Rotwood

Rotwood

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Do you have what it takes to join the Cult of the Bulbin?
By Molivious
In this guide, you will learn how strong the Bulbin truly is...and that goofing around just hopping is not "being useless."
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Introduction
Do you like what you see? Good, come in.
The Gear
Weapons
Splatshot and Basherball - Heavy

Strikers are generally the best options out there. Airborne striker balls or those left on the ground can easily be re-activated with your Bulbin Buddy's knockback attack, giving you additional damage sources without having to break your dodging streak. They also have the highest damage modifiers, so even though a Hammer and a Striker might share the same attack value in the status window, the striker would still end up giving more damage to your Bulbin Buddy and Snortoise Armour.

The Splatshot in particular is the best heavy Striker ball right now. It has high base damage, which is used to calculate your Bulbin Buddy and Snortoise Armour damage, and also provides good utility through its passive and skill. But weaker weapons like the Basherball may also have interesting skills or passive effects that could be used to support your allies or simply make your life easier...so don't sleep on them!


Head Slot
Bulbin Buddy - Light
The Bulbin Buddy's strength does not only come in the damage it deals, but through the knockback effect that comes with. Most non-boss/miniboss rots can be locked into place and denied of all attacks if you just keep pushing them back with the Bulbin Buddy.


Body Slot
Snortoise Armour - Heavy
This piece of armor is why you want to stick to the Power Class. The power dodge (...or hop) allows you to activate the effect of this armor for each dodge you make. Adding this to your Bulbin Buddy allows you to deal multiple hits and decent damage within a short period of time.


Legs Slot
Yammo Elasti-shorts - Heavy
Being that you are in the Power Class—which also increases your resistance to wind, hitstun, and knockback effects—there's nothing wrong with making yourself even tankier. And if you are only dodging the entire fight, then the effect of this armor will always be active.

Snortoise Boots - Heavy
This is an alternative piece of armor that specifically only benefits you in Molded Grave. Poison is nasty and the little numbers can add up and weaken you over time. Using Snortoise Boots in the Molded Grave will make you feel what Peppa Pig does with puddles.

Other
Use the Striker Dash to boost your damage

Strikers have access to moves that bring them airborne, but some of these moves can be quickly cancelled with dodges and vice versa. Even on its own, the dash attack tech shown above can be performed to quickly build up hit streaks for the Striker. By applying that knowledge to this build, you will be able to generate more shockwaves over time for more AoE damage.

To recreate:
1. Run towards a target. Make sure that your character collides with their body so you don't run past.
2. [While holding your run] Keep tapping Dodge and Light Attack to activate your dash attack.

Tired of playing heavy? That's fine!
The key components of this set (Bulbin Buddy and Snortoise Armor) still works and deals nearly the same damage if you decide to go for lighter gear and use the tech demonstrated previously. Faster dodges and dash attack cancels generate more attacks and more shockwaves. In the following example, you can see me trying out the Agile Class with the high-powered Belle of the Ball (Floracrane Weapon) and Bulbin Sash (Legs Slot).


While you may lose useful defensive utility such as Yammo's passive 40% damage reduction and the Power Class's dodge invulnerability/iframes, changing up your gear allows you to adjust your mobility, take advantage of stronger equipment, and gives you freedom to switch your combat playstyle on-the-go with other useful tools and skills available in the game.

Check out your Heartstone Boosts
The Aspect of Enigmox (Boss of Blisterbane Bog) is a good choice. Dodge Speed makes you dodge faster, which then improves your damage by activating Snortoise Armor more often and it helps you react faster towards incoming enemy attacks.

Although the Aspect of Swarm may also prove effective—making it easier for you to travel across the map—the increased dodge distance might make it harder for you to precisely control your character with a mouse+keyboard if you are aiming to lock enemies into place with Bulbin Buddy's attack hitstun.
Powers
Some of the best choices for this set are:
  • Attack Dice (extra hits)
  • Sting Like A Bee (100% crit after perfect dodge)
  • Orb of ZAP! (leaves an orb on dodge)
  • With A Little Help (summon minions on kill)
  • Parting Gifts (bombs on dodge)
  • Bloodthirsty (lifesteal)
  • Thrill Seeker (+40% damage, +30% damage taken)
...and pretty much other powers based on Hit Streaks and Critical Hits will work very well with this set.

If you want to read an (old) list of powers, come check this thread I made based on the last playtest[forums.kleientertainment.com] which includes all the powers in the game at that point. Look into the Dungeon Powers section in the list.
Outro
So you know what you need to do, now go out there and stick your face to everything like hot glue!
Please rate the guide if you find it useful so that others may also find it easily. Feel free to leave a comment as well to let me know if I made any mistakes.

P.S. Snortoise Armour works while you're knocked out and flopping about!
12 Comments
Kago 13 Jan @ 8:32pm 
Also it should be noted that while dash + light attack spamming, the Bulbin hat doesn't work anymore because it activates at the end of the dash, but the light attack kinda cancel the dodge midway. Basically you trade the Bulbin knockback hit for the slightly faster? and an actual Attack (which matters for the purpose of various power ups).
Kago 13 Jan @ 5:30pm 
Both the spear's basic skill "Crosscheck" and the bow's "Thwack" mix extremely well with this build, because:
- The skill animation is very quick, so you are not exposing yourself to more danger.
- The skill has very high stun value, so anything you hit is likely to get interrupted and knocked back, even during their attacks. Except bosses of course.
- As the skill is well, a skill, you can consider slotting in Floracrane Skirt for 30% crit.
That said, you likely will lose out on the Snortoise Armor, due to the weapon being too light to keep your weight in the heavy range. I usually just slot in Antleer Hide and call it a day, still works great.
Molivious  [author] 6 Nov, 2024 @ 6:22pm 
@Kaj thanks for the info, I'll try to update the guide soon with the most recent changes.
Kaj 6 Nov, 2024 @ 3:44pm 
Dropping info here: If you go heavy build with a bow and dodge cancel with light attack, you can dodge more frequently.
Molivious  [author] 10 Sep, 2024 @ 3:42am 
Yeah, damage reduction is not as needed nowadays than it used to, I guess. There's just so few good heavy leg pieces at the moment. There definitely are other combinations out there that everyone can experiment on, especially now that fortifications have pretty much made all gear equal.
Talisac 9 Sep, 2024 @ 3:13pm 
Oh, was just reading random guides and found this one with exactly my "farm build". Still destroying the game without attacking (nor taking damage). Personnaly I just throw my 2 strikers randomly and spam dodge. One fun power to get is the one boosting critical chance on light attack and reseting when miss (100% cc constantly).

Shield breaking armor legs works too, adding more explosion, because you don't really need that 40% damage reduction :)
CheesyBoi28 8 Jul, 2024 @ 2:31pm 
I looked at the text in the outro section and my brain just read "go huff some glue", I do feel like sniffing glue. Who else likes the bulbin buddy headpiece? I usually use the entire bulbin set because I like to go fast.
MattLexAry 23 Jun, 2024 @ 11:45am 
Thank you!!!
SomeDude 20 Jun, 2024 @ 10:52am 
This beast absolutely DEVOURS, well done. :steamthumbsup:
Molivious  [author] 18 May, 2024 @ 9:11pm 
Update: Removed note about Aspect of Enigmox not working. This bug has already been fixed as of the latest update.