Hardcore Pulverizing

From TheKolWiki

While this article is written with Hardcore players in mind, much, if not all, of it is also applicable to Softcore ascenders.

In the context of a Hardcore run, the Pulverize skill is most useful when playing a Muscle class. You can find plenty of items throughout the game that smash into various types of powder, then combine those at the The Malus of Forethought. Once you have this skill, your runs should be filled with smashing everything useful you can. That provides extra turns and a boost to stats mostly through consuming the twinkly wads you can make once you've combined enough nuggets and powder.

List of items yielding wads

No matter what your class or path, any wads you can obtain are useful for speeding your run. They are particularly helpful on Oxygenarian runs, where wads can increase your number of turns each day dramatically (and you can consume more of them if you obtain a Spleen of Steel).

Note that wads damage your spleen, so Muscle classes will have to balance consuming wads against using Medicinal Herb's medicinal herbs. Once you're at higher levels where items smash into enough ingredients to make wads regularly, you should strongly consider using other means to heal so you can save your spleen for those wads.

Here are the items you can encounter early in a hardcore run that might give you a wad when smashed; these will almost always be a twinkly wad. Note that percentages here are approximate; refer to the Pulverize data for details.

NOTE: At level 11 and above, high level items which yield wads become common. These are not listed in the above table.

You can get up to three wads by smashing a Plexiglass item, which you could have in hardcore if your previous run was as an Oxygenarian. Something to consider if you're really desperate for a few more turns, especially if you feel that Plexi item won't be useful in your current run.

List of items yielding elemental nuggets

Hi mein dishes are among the best foods available in hardcore. In order to cook one, you need an elemental nugget, you must be a Mysticality class with access to The Wok of Ages, have Pastamastery, Transcendental Noodlecraft, Advanced Saucecrafting, and The Way of Sauce skills, and have 2000 meat to purchase a Delectable catalyst and MSG.

In hardcore, there are only a few things you can smash that may give you elemental nuggets used in making hi-mein dishes. (Twinkly nuggets won't help.)

Below level 11, The Penultimate Fantasy Airship and The Haunted Gallery are clearly the main useful sources, since the titanium assault umbrella and the broken sword are among the best sources for nuggets. Buffing your item drop skills and spending more turns in these areas (especially the Gallery, which also provides good stats, and is open to any character with a buffed mainstat of 68) than is strictly necessary may make sense if it lets you make hi meins instead of reagent dishes, as the hi mein will give you more turns. This is particularly viable if your alternative is backtracking to a lower-level area for reagent dish ingredients.