This is a guide for the Monk of Rokar achievement in Until You Fall. To earn this achievement you must complete the game on any difficulty using a combination of the Knight-Blooded Crest and Spellsword’s Charm
This guide will cover everything you need to know to complete the Monk of Rokar challenge in Until You Fall. While this challenge is difficult, it is much easier when knowing how best to approach the challenge.
Before attempting this challenge, it is recommended you have Knight-Blooded Crest to Level 10. The 10th level upgrade increases it’s health damage from 1 to 3, which will be vital as this will be the only way to deal health damage at the start. The spellsword charm being upgraded will also help you considerably, but is not quite as important. Still, I would recommend upgrading it at least to Abyssal pulse. This guide will assume you have both upgraded to level X. If you do not, the easiest way to farm is to run Relaxed for Aether. If you can’t complete a full run, be sure to reset the bosses between every run as they provide a lot of Aether when defeated.
This challenge can be physically demanding. Be sure you are well rested, and have some water handy. Also remember that you can pause the game at any time if you need to take a break.
Our Weapons
For this challenge, we’ll be using the Knight-Blooded Crest and Spellsword’s charm. At level 10 each, this is what we’ll start with:
Knight-Blooded Crest (Main Weapon): 10 guard damage / 3 health damage / Concussive Blast Martial Focus / Sucker Punch / 4 Empty Slots
Spellsword’s Charm (Off-hand Weapon): 2 guard damage / 1 health damage / Void Trap Arcane / Abyssal Pulse / Call of Oblivion / 4 Empty Slots
Player Stats:
- 6 health (+3)
- 20 dash impact
- 5 dash charges (+2)
- 4 Combo
The Knight-Blooded Crest will be our main weapon for this challenge. 10 guard damage is slightly below average, but equal to daggers so not unmanageable. The difficult part of dealing guard damage is the inability to deal guard damage via blocking.
Much worse is the 3 health damage, half of what most weapons do. This will make dealing health damage fairly difficult.
Martial Focus is useless to us, as we will almost never be attacking with our Spellsword’s charm, and a 30% bonus to 2 guard damage amounts to 0.6 guard damage.
Sucker Punch is less useful than normal as we cannot hold it to use it at an opportune moment. Still, getting x3 guard damage now and again will be helpful.
We have 4 empty sockets. Three of these must be used for Super upgrades to gain Concussive Blast IV. This leaves only 1 other guaranteed empty slot to improve the weapon with. Ideally, this will be something that improves health damage, such as Lethal Elegance, Heart seeker, or Serrated. Weighted is a less desirable option that usual, mainly due to the low base damage. We’d prefer bonuses that provide set amounts rather than percentage based ones since the base amounts are lower.
Given that we know 3 out of 4 of the slots will be used on super upgrades, we’d ideally like to pick a Shard of Foresight when available, as the extra slot will be useful.
The Spellsword’s Charm will be our off-hand weapon. It’s guard and health damage are too low to be of any use attacking with it.
Arcane will provide us with faster super charging. This will be very useful since we need Concussive Blast IV to carry us through this challenge. Void Trap is also quite useful and one of the better supers.
Abyssal Pulse will be useful mainly for pushing enemies back in order to enable a full damage charge. The combo will be to charge in, abyssal pulse the enemy back, and then charge in again.
Call of Oblivion is a bonus we hope we won’t have to use, but can help you in clutch moments.
We’d like to use 3 of the 4 empty slots on Super Upgrades, but this is less important than getting concussive blast to 4. The last slot can be used for utility picks such as Nimble or Stalwart.
We start with 6 health, which is much higher than usual. While the extra health is useful on it’s own, ideally it will be used to pick up Shards of Courage, Wrath, and Foresight. In general, we’d like 1-2 shards of foresight and as many shards of wraith as possible. Shards of courage aren’t bad, but also not quite as needed.
20 dash impact along with 2 extra dash charges gives us good offensive ability via dashes. As such, Nimble becomes a pretty good pickup for this challenge. It’s vital to make use of dashes and this will be explained in the general strategy section.
4 Combo is a pretty good starting amount. Since we’re relying mostly on concussive, we don’t particularly need more, but it can be nice. If we pick up Lethal elegance or get a good amount of shards of wrath or serrated, we may want more.
Dodge Indicators
Dodging will obviously be a large part of this challenge, given that we cannot block. As such it’s important to know how dodging works.
The dodge indicator will appear as an animated arrow pointing in the direction to dodge if you are not in the correct position to dodge the attack. Once you are in the correct position there is a soft tone, the arrow will stop moving and it will light up slightly. As long as the dodge arrows are in that state, you will dodge the incoming attack. You often dodge multiple attacks by moving to the same position if the arrows are in roughly the same direction, so paying attention to this will save you a lot of effort.
The enemies pick the area they are aiming at based on when they begin a combo. They do not readjust mid-combo, but will adjust between combos. So if an enemy launches a combo at you, you might be able to dodge both attacks by ducking. However, if you stay ducking they will then readjust their aim to your new lower position, and you would need to duck even further to dodge this attack. This means it’s important to ‘reset’ your position back to standing between combos.
Sometimes one combo can end and another begin very quickly before you can reset. Captains especially have this issue on one of their combos where they require you to dodge right, then left, then quickly follow up with another attack that requires you to dodge to the left, before you have likely reset. This means you’d need to move even further to the level to dodge the attack. In these situations, it’s important to note that the indicator is still animated that you will not dodge the attack. Once you notice this, simply backdash away.
In fact, given that you have 5 dash charges, it’s a good idea to always keep 1 or 2 up for mobility. If you feel like you are out of position or don’t like the combo coming in, just dash away and reset.
It’s much easier to understand this is you are actually seeing it than trying to describe it in words. The video guide will show this and explains how dodge indicators work in detail.
General Strategy
The general strategy is to use Concussive Blast IV to do the majority of the work. Before it comes online, we will use dashes to break guard. After, dashes are used to deal guard damage to recharge concussive and to avoid enemies.
At IV, concussive blast will deal 5 damage on impact and apply Soul Burn for an additional 16 damage. This gives you 21 damage AoE on an extremely quick charging super. This will be how we handle the majority of enemies.
Remember that breaking guard and dealing health damage aren’t needed once you have concussive blast IV. By all means, take advantage of opportunities to do so, but above all be patient, play defensive, and let your super work for you.
In terms of power up selection, you want to prioritize supers over almost everything until you have concussive blast IV. The game will not offer you a super upgrade in tier 1 once you already have 2 super upgrades equipped, so you will need to wait until Tier 2 to get CBIV online.
The only powerups you should take over super upgrades before having concussive IV are Lethal Elegance or Heartseeker, and even then only if you have enough slots to ensure 3 of them go into super upgrades. If given the choice, I would take Concussive blast IV other Lethal Elegance every time.
I would recommend avoiding weighted, as the low base stats mean the +25% bonus is far less useful than normal. If you get very lucky and have a lot of shards of wrath or already have serrated and an empty slot from a shard of foresight then you might consider it later on. But at 3 health damage getting a 25% bonus just isn’t worth it given how tight your slots are.
You can also double down on concussive with a super boosting trait like hungering. I personally don’t like this as Arcane is already good enough, but if it’s late into Tier 3 and you have the slot, you can consider it.
On your Spellsword’s charm, you can take whatever utility you like. Nimble and Stalwart and good picks, but really anything works. You can be a bit more flexible on your slots with the spellsword’s charm, getting void trap IV is not mandatory, although it is quite powerful.
You should also prioritize shards of resolve, because the more health you have the more shards of courage, foresight, and wraith you can take.
Shards of foresight should be taken in tier 1 and 2. In tier 3 it’s a toss up depending on how far in you are, as you really don’t want to trade a point of health for a slot unless you’re going to fill it.
Shards of wrath are very valuable, as you need all the health damage you can get. A single shard of wrath is enough to enable you to one combo the 15 health husks.
Shards of courage are less valuable, but still pretty good. If you found lethal elegance or heartseeker than their value goes up as you should be good on health damage. Also note that the +2 guard damage becomes +6 every 20 seconds with sucker punch.
I’d recommend not going too low on health unless you are comfortable with the horror fight. Ideally you should have 3-5 health or so, on the higher end if you think you’ll need it because you aren’t confident avoiding the fireballs.
Combo largely depends on your build. If you are staying at 3 health damage and relying on concussive then 4 is enough. If you have Lethal Elegance or increased the base health damage via shards of wrath or serrated then you may want more. This is to taste and what your options are, sometimes you’ll have the choice of combo or 2 other weak options in which case combo is generally fine.
Dash impact is a solid pickup, but generally you don’t want to prioritize it over anything other than combo, aether, healing, or bad traits. You might still get some rooms where it’s the only sensible option and when that happens don’t feel too bad, it’s pretty useful.
Specific Enemies
Knights: Knights are problematic due to how fast and aggressive they tend to be, even on relaxed. You will likely need to dodge because kiting them is difficult. Thankfully they are really only a problem in Tier 1 and perhaps 2 until you have upgrades.
Most of their combos can be avoided by ducking. The hardest combo they have requires you to dodge left, right, then left again or the same in reverse. This isn’t too difficult, but if you see the combo coming via the indicators remember you can just dash away.
Captains: Captains are slow and less aggressive. Abuse this by using dashes and Abyssal pulse. They also like to push you back after you dash into them, giving you the ability to dash right back in and deal your impact damage again. Ideally you won’t have to dodge their attacks but you may want to as this will open them up to critical hits.
Spell-weavers: These manage to be even worse than they normally are. Concussive blast will knock their projectiles out of the air and stun them. Once you have concussive blast VI you can almost kill them with a single activation, leaving them with no guard and hit 1 away from death. I would recommend eliminating them quickly.
To deal with fireballs, slash at them with your Knight-blooded crest as if you had invisible wolverine claws. Use a quick flick at your elbow, you don’t need a wide swing with your shoulder since the amount of damage dealt doesn’t matter. You just need a hit, any hit, to register to destroy the fireball.
Empowered Knights: The normal strategy of dealing just enough damage to prevent them from empowering them and then comboing them down is a lot harder here, because Concussive IV is AoE and the KBC has very low health damage. As such, you will likely just have to deal with them empowering.
The best way to handle it is to keep another enemy between you and them and hope the other enemy attacks you. The goal is to mostly play keepaway long enough to recharge concussive IV and kill them.
If concussive is up, bait them into starting their combo and then immediately pop concussive to interrupt it, followed by charging them and if needed abyssal pulse and charge again. Hopefully you break their guard and can finish them off.
Empowered Captains: Like with empowered Knights, you will have to deal with them empowering. Your best bet is to abuse their slowness and bait them into charging you. Your main goal is just to survive and deal damage so you can recharge concussive. Remember that their special has to be interrupted, so try to make sure you have a clear path to them when needed.
Empowered Spell-weavers: Just the worst to deal with. Concussive and void trap should be used on these and they need to be targeted first. There isn’t much else to say about them. They are a major threat, kill them.
Aether-horror 1: This fight is fairly easy. Most attacks have fairly easy dodge patterns. Try to use your dashes to your advantage to break guard. The summon phase only has weak enemies on Relaxed, so feel free to pop void trap early, as you can have it recharged by phase 2. Phase 3 will add in an AoE attack around the Aether horror. Just dash out, wait for it to go off and dash back in.
This can be an endurance fight if you haven’t found anything to increase your health damage yet, but as long as you manage your dashes for guard damage and can dodge the horror’s combos it shouldn’t be an issue.
Honor Guard: There is no summon phase on relaxed, so focusing down one of them as soon as possible is a good idea. Concussive blast, void trap and abyssal pulse can all be used to separate them. If one of them is far away and you get an off-screen attack indicator, it’s probably the other knight charging you. You can just duck and continue whaling away at your current target until you hear the successful dodge tone. This fight is fairly easy.
Aether Horror 2, Phase 1
This is basically the same as the first fight Phase 1, except occasionally the Horror will leap away and begin charging an AoE. Just dash in and hit their head to interrupt it.
Aether Horror 2, Phase 2
This is a rough phase, as you’ll have to deal with fireballs, no way around it. The transition consists of this: A chain of 3 AoEs, followed by fireballs. Then another AoE, followed by 2 fireballs with an AoE at the same time, then a final barrage of fireballs. It’s recommended you stay fairly far away for the first barrage, then close distance for the second one so you have time to slash the 2nd fireball and then dodge the AoE. then dash back to get distance for the last barrage.
After the transition, the Horror will leap down and do an AoE that begins covers a wide area. The trick is the AoE will go off near the horror first, followed by a short delay before the outer area goes off. So stay some distance away, wait for the near AoE to go off, then dash in. It can also do this during Phase 2 randomly, so don’t panic when you see the AoE indicators covering the entire arena. Just stay calm, wait for the inner AoE to go off, then dash in to avoid the outer AoE.
The horror will occasionally leap away, either to do various AoEs or to shoot fireballs at you. It will also occasionally move in to attack you, but how often it does that is largely random. Because of this you need to balance being aggressive to get through the phase versus managing your dash charges. If you are too aggressive you’ll dash in and be out of charges and get hit by AoE. If you aren’t aggressive enough it may play keep away and recharge it’s guard. Be aware of how many dash charges you have, and if you have all 5 feel free to dash in.
You may consider using your soul traps here, although this is risky as you won’t have them for Phase 3. it’s really a question of just how much you hate fireballs.
Aether Horror 2, Phase 3
The phase starts with summons, which on relaxed will be a single spellweaver and some zombies and knights. The spell weaver always spawns to the left of the platform (your left, if you were standing in the middle of the room facing the horror). You should position just out of dash range and wait for the first AoE. If it’s clear, dash right into the spellweaver and hit them. If it isn’t, dash to safety and then dash the spellweaver once the AoE goes off. Be careful not to face plant right into the zombie, and be careful not to get hit by a fireball during the first AoE.
Once the spellweaver is down, keep your distance and wait out the AoEs, then dash in and try to combo quickly when you know it’s safe. Ideally you can defeat them without using concussive so you have it available for the horror, but if you need to use it, feel free.
Once the horror lands, it will empower, which enables it’s empowered combo and makes all it’s attacks faster. At this point the horror will always leap into you and begin the empowered combo. If concussive is up, wait until it begins the combo and then pop concussive to interrupt it. Dash in, abyssal pulse as soon as it starts guarding and dash again. Hopefully you can break it’s guard. If void trap is up, you can also simply pop it and stand behind the traps.
In a worse case scenario where you have no supers available, wait for the combo to start, duck, and keep backdashing away. Be sure not to let it get too close as it will continue to advance as the combo goes off, and if it gets in range it can still hit you.
And that’s all for this Until You Fall guide. We would like to thank EvadableMoxie for this achievement guide for Until You Fall. You can also refer to this video for a visual guide.
