View source for User:The ErosionSeeker/SICKO Mode

{{Retired}}
This is a description of how bleeding edge 2023 Hardcore ascension strategy worked. This strategy became mostly unviable with the 2024 nerf day changes that added [[Everything Looks Green]] cooldown to green smoke bombs. This article is being retained for historical purposes.

'''Some Incredibly Convoluted KoL Optimization Method Of Decreasing Excessturncount''', henceforce known as SICKO Mode, is a nauseatingly powerful 2023 hardcore speed ascension technique. At its simplest, it is a strategy to use [[Grey Goose]] drones to duplicate many [[green smoke bomb]]s, in order to free-run from dozens of unnecessary combats. This requires Items of the Month to stack Familiar Experience, get enough free fights to generate Goose drones, and have methods to ensure that [[Green Ops Soldier]]s (Grops) are the only monsters being fought. As of writing, it is one of the most complicated and expensive speed ascension strategies, and has the potential to save upwards of 70 adventures.

==IotMs needed==
{|cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" border="1" style="text-align:center; max-width:800px; font-size:75%;"
|- style="background-color: rgba(200,200,200,.3)"
|
!Jan
!Feb
!Mar
!Apr
!May
!Jun
!Jul
!Aug
!Sep
!Oct
!Nov
!Dec
|-style="background-color: #DDFFDD;"
! style="background-color: rgba(200,200,200,.3)" | 2023
| 
| 
| {{StackItem|closed-circuit phone system}}
| {{StackItem|cursed monkey glove}}
| 
| {{StackItem|shrink-wrapped 2002 Mr. Store Catalog}}
| {{StackItem|sleeping patriotic eagle}}
| 
| {{StackItem|book of facts}}
| {{StackItem|Dark Jill-of-All-Trades}}
| {{StackItem|A Guide to Burning Leaves}}
| 
|-style="background-color: #DDFFDD;"
! style="background-color: rgba(200,200,200,.3)" | 2022
| 
| {{StackItem|combat lover's locket lockbox}}
| {{StackItem|grey gosling}}
| 
| 
| {{StackItem|packaged June cleaver}}
| 
| 
| {{StackItem|packaged Jurassic Parka}}
| {{StackItem|boxed autumn-aton}}
| {{StackItem|mummified entombed cookbookbat}}
| {{StackItem|packaged model train set}}
|-style="background-color: #DDFFDD;"
! style="background-color: rgba(200,200,200,.3)" | 2021
| {{StackItem|packaged miniature crystal ball}}
| {{StackItem|emotion chip}}
| {{StackItem|power seed}}
| {{StackItem|packaged backup camera}}
| 
| {{StackItem|packaged familiar scrapbook}}
| 
| 
| {{StackItem|packaged industrial fire extinguisher}}
| {{StackItem|bottled Vampire Vintner}}
| 
| {{StackItem|packaged cold medicine cabinet}}
|}
*Although several of the other IotMs in this Standard rotation are useful, they are not necessarily essential to the strategy.

==How it Works==
There are several distinct phases to SICKO:
# Familiar experience stacking phase
# Drone accumulation phase
# Green Ops Soldier phase

===Familiar experience stacking phase===
Three IotMs are considered essential for this phase, because they enable you to reach +24 to +28 familiar experience per fight:
* [[Vampire Vintner]] - [[Wine-Friendly]] +12
* [[Cookbookbat]] - [[roasted vegetable focaccia]] +10
* [[familiar scrapbook]] +1
* [[June cleaver]] - [[teacher's pen]] +2 or +4 with two

In order to charge up a Vintner wine, you must take the Vintner into combats and allow it to deal damage, requiring +ML and monsters that can survive the damage, typically monsters with 140+ HP. After 14 combats in which a total of 1808+ damage has been dealt, it will give you wine with a 12-turn buff that increases fxp by 12. 

The second major source of fxp required is the [[roasted vegetable focaccia]], generated by cooking two [[Vegetable of Jarlsberg]] with two [[Yeast of Boris]]. This will typically require many combats with the Cookbookbat, who drops sets of three ingredients after every 11 combat victories. Although this typically requires a minimum of 22 combats, getting a lucky ingredient quest (very unlikely) or Autumn-aton ingredients (completely random) can potentially allow you to make focaccia earlier.

Combined, Vintner wine and focaccia will grant +22 fxp per fight. You will likely need familiar scrapbook to hit +23, which will allow you to emit 2 drones every fight. 

The last item of note is the June cleaver, which will almost always give 2-3 teacher's pens. Pens are relevant for smoothing fxp thresholds when scrapbook (or [[tiny stillsuit]]) cannot be used. Additionally, they allow you to fxp gain to 28 (25 + 28 + 28 = 81), allowing you to fight 2 [[dense liana]] in a row before emitting 4 drones, as opposed to running away after every 1 liana fight in order to not lose drones. Although not strictly necessary, it saves a lot of headache and potential RNG screw.

Once you have these sources of fxp, eat the focaccia only and '''emit matter + monkey slap 5 battlefield hippies''' (total 40 kills). It's time to move on to phase 2.

===Drone accumulation phase===
After having stacked your buffs together, in this phase the goal is to find as many free fights as possible in order to get [[Grey Goose]] drones. Since emitting drones every fight is cheapest, you will need to make sure you don't receive any drops to waste drones on. Although free fights with no drops are the very best target, monsters with drops that you do not care about can be hit with [[Monkey Slap]] or [[CLEESH]] in order to remove their drops. The following are potential drone accumulation targets:
* [[dense liana]] - tricky, prevents autoattack so drones must be cast elsewhere every one or two liana fights.
* [[drunk pygmy]] - 12 free fights that may grant a 13th with [[cursed magnifying glass]].
* [[CLEESH]] monsters - their drops are conditional, which means they will not cost drones.
* Filthworms - the [[Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Accessory]] can hugpocket the drop from the normal worms, while the Queen does not have any dupable drops. Also relevant for being 4 Underground turns for [[Cold Medicine Cabinet]] near the end of day 1.
* [[Trick-or-Treating]] monsters - made available by the [[Jill-of-All-Trades]], can be turned into wandering monsters by using [[book of facts]]'s [[Recall Facts: Monster Habitats|Habitat Recall]] skill. They're free fights that are great Monkey Slap targets.
* [[Artistic Goth Kid|Black Crayon monsters]] - sourced from the [[combat lover's locket]] and book of facts, these are a series of scaling free any-phylum monsters, which make them very flexible for book of facts effects as well as the locket enchantment. Although these monsters drop 1 item every fight, they can be hit with [[Carbohydrate Cudgel]] to destroy their drops. If you have +24 fxp per fight, you can emit 2 drones even if you lose 1 drone per fight.
* [[Shadow Rifts]] monsters - most of these are good Slap targets, and [[shadow slab]] drops [[shadow brick]] which is also useful for this strategy.
* [[Burning Leaves]] - allows up to 5 free fights a day. Although these normally have many drops and will consume drones, you can use the [[lit leaf lasso]] to free-run from the monster. This provides important synergy with fxp gained from two dense liana (25 + 28 + 28 = 81), which would otherwise require inconvenient juggling to not waste fxp with.

Although focaccia has a very long 50-turn duration, the 12-turn duration of vintner wine severely limits how much you can do with it on day 1, because you want at least 9 turns of the effect on day 2. Because this final part of day 1 is paired alongside lots of forced noncombats in order to get CMC Breathitin, it is best to hold off on the wine until you retrieve the 5th Breathitin.
Near the end of day 1 when three [[Island war]] sidequests are complete, emit 28 Goose drones, no more and no less. Now, use a [[pocket wish]] to fight a Grop, throw a [[Spooky VHS Tape]], and use the [[Jurassic Parka]] to [[Spit jurassic acid]], netting 2 smoke bombs. Then, equip the [[pro skateboard]] and use another pocket wish to fight a [[Camel's Toe]]. Cast [[Feel Envy]], [[Feel Nostalgic]], and [[Do an epic McTwist!]], which will guarantee all drops from the monster, copy drops from the grop, and double drops from both. This will cost exactly 21 drones and provide all of your [[Richard's star key|star key parts]] as well as another 4 smoke bombs. Now, accumulate at least 5 drones worth of fxp, do a zoneless fight with no drops, such as a Trick or Treat monster (with [[Carbohydrate Cudgel]]) or a [[flaming leaflet]] with the [[lit leaf lasso]], and then fight the VHS Grop, which will give another pair of green smoke bombs. Now you can try to accumulate more drones for your remaining [[backup camera]] Grops (typically 5 or more), typically with [[Breathitin™]] + [[CLEESH]] which preserves your last copy and does not consume drones. Every time you have 5 drones, you can backup into a Grop, use [[Feel Envy]], and get more green smoke bombs from each one. Some time during this backup chain, after YRs are used, use all but 1 [[cursed monkey's paw]] wish on [[Dirty Pear]] (for the Zeppelin) and your remaining wishes on +item% buffs: [[Frosty (effect)]], [[One Very Clear Eye]], [[Certainty]], and do one Grop fight with the paw equipped in order to [[Monkey Point]] the Grop. Use the final wish on [[Let's Go Shopping!]] to prep for the Nuns.

Once backups are expended, you can try to source more free rights to charge up more drones, and end day 1 soon after. '''Only drink the vintner wine when all day 1 turn-taking tasks are done.'''

'''Kill count:'''
* 40 normal kills
* 1 Wish
* 2 backup (64 total, turn in Orchard now)
* 3 backup
* 1 VHS (128 total)

'''Total:'''
* Acid + McTwist Envy + VHS + 2 Envy = '''12 guaranteed''' green smoke bombs
* '''Up to 3x2''' additional green smoke bombs from fighting Grops at ~800% item, on average 2

The final part of the drone stacking phase starts on day 2 because of an important interaction with Shadow Rift and the [[miniature crystal ball]]:

===Green Ops Soldier phase===
The first part of day 2 requires you to take the Patriotic Eagle to the [[Arid, extra-dry desert]] in order to [[%fn, fire a Red, White and Blue Blast|fire a Red, White and Blue Blast]] before using [[Monkey Slap]] to banish that target. Once this is done, summon a [[Artistic Goth Kid|Black Crayon monster]], and Habitat + Olfaction on it. This will guarantee that it is the only monster you will find in the desert. Take the goose and get 2 drones from each fight by using Carbohydrate Cudgel to remove the crayon shavings drop.

The second part of this phase takes place in the Hidden City. This is where juggling fxp for dense liana comes up, using runaways to emit drones because you can't use autoattacks against liana. By fighting as many of these monsters as possible with stacked +fxp, you can accumulate more than 70 drones. Use the [[closed-circuit pay phone]] to get another 11 free fights in the Shadow Rift. Rather than spending all 11 turns of Shadow Affinity, it is important to use the [[miniature crystal ball]] to predict a shadow slab. Ideally, you want to have shadow slab as your previous combat, while holding a shadow slab prediction. If you receive a slab prediction, unequip the crystal ball and continue to fight until another shadow slab. [[Perpetrate Mild Evil]] on this slab for +3 shadow bricks.

Once you have accomplished this, use locket or [[pocket wish]] to fight a Green Ops Soldier. Use the [[emotion chip]] skill [[Feel Nostalgic]] with the [[Jurassic Parka]] to [[Spit jurassic acid]] in order to free kill the Grop while getting all of its drops as well as the shadow brick. Since you do this with Goose drones, you will receive two smoke bombs and two bricks. Now, use the [[backup camera]] and start using every YR and free kill you have access to -- two [[Shocking Lick]]s, and two [[Feel Envy]] + shadow brick (you save the third Envy for later). Important: during one of these fights, use the [[Patriotic Eagle]] to [[%fn, Release the Patriotic Screech!|patriotically screech]], banishing all hippies (remember that Monkey Point will force the battlefield to become 100% Grops). With your YRs exhausted, the Nunnery should be open. Make sure these are all free kills, in order to keep your crystal ball shadow slab. This is also a good time to use a [[Spooky VHS Tape]], which will give you another free YR Grop. When finished, go back to the Shadow Rift to get fight your guaranteed shadow slab. [[Industrial fire extinguisher]] lets you grab 6 more shadow bricks, and then pair [[Feel Nostalgic]] + [[Feel Envy]] in order to get 2 bricks and 2 green smoke bombs. Now you have all 13 shadow bricks available for the next part.

With all of your buffs, you should be able to finish the Nuns quest within 8 adventures. After doing so, encounter the VHS Grop. Once this is done, you will be able to backup into your final 5 Grop fights, which you will now have up to +1500% item when fighting. Once backups are exhausted, go into the battlefield with [[Breathitin™]] charges and [[shadow brick]]s in order to squeeze bombs out of every fight from the war (which you turned into 100% Green Ops Soldiers using the Eagle screech), using Spooky VHS Tapes when you can. 

Once your resources run out (the war is close to finished by now), you can now go to the [[Spookyraven Manor Cellar]] with your ridiculous +item% buffs to get the [[unstable fulminate]] quickly. If you still need more underground turns for the Cold Medicine Cabinet, you can also grab evil eyes from [[The Defiled Nook]], or try for [[amulet of extreme plot significance]] and [[mohawk wig]] from [[The Penultimate Fantasy Airship]], where you can use green smoke bombs to make sure you only fight the relevant two monsters.

'''Kill count:'''
* 128 kills from day 1
* 1 Wish
* 4 backup (208 total, start Nuns now) (this is correct even though Nuns opens at 192)
* 1 VHS
* 5 backup (400 total, natural Battlefield Grops now available)
* 2 VHS (Although you can use these before 400 kills, you won't actually encounter them because you have to free kill Battlefield Grops to preserve your buffs, so the VHS wanderer won't arrive until much later)
* 17 Battlefield fights

'''Total:'''
* McTwist Acid + 3 Envy + 2 Shocking Lick + Nostalgia + 3 VHS = '''22 guaranteed''' green smoke bombs
* '''Up to 17x2''' additional green smoke bombs from fighting Grops at ~1500% item, on average 26

==Conclusion==
'''Grand total:'''
* 13 [[shadow brick]]s
* '''34 guaranteed''' green smoke bombs
* 8 stars and 7 lines
* '''Up to 6''' green smoke bombs rolled at ~800% item
* '''Up to 34''' green smoke bombs rolled at ~1500% item
* [[unstable fulminate]] parts
* [[The Defiled Nook]] clear
* [[mohawk wig]] and [[amulet of extreme plot significance]]

Wow! That was exhausting! But if you did it right, you will have upwards of 60 green smoke bombs, enough to blow through delay in [[The Penultimate Fantasy Airship]], [[The Castle in the Clouds in the Sky (Ground Floor)|Castle Ground Floor]], [[The Ancient Buried Pyramid]], [[The Outskirts of Cobb's Knob]], and much, much more. The earlier you can use this strategy, the more places are available to use smoke bombs to escape unwanted combats. A skillful SICKO pilot can essentially escape every unwanted combat in the rest of the run. Few other standard seasons can boast this level of power.

There are an extremely high number of places where this strategy can fall apart, such as by letting fxp effects expire, or by breaking your backup chain with a different copyable monster, but this strategy has little to no RNG swing in its execution: if you are able to do it, you will be able to do it.

Kmail tHE eROsIoNseEker (#1937905) for feedback or further clarification.