Boss Order and Boss Strategies

### **Edit: This guide is outdated by a lot. There is better info in the discord server guide**

Hi! This will be an ever evolving guide of strategies as new things are discovered, I will keep it updated with the strategies I have found worth using and how I approach bosses! I run Normal so the amount of fans I get will be based on that and may be different in other difficulties

**Hotfix 1:** *Arora meteors are more consistent following hotfix 1, and there are now more fans earned. Considering a good Hemlock run netted just under 5000 fans, this will most likely hit that marker, meaning upgrade routing may change*

Following recent runs in the individual boss speedruns posted on youtube in NG+, Bass Invader's true power has started to be shown. This is honestly the strongest weapon in the game currently. The amount of both damage and stagger it causes is unmatched by any other weapon, and most bosses give you multiple chances to charge it up during the fight without losing DPS.

My current boss order is Hemlock > Prophet > Dex > Arora.

Two tips for some small time saves that add up over a run:

Firstly, if your pc has faster load times it is faster to click retry level after beating a boss and then immediately quit to bar. This drops you right in front of the level select door instead of an 8-9 second sprint to get there.

Second, damaging the boss after staggering them is just free damage. Figure out the timings to get as much damage as possible before pressing whatever button executes for you.

*Edit: I went in and did some testing to the best that the game allows, and have come to the conclusion that a combination of Perfect Fever Rush and normal perfect hits do about 15-20% overall more damage than just doing normal perfect hits, while just spamming Fever Rush meter is about a 5% dps increase. For this route, this is mostly applicable to Hemlock and final phase Dex, but if you are running the Showstopper first route this is applicable for Prophet as well.*

# **Hemlock**

**Upgrades**: Disco Fever

Hemlock first gives us access to Bass Invader, you also need to end the fight with 4000+ fans. Before Hemlock I get the upgrade Disco Fever giving you one extra Fever meter. Hemlock fight is pretty straight forward, spam Fever Rush on perfect beat if possible, dodge his red attacks and hit him with a boosted attack from the perfect dodge, and parry his yellow attacks for the meter, takedown tokens, and damage.

Ignore adds during boss fights unless you can get a perfect parry for meter, as you waste dps by hitting them instead of the boss, the normal enemies cant attack while Hemlock is attacking. During the final phase, same thing, except you want to be more liberal with your Takedown tokens  and its ok to parry his yellow attack early to use it to avoid getting hit by the elite adds. Ignore/dodge them while focusing all damage on Hemlock.

# **Prophet**

**Upgrades**: Buy Bass Drop, Super Bass Invader - 5000 Fans Total

Before the Bass Invader strat, Prophet had a lot more depth, now you just spam Bass Invader hits to rush through his phases. Bass Invader gives I-frames against nearly all attacks in the game, so you can usually dodge back, charge it, and slam. During his 2nd boss phase you can skip the teleport+cars transition by hitting him with 3 full charged Bass Invader slams and a Takedown, speeding up the fight substantially. Anytime he puts up his block, charge Bass Invader, use Takedowns on cooldown and to get distance to use Bass Invader.

The Bouncer is the only non-boss phase that can be sped up here. 2 Bass Invader slams and a takedown kills him very quickly.

If you dont have Bass Invader for this fight, you will want to stay on top of him with Fever Rush, he has 2 primary combos, a 3x punch (yellow) into a slam (red), and a 3x punch(yellow), you want to fit a fever rush in between each parry of these combos, then dodge and hit him with an empowered normal attack. As soon as you see him windup to block, use a takedown to break it and keep on him.

# **Dex**

**Upgrades**: Buy: Disco Fever, Rise Above, Drumstick Toss - 4000 Fans, 9000 Total spent.

## Jakobi_101 and I have found a consistent setup for Pyramid Skip. This is the biggest skip in the run currently. All it requires is drumstick toss. After pressing your Finisher button on Dex, you want to immediately hit him with 2 drum sticks as soon as the animation ends. This will desync the fight, causing him to crash down early. Begin charging Bass Invader before the cutscene, and you want to time your slam to land at the same exact time he does. You want to immediately charge up a 2nd slam, and then hit him and immediately use a takedown. The timing windows are pretty tight, but I have been getting it consistently.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHl3EH6Zsho

If you have extra fans, Heavy attack is fine here as well

For Dex, I would never fight Dex without Bass Invader anymore.  During both phases with a stagger bar you only want to be charging Bass Invader, 2 slams and a takedown will stagger him. During Pyramid Phase focus on killing the enemies as quickly as possible, You do not have to reduce their HP to 0, knocking them down the stairs kills them. Bass Invader spin attack is great here. When he is flying around the pyramid the first time, he will not come down until all the enemies are dead so clear as fast as possible

Final phase is a bit tougher since he will fight close to you more and his hair laser move, giving you less chances to charge Bass Invader. Charge when you can, otherwise stay on him with Fever rush, you can use Showstopper to parry his red slam attack.

If you dont have Bass Invader it is similar to Prophet. Stay on top of him, run with him, spam Fever Rush in between each of the hits from his 4x yellow attack combo.

# **Arora**

**Upgrades**: Resounding Resolve, Golden Retaliation (Showstopper tree), Rush Down (Thunderstruck tree) - 6000 Fans, 15000 Total spent

Arora is the most inconsistent boss in the game currently. Once you get to first boss phase (Constellation Phase), She will spawn 3 meteors roughly based on where you are. If you knock all 3 into her, hit all the stars in the follow up attack, and then knock the next 3 meteors into her, it will transition the fight. The meteors are buggy and can straight up just not do damage sometimes, and they can occasionally land outside of the map as well.

During the 2nd phase of Rori, you want to start with a fully charged Bass Invader to gap close and do damage, then focus on using Showstopper to parry every hit and immediately release it. This keeps her spam knocked down, and makes the fight a lot easier. Do not use Fever Rush here as this is a very meter heavy fight. If she fires a meteor, parry it with Showstopper and knock it into her then gap close with Bass Invader and hit. Always go for perfect hits because you need as much meter as possible.

The final phase is similar to the last phase, except her constellation form is also firing meteors and laser. Her constellation will fire 4 meteors at once, as well as her laser attack from the add phases. Dodge the lasers, and try to knock all 4 meteors back into Rori. Use Bass Invader after the 4th meteor to gap close and get some damage in. Similar to the last phase, you just want to use Showstopper to keep her knocked down the entire phase and damage her.

Downpatch for Vanilla - June '26

download this files and replace them for the ones in folder you have installed the game

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Un6Mp_TyiPpGdyflURyfVJ9uAbMq5O47/view


Fool Proof Way To Downpatch

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_oRf7m6ITyCqGEXNJMf_4t2VIYvoOw3rv0NjpoJ0eiA/edit?usp=sharing

This will be updated with each MAJOR patch only. Hotfix updates will not be a part of this spreadsheet.


NG+ Pre-Patch Chill/Amped Full Guide

In this document I discuss many things for NG+ pre-patch for runners looking to get into this category.

This guide will be edited to fix certain issues and to provide a clear understanding of the game.


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M4L4C_jw84pxpuQFvls659Z9iIegz7umXytadcZMLlw/edit?usp=sharing

Overlay placement

As you can see on the image the red sections are NOT viable sections to put your overlay, you should ALWAYS be showing them so we can be sure you run is legit.

Yellow section can be blocked but is not recommended, is up to you.

Green section is the perfect spot for you to put your livesplit, controller and all that, even if it blocks menuing is not such a big deal

![](/static/blob/ynl75wlz.png)

Name	Autor
Boss Order and Boss Strategies	Dustborn 4 months ago
Downpatch for Vanilla - June '26	XirZs 2 months ago
Fool Proof Way To Downpatch	OGHappydude 1 month ago
NG+ Pre-Patch Chill/Amped Full Guide	Th0ught 2 months ago
Overlay placement	XirZs 2 months ago