Mechanics

Hotbar and Attack Slots Guide | Everything is Crab

By Nocti · Last updated

Harmless removes attack slots; Dove prohibits damage dealt, while Zen also prohibits damage taken. Check the actual goal before changing controls or choosing passive effects.

Practical use

  1. In the Dove discussion, sirlockjaw recommends unbinding attacks and developer OddDreamsDigital endorses the precaution. Unbinding can prevent an accidental button press; it does not remove an equipped attack or disable passive damage.
  2. Read each proposed effect, including contact damage, poison and reflected damage. A passive label, food benefit or charm effect is not proof that all of its consequences meet a no-damage condition. Do not add an effect merely because it has no attack button.
  3. Harmless changes the available attack slots. Dove and Zen are achievement conditions, so an empty slot does not establish a successful run or mode eligibility. Compare the current mode and achievement text before borrowing a challenge route.
  4. After an unintended damage event, identify whether Darwin dealt damage, received damage or both. A healed health bar and a zero-kill total cannot prove the whole-run restrictions. Check the final damage totals and achievement result instead.
  5. Use the planner to organize choices and inspect their descriptions. It does not run combat or verify achievement eligibility, so a saved plan cannot certify a zero-damage result.

Related pages

Beginner First Clear

Plan a Pressure 1 attempt around the cards you can use: reach food, escape dangerous attacks and develop one reliable attack. Compare alternatives before committing upgrades.

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Physical Predator

Direct-contact damage, meat routing, and Physical scaling for players who want bosses to end quickly instead of becoming endurance checks.

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Poison Trickster

Choose a way to apply poison, then build around the openings needed to use it. Compare Spit with Poisonous Saliva, Stinger, and the conditional Pedal Glands route without treating every card as mandatory.

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Three separate checks: ownership, equipment and input

When an attack does not behave as expected, first identify what changed. Acquiring an Evolution, placing an attack in an available slot and assigning the key used to activate it are different parts of the setup. Clearing a key binding changes input; it does not establish that the Evolution has been removed or that every associated effect has stopped.

The distinction matters in ordinary play as well as restricted attempts. A new attack can be owned without being the action you expect a particular button to perform. Conversely, an empty or unbound button does not prove that the run cannot deal contact, reflected or other passive damage. Read the actual effect and equipped setup before diagnosing the problem from the hotbar alone.

Version changes that affect the controls

Version 1.2 fixed a problem that prevented newly acquired attacks, dashes and abilities from being equipped immediately. The patch also made Attack and Dash panels open reliably when enough such options are available in the Evolution screen. If an older video describes waiting before equipping a new action, compare that behavior with the installed version before treating it as an intended requirement.

Controller navigation changed too: the left thumbstick snaps to menu elements, the right thumbstick retains cursor control, and the D-pad can operate scroll bars. These are navigation controls. They do not automatically confirm that an attack is assigned to the button you intend to press in combat. Inspect the final selection before leaving the menu.

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A control check before a restricted attempt

  1. Read the exact objective first. Dove restricts damage dealt; Zen additionally restricts damage received. Harmless changes attack slots. These are different rules even when all three motivate avoiding an attack button.
  2. Inspect the selected effects as well as the active slots. An effect with no manual activation can still matter to the damage condition; changing a keyboard binding does not change that effect’s wording.
  3. If following the developer-endorsed unbinding precaution, confirm which input was removed. Treat the change as protection against an accidental press, not as certification that the complete build is pacifist.
  4. After an unwanted event, distinguish damage dealt from damage taken. Do not use a recovered health bar, a low kill count or the absence of a visible attack animation as a substitute for the relevant result.

FAQ

Does a controller menu improvement change achievement eligibility?

No. The 1.2 controller changes explain how to navigate and select controls. They do not relax a damage condition or establish whether a particular Challenge qualifies for a separate achievement.

Can the planner test my hotbar?

The website planner organizes selected cards and a body preview. It does not execute the game’s input mapping, simulate passive damage or observe a run result. Check the game itself for those behaviors.

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Can I inspect the starting rules on a choice screen?

Yes. The developer describes the Character screen as available during Evolution, Specialisation and Point of Interest selection. Hover the one or two Genetics below Darwin to check their tooltips before committing to the choice.

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Update history

: Separated attack-key bindings, equipped slots and achievement restrictions. Removed the blanket recommendation of passive or charm effects for no-damage goals and clarified that the planner cannot validate combat outcomes.

: Added the immediate-equipping fix, controller navigation changes and Character-screen reminder. Separated ownership, equipment and bindings, retaining the whole-run limits of Dove and Zen.