This is a short text-based explanation of each character, their strengths and weaknesses and also the order of supremacy in terms of speed. Each weapon can be upgraded 3 times, health can be upgraded up to 2 times as well. The grades/stats are in comparison with each character once they reach that particular point. Please note that these numbers are approximate from experience with playing/seeing the game and are not an exact science/study.
- Bead Shia (Mage) Weapon Style: Tri-shot mash Starting HP: 5 (4th)
Weapon Damage Scaling Lvl 0: B+ (2nd) Lvl 1: A- (2nd) Lvl 2: A (1st) Lvl 3: A+ (1st)
Description: There isn’t very much to say that is bad for the mage, the fastest and ideal speedrun character. His first level of weapon isn’t the strongest of the four, however damage isn’t a really big factor in the early game. His weapon damage ramps up significantly especially at level 3 when tri-shot is awarded, being close enough to an enemy will land all 3 hits per shot. You do want to be careful with the tri-shot to not shoot it too much when not in proximity, for lag reasons. The early game of the mage is dangerous due to starting with only 5hp and you’ll need to take 2 health upgrades to reach max HP. Combining proximity damage strategies and low HP does mean you need to bring decent mashing skills to the table and not take too much unnecessary damage in order to survive.
Additional notes from d4gr0n: Bead Shia is just straight up OP. Strong enough to 1 cycle Act 2 boss. Strong enough to make Act 3 boss a complete joke. And we haven't even touched upon what happens when he is fully upgraded. When that happens, he gains an attack that shoots out in 3 different directions and they count as separate damage from one another. Get up close to an enemy and fire that attack off and all 3 parts will hit the target effectively tripling Bead's already high damage output. His starting health does make him quite frail early on so learning him initially can be quite intimidating but 2 blue gems puts him on par with the others characters.
- Diana Fireya (Archer) Weapon Style: Tri-shot mash Starting HP: 6 (T-2nd)
Weapon Damage Scaling Lvl 0: D (4th) Lvl 1: B- (3rd) Lvl 2: B+ (2nd) Lvl 3: A- (2nd)
Description: The archer and warrior-maiden are practically on equal footing. If you’re an excellent masher though Diana’s late game can really be effective making her the consensus #2. She doesn’t come without flaws, her initial weapon is the least powerful and lag can become an issue when the triple shot at Level 2 is upgraded, so not shooting too many extra arrows on screen is important. Her arrows can ricochet which can let you hit some otherwise not possible angles. Otherwise she’s very much like the mage where her damage scales very well and her best damage is in close proximity and mashing triple arrows into your enemies.
Additional notes from d4gr0n: In contrast to Jedda, Diana in my opinion is the most fragile character in the entire game easily when we're talking about the speedrun. In the early game, she has easily the lowest damage output by far, making boss fights lengthy and pretty sketch. Things get better and worse for her past Act 3. Better because shooting out 3 arrows instead of 1 increases her damage output astronomically but worse because to output all that damage she has to be in close to her enemies. Even at max damage, she still doesn't come close to Bead at his best so Diana has to tank whatever damage she takes from bosses/enemies for a lot longer than Bead putting an insane risk of death for her in many places. It's advisable when starting off with Diana to pick up Dolls of life until you feel comfortable playing with her.
- Erin Gashuna (Warrior-Maiden) Weapon Style: Chain Whip timed attacks Starting HP: 7 (1st)
Weapon Damage Scaling Lvl 0: A+ (1st) Lvl 1: A+ (1st) Lvl 2: B (3rd) Lvl 3: C (4th)
Description: The warrior-maiden is worth a play through simply because of her play style. She is also an ideal character if your mashing is not that great. All other characters require mash-style damage, while she relies on proper distancing and timed shots. She has the best early game damage along with the best starting HP with 7 and also requires only 1 HP upgrade so you are both maxed in damage and HP by the end of Act 5. Less Weapon sprites/lag is also a factor that makes this character decently fast. Attacking a second time activates the chain whip to swing around her which does less damage but allows her to hit some otherwise really tough to hit enemies in awkward positions. The warrior-maiden’s damage however as of Act 5 really starts falling off pretty hard, making her late game is not very good speedrun wise.
Additional notes from d4gr0n: The major problem with Erin's weapon is that it does damage per frame, and as you upgrade the whip going into the late game, the length increases making it quite easy for the whip to shoot past a boss' hitbox leading to lost damage. However, you still need to upgrade the whip to make that damage per frame stronger. It's a tough tradeoff. I still think even in late game, she does more damage than Jedda but it depends on proper spacing and playing the footsies right if her target is moving. She's definitely one of the hardest characters to get through a run without dying though.
4.Jedda Chef (Swordsman) Weapon Style: Single Wave Beams Mash Starting HP: 6 (T-2nd)
Weapon Damage Scaling Lvl 0: C (3rd) Lvl 1: C+ (4th) Lvl 2: B- (4th) Lvl 3: B+ (3rd)
Description: Your “average in everything character” of the game, Jedda is statistically the worst character of the game for a speedrun and even though his damage does scale upward as the upgrade comes, he never really reaches that A grade potential that even strong mashing makes up for. The blade beams can be quite laggy as well especially at max level where they are really large sprites. Nonetheless, Jedda’s time potential is still pretty close to Diana’s and Erin’s, but someone has to be last.
Additional notes from d4gr0n: Jedda scales the worst in the game for damage output but he does have a different type of advantage over the other characters. He can pull off the same amount of damage regardless of distance once fully upgraded. Diana and Bead depend on close encounters with enemies for optimal damage which in some cases such as the spiders in Act 6 is really dangerous and while Erin doesn't have that same level of risk, even she has to be within a certain distance. Jedda gets to laugh at all that once fully upgraded as he can cheese out many fights with the unlimited range and his sword beam has a massive hitbox. It is because of that that I think he's the easiest character to finish a run with once it gets off the ground. It's actually quite comical that Act 1 and 2 are easily the scariest Acts for Jedda in the speedrun.
Co-op Combinations:
- Mage/Warrior-Maiden This pair is not only unique and fun for co-op with unique styles of game play, but also doesn’t have many flaws. The warrior-maiden’s strong early game allows to carry the mage through the first levels by being able to take more damage and hitting things that otherwise have a difficult angle to land for the mage. The mage starts obliterating everything as of Act 5. Due to collision issues in the game, the mage and warrior-maiden are ideal as they need different max damage positioning. Where this pair lacks is in the late game where the mage carries pretty hard while the maiden becomes a secondary/support character. To further add to complicity, the warrior-maiden's attacks cause the least amount of lag which additional sprites while playing co-op do significantly add to this as a factor.
2, Mage/Archer We’ve covered earlier that the mage and archer have the best late game damage where it is most needed so despite not having enough attempts/data on this pairing yet to make them #1, it is likely to be the pair that can clear co-op the fastest. Collision/positioning and health could be an issue as they both rely on proximity and triple shot damage to excel. Too many shots left on screen could also cause a lot of unwanted lag.
