Lessons Learned: What We Wish We’d Known About Nunholy

Nunholy places you in the shoes of three formidable vampire hunters battling against dark forces. As you fight off vampires and other menaces, navigating a treacherous world demands careful planning. You will need to choose the right character and hone various skills, giving you plenty of options to explore.

This game’s roguelike features combine different combat styles, ensuring that each game feels unique depending on the choices you make during your adventure. A few strategies can help you efficiently embark on your journey.

Picking Your Vampire Hunter

In Nunholy, you’ll meet three unique characters: Preiya, Marie, and Sain, each with distinct combat styles. Your choice will depend on your personal play style.

• Preiya shines in close combat.
• Marie is great at dealing damage from a distance.
• Sain combines melee and ranged attacks for creative combos.

If you’re new to this genre, Marie’s your best choice. She offers a balanced skill set that makes early battles, including the first boss fight, more manageable. Her abilities allow for substantial area damage, which is advantageous in group settings.

Gathering and Upgrading Artifacts

As you complete levels, you’ll find special items called artifacts that enhance your gameplay. These artifacts increase your damage output just by being in your inventory. Each artifact includes a unique bonus that can impact your game. For example, a sturdy gem might grant you +15 physical damage, while a musket allows you to shoot fire-infused rounds. Be selective when collecting artifacts.

After acquiring an artifact, you may upgrade it during the level’s conclusion, but only if you’ve cleared all enemies first. Always ensure that you are enhancing an artifact you find useful, rather than upgrading just for the sake of it. If you mistakenly upgrade the wrong item, don’t stress too much; a new opportunity to upgrade will come along in the next round.

Incorporate Rhythm into Your Movement

Fast-paced battles can be overwhelming for new players, who may believe there’s only one way to approach the combat. Thankfully, a key to mastering movement in Nunholy is understanding rhythm.

As you attack while running or dodging, keep a rhythmic pattern in mind. For instance, you might establish a combat routine like hit-hit-dodge-hit, or if you prefer a more defensive style, dodge-dodge-hit-dodge may suit you better.

Developing this muscle memory will aid you in grappling with more complex aspects like enemy patterns, level layouts, and character stats. Balancing your focus will often dictate the outcome of battles. Regardless of the character you select, your ability upgrades will shape how impactful your attacks are. For instance, Marie can inflict considerable area damage versus Sain, who may specialize in a particular setup. The choice is yours!

Try Out Various Builds

The real charm of Nunholy lies in its flexibility. The more you explore different characters, the more combat and movement techniques you’ll discover. To maximize your effectiveness, center your build around your combat style and the types of enemies you confront. You might want to consider a few different styles:

A melee tank build focuses on outputting high close-range damage while withstanding hits, which works well for Preiya. Alternatively, a glass-cannon build emphasizes ranged attacks that require precision, making Marie an ideal pick. Lastly, the classic hybrid build offers a balanced approach using both mid-range attacks and crowd control, which is best suited for Sain.

Selecting Ultimate Abilities

As you progress, you will have opportunities to upgrade abilities that expand your combat strategy. However, you will also encounter special levels with a moon icon that contain ultimate abilities. These abilities recharge over time and unleash powerful effects depending on which you choose. Selecting the right one can be challenging, especially at first.

If you’re still mastering the game, opt for an ultimate ability like Bat Swarm. This skill summons bats that inflict blood damage upon your enemies while you maintain your regular attacks. It’s a great distraction that requires minimal management, allowing you more focus on your combat style. Additionally, be sure to purchase garlic items whenever available to enhance your defenses.

Anticipate Enemy Behavior Based on Ranks

Major foes, including bosses, are categorized by ranks. Before entering a battle, you receive a warning stating “Threat Level:” followed by the enemy’s rank. Each rank signifies distinctive traits that influence the enemy’s movements and attacks.

Upon defeating a specific vampire, you’ll unlock a new ability (Legacy of the Martyr). Choose one that aligns with your playstyle; this will shape how challenging future bosses will be. Thankfully, you’ll have plenty of time to practice your new buffs.

Engage with NPCs Wisely

Throughout your journey in Nunholy, you will encounter various allies who offer intriguing dialogue and essential services. These can include healing items, defensive perks, and item upgrades. The better you know them, the higher the chance of finding useful items during your run. So, make it a point to interact with them instead of just rushing through the levels.

You can give allies Rubies each time you interact with them, which builds goodwill and offers you affinities and lasting buffs. Early in the game, it’s wise to gain support from allies who can enhance your survivability through healing and garlic items.

Learn from Every Death

Fortunately, dying in Nunholy isn’t as punishing as in other roguelikes. Instead of losing all your progress during a run, permanent buffs will help you carry your advancement forward. However, keep some considerations in mind as you play each round.

First, monitor the upgrades you pursue in each run. Are you focused on investing in damage early? Or do you err on the side of caution by mainly boosting your health? Identifying this trend will help improve your gameplay since it’s easy to develop habits that aren’t advantageous over time. Also, create a save file for each vampire hunter. This allows you to switch between them and find which character, weapons, and styles suit you best.