Gameplay Guide

This page covers the basic **Gameplay Mechanics** of **Midautumn**. It also functions as a how to play guide and a glossary of terms.

***Warning: this guide may contain spoilers of all zones currently in the game.***

## Basic Gameplay

The gameplay in **Midautumn** consists of progressing through randomly-generated chambers and defeating enemies in the Spirit World. Between dungeon runs, you return to **Nambo Quay** where you can explore the town, interact with characters and prepare for another run.

Rewards for clearing chambers include:

* **Gift Box** containing **Gifts** from Ancestral Spirits to upgrade abilities
* **Red Ginseng** to increase your max and current health
* **Gold Paper** to spend at Jing’s shop
* **Sycee** to permanently upgrade attributes at the **Narakan Loom**
* **Tears of Chang’e** to upgrade your current Gifts to a higher level.
* **Old Money** to spend in **Nambo Quay** and to pay **Maggie Lam** rent
* **Narrative Reward** or **Boss Reward**
* **Purge Stone** to clear all accumulated lunar rot.

After clearing a chamber, rewards for the next chambers become visible over the door, allowing you to choose your next rewards.

Other chambers you will encounter along the way include:

* **Jing’s** shop
* NPCs chambers providing special buffs

After dungeon runs you wake up in **Nambo Quay**, where you can:

* Speak to various **Characters**
* Upgrade attributes at the **Narakan Loom**
* Purchase cosmetic upgrades and music at the **Shopping Center**
* Purchase boba power-ups at the **Boba Cafe**
* Review the **Practitioner’s Journal**
* Focus at the **Lunar Stone**

Some of these activities only become available after advancing the storyline.

## Base Stats

**Robin** starts out with a default amount of 75 Health. Without any boosts or upgrades their other starting stats are the following:

* Base Damage: 4-6
* Third Strike Damage: 7-9
* Critical Multiplier: x2
* Max Lunar Blood: 5

## Lunar Blood

**Robin** does not attack with their own ammo. Instead they collect enemy projectiles in the form of Lunar Blood and use it to power their own spell attacks. A maximum of 5 Lunar Blood can be carried at a time - this amount can be increased with the **Lunar Heart** upgrade at the **Narakan Loom**.

## Rotting Timer

Once you pick up Lunar Blood, a circular timer begins to fill. After the 5 second timer fills, your Fresh Lunar Blood turns Rotten and will deal recoil damage when used to attack, reducing your health. You will also lose any accumulated Lunar Blood once you attack. Picking up additional Lunar Blood before the timer reaches 5 seconds will reset it, giving you more time before Rot occurs. Right before the timer is fully filled, there is a small window to perform a critical attack and deal double damage. This window can be increased with the **Lunar Return** upgrade at the **Narakan Loom**.

## Lunar Rot

Lunar Rot occurs in three ways:

* if you hold Lunar Blood for 5 seconds without using it to attack or collecting fresh Lunar Blood, the Rot Timer will fill up and turn it Rotten
* if you take damage while you are holding fresh Lunar Blood, your currently held Lunar Blood is converted into Lunar Rot
* if you attempt to pick up more than your maximum number of Lunar Blood, all your Lunar Blood is converted to Lunar Rot

Lunar Rot does not deplete when you attack and deals recoil damage to the player. It can be removed through chamber pickups like Purge Stones or through abilities like **Xiaoying’s** Fool’s Bargain. Lunar Rot counts towards your total power threshold and will not deal recoil damage if you have at least one fresh Lunar Blood. So if you have three Lunar Rot, but pick up one fresh Lunar Blood, you can perform a **Meteor Dash** attack that costs 4 Lunar Blood without recoil.

## Abilities

**Robin** has 4 main abilities that they can use when fighting through the dungeons. They can be enhanced with Gifts and by upgrading attributes at the **Narakan Loom.**

### Tongue of Flame (Weak Attack)

The lunar staff’s primary attack; a quick projectile with a short cool down that costs 1 Lunar Blood.

### Starfall Strike (Strong Attack)

The lunar staff’s strong attack; a widespread projectile that applies damage that costs 3 Lunar Blood.

### Dash

A movement ability used to evade attacks or quickly adjust position. Dashes can cross chasms and traps safely.

### Meteor Dash (Dash Attack)

A combination of the dash ability and a powerful Area of Effect attack that costs 4 Lunar Blood.

## Damage

### Critical Attack

If an attack is performed during the small window of time right before the Rot Timer fills up, it will be a critical attack and deal extra damage. This window can be increased by upgrading the **Lunar Return** attribute at the **Narakan Loom.**

### Crit Combo

Each Critical Hit you perform in a row deals a multiple of the previous crit's damage.

### Traps

Some chambers have floor traps that can damage **Robin** when they step on them. They can be avoid using **Dash** and deactivate once the chamber has been cleared.

## Status and Other Effects

### Debt

Debt attacks are unlocked in a specific chamber in **Biome 1 - The Earthen Ruins**. The player can apply a stack of debt, up to a max amount that can be upgraded through the **Narakan Loom**. If you deal damage to an enemy with debt it is a debtblow, and all the stacks of debt are applied to that enemy as damage. Each stack of Debt adds 5 damage, and with upgrades you can add a max of 7 debt for 35 damage.

### Unravel

Unravel is a status effect found in Qamar’s abilities where you mark specific enemies as Prey. An enemy’s Unravel Progress will increase with damage, from 0% - 100%. Once the progress reaches 100% the enemy will take percentage damage, meaning the damage taken is proportional to the enemy's health. Unravel damage is particularly useful against enemies with large health pools

## Dungeon Structure

Dungeon chambers are randomized, with symbols above their doors to help identify upcoming encounters. Each chamber contains a reward, a shop or an NPC encounter. Many chambers also contain breakable pots that have a chance of dropping **Old Money** when destroyed.

## **Setting up an Effective Build**

At first only gifts from **Wenye** and **Tsechoi** are available, but when more spirits become available and the **Narakan Loom** unlocks, more playstyles open up. Choosing the right upgrades for your builds can increase your chance of success, improve your damage output, and better suit your personal gameplay preference.

### **Choosing Gifts**

Different gifts and upgrades can be combined to offer a variety of effective builds, with some requiring more investment than others:

* **Wenye’s** gifts increase survivability and reward more precise gameplay, leaning away from the game’s typical combat patterns for players who don’t like that playstyle. Her abilities allow you to regain health during combat, become temporarily shielded, or slow down enemies to gain breathing room or a strategic advantage.
* **Tsechoi’s** gifts are hyper aggressive, focusing on directly dealing damage and not having to aim precisely. They lean more heavily into the game’s typical combat, applying extra damage and bonus attacks.
* **Qamar's** gifts deal strong bonuses specifically against non-humaoid, Bestial enemies in order to take them down with deadly efficiency.
* **Vivian's** gifts increase mobility and empower debt attacks, which are especially useful against certain bosses. Her abilities are meant to be stacked and combined to reach their full potential, and require a bit more strategy and investment.
* **Xiaoying’s** gifts focus on de-escalation and disabling enemy attacks, charming and disarming them. They often involve a trade-off that turn disadvantages into opportunities, like reducing an enemy’s damage by using weaker attacks or disarming enemies when you take damage.

## Advanced Gameplay

### Tips & Tricks

* You can't fight if you don't have any ammunition for your staff: leaving ranged enemies for last can be a sound strategy. You can also use the pockets of energy that form in the room over time, but those are less predictable.
* Though you are not harmed by ranged attacks, you are more vulnerable to other attacks after since taking damage while carrying fresh Lunar Blood can trigger Lunar Rot. All of the power that you gather in the dungeon can backfire if you leave yourself open to attack. Staying mobile and attacking regularly is key. Avoiding damage, spending accumulated Lunar Blood quickly and collecting fresh ammo around a chamber keeps the Lunar Rot from setting in. You can just as easily die from recoil damage as enemy damage.
* Waiting to fire at a shielded enemy when their shields are down works, but you can also overpower the shield by damaging it several times in quick succession.
* When you pick up Tears of Chang’e, up to three random Gifts are selected from your current set to be upgraded. Once you’re comfortable with a certain playstyle it can be worth choosing only the Gifts from Spirits that compliment that style, rather than a more balanced variety, as it’ll limit your current selection pool and you’ll be able to better strategize your build with Tears of Chang’e upgrades.