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Aria


Aria is Cadence's maternal grandmother. She once used the Golden Lute to cure sick townsfolk. Their greed turned them against her, leading her to seek the Necrodancer's help to destroy the lute. The Necrodancer tricked her and stabbed her in the heart, but she was rescued by her daughter, Melody. Aria now seeks the altar to destroy the lute and break its curse.

Aria is unlocked by beating Zone 4 as Melody.

Rules and Restrictions[]

She starts with a Dagger thumbnailDagger, the only weapon she can use (with the exception of the Necrodancer fights in training/custom dungeons). Her zone progression is reversed, meaning she starts in Nodlc Zone 4 (Amplified dlc Zone 5) and progresses to Zone 1. Enemies from higher-numbered zones will continue to appear as she progresses to lower-numbered zones (Amplified dlc except that Zone 5 enemies will not appear outside of Zone 5).

Aria starts with only a 1/2 heart, and cannot gain HP by any means. She dies instantly when getting hit or when missing a beat. Notably, Monkeys and trap doors are fatal to her.

While playing as Aria:

  • Red Bats and Black Bats are replaced with Blue Bats (though Green Bats are left unchanged).
  • Spiders will appear in Zone 1 instead of Zone 4.
  • No type of Monkey will appear in Zone 4, but Green Monkeys and Magic Monkeys can appear in Zones 1 to 3, and regular Monkeys and White Monkeys can appear in Zone 1.
  • Nodlc Ooze Golems will not appear. Amplified dlc Ooze Golems can appear due to the nerf to the amount of ooze they can drop when attacked with a 1-damage weapon.

Aria starts with a Potion, which protects her from dying once. When taking damage, glass items will still break and Aria will lose the groove multiplier.

No regular Armor of any strength is available to Aria. Her Dagger cannot be exchanged for any other weapon, and using any means to give her another weapon will result in a death to "Cowardice".

Additionally, she does not have access to the Ring protectionRing of Protection, the Ring emeraldRing of Regeneration, the Head helmetHelmet, the Head crown of thornsCrown of Thorns, the Feet greavesHargreaves, the Feet ballet shoesBallet Shoes, the Feet boots painBoots of Pain, the Charm riskRisk Charm, the Charm gluttonyGluttony Charm, the Charm protectionProtection Charm, Heart Containers, the War drumWar Drum, the Blood drumBlood Drum, the Scroll orangeScroll of Enchantment, and NecrodancerFoodFoods (though food can still be found from barrels and crates).

Aria has access to all shrines except Blood, Risk, Peace, and No Return.

Aria has access to all secret shops except Blood and Food.

As with any other weapon-locked character, all shops contain only two items instead of the usual three.

Strategy[]

Items[]

Aria's item pool is very limited. She does not have access to any weapons besides the starting dagger. Most items that are useless for Aria—such as items that increase HP, heal, or reduce damage—do not appear.

Items and spells that prevent damage are invaluable. These include Armor glassGlass Armor, Charm frostFrost Charm, Ring shieldingRing of Shielding, and Crown of teleportationCrown of Teleportation, as well as the Spell freeze enemiesFreeze and Spell shieldShield spells which can be reused (but be careful not to cast them using blood magic).

Aria starts with a Potion, letting her survive the first hit or missed beat. The Scroll greenScroll of Need can be used to obtain a second potion, but only after the first has been used.

Food is less useful for Aria than for most characters, but can still appear. It can be eaten to skip a beat, and provides invincibility for that beat.

All types of armor that can appear for Aria are excellent: the Armor giKarate Gi, Armor glassGlass Armor, and Amplified dlc Armor heavy glassHeavy Glass Armor. This makes random armor a good choice when you find the Conjurer shop. It also makes the Black Chest a good choice after beating your first zone boss. Black Chests can normally contain weapons and footwear, but Aria cannot find weapons and most footwear is too low-quality to be a boss reward.

Combat[]

Being able to only use the default dagger, you are stuck with a close-ranged attack. Skipping beats by digging is essential to safely draw enemies into your range, so staying close to dirt walls is typically beneficial. Having a good shovel will also help, as you can dig up most walls and skip beats that way.

Training mode oddities[]

The Beastmaster and Bossmaster are the same for all characters, and do not account for Aria's zone reversal mechanic. This creates several oddities:

  • All Beastmaster practice enemies appear in their original zones, so Aria can never practice against the Spider, Green Monkey, and Magic Monkey despite being able to fight them in the actual crypt. This is because these enemies can only appear in Zones 1 to 3 for Aria, but their original zone is Zone 4. For Aria, any of these enemy types spawning in Zone 4 will immediately despawn leaving nothing to practice against.
  • Practice bosses largely do not match Aria's actual crypt fights. For example, selecting "King Conga 2" always loads King Conga with 3 HP and minions from Zone 2, and selecting "King Conga 4" always loads King Conga with 5 HP and minions from Zone 4. This would match King Conga's actual Zone 2 and 4 crypt fights for all characters other than Aria. However, if Aria encounters King Conga in Zone 4 in the actual crypt, King Conga has Nodlc 2 HP Amplified dlc 3 HP and Zone 4 minions, and if she encounters King Conga in Zone 2 in the actual crypt, King Conga has Nodlc 4 HP Amplified dlc 5 HP and Zone 2 minions. Aria cannot replicate this at the Bossmaster.

Trapdoors[]

Besides quaffing the valuable Potion, Aria may use trapdoors via Sub-beat Mechanics or by taking a hit on the same beat as touching the trapdoor (possible via either a Leprechaun or with hit protection). This can be useful for either speedrunning or in an urgent situation (such as if the player is surrounded, or if they are far from the exit with time about to run out).

Trivia[]

  • Aria has been stabbed in the heart by The Necrodancer. This is why she dies instantly, as any wound to her heart would be fatal.
  • Aria completes all the zones in reverse to backtrack to the shrine where the Golden Lute was originally obtained from; to destroy it.
  • In music, an "aria" is a self-contained piece for a single voice. Arias are written to be difficult to perform, in order to provide expert concert singers with an opportunity to demonstrate their skill.
  • Nodlc Upon release, Aria did not start with a Potion; this was changed in an update about one month later.
  • Since no Monkey type can spawn on Zone 4, this includes standard Monkeys that may appear from Barrels, making it possible for a Barrel to appear to contain nothing. (This applies to Coda as well.)[1]
  • Her birthday is January 15th.
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