Tales of Maj'Eyal(ToME) just been added to Steam! This guide will be giving some basic advice for early and some mid-game to all newcomers. Of course, the more seasoned ToME players might also find something useful here(I hope). Nearly all the information I'm putting in this guide was found out without guides, meaning it was discovered first hand by me and my friend Starfries. Some of it may be wrong, and maybe a bit dated since ToME is sometimes updated frequently, but if I'm able to help only a little bit, then I'm happy. :D

I'll go ahead and say it now, I've never made it past Dreadfell. However, I can at least consistently make it to Dreadfell, so hopefully I'll be able to help those who cant do that yet. If anyone sees info that may not be wise later in the game, or has info that can be added, feel free to comment!

Btw, I won't be going to much into class/race combos and specific talents/spells. I will also be assuming you know the controls. If there are enough people interested, I can post about the controls, what I find most useful, and my opinions on various class/race combos. I'm also assuming you understand at least the basics of Roguelikes. If not, I can update this.

If I'm unclear on anything, which I have a habit of doing, feel free to ask questions. I'll be glad to help, which is kinda why I'm posting this to begin with.

Easy Mode: Damage done to player is reduced by 30%. All Healing Modifiers are increased by 30%. All Detrimental Status Effect duration is reduced by 50%. No Achievements are awarded.

Normal Mode: The normal level of difficulty.

Nightmare Mode: All Zone levels have their monsters levels increased by 50%+3. All creature talent levels increased by 50%.

Insane: All Zone levels have their monsters levels increased by 120%+5. All creature talent levels increased by 100%.

Madness: All Zone levels have their monsters levels increased by 150%+10. All creature talent levels increased by 170%. Rare creatures are far more frequent and random bosses start to appear. Randomly, all foes in a radius will get a feeling of where you are. Also states that "Player is being hunted!". I am not sure if that has to do with monsters randomly knowing where you are.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you're new to roguelikes, or want to just relax and just enjoy, or if you want to test out a new class/race combo, I'd recommend easy. If you want the default experience, go Normal. Nightmare and above if you're up for a challenge.

I do Normal mode for most my games. If I want to test new builds, or maybe just take things easy, I'll do easy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- In regards to Achievements: Other than a few exceptions, there's roughly 9 versions for each Achievement depending on where and how you complete it:

• Completing it in Exploration Mode on Normal Difficulty or above.
  
  
• Completing it in Roguelike Mode on the following Difficulties:
  
  1. Normal
     
  2. Nightmare
     
  3. Insane
     
  4. Madness
  
  
• Completing it in Adventure Mode on the following Difficulties:
  
  1. Normal
     
  2. Nightmare
     
  3. Insane
     
  4. Madness

For Exploration, mode, there's only one set of Achievements for the entire Mode, so long as it's on Normal Difficulty or above.

There are 3 modes in the Permadeath menu: Adventure, Roguelike, and Exploration.

Adventure: This is the default mode. You start out with 1 extra live, plus the one you are currently on, meaning you can die twice. At levels 1,2,5,7,14,24,35 you gain another life. There are some items in the game that can be used to give you extra lives.

Roguelike: This is basically the same as any other roguelike. No extra lives(to start with). You die, it's over. Though you can still find and use items that grant extra lives.

Exploration: This mode is only available to donators*. It's basically infinite lives, allowing you to play the game without worry of losing a character permanently.

- Please note that his guide was written a bit before the steam release. I do not know if they will be posting the free2play version, or the paid version which automatically gives you Exploration(among other things). There is a free version btw.

Like I said above, I won't go too much into this. This section is for those with absolutely no clue about what would be considered a decent combo.

Pretty much any class and race combo will do fine, but some obviously work better than others. The Cornac race, which is under Humans, is the average race, meaning they can do all classes. Not the best race, but not the worst. Though they do start with a category point. If you're new to roguelikes and want to try a new Class without worrying about picking a good race, pick the Cornac.

A Dwarf Berserker is a pretty good choice for newcomers.

If you are looking for a Spellcaster like class, the Alchemist is a good(only) choice in the beginning. It's like a combination between a Spellcaster and Summoner class.

Each race has a specific starting zone. Humans start in Trollmire, Thalore start in Norgos Lair, Shalore and Halflings start in the Scintillating Caves, and Dwarfs start in 'Escape from Reknor'. There are some other races not listed here that start else where, but by that point you won't need this part of the guide. Certain classes have their starting zone changed. Archmages start in the Astral Plane, regardless of race, though they can choose to not do it though. Anyway, these 'starter' areas are called the Tier 1 dungeons/zones, and should all be cleared before moving on to the next Tier.

Ignoring the class specific areas(and Escape from Reknor, since it's Dwarf only), there are 6 Tier 1 areas, plus 3 others that can be done for extra experience and rewards. I'll talk more of these extra areas in a bit.

For the most part, the World Map and the locations of the main dungeons are always the same. The inside dungeons themselves are always randomized though. On the world map, there are some areas that are tagged as "potential dungeon locations", these are the areas that the side dungeons, like the Elven Ruins and Hidden Compound are randomly spawned on. I suggest that every new game you start, just explore the map. While you're exploring the map, make a note on where the towns and dungeons are located, since most of them will always be on the same spot. Make sure to avoid the Adventuring Parties that roam the world map, during early game(tier 1 dungeons), since they'll most likely kick your ass at this point.

Towns are always in the same spot.

Just as a note, when you have around 100+ gold, go on a shopping trip to Last Hope and Ziggur, especially if your a class that relies on weapons. Please note that Mages do not have access to Zigur(A town filled with Mage Haters).

The starter dungeons are located around the towns Derth, Elvala, and Shatur. Finding the towns isn't difficult, just be sure to avoid adventure parties.

I won't be going over where all the dungeons are located exactly, since it's hard to do in text. Just keep exploring, and you'll notice that there are areas that have a high chance to have a dungeon. Be sure to avoid adventuring parties. They can sometimes be more than you can handle. Before the Steam Release of Tales of Maj'Eyal, Adventure Parties were very dangerous, to the point that unless you were around level 20, you were nor guaranteed to defeat them, and even then it was a bit iffy. The Steam Release made the adventure parties easier. They're still challenging, but they won't demolish you anymore, and my level 8 characters were able to handle themselves with little difficulty. I have not tested them over the long run though, so be careful.

Tier 1(starter) dungeons aren't *too* restrictive in what order you do it. In case you don't know, Tier 1 dungeons are the 'starter' dungeons, or the ones best suited for characters between levels 1 and 13-ish. The Tier 1 dungeons don't really need much description either, but if someone wants more info, feel free to ask :D. Here's how I usually play the first few dungeons. As to their locations, they're not too hard to find, and if you highlight a dungeon with your mouse, it'll tell you the name.

I usually play a Cornac, so I start in Trollmire. I usually do the first 3 areas of Trollmire, then head over to Norgos Lair and clear that Zone, since the levels I got from Trollmire gave me a good boost. Then I head back to Trollmire and finish the last area. Please note that you must kill the boss in the 3rd area first in order to get to the 4th area. At this point, you can pretty much do any of the Tier 1 dungeons in any order. Though be careful in the Rhaloren Camp, since it has a bunch of magic users, and they can really do some damage if you don't have much Lightning resist. You can get more resist from items. Just highlight them and it'll show if it has lighting resist.

Here are some notes to consider when choosing: Norgos lair is one of the easiest dungeons, so if you're having trouble head to Norgos. The Scintillating Caves are also rather easy.

The boss in the 4th area of Trollmire is VERY rough. It might be best to save it as one of the last Tier 1 areas. When you do decide to do it, make note that if you enter the area and then leave, there's a chance the loot there will despawn(disappear), so try to go there when you're sure you can finish it.

After completing 2 Tier 1 dungeons, when you enter another tier 1 dungeon, you'll automatically be skipped to the final area. This can be disabled in the options. It does not do the same thing for the Tier 2 dungeons.

If you don't have much Lightning Resist, I suggest doing the Rhaloren Camp last or second to last. Since by that point you have more than enough health to make up for the lack of resists.
For the Tier 1 dungeons, here is the order I do them in(minus the dungeon hopping): Trollmire, Norgos' Lair, Heart of the Gloom, Scintillating Caves, Rhaloren Camp, and Kor'Pul.

There are 3 other events that you can do in between these for some extra experience and rewards.

• 1. After finishing 2 dungeons, which for me is Trollmire and Norgos Lair, I head over to Derth. In Derth there is a NPC called 'Shady Cornac'. When you talk to him(bump into him like you were meleeing him), and accept his suggestions, he'll take you to an arena, where you must fight 3 somewhat strong enemies one after the other. When you defeat these 3 enemies, you are given 2 Generic Talent points, which is really nice in the beginning. You also unlock Arena Mode.
  
  Please note that you can only do the Arena Quest until level 10(or 13). After that, he disappears, and you won't be able to do it that game. I usually do the Arena quest at level 7 or 8 for a squishy(low health and/or armor) class, and around 5 or 6 for the melee classes.
  
  
• 2. After completing one or two Tier 1 dungeons, run around the area slightly north of a town named Last Hope(pretty much the area between Last Hope and the trees). After running around for a bit, an event will pop up. It will be some dude saying that his village is being attacked. Say that you'll see what you can do. Don't actually do the quest until you are around level 13 though(well, that's when I do it). The quest involves going to the village and killing a boss. Rewards a decent amount of experience and around 20 gold(and a pickaxe).
  
  The bosses strength depends mostly on your level. Since the Boss is a Cursed class, and they're pretty weak early on, you may have a easier time with this quest at earlier levels.
  
  In case you don't know, Last hope is located in the South East portion of the World Map.
  
  I usually like to play the Squishy-er classes(low health and armour, high damage). The Enemy you fight in the Village likes to use a 'rush and stun' combo right at the start, which can really mess with a squishy character. Starfries says he usually does the quest at level 5, after his first Tier 1 dungeon and the arena.
  
  
• 3. The last extra area for the Tier 1 portion of the game is the 'Unknown Tunnels'. Just run around the Northern portion of the map(near the mountains next to the snow). Eventually a message will pop-up saying that you hear a scream, and asks if you want to enter the unknown tunnels. I usually do this around level 8.

Btw, if you click 'no' when the event pops up, you won't get a second chance.

- Starfries reminded me that some classes may not be able to handle the Tunnels at level 8. Rogues in particular we've had trouble with. Keep this in mind when you contemplate whether you should try it then or not. But if the message pops up, feel free to dive in, since you won't get another chance.

Like the title suggests, here's some stuff to take note of before starting the Tier 2 dungeons.


This is a nifty little quest that can be done on the side, and you don't necessarily need to activate it in order to do it. Basically, there are 4 Alchemists that will brew a potion for you that gives various bonuses for you. Some will give you free Class or Generic talent points, some permanently boost your ranged and close range defense, some improve your luck, and so forth and so forth.

Each of the 4 Alchemist will offer you 1 of 3 potions. While each Alchemist has a different set of potions than the others, they are the same between games. So the Alchemist from Derth for example, will always have the same 3 potions. When talking to an Alchemist, when you get to the part where you can choose which potion you want, you can highlight it to see what it offers. When you go to an Alchemist to get his quest, he will ask you to gather 3 ingredients, randomly chosen from a list. These ingredients are gained by killing the corresponding monster. For example: An Alchemist asks you to get Elder Vampire Fangs. When you kill an Elder Vampire, the fangs will automatically collected and stored separately from your inventory. Even if you don't have the quests active, you will still automatically gather an ingredient when you kill a monster.

Keep in mind that often, you will be asked to kill a monster that you simply can't handle at early levels, or won't see for a long time. It's common not to have all the ingredients until mid to late game, so it's not necessary to get all ingredients immediately.

The Alchemists can be found in the Town of Derth, the Town of Elvala, the Town of Last Hope, and a Randomly Placed Hermit on the World Map, though he's usually near a mountain.


By now, you may have the Trans Chest(I'm not typing that out repeatedly). Before, in the beta, you'd have to make it to the Sher'Tul Fortress in order to get it. With the release version, it's now possible to get it by killing the second Trollmire boss, Bill the Stone Troll. If the Chest doesn't drop for you this time, You'll be given it at the Sher'Tul Fortress(explained later).

About the chest - Items will automatically be picked up and placed in the chest when walked over. Items are weightless while in the chest. If you go into your inventory, you'll see that item's in the chest are highlighted. If you click an item in the chest, you can choose to 'move to normal inventory'. When you click on any item in your inventory, you can choose to 'Transmogrify now', which breaks down the item into energy for the fortress, and turns it into gold. Basically, it sells stuff for you.

When you try to leave the area, a screen will pop up showing you all items currently in the chest, and saying that they will be sold when you exit the window. For any items you want to keep, just click it and move it to the inventory. Gems are not placed in the chest though. If you want to mass sell gems, just drop them on the ground, and while still standing on it, go to your inventory and 'Use' the chest. Using the chest will Transmogrify items in the chest first, then items on the floor if nothing is in the chest, so you may need to trigger it a few times.

I'll go over what the energy can do in the "Farportal Dungeons" section.


Going on a little shopping spree is a good idea when you have around 100-150 gold, especially if you're a class that relies on weapons(archers, warriors, rogues) for their main source of damage. Last Hope and Ziggur are good places to start, but feel free to hit up other towns if you don't find what you want.

Also take note on any items of interest. See a really nice Maul, but costs 600 gold? Keep it in mind till later. Gold really starts to roll in during the Tier 2 dungeon phase, especially if you have the Transmogrification Chest(more on this later).

Some advice from Starfries:

Make sure to look out for tier 3 weapons as those carry the highest damage for their price. On your first shopping trip don't pay for special effects on your weapon, just get the highest damage one you can afford (that you can use, of course.. don't buy a two hander if you're not specialized in them).

Tier 2 dungeons are a lot more tricky. Tier 1 dungeons will give you a rough time if you do one too early, but is still manageable. Tier 2 dungeons will demolish you and everyone you love if you enter one too early. So along with the order I like to do them in, I'll be adding some notes on what to expect when you enter them.

Before I go into detail though, here is a rough layout of the order I do them in: The Maze, Old Forest(Not the lake yet, which is found in the last part of the Forest), Sandworm Lair, Halfling Complex, Daikara/Temporal Rift(I'll explain later), Lake Nur, Sher'tul Fortress, Golem Graveyard, Hidden Compound, Ruined Dungeon, Derth/Tempest Peak(I'll explain later too), Farportal Dungeons(I'll explain later), Last Hope Graveyard, and then Dredfell.

Depending on how my character is doing, I may do it out of order. Sometimes I like to do the Halfling Complex after Daikara. And technically you can do the Derth/Tempest Peak areas *a lot* earlier if you have good Lightning resist. It'll be a lot clearer on what to expect if you actually do the dungeon yourself. In the future, after you've been through the Tier 2 dungeons a few times, you may decide to do the Tier 2 dungeons in a vastly different order. My order is mostly on how not to get killed outright. :p

Now for a little info on the Tier 2 dungeons. I won't cover everything, but I will cover the important bits:

Fairly easy compared to other Tier 2 dungeons. It's like the halfway point between Tier 1 and Tier 2. It does have Minotaurs though, and they like to stun and confuse, so try to stack resistance for them. They also have a rush ability, but overall not too tough. The dungeon has similar enemies like Kor'Pul, various rogues, assassins, wildlife, etc. The boss is a really big Minotaur that packs quite a punch, so keep those regen infusions ready. He likes to stun and daze too, so if you have a wild infusion, keep it at the ready.

Now this is an interesting(and sometimes annoying) dungeon. The map is basically one huge slab of rocks, with little openings for you to stand in. There are neutral creatures in there called Giant Sand Worms, that burrow into the rock and open up the way to other areas. You need to follow them though, since the tunnels they make collapse after 10 or so turns. I say it's annoying because you can't control where the Worms tunnel to, so you just gotta follow them.

Be sure to bring some way to teleport. Getting caught in a collapsing tunnel is the most dangerous things here, since if you get caught and can't teleport, you're dead, and have to be sent out of the zone. If you see an enemy before you make it out of the tunnel, especially the boss, get out of their ASAP, since the boss can blind.

Adventurer Parties like to chillax around the Sandworm Lair entrance, so be careful when heading there.

Occasionally(or every time, not sure), the first level will feature one long map( as in 30 tiles tall and 200 tiles wide), along with a freaking HUGE worm, like, 2x2 tiles big. It will constantly go to the right, making it's way toward open areas. If the worm you were following gets ahead of you and you get cut off from it, don't fret, as it'll either come back or a new one will come by soon enough.

There are some hostile worms here, along with some wildlife. Hatchling and Young Drakes spawn here too, so be careful, since they can pack a punch.

The boss can be kinda tough, with high health and somewhat high damage. Though if you handled the Maze boss, you'll be able to handle this one. It drops "Sandworm Queen Heart", which unlocks a talent category for your character(forgot the name), and also unlocks the Wyrmic class.

Not too bad, though it has it's moments. It's one of the first places with 'monster vaults', or small sections that were pre-made by the devs and randomly plopped into an area. You'll see HUGE packs of either insects, canine like creatures, and I've even seen one with wyrm hatchlings. Not too tough, especially if you can funnel them into a hallway.

The boss here is a big tree. He likes to freeze and stun you, though he'll freeze more often than stun. When frozen, any damage you attempt, whether physical or magical, will damage the ice instead. It'll break after enough damage, though those few turns can be painful, since the boss will take a few pot shots. Personally, I think he's easier than the Maze boss.

Some things to note. The Old Forest itself is about 4 areas. In the 4th area, you will see another exit leading to Lake Nur. Don't go there yet, there's some f***ed up s**t down there(sometimes). By sometimes, I mean that it will sometimes randomly spawn a high level Champion, such as a Eldritch Horrors and Giant Walking Worms. See my section for Lake Nur down below.

Haha, the Steam Guides creator wouldn't let me fit all of the Tier 2 dungeons into one section, so I split it up. :D

Daikara can be pretty rough. It hosts a large amount of frost giants, which can do a fair amount of physical damage, and can stun. There's also a variant of the Giant that casts lightning spells, doing high damage with those. Assuming you're doing Daikara as one of the last Tier 2 dungeons, it will be within management, but be careful, as you can easily drop to 10%-25% health at a moments notice, so be ready to fire off those healing/escaping runes/spells. The boss for Daikara is very dangerous. Capable of freezing you, doing large amounts of magic and physical damage, and has a fairly large amount of health. If you've managed to make it to the boss, stick with what you were doing before, but be even more wary of damage. Shielding Runes and similar abilities will help you out here. Just to be safe, be sure to trigger those healing runes the second you go below half health. Many enemies here have ranged attacks, so be careful about running around.

Sometime Daikara will spawn Giant Vaults. These look like villages made out of stone. The biggest building houses a HUGE amount of Giants, including a Chieftain, which is VERY strong. Be extra careful here, and if you've been having problems with the giants, I'd avoid this place altogether.

In one of the levels of Daikara, most likely the 2nd, you'll find a little yellow portal(assuming you're using shockbolts tiles) called the temporal rift. It's an odd and irritating dungeon. First area features enemies that do fairly large amounts magic damage. Most annoying of all though is that most if not all enemies have a spell that will switch places with you. While it does damage you a bit, being constantly jerked all over the place is annoying. I suggest just running strait for the exit on the right side of the map.

Next area is a copy of the lumber village you fought the cursed dude at, with additional dredge-lings with him. Careful, since the Cursed guy is now lvl 20-ish.

Next area is a copy of Daikara, sporting Dredge-lings and shadows. Rather tough, but has an additional boss that looks very similar to the Daikara boss.

Final area is a copy of Lake Nur. It has "2" boss enemies in here. I put 2 in quotes since they're technically the same monster. Damage one of them, and it affects the other. They share the same health pool, but can damage you separately. Think of it as a boss that can hit you twice in a turn.

This guy is annoying to fight if you don't have many ranged attacks or abilities that can close the distance between foes. The boss is the type that constantly keeps it's distance from you, and has spells that knock you away, which it uses liberally. It has a high health pool and dishes out fairly large amounts of damage. Best bet is to rush in and kill it as quickly as possible, but be sure to retreat if things look bad. They will not follow you to the areas entrance, so run there if you need too. If you kill one of the bosses, both die, and seeing as they share a health pool, just target the one that's closest to you. Also note that the spawn additional enemies, but they go down fairly quickly, but gives the boss more time to wail on you(which it does well) or retreat.

Once defeated, you'll be given the Temporal Warden class, along with a rune which gives you access to a high damage Temporal spell.

Lake Nur can sometimes be done right after the Old Forest or the Sandworm Lair. But the thing is, Lake Nur can spawn some REALLY out of depth Champions(in my opinion). I'm talking about Dream Horrors and Worm that Walks(Tougher than they sound, they do massive Blight damage). They don't always spawn ubers like this, but sometimes they do, so it's best to wait until after Daikara to do it.(NOTE: On my last run of Lake Nur, which would be my first since the official release, I got a boss called an Eldritch Horror, which is far weaker, though still tough than the other bosses I mention in this section. Be wary that there may be others as well, and I will be updating this section as I get more information and as I discover them.)

Note that waiting to long to do it will cause the monsters that spawn there to be higher level too. High level Horrors are annoying.

Other than those two nasties, Lake Nur is pretty standard. The first area of the Lake is... the lake. Ya know, shore, lake, standard lake scene. In the middle of the lake is some ruins, enter them, and you'll see a staircase going down to area 2.

Which leads us to the second area. It's an underwater ruins. You don't *need* an item that allows underwater breathing, but it makes things more convenient, since it allows you to auto-explore. Area 2 is pretty easy. There are Eels, which are nothing special. Then theres Squids, which fire a cone of ink that blinds you. Be careful if you are a summoner, the Hydra summon starts shooting in random directions when blinded.

Area 2 is filled with air bubbles. Like, all over the place. I hate being timed or restricted in ways like this, yet there's so many air bubbles that even I can't complain, so don't worry. But once again, you can't auto-explore without an underwater breathing item, so keep that in mind.

Area 3 is where you need to start worrying, since this is where the nasties can spawn. Though the water is gone now. I'll go over the two main baddies you might encounter.

• Dream Horror: This guy is f*** all annoying. There are usually signs before you actually see him. He constantly spawns Dream Bubbles, which will hunt you down from a fair distance away. Bubbles are fairly strong, but they have a chance to completely negate all damage done to them, so some turns you won't be doing damage. For the Horror itself, he's pretty strong, but will try to pull you into a Dreamscape. Honestly, it just confused me. While in the Dreamscape, just wail on him like you normally would, and you'll eventually be ejected back out into the real world, where you wail on him there. He doesn't have as much health as you'd think.
  
  
• Giant Walking Worm: This f****r is the real annoying one. Personally, if possible, just avoid him, especially if you're low on lives. If you insist on fighting him, he does MASSIVE Blight damage, so stock up on that resist if you can. One turn He's only doing like, 15 damage, next turn he can One-Shot-Kill you, even on easy. Seriously, only real tactic I can think of is stock up on resist and healing infusions and just wail on him. Feel free to leave suggestions.

For other enemies in the 3rd area, there's the *regular* skeletons, not the weak degenerated ones, so these guys can stun lock you if you aren't careful. There's also Luminous Horrors here, which are annoying. They can shield themselves, plus heal. They have strong melee, and strong magic ranged attacks. So try to use your strong talents on them.

Once you clear out area 3, you'll see stairs going to the Sher'tul Fortress.

Sher'tul Fortress: You'll drop into a room with no stairs heading back up. There's a Weirdling Beast here. He isn't too tough. He'll occasionally freeze you, so be careful there. Other than that, fight him like any other boss.

After you kill him, walk into the next room, and you'll see an orb in the center. Interact with it, and stick your Recall Rod in it when asked(heh). Once you do that, a 'Fortress Shadow' will appear in the upper left corner of the room you're in, and he's peaceful, so don't attack to him. Talk to him, and if you haven't gotten you're hands on the Trans Chest yet, the Fortress Shadow will give it to you.

These aren't part of the main set of tier 2's, but difficulty wise are in the same area. Unlike the main Tier 1 and 2 dungeons, the side dungeons spawn in random locations on the map. I recommend diving into these early on and see if you can take them, as the monsters there are sometimes based on your level when you first enter them.

Just for conversations sake, I'll be referring to the Halfling Complex as just Halfling. The first area in Halfling is always the same: One big open area with houses dotting the landscape. The rest of the dungeon is basically the same as Kor'Pul or the Maze, except with rooms added in. This area has skeletons, skeleton mages, and ghouls.

Enemy wise, you should take note of some things. Halfling is one of the first places you'll meet the 'upgraded skeletons'. The Skeleton Warrior has a chance to stun you on hit(place talents on cooldown). One time I had a Skeleton Warrior Stunlock my Archmage repeatedly, where I couldn't use any of my inscriptions or talents.

There's also Skeleton Archers and and Upgraded Skeleton Archer(forgot his name). The upgraded one does a lot more damage, and like to run more often, so have some way of getting them by here. Skeleton Mages here are the same as other ones, so nothing special there.

There's also Armoured Skeleton Mages. These guys can Rush, have more health, and do more damage. Try to take them out quick before they get a chance to do too much damage.

Ghouls are nothing special, though Ghoul Kings should be noted. They do a lot more damage and can summon more Ghouls, so try to take them out quick.

The final boss here is tough. He deals and takes large amounts of damage. There's also a Yeek(a race) here, that the boss will attack as soon as you come into sight. If you can keep the Yeek alive, you'll unlock the Yeek race. Save the Yeek when you're playing as a Yeek, then you'll get the Mindslayer Class.

This can be done after the Halfling Complex if you're a high armour/health class. there are Golems here, that do decent ranged damage and hurt quite a bit up close. They also have a Rush skill.

Other than that, the Golem Graveyard has a bunch of chests and gravestones. Sometimes, undead bosses, including high level Out of Depth ones, can spawn when you disturb a gravestone anywhere. However, nothing has ever happened when disturbing the ones here. No items from the Gravestones either. I would ignore them unless you're sure you can take them.

This is a rather simple area. The first 2 levels have randomly placed walls, and as far as enemies goes, only slavers and thralls, neither of which are particularly strong by this point. Each slaver has a group of thralls at his command. Kill the slaver, and the thralls become friendly, though if you damage a friendly thrall they'll become hostile again.

The third area is unique. It's like a stadium, with a arena in the center. No one here is hostile initially. If you talk to the vampire dude, you can pay 50 gold to participate in a arena fight, where you control a slave(Brawler class) against multiple waves of enemies. Win the arena, and you unlock the brawler class.

This one is interesting. There are 6 bosses, though they're fairly easy by this point. In the northern part of this dungeon is a puzzle: where theres a locked door with 6 locked Orbs in front of it. When you kill a boss, one of the orbs unlock. Each of the bosses drops some fairly decent loot. There are also 3 sign posts near the beginning of this dungeon, giving you a clue/poem. Once all the orbs are unlocked, interact with one of them, it will give a brief description of what it is and asking you if you want to activate it. Use the clues to figure out the order. If you press one out of order, it will summon monsters(sometimes champions) and you'll have to start over.

From what I've seen, there's at least 2 different poems. I haven't written down the answers, but they aren't too hard. There's about 5 lines to each poem. Each line sometimes corresponds to a single orb, but sometimes a single line will actually be referring to two orbs. As long as you know the '2 orbs to a line sometimes' thing, you should do fine.

Once the puzzle is solved, the door will be unlocked. In this room there's at least one reasonably high-ish tier item, and a random assortment of items and gold. To the very north of the room is a staircase you can't go down yet. When you step on the staircase, if you haven't already, you'll unlock the endless dungeon mode. This mode is basically a randomly generated dungeon that never ends and only 1 life. The point is to test your skills, and this mode is closer to traditional roguelikes than the main game.

Once the door is unlocked, there might be a couple of normal enemies in there. But basically there's a bunch of loot, a staircase you cant go down, and a sign post. Read the sign post and you'll unlock the 'Infinite Dungeon' campaign, which is an endless dungeon with no quests, and progressively tougher enemies. I'd say it's more of a traditional roguelike in this mode, and a good way to try out different classes.

When you reach level 14, Derth will come under siege by a lightning storm, and Derth will have a bunch of Lightning elementals. You'll need either a decent amount of lightning resist, or a fairly strong character. If I don't have high-ish resist, then I usually wait until level 18. Keep in mind that the quest disappears at level 20-ish.

Once you clear the town, you'll be asked to find the one responsible, or else he can do it again(he doesn't). You'll need to talk to either Linaniil in Angolwen or the Leader at Ziggur(north by north west of Last Hope). They'll take you too Tempest Peak.

This place is fairly dangerous, and the recommendations for lightning resist or a powerful character goes double here. It sports a host of lightning mages and elementals, along with Giants. The boss is even tougher, with having a fairly big health pool, and PLENTY of lighting spells. Note, I have not fought him since the official release of the game(not steam release), but before he was perfectly capable of stun locking you, where you'd be unable to cast spells. I've heard he's not as bad anymore, but I'll update this next time I fight him. Be sure to stack Lightning, Freeze, stun and daze resist, though lightning is the most important.

Once you save up enough energy from using the Transmogrification Chest, you'll be notified of a room in the Fortress. There is a Horror in this room, which is the upgraded version of the one you fought earlier. It's not very difficult, and has a selection of talents randomly chosen from other classes.

Once defeated, you'll be able to spend 30 energy from the Trans Chest(sometimes 45), and be teleported to a randomly generated dungeon, which is fairly difficult compared to others, and a very tough boss, also random.

Like Kor'pul, but with Mummies and Mummy Wrappings. The Wrappings have some magic, and it hurts. Mummies are nothing special. However, the other Undead, including vampires, are rather strong, so be careful.

This place appears on the map when you get the Brotherhood of Alchemist in Last Hope(assuming you accepted the quest). I recommend going into the Graveyard and Crypt as soon as you can, but leave immediately. That way you can deal with the boss later when you're stronger, since she can be pretty hard. She's like a watered down version of The Master(see below). In the crypt, there's multiple side rooms that have graves in them. I suggest opening them when you decided to do the quest, as the boss will summon them sometimes, and seeing as the boss is difficult enough to deal with, you don't want that. Opening those graves can sometimes permanently curse you, but it's rather weak.

This is a randomly occurring dungeon, much like the Unknown Tunnels during the Tier 1 dungeons. When you reach level 24, there's a chance that an event window will pop up telling you that you hear a scream while you explore the world map. Like the Unknown Tunnels, you can choose whether or not to do it, but if you don't you won't get a second chance in that game(though you can try again with a different character). One difference from Unknown Tunnels is that you're not guaranteed to get the event pop-up. It's randomly chosen when you make a game, so you may go several games in a row, and never see it.

Now onto business. First off, if you're low on lives and/or have low blight resist(large amounts of health helps, but it's not enough alone), DO NOT enter the Crypt. The Dark Crypt is extremely difficult, even on easy mode. For the most part, you'll be facing Blood Mages, who have very powerful spells, mostly doing blight damage, though they have elemental spells too. They also like to teleport you into the middle of the room and let you be pummeled by there Elven Guard friends, who are strong melee enemies. There's also a random assortment of demons, who are deadly in their own right.

If you plan on going into the Dark Crypt, make sure you have plenty of Blight Resistance, and a spare life or two. Most players choose to skip this dungeon due to it's difficulty, so don't be afraid to skip it.

This place is kinda intense. There are 9 areas, each one can have multiple champions in them, though not always. Then there are wights, and Dread Masters, which summon dreads, so make sure to kill the Dread Master ASAP.

Believe it or not, but escort quests can spawn in here.

I suggest avoiding the vaults for now, since the dungeon was intense enough.

The boss of Dredfell, found in area 9, is "The Master". At one point, Dreadfell was the final Dungeon, with The Master as the final boss, and it shows. This ♥♥♥♥♥♥ can output a ton of magic damage(all of it). He has at least 3000 health on Easier mode. He can summon up to 6 undead(a mixture of all kinds, but mostly the hard ones) in a single turn, and can summon quickly(seriously, his cooldown for summoning has to be at most be 5 turns). If you're not careful, you can quickly be surrounded by over a dozen undead, and he's all to happy to wail on you with magic while your getting beat on by his undead minions.

Remember, I have yet to clear Dreadfell. To be honest, I've only made it to The Master once, and that was as a Yeek Summoner with over 700 health. My future strategies include building up defenses and health(or a DPS build), and just tanking him up close, making sure not to separate, or just wail on him dishing out as much damage as I can.

Either way, you'll want to ignore summons. He usually summons 6 strong-ish undead at once, and by the time you kill them, he's summoning more. If possible, try to position yourself where the least amount of enemies can tag you. It'll be bad to fight him in an open area, since Skeleton Mages he summons will all nail you repeatedly while the melee ones knock you around.

- Advice from Starfries

Surviving Dreadfell

So you've finally arrived at Dreadfell, the dungeon that separates the men from the boys. This place kills a lot of characters, but if you play carefully you'll get through fine.

Dreadfell is 9 levels long, and guarded at the bottom by the Master. In many ways, it's an advanced version of Kor'pul. Expect tons of undead.

General tips:

- Don't be afraid to run/teleport away. Most of the enemies don't heal naturally, so there's no harm in retreating and getting your cooldowns back up. And the large number of diseases and curses here means you can die in an empty room if you teleport out too late.

- Read all your debuffs. I can't stress this enough - if you don't recognize the icon, read what it does. In the earlier dungeons, you can get away with fighting through a stun but in Dreadfell this sort of thing will get you killed. Also, some debuffs prevent healing and regeneration, and you need to notice when this happens.

- If you're not comfortable getting through here, then *don't open any vaults*. Seriously - I know they're tempting, and indeed, Dreadfell vaults can have some nice loot. Ignore that. If you survive Dreadfell, there will be tons and tons of loot later on that *won't* get you killed, and you can always come back when you're stronger and open them up. The items inside aren't going anywhere. If you don't know exactly what you're doing, opening vaults is just asking to have your day ruined by a ruins banshee or worm that walks.

Some notable enemies:

- Armoured skeleton warriors - a common but dangerous enemy, these can stun you and also do a lot of damage. You've probably seen these before, but they hit even harder now. If you get stunned, make sure to fix that before fighting on.
- Skeleton master archers - their arrows hurt, and they have no problem pinning and kiting you all day if you let them. Not too bad on their own, but very annoying if you're also fighting other enemies and get pinned. Draw them into corridors and fight them one at a time if you're having trouble.
- Dreads and Dreadmasters - invisible ghosts, and the bane of many characters. Being ghosts they resist almost all status effects, and Dreadmasters summon dreads as well. You'll need massive amounts of accuracy to hit them often, because of their high base defense combined with stealth. Blind-fighting will negate their stealth bonus. I believe they're not actually invisible, so see invisible doesn't help but stealth detection does. And keep in mind that you're here to kill the boss, not dreads - so if leaving the level is an option then take advantage of it.

You will probably also encounter three unique enemies somewhere in here:

- Borfast the Broken is a ghoul warrior. He has similar abilities to an armoured skeleton warrior, but can also use Retch, which makes a green cloud that heals himself and hurts you. He doesn't resist blindness or confusion so if you have access to those they make the fight much easier.
- Filio Flightfrond is a skeleton rogue. He uses a sling that can knock you back, and likes to run away and lay traps behind him and generally be annoying. He's not actually very dangerous, so you should have no problem going toe to toe with him. Corner him into a dead end if you're melee or just shoot him if you're ranged.
- Aletta Soultorn is a ghost cursed. She works much like dreads (thankfully, she doesn't summon like a Dreadmaster) but also has an aura that will debuff you. The same things that work on dreads will also apply here; the aura is annoying but not especially deadly. But still, make sure you read the debuffs and take care of any particularly bad ones by using a wild infusion or blinking away and letting it wear off.

As for the Master himself:

- The key to this fight is to hit and run. The Master doesn't regenerate, so any damage you manage to do is permanent. As soon as you've used your best talents, you might as well teleport or blink out; that way you're not completely helpless wherever you happen to land, and he's probably busy summoning and buffing himself so you're unlikely to deal a lot more damage anyways.
- He packs a Freeze spell, much like the Shade of Kor'Pul. You really want cold resistance for this fight, because it can do a lot of damage. He also has a darkness spell, so if you have darkness resistance make sure to wear it.
- He can summon a large group of undead. If there's too many, just back off and they will disappear after a while.
- He can turn invisible. This is true invisibility, which means although you're unlikely to hit him, he does almost no damage while it's up. Again, just back off and let it run out.
- After you kill him the first time, he'll come back with full health. Not a big deal - you've already killed him once, so just use the same tactics again.

If you've made it through, then congratulations! You've beaten one of the hardest parts of the game. There's a surprise waiting for you when you recall out. I don't want to spoil everything, but let me just say that you probably want to keep your weapons out.

If you've seen any errors, feel free to correct me in the comments, and I will make corrections when appropriate.

If you wish to contribute to the guide, feel free to add your advice in the comments. Be sure to state whether you want your username to be included next to the advice, this will signal me to consider this for the guide. I cannot guarantee that all advice given will be included in the guide, but I will seriously consider it.

Please remember that this guide will not be going beyond Dredfell. So any advice given toward these areas will not be considered for the guide.

I'll be including the areas 'Mark of the Spellblaze' and 'Dogroth Caldera/Noxious Caldera' in future updates. You are free to contribute to this, though follow the guidelines above.