Help / References / etc for Crypt of the Necrodancer

Initially included in my ~100% Achievements guide, this guide will include everything that was removed from that one (it was cluttering the other guide way too much by not being related to achievements) plus some other stuff that couldn't make it there.

Only take this as a help / resource / reference dump of some sort.

Be sure to give appreciation to all respective resources btw.

These are brief, but these go more in-depth so feel free to look them up on your own.

By far the most consistent and reliable item in all runs, the Luck Charm is always guaranteed as long as there is >50 gold on a single tile. This item has multiple extremely useful boosts to the player.

• Always acquirable as early as Zone 1-2 or 1-3
  
• The Leprechaun is capable giving 25-500 gold
  
• Item pool spawns possibly better in your favor
  
• Makes all bats (including the miniboss) almost a non-issue

Again, this item is the most consistently acquirable item; so much that a seasoned player can guarantee this item on their every run. There is always one chest and one (non-crateroom) crate / barrel on every All Zones floor. A floor with a locked shop always has at least one bomb lying around somewhere.
Some Shopkeepers are more exploitable than others, and you almost always want to kill these.
*See Merchanticide for a more comprehensive step-by-step process to Shopkeeper murdering I won't be covering on how to execute these in detail, but they're listed here to inform others. When discussing QK I'm strictly referring to skipping some of their boss phases.
*bombs can be substituted for Fireball/Pulse/Earth but be sure to account for the dmg diff
**throw includes throwable weapons (Daggers, Spears), Shurikens, Greanades, or very long-ranged weapons (Rifle,Crossbow)

Originally posted by Lapinothotep:

Even: [Enemies are] 0/2/4 tiles away, It's adjacent or will be if Bard moves closer. Bard is synchronized with the enemy.

Originally posted by Lapinothotep:

Odd: [Enemies are] 1 tile away. diagonals are a tile away too. Moving toward it hurts Bard. As the [enemy] moves every beat and is an odd space away, buffering once narrows the gap.

Almost all enemies should be dealt with while 'synchonized'. Generally, keep even-numbered squares between the player and enemies (0,2,4...) when moving towards them to avoid taking damage. However, some need to be dealt with on odd numbered squares (1,3,5,...). Odd-numbered square enemies:

• Moles
  
• Shove Monsters
  
• Pixies
  
• Fortissimole

Additionally, some enemies are naturally knocked back and constantly desynch from the player and require multiple buffers. It is more efficient to deal with these enemies against the wall. Naturally knocked back enemies:

• Monkeys
  
• Armored Skeletons
  
• Knights
  
• Devils
  
• Banshees
  
• All enemies (when using Flail or Ring of War)

Nothing useful on its own, but its worth looking into to get some more intricate, untold mechanics about the game. As you progress to the game you naturally have a response to staying to the beat. However, if gold isn't an issue, one can opt to miss beats intentionally which if used right makes scenarios easier to deal with (with some scenarios even requiring it to escape unscathed).

Monk and Dove benefit from this the most (due to their free shops / useless gold), but Dorian, Bolt, Tempo, and Suzu all like being able to ignore parity and waiting for the enemies to be in the right spots. (Aria still can't do this of course)

Some enemies can be mindlessly easy if one knows their respective dances. These include:

• Dragons (Dealt with a 2x2 tile)
  
• Mommies
  
• Dead Ringer (Lure)
  
• Others probably

Sometimes the miniboss aggroes from afar, and this is notified by their audio cues. Create a safe space, and lure / wait for it to reach you instead of dealing with the boss room with its lesser enemies. Some minibosses (Dragons, Nightmares) also trample (or kill) other enemies if they are still in the dark which greatly thins out the swarm, so letting them trample enemies on their way while you wait can be useful. These are mostly harmful, but these can be put to better use.

• Enemies can be killed by spike traps / walls (especially for Dove / Monk)
  
• Traps can be used to exit the floor without the stair room (Tempo / speed / low%)
  
• Bounce and confusion traps can put space between player and enemies (Eli / Melody)
  
• Bomb traps and roofpigs naturally kill enemies as well

Leaving passive enemies alive (such as but mostly headless skeletons) can sometimes be beneficial. If used / placed correctly they can block even digging enemies from reaching the player. Certain bosses can also be made easier by spawn capping (DM, ND1, TC).

They can also serve as Aria's buffers, Tempo's timer resets, Suzu's dash ammo, or Chaunter's backup possessions. Inversely these can snag weapons (Mary, Bolt, Nocturna) so context and build matters here. But headless skeletons are also prone to bounce trap / confusion trap backfires so don't treat them as no threats.

If the miniboss has already been taken care of but there are still deadly enemy swarms, it is perfectly safe to wait out for the song end. Usually this requires a safe spot (such as an enemy cleared spawn or shop or travel rune) and the only penalty is a groove chain reset, but it really does provide a safe break for some characters.

This is perfect for Monk and Bolt, or just for Arena abuse. (Dove, Aria, and boss floors can't use this of course)

Some zones have patterns in placing both the player spawn room and the exit stairs (or the exit room).

Knowing where the exit stairs are mostly used for speed, but the player can use these for other personal reasons.

Zone 1

---

Player Spawn Room : Middle
Exit Stair Room : Bottom Right leaning

Exit stairs never spawn in the top, top left, or left sides

Zone 2

---

Player Spawn Room : Middle

Exit stairs are usually near the spawn room except they are blocked behind walls; dig walls in the spawn room to locate the exit easier.

Zone 3

---

No consistent exit stair spawn. Finding and going through secret rooms almost always leads to it, however.

Zone 4

---

Player Spawn Room : Any one corner
Exit Stair Room : Opposite corner of spawn

Fastest way is to dig diagonally to get to the guaranteed exit room, but digging horizontally then vertically may be safer for dragon / mommy floors

Zone 5

---

Exit stair room is always linked to the player spawn room by the conduit tiles and is also linked to it by the hallway (there is never a non-hallway room needed to reach the exit room). The floor has a single large exit room with no chests, shrines, sarcophagi, or traps, and the room has multiple branching conduit lines. If it has these descriptions then it is the exit stair room.

• Buffering - intentionally making moves to stall and expend a beat without missing the beat; alternative to missing or skipping a beat.
  
• Piercing dmg - able to damage certain 'problem enemies' through their 'shields'.
  
• Phasing dmg - damages enemies without fail.
  
• Miscellaneous Item Categories
  
  • Stackable - Cookies, Shurikens, Tomes
    
  • Toggleable - Boots of Leaping, Boots of Lunging
    
  • Throwable - Daggers, Spears, Glass Shards (weapon), Shurikens
    
  • Reloadable - Crossbow, Rifle, Blunderbuss
    
  • Protection items - Glass Armors, Crown of Teleportation, Frost Charm, Ring of Shielding
    
  • Heavy items - Lead Boots, Heavy Plate, Heavy Glass
    
  • Frost items - Frost Dagger, Ring of Frost, Freeze Spell, Ice Familiar, Frost Charm

[Idk if i should be handing out random links tbh (discord or otherwise)]

[the necrodancer wiki (not the fandom one, but the miraheze one) is currently almost completely done and includes up to the sync dlc; it is fact checked by the devs and play testers themselves too]

Item Tier List, Use Case, and Viability (Outdated)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2773538488

Synchronizing with Enemy Movement Patterns
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2673485844

Wielding Klarinetta and her Sword
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2940581808

Chaunter and Enemy Possessions
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2889659043

~100% Guide + Strategies for each Character
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2799119116

Bolt Workshop Items
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2874748363
Monk Workshop Items
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1121321793 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=371308441
Klarinetta Workshop Items
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2863150441
Misc Workshop Items
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2613983123

[WIP]

[Playtesting]
if u cant wait its:

• The one with trapdoor miniboss
  
• The one with more ways of killing shopkeepers

[WIP]

[Until i figure out how to make vids look nice and organized here, direct links are excluded so search them on your own]

• Spooty Biscuit's recommended settings
  
• LoZelda's beginner's guide
  
• Elad Difficult's How to kill the [enemy]
  
• Plectro's Zone4 Guide
  
• Plectro's Necrodancer1 Boss guide
  
• Plectro's Shop strategies
  
• Sky's dragon dance variations (includes Marv and No Return)
  
• Floriss' Ultimate Boss Guide / Boss Quickkills
  
• Biggiemac's courage duping (score run strategies)
  
• Hokuhok u bard duping (score run strategies)
  
• Naymin's lute quickkill