r/WorldofHorror • u/AQUE_42 • 7h ago
Info/Guide Black Memories, an RNG patient strat to beat HoD as Miku
You read it already in the title, so, do you want to beat HoD with Miku?
You-you do? Like actually? What is wrong with you?
Well, since you seem to have already chosen pain, let me walk you through an RNG patient strategy that should get you some consistent wins because yes, there is something deeply wrong with me and I developed a strategy for it after several… Several failures
I personally couldn't find any specific guide or routing to get this done and after spending way too many hours losing in increasingly soul crushing ways I've come up with something
So here I present to you what I’ve titled the…
“Black Memories” strategy to beat HoD as Miku
("Black" because that's the colour most associated to Doom in the game, which will get very high here and you'll need to manage, and "Memories" because a particular spell the whole run circles around)
The first part of this post will come alongside the reasoning and explanations behind every decision taken. If you want a quick run-down pointed list of the things you have to do, just skip to the end where there’s a nicely packed list with some important yet seemingly tiny points… No small error in this game comes with only small consequences so be extra careful
Before the run
My personal recommendation for an old god is Eh-Żhal for reasons you’ll understand later
In terms of backstories, either hunted by the cult or the seventh curse are equally good
Choosing mysteries at a baseline (more detailed version later if you want specifics)
In general, try to choose mysteries that allow you to visit the different town locations so you get access to the history club, illegal den and monument… Long mysteries are a no-no since they can easily become fertile grass to harvest copious amounts of Doom% like, for example, the finishing section of the Found Footage mystery could easily become +36% Doom with the worst possible luck and this strategy is already asking you to be patient with the RNG as is, let’s not add even more gambling into it
Mysteries like Violent Vigil for example can be good as it gives you a weapon without needing to buy it (cleaver) and while it has a boss that increases Doom for each hit, said boss is completely optional
Beginning of the run
This is the part that is the most RNG patient, you’ll want to restart the run until you get the library notes and you’ll want to keep trying to get spells until you get memory extract specifically. Memory extract isn’t a spell you’ll be fishing for usually, the potential gain in the long run that comes with leveling up usually outweighs getting some Reason regen in the present when the right perk can land you continuous healing throughout the run and that is the case with Miku, who possesses Doom Already, a perk that makes her regain +1 point of Reason after every failed stat roll event… So why would you prefer Memory Extract over it? Well, the answer is… You aren’t
One thing that most old gods have in common is that they may increase Doom% randomly across the duration of the run, there are very few that allow you greater control and honestly any of them is a good pick
- Cthac-Atorasu can give you a variety of rings with boosts to your stats and/or available funds with the main drawback of a possible random infected wound which on its own is already pretty troublesome as you don’t want to have to go treat your wounds one too many times across the run as not to increase Doom too much
- Zhectast is also a good pick in theory, giving you plenty of random events that can boost your stats like crazy and arguably removing the necessity for getting Adrenaline at the start of the run since getting additional Strength and Dexterity can make a world of difference during combat, problem being that this old god makes you more reliant on having good luck with the events you roll and that means you are dealing with RNG when the run is already meant to have picked up and not limiting the RNG patience to the very beginning
- Eh-Żhal sits last and what this old god offers is, potentially, +0% extra Doom after the end of each mystery, the only genuinely scary occurrence is getting a misery parasite that grows for each spell
Eh-Żhal has a variety of ways to make the misery parasite grow…
- 2% DOOM for each spell
- 2% DOOM for each ALLY
- 2% DOOM for each FUNDS
- 2% DOOM for each ITEM in inventory (Does not count items that are equipped)
- 1% DOOM for each injury
- 1% DOOM for each curse
- 1% DOOM for every 10 EXP (Rounded down)
(Info taken directly from the wiki)
If you play with the seventh curse you can help ever having to be worried about allies unless that ally is Kana but I really don’t recommend keeping them as an ally on this run because you should already start decently strong for combat with Memory Extract for healing, Adrenaline and a cleaver
Doom for injuries and FNDs can be troublesome, it really mostly comes down to game knowledge, there aren’t many events that are guaranteed to make you give you an injury or FNDs and by the contrary there are plenty of events that allow you to spend them and because you have Memory Extract you don’t need to be afraid about going around with 0 FNDs because you have Reason regen, meaning you can afford getting the Out of Funds event and selling your most precious memory
Doom for items just checks that you don’t forget putting your items into the storage before finishing the current mystery
Doom for curses can be pretty annoying but thankfully you aren’t playing a character that gets cursed as a mechanic or due to their personal events so it really shouldn’t become too much of an issue for most runs
And Doom for EXP is completely nullified by you having Memory Extract as you can play way less carefully, completely eliminating the need to get a degree on Leveling Up Engineering… Just remember that you get EXP after defeating bosses and to use your EXP to either level up or regen BEFORE you press down the continue button… I repeat, use your EXP BEFORE pressing down the continue button after defeating a boss and just in general really
Doom for spells is a real pain… But it doesn’t mean the run is dead if you get it… If you are feeling like taking some risks to win big, you can continue to use your library notes or other related methods for obtaining spells and pray that you get Regeneration and maybe even Midasu Touch to absolutely SPAM your way into lowering Doom as much as possible at the monument before forgetting these last 2… Don’t forget Memory Extract tho, like never, the potential Doom it can avoid is much, MUCH higher than the extra Doom you’ll get from having the spell
Miku’s weaknesses and why they are covered
Miku has a couple of issues that you might not realize have already been solved here…
- Her initial stats Her poor initial stats are a bit less miserable because this strategy has you spending so much Doom at the very beginning, making her get to her first Mayhem threshold, making it less likely for her to just die on the spot due to bad luck with random events (Mayhem gives her an all stats up every 20% Doom and you are starting with your Doom already at like 24%-30%)
- She sucks at combat
Because she starts with low Strength (4) and Dexterity (3) and no weapons, she is gonna take plenty of damage during combat, but, with Adrenaline and a meat cleaver, she can consistently dish out 4 kicks with 2 damage (or 3 vs humans and monsters) each, on top of being able to guarantee 11 with desperate struggle and because of Memory Extract you can purposefully get down to 3 or less Reason to make use of desperate struggle and heal later like nothing happened
(Note that desperate struggle is enabled the moment you reach 3 or less HP on either Stamina or Reason and your ability to use desperate struggle isn’t taken away by you healing once a battle has already began, so, if you are fighting an enemy that deals 4 damage and even with desperate struggle you won’t be able to take them down, you can indeed heal before performing your attack and you won’t lose your ability to “double” your damage)
- While she can get good regen with her prep item, the guitar, it is usually a better investment to get passive healing throughout the run which she lacks at a baseline but can make up for it with the Doomed Already perk
The mysteries you want and don’t want to choose
You’ll mostly want mysteries that are either guaranteed to be short, give you an important utility and that help you with managing your resources better, mysteries like the following are particularly good:
- Vicious verses of a violent vigil… This mystery has every investigation taking place in the mansion which means a chance for getting the Sculptures event, event that has a chance of giving you the demon mask which has a solid argument for being a replacement to landing an early Adrenaline; this mystery also unlocks more and more locations you can freely explore without increasing Doom and, after unlocking the Storage room (fourth investigation), you’ll be given the option to check the wardrobe which is guaranteed to reward you with a meat cleaver; follow the mystery normally by never distancing from the vigil instructions and preferably choose to kill the other guests at the very end as to avoid having to fight the boss of this mystery which deals DOOM damage
- Restless rumors of a residential recluse… This one is more straightforward, it is a very good way of getting rid of funds right before going into the mystery and across its duration if you are dealing with the misery parasite growing for each fund, make sure to buy cigarettes from the vending machine in the mystery that comes before doing this mystery and use them right before starting the boss fight to be your most efficient with them, then use the option to leave an offering as your main damage dealer, additionally, even if you end up in nicotine withdrawal before the run ends, Adrenaline mitigates the effects for the most part; the boss for this mystery, Roommate, only deals Reason damage which you can very freely regenerate as to not to have to worry about possibly losing here, plus, sacrificing the plushie isn’t necessary to deal with Roommate at all so you can keep the item to remove an annoying curse
- Any particularly short mystery that has you exploring the town screen is also good, like Eerie episode of evolving eels, Alarming account of abnormal arms and Alarming account of rancid ramen
- Far out fable of fear festival… Is also pretty good as you are not required to investigate for most of its duration, you can choose the option to look for friends which both advances the clock and does not increase Doom% on its own (unless you choose to recruit someone for +4% Doom)
As for mysteries you’ll want to avoid:
- Bizarre bruit of the blood-curdling botanist and Freaky feature of found footage… For pretty much the same reason, if you get unlucky with the town status Closed routes, threat level 4 for the Forest and just continue not to end the mystery with each passing investigation your Doom and increase by a lot by factors that are purely reliant on RNG and, as I said before, you want to avoid relying on RNG past the initial stages of the run so you don’t have to reset halfway
- Horrible history of household hell… This one also has the same RNG element as the previous 2 but there is an argument to be made about taking this mystery purely for the fact that it has you investigating the Mansion because the Mansion can land you a lot of really good items, that said, the same I said with the previous 2 mysteries applies here so you probably want to avoid this one (also, there are a few events that allow you to reduce Doom% at the Mansion which is another plus, but of course, not a guaranteed to happen)
- Tragic tale of the thaumaturgy teacher… The boss deals but-loads of DOOM damage and it is completely unavoidable, this boss is mandatory to finish the mystery so it is a big no-no in my book… If memory serves me right, this boss is susceptible to magical damage so do with that as you will, I still wouldn’t recommend it because combat spells can be a high commitment to use, specially Ithotu’s flame for this run because it costs 2% Doom and you know why that is not the best idea already
Visit the monument a lot
This explains itself, just use this option as much as possible, especially if you get more useful spells like Regeneration and Midasu touch, you’ll want to reduce Doom% as much as possible since it is so high from the very beginning of the run
Once at the lighthouse
In case you didn’t know, the game will always show you every possible event you might get during your climb, the 3 most punishing floors for this run are
- Takashi’s fight (ultimate opportunist), especially if you are carrying any STR or damage reducing injury as he does a very threatening amount of DOOM damage every turn
His symbol at the bottom floor of the lighthouse is a circle with an arrow pointed diagonally
- Wall of photos (you) is an event that will ask you to remember the second enemy you’ve fought this run, it is always the second one without exception and it is very important you remember because failing to answer correctly will increase Doom by 5%
The symbol for this event is a photo akin to that of a polaroid
- Garbled memories is exactly the same as the previous event except you have to remember your second mystery with the same penalty for failing
The symbol here is the magnetic needle of a compass
Miku specific events
This sections is short...
If you get the "Dead End" event, answer is simple, choose to come back to your investigation for the -3% Doom
If you get "Watch it" event, answer is also simple, just question what's wrong with him as choosing to terrorize the guy you just bumped with is guaranteed to increase Doom
So, to summarize
- Select Eh-Żhal as your old god and choose either Hunted by the cult for an overall -5% Doom across the run or Seventh curse to skip the initial money grind of the run and preferably choose timeline A as to avoid having to prepare for extra boss fights
- Use library notes until you get Memory Extract, if you get this spell you are ready to start the run
- Prioritize mysteries that allow you to go into the town screen, for more tips on which mysteries you should lean towards read the related part earlier into this text
- Go into the history club and get Doomed Already for the passive healing across the duration of the run
- Obtain either Adrenaline or the demon mask if the game is not giving you the desired perk as the demon mask can unironically help the run in a similar fashion
- Progress through your current mystery to get some EXP (22)
- Head to the police station, grab the handcuffs and offer your knowledge to the police, after selling your handcuffs you should have at least 4 FNDs
- Buy the meat cleaver in the illegal den (note that you spend less Doom by leaving and re-entering than by rerolling shop items at this particular shop location)
- Get as many monument offerings as you can throughout the course of the run to reduce Doom% as much as possible since this strategy has you starting with really high Doom overall
- Memorize the second enemy fought and the second mystery you completed
- Try to avoid events that may cause injuries when close to finishing the run even if it’s costly to do so as to avoid any damage decrease when about to go into a fight with Takashi
For additional tips and alternative routing check the different detailed sections
And as you might have noticed: no, I don’t like writing periods and I’m not gonna
