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Kappy’s Spotlight — Lakilester

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It’s that time again: #KappySpotlight time, where I talk about badges/items/partners/etc… that are generally seen as “bad” and not used very often by challenge runners. I dive deeper into why they’re perceived the way they are with some cool strategies centered around them mixed in! Today, I’ll be covering a partner in 64 that you get last and subsequently usually use the least — LAKILESTER!

LakilesterSPM
Moves:
Spiny Flip — Deals damage to a single enemy (3/4/5 damage)
Spiny Surge [4 FP] — Deals damage to all enemies on the field (2/3/4 damage)
Cloud Nine [4 FP] — Mario is evasive for 4 turns
Hurricane [5 FP] — Blows away all enemies on the field (no Star Points given)
Glitz Pit Rank: 7th (of 8 Partners)

Oof, 7th out of 8 partners. Lakilester is an interesting partner because he has one ridiculous ability in Cloud Nine, and the rest just sort of…fall flat. Now, this spotlight I won’t be crafting any strategies with Lakilester for one big reason: all of the partners in 64 function almost exactly the same besides a few differences in their support abilities. Many partners deal 5-6 damage with their basic attacks and can hit multiple enemies. With this in mind, many strategiess I can devise for Chapter 6 and beyond bosses can all be done with multiple partners, especially since Mario is the only one who can increase his ATK & DEF. For the most part, when I strategize for 64 I just choose a partner that can give me the damage I need for exact damage. What I’ll be doing this spotlight is instead going through the strengths and weaknesses of each move. So, let’s get started!

SPINY FLIP

Lakilester’s basic attack. This basic attack is actually really good because he can hit any enemy and it doesn’t make contact. No real drawbacks here — it’s easy to follow up with Mario’s Jump (or have Mario follow up on an enemy that was on the ceiling) after this hits, and it can act like an aerial hammer since other attacks that can hit aeril and ground enemies like Body Slam and Headbonk can’t hit spiky enemies, which Spiny Flip can.

SPINY SURGE

Spiny Surge is another solid move, but with a pretty hefty FP cost. 4 FP isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but for the most part, enemies like to be on the ground. Just look at most of Chapter 7 & Chapter 8. A huge majority of those enemies are grounded, meaning Kooper can clean up with Power Shell for 2 FP less. However, Spiny Surge does have a nice niche uses as the most cost-effective way to get rid of the Tuff Puffs during the Huff N. Puff boss fight and the ice bits during the Crystal King boss fight. You can always use it to take out all Bzzaps with ease, although Multibounce will likely work just as well for less FP. Other than that…you’re probably not going to get much out of 4 damage for 4 FP. Better to use Sushie’s Tidal Wave or Parakarry’s Air Raid against higher HP/DEF enemies, especially since Sushie can deal waaaaay more damage with Tidal Wave for only 6 FP. Still, it’s not a bad move. It’s definitely heavily outclassed, though.

CLOUD NINE

Fun fact: if you equip all Luck-based badges available to you, you get ~50% evasion in Danger. With Cloud Nine, you get basically 50% evasion without needing to be in Danger. However, it cancels out all Luck badges equipped. It’s a double-edged sword, but really…this is way better than equipping Luck badges. This move alone is enough to keep Lakilester relevant. Cycling through Turbo Charge, Water Block, and Cloud Nine is a common strategy to keep Mario ultra-buffed at all times, especially with a Flower Saver or two equipped. The ability to have that much evasion for 2-4 FP is actually insane, and there are times where Cloud Nine will help you dodge 3-4 attacks in a row…all for a pretty low FP cost. It’s good. It’s great. It’s awesome. There are no drawbacks if you’re not manipulating HP and are trying to avoid attacks entirely. There’s only one downside to this move: experienced players don’t really need it, and will instead use Bow’s Outta Sight for a guaranteed dodge since you’ll likely only need to dodge once after being in Peril to finish enemies off. Oh, and I guess it’s still RNG-dependent, which isn’t good. But, I’ve seen it do amazing things, and that can’t be overlooked.

HURRICANE

This move is, well…useless. Unless you’re trying to not earn Star Points or save Star Energy, you can just use Up & Away or, well, run. Really, it’s disappointing that this is Lakilester’s Ultra Rank move — a stronger Spiny Surge here would’ve been more effective, but you can tell they were hinting at using Lakilester for Huff N. Puff with it being his second base move. Should’ve been Hurricane… anyway, this move does have a good chance at blowing away every enemy not named Bombshell Bill Blaster and is a tad more reliable than Up & Away or Spook. For 5 FP though, I’d rather use something else. If this move gave you Star Points, it’d be on par with Flurrie’s Gale Force, which would make it great in my eyes.

That’s it for Lakilester. As I said before, you can swap around partners when it comes to bosses and normal battles and see mostly the same results, so no strategies for this one. Partners in 64 are tricky to talk about. A lot of them perform the exact same function damage-wise besides a select few like Sushie & Bow, so you have to look at their unique abilities like Cloud Nine, Water Block, etc… with that said, Lakilester, while being one of the worst-rated partners, isn’t always a terrible choice. You’re just going to find yourself going to others more unless you’re specifically looking for evasion.

Next time, we’ll go over a badge in Paper Mario 64!

Just Sayin’

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Kappy’s Spotlight — Hammerman

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It’s that time again: #KappySpotlight time, where I talk about badges/items/partners/etc… that are generally seen as “bad” and not used very often by challenge runners. I dive deeper into why they’re perceived the way they are with some cool strategies centered around them mixed in! Today, I’ll be covering a badge that’s simply…smashing — HAMMERMAN!

Hammerman

Glitz Pit Rank: D-

This badge suffers from its namesake — hammers. Hammers are generally inferior to Jumping once you start to buff Mario’s ATK. With great move badges like Multibounce and Power Bounce, combined with the support badges Spike Shield and Ice Power, Mario is able to deal damage to all non-ceiling enemies, and with enough ATK-increasing badges, he can wipe out normal battles and boss battles in 1-3 turns. Hammers, on the other hand, are less effective. The biggest drawback is that you can’t hit anywhere but the front without Hammer Throw, and Quake Hammer and Fire Drive can’t hit aerial enemies. Hammer’s biggest positive is that it has higher base damage, so whereas a Jump may not deal damage to a high-DEF enemy, Hammer can. Unfortunately, as said before: increasing ATK only helps Jump more and more, and since you get Power Bounce and badges like PowerRush/Mega Rush so early, it’s tough to compete with Jump when challenge runners are great at manipulating Mario’s HP to get into Danger/Peril quickly.

Hammerman is a little different than move badges like Power Smash or Fire Drive because it gets rid of Jumping entirely, meaning Hammer is your only option. Now, this isn’t really great, but partners are so versatile that if you wanted to run a Hammer-centric build, you could quite easily and still be an effective fighter, and the 2 BP isn’t bad for a flat increase to damage. Let’s look at a couple places where Hammerman can be put to very good use!

THE MOON

The Moon in Chapter 7 houses an enemy that Jump quite literally cannot compete with unless Mario’s in Peril/Danger. Moon Clefts have 5 DEF. An insane amount, to be sure. At this point, you’ve probably got Jumpman and 2 Power Plus badges equipped. Well, that’s 6 ATK for your Jump…and 1 damage to Moon Clefts. You’d need to be in Danger to KO them with a normal Jump, and in Peril to KO them with Multibounce. With Hammerman, you don’t need any of this. In fact, from the get-go you can KO them all with Quake Hammer. Quake Hammer’s base ATK is 2. With 2 Power Plus badges and Hammerman, it’s at 5. Throw on P-Up D-Down and you’ve got an easy way to KO Moon Clefts with no effort. Throw on Flower Finder/Flower Savers and you can literally win every battle on the Moon (besides the ones with Z-Yux…but your partners can deal with those guys) without batting an eye.  Bonus points go to Hammer Throw having an ATK of 10 at this point and being able to easily KO Z-Yux as well.

PIT OF 100 TRIALS FLOORS 51-99

You might be thinking, “Wow, the later half of the Pit, Kappy? How is Hammer really good there?” Well, let’s take a look at the enemy list for these floors.

50s —– Badge Bandit | Ice Puff | Dark Boo | Red Chomp | Moon Cleft

60s —– Dark Lakitu (+ Sky-Blue Spiny) | Dry Bones | Dark Wizzerd | Frost Piranha | Dark Craw

70s —– Wizzerd | Dark Koopatrol | Phantom Ember | Swoopula | Chain Chomp

80s —– Spunia | Dark Bristle | Arantula | Piranha Plant

90s —– Elite Wizzerd | Poison Puff | Bob-ulk | Swampire | Amazy Dayzee

Now, let’s get this out of the way: there are quite a few enemies that Hammers can’t deal with easily. However, we have our partners, and they all can easily deal with the enemies Hammer can’t. Let’s assume we’re at end-game with Power Plus x2, Hammerman, All or Nothing, Power Rush, and Mega Rush equipped along with Fire Drive, Quake Hammer, Power Smash, and Hammer Throw. Let’s do some quick math when Mario’s in Peril…

Fire Drive Damage: Base (5) + Power Plus badges (2) + Hammerman (1) + All or Nothing (1) + Power Rush (2) + Mega Rush (5) = 16 piercing damage (decreasing with each hit).
Quake Hammer Damage: Base (2) + Power Plus badges (2) + Hammerman (1) + All or Nothing (1) + Power Rush (2) + Mega Rush (5) = 13 piercing damage.
Hammer Throw Damage: Base (6) + Power Plus badges (2) + Hammerman (1) + All or Nothing (1) + Power Rush (2) + Mega Rush (5) = 17 damage.

Power Smash Damage: Base (8) + Power Plus badges (2) + Hammerman (1) + All or Nothing (1) + Power Rush (2) + Mega Rush (5) = 19 damage.

That’s actually quite a bit of damage. You can KO a loadout of 4 Badge Bandits (12 HP), Chain Chomps (7 HP), Red Chomps (5 HP), Dry Bones (8 HP), Ice Puffs (provided they’re ground | 9 HP), Frost Piranhas (10 HP)…I think you get it. With the combined might of Fire Drive + Quake Hammer, you can lay waste to quite a few enemy loadouts. You can even KO 5 Spunias (12 HP) with Fire Drive after the last one takes Burn damage or is superguarded. That’s crazy. With this much damage on Fire Drive, you can even KO 5 Elite Wizzerds (12 HP) in one turn and they won’t even attack you!

Quake Hammer’s utility is more for piercing through Chomps, Clefts, and the Dark Bristles, while simultaneously being able to KO lower HP enemies like Badge Bandits or Frost Piranhas for less FP. Fire Drive is used to take out bigger HP enemies like Arantulas, Dark Koopatrols (after you flip them with Quake Hammer), and all Wizzerd variants (since Quake Hammer can’t hit them). You can OHKO Airborne Puff variants and Arantulas with Hammer Throw, and do enough damage to a Swampire that your partner can finish them off easily. You can even use Hammer Throw or Fire Drive to set up for easy Amazy Dayzee KOs. Power Smash…well, it doesn’t have a lot of use for all the normal battles since your normal Hammer also deals 17 damage and can OHKO basically anything you attack besides Swampires and Amazy Dayzees (even Elite Wizzerds are taken out with one Hammer), but you can use it against Bonetail to deal 17 damage for less FP than Fire Drive. And whatever you don’t finish off or can’t, you can with partners, especially at Ultra Rank!

Obviously, this isn’t optimal compared to the Multibounce method for two core reasons: 1) Hazards. A lot of these attacks are slightly more prone to causing hazards to happen. If you don’t have DEF, you could cost yourself Mario’s life if he gets hit by a falling stage light, the fire crackers, etc… especially when utilizing Peril. 2) Enemy layout. Some enemy layouts are cruel to hammers, with some switching off between an aerial enemy and a grounded enemy and others starting with all enemies you want to be grounded airborne, etc… this can be especially bad with Puffs, who randomly decide to be grounded or airborne at the beginning of battle. Sometimes, you won’t be able to KO all enemies with Hammer and your partner in one turn.

These can be mitigated with Life Shrooms and other support items, and that’s where the strategy becomes unoptimal. With Multibounce, you really don’t need to worry about enemy placement; just Multibounce away with easy partner cleanup (or use Rally Wink).

Okay, let’s do at least one boss strategy with Hammers!

MAGNUS VON GRAPPLE 1.0 STRAT

10 HP, 5 FP
BADGES: Power Smash, Hammerman, Power Plus, Mega Rush (10 BP)

ITEMS: Honey Syrup, Mistake

Click here to see the strategy in action!

T1: Power Smash (25), Multibonk (5-cap) (20)
T2: Honey Syrup, Power Smash (15)
T3: Power Smash (10), Mistake (Goombella)
T4: Power Smash [KO]

This strategy revolves around Power Smash with Hammerman providing just enough ATK to give Mario 6 damage with it, which is reduced to 5 with Magnus Von Grapple’s 1 DEF. Magnus Von Grapple always Stomps Turn 1, then is triggered into summoning his X-Fists at Turn 2. We get him to his trigger Turn 1, then Goombella uses a Honey Syrup so Mario can continue Power Smashing Turn 2. Turn 3, Goombella uses a Mistake to put Mario at 2 FP so he can finish off the fight Turn 4. On Turn 3, Mario takes 3 attacks — two from the X-Fists and a Quake attack. The attacks do 4, 4, and 2 respectively. Luckily for us, Mario can get himself into Peril whether he was attacked Turn 1. Depending on how many attacks Mario guards, he can take 7, 8, or 9 damage. Because Magnus Von Grapple’s Stomp does 2 damage, we have a way to get into Peril if we’re at 8, 9, or 10 HP. Easy. Turn 4, we finish up with a Mega Rush boosted Power Smash to win the fight. It’s a nifty little strat, and I actually really like it. You could upgrade FP once or equip FP Plus so you don’t need to use items, but to be honest, it means your partner is kinda just sitting there since if they keep attacking, you can just end him before Mario goes into Peril. This strat is about Hammerman, so we want to finish with a hammer move!

And that’s it! The thing about Hammerman is that you’re not going to build a strat around it as a move like with Power Smash — it’s just a supplement to Mario’s damage, but forcing you to only use Hammer options can help you see Hammer’s strengths and weaknesses. I recommend trying it out and seeing what you come up with! As usual, feel free to use these strats or modify them for when you next play! I always say this on my streams: there’s something special and extremely satisfying seeing a strat on paper come to life in the game.I want to do something from Paper Mario 64 next time, so let me know in the comments and on social media what you’d like to see! I’ll put up a poll later this week with the answers I get.

Just Sayin’

 

Kappy’s Spotlight — Mr. Softener

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It’s time for another #KappySpotlight, where I talk about badges/items/partners/etc… that are generally seen as “bad” and not used very often by challenge runners. I dive deeper into why they’re perceived the way they are with some cool strategies centered around them mixed in! Today, I to dive into the world of items with an item that is almost never used in challenge running Paper Mario: TTYD — MR. SOFTENER!

Mr_Softener_TTYD

Move: Inflicts Soft (DEF-3) on all enemies

You’ll notice that there’s no Glitz Pit Rank on there. At this time, the Glitz Pit has not rated items for TTYD or 64 (although that might change in the future…). However, I can assure you that Mr. Softener is not perceived well. Soft as a status is largely not very useful because Mario and his partners already deal obscene amounts of damage, and items and special moves can pierce that DEF with ease. It also only works on enemies that actually have DEF. If a 0 DEF enemy is inflicted with Soft, it doesn’t become -3 DEF. A missed opportunity, really. For the record, Soft Stomp, the badge that can inflict Soft, is E+ tier — in other words, it’s not great.

So, with a high number of enemies (even in the end game) not having DEF, you’re not really going to be seeing use out of Mr. Softener when you could easily fit in something else. However, there are a few places where it could be used to some cool effect. To the Pit of 100 Trials!

PIT OF 100 TRIALS FLOOR 91/95/99

Loadout — Elite Wizzerd (12 HP) x5

Elite Wizzerds are a feared enemy in the Pit of 100 Trials, and for good reason! They have what looks like a measly 12 HP, but back it up with 8 ATK and 5 DEF. Yeah, 5. It’s pretty hard to deal damage to them, but Mr. Softener comes in to help! Elite Wizzerds are actually pretty susceptible to Soft — it’s an 80% chance to successfully inflict the status on them. Do a little more math and we find that using two Mr. Softeners results in an 84%* chance that 4 of them will be inflicted with Soft. Now, due to the different times, you can encounter these guys based on when you enter the Pit, there are a few ways we can utilize this.

NOTE: While there are 5 of them on the field, we’ll only be attempting to inflict the status on 4. This is because when there is one Elite Wizzerd left, it will always spawn clones. If you hit it and cause the clones to disappear, it will infinitely loop through it until you either don’t hit it, or it’s KO’d.

Let’s try a few variations!

BADGES: Quick Change, Double Dip, Mega Rush P (11 BP)

PRE-HOOKTAIL PIT
BP ONLY

T1: Double Dip (Mr. Softener x2), Shooting Star

T2: Sweet Treat, Swap to Koops, Power Shell

VANILLA
T1: Power Shell, Swap to Goombella, Double Dip (Mr. Softener x2)

T2: Swap to Koops, Power Shell, Fire Flower

DISABLED PRE-CHAPTER 2 PITT1: Double Dip (Mr. Softener x2), Appeal

T2: Earth Tremor, Swap to Koops, Power Shell

These strats are all for common Pit challenges, but they’re anything but common. While RNG can sometimes cause you to really not have the proper resources, most of the time a situation calling for Mr. Softeners is rare. However, these are pretty cool ways to defeat the dreaded 5 EW loadout, and it’s all done with Super Rank Koops (normally, challenge runners will use Goombella in the 90’s due to the many aerial enemies that appear). So, let’s break all of these down.

Koops at Super Rank does 3 with Power Shell, 8 with Mega Rush P. That’s 3 damage to Elite Wizzerds since they have 5 DEF. If they’re inflicted with Soft, they only have 2 DEF, bringing the damage Koops deals with Power Shell to 6. At that point, we just find the right item or attack to finish them off while Power Shell deals that 6 damage. For BP Only, a Shooting Star is required due to the 5 FP limit. The Vanilla one is pretty cool, but assumes you don’t have any Shooting Stars or Thunder Rages. The Disabled Pre-Chapter 2 Pit one could actually be done with just two Power Shells without Soft, but it’s still pretty cool.

Okay, we’ve got some early-game Pit strats for this loadout. Let’s try some end-game stuff with the same loadout!

10 FP

BADGES: Power Rush P x2, Power Plus P, P-Up D-Down P, Double Dip x2 (16 BP, 19 with FP Plus)

T1: Triple Dip (Mr. Softener x2, Point Swap Yoshi), Stampede

OR

15 FP

BADGES: Mega Rush P, P-Up D-Down P, Double Dip x2, Quick Change (16 BP, 22 with 2 FP Plus badges)

T1: Triple Dip (Mr. Softener x3), Swap to Yoshi, Stampede

OR

20 FP

BADGES: Mega Rush P, Power Rush P, Double Dip x2, Quick Change (15 BP, 24 with 3 FP Plus badges)

T1: Triple Dip (Mr. Softener x3), Swap to Bobbery, Bob-ombast

While the first strat is a cool way to utilize Danger Yoshi with one extra Power Rush P from the Pianta Parlor, the other two actually make use of inflicting Soft on all 5 Elite Wizzerds. The chance of 3 Mr. Softeners inflicting Soft on 4 Elite Wizzerds is 96%*, which is actually really solid. Adding one extra enemy to that makes it… 96%. Yeah, 3 Mr. Softeners offers a pretty high chance of inflicting Soft on these guys. So, with all 5 inflicted, we can utilize Quick Change to swap out to an already Peril’d Yoshi and Bobbery to deal exactly 12 damage with Stampede and Bob-ombast respectively. I actually really like these two strategies, especially since we’re making use of Bobbery in one of them.

I want to cover one other enemy in the Pit that Mr. Softener can be put to good use for.

PIT OF 100 TRIALS FLOOR 55

Loadout — 4 Moon Clefts

BADGES: Mega Rush P (1 BP)

T1: Mr. Softener, Power Shell

Moon Clefts are 100% susceptible to Soft, so using one results in all 4 being afflicted with it. This allows you to OHKO with Peril Koops in a Pre-Hooktail Pit instead of letting the Moon Clefts have an extra turn to attack. This is a great loadout to use a Mr. Softener on because you can save your other attacking items for the later floors where they count more, and a Mr. Softener is actually quite useful here because Fire Drive doesn’t work on Clefts.

There are quite a few other notable enemies when it comes to the Pit of 100 Trials that can be inflicted with the Soft status. Here’s a small list:

Wizzerd – 3 DEF – 90% chance to inflict Soft
Dark Bristle – 4 DEF – 100% chance to inflict Soft
Sky-Blue Spiny – 4 DEF – 90% chance to inflict Soft
Chain Chomp – 5 DEF – 95% chance to inflict Soft
Bob-ulk – 2 DEF – 85% chance to inflict Soft

Pretty nice that you can get rid of a Wizzerd’s DEF entirely with Soft, huh?

Since we’re covering an item that inflicts status, I want to point out that utilizing an item like Mr. Softener has an inherent flaw; like I say in the beginning of every post, I try to give these lesser used items and other things time to shine, but Mr. Softener is very difficult to use in pre-planned strats. Why? Because even with 3 used, they can still fail if an enemy isn’t 100% susceptible to it, and if they fail, the entire strat gets shot, forcing you to think on the fly and putting you in a potentially horrible position.

So, what can you use Mr. Softener for that’s not pre-planned? You could use it to stop Macho Grubba’s DEF+ buff (90% chance to inflict Soft with 1 Mr. Softener) when he uses that. You could use it against Magnus Von Grapple 2.0 (80% chance to inflict Soft with 1 Mr. Softener), any of the above enemies I listed in a pinch, or Bowser (also 80% chance) to deal a little more damage. But let me be frank — most are all still determined (even if only slightly) by RNG. When you use items like Mr. Softener, you always want to prepare for the case where it doesn’t work. And that causes them to inherently be unoptimal. For example, against Magnus Von Grapple 2.0 you could just use a Power Punch to negate the DEF he has, and it’s 100% guaranteed to work.

What I’m trying to ultimately say is that Mr. Softener and other items that inflict status are a special case. Sometimes, it’s the right call; sometimes, it’s a really bad call; and sometimes, it’s the only way you can get out of a potentially bad situation.

If we go back to the 5 Elite Wizzerds. You might be at a spot in the battle where, if that Mr. Softener hit 2 of the 3 left, you can KO them both and safely stall your way back to a good place so you can finish off the last one and go into the next fight looking good, or it allows you to KO them with your non-Peril partner out in the case of Pre-Hooktail, allowing you to level up safely. It’s really unlikely, but part of what makes a great Paper Mario player is realizing that even items with a chance of failing can be the right option. In Mr. Softener’s case, you’re not going to find that spot very often.

That’s it for today’s spotlight. What do you think of Mr. Softener and the Soft status? Do you like to use it against enemies with DEF, or do you prefer just stomping through with piercing moves and huge ATK? Despite my giant wall of text explaining why items like Mr. Softener aren’t great, I had fun coming up with these strategies, and there’s something to be said about the math and probability that goes into combat for Paper Mario: TTYD. Maybe now you’ll see a situation where Mr. Softener was the correct play to make mid-battle. Let me know!

*EDIT: Thanks to Jdaster64 (I’ve referenced him before; go check out his site! I get a lot of information from his stuff!) for pointing out the inaccuracy in my probability math. It’s actually a much better 98.5% to inflict Soft on 4 of 5 Elite Wizzerds with 2 Mr. Softeners and basically 100% on 4 of 5 Elite Wizzerds with 3.

Just Sayin’

Kappy’s Spotlight — Supernova

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It’s time for another #KappySpotlight, where I talk about badges/items/partners/etc… that are generally seen as “bad” and not used very often by challenge runners. I dive deeper into why they’re perceived the way they are with some cool strategies centered around them mixed in! Today I’ll be covering one of Mario’s Special Moves in Paper Mario: TTYD — SUPERNOVA!

15-hozf2.png
SP Cost: 6
Move: Deals 15 (piercing) damage to all enemies
Glitz Pit Rank: 8th (of 8 Special Moves)Supernova, as you can see, was rated the worst of all of Mario’s Special moves. This is largely in part due to Art Attack costing 2 less SP and has the ability to deal more than 15 damage to a group of enemies. With max SP, you can fire off two Art Attacks before running out, which is pretty crazy considering the damage you can deal, so Supernova gets overshadowed really hard. It’s also the last Special Move you get in TTYD, making it a pretty mediocre reward for completing Chapter 7 when you’ve probably been KO’ing enemies left and right with Art Attack anyway. However, in runs where you’re limited in badges, Supernova can make for a nice way to deal massive damage to large bosses in Chapter 8 (Gloomtail and Shadow Queen are the only ones that come to mind), although you’re usually better off using Power Lift.Unlike some of the worst badges in TTYD, Supernova does have a niche use despite being so heavily out-classed by Art Attack. That niche use…is in Level Zero Pit. Art Attack struggles in two areas — hitting all enemies if they’re not in a straight line, or if there are 5 enemies on the field. Both limit Art Attack’s damage output. Many players have struggled to deal 12 damage to all 5 Elite Wizzerds with Art Attack, and if you have a combo of enemies in the air and on the ground, your circle has to be much bigger to deal 3 damage to all enemies consistently. So, let’s see where Supernova can be used well!

PIT OF 100 TRIALS FLOOR 94/98

Loadout — Swampire (20 HP), Elite Wizzerd (12 HP), Amazy Dayzee x2 (20 HP)

10 HP, 5 FP, Base Rank Yoshi
BADGES: None
ITEMS: None

T0: [Ultra Hammer First Strike] (Swampie: 14, Elite Wizzerd: 9, Amazy Dayzee 1: 17, Amazy Dayzee 2: 17)
T1: Supernova, Gulp [KO]

Click here to see the strategy in action!

This is one of the only times where Supernova is better over Art Attack, and it’s because of the consistency of 15 damage no matter what. This strategy is pretty simple and is a staple in Level Zero Pit runs. You Ultra Hammer First Strike to deal damage to all enemies, then Supernova Turn 1 to KO both the Swampire and Elite Wizzerd, and Gulp to KO the Amazy Dayzees. In Level Zero, you don’t level up partners, so Yoshi only deals 4 damage with Gulp. It results in basically 100 Star Points, so you get a free Level Up utilizing this combo. Supernova is chosen over Art Attack because it’s very much possible to not deal enough damage to both Amazy Dayzees to KO them with Gulp while also KO’ing the Elite Wizzerd and Swampire with Art Attack.

This and 5 Elite Elite Wizzerds are two prime examples of Supernova being a great option, but like I said earlier, it’s pretty unoptimal everywhere else. Still, let’s try fitting it into a couple boss strategies!

GLOOMTAIL STRAT

10 HP, 5 FP
BADGES: Power Plus P x2, P-Up D-Down P, Mega Rush P, Power Rush P, Charge P, Double Dip (20 BP)
ITEMS: Point Swap, Power Punch

T1: Double Dip (Power Punch Goombella, Point Swap Goombella), Charge [Superguard breath]
T2: Multibonk (5-cap) (15), Supernova [KO]

Click here to see the strategy in action!

This is just a slight variation of a common strategy utilizing Goombella as a powerhouse, but we fit in Supernova to save ourselves items, FP, and BP! Gloomtail has 80 HP and 2 DEF, so we need a lot of ATK to bring him down quickly. Ultra Rank Goombella has a base ATK of 3, so – Glooomtail’s 2 DEF is 1. We add 3 from two Power Plus P badges and P-Up D-Down P, then add in a Charge and Power Punch T1 for +4 ATK. Now Goombella’s at 8, but we Double Dipped, so we’re at 1 FP, so it’s an easy Point Swap to Goombella, adding +7 ATK with Mega Rush P and Power Rush P. I thought I’d fit in a strategy that utilizes superguarding, so we do all the prep Turn 1, which requires a superguard (or some luck with a Close Call P) to preserve Goombella’s peril status into Turn 2. Because the strategy is only two turns, it’s not terrible to require a superguard — it’s an easy reset and the save block is right next to the room Gloomtail is in.

Onto Turn 2. With a 6-cap, Goombella brings down Gloomtail to 5 HP with 15 + 14 + 13 + 12 + 11 + 10 = 75 damage, but we’re using Supernova, so let’s cut it off at 5 bonks and subtract the 10 damage bonk to bring the damage down to 65 and Gloomtail down to 15 HP left for a nice clean Supernova KO. Nice! We could’ve used a Thunder Bolt with 6 bonks, but we’re cutting down items used by KO’ing with Supernova instead, and we have enough ATK for a clean 65 damage with Multibonk.

GRODUS STRAT

10 HP, 10 FP
BADGES: Power Plus P x2, P-Up D-Down P, Double Dip P x2 (22 BP, 25 with FP Plus)
ITEMS: Power Punch, Spicy Pasta, Hot Sauce

T1: Earth Tremor, Triple Dip (Power Punch Goombella, Spicy Pasta Goombella, Hot Sauce Goombella)
T2: Supernova (35), Multibonk (5-cap) [KO]

Click here to see the strategy in action!

Time to use Triple Dip against Grodus! This strat uses NO DANGER OR PERIL; awesome, since we’ve been abusing it a lot lately. As I mentioned in my Tornado Jump spotlight, Grodus has 1 DEF naturally and +1 DEF for every Grodus X on the field. We’ll be using Supernova for that since it pierces DEF.

Turn 1 is the setup. We use Earth Tremor to save on an item to take out all the Grodus Xs. We then Triple Dip a Power Punch, Spicy Pasta, and Hot Sauce on Goombella for +4 ATK. With that, two Power Plus P badges, and P-Up D-Down P, Goombella is sitting at 10 ATK, 9 against Grodus’s 1 DEF. Grodus uses lightning and deals damage, but that doesn’t really matter here. He summons two Grodus Xs.

Turn 2, we destroy him. Supernova takes care of the Grodus Xs while also dealing damage to Grodus, putting him at 35 HP. With only 1 DEF now, Goombella will start at 9 with Multibonk, with a 5-cap, Multibonk deals 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 = 35 damage, just enough to deal perfect damage to Grodus and KO him! We also achieved perfect SP use with Earth Tremor and Supernova = 8 total SP used, and we have 8 SP max.

And there you have it. Supernova is actually a pretty fun move to use, and it feels great to see “15” flash above all enemies on the field. While Art Attack basically renders it obsolete in most situations, there are a few times where it is actually the optimal choice, and it can still be worked into some cool strategies. I don’t strategize often with special moves as a way of dealing damage, so this was actually really fun to do! As always, feel free to utilize these strategies or modify them when playing yourself! Maybe you’ll find another cool way to use Supernova.

That’s it for this spotlight. Next time I’ll be doing an item from TTYD and asking for that item from readers like you on Twitter! Make sure to follow me there so you can voice what item you’d like me to cover!

Just Sayin’

Kappy’s Spotlight — Tornado Jump

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It’s time for the first entry in my #KappySpotlight series! In this series, I cover badges/items/partners/etc… that are generally seen as “bad” and not used very often by challenge runners, and is aimed at giving them a chance to shine in strategies and to dive deeper into why they’re rated the way they are and how can they be used. I’m planning to release 1-2 every week (will depend on my schedule per week) — one will always come out Monday, and if I have time for another it will be on Friday!

The first thing I’ll be covering? A badge in TTYD that had cool potential but just never makes the cut — TORNADO JUMP!

Tornado_Jump_TTYD.png

BP Cost: 2
FP Cost: 3
Move: Deals 2/4/6 damage and creates tornadoes that deal 2 piercing damage to all midair and ceiling enemies. When stacked, gives +1 to the Jump damage and +2 to the tornado damage at double the FP cost.

Glitz Pit Rank: FF

Tornado Jump is that lovable meme badge that no one will ever use. Its biggest asset, the tornadoes, are pitifully weak and only hit aerial/ceiling enemies — that’s right, you don’t hit the grounded ones! With the ability to hit every enemy anyway with a myriad of moves (Stampede, Earth Tremor, Supernova, Fiery Jinx, attacking items, etc…), it’s hard to justify using it to hit multiple enemies. Something that I think really holds back Tornado Jump is that the tornadoes aren’t affected by increases to ATK. You could equip 20 Power Rush badges and still only deal 2 damage with the tornadoes from Tornado Jump. That’s rough.

One badge that really overshadows Tornado Jump’s utility is Multibounce. While Multibounce only does a single jump’s worth of damage, its ability to hit every enemy barring ceiling enemies almost always outclasses the tornadoes Tornado Jump provides, and the damage can be easily made up with increases to ATK. There is something to be said about Tornado Jump’s ability to deal Hammer-esque damage to a single enemy; it’s just at 3 FP it’s hardly ever worth the cost when you could Spin Jump or Power Jump for 1 less FP and more damage.

Despite this, people love the move for its amazing Stylish animation and really unique move. For challenge runners, it’s a great way to look at a badge that’s clearly outclassed by others. Almost any strategy you come up with for Tornado Jump is bound to be less efficient than a strategy utilizing better badges in terms of FP use and BP use, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get some sick exact damage and low-turn strategies with it! Here are a couple end game boss strategies that make some use of its tornadoes and unique damage property.

GRODUS STRAT

15 HP, 15 FP
BADGES: Tornado Jump x2, Double Dip P, Power Bounce, Last Stand, Mega Rush (12 BP total, 21 with 2 FP Plus and 1 HP Plus)

ITEMS: Point Swap, Power Punch

T1: Tornado Jump, Double Dip (Power Punch Mario, Point Swap Mario) [Don’t Guard Lightning]

T2: Tornado Jump (39), Rally Wink, Power Bounce (6-cap) [KO]

Click here to see the strategy in action!

This strat utilizes Tornado Jump to get rid of Grodus Xs while simultaneously using just enough FP to put Mario at 5 HP after Double Dip Turn 1 for a nice 4 damage lightning attack into Peril. Two Tornado Jumps equipped makes it a 6 FP move. Double Dip costs 4 FP, bringing the total to 10 FP used. With a Point Swap, Mario ends up with 5 HP and 15 FP. On Turn 1, the Tornado Jump used gets rid of all Grodus Xs since the tornado now deals 4 damage (they have 3 HP), but deals no damage to Grodus. Grodus’s 7-damage Lightning attack, which he always uses Turn 1, is reduced to 4 thanks to Last Stand, bringing Mario down to 1 HP, and putting us in Peril for Mega Rush to activate.

Now, Turn 2 is where all the setup pays off quickly. Mario’s base Tornado Jump at this point is 7 thanks to it being stacked. With Power Punch and Mega Rush, it’s now at 14. Grodus always spawns 2 Grodus Xs at the end of his turn, so there are two out on the field. For those of you who don’t know, Grodus has a special ability where his DEF increases by 1 for every Grodus X on the field. His base DEF is 1, so now he’s at 3 DEF, bringing Tornado Jump’s damage down to 11. So, we use Tornado Jump to deal that damage (Grodus has 50 HP max, so he’s now at 39 HP) and get rid of the Grodus Xs once more. Now Grodus only has 1 DEF. Goombella Rally Winks to give Mario an extra turn and we finish off with a 6-bounce Power Bounce that starts at 9. 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 equals…you guessed it, 39 damage exactly. With that, Grodus is brought down, and you’ve got yourself a nifty (albeit unoptimal) Tornado Jump strategy!

As you can see, to utilize Tornado Jump you need a lot FP and a few badges to help bolster it. For this particular strategy, you can get away with a 10 HP, 10 FP Mario, but you’ll need two Flower Saver badges and two Flower Saver P badges to pull off Turn 2 thanks to Tornado Jump’s crazy FP usage. And while I could have easily subbed in Power Rush to discard the use of Power Punch, the Double Dip FP use is actually a crucial move that needs to be done to manipulate FP correctly for Point Swap, which is what’s used to restore my FP without increasing it even further. You could get away with a slick Double Pain equip that puts you at 1 from 15 since Grodus would do 14 with Lightning and eliminate the need for Last Stand, but you’d need at least 20 FP to pull it off without Flower Savers equipped.

MAGNUS VON GRAPPLE 2.0 STRAT

10 HP, 15 FP
BADGES: Tornado Jump x3, Power Plus x2, Mega Rush, Power Rush, Jumpman (22 BP total, 28 with 2 FP Plus)

ITEMS: Hot Sauce x4

T1: Defend, Hot Sauce Mario [Guard Drill]
T2: Hot Sauce Mario, Hot Sauce Mario [Guard Drill]
T3: Spin Jump (39), Hot Sauce Mario [X-Punches released]
T4: Defend, Tornado Jump (22) [Audience Cannon]

Another interesting use of Tornado Jump featuring everyone’s favorite boss, Magnus Von Grapple 2.0! The goal of this strategy is to manipulate Magnus Von Grapple 2.0’s HP triggers (63 for X-Punch release, 35 for audience cannon) to work a perfect Tornado Jump in that allows you to deal exact damage with a Jump for the KO the next turn. To do this, we use a beefy partner like Flurrie or Bobbery as a damage sponge while we buff Mario’s attack with Hot Sauce. The first two turns are a classic damage manipulation trick for Grapple 2.0. Until he hits 63 HP (max is 70), he’ll always use his Drill attack, which hits both Mario & Partner. The move does 6 damage, so we Defend Turn 1 and Guard to take 4 damage, then Guard Turn 2 without Defending to take 5 damage, making Peril easy to get to with 10 HP. While we’re waiting for this, our partner & Mario uses a few Hot Sauces to achieve a very specific 14 ATK for his Jump. Grapple 2.0 has 2 DEF, so with 3 Hot Sauces, we’re sitting at 6 base ATK, 9 with two Power Plus badges and a Jumpman. Then, once we get into Peril, that skyrockets to 16 ATK, which ends up to be 14 thanks to Grapple 2.0’s 2 DEF. We Spin Jump for 2 FP, dealing 14 + 17 = 31 damage, leaving Grapple 2.0 at 39 HP. This triggers him to release the X-Punches, which means he deals no damage Turn 3. We also use one extra Hot Sauce to give Mario an extra +1 ATK.

At this point, we Tornado Jump for a whopping 12 FP to deal 17 damage and 6 damage with the tornadoes (enough to KO both X-Punches), which puts Grapple 2.0 at 22 HP and triggers the Audience Cannon, which only hits the front, so we’re safe since our Partner is in front right now and Defending. Without the extra Hot Sauces from earlier, Mario’s base ATK with all badges and factoring in Grapple 2.0’s DEF is 11, which is just enough for a Jump attack to KO him with exact damage Turn 5.

So, there you have it! Feel free to try these strategies or modify them yourself! As you can see, Mario needs a little bit of setup to work in a Tornado Jump (namely FP), but it can be a pretty fun badge to try out. I will say that it definitely has no business being used unless you’re fighting a boss. Multibounce really is the superior choice for damaging multiple aerial enemies in, say, a 4 Poison Puff loadout or something of that sort. Despite it being one of the worst ranked badges by the Glitz Pit, I think this shows that even the worst badges can be worked into a relatively cool and unique strategy! I had fun coming up with them.

And that concludes my first spotlight. Let me know in the comments what you’d like to see next!

Just Sayin’

Paper Mario Talks — An Examination of Danger Mario

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When Mario is at 5 HP or less, he’s in what’s known as Danger. If he has 1 HP, he’s in Peril. In Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, there are badges that only activate when you’re in Danger or Peril. These badges are as follows:

— Close Call (and partner variant) [Increases chance of enemies missing]
— Last Stand (and partner variant) [Halves damage Mario takes]
— Power Rush (and partner variant) [Increases damage Mario deals by 2]
— Mega Rush (and partner variant) [Increases damage Mario deals by 4 (64) / 5 (TTYD)]

These 4 badges are quite powerful and represent a “last chance” kind of effort for the player. It allows them to win by the skin of their teeth in normal gameplay, especially if you have Mega Rush equipped, which only activates when Mario’s in Peril. However, if a player is upgrading HP often, these badges become less useful because you can go entire battles without it activating. On the flip side… there is a badge setup known as Danger Mario. A character in both games called Chet Rippo allows Mario to swap stats around. This makes it possible to make Mario’s HP 5 instead of 10, effectively putting him in permanent Danger. This is the basis of Danger Mario, and it enhances these 4 badges beyond their normal usefulness.

Now, Danger Mario is quite notorious. Many players frown upon it, saying it’s powerful, but not fun. I’m inclined to agree, but I’ll save my opinions for later. For now, let’s jump into what makes Danger Mario so good. Let’s break down TTYD’s first, as it’s the one most well-known as the “Danger Mario” build.

There are quite a few builds of Danger Mario in TTYD. The first one is the most common: hyper offense.

Here’s the setup:

Hyper Offense Danger Mario

– FP Plus
– Spike Shield
– Ice Power
– Multibounce
– Power Bounce
– Quake Hammer
– Power Rush x20+

Now, you’re thinking “20+ Power Rushes? What??” Well, in the Pianta Parlor, you’re able to buy badges for tokens you win while at the parlor. One of them happens to be Power Rush. Buy enough, and you can make Mario a monster, dealing up to 99 damage per Jump if you buy and equip enough. With Spike Shield and Ice Power, Mario can jump on any enemy barring those on the ceiling, but that’s what Quake Hammer is for. Multibounce allows you to OHKO basically every enemy, and Power Bounce lets you destroy bosses in one turn. Truly, this is Mario’s most powerful form offensively.

This specific setup is the one everyone knows about. There are plenty of videos of it online. The reason it’s so powerful is that you can stack badges in TTYD, and there’s an infinite supply of Power Rush badges for Mario to equip. The other three badges can be stacked, but you need to grind badge drops from enemies, making builds focused around stacking them more tedious to implement. The other one I’ve seen used often is one with a bunch of Close Calls, which makes Mario an evasion tank that will never be hit.

Now let’s look at 64’s Danger Mario. Unlike in TTYD, you’re only able to get one of each badge. But, Last Stand functions differently in 64. Instead of being last in the damage calculation and rounding the damage taken up, Last Stand comes before Guarding & Damage Dodges, and rounds down. This is a significant difference and makes Danger Mario in 64 much more potent defensively than TTYD’s. It’s the only Danger Mario setup that can successfully use a Peril Mario setup.

Now, an offensive build in 64 is actually not incredibly potent. While you have Jump Charge/Hammer Charge, Mega Rush and Power Rush don’t stack with each other like they do in TTYD. Furthermore, Mega Rush only increases your ATK by 4. Without any other badges, you’re sitting at only 7 damage with Ultra Boots. Couple in the lack of partners using items AND lack of ATK-increasing items, and your only real way of powering up is Watt’s Turbo Charge, which makes your ATK 8. No, offense isn’t what makes Danger Mario in 64 so potent. It’s Mario’s defensive setup. Let’s look at Tank Mario.

Here’s the build skeleton:

Tank Danger Mario

– Last Stand
– Damage Dodge x2
– Defend Plus
– P-Down, D-Up
– Fire Shield

Without Last Stand active, Mario’s current DEF is 2. With a Guard and two Damage Dodges, Mario can reduce his total damage taken by 5. If you add in Sushie’s Water Block, that total is now 6. With Chill Out, it’s 9. If the move is a Fire move, Fire Shield blocks that for an extra 1 point of damage. Now, since Last Stand comes before guarding, a move reduced by Last Stand can have its damage output effectively reduced by 6 (7 for a fire move) before Last Stand takes effect.

Let’s see what Mario’s taking before he guards with Last Stand active!

  • Final Bowser’s Flame Breath (10) -> 3 / 2 -> 1
    • No Chill Out = 6 / 2 -> 3
      • No Water Block = 7 / 2 -> 3
  • Final Bowser’s Lightning Blast (10) -> 4 / 2 -> 2
    • No Chill Out = 7 / 2 -> 3
      • No Water Block = 8 / 2 -> 4
  • Star Rod Powered Final Bowser Flame Breath** (20) -> 16 / 2 -> 8
  • Huff N. Puff’s Full Power Ground Slam (15) -> 9 / 2 -> 4
  • Huff N. Puff’s Ground Lightning* (12) -> 7 / 2 -> 3
  • Anti Guy’s Flashy Attack (12) -> 6 / 2 -> 3
    • No Chill Out = 9 / 2 -> 4
      • No Water Block = 10 / 2 -> 5
    • No Water Block = 7 / 2 -> 3

*Huff N’ Puff’s Lightning Attacks go through Water Block’s 1 DEF increase.
**When Bowser has the Star Rod active, Chill Out will not work on him.

Look at that damage! Because no attacks pierce in 64, everything is affected by all DEF boosts Mario has. Now, let’s factor in Guarding and Damage Dodges!

  • Final Bowser’s Flame Breath = 0 damage
    • No Chill Out = 0 damage
      • No Water Block = 0 damage
  • Final Bowser’s Lightning Blast = 0 damage
    • No Chill Out = 0 damage
      • No Water Block = 1 damage
  • Star Rod Powered Final Bowser Flame Breath = 5 damage
  • Huff N. Puff’s Full Power Ground Slam = 1 damage
  • Huff N. Puff’s Ground Lightning = 0 damage
  • Anti Guy’s Flashy Attack = 0 damage
    • No Chill Out = 1 damage
      • No Water Block = 2 damage
    • No Water Block = 0 damage

So, with 6 badges equipped, Mario has successfully negated damage from all but a few attacks, and some don’t even need Water Block or Chill Out! The only move that truly defeats him is Final Bowser’s Flame Breath while being boosted with the Star Rod. That’s an insanely tanky Mario. Even without the extra badges increasing DEF, Last Stand rounding down coupled with Chill Out or Water Block can cripple most enemies and bosses for practically the whole game. And, unlike TTYD where you have to wait until after Chapter 5 to access permanent Danger Mario, you can access permanent Danger as early as pre-Chapter 2 in 64. You also don’t need to stack any badges to achieve this level of defensive prowess.

With only 6 badges equipped, you have more than enough BP to equip some badges that boost ATK, D-Down Jump, Flower Saver, HP Drain, and more! You can also equip Dodge Master for easier guarding. With this setup, Mario can basically emulate superguarding from TTYD by equipping Zap Tap and tanking his way through enemies.

So, now that we’ve broken down common builds of Danger Mario and how they function, what do I think of Danger Mario? I think 64 definitely has the more broken Danger Mario. It requires no grinding for stackable badges and only requires a few badges to be truly terrifying. Even Last Stand alone is ridiculous, and because Chill Out exists, it just cripples enemies.

And yet, for how broken 64 Danger Mario is, I find it fun to use when it’s needed. Using only 1 of each badge forces more strategic thinking and planning in both games. And with the exclusion of items like Point Swap and Trial Stew in 64, it becomes even more pronounced. And, because most damage is moderately high from more deadly enemies if you miss a guard, there’s still a feeling of tension. You can’t mindlessly run through the game Multibouncing everything in sight with +40 ATK. If you miss a couple guards, you’ll probably game over. I feel the same way about TTYD, but like I said earlier, that only applies with 1 of each badge equipped. Stacking a ton of them can be fun once just to see Mario run a train through every enemy and boss left, but being a challenge runner, I prefer being challenged and not mindlessly playing. Although, I will say I think the evasion tank build is quite hilarious and cool, and am a fan of it over the hyper offense setup.

All that being said, I do tend to stay away from Danger badges – especially Mega Rush in TTYD and Last Stand in 64 – if I can help it, but I’ll use them if I need to. Sometimes, the most elegant or most creative strategies require them.

Also, Close Call is incredible. Seriously.

Just Sayin’