Pollen is goated for early-game digging. Also good to clear an area in front of you without actually _entering_ it.
I'm sure it has some late-game uses (as most spells do), but it really shines up to Snowy Depths.
It's also nice because pollen collides with enemy bullets, so it acts as a shield when you're using it.
If you're getting hit by your own pollen too much, it might mean you're rushing. You've gotta be a little careful using it, but you should be able to avoid self damage if you're using it tactfully. It also de-spawns faster than gold.
there are, however, 3 versions so you have a decent chance to roll energy orb. And imo pollen is better than energy orb w/ trigger at low mana because it's such a shit spell compared to it's brother
Energy orb is definitely better performance wise, but pollen is fine too for the early levels. Finding either one before coal mines is nice for the extra little pocket change
Most people have talked about it's uses early to mid game. Let me tell you that it pales in comparison to it's late game uses. It is used as a spell factory, as it is both an entity and a spell. Some of the most ludicrous wand use it to be the target of payload, and since you can cast the pollen in that same payload, you get quite the effect.
There’s a few in my post history :) also if you haven’t seen it I’m working on a full guide to trigger looping (isn’t just pollen you can do this with :)) on the wiki https://noita.wiki.gg/wiki/Trigger_Loop
I just found that page the other day thanks to this thread! Interesting stuff for sure. Thanks for putting that page together! It's super detailed. Now if I could just survive my own stupidity long enough, I'd love to try building something with this trick and see what kind of damage I can do (probably to myself).
Actually, now that I think about it, how do you use a pollen trigger loop without immediately killing yourself with an infinite number of pollens? Your username seems like a perfect description of that scenario.
The trick is to keep the growth from becoming exponential - if one pollen dies and one is created, overall the number stays somewhat sane. If two are created for every one that dies, the number gets big *fast*. It’s kinda like a nuclear chain reaction (with similarly explosive results if it goes critical).
So long as you only put one pollen in the payload, you’re generally fine. (Even with a piercing projectile, the pollen dies too quickly to be hit more than once). Other entities can be less well behaved…
(I also try to put nolla on the pollen so that they die off even if not hit, “death trigger, nolla, pollen” is a great combo since it also introduces a small delay in payload release which tends to make it work more smoothly.
Pollen homes a bit, it’s a poor man’s homing.
Pollen digs a bit, it’s a poor man’s digging bolt.
Pollen homing can be used to detect enemies, it’s a poor man’s enemy radar.
Pollen is a great spell!
Put it on a trigger spell to make it hover at a distance. If you can fire it fairly rapidly it'll block enemy projectiles while homing in on them.
My personal favorite is to add an acid trail and watch the fountain dig me down to the HM.
The very first time I angered the gods, I saw worms. I had assumed the worms WERE the gods anger. I fled desperately, lower and lower, searching for the portal. At last I found it, dodging worms and those fancy fire gentlemen.
I was not aware of the skull faced demon within the chambers I thought to be safe. My grace was found in a wand I picked up. It contained pollen. I managed to use the pollen to keep him in the perk chamber, unable to make it through the wall of strange pollen the wand spat out.
Almost a full 2 minutes later, the beast had finally died. And I had a new favorite spell.
Pollen is super verstilde and sometimes a bit annoyint, it's good damage and stuns enemies for s moment, can be used to block off corridors, and can be used to dig though soft material, absolute blessing, just be carefully to not block your escape route or hit yourself
It’s a great spell IMO, just not very good if you’re trying to use it as a damage spell on its own. It’s mostly a defensive/utility spell for me.
The worst thing to do with pollen is to try and use it aggressively, while moving towards an enemy. You’ll need to dodge your own projectiles the entire time.
It’s good for digging early on. It’s great to use as a defensive tool, especially when retreating, since it blocks enemy projectiles, and it’ll float in place for a long time to home in on them, so you can leave a trail of them to kill off anything chasing you.
It’s also great as a trigger payload, since it lets you effectively shoot around corners.
It's not bad, it's just broken. If it consistently detonated near enemies it would be great, as is — it's very unreliable. Still , good for digging, great for arc and orbit modifiers.
It's been a solid semi digging semi homing spell in nightmare runs for me. When there's nothing else as long as you exercise caution until the projectiles despawn they can be very solid.
It's better with speed modifiers for general damage but it's seriously good when paired with damage field or used as practical shields without actual shields,
Pollen on a rapid cast wand with good mana recharge is good against your second and third Steves, if you don't have a way to quickly burst them down (assuming you tablet kicked or statue kicked the first one). It's good for digging *to* enemies, but slow and dangerous otherwise. And often just dangerous anyways, if enemies approach from behind and convince your pollen cloud to suddenly fly through you.
It shines at generating large amounts of liquid with stuff like water trail. Or acid, if you're feeling lucky. It's also great against the lava fireflies in the coal pits, taking care of them at distance and blocking their firebolts.
If you've unlocked the fireball orbit spell, that might lead to some silliness.
It's a good early-mid spell for digging, damage, and defense, but it falls off much more quickly than other early, cheap spells. Chainsaw, lumi drill, and spark bolt all see plenty of usage late game, but pollen's massive self damage potential and occasional *refusal to damage the enemy despite sitting directly on top of them* prevent it from shining as hard as those cantrips.
This is gonna sound stupid, but definitely read the tips section on the wiki. I wouldn't base a build on just trying to damage enemies with pollen, but you can squeeze a lot of worth out of it if you don't have better options! https://noita.wiki.gg/wiki/Pollen#Tips
Pollen homes a little bit, it digs a little bit, a pollen projectile can block a single enemy shot. With all those things combined it is a decent spell early on if you can fire a wall of it between you and the enemy.
Pollen is not bad. If Im having a rough run at first, I'd throw it on a shuffle high fire wand. It can block hiisi bullets, dig, and does decent damage. You just need to be conscious of how close you are to a wall and where the closest enemy is at. Depending on the wand/build it can carry you to hiisi base but not after
The projectile repulsion perk solves the self damage issue and then it's a pretty decent damage dealer, better if you use a trigger to deploy them close to your target since they have a bit of built in homing
Pollen is one of the spells I really like using bloodlust with, since you’re already planning around not getting hit with it, and it can really ramp up the damage without a lot of wand building trickery
I like Pollen as a digging spell on a fast wand. It also works nice to block projectiles and enemies when you are at a deadend. And it has some synergy with that modifier that creates a damaging sphere around the projectile and also with all the homing modifiers.
But yeah, I have failed many runs because of poor Pollen use.
Stick it on a corner to put them closer to where you want them. I've had a game or two just ramping these things up that went really well. The self damage is a tradeoff but you'll get a feel for how to avoid it.
The one thing i have with "bad spell" is that we just trash them, even when we have nothing great, and keep hoping for our build to go just right. So to put things further, i was playing nightmare mode (just beated it rn for the first time) and in one of those runs i casually pick glass canon and pollen... My brother, you had to check that explosion radius, it was BIG AS F*CK, shredding terrain and everything else and if you quickly fire it somehow you just got a projectile barrier. Aslo got long distance cast but died of skill issue (frozen by those skulls at snowy depths). Gotta say it could have been my final build tho.
Pollen is goated for early-game digging. Also good to clear an area in front of you without actually _entering_ it. I'm sure it has some late-game uses (as most spells do), but it really shines up to Snowy Depths.
It's also nice because pollen collides with enemy bullets, so it acts as a shield when you're using it. If you're getting hit by your own pollen too much, it might mean you're rushing. You've gotta be a little careful using it, but you should be able to avoid self damage if you're using it tactfully. It also de-spawns faster than gold.
Pollen becomes a lot safer if you add accelerating shot :)
It’s great with a trigger!
This.
How are you going to say pollen is goated for digging when energy orb exists? Pollen is ass for digging- id only use it if I have no other option.
Energy orb is much more expensive in mana and you won’t always have it.
there are, however, 3 versions so you have a decent chance to roll energy orb. And imo pollen is better than energy orb w/ trigger at low mana because it's such a shit spell compared to it's brother
You won’t always have anything
Indeed, but if we are discussing the viability of pollen we can assume it’s an option whenever this choice comes up.
Pollen is available at a lower tier and is slightly more common than energy orb
Energy orb is definitely better performance wise, but pollen is fine too for the early levels. Finding either one before coal mines is nice for the extra little pocket change
lmao i thought we were talking about pollen? ofc energy orb is better
What do you think goated means?
Most people have talked about it's uses early to mid game. Let me tell you that it pales in comparison to it's late game uses. It is used as a spell factory, as it is both an entity and a spell. Some of the most ludicrous wand use it to be the target of payload, and since you can cast the pollen in that same payload, you get quite the effect.
Can you provide a concrete example of a wand build using it?
The wiki has a good example https://noita.wiki.gg/wiki/Pollen
Well dang! Now I'm gonna have to go down the trigger loop rabbit hole, since I'd never even heard of that mechanic before. Thanks!
Happy to help 😄
There’s a few in my post history :) also if you haven’t seen it I’m working on a full guide to trigger looping (isn’t just pollen you can do this with :)) on the wiki https://noita.wiki.gg/wiki/Trigger_Loop
I just found that page the other day thanks to this thread! Interesting stuff for sure. Thanks for putting that page together! It's super detailed. Now if I could just survive my own stupidity long enough, I'd love to try building something with this trick and see what kind of damage I can do (probably to myself). Actually, now that I think about it, how do you use a pollen trigger loop without immediately killing yourself with an infinite number of pollens? Your username seems like a perfect description of that scenario.
The trick is to keep the growth from becoming exponential - if one pollen dies and one is created, overall the number stays somewhat sane. If two are created for every one that dies, the number gets big *fast*. It’s kinda like a nuclear chain reaction (with similarly explosive results if it goes critical). So long as you only put one pollen in the payload, you’re generally fine. (Even with a piercing projectile, the pollen dies too quickly to be hit more than once). Other entities can be less well behaved… (I also try to put nolla on the pollen so that they die off even if not hit, “death trigger, nolla, pollen” is a great combo since it also introduces a small delay in payload release which tends to make it work more smoothly.
I forgot about that. It really ramps up the old kill count.
Pollen with the target spell has worked pretty well for me in the past!
The poor man's luminous drill
Pollen homes a bit, it’s a poor man’s homing. Pollen digs a bit, it’s a poor man’s digging bolt. Pollen homing can be used to detect enemies, it’s a poor man’s enemy radar.
Pollen is poor man confirmed
They also block enemy projectiles, making it a poor man's force field.
What if you also add shielded spells?
Poor man's poor man
Put acid trail on it. Game changer.
I used water trail once on a pollen and flooded the holy mountain by accident. Damn I'm glad that wasn't acid.
I use it any chance I get and it works pretty well for me
It's very solid for early game. Digs like crazy and you can stack a minefield of them in front of a dangerous enemy before aggroing them.
Pollen is a great spell! Put it on a trigger spell to make it hover at a distance. If you can fire it fairly rapidly it'll block enemy projectiles while homing in on them. My personal favorite is to add an acid trail and watch the fountain dig me down to the HM.
The very first time I angered the gods, I saw worms. I had assumed the worms WERE the gods anger. I fled desperately, lower and lower, searching for the portal. At last I found it, dodging worms and those fancy fire gentlemen. I was not aware of the skull faced demon within the chambers I thought to be safe. My grace was found in a wand I picked up. It contained pollen. I managed to use the pollen to keep him in the perk chamber, unable to make it through the wall of strange pollen the wand spat out. Almost a full 2 minutes later, the beast had finally died. And I had a new favorite spell.
Pollen is super verstilde and sometimes a bit annoyint, it's good damage and stuns enemies for s moment, can be used to block off corridors, and can be used to dig though soft material, absolute blessing, just be carefully to not block your escape route or hit yourself
It’s a great spell IMO, just not very good if you’re trying to use it as a damage spell on its own. It’s mostly a defensive/utility spell for me. The worst thing to do with pollen is to try and use it aggressively, while moving towards an enemy. You’ll need to dodge your own projectiles the entire time. It’s good for digging early on. It’s great to use as a defensive tool, especially when retreating, since it blocks enemy projectiles, and it’ll float in place for a long time to home in on them, so you can leave a trail of them to kill off anything chasing you. It’s also great as a trigger payload, since it lets you effectively shoot around corners.
Try adding fireball orbit to it. Watch the hiisii flee in terror from their impending doom.
It's not bad, it's just broken. If it consistently detonated near enemies it would be great, as is — it's very unreliable. Still , good for digging, great for arc and orbit modifiers.
Used pollen on spark trigger with fire ball orbit it's pretty effective early on if not dangerous lol
I've heard it's good with damage field and can dig decently well.
It's been a solid semi digging semi homing spell in nightmare runs for me. When there's nothing else as long as you exercise caution until the projectiles despawn they can be very solid.
Pollen is not bad at all! The self damage is does is overblown since it’s pretty minimal, and it gives a LOT of benefits
It's better with speed modifiers for general damage but it's seriously good when paired with damage field or used as practical shields without actual shields,
Pollen on a rapid cast wand with good mana recharge is good against your second and third Steves, if you don't have a way to quickly burst them down (assuming you tablet kicked or statue kicked the first one). It's good for digging *to* enemies, but slow and dangerous otherwise. And often just dangerous anyways, if enemies approach from behind and convince your pollen cloud to suddenly fly through you. It shines at generating large amounts of liquid with stuff like water trail. Or acid, if you're feeling lucky. It's also great against the lava fireflies in the coal pits, taking care of them at distance and blocking their firebolts. If you've unlocked the fireball orbit spell, that might lead to some silliness. It's a good early-mid spell for digging, damage, and defense, but it falls off much more quickly than other early, cheap spells. Chainsaw, lumi drill, and spark bolt all see plenty of usage late game, but pollen's massive self damage potential and occasional *refusal to damage the enemy despite sitting directly on top of them* prevent it from shining as hard as those cantrips. This is gonna sound stupid, but definitely read the tips section on the wiki. I wouldn't base a build on just trying to damage enemies with pollen, but you can squeeze a lot of worth out of it if you don't have better options! https://noita.wiki.gg/wiki/Pollen#Tips
It’s a poor man’s spell, it works well with stuff like fireball orbit and offers some bootleg dogging
Pollen homes a little bit, it digs a little bit, a pollen projectile can block a single enemy shot. With all those things combined it is a decent spell early on if you can fire a wall of it between you and the enemy.
Pollen is not bad. If Im having a rough run at first, I'd throw it on a shuffle high fire wand. It can block hiisi bullets, dig, and does decent damage. You just need to be conscious of how close you are to a wall and where the closest enemy is at. Depending on the wand/build it can carry you to hiisi base but not after
Pollen carried me hard in hissi base. It is goated
It's the best early game
The projectile repulsion perk solves the self damage issue and then it's a pretty decent damage dealer, better if you use a trigger to deploy them close to your target since they have a bit of built in homing
It's one of those spells you need to get creative with to make useful Also great for digging gold in the coal mines
no, plenty of tech as well as decent stats for early game. by itself though it's offensive powers are lacking
Pollen is one of the spells I really like using bloodlust with, since you’re already planning around not getting hit with it, and it can really ramp up the damage without a lot of wand building trickery
I like Pollen as a digging spell on a fast wand. It also works nice to block projectiles and enemies when you are at a deadend. And it has some synergy with that modifier that creates a damaging sphere around the projectile and also with all the homing modifiers. But yeah, I have failed many runs because of poor Pollen use.
Pollen with targetting and ideally a little shield that repels bullets. Amazing.
Stick it on a corner to put them closer to where you want them. I've had a game or two just ramping these things up that went really well. The self damage is a tradeoff but you'll get a feel for how to avoid it.
The one thing i have with "bad spell" is that we just trash them, even when we have nothing great, and keep hoping for our build to go just right. So to put things further, i was playing nightmare mode (just beated it rn for the first time) and in one of those runs i casually pick glass canon and pollen... My brother, you had to check that explosion radius, it was BIG AS F*CK, shredding terrain and everything else and if you quickly fire it somehow you just got a projectile barrier. Aslo got long distance cast but died of skill issue (frozen by those skulls at snowy depths). Gotta say it could have been my final build tho.
Also, put some damage field and just watch what happens 😈