Probably the most important tip, so listen up. The "caffeinated" effect, to put it bluntly, sucks dookie dog piss. Never drink it.

Yet, the coffee remains one of the best items in the game, want to know why?

JUST SCRAP THE ♥♥♥♥♥♥' THING!

If you get your coffee level maxed out, that's one free red scrap per stage. You can use this scrap for a plethora of things, but really, you should just dupe crowns. I guess you could make a mythical weapon, but that's usually overkill.

Remember, and I can't stress this enough, DON'T. DRINK. THE. COFFEE.

Donating items to Rekoil is almost always a bad idea.

You should be saving up all your items for scrapping/duping; trying to upgrade ♥♥♥♥ will almost never pan out well. Think about it, why would you ever spend a whole bunch of green items for a few blues, and maybe a red, when you could get like, five clovers on one floor by saving up all the garbage you collect.

You can lose so much potential scrap on the god-awful slot machine that is Rekoil. So uh, don't do that I guess.

Quality never beats quantity in this game; stacking items is nutty.

Always, and I mean always, activate the ghost altar at the start of a run. It has pretty much no downside since ghosts die to just about everything in one or two hits. Plus, ghosts can act as a free healing source with mutated heart, which is pretty cool!

If you are worried about opening a vase, or doing the mantis event, don't be. Ghosts fold over like paper; they crumble to dust before your mighty gamer hands.

Ghosts become even more pathetic once you get the funny purple crystal.

KILL GHOSTS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you see a crown, buy it. If you can dupe a crown, dupe it.

The boost it gives you to health and, most notably, damage, is stupid good. A lot of red items can be pretty situational, while the crown is just good all the time.

Take it, take it, take it. Become god.

Always pick mutated heart for the printer. It allows you to safely let the mosquito man drain your balls until you get a whopping three free items; this is very good for murder.

Mutated heart also makes most combat engagements trivial, since you always can just recover what you've lost if you have a ton of max hp, which is pretty easy to get with the crown. Even if you don't have much max hp, the safety net mutated heart provides is quite nice.

Take it, but don't take too many. One is usually enough.

Stacking gems, or more specifically, stacking multiple different gems, is a "pro gamer strat" that you should abuse as often as possible. Open up all the vases, no matter what. If you get a duplicated gem, that's fine, just look for another.

If you get the chance to claim a gem you don't currently have, TAKE. IT.

Even if the gem effect sucks ass, it will boost ALL your other gems, don't forget that.

Melee weapons have a notable tendency to outpace most guns in terms of DPS, excluding the mythical ones. So, hit things dude.

You shouldn't pop a cap in a bug's ass at close range, unless you have a shotgun or something. Even then, just hit them with your big meaty rod. It works faster, doesn't waste ammo you may need for longer-range encounters, plus it's like, super fun to do.

Also remember, much like nuclear throne, melee swings can go through walls.

Just like god intended.

Doctor Ant- whatever the ♥♥♥♥ his name is, is the hardest boss in the game, not his creation.

If you can beat him, you've already won.

Just remember the basic strats for the fight, like ignoring the mobs he summons, and trying to snuff out all the cables as quickly as possible. Also note, it is super hard to get hit by his second phase laser attack, so don't worry too much about it, the hitboxes are on your side.

EXPLOSIVE WEAPONS: TAKE ALMOST ALWAYS
BULLET WEAPONS: TAKE IF YOU CAN'T FIND ANY GOOD EXPLOSIVE WEAPONS
ENERGY WEAPONS: TAKE IF YOU ARE UP TO SOME ♥♥♥♥ WITH POCKET DYNAMO
CHEMICAL WEAPONS: DON'T

Sadly, most chemical weapons suck ass, with very few exceptions. These exceptions include: Dragon's Breath, and specifically the Flameblaster, not the Flamethrower.

Even if you find either of these bad boys, just stick to bombs and ♥♥♥♥, it's way better. You get stronger synergies too, like with gravity in a bottle, echo plate, etc.

For some reason, the devs thought it would be pretty cool to put an active item that MAKES YOU INVINCIBLE in the common tier. This invincibility lasts shockingly long, and can be used to negate ANY source of damage, DOTs included.

Boss too hard? Spam the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ button and eat it's face off with a melee weapon.

On fire? Press the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ button and take zero damage.

Literally doing anything involving an enemy? Press the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ button.

It costs almost nothing to do, just a few energy bars.

Most actives suck ass in this game, so if you find the button, keep it.

Money is very important in the video game, so kill everything. Like, everything.

You should be leaving virtually zero enemies alive; farming money is vital. Enemies aren't very dangerous, so you should be doing everything you can to stomp them into a thick, purple paste.

Use that money in Haymo's shop, and buy any reds you see. Even if the reds suck, that's just free scrap for some more crowns. Buying a few blue or green items with extra dosh is also fine, just don't spend too much.

Unless you stumble across the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ button, you should be scrapping every active item you find. They all suck pretty bad, often being outclassed by just shooting ♥♥♥♥ in the face. Even red actives suck, either taking up too much time to use, or just not giving you enough bang for your buck.

You know the drill, stuff that ♥♥♥♥ in a scrapper and get some crowns. Or dupe some gems. Or whatever.

Money coffers suck for two reasons; one, they don't give you much dosh. Besides, you can often get all the money you need by just playing the game like normal, a.k.a: mass murder. Reason two is that they don't count as actual items, you can't scrap them. This fact alone should make you instantly flaccid.

If you have the choice between a coffer and an actual item, pick the item, even if it sucks.

The minibosses die super easily in this game, and they give you free gems and max hp, so you should always kill them. Except, maybe don't fight the fly twins. You gotta lumber around a bunch of junk you could be scrapping for a pretty mediocre reward, though the max hp still is nice.

Mamoth is especially pathetic, a light breeze could take him down. The other bosses don't fare much better, being easily zoned out and generally massacred in often just a few seconds.

So, go get em' tiger!

The fungal biome, the one with all the purple ♥♥♥♥, is downright deadly if you aren't careful. It's filled with the worst traps that the game has to offer; tread carefully in this area, even late-game.

But, don't wait around for too long, lest you get ♥♥♥♥♥♥ over by the purple fart gas that coats every single inch of the place. This biome ♥♥♥♥♥♥' reeks man, just get the gem, snag the mushroom chest, then get the ♥♥♥♥ out.

Please be careful, I love you.

Once you have the clock upgrade, you should be massacring the local ant population as fast as possible. What I'm trying to say here is, don't dilly-dally. The discounts are seriously great, you never want to miss out on them.

But remember, kill things too. You should be keeping your momentum; jog through the levels while flailing your melee weapon about. Just do whatever gets you to the exit fastest, while also making sure to leave no goober alive.

For some reason, clovers stack super well in this game, so hoard them. All green items that aren't beetle rings should probably be turned into clovers. Once you have around, say, ten clovers, you pretty much win.

It's about a fifty percent dodge chance at that point, which is very stupid.

I highly doubt clovers are gonna stay this strong forever, so abuse this tactic while it lasts!

If you find a mantis shrine, turn that sucker on. The following swarm of enemies pose little to no threat, plus you get a free green and blue item. Cool!

Even if you are at low health, don't ♥♥♥♥♥ out. If you have mutated heart (you should) the enemies should heal you right back up to a sustainable level of health. It's quite simple, really.

You can even get gems from the shrine, which is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ awesome.

In ant city, avoid hitting fridges with melee weapons at all costs. They open up, and freeze you in place for a solid few seconds, which is more than enough time to get completely ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Also, keep track of all the TVs. They detonate after getting shot, and can easily shred you to pieces.

No joke, the kitchen appliances are the most dangerous part of this level, be careful.

The movement-related items aren't very good. Generally speaking, you will be fighting in very cramped areas, with little to no need for a cloud/dash pin. The big ass frog is an exception though, since his tongue attack becomes way easier to dodge with a pin or two.

Turn them all into rings and clovers, as is the custom.

Forging mythical weapons should never be a priority, as they are simply overkill in almost every scenario. You should be spending red scrap on crowns or hearts, only make a mythical weapon once you know the run is in the bag.

However... there is one exception...

Twin Flak is the best weapon in the game, hands down. If you see the Twin Flak, BUY IT.

High DPS? Check.
Good ammo economy? Check.
Decent mag size? Check.
Explosive weapon? Check.
Can be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ upgraded for some reason? Check.

BUY THE TWIN FLAK.
UPGRADE THE TWIN FLAK.
WORSHIP THE TWIN FLAK.

Extra max ammo is a nice quality-of-life upgrade, but buying an ammo box doesn't do you all that much in the grand scheme of things. Then again, you should probably snag some explosive ammunition boxes, since... yknow; explosives are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ broken. Just, only buy a box if you have some extra cash to spare.

And obviously, never buy chemical ammo boxes; they suck.

As cool as they are in concept, any items relating to "beat" or "timing attacks to rhythm" suck. It's not that they don't do good damage or anything like that, they just are very, very annoying to use. Why bother timing things when you can just ♥♥♥♥♥♥' thrash your melee and guns around whenever you want. They are simply too situational and janky to use properly, scrap em'.

Plus, if you are the type of person to mute games, like me, these items especially suck.

And now, some tips relating to vases!

Always break gold vases, no matter what. If you see a tall gold vase, pop that sucker open. Big cash awaits you.

Never, EVER take the explosive vase item seriously. It is comically horrible, super awful to use, and exists purely as scrap fodder.

Explosive vases can work with gravity in a bottle, but even then that's stretching it. Trust me, just trash em'.

Vase tips are over!

Along with the fungal biome, the beehive is of particular note in terms of it's ass-sucking-ness. Most enemies in the area aren't too deadly, except for one...

Those fat bee guys? You know, the ones with the swingy maces and ♥♥♥♥? They are the most dangerous thing in the game.

I am not joking.

Along with having an absolutely NUTTY amount of health, the sheer level of damage these ♥♥♥♥♥ dish out is bonkers. Plus, you don't even have to get hit by the actual attack to take severe damage, simply touching the mace while it is on the ground is enough.

The mace can also block shots, which makes getting optimal angles against them with a gun a lot trickier than you may think. Melee combat suffers the most here, since the swing-charge is almost guaranteed to ♥♥♥♥ you six ways from sunday, or however that expression goes.

Fat bees are the ONLY enemy you should potentially avoid combat with; at times, the gold isn't worth the risk. Just get the honeycomb chest, grab the gem, and go.

Acid damage, SUCKS! BAD!

While the other elemental damage types can at the very least deal occasional bonus damage against certain enemy types, acid damage just... can't.

There are a grand total of, ahem... ZERO enemies that are weak to acid. Yeah, you heard me right, you are at a constant disadvantage with acid. Ironically, most enemies have resistance to acid.

NEVER USE GUNS THAT DEAL ACID DAMAGE!!!!! DON'T!!!!!!!