Braden's approach to farm + endgame [description]

170g260s Farm:

This is a micromanaging minimalist farm (170g260s = 170 gems at 260 seconds) farm. I covered it an earlier video when I had first developed it. I have since optimized the farm to be as reliable and consistent as possible, but it still demands considerable skill and knowledge of the game's mechanics to pull off. If you can't easily pull off the farm Bintr shows in his gigapede tutorial, you may struggle to keep up.

Prefiring:

Firing at an enemy early. Prefiring at a squid constituted firing at its tentacles and blasting a shotgun once the tentacles wiggle. Prefiring a spider constitutes aiming at the bottom of its head before it rises. Prefiring a gigapede constitutes firing slightly below its head from afar while it's coming to you or right before you enter a scrape. Etc.

Eclipsing:

This is a term I coined for a maneuver that will be very important for this farm. For the whole game, really. Eclipsing is positioning yourself so that you have a line of sight to more than one swarm at once. Prefiring a squid and running past its swarm mid-gush is one way to do it.

0-37:

Leave squids 1,2,3 up. After #3 gushes, at about 26s, #1 and #4 will gush simultaneously. The strategy is to stay in the center and prefire 1, 2 and 3, then prefire 1 as it is regushing, while swiveling around the swarm such that your line of sight intersects both #1's and #4's swarm (i.e. eclipse them). This will kill most of the skulls quite efficiently and will also give you a LoS to #4. Kill #4, turn around, kill #3, get near the center and prefire on #2. This may take quite a bit of practice to get right. Keep in mind that squids float towards the center (they do not stop once they reach the center), so #3 will almost always be the furthest from the center at this point. The gem of squid #2 will be facing the outside of the arena when it is gushing, if that helps.

37-64:

After prefiring #2, you're gonna go to the center of the arena, kill the rest of the swarm, and as quickly as you can, locate the spider, and run towards it while prefiring. Standing at the center guarantees the best average distance. Kill the spider quickly, and then kill the skull III from across the arena. Dodge the skulls if you have to while collecting the gems, because after collecting the spider's and Skull III's gems, you will have level 2, and #1 will regush *very* soon (46s). The timing is tight here. A new wave will spawn in, kill their swarms and prepare for the re-gushes at 57s (#2) and 61s (39s Squid II). You're gonna kill those squids as well as their swarms.

64-109:

For each wave, locate and run towards the Squid II while shooting at its gem, then eclipse its swarm and the swarm of the Squid I on the opposite side of the arena. A couple seconds later, the inner pair of squids will re-gush. Eclipse them and kill their squids. Wash rinse and repeat until the 94s wave. Once the inner pair regushes on this wave at about 100s, kill the inner pair as well as the outer Squid I (this is an optimization; you can leave it alive for an extra gush, but it'll make the centi+spider+regush section harder. For 1 extra gem.). Shoot the gem off of the 109s Squid II and prefire its swarm while leaving the squid alive.

109-132:

Immediately after killing the 109s Squid's swarm, the centipede wil start spawning. Aim at the other Squid II now and prefire, as it's about to regush. Yes, keep this squid alive too. Now kill the spider and deal with the centipede as per usual. It'll die between 130s and 132s, and you'll get level 3. The outer Squid II will regush at 132s. Prefire it and kill it. (This is also an optimization; you can leave it alive and kill it at the end of the 144 wave, however, it only makes it harder to position yourself for the crucial 154 wave, so it's easier to just kill it right away and leave the 94s squid alive for an extra regush. Same amount of gems.)

134-174:

Eclipse the 134 wave, note that there will be three swarms. Eclipse the 144 wave and kill its squids as well unless you think you can handle a quadruple gush at 164s. Of course, that means killing the outermost squids. At 154, head towards the Squid II and immediately kill it after it gushes, then eclipse the four approaching swarms and kill their squids ASAP. Do not forget to collect the gems or you're wasting your time. Finally, eclipse the 164 wave and leave its squids alive. These squids won't bother you for the next section

174-184:

You should already be good at this section. You're just doing it with a couple squids up now. Kill the spiders and scrape the centi. Easy.

184-230:

kill the swarms, ignore the squids. You may kill the center squids if they make it too difficult to clear the arena before 230. It has nothing to do with skill and everything to do with the squids getting tangled up and making it hard to judge which ones have gushed and which ones haven't, and the effect is that you'll either lose gems by prematurely killing squids, or that the 230 wave will come in before you've cleared. You potentially get 2 extra gems, but in practice could lose 2-4 gems.

230-260:

Go to the edge, aim right and prefire. Kill 3-5 squids and turn around to kill as many skulls as possible before the Squid IIs gush. Collect, kill the squid II swarms, kill the remaining Squid Is as their gems are now facing the center of the arena. Collect. Kill the Skull IV, then bounce your shots between each squid.

Gigapedes:

If this farm was done right, you will have 170-176 gems. Practice those gigas until you are at the level where you can one-cycle a giga at level 3. Do that and this section will be easy as you will one-cycle the giga and get level 4 at the same time. I goofed the scrape in the video but still got level 4 before the spiders came.

Leviathan:

4 tiles from the edge. 6 shots per node. Moving clockwise. Try to tech at 160BPM. Practice your aim. By the time the swarms come out, you should be on the 5th node. Fire at the swarms as they are going under the leviathan, and fire some homings. The homings should go for the squids. After you are sure the beckoned skulls are dead, aim back up and finish levi off. Immediately after it dies, aim up and fire a homing shotgun, and tech at the skull IIIs and skull IV. You really want to kill those skulls fast so that the homings will do their job and kill the squids. There's not enough time to kill the swarms before firing homings, so if you want to guarantee a clear arena for the next section, fire a homing shotgun and make those 30 homings count.

Orb:

40 shots. At 396, make sure the Squid III is in your line of sight. If you choke on your tech, count 39 shots instead. I like to count 2 sets of 20. If you get to the 20th shot by 395, you're doing good. If you get to it by 392, you're doing *great*.

After Orb:

Kill the Skull IV immediately, and try to pop 2 gems off the Squid III, then turn around, fire about 1/2 second's worth of homing and focus your primary fire on the swarms. This is important, as the homings prioritize the squids but can still explode on skulls. This will make it very easy to have a clear arena before the gigapede spawns. Once the gigapede spawns, make sure you're at the center, and pull the gigapede counterclockwise. Kill the nearest spider, then kill the next spider. Ignore the Spider II and instead kill the nearest squid before it gushes, then kill the Spider II and fire at the swarms. When the Skull IV spawns, kill it quickly and scrape the giga. One thing you can do here is fire a very short stream of homing at the ground before scraping, and then scrape while keeping your aim forward, turning around and firing some homing when nearing the end of the giga (fire them *at* the giga). They'll clank against the ground because of the ghostpede that's about to spawn, but they'll also kill the giga if done right. Kill everything else and try to have a clear arena before the next wave comes in.

At this point, you're at 456s and are starting the first wave of the end loop.

456-507 (only aiming for 500):

kill the ghostpede ASAP and use your homings to carry yourself through this next wave and get yourself the best PB you can manage. Congrats!

456-507 (beyond 500):

3 Squid 1s and a Squid II will spawn. Find the first squid I, start prefiring it and tech it when it gushes while moving backwards, then turn around and tech the other squid. Try to kill that squid and the squid nearest to it. Kill more skulls and tech the Skull IV as it's spawning. A giga will spawn, pull it counter clockwise and kill squids as you move around the arena. Kill the spiders quickly, then scrape the giga, collect its gems, and kill the ghostpede. Kill the remaining 2 spiders + 3 thorns, and then kill the 2 Squid Is and Squid II. Wash rinse and repeat until the 630 wave (note: every third wave replaced the gigapede with a ghostpede), at which point you'll ignore the gigapede, kill the thorns + spiders, and scrape the gigapede, using as many homings as is necessary to catch back up. In later waves beyond 750, you'll start using homings to scrape the giga and then you'll spend eight months stuck in the 900's as y̸̨͏͝͏̙̺̦͕̣̫͉o̶̟͚͕͖̬u͏͓͈͚̦̲̟̯̝̖̥̻̖̣͙͔̲ͅ ̤̤͔̳̲̦̣̬̬̜́͟͝ş̛̦͎͕̮l̢̠͚̥̩͟ó̶̦̗̟̳̼̞̰̭̙̗̱̣w͏̨̺̘̗͇̱̲̪̩̬̦͓͝l̷̸̢͕̠̖͔̠̦͙̰̞͚͖̝̖̲͟͡y̧̗͙͔̦͈͎̣̰̰͍̹͍̞̗̯͜ ̷̻͉̰̘̫͔̻̻͈̳̩̗̼̣͕̦̳̲͘͜͠ͅl҉̷̤̩̻̲͓̦̺̺̮̯͉̘̦ó̵̧̱̯͍̦͓͖̙̙̹͚̺͎̺ͅͅs̷̬̱̣̝ḛ̶͕̻͔̕͢͝ ͍͇͖̼͖͇͇̩́͘͠͝y̸̗̯̮͔̞̭̻͓̪͍̜̬̲̪̕o̶͖̮͉͕̖̘̹̤͉̻͈͍̰̪͕̖͇̖͘͜͟͞u͝͏̭̦̥͎̹͔̹̘̕ͅṟ̶̴̴͓͉̠̩̩ͅͅͅ ̶̛͖̦̲̣͇͇͎̗̖́f̸̸̤̟͓͍̦̩̩͇̀͟͞u̶̧̟̭͎̙̰ç̶̛̖̠̟̤͙̜̳̰̥̹̻͠͡ḵ̫̭̯̲̠̮͎̫͘i̷̵̸̜͉̗͇̯̫̪̯̣̭̬͓̠͙͚ͅņ̮̫̦̘͈͇̪̺͢g̡̝̬̳͇̤̹̮̪̙̖̭̗̤̩͈̲̼ ̡̞̪͚̩̤͎̠͈̙͍̕͟m̸̡̮̣̫̀i̵̠̣̥̟̙͎̗̘̙͙̗̭̱̬̪̻͎͢͡ń̵͟͞҉̞̱̮̥͖̺͕̬̲͕̪̘̳̳̙͉̝͉d̸̵̢̟̠̻̼͈̻̙͕̻̲ ̧̡͎͍̱̝̲̜̤̮̪̼̫̗̦͜͢͟ͅI̶̶̤͕̭̙͙͙͕̻͉͕͢͝ͅ ͠҉̼͕͕͖͓̩̩̙͕͓̙̪̰͠ͅF͟͏͔̞̪͔̯̲̯̜̦̳̀U̴̡̺͕̗̜̼Ç̧̜͖̗̠̤K̶̼͍̮̺͞I̙͈̞͍̣͟͟͞ͅN̨̨̛͢҉̩͇̲̭̻̼̻̳̮̙̬͙Ģ̵͘҉̘̺͕̰̼͉̝̖ͅ ̸̶̠̖͔̲̹͉̝̲̫̦́͡H̶̕҉̧͙͎͎̱̤͍̲͚̣̼̘̞̙͎̘̩̪̤ͅA̷̘̳̹̪̝̲̘̹̙̻̜̳͠T̷҉͇̦̝͙̜̞͖̕É͔̦̱̳̩͇͈̩͚̳̙̪̪̻͉͓̞̠̀ͅ ̵̵̢͉̼̠̤̫́̕G̶̸̖̻̗̟̤͎̩͕͜͞H̸̸̗̜̬̤͇͇̼̮̪̮̩̗̝͈̰̬͡ͅO̸̞͙̗͙͖̬̬͕̥̱̩̪̕͜͝S̵̖̥͕͔͍̮̞̩̣̲̰̙T͟͝҉̬̭͚̩̖͟P̛̣̙̝͚͜E̷̸̖̖̫͓͉̮̥̞̫̳͙̳͞͠͡D̷͏̴̛̪̯̳̩̘̦͔̝̬̥E̢̹̭̼̗̖̜̕͢͠Ş̟͇̮̪̱̰̺̕ ̷̶̡͍̲͓͇͓̜̮̼̬


Y̼͈̼̌̒̋̕͟͜͡Ơ͈͙̺̗͚̘̮̤̣̩̩̰ͬ͐̓̅̏ͥ̍́͋͌̅̒̈͂̍̕͟͞ͅU̼͉̜͈̘͈̰͖͉͐ͭ͊͗̋̐͂̒͋̾͗́͑̀͡͡ ̶̧̝͚̩̥̣̖̤̣͎̺͍͎̗͉͉ͧ̈́͗͌̎́͋̀̃̽̈́̏̎̈͊͡W͎̞̳̟̤̞͔͍̯̙̟͇̍͗̑ͧͣ̕͞Í̮̜̺̱̘̭̤̭̲ͧ͐͑̑ͮ́͢L̮̻̺̝̝ͣͣ̑ͦ̊͌ͣ̏͒̈ͦ̍̃ͫ̕L̸̴̯͎̯̳ͣͩ̆ͩͩ̐ͫ̃̒ͥ̒͊̈́̎̏ͩͥ̚͞ ̻͍͕͈̬̤̪͇̲̐͊̐̆̀ͬ̐͒ͧ͂ͯͮ̀̓́͜͢Ḇ̷̖̯ͬͧ̈́ͤ͌̒̚͟͠͝ͅƯ̶͙̮̞̱͓̤͒͑ͧ̒͛͞͝Ŕ̸͔̺͇͓̤͖͚͈̭͖̻͉͙̙̖͓̹͋̎͆̃̒̍̐̎͐͋̃͑̓́̒̎̀N̵̶̡̥̟̹̺̻͔̫̤̻̲̬̯̙͇̝͖̿͑ͥ̽̈́ͪ̂̊͘ ̧̛̜͎̠̝̪͚̪̺̹͛ͩͭ̾ͦ͌ͪ̾̾ͯ̒ͩĮ̸̬̥̖̯͈͓̤͌ͬͨ̽ͪ͋̀͌̈ͧ̀͝N̜͈͖̻̤̬͕͖̘̖͉͙͈͇͉͉̱ͥ̅͋̈́ͫͭ̾ͭ̃̽̇ͮ̍̇ͨͧ͞ͅ ̧͎̞̦̭̏͒̒̉̐͑̆͋ͣ͑̍̅̽T̶̨͍͇͉͂̌̽ͪ̊͌̊̋̌͐̋̄̄͊̈ͫ̈́͞Ĥ͉͙̟͓̪̲̻̹̲̝̗̯̬͔͕ͣ̅̄̎͜͝ͅĘ̇̿̿̏̅̂̇̓̓̾ͨ͆̊ͬ̀͗́͠҉̤̻͖̪͍̗̗͎͚̹̝̲̠̦̗ ̡̧͍̣̱̠͉̺͈̗̞͉̙̯̉͐̆ͪ̒̓̐ͤ̈ͭͯͮ͆̓̿́̿͑͢͟͠F̧͂ͤͭ̊͌͒̍͘͡͝҉̳̲̳͉̭I̛͚̹̮̜̫̱̺̣̝ͨͬ̓̃ͨͮ͊̕͝R̵̛̲̣͕̝̥͚̥̯̬̭̯͒ͫ̐ͫͬ͗ͤ̾̀̿͆̊̕Ḛ̛͖͓̝͕̖̹̠͔̰̗͈͙̬̝ͨ̈́̑̀̌͊̿ͩͩͭͯ̇͋̒͠S̨̛̙̯̮͉̹̳͚̭͎͈̹̖͉̣̮͎̘̊̆͑̿̎ͫͪͮ͒͛̒ͦ̕͜ ̸̜̥͖̯̜̩̜͇͒̈̓̒ͮ̈̄̑̿̒͡O̶̧̥̗̜̞̝̳̖̰̝͉͔̘̟̝̔̌̆ͦ͒͌͂́ͦ͠F̶̴̢ͦ̍͛҉̣̲͔̹͍ ̷̨̹͍̘̰͕̥̗̭̖̤ͥͯ̊ͩ͌̋ͫ͐ͭͦͤ̽̆͛̊̽͗͟Mͦ̓̈̒̊̇̉͆ͫͧ̂̀͒ͭͦ͌͠͏̞͎͇͙̖̻̹̣͙̮͉̦̞̟͈̠̥͚ͅY̵̨͗̌͒̄̈́ͮ̾̍̋̑̔̊̎̀͐ͬͩ̐҉̵͖̟̥̟̠̜̲̪̻͟ ̔̋̐̎ͦ̔̅͆͋ͧ̀͐̌̋̊҉̧̮̠͓̭̞͉̖̳͠͝͠H̨̨̰͙̤̹͕͖͂ͣ͒͒̐̾͛ͭ̀͝ͅÄ̷̢̛̟̬̤̣̮̮̟̤̥̭̫́̋̈͂̔̏͆̀͠T̸̷̩̭̲̼̖̱ͥ̈̋ͫ͂ͥ̍̑̽ͣ̋ͩ͒ͤͦͬͬ͆̇̕͟Ȓͣͪ̽ͯ͒̚͠͏̰̫̻̫̥͟͝Ēͦͮ̑̎̂̔̊҉̛͚̩͔͙͙̞͉̻̩͚̲̞͚͔̬D̷̉̐̆̂͛ͧ͐̓̽̏̆̈́ͪ̓̀͏̤͉̗̘̹̩͈͎͖͇͖̝̬̳̦̗̳


err, good luck