Nocturna is a vampire (or similar supernatural being) from an unspecified town. She has the ability to transform into a bat.
Nocturna is unlocked by default if you have the Amplified DLC.
Rules and Restrictions[]
Nocturna starts with a Shovel, Cutlass, a single Bomb, and a Transform spell.
Using the Transform spell at any time will transform Nocturna into a bat. This modifies her attributes in several ways:
- She can fly; effectively, she gains Winged Boots while transformed, allowing her to ignore all floor hazards and traps.
- All of her attacks do 4 damage, have 1 range, and heal for half a heart every 5 kills.
- She has sonar; effectively a Circlet of Telepathy, gaining vision of all enemies on the floor. (Like the Circlet, this causes enemies like Ghasts to spawn and become hostile as soon as they enter her normal aggro range.)
- She cannot use any items except for spells.
Attempting to dig in bat form will not do anything, but will not drop your multiplier. As such, you can infinitely buffer on walls in bat form, or on invulnerable Ghosts in Zone 1. This applies for all walls except Zone 4's basic walls which can be dug in bat form. The walls raised by the Earth spell are an exception, and can always be dug.
Transforming back into human form will deal half a heart of damage, which can kill you. This cannot be negated (eg. with a Shield spell).
Taking fatal damage in humanoid form will automatically use her Transform spell to negate death but will still reduce her to half a heart, meaning she must heal before she can transform back.
One area of every floor will instead be an area from Zone 5, complete with normal Zone 5 enemies, tiles, walls, etc. This area can overwrite the current zone's layout, potentially exposing helpful secret rooms or loosing a room full of bats or skeletons without requiring the player to dig. Rooms that contain a Potion can also be unblocked this way, bypassing the need for a better Shovel or the use of Bombs.
Strategy[]
Items[]
Extra heart containers are of vital importance, since bat form does not benefit from armor. Using bat form to open barrels and crates in areas where you can safely heal up, such as Zone 1, can be extremely beneficial, as they can contain powerful or extremely valuable items. Aside from bat form, however, Nocturna is effectively equivalent to Cadence and can be treated as such.
Ring of Mana does not change anything about her Transform spell or bat form, and since her Transform takes up a spell slot, is generally a less desirable ring than other rings.
Nocturna can effectively cheese the Ring of Becoming until she can transmute or transmogrify it into the Ring of Wonder; since no items affect her while in bat form, she can use bat form to nullify the Ring of Becoming's fragility effect, though at the cost of being unable to use any of her other equipment save her spells.
Combat[]
Bat form on its own is powerful enough to get you through the first two zones. Once you acquire a powerful set of items, you should switch back to human form. Bat form should be used for locating enemies and emergency healing. Be cognizant of your health and if transforming into a bat becomes inevitable, abuse its high damage output to escape the situation. Some bosses can be abused; since they endlessly spawn minions, you can use bat form to heal yourself before killing the boss.
Her starting weapon, the Cutlass, is useful for its defensive capabilities, allowing her to wear down groups of enemies in situations where she would otherwise be cornered and killed. It also has incredible utility for her Zone 5 bosses, and it's very rare to see a Cutlass spawn in a level; so keeping it is generally advisable.
Trivia[]
- A nocturne is a single-movement piece themed around the night, usually written for solo piano, and bats are a nocturnal animal, being mostly active at night.
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 Amplified
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 Synchrony
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 Hatsune Miku
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