Overview
This is a guide for people trying to beat Deadly Decadance in the first place or strive to achieve the S Rank, I myself have recently gotten the S Rank and have been through a lot to get there.
Area One – Garden
As most of you know the garden is the first area you’ll need to run through in order to beat Deadly Decadance. This section is to help run you through how to beat this area with ease and get on to the real challenge.
Getting Comfortable/Resourceful
Before you even head into the garden you need to figure out what works for you and what can help you. Hitting “Z” on your keyboard now zooms the map out farther so you can see shards and available paths easier. Using both teleport and speed boost is critical, and setting them to confortable buttons for you is even better (I set mine to E for boot since it’s an easier panic button and Q for teleport since I have a little more time to plan)
Garden Pathing/Strategy
When running through any level it’s important to have a plan to make it easier on you. Know that this plan will also involve you adapting to the situation but it’s better than running aimlessly.
The red circle I’ve drawn on the map is where one of the watchers will most likely spawn, keep an eye on them the whole time. If they don’t spawn directly there, keep looking anyway (the watchers can be stopped by looking at them through the walls just fyi). Collect the shard directly behind, the one right in front, and the last one in front of the watcher (last one is fully surrounded by spikes so be careful). After that, the other watchers should be close enough to start giving you anxiety, but don’t worry. Speed boost to the corner of the maze and run across the entire edge of the wall, looking away from the watchers for about 2 seconds, then looking back for the rest of the edge. Keep in mind the traps so don’t run aimlessly. The spikes go off all at the same time globally so keeping track can help. Their timer is to go off, wait about three seconds, hear the metal clank noise, and the spikes go up again. Now that all the watchers are generally in the same area you’re okay to run aross the whole outer edge of the level and collect shards then later moving inwards for the rest. The biggest part of making this easy is always remembering where you’re looking and keeping them from moving. Besides that it’s mostly trusting yourself in telling how far a trap is from you while not looking at it. After you collect the last shard, ALL the watchers are gone and you can move freely around the maze looking wherever, but keep in mind that the traps will still be activating after collecting the shards.
Secret #1
Once outside of the maze, instead of heading directly to the mansion, head right and open the gate. There will be three obvious lines of spikes and on the other side is the first folder.
Area Two – Mansion
Now we get to the hard part and the area where people seem to have the hardest time. This section will show the strategy for the mansion as well as the location of the rest of the secrets.
Mansion Pathing/Strategy
Now that you entered the mansion, you need to figure out where to start running. Pull the right lever and all the paths into the mansion will open, the path with the red box is the most optimal one. Head down the arrows using speed boost right off the bat, this will time it where once you get to the next lever (the other red circle), the spikes in front of them will be down. If you’re fast enough you can pull it and keep running but don’t fret if you don’t. Continue down the large arrow until you reach the edge of the mansion and head towards the second secret. Past this, the best strategy is getting into the corner of the map, lure them there as much as you can, teleport past them, and apply the same strategy as the maze (if you can’t do this then don’t panic and keep them at bay as much as you can)
Now this would be easy if there wasn’t even more spikes and now adding axes to the outside rooms. When you come across a room that’s dark and made of stone, don’t commit into the room too far, slowly walk closer to a point and listen for the axe. When you hear the swing, wait the tinniest bit for the axe to actually pass by and run at least 3 steps past.
Secret #2
The second secret is near the edge of the path shown before, there is a secret wall (shown as the red line) that you’ll have to click on to open access into the room. *WHILE IN THE ROOM THE WATCHERS WILL NOT MOVE AND CANNOT GET INTO THE ROOM, CHARGE YOUR ABILITIES AND PLAN*
Secret #3
Also on the edge on the map is secret #3. Both the red lines are, again, secret walls you’ll have to manually click on to open. The room to the right is an outside axe room to have some reference of where that is.
Secret #4 (Last Secret)
Lastly, secret #4 is the farthest from anything in the map. You’ll know when you get into the general area when there’s a side room with nothing else connecting to each other. The large room in the left hallway is a room of statues that are under construction, Bierce will comment on the room so you can backtrack into it and know you’re there. (There are no secret walls for this secret)
Mansion End Game
Once all the shards are collected, you’ll need to head back to the shard statue. During this time, both the watchers AND Malak are going to be chasing you. There’s no strategy for this accept run as fast as you can back to the lobby without accidentally running into the watchers, Malak works the same as on Elemetary. Once in the lobby, KEEP AN EYE ON THE RING STATUE! If you want you can flip the lobby’s levers again and trap the watchers inside, but focus on the statue because three more watchers will spawn in front of it. Keep eye contect with them, run around them, and collect the ring piece. From this point, the watchers and Malak will despawn and you’re free to leave or go back to old secrets if you have time.
End Game Finale
Once you head outside the mansion, head right and open that gate (Fyi if you didn’t collect the secret at the side of the maze you’ll have to deal with the spikes and a watcher now). Once you’re out in the open, stick to the right wall and allow the watchers to get close to you. You’ll be dealing with about 5-6 watchers and Malak will again spawn. Once you almost corner yourself, speedboost (or teleport if you are actually cornered) and circle around the watchers (now looking at them) all the way to the gate you first entered through. On the other side of that gate is one more watcher so look away from the gate (and the other wacthers if they’re too close) and circle again, now running through the gate. Malak and the other watchers behind you will be locked out and/or despawn so no need to worry. Once you open the last gate, the portal will be in the same spot with a wall of watchers (5) in front of it and Malak spawning next to them. Keep your eyes on the watchers, let Malak get more towards the center of the area, circle around him with speed boost, get behind the watchers and touch the portal.
Thanks / Secret Cheat?
Thank you for reading through this long, maybe not even helpful, strategy I’ve made in getting S Rank on Deadly Decadance. I hope you’ll be able to finally beat this level and be ready for the next chapters when it comes out.
As a final little tip I accidentally found, you have a slight chance of actually dying and still get the S Rank! (At least the last time I accidentally did it, haven’t fully tested)
The level calculates the lives by the amount you have at the end of the game. When you collect enough shards you gain extra lives, up to a maximun of 5 for Deadly Decadance. If you lost a life, but still ended with 5 lives remaining from collecting enough shards afterwards, then it considers it as you never died. I personally had 5 lives, died and had 4, gained an extra life from shards, and escaped with 5 lives again. This was the run where I would have S Ranked if I didn’t forget the secret.
Just in case you thought I was lying 😉