By far the best run with Karl I've had so, far (EDIT: ok that was written halfway thru run. It got even easier, waaaaay easy. Easiest run out of any character.)
Referencing screenshot above: This guy said he summoned a "Skeletal HORDE!". No, sorry that's not a horde really... I wish I had a picture of how many skeletons I had on the screen; it was about 5 times what he's doing once I got the longevity upgrade. But he does have some nice videos regardless.
RITUALS
Note:You gotta keep on picking Skeleton upgrades to get the super good skellie upgrades it seems. I need to look at my actual picks, but I bet it was only one or two other things besides Skellies.
Skeletal arcana - lvl 2. Makes skellies when use an arcana.
Skeleton dust - lvl 1. skels spawn w/ 3 sonic booms!!
Later got the 100% longer life skellies, 3 sonic booms on skellies, then drop throw-bones skellies, then 4 sec invulnerable + faster move thing for skellies (was all that rituals, I think so?). And I think that is roughly the order you get them in.
Not important rituals-
Lightning crit level 1 - barely ever mattered.
Tornado skill lvl 2 - never mattered.
ARCANA
The Harpoon one. Important bcuz pushes enemies back while skellies protect you, which also keeps them at bay usually. And note… i have (typing as playing, it was offered to me midway thru) Rifle Bullet too, but it is not good for keepaway karl bcuz no pushback.
Got 5 mana chunks (picked option for 2 extra but lower dmg).
INSPIRATION
Reload! Gotta have it.
Just shoot and stay on one side. Shooting the harpoon is a little tricky to aim, but once you nail a boss, just keep it up. I often would shoot one, reload, shoot one, reload if I was ever low on mana to slowly inch back (-1, +2, -1, +2) to full.
STUFF
Bone drop skellies. - came into play here and there at the end, yep.
Invul skellies for 4 secs, and run fast. Sonic boom skellies.
Reload mana. Critical for build.
5 mana chunks bar. *** Important... more mana bars means more skellies and more leniency on reloading mana.
Got 50% chrg up arcana. Not important really, but did use it a couple times on end bosses, nice to have.
THOUGHTS
You dont need combo items.
Dont need air items.
Do crit items help.? Doubt it.
Need boots run speed? Doubt it.
Skellies distract headcrabs.
Harpoon pins Astra… Aslan,… Assslam… whatever his name is… to the wall easily protecting you. Had a ton of hp left… wonder if can deflect final final boss’s nuke autokill??
CONCLUSION
Yep. Broke-crashed game at final final boss. Luckily it restarted in elevator . Had so many skeletons and then so many bones on the ground. (transitioning screens, skels disappear usually) so, it was all the bones on ground and me speeding up stuff near the end i think. Crash reported.
But yeah, new hi score of 76,695 with Karl. Did 48,310 dmg all run. Best combo dmg 1884. Easiest run, without a doubt. Mass mass skeletons. You get 4 sec fast and invulnerable skellies near end. And spawn bones to throw. Just shoot and stay on one side. Shooting the harpoon is a little tricky to aim, but once you nail a boss, just keep it up. I often would shoot one, reload, shoot one, reload if I was ever low on mana to slowly inch back (-1, +2, -1, +2) to full.