Players seeking to bypass the intricate parry and dodge mechanics in Beast of Reincarnation can find a surprisingly potent alternative by investing in projectile-based combat. The protagonist, Emma, begins with a crossbow, an option often overlooked in action games but which serves as a viable primary weapon in Beast of Reincarnation when upgraded.
The long bow, acquired shortly after the game's commencement, further expands these ranged options. By prioritizing upgrades for these projectile weapons, players can significantly increase their damage output, enabling them to deplete enemy health bars rapidly from a safe distance. While certain multi-phase bosses may still pose a challenge to ammunition reserves, this build strategy can effectively shred the health of most adversaries, mitigating the risk associated with close-quarters combat where even a couple of hits can prove fatal.
Enhancing Ranged Capabilities
Beast of Reincarnation's skill tree offers several key upgrades for enhancing projectile effectiveness. The bottom-left section of Emma's skill tree is a recommended starting point, featuring Tracking Shot, which causes arrows to seek out enemies. Further along this path, players can unlock skills that reduce the chance of arrows or bolts being consumed, with one such upgrade offering up to a 15% decrease. This synergizes with a later skill that provides a 50% chance to replenish up to 10% of ammunition for ranged weapons upon defeating an enemy.
Additional skills like Magic Bullet can cause tracking shots to loop back and hit an enemy a second time after their initial impact. Scatter-Shot splits each ranged projectile into three, creating a wide spread, while Entangled Shot offers the benefit of slightly restoring the entanglement gauge with every ranged attack. To fully utilize Scatter-Shot and Entangled Shot, players will also need to invest in Emma's Hair skills.
Beyond the skill tree, ranged weapons can be upgraded at workbenches and campsites. These upgrades can enhance reload speed and damage, with individual ammunition types, such as acid arrows, also being subject to improvement, increasing their damage and the player's carrying capacity. The game's checkpoint system, featuring frequent campsite restocks, ensures a steady supply of arrows and bolts, making a projectile-focused playthrough a consistent and viable strategy from about a third of the way through the game.
While investing heavily in projectiles may mean less focus on the companion character, Koo, during a first playthrough, the availability of New Game Plus allows for alternative build explorations. The depth of these ranged upgrades offers a compelling alternative for players who prefer to avoid the game's more demanding parry and dodge systems.