This is by far the most consistent version of mantis pogo i've tried and i have been using it for quite a long time with great success. You need to land on either of the ledges as you fall into the main part of the room. Lately i've been using the edge of these glowing mushrooms to time my left press (i start pressing left when my feet reach the red line) to land on the first ledge, but landing on the second ledge is just as fastif performed well. As for the trick itself, you need to do a full jump relatively close to the ledge to lure the mantises properly and then you are gonna need to find whatever cues work best for you (personally i jump once im a bit past the arch in red) to consistently clear both attack patterns with a full jump (technically you can react to which one you get, but it isnt too useful). Once you've hit the lever, you are gonna hold right and fb (hopefully don't fb frame perfectly or it'll come out to the left) and then slash again to kill the mantis. If the mantis did the forward slash you should be getting a decent amount of geo, but otherwise its tought to get a meaningful amount consistently. To actually perform the mantis pogo you are gonna do a full jump once you are roughly inside that arch (again feel free to find your own cue), pogo the mantis, fb to the right of the mantis so it doesnt keep going to the right and pogo left.
Most consistent version of the double lookup mantis early control setup I've found. Buffer a jump after dashing over the ledge at the top, then wait until you start falling to dash/inventory. Start with a minihop if the mantis attacks. The mantis should be visible every time with this setup, allowing you to use the same visual cues.
I find this a more consistent version of mantis pogo sorry for bad quality there is so many ways you can get the mantis pogo with this setup like it has one million backups
Consistent set up for mantis pogo, you have to enter with 3 hits of soul. You need to land on one of the platforms instead of falling all the way through to avoid the hardfall (but it also works if you hardfall, its just slower), hold left and fb at around this height or a bit lower (see image)(you can use the lower skull as reference). If the mantis on the left attacks and pushes the other mantis backwards, you are doing it correctly, if the other mantis goes above the one attacking, you need to fb earlier. Keep holding left and upslash the mantis, jump and hit the lever as soon as possible and return. One of the mantises should be considerably behind the other and should be quite low once you reach it; it will attack as soon as you go near it. The next step is to do a full jump once you are past it, pogo once the mantis starts to return after its attack so it doesnt receive knockback and pogo again as soon as possible to make it up. The rest is just optimal movement through the room.
adaption of shamanless mantis pogo to avoid missing it due to shamanless muscle memory, and an example of a mantis claw early control setup (go right side when dropping back down whenever you can, I just wanted to avoid the mantis here)
Saves ~0.5-0.6 for any category with bench storage entering this room, roughly 0.3 from reaching the ground sooner and 0.3 from dashing during the fireball. Still works by focusing to cancel transition storage if you don't have VS, but then only saves 0.3 total.
A backup strat for mantis pogo. End of the clip shows reaction to a walkback, both pogos are lenient as long as you dash at the height of the second pogo. Loses around 6-8s depending on execution and whether the mantis steps back. Ensure you are not too close to the mantis when it charges an attack, or the pogo will miss.
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