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submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

So the v3.1 beta is adding 4 new badges and I figured I'd see if anyone is already theorycrafting strategies to unlock them as I am. In case you don't know what the badges are, I'll list each of them alongside any preliminary thoughts:

  • Safety Hazard: Defeat 10 enemies using terrain hazards (traps, plants, or chasms)

    • This one should be pretty easy. Experienced players already use seeds all the time, though making sure the plants get the kill might be a little annoying. Easily done on a chasm floor with a Wand of Blast Wave though; could probably just look for a run with those. Maybe the Reclaim Trap spell works too? Dunno.
  • So Many Colors: Have 10 or more buff/debuff icons active at once

    • This shouldn't be too hard with plants, elixirs, and scrolls. I could list a ton of items here with unique buffs/debuffs: Aquatic Healing elixir, Barkskin exotic potion, Arcane Armor elixir, Prismatic Image exotic scroll, Challenge exotic scroll, any of the elixirs that imbue you with an element (fire/ice/toxic), Blindweed applies 2 statuses. That's 10 right there already. You should be able to do this at the last alchemy pot before Yog in most runs.
  • Pacifist Ascent: Take the Amulet of Yendor to the surface without ever reducing the severity of its curse

    • This one is rough, since traditional movement to the stairs will not cut it as the higher levels of the curse cripple you and max your movespeed at 1x (plus enemies are hasted). Additionally, the amulet's damage per turn increases every floor, up to like 9 damage a turn (which doubles to 18 if you move since you're crippled). Teleportation and time freezing is key. This was my strat for my successful run:
      • Play Mage for the Warping Beacon armor ability, and max out its range and cost reduction. This is by far the best ability for ascending without fighting, as nearly every single floor can be cleared in a handful of turns by using one or two 16-range beacon teleports. You should be able to teleport 5 times per dungeon region.
      • Remember to rest in the boss floors between regions to fully recharge the armor ability.
      • Save every Teleportation scroll in the dungeon you find and turn them into Runes of Blink. They're not good enough on their own, but can save one or two beacon teleports each floor. I had 10 and used 3 or 4.
      • If you find the Chalice of Blood, max it, then turn every Scroll of Recharging into Artifact Recharging and save it for the caves & above. The buff will massively increase the health regeneration. It won't negate the curse entirely, but will heavily dampen it and give you more time.
      • Save as many healing potions for the return trip as you can. Playing Warlock, I was able to get through the entire dungeon using one healing potion, and had 23 saved for the ascent. I turned 6 of them into Shielding potions and would drink one in the caves onward whenever the shield ran out. I ended with plenty, but better safe than sorry, and Mage is already the best pick for this challenge anyways.
      • Fadeleaf seeds are a backup option. Step on one upon entering a large floor to hopefully teleport closer to the exit and save one teleport. I didn't end up needing any but I had 4 just in case.
      • Phase Shift paralyses you for 10 turns on self-cast, which will kill you in this challenge, so despite it having a much higher efficiency than Runes of Blink it's not viable.
    • Other items that would be very useful:
      • Ethereal Chains (essentially a teleport)
      • Timekeeper's Hourglass (time freeze to move without taking damage)
      • Chalice of Blood (slightly counteracts the damage taken every turn, but significantly counteracts it when combined with Scrolls of Artifact Recharging or Ring of Energy)
      • Ring of Energy (faster recharge on armor ability & artifacts, higher health regeneration from Chalice)
  • Taking the Mick: Defeat Yog-Dzewa with the blow of a +20 or higher Pickaxe

    • An interesting challenge run. getting a +20 Pickaxe requires you to do a couple very specific things:
      • Do not use any upgrade scrolls on anything
      • Reach the caves & complete the blacksmith quest with max reward (40+ dark gold ore)
      • Get the pickaxe and use 3000 favor to upgrade it twice to +2
      • Dump all 15 upgrade scrolls into the pickaxe (+17)
      • Curse infuse the pickaxe, which will add 3 upgrades since it's over +12 (+20)
    • It should be pretty strong at that point, and hopefully you can roll a curse that isn't too problematic. The main challenge is beating the game without using upgrade scrolls on anything else. To that end I'd probably use Huntress -> Sniper since her bow can effectively be a primary weapon throughout the game, but even then, surviving will be dependent on finding some pre-upgraded armor. It'll be a fun challenge though; in the past I spent many runs going for a +20 Mage staff which required similarly specific and RNG-dependent conditions.

Anything I missed?

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I actually almost did the pacifist ascent earlier this year, though well before trophies were added. Thorns armor killed a harpy on like floor 23 of the descent but otherwise it was a pacifist ascent.. Here are my thoughts on it

  • time stop effects like the hourglass or swiftthistle are your best friends, you don't take damag e while time stopped

  • movement items like the chains and blink stones are your second best friend. Note that using movement effects while time is stopped is good

  • your teleport scrolls should be turned into blink stones. It's only 2 for 1, but the extra control over where you land matters way more than a few more casts

  • near the bottom few floors, you will start taking close 20 damage per tick. You should be absolutely chugging health and shield potions, and this is where every single movement should be some form of teleport with time stopped if you can help it

I kinda suck at YouTube, but I did actually make a video out of the run I'm referring to. https://youtu.be/zHVG7B6KoAg

Skip to about 50m if you want to see the ascension. For context, this was a ring of wealth run and by the ascension yhat means I'm wearing a +14 dodge ring

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

I didn't know that the curse damage increases every floor. I'd only ever seen it at 1-2 damage a turn. That definitely makes things a lot tougher.

You think 2 blink stones trumps 6 phase shifts (assuming phase shift doesn't stun you)? I feel like Phase Shift is pretty likely to place you within 16 tiles of the exit stairs. I mean, if I had a massive surplus of teleport scrolls from RoW farming then sure blink is better, but I hate RoW farming

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, I still think the blink stones are worth it. If you get stunned after a phase shift when you're on the lower floors where the curse damage gets significant, that's just immediate run over. Combined with the fact that teleport style movement is waaaaaaay more neccesary floors 1-5 than it is in higher floors, I'd rather go with the safer option.

I think you'd be better focusing on combining a few haste potions with time stop effects, and maximizing artifact recharge effects to get more use of hourglass/chains. You basically can't afford to take mob damage at all, which is tough when they're on like 4x speed compared to you. I'd imagine a free-runner rogue with the smoke bomb armor ability would probably be the best overall choice for this challenge, with their mix of speed invisibility and artifact synergy

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

I just tested it (attempting this run now using Mage for the warping beacon), and yeah, Phase Shift paralyses you for 10 turns even when you self-cast it. So that is not an option.

As such, Blink stones are probably the best bet, before or after a Warping Beacon to get to the stairs ASAP. I'll update the post afterwards with how my run goes.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Let me know! I'm excited to hear about your run and what you learn from it. Your post gave me a bug to get the pacifist ascension too, and I've been trying it with freerunner. I've done one run so far that got back down to floor 6, but a projecting thief came out of nowhere and finished the job the curse damage started. I'm finding that strategies to manage the enemies are way more important than they were when I almost did it the first time with warrior and a +14 evasion ring

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I just finished the run successfully. Mage's Warping Beacon is 100% the best strategy for this; I cleared every floor in under 10 turns. I updated the original post with my run

Enemies were no problem at all. If I ever got cornered I just used the warping beacon

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Awesome! Congrats on the run, I'll have to try the warping beacon way

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Taking the Mick:

Mage is also pretty solid if you imbue any old wands you find.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

I'm currently doing a run as Huntress and doing quite well despite finding nothing but a +1 mail armor by the end of the caves. I can see imbuing the staff as pretty useful, but at best you would get 1 extra upgrade on whatever wand you find, right? (imbue a +1 wand, then imbue a +1-3 wand from the wandmaker). I suppose the recharge rate of the staff is much faster.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, the recharge rate and the upgraded melee attacks.

this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
9 points (100.0% liked)

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