Hi-Fi RUSH Tips for Lo-Fi Saunter

It’s not easy becoming a rockstar, but I believe in you little guy- really I mean that

Hi I’m Eno

At time of writing didn’t see any mechanic guides here yet beside nailing the elusive double jump and 3 different guides on where the ‘secret’ challenge doors are located, so here’s something a little more involved. These aren’t really the basics, but range from general tips to trying to explain niche mechanics that I don’t think the game explains very well or at all. And it won’t go over EVERYthing, just some interesting mechanics I’ve found so far.

Progress-wise, I’ve got 40 something hours clocked in so far, probably looking at doubling that to complete the wall, and get all achievements. Went through on hard for my first play-through, but would recommend normal for new players, then bump the difficulty for future clears. Finished the 16 challenge rooms with an S-rank, and have been working through it again on very hard/rhythm master to refine my skills substantially before I try tackling T h e T o w e r in earnest.

So far It’s been an absolute blast from beginning to end, and I’m really glad a bunch of other people seem to enjoy it too! the world needs more Korsica art

Anyway, I hope you learn something from this!

TL;DR
Mini Hidden Mechanic Guide
Scan for subjects that interest you

There’s TONS of stuff to unlock and buy and it’s gonna take several playthroughs to buy everything. Thankfully you can sell back any Attacks or Special Attacks for 90% of their original value. So if you pickup an attack you find you’re not using much, or a less than impressive special attack, consider reselling for now.
Note that chips, chip upgrades, and special items are permanent purchases

That said, here’s are my recommended purchases

Attacks

• Arpeggio Stab – Simple input launcher that racks up aerial rave points fast, can be followed up
• Harmonic Beam – Easy input air combo, shoots small AOE at ground foes, leaves you in air after
• Shread – Simple input, good damage, generates hella batteries, especially when surrounded
• Magnet Backstab – leaves foe you’re grappling to open for a sec, semi-reliable Gigawatt Cat setup if you walk up after
• Air Parry – Avoid getting bodied by a laser mid-air combo
• ALL companion skills – Essential for mid-high end play

Special Attacks

• Pick Me Up! – Heals an obscene amount of health for 2 gauge, great for long fights
• Double Riff – Tears through both kinds of shields for 2 gauge, and gives still gives 2x combo bonus
• Gigawatt Cat (post game) – Boss Killer, meter drainer, serotonin gambler

Items

• Special Attack Slot Upgrade – Only one upgrade, gives you options
• Chip Slots – Upgrade as you can
• Life Gauge > Reverb Cores

Chips

• PM Shock Advantage & Jump – These 2 in combination can keep most enemies stunned indefinitely if they’re close enough and unshielded
• Rhythm Dodge Pull Cancel – For obvious reasons

Once again these are just what I found most useful so far

Most enemies can be kept in the air for an extended period of time by staggering the combo. Once juggled, you can use a rested (every other beat) weak attacks followed by 1 strong attack or grapple to keep the pseudo combo going for a bit.

(hyphens represent a ‘rest’ / not pressing on that beat)

Examples:
Launch-X-X-X
Launch-XY-XY-XY
Launch-X-X-XLB-X-X
Launch-XYLB-XYLB-XYLB

This can be used as a thinking tool, trap avoider, or to wear down an enemy a little more before going for an overkill. Chai can do this on his own too to hover above a timed platform, electric floors, and it’s essential for a couple challenge rooms.
Note that you’ll begin seeing super gravity after about 12-15 beats of doing this, so you have to come down eventually

Just Timing Rating (JTR) is a measure of your overall beat accuracy for an encounter and one of the 3 main categories you’re always judged on. You gain and maintain it by playing to the beat, getting ‘Perfect’ timings, and successful parries- conversely, you lose it from pressing buttons off the beat.
For example; if you used 100 ‘moves’ in a fight and hit 100/100 of them on the beat, your JTR would be 100. If you messed up on 10 of those 100 moves, your JTR would be 90/100.

Here are some slightly obtuse but important JTR facts and tips (tested in challenge room 12 )

• 1. Tapping to the beat through strong attacks is considered offbeat and is a loss of JTR
  Here’s an example of the basic strong attack combo to the beat (hyphens represent a ‘rest’ / not pressing on that beat)

  Tapping only on strong attack swings = Y-Y-Y = 3 presses, 3 beats hit = 3/3 = 100% accuracy
  Tapping throughout the combo to the beat = YYYYY = 5 presses, 3 beats hit = 3/5 = 60% accuracy

  The combo and final hit will go off the same using either rhythm (minus 10% bonus damage) but your rating will secretly suffer slightly. This might explain why an 80ish JTR can feel low even when you think you did much better. (I was flabbergasted when I found this out in the post game)

• 2. Mashing parry offbeat doesn’t negatively affect JTR
  Probably due to the faster parry combos some enemies have, parrying constantly (even offbeat) doesn’t affect your accuracy and is a valid panic tactic if you know an attack is coming but not it’s timing
• 3. Mashing dodge offbeat does negatively affect JTR
  However, it also contributes to positive JTR, and is a fast, relatively safe way to build it up over the course of a battle so long as you’re accurate. Plus it doesn’t require enemies- every dodge counts towards the JTR total
• 4. Companion summon attacks don’t affect JTR at all
  Tapped or charged, basic companion attacks don’t affect your rating, so they’re free damage, stun, and combo builders

As mentioned in the previous section, parrying is “beat proof”, keeps you safe, and can instantly break guards or tire out certain enemies if you perfectly parry their attack strings. It also doesn’t have a punish or limit on how many you string in a row or the rate at which you parry, so if it can be parried and you’re pressing the button fast enough, nothing should hurt you.

As a huge fan of Sekiro and other FromSoft titles, soon as I got it, I immediately remapped parry to LB, grapple to LT, and partner select to B. Personally, I find this it much easier to access when already pressing any other buttons, and it compliments the other defensive option button on the RB.
If you’re having still having trouble parrying comfortably, maybe try it.

But parrying goes beyond simple defense, such as;

• 1. When in doubt, lame it out
  Almost everything can be parried besides lingering ground hazards, boss grabs, and some wonky fire attacks. Because of this, if you can keep the beat with your parries, you’ll remain relatively safe even under constant attack. Pair this with constant companion summons, and you can take a breather to evaluate a complicated situation while still doing damage, breaking guards/shields, putting out fires, and stunning the enemy until it’s safe to go in for a combo. Just be mindful of the aforementioned environment hazards and enemy combos faster than the beat.
• 2. Skip Rhythm Parry Attack (RAS) sections
  When certain enemy types are low on health, they’ll try to pull you into a RAS where you have to perfectly parry their unique (but always repeated) attack chain. These are cool the first 10 times or so but can start to drag on, or sometimes they disrupt the flow of combat, or their beats don’t match up with the stage song so you have to unfocus then refocus your inner tempo for a few moments, yadda yadda etc.
  You can avoid these altogether by parrying BOTH of the shock waves they send out. From there you can finish them off as normal. The timing on these are super tight though, and can feel a little off from the stage beat at times
• 3. Defense is Offense
  Enemies with difficult, offbeat series of attacks can usually be perfectly parried to instantly fill their stun gauge.
• 4. Parry the World
  You can parry world hazards like giant lasers or non-fire ground aoe blasts like magma balls