[0:00]Welcome to the Hero BSS red boosting guide. We have no time to waste, so quickly, I want to talk about the format of this video. First, I'll be going over how to prepare for boost, and what a boost looks like. Then, I'm going to be going more in depth about the main mechanics of red, then I'll cover some general tips. Let's get into it. Preparation. I know every single red boosting guide mentions preparation, so I won't dwindle on it for too long, but the reason why they all mention it is because of how important it is. Some people say preparation is as important as the boost itself, and I would agree. So, what do you need before you boost? Of course there's the obvious things like nectar, wealth clock, and clouds, but there's a lot more. For instance, Robo Party Blessing, which is a 20% buff if you can get it to 100X. And then the stick and puff blessings are about 5% each. Those three things alone, getting those three things alone before you boost, will have you making 1.3 times more. Now, let's talk about Balloon Blessing. Red struggles a lot with capacity, and one of the best ways to deal with that problem is getting a better balloon blessing. I'd recommend boosting with no less than 35x blessing, which is a little more than a 2x capacity multiplier, and should be fairly easy to get just by running a couple booms and farming pepper for 15 minutes with a 4x plus a purple potion. I've already went ahead, and I've calculated the buff from blessings 10 to 100. As you can see, due to diminishing returns, the difference between 50x and 100x isn't actually that big. But every little bit counts, and blessing is definitely a buff you cannot sleep on, making 25% more just because you spend 15 minutes to get a blessing is undeniably worth it. And if you're a white hive watching this for whatever reason, none of this applies to you. Now there's just a couple things left. First off, Beesmas decorations. The helpful ones include on it's lid art, which could give you a Baby Bee and a Festive Bee, the candles, and the Honey Wreath, which gives you a Honey Bee. All of these summon bees last for 30 minutes of your boost and will help you at least a little bit. Now, let's talk about Mondo Chick. You should be killing this right before you boost. Usually, I like to be up in mountain at least two minutes before it spawns, so I can stack up precision and kill it really quick. Here's the buff Mondo gives with different stacks. As you can see, it's pretty easily a 7% buff, and if you're good, you could get as high as a 9% buff. Now, the final thing I want to talk about is the sticker stack. Every buff in the stack is important, but some more than others. These are the stats that are really important. If a sticker gives one of these buffs, you want to get it, but there's five stats in particular, which are the best ones, being these ones. And that's it. Here's a demonstration of all the things you should do before you boost. One, make sure you get your balloon blessing, robo party buff, and your puff buff up. On Honey Day, you can also get the nymph one. Make sure your sticker stack is active, a red drive is your last used, and snowflakes built up, then head to Mondo. While waiting for Mondo to spawn, you can move your alts to pepper. Two, once killing Mondo, go activate any of the Beesmas decorations you have available. Honey Wreath will be there every single hour. Then, head up to Pepper Field. Once getting in pepper, use a glitter right away. You'll be boosting in pepper regardless of what winds you get, since it's just the best red field. 15 seconds after using your glitter, refresh your precision and go donate to the shrine. Here's a list of items and their probabilities to give pepper winds. As you can see, Atomic Treat and Mythic Egg are really good options on Honey Day, but two purple potions is a pretty good chance of getting pepper winds as well. Once the wind spawn and you get pepper, pick it up and head to the field. Use a loaded dice right away and start your saw macro. Once your first scorch starts, pop a smoothie and enjoy your boost. But, 15 minutes in, pop a glitter to extend your 4x. 20 minutes in, pop a second smoothie, and 25 minutes in, start rolling dice to extend your 4x. That's all there is to it. Now onto the next section of this video. This is where we're going to be talking about the actual mechanics of red. But quick disclaimer, I made this guide to the best of my ability, but it won't replace experience and practice. Remember this while boosting and try to keep an open mind to your ability to improve. There is always room for improvement. Try not to assume you just got unlucky. Take accountability for how much honey you made, and you'll do better next time. All right, let's start off with buffs. For the rest of this guide, whenever I say buffs, I'm referring to these things. Baby Love. 2x pollen buff, Bear Morph, also a 2x pollen buff, but Mother Bear also buffs BGP, which buffs Smileys. Inspire, 2x buff that increases by 1x every stack. Very good if you can get extensions on it. Dark Heat. Refer to the table below for how big of a buff it is. G of X is the relative multiplier from the previous. For example, 1.4x is a 1.16x buff from 1.2x. Additionally, Dark Heat helps keep your bag under check. Precise Marks. These are a 1.86x multiplier which is broken down into 1.25x from the first mark, 1.23x from the second mark, and 1.2x from the third mark. Petals. These are a variety of buffs, but mainly Red Petal, which is 2x red pollen. Scarlet Petal, which is 2x Flames Pollen, Pink Petal, which is 2x from Smileys, and then there's the others too, which give good buffs. X-Flame. Same buff as Dark Heat, but important because you can time it and it collects pollen itself. Scorching Star. Refer to the table below for buff size. It also gives 50% Flame IC. Festive Gift. 1.5x pollen and 100% instant conversion. Completely takes the luck out of targets and Smileys hitting. It makes all pollen you collect become honey. The tokens also last a while on the ground so you can time it. Coconut Combo. I'm assuming you want a full combo, so let's just say this is a 1.25x buff. But that's enough of a buff, which lasts for long enough to make it worth catching at least the first one. Corruption. While this is active, duped tokens will hit for multiple times more, and Smileys will be able to spawn. Cloud Buff. 25% pollen, which is like a 10% buff. And that's it. Try to remember these, because we will be talking about buffs a lot, and you need to know what I'm talking about. All right, let's get into how red makes honey and its pollen sources. Before we talk about anything in the field, I think it's important to break down how red actually makes honey and where its pollen comes from. So, starting off, Red makes 98% of its honey from instant conversion and supercrits. What this means is that red is all about pollen collection, and your goal is to increase that. And the general strategy revolves around upkeeping things like precise marks and petals, while timing the buffs you can control, and making honey when you get good lineups, usually with things like Inspire or high Dark Heat. Before we talk about how to do this, let's cover where the pollen actually comes from. Here you go. All right, let's break this down. First off, basically, we can disregard these things. Those pollen sources are going to be pretty consistent regardless of what we do, so we don't need to focus on them. That leaves us with these three things, Flames, Smileys, and Targets, which I'm sure you were expecting, but it's still useful in for a couple of reasons. From this, we can gather that unless we have some insane Smiley specific lineup or extra time to hit them, Targets should always be your highest priority pollen source, and Flames can't be neglected and forgotten either. If 17% of our pollen is from Flames, it's very important you're making sure to convert every single one to extend their lifespan and get the Dark Heat buff, which has the added benefit of both the SCP multiplier and extra scorch growth. So, how do we actually do this? When Off-Scorch. When you're off-scorch, your main priority is getting ready for your next scorch. It's all about scorch, okay? What this means is upkeeping your petals, getting precise marks, and working to time your X-Flame. Let's go over what these things look like. Timing X-Flame. All right, basically, you want to pay attention to two things. One, where your X-Flame is at, and two, where your scorch is at. X-Flame activates at 25 and grows with Battle Tokens, which consist of primarily these, and Scorch activates at 30 and grows with Boost Tokens. Ideally, you want to time activating both of these things together, which helps you quickly grow your star and also guarantee a second X-Flame later in the scorch, used to both buff and make honey. How I usually do this is I try to activate my X-Flame when my scorch is near 6-10, which lets it come off cooldown when my scorch is almost ready. Then, I can just focus on hitting precise targets to quickly build up the X-Flame and activate it when I activate my scorch. Sometimes you might mess this up. Sometimes your scorch might be close and your X-Flame isn't, or the opposite. In that case, it's up to you to fix it. If your X-Flame is low, then focus on hitting all your targets to get more Battle Tokens and less Boost Tokens. And the inverse is true too. If your X-Flame is close, try to get as little targets as possible. Remember, when starting out with red boosting, you might not be too good about this, but it's very important that you practice it and stay consistent, because timing your X-Flame is probably one of the most vital skills you can have as a red hive. Petals. The second main mechanic we should talk about is petals, because they offer the biggest buff and also require the most attention. Let's put it this way, petals are so good that if they despawn before your scorch, it's basically over until they come back. These are the petals you can get in pepper. This one gives you 2x Red Pollen, this one gives you 2x BGP, this one gives you 2x Flame Pollen, this one gives 1CC, this one gives 1.25x Mythic Pollen, and this one gives 5x SCC, okay? Not only are these all absolutely huge buffs, they also give a lot of UIC. And that is where petals really shine. If you don't have petals, your backpack is basically eternally dead, which makes bees spawn less tokens, leading to less marks and flames, and also making abilities less likely to collect your pollen, because if your bag is full, the ability doesn't even get a chance to collect pollen. But yeah, like I said, petals help drastically with this. Picking up one unique petal type gives 40 UIC, which equates to about 1.66x more capacity. And that equates to about 16% more honey, but more importantly, helps to fix your overflowing problem, and all that is not to mention the actual pollen buff from them. The main one you need to be prioritizing keeping up is the Red Petal, since it gives 2x Red Pollen, which buffs everything, but you also need to be on the lookout for Pink Petals, since they make Smileys collect double, as well as Scarlet Petals, which double Flame Pollen. Here's some random tips I have for petals. One, move as little as possible while upkeeping your petals. If you already have 100x of a petal, just be picking up enough to upkeep the buff, rather than continuing to pick up as many as you can. Two, pay attention to unique petals and try to prioritize picking them up. Sure, Green Petal isn't very good, but for the 10 seconds that you have it, your bag will be much better. Additionally, petals like Pink or Violet or Periwinkle are very good and also give the same capacity buff. Three, pay attention to the bloom size. What I mean by this is how many petals are on a bloom. More petals equals older bloom, which means it will go away soon and vice versa. This might not seem that useful, but knowing how long you have left on your petals can become a helpful factor in deciding whether you want to hit a Smiley, want to start a scorch early, use an F-beam, a bloom shaker, it's just useful information to have, and it's not hard to get. Four, at different times of the day, the bloom quality will be different. This applies to both in-game time and real time. For example, I've noticed that if I boost around 6 to 11 p.m. EST, I get much better bloom spawns during my boost. Although, these times could be different depending on what region you live in. Precise Marks. Next, let's talk about precise marks. I often see beginner Reds fully neglect these during scorches, which is truly detrimental. It might seem crazy, but having three precise marks active is a 1.86x pollen multiplier, as well as reducing the luck in your Smileys and Targets and helping to increase your mark upkeep. As a beginner, it's good to get into the habit of getting more precise marks than you need. There is no such thing as too many. Whenever you don't have a lineup which makes targets worth getting, just get precise marks. One of the best tips I can give to beginners, which happens to apply to precise marks, is that you have so much more time than you think. When the precise bee flies up into the air, you have time to decide what you want to do. Red boosting isn't something that I would describe as reactionary or high pressure. You have time to make decisions, and if you use it, you'll usually do better. The reason why I'm talking about this is because that's how I decide how I'm going to move to get my precise marks. I watch the precise bee fly up, I look at the targets on the field, and I take the easiest route to get there, which sometimes includes running outside of the field. So, as a recap, having precise marks means you make 80% more. You need them. They help with mark upkeep and you have plenty of time to get them. Do not neglect precise marks. Flames. As I mentioned before, Flames account for 17% of the boost, which by the way, was tested for without Fire Bee or Flame Pollen on the cog, which means they could be as high as 25%. What this means is that you need to really focus on keeping them alive for as long as possible. You should also be trying to keep track of places on the field where there's lots of flames, since these make good spots to stand during scorches, and you should also be keeping track of the age of the Flames on the field. Ideally, you want to convert the flames as close to the end of their duration as possible, but honestly, what matters more is just making sure to convert them, since they give a huge buff and just collect a lot of pollen. What makes Flames so good for collecting pollen is how consistent they are. Since when you're on scorch, they get 100% instant conversion, meaning their honey per second directly scales with your active buffs. This makes things like extending your Inspire stacks, keeping up your Red and Scarlet Petals, and catching lights more important than ever. Honey-making. Now, I'm going to try and keep this as simple as possible. All honey making boils down to is maintaining the buffs that you do have while trying to get new buffs, while hitting targets, flames, and Smileys. It's all about quality over quantity. That's all it really is, okay? But obviously, doing that is nowhere as easy as it sounds, so I have some tips for you. One, as ever mentioned, most of your honey comes when you're on Scorching Star. Only about 15% of the honey you make in a boost will come from off-scorch lineups. So, just setting up for the next scorch and trying to fit as many as you can into a boost is just better. Two, while on Scorching Star, it's very important that you take time to build it up. I know this seems like something they say in every boosting guide, but that's cuz it's true. Your star starts out as a 2x Red Pollen multiplier, and by 10K, that's increased to 5x, which is 2.5 times better. Something most of those guides don't mention is that you can still make good honey while growing it, as long as you make sure to maintain your buffs. Given you have blooms and precise marks, growing your star is as worth it as hitting targets, especially since your star gives you 50% Flame Conversion, which added on top of the 50 you your Demon Mask gives you, means Flames get fully converted. Additionally, most of the honey you make in a scorch is in its last 20 seconds anyways, which means you have time to grow your scorch and it's fully worth it to do. Like I said, given you also maintain your buffs, you should be able to make good honey while growing the star. Three, priority. I often get asked what you should prioritize in a scorch, and the answer is that honestly, it depends on the case, and you'll have to use your own judgment. The best thing I can do is explain what the three abilities do, and you'll have to decide every time you get a lineup which one you should go for first. A, Flames. Flames are really good, passive, and consistent honey. If you get a lineup and go for Dark Flames first, your bag will be better, and you have much higher SCP when you hit things that collect higher pollen like Targets and Smileys. B, Smileys. These are the highest source of burst pollen in the game. Additionally, they buff pollen from duped tokens and activate all the duped tokens above the field. Generally, when getting a lineup, these should be the first thing you go for, but you only get a couple in a scorch, and there's a chance a Smiley doesn't supercrit or your bag is full when you hit it, which means it will collect nothing. So you have to decide whether or not hitting the Smiley is really worth it. And C, Targets. These are the second highest source of burst pollen in the game, and they have the added benefit of there being three of them, which increases the chances that at least one of them will hit. Additionally, they have the added benefit of being a token link, making them good to hit before you hit a Smiley. So, to recap, Flames are consistent and buff other abilities, but collect much less burst pollen. Smileys have the highest burst pollen and activate/buff all other duped tokens, but you don't get many. Targets will usually have at least one hit for a good amount, and they pick up tokens if you hit all three. Four, really pay attention to your buffs, and also try to pay attention to what buffs you don't have and how long it's been since you've had them. For example, if it's been 10 seconds since your Bear Morph ended, it might be worth holding off on a Smiley until you get one. Same thing goes for falling lights, which spawn every 30 seconds. You don't need to count out the timer, but you should try to pay attention to whether or not they're about to spawn. Because if you delay a Smiley and you end up catching a bunch of falling lights, you'll get a lot more pollen from it. That being said, you also have to consider if you're going to lose any of your current buffs. For example, it's not worth losing 2x Inspire to wait for a Pink Petal before hitting a Smiley, because the 2x Inspire is a 3x buff, whereas the Pink Petal is only a 2x. It's only worth waiting if you can actually likely increase your total buff. Five, final recap. When trying to make honey, pay attention to your buffs. If you don't have buffs, make sure to focus on building your Scorching Star and maintaining your marks, especially the precise ones. Then, when you do get buffs, go crazy making honey and try to remember what each ability does so you know what to go for. General Tips. In this section, I'll just be talking about a whole bunch of random stuff, which I try to do and helps me out. When starting out with boosting, try to keep it simple and stick to the basics. If you try to do every strategy I explained right away, will probably just overwhelm yourself. So you have to keep it simple. What I'd recommend is forgetting about timing X-Flame and just focusing on keeping up petals and precise marks and growing your Scorching Star. Always catch your first combo that drops. Even at 1x, you'll already be making 25% more for the next 30 seconds. Then, I usually try to keep it till scorch, but it is very distracting to do so, and it's much more important to keep up other things like petals and marks and your X-Flame timing. So, it's okay to drop your Coconut Combo if you need to. Be very intentional with your movement. You have more time than you think to hit stuff, but by being intentional, you can save even more time and avoid potentially missing out on honey cuz you wasted time in your lineup. Try to catch coconuts to refresh your haste stack. The worst thing that can happen is losing haste, and it's very preventable if you just pay attention and catch coconuts. Duped tokens above the field which get picked up by a Smiley apply to the Smiley. This goes for all things. Say you picked up a duped bear when you hit a Smiley, that Smiley will hit for double. Same for Inspire, same for Baby Love, and so on. Additionally, if there's a duped token link above the field, any tokens that pick up from that will also be applied to the Smiley. And furthermore, if any of those tokens get duped, they also get applied to the Smiley. If you want proof of this, watch this clip.
[19:19]As you can see, the player has no Bear Morph, but upon picking up the Smiley, which activates the token link, he instantly gets two Bear Morphs, which get applied to the Smiley. I guess if you want to take this as a tip, Smileys have extra value if a duped token link is over the field as well.
[19:38]For Bear Morph, simply just avoid picking up until you're on scorch. Ideally, you can pick it up 15 seconds into the scorch, so it'll last till the end. Hopefully, you get double bear. For Baby Love, try to pick it up when you notice your Baby Love is about to run out, so you can get a full extension. For Inspire, either pick it up when you already have a good stack going, which you want to extend, or just leave it above the field to be picked up when you hit a Smiley, which also works out nice for hitting the duped targets afterwards. Make sure to check the ground for Inspire before picking it up though, since you could potentially be missing out on an extra five seconds of Inspire, which brings us to the next tip. Pay attention to what is on the ground. It sounds so obvious, but it's true. You shouldn't just be relying on token links to pick up tokens for you. You should be searching the ground for stuff you want. Try to keep up your Cloud Buff. It's only a 1.1x, but that all adds up. However, if you need to sacrifice other buffs to get the Cloud Buff or it's too hard to do, don't worry about it. Try to stay in your marks as much as possible. One of the worst things that can happen is having a bunch of duped targets hit the ground while you're outside of the marks, meaning you'll miss out on the 1.86x from precise marks and the 2.5x from the pollen marks. Also, since Flames do in fact collect good pollen, any time you're out of your marks, you'll also be losing a lot of honey from them. However, if you need to leave your marks to get things like precise marks, petals, falling lights, or whatever, that's fine. Don't get discouraged mid-boost because it's not going well. Try to keep your spirits and don't fall for the rage bait that red boosting tries to cause you. If you're happy while you boost, generally, you'll boost for more and fumble less lineups. When using an F-bean, try to time it with a good lineup at the start of a scorch. This could be like a double bear plus petals or just some crazy amount of petals in general. Whatever it is, you don't want to waste your F-beans cuz you get so little of them. So ensuring that at least the first scorch in an F-bean is good will help to not waste them. When hitting stuff, try to pay attention to how much those abilities hit for and try to remember what lineup you had. That way, in the future, you can get a good estimate for how much stuff should hit for, which will help you decide whether or not you want to hit targets right away, or wait for something better, etcetera. Try to limit your movement as much as possible. You don't need to be constantly running in circles. Not only does that cause keyboard clutter and is probably distracting, but also your bees will make less tokens, and you don't want that. Of course, you still need to move for so many things in a red boost that this is kind of a niche tip. All right, that's it. I hope this was helpful, and I'm sorry that it took me a month to make. I've been really busy, and also I've been very lazy. Um, if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask in the comments. I'll try and answer as many as I can. Additionally, I stream boosting pretty often, so if you want to drop by, maybe you can learn something else. Good luck with your boosts. And now I'm going to let the scorch play out to extend the run time, but also because it's a pretty good scorch.
