job just as fine. HPA increases your survivability if you know you'll get reckless when fighting. On top of this, you could also save up until you unlock the Flamberge, which is an even longer and larger greatsword that is amazingly great. You can reach a lot farther and with heavier swings, you can sometimes instantly knock down Dark Knights and it makes one-shotting armored skeletons and zombies much easier. This would be around 120k+ however. This means, possibly, dying and restarting up until Chapter 4 so you can regain all the spent money from buying previous items before you died and save up for both HPA and Flamberge. Keep in mind though, Greatswords will stop being useful at the final boss fight. See below.

However, before the final boss battle, be sure you have enough for the Knight Shield (~22k)

Keep a Full Heal and Phoenix on you at all times. Don't be afraid to pop a full heal, you can always buy another. Don't forget you need to actually drink the Phoenix Potion when you feel you are about to die. If you feel like the enemies are too much and you need some more breathing room, Ice potion booster will help you out a bunch here.

OTHER LEVELS
Knight's Court Dark is quite dark, with lightning and dim torches only lighting up the map. Once again, use the Horse and abuse your enemies. Frozen Lake is also another map. Use the Horse. Dungeon is also a fun map, just stand by edge of the huge lava pit and throw all of your enemies in.

ENEMIES
Dark Knights. God I hate Dark Knights. They hit hard, take just as hard hits, and can really screw your run over if you're reckless. Yes you can knock them down, but you can't grab them and they can easily shrug off every other swing. If you were doing well in Chapter 3, you'll do fine on the rest of the enemies in Chapter 4, however be careful of the Dark Knights. If you're struggling against them, lure them over to a spinning trap -- it always instakill them. But with a Claymore, Dark Knights shouldn't be a problem as long as you're keeping them at bay to deal with the lesser undead, then soloing them to make it easier. Or singling them out in the midst of everything.

At the 2nd to last level, you'll face all the bosses again. Abuse the crap out of the Fire Skeleton and the 3RGs. Save a poison bottle for the Ogre OR attempt to decapitate him with the Claymore or Flamberge if you have it since you have the reach and power. Rinse and repeat, easy bossfight moshpit.

The last level of course, is the hardest. You have to beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of the narrator. Claymore and Flamberge and every two-handed grip on swords stop being useful here. Buy a Knight Shield and use either Longsword or Bastard Sword if you have them and keep a Full Heal on you with the Phoenix potion. The narrator is EXTREMELY agile, he will always roll and backflip whenever you hit him, even in mid-dodge animation. He also can switch between fire, poison, and ice boosters.

This is why the shield is going to be your friend. The narrator will rush you in the blink of an eye with many attacks forward and has a high chance of infliction weapon effects on you. If you start burning or being poisoned, wait for a few groans before taking a Full Heal. Use the half-swording technique with one hand using either Longsword or Bastard Sword. Then use the handguard as a hammer head and continuously smash the narrator and keep moving. ALWAYS keep the shield in front of you at all times when attacking. The last thing you want is dying to fire or poison from the narrator's attacks. You can't ragdoll or grab him, if you couldn't tell by now.

Whenever he rolls, always keep your eye on him and strike him as he's recovering and strike him after he finishes his barrage of attacks on your shield. It IS a long boss fight, so don't worry about rushing or feeling pressured under some time limit. You have a lot of time to beat him.

You'll know you've beaten him when he ragdolls on the ground and his face has closed eyes. Congratulations! You beat Hardcore AND unlocked the good ending!
please watch the cutscene, you don't die like in the normal campaign, you live and get your firekeeper cosplaying wife while being the epic champion of the land

What if I don't want to use the sword?

Now that my trackers have been fixed I can give a much more appropriate response to the answer of blunt weapons and axes as alternative weapons to the sword!

Both blunt weapons and axes are great and have a greater ability to kill compared to swords. Blunt weapons are overall just great against armor, and axes are straight up broken with how well they can deal with armor, break helmets and shields, and ragdoll dark knights, but they are just extremely powerful.

Blunt weapons are very easy weapons to understand and control and is the most suited for players who not only have the desire to feel extraordinarily powerful, but want to have a lot of fun with ragdolling every single enemy they come across by bludgeoning them to death! There's an immense satisfaction I get whenever I use a warhammer to knock people off their legs, then smash their bodies and faces with the heavy head.

Axes are great as well, and are probably the most powerful weapons of the bunch, aside from bows. Upon unlocking the double headed axe, you can do some serious damage to every undead, especially armored. The power of the weapon comes from a centralized point (the axe heads, like mace heads or hammer heads). Getting better with the axes, they feel easier to use than a sword due to the fact that they can better destroy helmets and one-shot zombies if you land a head blow for the instakill head explosion.

I highly recommended the sword because it is a highly skill-based weapon! It won't hack or cut through armor, or bludgeon as hard as either axe or blunts, but swords are so versatile that you can use it for ANY job the axe or blunt can do, just not to the same destructive degree as either of them. Being able to also use HEMA techniques with the swords just sells the point of being able to exploit the advantages of being the most versatile weapon type in the game. Again, this is not the strongest weapon type in the game, but it requires a certain degree of patience and a bit more grace than both axes and blunts.

And do I really need to explain the bows? Having a weapon that allows you to keep vast distances away between you and the enemy is extremely handy, paired with the fact you can recycle your arrows AND have a utility sidearm just incase is a real kicker. You can even stab enemies with the arrows and kill them! (it loses its effectiveness against skeletons and dark knights, but it's still funny) You can even pretend to be a mongolian or a samurai on horse arena maps like Lake with the addition of bows

Guns are just in a different ballpark and I don't particularly enjoy them, even with buckshot. The downside to guns are that they are incredibly slow (I don't have a problem with it) so it's not my preferred style of aggressive combat. They ARE very powerful though, which is the one thing that makes them good. The guns are incredibly well-made and balanced in Hellsplit, but it's just not my style to spend loads of money on ammo and run around reloading after every shot. I just like to run around and kill things

Keep in mind this is just my experience with the three weapons and this doesn't apply to everyone. If you're confident in using blunt weapons or axes throughout your playthrough in hardcore, then by all means, you don't have to follow my economy guide and save for the longsword at chapter 2; go ahead and save for a broad axe, or the hunter's bow if you really want, it's your playstyle and your playthrough after all

tl;dr I recommend swords purely for the technical skill, but axes and blunt weapons for melees work their jobs better if you want a more straightforward game.

Closing

well I hoped this was helpful as this guide is now finished until another major update adds more things like levels, enemies, and/or equipment into the game

sword supremacy

[lord etching von masturbagoon IV]

hardcore was so fucking easy dude I just got max armor and flailed around with a really big sword

[MightyOwl]

if you dont want to use a sword, save up for the hammer you get early in chapter 4. it one shots most helmets with a good strike and can falter even the most armored enemies.

[Fable [SUSPENDED]]

I beat the final boss with the starter pistol and buckshot, it's a little bit powerful

[DatBCMan]

u a saint fr 🙏

[Ztoxicman]

for the royal guards It's actually super easy: knock them over half-sword and stab at the under side of their chin, and you'll bypass the helmet entirely and kill them in one shot. And now that daggers are a thing, you could probably just chin stab them while they're still standing.

[Shmoomoo]

i used the war hammer and shredded the funni final boss man

[Slenderp123]

a man of eastern tastes

[kai]

just use a katana its easy

[Slenderp123]

there are a lot of games that are beatable with only the starter weapons on the hardest difficulty, like beating ironman realistic difficulty on Into the Radius with the PM, but it's much more fun to use other weapons than the stick and shield

[Stick Man]

all you need to win are the starter weapons