Eyes is one of the characters unlocked pretty much right away, however unlike the Fish and Crystal, Eyes is a very mechanically demanding character that is off-putting to new players. However his skill ceiling is incredibly high and has very rewarding mastery of his powers with high potential for great offense and defense. He and Plant are in the same boat, both require a lot of knowledge and practice to get the best mileage out of their actives and can often be frustrating if not utilized properly. New players should not avoid him altogether, but may want to focus on learning game mechanics in general before they dive right into Eyes.
Eyes has two ultras that vary wildly from each other. One while impressive on paper, is often hailed as the worst ultra. However in loop play, is a fun gimmick to mess around with, is often ignored otherwise. He is largely rated through his ultra Monster Style, which increases his defensive values by a good magnitude. He is recommended highly IF a player is willing to put in the time to become comfortable with his mechanics, as he stands as one of the best mutants given the chance to.
Eyes A Sprites |
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|---|---|---|
Icon |
Eyes B Sprites |
Icon |
Idle |
Idle |
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Walk |
Walk |
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Death |
Death |
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| Eyes | |
| Unlock | Reach 2-1 |
| B-Skin | Reach 2-? as Eyes |
| Weapon | Revolver |
| Active | Telekinesis |
| Passive | Sees in the dark |
Abilities
- Active
- - Telekinesis allows Eyes to control the environment in a way that drags things towards him/away from him. It applies to things currently on screen
- - Enemies will be dragged in towards Eyes but can be effected in which speed/direction they're headed. Weapons, pickups and chests are also effected by this power.
- - Exceptions to this is that Technomancer/Throne II cannot be moved. The Throne will also be hard to budge unless if it is mostly on screen.
- - (Check T2 version dependency later)
- - Many enemy projectiles are pushed away from Eyes, making them often easier to dodge. This includes hazards such as fire and toxic gas(including mom's initial gas shot).
- - Grenades shot by the player are not effected by telekinesis, however if they change teams(deflected by shielder), they will fall under its effect.
- (TK 1 pixel - TB 2 pixels)
- Passive
- - Eyes can see well in the dark. This makes his ring of light much bigger than other characters, and the faded light covers the whole screen outside of that, leaving the whole screen at least partially visible.
- Thronebutt:
- - Doubles the strength of telekinesis.
- Ultra A: Projectile Style
- - When holding telekinesis, any projectiles shot by Eyes will automatically return to him at the same angle shot from. It will remain there until interacting with img/enemy/props/walls, or if telekinesis is let go of. Thronebutt does not seem to effect this ultra.
- - This will effect any projectile shot out by Eyes, including explosives, toxic clouds spawned from weapons, and shots deflected by shields. Not being careful can lead to your own active killing you.
- - While all weapons are effected by projectile style, not all will last forever. Examples being that Lightning Cannon/Flame Cannon have a set timer until they explode if not making contact with an enemy/prop/wall. This can also apply to weapons that shoot fire/gas, or normal/blood explosions.
- This effect also negatively applies to melee weapons. They will have a shorter range, but will not have any increased time active.
- Ultra B: Monster Style
- - Eyes will passively push enemies away that are within close proximity, but only while not using telekinesis. This does not cover the whole screen, but around the vertical width instead. This can stack with thronebutt for a stronger effect.
Preloop Guide
Eyes is one of the more unique mutants that allows for a very strong defensive game. This is because of telekinesis, it allows for consistent control for Eyes' environment around him.
While strong, telekinesis may be off-putting to new players. It is not uncommon for people to view him as average or even bad upon first play because his telekinesis gets in the way. This is assuredly not the case when more time is spent learning tk (telekinesis) properly. This is a character with a high skill ceiling; mastery of his ability is rewarded well with high character potential.
When learning Eyes, players may end up neglecting using tk constantly. Dragging in enemies that do contact damage may be frustrating, and fast moving projectiles are still difficult to dodge. Tk isn't a godly power to avoid any form of damage, but something to be used on and off throughout combat. Be careful around enemies that rush towards the player while using tk, its best immediate use is when handling long-range enemies to help dodge their projectiles easier. In general tk makes gameplay more forgiving, but can't be mindlessly used else unnecessary damage could be taken.
Telekinesis is increased by magnitudes of power if Thronebutt is taken. However, this power may be too much for early Eyes players, so it must be taken with the knowledge that it significantly amps up how moment to moment gameplay goes while using Eyes' active. The player should always distance themselves from potential threats as Eyes heavily leans into a ranged playstyle, which goes double when running TB.
Eyes benefits from the standard good mutations. Some players may skip plutonium hunger for extra heals, ammo, or damage but it should be noted that plutonium hunger is very strong on Eyes even if he is able to pull rads and pickups towards him. Because tk also pushes away bullets when active, Eyes has an easier time dodging many projectiles. This makes euphoria less useful, or extremely good depending on perspective. Some might consider euphoria a waste as eyes already has and easier time navigating bullets, or see euphoria as an eyes synergy. The combination of Thronebutt and Euphoria has a special name: Buttphoria, and is worth trying at least once.
Eyes passive is not useless but is not nearly as strong as his active. It is nice to be able to see the whole screen in transition areas. It is best seen as a small nicety.
Generally, Eyes is very strong but in early play hard to utilize properly. Often Eyes is seen as a character that is great to return to after gaining experience with standard characters. This should not deter one from using Eyes, as he is very strong and many players will recognize the joy of tk even if they may be newer to the game.
Loop Guide
When the player is in Loop 1 and 2, they will have access to Eyes' Ultra. Unfortunately, there is really no way around the fact that Eyes' Ultra B has much more utility. Ultra B makes Eyes a defensive master, he can now push enemies away when not using TK. Ultra A, on the other hand, has fairly limited uses. None of these uses are particularly good if the goal is to push farther into Loops. There are certainly shenanigans to be had (blood weapons one of them), but if the goal is improvement then Ultra B is the better option as a rule of thumb.
Assuming Ultra B is taken, the player should become comfortable always releasing TK when they feel uncomfortable. Difficult enemies like telecops have a harder time penetrating into Eyes' personal space when TK isn't active, for example. The player will have to learn the nuances of when TK is best held and best released. Pulling bosses like Hyper Crystal into weapon shots makes the fight easier, but the player must be conscious not to pull a crystal into them while doing so. Leaving TK off for most of palace means guardian dogs will have to work harder to jump on Eyes.
It is recommended that the player chooses weapons that can be well utilized by Eye's active. For example, plasma cannon splits into smaller plasma orbs, but shooting it at a boss while using telekinesis can increase the number of orbs that hit them upon breakage. On the other hand, taking melee can let you drag enemies in while hiding behind a wall safely if a defensive approach is needed. This can be a bit tedious without thronebutt however.
Eyes is a very technical character so getting familiar with his mechanics is important to best utilize. Otherwise you can have situations such as enemies move in a way that makes you miss shots altogether because of your powers, which is contradictory to its purpose.
Moreso than any other character, Eyes is about learning the character specifics. Eyes plays unlike any other character, especially with Thronebutt. When mastered, Eyes makes Loop 1 and Loop 2 easier thanks to improved defense and improved offense. But Eyes is a matter of feel, there is no way to follow a written guide and grasp what Eyes can do, he must be experienced.
Meta Guide
When it comes to Eyes' meta play, he has a fairly diverse group of sets that can be considered perfect or great. Some view Eyes as not needing pluto, a standard P9 mutation. Some view Thronebutt as one of the strongest mutations in the game, others think it is too cumbersome to be used. There is a growing sense that one of pluto or Thronebutt should be used with Eyes even if he does not need them, but the player can certainly choose an extra heal or ammo mutation if they so desire.
If the player has gotten to Loop 6, Eyes' gameplay will remain mostly unchanged compared to other characters unless Butt is taken. Eyes can pull enemies into SPC shots, so his offense is magnified. The most common use of this is with Throne I, but Eyes can pull Big Dog, Hyper Crystal, and even guardian dogs into SPC shots. In this way, Eyes is actually one of the best offensive characters. Because of this mechanic, Eyes can view Scarier Face as higher priority than Laser Brain, because SPC is already stronger on its own.
For high level play, palace can be a bit troublesome for Eyes. Players have a habit of pulling enemies into them, even when focused. The problem is often that players don't have pluto and are trying to reach ammo, hence why pluto or butt is still optimal, but instead pull a dog into them. There is no way to perfectly negate this scenario, the best option is to be extra cautious and pull only when the player has enough health to not lose spirit or die to a dog jump, so strictly above 6 hp.
Pushing Vans and Explosives: Eyes pushes vans while not using active and explosives away from him while using active, meaning it is very difficult to get hit by a van or exploded as eyes. With experience, the player can abuse Eyes to ignore vans that they would otherwise need to avoid. This is a great strength and should be practiced, and veins takes a lower priority due to this.
Bosses have some considerations, and it should be noted that everything Eyes is strong at, he is stronger at with Butt. IE, Eyes is good against T2 normally and, in the estimation of this author, Eyes with Butt is the STRONGEST character against T2. Eyes with Butt is capable of things that no other character can do feasibly, but it is a double edged sword, as Butt allows the player to pull trouble into Eyes.
Throne 2: As noted, Eyes excels against Throne 2. TK pushes away projectiles and is especially good against laser spam. Eyes can pull a weapon around to hotswap with, meaning Eyes can end the fight faster than most other characters as well. When T2 uses lasers, the player can push them farther away on accident when trying to destroy their source with melee. So, like with all things Eyes, he can make things annoying. Regardless, Eyes is exceptional against T2.
Big Bandits: Spawning bandits is using the standard method is very easy as eyes compared to other characters. Not only can Eyes push the bandits away from him as they spawn, but Eyes can use TK to push away their projectiles as he retreats. During the fight, Eyes rarely has to retreat as he can push the bandits away as they charge and pull to make their charge reachable with the ushovel. This makes him a powerhouse at bandits as well.
Mom: In high level mom fights, it is important to not use TK as much, especially with Butt. When mom becomes super fast, the added speed of pulling her towards Eyes will be a problem, so it is best to avoid it as much as is feasible. Players will take risks, of course, but should be conscious of their TK use. With thronebutt, the player is asking for trouble in very later loops using TK. The push can keep her off of Eyes to some degree, but Eyes' greatest strength against Mom is that he can pull any weapon from 1-3 or earlier into the 2-1 fight. So a preferred mom weapon is guaranteed if the player is so inclined.
Eyes is among the strongest choices for high level play. When played well, Eyes stands as one of the top tier characters. The issue can sometimes be consistency. Eyes also dies in unique ways that other characters don't, namely pulling things into him. For this reason, Eyes is an acquired taste that one should play only if they are in the right type of mood. Eyes and Plant both have actives that have the highest interactivity with their environments, thus have a higher skill ceiling that if one is persistent enough, the results will be well worth it.