Love and Thunder: A Mel Staff Experience

This one is pretty straightforward: pair the best single target burst attack boon with the greatest source of % damage special boon on the weapon with basically the longest range dash attack and the highest base damage special. Just use your basic attacks and specials. Carnage ensues. Versatile, conceptually simple, and (most importantly) fun on all fear levels, though a boon that doesn't remove the range advantage on the special may be more beginner friendly.

***Important Note***

Some parts may not look filled out much. That's intentional. A lot of times, there are multiple good options to take, many of which have very different use cases. Pairing keepsakes to biomes or specific long-winded builds that you're only gonna hit 1 in every 100 runs isn't exactly practical for learning the game and arming a reader with something useful to take into their next attempt. You know what is though? Useful comparisons between many strong options, found below!

Keepsakes

This should always be a Cloud Bangle start; blitz is the undisputed best attack you can have, and it combos well with special. There are a good 2-4 options for both special and cast that can combine with blitz to set you up for the entire run, but blitz outclasses most everything else on attack by a healthy margin. If you're really passionate about trying to get an Aphrodite based setup and instead opt for the Beautiful Mirror, a few other good options are listed under the attack section.

For 2nd biome, fig leaf is usually the best option if you're using timer. Otherwise, you can take a second god keepsake. If you're aiming to force the build, probably Beautiful Mirror if you didn't hit Aphrodite in Erebus, or Vivid Sea if you hit Aphrodite but not Poseidon. If you're craving consistent safety, Harmonic Photon or Barely Sheaf give you flexible options like Blinding Rush from Apollo or Snow Queen, Frigid Rush, and Arctic Ring from Demeter.

For 3rd biome, there are a few options. You can aim for Adamant Shard to take a couple of Hephaestus boons for safety if you're not specifically hunting for other finisher boons as well. Experimental Hammer is a pretty whimsical one. Most of the time it does nothing, but sometimes it gives you exactly the Dual Moonshot hit you were searching for. Make sure it's maxed out to level 3 so it lasts through both biomes 3 and 4.

For 4th biome, I would probably just go towards one of the survivability options like Luckier Tooth or Engraved Pin. They make the last boss significantly more stress free. If you're running underworld, Lion Fang is nice

Ghost Onion and Luckier Tooth are really good defensive keepsakes. Take them into basically any region you have trouble surviving in place of a recommended keepsake.

Gorgon Amulet is a really unique option that gets slotted in somewhere almost every run. It's best with Death (XII) because you can reroll a couple times to hit Renewed Faith. Just take it going into any region that you don't have death defiances. My usual spots are biome 3 or 4. It used to be really strong with Strength (XXIII), but it's really not amazing anymore, especially after Divine Dash nerfs. Death (XII) + Renewed Faith is a really strong option though, especially when comboed with Toula's free death defiance. 6-8 total free death defiances a run is disgustingly strong levels of survivability.

Familiar

Toula does well with long range weapons, especially those who tend to play safely enough that you're not very likely to get hit by big damage melee range attacks for a lot of value from gale. The extra death defiance is quite helpful as general purpose survivability. Pairing it with death grants you 4 charges of death defiance, and Athena's renewed faith will replace all 4 of them once they're lost. If you're running strength, take gale instead tbh.

Cards

Most standard card builds will follow the same cycle: pick between either The Sorceress (I) or The Wayward Son (II). The rule of thumb is sorceress for omega builds, wayward son if you're planning on never touching an omega move, so in this case, we're sticking to basic attack and special, thus The Wayward Son (II). Then, go and grab reroll corner (The Boatman (XVII) + The Enchantress (XVI) + The Champions (XXII) + The Seer (XXI) for 10 rerolls + 300 gold. Choose between either Strength (XXIII) or Death (XII) for your primary survivability. If you run The Wayward Son (II), you'll want Death (XII) in order to make a column of 5 and trigger Divinity (XXIV). Otherwise, The Sorceress (I) triggers the first column as 5 already with other standard selections and you can choose freely. From here, you'll want to opt for Persistence (VII) and The Swift Runner (XI) for movement and survivability, and The Furies (VI) and Origination (XIV) for good damage. Grab one of either The Artificer (XVIII) or The Lovers (XV) to round things out! The Artificer (XVIII) is great for lower fears unless you're really having trouble with bosses. I usually take The Artificer (XVIII) unless I'm running 4 points in vow of rivals along with a couple points in pain, then I'll take The Lovers (XV). When all is said and done, you have a lower fear optimized variant on what's widely considered the best all purpose arcana page in the game for all aspects and fear levels. No weapon does badly at any fear with this page.

The Huntress (III) may look appealing, but you really don't need that extra damage with this build. Also, it's a bit finicky, requiring you to remember to drop an omega at the start of every room. Do note though that if you're priming out (hitting 0 magick or at least a number lower than 10, the amount it costs to cast omega special) from Static Shock, Stalwart Stand, or any combination of those and the vow of hubris, you can't trigger it. Also, specifically avoid the chaos curse that primes magick as you use it. Your magick will stay completely full, but just primes down, meaning huntress never triggers until the curse turns into a boon. If you're feeling talented or playing below a fear level you would personally consider challenging, it can be fun and goofy to replace Persistence (VII) with it though.

Attack Options

The best here is Heaven Strike, hands down. Simple to use, great single target damage, gives a curse for Origination (XIV), and synergizes very well with dash attack > special. A lot of things can work at lower fear. Flame Strike isn't bad if you're using attack often to proc a lot of scorch, but really isn't good with the dash attack. Sworn Strike is probably the second best option, as the hitch curse lasts a lot longer and the attack has a good horizontal reach, allowing you to easily hitch a good amount of targets quickly. 9x out of 10 you'll be starting zeus keepsake and taking Heaven Strike though, so that's really all that matters.

Special Options

This is a lot more varied than the attack. My personal favorite here is Flutter Flourish, especially epic or heroic. The % damage is absolutely gross. The big downside is it guts your range, but dash attack > special is a pretty safe combo, and you'll absolutely be able to move around a lot more than some other aspects to mitigate this. Tacking on Dual Moonshot both makes it absurd and ignores its range decrease downside because you were already close range for Flutter Flourish anyway. Also, if you hit poseidon, just aim for Tidal Ring and Island Getaway to fix that aforementioned range issue. Or just hit dual moonshot afterwards anyway and regret your choices in life. Ah well, whatever. At least dual moonshot means twice the froth procs and island getaway still gives damage resistance. Could be worse.

Besides that, literally any special that does good % damage works here. Sworn Flourish is my next favorite. Nova Flourish and Ice Flourish are both decent, though they're notable damage dropoffs relative to aphrodite and hera. Might not matter much except for your funny numbers at low fear, but you'll run into timer issues at high fear and should really stick to aphro/hera if possible. They deal respectable damage at epic rarity though, so if you aren't seeing any options, those are good fallbacks. Avoid Vicious Flourish, the % is super low.

Cast Options

We're already to the "just take what it gives you if it looks useful" point of the core boons. Anything decent works here. My personal favorite, especially for low fear, is Tidal Ring for a variety of reasons. The up front damage is pretty strong on its own without wards turned on. The froth can be good with attack > attack > special combo because the attacks go reasonably fast, but grabbing Dual Moonshot really makes it much nicer. Also, just Tidal Ring and Flutter Flourish make Island Getaway unlockable, so you could easily have it out of ephyra or potentially erebus. Arctic Ring is another fantastic option if you run into it. Very safe, and helps make up for the fact that you'll be closer range to most enemies. Past that, Smolder Ring is great for aoe damage and a curse for Origination (XIV). Engagement Ring, Solar Ring, and Rapture Ring would be ok choices purely just for a second Origination (XIV) curse if you can't find any of the big 3. Special mention to Rapture Ring though, as taking it unlocks access to Sweet Surrender and Broken Resolve without needing a gain boon (which is overall quite pointless on a non-omega build).

Sprint Options

Blinding Rush is best in slot here; the extra mobility it gives you is great and the curse is none too shabby either. The movement speed proves almost essential for clean rivals fights, and gives you an extra edge in your positioning, which tends to be everything when running Flutter Flourish. Second best is Frigid Rush. Similar principle to Blinding Rush but instead of speeding you up you slow all the projectiles down. Also makes hecate's sheep ball a lot easier to deal with. Avoid the sprints that require you to be directly in the enemies' faces like Heat Rush and Stabbing Rush. Smithy Rush and Passion Rush just don't deal much damage. Breaker Rush is actually really decent, but you have to know how to combo well with dash attack > special without putting yourself in a rough spot. Not newcomer friendly, that's for sure. Nexus Rush would be nice if it proced hitch in a reasonable amount of time, but it doesn't, so avoid it like the plague unless it gets changed in 1.0.

Gain Options

We're focusing just on basic attacks, so you really don't need a gain for regenerating magick at all. However, Glamour Gain procs weak on basically anyone who gets close so it's automatically best in slot. From there, that unlocks the weak enhancing boons Broken Resolve and Sweet Surrender. Those two plus Island Getaway, either Strength (XXIII) or Death (XII), and potentially Renewed Faith and the myriad of healing you can buy render you basically unkillable.

Additional Core

Really not much here either that's terribly essential. You really just need Static Shock for good room clear, especially if you don't wind up grabbing a good room clearing cast like Smolder Ring or Engagement Ring. Double Strike is the next step up for your blitz as well. Trick that lightning out bro. If you happen to run across Artemis, Killing Stroke is absurdly gross. Sweet Surrender and Broken Resolve should be considered core to most builds that hit aphrodite when the fear level is low enough to let you grab them semi consistently.

Hermes

My favorite here is probably Travel Deal. You can fill out a build so well on lower fear with it by choosing a boon first at whatever shop you run into. If you're running a couple points in the vow of debt, take Quick Buck instead as you won't likely be affording the second boon very often. Nitro Boost and Hard Target are both great for survivability if you run into them. Both make Hecate's sheep ball easier to deal with. Nitro Boost also combos well with Blinding Rush if you've already picked that up. For lower fear, Hasty Retreat is good, especially if you can land it with Travel Deal and combo it with Wispy Wiles and a bunch of air boons from Zeus and Aphrodite. Boon stacking for hasty retreat + wispy wiles dodge can get out of hand very quick in terms of survivability.

Poms

Aim mostly for Flutter Flourish first then Heaven Strike. Put 1-2 in and then switch over to another. Poms are additive so the math works out to them reducing your damage less with repeated use. Double Strike is an ok one to pom up as well.

Hammers

Best in class here is Dual Moonshot. Stupid amounts of damage, it's basically 2x on everything, and the only downside is one you're dealing with already by running Flutter Flourish unless you've picked up Island Getaway already. Melting Swipe works very well into a dash attack > special combo and shreds minibosses. Shimmering Moonshot is good with Island Getaway or with Sworn Flourish, Ice Flourish, or any other flourish that applies a curse, but otherwise unremarkable. None of the other hammers really synergize with this build, but Rapid Thrasher and Wicked Thrasher give you some good extra early power if you miss one of the big 3.

Mel staff is a very straightforward weapon. Really look to use two combos: attack > attack > special, and dash attack > special. Attack > attack > special is good for early game, especially for room clearing. The standard staff attack has good side to side range, so this helps catch a lot of stuff. Later on, you'll have a lot of damage loaded into the special and want to focus on that, so dash attack > special compresses both of your biggest damage sources (blitz from Heaven Strike, % from Flutter Flourish) into one simple and quick combo for maximum safety and good damage. This speaks for itself, but make sure you play from a healthy range before picking up Flutter Flourish and after picking up Island Getaway.

Try and get origination up and running as soon as possible with two curses. Blitz is one, so you basically just need one more between your attack, cast, and sprint. That should be easily attainable before the end of biome 1 on low fear. This tip is practical for basically every aspect or loadout that runs it.

That's about it. Go out there and pew pew pew... or whatever.