This guide will contain spoilers

The achievement known as friend is the hardest achievement in the game. It requires you todefeat ??? (the final boss) without taking damage.

This guide involves a bit of cheese, however it is still very difficult. The point is to show the easiest way I could find to obtain this achievement without mods.

With update 4.0, I have noted down an alternate strategy with it's ups and downs.

Use fake windows so the scale can be set to 0.5. This gives more room to dodge the attacks and nullifies the boss' orb attack.

Use backing window or a simple wallpaper so that you can more easily see the boss' attacks. I personally suggest a darker color so the boss attacks stand out more.

I recommend using inverted shooting. This means the orb will naturally charge without you needing to do anything. You can still fire by pressing attack.

(Old method) Play in multiplayer and have 3 zephyrs. Make sure they all are set to the same keybinds. This will make one zephyr with triple damage, however also triple enemies and prices. Thankfully triple enemies also means triple money gained.

(New method) Mebo is a great character. When you have Mebo with the orb weapon, they have no recoil so you effectively just gain more health and bullets. What this means is that instead of exploiting multiplayer to perform mitosis, you can now do it in singleplayer!

Prioritize wealth and speed upgrades. Stop taking wealth when its cost seems too high or when Slimest is soon going to spawn.

Nearby enemies get slowed down, so use this to your advantage when you need to focus fire on bosses or certain enemies.

Focus on killing the octagons. They are annoying to deal with and when they build up it is very hard to survive. They are also immune to damage when in the corner if you don't have enough range or speed since zephyr naturally pushes the window away.

The orange enemies are just as annoying as the octagons. You can see their shadows when they aren't attacking so when it stops, starting attacking it. The enemy will jump right into your attack, killing it before it has the chance to deal damage.



Spiker spawns around 2 minutes

With three stacked zephyrs, it takes "one" hit to make it move. Hit it four times to kill.
As Mebo you will have to fight the Spiker the intended way, but it is worth it for being able to take damage during the boss.

Pick endure after killing it. Endure will help you with the octagons and is most useful perk with 0.5 scale.
(If you are using Mebo, choose Propagate. It doesn't help with mobility, but the extra damage is very helpful for Wyrm.)

Wyrm spawns between 4-6 minutes

Focus on the head or the tail. Splitting the boss does not often go well. After destroying the head, wyrm speeds up so be prepared to dash to the side.
(With Mebo) Use propagate and obliterate the Wyrm. Your attack deals great aoe damage as well as piercing, so firing multiple of it rapidly at the boss will deal great damage.

Pick drain since downscaling the windows means that peer barely shows any of the screen. At least drain can deal some damage.

Slimest spawns between 6-8 minutes

(With Zephyr) To effectively kill slimest, use your dash to play aggressive. Three zephyrs deal lots of damage and can make short work of the boss.
(With Mebo) To kill slimest, focus on one slime at a time. Your priority should be to stay out of corners and keep normal enemies off you. The slime trails can damage every Mebo simultaneously, so stay clear of them.

Pick peer and set up the abilities.

Before you spawn the boss, spend your remaining money on speed (Or extra mebos and recovery rate if you are playing as mebo). That's the only helpful ability when trying to no-hit the boss.

If the :) boss is alive when you spawn ??? and you are using controller, the controller's cursor will be active when you fight ???. This can be a distraction but is overall not too big of a deal.

I recommend inverted firing so that you are automatically charging in case the window gets thrown at you, or if you need to quickly deflect.

The boss's face and hands deal no contact damage, however they spawn projectiles so I advise not moving through them unless needed.

The boss rests around the top middle of the screen, so try to stay towards the bottom corners.

(Zephyr) You can not dash through projectiles with endure, so be careful when you dash.

(Zephyr) You can't change your trajectory mid dash.

(Mebo) If you get hit, it's not the end just yet. You don't take damage until every Mebo gets hit (Becomes small and loses their trail), and if you stop firing or charging then you can recover your Mebos with recovery speed. Keep in mind that with inverted firing you have to hold attack to recover.

The window damages you as long as it's moving meaning you can hit yourself if you aren't careful.

When you shoot the window, it moves in the direction the orb was moving, no matter where it was hit. It moves in the direction you were aiming if you ram into the window with the orb.

When the boss has recently taken damage, they become slightly more gray. This means they can't be attacked.

When you have 3 or more overlapped characters or 3 mebos, you can shoot the window back before it hits you, deflecting it in whatever direction you were aiming. This can also be done by holding a charged orb.

Deflecting the window is the safe way to play, however dodging it allows for an easier counterattack (If you changed the scale). Only dodge it if it is safe.

Deflecting the window upward can keep it in an easy place to recover it, however make sure to dodge it on its way back down.

The boss throws the window at you after you deal damage or if you haven't dealt damage in a long time. During the throw the boss can't use a hand resulting in their attack becoming easier.

The boss changes attacks after a timer or sometimes after taking damage.

The boss attacks faster at low health.

Make sure to stay calm. After trying this challenge enough times, it can be easy to become reckless and lose attempts when the boss was one hit away.

If you fail to no-hit the boss, don't restart the run right away. Take the time to practice the fight and take notes about what the boss does.

The attack where ??? shoots many red orbs with both hands in a ring pattern

Keep your distance and move slowly. Only dodge the window if given enough space. When the boss throws the window, he stops shooting orbs entirely.

The attack where ??? hits the ground with their fists

Focus on the hands over the projectiles. The projectiles have enough spacing for you to pass through and the hands only hurt during the slams. It is generally safe to try dodging the window for a fast attack. When the boss throws the window, one hand stops slamming for a very short period of time. Don't rely on it.

The attack where ??? spawns orbs which create trails and move randomly.

This one is dangerous at normal window scale, but thankfully you likely changed it to 0.5. You should be safe as long as you stay away from the purple orbs that spawn the trails. This attack it is safe to dodge the window in. When the boss throws the window, it temporarily stops shooting orbs, although this doesn't mean much since the main concern are the preexisting orbs.

The attack where ??? shoots giant lasers, mini lasers, and red orbs.

Stay between the giant lasers and focus on dodging the tiny laser. When the giant lasers are instead one down the middle, then it is safe to make your move towards the window. You are likely to dodge the window on accident here, but don't try to dodge it unless the laser is the middle one. When the boss throws the window, the hand that shoots the small lasers stops, giving you time to breathe.

If you follow this correctly and give it enough time, you can successfully obtain friend.

This achievement unlocksa button on the main menu which spawns an epsilon who randomly moves around your desktop and shoots things.



I hope this guide helped you unlock the achievement.