Iconoclasts Beginner Tips - Tools, Tweaks, and Bosses

This guide covers the standalone base game Iconoclasts, the single-player action-platform adventure by Joakim Sandberg. It does not cover the soundtrack, demo material, or a separate add-on campaign. Use it for a first playthrough where you want to understand Robin’s tools, the Tweak system, boss pressure, and when to think about completion cleanup.

Content note: Iconoclasts is rated Teen with blood, language, suggestive themes, use of tobacco, and violence. This guide stays non-graphic and focused on play.

Iconoclasts looks like a colorful platformer, but it asks you to solve rooms and bosses by changing tools, watching machinery, and managing small passive bonuses. Treat every new mechanic as both a puzzle key and a combat option.

Essential Tips

1. Think Like a Mechanic First

Most obstacles are asking what Robin can operate, not just what she can shoot.

The wrench is a weapon, but it is also your habit-forming puzzle tool. When you enter a room, look for bolts, moving parts, switches, conductors, thin platforms, and spaces that suggest a specific tool angle. If you only scan for enemies, you will miss the logic of the room and spend longer trying random jumps.

Build a simple loop: move through the room once, identify what reacts to wrench use or shots, then commit.

2. Get Comfortable Switching Shots

Iconoclasts expects you to change tools mid-route.

Robin’s kit is not one gun with bigger upgrades. Shooting, wrench use, and bullet switching are separate actions, and later tools change what routes are possible. Practice switching before combat gets stressful, especially when a room combines platforming with enemies or timed machinery.

The Roller Bomb Shot is a good example of why this matters. Its standard shot, charged shot, overheating behavior, platform interaction, and electrified use are all different. If a bomb is failing to reach something, adjust charge timing, angle, or electrification instead of assuming the room is impossible.

3. Choose Difficulty for Learning, Not Pride

The mode changes how much room you have to study bosses.

Relaxed Mode exists if you want the story, puzzles, and basic routing with far less health pressure. Standard Mode is the normal first-clear lane. Harder Mode increases boss pressure, and post-clear modes go further. If your goal is to learn rooms and systems, Standard is a reasonable starting point; if bosses are blocking your enjoyment, stepping down is a practical choice.

Challenge Mode and Boss Rush are better treated as second-run material. They assume you already recognize attacks, understand tool use, and can live with tighter punishment.

4. Use Tweaks as a Build, Not Decorations

Only three equipped slots means every passive effect should have a job.

Tweaks are crafted bonuses, and equipped Tweaks break when Robin takes damage. That makes them less like permanent stat upgrades and more like a fragile build you maintain through clean play. Pick them around the problem in front of you: extra movement for platforming, wrench help for close-range fights, breath support for water or gas, or protection when you are learning a dangerous boss.

Iron Heart is especially useful while learning because it can absorb one hit before the rest of your plan collapses. Fleet Foot and Tool Assist are straightforward comfort picks. More specialized Tweaks should come in when the room or boss clearly rewards them.

5. Repair Broken Tweaks Actively

A broken Tweak slot is a warning that your build is no longer doing its job.

When you take damage, Tweaks break from right to left. You can repair them by collecting Ivory Squares from enemies, objects, or unlocked paths. Do not ignore this between fights. If you enter a boss with your key defensive or movement bonus broken, the fight may feel harder than it needs to be.

After a rough room, restore what you can before pushing forward.

6. Treat Bosses as Puzzle Fights

Many bosses are about reading the arena before chasing damage.

Iconoclasts puts heavy weight on boss battles. Start each boss by watching what the arena provides: climbable space, platforms, machinery, projectile lanes, safe corners, or tool targets. Your first goal is not maximum damage; it is learning which attack can be avoided consistently and which tool creates an opening.

If you lose, ask one concrete question before retrying: was the problem movement, tool choice, Tweak setup, or impatience? That keeps retries useful.

7. Respect the Roller Bomb’s Timing

A bomb that misses may have been released at the wrong charge, not aimed wrong.

The Roller Bomb Shot overheats after use, so every shot has a timing cost. Standard bombs roll and can interact with thin platforms in specific ways. Charged shots become missiles only after a short travel period. Electrified shots can activate power-related objects.

Use that information deliberately. Tap, partial charge, full charge, and electrified use are different answers. When a puzzle involves power supplies or conductors, consider whether the bomb needs help from the Galvanization Wrench rather than another route around the room.

8. Save and Rebuild Before Major Pushes

Save statues are also where your equipped Tweak plan comes together.

Because Tweaks can be equipped at save statues, do not treat saves as a simple checkpoint. Each save is a chance to ask what the next stretch is likely to test. If you have been exploring underwater or in hazardous air, Breathless may matter. If a boss is close, Iron Heart or direct combat comfort may be stronger. If you are cleaning up missed paths, movement support can save frustration.

This habit also helps in New Game+ planning, where materials, Tweaks, and schematics can carry forward.

9. Leave 100% Routing for a Dedicated Pass

First clears and completion routes ask different things from you.

Iconoclasts has enough item, schematic, quest, boss, and route detail to justify separate completion planning. On a first playthrough, open chests you can reach, pay attention to suspicious dead ends, and remember spots that clearly need a later tool. Do not turn every locked path into a long detour before you know whether your current kit can solve it.

Once you understand the full toolset, a cleanup pass becomes much more efficient.

Combat and Boss Habits

Situation	Strong Habit	Why It Helps
New room	Identify bolts, switches, thin platforms, and conductors	Reveals the intended tool logic
Enemy pressure	Keep moving before committing to shots	Prevents panic trades
Boss opener	Watch a full pattern cycle when possible	Makes retries faster and cleaner
Bomb puzzle	Test charge timing and electrified use	The same tool has several behaviors
Broken Tweaks	Repair before the next major fight	Keeps your build active
Repeated deaths	Change Tweak setup or difficulty	Solves the actual source of friction

Tweaks and Completion Planning

Tweak or System	Best Early Use	Practical Note
Iron Heart	Learning dangerous rooms and bosses	Absorbs one damage event before breaking
Tool Assist	Close-range wrench comfort	Helps when you are using the wrench often
Fleet Foot	Platforming and cleanup movement	Small speed gains can reduce awkward jumps
Spindle	Wrench-spin-heavy sections	Useful when a room asks for sustained wrench use
Shock Value	Electrified tool puzzles	Helps when power routing is the main problem
Breathless	Water or gas pressure	Equip before the hazard, not after struggling
Detonator	Bomb control	Strong when remote timing matters
Meditation	Slow repair while crouching	Better when you can afford safe pauses
New Game+	Second-run cleanup	Carries materials, Tweaks, and schematics
Boss Rush	Post-clear challenge	Learn main-game bosses first

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Do not treat the wrench as only a melee attack - It is also central to room logic and machinery.

2. Do not ignore bullet switching in calm rooms - Practice tool changes before a boss demands them.

3. Do not enter every boss with the same Tweaks - Rebuild around the fight you are actually facing.

4. Do not push forward with broken Tweaks - Repairing them can be the difference between control and panic.

5. Do not assume every locked path is solvable now - Some cleanup is easier after more tools.

6. Do not spam Roller Bomb shots without reading their behavior - Standard, charged, and electrified uses solve different problems.

7. Do not pick Harder Mode just to prove a point - First learn patterns, then chase stricter challenges.

8. Do not turn Boss Rush into your first boss lesson - It is post-clear pressure built for players who already know the fights.

9. Do not skip suspicious side spaces forever - Mark them mentally for a later completion pass.

Summary

Category	Top Tip
Scope	Play the standalone base game route before chasing post-clear modes
Exploration	Read each room for machinery, conductors, and tool targets
Combat	Learn boss patterns before forcing damage
Tools	Switch shots often and test charge behavior
Roller Bomb	Use timing and electrification intentionally
Tweaks	Equip a three-slot plan for the next challenge
Repair	Restore broken Tweaks before major fights
Difficulty	Use Standard or Relaxed to learn, then revisit harder modes
Completion	Save 100% routing for a second pass with the full kit