Crypt of the Necrodancer

[Gustaran]

I grabbed the game as well, and even though I am still stuck in Zone 1 (my game crashed just when I was about to beat the Zone boss ) it's a great game. At the moment I am still unlocking stuff with diamonds, so I feel al least in the beginning there is some progress through unlocking items and enemies in the training area.

Unfortunately, I was not able to locate a manual (not available?) and the tutorial is simply terrible, so I highly recommend reading Sullla's strategy guide to get a basic understanding of what's going on. In addition, it is very helpful to try to solve the "Lore" puzzles with Bard, IMHO this should have been in the tutorial, especially losing a beat by bumping into a wall is very important.

Last but not least there are some cool guides on Steam and I feel knowing the item list is almost mandatory, since you have no chance of figuring out what some items do while trying to stay in the beat and fight enemies.

Complete item list:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi...=315510503

[Gustaran]

This is reduced by 50% for the next ~24 hours, so for only 7.49 you can join us in the Crypt of the Necrodancer!

[Gustaran]

I made it to the the Necrodancer with Cadence for the first time today and when I died he had only 1 heart left...

Then again it was completely my fault, I had incredible gear: Obsidian Crossbow, Ring of Might, Crown of Thorns and the Winged Boots, but I took to much damage against Dead Ringer.

I learned there is actually a way to make phase one of the final Necrodancer encounter rather trivial: If you enter the bossfight with 3 bombs you can bomb your way to the Golden Lute and skip all the difficult dancing/double switch toggling.

(bombing strategy example here: https://youtu.be/IJAKMrpkGCw?t=14m11s )

[SevenSpirits]

You must move back and forth at a distance of two tiles, waiting for the Red Bat to move next to you. Of course, that two tile distance is constantly changing itself as the Red Bat wanders about randomly. This is very difficult to pull off in practice. It's also possible to sit two tiles away and start wasting beats by digging into a nearby wall, but that's not a consistent strategy either because the Red Bat can always wander away in another direction. Unfortunately there's no magic trick here

Sullla, just read your article and I wanted to point this out in case you still have trouble with red bats. There totally is a magic trick! If you are both on the same color squares, then the bat can hit you and you can't hit it. If you are on different color squares, you can hit it and it can't ever hit you! So if you ever find yourself 2 away from a red bat, dig once, and then you are 100% safe and can just chase it down.

[Gustaran]

There totally is a magic trick! If you are both on the same color squares, then the bat can hit you and you can't hit it. If you are on different color squares, you can hit it and it can't ever hit you! So if you ever find yourself 2 away from a red bat, dig once, and then you are 100% safe and can just chase it down.

Good advise, SevenSpirits!
I found a video showcasing what you just mentioned: How to kill the...Red Bat

The above video channel is very helpful BTW, since it features advise for almost all enemies in the game. Especially the various boss strats can make your life much easier.

[Sullla]

Thanks very much for that tip, Seven! Also, has anyone had a chance to try out the Bolt gameplay yet?

[v8mark]

Got the Ring of Wonder for the first time in today's Daily Challenge, which was... well, pretty easy (Obsidian Bow and Crown of Thorns in Zone 1, then the Ring of Wonder in Zone 3)

[Tyrmith]

So I just had the vendor guy come attack me, I was so surprised I pretty much died immediately considering it was the first level, anyone else had that happen before? He had this weird "opera" voice he doesn't normally use as well.

[Gustaran]

The Wiki lists this guy as "Monstrous Shopkeeper":

Very rare. Once the player enters its shop, it screams like the Direbat and moves towards the player like the provoked Shopkeeper. When damaged, teleports back into the shop. Once killed, all items in its shop are free. This does not affect the rest of the shops in the run.

In all my runs I've only encountered him once. I think an early sign to recognize him are the shop walls: Usually they are golden, but in the case of the Monstrous Shopkeeper they look more like stone. In addition, the shopkeeper has red eyes.

Watch a kill here:
https://youtu.be/e-o-6TIV7c0?t=1m6s

[Gustaran]

I typed up a short strategy page on my website with some thoughts and tips if anyone's interested.

I've been playing a ton of Necrodancer during the last 2 weeks. I am not sure who else is still playing the game here, but since I am now at least able to beat the game with Cadence and Melody quite reliably, I would like to add some comments to the strategy guide:

- I think 95% of your guide is correct, but there is one thing which I don't agree on: IMHO, it should always be your goal to get a build with reliable 3 weapon damage. Not so much because of the extra damage (which is still nice) but because having three damage instead of two triggers two mechanical changes:
First of all, 3 damage break the shields of black skeletons, which means you can simply attack them from the front instead of dancing around. Sure, if you have enough space it's easy, but some of my runs ended because I was attacked by two skeletons along with a ton of other mobs and I need to move around to attack them from the side and took too much damage.
The other major point is that 3 points of damage allow you to open all crates and barrels without using a bomb. Sometimes you can grab an obsidian dagger in a store in 1-1 , or at least a gold spear in the early blood shop, which can give you a major boost by access to a ton of extra items and food. I admit that zone 2 will often feature many bombs, but if it doesn't or you want to save your bombs for walls/bossfights/emergencies I feel three damage is the way to go. Especially since quite a few statues in zone 4 drop an item when destroyed with a three damage weapon, usually allowing you to finalize your gear before the final boss fight.

- Another thing I would like to point out is the changing importance of lifesteal: The better you get, the less damage you take, the less lifesteal/health recovery you need. I personally am still taking too much damage, but in 95% of all cases, it's a simple mistake that could have been avoided. Necrodancer is a very fair game in that regard that you hardly take unavoidable damage. For that reason, I am not a big fan of blood weapons but prefer Titanium or Obsidian in the weapon slot, with any of the +1 damage rings in the ring slot. As you point out, the Crown of Throns is an excellent lifesteal option, because the head slot only features the Monocle as good alternative which becomes less important once your inventory is maxed (some people like the Sunglasses, but I'd rather have titanium weapon/damage ring/Crown, than blood weapon/damage ring/Sunglasses. This obviously assumes you are not trying to kill the shopkeeper ~ floor 2 for the Crown of Greed).

Other than that I think the heal spell is pretty decent. Coupled with an emergency spell such as Freeze/Shield it will serve you well. Of course, there may be cases where you don't find any food at all and need to resort to a blood weapon, but in my experience if you open all crates and barrels and are able to acquire a bag, you have two food items available more often then not.

Finally, the "Necrotome": Video guides for all enemies, this time nicely organized:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S_Q5...edit?pli=1