How To Tumble

A general guide on how to overcome the everchanging mountain of death

Intro

Hi I'm towwl and there's not much interesting to say about me, but seeing the dearth of resources available for this game, I thought maybe it'll help at least one person out there to have this guide at the ready to overcome the immense challenge that TumbleSeed presents.

Also, keep in mind, I'm not exactly some sort of prodigy at this game. Because of that, there might be more than a few inaccuracies within these tomes, so feel free to correct me on any mistake I make. I'd prefer you reach me on the TumbleSeed Discord[discord.gg], but Steam is also fine.

Basics

Movement

To control TumbleSeed (TS), you must move either side of the vine very carefully in order to get TS to where you want it to go. Move both sides of the vine in the same direction to move it up or down. Move both in opposite directions to rotate the vine. Move only one direction for fine adjustments. But you probably already knew that.

The key to movement is patience. Quick movements are especially dangerous. When moving quickly down the vine, it will take some time to get TS to switch directions or stop. Keep that in mind when creating a steep slope on your vine.

TS's center of gravity lies on its pupil. Once TS's pupil is over a hole, it's gonna fall.

Switching

TS has many powers (seeds) that you can switch between, and as you climb the mountain you're going to be finding yourself with more than the four you started with. Use them wisely, they are all extremely useful. Yes, even the ones that can kill you.

Switching, along with the game's already slow pace, allows you to plan your course of action every bit of the way to the peak. There is no reason to rush when the going gets rough. Keep in mind all the resources you have at your disposal to overcome the challenges the game will throw at you and plan ahead, especially when dealing with dangerous weaponry!

Crystals

Crystals are the main source of currency. Most seeds cost crystals to plant, so it's a resource that must be carefully considered. Crystals can also be used as a currency in the town areas between levels, so you really can never have too many of them.

White crystals are worth 1, yellow crystals are worth 3, and green crystals are worth 5.

Plots

But even with your seeds and your crystals, you aren't able to use abilities at anywhere. To plant a seed and use its ability, you need plots, and there are only so many available on each level, and every plot can only be used to plant a seed once. Just as crystals are a limited resource, plots are as well, and must be considered as such when in use. Husbandry is key in TumbleSeed. Also, keep in mind you have no control over where plots are located, and must use what the game gives you to your best ability.

Plots may be pre-planted, which TS can then roll over and use for free, but only for whatever power was pre-planted in the plot. Beware, though, as enemies are also able to take powers from the plots before you have a chance to!

Health

You start every game with 3 health. If you go down to 0 health, you go back to the bottom of the mountain. Ideally, you want to have a lot of health. That way you don't die. Unless, of course, you roll over spikes. If a seed spawns that you already have, in place of it will be a heart pickup that can be rolled over or bought, depending on the location. Hearts can also be given by the lottery.

Areas

Levels

Forest
The starting area of the game. It's mostly pretty gentle, aside from all the things that aren't gentle. It's where you want to prepare yourself for the later levels, as it's all uphill from there. Literally, and like, difficulty-wise.

Jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha na na na na knees knees
In the jungle welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my my serpentine -Axl Rose
"Serpentine" as in, of course, banana snakes. Evil banana snakes. Also guys who shoot when TS is in their line of sight. Also big jumping spiders that hunt you down. Also a bunch of other critters and holes to weave around. It'll be fine though, trust me.

Desert
Projectiles are going to become a much bigger worry once you reach the desert, as turrets are littered across the level firing mostly at you. So be careful about that, of course. Also, watch out for the red pool-noodle looking fellow, as it'll shoot you whenever you're directly above or below it. Lasers are also added into the mix, so watch your timing!

Snow
Remember all those levels where you successfully navigated your way around countless many holes? Well there's even more here. So good luck. And off course, there's enemies as well, including even more banana snakes!

Peak
There's a boss here. We'll get to that later.

Towns
Between each level is a town, where resources and minigames can be found. A small number of plots and crystals may also be found in each town scattered across the ground. Every town also contains one temple containing a free passive ability (aura).

Buildings

Shops
You may purchase seeds in exchange for crystals at shops located in towns. Towns further up the mountain have steeper prices, so keep that in mind while shopping. Prices can be lowered with a specific aura that grants 50% sales on every item found in shops. If you already have a seed that was going to be offered in a shop, a heart will be available for purchase instead, which is almost always worth it.

Race minigame
5 switches, many crystals, many holes, all in one room. Collect as many crystals as you can with all 5 switches pressed after 30 seconds and you'll be able to keep everything you've picked up. Be careful, though, as you're able to hurt yourself by falling in holes during the minigame, just as you would out in the wild.It costs 5 crystals to play.

Sharpshooter minigame
For 5 crystals, you have 30 seconds to shoot 8 moving targets with 2 cannons. Hitting all of the targets garners you a 10 crystal profit.

Lottery
Spin the wheel at the cost of 1 crystal for a chance at some crystals or even a heart. Can be useful if you have excess crystals and you find yourself in need of more health, but always play it expecting to lose. Only spend crystals you know you don't need.

Bank
The seed behind the desk explains it pretty well. Deposit 8 crystals, and the next time you see the investor seed, you'll make a 4 crystal profit. Basically 4 free crystals if you're certain the deposit won't screw you in the following level.

Library
(only found in the starting area) The librarian in this building will give you a bit of lore when you enter. Nothing else will be found in here, though.

Castle
(only found in the starting area) The castle is where you'll find the Elder Seed, which is the NPC that grants you quests on the individual mountains. Completing those quests will unlock auras to use both in adventure mode and on the individual mountains.

Sanctuaries

Vineguard Shrines
One of these will be found per level, and each gives you a choice of one of two seeds for free. Up top you'll be able to give the seeds a try if you're unfamiliar with how they work without the stress of losing crystals or health.

Temples
Temples are found in towns. They have 3 services available. You are able to trade in 2 seeds in your posession for one random seed not in your posession, you are able to remove auras, and one aura is available for free.

Bounce minigame
Some levels contain a bounce minigame sanctuary in them, which present the challenge of bouncing your way up a small level on sparsely scattered bouncepads with one big hole everywhere else. Mastery of your movement is important for overcoming this challenge. Winners get 2 free seeds at the top, where losers fall down into the hole and take damage. You only get one shot, so make it count.

Environment

Holes

Holes are the cornerstone of TumbleSeed. They must be avoided at all costs. No matter the distance since your last checkpoint, you will always take at least one heart of damage. If you felt so daring as to skip on using your FlagSeed, you may take even more damage depending on how far you fall. Holes come in three sizes only. As long as the center of TS is not above a hole, you should be fine.

Obstructions

Things with dark outlines that are jutting out of the ground are obstructions. They are basically walls that you and enemies cannot pass through, including the walls on the sides of the level. Obstructions not only obstruct movement, but vision as well, so be careful about enemies hiding behind these obstructions. Rarely, if a hole is just barely peeking out behind an obstruction, you might end up falling in. In most cases, it's wiser to just avoid rolling behind obstructions because of this.

Watchers

Watchers are shown as dark eye looking things hiding in holes that look in your direction. If you approach too close to a watcher, it will explode after a very short fuse time. The best way to deal with watchers is either avoiding them entirely, or approaching from either the top or bottom to instantly change direction after setting off the fuse.

Webbed holes

Webbed holes are the holes that seem like they have a spider web over them. TS is able to roll over the webbed hole, but the web will slowly disappear under TS. Lingering over the hole will lead to you falling in, so be sure not to dilly-dally, but even the large holes give enough time to cross them longways, so it's safe as long as you don't stop for a breather, or go back over the hole for whatever reason, because at that point it's just a normal hole. Duh.

Sinkholes

Sinkholes are basically just invisible webbed holes. A sound queue is played when one starts to collapse under you, along with a circular shaded region that indicates where the hole will appear. Stay alert!

Trapdoors

Trapdoors are holes that spend half their time as holes and half their time as ground. With proper timing they can be used to expand your area of movement. There's no warning as to when they open or close, but the timing is consistent.

Spikes

Spikes will kill you instantly. It's much more risky to cross inactive spikes than it is to cross trapdoors because of this. Be very careful with spikes in the area.

Lasers

Lasers are horizontal lines that can either pace up and down the level or stay still. Lasers have three phases. First phase is a faded red line, second is a bolder red line, and the third is a laser that can hit you for 1 heart. Like spikes and trapdoors, the timing is consistent, so they can be crossed with caution.

Starting Seeds

For the Seeds and Auras sections, items that can potentially hurt you are given a ⚠️ emoji as warning.

FlagSeed

Category: Utility
Cost: 1 crystal
A starter seed. The FlagSeed is your main tool to combat holes. It plants a flag in a plot where you will spawn if you fall down a hole. Theoretically, if you never fall in any holes, the FlagSeed is completely useless. The only problem is that you are going to fall into holes. Remember to stay humble and plant your FlagSeeds. If you ever take more than one damage on a fall, you're doing something wrong.

ThornVine

Category: Offense
Cost: 1 crystal
A starter seed. When planted, you will gain a thorn that orbits around TS and deals 1 damage to enemies that it touches. You can amass any number of thorns you would like. Thorns are destroyed when used on an enemy. When you take damage, you lose all of your thorns. The ThornVine is your main offensive seed, but as you amass a collection of seeds to use in your journey, the ThornVine quickly becomes outclassed by safer and more consistent damage dealers. Using ThornVine always runs the risk of losing all of your well earned thorns and close combat with enemies, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't use it. Situations where you find yourself running from an enemy can quickly be resolved with pacing and a few thorns, for example.

Crystal

Category: Utility
Cost: Free!
A starter seed. For every three plots you roll over with Crystal, you will receive 2 white crystals, making for an average payout of ~0.66 crystals per plot. You can do much better than that, but in the situation where you are broke, Crystal is the way to go. Once you find yourself comfortable with your crystal economy, feel free to trade it in at a Temple in one of the towns with another seed, as it's rare you'll find yourself in a situation where Crystal is viable.

HeartSeed

Category: Utility
Cost: 1 crystal
A starter seed. Every plot you roll over with heart seed with grant you a fourth of a heart, which cannot be used until you get all four fourths, making one heart effectively worth 4 crystals and 4 plots. HeartSeed is arguably the best seed in the game. When in situations where you can't really find a use for a plot, just use HeartSeed on it. With careful play and consistent use of HeartSeed, you'll find yourself with a hefty collection of hearts in no time. Don't get too carried away, though, as there are still enemies that you need to deal with!

Utility Seeds

Antidote

Cost: 5 crystals
Antidote will plant some needle-looking things in the ground that will cure poison caused by ToxiChoke. It will cure poison any number of times but has a short cooldown between applications. Enemies going over an Antidote plot will be cured of poison as well.

BounceBerry

Cost: 1 crystal
BounceBerry will fling TS up into the air, giving you a short period of invulnerability to all hazards. Enemies will not chase you during this time. It's helpful for escaping situations without a scratch, but other than that is quite a niche seed.

CloakFruit

Cost: 3 crystals
Time: 16 seconds
Upon planting CloakFruit, for 16 seconds, enemies will not know where you are. You are still able to take damage during this time, but enemies will not target you. Similar to BounceBerry, CloakFruit can get you out of a sticky situation.

FloodFruit

Cost: 5 crystals
FloodFruit is a fantastic lategame seed. When planted, nearby holes will be filled with water and will be free to roll over without fear of falling down ever again. When the going gets rough and an area needs clearing out, FloodFruit is your friend. Just make sure you have enough crystals to support it!

RandoBud

Cost: Free!
⚠️Maybe "Utility" isn't the greatest place to put this guy, but due to character limits I'm opting to put RandoBud in the shorter of the two main Seed sections. RandoBud will plant any random seed not from the starting 4 given at the beginning of each run for the low, low price of free. Can be extremely dangerous, can be extremely useful, it's a total gamble. Can be fun though, if you're not looking to have the most serious of runs.

ReflectRoot

Cost: 3 crystals
3 crystals will allow you to block one incoming projectile with ReflectRoot, leaving a dashed shield around the perimeter of TS. Any one incoming shot will change its direction away from TS and back towards the enemy, no aiming required. Great both defensively and offensively. Taking damage from anything other than projectiles will not destroy the shield.

ShieldSprout

Cost: 5 crystals
When ShieldSprout is planted you'll be given a blue shield that fades with each successive shot taken from a projectile. You're able to tank 3 projectiles thanks to ShieldSprout, making it a top-tier defensive seed. Similar to ReflectRoot, taking damage in any other way will not harm the shield at all. If you have both ReflectRoot and ShieldSprout active, both "shields" will take one hit and the projectile will be deflected.

SlowSeed

Cost:
Time: 16 seconds
SlowSeed will slow enemies to a crawl and allow you still normal movement speed. Hectic situations will become much less hectic, but generally it is a pretty niche seed without much use in my opinion.

StarSeed

Cost: 1 crystal
Time: 16 seconds
Every 5th StarSeed planted will grant you invulnerability for an extended period of time. You can use this both offensively and defensively, as any enemy ran into with StarSeed active will instantly die. StarSeed works wonders on the boss battle.

Offensive Seeds

Avalanche

Cost: 1 crystal
⚠️For the low low price of one crystal, you are able to trigger an avalanche of dangerous snowballs that fall randomly on your screen. They are able to deal 1 damage each to enemies, but also 1 damage each to you, and the snowballs tend to have pretty poor accuracy when dealing with your foes, at least in my experience. I, personally, stay away from this one, and I don't think I'm alone with this.

BombBud

Cost: 5 crystals
⚠️BombBud, when planted, will explode after a short fuse time. The blast radius is wide-reaching, so be sure to have an escape plan immediately after planting. BombBud is extremely effective at clearing out large groups of enemies in pursuit of TS, killing banana snakes and mama spiders in one hit. Using it to kill single enemies is typically overkill, given the blast radius. It deals 3 damage.

BoomerEgg

Cost: 1 crystal
BoomerEgg will throw a boomerang in the direction that TS rolls over the plot where it is planted, which will then fly back and forth over TS a couple of times before breaking. As it can hit the same enemy multiple times while passing through, it is very effective at dealing with enemies with large hitboxes, and it also does a good job of clearing out large groups of smaller enemies. The boomerang will home onto TS, so you have a bit of control as to where the boomerang goes after the initial throw off of the plot.

CannonSpore

Cost: 3 crystals
⚠️CannonSpore will plant a cannon exactly like the ones planted in the sharpshooter minigame. The cannon has 4 shots and will fire in the direction that TS rolls into it. There is a brief cooldown between shots, so you can't use it to rapid fire. Enemies are also able to trigger the cannon similarly to how TS does, giving it a small chance to deal self-damage. Each shot deals 2 damage.

FlailFlower

Cost: 1 crystal
Time: 8 seconds
FlailFlower gives TS a flail that spins around as you roll horizontally across the Vineguard. It's best used when you are comfortable with horizontal movement as that is the only way to spin the flail. The faster you roll, the faster and further the flail spins. If you are hit while the flail is active, it will immediately deactivate.

FlyTrap

Cost: 2 crystals
⚠️FlyTrap excels at dealing with chasing enemies, killing anything that goes across the planted plot instantly, but it will only work on one enemy (including you, dealing 3 damage!). FlyTrap is best used when the enemy is already on its way over the plot you plan to use.

MineMelon

Cost: 1 crystal
Time: 12 seconds
⚠️Fend of pursuing enemies with the help on MineMelon, which will plant a mine every 3 seconds. The mines are primed and ready to hurt you as well, so be careful where you roll.

MissileRoot

Cost: 2 crystals
⚠️MissileRoot will plant a plot that spawns a missile that will lock on to the nearest enemy. The missile will never lock onto you, but once it hits an enemy, shrapnel will spread out from the explosion in 8 directions (+ and x). Each piece of shrapnel deals 1 damage, and the missile itself deals 2. Enemies hit by the missile will never take damage from the shrapnel.

Laseroot

Cost: 1 crystal
⚠️Laseroot will plant a module on the ground with four laser guns pointing in the cardinal directions. If you stand on one gun, the gun on the opposite side will continuously fire a laser, dealing about 1 damage per second for enemies standing in it. Enemies are also able to trigger the laser guns, so be careful, especially with pursuing enemies.

RayFlower

Cost: Free!
⚠️RayFlower plants two laser guns pointing up and down. If anything crosses the guns' paths, including TS, both will fire off and deal 1 damage. The guns will remain there forever. Skillful baiting can make RayFlower an extremely powerful tool, so long as you don't box yourself in, as the laser will go off immediately as you cross its path.

SpreadSpore

Cost: 3 crystals
⚠️SpreadSpore works very similar to CannonSpore, but it will instead shoot a spreadshot of several 1 damage pellets that are not piercing. Although it only has 2 shots, it is much better than CannonSpore at dealing with 3 health enemies, as it's a safe bet that at least 3 pellets will hit any sufficiently large or near object.

Squash

Cost: 3 crystals
⚠️Squash is a monster that will quickly slide in any of the four cardinal directions to smash into any enemy or you. Once something crosses its path up, down, left, or right, it will quickly slide in that direction and deal 3 damage to whatever it hits. After it hits something (an enemy or obstruction) 3 times, it will die.

LongSpore

Cost: 2 crystals
Time: 12 seconds
When planted will fire a shot every 3 seconds to the left and right of TS, dealing 1 damage each.

TallSpore

Cost: 3 crystals
Time: 12 seconds
Basically the same exact thing as LongSpore, but more expensive, and it shoots vertically. A bit harder to aim because of that.

ToxiChoke

Cost: 1 crystal
⚠️ToxiChoke plants some poisonous mushrooms that will poison anything that walks over it, including TS. The poison will grant enemies and TS a toxic aura that is able to spread to other enemies. When a ToxiChoke plot poisons something, it will cause an area of effect for a short amount of time around the plot that will also grant poison. Enemies poisoned will slowly take damage over time, where TS will be put in a state where any damage taken is an instant kill. Poison can only be cured using Antidote.

Auras

Thorn

Thorn will prevent you from losing the thorns you built up by taking damage. They will stay with you until they hit an enemy or are destroyed by a projectile. Because of this, Thorn somewhat loses its effectiveness in the desert, which is very projectile heavy. It's hard, at least in my experience, to close in on projectile based enemies with thorns without losing them to a projectile first. Especially snipers...

FreeFall

FreeFall prevents you from taking any damage when falling in holes. It's an amazing aura. Not only does it save you some of the heartbreak from falling in holes, it also can be used defensively. If time isn't an issue for you, it's almost always a better idea to fall into a hole than to get hit by an enemy, allowing you to use holes to escape any situation completely free, as long as you're okay with the climb back up from your most recent flag.

Sneak

If going sufficiently slow, enemies won't be able to see you with Sneak. I personally don't really like this aura, as it can also make usually predictable enemies more unpredictable, as they may not target you when you want them to.

Freeloader

Freeloader gives you the ability to plant seeds for free while at one health. I, personally, don't find much use in it because I don't often worry about seed pricing, but I hear that it can be quite powerful when paired with ToxiChoke, as it will consider you to be at 1 hp while poisoned.

Capitalist

Capitalist is an all around good aura that gives you more crystals for killing enemies. It's especially useful in the early game where you are still building your economy and can allow you easily to snowball financially.

Forcefield

Forcefield is a defensive aura that makes all sources of damage hurt you only by 1 heart, including spikes, which are normally an instakill. As hits from sources dealing more than 1 damage can be devastating, Forcefield is generally a good pickup.

Seeker

Seeker allows your shots to home in on enemies, signified by their green hue. This includes shots reflected by ReflectRoot. Projectile based seeds in this game are already very powerful, and this makes them near overpowered in my opinion. Sometimes, though, shots may home in on enemies that you don't consider to be as high a priority, but it's well worth it.

TimeStretch

TimeStretch simply gives you more time for timed auras like FlailFlower, TallSpore, SlowSeed, etc. I'm not sure of the numbers on exactly how much it extends their use, but it is a pretty sizable difference and makes such seeds much better to use. As long as you don't get hit and cancel the timer, of course.

Magnet

Magnet is a powerful magnet that attracts nearby crystals. "Nearby" is used loosely, as the attraction radius Magnet has covers a large part of the screen. Crystals further away are attracted at a slow rate and accelerate towards TS. A problem that arises with Magnet, however, is it attracts crystal flies, and careful dodging can lead to crystals amassing quite a number of flies around them, which can be troublesome without a decent method of dealing with them.

Charisma

Charisma gives you 50% sales on all items sold in shops. Very useful for getting a large inventory of seeds to use and cover any situation you find later in the game, after you had the time to collect the crystals necessary to purchase the seeds.

Power Copter

Power Copter launches you higher and makes you descend slower. Sometimes it can be annoying as it does take a good while for you to land, but it's very useful for playing safe after exiting a hole or getting hit. It also makes the bounce minigame much, much easier.

Vampire

Vampire makes enemies give you health instead of crystals when you kill them. You can consider the crystals that would have dropped from the enemies to have instantly been used for HeartSeed, without a plot needed. I hear Vampire is extremely powerful but I usually end up struggling financially when using it, so take that as you will.

BigShots

BigShots can only be found randomly in temples. It does basically what it says on the tin: it makes your shots bigger. A lot bigger, actually. Makes it much easier to hit enemies for sure. This also affects shots reflected with ReflectRoot, similar to Seeker.

Ghost Friend

⚠️Ghost Friend spawns a dangerous ghost that slowly follows you around. Ghost Friend will deal 1 damage to you or any enemy it happens into. If you kite an enemy into Ghost Friend, it must first move off of the enemy and back onto it to deal damage again, but that isn't all too difficult since Ghost Friend doesn't have the greatest handling, and takes a small while to change directions.

Bounce Buddy

⚠️Bounce Buddy deals damage similarly to Ghost Friend, but its method of movement is quite different. Instead, it will bounce around your screen like the DVD logo on your old TV. It moves relatively to the frame of your screen, so you can kind of control where it goes by moving up and down, as that moves your screen up and down. With patience, Bounce Buddy can be used without too much difficulty to deal with every single enemy in the game that isn't a boss.

MineFlower

⚠️MineFlower is basically just a MineMelon that lasts as long as you have the aura, but it places a mine every 7 seconds instead of every 3 seconds. Personally I'm too scared to use this aura, since I already don't like MineMelon that much, but I'm sure that with careful play, this aura can be extremely powerful. I'm just not good enough for that...

Enemies

For all enemies:
Enemies with 1 health drop 1-2 crystals
Enemies with 2 health drop 4-5 crystals
Enemies with 3 health drop 7-8 crystals

1 health enemies that don't pose a threat are usually best left alone and aren't worth the crystals spent to kill them, especially when using thorns, as you could do better with the Crystal seed which already doesn't pay out much.

Grub

Areas: Forest, Boss
Health: 1
The most basic and easily avoidable enemy in the game. It will crawl back and forth either horizontally or vertically, depending on how it spawns, and only change direction when approaching an obstruction or hole.

Cycle Fly

Areas: Forest, Desert, Boss
Health: 1
Another predictable enemy introduced in the forest, cycle flies will simply fly around in a circle, changing direction only if they run into an obstruction.

Shoofly

Areas: Forest
Health: 1
The shoofly will slowly, but unrelentingly, chase down TS. While it's best to save your thorns for higher health enemies, if it poses a problem it's not a big deal to use a thorn on it.

Scooty

Areas: Forest
Health: 2
Scooty will spin toward a random direction, dash forward, and then do it again until you leave or kill it. In the forest, using your thorns on Scooty will do a good job of giving you plenty of crystals for the levels to follow.

Dragonfly

Areas: Forest, Snow, Boss
Health: 2
Dragonfly flies back and forth horizontally, changing directions when it meets an obstruction. If it sees TS, it will instantly dash forward. It's best to wait and sneak behind it if you don't plan on killing it, but the crystal yield is typically well worth it. Its hitbox is entirely on its head.

Mama Spider

Areas: Forest, Jungle, Boss
Health: 3
Mama Spider won't be seen in the forest on every run, but it's a safe bet you'll see multiple of her in the jungle. She will leap a fixed distance towards TS every few seconds. She can't be hit while in the air, and cannot hit you while in the air, so a good defense against her is to remain nearby so she just jumps over you.

Baby Spider

Areas: Jungle, Boss
Health: 1
Similar to Mama Spider, but jumps randomly and has only 1 health. Not much of a problem, but can be unpredictable enough to catch you off guard while near it.

Crystal Fly

Areas: Jungle, Desert, Snow
Health: 1
Crystal Flies will go to the nearest crystal, regardless of its value, and patrol around it in a figure 8. If the crystal is collected and it wasn't killed in the process, it will proceed to the next nearest crystal.

Buzzer

Areas: Jungle
Health: 1
Buzzers randomly and slowly fly about the level. Similar to baby spiders, they typically aren't a problem but their random behavior can put you in a tight spot sometimes.

Sweeper

Areas: Jungle, Boss
Health: 1
Sweepers are stationary enemies that rotate a saw blade around them. The rotation is slow and easy to avoid. The saw blade is included in their hitbox, not just the blue pivot point.

Spitter

Areas: Jungle, Boss
Health: 2
Spitters fly around in a straight line or a slight arc, and will turn around in a new direction if they approach an obstruction. Personally, I find them to be one of the hardest enemies to deal with, as if you ever cross their line of sight they will fire projectiles at you at the fasted fire rate in the game. I generally just avoid their line of sight to my best ability and ignore them despite good crystal payout.

Banana Snake

Areas: Jungle, Snow, Boss
Health: 3
Banana snakes are one of the scariest enemies in the game due to their large size and quick approach to TS, but can easily be avoided thanks to their large turning circle and predictable movement. They are also slowed down significantly by obstructions. Piercing shots like CannonSpore and BoomerEgg quickly deal with the snakes due to their large size, and they are easily led into traps laid by BombBud, FlyTrap, etc.

Plot Fly

Areas: Desert
Health: 1
Similar to crystal flies, plot flies will guard unused plots in a figure 8 patrol. When a plot is used without harming the plot fly, it will fly over to the next unused plot.

Sniper

Areas: Desert, Boss
Health: 1
Snipers are stationary turrets that fire directly at TS at a consistent and slow fire rate. Even though their crystal payout isn't the best, if I have the necessary seeds to deal with them I'll typically go out of my way to deal with snipers, as they can pose a serious threat, at least in my experience.

Paintroller

Areas: Desert
Health: 2
Paintrollers will slowly patrol horizontally, changing direction whenever reaching an obstruction or hole. When crossing its line of sight it will fire at you after a tiny delay.

Cannon

Areas: Desert, Boss
Health: 2
Cannons fire large 2 damage projectiles in the cardinal directions, rotating counter clockwise.

Strider

Areas: Snow
Health: 1
Striders will climb out of a hole to fire once at TS before crawling back in and coming out of another hole. Due to their position always being over a hole, they are best dealt with by using projectile based seeds or ignoring them.

Laser Noodle

Areas: Snow
Health: 3
Laser noodles rotate slowly in either direction. If TS crosses their line of sight, they will start firing a laser after a brief delay and quickly rotate in the same direction they did before. By crossing their path underneath their eyes you can avoid triggering this reaction entirely!

Papa Scoot

Areas: Snow, Boss
Health: 3
Papa Scoot is similar to Scooty, but instead of random directions he always turns to TS's recent location, is larger, and has more health. Trying to run from him in a straight path will not work, as he will not take very long to adjust hit direction, and charge at you once again.

Punch dolphin

Areas: Forest, Jungle, Desert, Snow
Health: 1
Punch dolphins leap out of sinkholes above TS and fall back downwards. They are able to be killed but it is rarely worth it. Enemies in the area a punch dolphin leaps out of will take 1 point of damage.

The Great Fire Worm

The Great Fire Worm is the boss at the peak of the mountain, which is basically its own level entirely. The level is dense with enemies, but thankfully not as riddled with holes as the snow level. Everything up to this point has been preparing you for this: the key to overcoming the boss is patience and dexterity, just like the rest of the game.

To defeat The Great Fire Worm, you must press the 5 buttons scattered across the level. The buttons are only able to be pressed when you are holding the aura given at the beginning of the battle, so you must abandon whatever aura it is you're holding at some point. The boss will periodically fire two lines of bullets down the level for you to dodge throughout the fight, as well as all of the enemies and holes. Also, whenever you hit a button, the boss will fire a powerful laser that deals 3 damage. It will lock onto you for a short time, stop, then fire after a moment. To dodge the boss's laser, you must keep moving horizontally while it is locked onto you. The laser will linger for a short while, closing off part of the level to you. The next button can't be pressed until the boss is through with firing off its lasers. Every successive button press will add 1 laser to the count of how many need to fire before pressing the next button, leading you to dodge 10 lasers in all. The Great Fire Worm will be defeated right when the final button is pressed.

While this method is much slower, what I'll usually do is not pick up the aura to press the buttons until after using the plots available on the level to clear out as many enemies as I can. That makes it much easier to deal with the lasers when the time comes, and you still are given the power of whatever aura it is you have while you deal with the final hoard of enemies.

Some seeds I find especially useful on the final fight are FloodFruit and StarSeed, as they both work wonders at clearing out large areas of holes and enemies, respectively. SpreadSpore and CannonSpore are also good for a methodical approach of clearing out the peak of enemies. Of course, that isn't all that's available, so be sure to find what works best for you!

And with that, hopefully you'll be able to fulfill the prophecy :)

How to get 1500 points

⚠️SPOILER WARNING⚠️

I'm not going to go into detail on how everything exactly works for the 1500 run since that is a lot of stuff and I'm not experienced enough with it to have any sort of authority on the matter, but what I will do is I'm going to explain how exactly you'd go about doing this run.

1. At the top of the forest, there are 4 columns behind the end spring. The column with the two dots that form a horizontal line is able to be struck with a thorn to spawn the totem boss. It takes 3 hits to kill and will give you the BrewBerry seed. Be sure to bring 4 or more thorns to the fight!

2. Plant the BrewBerry seed (which costs 5 crystals) and give it 7 crystals while active. Crystals collected while the BrewBerry seed is active will be fed into the cauldron, and if you feed it 7 or more crystals it will give you the BrewBerry aura. In the jungle, there is a secret mid-sized hole containing a seed needed for the 1500 run. With the BrewBerry aura equipped, this hole is signified by three wavy lines rising out of it. Drop into that hole and retrieve the WarpWeed seed.

3. WarpWeed, when planted, teleports you to the next highest unused plot. Use this ability to teleport into the gaping maw in the desert, which you must then descend down to retrieve the next seed, RedHotRock, then climb your way back up. Also of note, RedHotRock is actually a really good seed and isn't really limited to just using it for secrets. It grants you invulnerability and kills enemies instantly while it is active and you are rolling a bit quickly.

4. In the snow, use RedHotRock to free the elder seeds trapped in the ice. There are 5 of them.

5. In the transition area between Snow and the boss, take note of the order that the elder seeds are from left to right. For the boss, you must press the 5 buttons in the order that they appear, by color of course.

6. Beat the final level.

Good luck :)

Afterword

And that's the guide. I hope at least one of you out there finds this thing useful, as I did work quite hard on it. I'd like to thank the TumbleSeed Discord[discord.gg] for compiling a lot of the information I used, especially for the enemy section, and the developers for making a fantastic game and providing the sprites for the seeds and auras. Also, I'd like to thank Anorak for his 1500 run episode and Flintler[www.twitch.tv] for recently posting an in-detail guide on how to do it on Discord, as those two are basically my only source for the last section.

Be sure to bug me about any mistakes I made (misinformation, grammar, etc) and I don't mind suggestions for things to add, as much of what's in this guide is from my own experience and opinions on the game.

To close, I'd like to share Timo's video on how to get through the jungle because it's really good:

and also Owen Quilion's video with some good (but slightly outdated, see #5) TumbleSeed advice:

Thanks for reading :)

[SRMCH]

Great guide, it helped me so much getting all the achievements for this lovely game.

Tip for the Botanist achievement : planting the seeds in the Sanctuary training place won't count towards the achievement, you actually need to take the seed and use it while climbing.

Tip for the TumbleSeed achievement : in the Weekly Challenge run, the elder seeds are ALWAYS in the same order during the whole week. So if you're trying to get the Healer ending in the Weekly run (which I recommend as you'll be able to try the same run as many times as you want and thus learn it and planify your actions), you won't have to free the elder seeds every try. Free them once, write down their order and you won't have to worry about them anymore (nor the Brewberry, Warp and RedHotRock seeds). Good luck.

[MPO]

Great guide, thanks.

[Mostlyghostly♫]

Incredible guide, thank you!

[Supershadow30]

Good stuff! The only piece of advice I could find on Tumbleseed.
Although the secret ending seems hellish to execute.

[A Pocketful of Stars]

Any tips for dealing with Papa Scoots? I keep dying on the second level of the snow mountain.

[Wesgoat]

Best guide out there! only guide out there

[LeftyLobo]

This is amazing! Thank you so much!