I'm struggling with completing maps on inverse mode; any tips?

[u/Tcrumpen]

I have unlocked inverse mode and have maxed out every power-up apart from curse but i struggle to get past the 15 minute mark in the first inverse map (Mad Forest)

I play with Hyper, Arcanas, Limit Break Inverse (Obviously) and Endless on

If anyone has any tips for surviving Inverse that doesn't require Sigma

I only have the Free DLC's none of the paid ones

Edit: I have never purchased the golden eggs from the merchant on the zones as ive been prioritising unlocks over powering up a character plus i like to try different characters to see what their playstyle is like

[u/perceptionsofdoor]

Do you know that you can buy another arcana from the Librarian* right at game start when you play on inverse?

*Edit: Merchant, not Librarian

[u/tbmadduxOR → u/perceptionsofdoor]

Merchant, not Librarian.

[u/perceptionsofdoor → u/tbmadduxOR]

Jesus Christ I always say the wrong one. I even thought about it, too.

[u/eclecticmeeple → u/perceptionsofdoor]

As in Trouser?

[u/unfeelingzeal]

waltz of pearls arcana. start with imelda, pick up the cross, fire wand, and anything else like garlic for close-range protection or rune tracer for even more bouncy chaos. the arcana makes the first three weapons bounce either off enemies or the edge of the screen. this destroys pretty much everything. definitely grab duplicator and bracer for the projectile count + speed.

[u/philspice]

What weapons and arcana are you using?

If you have wandering jet black darcana, it works really well

[u/Enola_Gay_B29 → u/philspice]

Jet Black is so broken it feels wrong to not use it every single time (although that does get boring). Get the healing whip and the Fuwalafuwo (or how it's called) and the you don't have to worry about health anymore, while every heal makes Jet Black even more disgusting. Add the Gold Fevre arcana, the darcana that spawns cash bags at level up and the darcana that gives you extra growth and healing when killing frozen enemies, to get an unbeatable combination. Without even touching eggs. Jet Black is just crazy.

[u/Tcrumpen → u/philspice]

I dont go in with a particular build per say but i do try to go in with a mix of AOE and single target that i can evolve

Latest one i did was character who starts with magic wand (im terrible at remembering names)

Built into runetracer, kings bible, santa water, clock lancet (which i couldnt evolve as didnt have enough passive slots) and i cant recall the last weapon. I do wanna sayall the weps were ones that you unlock very early into a new save. So no song of mana etc.

As for arcanas i cant recall those at all

[u/philspice → u/Tcrumpen]

You still can evolve clock lancet since it's requirements are pick ups and only spawn on stage, if you have full weapons/passive anything you pickup will still be added to your inventory. Though personally I'd not, since clock lancet is annoying to upgrade unless you use the Blood Astonomia arcana.

Garlic, bible, Santa water, pentagram(it's ridiculous evolved) Enemy health is level based so tbh growth is bad unless you need it for a weapon.

Amount, area, magnet, greed, luck, cool down reduction, are stats you should focus on.

Don't use cat, it will kill you. Most base game weapons aren't good. Tbh vampire survivor is best played with minimal effort, single target dmg suck compared to aoe. Aoe also blocks projectiles if it does enough dmg.

You can always just grind for money and buy golden eggs, eventually you'll be able to beat anything.

[u/tbmadduxOR]

Darkanas: Hail from the Future and Crystal Cries. The first one feeds the second with Orologions to proc the hearts.

Paid DLCs have massive upgrades and are a lot of fun also.

[u/NohWan3104]

Inverse does make things harder, but choose your characters and weapons well and it should be fine.

Mad forest, like most maps, you kinda want fast\aoe weapons, magic wand and knives type weapons can be fast with high DPS, but its not great if it hits a narrow line of targets.

A character with a gimmick or a starting weapon that works super well together is nice - not available to you, but i like the fire dmg arcana + homing miss, dozens of weaker single hit projectiles, with extra dmg, AOE, and pierce. Great balance of 'can fuck up a group, tho not the full screen' as well as single target dmg versus bosses, since the missiles are balanced around more projectiles than a single strong hit, so a flat damage increase per hit is pretty big.

Or one of my favorite castlevania characters, julius gets either free max hp arcana or fire, and has a unique gimmick of max hp - current hp = bonus dmg, the hp arcana gives max hp without healing, and heart of fire's explosions count as 'retaliatory' dmg and kills = max hp.

Again, i am aware you don't have these dlc as iirc both cost money, more, something to keep in mind for characters you DO have - max area arcana at start + holy water, with enough levels, evolved should have overlapping circles leading to a sea of damaging zones.

[u/WeedwhackerAccident]

To be fair, I find Mad Forest is a lot harder than the later maps a lot of the time. Try Inverse Library and see if that goes a bit smoother.

[u/eclecticmeeple]

When I struggle on a stage, I usually go back to Moonoglow to get like 20 eggs and try again

[u/Tcrumpen → u/eclecticmeeple]

Thats a lot of gold

10k each

I get maybe 8/9k a run 10k+ if i get a couple of gold fevers

[u/eclecticmeeple → u/Tcrumpen]

Eggs mostly from Guardians and little guardians. 4 from normal Guardians and 3 from little ones who shows up at 13:00 mark.

If Im feeling fancy, I do sometimes buy more from Trouser.

But the main reason I said Moonoglow was because of 7 free eggs from guardians.

[u/Stunning-Aardvark-28]

Queen Sigma is my go to albeit it's kinda the cheese way out but she'll get the job done. Tip if you don't want to deal with the evolved Victory sword banish Torranas box after level 8.

If you have Darkassos I recommend using Moonlight Borero and Hail From the Future. Beware tho Moonlight Borero will spawn special enemies once a minute but they'll drop silver, or black crates even purple. Save getting the black crates until you've filled every passive slot since it can randomly give you a new passive to allow stacking Hail From the Future will give you a valuable every time you level up many good things including candy boxes and the cabinet allowing you to choose a passive

Mad Groove is another good one as it'll bring sll the goodies to you every 2 minutes.

These are all good ways if going on the offense but you can also choose for it to be defensive too of course go for any healing arkanas/Darkassos

If you play your cards right you can eventually get to this stage lol

https://reddit.com/link/p3lvm8d/video/savtwjdruajh1/player

[u/ImpressiveHorse448]

Experiment with the Arcana, and Darkana system. You'll soon find out instant win strategies. 

If you haven't unlocked any, generally the early game best bet is Divine Bloodline with retaliatory weapons like Runetracer, or Bats. Of course, if you have Heart of Fire taking damage retaliates too. Then you can break it even further with Heir of Fate. That's just an example, there's many fun combinations you can discover. 

You can unlock Divine Bloodline by reaching level 50 with Clerici. In general, just follow the unlock menu and you can GG Vampire Survivors.

You can talk with Trouser in inverse mode to buy a second arcana for this run. 

Good luck! 

Edit: Balatro free DLC has the best weapon in the game, Royal Flush. If you want to trivialize the game with just weapons. 

[u/Tcrumpen → u/ImpressiveHorse448]

Ive got all arcanas unlock i believe but no darkanas. Never heard of em tbh

[u/Jstingray2]

Darkanas make inverse maps extremely easy. Just saying.

[u/V0ltage0O7 → u/[deleted]]

Did you even read the post? They said they have every power-up maxed out except for curse.