I found that in 99% of my runs Stage 2 providence (worms) is extremely slow. I've been thinking of a few ways to increase worm speed. The worms exist of multiple parts, and as such I imagine it'd be possible to use AOE in your build to deal with them.
I've seen Onin use Tesla coil to melee them and do 'massive' damage. I've been thinking of using an Ukulele, I also wonder how viable it would be to use a Laser turbine. The laser turbine charges up and does 2000% damage to the entire screen. Theoretically It would be possible to charge it and one-shot the worms with one tap of the weapon. This timing is very hard though.
I also wonder how viable it would be to take an Ukulele. It bounces to 4 nearby targets for 33% damage each. which would mean that you'd get 132% damage for every time it bounces. It's like a Long range tesla coil.
Ukulele's proc chance is pretty low compared to its damage, and it scales really badly when stacked. It's barely better than a stack of rockets and only for the worms, you don't want to slow down phase 1 just to improve phase 2.
I've been meaning to test the laser turbine, whether it's viable to get the hit on demand. But it's really hard to tell when it's about to fire.
Laser Turbine needs to be tested more, but it shouldn't be random how many times you need to use skills to have it proc. A direct hit on the worms immediately kills with the LT, so it's a definite item to use if we can consistently get the thing to activate. (b'w')b
Alright, laser turbine is legit. You only need a bit of attack spamming between phases to charge it up. Every level starts with 0 charge.
According to the wiki, the amount of attacks you need to charge it depends on your attack speed, so counting shots won't be very consistent, no need to bother. Means we likely won't get an instant blast on the wurms, but it shouldn't be difficult to get within 10 attacks of proccing it, which is still very fast.
I've done some short testing, and it seems like picking up 3-5 Lasers as opposed to Missiles can save a decent amount of time on the first 2 phases.
With teleporting, you lose about half your current charge. Either that or you shoot it off. It's kinda inconsistent, but it doesn't matter because you can charge up above the final map.
Also something to note is that there is a vision cue for when the laser is close to going off. It's not perfect, but it's as good as we would need it. As it charges up (usually takes ~15 shots depending on # of lasers and # of syringes), there is a red aura behind Bandit that gets larger, it consistently gets to about the same point before it goes off.
Laser does about 1/4 HP to phase 1 Providence. With enough green missiles the fight will either be equivalent to current WR or slightly faster. Phase 2 will be no problem with this setup, as it's pretty much a OHKO. This saves ~5 seconds over WR as well.
Something to note with this new strat is that Any% can now humanly get below 9 minutes.
Agreed with anshwo here - I've been going pure LT on offline attempts and it's doing WONDERS. RIP Red Missiles!
Using only 1 Turbine I managed to proc it on both worms in stage 2. They both instantly died both in pre-9 min proc and a medium difficulty proc.
I think this is a bigger time save on worms. Since you need to hit both worms which is inefficient as a whole.
Providence part 1 has been 0 problem for me in my latest runs. I have picked up a Wallet early that allows me to take a rather ridiculous amount of items into lategame. I can often proc any shrine I see 2-3 times. It's rare for me to actually go into the next level with more than 100g so I don't lose time on that.
In my latest PB (9.20) I managed to get 5 + speed. A sacrificial knife, Hopoo + Jetpack, Crit items. Two turbines, 5 Rockets, wolf mask and a guardians heart (From a random shrine) and a ton of use items.
I'm not sure if Wallet is a time loss or save. But I found that it adds a TON of consistancy to my runs. If I get it from the first boss I can more often than not proc any chests on the map and most imp shrines etc. multiple times. Increasing the chance or getting a Amythist (The thing most 'runs' break on early.)
ANYWAY
I had 2 turbines for my PB. This gave me 2 procs. One on Providence and one on worms. Since more isn't needed whatsoever I'd suggest that after those 2 LT's you stack pure single-target damage as usual. Since that'll save you time on phase 1.
But seriously. The wallet is incredible and has been very good in my runs. Does anyone have opinions on it? I can't be the only one :P
Vouching for bio_teacher with wallet. It's absolutely insane. Lemurians normally drop $3, but with wallet they drop ~$14.
A lot less runs have been dying lately because I can actually open most chests and get Amethyst, and even by map 3 I have a ridiculous arsenal of items like missiles and a few lasers.
I would definitely say wallet will end up being a time save, mainly because of all the items you can get from it that can take down first phase Providence really quickly.
I'm pretty sure the wallet is a mistake.
The amount of time you gain on Providence from having a few more items is negligible. The amount of time you lose at the end of the map due to gathering up more gold, leading to more exp, leading to slower exits, is significantly greater. A single bad map can cost you an easy 6 seconds.
When do you get it, anyway? Feathers are vital for movement, you want at least 4 of them as soon as possible, and then the wallet loses value.
Wallet is the first green item I pick up. Using it we get over double our normal amount of gold during the first map. Normally I would have 2 green items after it, but twice now with wallet I've had 4 feathers after the first map.
Because we (or atleast anyone with a brain) are using laser strats, the extra missiles are useful for first phase Providence. Along with extra white items we can pick up now from having ridiculous amount of items, first phase is an absolute joke compared to current WR.
There is no extra time at the end of the map, if it is its negligible because we can spend most of our gold anyway. Gold from dead enemies at the end of teleporter is always an issue, but it's not like getting extra gold makes the gold go any faster.
Wallet is also not used for lategame perse. It just solidifies your run. If you take into consideration that without wallet you might only get 1 or 2 tries on a shrine and with wallet you can proc it 3-4 times that's not only a net gain in items. But also in fireworks rockets and chances to gain your 'core' items
The lord knows how often I have taken too long on the boss fight because I couldn't get enough rockets after having to burn 5 green items on Hopoo + Jetpack. Now that I run early wallet almost every shrine gets broken. The Fireworks helps me clear greatly and I am almost guaranteed to get a usuable item (Especially if none dropped untill the final level, you really need some gold to open those small chests and get your key before 60 seconds on timer)
Ofcourse if you're confident that you'll get enough items to finish out a run without the wallet, you can just get hopoo. But if you spend your money efficiently you won't lose much time during the counter (often I spend all but 20-50 gold) and you'll have more big chests.
Tomorrow I'll try to see how much extra time 200 gold would actually add to the XP timer in the end. But I assume the 100% Guarantee of having a good run as long as you don't get incredibly bad timers could outweigh some stuff.
Because map information is a more relevant time save. Having upgraded to a 1080p monitor, this is super obvious to me :3
So now the question is: Does consistancy and more items matter more than the orbs? I very much doubt it. Orb travel time is relevant only in the beginning since you can jump closer to the corner. the time is really neglectible. The gold difference every stage is 100-200g at most and can go as far down as 40g if you use shrines. The only possible increase could be Alien hive cluster since it often has no shrines. But with the choice tubes you should still use most of the gold you earn.
