From: e3321942@student.uq.edu.au (Kenneth Hsu) Newsgroups: rec.games.video.arcade Subject: D&D2 Magic User's Manual v1.5 Date: 20 Aug 1996 02:21:07 GMT Dungeons and Dragons 2: Shadow over Mystara Magic User's Manual version 1.5 Written by: Kenneth Hsu (e3321942@student.uq.edu.au) Version History v1.0 - First official release (22st July, 1996) v1.5 - Updates on spell properties, stage/boss descriptions (mostly on Forest of Despair), useful item descriptions, super-charged wand of paralyzation, included charts on how to work out type-C names and how many spells magic user gets back after each level, and other minor corrections/updates. Lots of new type-C names, more magic user combos and much more (18th August, 1996) This guide can be obtained from the following places: 1) via FTP from ftp.netcom.com/pub/vi/vidgames/faqs/dd2mage.txt 2) via WWW from http://www.flex.net/users/cjayc/vgfa/index.html 3) via USENET group rec.games.video.arcade when the guide is updated. Credits and Acknowledgement Andy Eddy <vidgames@netcom.com> - For allowing this guide to be kept at his ftp video games FAQ archive. CJayC <cjayc@flex.net> - For allowing this guide to be kept at his WWW Video Games Faq archive. BlackCat <iepsebastian@redash.qut.edu.au> - help on useful items. Bradley Jayakody (s337186@student.uq.edu.au) - this document (format and information) is based on or taken from his excellent D&D2 FAQ. Derek (Lanzer) Liu <lanzer@mindlink.net> - For the nice charts of how to work out type-C names and the chart of when magic user gets his spells back from his D&D2 guide (originally from Gamest). Laurent Waelbroeck (waelbrck@micronet.fr) - for all the tips on how to play as a solo mage. Shinichi Nakada <snaka00@mik.uky.edu> - information on the new update of the game and helpful hints on how to deal with shadow elves and ghouls. Arie (e3320588@student.uq.edu.au) & Jen (mf323232@student.uq.edu.au) - my D&D2 regular party members when I am not playing solo. These two guys got me hooked on the game in the first place :) Kuen Foo <k.foo@student.qut.edu.au> - guide correction and additions Ruiner <ruiner@ucla.edu> - this guy discovered final strike, what else can I say? :) TSR and Capcom And all adventurers on r.g.v.a. ===================================================================== Table of Contents Introduction Magic User's Spells Level 8 Spells - How Can I Get to Cast Them???? Magic User's Spell/Item Circles Black or Green? Names for Your Magic User When do Magic Users get the spells back? Spell Management Useful Items for the Magic User Moves Available for the Magic User General Fighting Techniques How to Handle the Different Monsters Walkthrough Mystara as a Solo Mage! ===================================================================== Introduction Magic user is a new character class introduced in this sequel to D&D1 and instead of fighting prowess, magic user has a variety of offensive spells at his disposal. Having no shields and doing only a minimal amount of damage with his physical attacks, fighting monsters with a magic users are a lot more trickier than with other characters in the game. For the magic user, the hard part of the game is probably to survive long enough until the bosses so that they can be annihilated by magic user's powerful spells. The management of spells and when to cast them is also important in successfully playing a magic user, no matter whether you are in a group or playing along. This document is prepared to provide hopefully all information people need to know to successfully play this character in the game, especially if they are going to play the game solo :) ===================================================================== Magic Users' Spells The main advantage of playing the magic user instead of other characters is of course his vast variety of spells. Below is a detailed description of each spell and and the spell's properties and usage. Please note that there is NO Level 2 spells available to the magic user. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Magic Missile Spell Level: 1 Description: The magic user lifts both hands up, and alternatively fires off 3 to 6 bolts of green-coloured homing missles to hit the enemies from each hand. Usage: This spell is useful for distracting monsters or knocking them down. Properties: The number of missles released is dependent upon your magic user's level, what magic enhancement items the magic user has, and the machine's difficulty level setting. The number starts off at 3 and as the game progresses, it increases to a maximum of 6 missles on easy machines, maximum is 5 on harder machines. The missles sent out tend to go for the 'lesser' monsters - i.e. if there are normal monsters present along with the end-of-stage boss, the missles will go for normal monsters instead of the boss. The boss will only be hit if it is closer to you than the lesser monsters. Usually as soon as a boss is hit by one missle, the rest will change direction and home to the rest of the normal monsters straight away. If there are no standing monsters on the screen, the missles will hover above a knocked down monster and will hit it when it gets up. The missles will go for standing monsters first instead of hovering over knocked down monsters. If the missles do not hit after a certain time or if there are no targets on the screen it can home to, they will just go off the screen and disappear. To use the spell to its full effect, do NOT cast another spell while there are missles on the screen. Casting all other spells which hit the enemy the missles are homing to will cause the missles to leave the screen immediately (i.e. wasted). If another Magic Missle is cast while there are still missles flying around, some of the missles will leave the screen. I.e. let all your missles hit first before casting another one! Please also note that the flames (the tall shooting ones) and meteors will sometimes absorb one or two missles if the botls come into contact with it, therefore, avoid casting it when you are standing close to the flames or when there are monsters close to them. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Fireball Spell Level: Level 3 Description: The magic user lifts up one hand to generate a flaming fireball, and then sends it in the direction the magic user is facing. The fireball travels forward and downwards - eventually hitting the ground and explodes. Usage: To burn and knock down any monsters touching the fireball travelling in its path or the final explosion on the ground. Properties: Fireball is an impressive looking but impractical spell, since the fireball does not travel a full screen length like lightning bolts (which has the same spell level). It also seems to do less damage than Lightning Bolt. If a monster is knocked down on the ground by a fire spell (Fireball, Wall of Fire) or by a burning oil/large burning oil (i.e. you see them burning as they fall on the ground), then while the monster is on the ground, your fireball thrown at it will not hit the monster at all. This means that successive casting of this spell on a creature will not work. Fireball will also have no effect on monsters which has invulerable period as they get up. It does not work at all on certain creatures (fire salamanders, hell hounds, Lich). To hit the dragons with this spell, the magic user need to align himself with the shadow of the dragon (or its head) and makes sure the fireball touches the dragon as it travels forward and downwards. The final explosion on the ground doesn't seem to touch the dragons at all. Against the dragons and Ezerhoden, you also cannot continously cast Fireball one after the other - otherwise the second Fireball, cast straight after the first one, will do no damage to these bosses. You need to wait for a bit before casting the next Fireball. Try to use fireball as the killing spell when fighting bosses, it looks mightily impressive as the screen slows down and the flashing effect really shows on the screen. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Lightning Bolt Spell Level: 3 Description: The magic user charges up, and then sends a bolt of electricity across the screen directly in the direction the magic user is facing using both hands. The magic user can then partially direct the bolt slightly by moving the joystick up and down to take out other targets on the screen not in the same horizontal plane as the magic user. Usage: To hit all monsters in front of the magic user. Properties: This is a much more useful spell than fireball, as it hits all monsters - no matter whether the monster is standing, jumping (as long as the bolt touches it) or lying on the ground. It also has better range. Lightning Bolt has no effect on the Lich. It will miss bosses who has invulnerability periods when they are getting up after being knocked down (Tel'Arin, Dark Warrior I & II, Displacer Beast and Nagpa). It's also hard to hit the dragons with this spell. The magic user needs to be on the same horizontal plane (watch your shadow and the dragon's shadow on the ground) and the bolt also has to touch the dragon. This applies to both the flying dragons (green and black) and also Synn and Red Dragon (need to be on the same level as the dragon's head). If the spell does hit the dragon, the magic user needs to wait a bit before casting the next one. The second Lightning Bolts cast will do no damage to the dragons if it is cast straight away after the first one hits. This spell is most effective against Ezerhoden. You need to be careful though when casting this spell on Ezerhoden. If Ezerhoden is currently taking damage (e.g. It's hit by another member in your party as you cast the spell on it, or it has just been hit by your previous Lightning Bolt) Ezerhoden will NOT take damage from the bolt. Also the lightning bolt will have no effect on Ezerhoden if it has just opened its mouth to its fullest - you need to wait until it starts moving with its mouth opened. The spell does MASSIVE damage when Ezerhoden has its mouth opened (nearly half of one lifebar), but does not do as much damage if Ezerhoden is in its normal form (i.e. not chasing someone with its mouth open). Like the dragons, you can not continuously cast Lightning Bolt on Ezerhoden one after the other, you need to wait for a little while in between each one or otherwise Ezerhoden will take no damage from the second Lightning Bolt onwards. If you are at stages where there are multiple end-of-stage bosses (i.e. Ogre Master Brothers, or playing in a group against two Man-scorpions), use your Lightning Bolt spell to hit both bosses will take a lot more off the boss lifebar than when one of the boss is killed. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Ice Storm Spell Level: 4 Description: The magic user charges up, then he puts both hands up and produces snow which fills up the screen for a brief period of time. Usage: An area-effect spell which does damage to ALL monsters on the screen. It also knocks down all normal monsters and most bosses (except the dragons, Ezerhoden and Lich). Properties: Ice Storm is a very reliable spell most of the time. The only time it will fail to hit a boss is when certain bosses have completely disappearred off the screen. E.g. the Red Dragon and Synn flying off the top of the screen to drop rocks/meteors and when Nagpa and Dark Warriors I or II have completely teleported (you don't see a trace of them on screen) when the spell is cast. Icestorm has no effect on the frost salamander. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Wall of Fire Spell Level: 4 Description: The magic user charges up, and then sends out a wall of flame directly in front of him. If monsters are all around the magic user, the magic user can waste those monsters too by rotating the joystick 360 degrees as the magic user charges up. The magic user will then first create a wall of fire around himself before sending out the flames in front of him. Usage: Monsters touching the flames will be burnt and knocked down. Properties: Like Fireball, Wall of Fire is a very impressive looking spell. However, being on the same level as Ice Storm, it gets the thumbs down since it does not hit everything on the screen. However, it seems to do more damage than Ice Storm - at least in the first few stages. Like Fireball, Wall of Fire also does not hit monsters who are already lying on the ground after being burnt by either oil or another fire spell. I.e. repeatedly casting this spell one after the other will NOT work. Again, this spell has no effect on hellhounds, fire salamander and on the dragons. Wall of Fire will MISS all creatures who are not currently on the ground. Therefore it will not hit the dragons, Lich and Beholder. It will however hit Ezerhoden. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Conjure Elemental Spell Level: 5 Description: The magic user charges up, and then puts one hand up in the air, summoning either a fire or a water elemental to do damage to all monsters on the screen. Usage: An area-effect spell which does damage to ALL monsters on the screen. It also knocks down all normal monsters and most bosses (except the dragons, Ezerhoden and Lich). Properties: This spell's characteristic is the same as Ice Storm, except it is slightly more powerful. The type of elemental summoned is dependent on the direction the magic user is facing when the spell is cast. If the magic user is facing left, fire elemental will be summoned. If the magic user is facing right, water elemental will be summoned. Fire Elemental version of the spell has no effect on the fire salamander and hellhounds, Water Elemental version of the spell has no effect on the frost salamander. This spell is available to only the black magic user. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Cloudkill Spell Level: 5 Description: The magic user leaps up into the air, and then releases green poisonous clouds in all directions. The magic user drops down and lands after the spell has completed. Usage: This spell is an area-effect spell with a twist. It will instantly kill all normal monsters (except Gargoyles but will do massive damage to them - with Staff of MA/Wizardry and earrings you can instantly kill Gargoyles with Cloudkill on easy machines). However, it has NO EFFECT on undead creatures like skeletons and ghouls. The spell does damage to most bosses (except Green Dragon, Lich, Ezerhoden and fire or frost salamanders, who are not effected at all). Properties: This spell has the same characteristic as Conjure Elemental but it does slightly more damage. Cloudkill also has better vertical 'range ' than other area-effect spells like Ice Storm or Conjure Elemental when it comes to fighting the dragons. It will do damage to the dragons even when they fly off the screen to drop meteors/rocks where Ice Storm and Conjure Elemental will not. The magic user will leap up to the centre of the screen if he casts the spell while standing. However, it is possible to slightly alter where the magic user leaps to when casting this spell. If the magic user slides toward the right and cast the spell while sliding, he will leap to the left side of the screen to cast the spell. The reverse is true (i.e. sliding to the left while casting will make the magic user leap to the right side of the screen. This can be useful when you do not want to land in the centre of the screen after casting the spell (e.g. if Synn is about to bite when the spell is cast). It also provides a way for the magic user to quickly change positions on the screen while at the same time casting a spell. This spell is available to only the green magic user. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Flesh to Stone Spell Level: 6 Description: The magic user charges and then sends out a grey, petrifying beam in front of him with both hands. Usage: All normal monsters including undead creatures (but not including gargoyles who takes damage but are not killed straight away) will be petrified and killed instantly. The spell also does damage to all bosses excluding Lich and Ezerhoden. Properties: The width of the beam sent out increases as the magic user gains level and as the magic user obtain magic power enhancing equipment. Unlike Lightning Bolt, this spell does not hit monsters who are lying down on the ground. To hit the dragons with this spell, you need to make sure you are on the same horizontal plane as the dragons and also that the wide circular 'aura' around your hands when you cast the spell touches the dragon (i.e. you need to be very close to the dragons when casting this spell for it to hit). --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Projected Image Spell Level: 6 Description: The magic user lifts up one hand and cast this spell, causing a trail of his own images to follow him wherever he goes. Usage: Allows the magic user to get out of tricky situations where there are simply too many monsters on the screen attacking or when the magic user is nearly dead. Properties: The magic user is invulnerable to all attacks (not including the dragon breath from Red Dragon or Synn) for a short period of time, during which the magic user is followed by a trail of his own images wherever he goes. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Reverse Gravity Spell Level: 7 Description: The magic user lifts both hands up and produces a pink- purplish column around him which lifts all the close by monsters up into the air. Then the magic user lowers his hands as the monsters are slammed down on the ground for damage. Usage: A nice-looking spell at magic user's disposal to knock down monsters around him. Properties: The spell will lift all monsters/bosses standing or lying on the ground. The spell will also lift monsters and bosses if they are in the air - as long as they can still be hit normally by a standing persons's weapon. The same principle applies to monsters lying on the ground and flying monsters (e.g. Gargoyles). The monsters do not have to be within the distance of the produced column and they do not need to be in the same horizontal plane either. If the magic user is standing in the centre of the screen and casts this spell, most monsters apart from the ones close to the end of the screen will be lifted up. This spell will also do damge to most bosses (except Red Dragon, Green Dragon, Black Dragon, Lich, Ezerhoden and Beholder) The bosses however have to be on the ground for this spell to work. Bosses with invulnerability periods while they are getting up also will not be affected by the spell when they get up. The success of the spell can be determined by looking at the middle of the column as the spell is progressing, if it works there will be a yellow glowing light right in the centre of the column. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Meteor Swarm Spell Level: 8 Description: The magic user points both hands in the sky, summoning a patch of black clouds on the top of the screen, then he lowers his hands slightly as flaming meteors drops down from the black clouds on the grounds to hit all monsters present on the screen. Usage: The Meteors kills almost any low level monsters and does massive damage to bosses (approximately two thirds of a boss's lifebar on easy machines WITHOUT any magical power enhancing items). Properties: This spell has another quirk when you are using it on Synn. If you cast it when Synn's head is not low enough or if Synn is just about to fly off to the top, then the meteors will do NO damage to Synn at all. Therefore, make sure you only cast this when Synn has just come down after dropping its own meteors or breathing fire to make sure it hits. This has led me to believe that, if you cast this spell (on the new version of the game) when either Dark Warrior 2 or Nagpa when they are teleporting, the spell might not hit them. I.e. this spell is not a true area-effect spell? This spell is available to only the black magic user. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Power Word Kill Spell Level: 8 Description: The magic user charges as yellow aura forms around him, then he points both hands in a diagonal down direction (like when the magic user directs the Lightning Bolt downwards) and utters the words 'Power Word Kill' with the yellow aura now around his hands. Nothing else at all appears on the screen other than this to indicate that the spell is actually being cast. This spell gets the most unimpressive-looking spell award IMHO :) Usage: The monsters on the screen takes massive damage if cast under the right conditions (see below). Properties: If a boss/monster has less than a certain amount of health (a little under one bar for the boss is my best guess) otherwise it does no damage. If it is cast with a boss under that one bar, it will do damage to them (about two thirds of a boss's lifebar without any magical power enhancing items). This spell is available to only the green magic user. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Spell Name: Final Strike (first confirmed posting by Ruiner) Spell Level: Not Applicable. Description: To perform this, all players in the party have to hit all their buttons, except for the item-use button simultaneously. The magic user with the Staff of Wizardry will then leap to the centre of the screen, and breaks the Staff of Wizardry and then summons all the elementals (Earth, Water, Fire and Air) plus Djinn continously for a brief period of time. Usage: Final Strike does about a bar and a half of damage to the bosses. Properties: For the spell to work, a magic-user needs to have the Staff of Wizardry (which he loses after the spell is completed). The cumulative xp of everyone in your party also must be greater than a set amount (2 Million xp?). If this is true the Staff of Sizardry will be glowing. Usually this means you require at least 3 people in your group. Everyone in the party needs to be on full health to cast this if the machine's difficulty is set on high. The side effect of the spell is that all members in the party go down to one hit point after the spell is completed. Do not perform this spell when Synn is off the screen as it will not hit it (even though the magic user leaps off the screen like in Cloudkill). You don't want to all go down to 1 hit point and then face Synn :) ===================================================================== Level 8 Spells - How Can I Get to Cast Them???? The magic user will only learn to cast level 8 spells after he has reached level 20. This happens when the magic user gains 2 million experience points. For this to happen, you will need to fight every boss. That means you need to go and save the people at the Gnome Village instead of going through the forest safely without fighting the black dragon, taking on the first red dragon and not choose the dwarf way and let the good green elf kill Nagpa for you. This way, you will definitely learn your level 8 spell right before reaching Synn (after killing Nagpa). However, because of a program bug in the game, even though you have learnt the spell and regained all your spells to fight Synn, you still cannot cast it when fighting Synn!! :( So how can you cast level 8 spells? Well, the easiest way to do this is to join in as a magic user right when someone is fighting Synn, or die a horrible death deliberately at Synn and then join in on a different player (Note: not continuing as the same magic user, otherwise you still do not get it) as a magic user if you are playing along. Either way this means you will waste one credit :( But by doing this you will get your full spells and you can make Synn eat either your Meteor Swarm or Power Word Kill... A new updated version of the game from Capcom however has apparently fixed this bug (I haven't played the new version so I cannot confirm this). With the new version, if the magic user goes through every boss up to Ezerhoden, he will learn his level 8 spell right after killing Ezerhoden. So pester your local arcade owners to get the update of the machine! ===================================================================== Magic User's Spell/Item Circles When you press the item-select button, the circles for the magic user appears in this order: First spell circle, second spell circle, item circle. (it cycles through in this order) First Spell Circle: contains Fireball, Meteor Swarm/Power Word Kill, Reverse Gravity, Conjure Elemental/Cloudkill, Ice Storm. Second Spell Circle: contains Magic Missle, Projected Image, Flesh to Stone, Wall of Fire, Lightning Bolt Learn the order of the circles and also what spells are present in each spell circles well. This way changing spells and items will become second nature to you when you play the game and you can do it very quickly. ===================================================================== Black or Green? You can select two different magic users in the game. The magic user who wears black robe and has a cool hairdo (with streaks of white hair) is selected by pressing either attack, jump, item-select or item-use buttons. The other mage who wears green, ties his long hair into a plait and wears a really cool hat can be selected by pressing the start button. As described above, the black magic user gets Conjure Elemental and Meteor Swarm while the green magic user gets Cloudkill and Power Word Kill. Apart from personal choices due to their appearances (the hat seems to be very popular ^_-), you should consider your choice of mage depending on the spells you have also. In my humble opinion the black mage is slightly easier to handle simply because Conjure Elemental and Meteor Swarm works on all creatures all the time. Green mage's alternate spells (Cloudkill and Power Word Kill) are trickier to use - this suits the green mage as his design seems to be more of a mysterious and reclusive type than the black one who seems to be the rebel, all offensive type of magic user :) Anyway, using the green magic user means that at some bosses you have less area-effect spells at your disposal. You also need to be careful at boss stages where there are undead creatures (e.g. Lich, Dark Warrior I & II, Man-Scorpions). If you are playing along, it should be easier if you use the black magic user. Black magic user also gets the thumbs up for having the more impressive-looking level 8 spell (Meteor Swarm). The green magic user gets the thumbs up if you are playing in a group though - for me the reason is simply because Cloudkill becomes a spell which you can cast whenever the group is in trouble or whenever you feel like it. When playing the black magic user there is always a 'pressure' either from yourself or the group memebers, to save Conjure Elementals until the bosses but you can be more liberal with Cloudkill and waste it whenever you want. Cloudkill is also better against the dragons (see spell description). ===================================================================== Names for Your Magic User Character Name Types Types ranging from A to J will be assigned to players after they've entered their names (maximum of 6 characters). Each type will grant the player a different type of item upon the name is entered. Here are the player types in detail: Type Item given A Medal B Boots of Speed C Helmet, cap, hat, circlet, depending on character D Ring of Protection E Ring of Fire Resistance F Ring of Spell Turning G Gauntlets of Ogre Power H Anklet (Fighter,Drawf) Brooch (Cleric,Thief) Earring (Elf) Rod of Fire (Magic User) I Bracelet, Rod of Cold (Magic User) J Orb, Necklace (Elf), Rod of Lightning Bolt (Magic User) The most important name type is type-C - as this gives you a hat. This is particularly important for magic user as magic user ordinarily takes more damage when hit compared to other character classes. Therefore it's important to have a hat to make sure that this damage is reduced. Do not use the default names for the magic users (Syous for black magic user and D'raven for green magic user). These names are not type-C. To work out your own type-C names use the following chart: To calculate your name type, use the following equation: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 values a b c d e 0 1 2 3 4 f g h i j 5 6 7 8 9 k l m n o 1 2 3 4 5 <-- Roman Numerals p q r s t . & - ! u v w x y M F ? <-- M = Male, F = Female z Values owned by each letter/number/symbol is added together, and if there are two digits, the digits will be added together so the result will not exceed 10. (54 means 5+4=9) 5+5=10 is treated as a zero. In your result, 0 grants you type A, 1 grants type B, etc. For example: C A P C O M 2+0+0+2+4+2 = 10 = 1 + 0 = 1 (Type B) The following is a list of some type-C names for your magic user. If you have other cool magic user names which are type-C, please email me :) Adept Agnes Alden Amefel Aura Chaos Cyrus Dexter Doomed Draco Efano Eyedol Genan Gore Kent Kirec Lore Meteor Ogre Portal Ramsek Roman Slade Sovrag Stormy ===================================================================== When do Magic Users get the spells back? The charts below list the stages where the magic user will get his spells back and how many spells he gets back after defeating the bosses. On version 1 of the game: Level Situation Spells granted -----------------------------------> Lv1 Lv2 Lv3 Lv4 Lv5 Lv6 Lv7 Lv8 Lv14 Beginning 5 - 4 4 3 2 - - Lv15 Dark Warrior/Man Scorpion 5 - 4 4 3 2 1 - Lv16 Ogre Brothers/Beholder 5 - 5 4 3 2 2 - Lv17 Deimos (Lich) 6 - 5 4 4 3 2 - Lv18 Red Dragon 6 - 5 4 4 3 2 - Lv19 Ezerhorden 6 - 5 5 4 3 2 - Lv20 Nagpa 6 - 5 5 4 4 3 - On updated version of the game: Level Situation Spells granted -----------------------------------> Lv1 Lv2 Lv3 Lv4 Lv5 Lv6 Lv7 Lv8 Lv14 Beginning 5 - 4 4 3 2 - - Lv15 Dark Warrior/Man Scorpion 5 - 4 4 3 2 1 - Lv16 Ogre Brothers/Beholder 5 - 5 4 3 2 2 - Lv17 Deimos (Lich) 6 - 5 4 4 3 2 - Lv18 Blackwing/Chimera 6 - 5 4 4 3 2 - Lv19 Red Dragon 6 - 5 4 4 3 2 - Lv20 Ezerhorden 6 - 5 5 4 3 2 1 Lv21 Nagpa 6 - 5 5 4 4 3 1 ===================================================================== Spell Management Basically, all the spells should be reserved for the end-of-stage bosses only and not wasted on any of the normal monsters before hand. However, you can be a bit more liberal with the green magic user's Cloudkill if the end-of-stage boss is not going to be affected by this spell (i.e. use it to get out of tricky situations where there are too many monsters on the screen etc.) There are also spells which will not affect some end-of-stage bosses which you can use on the normal monsters (see the Magic User's Spell section mentioned earlier and Walkthrough section described later in this document for details). An occassional spell to get you out of tricky situation is also usually alright if you are really in trouble before reaching the bosses. Magic Missles and Reverse Gravity are usually considered as 'disposable' spells which you can use whenever you want to, so is Cloudkill to some extent. You should also use all your spells on the bosses after which you will get all your spells back (mentioned above). However, if you have one particular spells saved up (for example, say you have 9 Lightning Bolts saved up), you might choose not to use these because you do not get 9 back again so therefore if you can you should save and only use them if necessary. ===================================================================== Useful Items for the Magic User --------------------------------------------------------------------- Magic User's Hat - reduces damage taken when hit. Thieve's Hood - gives magic user the 'highlander' mode (in version 1 of the game only). Cleric's Hat - it's rumoured to make the Lightning Bolt spell a lot more powerful if the magic user wears this hat. Orb - Improves saving versus petrification and gas. Earrings - increases damage done by magical attacks/spells. Bracelet - increases attacking power. Necklace - decreases damage done by magic Anklet - increase power of kicks (shoulder charge for the magic user) Displacer Cloak - invulnerability from ranged projectile attacks such as arrows daggers, spears and sling stones. Gauntlets of Power - More damage for your physical attacks. Boots of Speed - increase the speed of the character when moving. Boots of Levitation - Chatacter floats up after pressing the jump button twice. Spells cannot be cast and the select button does not work while the character is floating. Ring of Fire Resistance - If you are wearing this ring, your will be protected from most fire attacks/traps in the game including meteors dropping from the sky. You are not immune to the dragon's breaths though. Ring of Protection - Wearing this ring will reduce the damage you take when hit. Ring Of Spell Turning - level 1 to 3 spells from your enemies will not hit you (i.e. magic missle, fireball and lightning bolts). As a magic user, the most important items from the list above to carry are the hat or hood (make sure you get a type-C name!), earrings, and a ring of fire resistance/protection/spell turning if you do not have a rod of any kind yet. If you do not have earrings, carrying an orb, anklet, necklace or bracelet would be nice too. Always get boots or gauntlets when you see them also. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Rods Rod of Lightning Rod of Fire Rod of Cold The rods improves the damage done by different magical spells associated with that rod. For example, Conjure Elemental (fire) will do more damage if the magic user is carrying the Rod of Fire. Lightning bolt will do more damage if the magic user is carry Rod of Lightning etc. The rods will also improves damages done by magical items - e.g. Rod of Cold improves the damages done by magic user's wand of ice and rod of fire improves the damages done by the fireball rings. It's also rumoured that the rod of fire will make your Large Burning Oils do EVEN MORE damage - but I am not sure if this is true. Given the above, in my humble opinion, it is a lot more useful to carry rod of cold or rod of lightning than rod of fire. This is simply because the spells which uses fire are less practical (with the exception of Conjure Elemental - Fire). It's not known whether the rod of cold or rod of lightning also improves the conjure water elemental but I think one of them does. Having either the rod of lightning or rod of cold, together with earrings and the Staff of Wizardry makes your Lightning Bolt or Ice Storm do A LOT of damage so it's is also a good choice to carry. However, you should carry rod of cold if possible all the way up to after the Lich since you will need all your spell power necessary for your area effect spells on the Lich (Ice storm, Conjure Elemental - Water?) After that you can choose to carry either rod of cold or rod of lightning. If you bought a super-charged wand of lightning bolts, you should carry rod of lightning as this makes the lightning produced by your wand do A LOT OF DAMAGE! With the combination of rod of lightning and super-charged wand of lightning bolts, you can kill both the Red Dragon and Fire Salamander very quickly and very easily! Another thing to keep in mind is that, right before you face the Dark Warrior II, it might be better not to carry any rod and instead carries the ring of fire resistance if you already have earrings and Staff of Wizardry. This is because if you have a ring of fire resistance, it will be a lot easier for you when you fight Dark Warrior II and later on Synn alone, none of Synn's fireballs/meteors and Dark Warrior II's flames will have any effects on you. Your spells will still do a lot of damage since you still have earrings and Staff of Wizardry. Carrying a ring of protection might also be worth your while if you do not have a rod of ice or rod of lightning already. When wearing a ring, gauntlet or boots, make sure you don't get hit as they will break if you are hit. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Magical Items Fireball Rings - same effect as Magic User's Fireball but smaller in size and has slightly less range. Lightning Rings - same effect as Magic User's Lightning Bolts, but it can not be directed up and down. Polymorph Others Rings - same effect as Elf's Polymorph Others spells. It turns one low level monster (except undeads) into harmless creatures like foxes, frogs and insects. Need to be in close range and also facing the intended 'victim'. Magic Missile Rings - this ring, when used, will fire one bolt of magic missle at the enemy. Invisibility - when used, will turn the user invisible for a period of time. The invisible character will stay invisible until he/she attacks. Cure Serious Wounds Rings - restores a portion of the hit points of the user. Can also be used on other members in the party. Continual Light - produces a blink of bright light which stuns all monsters (except undeads) and most bosses. It will also revert Ezerhoden back into normal form if his mouth is open. Summon Djinn - Summons Djinn to knock all monsters on the ground (area-effect like Icestorm and Conjure Elemental) Egg of Wonder - When used, the egg transforms into a white owl bear that fights for you. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Wands (Wands can only be used by the magic user and have a limited number of 20 charges): Wand of Fireball Wand of Ice Wand of Lightning Bolts Wand of Paralyzation To use the wand, you need to be holding the wand by selecting it in the item circle and press the use-item button to hold it. Then you can swing the wand normally by pressing attack button. If you perform the dagger attack (forward + attack button), or if you stand on top of the enemies to hit them on the ground, ice, fireball, or lightning will not come out from the wand. However you do not lose one charge for those attacks either (except for Wand of Paralyzation - the enemy will be stunned even if you perform the dagger attack or hit them from above when they lie on the ground). If you jump in the air and press the attack button, the ice/fireball/lightning will still come out. The fireball will shoot out in mid air, the ice will still come out along on the ground, and the vertical lightning produced is still the same. Wand of Fireball - When this wand is swung, a fireball shoots out and burns an enemy who touches the fireball. Wand of Fireball can be used effectively against the ogre brothers, manticore, displacer beast or Green/Black Dragons, you can jump vertically up, and then shoot a fireball in mid air to keep the Dragons back. If you are standing, the fireball produced will miss small creatures (Kobolds, Goblins and also Gargoyles). You need to crouch down and then swing the wand so that the fireball is lower to the ground and will hit those creatures. The fireballs from the Wand of Fireball does not hit knocked down monsters at all, even if you are crouching. Wand of Ice - When this wand is swung, ice shoots along the ground which freezes enemies if they touch it. Wand of Ice is very useful for keeping enemies down on the ground. You can continuously use the ice produced by the wand to hit the enemies even if they are knocked down. Wand of Lightning Bolts - a vertical column of lightning bolts is produced in front of the magic user when this wand is swung, zapping all enemies who touches the lightning. Wand of Lightning Bolts are also extremely useful since it takes out all enemies in front of the magic user (even in the air). This wand is also useful against all the dragons. Against Black and Green Dragons the lightning will push the dragons back. Against the Red dragon and Synn, the produced lightning keeps the Dragon's head 'in-place' and hits multiple times so that the dragon cannot go away and drop rocks or breath fire on you and at the same time you do good damage to them. The lightning produced by the wand can also hit enemies who are already knocked down on the ground. Note that against the Red Dragon and Synn, you do not have to stand in the same horizontal plane as the dragon's head for the lightning to hit. The lightning produced will always hit as long as it touches the dragon's head. Wand of Paralyzation - If an enemy is hit with this wand, they will be stunned for a short period of time during which they cannot move. Note that after you have hit the enemies with the Wand of Paralyzation four times (be it normal swipes or dagger stabs), the enemies cannot be hit again until they have come out of their stun. Wand of Paralyzation can be useful against certain bosses such as Lich, Beholder, Ogre Brothers, Manticore and Lich since it will freeze them in place for you to have a free hit (and hopefully you can get a critical hit in). Against the Beholder, it also allows you to paralyze it, and then run to the back of it so that you can cast a spell successfully. Note that wand of paralyzation has no effect at all on Red Dragon and Synn but they do work on the green and black dragons. Avoid using this wand at stages where there are other creatures along with the bosses - you will swing your wand unnecessarily and waste the charges very quickly. Additional Notes 1. The Wand of Lightning Bolts in the Gnome shop contains 99 charges - if you have gone that way you should buy it. Then you need to take it out before you go in to fight the Red Dragon, it will be blinking, indicating that it's super-charged. Go in and fight the Red Dragon with it to keep it super-charged ^_^. However, sometimes you do not get 99 charges for it - it seems to happen if your magic user has already picked up a Wand of Lightning Bolts earlier during the game. Also, after dying and continuing, the Wand of Lightning Bolts you bought at the Gnome shop will become just the normal wand and will only have 20 charges. 2. It is also possible to obtain a super-charged Wand of Paralyzation. The way to obtain the super-charged wand is still not known, but the sure way to do it is to make sure that you are not holding the wand of paralyzation when you finish a stage. And at the start of every new stage, take out the wand of paralyzation and see if it is blinking. If it is, then use it (by dagger stabbing) on the next monster you see. You will know if it is super-charged if the wand does not break immediately or after you have used it 5 times (sometimes the wand breaks even if it's blinking - especially at the Manticore stage). 3. There are additional quirks with wands in the game which you can exploit. If you have nearly used up a wand (i.e. it's blinking and the screen tells you that only 5 charges are left), put it away and don't use it for a few stages, then sometimes when you take it out again it will not be blinking again and you normally will have more than 5 charges left in the wand (maybe the wands are supposed to slowly recharge themselves as time goes by?) Otherwise, use the wands until it nearly runs out, and sell it at the next shop :) 4. When there are two magic users in the same party and both are using the wand of lightning bolts on the same target, only one set of lightning will be produced. This might be true also for wand of ice. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Staves Staff of EP (Elemental Power) Staff of MA (Magius/Magical Attack) Staff of Wizardry Staff of EP increases the damage done by the magic user's Conjure Elemental spell, elemental bottle and the Summon Djinn ring. Staff of MA and Staff of Wizardry increases magic user's overall damage done by all spells. This is particularly true if the magic user is holding staff of wizardry. All staves also improve the damage done by the magic user when he hits the enemies with the staff. Please note that these staff are NOT magical weapons themselves - i.e. you cannot kill a Gargoyle with it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Shop items Dagger - point and shoot. Silver daggers do more damage than normal daggers. Note that daggers will not hit small creatures such as kobolds, goblins and gargoyles when they are on the ground. Burning oil - when the oil hits the ground it produces fire on the ground, monsters walking into the fire will be burnt. Large Burning Oil - This is the most powerful item in the game. When thrown it explodes and sends 3 small explosions across the ground in the direction thrown. If a monster is already knocked down on the ground, the explosions will keep the monsters on the ground while doing massive damage - continously throwing all large burning oil you have on a knocked down boss is a good and fast way to kill the boss. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Potions Healing - Found in shops and chests. Comes in two varieties, normal and super. Haste/Bless - Little yellow potion. Haste will drastically increase the speed of the character who quaffed it for a short period of time. Bless will improve damage given and reduce damage taken for the character who quaffed the potion very slightly for a short period of time. During the time when haste/bless potion is in effect, the person will have a yellowish glow about him/her. ===================================================================== Moves Available for the Magic User The following are a list of moves available to the magic user: Crouching Down - This is done by pushing down on the joystick and pressing the jump button. The magic user crouches down and stays crouched unless the jump button is pressed again to stand. The magic user can still slide or use items/cast spells when crouched. Usually the magic user will go back into crouching after using items or casting spells but sometimes the magic user will stand up instead. You can still slide or teleport when crouching also. Staff Swipe - This is done by pressing the attack button. Can be done while standing or crouching. Standing staff swipe has ok range but it's fairly slow and it does not hit knocked down monsters. To hit knocked down opponent, you either need to crouch down and do the swipe while crouching, or you need to stand directly on top of the fallen monster to hit it. Staff swipes can be interrupted by a teleport, dagger stabs or shoulder charges. Normal monsters are usually knocked down after 3 standing staff swipes connect. However, normal monsters will only be knocked down after 6 crouching swipes connects - making this attack fairly useful since you can do more damage to a monster before it falls down on the ground. Also you can hit a knocked down monster with a crouching staff swipe from the side. Shoulder Charge - This can be done in two ways. The first way is to HOLD the attack button after you have hit a monster with a normal standing staff swipe. The second way is to select nothing in the item use circle and then press the item-use button. The magic user lunges himself forward to hit all normal monster down on the ground. Shoulder charge can be interrupted by either the dagger stab or the teleport. Note that with the exception of Tel'Arin, all bosses will NOT be knocked down by the shoulder charge. This attack is hazardous against these bosses (with the exception of Displacer Beast). Jump attack - Press jump and then press attack button. You can also push down on the joystick and then press attack while jumping to get a different jumping attack. Not particularly useful attacks. Note that if you are jumping vertically, you can jump higher by pushing the joystick up and then press the jump button. Dagger Stab - This is done by pushing forward on the joystick while pressing the attack button. The magic user produces a black dagger and stabs the monster with it. Although it usually only does a pixel of damgage, it frequently stuns the monsters, and every now and then a 'Critical Hit' occurs when you do the dagger stab. When it occurs the screen flashes red and you take off a large percentage of the monster's total health points (imagine doing this on the bosses ^_^ - you can often get nearly a whole lifebar of a bosses' health points!) Dagger stabs can be interrupted by the teleport or a shoulder charge done by pressing item-use button. It's not known whether 'Critical Hits' are random or can be done predictably. It's rumoured that you can get 'Critical Hits' more often by stabbing a monster at the maximum range of the dagger attack - i.e. with the dagger just barely touching the enemy. Teleport - This is done by pressing the jump button twice very quickly. The magic user teleports a short distance backwards, during teleportation he is invulnerable to all attacks. The teleport can be interrupted by pressing the item-use button (i.e. doing a shoulder charge, or casting a spell or using an item) or by running (double-tap forward). Slide - This is done by doing qcf+jump button. Magic user slides forward. Keeping the jump button down will make the slide a bit longer in distance. A slide can be interrupted by pressing the item-use button (i.e. doing a shoulder charge, casting spells or using item) or a teleport. Slide Attack - By doing the slide and interrupt it with the shoulder charge. You can sort of do a slide attack which other characters have in this game. Useful to cover long distance and hit the monsters which are trying to surround you from both sides. Running - This is done by double-tapping forward and keeping the joystick in one of the forward positions. The magic user will run in the direction of the joystick (forward, forward up, forward down). If you run into a monster, you will hop back and the monster will be knocked down on the ground (but not taking any damage). To stop running, simply stop pushing forward on the joystick. Running can be cancelled by the teleport. Run-in Attack - This is done by first running and then press attack button while running. The magic user does a down-ward hit with the staff which hits the monster twice and does good damage. This attack can be interrupted by the dagger stab or the teleport. If you do not interrupt it, the monsters you hit with the run-in attack has a good chance of hitting you back before you recovers. Running Jumps - If the magic user run first and then jump, he will jump a longer distance and floats down slowly. ===================================================================== General Fighting Techniques Not having a shield, a magic user should definitely need to be able to teleport at will to get out of trouble. Note that at certain stages, if you try to teleport while you are at the very top or very bottom of the screen, the teleport distance is shortened. Some examples of such places include the bottom of every secret rooms, top of the air ship etc. Therefore, avoid fighting monsters at the top and bottom of the screen so that you do not lose your teleport distance. Be careful of items lying around on the ground left by killed monsters. If possible slide them first (and then shoulder charge if needed to knock down monsters after sliding). When you are picking up these items, you cannot interrupt it into a teleport, thus you are very vulnerable to hits by a monster. To hit a monster knocked down on the ground, you need to either stand right on top of the monster and press attack, or you need to crouch down next to it on the same horizontal plane and do the crouching swipe. Note that it is not possible for the magic user to hit several bosses lying on the ground from the top. These bosses include Ogre Brothers, Manticore, and Displacer Beast. You will need to crouch next to them to hit them when they are knocked down. If when you are fighting a monster, and then you see another monster approaching you behind your back, depending on what monster it is you can do several things. If it's a monster who can throw things or breath fire on you, quickly shoulder charge the monster you are currently fighting and then move away. If the monster is launching itself at you (e.g. hellhounds running at you), or if the monster is already within a distance so that you can teleport to the back of it. Interrupt your current attack with the teleport and then shoulder charge as soon as you have cleared the monster behind your back. This is a very good way to round up monsters and keep them under control so that they are all on one side of you. Generally, avoid fighting monsters when you are close to end of the screen where you cannot see the monster unless you are fighting Gnoll Axemen, Goblins/Kobolds or Hellhounds or unless you are currently juggling them in the air (see combo below). Always do staff swipe interrupted into dagger stabs often since if your staff swipe misses, the staff swipe can be shorted and interrupted into a dagger stab which will hit if the monster move into range. The running attack hits twice and does good damage compared to the other mage's attacks and should be used wherever possible to do more damage to the monsters. Allow it to hit twice first and then immediately interrupt it by doing the dagger stab and then interrupt that using the shoulder charge to set up combos. Comboing with the magic user is rather limited. This is because the monsters will always fall down on the ground after the magic user has done 3 normal staff swipe's worth of damage to it or more. There are ways and combos to lengthen the time between each monster's fall. Thus keeping the monsters occupied until time out :) These are listed below: (1) run in attack, stab, shoulder charge, teleport back, and then run in attack again and repeat. (2) just keep juggling the monsters to the end of the screen by doing shoulder charge, stab (repeat) and a critical will hopefully occur sooner or later this way :) If monster gets too far away after being hit by your dagger stab, to the magic user's slide attack (slide then shoulder charge) to cover the distance. (3) run in attack, stab, shoulder charge, run in to bump the monster without attacking, repeat. (By running into the monster at the end of each iteration, it seems that it's possible to do more hits before the monster falls down on the ground, I haven't worked out how it works yet) (4) run-in attack, stab, repeat. This works especially well when the enemies are in the corner. You can get up to 6 run-in attacks to hit (i.e. 12 hits all together) before a monster falls down. But this one is a bit risky and is not recommended against creatures which are fast, such as hellhounds since there is a slight delay after the stab before you can run-in and atttack again. You can insert a teleport back after the stab to interrupt it too. If anyone has any more good, long lasting combos for the magic user please let me know :) ===================================================================== How to Handle the Different Monsters Shadow Elf These elves have the ability to teleport away, then reappear in the air on either side of you, trying to hit you as they drop down. It is easy to determine from each side they will drop down from. If the shadow elf teleports away while it is standing on the left side of you, it will always reappear and drops down from your left and vice versa. Therefore, surround them all to one side of the screen, you will know that they will only reappear and drop down from that side and not from the other side. Fighting a group of shadow elves can be troublesome, especially if are you surrounded with them dropping down on both sides. When you see them reappearing, you need to either walk/slide under them, teleport back as they drop down, or make sure you are not in the same horizontal plane as they are as they drop down (look at the shadows of the elf and your shadow on the ground). Carefully timed normal swipes and dagger attack will also knock down a shadow elf who drops down in front of you. Teleporting is probably the safest option against shadow elves dropping down when you are fighting some other monster since the teleport will cancel your normal attacks (swipes or dagger). When fighting the shadow elves, avoid staying at one end of the screen, as you will not be able to see if a shadow elf is dropping down towards you from the end of the screen and you will get hit. There are also shadow elves which come out from both sides and throw multiple arrows or spears, you will need to duck under these if you do not have the displacer cloak. A good tactic to use when you see shadow elves dropping down behind you is to teleport back as they drop down, and then cancel the teleport by running forward and then get the shadow elves as they land with magic user's running-in attack. If you are crouched as the shadow elves drop down, they will almost always miss you as well, then you can proceed to do the crouching staff swipe to hit them. Ghoul They will leap at you when you are in close range and also in the same horizontal plane as the ghouls. Ghouls carry scrolls and items which will appear after you kill them. Ghouls will tend to carry scrolls more often if they are killed by non-magical attacks. Do not get hit by the ghouls, because you will fall asleep if you do. Shoulder charges works very well against the Ghouls when they are leaping at you and it will knock them down also. So shoulder charge until you knock them down, and then proceed with the magic user's combo (stab, shoulder charge, teleport back, run in attack etc). Also, if you crouch down, it's very hard for the ghouls to hit you ;) Gnoll Axeman One of the easier monsters for the magic user to handle since they do not leap at you or throw things at you. Their axes have about the same range as magic user's attacks. Just make sure that you attack them first before they swing their axes. If you get too close, sometimes they will do a vertical-hop kind of attack to hit you. You can also knock them down, and then crouch down very close behind them and then do your crouching staff swipe repeated as they get up to do lots of damage before they get knocked down again after 6 of your crouching swipes connects (this is a quick way to kill them!) Gnoll Bowman On various stages Gnoll Bowmans will appear and shoot multiple arrows at you. You will need to duck under them or stand at a position so that you are not in the same horizontal planes as they are so the arrows will miss you. Otherwise you need to take them out first so that they don't have time to shoot the arrows. If you have displacer cloak you do not need to worry about getting hit by the arrows. There are also Gnoll Bowmen which will move around and shoot arrows if you are in the same plane. These ones will also kick you if you get close. Shoulder charge these bowmen to knock them down and then combo them. If they get up shoulder charge again and repeat. Goblin These little green creatures can throw stones and oil if you are in the same horizontal plane as they are and are at a specific distance away from them. They will also sometimes leap at you and attack. They can cause problems for magic user if there are too many on the screen. As a magic user you need to round all of them up in a group and attack them. Do not let them either surround you or have them at different distances away from you (e.g. you are hitting one goblin while the other goblin is a little further away throwing things at you). Goblins like to play the 'distance' game with you, i.e. they will keep away at a certain distance and if you try to move in they will back away. In this case, you can either do the magic user's 'slide attack' to get close to hit them, or you can stand there and wait for the goblin to make the first move (if he throws something at you or jump at you, you can then move to avoid the attack and then retaliate after getting close). Hellhound Black dog-like creatures. When they first come on the screen, they usually run across or jump in, knocking down anyone in its path. They are unaffected by fire and have can breath fire on you (small breathes or a long string of fire which travels across the whole screen). Hellhounds, however, are probably the EASIEST creature for the magic user to handle. Make sure you are out of the way when they breath the fire. When the hellhounds run/jump at you, while other characters have to block, you can simply just shoulder charge them which will knock them down. The magic user can simply just shoulder charge, stab, repeat and round all the hellhounds over to one side of the screen and continue doing this until either time runs out or you get a critical hit. You can also add in the run-in attack after shoulder charging and teleporting back. If a hellhound is knocked down or you cannot see it since it's off the end of the screen, you just need to continue shoulder charging in that direction until it gets up and you will hit it again. Insect/Giant Beetle Fly around at head height and can be hit by magic user's normal swipe or dagger stab and shoulder charge. They die straight away after getting hit. You can also crouch under them. Be careful if you get too close, sometimes they will notice you are there and will dive down to attack you. You will know when it is about to do this as the insect will pause in place for a second before diving towards you - slide away or teleport if this happens. Kobolds Similar to goblins, except that they throw daggers instead of stones (they also still throw oils at you). Do not get fooled by their cute appearance (well, compared to goblins they look a lot cuter ^_^) See goblins section for how to handle them. Owlbear These creatures have the head of an owl and the body of a bear. They will either claw you or jump at you when you are in the same plane as they are. Shoulder charge them and then combo them like how you will handle the hellhounds. Skeleton They carry almost nothing and will do a very FAST leap at you if you stay in the same horizontal plane as they are for too long - but otherwise they are fairly slow. The green skeletons will block your attacks with their shields A LOT. The shoulder charge will again take skeletons out of their leap as long as their weapons are not out already to hit you during their leap (otherwise you trade blows - not in your favour unfortunately). Round them out and repeatedly do swipe cancelled into dagger stab and repeat until they are dead. Gargoyles These winged creatures stand on a pedestal until you walk in front of them, then they come to live and attack you. Gargoyles can only be killed by magical attacks. Therefore for the magic user to kill them, you need to use either a wand of ice or wand of lightning bolts to hit them (wand of fireball does not hit them unless you crouch down, never tried wand of paralyzation), or you can cast a spell to kill them. Magic Missle is a good spell for this task. Green magic user can consider using Cloudkill on them. Gargoyles nearly always carry scrolls or useful magical items and gems (xp items) when killed. Giant Scorpions These creatures tend to drop in from above and then crawl back and forth on the ground. Magic user cannot hit them normally if he stands stationary. However, magic user can either crouch down and hit, shoulder charge, run-in, run-in attack or dagger stab to hit them (dagger stab and shoulder charge do not always hit). One hit will kills these creatures. Troglodytes Troglodytes are probably the WORST monster for the magic user to handle. They can turn invisible, stun you with gas when you get close, jump on top of you or throw oil bags at you from a distance. In addition, they can also poke with their weapon or swing it around (which has longer range then magic user's attacks). Avoid fighting these creatures when they are off the screen, as your attacks have less range than theirs. Also avoid shoulder charging into them when they are off the screen. Get them out into the middle of the screen and wait for them to either jump, throw oil bags or shoots out gas and then you move in for hits. Or you can wait until they jump at you, move away and then move in to hit. Again, don't let them surround you on both sides, magic user die very quickly if surrounded on both sides by two troglodytes who are both swinging their weapons :( When killed, troglodytes often carry useful items or scrolls. ===================================================================== Walkthrough Mystara as a solo mage! --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Opening - Descent from Boss the Broken Land Stage Description: Short level, designed to get a feel for the game. Slide the coins on the right hand side, pick up the burning oil and kill a few goblins. Then open the next two chests and get the dagger and the books for xp. Leave the healing potion there until after you have destroyed the boss. End-of-stage Boss: Two carts, pushed by goblins and carrying tied-up citizens and a chest. Destroy them and the game continues to where you can type in your name. Remember to get the healing potion after destroying the carts. Also, if you do not free the men/women after destroying the two carts, sometimes a third cart will come out for you to have a free hit on and get a bit more xp :) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Village of Trinta Stage Description: Move down first at the start to get 500sp at the bottom of the screen. Kill some goblins and open one chest to get another dagger. Then proceed forward to the right and kill some Gnoll Axemen and more goblins. The move right slowly until you see a chest, hit it open and you will get a large healing potion, an elemental bottle and hopefully a key (sometimes you don't get a key, it seems to depend on how much health you have. If you have full health it sometimes give you a magic missle ring or cure serious wounds ring, but if you have already lost health you nearly always get a key or sometimes a cure serious wounds ring) - get those but leave the healing potion there. Walk back to the left and get in the secret room which is near the top of screen just after you enter. In the secret room there are skeletons. Hit the wooden chests at the top and bottom to obtain oil, dagger and one healing. Open the steel chest on the very right to get boot of speed, a rod of lightning and one diamond and kill some skeletons before you leave the room. Keep moving right until the two owlbears appear. Get the money but leave the healing there and go and kill the two owlbears. After you kill one owlbear gnoll bowmen appear. Once from the left and then once from the right. Then a few more goblins until time out and then if you move right, you proceed to fight the boss. End-of-stage Boss: The War Machine. Before moving right to fight it, select daggers in item circle and magic missle in the spell circle. Then go to the very right hand side of the screen and so that you are on the same plane as the war machine as it comes out from the right side. Then, as it comes out, hit it a couple of times (best way to do this is hit it once, walk forward a bit, hit again, walk forward etc.) Once it gets out of your attack range, throw your daggers at it to hit it. After you used all your daggers, change to your burning oil and stay at bottom of the screen. Everytime when the war machine rushes to one end, you face AWAY from it and wait until it rushes at you, then you throw a burning oil and then teleport back so that the war machine is stopped by the oil and at the same time you teleport to the back of it, then you can immediately throw another oil and hit the war machine and throw another oil and repeat - basically trapping the war machine on the spot. If you see goblins creeping up behind you, get away and start the process again. This way, after using all your oils and daggers you should have nearly finished the war machine off. And then depending on what you want to do, you can either 1) use Projected Image on yourself and then go after the war machine to finish it off, or 2) Select Magic Missles and let a few of them loose to finish the war machine off :) You should NOT use any other spells on this level and save them for next boss. Note that you can also stand in a position above the War Machine (where the post on the War Machine is) and still hit the War Machine but it cannot touch you. To save items you can constantly make sure you are in this position and continously hit the War Machine with your normal attacks and finish it off. Be careful of the oils thrown out by the War Machine and the kobolds though. After this stage, you have a choice of which routes to take. If you go by land, you will continue on to stage 3-a, if you go by the river, you will continue on to stage 3-b. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3-a To Ride A Juggernaut Stage Description: You start running and gets up on a moving platform train of some sort. Then you fight several goblins at the start. When the next platform comes, you get 3 goblins throwing stones at you from the right and moving gnoll bowmen to take care of. Then two sets of 3 goblins throwing stones from the left, with gnoll axeman dropping down from the sky between each set and more gobins throwing oils at you from the left (take the money and the key on this platform before it disappears). Hellhounds and goblins (lots of them) come on the next platform, make sure you pick up the key, and one large healing potion along the way (note that you need to take the stuff on the platform before the next platform joins the current one or otherwise the items will disappear instantly). If the hellhounds drop any rods or other useful items pick them up too. The next platform has more goblins and hellhounds. Pick up the key and the lightning bolt ring before they disappear. After killing these creatures, you will reach the boss. So make sure before you kill the last hellhound/kobold, select Conjure Elemental in first spell circle, Lightning Bolt in second spell circle and keep it in first spell circle. Then kill the last monster and fight the boss. End-of-stage Boss: Dark Warrior I. As it appears, run and stand behind it and make sure you hit the Dark Warrior with your normal staff swipe or dagger stab before it has a chance to summon the skeletons to help him right after it appears (make sure you stand very close to him, sometimes you get a critical straight away too). It doesn't matter if it blocks your attack, as long as it does not call the skeletons. If it blocks your staff swipe after appearing, cast an area-effect spell immediately. Then, as the Dark Warrior lies on the ground, move to above it and hit it once or twice, and then let loose another area-effect spell. Switch to Ice Storm after Conjure Elemental/Cloudkill runs out, and then switch to Lightning Bolt and Magic Missle and cast those on Dark Warrior I (make sure they all hit!). If you still haven't killed it by this stage, you can either use Projected Image and go in for critical hits, or you can sacrifice Projected Image by using Flesh to Stone to kill it. Try not to use your elemental bottle you saved from the previous stage unless really necessary but use your lightning bolt ring on Dark Warrior if you want (but save this too if you can). After killing the boss, stock up on oils and daggers in the shop. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3-b Battle on the River Stage Description: You steer a raft on a river towards right. First steer the raft up and forward until you hit and fight some troglodytes. You can wait for timeout on these troglodytes by playing cat-and-mouse with them if you want. After the troglodytes, steer up and forward immediately (so that you are at front of the raft). You will avoid Black Dragon's breath. Make sure you get all the money along the river by steering the raft into them. Can get information from avatar, makes no difference to the game. Next part of stage, leave the raft in middle until the raft goes pass first troglodyte, then steer down. Take the money, and then repeat. After you leave the raft, stay at top and run towards the right, avoid the giant scorpions and break open the first chest (contains a small healing potion, slide it if you need it). Then you open top left chest to get cure serious wounds ring and top right chest (trapped) for some money (sometimes chest is empty). Do not stand in one place too long or spears or rocks will fall. Select Projected Image and move to the right. You will hear two rumbling sounds. Rocks and scorpions will start to fall right after the second rumbling sound (you see shadows of the rocks falling on the ground). As they are falling, cast Projected Image. Then you should select Conjure Elemental/Cloudkill in first spell circle, Lightning Bolt in second spell circle and leave it on Conjure Elemental/Cloudkill and move to the right to fight the boss. End-of-stage Boss: Red Man-scorpion. The boss is accompanied by groups of two troglodytes or ghouls. Troglodytes first and then ghouls after troglodytes are killed and then troglodytes again. This is a simple stage, just hit the man-scorpion and if the man-scorpion jumps up or one of the troglodytes/ghouls are closing in, cast an area effect spell. When area-effect spells runs out then move onto Lightning Bolts and Magic Missles then Flesh to Stone or Projected Image. Green mage should be careful here because Cloudkill does not affect the ghouls, so the green mage should switch between Ice Storms and Cloudkills depending on whether troglodytes or ghouls are on the screen. Make sure you hit the man-scorpion when it's down and when it gets up for some more damage and only cast spells when in trouble. If man-scorpion let lose his weapon, slide away until it gets the weapon back before going to fight it again. After killing the man-scoripion, stock up on oils and daggers. Again, try not to use your elemental bottle here if possible. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 Skies over Aengmore Stage Description: Select Reverse Gravity in first spell circle, Magic Missle in second circle. Kill the first wave of shadow elves and jump the fireballs thrown by a shadow elf flying by on a wyvern. Then, kill two of the second wave of shadow elves and jump the fireballs again. Open the chest on the very right side of the ship for a small healing potion if you have the key. Run to the very top-left corner, face left to wait for the last shadow elf to drop down behind you, then you move down and to the right a bit to a position so that the last shadow elf will not move from its position after dropping down. You can then wait for timeout (about 4.5 minutes). During this time, take out your wand of ice and change to Magic Missle (or the lightning bolt ring if you still have it). After timeout, the boss appears. End-of-stage-boss (1): Harpy. After the shadow elf disappears, the harpy will fly in and lands on the ship. Hit it down with your wand of ice. Move forward and position yourself so that you are on top of the harpy on the ground but slightly to the left so that you can hit the harpy while it's on the ground but as soon as it is about to get up, you can attack normally to shoot out ice along the ground and keep it down. If harpy does break out of this and flies up, Magic Missle it down and repeat. If you run out of Magic Missles, use Reverse Gravity while it's on the ground. If wand of ice breaks and out of Magic Missles, use Projected Image or one area effect spell to kill the harpy. This way you should kill it and still have oils and daggers saved for Tel'Arin. Use your elemental bottle or lighting bolt ring (from stage 3a if you haven't used it) here if in trouble. Note: You can select not to wait for time out and go ahead and kill all the shadow elves. But then when the harpy appears it will be accompanied by shadow elves - this means that your Magic Missles will go astray and hit those shadow elves instead the harpy. It's your choice. Modify strategy if not waiting for time out. Still use your wand of ice, but change spell to an area effect spell. When you are hitting the harpy after getting it knocked down on the ground with your wand of ice, if shadow elves drops down from behind, teleport back and then swing your wand straight away so that you can keep both the harpy and the shadow elves frozen in one place and then can continue hammering them on the ground. Use your elemental bottle if really in trouble too. If you decide to not to wait for time out, you should make sure you finish off Tel'Arin fast enough so that you do not need to go to Forest of Despair. End-of-Stage-Boss (2): Dark Elf Tel'Arin. He will first summon four skeletons to fight you. As the skeletons are appearing, select Ice Storm in first spell circle if you don't have Reverse Gravity left, Projected Image in second spell circle. Put away wand of ice if it's still not used up, and select nothing in item-circle. Proceed to fight the skeletons. When only one skeleton is left, move away and select daggers and then go and kill the last skeleton. Tel'Arin will then appear on the top-middle part of the screen. After he appears, throw all your daggers at him and then knock him down. Quickly select oil and throw one on him. After he's burnt, throw another one on him and crouch down to hit him. Repeat this process until you use up all your oils. After this, change to Projected Image. Tel'Arin will get up and summons 4 more skeletons, hit him while he is summoning the skeletons, and then cast Projected Image and hit Tel'Arin some more. If Tel'Arin still hasn't disappearred after you have used up all your Projected Image, let lose one or two Ice Storms and he should go away. You need to make sure you get Tel'Arin's lifebar down quickly so that he teleports away, otherwise you do not get to choose special level (City of Aensun). Note: if you are going to the Forest of Despair, do not use your area effect spell and Projected Image here. Use your Magic Missles and Lightning Bolts here instead. Again you have a choice of routes here - by selecting option A on screen you will go to stage 5.a (City of Aensun) and selecting option B you will go to stage 5.b (Forest of Despair). --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.a City of Aensun (Ogre Brothers) Stage Description: This level is only selectable if you complete the previous level quickly. You are in a town which looks very similar to the first stage. Select nothing in item circle and shoulder charge your way through the kobolds to the right to get your earrings before it disappears. Then move back to the very left, kill off the kobolds and go in the secret room at the top of the screen. Kill all the hellhounds/Gnoll Axemen, open trapped chest to get a key, and go into another secret room at the top of the room (through the door). In the second secret room, hit open all wooden chests and get everything, don't bother with the steel ones - save the key for later. You might want to open the steel chest at the very top of the secret room to get a Wand of Paralyzation (which becomes supercharged later, see item description on Wand of Paralyzation) After you come out of the secret rooms, move towards the right, you will fight two hellhounds, some gnoll axemen, some kobolds throwing daggers and oils, and then more hellhounds. When you encounters the second wave of hellhounds, you are at the screen where the second secret room is (located at the top right hand corner, move up to go in). Kill the gnoll axemen, kobolds and hellhounds in the secret room, get the healing potion and open the wooden chest for another heal. Don't open the steel chest to save keys. Exit secret room to finish off the hellhounds. Select and take out wand of fireball or paralyzation. Select Conjure Elemental/Cloudkill in first spell circle, Magic Missles (if any left) or Lightning Bolt in second circle. Then you move to bottom of screen and then move right slightly to come to the boss. End-of-stage-Boss: Ogre. Use all your items here (oils, daggers if you have any) and the wand of fireball to hit the ogre. You can also use Magic Missles you have any left. If everything is used up (including Wand of Fireballs), stand on the same horizontal plane as the Ogre and let it charge at you. You then move down to avoid it and then move back up and hit it from behind (make sure you are a little bit down and not exactly in the same plane as the Ogre.) Then repeat. Once you have got the ogre down to about nearly 2/3 of its lifebar, change to Conjure Elemental/Cloudkill in first spell circle and Lightning Bolt in second spell circle and switch to first spell circle. Then you need to let lose all your spells in this order as each spell runs out while keeping the ogre on the ground at all times: Conjure Elemental/Cloudkill, Ice Storm, Lightning Bolt. This way the ogre will not be able to get up and call a second ogre to its aid. You will need to change between spells REALLY quickly to be able to do this. If you do not think you are fast enough to do this, save ALL spells and concentrate on hitting the first ogre down to low enough hp so that it calls the second one. Then you let loose all your spells. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.b Forest of Despair (Beholder) Stage Description: Move towards the right and go to the next level by pushing jup and jump. Shoulder charge one of the giant beetles and then immediately crouch down to avoid the rest until they all leave. Move to the level on the right by pushing right and jump. Go into the cave through the top entrance. Do not fight the ghouls unless you are really good with the magic user and just exit (but you NEED to come into this cave). Then, go back towards the left to the start of the stage. Push the joystick down to go down through a secret path. Open the top chest for a wand of lightning bolts. Then walk right and fight lots of goblins and kobolds. After you kill them, crouch down and walk towards the right again and wait until the giant beetles leave. Then open all the chests quickly and get the stuff and exit to the right without fighting the goblins coming on. If you stay there for too long giant beetles will come and make things a lot tougher (other items you get here include egg of wonder keys and medal). After you exit from the path, walk left, open chest to get a super heal and and then walk further to the left and open another chest to get a Djinn ring. Walk right again, and go into the cave beside from where you emeged after coming out from the path (you can obtain a wand of paralyzation and a polymorph others ring in this cave). Come out of the cave, push up-forward and jump to jump to next level, and then go into the cave there. Walking right, you fight some gnoll axemen, kobolds and owlbears and you will obtain more stuff (wand of fireball, boot of speed etc) in the process. Be careful of the 3 waves of gnoll bowmen shooting arrows at you after you kill the owlbears. After exiting, get the heal slightly to the right. Move down again to the very bottom by pushing down-left and jump button. Select wand of paralyzation, fireball or lightning bolt (in that order of preference) and take it out (and then change it to the elemental bottle or Djinn ring or another wand you have). Select a spell in first spell circle (Icestorm or Conjure Elemental are preferred) and Projected Image in second spell circle. Keep it on first spell circle and then walk all the way to the right to fight the boss. End-of-stage-boss: Beholder. This boss is fairly tricky for the magic user - mainly because if the beholder is facing you when you cast your spell, it will open its eye and make your spell useless. There are however many ways to make sure the spells you cast come out. If you have taken out the wand of fireball, first get close and send a fireball towards the beholder, if the fireball hits the beholder will burn on the spot for a split second - during this time you need to quickly get behind the beholder (by either sliding past it or run/teleport behind it) and cast your spell. If the beholder has its back towards you, your spell will always work - even if the beholder open its eye when you cast. If your spell succeeds, you can simply just keep on casting them until you run out of that spell. You can do the same with the wand of paralyzation, get close and hit the beholder once with the wand of paralyzation four times, and immediately run/slide to the back of beholder and start casting spells as the beholder is stunned. Wand of lightning bolts are less useful in this case as it does not burn the beholder to allow you to get behind it so it's only good for doing damage and keeping the beholder in place. The beholder also closes its eye when it's casting the deathray or the 'sleep bubbles'. You can also cast your own spell straight away as soon as Beholder's eye closes as it is sending out the deathray or 'sleep bubbles' (you need to do this fairly quickly though). Or you can slide or run around the beholder to its back when it is casting its spell as the beholer does not move when it is casting and then cast your spells again behind its back. Standing just right above or below Beholder will ensure that you do not get hit by the death ray. Use the elemental bottle if in trouble since it always works and will burn the beholder and give you time to run behind it again. Summon Djiin ring will not work if Beholder's eye is open like the rest of the spells. Cast Projected Image if in trouble. Take out another wand to use it if wand of fireball runs out and use it. Another way to get behind the beholder before it has a chance to turn around is to teleport through it. The best time to do this is when your Projected Image is still in effect, stand right next to the beholder and then teleport through it and then cast a spell immediately as soon as you have teleported through it (Beholder will not turn around in time). Note: If the beholder drops an big eye during the battle, pick it up, you can trade it in the next shop for boots of levitation by clicking on the shop keeper's head. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 Battle of Strong Oak (Manticore, lich) Start-of-Stage-Boss: Manticore. Make sure you stock up on daggers and burning oil again before this stage. At the start of the stage, run around so that manticore can't hit you and at the same time select daggers. Run to end of screen and throw all your daggers at the manticore once it gets into the same horizontal plane. After finishing the daggers, run to the right and open the chest to get one more dagger and throw it at the manticore. Then change to oil in item circle, Reverse Gravity in first spell circle and Magic Missle in second spell circle. Green mage can also use Cloudkill here if he wants to. Let one of the above spell loose to get the manticore on the ground, and change to oil and start oiling the manticore while it's down. Crouch down and hit it while oiling to do more damage. If manticore flies up in the air, it will either shoot spikes out of its tail, or drops down from the top or from the front. Face away from the manticore as it flies up, teleport through the spikes if it shoots and then run forward to hit the manticore as it lands. If it drops from the front or from the top, move up or down to avoid it and then move in to hit the manticore by doing swipe-stab pattern. You can also stand in place and wait for Manticore to charge at you - then you move up and down again and then get in close to try to hit the Manticore as it stops after charging. If one of your attack is blocked, move away straight away because the manticore will charge at you. Use magic to finish it off after every item is used and if you are in trouble. If you have Wand of Paralyzation, make sure you take it out here and swing it once to keep it super-charged. If you do not do this, after killing the Manticore it will become a normal one again (i.e. 20 charges only). Stage Description: Open top chest for a heal, open bottom chest for earrings and level 4 scroll. Teleport through the flames and runs down and stand at this position in the bottom of the screen where the skeletons cannot get you and wait for time out (you can try and hit the skeletons if you want). Then, slide through the next set of traps which shoots flame up periodically and teleport back immediately and go back to that same place where you were standing before and wait for time out again. Run all the way to the right after timeout and exit the screen to avoid more skeletons coming up. Then you will then come to a few hellhounds, kill them one by one. Open both chests (first one has egg of wonder and level 4 scroll, second one has a small healing and a bless/haste potion and level 7 scroll) and exit the screen. Then, move to the right slightly, shadow elves will drop from above. Fight them until time out if you are the black magic user. Select Magic Missle and cast them on the Gargoyles to kill them and then exit the screen (Note Green magic user can simply select Cloudkill and run straight to the right, cast two Cloudkills to finish the gargoyles and four shadow elves off, and then either stay on and fight the rest of the shadow elves or just exit ^_^). On the next screen, use your Magic Missle or Reverse Gravity to kill the two kobolds for fun. Open chest to get key, large burning oil and healing. Select Lightning Bolts, run all the way across to the right. Then cast Lightning Bolts until all shadow elves and ghouls are dead. Pick up all the things left by them and open the top two chests and get everything. Select Conjure Elemental (if black mage) or Ice Storm (if Green Mage) in first spell circle and Projected Image in second spell circle and change to first spell circle. Exit the screen to the right to fight the boss. End-of-Stage-Boss: Lich. Open the chest at the bottom left hand corner and slide to get a bless potion. Move to top behind the Lich as it's appearing. Hit the Lich after it appears using the pattern swipe-stab-swipe-stab. As soon as the Lich floats away or block your attack, move all the way down. Then you wait there until the Lich comes down to hit you, then you attack as it moves into range, and then move up and repeat. Note that you need to keep the right distance between you and the Lich, if you are too close the Lich will produce a wall of fire around itself to burn you, if you are too far the Lich will cast either fireball or lightning bolt to hit you. When the Lich gets down to just under one lifebar, it will cast earthquake and summon some ghouls. Then you let lose all your Conjure Elementals (if playing black magic user) and then Ice storm (green magic user just let lose all Ice Storms). The Lich will cast Meteor Swarm when you get it down to half a lifebar, so make sure you are at either the very top or bottom at that time so you don't get hit by it. Then just continue to waste it with spells until it dies. Note that sometimes if you cast your spell fast enough, you can CANCEL Lich's Meteor Swarm before it comes out! :) If the Lich is not dead after you let lose all area-effect spells, go back to the pattern described above and continue or cast Projected Image and go in and finish the Lich off. Note that apart from Conjure Elemental and Ice Storm, no other spells have any effect on the Lich. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Grove of Destruction Stage Description: Select Reverse Gravity in first spell circle, Lightning Bolt in second spell circle, and nothing in item circle. Move forward and get the goblins out one by one and kill them that way. Gnoll axemen will come out after you have killed all goblins except for the one at the very top. Then there will be 4 waves of goblins appearing on both sides throwing stones and oil. Open the chest on the bottom to get the heal and cure serious wounds ring. Then change to Reverse Gravity, open top chest, kill last goblin and get the spell from the chest (leave heal if on full/nearly full health). The boss will come out after the last goblin is killed. Note: You can avoid having goblins pestering you when fighting the boss by not killing the last goblin (i.e. do not touch the top chest and let that goblin on the top just rest there) and wait for timeout (around 6 minutes). But in general I find it is not really necessary since Displacer Beast is not a really hard boss to kill anyway. End-of-Stage-Boss: Displacer beast. Displacer beast is a fairly easy boss to kill. Use daggers and oils if you have any left. If there are goblins coming after you, take care of them FIRST, the Displacer Beast will not run after you to attack. Use only Lightning Bolt and Reverse Gravity here (and maybe one or two Projected Image or Magic Missle). When the Displacer Beast drops its skin, pick it up. When the Displacer Beast hops away, be careful because it might try its tail attacks on you. Just make sure you are standing in a different plane to the two displacer beast images so you don't get hit. Go after the real displacer beast and hit it (the real one has a shadow on the ground). Shoulder charging the Displacer Beast is also not a bad move, it does not knock it down but it will stop it from flicking its tails or trying to bite you. At next shop, click on shopkeeper and you will get displacer cloak. Stock up on large burning oil. After killing the displacer beast, a gnome man will come out and ask you to help him. If you select option A to keep pursuing the sorceress, you will go to stage 8.a (Labyrinth Maze), if you select option B to help the people at gnome village, you will go to stage 8.b (Rescue at the Gnome Village). --------------------------------------------------------------------- 8-a Labyrinth Maze (only recommended if you are going to take on the Red Dragon later on, and you still have a few Lightning Bolt spells left and Projected Image, or if you have the Eye of Displacer Beast - i.e. you are not fighting Black Dragon) Stage Description: When you come to this level you will see some monsters and a sign. A kobold rests beside the sign, when you come in close the kobold will wake, snarls for a bit, then destroys the sign and runs down one of two paths. Follow the Kobold. If you don't (or don't want to) you come to a penalty stage and fight a boss. If you picked up the Eye of the Displacer Beast, you will not fight the boss and will pass the forest. End-of-Stage-Boss Description: Blackwing (Black Dragon). Basically just let lose your spells. Start off with the area-effect ones (Conjure Elemental/Cloudkill, Icestorm), and then move to Magic Missle. When casting Magic Missle, make sure all of the missles hit before casting another one so that you don't waste it. As you are casting Ice Storm, open the chest in the top right corner. It has a healing and a level 4 scroll (Ice Storm) in it so you can get the spell and cast it again when you run out. After using all these spells, you can cast Lightning Bolts/Fireball if you have any left, but it only works if the dragon is very close to the ground. Try to save these level 3 spells (and Projected Image) if you can for when you fight against the Red Dragon. You can also throw large burning oil at it when it's close to the ground. Use Projected Image if you have any left to buy yourself some time to change the items. If you still have wand of fireball, take it out, slide away from the dragon, and then jump up in the air and shoot a fireball to burn the dragon and keep it back away from you. Note: If Blackwing drop its scale on the ground and you don't have a Displacer cloak yet, pick it up, you can trade it for a displacer cloak at the next shop by clicking on the shop keeper's head. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 8-b Rescue at the Gnome Village Stage Description: First you fight some goblins and Gnoll Axemen. After killing them, open the two chests on the top left hand side of the screen and get everything. Open the bottom right hand chest to get heal. Don't open remaining top chest, it will summon some more skeletons but usually by this time you will be running out of time and it's safer not to open it and just continue going to the right. Next you fight some more Gnoll Axemen and Bowmen on a bridge. After that, you come to a chest. Again, do not open the chest as you don't need to and it brings on more skeletons. Go right and fight some troglodytes. Open the chest (trapped with petrify) for a level 5 scroll. Continue going to the right and fight some ghouls. After the ghouls, walk right slowly until you see a chest. Stop, cast Projected Image, select large burning oil in item circle. Run right and break open the chest and fight the boss. End-of-Stage-Boss: Chimera. Stand behind the Chimera as it drops down from the sky. Then hit it and knock it down when it lands. Then after this you just throw all your large burning oil on it while it's knockded down on the ground. It should be dead after you throw all your oils. If it's not, then just cast a spell or two to finish it off. Gnome Village: After you kill the Chimera, you get to go the village - you will be asked to buy a potion (even though it doesn't cost you any MONEY). Select Yes. At the village, firstly walk to the house on the right side of the screen. This is an inn, but you can't visit the first shop till you have been here. Talk to the first person in the inn near the door (just walk up to them and press the attack button). You can talk to the rest of the people for more information if you want to. Then walk out and go to the first shop. Here you can buy all sorts of goodies. If you run out of items (i.e. buy too much gear) close the window and reopen it for more. Buy a wand of lightning bolts here and then stock up on cure serious wounds ring. After this shop you will be able to buy cure potions and Large Burning Oils so don't waste all your cash. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.0 Floating down Stage Description: You float down into a cavern. There is no need for a solo mage to go into the first platform on the left but you can go in and fight the hellhounds for fun and xp. Second platform on the contains hidden treasure. Get them all. Open first chest (trapped with deadfall usually) to get a key. Open second chest to get a level 5 scroll. Then you will be asked to leave 3 times. Get boot of speed and open wooden chest for a heal as you are answering the questions. If you answer No, No, Yes, you will fight the boss. But first you need to make sure you run all the way to the right without stopping or else you will be killed. Slide everything once you have run to the right, get earring for xp but don't get other items - you want to keep the earrings. Only open the bottom chest for a fire elemental bottle and another level 5 spell. Select Conjure Elemental/Cloudkill in first spell circle, Magic Missle in second spell circle. Take out the wand of lightning bolts if you have it. Select fire elemental bottle in item circle and change to first spell circle and then go in to fight the boss. If you decide not to fight the boss, you continue to float down. Move all the way to the right to land on the platform. Teleprot through the fire and kill the giant scorpions and hellhounds. Open the trapped chest and get the Staff of EP. End-of-Stage-Boss: Red Dragon. Move slightly to the right. When dragon head comes down, just hit it with your wand of lightning bolts. If you do not have the wand of lightning, just do swipe-stab and repeat. If you have the wand of lightning, make sure you don't swing it too quickly. You want to have constant lightning on the screen which will keep the dragon head in place so that it can't hit you. If you see the dragon raising its claws to hit you, teleport through it. If you see the claws producing fireballs, cast a spell right after the fireball leaves its claws. If you do not have any spells left, slide away when the fireball is coming. When the dragon flies off the top of the screen, first move all the way up to avoid the rocks if the dragon drops them. If no rocks drop, the dragon is about to breath on you. To avoid dragon breath. The breath will come from the same direction you are being sucked. If you are being sucked in towards the middle, RUN towards one of the sides. If you are sucked towards one of the sides of the screen, run towards that same direction. If the head appears side on in the middle of the screen, stand in front of either one of the two rocks. One to the far left, one to the far right. Only get the dragon horn if you do not have the displacer cloak. Trade the dragon horn at next shop for the staff of MA by clicking on the shopkeeper. Stock up on large burning oil - especially if you don't have the wand of lightning bolts bought from Gnome shop. You have a choice of routes here - by selecting option A you proceed to stage 9.a (Land of Fire), by selecting option B you proceed to stage 9.b (Land of Ice). --------------------------------------------------------------------- 9-a Land of Fire (not recommended if doesn't have super-charged wand of lightning bolts bought from gnome shop) Stage Description: Teleport through the wall of flames and crouch down to kill the giant scorpion. Open the chest and get the wand of ice. Kill some goblins and hellhounds. Teleport through the wall of flames again and kill the giant scorpion. Open chest to get rod of cold (don't get this if you have rod of lightning already). Kill some more hellhounds. Then select Magic Missle on second spell circle, Reverse Gravity on first spell circle but keep it on Magic Missle. Take either the wand of lightning bolts (bought from Gnome Village) or wand of ice out and select second spell circle. Exit to the right to fight the boss. End-of-Stage-Boss: Flame Salamander. When you go into the room , cast Magic Missle straight away since sometimes the hellhound will run at you from your back straight away. Then, basically just use the wand of lightning bolts to hit the salamander into a corner, and keep hitting attack. If the hellhound runs at you from your back, teleport away, get into position and hit the salamander again. Try to find time to open the chest for a heal. Use a spell if in trouble. If the wand of lightning bolts runs out (very unlikely), then select wand of ice and continue to hit it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 9-b Land of Ice (recommended if you do not have super charged wand of lightning bolts bought from Gnome Shop) Stage Description: Teleport through wall of ice flame and kill giant beetle. Open chest to get wand of fireball. Move to the right, fight lots of shadow elves and troglodytes. Open chest for a heal and spell. Teleport through the wall of ice flame again and kill the giant beetle. Open chest to get rod of fire. Take out wand of fireball. Select large burning oil in item circle, Reverse Gravity in first spell circle, Projected Image in second spell circle. Go in the next room to fight the boss. End-of-Stage-Boss: Ice Salamander. Cast Projected Image as soon as you go in. Change to large burning oil. Hit the salamander down, and then throw your large burning oil to kill it quickly while it's knocked down (you don't want to deal with those gargoyles ccompanying the Ice Salamander.....) Make sure that you only start throwing the large burning oil AFTER the Ice Salamander is lying on the ground - not while it's falling. Otherwise the explosion from the large burning oil will juggle the ice salamander and will only do minimal damage - then you will be in TROUBLE! --------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.1 Gateway Stage Description: Rooms. Stand on pressure pads to open the doors into the rooms. Magic user cannot move statues so he can only go into the very left and very right rooms. The room on the left can be skipped. There are just a bit of money in a chest with lots of undead monsters guarding it. When you go to the right, shadow elves and hellhounds appear and you will need to fight them. Go into the right room and fight more hellhounds and troglodytes. Open the chest on the right to get a level 4 scroll and earrings. Go down and then left. Open chest to get a magic user's hat and get out. If you are green magic user. You can let lose some Cloudkills here to get lots of xp and possibly more spell scrolls. After getting out of the room, take out a wand (except paralyzation), select large burning oil in item circle and Projected Image on the second spell circle. Then go in to the right to next stage. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.2 Overtures Stage-Boss: Dark Elf Tel'Arin. Cast Projected Image as soon as you go in and stand in the same horizontal plane as Tel'Arin but outside his jump reach. He will then either fireball or lightning bolt you (which will not hit you since you cast Projected Image). During this time, select large burning oil in item circle. Hit Tel'Arin with your wand so that he falls down on the ground (make sure you are standing on his left) and then throw the large burning oils until he dies. If he is still alive, use your wand to kill him while he is still on the ground (if you are using wand of ice or wand of lighting bolts) or cast one or two spells to finish him off. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.3 Arena Stage Description: You come to the next part of the castle. If you are black mage select Reverse Gravity on first spell circle and Magic Missle on the second spell circle. Keep it on Reverse Gravity. Kill the hellhound, cast Reverse Gravity on the two waves of Kobolds coming in to the screen. Change to Magic Missle and cast it to kill the two Gargoyles. If you are the green mage, select Cloudkill and run to the right to get both gargoyles out. Then cast Cloudkill 3 times to kill the hellhound, 2 gargoyles and the two waves of kobolds! :) Slide through the items slightly to the right and then come back to the left and go into the room at the top, hit bottom chest open and get healing potion. Top chest contain money only and if you only have one key do not open it. Run to the right and then go into the window by pushing up into a secret room. Teleport through the wall of flame to the front of the chest, open it and teleport out straight away to avoid traps. Get Staff of Wizardry and take it out. Select Lightning Bolt in second spell circle, Conjure Elemental (if black magic user) or Ice Storm (if Green Magic User) in first spell circle and keep it on first spell circle. Exit the room. Walk towards the right, avoiding the mines and shadow elves and enter the arena to fight the boss. You can waste your Reverse Gravity or Cloudkills here on the shadow elves for fun if you want to. End-of-Stage-Boss: Ezerhoden. Just let lose all your spells here - Lightning Bolt, Magic Missle, Conjure Elemental and Icestorm. If all of your 5 Lightning Bolt spells connect, Ezerhoden should be nearly dead so you might be able to finish it off with some magic missles without using any level 4 or 5 spells! If Ezerhoden gets too close, slide away from it and then resume casting. Or cast Projected Image quickly and then slide away just in case you can't get away quick enough. If you still have the wand of lightning bolts from the gnome shop, you can use it too if you run out of spells. Wand of ice or Wand of fireball will also work on Ezerhoden and keep it from opening its mouth to eat you. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.4 Battle Royale Stage Description: Lots of monsters (Shadow Elves, goblins and hell hounds) keep attacking you. Level is finished when you travel a certain distance to the right. Just keep the monsters occupied until timeout - you do not need to kill them. It will just bring on more monsters. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.5 Arena Revistied Stage Description: Go down and slide the money and treasures. Then run towards the right. Use a wand to kill the gargoyles, or use magic. If using magic, get more than one gargoyles out first before using your magic as they are more powerful now (get two gargoyles out if using Magic Missle, get all gargoyles out if using Reverse Gravity, or Cloudkill). After killing them, run all the way to the right, open the chest and get some healing if low on health, and then run back to where the gargoyles were again. Go into the door behind the ice flames. Kill the gargoyles in there too. Open the chests and get the stuff in them (there is usually a ring of fire resistance in there which is highly recommended for you to take). Come out, go left and go into the room whose entrance is previously blocked by lightning. Kill the hellhounds and get fire elemental bottle (get the bottle quick as it will disappear after a short while). Run all the way to the left again and enter the room. Use wand of lightning bolts to kill the giant beetle (or teleport through the flames or use one Magic Missle), open the chest to get Summon Djiin Ring. Then run all the way to the right again. Open chest and get all the healing. Select large burning oil in item circle, Reverse Gravity (if any left) in first spell circle and Projected Image in second spell circle. Keep it on the second spell circle and go right to fight the boss. End-of-Stage-Boss: Dark Warrior II. Cast Projected Image right after you go in, change to Large Burning Oil. Hit Dark Warrior down and throw large burning oils on it. Then change to Lightning Bolts/Reverse Gravity and cast it until Dark Warrior II is nearly dead. Then change to an area effect spell (Conjure Elemental or Cloudkill) and cast it to finish it off. Stock up everything at the shop. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.6 Inner Heart, Dark Heart First Boss: Nagpa. Accompanied by a black dragon and a manticore. As soon as you come on the screen, try to cast your area effect spell. If Nagpa beats you to casting spells you will get wasted by Black Dragon's breath. If you find you cannot cast a spell straight away - move down a bit and then slide forward so that you avoid both Nagpa's lightning bolt and the Black Dragon's breath. Only Nagpa needs to be killed. If have time you should try opening the chest for heals. Otherwise just cast some of your area-effect spells and Nagpa should be dead. Second Boss: Synn - in dragon form. Similar tactics to kill Synn as used for first Red Dragon. Synn drops Meteors instead of rocks which covers the whole area. Therefore, you either need to cast a spell to counter or you need to slide away from it. Reverse Gravity works on Synn so you can use that too. Let lose all your spells and Synn should be dead if you are carrying all magic enhancing items. --------------------------------------------------------------------- E N D O F G A M E ! ! ! ! ! =====================================================================