An overview of Sir Ambrojoe with some observations and tips to help play him.
The Stats
Sir Ambrojoe adjusted his cuff links as he looked in the mirror while making sure everything was in it’s place. it’s only proper given his title as a Knight now. armor would be a little much in his day-to-day dealings. but he still wanted to look proper in his dealings.
as he put his top hat on his head, a employee came in. “Sir, a client is demanding to see you. She says she wants her piano delivered right away.” Sir Ambrojoe nodded and says “Very well.” a few minutes later, he was standing in front of a older blond haired woman yelling and screaming at him about she wants the moving crew fired for not bringing her baby grand piano first. “Ma’am. The moving of the piano requires a separate truck and a entrance to be able to bring it into your home.”
The woman exploded at him, yelling louder at him for a few minutes. he simply smiled. “I can have your piano here right now if you wish for three hundred extra dollars.” the woman look exasperated, practically throwing her hands up. “Yes, you pompous ass! Get it here NOW!!!” Sir Amberjoe smiled and took his top hat off. the woman’s eyes went wide then dived out of the way as he pulled her piano out of his hat and sending it flying. it crashed into the front of her house loudly. he politely put his hat back on. “I will bill you the fee of three hundred dollars for the instant delivery.”]
the woman started getting up, shaking, as Sir Amberjoe smiled while he walked away, his cane tapping in time with his right foot step.
Sir Ambrojoe is the knighted gentleman of the VS crew. and he walks among the ranks of of the Amount characters, gaining +1 Amount every 20 levels till hitting Level 60. he also starts with extra amount, +10. but loses 2 Amount every level till level 6 when he’s back to normal.
like the other Amount characters, Joe is a versatile character that can take most builds and run them very well. Joe is also one of the more amusing characters cause of…
The Weapon
La Robba being a weapon is very amusing, as it’s as close to hitting the enemies with everything including the kitchen sink. there’s isn’t a sink to throw. but mirrors, lamps, a dresser, a coffin and even a piano are dropped from the center top of of the screen. the items dropped also bounce off enemies till their Duration runs out, about two seconds with four and a half seconds of Cooldown. La Robba has eight levels, gaining +30 Base Damage, +50% Speed, +4 to Amount, and +1 second to Duration when hitting maxed level. La Robba doesn’t have a Evolve. so builds can be finished faster and Passives are more flexible to pick out.
Why and why not (pros and cons)
Why Joe?
the extra Amount Joe has at the beginning of a run is nuts. it won’t last long. but if you let xp stack up as much as you can, you can cut down on the level 6-19 stretch where you’re waiting for him to start gaining Amount back. and if you want some bouncing goodness and have the Merchant unlocked, pick up some of the weapons there as a lot of them are also bouncing weapons as well. Joe pretty much begs to run any of the variant bounce builds.
Why not Joe?
biggest problem for Joe is threefold. La Robba has bad Cooldown. 4.5 seconds is a bit of a wait under normal circumstances. but as Joe loses Amount, you really feel that loss cause of the high Cooldown. and also cause Joe uses a larger weapon, Area gains become a issue as things like the piano and coffin take up more of the screen, blinding you some. the way La Robba drops is also a issue. it dropping from the middle of the top of the screen instead of from Joe like the other Amount characters leads to the bounces of the furniture having to necessitate running up every now and then to put the furniture more on the screen or they’ll have to bounce their way down through enemies, leaving Joe pretty undefended unless he goes into where the furniture is falling from. even then, the long Cooldown makes the Duration hard to capitalize on unless both Empty Tome and Spellbinder are picked up and maxed out, limiting build choice some
How To Get
killing 6000 Stage Killers on Cappella Magna unlocks Joe. you can add him for 500 gold before scaling
Tips and Builds
Joe takes a little getting used to, as La Robba is a interesting weapon that is best used with Cooldown and Duration. you want to get the Duration to last longer then Cooldown so that wait is minimized. getting another weapon, like Santa Water or Axe will help Joe out greatly as well. as Axe firing in a upward arc is a good compliment to La Robba dropping down, turning the area they meet at into a meat grinder kill zone. and Joe also makes probably the best use of the Arcana Game Killer. then pick a stage that has some weapons on the ground and visit the Merchant to fill out your weapons for bouncing death and disgusting Amounts of firepower
Weapons: Axe, Boomerang, Bone, Cherry Bomb, Magic Wand
Passives: Attractorb, Candlelabrador, Crown, Empty Tome, Spinach, Torrona’s Box (Banish level 9)
Arcanans: Beginnings, Iron Blue Will, Waltz of Pearls
the Fire Everything variant of the Bounce Build takes things into absurd levels with how many things you have bouncing around on the screen. and it gets rolling fairly quickly with a visit to the Merchant for Bone and Cherry Bomb. as the build is leveled, you can take your time a bit to get the rest of the weapons and Passives while waiting to pick up the Arcanas. now you can pick up Silver Ring if you want. the Duration it adds helps out nicely. but the Area you get from Candlelabrador and Torron’s Box will get pretty close to weapons getting big enough to make things hard to see, like Elites and Guardians. Silver Ring may push that over the edge. and the sheer Amount going will be killing your bit rate already
Ultimate Amount build
Weapons: Bone, Celestial Dusting
Passives: Stage dependent
Arcanas: Game Killer, Silent Old Sanctuary, Twilight Requiem
Ultimate Amount is both powerful and very risk versus reward. the weapons are quick to pick up with a visit to the vendor and both will be firing off +10 Amount right off the bat. that don’t mean things are a walk in the park. due to Game Killer, you’re forced to wait on chests to be gotten for leveling weapons. any passives you want will depend on what stage you run. some stages have weapons as well. but not as much as the Passives. and Silent Old Sanctuary works best around three weapons for the extra Cooldown and Strength the Arcana grants. Twilight Requiem helps a bit with leveling as well, allowing for Curse damage. it’s still a tricky build to run cause of the waiting and even the gems being projectiles may let Joe get overran as you try to get them. but Joe has a great leg up with the sheer Amount at his disposal
In Conclusion
I’ve always enjoyed running Joe. him being a Amount character is always nice in terms of build versatility. and he excels with Game Killer in tow. but it’s really focusing on one thing so much that’s harder to make work cause of the dependence of picking a stage for passives you want.
what way you want to go with him, Joe’s still a fun character. I just hope they add a kitchen sink into the furniture mix so you can throw it as well.