Difference between revisions of "Cursed Oasis"

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m (Makes explicit that curses in subdungeons will not flip you to the Cursed Realm.)
 
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[[File:Cursed-oasis-normal.JPG|frame]]
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<onlyinclude>{{
[[File:Cursed-oasis-cursed.JPG|frame]]
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{{{tpl|DungeonInfobox}}}
__NOTOC__
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|DungeonName=Cursed Oasis
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|ShortHand=DesertDragonDungeon
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|Region=North
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|Rumor=''Said to be the site of an ancient magical battle, though some scholars claim it was just an arcane experiment that went horribly wrong. Perhaps it's both. Few survive a trip to this damned region of fraying reality.''
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|SpecialRules=You gain one stack of {{t|Cursed}} whenever you gain a level in this dungeon. This even affects {{c|Crusader}}, who is otherwise immune to curses. When you have any stacks of Cursed, you will find yourself in the Cursed Realm.
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|Difficulty=Hard
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|MonsterStats=115%
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|Monsters={{m|Bandit}}, {{m|Dragon Spawn}}, {{m|Animated Armour}}, {{m|Thrall}}, {{m|Shade}}
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|Boss={{boss|Cursed Dragon}}, {{boss|Curse Shade}}
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|SuggestedClasses={{c|Crusader}}, {{c|Berserker}}, {{OrWi}}, {{OrBl}}
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|Quests={{q|Bonus Bravery: Oasis}}
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|Unlock=Complete {{q|Hard Rock}}
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|secondlevel=[[File:Cursed Realm.png|280px|center|thumb|Cursed Realm]]
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}}</onlyinclude>
  
The Cursed Oasis is an unusual dungeon, composed of two overlapping realms. You will be forced to handle exploration and popcorn monsters in unusual ways. Curses play a large part in this dungeon, so characters that rely on resistances, particularly monks, will struggle.
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== Quests ==
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{{:Bonus Bravery: Oasis}}
  
== Overview ==
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== Bosses ==
There are no ordinarily no subdungeons in this dungeon, but the Smuggler’s Den will still appear if you prep it.
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{{:Cursed Dragon}}
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{{:Curse Shade}}
  
'''Monsters:''' Bandits, Dragon Spawn, Animated Armors, Thralls (Poisonous and Mana burn), and Shades
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== Normal Realm ==
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The Cursed Oasis is an unusual dungeon, composed of two overlapping realms. You will be forced to handle exploration and popcorn monsters in unusual ways. Curses play a large part in this dungeon, so characters that rely on resistances, particularly monks, will struggle. The Normal Realm is a very large and open dungeon containing relatively few walls, with an oasis in the center that can only be explored via {{s|LEMMISI}} or {{s|BLUDTUPOWA}}. While exploring, you will sometimes encounter lifedrain by an invisible monster. These are actually the Shades in the Cursed Realm, which you can walk through in the Normal Realm.
  
'''Special Rules:''' You gain one stack of Cursed whenever you gain a level in this dungeon. This even affects Crusaders, which are otherwise immune to curses. When you have any stacks of Cursed, you will find yourself in the cursed realm.
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== Cursed Realm ==
You also are not obliged to kill the second boss (Curse shade) to win that dungeon (at least with the crusader).
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If you gain any stacks of {{t|Cursed}} on the '''main map''', you will immediately enter the Cursed Realm. (To be explicit, Curses gained in [[Subdungeons]] -- including level gain -- will ''not'' flip you.) In the Cursed Realm, most dungeon features on the ground are not available: glyphs, potions, boosters, shops, unused altars, gold piles, subdungeon stairs. Even the dungeon exit vanishes. Active altars, which remain available, are the only exception. Thus, before fighting a {{m|Bandit}} or gaining a level, you should have a plan for killing enough popcorn to clear your curses if you still need to exploit these resources. If you gain curse stacks in a subdungeon, you do not immediately enter the curse realm if you emerge. Be careful not to gain so many stacks of curse that you can't clear them all (mostly by fighting higher-level bandits); you might be cut off from all the dungeon's resources until you kill the {{boss|Curse Shade}}, which will be no easy task.
  
== Normal Realm ==
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The Shades become tangible in the Cursed Realm and provide a valuable source of XP and Curse-clearing. However, because they can blink into blackspace and then lifesteal again, it is risky to fight higher-level Shades before the dungeon is mostly explored. If you lose your last curse stack (by killing a non-cursed monster for example), you will immediately return to the Normal Realm.
  
The normal realm is a very large and open dungeon containing relatively few walls, with an oasis in the center that can only be explored by LEMMISI. Monsters include Bandits, Thralls, Animated Armors, and Dragon Spawn. In addition, while exploring, you will sometimes encounter lifedrain by an invisible monster. These are actually the Shades in the cursed realm, which you can walk through in the normal realm.
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The Cursed Realm also features a large number of {{m|Erosive Eelroot}}s in the locations of shops, boosters, potions, and gold piles. The dungeon is open enough that they don’t usually interfere with getting around; they are useful to build up extra stacks of Cursed so you can avoid getting kicked out of the Cursed Realm before you want to.
  
== Cursed Realm ==
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Be careful when using {{s|IMAWAL}}, as it behaves in a quirky way in this dungeon. The most important consideration is that if you petrify a monster that exists only in the Curse Realm (like a Shade or Eelroot), the resulting stone wall will also exist in the Normal Realm. This is especially important since the Eelroots are growing specifically on top of noteworthy tiles. So unless you have a way to destroy walls, avoid petrifying those Eelroots that are on top of things you still need to access like stairs, shops or items you still need to pick up. Another interesting thing is that stone statues created in one realm will appear to meld into the wall in the other, making it hard to tell where to break if you want to access what was under the monster.
  
If you have any stacks of Cursed, you will immediately enter the cursed realm. In the cursed realm, most dungeon features on the ground are not available: glyphs, potions, boosters, shops, unused altars, gold piles, the Smuggler’s Den subdungeon. Even the dungeon exit vanishes. Active altars, which remain available, are the only exception. Thus, before fighting a Bandit or gaining a level, you should have a plan for killing enough popcorn to clear your curses if you still need to exploit these resources.
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== Strategy ==
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There are two main approaches to winning the Cursed Oasis, depending on whether you want to kill - or avoid - the Curse Shade.
  
The Shades become tangible in the Cursed Realm and provide a valuable source of XP and Curse-clearing. However, because they can blink into blackspace and then lifesteal again, it is risky to fight higher-level Shades before the dungeon is mostly explored.  
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=== Killing {{boss|Curse Shade}} ===
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You will need to either bypass its 60% resistances, or simply be able to dish out enough damage to grind through them. Preparing the Really Big Sword helps to avoid most of the Physical Resistance, and it's useful also against the regular Curse Realm shades. However, none of the other monsters have Physical Resistance, and being slowed can be a nuisance; on the one hand, it makes killing low-level Thralls non-trivial due to their status afflictions; on the other, being slowed means you get an extra layer of Curse in melee from Eelroots (and lower-level Bandits), which can also pile up to undesirable levels. Using {{g|Binlor Ironshield}} and reducing the Curse Shade's resistances via the {{boon|Stone Heart}} can help; consider though that there is only a limited amount of walls available on this level. It's also possible to just keep hitting the Curse Shade until it dies, as its stats are not too high. In any case, be mindful of the Blink.
  
The Cursed Realm also features a large number of Erosive Eelroots in the locations of shops, boosters, potions, and gold piles. The dungeon is open enough that they don’t usually interfere with getting around; they are useful to build up extra stacks of Cursed so you can avoid getting kicked out of the Cursed Realm before you want to.
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=== Avoid the {{boss|Curse Shade}} ===
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You will want to have a reliable way to clear - or avoid - Curse Stacks. The obvious way is to play a {{c|Crusader}}, who is immune to monster-inflicted Curse stacks. If you would rather play another class, you may still do this by clearing the curse stacks inflicted by the Curse Dragon in-between strikes. While you can always just leave a couple of low-level monsters and kill one each in-between strikes, a potentially even better way is to use {{boon|Greenblood}} to this effect.
  
== Bosses ==
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{{s|PISORF}} works exceptionally well against both the {{boss|Curse Shade}} and the {{boss|Cursed Dragon}}. If you keep knocking a suitable monster into the Curse Shade, he will lose health without blinking away (and secondary knockback damage bypasses resistances). This also works against regular Shades. The Cursed Dragon does not retaliate against using {{s|PISORF}} against him (either directly or indirectly), which again makes it a great way to deplete his health without having to take an attack or retaliation from him.
  
The primary boss of the Cursed Oasis is the Cursed Dragon, the only monster that appears only in the normal realm. He has decent but unremarkable stats: 546 HP, 86 attack, Retaliate: Fireball, and magical attack. Before the Curse Shade is defeated, he also has Curse Bearer, so you won’t be able to fight him before you’ve taken care of the second boss.  
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Classes recommended for this level will partially depend on the strategy, but on top of the above mentioned Crusader, the {{c|Berserker}} is also a good pick, as his Magic Resistance gives a natural edge against the {{m|Animated Armour}} and the {{m|Dragon Spawn}}, as well as the Cursed Dragon boss itself. Just make sure you fight these creatures while you are not Cursed. An Orc Wizard (or Bloodmage) of {{g|Binlor Ironshield}} will be able to make quick work of either boss.
  
The secondary boss of the Cursed Oasis is the Curse Shade, who appears only in the cursed realm. He has only 159 HP and 60 attack, but 60% physical and magic resistances. He also has both 40% Lifesteal and Blink, so you won’t be able to carry much if any blackspace between fighting him and the Cursed Dragon. The Cursed Shade drops the Dragon Soul item when slain, which provides 8% resistances (marginal at best even if you weren’t carrying around a stack of curses) and forces you into the normal realm.
 
You are not obliged to kill that boss to win the dungeon (at least with the crusader. It might have to be tested with other classes)
 
  
 
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{{MainNav}}

Latest revision as of 07:46, 12 June 2017

Said to be the site of an ancient magical battle, though some scholars claim it was just an arcane experiment that went horribly wrong. Perhaps it's both. Few survive a trip to this damned region of fraying reality.
Cursed Oasis
Region North
Difficulty Hard
Monster Stats 115%
Population Monster: Bandit Bandit, Monster: Dragon Spawn Dragon Spawn, Monster: Animated Armour Animated Armour, Monster: Thrall Thrall, Monster: Shade Shade
Bosses Boss: Cursed Dragon Cursed Dragon, Boss: Curse Shade Curse Shade
Suggested Classes Class: Crusader Crusader, Class: Berserker Berserker, Class: Wizard Orc Wizard, Class: Bloodmage Orc Bloodmage
Quests Quest: Bonus Bravery: Oasis Bonus Bravery: Oasis
Unlock Complete Quest: Hard Rock Hard Rock
Cursed Oasis Map
Cursed Realm

Said to be the site of an ancient magical battle, though some scholars claim it was just an arcane experiment that went horribly wrong. Perhaps it's both. Few survive a trip to this damned region of fraying reality.

Special Rules

You gain one stack of Trait: Cursed Cursed whenever you gain a level in this dungeon. This even affects Class: Crusader Crusader, who is otherwise immune to curses. When you have any stacks of Cursed, you will find yourself in the Cursed Realm.

Quests

Quest: Bonus Bravery: Oasis Bonus Bravery: Oasis

Defeat Dungeon: Cursed Oasis Cursed Oasis with Class: Tinker Dwarf Tinker, Class: Transmuter Dwarf Transmuter, and Class: Crusader Dwarf Crusader

Reward: 500 Gold Pile Icon 18.png, Item: Dragon Soul Dragon Soul

Bosses

Boss: Cursed Dragon
Hard Difficulty with Vicious Token
Attack 86 120
Health Points 546 954
Traits
Trophy
Found
Dungeon: Cursed Oasis Cursed Oasis

The primary boss of the Cursed Oasis is the Cursed Dragon, the only monster that appears only in the normal realm. Before the Curse Shade is defeated, he also has Curse Bearer, so you won’t be able to easily fight him before you’ve taken care of the second boss.

Boss: Curse Shade
Hard Difficulty with Vicious Token
Attack 60 96
Health Points 159 318
Traits
Trophy
Item: Dragon Soul Dragon Soul (Custom)
Found
Dungeon: Cursed Oasis Cursed Oasis

The secondary boss of the Dungeon: Cursed Oasis Cursed Oasis is the Curse Shade, who appears only in the Cursed realm. The Cursed Shade drops the Item: Dragon Soul Dragon Soul item when slain, which provides a 15% chance to cast spells for free, and forces you into the normal realm even if you have any remaining Curse stacks; as well as removes the Curse trait from all monsters. (Note that bringing a lockered copy of the item into the dungeon will not have these effects). You are not obliged to kill the Curse Shade to win the dungeon.

Normal Realm

The Cursed Oasis is an unusual dungeon, composed of two overlapping realms. You will be forced to handle exploration and popcorn monsters in unusual ways. Curses play a large part in this dungeon, so characters that rely on resistances, particularly monks, will struggle. The Normal Realm is a very large and open dungeon containing relatively few walls, with an oasis in the center that can only be explored via Glyph: LEMMISI LEMMISI or Glyph: BLUDTUPOWA BLUDTUPOWA. While exploring, you will sometimes encounter lifedrain by an invisible monster. These are actually the Shades in the Cursed Realm, which you can walk through in the Normal Realm.

Cursed Realm

If you gain any stacks of Trait: Cursed Cursed on the main map, you will immediately enter the Cursed Realm. (To be explicit, Curses gained in Subdungeons -- including level gain -- will not flip you.) In the Cursed Realm, most dungeon features on the ground are not available: glyphs, potions, boosters, shops, unused altars, gold piles, subdungeon stairs. Even the dungeon exit vanishes. Active altars, which remain available, are the only exception. Thus, before fighting a Monster: Bandit Bandit or gaining a level, you should have a plan for killing enough popcorn to clear your curses if you still need to exploit these resources. If you gain curse stacks in a subdungeon, you do not immediately enter the curse realm if you emerge. Be careful not to gain so many stacks of curse that you can't clear them all (mostly by fighting higher-level bandits); you might be cut off from all the dungeon's resources until you kill the Boss: Curse Shade Curse Shade, which will be no easy task.

The Shades become tangible in the Cursed Realm and provide a valuable source of XP and Curse-clearing. However, because they can blink into blackspace and then lifesteal again, it is risky to fight higher-level Shades before the dungeon is mostly explored. If you lose your last curse stack (by killing a non-cursed monster for example), you will immediately return to the Normal Realm.

The Cursed Realm also features a large number of Monster: Erosive Eelroot Erosive Eelroots in the locations of shops, boosters, potions, and gold piles. The dungeon is open enough that they don’t usually interfere with getting around; they are useful to build up extra stacks of Cursed so you can avoid getting kicked out of the Cursed Realm before you want to.

Be careful when using Glyph: IMAWAL IMAWAL, as it behaves in a quirky way in this dungeon. The most important consideration is that if you petrify a monster that exists only in the Curse Realm (like a Shade or Eelroot), the resulting stone wall will also exist in the Normal Realm. This is especially important since the Eelroots are growing specifically on top of noteworthy tiles. So unless you have a way to destroy walls, avoid petrifying those Eelroots that are on top of things you still need to access like stairs, shops or items you still need to pick up. Another interesting thing is that stone statues created in one realm will appear to meld into the wall in the other, making it hard to tell where to break if you want to access what was under the monster.

Strategy

There are two main approaches to winning the Cursed Oasis, depending on whether you want to kill - or avoid - the Curse Shade.

Killing Boss: Curse Shade Curse Shade

You will need to either bypass its 60% resistances, or simply be able to dish out enough damage to grind through them. Preparing the Really Big Sword helps to avoid most of the Physical Resistance, and it's useful also against the regular Curse Realm shades. However, none of the other monsters have Physical Resistance, and being slowed can be a nuisance; on the one hand, it makes killing low-level Thralls non-trivial due to their status afflictions; on the other, being slowed means you get an extra layer of Curse in melee from Eelroots (and lower-level Bandits), which can also pile up to undesirable levels. Using God: Binlor Ironshield Binlor Ironshield and reducing the Curse Shade's resistances via the God boon: Stone Heart Stone Heart can help; consider though that there is only a limited amount of walls available on this level. It's also possible to just keep hitting the Curse Shade until it dies, as its stats are not too high. In any case, be mindful of the Blink.

Avoid the Boss: Curse Shade Curse Shade

You will want to have a reliable way to clear - or avoid - Curse Stacks. The obvious way is to play a Class: Crusader Crusader, who is immune to monster-inflicted Curse stacks. If you would rather play another class, you may still do this by clearing the curse stacks inflicted by the Curse Dragon in-between strikes. While you can always just leave a couple of low-level monsters and kill one each in-between strikes, a potentially even better way is to use God boon: Greenblood Greenblood to this effect.

Glyph: PISORF PISORF works exceptionally well against both the Boss: Curse Shade Curse Shade and the Boss: Cursed Dragon Cursed Dragon. If you keep knocking a suitable monster into the Curse Shade, he will lose health without blinking away (and secondary knockback damage bypasses resistances). This also works against regular Shades. The Cursed Dragon does not retaliate against using Glyph: PISORF PISORF against him (either directly or indirectly), which again makes it a great way to deplete his health without having to take an attack or retaliation from him.

Classes recommended for this level will partially depend on the strategy, but on top of the above mentioned Crusader, the Class: Berserker Berserker is also a good pick, as his Magic Resistance gives a natural edge against the Monster: Animated Armour Animated Armour and the Monster: Dragon Spawn Dragon Spawn, as well as the Cursed Dragon boss itself. Just make sure you fight these creatures while you are not Cursed. An Orc Wizard (or Bloodmage) of God: Binlor Ironshield Binlor Ironshield will be able to make quick work of either boss.