Shadow Warrior

Got this one yesterday and it was a hell of a ride, so get ready for it.

First of all, Heroic mode is a new mode, so you can't use New Game + for it. You'll have to start from the scratch. You need to finish the game at least once to be able to play this mode. It's basically a Insane mode without checkpoints. If you die, you go back to the beginning of the stage.

I'll give some advice on all upgrades of the game and how/when to use them and in general gameplay. For a quite accurate guide for the game, there is a nice page in Steam for it:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=244317...

WEAPONS

At first I thought that the smartest thing was to stay away of danger so I believed the sword would be useless in this mode and guns would be the way to go. Oh, how wrong I was! The fire weapons are really weak in this mode. You'll need thousands of bullets to kill a boss. That being said, there are some useful upgrades to weapons that you should consider getting.

- Tosainu Type 13 Revolver - Single Action
- Zi-Type 23 PDW - Match Grade Barrel
- Mamushi type-14 Crossbow - High-strain Systems and Extended Mag
- Zics-C Shotgun - Quad Pack and Double Shell Clips
- Yari Type-24 Rocket Launcher - Multi-launch and and Heavy Warheads

All of this upgrades can come in handy in different situations:
- The Revolver is a good substitute to the PDW against Flying Birdmans and Mothers and even bosses armours.
- PDW is great for taking down Flying Birdmans, Mothers and Bosses armours.
- The Crossbow upgrade allows to quickly kill all the 3 greater demons: Warlord, Shaman and Berserker and bosses armours.
- The Shotgun is a quick way to get rid of Warpers if the situation is not in your favour.
- The Rocket Launcher is good for any enemy in this game, being specially useful in dealing damage to the bosses when their armour is removed.

But the main damage dealer is the sword. You can play all chapters with just the sword (switching to fire guns on bosses). Divider of Heavens, the first Skill you unlock will do wonders throughout the game. Learn to master it since the beginning and you'll breeze through the later chapters.

Shadow Demon Heart is an overlooked way of killing enemies. They are specially useful against Spears and Warpers. Try to save them for situations that are sticky and if you see that an enemy has dropped it on the floor while you still have one don't lose time and use the one you have on whichever enemies are close.

The Greater Demon Head is an specific weapon that need some skill points to obtain, getting it from Warlords. In the Normal mode they are really strong, killing a Warlord and some minions was possible by using it. I haven't got it in this mode so I don't know. I saw some videos and the damage really seems lowered so I don't know if it's worth getting it.

Shurikens are utterly useless. Why they add it?

The Flamethrower isn't necessary at all in this game. Against weak creatures, like Crawlers and Ground Birdmans, you want to keep you health points in a high value, so using your sword is advised. Other than that, you can burn yourself with the flames from this weapon if you don't have the appropriate Skill. It's not worth using or upgrading it.

Try to get the upgrades in the order that you get the weapons. If you have a lot of money don't be super cautious, buy some upgrades for accuracy or fire rate. I finished the game (with the money increase skills got on the second chapter) without 2 upgrades (one for Flamethrower and one for the Rocket Launcher) and still had about $1000. And if nothing is going right, spend your money on bullets. They can make any battle easier.

SKILLS

Knowing which skills to master is important in this mode. Your objective is only one: survival. There are 6 areas each with 6 skills. I finished the game getting all the secrets and got 25 skill points. This is more than enough to increase your survival rate.

Katana Mastery
The most important skill tree for survival. Allowing you to both deal damage and regain life.
Divider of Heavens - (KI skill which deals damage to multiple enemies) The basic KI skill and the only one you need throughout the game. Learn to master it ASAP (in this mode or play in EX Mode). The key for successfully using it is keep moving. This is a skill that allows you to charge and then go to an enemy and dish the damage.
Kenshi - (+20% dmg) More damage? Yes please!
Kensei - (+50% dmg) Damage is never enough.
Aswang Hunger - (KI strikes gets vampirism) This is the cherry on top of the cake. With this skill you get life as long as you hit your enemies, being able to restore 100% of your life. Moving around and using Divider of Heavens is the way to go in this game

The other 2 sword skills may be useful, but only in specific situations. Circle of Iron locks you in the ground, which is a huge disadvantage. I didn't got Wing of Crane, it may as useful as the Divider of Heaven, but the Divider allows you to hit multiple enemies thus recovering a lot of life. Picking them is not a bad option, but there are better ones.

Restoration
The second most important build for giving you a second chance against mobs. (this is what allowed me to pass the infamous Chapter 16).
Medic - (Health Packs heal + 20 HP above max) This is really useful. In a mode about survival, being able to have more life than your max can be the difference between life and death. Good for mob or Greater Demon battles, as there are usually one or two Health Packs before the fight and in the battlefield.
Doctor - (Health Packs heal + 40 HP above max) Same as above.
Drain Soul - (+50% damage and 5 secs to kill to revive) Before attempting this mode I knew this skill would be key to winning. It allows to survive great mobs even after your life reached 0. It has a 1 minute cooldown, which is short compare to the length of the battles in this mode.
Soul Hunger - (+2.5 secs to kill to revive) More time to try to survive. Really useful mainly if you need to recharge a weapon.

The other 2 skills, Souleater and Soulseeker, weren't very useful for me. Whenever I killed something with Divider of Heavens I didn't got any souls. I needed to kill them with guns or the sword. I wouldn't recommend them, though they may prove themselves useful in the last battle in Chapter 16 or in the first chapters where you don't have a lot of ammunition or life. They are ok skills.

Knowledge
A skill tree that allows to do great damage to enemies and even use a new weapon. This is highly needed in a mode where the enemies don't seem to take damage.
Demon Slayer I - (+10% damage to lower demons) This skills bonuses may seem small, but when combined with all the other damage bonuses you get from other skills and weapons upgrades you start killing the lower demons quite quickly. By the final chapters you don't have to worry about the lower enemies as you can get rid of them very fast.
Demon Slayer II - (+20% damage to lower demons) Same as above.
God Slayer I - (+10% damage to higher demons) All the higher demons needs a huge amount of damage to come down. This shorten the gap and allows to kill Berserkers quickly.
God Slayer II - (+20% damage to higher demons) Same as above.

I didn't got Headhunter I and II. They did a good damage on other monsters in normal but with the life increase in this mode I thought they would be more like a burden. I didn't found on the Internet anyone really needing this skill. I say to leave it there, there are more important survival and damage skills in the game.

Mind
This skill tree allows one to increase its maximum health points. It's really useful and allow the Heal power to bring your life to 104, more than your initial base health.
Control Pain I - (+10 base HP) More health means less chance to die, which is really good. More than that, this skill overlaps with the Health pack skills to increase life, making you reach a maximum life value of 170. With Aswang Hunger you can maintain it in 130.
Control Pain II - (+20 base HP) Same as above.
Control Pain III - (+30 base HP) Same as above.

Fire Resistant is not an obligatory skill as there are fewer sources of fire in the game, even less if you don't use the flamethrower at all. Although it gives you a boost in survivability it's quite situational. If you have no other skill to point points into, then no problem putting on it. Rage I and II are debatable. The damage increase you got is substantial, but you're trading HP for damage, which is risky in this mode. If you keep using the sword constantly sooner or later you get a good chunk of life and Rage will go off. That being said, there's one situation where the skill is useful and it's when you activate Drain Soul. You'll have 1 HP which means that you will have 7.5 secs of giving +60% of damage to revive, which is considerable. But this still a very specific situation and this skills are not the core needed to survive.

Luck
Luck will increase your chance of getting money and ammunition and some random events, like dealing more damage or finding more enemy hearts.
Armed - (find 10% more ammo) This won't affect you too much throughout the game, but it shines on bosses. You have to wander less to get the ammo type you need (which may be harder against Gozu). Other than that, if you desperately needs ammo, you can simply buy them.
Dangerous - (find 20% more ammo) Same as above.
Critical Strike - (+5% chance of double damage) Marry lady luck and be happy. This skill gives you the chance to takes boss armour quickly and of removing Shamans arms faster, which are really appreciated. Other than that, your battles against Zilla can be shorter, which can save your controller some punches.

Heart On is not a core skill, but it's one that should be considered after getting everything important. It helps to kill unwanted enemies (Spear and Warpers) which can be a nuisance later in the game. Richman I and II are debatable. They allow you to get some weapon upgrades quicker (Rocket Launcher, I'm looking at you) , which can, for example, allow you to kill Mezu quicker (as you could have an upgraded Rocket Launcher). The downside is that for +20% money is costs 2 skill points, and this is a difficult trade to do. I got those skills and ended having almost all weapon upgrades, which is nice. But looking back now I see how many of those I didn't actually used. So this skill is up to you, but if you go for it, get it sooner, like Chapter 2 or 3, to maximize your earnings.

Movement
When I started this mode I thought that the only build where I wouldn't get a single skill point would be movement. I left it last because it's the only build I would suggest to get everything. All of it's skills allows you to move faster on the battlefield and escape incoming damage. They are particularly useful against berserker, allowing you to safely run from a cover to another. When you move faster, you not only escape enemies as you can separate the lower enemies from the higher ones and take their arms with some spare time. It's really that useful.

This cover all of the skills. I suggest getting the first point you can into either Aswang Hunger or Drain Soul, as they allow you to keep alive for longer. I would get Armed early too, just for safety. I would then intercalate one damage skill and a life skill and I would get Divine Wind before chapter 10 (before the first berserker fight). I would then get Critical Strike before Chapter 12 (against Zilla) and finally max everything on movement. I got 25 points and in the guide I suggested 24 skills, so it's more than enough to survive.

POWERS

This is probably the easiest ones to figure it out what to pick. You get 14 points throught the game allowing to maximize 2 skill trees and to get 4 points in another one.

Healing
The no-brainer power to max first. It allows you to heal yourself for more life and for shorter times. You will have it maxed out before chapter 5. Get the skills according to your needs. If you see that you are surviving well with Aswang Hunger then take Invigorating Dew and Healing Rain, otherwise take the other 2 skills first.

Shockwave
The second no-brainer skill to max. This is due to the fact that this skill allows you to kill Spear and Warpers really quick and without much damage taken. It also allows to remove the Rage stats from enemies, which is superb against Warpers. I would suggest starting with Calming Breeze and Peaceful Storm, specially because you'll get the points when Warpers shows up (and their rage state does some real damage), and then getting the other 2 skills.

Protection
The last tree to get some points. It's specially important in the train part, where you are bombarded with tons of Mothers. It can also be used against Warpers, reducing their damage and the shooting them with the shotgun. Both Iron Skin and Dragon's Embrace are extraordinary, but unfortunately you can only get one of those. You may not take Deafening Roar from the Shockwave tree skill and max this one, but this is up to you. If you can only get one I suggest Iron Skin as the protection skill is only advisable in specific places.

The Flux skill tree competes directly with Shockwave. But Shockwave can remove enemies Rage, which is much needed against Spears and Warpers. Other than that, the skills in this tree doesn't fit the movement needed in this mode. Thta's why I don't suggest any point in this skill tree.

GAMEPLAY

Enough specific talk, let's get to the game. This game has some trickier parts and some of then can be dealt without much of a hustle. Remember: It's best to be certain to kill an enemy in 30 minutes than to defeat him in 10 risking to have to replay the level again.

General Advice
1. The key for this mode is speed. Is dishing out damage and getting out of the way before taking damage. So be fast, but be cautious. Don't jump into a fight, bring the fight to you. The enemies in this game have different movement speeds, which means that running from one place to another will make the enemies form a queue coming to you one after the other.

2. You want to maximize your weapon upgrades and your karma points. Get all the collectibles in the game, this will make a huge difference later on. I suggest Sir Loinsteak guide.



There are 5 collectibles that aren't completely necessary as they posses a risk of killing you. Those are the last 3 on Chapter 3, the number 6 in chapter 7 and number 4 in chapter 16. It's optional to get those as the risks are higher than the prizes. (I didn't got the one in chapter 16)

3. Prioritize your life. If you are overwhelmed by the enemies then just run. Try to drag any battle that you are really overwhelmed for the longest period possible and this is due to an ease tactics that the game has: the enemies damage each other. This is specially good against Berserkers and Warlords which can damage some unwanted enemies.

4. Scavenger the map for gold and ammo. This is not the most important thing, but if you are looking for ways of surviving longer, it's a good thing to grab the most of everything that you can.

5. The more you use Divider of Heavens, the more Raged enemies there'll be. If you have already too many raged enemies, it may be best to change to a shotgun or a rocket launcher to reduce their number

6. Know your enemies. After the simpler fights from the beginning, you'll start to have a mixture of enemies, culminating in Chapter 16 last fight. I had a mental order of enemy killing that helped me focus. This is the optimal order (at least for me) for enemy killing for optimal survival.

1.Mothers
2. Remove Shamans arms
3.Warpers
4.Warlords
5.Spears
6.Finish Shamans
7.Birdmans
8.Crawlers
9. Flying Birdman
10. Human enemies
11.Skeletons
12.Berserkers

This killing order is optimal to survive.
Mothers are a nuisance and 2 of their balls can insta-kill you. prevent that by taking them away.
Shamans aren't that difficult, but they have the annoying ability of reviving enemies. This is extraordinarily effective if Warpers are around, because warpers don't need to run after you. Taking an arm off them make them less fearable. (Tip: the amount of times a creature can be revived by the shaman is limited, it's believed to be around 3 or 4 times)
Without reviving abound, Warpers can now be put to rest. When you kill Warpers, half of any battle is won as you'll have time to run after specific enemies without worrying with your back.
Warlords annoying ability is the hook one, which holds you in place for some seconds before pulling towards them. If they hit you with the hook you'll take a lot of damage from the remaining enemies. The best counter for this skill is to keep moving. After the Warpers, you should take this "stun" out of the game.
The last stun in the game belong to Spears who can make you dizzie for some seconds, not being able to run or use KI sword attacks. With everything stronger than they out of the way, take them out and enjoy your easy victory.
Finish off Shamans, who might hide themselves in a psychic shield and then kill all the remaining enemies other than the Berserker. With everything out of the way Berserkers aren't that difficult, especially with high movements speeds.

TACTICS

In this last part, I'll try to talk some specific tips from every chapter.
For many, the game only begins on Chapter 8, when you face Shaman + Warper, but oddly enough I died more in the first chapters than in the last ones. Here are some tactics

Prologue + Chapter 1
The main problem here is that you'll have only a simple pistol and a plain sword for most of the stage. As the enemies are weak, just slice through them with your sword and keep track of any Health Packs around.

Chapter 2
Enemies are still easy and use the environment on your favor. Divider of Heavens with Aswang Hunger makes this an easy chapter.

Chapter 3
Another easy one, but with some tricks. If you haven't learn so far now you'll learn not to dash down stairs. Lo Wang is very fragile in this mode and dashing in stairs means death most of the time. Beware the last secrets in this chapter.

Chapter 4
The first chapter I passed without dying. Easy, short and straightforward. Divider of Heavens is Love, Aswang Hunger is Life.

Chapter 5
Not a complicated chapter. The battle with the Shaman might be relatively hard, but doable. Run in circles in the graveyard and focus him.

Chapter 6
First Boss, Gozu. He is the easiest one of them. Stay away from him and always look directly at him, so you know which movement he'll do. I found that if you run the stage on the border, collecting the ammo, in the counter-clockwise direction, he rarely hits you. This can be useful if you want to recharge all the ammo.

Chapter 7
Some resemblance with chapter 5 but you have a battle against 2 shamans. A bit tricky, but completely doable. Look for Mothers, they can ruin this chapter

Chapter 8
Ok, first difficult fight: 1 Shaman + 4 Warpers. My suggestion is to focus the Shaman or, if not possible, go to the opposite corner of the room, load Shockwave (you should have at least 1 point now) and bring down as many as you can with either Divider of Heavens or, a more safe route, Shotgun. The rest of the stage is quite okay.

Jaimer suggested the following:
Have both Katana & Cross bow equipped with high-strain system; Run counter clockwise around the Shaman while shooting quick charged head shots on the shaman, to get quick head shots, push down on Right stick once, get your head shot and then press Right stick again to get out of focus view while shooting the cross bow, do this quickly & you can probably get 7 to 8 head shots before Shaman throws his shield. When he throws shield switch to katana & charge it quickly & do divider of heavens on the skeletons or Warpers to regain health as you are running around shaman, repeat this about three more times & Shaman should go down, then continue to run counter clockwise & focus on Warpers with Divder of heavens move to kill them all.

AxeL R GR made another interesting remark about the shaman fight:
In the beginning of the fight, he (the shaman) is standing next to some barrels. Shoot those barrels immediately, they'll do some good damage. Then shoot him with the crossbow while running around. Headshots will do but if you aim at his arm, he'll lose it quicker. Keep moving, never stop or the warpers will kill you. Heal regularly. When he shields, hit skeletons/warpers with ki strikes. He shouldn't be able to shield more than once before losing his arm. When he loses the arm, kill the warpers with the crossbow and leave him and the skeletons for last. Watch the video posted in the guide to get a better idea

Chapter 9
At this rate, having 2 higher demons together isn't that difficult anymore. You'll face warlords together. The map is really in your favor. Beware of mothers at the beginning and in the fight with the warlord and the Spears I recommend taking out the Spears first, just because of the number of enemies.

Chapter 10
A pain in the ass. A long chapter. Hopefully, there aren't many places difficult. The maps are open and full of places to hide. This should be a breeze. Remember to kill Warpers quickly and be ready for a fight after the Berserker. Nothing impossible, but a long battle at the end of a long Chapter is really annoying.

Chapter 11
In my opinion, the hardest boss on game. Mezu is annoying. Instead of opening portals to make him come down I run around the map filling all of my ammo. When he comes down NEVER take the eyes out of him. His attacks are strong and have a huge range. Rocket Missiles are the key. 6 Rocket Missiles in the 3 crystal and he's down.

Chapter 12
The 3rd most difficult fight in the game, against 2 Berserkers. Take the small enemies out first. Run from tree to tree trying to lure both Berserkers. Shoot the powerful Crossbow arrows on their back and you're good to go. In the battle against a horde of Mothers and smal enemies run around the map and kill one by one. Don't stand still and for the love of God don't climb the stairs!

Chapter 13
If you don't hate this game by now, now it's the time. A mission that will take 1h to finish and will make you fight with 2 Berserkers at the end. Again focus in one Berserker at a time. The problem here is that space is limited. One of the Berserkers bugged with me. He got stuck in a wall (the closest to the Exit Door) and I only had to fight the other one. Fighting with Zilla, when he's healing keep slashing him. He'll come down, but this may take a while.

Chapter 14
A breeze compared to the last 2 chapters. You'll face 3 Berserkers, but all of them alone. Kill The Warpers in the last fight and you're good.

Chapter 15
Can't be any easier.

Chapter 16
Are you prepared? The last battle has 4 waves, but I only died against Mothers.
At the 1st wave, take your time to take out all Mothers. Try to go from cover to cover.The Berserkers won't run but the Mothers will, making it easier for you to kill them. Once they are gone, the battle against 2 Berserkers is quite easy. There are 2 trees that will do all the hard work.
The 2nd wave is easy, a lot of smaller enemies and Spears. Take your time.
The 3rd wave is easy too, but you can facilitate your life. The trick is that this is the wave where Warpers appear. Try to kill them as close as possible from the gate you entered this arena. This way Shamans won't revive them in the last wave.
The final wave is a bitch: 2 Warlords, 2 Shamans, 1 Berserker, Spears, Birdmans, Crawlers and, if you are unlucky, some revived Warpers from last fight. Most tactics suggest that you take down one of the Warlords at the beginning. The enemies spawn in different parts of the map, so this is doable. I couldn't kill the Warlord, but managed to damage him until he lost 1 arm. Try to take the Shaman arms down (if you can't kill them), while avoiding the Berserker. Now you'll use the enemies as your weapon: The Berserker stampede most of the enemies. He killed 1 Shaman, 1 Warlord and all Spears and Warpers for me. I died twice in the process but nuked a skeleton and got back to the game. Don't stand still. Run from cover to cover shooting Crossbow arrows in the Shamans. Then follow the enemy list I wrote above and you're good to go.
Against Zilla, smash your RT button. He won't die at first when his life reaches 0. Just keep pressing it (it took me 10 min) and he'll come down eventually.

ballgreezy44 suggested a faster way to finish this battle:
Save most of the money you collect during your playthrough for chapter 16 and simply load up on rocket packs to make the final round much easier.

AxeL R GR and Eaxis both had to aim at Zilla's right arm to trigger the cutscene and finish the battle.

platinumpwnzor saw in a website that you should focus on the back of Zilla's head to finish him off.

Chapter 17
Now you can comemorate. Nothing is worse that Chapter 16 battle. For the low demons, just smash your sword from the distance. Walk back the ledge to avoid being hit be the arrows. Against the first Xin form, stay away from him and aim for his chest parts, always nuking the crystals.
Against the second form, just don't stand still and repeat the same process.
In the last form, stay away from him and repeat what you have done with Gozu. I had plenty of money so instead of running after the ammo I just bought it.

PHT999 suggested another way of finishing this battle:
For the first and third phase, I would recommend you use the crossbow for the armour and then the sword for the crystals... they can easily be destroyed in two cycles (Apart from the top left piece, that takes three)

Congratulations, you finished the game on Heroic mode! Not an easy task!

There are some Youtube videos about this that might help you. I just checked for the Chapter 16 fight but they seem pretty good.

Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8

Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11

Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14

Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17

Edit (25/03/18): Refined the English and added tips from players in the commentaries. If you found another way of beating any part of the game please post it on the comments so that I can add to the solution.