Heavy Rains

[Paugus]

Edit: My most recent run is 3/690. I'm pretty okay with it.

I've developed somewhat of a knack for HCHR runs, and with my tenth run underway I've decided to share some strategy here if anyone is interested. Since I have 9 skills from turn 1, my strategies might not be totally viable until you have the skills. That being said, a lot of the skills are fluff, and the most important ones are pretty easy to get.

-Basics-
I take astral pilsners and mask. If something works better for you, go for it. I personally cram all the +item I can though, and plenty of +ML exists so it makes the mask an easy choice for me.
I always go Sauceror now. I can run Drescher's, Pride of the Puffin, Ur'Kel's, facial expressions, leash, absolutely -every- buff I could want. Near infinite MP greatly outweighs pickpocket or disco momentum item drop bonus, not only in QoL, but running +ML buffs is quite pricy. Soul Rotation, Funk, and Food are all situationally (or in food's case, always) useful as well. If you wanna use another class feel free, but keep in mind a lot of my strategies might be difficult if not impossible (running drescher's and puffin all run, etc)

-Before you have thunder thighs/aquaconda brains on turn 1, i.e. your first 1-3 HR ascensions-
You'll probably want to take thundercloud and rainy day so you can hunt aquacondas/storm cows. Once you've got lightning milks on turn 1 (likely around your 7th ascension) you can skip these skills entirely. Try to focus on getting Rain Man asap. The way I did this was opening up Spookyraven Lv2 and casting personal thundercloud. Having it from day 1 turn 1 will substantially increase your options and cut a bunch of turns.

-After you have thighs/brains/milks on turn 1-
I begin the day by gathering up all of the necessities, selling jewels, getting Vicar's Tutu and A Light That Never Goes Out. Then I immediately get my DNA syringe, equip Unconscious Collective, and go to the Sloppy Seconds Diner (disregard if you don't have either IoTMs required), use the syringe for human/weird-thing hybrid. +4 stats per turn. End the fight with a lightning strike (if it's available to you). If you have Smithness Tome, Saucepanic is another +2 myst per turn. Thor's Pliers are yet another +4 stats per turn, wry smile is +1 myst, and finally if you can summon resolutions, a be smarter resolution will nab you +2 more myst per turn. A familiar (still grill, goth kid, unconscious collective, happy medium) gives you even more, and a lot of the time you'll want to use them anyway for different reasons. All of these, combined with +ML buffs allow you to level quickly while leaving some quests until day 2. (OPTIMAL!) After the Sloppy Seconds Diner, I Rain Man myself a writing desk, zap it, then summon another and reanimate it with my Reanimated Reanimator. This allows me to skip Spookyraven Lv1 almost entirely. I use the black crayon fights (Moping Goth Kid) to burn delay and open the guild (though I might not even bother now that I've got all the sauceror skills I need permed), or to open Cobb's Knob. Other than that, zap things with lightning whenever possible (having Thor's Pliers mainhanded the whole run gives you quite a few free adventures via zaps) and banish judiciously with thunder cloud. Rain Man targets for day 1 are almost always 2 writing desks, 1 Bram the Stoker, and 2 ninja snowman assassins. If I can swing another 50 rain, I'll throw a ghost in there. Day 1 yellow ray gets spent on harem girl. If possible, wait until level 8 to eat (try to get a goat's milk first). I use Happy Medium and VIP speakeasy drinks for my major source of booze, and hellion cubes for my food. SKIP: Mosquito, tavern, as much of level 6 as possible, and the ghuol section of the cyrpt. I save clovers for ores, since I haven't encountered a Mountain Man after advent of Heavy Rains, I can't Rain Man them. At the end of day 1, I will typically have the daily dungeon, quests 4 and 5, most of 7, most of 8, Spookyraven Lv2, and most of the orc chasm complete. The reason I skip so much is so I can maximize NC (Bram's Choker has 50 myst req, smooth movements, sonata of sneakiness, ballroom song and VIP pool buff) on day 2.

-Day 2-
Yellow ray a hippy, assuming you unlock the island via skeletal skiff. Rain Man any remaining ninja assassins you need for Lv8 (or more ghosts, until you have about enough pixels for the digital key, or a hobo if you're not feeling lucky getting a Hand in Glove), open pirates for abridged dictionary, finish Orc Chasm. Now with all of your +NC buffs, you'll have 50 turns to tackle all of the quests you've neglected to this point. Remember to use lightning strikes or black crayon encounters to burn delay off in the Spooky Forest. Using a Sockdollager can greatly speed up the tavern quest, and with your cranked up ML and high NC, the ghuol part of the cyrpt will go quickly. Make sure to spend your +NCs on Twin Peaks, cyrpt, etc before you spend any turns in other locations (A-Boo, Oil Peak, level 10, etc) You should pretty easily have quests 1-10 finished, and have made good headway into level 11 (I'm typically finished with Spookyraven, pirates for the palindome, and the hidden city at least unlocked) at the end of Day 2. Leftover Rain Mans go to Baabaaburan, a lobsterfrogman, or a hobo for a Hand in Glove.

-Day 3-
Wrap up whatever needs doing in Lv11 quest. Rain Man yourself lobsterfrogmen until you've got the 5 you need. If I didn't open the war on day 2, I do so now and yellow raw a frat orc. Starting to flyer before finishing level 11 (esp with +ML buffs) helps in having it done by the time you get to the war. If you can swing it, an optimal dog from the VIP Hot Dog Stand will help you get an inhaler to speed up the nuns (Make it Rain helps a lot, too. Don't forget to save up some rain to use during the war). Use remaining rain to try to nab tower monster items that you've missed. Other than Rain Mans, the major things that speed up runs for me are all the +stats, +ML, and lightning strikes. The rest is mostly IoTM toys and standard ascension knowledge (buffing +init for zmobies, trans olfactioning things like old lihces, etc). I hope this helps someone, but if not I at least have some guidelines for myself when i invariably get side-tracked in-run and forget what I'm doing.