Having completed Single Life Mode three times successfully and tried different builds in the process, I've decided to share my thoughts and experience with other people to help them to beat the mode the legit way.

Before we discuss the build that I find to be the strongest and the most optimal in the game, let's hit the high points to remember and follow throughout a run.


Probably, the most crucial thing to keep in mind. Leveling the character in the game is strongly tied to finding the secrets as they contain experience boosters and, what's more important, weapon leveling boosters(which are almost exclusively located at the secret areas). Without upgrading the weapons and the character, Single Life Mode will be, obviously, almost unbeatable.

Even extra lives are of great value because they give you one stat upgrade point and restore your health.

I haven't done the math, but it seems to me that the secrets of the first world's stages are the most "generous", they have loads of experience boosters and weapon leveling boosters. The secrets of the latest worlds mostly contain ammo and health packs.

The stages of the first world are of pretty simple structure, and the secrets there are easily locatable even without the guide, just run around and press action button on the walls. The maps are pretty small, so it won't take much time of yours.

Take it as a rule to never leave the stages in the first world without finding all of the secrets and never leave the stages of the second and the third world without locating at least half of the secrets. As for the fourth and the fifth world, you're going to be buffed enough to ignore the secrets there completely.


Learn to think on your feet. You basically aren't allowed to stand still on this difficulty as it'll result in an instant death, either from being crowded by melee enemies or from being hit by enemy projectiles. Constantly strafe, watch out for your surroundings and hide behind the walls from projectiles.


Though it might be not so important in the middle game and later, carefully peaking around the corners is the best way to explore the stages in at least the first two worlds. Speaking especially of the second world, if you rush in a new room without checking it out first, you might fall into a death trap with charging yetis or flamethrower troopers.

The best guns for peaking out would be either UZI for it's ability of stunlocking an enemy to death or either of two shotguns because of their capability to one shot almost every enemy.


Though you may wish to avoid a fight to decrease your risks, I highly recommend you to never avoid an enemy (except for some rare occasions). More enemies killed = more experience gained. Simple math.


The portals that aren't hidden aren't our case, they usually contain the keys that are required to get to the exit. I'm speaking about the secret portals specifically. Some of them are shortcuts, and we just discussed why you shouldn't skip levels and enemies, the others can be actual d-move deathtraps (like the secret portal in Egypt that takes you to the room full of golems who immediately attack you and take about 200 HP from you just the moment you teleport there).


TNT is a troll weapon, seriously. It works on contact, because of it at least three of my runs were finished because an enemy spawned/came across the corner right in front of me and I just one-shotted myself.


Be smart about using your supplies. Don't pick up big health packs when you're 95/100 HP, don't pick up UZI ammo when you're 80/90 bullets, don't use rocket launcher to kill a small spider and don't waste revolver bullets on a giant mecha. In other words, use your ammo wisely and save greater supplies for later if you aren't in a great need.


This tip results from the previous. The barrels may contain experience boosters, ammo and health packs. Don't underestimate their value and always break them.


The first world is basically the hardest part of the game on this difficulty. At this point, you don't have the strong weapons, you aren't capable of acquiring the core elements of the build and your stats are low. Moreover, because of all these reasons, the bossfight of this world is also the hardest in the game.

Yet, it's manageable. You may and will probably lose some runs in the beginning while getting used to the difficulty, but don't give up so early. If you're capable of getting through the first world, you're capable of getting through the whole game, believe in the Me that believes in You.

The build I offer to you is focused on using Storm Rage spell. The main idea of the build is to kill packs of weak enemies with Spirit Stealer and pick up mana orbs dropping from them because of Soul Collector perk to constantly have mana bar full to be able to permanently cast Holy Guard on yourself and deal with large packs and strong enemies using Storm Rage spell.

You complete the first world the usual way, the build starts to shine right after the first boss is killed. This is the point when you acquire Storm Rage spell and buy Spirit Stealer axe. From now on, your gameplay changes dramatically. You deal with smaller groups and weak enemies with your axe and just annihilate all the strong mobs and big crowds with Storm Rage.

Even if you prefer safer playstyle based around gun usage, this build will still be very strong as you'll always be able to cast Holy Guard shield on yourself when in need, and Storm Rage will help you get through the hardest encounters in the game and skip two later bosses completely.





These are the upgrades I find essential to get. The other ones are not as optimal/useless/make a weapon even worse.






This is the approximate build you should aim for.



The order of increasing different attributes should be the following:

• At first, you should put all your points into Life until you get at least 250-300 HP (Toughness' 30 HP bonus included).
  
• Then you put all your points into Spirit, it's our main stat for the build. It increases your mana pool, Holy Guard's shield strength, Storm Rage's damage, length, and decreases it's mana cost. Thanks to Holy Guard, Spirit not only increases our damage, but it also increases our vitality as it makes Holy Guard stronger, thus compensating some points that could've been invested into Life.
  
• You can optionally put some points into capacity before the final fight to ensure you have enough bullets for it.

Let's discuss the perks in their sequential oder.

There are three notable secrets that contain weapons you're supposed to get later.
These may be huge power spikes for you.

And that's it. Thank you for reading!

I hope you find the guide useful and it'll help you to successfully conquer your journey!

Git gud and gud luck to you!