This guide provides a comprehensive look at how to leverage in-game mechanics in Have a Nice Death to create powerful advantages. We will focus on exploits that, while potentially considered unethical by some, can lead to significantly easier runs on any difficulty. The key lies in understanding and manipulating specific game features to your benefit.
Infinite Enemy Spawn: Bone Hand Farming
The most crucial exploit revolves around the bone hands. These enemies spawn infinitely in the First World and the Modern Warfare Department (World 3, red curses). The game recognizes them as standard enemies, making them perfect for farming various resources and completing contracts.
Bone Hands in Have a Nice Death, endlessly spawning.
By exploiting this infinite spawn, you can:
- Fill up your Frenzy bar: Constantly attacking the bone hands quickly charges your Frenzy meter.
- Farm currency: Earn Soulary by repeatedly defeating them (more details below).
- Complete Contracts: Use them for contracts like “Kill 30 enemies without getting hit” or “Kill 30 enemies in 2 minutes.” While not always the most efficient method, they can be helpful for tricky contracts. Even a quick smack while passing by counts as a free kill.
Save Scumming: Level Restart Advantage
Have a Nice Death saves your progress only at the start of each level, upon exiting the elevator. If you exit to the main menu mid-level, you’ll restart at the beginning of the floor, retaining your stats from when you first entered. The room layout, enemies, arena fights, room prizes, secret rooms (if any), and secret room prizes remain unchanged. The only variance lies in random enemy drops, which can become predictable at higher levels.
This allows you to “save scum” by replaying levels to achieve optimal outcomes:
- Too much damage in a boss fight or arena fight? Restart the level.
- Failed a contract by getting hit? Restart the level.
- Mistakenly sold your main weapon or upgraded the wrong one? Restart the level.
Advance through the elevator only when you’re satisfied with your performance.
Infinite Healing: Passive Regeneration
Two specific curses provide infinite healing when in a safe area:
- “Periodic pure heal of 5 HP” [Blue, rank 5]: Provides constant passive healing.
- “Periodic creates Animas” [Green, rank 2]: Allows you to convert Blue Animas into Golden ones for healing, though this takes more time.
Simply find a safe spot (start or end of the level, or any area without enemies) and wait for the curses to restore your health. The “Periodic creates Animas” curse requires you to wait for your Anima slots to fill up.
The Vladislaw or Voracious Burst spells can also contribute to infinite healing by providing bonus max HP before and after utilizing HP-boosting exploits (detailed in the next section).
Infinite HP: Maximizing Your Health Pool
The key to infinite HP lies in exploiting spells that grant bonus max HP:
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Vladislaw:
- Frenzy grants +5 max HP per use.
- Farm bone hands to fill your Frenzy bar and repeatedly activate Vladislaw’s Frenzy.
- A max-level (level 3) Slaygore weapon will automatically refill your Frenzy bar, removing the need to farm bone hands. Simply wait for the bar to fill and use Vladislaw’s Frenzy roughly every minute.
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Voracious Burst:
- Frenzy grants +3 max HP for each enemy killed during its duration.
- Farm bone hands, then activate Voracious Burst’s Frenzy with multiple bone hands on screen to maximize HP gain.
- Slaygore aids in filling the Frenzy bar but still necessitates bone hand farming for the spell to function effectively.
Another option involves the “Retaliate gain +1 max HP” [Red, rank 2] curse. Combine this with high defense (difficult to achieve reliably) or one of the healing curses described in the “Infinite Healing” section. Allow the bone hands to hit you, increasing your max HP, then use the healing curse to recover any lost health.
Infinite Damage: Scaling Your Offensive Power
The most effective damage exploit relies on the “Retaliate gain +1 max damage” [Red, rank 2] curse. Farm bone hands, using healing curses to negate the damage you receive.
Alternatively, acquire the “Gain +1 permanent bonus damage per Anima used” [Blue, rank 2] and “Periodic creates Animas” [Green, rank 2] curses. Find a safe location, generate Animas, and consume them repeatedly to build up your damage output.
Infinite Soulary: Endless Currency Generation
Several Blue curses facilitate infinite Soulary farming:
- “Termination gain 1 Soulary” [rank 3]
- “20% chance of getting 5 Soulary per termination” [rank 1]
- “Infuse gain 5% chance of gaining 1 Soulary” [rank 4]
Use any of these in conjunction with bone hand farming to accumulate Soulary.
The combination of “Gain 10 Soulary per Anima used” [Blue, rank 5] and “Periodic creates Animas” [Green, rank 2] curses also allows for infinite Soulary. Generate and consume Animas in a safe area.
Infinite Mana: Unlimited Spellcasting
The combination of “+10 Mana per Anima used” [Green, rank 4] and “Periodic creates Animas” [Green, rank 2] curses grants infinite mana. Generate and consume Animas repeatedly.
Alternatively, the “Retaliate gain +1 Mana” [Green, rank 2] curse, paired with a healing curse from the “Infinite Healing” section, enables mana generation through bone hand attacks.
Conclusion: Mastering Death’s Domain
By understanding and exploiting these in-game mechanics, players can significantly alter the difficulty of Have a Nice Death. While some may consider these tactics unethical, they offer a unique pathway to mastering the game and achieving easier runs on any difficulty level. Experiment with these strategies to find the approach that best suits your play style and enjoy your newfound power in the underworld.
