Ritual candles are among the most intriguing and strategically powerful items in Cassette Beasts, especially for players exploring the post-game content. If you’re aiming to chase down rare bootleg variants, or simply want to manipulate fusion outcomes, mastering the use of ritual candles is essential. This guide walks you through every step—practical, tactical, and a bit experimental—on how to properly use this unique item.

Step One: Requirements and Setup

Before anything else, make sure you’ve defeated all Ranger Captains. This is a hard requirement. Without doing so, Wilma—the in-game vendor tied to this process—won’t have the ritual candles in stock. You’ll find her in town, and her shop becomes crucial once you’re ready to begin your ritual hunt.

Once you’ve confirmed the candles are available, head into your settings and disable auto-save. This step may seem optional at first, but it’s absolutely critical. Since ritual candles cost 50 credits and their effects are tied to random outcomes, disabling auto-save lets you reload and retry if you don’t get the bootleg you’re after. It’s your safety net against bad RNG.

Step Two: Buying and Understanding the Ritual Candle

After disabling auto-save, go ahead and purchase a ritual candle. Now, this item’s description can be a bit mysterious:

“Burn this candle and then sacrifice or recycle a recorded tape to influence the next fusion you encounter. It will have a chance to contain a bootleg that matches either the type or species of the tape you sacrificed.”

In simpler terms, the candle acts like a summoning beacon. You’re offering up a tape—say, a Trafficrab—and in return, the next fusion encounter you find might contain a bootleg with either the Plastic type or be another Trafficrab, but in a shiny-style bootleg variant. The results aren’t guaranteed, and randomness plays a big part, but the odds are shaped by your sacrifice.

Step Three: The Ritual Process

Next, head to a campfire or a nearby café to perform the ritual. Here, you’ll need to recycle the tape you want to use. In the video example, Trafficrab was chosen. When you recycle it, the game will tell you:

“The ritual is complete. The next fusion you encounter may contain a bootleg that matches this type in some way.”

That’s your cue to go hunting. Now, not every fusion counts—Swarm encounters and those under clouded effects don’t apply. Look for standard fusion battles in the wild.

Step Four: The Bootleg Encounter

When you find a qualifying fusion, keep your eyes peeled. If a bootleg appears, its name will be displayed in red text—a subtle but clear visual indicator. In the walkthrough, the bootleg turned out to be a Donmoth with the Plastic typing inherited from the sacrificed Trafficrab. So while it wasn’t a direct bootleg Trafficrab, the candle still influenced the result, showing how type inheritance plays a key role.

Here’s the trick: you still have to fight strategically. Lay down element walls, apply status effects like poison, and whittle down the target’s health without knocking it out. In this case, the player used fire attacks like Incinerate to not only weaken the enemy but also apply secondary effects.

Step Five: Catching the Bootleg

Once the bootleg is vulnerable, it’s time to record it. Ideally, you’ll want tapes that match the bootleg’s typing—in this case, Plastic. But if you don’t have any, fallback options like Chrome Tapes work great due to their high efficiency. After prepping the battlefield and hitting your record button, seal the deal and add that rare bootleg to your collection.

Final Thoughts and Recommendations

The ritual candle system is beautifully chaotic. It rewards careful planning, resource management, and a willingness to roll the dice. Disabling auto-save might seem like a gamer’s loophole, but in reality, it’s part of the candle’s high-risk, high-reward design. Whether you’re bootleg hunting for aesthetics, battle potential, or simply to complete your collection, ritual candles offer a compelling new way to interact with Cassette Beasts’ fusion mechanics.

Just remember: success isn’t guaranteed. But with persistence—and perhaps a few reloads—you’ll eventually get that perfect bootleg you’ve been dreaming of.

Good luck out there, and happy hunting!