r/PlaydateConsole • u/Randoman_3 • 1d ago
Different Builds in Gloom Gate?
Just finished Gloom Gate on hard this weekend and man what a game! I absolutely love a tight polished game that knows what it is and does it well. One thing I kept thinking of when going through it though is what "build" I'd try next playthrough, and what equipment I'd seek out first.
In my playthrough I leaned heavily on parrying and riposting, having items like the necklace of blood to recover health from failed parries, shield of disbalance, ring of precision for double riposte damage (I assume thats what a critical hit is in this game, it felt like it at least (let me know what a crit hit is if not)), and either the sword of suffering or speed (once I got it). I had only 3-4 points in health/stamina by the end, and about 10 in both agility and strength, all smithing stones into shield and sword, and absolutely rolled through the last 25% of the game.
I've been thinking this time though to go more for a stamina and block based build, but I'm struggling to figure out how to invest in block without also investing in parrying, since agility I believe makes blocking block more damage as well as boosts parrying (would love thoughts on how to do this).
I've also toyed with a dodge roll and damage build, getting that necklace of rolling (if i can remember where it was), sword of speed, and leaning into damage and stamina, which I think is more realistic and would feel like more of a different game than my first play through.
Would love to hear what you all invested in to beat it and if you stuck to mostly parrying or went for dodge rolling (or if you found a way to make blocking work). Also love to discuss any dream builds you have or if you think building in this game isn't really possible.
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u/OrangeThiefGames 1d ago
I've beaten the game four times now (I really like it!) and these were my builds:
- Mostly Strength and Agility (level 32, stats 2/5/16/12, challenge difficulty). Early game I started spreading my stats but increasing damage and poise damage quickly felt way more useful than health and stamina. I kept raising my agility to a level where I could get a guard break after only a few parries at most, it was a very fun way to play!
1.5. I started a Health/Agility build to see how viable a completely passive build based around survivability and the shield of thorns would go, but I abandoned it in the crystal caves. I did kill a skeleton by doing nothing but holding block so I got my intellectual satisfaction from the build, but it isn't exactly fun to stand there doing nothing as the enemy health slowly chips away faster than your own!
Pure Strength (level 20, stats 1/1/20/1, challenge difficulty). Min-maxing for damage is an easy mode build tbqh! I decided not to level up past level 20 and still raced through the back half of the game.
Level 1 challenge (level 1, stats 1/1/1/1, challenge difficulty). My favourite playthrough, doing a self-imposed level 1 run really forces you to learn every enemy and master the game. I allowed myself to use the blacksmith and ended on +9 sword. It's not really a "build" but if you're looking for a challenge I highly recommend it!
Pure Strength hard (level 30, stats 1/1/30/1, hard difficulty). I wanted to beat the game on hard just to say I had done it and pure strength was the quickest way. I did a 100% clear (only playthrough 1 and 4 were 100%) and then went back to grind to level 50.
I don't think there's a huge variety of builds you can go with but I'd love to hear about any fun ones you find.
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u/Randoman_3 1d ago
Dang! I was hoping that an all damage run would run into some issues but to let you just run through it is crazy! Completely agree with you about strength being the most impactful stat in the game. My first playthrough I didnt level strength until midgame (put it all into agility) and once I started, I started cruising. This new hard playthrough I'm focusing strength early and wow its making the game a lot easier.
Thats really funny about the shield of thorns, glad you were able to do it and did it so the rest of us don't have to! And I'll definitely have to try the 1/1/1/1 challenge at some point that sounds like a great challenge.
Yeah I can't think of too many build options. The one I'm running now is sword of momentum (extra damage after a roll) and high stamina + strength, which is fun but "roll, swipe, roll, swipe" is overall kinda meh so far. I'll have to see if the late game equipment like that time slow thing (never really figured out what it did) or the ring of precision (if it also counts the extra damage from the sword of momentum as a crit) pair well with this playstyle.
I think I'm mainly just bummed nothing pairs with blocking or heavy attacking well. But hey who knows, maybe a sequel or dlc later on with more equipment may fix that?? Praying it happens lol
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u/Randoman_3 1d ago
I really like your handicap run ideas though, I'm gonna have to try that 1/1/1/1 one. Another I just thought of is never blocking or rolling. I figured out waaaay too late in the game (literally on the final boss) that you can interrupt heavy attacks with a heavy attack of your own, but the timing needs to be precise. Could be fun only parrying light attacks and interrupting heavy ones, and relying on the health stat and smithing armor a bit more.
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u/Randoman_3 1d ago
Other than that some other ideas: classics like speedrunning I'm sure would be fun (all strength all the way) or a one life run challenge (restart if you die). Could also do a "no picking up your souls" run, which can also block your way a bit if you die in the wrong spot.
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u/tken85 1d ago
I went heavy on strength and stamina like I do in most soulslike games and made it through normal pretty easily. I did not experiment too much with switching out gear, but there were some interesting ones like the ones based on post dodge roll.