Which Slugcat is the Best? | Rain World Downpour

[@portuguisianbralizian3293]

In Saint campaign, Moon says: "It's been mixed with fire powder for warmth." About the lanterns

[@mishagaming1075]

So basically the scavengers also adapted, neat.

[@TypicalLuffy]

oh thats cool

[@generalvoid1630]

@@mishagaming1075 Maybe scavengers are basically just the ancients, but before technological advancement. Making basically a loop of civilisations, their ruins, said ruins being inhabited by early sapients and said sapients making a new civilisation. Would fit the theme and I think a lot of the dialogue supports it.

[@zaptrap4802]

@@generalvoid1630 Rain World new dlc: Scavengers are now the new ancients and they build new iterators

[@Valraven]

@@generalvoid1630 "Were we the tenth civilisation, or the thousandth?"

[@spiritwicc3953]

How dare you not put slugcat in tier

[@d00mnoodle24]

Is that an ori pfp? Based AF

[@PatientJellyfish95]

I know! How dare he have OPINION on SLUGCAT. SLUGCAT should go in TIER!

[@mkayyu7201]

Slugcat was the most slugcat ever

[@funguseater2568]

@@mkayyu7201 truly a slugcat moment of all time

[@d00mnoodle24]

As a slugcat i agree

[@Falkflip]

Scavengers start manufacturing their lamps differently during the ice age. If you show one to Moon, she will notice a powder inside it that produces heat. So, there is a lore reason for that mechanic.

[@Soluna7]

Oh, that's awesome!

[@Sigma_10000]

I can't believe it was confirmed that rubicon is literally just slugcat hell.

[@ikcikor3670]

Also all the slugpups go there (100% spawn rate if you manually allow them to spawn there or whatever iirc)

[@mikoajciemiega8018]

​because according to the devs all sluppies go to hell

[@ikcikor3670]

@@mikoajciemiega8018 Why does this word exist

[@hellofellowalivehuman]

​@@mikoajciemiega8018 WHY!?

[@kgblagden]

You haven't gotten the full Arti experience until you've had to engage in trench warfare. A killsquad of scavs have decided to all hunker down in a choke point where if you rush them they will just obliterate you. Quarters are just to tight to get around them, looking at you, Pipeyards. You have to hunker down in a safe spot and take shots at them every so often and wait for a few to rush your position to take out individually. I find having the low ground usually give you an advantage in fighting them. I actually really like the challenge to the point I've gotten all the pearls as her and ascended although it is a massive test of patience and I've had my fair share of ragequits. I don't think anyone will disagree that Ruffles is the most fun scug to play.

[@mr.randomguys7629]

My personal favorite is Artificer because it forced me to get really good at combat and I ended up feeling like The Doom Slayer fucking up everything in my way. Loved exploring Metropolis too… but I do agree that Ruffles is probably the objective best slugcat and is second favorite.

[@adumbdannia]

​@@mr.randomguys7629same! I used to struggle so much with Scavs it was embarrassing, but after Arti killing 3 Elite Scavs is a joy

[@aspwned]

rivulet is the most fun to play but they suffer from being boring and a bit easy. the decreased cycle times are very fun but end up reverting to normal by halfway through. you could argue the rarefaction cell fetch quest evens this out, but after that, it just feels like playing survivor but you increased the speed by 40% i agree though, very fun. just gets old quick

[@AdaTheWatcher]

That's the "issue" with Arti. If you don't like fighting scavs in the first place you'll hate arti. If you like fighting scavs. You'll love arti.

[@adumbdannia]

@@AdaTheWatcher true

[@d00mnoodle24]

I like rivulet the most then spearmaster but saint's lore and story literally gave me goosebumps and he's cute AF so he's the bestest boy

[@The_whales]

Also got named after a snack

[@fluffycuddles8008]

@@The_whales which snack?

[@Inky_88]

@@fluffycuddles8008 ruffles chips

[@Texan_christian1132]

in my experience The spear masters campaign is actually the easiest out of all the other campaigns except for maybe the monk. When ya have infinite spears moderate movement don’t have to collect many different types of food get through a bunch of scavengers or the other crap in other campaigns it’s relatively easy. And for it’s weakness against the lizards ya just have to be more skilled when fightin em. Get behind em or run from them and flip to get to there weak side. The spear master and the rivulet should definitely switch places in this tier list. I’d even put the rivulet lower in the tier list. It’s nice that the rivulet is fast but that’s its only strength. The spear masters ability is definitely much better. And in the rivulets campaign I don’t like how it rains so often.

[@gogodogodo3283]

Hes not a boy hes a scug

[@charlietheuncreative6737]

Only just got to the Arti section and lemme tell you I agree 100%. I'm one of the few crazy people who enjoy scavs and getting chieftain, especially because I'm really bad at combat. So an entire campaign of just fighting scavs is hell. I love Arti on paper! She's so cool and awesome! I'd play her in a heartbeat if the entire point of her campaign wasn't committing mass genocide against scavengers.

[@GlyphidGuard]

Isn't the point of hollow knight is to commit genocide against every non merchant creature?

[@Foxett25]

​@@GlyphidGuard i mean count in Ori.

[@GlyphidGuard]

@@Foxett25 You're everywhere where rainworld is involved, I never played Ori because it doesn't support ps4 and my laptop can't handle most games, so I dont get the reference

[@glompert7390]

Expedition mode is great because you get full karma and scavs don't hate you

[@mistikalcanavarlarparlamen3265]

Me too...!

[@maltoc2673]

15:25 Actually if you give it to Moon on Saint she says it was mixed with 'fire powder' (presumably from a gunpowder plant) for warmth by the scavengers.

[@finkle4434]

The experience of going to Five Pebbles' city topped all of the other annoying parts of Artificer's campaign, I didn't experience like half of the annoyances that were listed, like I enjoyed the difficulty and even if I got my ass kicked there was still the novelty that I was in 5P's mfing city which kept me hooked and wanting to explore as much as I could. I enjoy exploring all the little details and environmental storytelling in rw more than the gameplay + I only had to pass like one or two annoying scav karma gates to get to the exterior and to 5P himself. The fact that this campaign had no greater lore significance and was it's own adventure made it refreshing compared to some of the other DLC slugcats; apart from that it literally contained everything I had hoped for and was such a nice first character to play. Maybe I'm objectively wrong idgaf but I enjoyed Arti the most it had me fr fangirling the entire time through.

[@St4rStormy]

SAME!!! I'd put arti and saint in S tier, as those were my two favorite scugs, artificer was super fun, ESPECIALLY metropolis.

[@georgexddd8595]

@@St4rStormy yeah same and i'm curious if i'm the only person who would put gourmand in F tier

[@merijngout39]

Metropolis is definitely S-tier, but I wouldn't say Artificer is. Subterenean is as good as blocked off unless you're lucky with cycle durations and deer AI. Farm Arrays is of course flawed by the deer not cooperating, but the scavs make any sort of waiting, trying again or taking another route impossible. This is not helped by Arti's disdain of water, making passing through Drainage System also near impossible.

[@finkle4434]

@@merijngout39 I feel like that only applies to Arti if you're going for the unique but basically the same ascension ending, since that mainly applies to the other portion of the map. Ideally the entire experience should be consistent but with Arti I rly like the more tailored approach with that region having it's own ending. Ascension is way too hard to get with Arti for it to be the more intended path.

[@TheLordofSiIence]

Objectively speaking, there's nothing wrong with Artificer, it's the campaign that's the issue. The scavenger AI is so erratic that it adds a fifth layer of RNG onto an already RNG heavy game. And relying on luck, especially if you're consistently unlucky, is the worst feeling because there's literally nothing you can do. And the only thing that really gives points for her campaign, other than the story, is metropolis. But even that can't entirely exempt the rest of the issues. It's nigh impossible to get to Five Pebble's bottom gate, Old Garbage Waste sucks (or sucked depending on if you played before the patch that added the tunnel lines), Waterfront doesn't even exist for her and Moon is fucking dead. The rest of the game is completely overcompensated with Scavengers meaning that it's either sink or swim and unless you're the Jesus of gaming, you're gonna be sinking 95% of the time because one spear from offscreen flew straight into you. Not to mention she probably has the simplest path of any campaign. It's not bad, but the length of the campaign also doesn't help. As opposed to literally all other campaigns where you have to visit an iterator than go do something far away, Artificer only has to meet Five Pebbles than go into his hair (city). It's not objectively bad, but it does limit what can be positively (and negatively) said about the campaign itself due to its length. And don't even get me started on how fucking horrid her spawns are for expedition mode. Yes, I'd love to spawn in Five Pebbles or Metropolis for the fifth time in a row when I need to collect fucking mushrooms. Artificer feels somewhat like the Monk of Downpour, but reversed. Monk is boring to play, while Artificer is way to advanced compared to all the other scugs. Monk's campaign is relaxing, while Artificer's is bloodshed. And both their stories are personal journeys, one for reuniting, and the other for revenge. But overall, both feel like afterthoughts when it comes to the rest of the game. Monk never really given any attention and Artificer never given any balance. Even more ironic is the parallels in their endings, Monk following the path of peace reuniting happily, and Artificer following the path of revenge forever trapped. Actually wow, those parallels really just came to me but those are way to coincidental to be coincidences. Definitely intentional. Cool.

[@VYNAIUS]

ngl artificer is my fav anyway. I do agree that it's quite annoying to drag scav's body to the gate but you need to do that only once in the whole playthrough. And I had so many good memories about exploring as artificer.

[@theminecraft4202]

you need to do it three times no? from garbage to industrial, and industrial to chimney tops, and chimney to wall. Or did i miss a shorter path?

[@ballSucker344]

​@@theminecraft4202 there is a shortcut from garbage to shaded near the starting room

[@VYNAIUS]

@@theminecraft4202 from garbage to shaded, then to exterior and then up the wall to five pebbles

[@theminecraft4202]

@@ballSucker344 ohhh ok thx

[@vesperide598]

The reason he doesn't like artificer's campaign is: 🎉🎉 skill issue 🎉🎉

[@Superchicken_36]

Fun fact with the lanterns in saint, if you bring one to moon she says the same thing as every other character but says it also mixed with something called fire powder to give off warmth too! Plot hole solved.

[@kgblagden]

Just a small correction: Scavs do only take one shot to kill. Some do however have a small window of "bleedout time" where they'll freak out and can take one more shot at you before keeling over dead on their own. Best you stab them a few times if you're fighting one close range. The initial shot will knock it out so you can just shank it again just in case it's one of the ones that has that extra bleedout time to take one last revenge shot. Most of the time it's not big issue if you're a little ways away. You can tell if a scav is really dead if it drops everything it's carrying.

[@Lolasrabbits]

Did you know: if you go back into your finished rivulet save moon calls him “Ruffles” later in the game she talks to another slugcat and says that there once was one of its kind that had long since passed.

[@KaiTheMemeKing]

Moon says that to Saint (the next scug in the timeline). Considering I played Spearmaster --> Rivulet --> Saint, I was fresh off my Riv save when I got that dialogue and it made me smile

[@jcdenton6427]

I absolutely hate Spearmaster's campaign but I love this cat and his new lore unlocks all over the world made me appreciate him even more. Its fun to run around every region looking for that one lore satellite without looking at map on wiki.

[@laurenromero2134]

Why do you hate spearmaster

[@CeizoBro]

@@laurenromero2134 he doesnt hate spearmaster just his campaign. A lot of people don't like it, Its pretty hard but I enjoyed it. There was a lot of new map to explore and seeing moon was !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@onyxvega7369]

@@laurenromero2134 in my personal opinion, having to carry around a very important, very easy to lose pearl in your hand without the ability to swallow it for safekeeping, making the dual wielding mechanic useless for more than half the campaign is, honestly, quite frustrating. And I say that with spearmaster being my favorite slugcat.

[@loftwingheropon2743]

I had to spawn the bloody pearl in with cheats because I left it in pebbles chamber by accident and went into a shelter, not to mention the back and forth between 5-p and moon was really annoying, cyan lizards EVERYWHERE and way too many bottomless pits, I got stuck in exterior for the longest time trying to get to the wall so I could get to sky islands, the experience made me hate underhang. So yeah spear masters campaign sucks.

[@jcdenton6427]

@@loftwingheropon2743 never ever in my life I would think that DLL infested Underhang is better than one without Rot at all.

[@TrueWolves]

It's worth noting that the lantern has custom dialog with Moon on Saint's campaign as they DON'T just use slime mold anymore. Also, all pearl dialog, including blank pearl dialog, is different for Spearmaster and Artificer because Moon has a different perspective before her fall and Pebbles is... Pebbles.

[@WizzyWizWizzy]

tbh, I liked rubicon, it did feel like the game itself was trying to stop me. But that was kinda the idea, to me rain world is a game where it doesn’t want you to win, and when you win that’s the true fun of the game. So when I kept dying in rubicon, I felt motivated, not frustrated. I can see where you’re coming from though.

[@SpoopyChicken]

A cool alternative to Artificer's Karma system could've been that she's locked at Karma 1 but if she eats a scavenger it will increase by 1 or half up to Survivor karma. BUT, her karma decreases by 1 every cycle so it still encourages players to hunt scavengers. This could have some lore tie in like "Her anger is satiated with every taste of revenge she feels," or something like that but most importantly, it would be WAY more fun, it adds in a consequence to dying (I.E. your Karma will go down meaning that you will need to hunt more scavengers) but it still lets her ACTUALLY interact with the Karma mechanic from the get go albeit with one that's a lot more restrictive. It actually adds a layer of strategy and descision making rather than locking you at "Oh just bring a scavenger corpse to this gate."

[@airiden4734]

that doesnt fit to the lore of the game though

[@SpoopyChicken]

@@airiden4734 Yeah... good ludonarrative interaction is hard. But like, I really hate playing Artificer despite really liking her story in general. 😭

[@incongruity]

solid tier list I definitely agree with the top 2 picks just because of how much fun I had with the lore and region changes/additions they had on my play-through of their campaigns (although rubicon was a crime against humanity)

[@1th_to_comment.]

Sunny pfp based

[@spacenoodle8207]

I understand why artificer is so low on this tier list, but I don't agree. I just remember having a bad day at uni, going home and killing scavengers in metropolis for hours. My favorite strategy was to go to their camp, throw a bomb at them and run away. Then I'd find a pipe with both ends horizontal and near the ground, hide there, steal spears from any scaveners that dare try to go in. Pile up on corpses, kill a few elite scavs, go back to the shelter and either die on the way back or add a few dozen scavs to your kill count. Sleep, repeat. But then I met the echo and went for "drown in a hallucinogenic pond" ending 10/10, would explode again

[@prototypelq8574]

Spearmaster might be a multistage fetchquest, but I love the story behind it`s campaign - seeing another Iterator indirectly intervening the events and trying to connect with Pebbles is extremely sad. Spearmaster gets to listen to Iterator logs, to learn of their worries and thoughts, and the messages SRS sends about feeling attached to their messenger is very bittersweet. This campaign lays the groundwork for the Saint to give the game a proper emotinoal ending, and is the second most emotional story of the slugcats (second only to Saint, of course). Also the anatomy of Spearmaster is a little...disturbing. Why did SRS had the wonderful idea of transporting a pearl inside animal`s Chest Cavity I have absolutely no clue.

[@bartudundar3193]

Have you not read the lore? Most animals in rainworld are artificial. Purposed organisms. The original inhabitants rebuilt animal life to suit their needs. Ancestors of Slugcats were literally pipe cleaners. So repurposing animals for their bidding is kind of their theme.

[@Texan_christian1132]

The spear master is 100% the best!

[@gavitron0610]

15:23 if you take the glow lantern in saint’s campaign to moon, she will say it has fire powder or something in it that produces heat

[@toddfrog5623]

Daszombes during Artificer rating: "But we're rating campaigns here." - 1:49 Daszombes after that: *rates all the slucats on the overall gameplay instead of just the campaign* ... spearmaster *cough* Edit: In all honesty I agree with mostly everything on here except Arti and Gourmand. (I would put him higher as I like his gimmicks of crafting and becoming a meteor strike)

[@Splashzone263]

I feel like Artificer is my favorite campaign because of her abilities and karma system it makes her focus on her gimmick of murdering scavs and fighting them and i feel like her game rewards mastering combat and strategy I personally love the scav combat since i learned a lot on how to fight the only thing i majorly agree with is the fact they can see you on the other screen and kill you Also her whole gimmick is the fact she has the most complicated combat and movement that you can learn and in my opinion the most op slugcat

[@moistpretzel6411]

I love artificer because it's really combat focused and doesn't really punish you that hard for dying, so it gives me more room to do sick plays, but I can understand perfectly why a lot of people really dislike her Edit: Mauling is god-tier

[@lukewilhelm145]

Amen

[@BuzzBoar]

I csnt understand why someone woukdnt like Arti.

[@draconisrus9273]

It was very interesting to get another person's opinion who has been through all the companies. I don't know what my personal top would look like, but most likely at the very bottom would be Master of the Spear. For him, even just raising the sleep food meter is already a challenge. And the fact that he can't reuse needles already cast for power doesn't make the game any easier. Even the technician with his two disadvantages (karma, and scavengers) didn't fuck me so much (in a way, the lack of karma helps me not to lose so much when dying in fights with scavengers).

[@Dani751PL]

I guess the only saving grace for monk is that In downpour they gave him a sub-quest to give Moon DAT DRIP.

[@the_phantom_cat7912]

You can get that in any campaign between Hunter and Rivulet

[@Dani751PL]

@@the_phantom_cat7912 why would they do that.. would be a cool quirky think for monk players to have

[@ostrich3335]

I’m new to rainworld and I really love monk. I’m terrible at video games so the chance to be able to enjoy rainworld in an easier mode and cutting down on some of the frustration felt when playing as the other slug cats is very welcome to me.

[@shanerowsley]

I still love hunter. Now that you can remove the cycle limit its survivor but for the more experienced, which I think is awesome. I still play hunter often as it provides a nice balanced challenge that isn't as linear as the downpour campaigns but is still harder than survivor. Plus I just love his abilities. While they all are outclassed by other slugcats, I feel its a nice upgrade to survivor without having some overpowered advantage like downpour slugs.

[@dazedandconfused5711]

SACRILEGE! SACRILEGE! ARTIFICER (sniffles) (snot drips on kebyoard) WAS THE BEST CAPGAPI!n! YOU ARE WRONG! WRONG!! IM WRITNG NOT YYUIOO

[@Kasai606]

Real as fuck

[@razorblaze4522]

As someone who is a rain world god in terms of combat, I would personally put arti above the OG three. Its genuinely a lot of fun for me to just rapidly gut every scav in a ten meter radius when i bomb a toll like a drone. Though since i am aware not everyone enjoys the jank that comes with RW combat, i fully understand the placement at nearly bottom tier

[@generalpawpaw]

I agree, the campaign is fun for rain world players that enjoy combat and are good at it. I personally also enjoyed it alot, but that's only because I'm good enough to not die all the time. I totally get why someone would rank it so low.

[@Toluj330]

Arti is my favorite campaign honestly, I love traversing pebble's city with the jumps and the combat is way less unfair than with others. Also waterfront facility offers a new challenge with her, which I really enjoyed.

[@RoundusMongus]

I love how all the responses here are peppered with a tiny amount of smug self-affirmation about how good everyone is at combat.

[@secrom36]

@@RoundusMongus thats called confidence in each own skills and being able to like artificer is being good at combat

[@somedude4087]

15:30 pretty sure if you give lantern as saint to moon she mentions that is has chery bomb powder or something

[@redwes99]

Yeah she mentions it had "fire powder" smeared on the inside, which is what provides the heat.

[@somedude4087]

@@redwes99 and this is only in saints campaign altho I suppose could be of use to be mentioned somewhere in the start of it instead of said by moon

[@doodlexd8661]

Game devs: Rivulet can breath underwater Me: Fucking drowns

[@hyperleet4454]

Your first experiences with saint and riv were very different to mine. I took the direction through rubicon that didnt lead to the M i r o s D i m e n s i o n and enjoyed it quite a bit. And in submerged superstructure, i simply got lost for two hours because i couldnt see the exit door. So my thoughts on these campaigns pretty much line up with yours as a whole and if this were my tierlist, i would have put saint in S alongside riv oh yeah i also got trapped by a shelter failure at the top of chimney canopy while playing riv and that was pretty funny

[@randomgreencat8914]

average Lizor Land enjoyer.

[@PsilocybePsientist]

Hard agree just gonna have to say zombes got a skill issue with saint fr fr rubicon is a goated area

[@IHaveNoIdea5555]

Glad to know I'm not the only person who enjoyed Rubicon! It felt really thrilling to play.

[@KaiTheMemeKing]

Another Rubicon enjoyer here. Honestly a huge skill issue. I loved the color palette, completely obliterating miros vultures, and flying above open voids

[@Lynch2167]

8:47 Scavs using 101% of their brain power:

[@colkadome]

I loved rivulets campaign for the constant rain. Very cool atmosphere

[@nolnyy526]

Same

[@gachakris2924]

The thing about Artificer is that it's a combat focused campaign. While for Hunter and Gourmand it's just completing objectives, Arti is MADE to cannonball through the screens and slaughter all they come across. I mean, all other campaigns can be done as a pacifist if you try harder enough. Arti? Can't even leave the initial region without slaughtering the scavs. It's just pure rage

[@HIIMABE]

bro env deserves a solid S tier, i love the nachos

[@theomni1012]

Nachos will never be the same 😢

[@n3y]

can't believe the nuclear weed scug isn't in S tier

[@peenus5120]

Spearmaster while the pearl is still inside him: A tier Spearmaster when the pearl is no longer inside him and you have to carry it around: C tier Spearmaster while in the Vents subregion of LttM: F tier

[@Reynnan123]

Rivulet is gonna be S isnt it?

[@Foxett25]

Who didn't expect it lmao

[@BuzzBoar]

I dont think Rivulet is that good. Too annoying with bad time limit. Story was great tho. And exploring the world was rly cool. But the time limit makes you skip enemies which is the coolest thing about rainworld.

[@ruthiewitter569]

Just gotta say I love your iterator avatar, holy crow it looks so freaking good.

[@marmeg5238]

I guess I have a diffrent perspective (or just am a basic bitch) but to me Survivor is the uncontested S tier. When I think of Rain World 8 times out of 10 it's about his campaign, all the others are just variants of his one. It's crazy to me to call him boring, cause he's the first and definitive plauthrough of Rain World, the most interesting gaming experience I ever had. But it's not just that he's the first and therefore the best, it's also very clear that the whole game has been specifically designed around him and his mobility. Obviously the rest have some changes to accomodate them (Saint specifically) but it's just not comparable to having the whole world made from the ground up with him in mind.

[@StarlightLexie]

it's weird, cause for me it was really easy to do saint's power, so rubicon wasn't that bad, meanwhile you said you got lost with rivulet for an hour at five pebbles and... god i wish it was only an hour. as for the parry mechanic... it's much easier to just use your parry the moment you are near a scav, it stuns them and then you can just kill them easily, you don't have to *actually* parry with it

[@Capeman11d7]

Artificer complaints are simply: mad cos bad. LMAO

[@corbel8_]

i mean, i loved Arti because combat is one of my favorite things in game. Jumping around cover and styling on Scavs is one of my favorite things

[@karacreed0723]

Random fact: Hunter can actually dual-wield using a whiplash/slide-flip as long as there isn't a spear on his back. Afterwards, he can carry one on his back and still have two in his paws.

[@Khanical]

Well, he can't duel wield that's just abusing giltches

[@karacreed0723]

​@@Khanical Hunter is the only slugcat capable of pulling it off, Spearmaster can automatically dual wield without any advanced movement tech. Attempting to do so as any other scug doesn't work. Trust me, I've tried.

[@tsoewoe]

You should try Arti with CameraScroll and one of the 3 aim helper mods - turns from bullshit into a decently fun 2d shooter

[@thedoge492]

camerascroll is pretty much a must for arti's campaign

[@ThreeFingerG]

I prefer Screen Peek

[@awrilynn]

It was one of the reasons I created Aim Helper mod yeah! Even without snapping feature just being able to have verticality in combat and having actual high ground advantage makes the game a lot more fun. Not having to pinpoint accuracy every shot really does make the combat feels less punishing.

[@tsoewoe]

@@awrilynn Thats actually the one I use! It provides 90% of the ability of Aim Anywhere without the downside of not working very well in co-op or split screen, I nicknamed it the Deadeye mod lmao. Its certainly well made!

[@nslashta]

i also suggest Artificer-revive-on-kill mod for ultimate canon doom slayer experience

[@nexenW]

honestly i think the whole no progression of karma in arti's campaign is supposed to be a counter to how frequently you'll die by now I've completed her campaign like 4 times and I still die if the karma was affected by that it would have been a lot more frustrating also the gate issue can be ignored a little considering the fact that theres 1000 scavs per room honestly shes a lot more enjoyable if you have the parry mechanionc down, how would you do that? well just go left in the first room there you can find and fight a bunch of scavs sorry if this sounds like a rant also sorry for any bad grammar as english is my second language also nice vid

[@nexenW]

*mechanic

[@tigran010]

INV ISNT A BOTTOM!! HE IS ALPHA GIGACHAD WITH UNSPOKEN RIZZ AND ALWAYS ON TOP(except for spearmaster maybe)

[@someoneelse3938]

The Rizzmaster

[@BlinkTvvice]

Okay maybe not the best place to ask this, but can someone explain cycles to me? I legit just got the game today (on Nintendo switch if that matters) and all I knew were, survival game, you play as a slugcat, lizard=beeg nom nom boi And me being me which doesn't help at all because I can almost guarantee the only thing anyone reading this knows about me is this comment, I practically speedran cycles, I would go out, eat, and run straight back to the shelter. There was one time I stayed out a little longer and ended up getting lost and dying in the rain. I knew near nothing about the game and I still know.. a little farther from nothing.

[@SorryBones]

Artificer fixed the worst part of the game for me, which were karma gates. No more grinding in areas hard to get food - you died? Who gives a shit, the goal hasn’t moved, just try again. Also, you’re never low on food since you can feast on your enemies. Arti’s a hero to me

[@gabrielhuber992]

moon also says that the scavengers modified the lanterns to be warm

[@zombiecow3236]

I agree with almost everything on here, but personally I rank Spearmaster lower. I love his spear creating and eating mechanics, I love the lore and collectible chatlogs, and the green spiders were a very funny addition. My big issues with Spearmaster are the fact that you need to carry a pearl with you for the majority of his run, and along with being very difficult, I find Moon to be pretty boring pre-collapse. Her structure is, understandably, very similar to Five Pebble's, and since the Exterior and Five Pebbles himself are my least favorite regions, I didn't exactly love Moon's. I still find the pearl to be a bigger issue, partially because I encountered the only real bug I found in this expansion, which just erased the pearl half of the time and made his campaign very frustrating towards the end of it, but I also don't like carrying the pearl around constantly because it gets rid of his dual wielding unless you put it down somewhere and pick it up later. Having to ferry the pearl around removes one of his few mechanics, and that, combined with the fact that you can't create spears while moving, really brings down his gameplay for me. I know that that second point is maybe to balance him but it was just annoying to me, his biggest mechanic is printing spears but once you throw them, especially if you still need food, you have to stop somewhere to make more and it slows down his combat. Maybe I just need to get good but I wish he had other downsides, something that compliments his abilities rather than just getting in the way of them.

[@Supercarboyg]

(Monk goes into the boring trio) meanwhile me whos playing as monk while watching:"wait, what"

[@FishyMirage]

artificer fans trying to explain why its fun to fight groups of enemies that can instant kill you from off screen with nigh-perfect prediction aiming that sit right outside your shelter waiting to spawn camp you

[@sapphis_lazuli]

in my own scug tierlist i opted not to tier monk bc how do you judge him fairly and sofie is in his own tier that i named "im gonna kms"

[@iivan8730]

Artificer was one of the best ones for me. You know that "finally, a worty opponent" meme ? Well that's arti's campaign, yeah the spear throws from the other screen sure are annoying but it's not like most other common ennemies pose a real threat (except white and cyan lizards) + arti has high mobility with the double jump so if the timing of the parry is too hard for you, you can just fart away. I had no issues with the karma system of arti too, thought it was original, also you have no issues related to the bodie's weight since arti s strong af. Also i though it was cool that we get to explore a more slugcat oriented campaing, where it's just an animal doing it's own thing. Sure we interact with 5p but that's not the core of the narrative. We already get plenty of iterator lore in the next campaingns, variety isn't bad.

[@gracehinkle3623]

I am both offended and pleasently surprised you put my beloved fat boy where he is

[@pickles_8472]

Man I’m really exited for Artificer once downpour is on Nintendo Switch, because I’ll be able to massacre scavengers without feeling bad.

[@1God1Fury]

4:04 Scavengers also have aimbot assist and can see + attack between screen transitions.

[@walker9192]

Holy fuck, bro just permanently murdered arty.

[@superhamsniper4487]

slight saint spoiler, i actually gave moon a lamp and she said "Oh they seem to have also put fire dust in it" or something like that, which makes it hot, so thats why 15:30

[@XPCVLT]

0:01 Wash them balls

[@shannonrobbins59]

14:40 omg I can’t believe you didn’t do a double roll into a pounce into a slide when you fell from that slightly tall height

[@keeps3k]

As someone who has never played the game I think they should all go in S

[@steeved9485]

Having your finger on the throw button and holding a spear all the time had me get through the campaign with ease: every time i needed a scavenger to pass a gate i just see a bunch and throw a spear. Horizontally facing transport tubes and tubes in general makes it stupidly easy to kill them, so if you know how to deal with them scavengers are not a problem, but of help. The key to winning a fight to a scavenger is that you, as a slugcat are able to throw spears instantly, while the scavenger has to aim first, which takes about a quarter of a second - which is A LOT. You are also able to pickup and throw spears only in the span of a few frames, while the scavengers need more time than that

[@katsucandy]

surprised the rivulet section didn't come with moon thirsting lmao ruffles is truly top tier

[@The_Gold_Bunny]

the parry challenge took my longer than any other challenge, i swear to god i hate parries so much

[@null.zipped]

I agree with this list, good job 👍. My favorite is spear master. Maybe you could do a mod tier list at some point with modded slugcats, or just mods in general. I think that could be interesting

[@harrymee3ep724]

14:58, Wet mouse! Wet mouse!!WET MOUSE!!!

[@elmaregner5303]

Ey Daszombes, could you make a Creature Tier list after the (possible) Flora and Fauna Video?

[@J0_20]

13:27 as spearmaster, once u mastered the crouch throw or slide throw, u can face lizard with 2 spears and it's gg

[@salamandersharp]

yeah i agree with this, only thing is i'd put Gourmand higher and put Arti right above hunter, but i definitely understand the reasoning for putting them where you did. solid ranking of one of my favourite games' campaigns. can't wait for the next iterator logs and whatever else you've got in store :)

[@Toluj330]

15:25 Actually ☝🤓,there is an explenation, if you bring a lantern to moon as Saint she explains that the scavengers coated the inside with a sort of fire powder, which explains the warmth and why most scavengers are carrying lanterns even outside.

[@jaash7981]

I feel like Arti's campaign is really held back by the fixed camera. I can't count how many times I moved through screens and was immediately one shot by a scav that I could've never seen. When you have the upper hand, they're really fun though. My personal rankings would be S: rivulet A: spearmaster, hunter, gourmand B: artificer, survivor C: saint, monk

[@faeriexylily]

i am so glad that it forms a bell curve, that brings me unending joy

[@sugareimon]

Call me crazy, but I've always loved monk the best. I'm a switch player with no downpour so that may change, but I love being able to explore and admire the game at my own pace with no worries! not to mention the lizard taming mechanic is so, so cute. I always play monk when I can, and I never really get bored. maybe that's just me, though?

[@itsdianachan]

The arti campaign stuff, to me, is actually quite accurate. Except that killing scavangers gives me bloodlust and dopamine so the campaign gets extra fun. (i love nuking scavanger tolls with bombs)

[@AvesKori]

5:32 I have never once utilized the mushrooms until I played Arti for THIS REASON ALONE 😭😭

[@spicyboye5926]

I think the tier list I made a few weeks back is nearly identical to yours (the differences being Inv being in his own tier, arti being in F and hunter being in A behind spearmaster)

[@maurotechera2486]

7:23 bro emoted

[@rotomfan63]

To me, I feel like in a post downpour world, Arti being targeted by the enemy that you normally avoid pissing off serves the purpose of getting the player to engage with combat. In pre downpour, unless you did a Hunter run combat was decently avoidable, and that time limit scares a lot of people off. But with Arti not having that issue or even karma to worry about, it gives players a great way to learn combat outside of the arena. Which really combat in Arena is so different from singleplayer it's hard to call skills there transferable to main game aside from things like movement tech. Granted, this is only valuable if you didn't engage with the combat until you got to Artifcer. Which is far from universal. But I know I was sure that player, so it felt like a real jolt to the system. However, I agree with the rest of your points now that I am more familiar with the combat.

[@generalseal6948]

i oncesoft locked myself in spear masters campaign because i tried throwing a spear at a lizard on the wall (region) and had the pear in the wrong hand and threw it in the abyss never to be seen again

[@Superficial_Intelligence]

I actually enjoyed fighting scavangers as artificer. I don't know why. Probably the explosives.

[@Doggoyy1]

Swap artificer and spear master would be my list

[@akomis5007]

I loved the artificer campaign. And I think her karma mechanics fits it perfectly . Having just reduced karma limit would have not worked. With Arti it is just a matter of a lucky cycle or few to get a stash of scav bodies in a shelter, which would have fed her straight to enlightenment (if she could have it unlocked). While working on Pilgrimage achievement I had to farm karma few times. It was trivial. The real challenge was in finding a karma flower and getting alive to the Echo with its effect on me. I once sat for dozen of cycles, gorging on the bodies of my prey. It went so long that I'd not be surprised if I would got the Gourmand stats for few cycles. As for the changes in Garbage Wastes - I loved them too. I didn't like the original GW. The one I saw in Arti's campaign, with industrial buildings with acid pools in them, finally gave the region a unique feel. Also I properly explored it after wandering for 30 or 50 cycles all around the world and getting okay with Arti's combat. So I had lots of fun slaughtering all the top predators. Having many monster dens, scav dens and migration paths right next to shelters was a perfect recipe for good time.

[@Equalibrius]

i kinda feel like gourmand deserves to be a tiny bit higher as his exhaustion mechanic teaches you to manage your actions better and everything you do in combat has to be a lot more thought out you know what i mean?

[@blubobo99]

Close combat is super easy for artificer since you have a dedicated stun button

[@Xeros08]

Give me either Arti without permanent 0 scav reputation (as in you could fix your rep and have alternative ending) or hunter without cancer, and I'd main any of the two.

[@starudstfrin]

i played arti with the mod that gives you karma on scav death for the majority of it, and i can DEFINITELY say it improves the experience. the scavs are annoying, i got more deaths than i did in any other campaign, [roughly ~120, if youre curious] and while the lows were low the highs were HIGH. half of the issue with metropolis and why i had to start from the beginning so often was probably because i decided to bring a pup along for the ride, so ignoring that [since it's not vanilla] its still pretty solid imo! of course you shouldnt need a mod to make a campaign good, relying on mods to make your game enjoyable isnt ideal, but it does improve the overall experience for what its worth.

[@MagicianStevey]

Saint spoilers in case you havent played it yet I feel like one of the few that actually enjoyed rubicon and had a fun time using the ascension power, the keybind for me to use it was actually really nice (spacebar + right arrow, seems weird until you realize my throw is left arrow and I use wasd to move) and since I also took an easier path and was strategic with basically everything I really enjoyed the final challenge that was rubicon. I just wish it was shorter and maybe slightly easier, having the final area take an HOUR to pass through is kind of insane. Something like the depths but more scary and climactic would’ve worked better in the grand scheme of things. Also I think I’m the only one who dislikes rivulet’s campaign, having to constantly be rushing at all times was annoying and kept me worrying at every time loss. I felt like I was speedrunning a game even though it was my first playthrough, so I ended up skimming over a lot of it. Combine that with the fact that the rot is my second least favourite area and that I think submerged superstructure is kind of mid (except for bitter aerie that jumpscared me) and you get a campaign that I disliked playing the most Spearmaster is still my favourite even though it has my least favourite region AND subregion (past garbage wastes and struts). lttm is my favourite region and reading everything about all these new iterators and all their stories and personalities was super cool. My favourite parts were accidentally finding a broadcast and discovering seven red suns and no significant harassment as well as entering the neural terminus the first time (insane ost and presentation, better than general systems bus imo) This was originally just for saint but since I’ve talked about 3/5 downpour slug cats I might as well just keep going Gourmand was one of my favourites for sure, even though it took me 87 cycles and 17 HOURS (which is 13 hours above my average time for all the other ones) I still had a great time. Gourmand was the first time I ever looked at a red centipede and was like “yeah I could beat that in a fight” even though I was terrified the whole time. Before gourmand I didn’t step foot on farm arrays or sky islands, but the food quest let me learn about the 2 regions (and honestly the first time I went through farm arrays it was pretty fun). If the food quest wasn’t a thing and outer expanse wasn’t a thing either it would probably be at the same level as survivor, just missed potential. Also flash back to when I didn’t know where lilypucks spawned so I spent an entire cycle crafting one I literally just finished artificer today as my last dlc slugcat and it did NOT disappoint. My first time playing it was easily the worst I ever had. 2 cycles in 30 minutes with virtually no progress made. I literally avoided artificer like the plague up until I finished survivor with the outer expanse ending. Since I spent so long getting better at combat, I had a fun time fighting through waves of scavengers and only had a few unfair deaths throughout. Industrial complex into chimney canopy was hell trying to find where the scavengers spawned, and the wall was the WORST because orange gang was replaced with cyan lizards effectively making it the most dangerous area in the entire game. I usually love the wall but artificer was the only f tier experience I had with it. Metropolis was like the second best region in the game and the echo was epic af so honestly it’s way better than I imagined it to be. My only complaint is the time it’s unlocked, even though it’s not super lore heavy, I believe it should be unlocked after hunter because the only way you can effectively have fun with artificer’s campaign is if you have actually mastered the fighting in the game. Plus it gives more incentive to actually play hunter (which is the only slugcat I haven’t played or beaten lol) Basically I disagree a lot lmao

[@turking25]

I personally had no problem with the rubicon, practically a cutscene, just like the depths and I loved it

[@wyaumann]

hahahahaha a cutscene i like the wildly varying accounts of the place i was personally terrified/frustrated so much by it that i took days of hiatus and training in Challenge mode before coming back - but then it wasn't that bad for me after a few deaths here and there

[@PsilocybePsientist]

@@wyaumann smells like a skill issue just like zombes tbh

[@avery5920]

the whole arti experience is going from prey to predator and fighting scavs is fun

[@thegreatmajora5089]

Haven't watched it yet, but I'm betting either Riv or Arti are S tier (or both) edit : lmao rip

[@realeggwhoisalt]

Well that aged like old milk

[@thegreatmajora5089]

@@realeggwhoisalt half-milk half-wine

[@sprucefox2239]

@@thegreatmajora5089 out here with the takes that aged like WILK

[@Zer0cip]

Bro made a triangle.

[@imbored3416]

Yay, a Tier List!

[@art_games_and_writing9778]

I actually agreed with every single ranking you did! I was skeptical at first, but once you explained, you had me sold on the placement. I admire your ability to articulate your thoughts, as I am awful at it lol. S Tier channel ngl 🤙

[@inconsistent_consistancy1503]

Scavengers in the base game were much more unbalanced then in the dlc. I noticed that in the dlc they take longer to hit you, and to some degree it's easy to predict there movements. Which allows you to better reaction time. Rather then in the base game where they can just insta snipe you. Pluss they added the map feature where if a creature is close to you but outside of the players range, you can check your map and see I anything is there. But I really just think it's a matter of playstyle. I actually always liked befriending scavengers, especially in the base game. I never wanted to make them angry and always preferred to be buds instead. But after the dlc I actually had the opposite experience. I found I LOVED killing scavenger. Was I terrible at it? Definitely Did it take several times of me running through one area to get past. Yes But I eventually improved alot, to the point where I could traverse quite well. (Also idk if the game was just unlucky for you but I never found myself searching for very long for scavs.) Infact they always seemed to try to hunt me down first 😂 I think the capped at lowest karma when played enough can actually be a benefit. Becase dying barely matters in the campaign and sense especially in populated areas it makes it really easy to kill scavs and use there karma. 😭😭 you slandered artificer I had to write a essay explaining why you could be wrong. It's the internet we're talking about here

[@fiendfi7119]

self-proclaimed "saints" when they get their hands on triple damage spears and instakill sticky bombs:

[@tortesh1635]

I honestly agree with Artificer. I wish it was a lot better because the difficulty design makes it more of an ordeal than a challenge. Spoilers: Also, I agree with your tier list. But in my experience, Saint is an S tier. Ironically enough, I didn’t struggle as much in Rubicon.