Resources[edit | edit source]

The freeze execution in Stage 1 is not important in regards to what resources (Motivation and Perfect Freeze) the stage needs to be ended with if the decision is made to use one bomb on Star's first spell. If a second bomb is used, it becomes important to try to get whatever 30%s are reasonable to get. In this stage that would include the second knife-grid fairy freeze from "First Half #3". The goal is to be at 280% PF (preferably 300%) by the time you reach the Stage 2 Midboss. A good PF pace into Stage 2 for this would be 180% PF.

First Half #1[edit | edit source]

You move to near the top of the screen to misdirect bullets to this general area so your freezes can kill some of the fairies for Frozen Items. The first freeze is done when the first duo of fairies is more or less directly above you.

Then for subsequent freezes you kill the next two fairies by shooting them from Cirno's back and do a shorter length freeze (40-50%).

Due to RNG, these ices don't expand the same way every time, meaning sometimes some fairies don't die. Whenever 1-2 bottom fairies don't die, they should be manually killed with Cirno's shot.

First Half #2[edit | edit source]

Sideshoot the first big fairy and before the first line of jellybeans pass you (or just as they're about to pass you), dash left to mirror your positioning for the big fairy on the left. Then dash down and the jellybeans from the left fairy should pass you. As the above happens, make sure to stop shooting the second fairy before you've reached the bottom of the screen - you don't want to kill it by shooting.

Right before the passing jellybeans are about to go offscreen, dash past them and start shooting again and start moving in the pattern as illustrated below and make sure to freeze the back side of the jellybeans you passed and then the ideal freeze would look like the below image (the short left movement in the 3rd quadrant of this image isn't necessary - it's possible to get a 30% but it's too difficult to go for).

Cirno is now positioned like she is on the 4th quadrant of the above image, after which you sideshoot the new big fairy briefly, then do a freeze of around 50% Ice Power (not significantly more as the top-left big fairy has to stay alive).

First Half #3[edit | edit source]

Dash towards the left side of the screen to sideshoot the left fairy from the left side briefly, while streaming the jellybeans upwards to graze them for Ice Power. Cirno should reach the top of the screen (and a bit to the right - while also starting to charge your ice) by the time the top-left knife-grid fairy shows up, so you can freeze the line of jellybeans that passed you. Then move down towards the middle carefully as to not hit any unfrozen bullets.

When the previous freeze explodes, dash to the right side of the screen to briefly sideshoot the nearest right knife-grid fairy and then start charging in the middle of the screen while grazing some bullets. When the next wave of grid-fairies show up, start freezing the row of knives from the lower-right fairy before any knives can pass you. This freeze is extremely random with currently no consistent setup. This freeze can currently be as low as 17% or as high as 40%. For the harder bomb route, it's preferred this freeze is at least 30%.

First Half #4[edit | edit source]

After the previous freeze explodes, shoot the left fairy very slightly (as shown in the end of the above clip) and start streaming up the green bullets while charging your ice, then freeze inbetween the two bottom rows of knives as they expand.

After this freeze simply sideshoot the remaining two knife-grid fairies and try to charge your freeze so you maximize the number of knives in the freeze. After the freeze shoot the rest of the fairies down without doing damage to the approaching midboss.

Midboss Non 1[edit | edit source]

After shooting every enemy that remains, start charging your ice to do a big full-damaging freeze to Lily Black. Then do a short freeze as the next icicle bullets pass by and do this two times. The next two freezes will be big full-damaging ones again where each of them skip freezing one of the icicle waves passing by to charge up the ice power more, all while also trying to graze some of the round bullets.

If one of the big freezes end up not connecting with the boss because you're too far away, then do a short (30%) freeze close to Lily to damage her. For the non damaging freezes it's safer to stay further away from Lily and for full damaging freezes it's more consistent to stay a bit closer to ensure the full ice damage is done so you're not reliant on the RNG of the bullet pattern. Inbetween each freeze you prepare, you have to shoot briefly, these shots cam partially hit the boss but be careful about not doing too much damage. Stage 1 midbosses in this game are very fragile.

Midboss Non 2[edit | edit source]

For preparing each freeze on this pattern, pointblank graze the icicle bullets. A possible visual cue for this is to position your hitbox slightly above the bottom part of the circular health bar. Going slightly lower is still an option, so long get at least 50% Ice Charge. This goes for both the full-damaging and non-damaging freezes. This nonspell you also have to make sure to not do too much damage to Lily with your shot as you start to hold your next charge. The order of freezes here are 2 full-damage freezes, 3 non-damaging freezes and 1 full-damage freeze. Like nonspell 1 staying further away from Lily during the non-damaging freezes makes it less likely for you to accidentally damage Lily.

Midboss Non 3[edit | edit source]

The most difficult part of Stage 1. Position yourself diagonally above Lily such that your shot barely hits Lily as this is the ideal positioning for pointblank grazing the ring and giving yourself the most leeway to not get outrun by the ring. In general, the freeze is timed shortly after the second ring spawns and when Cirno has reached the top of the screen. This is an important freeze not to time too early, as an early timing (with bad movement RNG) can cause Lily's healthbar to fully deplete with a single freeze.

After the freeze is triggered, dash to the other side of the screen, by moving diagonally up very briefly and then moving straight sideways. This is done to ice graze the bullets that are about to get frozen by the ice you move over and to prevent you die from the unfrozen bullets.

The side you start this strategy from depends on whichever side Lily is closest to. On wave 1 this is pretty much irrelevant, but on subsequent waves you want to pick the side Lily is closest to. This way when you're doing the freeze and the dash to the other side, there will be a 2/3 chance that Lily is going to move towards the middle of the screen, which makes the freezes higher scoring and safer in terms of not doing ice damage.

The biggest factor that makes this pattern difficult comes in when considering Lily's vertical positioning. The first clip demonstrates Lily staying relatively low on the screen, making the scoring strategy significantly easier (easier to survive and less likely to damage Lily as you have more freedom with your freeze timing)

This pattern becomes much more difficult when Lily goes high on the screen. This gives you less vertical room and makes the freeze timing more difficult to deal with, whereby an early timing pretty much ensures Lily dies prematurely. High positioning is where the brief diagonal movement particularly matters to prevent you to get hit as you try to ice graze. It also helps to move slightly further away (left/right) from the ring right before freezing, but it may also prevent you from ice grazing effectively.

Second Half #1[edit | edit source]

Kill the two sets of blue fairies with your shot to charge Ice Power. Then move to the left side of the screen to slightly damage (not kill) the two knife-grid fairies, also to charge Ice Power. Then hold your charge and move to the middle to the screen, inbetween the height of the bottom two spawning knife-grid fairies and then freeze the two lanes of knives before they're able to pass your ice.

Then you do your first Perfect Freeze (bomb). When the next wave of knife-grid fairies show up, wait for their knives to spawn and then press X the moment these knives turn downwards. This freeze should give you a freeze of at least 50% (260k).

Second Half #2[edit | edit source]

This is the knifering section, containing four freezes, whereby three of them should be 30%s.

The first knifering should be misdirected by lining yourself up slightly above the Ice Area text and one of the flower petals at the bottom of the screen, as shown in the image below. From this position, go inside the knifering and slightly move down with it and then freeze. All of these freezes should be freezing the bullets below Cirno too.

For the second freeze you sideshoot the left fairy and pointblank graze the knives, then dash right and do the same graze for the right fairy. Then move down towards the middle of the screen (but slightly down-right). This freeze should have around 70% Ice Power and this freeze won't be a 30%. Alternatively you can position yourself slightly up-left from the middle to make sure the knives connect fully. In either case the freeze can't be timed too early or have too little Ice Power, as this will cause a knifering to spawn the instant the ice explodes.

The third freeze starts with doing the same execution on the first two fairies. Then stop shooting briefly and then tap Z two times within a second (as demonstrated in the WR and SoB video). Or keep shooting but stop when the next fairy in front of you appears. This fairy can't die until it's knifering spawns. After this charge your ice and release it immediately and move left so the ice more easily connects to the top-left knife ring that spawns.

The last freeze should focus on sideshooting the fairy on the right side until it dies (it's ring should still be spawning) and then do a delayed kill on the center fairy. Go through the ring from the middle fairy and freeze it. A good freeze here should be at least a 40% (160k).