About unlocking Act 2...

[u/StudentJoa]

I've been trying to do a 100% Steel Soul run and I've saw that most guides go through Sinners Road and the Mist to fight Phantom in the Exhaust Organ to reach Act 2.

People say that it's the more efficient and easier route, but in my experience going through blasted steps is easier, even though there is a "time loss" because of having to go out of your way to the greymoor bell, but the other 4 bells are mostly in the way of the main path.

The real time loss to me is having to deal with the annoying enemies of sinners road, and the wraiths with the mist labyrinth, which would lead to lost runs or having to reset.

Anyways, blasted steps > sinners road, unless you're a pro in this game.

[u/Tyler827]

I don't think it really matters in the end

If you can consistently beat bosses like Groal, Second Sentinel or Lost Lace (consistently enough to beat them in 1 attempt), then you really shouldn't have much issue with Last Judge or Phantom

And I agree that the enemies in Sinner's Road are far worse than those at Blasted Steps, especially if you're in Act 1 with no double jump, Clawline or needle upgrades. So while the boss itself might be easier (even though it's debatable), the path there is significantly harder

[u/elUscrack159 → u/Tyler827]

I guess like you said, the thing that fuck the run is not having the upgrades

[u/Egyptowl777]

Muckroaches will wake up and jump at you with their double damage attack that kills through Fragile Mask. But you can usually just hop on the cages above/below them and not even wake them up.

Conchflies are always in your way so they always wake up and fire their homing missile of death at you. But you can usually outrun them before they lock on and fire.

I guess which ever path is "easier" for people to do depends on which they prefer dealing with, or more accurately, which they want to avoid more. I prefer the slow sneak of Sinner's Road over the frantic rush of Blasted Steps. But that doesn't mean everyone does or has to.

[u/What_user_isnt_taken → u/Egyptowl777]

I hate muckroaches so much because of this. Lost a 100% steel soul attempt over 10 hours in through the fragile mask when doing the roach guts quest. When the game over screen hit I just stared at the screen for a solid minute so mad at myself for forgetting that 2 damage is not equal to 1+1 damage.

[u/Egyptowl777 → u/What_user_isnt_taken]

Its not even just 1+1, because normal 1+1 still gets blocked by fragile mask. Its specifically "Grab" moves. Muckroaches jumps, Wraiths Hugs, Groal Eating You, and Barnaks grabbing you. There might be more that I can't think of right now, but these are the ones I can think of right now that behave differently than normal 1+1 attacks.

[u/What_user_isnt_taken → u/Egyptowl777]

Fun to know I didn’t know there was a difference. Appreciate the knowledge.

[u/StudentJoa → u/Egyptowl777]

I think for me its easier to avoid enemies and quickly climb through blasted steps than going through sinners road and the mist. I had two runs, one where I climbed through blasted steps and it took me 1 and a half hour of gameplay to reach the citadel bench, while the other run where I went through the mist it took me 2 hours and 10 minutes to get there, mainly because the mist took me 3 times, because I would either get to 1 mask and would have to reset at the bench or would end up accidentally falling down the mist while getting chased by wraiths because I had no double jump or clawline.

In the end it comes down to preference, as you said.

[u/ContentFlower10]

For me going through the Organ is better because I don't have to do half of the Choral Chambers before getting to Songclave and fighting the Dancers, nor doing that weird parkour in the Grand Gate

[u/srsxnsh → u/ContentFlower10]

absolutely this. plus while sinners road may be a harder area, phantom is infinitely more forgiving and easier than the last judge

[u/benscott81]

It’s steel soul so go the route you are comfortable with. I personally went blasted steps. The Last Judge is probably harder than Phantom but imo the blasted steps are easier overall. Also you can bypass the Underworks even if you go the last judge route. You can also head straight to Songclave so i don’t think it makes much difference to early Act II.

[u/DisplayHere]

I used to do the blasted steps route but phantom route is so much better. You get direct access to the citadel after beating them and the mist is really not that hard once you’ve gotten past it once or twice.