Hi!

I'm new in speedrunning and I want to start with this game. Since there are no guides or Any% runs, I'm making my own.

I tested a few things. First, you can't get the blueprint for the medallion of the first mid-boss if you don't have the shop open. So, to play it safe, you would need to open the shop before fighting the first mid-boss. You can still try and do the whole pyramid in one go, but you are not going to save that much (because you wouldn't get to upgrade the damage). Also, if you die, it's definitely a dead run.

Second, the amount of gold needed to open the store is 1840. You need to buy damage, then 3 levels of defense and then the store. You can get enough money if you farm the second floor and avoid the boss room on the third. I actually got it in the third floor without farming the second, but I got a really bad first floor. Once you get the gold, just die.

And third, the most important thing to buy is the damage. I'm still not sure if any of the God's favors are useful in this run. I finished the first pyramid only upgrading damage, but it was getting kinda hard on the last floor. Maybe we'll need to buy some defense and some health upgrades. I think that a 25lvl damage and a 10 lvl defense will be good for the second pyramid boss. I still don't know if I can get enough gold with the second mid-boss to buy that and the medallion to skip half the pyramid.

Anyway, I don't know if anyone is interested in Any%, but I'll be making a few anotations on the next days, so feel free to use them or add more!

I did one test run of full game any%, and I think the category has a lot of promise tbh. Luck is much less of a factor since getting perfect room RNG would leave you with little gold to spend on upgrades. My one run was something like 4.5 to 5 hours, which unfortunately is a lot longer than I can really spend consecutively on a single attempt of a run. I was doing it half to test the category and half to get the <20 death achievement, so idk if I'll do it

On to my route: I unlocked Seth, but I don't think it was worth it. He is most effective in the first pyramid, which you probably beat before you have enough to purchase and upgrade him. It might be worth it to get some god (besides Redneck) for the natural buffs when you haven't played another god in a few runs. Also, I'm not sure if the payoff for unlocking the shop is worth it. It's 1840 for the shop plus more for each medallion which could all go towards stats. You skip three floors and a boss if you die, but with the extra stats, you clear those three floors and all subsecquent floors even faster (and with less chance of dying another time). As for which stats to get, I went up the tree to get the extra jump, and then I believe, I dumped the rest into attack, defense, and hp.

Good luck with your runs! I look forward to watching them :)

Thanks for the reply!

On the first life you can easily kill the first mid-boss (I did it, and that's how I found out that you don't get the blueprint when he dies if you don't have the shop open). But I think it will be very hard to kill the boss. Even with 3+ on defense, the enemies on the 6th floor were taking almost half my life with one hit. Without any upgrades it could be a 2 hit death. Maybe killing the mid-boss without the store open, then die on the 4th floor and use that money to upgrade damage and defense could be a good strategy. I'm going to try it.

Do you know how much it gives when you don't use the god? I know it's some kind of percentage, but I'm not sure how much. Maybe it's not that useful.

Yes, I think the second jump is a must. It makes some platform sections a lot faster.

I found some really good strategies for the bosses with the Redneck's weapons. For the mid-boss, you can use the dynamite to destroy the sarcophagus in one hit each. Then just use the ability and the shotgun for some rapid fire. For the last boss, wait for his "earthquake" attack, then run under him and use the dynamite. Just be careful when he gets his hands again. Or, if you are lucky, you can get the Rocket Launcher before the boss. It makes it even easier.

Btw, something that I didn't mention, I avoid all scrolls. I think that some of the bad ones can kill a good run. Maybe you can pick all scrolls and just kys when you get a really bad one. But I can't think of a scroll that gives a really good trait that it would be worth picking up on this kind of run.