Desktop Dungeons

Desktop Dungeons

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Silver Challenges
By Omnisciurus
The one and only guide for completing all silver challenges in Desktop Dungeons!
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Introduction
Welcome to the guide for completing all silver challenges in Desktop Dungeons!

Unlike bronze challenges, all silver challenges assume that you're already comfortable with the class in question and know how to leverage the class traits to your advantage. Some of these challenges are quite tricky and can seem tough if you're not experienced with the particular class. Nevertheless, these challenges are usually the equivalent of an average hard-difficulty dungeon run with a couple of gimmicks thrown in.

Each challenge dungeon is randomized in terms of layout and enemy/item placement, but several things are constant. You will always encounter the same boss, the same fixed enemy types (usually) and sometimes even the same spell glyphs.

Most silver challenges are unlocked simply by completing the respective bronze challenge once. Others have extra requirements, such as unlocking a certain dungeon, completing a quest or discovering certain gods. These requirements are listed next to each challenge.

Completing the challenges earns you no extra gold for bonus rewards such as badges. However, after beating each challenge, you will unlock an item which can then randomly appear in shops during your dungeon runs.

Most silver challenges also have the option of using preparations to improve your chances for success. For this reason, it's best to unlock certain preparation options for some of the more difficult ones. I have noted all the challenges where preparations are highly suggested.

Many of these challenges are much easier with certain races compared to others, so I'm going to assume that you've unlocked all seven races at this point. Several challenges are also made much easier after unlocking certain gods, whose altars will then always appear during the challenges. I'll also assume that you've unlocked all the gods for these challenges.

Last thing to note: unless specifically mentioned otherwise, these challenges can be completed without any shop items. Anything that you buy or prepare will certainly make the task easier, though. The choice is entirely up to you.
Guild
"Toe-to-Toe" (Fighter)

Extra requirements: complete the "Desert Rose" quest
Race pick: Human
Available preparations: Blacksmith
Reward: Platemail

Boss: Imadjinnius (LV10 Djinn, 125 damage, 250 HP, magical attack, retaliate: fireball)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271402877
This is a fairly straightforward challenge with no real gimmicks. You need to reach LV10 and kill the boss. First find a LV2 enemy and kill him with the method of your choice. Either GETINDERE or BURNDAYRAZ will do nicely. Basic stuff. There are many glyphs in this challenge, so use them all to the best of their effect. Constantly try to pick fights with enemies 1-2 levels higher than you - in other words, use the same strategy you use in pretty much every standard dungeon run.

All unlocked enemies can appear in this challenge in addition to the supremely annoying Desert Trolls with their fast regeneration and a ton of health. To kill the boss, you need to survive 125 damage three times in a row. At LV10, you have 130 health (100 base health for a LV10 hero, plus 30 from the health boosters), so you can survive a single hit. Remember to save your Death Protection until the boss fight.

Convert all extra glyphs for a damage bonus before attacking the boss. Hit the boss once, then trigger the Death Protection on the second hit, and finally use GETINDERE on the third hit to kill the boss. If the GETINDERE glyph doesn't spawn (can happen), just drink enough health potions to survive that last attack. One of the easier silver challenges for sure, although there are no shops in the map. No preparations needed.


"Again! Again!" (Berserker)

Extra requirements: complete the "Troll Toll" quest
Race pick: any
Available preparations: Blacksmith
Reward: Whurrgarbl

Boss: Fodder Von Flee (LV10 Warlock, 112 damage, 477 HP, magical attack, blink)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271403310
You start with five Wall Crunchers (same item as in the Rogue bronze challenge) and ten potions of Courage Juice. The potion drops your health to 1, gives you first strike, +30% damage and +50% XP on the next kill. The main strategy here is to use the potions before each kill and keep killing enemies above your level. There are no glyphs in this challenge, making your race selection irrelevant. There are also no mana boosters, but double the number of health boosters.

Each enemy in this challenge has the blink trait, which means that they teleport to a random spot once you hit them. The Wall Crunchers are used to make your way around the various plants that appear in this challenge.

Start by hitting any LV2 enemies you find to make them blink and get out of your way. If they blink into visible range, drink a potion for first strike, damage and XP boost to kill them. You will likely waste a lot of blackspace and most of your Wall Crunchers before you can get your first kill. Clear out all visible poisonous plants before you level up. Also try to kill a curse plant before you're about to kill a monster to make exploration even easier.

The potion and the Berserker's Bloodlust trait will allow you to easily kill enemies above your level, especially the ones with magical attacks. Fight the boss with a level catapult from LV7 to LV8 after you've cleared all the blackspace where the boss can blink to. Also consider that the boss gets a bonus 35 damage once you've damaged him enough. Save at least one potion of Courage Juice for the boss fight to land the last hit. There are plenty of health potions on the map and you need about 4-5 of them to kill the boss. Should be easy enough without any preparations or shop items.
Guild (part 2)
"Terror Grows" (Warlord)

Extra requirements: complete the "Swamp Romp" quest
Race pick: Human or Gnome
Available preparations: Thief Den, Mage Tower
Reward: Tri-Sword

Boss: Bleaty (LV10 Goat, 75 damage, 397 HP, 100% death gaze)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271403432
This challenge is essentially an altered version of the Hexx Ruins dungeon. There is an Earthmother altar that always appears on the map. Find it as soon as possible and pick up the IMAWAL glyph. Whenever you kill an enemy, a Revenant (Goat) spawns next to you. The Revenants have 999 damage, first strike, undead, bloodless, grant no experience and have 5 HP per level of enemy killed.

Any time you kill a new enemy, another Revenant spawns and all existing ones teleport next to you. To avoid being boxed in, you need to deal with them. Kill as few enemies as possible to level up. Using slow (WEYTWUT or WONAFYT) allows you to safely kill the Revenants. You could also kill them with the help of your Death Protection, but it takes a large toll on your mana. IMAWAL is a good way to deal with them as well (another reason to find the altar early). Petrifying a regular monster doesn't spawn a Revenant either.

Kill enemies 2-3 levels above you by attacking and surviving the first hit, triggering your Death Protection on the second hit, recasting CYDSTEPP, and landing the third hit. In other words, use standard Warlord tactics. Don't forget to use IMAWAL before a fight to take out Revenants and boost XP for the following kill (more XP gain = less enemies you need to kill = less goats spawning). Feel free to use Greenblood a few times to make leveling even easier.

The boss is especially tricky. You need to kill every monster on the map before attacking him, because otherwise all monsters (including Revenants) instantly die as soon as you hit the boss for the first time and he gains huge resists (+4% physical and +4% magic resist per monster, capped at 90%).

Once you reach LV8, start clearing the smaller mobs. If you spawn too many Revenants, go to the altar, use the Entanglement boon and kill all the slowed Revenants. Fighting the boss itself is fairly simple once the other monsters are dead. Use the Clearance boon (Plantation should grant you many more plants) to restore mana. Then simply recast CYDSTEPP constantly to survive the 100% death gaze. Or alternatively spam BURNDAYRAZ (if you have it). You shouldn't need any preparations, potions or shop items in this challenge at all.
Mage Tower
"Malfunctionarium" (Wizard)

Extra requirements: none
Race pick: Elf
Available preparations: Mage Tower
Reward: Mage Plate

Boss: Fergle (LV10 Warlock, 75 damage, 318 HP, 99% life steal)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271403808
The gimmick in this challenge is the fact that whenever you attack an enemy (either with a normal attack or your BURNDAYRAZ glyph), EVERY enemy in the level (including the one you attacked) blinks to a new spot. The other thing to consider is the boss' 99% lifesteal. As you'll soon find out, Vampires trigger their 40% lifesteal every time you "discover" them again after they've blinked back into blackspace. The same applies to the boss. Fortunately, the boss will not start blinking before you find him, so avoid him for as long as you can (look out for the distinctive blood and bones surrounding his location).

This is the important part: slowed enemies do not blink when attacked or when you attack another enemy, so use WONAFYT (always appears in this challenge) to make yourself a nice popcorn bowl as you explore. Vampires that blink into already uncovered tiles don't trigger lifesteal. Neither do Vampires that you grab with WONAFYT. Level up by killing slowed enemies and continue casting WONAFYT to grab more enemies as you explore. If you've grabbed all available targets with WONAFYT, you can attack a slowed enemy (who doesn't blink away) and recast WONAFYT, which can only grab the monster you just hit. Since the monster is slowed, you can kill him without retaliation AND get the +1 XP from the slow effect.

Once you've uncovered most of the blackspace, start killing enemies 2-3 levels above you with BURNDAYRAZ (avoid attacking Illusions, of course). By converting all excess glyphs, your large mana pool and double burn stacks should help you level up quite nicely. If you were lucky enough to find GETINDERE, you can even beat some fairly tough enemies. Example:

LV9 Vampire (63 damage, 134 HP) vs a LV5 Wizard (32 damage, 17 mana, 65 HP)

1. Cast BURNDAYRAZ three times (66 damage and 6 burn stacks)
2. Hit enemy for 38 (32 + 6) damage
3. Cast GETINDERE for the kill

Try to uncover the boss while you have very few hit points remaining, because his lifesteal only considers your current health, not your max health. It's therefore possible to only have him drain a few hit points despite his huge lifesteal percentage.

Once you reach LV7, use a level catapult against the boss. Hit him once, cast three fireballs and kill popcorn to level up to LV8. Cast three more fireballs and hit the boss again. At this point, the boss should either be dead or so low on health that a single hit or a fireball would finish him off. Drink a potion if necessary and deliver the killing blow. No preparations or shop items needed.

If you keep a few popcorn alive during the fight, you can kill them to force the boss to blink again if he blinks into unexplored tiles. Alternatively, just explore the entire map before the fight. You should have more than enough resources to kill the boss without the extra regeneration.

Note: if you're still having trouble, it might be best to scum for a GETINDERE (restart the challenge until the GETINDARE glyph appears). Since you'll be exploring every tile anyway, you won't put yourself at any real disadvantage. GETINDERE is one of the most powerful glyphs in the game for a reason, as it can make most dungeons (and challenges) infinitely easier.


"Damp Darkness" (Sorcerer)

Extra requirements: none
Race pick: Orc
Available preparations: Blacksmith, Mage Tower
Reward: Blue Bead

Boss: Eeblis (LV10 Djinn, 105 damage, 399 HP, magical attack, retaliate: fireball)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271404004
The altars for Binlor Ironshield, Jehora Jeheyu and the Glowing Guardian can appear in this challenge. The key to beating the challenge is the PISORF glyph (always spawns). This allows you to deal with the multitude of blinking enemies. PISORFing a blinking monster into a wall doesn't trigger the blink. PISORFing another monster into a blinking monster also doesn't trigger a blink. In addition, the Djinns' retaliation ability doesn't trigger for PISORF. And finally, PISORF gets around the 50% magic resistance of Golems. For this reason, the Orc is the obvious race choice because of the racial bonus, which greatly helps improve the damage of PISORF.

Start by finding and converting as many glyphs as you can. Grab the PISORF glyph either from Binlor's altar or from the map (if you find both, convert the extra one for more conversion points). You can then easily kill LV2 enemies with PISORF and the Essence Transit trait and rack up favor with Binlor in the process. With enough converted glyphs, you can move on to LV5 enemies at LV3 and keep killing enemies two levels above you.

Purchase the Stone Fist and Stone Form boons from Binlor and use them in conjunction with PISORF to position enemies back-to-back, which essentially allows you to kill them two at a time. When fighting the Dancing Blades, remember that the Sorcerer's class trait can remove another layer of Death Protection whenever the enemy strikes you. Knocking the enemy into a wall (either with knockback damage or PISORF) will also remove a layer of Death Protection.

You will still likely need to use a few potions and a level catapult from LV7 to LV8 when fighting the boss, but otherwise the outcome of this challenge depends on your skill with the PISORF glyph and effectively using the boons from Binlor.

Note: if you're still having trouble, using shops and preparations to buy items that increase your base damage can make this challenge seem like a breeze. It's still completely manageable without either one of those, but if you have gold to spare, you might as well use it.
Mage Tower (part 2)
"Bloodsoaked Blade" (Bloodmage)

Extra requirements: complete the "Jungle Beat" quest and unlock Dracul
Race pick: Gnome
Available preparations: Blacksmith, Mage Tower, Bazaar
Reward: Vampiric Blade

Boss:
Trikkistix (first form) (LV10 Druid, 78 damage, 581 HP, blink, physical resist 50%, revive, spawn plants: 6, 10 x Death Protection)
Trikkistix (second form) (LV10 Druid, 78 damage, 581 HP, blink, magic resist 50%, magical attack)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271370255
This is a challenge where preparations are highly suggested. The Bear Mace from the Blacksmith is especially useful for knocking the LV5 Bridge Troll out of the way, as you can't really fight him early on. It's also helpful against the second form of boss, as it adds quite a bit of damage and prevents the boss from blinking away when you smash him into a wall. The Flame Magnet from the Mage Tower can also be very beneficial to help you get a better start.

Kill higher-level enemies by throwing fireballs and using BLUDTUPOWA to regenerate mana. Also use BLUDTUPOWA to get vison past monsters in corridors, so you can avoid stepping in the blood pools, which become vital during the boss fight. You can use standard leveling tactics and use BLUDTUPOWA with the occasional blood pool to kill enemies up to three levels above you.

Once you reach LV7, kill most of your popcorn to set up a level catapult for the boss fight. If you have godly skill with the Bloodmage, you could actually reach as high as LV9 before the boss fight and straight-up take him on even without a level catapult. Make sure you can reach the boss anywhere he could blink into. You should have about 20 blood pools and around 20 tiles of inaccessible blackspace.

Boss fight:
1. hit boss with fireball
2. BLUDTUPOWA once for another fireball
3. kill all non-corrosive plants and level up on popcorn
4. hit boss with fireball
5. BLUDTUPOWA once for another fireball
6. BLUDTUPOWA twice for another fireball
7. if you have enough blackspace remaining, use a health potion to re-cast BLUDTUPOWA for more fireballs

As the boss starts blinking and creating plants, remember that you don't have to worry about poison during the boss fight, nor mana burn (as long as you're out of mana) because BLUDTUPOWA replenishes mana regardless of any debuffs.

It's hard to get decent burning stacks going, because you occasionally have to clear away plants to reach the boss, which ignites the burn stacks that are already on him. Constantly clear all plants between BURNDAYRAZ casts to avoid getting boxed in. This also removes plants covering the blood pools for later use. Take care not to step on any of those just yet. Igniting a burn stack by attacking a plant removes a layer of Death Protection just as well as casting BURNDAYRAZ once the boss is reduced to 1 HP.

Each mana potion restores exactly 6 mana (enough for a BURNDAYRAZ), so keep drinking potions and casting fireballs on the boss. Convert your other glyphs (and BLUDTUPOWA once you run out of blackspace) for more mana potions. If you managed to kill the Bridge Troll, the Sensation Stone he drops translates to two extra mana potions here, which can be crucial for success.

If you run out of mana potions before killing the first form, you should at least have managed to take out a few layers of Death Protection at this point, which makes it possible to tank him with the help of blood pools to remove the remaining layers. His 50% physical resist is irrelevant at 1 HP and every removed layer also decreases his damage output considerably. Prioritize blood pools containing Tokoloshe charms, so you'd have higher resists for the second form.

Once you kill the first form, convert BURNDAYRAZ for a mana potion and drink it to further improve your Sanguine trait. You should have about 40% life steal per blood pool at this point (equal to one health potion). The second form still blinks, but doesn't generate more plants.

If you have gathered too much corrosion by this point, it might be worthwhile to kill every corrosive plant that blocks a potential path the boss might blink into. Once you've soaked up all the corrosion, buy a Burn Salve from the apothecary to remove all the stacks. If you've managed to avoid corrosion, the salve might not be necessary. The second form should be killable with the help of blood pools, remaining health potions and the potential Bear Mace for added damage and blink prevention.

I managed this without any preparations, shop items, Burn Salve or the Sensation Stone, and with two health potions remaining, but then again, Bloodmage is one of my favorite classes to play and your mileage may vary significantly, as this challenge can be considered one of the harder ones for sure.
Thief Den
"The Metal Age" (Thief)

Extra requirements: none
Race pick: Human (fixed race)
Available preparations: none allowed
Reward: Balanced Dagger

Boss: Guard Captain (LV9 Animated Armour, 75 damage, 480 HP)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271405846
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271405932
This is a fairly difficult dungeon for a silver challenge, but entirely manageable. There are only a handful of LV2 monsters here, designated by the red enemy markers.

Start by opening the chest next to you and take LEMMISI from it. You also start the challenge with WEYTWUT already in your inventory. Spam LEMMISI until you reveal multiple attack and health boosters. Get to them. Use WEYTWUT to clear the corridors (prioritize targeting enemies up to LV5). Get enough stat boosters to reach 6 damage and 13 HP.

Find a LV2 enemy and clear all blackspace around him. Regen-fighting won't help you here, so do the following: hit the enemy, drink a health potion, hit him again, cast WEYTWUT, kill the enemy and level up. With enough attack boosters, you can now two-shot LV3 enemies (hit them and use the GETINDERE from the level 1 chest). Using WEYTWUT instead of GETINDERE is less mana efficient and you can run out of blackspace quickly. Do the same with LV4 enemies once you reach LV3.

Upon reaching LV4, open the level 5 chest for an ENDISWAL glyph. Build up three layers of Stone Skin, attack a LV6 enemy, attack again, and use GETINDERE or WEYTWUT for the kill. Once you reach LV5, convert WEYTWUT and LEMMISI (and IMAWAL from the level 3 chest). Open the level 7 chest for a Pendant of Health. Three-hit two LV7 enemies the same way (ENDISWAL to break open hidden blackspace, land two hits and cast GETINDERE). Repeat at LV6 versus two LV8 enemies.

Once you reach LV7, set up a level catapult (you should be able to safely one-shot all enemies up to LV5). Score two hits against the boss with ENDISWAL to survive, then catapult yourself to LV8. Once you level up, stack two more ENDISWAL casts and attack. Don't use any blackspace at this point to avoid healing the boss. You should drink the rest of your potions during this fight. Thanks to Thief's Survivor trait, potions restore both health and mana and should enable you to kill the boss, especially with constant ENDISWAL casts. No shop items needed.


"Wrath of Midas" (Rogue)

Extra requirements: none
Race pick: Dwarf
Available preparations: Thief Den, Witch, Alchemist, Altar of Dracul
Reward: Gloves of Midas

Boss: Midas (LV10 Bandit, 75 damage, 954 HP, 101% death gaze, retaliate: fireball)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271405774
This challenge is unique in multiple ways. First and foremost, the boss has 101% death gaze, meaning that he will kill you as soon as you attack him, no matter how much health you have. You need to use the Ritual of Midas (a unique item found in the dungeon) to make yourself immune to death gaze. Here's the catch: it costs 80 gold to use. You can collect gold from three sub-bosses in the dungeon:

Wheeze-Hard (LV8 Wizard, 52 damage, 111 HP, death protection, magical attack)
Prist (LV9 Priest, 63 damage, 201 HP)
Foyter (LV10 Fighter, 75 damage, 159 HP, 25% physical resist, 25% magic resist)

Each of the sub-bosses drops 25 gold upon death, so you will need to kill all of them. The dungeon will always spawn the altar of Dracul and Pactmaker. Using Dracul to his full effect is vital for success in this challenge. Convert all your health potions (and HALPMEH and CYDSTEPP glyphs if you find them) for more piety. Since there are no undead monsters in the dungeon, you don't need to worry about losing piety at all. Grab the Blood Hunger (+1 lifesteal) boon as soon as possible.

You will want to kill enemies a few levels above you and get the second level of Blood Hunger as soon as possible. Leverage your first strike trait as much as you can to kill the sub-bosses while you're still 2-3 levels below them. The overheal from Blood Hunger can help out a lot while leveling. You'll also likely want two levels of Blood Tithe eventually (at least for the boss fight).

There are also Golden Statues in this dungeon. They have corrosive attacks, weakening blow and grant no experience. Each of them drops 5 gold upon death, but you need to step into the corrosion pool to collect it. Ultimately, it's not worth it. They have extremely low damage and high health (for example, a LV5 Golden Statue has 1 damage and 108 HP). This makes them fantastic for farming lifesteal during the boss fight.

To fight Midas, reach LV8, set up a level catapult and use the Ritual Scroll. The scroll turns into Midas Mantle when used, which grants you protection from death gaze. You can convert pretty much all of your glyphs for the extra health bonus to make blood pools more effective.

Hit the boss, land as many hits as you can (usually two with the help of overheal) and level up on popcorn. Once you reach LV9, use the Blood Curse boon for extra piety, as there is no longer any downside to using it. At this point, you have four sources of life regeneration to help beat down Midas:

- two levels of lifesteal to restore 20 health per hit thanks to Blood Curse
- the Blood Swell boon to instantly restore you to 100% HP
- decent number of Golden Statues to farm for lifesteal
- large number of blood pools for Sanguine

Keep beating him down and using whichever method of health regeneration you prefer. Since you will be trading quite a few blows, even your dodge will likely trigger quite a few times. Personally, I didn't even have to use a single blood pool (out of about 30) or farm any of the Golden Statues. This will likely be one of the easier silver challenges. No shop items or preparations needed.
Thief Den (part 2)
"Creeplight Contract" (Assassin)

Extra requirements: complete the "Deep Freeze" quest
Race pick: Goblin
Available preparations: Bazaar
Reward: Venom Dagger

Boss:
Anubbis (first form) (LV9 Warlock, 86 damage, 441 HP, 50% physical resist, 50% magic resist, revives),
Anubbis (second form) (LV10 Zombie, 82 damage, 261 HP, 50% magic resist, undead, bloodless, revives),
Anubbis (third form) (LV10 Wraith, 82 damage, 261 HP, 60% physical resist, mana burn, undead, bloodless)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=262857025
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=262857057
This challenge requires you to beat three very different forms of the boss with the Assassin. You also need to earn the Unstoppable badge in order to win. The Goblin is always a great choice for an Assassin thanks to their racial bonus. You conveniently start with a contract that you can convert for 100 points any time you wish.

The altars for Dracul, the Pactmaker and Tikki Tooki can appear in this challenge. Unlike in the Rogue challenge, Dracul is seriously underwhelming here thanks to the large number of undead enemies. Tikki Tooki, however, is obscenely powerful and can easily win you the challenge single-handedly - without you ever taking a single point of damage. How is that possible, you ask? Read on.

Tikki Tooki has a very beneficial boon in the form of Learning that greatly benefits the Assassin. The Assassin's Swift Hand trait and Tikki Tooki's affinity for killing lower-level monsters are also a match made in heaven.

First explore the map to find Tikki Tooki's altar and preferably either WONAFYT or WEYTWUT. Start creating a popcorn bowl with those glyphs (conveniently increasing your piety) and keep exploring until you have enough piety to purchase the Learning boon. Then convert your contract, leveling up your character. You will ideally want to get two boons of Learning as soon as possible, so start killing LV1 popcorn until you reach the required amount of piety.

With two levels of Learning, you can start receiving tons of bonus experience. Since your victims are also slowed thanks to the glyphs, the experience adds up considerably. Convert any other glyphs you find (as well as your APHEELSIK glyph) for more experience, but keep BURNDAYRAZ (it always spawns here and is vital for killing the boss). Keep using the GETINDERE glyph from Tikki Tooki to rack up your dodge chance (since you're insta-killing enemies, you're never in danger of losing your stack).

Kill lower-level enemies and spend your mana on WEYTWUT/WONAFYT and GETINDERE until you reach LV10 (ideally without ever having to actually "fight" a monster). Convert all your health potions into Reflex and Quicksilver potions with Tikki Tooki's boon (you should easily collect enough piety to convert all four potions). You should even have enough piety left over for the +10% dodge chance boon.

To fight the boss after reaching LV10, insta-kill the first form of the boss with the Swift Hand trait. Once the second form spawns, use the double strike potion from Tikki Tooki's boon. Thanks to your previous dodge stacks from GETINDERE (up to 100% at this point), you will avoid the first hit without effort. Drink the second potion for more damage and one or two Quicksilvers for the dodge chance. Your third hit will kill the boss thanks to the Assassin's Light Foot trait.

The only real way to kill the last form is the BURNDAYRAZ glyph. You should still have all four mana potions at this point, so keep spamming those fireballs. If you run out of mana before killing the boss, drink a third batch of Reflex and Quicksilver potions and deliver the killing blow by hand. This is one of the easier and more fun silver challenges. No preparations or shop items needed.
Church
"The Evil Zombie" (Priest)

Extra requirements: find the Pactmaker's altar at least once
Race pick: Orc
Available preparations: Bazaar, Witch
Reward: Stone Sigil

Boss: Mister Evil (LV10 Zombie, 105 damage, 2220 HP, undead, bloodless)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271404226
This is one of the harder silver challenges. Using preparations from the Witch is basically unavoidable here (health potion, Can of Whupaz, Reflex Potion, Quicksilver Potion). The Can of Whupaz deals over 500 damage to the boss, while the Reflex and Quicksilver potions both essentially mean "+1 free hit" during the boss fight.

First off, all enemies have +40% more damage and health than usual (same as in vicious-difficulty dungeons). This means that killing monsters even one level above you will be tough, especially considering the fact that most of the enemies here aren't undead, so your +100% damage bonus won't apply to them. The map is also much smaller than usual and unfavorable enemy placement can seriously screw you over, forcing you to restart several times if you can't find suitable enemies to fight.

There are really just two ways to beat this challenge, even with a full set of prepared potions. You must either find useful glyphs (such as GETINDERE, ENDISWAL and HALPMEH) and leverage them to the fullest, or find useful items in shops (most notably the Balanced Dagger).

Definitely pick the Orc instead of the Halfling. Otherwise, you can pretty much forget about killing higher-level enemies altogether. The Orc's racial bonus will make your leveling process much easier and the extra base damage is further increased by your class trait when fighting the boss. The only fixed glyph here is LEMMISI. There are no mana boosters nor mana potions on the map, but double the attack boosters and health potions.

The boss has a ridiculous health pool, so the idea here is to use every trick in the book to beat him. I'll outline the strategy I used, although there might be better ones out there.

Level up straight to LV9. If you've made it this far, that's it. You've basically already won. Leveling is by far the hardest part of this challenge. Ideally, you'd want to get one extra hit in at the boss with a level catapult from LV8, but it's not needed at all.

Al LV9, you should have your three prepared potions, 7 health potions, all glyphs except LEMMISI converted for a total +10 base damage bonus, and a total damage output of 143 against undead (45 + 10 base damage, +60% from boosters, +100% from trait). No other glyphs or items are needed to win. If you manage to hold on to BURNDAYRAZ and instead convert random shop items for the damage bonus, you can squeeze in some extra damage with fireballs. Here's how the fight plays out:

1. drink Can of Whupaz
2. hit the boss
3. after the hit, the boss will instantly lose 25% of his remaining health thanks to the Can
4. drink your Quicksilver and Reflex potions for two free hits
5. use LEMMISI three times
6. hit the boss
7. drink a health potion
8. hit the boss again
9. repeat steps 5-8 until you're completely out of potions
10. oh wait, the boss actually dies before that

Any items you find in shops should be aimed towards making the leveling process easier. You can also grab an extra health potion from the apothecary. It should be noted that Whurrgarbl is absolutely ridiculous against the boss. You can easily manage about 15 burning stacks before he goes down. I beat this challenge without buying any shop items, so it's still possible to do, but definitely harder.


"Way of the Open Fist" (Monk)

Extra requirements: unlock the Ick Swamp dungeon
Race pick: Orc
Available preparations: Alchemist, Witch
Reward: Martyr Wraps

Boss: Blerglwergl (LV10 Meat Man, 48 damage, 795 HP, weakening blow)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271404486
There are a ton of plants in this challenge. And I mean a TON. You have very little room to navigate, so whenever you're about to level up, clear out all the mana burn and poison plants to make yourself more room. Avoid killing erosive plants (unless you can remove the curse debuff quickly). Picking up an early BURNDAYRAZ is a good way to help clear barbed plants as well. The Warlocks drop Wisp Gems when killed - small items that increase your damage by +5%. Poison and mana burn plants occasionally have Spoons inside of them, which makes clearing them even more important. The damage from Spoons, Wisp Gems and glyph conversions adds up pretty quickly.

Once you've decently boosted your starting damage, use standard regen-fighting to level up. Avoid fighting higher-level Nagas and Wraiths for obvious reasons. You can easily kill Meat Men and Medusas 2-3 levels above you with BURNDAYRAZ and regen-fighting. Thanks to limited space, finding the first few suitable kills is likely the hardest task and might require you to restart a couple of times.

The altars for Taurog, Binlor and the Earthmother can appear in this challenge. Taurog can be very useful in helping you level up, but not that great against the boss, so it's best to avoid him. Binlor is probably the most useless god here, as there are virtually no walls. The Earthmother is very useful in the boss fight, but useless while leveling because you need to kill dozens of plants to move around. Hold off converting to Earthmother before you're ready to fight the boss.

When you reach LV9, start worshipping the Earthmother. Use the Greenblood boon once (or twice if possible), then use Plantation to instantly boost your piety to 100. Use Greenblood a few more times until you have at least 75 piety remaining. Hit the boss as much as you can and use up all your health potions. Then start spamming BURNDAYRAZ at the boss, regenerating mana with the Clearance boon and mana potions. The burning and corrosion stacks will increase the damage output substantially. You can use Clearance up to five times and should have at least four mana potions to spend. All these resources should be more than enough to take the boss down. No preparations or shop items needed.
Church (part 2)
"Honour and Glory" (Paladin)

Extra requirements: complete the "Muu..." quest and unlock Taurog
Race pick: Human
Available preparations: Alchemist, Blacksmith
Reward: Agnostic's Collar

Boss: Scalespit (LV10 Dragon, 97 damage, 412 HP, mana burn, magical attack, 75% magic resistance)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271404986
You will always find Taurog's altar on this map near your starting location. The boss in this challenge also makes it fairly obvious that you won't be relying on glyphs to beat him.

Take care not to accrue any curses from Steel Golems, because this negates all of your damage resistance. Avoid getting poisoned with the help of your HALPMEH glyph and carefully-timed level-ups. Convert any other glyph for extra damage and prioritize magic-based enemies to increase piety faster and therefore get your equipment faster. It's even possible to get all four pieces of Taurog's equipment as early as LV2.

Don't forget to knock off extra layers of Death Protection from lower-level Animated Armours as you level up. Otherwise, you'll have difficulties using them as popcorn later on. Whenever you're about to kill a monster, try to also kill a lower-level Steel Golem before the killing blow to negate the curse debuff. Don't be afraid to use HALPMEH to kill higher-level enemies. You should have more than enough piety left over thanks to the large number of monsters with magical attacks.

Once you reach LV7, you should have about 80-100 piety racked up and a layer of Death Protection already active. Thanks to the Paladin's 20% reduction to boon costs, you can afford to stack several Death Protections during the boss fight thanks to Taurog's Unstoppable Fury boon. Here's the fight:

1. hit the boss once
2. hit him the second time to trigger your Death Protection
3. use the Unstoppable Fury boon
4. kill popcorn to level up
5. hit the boss again
6. hit him again to trigger your Death Protection

At this point, a single hit will be enough to kill the boss. Use either another boon from Taurog or drink a few health potions. In any case, landing that final blow shouldn't be too hard. No shop items or preparations needed.
Explorers' Guild
"Taking Heart" (Transmuter)

Extra requirements: none
Race pick: Goblin
Available preparations: Mage Tower
Reward: 400 gold

Boss: Frosthand (LV10 Golem, 75 damage, 477 HP, cowardly)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271405149
The main gimmick of this challenge is the fact that all enemies are invulnerable and immune to spells. Whenever you trigger your Spirit Sword, all enemies equal to your level (or lower) become vulnerable. In other words, you can't fight any enemies above your level in this challenge, which means no bonus XP.

For this particular challenge, the Goblin's racial bonus is by far the best. In fact, it's virtually impossible with any other race. Your goal is to find glyphs you can spam constantly and therefore rack up your conversion points via Inner Focus.

First use LEMMISI to uncover all the other glyphs to find suitable ones. You'll want to always cast glyphs whenever you have mana for it. Try to time your conversions so you can remove invulnerability from two levels of monsters at once. For example, once you reach LV5 but haven't triggered your Spirit Sword since LV3, you can convert a glyph to remove invulnerability from both LV4 and LV5 monsters.

If possible, use PISORF or ENDISWAL to access extra blackspace for mana regeneration. Also use the shops to buy items with high conversion values and immediately convert them when you need to reach the conversion threshold.

Once you reach LV10, you must trigger Spirit Sword again to make the boss vulnerable. Unfortunately, you can't use glyphs like BURNDAYRAZ or HALPMEH to help against the boss before draining your mana. ENDISWAL works just fine though. Here's how the fight should go (with BURNDAYRAZ and 4 of each potion):

1. trigger your Spirit Sword after reaching LV10
2. hit the boss with the Spirit Sword buff
3. drink mana potions to cast BURNDAYRAZ three times
4. convert BURNDAYRAZ for another Spirit Sword
5. drink a health potion and attack the boss
6. repeat until you're out of potions

If the boss is still alive, buy a health potion from the apothecary and finish him off. In terms of preparations, adding an extra glyph on the map might be helpful to increase your options and prevent you from accidentally triggering Spirit Sword twice, but it's really not needed.


"Forging Ahead" (Tinker)

Extra requirements: none
Race pick: any
Available preparations: Blacksmith
Reward: 400 gold

Boss: Force (LV10 Djinn, 75 damage, 522 HP, blink)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271405475
First off, you can't convert any items or glyphs in this challenge, which makes your race selection completely irrelevant. It also means that you must carefully choose the glyphs you pick up and the items you buy. There are several items found in shops that are unique to this challenge:

Bound Sword (+15% damage)
"Penance" (+2 damage, +1 max mana)
Ritual Scroll (+5% resists, +1 max mana, 3 layers of curse when used)
Draining Blade (+1 lifesteal, 9 layers of curse, 5 layers of corrosion)
Fake Beard (+5 XP)
Cracked Orb (reduces enemy max health to 90%)

The other items that can appear in the shops include Pendant of Mana, Pendant of Health, Spoon, Fine Sword, Compression Seal and Bloody Sigil. Needless to say, the success of this challenge depends largely on what items you encounter in shops and how soon you find them.

There are a few more unique things about this challenge. First, every time you kill an enemy, more walls appear in the dungeon to limit your movement space. Second, there are multiple enemy types with lifesteal here, which makes regen-fighting difficult. And last but not least, every time the boss blinks, he receives 1-2 random abilites from the following: poisonous, magical attack, 100% death gaze, curse bearer, 80% physical resist, retaliate: fireball, undead & bloodless.

The altars for Taurog, the Earthmother and Mystera Annur can appear in this challenge. While Taurog is not particularly useful here because of the unpredictable boss, the other two can help you out immensely. It doesn't really matter which deity you choose, because the boss fight will largely be the same - spam fireballs at him until he dies. I'll outline the strategy for the Earthmother, as I found her to be superior to Mystera Annur for the simple reason that Mystera's Refreshment boon (one of her greatest strengths) is useless here.

Try and find the altar as soon as you can to get the most use out of the IMAWAL glyph. If possible, only petrify bloodless enemies to better use the Plantation boon later on. Feel free to use Greenblood a few times to help you level up.

Once you reach LV8, prepare a level catapult. Hit the boss and start throwing fireballs at him. Catapult yourself to LV9 once you run out of health and mana. Keep attacking the boss. Use Clearance to refill your mana. Use the Plantation boon for more piety (and more plants for Clearance). Drink mana potions whenever needed. If the boss gets the "retaliate: fireball" trait, attack a popcorn monster to ignite the burning stacks and force a re-roll on his traits (or slow him via Entanglement to negate the trait). You should have enough resources to finish him. You could even use the Entanglement boon to land the last hit if needed.
Explorers' Guild (part 2)
"Rat-Faced" (Crusader)

Extra requirements: none
Race pick: Orc
Available preparations: Blacksmith
Reward: 400 gold

Boss: Keeng Ra'at (LV10 Ratling, 65 damage, 1044 HP, fast regen, retaliate: fireball, weakening blow, corrosive)

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271370190
While the bronze challenge introduced the concept of momentum, this challenge truly tests your skill with it. In fact, I consider this to be the hardest silver challenge BY FAR and even harder than many of the gold challenges.

Like the bronze challenge, the key is to increase your base damage to get the most benefit out of momentum. Orcs work exceptionally well in that regard thanks to their conversion bonus. You also need a large amount of popcorn when you'll start building momentum against the boss, so avoid killing lower-level monsters whenever possible.

The map is densely populated with various plants. You're completely immune to poison, mana burn and curse, so start cutting a path through them. Plants do not increase or decrease your momentum. BURNDAYRAZ can be useful for clearing away the barbed bushes. The PISORF glyph is very useful for Crusaders, as it doesn't reduce momentum (unlike BURNDAYRAZ), so keep an eye out for it.

There will always be a Pactmaker altar on the map. Take the Scholar's Pact from the Pactmaker at LV4 (after taking Consensus), so you'd have the level-up bonus all the way to LV9. There is also a Burn Salve and a Fortitude Tonic hidden in a random poison and mana burn plant. Once you reach LV7, you should have about 20 popcorn ready to pop for the boss fight.

Explore as much blackspace as you can, because the enemy's fast regen trait means that any regen-fighting is useless and you might miss out on some popcorn otherwise. Convert every useless glyph to maximize your damage, set up a level catapult and prepare for a tough fight.

Since you need to hit the boss a ton of times and constantly cut your momentum bonus in half, it's best to keep hitting him between 2-3 popcorn kills (and drinking health potions when needed). Drink a Burn Salve once your corrosion stacks reach too high. The same goes for the Fortitude Tonic and weakness. If you need an extra potion, grab one from the apothecary.

You will use two level catapults during this fight thanks to all the popcorn you'll end up killing. You will also need another glyph to squeeze in that last bit of damage (BYSSEPS, PISORF and HALPMEH are all good choices). Otherwise you might end up barely short of killing the boss. I eventually managed it without any preparations or shop items (except an extra potion from the apothecary), but it was ridiculously close. Definitely a challenge where I would strongly recommend using preparations and/or shops.
12 Comments
dontnormally 4 Feb @ 6:38pm 
This has taught me one thing. I hate Thief silver challenge.

I just want to unlock the Witch, and I'm running around doing everything other than that.

Gotta get Dimensional Dealing. Can't ever buy everything, no matter how hard I try.

See a suggestion for Thief gold challenge, so here I am.
Radagast the Brown 30 Apr, 2023 @ 5:13pm 
Good guides in general.

For monk challenge, the Earthmother does not spawn on every run unfortunately. On mine it didn't and I was actually WTF. Well Taurog actually works amazingly well as it seems. It just needs to be timed right. I worshipped Taurog at lvl 8 with loads of popcorn available, but only after I wasted all my mana and mana potions on fireballs on the boss. Worshipped, converted stuff, killed low popcorn, boom -> max piety. Got all items and smashed the boss with the extra resistances/damage reduction with ease. Catapult leveled up and continued. Didn't even need to use a single health potion, nor any of the Taurog's death protections. At the end I had 11 weakening debuffs. Not bad at all.
♥♥♥♥ Goblin 11 Jan, 2018 @ 6:00pm 
Crusader tips: pick orc+mace, then explore the ~30 tiles around the starting stairs for a key glyph or shop item - restart if you don't find something close by. Try to find boss early and scout around it. Setup a 'knockback' route if using walls or knockback into a plant (plant won't die from knockback damage). If you can get poison and save some black space, you can win this challenge without much trouble. Useful glyphs: Poison (best imo as you can regen fight the boss across several levels); make-wall (you can turn plants into walls to gain the 50% exp boost, helps a ton!); atk-boost (helps offset atk bonus issues). Useful items: fireheart; long sword; fast regen (when used with poison); tri-sword (very useful for damage boost end-game); mana-bead (useful while killing popcorn); xp-dagger (helps early on to reduce amount of low level creatures you kill; combine with make-wall glyph/xp boost and a slow spell for a HUGE boost).
Grakor 3 Nov, 2017 @ 11:58am 
Just noting for anyone wandering over here: the guide is out of date in places. The main one I'm thinking of is Assassin Silver, which doesn't spawn Tikki Tooki anymore. It's still possible to hit level 10 before fighting the boss, though finding a Balanced Dagger tends to make things easier on that front, and being a goblin is highly recommended.
Killermax636 3 Jan, 2017 @ 2:29am 
Impressive. The crusader challenge is the most difficult one I think and it is the last silver challenge I beat. But I beat it in a different way. I was lucky enough to have a poison glyph ("I feel sick") early and just used it against the rat king and finally killed it.
Stexe 10 Jun, 2015 @ 2:04am 
Thanks for the guide. That stupid Bloodmage Silver was eluding me for so long. I would always miss it by just a few life each time. The knock back + converting the glyphs to mana just to increase sanguine really did it for me. Yay! Now on to all the Gold Challenges! =)
MTaur 28 Jan, 2015 @ 9:52pm 
I concur. The Metal Age isn't easy, and both times I've played it, it was close. But lots of little things can help, including bonus XP from casting WEYTWUT before a kill, mana allowing. The end boss is a bit tough and there is no popcorn, but if you can get a hit or two in before leveling off of a side creep, then you can get a leg up in the boss fight.
Omnisciurus  [author] 28 Jan, 2015 @ 2:17am 
I haven't played the game in ages, so I don't remember the specifics, but the bonus XP from killing enemies 2 levels above you should be enough to level the hero only after two kills per level. If possible, you can also use WEYTWUT for the extra +1 XP before the killing blow.
watsamattayou 27 Jan, 2015 @ 8:04pm 
Ive tried the thief challenge "The Metal Age" about 15 times using this guide, it takes 3 enemies per level after 3 to level up. By the time I reach the end there arent any low level enemies left. What am I missing here?
MTaur 18 Oct, 2014 @ 4:36pm 
Pretty good guide. I figure out some of these on my own, and benefited from taking a quick look at these for a few others. Orc Sorcerer with Pisorf... nice.