Crypt of the NecroDancer

Crypt of the NecroDancer

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How to become SWAG with Klarinetta
By utoto
This guide will help you play with Klarinetta, a mechanically difficult character to initally understand.
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The basics
Klarinetta only wields an unique, as-big-as-my-depression weapon, the Zweihander. It deals 1 heart of damage and has no variations.

This weapon is carried along in an adjacent diagonal square, all the time, and deals contact damage to any foe that enters its reach. As seen on the image, the sword length is 1 square.

Tip: Klarinetta deals no damage by simply walking towards an enemy!



There are two types of sword movements:

A half swing, where the sword is moved to a near diagonal space.

For this guide, this kind of movement will be avoided as a means to deal damage to foes. Instead, it will be used for a more comfortable positioning of the sword.
A full swing, where the sword is moved to the opposite diagonal space.

Now, this is where things get exciting: You can use full swings in any situation. As seen on the image, there's no adjacent square uncovered by the entirety of the full swings.

With that out of the way, let's get to the subject.
The SWAG
As said, this guide will cover the art of spin to win, that is, full swings. Our goal is to use the Zweihander not as a poking stick or like a broadsword. No, at the end of this guide, you will feel more like the pixelated version of this.



Controls
A full swing can be performed in two ways:
  • Press the key combinations in the opposite direction of the sword. If the sword is facing the down-left square, press up + right to perform a full swing. This will result in a clockwise full swing.
  • Press the key combinations towards the sword. If the sword is facing the down-left square, press down + left to perform a full swing. This will result in a counterclockwise full swing.

Although the key combination change from one position to the other, they all follow the same rule: Either press the combination that points towards the sword, or to the opposite direction.

Now we're over with the definitions, let's get to what really matters.

THE STRATEGY: Making it easier for us humans
Let's make it simple, shall we?

If you try all full swings combinations with Klarinetta, you might want to pay attention to a very happy phenomenon: Every single key combination using the left key WILL make the sword travel through the squares below, while every combination using the right key WILL make the sword travel through the squares above.

Here's proof. Let me try some different combinations:


We can extract a strategy from this:

If a foe is above you, you want to use the combination that has the right key. If it's below, you want to use the combination that has the left key.

The extra
Avoid direction over position
Positions are reliable, directions aren't. Pressing the down + left key may not make the weapon swing towards left nor down. Instead, think about the position of the monsters relative to Klarinetta and her sword, as shown in the images above.

Sword positioning
The position of the Zweihander will become less and less important over time, as it covers any adjacent square. However, for training purposes, it's great to start with a plan. So think about things like this:

"I'll probably face enemies from below and from the left. I can leave my sword to the down-right position and use left + up to hit them. I can press left + up again to get the sword into the initial position. If any monster come from above, I use down + right".

Repeated combo and spinning
Hitting the same key combos will make the sword travel through the same area twice. Alternating between opposite directions (for example, left + down then up + right) will make a 360 degrees spin.

The repeated key combo is used most of the time, as it will help take down enemies with more than 1 HP. The alternated key combo is useful when cornered by enemies.

Know you will mess up sometimes, but it's okay
Messing up combos is really common, specially in situations where there's a lot of monsters. But that's alright, as Klarinetta comes with a strong armor. If that happens, take a step back (with the character) and try to position yourself to defeat the monster. Once done, think about what went wrong.
The demonstration
Although it has no key feedback, I've published a YouTube video of myself using Klarinetta and beating All Zones Mode. Please note the video is 6 months old and I wasn't as experienced with the character as I am now. The video can be accessed here:


And, with that, we conclude this guide. It takes a while to get used to this character, but she's as fun as she's challenging.

If you have any questions, tips, suggestions, feedbacks, or if you just want to say hi, please leave a comment. It will be very appreciated.
9 Comments
Dazai 2 Jan @ 11:11pm 
nicee
utoto  [author] 11 Aug, 2024 @ 1:15am 
I'm not sure... I've never been through this issue. Normally it should work without any needed actions. Some ideas:

- Maybe there's a wrong setting. Try reverting stuff (especially related to controllers and binds) to defaults.
- Maybe there's a mod messing up inputs. Go through your installed mods and check if any seems to be messing with your input.

Sorry if I was unable to help, but I wish you good luck with it! Also, yeah, the sword movement (key combos) is a fundamental part of this character
Juice. 5 Aug, 2024 @ 1:16pm 
Uh, my movement combo keys are just greyed out, same thing if I use WASD instead. Guess I can't play Klarinetta without specifically binding these combos to something else?
utoto  [author] 8 May, 2024 @ 10:12pm 
I'm glad you like it! Thank you for reading and for commenting :redbat:
leorigamind8 4 May, 2024 @ 1:43pm 
woah, nice guide bro!:celeste_bird:
utoto  [author] 27 Oct, 2023 @ 9:44am 
Yay! And thank you for the comment :redbat:
ChekinNooget 21 Oct, 2023 @ 7:33pm 
thanks, this is super useful!!
utoto  [author] 19 Mar, 2023 @ 7:31am 
Thank you! I'm glad you like it :redbat:
Astres 18 Mar, 2023 @ 9:19am 
Great guide!