Dragon Fogel wrote:
would appreciate some general guidance on what kind of ATK/DEF stats I should be aiming for at the end of each level. Or any general tips for how I should try to get my head around this hold, because I don't think I quite have that even if I've been able to muddle through a good chunk of it.
Aside from entering the gauntlet with around 100 ATK and 65 DEF and approaching the last level with a certain stat (which I’ll come back to later in this post) I think it’s the wrong approach to aim for certain stats at the end of level 3 or 4, for at least two reasons:
1) Given the backtracking nature of level 3-4-5, it’s better to enter level 4 when the mimic does not hurt you so much, so that you can get in level 4 entrance some “free” gems.
2) Even better, I think the goal is to manage to save and get blue/skeleton keys to access immediately level 5 entrance, which has a long sword for free! In one of my runs, I almost never touched level 4 until I entered level 5 to get the long sword. Also, I used an extra blue key on level 2, which probably was a mistake, but I still managed to get around the other blue keys as soon as possible to enter level 5 and get the long sword.
After that, I bounced back from level 3 and 4 to clear them until I had 330 ATK, this is because level 5 has A LOT of water skippers, seeps, and aumtlichs, all of whom can be one shotted at that ATK, so you can clear half of that level for free.
Some general tips:
There are flippers later in the hold, as well as the grappling hook, so don’t spend anything to get stats which can be taken for free due to the accessories (e.g. third level, 1S1E).
In ANY run, you are allowed to use at least one accessory. In my case, in all of my runs, I used the speed potion from level one in level 3, 1S3E, which allowed me to get 6 ATK for free, yellow keys and the blue key as well (if you can wait to do so with the long sword, you can one shot the gel baby, the soulless, and the guard too with the speed potion, and take the other speed potion too).
Given that with 330 ATK you can clear more than half of level 5 for free, I strongly believe that an ATK based route is the best.
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There's not some other world out there where everything's gonna be okay.
There's just this one, just this rock.
-33th Skywatcher
[Last edited by Red-XIII at 07-10-2025 08:39 AM]
