Mewgenics’ ‘Waste Time’ ability is actually overpowered

If you’re playing the excellent cat breeding roguelike Mewgenics, you’ve probably come across an ability that sounds totally useless: Waste Time. If you took a chance on it with the hope Waste Time would reveal itself to be a good spell down the line, you likely walked away doubly confused. But what if I told you that Waste Time — alongside many of Mewgenics‘ seemingly pointless abilities — is one of the best power-ups you can have?

At first glance, there’s nothing notable about the Waste Time. It does what it says on the tin: for the price of one mana, “Do nothing.” And sure, its upgraded version is slightly more practical in that it allows you to gain one charge that stacks on your next turn. But why would anyone choose this apparently futile upgrade path over literally anything else?

The answer largely depends on what classes you are running, and what other abilities you have. Waste Time is fantastic under specific circumstances, like if you have any of the numerical passives that will only pop if you end a turn with an exact amount of mana. Since Waste Time costs one mana, you can use it as many times as needed.

But Waste Time has a number of great synergies beyond just using up your mana. If you’re a mage, you could pair Waste Time with Crescendo, which gains one extra damage and range while lowering its cost per spell you cast. Waste Time is also great with Resonance, which gives you one extra damage with every spell you cast.

Waste Time isn’t just useful if you’re a mage, though. Many classes have abilities that scale depending on either how many spells you’ve cast or how much mana you have. Psychic, for example, has access to an ability called Mental Storm which will give you extra mana charges based on the number of spells you’ve cast. If you’re running Monk, there’s a move that increases its damage based on how many actions you’ve taken that turn — including Waste Time, ironically enough.

We can’t forget about the Necromancer’s Mama Leech passive, which creates a bloodsucker every three times you cast a spell. And what about the passive that doubles your health regeneration if you end your turn with zero mana? Really, there’s a lot of room for creativity here. You could Waste Time baiting an enemy to throw away their counter spells. You could equip items like the Two of Spades, which double casts any spells that cost one or two mana.

With the right combination of powers and equipment, an ability that seemed to have zero use can suddenly enable a monstrous combo within just a couple of turns. I’ve seen reports of people using Waste Time to deal hundreds of points in damage in a single go through a clever combination of abilities that stack Sparkle and damage. Mewgenics has only been out for a couple of weeks, so these synergies are merely what fans have found thus far. (The game’s creators say fans could spend months or years finding every secret.)

Image: Edmund McMillen/Tyler Glaiel

Waste Time is not an anomaly, either. Based on more than 100 hours of game time, I’ve found that the more bizarre the ability sounds, the more useful it turns out to be. Eating rocks is a great power. The passive that knocks down your intelligence to zero can break the game. The abilities that intentionally kill your cat? Don’t even get me started. I will say this: Necromancer is my favorite class for a reason.

So if you’re ever considering throwing a cat down the trash chute because it has “bad” abilities, pause and consider your options. Look at the abilities your other cats have, or the items you’ve stored away. With the right strategy and just enough luck, there’s always a chance that the ability that sounds silly is quietly a total game-changer.