Empress Ending General Tips

A collection of tips and tricks to help you get the Empress ending and related titles.
Tested on Warden difficulty.

Intro and Goals

The goal of this guide is to help you not only reach the Empress ending but also get the Aspiring Hero and Holy Empress titles at the same time.

Getting Holy Empress means saving both virginities and first kiss for marriage, and Aspiring Hero requires getting all four Hero's Guidelines gifts.

Both require a very low desires playthrough, which is what you want anyway when going for the Empress ending.

Starting Choices

Difficulty mode

Both the ending and related titles can be obtained in any difficultly mode so choose whatever you are comfortable with.
I did this run on Warden and after a while I started wishing I had chosen Secretary; not because it was particularly difficult but because it was so time-consuming.

Starting Title

I recommend Hardworking Tutor because Control+1 is very useful in a run where you want to minimize combat and because Fatigue recovery-12% is easily ignored by just upgrading the bed.

Extra Sensitive Body Part

The best options are either Puss-y or Anus since they are the easiest to protect. That said, if you keep your desires below 50 like you are supposed to, this body part choice doesn't matter much.

Dormant Desire

I recommend either Mouth or Boobs, as the rings to reduce those desires (Double and Finger Claw) are the cheapest. That way you can regain control as soon as possible.

Recommended Build

I strongly recommend going Agility+Mind.

Mind is a must-have in this run as you'll need it to keep desires under control.

Agility is superior to Strength and Dexterity because it increases speed and dodge chance; both of which will help remain in control of fights.
High speed will let you take out the enemy before it can act. Dodge chance helps not only in regular fights but also in the Bar job.

A little stamina (mostly to dodge) and energy is fine, but you don't need much in this sexless playthrough.

The recommended accessories are:

• Bracelet: Red.
  
• Ring: Double or Finger Claw, depending on which body part you chose as dormant desire.
  
• Earrings: Star.
  
• Necklace: Emerald.

Once you get the Aspiring Hero title you can switch to the stronger accessories then available. They are not really necessary though, as by the time you get them the game is almost over.

Leveling and Combat Strategies

Since we're going AGI+Mind the only thing you need to worry about while leveling is to only use thrust attacks.
The way to do this is to alternate a thrust attack with an energy skill. Most of the time this energy skill will be Cautious Stance, which is a skill/edict you'll want to unlock as soon as you start the game.

Leveling Mind is easy and will be done automatically since you'll be using Will skills almost every turn. Either using Ki to take out the enemy as quickly as possible or suppressing a desire if it's getting close to 50.
Late game you can spam the See+Hear+Speak No Evil skills to ensure all desires stay down.

As soon as you get Taunt do use it all the time. Not only for the valuable Confidence buff but also because you want the enemies to be angry so they don't try any sex attacks.

Your main worry will be the need to maintain Order with as few fights as possible. Outside combat that means doing the receptionist job.
In-combat, this translates as defeating enemies with as few hits as possible. This is because the more attacks you do, the more your Sadism will rise which means each hit will do more Pleasure damage to you, which means having to masturbate before sleep.
While that's not as bad masturbating in combat, or getting touched by enemies, it will still give you some passives. This is particularly dangerous early on when you don't have high Mind and Mind skills to block other sources of passives. Note that it is ok to occasionally let your Pleasure rise a little even it means having to masturbate at night (for example to put down a riot in a single day), just don't do it if you don't need to. And always avoid letting your Pleasure rise so much that masturbating will trigger an orgasm.
Returning to the point about attacking as few times as possible, that also means that Skewer is better saved just for the bosses. You can use it in a regular fight in a pinch but try to avoid it as it is unreliable. Also, you won't be Countering much, unless you can be sure that your counter is going to be a thrust attack (or that the enemy is so weak that even a non-thrust will kill). For this reason do the Offensive path for your halberd.
And finally, always use Ki unless you're sure a non-ki attack will one-shot.

By the way, never fight the guards outside your office. They will give you several passives right from the start and, specially early on, you won't be strong enough to defeat them before they can fondle Karryn at least a little. Definitely not worth the risk in a run like this.

Recommended Edicts Order

As mentioned in the previous section, get Cautious Stance as soon as you start. That way you won't waste levels on STR and DEX, at least not anymore than what can't be avoided.

Normally after that you want to get the super valuable (for early game) Red bracelet but in this playthrough keeping you sloot level low takes priority. Get the ring that lowers the desire of your chosen Dormant Desire body part instead.

After that, like in a normal playthrough, try to prioritize edicts that increase income (or lower expenses) to maximize profits. The exception are the Publish edicts in the Personal section. Those increase profits very little so only go for them when you have edicts/money to spare.

As with a regular playthrough:
- be very wary of any edict that increases enemy stats or the chances of rioting.
- when getting Control-increasing edicts, always go for the cheapest ones (in terms of maintenance) first.
- improve your bed as soon as you can, the well-slept buff is very strong.
- while leveling go for training edicts first, you can improve your halberd later.

Compared to a regular playthrough you'll have a greater need for Control edicts, at least until unlocking the reception job (and increasing its reputation).

Around mid-game, make sure not to rush to buy the expensive last levels of training and halberd upgrades. Try to first get at least some of the cost-lowering Research edicts. Also, try to farm some money before clearing level 3 as the "problem" edicts which activate then are particularly annoying for a pure build (and you won't be able to do the stripping job to keep rioting chances low).

Bar and Reception

Since we want to minimize combat, we'll have to use and abuse both the Bar (to get money) and the Reception (to increase Order).

For the Bar, ideally you want to use the See and Hear No Evil skills every turn. That said you can start with the Bar earlier without too many bad side effects; just stick to short shifts and be sure to get the mentioned Mind skills as soon as possible.
Don't drink at all unless you are certain that it's not going to make you drunk and that the Willpower hit won't be big enough to endanger finishing the shift properly. If you were unlucky and are running out of Will then just retreat behind the bar for a couple of turns.
Once you have the See+Hear No Evil skills, and preferably the Speak one too, you can make safely a lot of money. Just don't do the bar too much while leveling or you'll end up with a ton of Mind points (while Mind is great in this build, you don't want to level purely Mind).
As with a regular playthough, after a while you'll want to buy glasses once or twice so you don't need to spend so much time cleaning tables.
Note that thanks to See No Evil, you won't need to fix your clothes as being naked will do nothing.

The receptionist job is what will save you from having to fight more than one or twice a day.
There's not much to say about this job, just remember to focus on the goal: raising Order while not letting goblins touch you. Always reject fans since they'll just waste your time.
You'll want to go for the longest shift possible to maximize Order.
I recommend writing down when a room will be free whenever you send someone to it. That way you won't waste a turn and Karryn's stamina having to check if it's free.

Hero's Guidelines

The Hero's Guidelines are the gifts that require having very low sloot level. All four have to be obtained to gain the Aspiring Hero title.

The requirements are the following:

• Hero's Guidelines Volume 1 (lewd < 20)
  
• Hero's Guidelines Volume 2 (lewd < 30)
  
• Hero's Guidelines Volume 3 (lewd < 40)
  
• Hero's Guidelines Volume 4 (lewd < 50)

The effects are suited for a playthrough like this, giving talk, sight and strip resist. And the last one giving a very valuable buff to Will regen.

Conclusion and Warning

Despite all I wrote, I have to say that, after the first hours, the number one threat to a pure run is tedium.
Mid-game grind is particularly boring without any sex to spice it up. Unless you really like the Bar and Receptionist jobs (without any sexy time, remember) I would recommend doing this playthough on Secretary. I did it on Warden and on top of taking a long time to finish, it felt like a chore after a while.
Now, that might have also been because I didn't want to risk losing the whole run to the level 4 and 5 bosses and so I farmed as many edicts as possible before those fights. But I think that in a game mode with "kinda permadeath" playing it safe is to be expected.

Anyway, best of luck with your run and let me know if you have any questions!

[Shmos]

Is it possible to reach this ending on the highest difficulty level? In theory it is possible, but is it realistic in practice?

[alekzanderlr]

Phoenix: That's a nice extra then! Still, I would use it anyway just for the fact that it makes the enemy prefer doing "normal" attacks instead of sexual ones.

[Phoenix]

It seems that taunt not only gets them angry so they attack much more often, but also seems to increase their attack, lessen their evasion and accuracy and such- curiously the same debuff Karryn gets when sexually frustrated, so taunt does have its benefits in saving you from gaining passives unexpectedly in fights (and finishing them quick if you have the speed/accuracy for it)

[alekzanderlr]

Yeah, "shoo away" isn't very effective. I only use it if I really have nothing else to do and plenty of stamina left.
99.9% of the time I use kick; sometimes I bait them to approach with a "dummy" action just so I can use kick ASAP.

[White Man Jumpscare]

Is there a strategy for shooing goblins on the receptionist job? It feels like "shoo away" does nothing no matter how much I spam it

[Tomcat]

Granted I have alot of charm from starting with the charm access.

But flaunting with lots of charm and having high mind, it seems that you can defeat alot of opponents by just standing around and letting themselves masterbate to death.

The final boss minions were like this. The final bosses themselves had to be chipped away with Skewers. At this late of the game, it seemed fine to also just incorporate strength attacks too. Especially since they won't attack. They just keep masterbating.

[alekzanderlr]

Using Flaunt instead of Taunt after early game sounds like a very good trick.

I'm not including it in the guide because I only want it to have stuff I have tested myself, but it seems like a great idea.

[Tomcat]

Seeing how secretary mode is easier and that I have some titles unlocked already on my prisoner run. I guess I can just comment that:

Agi + Mind is def better than Agi + Dex.

Pure runs never really need to do bar, strip club, or receptionist. I did a few receptionist jobs but stopped and just continued to just fight to level up.


Taunt is good early on when you get it. But flaunt is much better when that unlocks. Because you are keeping desires down, their "sex attacks" are nothing more than just talking. You especially prevent dangerous foes like werewolves from clawing you which can take most of your health in one hit. A charmed werewolf does absolutely nothing when you keep all desires down.

Agi + Cautious is def good for most of the game.

♥♥♥♥ kick is good with agi but ♥♥♥♥ kick shouldnt be used when you are flaunting and the anger others passive unlocks.

Finally, Strength to finish off some things late in the game may be necessary.

[Tomcat]

I also been using ♥♥♥♥ kicks when available on blushed opponents (minus slimes). I don't think it's even tied to any stat.

[Tomcat]

You may get Flaunt from a passive. I find it better against lizardmen. If you have been keeping all desires low, all they can do is leer and talk. They only try sex attacks beyond a certain threshold for each desire.

Sadism is inevitable so I feel like it's necessary to kill everyone in Prisoner mode.

I haven't bothered with Bar yet. I don't think the HearsayNo evils are needed. But then again, I'm running on aspring hero which doubles all my hero stuff.


I generally like the Receptionist in any run. But I know that it builds like Dex and Mind. Probably something to consider if going all Agi.



I DO counterattack when I use the non-ki mind move...whatever it's called. But I took the offensive specialization nonetheless.

I kind of disagree with saving skewer only for bosses.


And sadism pleasure builds faster once you get the passive that builds pleasure faster under confident buff. So some cases, it's better to just not taunt/flaunt. But most battles should be taunted/flaunted.