Shoulders of Giantsis an interesting takeon the roguelike format, given that it technically has the player controlling two characters at once. They’re controlling Frog, but Frog is controlling GERM (the robot) with its movements, so it’s like a daisy chain of player control.
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How this translates to gameplay is that Frog and GERM have their own weapons (Ranged for Frog and Melee for GERM), and when aiming down sights, players are controlling Frog and are able to use his three ability slots. Honestly, it’s apretty innovative addition to the genreand hopefully will inspire more developers to experiment more often. So, let’s take a look at all of Frog’s abilities inShoulders of Giantsand see which ones, from worst to best, are most worthy of one of those three slots.
8Froggie’s Decoy
Starting things off with a fantastic distraction ability, it’s Froggie’s Decoy. This ability is pretty simple, Frog throws a decoy device wherever the crosshair is aimed, and it turns on a holographic image of Frog dancing likehe just came from Fortnite’s most recent event, drawing nearby enemies to him. For anyonewho has playedDeep Rock Galactic, it works exactly the same as Engineer’s Decoy Grenades.
That said, it does seem to have an upper limit on targets taunted, and the range of it is rather small, so it’s at the bottom of the ‘best’ options.But, for newcomers,this has to be one of the more helpful abilities to find early in a run.
7Field Of Rakes
Next is Field of Rakes, a truly hilarious ability for Frog to wield. When used, Frog throws a bunch of garden rakes around a small area in front of it that massively stuns any enemies who walk into them.
Now, the reason it’s this low is purely that the area of effect is pretty small. If it was even twice as large, this would be one of the better abilities in the game. Still, Field of Rakes absolutely is worth using, especially if the player is sorely lacking in CC abilities when it’s found.
6Grappling Hookshot & Jump Pad
InShoulders of Giants, there are a good handful of ability pairs that serve a similar function, but Grappling Hookshot and Jump Pad serve almost the exact same specific function, which is the function of getting around the map. When Grappling Hookshot is used, Frog fires a Grappling Hook that either pulls it and GERM to the hook or pulls enemies towards them. It’s notnearly as fun as the Grappling Hook in other games, but it’s functional.
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And, it functions as a traversal tool and a CC ability. Meanwhile, Jump Pad causes Frog to spawn a small glowing jump pad at the crosshair location that launches anything that touches a good distance into the air. This is also used a lot for traversal but can be great for placing underneath a specific enemy to displace them by having them bounce up and down constantly.
5Missile Burst
Up now is another ability that isn’t much to look at, but has a ton of utility. With this ability, players can look in the general direction of what they want to do damage to and feel comfortable knowing this ability will 100 percent deal said damage.
When used, Missile Burst automatically hones in on up to 5 targets in sight. The damage output isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s enough to help out and the fact that players don’t need to aim is a huge help in terms of convenience.
4Standard Shipping
This one takes some careful planning to use properly, but when used correctly is massively useful. Standard Shipping quite literally ‘calls’ in a package for Frog and Germ, with them picking an area for the package to land in. After around 5 seconds, the package lands, dealing tons of damage in the area where it hits.
The damage on this ability can’t be understated, it’s likely the most damage a single ability (that isn’t a one-time use) can do to a single target at once, but with how often enemies move around and how often Frog and GERM have to stay moving, it can be difficult to line up. That said, a lot of bosses stay pretty stationary, so it’s particularly useful against them.
3Burst Fire
While this next ability may seem a bit boring compared to abilities that spawn holograms or jump pads, it’s by far one of the strongest in the game. It’s called Burst Fire (a term whichany gamer is probably familiar with), and all it does is instantly force Frog’s currently equipped Weapon to fire in rapid succession, multiple times.
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Now, depending on the weapon (such as the Flamecaster or SMG), this may not be worth picking up, but on most Weapons it’s great and with some specific ones it’s incredible. In particular, using this with the Shotgun or Rocket Launcher is enough to carry an entire run with this ability alone.
2Auto Turret
In second place is another ability that works on its own once cast, just like Froggie’s Decoy. It’s called Auto Turret, and it just spawns a turret at the crosshair location that automatically fires at nearby enemies.
The reason this is ranked so high, despite not doing much immediate damage, is that the damage output is actually absurdly high, but most players don’t notice since it has dealt over a decent amount of time. Not only that, but players can have multiple Auto Turrets active at once, depending on the ability level and what ranks they have in cooldown Skills. Usually, abilities like this would automatically disable the first Turret if a second one was put down, but not inShoulders of Giants.
1Sticky Grenade
And, in first place, is probably one of the least creative abilities in the game, Sticky Grenade. Grenades are commonplace in just about any modern game with guns, so Sticky Grenade is pretty boring, from a design standpoint. That said, its utility and damage output are far too amazing for players to ignore. When triggered, Sticky Grenade fires a grenade from Frog’s Weapon that will stick to anything hit before exploding shortly after. This is usually already enough to half-clear or full-clear the smaller Monoliths based on placement.
But, if players manage to get a higher-level version that fires three Grenades in a fan formation, it’s an easy win. The amount of damage three Sticky Grenades will do to a boss, even on higher-Heat planets, is a third to half of their health at once. Keep an eye out for the Demolition GERM Cores, and if a player happens to get one with a higher-level Sticky Grenade by default, the game is about to get a whole lot easier.
Shoulders of Giantsis available now on Xbox and PC.
