Heroic Mode Tips and Tricks

[L0rdAceX]

I just popped this plat today and I found some tips and tricks to make Heroic a little easier that the guide doesn't necessarily mention (it's still very difficult, don't get me wrong). 

 

1. Do it how you want, but this is how I did it: First playthrough on normal to enjoy it and understand the game. Then heroic playthrough getting as many collectibles as you can and using skips. Then normal mode playthrough for cleanup.
2. You can click R3 and then R2 to shoot something to hit it in the head with aim assist. This is very useful in normal (with revolver) to get through levels quick and useful for Charged Crossbow shots to enemies like boss armor, the warlords/mother demons (in the head) and flying demons in heroic.
3. Heroic demands Divider of Humans/Aswang Hunger spam so if in doubt, just do that. For most of the game, if you are below 104 HP, heal to 104 and then spam DoH to get yourself to 130. Remember that DoH fully charged will do more damage. Healthpacks will get you to 170 max at that point. You NEVER want to be low on health because you die very easily. Make sure you loot every room and use a collectible guide for all collectibles (I don't recommend the platforming ones in Chapter 3 however, it's far too easy to fall off and you won't be popping Mr. Jones in Heroic if you use the Chapter 12 skip anyway). I recommend the one in the playlist from the PSNP guide here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAtQpRVrE5Z6QtEb2HzCoe2z6h-9FuTO6
4. Learn how to kill enemies efficiently:
i. Normal demon: Use Divider of Heavens (and try to aim for the head)
ii. Flying demon: Charged Crossbow shot
iii. Vulture: Use Divider of Heavens (and try to aim for the head)
iv. Invisible warper: DoH (and try to aim for the head)
v. Warper: Lots of dashing and DoH
vi. Shield guy: Dash to the side of it, then use DoH to try and cut off a limb so then they won't have a shield arm or their staff. Then keep using DoH until dead.
vii. Warlord: A few Charged Crossbows to the head should do the trick
viii. Summoner: Use Akimbo PDWs and aim at their left arm and try to cut it off ASAP so that it can't bring back enemies, kill all other enemies and kill him last (unless there is a berseker, then THAT last)
ix. Berserker:  Use Akimbo PDWs and try to lure them to hitting their head on an indestructible object, shooting them in the back a bit, then baiting it to charge into a 2nd indestructible object then alternate between those objects and repeating. Charged Crossbow is fine too as well as DoH (DoH is much slower, but you can get back to 130 health). Yes, this WILL take a while.
x. Mother demon: Charged Crossbow to the head will one shot them

5. And for the love of God, if there is a downward slope, DO NOT DASH. You WILL die. 

Order to get upgrades: 

This guy has a good idea on how to upgrade your skills, but I think he underestimates akimbo PDW.
Skills: Divider of Heavens, Aswang Hunger (MANDATORY), Kenshi, Kensei, Drain Soul, Demon Slayer 1+2, Godslayer 1+2, Control Pain 1-3, Medic, Doctor, Quick Recovery 1+2, Inner Reserve 1-3, rest up to you, probably will get Critical Strike (I don't believe this does anything but not sure) and Soul Hunger and then anything else. Headhunter is worthless despite what some guides will tell you.
Powers: All healing first, doesn't really matter how. I started with Invigorating Dew. Just max this tree first. Then do shockwave. Then protection. You want 0 points in Flux, if you do it by accident with sliding the touchpad, you're probably screwed.

 

Weapons: 
1. PDW: match grade barrel and akimbo
2. Crossbow: high strain and extended mag, don't bother with sticky bomb imo. I bought it and never used it. The guide says you can use it for flying demons, but just using charged crossbow shots to kill them one by one is good enough.
3. Flamethrower: Firebombs and Inferno Mix (only get inferno max if you have money)
4. Rocket Launcher: Heavy Warheads

The rest of your money will be spent on ammo for rockets and flamethrower for the final demon battle in chapter 16. Also for crossbows in a pinch.

For all boss fights use charged crossbow shots with R3 trick to aim at the armor pieces/crystals, you will be dashing a lot in these fights

Skips: 
Chapter 12 Skip: You can go out of bounds to skip the whole chapter. This chapter is balls so its nice to do this.

Chapter 13: No major skips, but you can break the red shrine through a wall after the Zilla fight and this skips some Warlord/Summoner fights as well as a dangerous Warper fight.

Chapter 13 Berserker spot: Watch this video, this is the easiest and most consistent berserker spot.

Chapter 16: You can go out of bounds to skip right to the area with demons/humans right before courtyard. Per top comment: At the start, try standing very close to one of the little things sticking out of the fence, then dash right at it. (According to Speedrunner ELMLE,  colliding with objects while dashing causes the bounces)

 

 

These are the only skips I recommend. There is a small one in Chapter 14, but it only skips one big berserker fight and I wasn't able to do it. I doubt any others are possible on console (trust me, I wish I could have skipped courtyard).
Here's Chapter 14 skip for reference:

 

 

The hardest chapters are 13 (because its so long) and 16 (because of courtyard fight, the platinum trophy fight).

 

I do recommend the courtyard fight video from the guide: 

 

Let me know if anyone has any questions while its still fresh in my mind and you're struggling. If you don't like skips and want to do it normally, that's fine, I was merely offering an alternative. 

Edited January 4, 2022 by L0rdAceX
Grammar Hard

[Mellenthin]

Some very good information, but using weapons other than the sword's power attacks isn't really needed. You'll have excellent range on top of infinite cleave and all you're doing is dashing around to find an opening and then get as many attacks off as you can. 

 

Worked like a charm for me.

[L0rdAceX]

42 minutes ago, Mellenthin said:

Some very good information, but using weapons other than the sword's power attacks isn't really needed. You'll have excellent range on top of infinite cleave and all you're doing is dashing around to find an opening and then get as many attacks off as you can. 

 

Worked like a charm for me.

Yea I mean that's kind of what I meant when I said if in doubt, just spam Divider of Heavens and besides I think crossbow is useful enough to at least use that as well as Rocket launcher for the final fight. 

[Mellenthin]

15 hours ago, L0rdAceX said:

Yea I mean that's kind of what I meant when I said if in doubt, just spam Divider of Heavens and besides I think crossbow is useful enough to at least use that as well as Rocket launcher for the final fight. 

Fair enough.?

[Arzoden]

Heroic mode makes me angry already, i only die at the final fights of maps to the most stupid shit.