Overview
Some tips for improving your clear speed or just to help you get through for the first time!
Disclaimer
Obviously the game is still fairly new and im probably suck at it. Probably someone who has done a full run in 20 min with a dance pad.
If you see any thing that is stupid, ineffective, straight up wrong, or have some tips of you own, let me know in the comments and i can update the guide.
Basic Tips
Shoot first ask questions later.
Excluding some fights such as The Edge it is almost always better to shoot your openent then go for a charge attack or melee combo. Reason being that you can easily get melee hits after shooting and the long animation/lowdamage of charge executions can slow you down.
No kills when you Overkill
Try to avoid knocking down your opponent. This makes then invulnerable and pushes the phase faster, preventing you from doing maximum damage. This includes using charge shots as well as a full melee combo.
You can infact dodge that.
Some attacks may feel extremely difficult to doge at first thick horizontal waves and expanding nova attacks come to mind. Although most of these do have a specific frame that can be quick dodged it is easier just to charge it up. If you hold your dash key down you will cease moving and begin charging a dash, regardless of how long you do this the dodge will be longer, a fraction of a hold is enough to dodge over every large wave in the game.
I know you want to do it, but dont.
It can be pretty satysfying when you land a charge attack or pull off a perfect parry, but unless it is part of your phase burn (more on that later) you should not do the execute animation. (does not apply to The Line) You will do similar damage and spend less time if you shoot the enemy instead, some bosses also like to do specials when they stand up.
Consistency is Key
You are probably thinking “well i would do that if this happens”. These are just general playtips for improving your kill speeds, every boss has its own strategies and every phase plays differently. Once you have basic rotations down you can start learning more specific strategies, such as one shotting the first two stages of The Edge.(You will hate me if i get you to try it though)
Phase Burns
Learning the ideal combos for each Bosses phase shifts is extremely important. The difference between a perfectly executed Phase Burn and a normal paced transition can be substaintial. For example, one boss The Scale does a cutscene grab that pulls you under the water and lasts about 15 seconds. If you execute the phase burn correctly not only do you kill him faster but that attack wont happen, saving you time.
I will probably do guides for every boss eventually so i wont go into specifics right here but i will go over the combos you want to look for.
Boost into Boost
Charging your boost in order to increase your damage can payoff quite a bit. Some phases can be ended as quickly as you can charge this twice. Keep in mind however that a boost into full combo does more than 50% of boss HP. So on your first boost only hit the enemy twice (boost hit then one quick slash)
This is the ideal and should be used whenever you can.
Charge Execute into Boost
If you land a charge attack during a Phase Burn and then do the execution, you do not have access to your gun. This will allow you to charge a boost during the knockdown to finish the enemy off with.
This is best used against enemies who open with quick melee attacks that can be dodge, but happen to quickly to counter with a boosted hit.
Charge into Boost into Boost
Some enemies wont let you charge a boost to start with but they might let you charge them afterwards. This strategy is much more specific but involved charging your boost while the enemy is stunned by the charge. this wont always be possible but is faster than Charge Execute into Boost.
Knowing What to do When
One of the best ways to improve your time is to learn which attacks should be avoided, which should be countered and which should be cancelled.
Is that an opening?
Any attack that leaves the boss open to large amounts of retaletory fire should be avoided and punished, this can apply to long channeled range attacks or even melee combos.
To counter or not to counter.
Many bosses such as The Chain have long melee combos the like to use frequently. if you can consistently dodge and fire straight at the enemy it is better do do so, as long as you remain close enough to get some melee hits at the end. You can also weave shots inbetween parries, this increases your dps but requires very precise timing and wont always pay off more than dodging the combo would.
Ever wish the boss would just stop?
Sometimes they can. Attacks such as The Straps many colourful energy balls and The Scales 20 second long room wide aoe’s, can be cancelled or prevented. Usually by rushing in some melee attacks during the startup frames, or increasing your damage output in the time prior.
RNG
Dont see this discussed too often but feel it deserves its own section.
The Bosses in Furi may have attack patterns and fairly consistent movesets. They DO NOT always do the same thing, even if you had a bot to input the exact same things you did last time you beat that 6 stage boss in 30 seconds, it would not work.
That being said some RNG is pretty good.
1 out of 10 runs for example The Strap will open every single ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Phase Burn With a quick melee attack that cant be comboed off of.
And some can be quite, quite bad.
Like The Edge, You can knock more than a minute off of this fight by killing his first 2 phases instantly, provided he does one of 8 different attacks as an opener. TWICE IN A ROW. If this ever happens in an official speedrun that time will never get beat.
TIPS!
Although I plan on making guides for each boss once the prevailing strategies are discovered, because lets be honest there are probably ways to do everything faster than any of us have managed yet, there is one for The Edge so who knows.
The Chain
Shoot him in the face. Doing a melee combo? Shoot him in the face. Charging a laser? Shoot him in the face. Rage Slamming the arena? Shoot him in the face. This fight is pretty basic although unforgiving, use the basics and use them perfectly and you will get a better time everytime.
The Strap
This boss has one major flaw. SHE HATES THE WALLS. This boss will stop at nothing to beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of the 7 or so pillars around the arena if you shoot the button that is on them. Doing this will also cancel the cutscene waggle fight in the 5th phase.
The Line
I will probable make a video on this as it is hard to describe but during his shield phase run with the motion of the outside ring and shoot charge shots towards the center, if you do this perfectly you can punch a whole into the core and end him in around 30 seconds.
The Scale
Counter his shots! After the first phase he will shoot out a projectile that explodes and spreads more projectiles around the arena, if you run in his face and parry it will go right back where it came from and leave him open for a few seconds.
The Hand
This fights is one of my favorites but pretty simple. There may be fancy way to burn him down but really you are just dodging around and shooting him when his shield is down, dont forget to get some melee hits in when you can, you can also use a dash into charge attack to quickly end his melee combos.
The Song
Im not a fan of this fight itself but the theme and music are pretty good. You want to master her patterns and maximize the damage you can do before she enters her stationary bullethell phases, ALWAYS keep shooting but remember where she is vulnerable to melee combos. This is one of the bosses i reccomend doing execute moves, but only after shooting her a tonne as she stays stunned for a while.
BONUS TIP: falling off of the arena does not count as a hit taken, so if you are into that you can fall off to dodge stuff.
The Burst
Ugh…*shutters*. I may not enjoy this fight but thats just because i suck at it. During the start wait around until she aims at you then dodge the first shot. DO NOT rush her before she aims her next shot, approaching her too soon or hitting her while she is aiming will cause her to run away. Always try and hit her right after a shot.
The Edge
I beat him in less than a minute, i doubt its the fastest kill on him but spending 4 straight hours to knock 2 seconds off of my time was super FUN, can highly Reccomend. That being said the quick kill wont happen in a speedrun so ill give ya some tips for the other 99% of the time.
You can kill him instanly in his last phase if he uses his fire spam attack, just dash up and hit him before it starts and hit him once inbetween every single wave of fire, extremely satysfying. Any time you get a hit in give him an extra wack, if he decides he likes you he will counter it allowing you to counter him back. You can parry and attack in between every hit of his fancy smancy super combo, just make sure you have the distance to doge the slam at the end and you can end him pretty quick.
The Beat
I dont know what to tell you honestly this boss is just so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hard I hope I will never have to fight it again.
The Star
Seems hard at first but is pretty simple once you get to know it since it is always the same. Start my dodging/parrying everything while shooting as much as you can inbetween stuff, you can get him before he starts shooting waves. Once you are working his two handed phases they each actually have there own HP. Shoot out the hand on the left while destroying both turrets on the left, this makes the laser phase easier. Dont kill the hands until they are both very low though. this will skip the second laser phase.
Same thing for the next one kill the drone on the left and you can sit under the other one without taking damage, use quick attacks not charge attacks during the red wave part and wittle both hands down evenly, it can be tough to judge how much you have hurt each one but skipping the hard part of this phase is quite nice.
In the first part of the final phase you can go straight to the bottom and deflect the blue wall as it goes over you, congratz you no longer have to move until it changes now. I dont really have a specific tip for the next part just dodge stuff and most importantly dodge stuff.