RQ: Crimzon Clover EX-Boss

[Obscura]

Three things, all referring to the "first" TLB:

1: How on earth do I practice against this guy? He's not available in stage select, and I certainly can't get to him on every credit (or even close to), much less with a reasonable number of lives (although even getting there with 7 lives isn't good enough for me right now, apparently). And I can't even credit-feed my way to him.
2: Given that he's invulnerable to my bombs, how should I use my meter? Should I never bomb, and save it for break mode, or should I go ahead and bomb when I think I'm fucked (which is almost always...)?
3: How on EARTH do I dodge his bullet splooge attacks? The lasers are no problem, but both bullet spam attacks just absolutely rape me; I don't see any pattern to them at all, and the gaps are tiny to nonexistent.

[SuperSoaker360]

1: How on earth do I practice against this guy? He's not available in stage select, and I certainly can't get to him on every credit (or even close to), much less with a reasonable number of lives (although even getting there with 7 lives isn't good enough for me right now, apparently). And I can't even credit-feed my way to him.

Provided you have reached the EX-Boss, you can face him in Stage Select either through Stage 5 or Stage 5 Boss. You have to reach him, though. There isn't a way to start directly on the EX-Boss fight. Keep in mind that you won't be able to face EX-Boss 2 until you reach him without using a continue during a full run.

2: Given that he's invulnerable to my bombs, how should I use my meter? Should I never bomb, and save it for break mode, or should I go ahead and bomb when I think I'm fucked (which is almost always...)?

Since you're opting for safety, I'd suggest memorizing the attacks that give you the most problems and using either Break Mode or Bombs on them. Both spam attacks are pretty lengthy so I think using Break Mode would be a little more effective since the invincibility lasts longer but don't be afraid to bomb during Break Mode. Feel free to experiment on different bombing/break-mode strategies.

3: How on EARTH do I dodge his bullet splooge attacks? The lasers are no problem, but both bullet spam attacks just absolutely rape me; I don't see any pattern to them at all, and the gaps are tiny to nonexistent.

If you're talking about his first and third attack sets which consist of random spam, there isn't much of a pattern to memorize. Don't be intimidated by the fuzzy purple bullets during his third bullet-spam attack. They might look intimidating but their hitbox is small in comparison (try to think of it as only the black spots in the middle are the bullet). The rest is up to your dodging skills and bombing/using break-mode when things look bleak.

Hope this helped a bit because it feels like this post only said "learn2dodge"