Yolo Room is the seventh room of Zi, the third area. Regardless of category, you will have to pass through this room; it's too early in the game for any route to make a difference in how this room is performed.
Taking a hit from a hopper deals 40 damage. Taking a hit from a dragon deals 75 damage. Taking a hit from a wall's green bullet deals 100 damage. Don't let that one happen.
There are many ways to perform this room, each having different skill and health requirements. However, it is worth noting for all methods that the hoppers drop significant pools of health when the player is below about 100 hp, or 1 bar of health. They take 8 kilver shots to kill. Below are some methods possible for the room; feel free to mix and match portions or to create your own strategy from scratch.
The safe method is the way most new players would complete the room with: kill every enemy while avoiding taking hits as much as possible. In this method, it can be prudent to damage yourself early to get the hopper's health drop as soon as possible. This method is quite slow, but is recommended for new runners who aren't comfortable with the more technical strategies.
Partial yolo is the next step after the safe method, and sometimes still worth doing if the room is entered with low health. The hopper is shot 4 or so times with the kilver, then damage boosted off of to bypass the first two ceiling dragons. At this point, the hopper is killed for health, and the ending may be done as in any other method.
Full yolo is the standard strat for most speedrunners due to its speed while retaining access to the hopper health drop, starting the same as before; however, instead of killing the hopper, it is left at low health so that a single kilver shot can kill him, and is damage boosted off of again to bypass the final two dragons. It is either killed for health during this damage boost or after the dragons depending on personal preference. Demonstrated in "Yolo Comparison" video shown later.
The room can be completed by only killing the walls at the start and end; this is the first method that doesn't get any health pickups. Wait for the first three dragons, and shoot the fourth as you jump over it to slow it down. Expect to take between 40 and 120 damage from the hoppers at the end, depending on how fast the door is killed. This method is about 1 second faster than full yolo. Demonstrated in "Yolo Comparison" video.
In the single dragon method, the first dragon is used to damage boost, and the third is waited for as in pacifist. Expect to take between 115 and 195 damage from the hoppers at the end. This method is about 2 seconds faster than full yolo.
Demonstration video (Full Yolo: top left; Pacifist: bottom left; Single Dragon: top right):
The as-of-yet final method for the room, dragonslayer, requires a damage boost off the first dragon, but a kill on the third. This is the most technical method, but is surprisingly consistent with the right visual cues. This method saves about 4 seconds over full yolo, as does double dragon, but only takes the damage of single dragon, between 115 and 195.
The dragon must be hit a combined total of 5 times with the kilver and the nova, without stopping. To do this, shoot a nova up-right at the line after the 4th block from the left, then a second nova directly right at the flat of the 5th block from the right. Jump soon after, around the 4th block from the right, and you should clear the dragon's tail, at which point you should shoot a nova directly right as high as possible and immediately switch to kilver to shoot the dragon's tail. Jump up onto the platform, sending out a final kilver shot to kill the third dragon and stun the fourth as you jump over.
Timing demonstration image:
Demonstration video:
