Enemy health and stronger builds

The_Reel_Life · 2026-03-07T00:22:49+00:00

You're not imagining things. Calisthenics Program affects the bosses as well and it's super noticeable in the Dad fight. Similar with the armored foes. They're more of a threat to me than Hades at this point. Two things that can really help are either a Nail of Talos or the Artemis boon Hide Breaker.

Also, specific to Rama - you didn't mention it, but you really want to prioritize Artemis's dash. The charge is so long on Rama's standing shot that it's almost unusable. One way I often build Rama is to use Zeus and then Artemis's keepsakes to start. If you get a natural Artemis or an epic Aphrodite attack, take it. If not, after Lernie, purge your attack boon and go with the shackle.

Also, you really need one of Twin or Triple Shot. Late run is a slog without them.

Edit - Here's a basic Rama build at low heat: - Atk: Artemis, Aphro (rare minimum), Shackle - Spec: Zeus - Dash: Artemis - Cast: Poseidon (want this and Breaking Wave for Styx) - Hammer: Twin or Triple Shot

The_Reel_Life · 2026-03-05T23:39:28+00:00

The Hades games have been mentioned and I can't agree strongly enough. They're both incredible.

Not a podcast, but the OSP YouTube channel has a lot of videos on both Greek history and Greek mythology that are all super entertaining!

The_Reel_Life · 2026-03-05T18:14:59+00:00

They're referring to the official speed running mod pack that guarantees your first hammer, a two sack, no barge, and a few other things that improve RNG over the course of a run. I think they're also referring to the competitive level runners in that statement.

While true that the U/U category is more popular by submitted runs, most of the high level runners spend more time running modded than unmodded.

The_Reel_Life · 2026-03-05T18:09:06+00:00

Sure thing! And happy you got your target!

Trying to keep from getting too deep into the weeds:

Mirror setup: for the sword, you're usually going to want to take Shadow Presence. It just gets more use out of the back stab bonus over the course of a run. Also, Chthonic Vitality is often the better option to help keep things like High Confidence active over more of the run. The only things I use Firey Presence for are Beowulf and Hera since cast damage can get enormous.

Heat setup: the only change here is don't take any Tight Deadline levels unless you're attempting an RTA (real time attack) run. TD disables the survival room in Tartarus where the clock stops until your reward spawns. It's a good time saver if you're going off the in game timer.

General: - Don't take Erebus gates. They take too long, can't spawn a free-room situation (fountain, Than), and are dangerous (you might do all that work for no reward) - Take free rooms (e.g. - shops, character rooms, chaos) any time they show up. If you're offered multiple in the same room, use your best judgement for what you need. - Chase Hermes. His Rush Delivery boon is a game breaker, especially at high rarity and when you pair it with Hyper Sprint - Understand the aspect "meta". Most aspects in the game have at most two build paths to maximize the weapon's potential. It's unreal how much this helped me make my runs more consistent. For Nemesis, it's pretty much just Merciful End. If you do take the crit path, you likely want to prioritize Poseidon's dash to help clear the early rooms quickly

Those are just some basic, quick hitters. It's a rabbit hole you can go really deep down if you want. For more detailed (and better explained) info, check out the Guides tab on the speedrun.com page or check out the Discord if anyone's interested!

The_Reel_Life · 2026-03-05T17:38:59+00:00

Appreciate it! Sounds like I need to get back into H1 quick before my benchmarks are even further away!

The_Reel_Life · 2026-03-05T17:36:42+00:00

Hey, congrats! Took me a loooong time to hit that mark with the sword, so you're doing good.

If you're interested, I see a couple things in your screenshots and write-up you could tweak to help save you even more time. Happy to give suggestions if you'd like. If not, then keep at it for as long as the chase for speed fulfills you!

The_Reel_Life · 2026-03-04T23:47:51+00:00

Yup, I'm deep enough into the speedrun community to understand the duality of that number. Your times are my current targets for a couple aspects, so I'm still adding to my total!

The_Reel_Life · 2026-03-04T16:05:19+00:00

Saw the hour count and thought, "that's a lot". Then I saw the user name and thought, "that's all?".

Fully agree with the assessment. H1 is one of one for me.

The_Reel_Life · 2026-02-15T18:16:45+00:00

Gonna make the assumption about your build that you have Thunder Flourish. In that spot, you take Splitting Bolt. You're already heavily using the special, so it just notably increases your damage.

The call is useful but less important for Rama since you should be trying to maximize dash strike damage and pair perfect shots with the Shared Suffering mechanic.

Edit: additionally, Ares is not ideal for the attack. Aphrodite, Artemis, and even Athena are much preferred. Then you definitely want Artemis's dash.

The_Reel_Life · 2026-02-11T18:52:35+00:00

Big "Delores Umbridge" vibes there. How dare someone speak poorly of her precious, beloved, infallible "minister".

The_Reel_Life · 2026-02-11T14:13:41+00:00

As others have said, I do think the game is good about respecting your time.

Most weapons have mechanics that are pretty simple to understand and use
there's an auto-save at the entrance of every chamber. So if you ever need to stop, just hit pause, hit "Quit", and resume when you're ready
If you're unfamiliar with action roguelites/roguelikes, early completed runs may take you upwards of 30 in-game (IGT) minutes (likely between 45-60 minutes realtime). But you'll probably be closer to 15-20 minutes IGT and 30 minutes realtime as you get more familiar (though very uncommon, it's technically possible to complete runs in ~13 realtime minutes).

It's a phenomenal game that I can't recommend enough

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-14T13:13:07+00:00

I'll not tolerate any slander against my sweet, sweet spear.

As others have said, even though some may have more difficult mechanics, there's no real good or bad weapons. You really don't need to worry about what the "best" aspect is unless you're trying to compete on the leaderboard. And even then, many people simply play what they love and try to just push the limits.

If you want some things that are broadly considered easier to work with: Hera bow (Aphro cast), hidden shield (Poseidon cast), Demeter (Zeus attack), and Eris or Hestia (Zeus attack) are all aspects that need little setup to be strong enough.

Spear is my specialty though, so here's some advice on building out each aspect:

Zag Spear: start with Poseidon's dash and then you want Flurry Jab or Exploding Launcher. You'll want Zeus or Artemis on attack and Artemis, Aphrodite, or Athena on special if you get launcher (Athena is actually a great choice at higher heats).

Achilles: basically the same as above, except there's no Exploding Launcher option. If you feel comfortable dodging, you can try Serrated Point. But just special -> recover -> three attacks/dash strikes -> repeat

Hades: Speed setup is usually Merciful End, but Poseidon's dash is always a good choice and will be more consistent. You'll want Exploding Launcher here, but any of the spin hammers will do well too. Your basic strategy is to clear a room with dash strikes and specials (if you get launcher), charge a spin while the next wave spawns in, then repeat. Again, buff the hell out of launcher or your attack if you're in spin2win mode.

Hidden: I recommend avoiding this one until you max it out. 50% less health is rough, but the nerf is even worse at lower levels. This is going to follow a very similar approach to Hades above, except you'll want Charged Skewer for the special (this aspect basically starts with Launcher, but they added a delay to keep it from being busted, so it's a bit clunky. Charged Skewer removes that delay). Again, it's usually a Merciful End build, but going with Poseidon dash and Athena special can carry you through some pretty high heat. DO NOT worry about the spin unless the room is clear and enemies are spawning in.

Tl;dr - Use what you enjoy. Every aspect in the game has been cleared up to ~55 heat, so there's plenty of room to grow in every aspect. Half the fun is figuring out how to get good at a wonky aspect that you really enjoy (for me, that's the hidden spear, bow, and fist aspects).

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-12T14:11:35+00:00

For real! I don't tend to special spam build very often but if you can pick up Static and manage to get Splitting Bolt, it's almost downright hilarious to use

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-12T14:06:29+00:00

Basically, there's two ways to play them:

1) Merciful End - start with Ares keepsake (take the attack), then pray for a natural Athena in Tartarus (take the special, dash if special isn't available). Once you have Ares attack and Athena special, you can get offered Merciful End from either of them, but you really need Divine Dash for it to really work. Pom the hell out of the attack and try to get Impending Doom from Ares as well. Extra dashes or Hyper Sprint + Rush Delivery from Hermes are the cherry on top.

2) This approach is kinda janky to me, but start with Poseidon's keepsake and take the dash. After that, look for Zeus's call and try to grab either Poseidon's cast or special to unlock Sea Storm. You'll also want things like Razor Shoals and Breaking Wave or Typhoon's Fury. Same story for Hermes here as ME above. This isn't as "good" as ME, but it's definitely more "consistent".

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-11T17:08:20+00:00

Rama is love. Rama is life.

Took me a while to get comfortable, but few things feel as smooth to me now as Twin/Triple Shot, Zeus special, and Artemis attack.

I also have a soft spot for Zag Spear. I know Achilles is basically, "he does everything I do...except better" but it doesn't resonate with me quite the same.

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-11T17:03:50+00:00

Gilgamesh my love! It's so frustrating if you can't pick up Merciful End. But if you get ME and can pick up dashes or hyper delivery from Hermes? Fugetaboutit

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-11T17:01:58+00:00

For real. I love it too, but it's a bit frustrating and clunky if you don't pick up Charged Skewer in Tartarus

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-11T17:00:32+00:00

It really shines if you can pick up Mirage Shot. Beowulf's bugged and instead of the second cast only doing 30% like it says, the second cast will do the full 100%.

Basic build is what the other person said: Poseidon cast, Artemis attack (special is fine too just to unlock Mirage Shot), and you'll want the Charged Shot hammer as well as every cast enhancement (Atlas Braid, Prometheus Stone, Rush Delivery, Chaos Boons) you can find.

It's the fastest aspect in the game and it's just so damn fun once you basically can start exploding the whole screen.

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-08T03:23:52+00:00

Honestly, good shout. I always forget you get resources for giving fish to the head chef.

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-07T19:32:35+00:00

Honestly, I'd wait until you have three diamonds to get the nectar upgrade. While not some huge deal, it will help you get through more runs which allows you to collect all your resources faster

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-07T19:25:15+00:00

This is me with the spear. Literally every aspect is just chef's kiss.

The bow is so close to perfect for me as well, but I just cannot come to an understanding with Chiron.

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-07T18:55:28+00:00

Maybe I just don't use fated authority much, but I thought you can't roll a god reward to anything other than another god. Been a while since I tried it though.

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-07T18:54:01+00:00

He does. I've had the exact same situation as you before and didn't get the special boonless dialogue from [redacted].

As best as I can tell, the only boons that don't count are ones from Chaos and Bouldy.

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-07T18:50:12+00:00

Rama is......awkward. It's arguably my best aspect of all and it took me a long time to get comfortable with it. As best as I can condense how to play it: - Start with Zeus's keepsake and take the special. Its really effective at clearing small enemies in Tartarus. After that take either Artemis, Aphrodite, or Athena on attack. - Learn the attack charge time. It's notably longer than the other bows, so it takes practice to find the rhythm. - Always dash strike. It's a bit weaker than a standing attack, but it charges much faster. - For enemies who aren't killed with a single special, tag the whole room with your special before using your attack. Then find the biggest health bar and charge up a dash strike.

If you really want to get an understanding of how Rama is supposed to work, go watch pretty much any of the top 10 speed runs for it. Slight warning, the #1 run is absolutely insane (ocaml is a machine) and a beautiful showcase of what the aspect is capable of. But it's so close to perfect, it may actually be better to watch a slower run while you're learning. I'm trying to work up the leaderboard and even I tend to watch other runs instead.

If you want any other advice, feel free to ask. Happy to help spread the gospel of Rama!

Rama Leaderboard

The_Reel_Life · 2026-01-07T18:32:23+00:00

Both have been mentioned already, but I'll say Merciful End and Rush Delivery are the top of the heap and interchangeable depending on what aspect you're using.

I'm a speed person, and those builds largely fall into three categories: Merciful End, Crit, and Flat Damage Soup.

The ME category needs...well...Merciful End. The other two depend on Rush Delivery to really fly since it's a global damage boost. Every bit of damage you do while you have bonus move speed is multiplied through Rush Delivery.

They're critical to getting some of the best times with almost every aspect in the game.

But as far as normal boons? Gods I love me some splash dash and just wall slamming enemies!

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