Blog talk:Shovel Knight/@comment-26026368-20150214172447/@comment-4511886-20150214231416

Take your time in going through each area and look around for visual hints, like enemies in the distance or alternate paths. Also remember to always stay as calm as possible. Rushing through areas and panicking over the fifteen things chasing after you won't do you any good, but killing them one by one will let you get through relatively safely.

I would personally say that you shouldn't glorify 100% physical shields. They're amazing, yes, but you'll do fine even if you only have 80% as long as you don't take unnecessary hits. Putting all your faith into your shield is likely to get you stunlocked if you don't watch your stamina, especially early on. Having a direct cost (HP loss) for blocking will get you into the habit of picking your blocks better, which in turn will pay off in the long run.

I guess in the end, being careful and putting minor cripples on yourself will be the best way to approach the game. Sure, you'll progress much slower, but you'll learn a lot more from it, if you're patient enough, and being patient is what this game is about, atleast in the beginning.