Character Overview

Melting is the fourth character in the game and is unlocked by dying as any character. He has a normal starting loadout with the Revolver. His B-Skin is unlocked by reaching (sitting on) the Nuclear Throne without taking Rhino Skin or Strong Spirit.

Melting A Sprites
	Icon	Melting B Sprites	Icon
	Idle		Idle
	Walk		Walk
	Death		Death

Abilities

• Pressing RMB will cause all corpses on the screen to explode.
• Holding down RMB will not explode additional corpses, must be manual.
• Enemy corpses and destroyed props will both explode.
  • Exceptions to these include Big Dog's missiles and any car props.
• These are blood explosions that do not harm the player.
  • Blood explosions do 4 damage a hit for up to 12 damage to any single target, while respecting enemy iframes.
  • Big Bandit charges/Dog Guardian jumps will have their iframes ignored, meaning they can take up to 60 damage in these instances.
• The amount of blood explosions spawned by a corpse is relatively based on size, with most enemies creating one blood explosion while larger enemies creating three.
• Similar to normal explosions, blood explosions will try to push themselves outwards if there are too many close together which covers more area.
• Blood explosions will erase enemy projectiles and hazardous toxic gas/fire.
• Will also set off enemy explosions, including IDPD grenades.
• During the brief period between killing the last enemy and the exit portal opening, Melting's active will not work to prevent softlocks.
• As with all blood explosions these act as temporary light sources in dark levels.
• Exploding all corpses will prevent Necromancer and Popo Freaks reviving abilities.

• All enemies get a guaranteed +1 rad drop, which includes enemies that normally don't drop rads at all.
• Props do not give additional rads, including those that drop rads in the first place.
• Melting has a negative passive as well, starting with only 2 max HP.
• Boiling Veins will prevent taking any explosive damage at all, as he is always below 4 HP.
• Can be increased to 6 max HP with Rhino Skin.

• Enemies that only produce one blood explosion will now produce three instead, behaving like large enemy corpses.
• Larger enemies/props will produce the same number of blood explosions as before.

Ultra A: Brain Capacity		Ultra B: Detachment

• Melting's active will now also explode any alive enemies under 5 HP.
• Exploded enemies will not leave behind corpses, meaning they can only ever be exploded once.

• Melting loses half of his current max HP and gains 3 more mutation sets to choose from.
• This will give him 11 mutations total, or 12 if he took Crown of Destiny.
• On non-beta the mutation sets repeat the last two sets seen, and then gives a new one.
• This is fixed on the betas and gives three new sets. Example for both versions can be found here in the context of daily challenges.
• Max HP being halved only applies upon taking the ultra, meaning Melting's max HP can vary.
• Normal variables include:
  • 1 max HP if Melting takes Detachment normally.
    • Strong Spirit will never recharge if at 1 max HP, meaning it is one use in this circumstance.
    • Jungle cannot be entered while at 1 max HP.
  • 3 max HP is Melting takes Rhino Skin first, and then Detachment.
  • 5 max HP if Melting takes Detachment first, and then Rhino Skin.

Crown of Death will also affect Melting's max HP as Detachment is a one time subtraction.

• Crown of Death removes 1 max HP upon taking, and restores 1 max HP upon removing.
  • Taking Crown of Death and then Detachment keeps Melting at 1 max HP, so removing Death will return him to 2 max HP.
  • Taking Crown of Death, and then Detachment, and then Rhino Skin would still put Melting at 5 HP. Unequipping Crown of Death will then give him 6 max HP.
  • Taking Crown of Death and Rhino Skin puts Melting at 5 max HP, and then Detachment would put him at 3 max HP. Unequipping Death will then bring him to 4 max HP.
• If Melting takes Detachment first and then Crown of Death (with no Rhino Skin) this will put him at 0 max HP.
  • If not running Strong Spirit this will instantly kill Melting.
  • If running Strong Spirit it will be consumed upon entering the level, and Melting is then set to 1/0 HP. Collecting health in any way or taking damage in any way (even from explosives with Boiling Veins) will cause Melting to instantly die.
    • Melting will have a +100% firerate if running Stress mutation in this state, the only other character capable of it besides Chicken.

Melting is tied to a secret character, the play condition can be viewed on their character page.

Preloop Strategy Guide

(A guide for Melting's B-Skin will be written later, which will help specifically with a no hit run. This section is meant for normal preloop gameplay.)

Melting is designed to be the most challenging character, barring secret ones. Starting with 2 HP is a significant disadvantage, and will only start to be mitigated by loop given a full mutation set and an ultra. Until then, be prepared for death to happen through even the smallest mistakes.

Active Ability
Rating: Useful
Melting can explode corpses which can be used as a way to erase enemy projectiles, or get extra damage in. Notable highlights include exploding corpses over Big Bandit while he is charging to deal massive damage, punching holes in the waves of bullets from Big Dog's spin attack, and easily clearing large hoards of Freaks in Labs which will also prevent Necromancers from reviving.

Passive Ability
Rating: Useful
Melting will gain an extra rad from every enemy which will be particularly useful in leveling up quicker in the early areas, which can help offset Melting's lack of HP earlier on.

Throne Butt Ability
Rating: Useful
Larger blood explosions means more area coverage and increased likeliness nearby enemies will be damaged. This is not a necessary mutation to take in preloop, but is undoubtedly a nice boost if there are no other good mutations in a set.

Mutations
Strong Spirit and Rhino Skin will be top priority mutations for Melting's survival as running both lets him make mistakes. Anything around damage (Scarier Face, Laser Brain) will be really important to quickly dispose of enemies, and other mutations for defense are always a smart idea (Long Arms, Euphoria, Hammerhead, Boiling Veins and Gamma Guts).
Healing mutations will only be useful to Melting if he's at 6 HP, and even then can still be treated as not high of priority as other characters for preloop. It's still best to avoid being damaged as Melting as much as possible, so mutations that can prevent damage will be worth their weight.

Weapons
Another key part to survival will be weapon choices, having 2 HP or 6 HP means that the player must stay ever vigilant of taking damage. It is best to have a fast-firing weapon to deal with rush enemies and a weapon with higher damage output to deal with bosses and tough enemies quickly. One small perk of Melting's lower HP means that most of his drops will always be ammo, so leaning in to ammo-heavy weapons are more viable for this playstyle.

Summary
Melting is a tough character to play, but not impossible. Learning the game will be difficult as many damage sources will be unforgiving to a 2 HP start, though successful runs can still be carved out through sheer effort.

Loop Guide

Melting starts to equalize with other characters in terms of survivability and power. Having less max HP is still a significant disadvantage, but at this point a proper mutation set and ultra makes Melting viable to play as.

Active Ability
Rating: Very Useful
Melting's active will be a huge help as the increased enemy count in loop means that a lot of the screen can be covered by blood explosions. Any enemy using ranged attacks will easily be blocked by a wall of blood explosions which lets Melting move through many levels with relative ease, with Labs being trivialized entirely.

Brain Capacity
Rating: Useful
Melting is able to chain blood explosions as enemies that have low enough HP will damage other enemies which can help them be exploded as well. This will let Melting breeze through any area that has abundant low HP enemies, primarily applying to Desert. Scarier Face, Impact Wrists and Throne Butt are popular picks to help increase Brain Capacity's effectiveness.

Detachment
Rating: Very Useful (Can be Detrimental)
Runs that include Detachment will want to take Rhino Skin after the ultra is taken, to give 5 max HP. This is RNG dependent in normal runs which can be a massive downside to casual players. As non-beta (u99r1) will repeat the last two sets Melting sees then give a new one, this means that he can see if Rhino Skin is at least guaranteed before selecting ultras. In betas mutation sets are gone in blindly. Missing out on Rhino Skin means the run will be played at 1 max HP, or if Rhino is taken early then played at 3 max HP.

Having 11 mutations instead of 8 will be very beneficial to Melting as his set will be filled with strong mutations or decent substitutes.

Brain Capacity or Detachment?
Detachment is RNG based but can far more benefit the run, while Brain Capacity is a pretty useful ultra that has its limits. An optimal set on Detachment will far surpass Brain Capacity's benefit, but this is obviously based entirely on the contents of the mutation sets.

Throne Butt
Rating: Useful
Melting's Throne Butt is a useful pick regardless of ultra giving him far more are coverage with blood explosions. It is still not a high priority mutation, but is a very satisfying one to play in loop.

Crowns
There are multiple crown choices that Melting can lean in to.
Crown of Blood will increase enemy density improving active's effectiveness.
Crown of Luck has a downside of starting levels at 1 HP, but as a low HP character it's not as big a deal for Melting. Helpful boost to Melting's active and Brain Capacity alike.
Crown of Death is popular to take with Boiling Veins as Melting is a low HP character anyways, and it makes many explosion weapons even more viable. It can also be taken before Detachment, and if Rhino Skin is gained after then it will result in 5 max HP with Crown of Death's penalty being removed.

6 HP Detachment
A popular strategy for high level play includes taking Crown of Death before Detachment, then removing it afterwards to regain 1 max HP. A simple order for this would be taking Crown of Death in the 1-2 L1 Vault, hitting ultra and taking Detachment, and then unequipping Crown of Death in the 3-2 L1 Vault. Remember that only three Vaults max can be visited in a run. Some radstarving may be required to only hit ultra after the Desert Vault, some players opt to Oasis skip as it lines up better with the rad count.

Meta Guide

Note that this is an advanced guide, it is meant to be used by those primarily looking at loops 3+. This builds off of content shared in the meta guide.

High level Melting gameplay is shockingly similar to that of the heavy hitters in meta. Despite having the lowest max HP in the game, Melting is able to surpass other low tiers by having a powerful arsenal.

Active Ability
Rating: Very Useful
Melting's active ability will constantly delete projectiles on screen which will help minimize the need for Ultra Shovel usage and avoid damage entirely in many areas. His passive ability also comes in some use negating Crown of Blood's downside, meaning that rad management will not be an issue despite being low HP. There is also a strong boost to constant damage which makes this undoubtedly one of the better actives.

Exploding corpses is also useful in preventing Necromancers from constantly reviving Freaks which speeds up the end of some levels. Popo Freaks also need corpses to revive, so it is important to leave some corpses for them in order to refill rads especially during boss fight levels.

Brain Capacity
Rating: Somewhat Useful
Brain Capacity is less useful each loop as it does not scale, and does not provide that big of a benefit. The only times Brain Capacity is considered is if Skeleton is utilized in order to gain 7 max HP, and on non-beta using a bug to gain both ultras. Both are explained in detail in Skeleton's ability section.

Detachment
Rating: Very Useful
Detachment is strongly suggested for running Melting's meta, as having 3 extra mutations will benefit the run far more than Brain Capacity. Having 11 or 12 mutations lets Melting compromise less in their mutation build than other characters. However, this is also where Melting's gameplay gets convoluted.

6 HP & 12 Mutations
Melting can get 12 mutations through utilizing Crown of Destiny, Crown of Death and Detachment. For this reason Grillskills runs are by far the most popular choice as mutation RNG is very annoying at this point. The setup for the run looks like this:

1. Start a run with Crown of Destiny
2. Oasis skip can be done to speed up the run
3. Remove Crown of Destiny in the 5-2 Vault for any other crown
4. Take Crown of Death in the 1-2 L1 Vault
5. Reach ultra taking Detachment, and then take Rhino Skin from one of the following sets
6. Swap Crown of Death out for Crown of Blood in the 3-2 L1 Vault

11 mutations can be run instead if not wanting to do Destiny strategies (such as non-Grillskills runs), although running 6 max HP is highly suggested to avoid dying in one hit from 5 damage sources such as Flies and Assassins.

13 Mutations
There is a way to get 13 mutations as well on the 2025 openbeta/NTT v100, grillskills is strongly suggested to remove RNG factor. Melting can transform into Skeleton who can transform back into Melting using Redemption. If Skeleton reaches level 9 and ultra in the same level and takes Patience before Redemption, then completing the next level will give Melting an extra mutation. Melting will gain 9 mutations from Redemption, 3 from Detachment then 1 after the next level for Patience. This allows him to take all 13 useful mutations listed instead of just 12.
In order to get 13 mutations and 6 HP, Crown of Death must only be equipped before Redemption is taken and then unequipped after.

Mutations
Melting's mutation picks include what's in a standard p9, and then picks 2-4 of the extra mutations depending on which route he goes.

Standard p9

Choose from

• Boiling Veins: Blood explosions will cause IDPD grenades to detonate, making it a key Melting mutation.
• Euphoria: Used for increased defense against projectiles.
• Rabbit Paw: Increases DPS for SPC while providing extra heals.
• Back Muscle: Sometimes taken over Paw to speed up Throne II's fight. (Bloodlust can even be dropped to run Paw and Muscle both for 12 mutations)

Throne Butt Ability
Rating: Useful
Throne Butt can be exhilarating to run but its added benefit diminishes rapidly as enemy density increases, making it not necessary. It can even add a lot of lag to the game if enough corpses are allowed to pile up. It is fine as a 12th mutation.

Boss Strategies

Big Bandits
This fight will either be a nightmare or extremely easy as Melting. A very effective strategy is to not explode corpses until Big Bandits and Vans start to spawn in, then spam Melting's active to clear out any remaining enemies. Be careful not to explode all corpses in the level as a lack of Popo Freaks will make Melting suffer without any way to refill rads.

Mom
Much like Big Bandits, Mom can be horrible or extremely easy. If she is ever near spawn she can be killed quickly while spamming active and SPC while pushing forwards, just keeping track of where she is. Once her speed really picks up this becomes an unreliable strategy and Melting can only ever get hit by her twice (dropping Spirit, and then death), meaning that he must be ever vigilant of where she is at. Some corpses should also be saved for Popo Freaks respawning, Mom's frog eggs also counts as corpses.

Clearing Palace
Handling 7-1 and 7-2 for Melting will be just as difficult as any boss fights. Any hit from a Dog Guardian will instantly drop Spirit or kill Melting, and Snipers at the other end of the level will put on constant pressure.
Make sure to use typical Palace strategies of moving around in semicircles to avoid head on collisions with Dog Guardians, while shooting SPC in the direction that Melting plans to push in. Taking Palace slowly is smart as any mistake here can be run ending.
(Similarly be cautious of Crystal Caves as Laser Crystals can melt Melting's HP, always be aware of lasers.)

Throne II
Melting will be at the biggest disadvantage for the Throne II fight as his active will destroy any corpses that Popo Freaks can revive as. While his active can be used as a last ditch effort to avoid damage, it will put the run on a time limit if Throne II can't be defeated before running out of rads. Normal strategies apply here.

Summary
Melting has very satisfying gameplay, but in some areas really struggles due to only having half the max HP other characters would have. He is only considered lower tier as his max HP is limiting; his active/Detachment both strongly benefit the run.