Monster Train – Dante’s Inferno: How to beat all bosses before their battle stages

Here’s a guide to easy achievements for defeating each of the five bosses before their respective battle stages:

• Dead elf
• Ta-ta Talos
• Li-fell-come
• Archpocalypse
• Sans Seraph

Setup

For this run, you’ll want the following mutators:

• Dante’s Comedy
• Extreme reaction
• Fast draw

The primary clan will be Umbra, with Primordium as champion. My recommended allied clan is Awoken, along with Rootseeds.

Commitment level 2 is recommended.

How it works

Dent is the key to this run, aiming to maximize your multi-strike by increasing your damage.

Causes all active abilities on highly reactive units to activate a second time. In particular, it affects the following:

• Dante’s Multistrike – Dante now receives 2x Multistrike for each blight card. As you start with 3 Dante’s Candles and 1 Deadweight (for Covenant Rank 2), this adds up to 8x multi-strike for a total of 9 attacks.
• Eaten – All units (including Primordium) are eaten twice, for double the effects.

Because of Dante’s intrinsic ability, he will always be in your starting hand with Primordium. They should be played together in the bottom row, with no units in front of Dent, ensuring that he takes advantage of the eaten bonus.

Early strategy

Aggressive Edible Track is the best upgrade option for Primordium, followed by Superfood. With just the first Aggressive upgrade, Dent can deal a total of 207 damage in the second round. Because of the fast draw, it will take out almost another wave of rounds before you finish your glass cannon.

The biggest challenge is getting past that first round. Dante’s initial damage of 27 (plus 3 or 10 from Primordius) will get through some initial waves, but not all. As long as they don’t have dent hit damage, you should be fine. Otherwise you have to try another option to survive till Round 2:

• Use the train steward as a blocker. This should only be done if it takes enough damage to die, as you don’t want it to gain the benefits of being eaten instead of dents. Alternatively, you may be able to play Train Steward behind Dante if it deals enough damage to kill the enemy.
• Kill enemies with direct damage. Your starting Plinks are the most likely option here, but depending on the random cards you receive, you may have other options.
• Exacerbating the damage. Again the starting roots are the best bet, but you may have some additional options from your random cards. Although it is generally preferable to apply boosts to the primordium, you may need to apply directly to the dent the first time.
• Deploy Primordius and Dante in the middle row. If you are facing units with haste, this will require the top row.

Your early game preferences should shift towards Merchant of Steel to upgrade Dent. Ideally you’ll get a +10 damage upgrade, which you should be set with. Only put a defense upgrade (+HP or damage shield) on it if you really need it, and be sure to save at least one slot for a damage upgrade. Expensive upgrades probably aren’t worth it. He’s already fast, the infinite will only come in handy if you’ve made a mistake, and an extra multi-strike isn’t as good as a damage boost at this point.

Only draft cards if they’re helpful, because you’re better off keeping the deck small. You will only want 1-2 other units, as the plan is to replicate the dent. Morselmaker is one of your best options, as it will make a total of 4 morsels per round for a total increase of +24 Damage/HP per round for Dante. Units created may exceed the floor limit, up to a maximum of 7 units. Morsel Master is another good choice, especially if you have a lot of Morsel generating spells.

Spells Crafted spells must provide either a stat boost or a melee. Utility cards like Space Prism or Engine Upgrades can also be helpful.

Challenges

Once you’ve successfully upgraded Dent with +10 (or +20) damage, and cloned him at least once, you should be able to get through Hell with ease. The only real challenges at this point come in two forms: spikes and stealth.

Since this build is not dependent on obtaining extensive upgrades or specific artifacts, no trial is required. Spikes should be avoided at all costs, as should trials that connect armor, especially in earlier levels. Trials that increase damage or attacks are fairly easy to defeat, as is the one that fills all floors on turn one (you’ll need to deploy Dent on the top level, however).

For the most part, spikes can be handled like basic survival techniques. In particular, deploying Dent/Primordium at the higher levels of the train will allow him to gain strength before engaging enemies. Following the Superfood upgrade route with Primordium will also greatly reduce this problem. Discretionary use of direct damage spells will also limit the damage of the spikes, as will the dent boost with Morsel Jewelers.

Many of these strategies can be used to combat stealth, particularly deploying at high levels in the train to eliminate enemy stealth. For a boss with 8 ranks of stealth, it is highly recommended to either use multiple dents, hoping that the first one will die using the boss’s stealth. Make sure the attack of the superior is extended by a primordium or mercell. Alternatively, you can succeed with a single dent by relying on a damage shield via Superfood Primordium or Morsel Jewelers.

Keep in mind that if you fail to anticipate one of these challenges, your hive may still be able to eliminate the threat on its own.

General guidelines

As stated, this build is quite robust, and succeeds reliably without relying on specific upgrades, cards, or artifacts. After upgrading and duplicating Dante, here are some additional tips to consider:

• I recommend upgrading the floor size first. The second upgrade can either be another floor-sized upgrade, or an amber upgrade. Draw increases aren’t particularly helpful, as your only important cards (Dante & Primordium) will be in your starting hand.
• Remove as many of your Train Stewards and non-upgraded starting cards as possible.
• Focus on spells that are easy to cast (ie low cost). Razorsharp Edge is good, but Steel Enhancer is better. Packed Morsels and Making of a Morsel are also solid spell choices. Holdover is great on steel enhancer, but also on rooting seeds or making a morsel if they are dropped at 0 cost.
• Apply stat upgrade to Primordium instead of Dante for maximum boost.
• Upgrade your plunks with increasing magical power (even if it increases consumption).
• Healing and regen should not be required.
• You only need 2-3 dents. Deadweight (+2 multistrike for all dents) or any extra copy on Morsel Maker would be much better used.
• Useful artifacts include hammered chest plates, pyrestone housings, and commemorative spikes.
• It’s not the end of the world if you have to save a Dent candle. The damage is minimal, and you’re unlikely to have an enemy reach the floor of your pyre.

Defeating the bosses before their battle stages requires no special strategy. With Dante boosted, he should have several thousand damage per round.

Variations

While I believe the version presented above is the strongest, other variations could easily succeed. In particular, the allied tribe can be flexible, with melting residues providing a robust alternative. As such, this build can also be useful for quickly reaching level 10 on any clan you’re still working with.

Additionally, if you want to explore different variants, the “Fast Draw” option can be changed, with the goal of applying a quick upgrade to Dent through the Steel Merchant. It’s a dangerous game, but can allow for some fun alternatives.

I hope you found this guide helpful!