Crypt of the NecroDancer

Crypt of the NecroDancer

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How to not suck as Mary
By ᴋᴏɴᴀᴍᴏɴ
Just an average guide, with some tips and helps to play as Mary. She is on the same difficulty level to play as Monk and Bolt, but with guide, I hope I can make your life a little more easier playing with her.
   
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Before we start...
  • First, you should know the basics about the game. Mary is VERY HARD to play, and just like Monk and Aria, a single stupid mistake gonna cost your entire run.
  • Second, accept that you WILL be frustrated. Ewe, the Sheep, WILL die if you are greed, get overwhelmed, or just plainly don't know what you're doing.
  • Third, I'm no expert in this game. Persist, learn, and know your limits. And take a break before trying to push your next run.
Introduction to Mary and Ewe
Character
Description
Starting Items

Mary
  • Mary is a girl from unknown origins.She is accompanied by Ewe, her sheep.

  • Mary starts with decent gear. Her gimmick is Ewe, the sheep that follows her movement during the runs. She will die with a single hit, and quickly kill Mary after that.

  • It's possible to step on the same tile as the sheep to protect her from incoming damage, making her invulnerable. Eating a cookie while protecting her also makes Mary ivulnerable for a beat. Learn to abuse this strategy.

  • Always watch your back for incoming trouble, and be ready to protect the sheep.

  • Know the enemy patterns. Specially with troublesome bosses and specific enemies.

Spear

Torch

Nazar Charm

Six Cookies
Weapons that should be avoided
Weapon
Reason
  • Short Range weapons won't make the necessary gap between the sheep and your attacks, making her VERY vulnerable when kitting (Hit-dodging).

  • The Rapier creates unexpected movement, potentially leaving the sheep vulnerable to enemies on the sides and back.
Situational Weapons
Weapon
Reason
  • The Broadsword and the Axe can hit diagonally, but the first is short ranged, and the second creates unexpected movement.

  • The Whip has a weird, but a really good long range. BUT, it can screw you on Boss Fights.

  • The Cutlass is 2 ranged, but it can create unexpected movement with the parry.

  • The Flail is shortranged, but the knockback can be helpful in some cases.
Weapons you should pick
Weapon
Reason
  • If possible, use a Longsword instead of a Spear. The 2 enemies it can hit can make all the difference. (Personal experience)

  • The Bow range is amazing, but you still need to watch your back to unexpected enemies coming in your direction.

  • The Crossbow is a run winner for almost everyone. It has REALLY long range, and PIERCING, which for Mary, will help with the most dangerous enemies for her.

  • The Rifle and the Blunderbuss are probably great options if you know how to use them, since they are pretty rare to find. They have PIERNCING, but YOU get knockbacked too.

  • The Warhammer range is GREAT if you know how to use it well, it can be a run winner. BUT, in the Zone sessions you'll see a few problems with it.
Good miscelanious items.
  • The following are some items that can be quite useful for Mary on a long run.
Item
Description
Shovels
  • The Strenght Shovel damage up is really useful on later zones to kill monster faster.
Armor
  • Karate Gi can be good if you want to brute force your run (I.E: Glass Warhammer)
  • Any heavy armor can be run winner if you want to brute force bomb yourself while protecting the sheep.
Headgear
  • Blast Helm can be a run winner, since you can bomb safely while in the same tile of the sheep.
  • Circlet of Telepathy helps thinking in advance your next moves.
  • Crown of Teleportation teleports you to safety if things gets nasty.
Boots
  • Boots of Strenght helps with damage increase that Mary may need later on.
  • Winged Boots helps throught Zone 1 to 4, but useless on Zone 5.
Torches
  • Torch of Walls helps with the dungeon layout if you don't have the Map.
  • Torch of Strenght is a extra damage, really useful later on.
Rings
  • Ring of War extra damage AND knockback is very useful later on.
  • Ring of Piercing is you go-to acessory if you don't have piercing weapons. Run winner with the right weapon and items.
  • Ring of Peace gives you one extra heart, remove 1 enemy per room AND spawn the weaker mini-boss variant.
  • Ring of Strenght is extra damage, good if you don't have any above.
Spells
  • Shield protects you from taking damage, but not your sheep.
  • Freeze helps if monsters starts to get close to your sheep
Extras
  • Cookies are the best food source for Mary, since she can be invincible for a beat. Really great for dealing with Fortissimole.
  • Strenght Charm is more damage without a taking a equipment slot.
  • Frost Charm freezes enemies if you take a hit, giving more time to think
  • Lucky Charm prevents bats from attacking Mary, and drops better stuff from barrels and crates.
  • Bomb Charm gives you bigger and safe explosions, so you and your sheep are safe to bomb yourselves out of situations.
Zone 1
  • The zone sessions is about your biggest threats, what to do.

  • So, this is where you start. Your goal here is to find some good gear (with some luck, good stuff in the secret shops). Mary starting torch can be useful finding wall openings that contains chests and bombs, and skeleton swarms to avoid/kill.

  • Since Mary starts with a Spear, most enemies won't dangerous for her if you don't get overwhelmed by them, and know their moving patterns.

  • For bomb usage, place it and immediately run 3 straight tiles to get out the explosion blast with safety (at least 2 tiles if you want your sheep to survive.)
Monster
Reason
  • Red Bats can be troublesome if there is too many enemies in the room. Take your time to deal with the enemies, and kill any bat as soon as possible.

  • Skeletons, while not particulary dangerous, can make stuff look nasty if left alive. Avoid digging walls that contains swarms if you're not kill them.

  • And we have Red Dragons, the Zone 1 run killers. The best way to deal with it is to vertically keep hit-running, while the sheep keeps dangerously close to them. Remember to have about 7 empty tiles to make that dance, WITHOUT enemies nearby. Practice, you'll get used.
Zone 2
  • Time to learn to deal with shields. Armadillos and Shielded Skeletons are not hard to deal, but you'll need to get used to that mechanic because of the sheep.

  • Enemies in zone two are really slow and not hard to deal. With a few expections, you'll have no much trouble getting through it. But still, stay vigilant with the following monsters:
Monster
Reason
  • Skeleton Mages are easy to deal, but since they can mess up with your movement, quickly reacting to its Wind spell while monsters are approaching can be hard in the beginning.

  • Moles. They are ivulnerable until showing up from the ground, AND has the potential to hit the sheep if you try to maneuver them dancing around. Best strategy: It will cost your multiplier, but just keep hitting the "ground" until it comes up and kill it.
Zone 3
  • This is where the fun starts, everything in this floor is a problem. The "rooms" are almost non existent, so there is monsters coming from everywhere. The floor is full of hazards. And the enemies are starting to get full of gimmicks.

  • It's here where you'll see how PIERCING make stuff much less problematic.

  • Diagonal damage will be less effective against some enemies here.
Monster
Reason
  • Individual Skeleton Knights are easy to deal. They take some hits and need some dancing around, but nothing complex. But they move every beat. And when there is multiple skeletons and other enemies approaching you, you won't even notice how your sheep got killed.

  • Goblins runs when you approach, and follows when you run. And what is on your back, ready to be killed by a approaching goblin. The sheep. Let them approach her by skipping some beats, and kill them.

  • Beatles... The enemy that will make you wish you had piercing, and anything except the warhammer. The best way to deal with them is to let them approach you, and brute force kill them. You WILL take damage, but at least it is not your sheep. Be VERY CAREFUL on how you handle this enemy.

  • Blue Dragon UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Zone 4
  • Zone 4 isn't very hard if you take your time to deal with the enemies, since Harpies and Blademasters doesn't appear in a Mary run. But still, the monsters here have some nasty tricks that can easily distract you and kill the sheep.

  • The trick here is to not go crazy digging the dungeon walls. Dig a room, deal with the monsters from a safe distance, make sure it's safe to go to the next room.
Monster
Reason
  • There are pig statues on the wall that shoots a fireball when getting in the line of sight. Your best option here is to find another route, or to explode it, if you have spare bombs.

  • Warlocks are very problematic if you try to kill it while he's close to other enemies, since he'll teleport you to his position. Make some space to kill them, and make sure the room is safe for that.

  • Orange Armadillos can attack on diagonal. Be VERY careful when positioning your sheep and yourself to kill them.

  • Lichs will confuse you for a few beats if he's ready to move and you're on his line of sight.You can get your sheep killed very easily while confused.

  • Goblin Bomber biggest issue is that they move on diagonal. Get to a safe distance to kill them, and wait for the explosion of the bomb it will drop.

  • The Mommy keeps summoning minions to attack you, and those minions move on the diagonal. Be very careful approaching them.
Zone 5 [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]
  • Zone 5 enemies can be a little weird to deal with, but like zone 4, if you explore around very safely and taking care of the monsters slowly... You can still acidentally mess things up with some, again, enemies acting weirdly.

Monster
Reason
  • Brown Dragon TODO
Bosses [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]
  • I still need to come up with decent strategies on dealing with each boss. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Kong Conga

TODO

Coral Riff

Not hard. One way to beat it is to fight it in a corner. If I'm not mistaken, the tentacles can't attack diagonally, so your sheep is "safe".

Death Metal

TODO

Deep Blues

Go to a corner, and keep your sheep protected there. You won't have much trouble using a long ranged weapon.

Fortissimole

One way to deal with it is to tank the damage when he gets out of ground, or use a cookie on the same beat, protecting the sheep. Takes a little of practice to get used
Finishing Up
  • Again, this is just some general tips, and what to do when playing a norma All Zones run as Mary. I hope you can enjoy this guide, and feel free to comment if you want to suggest what else to put here!
1 Comments
Shadou Wolf 21 Jul @ 8:51am 
Great guide, never knew cookies made you invulnerable for a beat, so i might try learning bombing and eating 2 cookies for total protection.
General tips is that if you are REALLY agro you can manage with short range weapons if you have the reflexes to desequip and throw then in a pinch.
For King Konga i was super scared since there is so many enemys in this fight, but i had a Eletric Dagger and i basically two-shot the whole room with it, leaving king konga alone, where he is way more manageable.
Fortissimole is abslutely my run killer tho, training against him and still strugling to damage him without leaving the sheep too vulnerable.