Godstrike – Passive Breakdown + More!

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If you’re playing Godstrike as much as everyone here at MGN, then you’re probably always looking for a leg-up and trying to figure out the best passives to go into a run with. You want to know which passive skills work best together, what are the best set-ups, and what passives work well with which actives? Then we’re here for you.

0:13 – Today we’re going to pour through every single passive that is available in the game, and give you a breakdown on how they rate, what they work well with in other passives, and which active skills work well with each passive.

Give these tips a go, and your next Godstrike run is sure to be a successful one.

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0:32 – Reaper

Forces enemies to drop more souls.”

Reaper is fantastic for (as the description mentions) building souls quickly. If your passives are not set up to heavily augment your normal attack, and you have focused in your set-up with getting damage off through your active skills, rather than utility, then reaper is the way to go.

It works well in these set ups, and accelerates the rate in which you can pull off your damage. Works less well in normal attack set ups, but can be used to spam your utility if need be.

Pairs well with: Void, Twin Souls, Soul Burst.


1:33 – Faster than Light

“Raises Talaal’s movement speed.”

Evasion is everything in Godstrike, and most bullet-hell games. Being able to evade the projectiles that a boss throws out, is the key to preserving the health and timer bar. No health, no time, no win. It’s as simple as that. As such, it is always wise to spec Talaal with just as much utility and evasion as damage. That’s where Faster than Light comes in.

Nothing need be done to activate Faster than Light, and it will increase your base movement speed. Does require some practice to become used to the change in pace, and in getting your rhythm down in coordination with the boss activity, but once done Faster than Light can quickly become a Godstrike favorite.

Pairs well with: Untouchable, Void, Soul Burst.


1:52 – Thorned Shield

“When a projectile damages Talaal it is deflected back towards the enemy.”

Look, sometimes no matter how well you play, or how hard you try, you just can’t avoid taking damage. That is where Thorned Shield is handy. It takes those moments where unavoidable damage happens, and turns them against your enemy. Naturally this doesn’t mean that you should go looking for pain, unless you’re willing to fight the boss with your last chance HP (and bonuses from being on no HP/time).

However it can be useful in those builds, I wouldn’t recommend this unless you’re a very experience player. What Thorned Shield is better used for is making the best out of a bad situation in Godstrike. It’s not going to be active as some of the other passives, like Faster than Light which is permanent, but it is a silver lining passive instead.

Pairs well with: Final Spark, Thick Skin, Frostbite


2:45 – Heavy Artillery

“Projectile range is decreased and damage is increased.”

This line of passive works much the opposite of the soul builds, it’s all about using your trigger shots, rather than building souls and relying on actives. You might be concerned with position whilst using Heavy Artillery. Yes, getting that close means that you’re more susceptible to projectiles, but this can be offset in a few ways to ensure that you’re not paying too hefty a price.

The first method is taking the passive that extends the right of your trigger attack, offsetting the range decrease (see build below). The second is combining it with passive that increase stand-still damage – focus in evasion until you’re safe, then take ‘shotgun shots’ at the boss. The third is practice with Heavy Artillery, and getting used to the limited range as your norm.

Pairs well with: Turret, Sharpshooter, Rapid Fire


3:43 – Void

“Souls are slightly attracted towards Talaal.”

The slightly mentioned in the ability description means slightly. Do not expect to be several Talaal lengths away from your next soul, and still be able to pick it up, it’s not a huge vacuum. But, with that said it can sometimes be the difference between grabbing a Soul that is near a projectile, and missing it.

Obviously Void pairs well with builds that are centered not so much around building base damage, but for getting off abilities as often as possible. Can be used for strict utility actives, and a base damage build, but works best in combination with damaging skills thrown in the mix too.

Pairs well with: Reaper, Twin Souls, Soul Burst


4:25 – Final Spark

“When there are less than 60 seconds left in the timer Talaal will gain a boost of damage.”

Look like the name suggest, Final Spark will help you get across the line and is the key passive in last ditch Godstrike builds. Your time wont expire when the timer ends, without Talaal getting hit. So, grab Final Spark and some evasion skills, and build heavily in base damage for a extremely potent HP melter.

Obviously this isn’t without risk, whilst this can be a really efficient way to win against a boss, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. These builds only work if you have the pattern of the boss you’re facing, really down, and are excellent at evasion. One hit, means it’s all over. So, if you’re confident, Final Spark it up.

Pairs well with: Faster than Light, Trinity, Spiked Boy


5:19 – Follower

“Talaal is followed by an arcane companion that will help shooting down the enemy.”

If you don’t want to feel lonely, and like having the sprites follow you around that will absorb damage, take projectiles and put a hurt on, well Fellower is a must in the ‘Zoo’ set-ups. Elsewise, if you have a free slot in the build you’re working on, and you’re not sure which way it’s going, try Follower.

It’s accuracy will always be better than yours, and will let you focus a lot more on evasion that dishing out the hurt. Follower is a great passive for newer players, because they don’t have to focus on two things at once. Just learn the patterns, evade well, and let the damage come.

Pairs well with: Crystal Armor, Trinity, Spiked Boy


6:07 – Thick Skin

“Reduces all incoming damage.”

Like I mentioned up above, sometimes taking damage is unavoidable no matter how good you are. So, this helps with that. And if you’re learning how to play a bullet-hell game through Godstrike, this can make the game much more forgiving. The less damage you’re taking, the more time you can spend getting the boss down.

Even if you’re experienced, and just want to mitigate damage in the longer boss fights, some of the 3+ and 4+ minutes, Thick Skin is a great passive to take in those. It means that you’re given more time to deal with the boss, and any mistakes you make are much less punishing. Mixed in with passives that return damage, or gain a buff on damage, and Thick Skin can provide a lot of utility.

Pairs well with: Thorned Shield, Crystal Armor, Frostbite


6:55 – Twin Souls

“Enemies can drop a twin soul that counts as two towards your ability charges.”

I’ve found the consistency of Twin Souls to be really generous. It doesn’t exactly equal out that you’re getting double the amount of souls, but it does improve your economy greatly. As such, if you’re going to be running a build with the Twins passive as your focus, ensure that you’re grabbing more souls passives.

With the actives, you always want a good mix of damage any utility, but when selecting actives you should be aware that the ones that you might not consider because of their heavy cost and time to collect souls, much better now that you have increased economy. Getting off a Stasis ability blast with one pickup? Yeah, Twin Souls is good.

Pairs well with: Void, Reaper, Soul Burst


7:46 – Crystal Armor

“Talaal is immune to the first impact.”

It’s pretty straight forward. It just makes your first instance of unavoidable damage, or mistake, not count. It sounds pretty good, and it is. You just straight up avoid having that chunk of your timer/health taken. Can become less and less useful as you get better of the game in some fights, but in others where it is unavoidable, then Crystal Armor just extends your longevity.

There isn’t much more to say with Crystal Armor, it just fits in quite well in pretty much all the builds. If you’re three-slotted and unsure what to take a last, and don’t have a huge priority, consider taking Crystal Armor for the longevity and it’s never really wrong for any situation.

Pairs well with: Untouchable, Speed Blast, Trinity


8:28 – Trinity

“Three energy balls orbit Talaal and get destroyed once an enemy projectile hits them.”

Trinity is awesome. Yes, it does extend your hitbox and sometimes you will lose some of the sprites in unavoidable situations. But where it shines is that it they will protect you outside of those situations, wherein a projectile was going to go through you and deal damage, but the trinity spin blocked it.

So yes, you might lose them through no fault of your own, but they might also save your bacon and keep you around much longer in fights. If you’re around longer, you’re dealing more damage, the better chance you are of getting the win, and that’s the whole point of Godstrike.

Pairs well with: Spiked Boy, Follower, Turret


9:14 – Spiked Boy

“A large orb rotates around Talaal absorbing any projectile that hits it.”

Not only does Spiked Boy have one of the best passive names in Godstrike, he’s also one of the more useful. He’s very similar to Trinity, except much larger, and everlasting. This means that you can use him to clear projectiles, and if timed well enough, take damage for you wherein you had no other choice. Clearing, and saving is a lot of utility in a single passive.

Pair him with things reduce damage, or reduce the likelihood that you will take damage for the ultimate tanking set up. Or use Spiked Boy as your shield whilst you set up a non-movement damage dealing build. He’s got a lot of utility, and can make his way into a range of builds.

Pairs well with: Turret, Trinity, Crystal Armor


10:04 – Untouchable

“Damage is increased until Talaal gets hit.”

Untouchable is pretty straight forward, and the damage bonus is really good. Obviously, once you take damage, it is useless and takes up a passive slot. So, if you want to take that damage boost through an entire Godstrike boss fight, then build around evasion or negating the first hit with armor, and sprites.

Another option rather than building for evasion, and damage negating, is to use Untouchable as a shotgun. Spec heavily for damage, including range reduction, and stand-still damage, and just get off as much as possible from the boss before the Untouchable bonus is taken from you.

Pairs well with: Crystal Armor, Faster than Light, Trinity


10:51 – Frostbite

“Time is slowed when Talaal gets hit, with a ten second cooldown.”

Coincidentally the name is Frostbite, and the passive prevents snowballing. Both are cold-related, eh? I think that’s funny. What Frostbite does is it prevents an initiate point of damage turning into many points of damage. Yes it is on a cooldown, but with the time slow you can use that to evade the projectiles you would otherwise have taken.

So, that’s when you take Frostbite. It’s the Godstrike good bacon-saver. You can use it instead of tanking skills, or with combination with them. However, if you’re taking FB, and tank, you might find that you’re taking too long to finish a boss damage wise. So consider using either or, but rarely both.

Pairs well with: Turret, Faster than Light, Thorned Shield


11:51 – Turret

“Increases Talaal’s damage while standing still.”

The damage buff is actually really potent. If you combine this with other sources of increasing the base damage that your trigger does, you can melt HP bars from the bosses quite quickly. Obviously that means you’re standing still. This is where the issue arrives.

You WANT damage to make the best of Turret’s buff, but you NEED utility to ensure that you’re not getting melted whilst you’re trying to ramp up the damage. My suggestion would be to take utility in the actives, and damage in the passives to balance out. Use blink in your actives, rather than speccing for utility in the passives.

Pairs well with: Heavy Artillery, Speed Blast, Rapid Fire


12:36 – Sand of Time

“Begin with an extra 30 seconds.”

Sand of Time is an extremely useful utility passive. In a game where your health bar and your time are one, and you get punished heavily for making mistakes, 30 extra seconds is a huge advantage. Say you’re struggling with a specific boss, and you’ve taken a few cracks at it, and can’t quite figure out what build is going to get the you the win.

Well, that’s where the Sands come in. You can through it into almost any build, and it becomes a little leg up, a little cream on top that will help you get the win. The difficulty is not whether to choose Sands or not, the difficulty is choosing what passive you’re going to remove from your build it include it.

Pairs well with: Crystal Armor, Thick Skin, Thorned Shield


13:14 – Soul Burst

“Talaal’s speed increases when picking souls up.”

Soul Burst is good for a lot of the same reasons that Faster than Light is. It’s really potent utility in Soul set-ups. I wouldn’t really recommend taking it if you’re not full invested in a soul-build with the rest of your passives and actives, because then the bonus is pretty far and few between.

But in Soul builds it is is pretty much a must. With the passives that generate more soul economy, have souls pull towards you, you can be littering the battlefield with souls a plenty and therefore given many, many opportunities to use Soul Burst as utility, or a save.

Pairs well with: Reaper, Void, Twin Souls


14:00 – Sharpshooter

“Range is increased but rate of fire is lowered.”

The slow can easily be mitigated by rapid fire, it’s a simple two-passive build that allows you to evade projectiles at any length whilst still dealing massive trigger damage. Can even be combined to offset the range loss when using Heavy Artillery – you won’t be getting the extra range, you just don’t lose any from the HA debuff.

Elsewise if you’re not going for a trigger damage build, this can also find its way into soul builds strangely enough. Many of those abilities in the actives for soul builds require you to be on top of foes, and when you can’t, you’re doing very limited damage. So, Sharpshooter helps you deal consistent damage from a far, build souls up, then go in for the big DPS.

Pairs well with: Rapid Fire, Heavy Artillery, Turret


14:49 – Rapid Fire

“Rate of fire is increased.”

Rapid fire does exactly as the name suggests, but don’t think you need to specc for it or only use it as a reaction to having your rate of fire reduced. It works just fine by itself to give you a little extra damage boost, it can work in trigger damage building set-ups sure, but don’t think you need to limit yourself to those either.

It works equally as well in Godstrike’s soul set-ups, because the more times that you’re damaging the boss with individual attacks, the more times that they can potentially drop a soul. Without either of those? It just works well to eat the HP bar, in pretty much any set-up you can think of – the trouble is finding the room for it.

Pairs well with: Sharpshooter, Twin Souls, Heavy Artillery


15:45 – Speed Blast

“After standing still Talaal is granted a movement speed bonus.”

At first glance Speed Blast might only appear to be good in builds where you want to be moving as little as possible to ramp up the damage, but that isn’t true. Often patters in the bosses will simply force you to be still long enough for the speed blast to build up, and for the utility to be both necessary, and available.

So don’t be pigeon-holed into using Speed Blast with a specific build in mind, you can try it out with no particular focus, and you’ll find that it actually builds up quite quickly, and can be pretty handy to interweave into your movement pattern against a lot of bosses.

Pairs well with: Turret, Crystal Armor, Sharpshooter


Summary

That’s going to wrap things up for our coverage on the Passive abilities within Godstrike. If you feel like this guide helped you out, or you tried a combo and loved it – less us know. Inversely if there’s a particular passive set-up that you’re having a lot of success with and we haven’t mentioned it, we’d love to hear from you!


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Ghostrunner – MGN Impressions

Credits

ProgramFounding Writers
AuthorLuke Cowling
YouTuberLuke Cowling
PublisherMGN
GameGodstrike on the PC
Godstrike on the Nintendo Switch

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