SPOILER WARNING: This review contains spoilers! Don’t read further if you haven’t played the game! I just had a great idea: go play it right now, then come back and read this! Seriously, go play it.
As one of the best in the Paper Mario challenge running business, I’d had my eye on Bug Fables for a while. Once people from my community really started getting into it and recommending I stream it, I decided to take the plunge and wound up playing a very impressive spiritual successor to the first two entries in the Paper Mario series. I liked the story and the characters; honestly, I thought they were better then any Paper Mario game. The music is good, the art is fine, the side quests are great — bottom line: If you’re a fan of Paper Mario, you’re doing yourself a disservice NOT playing this game.
But that’s not what this review is about. This is a review of the game’s combat in regards to challenge running potential and high-level game play. I highly suggest you go play the game first before you read this (or at least have some idea of the medals) because some of these strategies will likely spoil you.
As a disclaimer: when I first started the game, my entire chat told me “Hey, equip the Hard Mode medal, it’s the way the developers intended you to play the game”. If that’s how they wanted it to be played, then I had no choice to oblige. This review is about combat with that medal equipped at all times.
Let’s go over the combat basics. Like Paper Mario and TTYD, you’ve got HP, TP for special attacks (FP), and MP for medals (BP). You fight with Kabbu (a beetle), Vi (a bee), and Leif (a moth). Each one has their own unique basic attacks (Kabbu pierces DEF, Vi can hit flying enemies, and Leif can hit underground enemies) and special skills that use TP and you can equip medals that affect either the entire party of just one character. You can swap the positions of characters at any time (even when a character is knocked out!) as long as all active members haven’t used their turn. However, you only have three set formations: [Vi/Leif/Kabbu], [Kabbu/Vi/Leif], and [Leif/Kabbu/Vi]. Why is this important? Because the character in front gets a natural +1 to their attack power and is targeted more often.
You can also relay your turn so another character can attack twice, but at a cost of -1 attack power per extra attack a character does. This is an amazing new feature. Got 3 flying enemies? Relay with Kabbu and Leif to Vi and take them all down in one turn. Have a character use a skill, then relay to them to use it again…or use a different skill. It’s pretty sweet.
Okay, that’s it for the basics. In short… the combat is great. I love the turn relay system combined with the already solid Paper Mario foundation; it all gels together really well with how you approach normal fights and bosses. Being able to relay turns when needed to better utilize a character’s strengths and position them accordingly to better use your medals was very satisfying. I loved being able to figure out strategies and bosses completely blind with only my previous experience to guide me. That was very fun, and I think anyone will feel rewarded once they figure out some dope strategies.
Balance wasn’t really a problem as far as normal fights are concerned. I always felt like if something wasn’t working, I could find a way to make it better or had other options to choose from. The bosses and superbosses all had cool moves and one or two unique things about them for the most part. But that’s where the cool stuff ends and my issues with boss AI begin. Maybe this is a “Hard Mode” thing, but a lot of bosses had this pattern: Do things -> start buffing/attacking twice forever/summon minions after x HP is lost. Maybe sometimes they’d use a new move in conjunction with the above, but for the most part many bosses just started attacking more and buffing themselves. Now, of course, not all bosses were like this, but I would say it was enough to be over saturated.
What this lends itself to is the same strategies working all of the time. Tank Do Nothing Kabbu combined with Danger/Poison Vi is ridiculously strong and can wipe almost any boss pretty quickly if you’ve got enough TP-restoring items or both TP Cores equipped. Near the end of my playthrough, I found myself using those strategies to basically obliterate bosses. I was in real danger of a game over maybe a couple times near the end, but honestly, it didn’t feel like it. I felt like I had a pretty easy time because nothing could really stop the aforementioned strategy. This is a pretty big contrast to early and mid game, where bosses felt much more dangerous and I definitely felt in danger of a game over most of the time.
The second issue I had with bosses is that their AI is completely random (for the most part). Now, obviously, bosses have some triggers that are static and you know will come. The problem is that everything else is random, so while you can cook up cool strategies, you can’t fine-tune them like you can in Paper Mario and TTYD. This dampened the experience for me because there are only a few ways to get to an optimal state. I’m totally fine with random boss AI in most other games, but in a game where damage can be so finely tuned, I think having truly random boss AI like this actually takes away from it instead.
In Bug Fables, getting into Danger or being Poisoned is where it’s at for damage and defense for your primary attacker. There are a few items that will put you down at 1 HP, but other than that and Weak Stomach, you have to basically wait until a boss deals enough damage (and if you aren’t Kabbu using Taunt, you need to be targeted in the first place). This is how late-game boss battles looked like for me:
1) Attack until bosses put Vi into Danger -> Spam Tornado Toss (you could sub another move here — didn’t really matter)
2) If Vi dies, use Pep Up; otherwise, Do Nothing on Kabbu to restore HP/keep DEF up
3) If Leif is alive, buff Vi or rally to Vi always. Rarely, use Cleanse on beefed up boss
This cycle basically destroyed every boss in EX Boss Rush mode without me healing between rounds or using items. I put Miracle Matter on Leif just to make bosses go faster by letting Vi attack more. I would always keep Vi in front because I didn’t care if she died. She took 1-3 damage most of the time thanks to Last Stand x2 and I’d deal 30-50 in one turn if I also gave Kabbu’s turn to Vi. You could supplement other things around this, but the core is the same.
There are definitely other cool strategies I haven’t explored that utilize Sleep or something or using Berserk or what-have-you (I used a really dope Taunt Kabbu HP Regen setup on the Mini-Boss Rush and it was pretty effective and fun), but the core of my problem is… there’s not a lot of cool ways to get to the state you want to be at to activate Medals you have. You’re either using Big Mistake/something to active Weak Stomach or the status you want to inflict on yourself, or you’re waiting for bosses to just deal enough damage to put you in that range. If they die, just use Kabbu’s Pep Up which puts them in perfect Danger (and waiting for a character to die just so Kabbu can do that is RNG and…yeah). It’s very samey, and because bosses are basically random you can’t manipulate cool positioning or damage you deal to direct them as the battle goes on and you’re just waiting sometimes for things to start happening while not even feeling threatened. The only way to really do that is through Kabbu’s Taunt, but sometimes they could roll to use AoE moves and ruin that anyway. You could be waiting 2-4 extra turns just to get your strategy rolling unless you use one of the few ways to force it to start.
This is a stark contrast to TTYD, where you can do some pretty wild stuff to get into Danger/Peril while also taking/dealing the exact damage you need to and using the exact amount of FP you have to emerge victorious. Point Swap + Double Dip, using a move + Point Swap, KO’ing a partner with Point Swap to force attacks onto Mario, Trial Stew, Poison Shroom, manipulating specific phases that give you extra turns to setup, taking damage on purpose while Charging, using clever DEF to go from full HP -> Danger -> Peril… there are a LOT of ways to craft a cool or interesting strategy or one that just gets into Peril, and that to me is more interesting than what I did for most of Bug Fables’ end game.
With all of this said, I still found the entire end game experience very fun, but most of the cool stuff that bosses have gets shut down by the same things by then and it’s just a waiting game to get there instead of a cool mapped out strategy you can implement with 100% or near-100% certainty, which was a little disappointing. To add onto this, most of the secret codes to impose extra challenges are only slightly different and probably don’t change this cycle (except maybe for MYSTERY which randomizes all Medals).
So what does that mean for challenge running this game? In my opinion, I think the game still has a lot of challenge running potential. The secret codes on their own aside as challenges, you can use them to do some other cool things like Level Zero, maybe a “Character Alone” run? You can try and use no Danger/Poison or ban Miracle Matter. You could “lock” your formation and see how to play around that. Some won’t change too much, but the fact I can name all of these right now and feel like I’m only scratching the surface means there’s a lot of potential for this game and that’s really exciting! There are quite a few people in my community and I’m sure the Bug Fables’ community that have been challenge running this game for a while, so there’s definitely interest and the game having built-in modifiers only helps. I’ll definitely be doing quite a bit of challenge running for this game myself because combat is super fun to play despite the few issues I had with it during my first play through. Who knows… maybe my opinion will change once I really sink my teeth into some challenge runs!
Just Sayin’
Click here to see the strategy in action!
Turn 2, we come out of Veil. The way Veil works is that Mario loses his next turn. So, if you use Veil Turn 1 without moving Mario, Mario can move Turn 2, but Vivian cannot. If Mario moves Turn 1 and then Vivian uses Veil, Mario & Vivian can’t move Turn 2. Because of this, there’s literally nothing we can do Turn 2 except take Bowser & Kammy’s attacks. Now, I want to be clear on something — this strategy can be foiled if Kammy…
Glitz Pit Rank: E-
Yikes, E-. But, after viewing the comparatively broken HP Drain in 64 (where you restore HP for every attack up to 5 max) and coupled with Last Stand being slightly worse than its 64 counterpart, it’s easy to see why HP Drain is ranked so low. It’s really hard to fit onto a strategy. Most of the time, you could just recover more HP, or use a Dried Shroom/Mistake with Double/Triple Dip for more versatility. And when it comes to looping through Peril/Danger with HP, it’s hard to justify it when you can KO most bosses in 2-3 turns anyway, and those 1 or 2 turns are generally spent setting up and not in Peril. The dip in ATK is also really hard to deal with for such a small reward. Once you get to larger HP values, it becomes even worse since you have larger healing in the form of Sweet Treat/Feast & items. Really, this badge doesn’t do a whole lot for Mario. With that said, where there’s a will, there’s a way, and we can definitely still implement a cool Peril loop with the right support. Let’s see what we can do against one of the toughest bosses in the game!
BONETAIL STRAT
10 HP, 5 FP
BADGES: Last Stand x2, Mega Rush, Power Rush, HP Drain, P-Down D-Up, Defend Plus, All or Nothing, Power Plus x3, Flower Saver, Power Bounce, Quick Change (47 BP)
ITEMS: Horsetail, Dried Shroom, Mistake x5, Courage Meal
*Only Guard Breath
Click here to see the strategy in action!
T1: Hammer, Bomb (190)
T2: Horsetail Mario, Courage Meal (186)
T3: Spin Jump, Mistake Mario (163)
T4: Spin Jump, Mistake Mario (140)
T5: Power Bounce, Mistake Mario (100/120)
T6: Power Bounce, Mistake Mario (60/80/100)
T7: Power Bounce, Mistake Mario (20/40/60)
T8: Jump [KO]
IF 40 HP
T8: Power Bounce [KO]
IF 60 HP
T8: Power Bounce, Dried Shroom Mario (20)
T9: Jump [KO]And here we are, a nice Peril loop with a ton of support. Check out the crazy item spread that’s being used. Here’s the breakdown: Bonetail has a massive 200 HP, 8 ATK, and 2 DEF. Ouch. We need a lot of ATK to deal good damage, so we get back up to 3 with a Jump and equip an All or Nothing and Power Plus. Now, we’re Peril looping with HP Drain, so let’s see what we can do to achieve that. With two Last Stands, damage is divided by 3 in Danger and it rounds up, not down.
8 divided by 3 rounds up to 3 damage.
7 divided by 3 rounds up to 3 damage.
6 divided by 3 is a flat 2 damage.
5 divided by 3 rounds up to 2 damage.
4 divided by 3 rounds up to 2 damage.
3 divided by 3 is a flat 1 damage.
Looking at those numbers combined with Bonetail being able to use breath, we set a baseline for 6 damage. Unfortunately, without farming P-Down D-Up badges, we can’t reliably get Breath to 1 damage in Danger, so we’ll have to think of something else. So, let’s get to 6 damage. Bonetail has 3 attacks: a Stomp and Bite that don’t pierce and his Breath that pierces. All attacks deal 8, so let’s equip P-Down D-Up to reduce the Breath’s damage to 7. With a Guard, that’s 6, allowing us to take 2 in Danger. Now, the Bite is unguardable, so we equip an extra Defend Plus to make that 6. As shown above, Guarding the Stomp doesn’t matter since it’ll be 2 anyway, but we won’t Guard anything but the Breath since Stomp inflicts no status effects.
Okay, with that out of the way, we need to bring our damage back up to 3. With HP Drain and P-Down D-Up, we’re back at 1 ATK, so we equip two more Power Plus badges. Lots of BP, but it’s necessary to not have this drag on for 10+ turns, although it’s totally possible with 20 items. Okay, we’re at 3 with a Jump, and with a Mega Rush and Power Rush, we’ll be at 10 with a Jump in Peril. That’s 20 damage with a Jump and 40 with a Power Bounce. To loop Peril, we need to get to 3 HP every turn, so our partner will be healing Mario with Mistakes and Dried Shrooms. Nice, love using these items. Okay, we’re set. Let’s get into the fight!
We need to get Mario into Peril first. Right now, Bonetail will deal 6 no matter what, so we Hammer and Bomb for 6 + 4 for 10 damage. Mario’s now at 4 HP. Next turn, we use a Horsetail to heal 3 damage and put Mario at 7, allowing us to get to Peril after Bonetail attacks. We also use a Courage Meal with our partner to deal 4 damage. Turn 3, we Spin Jump to deal 10 + 13 damage. With Flower Saver, Spin Jump is 1 FP, and we’re at 2 HP thanks to HP Drain. We use a Mistake to heal 1 HP and 1 FP, putting Mario at 3 HP and back at 5 FP. We Spin Jump again to deal 23 more damage, which coincidentally is 46 with the previous turns damage, giving us a nice clean 50 damage in 3 turns, and we heal with another Mistake. Bonetail’s now at 140, so we Power Bounce for 2 FP for 40 damage and heal with a Mistake, putting Mario at 4 FP. At 100 HP or less, Bonetail has a chance to heal 20 HP, and he can heal twice for a total of 40 HP healed. This doesn’t really matter besides the very end. We do this two more times, putting Mario at 2 FP. At this point, Bonetail has either not healed, healed once, or healed twice, leaving him with 20 HP, 40 HP, or 60 HP. At 20, we just Jump to end with perfect damage. With 40, we Power Bounce and end the battle with perfect damage and perfect FP use. At 60, we Power Bounce, heal with a Dried Shroom, and Jump for perfect damage and perfect FP use. Not bad, not bad at all! By the way, Quick Change is there for if you need to swap a partner out to take more Breath attacks. Due to RNG, you may not even need it, but it’s there just in case.
I also need to add that this strategy will not just be straight attacks if Bonetail heals. You will need to spend a turn Appealing with Mario & Partner to ensure that you only are attacking when in Peril.
I also need to add that this strategy will not just be straight attacks if Bonetail heals. You will need to spend a turn Appealing with Mario & Partner to ensure that you only are attacking when in Peril.
I won’t show the strategy, but I also highly advise you check out Koop’s Even Turn No Superguards fight against Magnus Von Grapple 2.0 where he utilizes HP Drain. It’s awesome.
Ouch, the worst of all partners, but it’s easy to see why. Ms. Mowz is not a combat-oriented partner, so of course she’s the worst, but that might be because she’s entirely optional. If you decide to pick her up, you’ll find subpar HP, lackluster damage, and the ability to steal things from enemies, which makes her worth it all on its own. Unfortunately, being able to steal things translates more to a switch in, steal, then switch out situation because her combat options are, well…terrible. They’re terrible. Let’s break down those moves!
LOVE SLAP
Love Slap isn’t bad, but it’s not great. It pierces, which is awesome, but it only does 4 at Ultra Ranking, meaning even with 1 DEF Bobbery, Vivian, and Flurrie are out-damaging it with their base moves. What really gets me here is that she can’t hit front-spiky or fiery enemies. Don’t get me wrong, others can’t either, but when this is her only move that deals damage. To add onto this, the Stylish command for this move doesn’t actually work. A lot is actively working against her here in this move. Still, the piercing can be quite good, and makes Ms. Mowz and easy third choice in Level Zero runs against Gloomtail, Bonetail, Grodus, Bowser, and the Shadow Queen behind Vivian and Bobbery!
KISS THEIF
Ms. Mowz actually has amazing utility in Kiss Thief. Being able to steal items and badges from enemies is no joke, especially if you get lucky and an enemy is holding a nice badge like P-Down, D-Up P, Power Plus, Close Call, Power Rush (P), etc… with extra badges that you can’t normally get, you can do a lot more than you normally could. Also, it never hurts to steal Life Shrooms, Boo’s Sheets, and the like if an enemy is holding it. You can even steal coins if an enemy isn’t holding anything, but that’s not really useful. For 2 FP, it’s absolutely worth it, and this move alone makes her worth picking up as a partner.
TEASE
Dizzy as a status isn’t amazing. It’s…okay, if not slightly underwhelming. So, Ms. Mowz has a move, like Vivian, that just inflicts status to all enemies, and it’s Dizzy. I’ll admit — I actually think this is better than Infatuation; the issue I have is that this move totally could’ve dealt light piercing damage as well and still function nearly the same while giving Mowz the ability to hit more enemies and get past the spiky/fiery enemy issue that Love Slap has…and, y’know, not only hit the front grounded enemy. Alas… this is an okay move to use in the Pit because a surprising amount of deep Pit enemies can be inflicted with Dizzy. If you don’t have Stop at the ready, this isn’t a bad alternative, and it’s only 3 FP.
SMOOCH
And here we are — the worst partner move in the game. For 10 FP, Mario recovers 10 HP. 10 FP. Can we let that sink in? 10. FP. What was going on when this move was created? It’s such a horrible heal for the FP cost. Even with two Flower Saver P badges, I wouldn’t use this move. Why? because I can Sweet Treat and get 7, or Double Dip two Mushrooms which is only 4 FP, or use a Super Shroom, or do literally anything else. Yeah, this move is bad. I understand that items are limited, but let’s be real… it’s her Ultra Rank move, and with only 10-20 HP, challenge runners don’t need to spend 10 FP to heal what a Super Shroom can or what Sweet Treat can basically heal. If this were less FP or healed way more, I’d consider it usable. EDIT: You can actually determine how much HP this move heals based on how much of the bar you fill, which makes this move much better than a flat 10 for 10. Still, you can probably accomplish the same healing with items rather than spending 10 FP.
GLOOMTAIL STRAT
15 HP, 15 FP
BADGES: Jumpman, All or Nothing, Mega Rush, P-Up D-Down P, Power Rush P x2, Feeling Fine, Feeling Fine P, Flower Saver P x2, Double Dip P x2 (33 BP, 42 with two FP Plus and HP Plus)
ITEMS: Point Swap, Power Punch, Hot Sauce x2
Click here to see the strategy in action!
T1: Triple Dip (Hot Sauce x2 Mario, Point Swap Mario), Spin Jump (67) *Don’t Guard
T2: Spin Jump, Smooch (48) *Don’t Guard
T3: Jump, Power Punch Mario (32)
T4: Spin Jump, Love Slap [KO]
This strategy aims to have Mario get to every trigger with an attack starting Turn 2 and finish Gloomtail before he can attack with Megabreath. Look at all that BP we need! Let’s get into it:
In order to use Smooch and actually do some damage manipulation with Mario and Ms. Mowz, we needed Mario at 15 HP and can’t guard any attacks, or else Mowz won’t be at 5 HP T4. So, because Mario’s at 15, we need to get creative with how he’s getting into Peril. Luckily, Triple Dip costs 8 FP, down to 6 with two Flower Saver P badges, putting us at 9 FP, which is perfect for a Point Swap. We Point Swap and hand Mario two Hot Sauce badges to temporarily increase his attack with Spin Jump. Remember, Gloomtail’s got 80 HP, 8 ATK, and 2 DEF. We circumvented the DEF with Jumpman and All or Nothing, but we need to make sure we’re dealing 32 damage total Turn 2. After the swap, we’re at 15 FP again with Mario at 9 HP. We then Spin Jump, dealing 5 + 8 = 13 damage. We then opt to not guard Gloomtail’s breath and take 8 damage (Mowz 9 damage). Feeling Fine (P) prevents both from being poisoned. Now, Mario’s at 1, and Ms. Mowz is at 16 since Ms. Mowz at Ultra Rank has 25 HP total. Turn 2, we Spin Jump under Peril, but without the Hot Sauce since we burned them Turn 1. 8 + 11 = 19 damage, which, when adding with the 13 we dealt previously, is a perfect 32, putting Gloomtail at 48 and setting off his first HP trigger. We Smooch as well, putting Mario at 11 HP. Now, Gloomtail always uses Earthquake at 48 HP per his trigger, so he uses it, and deals 10 damage to Mario (11 to Mowz). Mario’s in Peril once again, and Mowz is in perfect Danger, sitting at 5 HP. Turn 3, we do a normal Jump (8 + 8 = 16 damage) to get Gloomtail to his next trigger at 32. We then give Mario a Power Punch for his next attack. As per his 32 HP trigger, Gloomtail charges up for Megabreath. Turn 4, we finish it. Spin Jump now does 10 + 13 = 23 damage, and Ms. Mowz is at 9 ATK thanks to the 5 from two Power Rush P badges and P-Up D-Down P. 23 + 9 = 32 damage total, and with a final Love Slap we take down Gloomtail, Mowz style!
I’ll be honest…coming up with strategies with Mowz can be quite the challenge, so I actually had some fun making this despite my distaste for Ms. Mowz as a battle partner. Maybe I’m just traumatized by my Ms. Mowz Only run…who knows, but what I do know is that she’s not good in combat, and basically everything she has is outclassed. Still, being able to steal things is cool, and is a utility no one else can boast, so even if you never use her in battle, I do suggest you always pick her up in any runs where you’ll be using badges and items!
Next time, I’ll be going back to 64. Will it be a badge? An item? A partner? You’ll have to wait and find out!
Just Sayin’
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 really unique item in TTYD that’s RNG…for Mario! It’s POISON SHROOM!
Move: Poisons Mario and takes away half of his HP or fully heals his HP. Poison Shroom is an interesting item. Unlike other items that are random for Mario (Mystery, Peach Tart, etc)…this one just looks like it’s awful at a glance. Hurting Mario with an item…why would you ever want to do that? And you can easily manipulate HP with Point Swap and Double Dip. Plus, it could accidentally do the other thing you didn’t want it to do (for example, it could heal you where you’re wanting it to hurt you). The item itself requires quite a bit of cooking to obtain, although that’s not really a huge issue. To break down the chance of both — poisoning Mario and taking half his HP is an 80% chance and the full heal is a 20% chance. That might sound bad at first, but we can actually use this to our advantage. Let’s adapt a couple strategies to use a Poison Shroom!
GRODUS STRAT
10 HP, 5 FP
BADGES: Last Stand, Power Plus x2, Power Bounce, Mega Rush, Power Rush, All or Nothing, Flower Saver, Flower Saver P (29 BP)
ITEMS: Poison Shroom, Fire Flower
Click here to see the strategy in action!
T1: Fire Flower, Poison Shroom Mario (M: 1)
T2: Spin Jump (25), Rally Wink, Spin Jump [KO]
This is a pretty cool variation on the classic Turn 1 Peril strategy against Grodus. With a
Poison Shroom, if Mario has 10 HP, he’ll be at 5 and poisoned. With Last Stand and a guard, Grodus’ lightning attack that he always does Turn 1 will do 6 / 2 = 3 damage, leaving Mario at 2. Finally, poison kicks in, dealing 1 damage and leaving Mario at 1. Awesome. We use a Fire Flower with Goombella to get rid of the Grodus X’s Turn 1. With two on the field Turn 2, Grodus has 3 DEF, so we need to make up for that with Power Plus and All or Nothing. Our base is 0 with Ultra Boots, brought back to 2 with two Power Plus and All or Nothing. Mega Rush + 2 Power Rushes is 9 extra ATK, leaving us at 11. We Spin Jump once for 25 damage, then use Rally Wink. With Flower Saver and Flower Saver P, two Spin Jumps is 2 FP and Rally Wink is 3 FP for perfect FP use. We then use another Spin Jump to deal the last 25 damage for perfect damage on Grodus!
This next one is a variation with Gloomtail!
GLOOMTAIL STRAT
10 HP, 10 FP
BADGES: Last Stand, Mega Rush, Power Rush x2, Power Plus x2, All or Nothing, Power Bounce, Feeling Fine, Flower Saver, Double Dip P x2 (37 BP, 40 with FP Plus)
ITEMS: Poison Shroom, Power Punch, Hot Sauce x3
Click here to see the strategy in action!
T1: Triple Dip (Power Punch, Hot Sauce x2 Mario), Poison Shroom (Mario)
T2: Hot Sauce Mario, Power Bounce (5-cap) [KO]
This strategy aims to deal perfect damage to Gloomtail T2 with Power Bounce with a Poison Shroom. Gloomtail has 1 DEF, but that’s okay — with all the ATK we’re stacking, Mario ends up being at a staggering 18 ATK. So, how does Poison Shroom get us into Peril? At half, Mario is again at 5 HP. Gloomtail always uses breath T1, and it does 8 damage, so halve that and we’re at 4. Nice! But, we have a small problem — Poison Shroom also poisons Mario! Luckily, Feeling Fine actively prevents the poisoning part, which allows us to get into Peril T1 cleanly. After that, it’s just stacking on ATK and Power Bouncing T2. Perfect FP with Flower Saver since Triple Dip is 8 FP and Power Bounce is 2 FP with Flower Saver. We could remove a Power Rush and deal 81 damage with a 6-cap, but perfect damage is more fun!
I want to draw attention to the fact that Poison Shroom is actually a really cool way to get to peril without the use of Double Pain. Normally, both of these bosses pose a problem getting to Peril T1 with 10 HP. You can easily circumvent this by having 15 HP and equipping Double Pain, but Poison Shroom allows us to do it without those things. Of course, there’s some RNG involved, but since Poison Shroom is used T1, it’s easy to just reset and wait until the desired outcome happens, which is pretty often at 80%.
Besides getting into Danger/Peril from 10 HP or dropping your HP by half if you have higher HP, Poison Shroom doesn’t really offer much use, and even then it’s heavily outclassed by Point Swap as the easy Peril item. That said, it is a really cool way to manipulate your HP, so try it out next time you want to do something weird with your strategies!
Next time, I’ll be covering…Ugh…Ms. Mowz…
Just Sayin’
Just Sayin' 
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