Gauntlet Dark Legacy FAQ/Walkthrough by Jon "Zandar" Mott Version 1.2 This FAQ/Walkthrough covers the Gauntlet Dark Legacy game for the Playstation 2. GDL is a update of one of the most classic multiplayer arcade games of all time, the venerable Gauntlet series. This update to the series brings the action home to the PS2 and really shows off what the PS2 is capable of with 4-player action. The single player experience is a blast, but the real fun is braving the worlds of GDL with friends! CONTENTS I. The Story II. Playing The Game III. The Characters IV. The Worlds, Enemies and Walkthrough V. Items, The Shop, and Character Management VI. The Bosses VII. Secrets And Extras VIII. Credits Version History May 10, 2001 -- Version 1.0 Initial Version. May 13, 2001 -- Version 1.1 Finished walkthrough up through Desert Lands. June 9-10, 2001 -- Version 1.2 Walkthrough is COMPLETE. Added level titles, strategies for the Spider Queen, and confirmed Sumner as a playable character. The Walkthrough is bascially DONE at this point, I just need a few more level titles. Sorry it took so long, gang, but it's up and ready. All other sections are basically complete. I have indicated in what level the hidden Legendary Weapons, Runestones, and Treasure Room levels are, I have confirmed these myself. Also I STILL must get the level titles for ALL the classes. If you know these, please send them to me at zandar@iname.com, it'll save me a hell of a lot of time. :) ------------ I. The Story ------------ You might not think a hackfest like GDL has a story behind it other than killing everything that moves, but it does. :) It starts with two very powerful mages, Garm and Sumner. Garm, tired of living in his brother Sumner's shadow gathered 13 powerful Runestones to form a circle of summoning. He then cast a powerful spell to summon the Lord of the Underworld, the Demon King Skorne. What Garm didn't realize was that Skorne could not be controlled. Skorne went on a rampage, starting by draining the helpless Garm of all his magical power. Desecrating Garm's temple, Skorne summoned his eight most powerful minions and their legion of followers to the realms. He broke the sacred stained glass window above the temple altar and gave one of the eight shards to each of his most powerful followers. He then sent these creatures to the Eight Realms to take over the land and garner Skorne more souls to feed on, sealing the Temple behind him and scattering the Runestones to the far reaches of the Realms. Sumner discovered too late what his brother was up to. Realizing he alone could never face Skorne, he summoned the eight heroes of the Realms to his tower and entrusted them with a mission: to recover the Runestones, to defeat Skorne's most powerful minions and recover the eight Shards, and to gain access to Skorne's Desecrated Temple and seal him away in the Underworld forever. Now as one of the eight heroes of the Realms, you must go forth and fight Skorne's seemingly endless armies of evil. The fate of the world rests on your shoulders. -------------------- II. Playing the Game -------------------- The basic goal of the game is to work you way through the Eight Realms, defeating armies of foes while collecting the Runestones, treasure, food, and special items along the way. For those of you who have played Gauntlet Legends, there are a few differences in GDL: Quick and Slow attacks Hand-to-Hand Combos Strafe Mode Defend Mode We'll go over those in detail a bit later, but first, the basics: Your goal is to work your way through the level and destroy the enemies along the way. Enemies come out of "generators", a structure that spews forth enemies of varying power and speed. The larger the generator, the tougher the enemy. For example in the first Realm, the Forsaken Province, the enemies are Zombies, Ghosts, and Maggots. Zombies crawl up out of Tombstones. There are three levels of Zombies, the size of the Tombstone will determine the level of the Zombie. Level 1 Zombies (with pitchforks) come out of a cracked tombstone, level 2 Zombies (with hooks) come from a whole Tombstone, and level 3 Zombies (with saw-bladed threshers) come from a large Tombstone. Damaging a generator will reduce its level, and the enemies that come forth from it will also be lower in level. A level 1 generator that is damaged will be destroyed. You (and your partners) will have to take out these generators to defeat the enemies, otherwise an endless stream of enemies will threaten to overwhelm you. You have a heath meter (the number next to the heart). As you take damage, your hero will flash and your health will go down. When it hits zero, you're done for. Picking up food (fruit, meat, meals) will restore your health. Next to your health is your Money. Picking up treasure (silver, gold, gems) will increase your money. You can spend this money on items in the Shop. Getting through the level itself will require some thinking on your part. You can collect keys to open doors and gates that block your way (these vary from Realm to Realm but usually have a keyhole on them) and can use them to open chests to obtain items like food, treasure, keys or...other surprises. You can have up to 9 keys at one time. Locked doors and chests require one key to open. Barrels will sometimes contain items as well, you can break these open with attacks. Watch out, red barrels will explode and green barrels will release poison gas when hit! Red barrels can destroy enemies, but also can destroy nearby chests and items you may need, so be careful. Green barrels won't destroy items, but if they are set off and there's food nearby, the food will become poisoned and cost you health if you eat it, so you do have to be careful with them as well. Also be on the lookout for switches, levers, buttons, and target switches. These will often raise or lower the landscape nearby, giving you (or sometimes taking away) access to items, new areas of the level, or even other switches. Often you'll have to hit a few of these in a level to reveal the exit, or to reveal the hidden item you are looking for. Red means unactivated, green means you've triggered the switch or button. -- Switches are on walls. Run into one to pull it. -- Levers are on the ground, simply run over it to pull it. -- Buttons are on the ground. run over them to activate. -- Target switches are on walls and look like bullseyes. Hit them with an attack to activate them. Levers and buttons usually have arrows on them, the arrow normally points towards the general area of the level the switch affects. If your not sure what the switch did or where it did it, follow the arrow! Eventually you will find the exit to each level. (It's clearly marked EXIT for the Warrior in your party so he knows how to get home.) Make sure you've explored where you can before you leave, often there's great treasure to be had in a level if you don't exit right away... Controls: You have two basic weapon attacks, a Quick attack (the X button) and a Slow attack (the Square button. Depending on your hero class these attacks will vary, but each will fire a weapon in a straight line at your enemy. The Quick attack is your basic strike, and the Slow attack is a slower but more powerful strike that fires a larger projectile. Quick Barrage -- Hold down the X button to fire a barrage of quick attacks. You can't move while doing this, but you'll fire as fast as you can. Characters with high rates of fire (Wizard/Sorceress and especially Jester/Archer) benefit from this the most. This is good for holding your position and hitting a group of enemies. Slow Attack Advance -- Holding down the square button will fire a slower barrage of Slow attacks, but you CAN move while doing this. This is a good way to advance forward slowly and close the distance to deal with enemy generators with hand-to-hand combos, or attacking Level 2 or 3 enemies that you can't kill in a single Quick attack. This works better for the Knight and Valkyrie because their slow attacks come at a decent clip. Also you can use Hand-to-Hand attacks and Combos. Combos are the key to destroying generators. You can power your way through multiple enemies at close range and destroy generators. Each hero has his or her own combos, but they are basically the same for each class. Combine Quick and Slow attacks to destroy your foes and anything close by, for example: Q,Q,S for the Sorceress does a Double Slap, followed by a Kiss of Death. Q,Q,S for the Knight does a Double Smash, followed by a Shock Circle. Other combos include: Q,S Q,Q Q,Q,Q Q,Q,S Q,Q,Q,S Q,Q,Q,S,S Using these combos for your hero is the most common way of dealing with multiple enemies. Chain these combos together and use them to slaughter a bunch of enemies and generators and Sumner will tell you how impressed he is with you! You also have two other means of attack, the Turbo button (triangle) and the Magic button (circle). Your Turbo Meter is at the top of the display, above your Level. It fills up from empty to yellow, then from yellow to red. At red you can use a Turbo Attack, and if the meter gets fully red (flashing pink) you can use a Full Turbo Attack. A Turbo attack will reduce the meter somewhat, but a Full Turbo will empty the meter. These attacks differ from hero to hero and are explained more in the Character section. For the most part a Turbo attack is a "sweep" style attack that will pretty much take out anything close to you. It's good for dealing with being surrounded, but normally a good hand-to-hand combo is just as good and doesn't require Turbo power to use. Normally, you want to save your Turbo meter for FULL Turbo attacks, which in addition to clearing the area around you send out a POWERFUL projectile in front of you that passes through enemies, generators, walls and barrels in a straight line. More info about Combos and Turbo attacks is detailed in the Characters section. FULL TURBO IS THE BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH MULTIPLE ENEMY GENERATORS. That's in all caps because it's an important point. You can take out dozens of enemies and several generators in one blow with a Full Turbo attack. Use Turbo wisely and it will get you through the thickest enemy ambush! When your faced with more than two generators and a cloud of enemies, Full Turbo will clear the way without having to resort to magic. This is especially important to the Dwarf and Warrior, because their Magic ability is pathetic. Speaking of Magic, that's what the circle button does. You need to collect magic potions to use magic, you can have up to 9 potions. The potions come in four colors and have four elemental effects (acid, fire, electricity, light). They all seem to do the same damage, and the effect is determined by the last potion you obtained (so if you picked up a yellow light potion, your magic attacks will be a wave of light). There are three things you can do with Magic (each costs a potion): --Tap circle button: Magic Blast. A wave of magic energy radiates out from your hero, damaging everything in its path. The higher you Magic rating (see the Characters section) the more damage it does and the larger the radius. The Wizard/Sorceress excel with magic potions used in this way, so for the most part these heroes should have a full load of potions. --Hold down circle button and release: Potion Toss. This launches the potion out in the direction of the hero, the longer you hold the button down the farther the potion goes, like a grenade. The radius of the blast is not as large as the Magic Blast but it's good for clearing out stuff in front of you. --Double tap circle button: Magic Shield. This sharply reduces damage you take and hurts any enemies around you. It lasts for only a brief few seconds but it's good if you are surrounded and have a low magic Rating. If you're taking a beating, use this option to damage enemies and buy yourself some time. Normally you are going to want to use the Magic Blast option with potions, but all three can be useful. The shoulder buttons (L1, L2, R1, R2) are also used in the game. L1 allows for a charging attack. Charging takes up a small section of your Turbo meter and you can charge right over your enemy. This is a good tactic to use when surrounded and low on Turbo meter and magic. It counts as defending as well, so you'll take less damage while charging. R1 is Strafe (hold down while attacking/moving). This allows you to face in the same direction and move side to side or back and forth while still being able to fire in the same direction. Your attacks won't be as fast as a standing Quick Barrage but this is great for dealing with Golems, Gargoyles, and Bosses, allowing you to avoid their attacks while returning your own. Strafe is nice but I must admit the most effective way of dealing with large enemies is if you set up the controller in the "Robotron" control scheme, you can use the right analog stick to fire in the direction of your choosing while moving with the left analog stick. PRACTICE THIS UNTIL YOU GET COMFORTABLE WITH IT. This is the BEST WAY to attack large enemies, period. You can't afford to go hand-to-hand with these guys, you'll get flattened. Mastering the "Robotron" control method is the key to being able to take out bosses and large enemies quickly, otherwise you'll lose too much health. You can still use the buttons to fire and for hand-to-hand against regular foes, but beaing able to get your thumb on the right analog stick when a pair of golems show up is the difference between losing 50 health and 500 health killing them. In other words, I don't use strafe much, and you won't either, just use the "Robotron" control method. L2 will use up one level of your Turbo Meter to do a Team Attack with another player. Depending on your hero, you will team up and strike enemies for varying damage. This can be a lot of fun, but use it wisely. Usually a Full Turbo attack on your own is more effective, but Team Attacks are certainly more fun sometimes. :) R2 will defend. USE THIS DURING BOSS FIGHTS. It prevents you from being knocked down by quake/stomp/breath attacks and reduces the damage you take. Defend lasts for a second or two and you can't move while you are defending, but it's a wonderful way to conserve health against bosses and withstand their powerful attacks. Learn to anticipate these massive area attacks from Bosses and use Defend to block them, then continue attacking. Summary: -------- o Save your Turbo Meter to use Full Turbo Attacks whenever possible. o Use "Robotron" controls to strafe like a pro. o Use Combos at Hand-to-Hand range to kill several enemies. o Use the Defend button on bosses and large enemies. ------------------- III. The Characters ------------------- There are 8 classes available at the beginning of the game, 8 more "upgrade" classes can be unlocked during the course of the game, as well as 20+ secret characters that are unlocked by inputting certain names. See the GameFAQs codes section for this game for those special codes. Unlocking the upgrade classes is done by finding the Treasure Room hidden level in each Realm, then getting all 25 coins under the time limit in the Treasure Room. More about these hidden levels are in the Walkthrough section. Upgrade classes have 50 more in each starting stat then their normal counterpart. Levels and Stats: As a hero fights, each hit on an enemy gains some small experience. As you get experience your level will increase. This affects your stats. Each character has 4 stats of varying values, depending on class: Strength: This affects how much damage you can do with your weapon attacks. The higher this number is, the harder you hit. The Warrior and Dwarf have the best strength, the Jester and Sorceress the worst. Speed: This affects how fast you move, NOT how fast you fire! Rate of fire depends on class. Archers and Jesters are the fastest, Knight and Valkyrie and Warriors the slowest. Speed is still important of course, but not as important as the other three stats. Your starting speed determines your rate of fire as well. Armor: How good you are at taking damage. A high armor value means you lose less health when hit. The Knight and Valkyrie start with the best armor rating, the Sorceress and Wizard have the least. Magic: This affects how powerful and how large your magical potion attacks are. Of course, you need potions for magic, so players that depend on magic need to have and use potions often! Gaining a level will increase your stats by 5, and your maximum health by 100. Your starting max health at level 1 is 500. You can purchase stats increases in the shop (10 stat points for 1000 gold). Normally this is a pretty good deal, the best source of gold is enemy bosses. Once you get powerful, fight them multiple times, save your gold up, and buy stat increases. Every 10 levels your hero changes in apprearance. Heroes gain a Class Title at levels 10, 20, 40, 80, and 99. Heroes also gain special abilities at 25, 50, and at 75 your hero gains the ability to heal slightly with magic potion attacks. At 99 your hero gains immunity to exp loss from Death. At level your hero gains a Familiar, a little flying companion that fires a magical shot along with your hero. This is a really nice bonus, effectively doubling your rate of fire. At 80 the Familiar gains in attack power. It's a good idea to wait until at least level 30 before go after any bosses, you'll need the firepower. Combo moves are listed as Q, S1, S2, and S3. The combos are as follows: Q, S1 Q, Q, S1 Q, Q, Q, S3 Q, Q, Q, S2, S3 (Note: Not all Level Title info is filled in yet.) Beginners: Warrior and Dwarf ---------------------------- The mighty Warrior hails from the Mountain Kingdom Realm. He is fast, tough, and VERY strong., but has the magical ability of a cinder block. A good choice for the beginning player, the Warrior is the button masher's player. All attack, decent defense, and good speed mean that if you can master hand-to-hand combos, strafing, and Turbo attacks, you won't NEED Magic. The Dwarf is slightly slower than the Warrior, but has more Armor. He comes from the Ice Domain Realm. Don't let his size fool you, he hits like a truck as well, but like the Warrior he couldn't tell a magic potion from a turnip. These classes have the easiest time dealing with bosses as well. By level 40 or so you'll have an Attack of 800+ and can pretty much deal with anything. Buy Armor and Speed upgrades, then worry about Magic. Let other players pick up magic potions, but keep a few on hand to deal with Death. For beginners there's no better choice, and it's the easiest pair of classes to complete the game with. Warrior Stats: Dwarf Stats: Strength: 600 Strength: 600 Speed: 350 Speed: 300 Armor: 300 Armor: 350 Magic: 100 Magic: 100 Weapon: Axe Weapon: Warhammer Level Titles: Level Titles: 10: Fighter Upgrade Class: Minotaur Upgrade Class: Ogre Class Ability: Level 25: Magic turns all Junk in range to Silver Level 50: Magic turns all Junk in range to Gold Warrior Moves: Quick Attack: Axe Slash -- A semi-fast axe slash. Decent speed. Slow Attack: Overhead Slash -- So slow it's almost not worth using. Ever. In fact it's so slow you're better off throwing two Quick attacks. Turbo Attack: Fire Spin -- A 360 flaming sweep. Good for breathing room. Full Turbo: Plasma Trail -- Summons a HUGE Warrior Spirit to blast the earth with his axe. The fiery blast flattens anything in its path. Warrior Combos: Q, Quick Chops -- A quick chop with his axe. S1, Headbutt -- The Warrior finds a use for the muscle mass above his neck. Decent range. S2, Axe Sweep -- Sweeps around with his axe. S3, Wood Splitter -- A powerful forward uppercut chop. Dwarf Moves: Quick Attack: Hammer Blow -- Decent speed on this too. Slow Attack: Spinning Hammer -- Not as slow as the Warrior's Slow Attack, but it might as well be. Turbo Attack: Thunder Clap -- The Dwarf summons a ball of energy and smashes it with his hammer, the blast flattens everything close to him. Full Turbo: Fire Fissure -- The Dwarf smashes the ground causing a huge crack in the earth. It travels forward swallowing up everything in its path. Dwarf Combos: Q, Quick Bash -- A fast hammer smack. S1, Fire Punch -- A wave of fire comes from the Dwarf's free hand. A good move because you can change direction and hit several enemies with it. S2, Hammer Sweep -- A 360 sweep with his hammer. S3, Hammercopter -- The Dwarf spins his hammer in front of him. This move has good forward range. Pros: Cons: + Superior firepower. - Slow attack is worthless. + Excellent hand-to-hand. - No magic ability. + Dwarf has good Armor. - Dwarf is the slowest along with the + Warrior has decent Speed. Knight/Valkyrie. + Great hand-to-hand. Balanced Players: Valkyrie and Knight -------------------------------------- A bit more difficult to play with since they lack the firepower of the Warrior or Dwarf, these classes are for the stat conscious player who prefers the balanced character, particularly the Valkyrie. She hails from the Castle Stronghold Realm, and her counterpart the Knight is master of the Sky Domain Realm. Both these characters feature Armor as their primary stat, but it's not a license to think you are invicible by any means. You'll take less damage than the Warrior or Dwarf, but you get hit more often because you lack the massive strength rating of those two classes (the Valkyrie has literally only HALF the strength of the Warrior/Dwarf, and the Knight only a bit more than the Valkyrie.) The upside is at least you can use Magic, to an extent. The Knight magic rating is...well, pretty lousy at 250, but it's better than the Warrior's 100 by a far stretch. Their superior armor means that these guys are VERY good at hand-to-hand combat, so take advantage. Get close when you have to and duke it out with blistering Combos and Turbo attacks to clear groups of smaller foes, and use strafe to weather the assault from larger enemies and bosses. Because their rate of fire on their quick attacks is the worst, but the rate of fire on Slow attacks is actually the best, you'll have to depend on hand to hand a lot more often than the other classes do. It's a good thing they have excellent hand-to-hand skills. Practice those combos! In the long run these classes' balanced stats mean you can be pretty flexible with your tactics, you can do it all, and that means they make the best solo classes. Valkyrie Stats: Knight Stats: Strength: 300 Strength: 350 Speed: 300 Speed: 300 Armor: 450 Armor: 450 Magic: 300 Magic: 250 Weapon: Sword Weapon: Mace Level Titles: Level Titles: 10: Guard 20: Protector 40: Cavalier 60: Champion 80: Paladin Upgrade Class: Falconess Upgrade Class: Unicorn Class Ability: Level 25: Magic stops all traps for 10 seconds. Level 50: Magic destroys all traps in range. Valkyrie Moves: Quick Attack: Sword Slash -- A simple sword attack. This has a lousy Rate of Fire, it's even a little slower than the Warrior's Quick attack. Slow Attack: Spinning Blade -- For a slow attack, this is very fast and very useful. Consider using this sometimes. Turbo Attack: Multi Blade Arc -- The Valkyrie spins around like a buzzsaw and cuts down anything around her. Full Turbo: Sky Lance -- The Valkyrie summons the power of Lightning to send forth a wedge-shaped blast that mows down enemies. Valkyrie Combos: Q, Quick Slash -- A left/right slash combo S1, Flash Stab -- A VERY quick forward stab that strikes like lightning. S2, Sword Sweep -- A 360 sword sweep. S3, Backflip Kick -- A powerful flip kick with decent forward range. Knight Moves: Quick Attack: Mace Smash -- A basic mace attack. Again, the rate of fire on this is decent at best. Luckily the Slow attack is fast enough that it's worthwhile when the Quick attack isn't cutting it. Slow Attack: Spinning Mace -- This move is also pretty quick for a Slow attack, especially compared to the Warrior and Dwarf. Turbo Attack: Ball And Chain -- The Knight's mace extends into a flail and he sweeps it around destroying close enemies. Full Turbo: Wheel Of Death -- In addition to the Ball and Chain effect, the Knight launches a huge spinning metal wheel that rolls over things. My personal favorite move. :) Knight Combos: Q, Double Smash -- a one-two mace combo. S1, Shock Circle -- The Knight crouches and is surrounded by lightning powered spikes. Lousy forward range (as the Knight stands still) but 360 coverage. Great for packs of enemies. This move alone makes the Knight a great solo class. S2, Mace Sweep -- A 360 mace sweep with decent forward range. S3, Rising Thunder -- The Knight delivers a leaping lightning powered mace uppercut. A great finisher. Pros: Cons: + Excellent Armor. - Lousy rate of fire on Quick attacks. + Knight has good Strength. - Knight has second worst Magic. + Valkyrie has best stat balance. - Takes time to get powerful. + Best RoF on Slow Attacks. - Worst speed along with Dwarf. + Best S1 HtH moves in Shock Circle and Flash Stab. Intermediate Players: Archer and Jester ---------------------------------------- More difficult to handle than the Warrior or Valkyrie, these classes involve a different mindset: Your chief asset is SPEED and your superior rate of fire. The best way to avoid damage is to...well...literally avoid it. :) This isn't easy to do, especially with these classes low armor and strength, but the rate of fire and speed is really a plus if you play it right. Strafing is VERY important for this class, but they can deliver massive damage if leveled up enough. The Archer's Turbo attacks have the best range in the game, firing multiple arrows (in fact the Archer is the only exception to the "never use a regular Turbo Attack rule", Double Bow will clear the screen in front of her) and the Jester's regular attack is a bomb toss which can affect more than one enemy at a time (which is good cause his strength BLOWS.) The Quick Barrage (holding down the X button) is your best manuever. Know when to use this to overpower enemy positions, and when to strafe to avoid return fire. Your hand to hand is decent at best, but use your speed to get out of the way (and to grab food and potions out from under your slower teammates!) Magic is also an option here, especially with the Jester's entirely decent 350 magic rating. Against bosses these guys can do a LOT of damage but you'll have to learn to Defend to avoid being knocked down (and losing your speed advantage.) This is a tough, but doable solo class, but LOADS of fun in multiplayer. And the Jester is just...funny. Archer Stats: Jester Stats: Strength: 250 Strength: 200 Speed: 600 Speed: 600 Armor: 200 Armor: 200 Magic: 300 Magic: 350 Weapon: Bow Weapon: Puppet on a Stick/Bomb Level Titles: Level Titles: 10: Prankster 20: Joker 40: Clown 60: Trickster 80: Fool Upgrade Class: Tigress Upgrade Class: Hyena Class Ability: Level 25: Magic causes Secret Walls to flash for a few seconds. Level 50: Magic destroys all secret walls in range. Archer Moves: Quick Attack: Arrow Shot -- A standard arrow. VERY fast rate of fire! Slow Attack: Power Arrow -- Nearly as fast as the Knight's Slow attack. It's fast enough to be useful. Turbo Attack: Double Bow -- The best regular Turbo Attack, this can actually hit several enemies. Instead of a 360 attack, the Archer fires arrows in a 180 degree forward arc. This can be made stronger with weapon powerups too! Use this often to cut a path through enemies. Full Turbo: BFG -- Heh, guess what THIS stands for. :) You won't be guessing long when you see what the Archer does with it, she straps a HUGE ballista to her back and launches a barrage of arrows forward and to the sides. With Super Shot, this is VERY powerful. Archer Combos: Q, One-Two Punch -- A left-right punch combo. S1, Step Kick -- An acid-powered forward step kick with good range. Nice. S2, Roundhouse Kick -- A spinning kick flattens enemies around her. S3, Heartburn Piston -- A left-right-left acid punch combo with EXCELLENT forward range. I love this move, and you will too. Jester Moves: Quick Attack: Bomb Toss -- The Jester lobs a bomb. It explodes with a short burst which can effect multiple enemies. Great for parties. :) Slow Attack: Batterrrrrr UP! -- The Jester pulls out a larger bomb and hits a line drive with his puppet stick. Annoying but useful for its speed. Turbo Attack: Sonic Boom -- Inflates a huge pair of gloves and slams them together, knocking down anything around him. Full Turbo: Hammertime -- Ding! Swings around a huge mallet, then launches a massive boxing glove from it. The glove flies forward and delivers a KO blow! Jester Combos: Q, Stick and Kick -- The Jester smacks enemies with his Puppet and then does a jump kick with both legs. S1, Cartwheel Kick -- This has NICE forward range as the Jester tumbles over his foes. S2, Pirouette Spin -- The Jester spins around delivering a 360 kick. S3, Special Delivery -- A rope appears over the Jester's head. He quickly jumps up and grabs it, dropping a crate of live chickens on his enemies from out of nowhere. :) As ridiculous as this move looks, it's got GREAT range and is DAMN funny. Pros: Cons: + Superior rate of fire. - Lousy Armor. + Superior foot speed. - Lousy Strength (especially Jester). + Good hand-to-hand. + Archer has some of the best Turbo attacks. + Jester's bombs explode for splash damage effect. + Good magic (especially Jester) Advanced Players: Wizard and Sorceress --------------------------------------- These classes are for those looking for a challenge, that's for sure. Your primary stat is Magic, which is a double-edged sword. On the upside, your beginning potion blasts will clear the screen easily. On the downside, having 600 in magic means your OTHER stats suffer, particularly Armor and Strength. This is a tough solo class because you'll find yourself in a similar situation as the Jester/Archer without the speed to get you out of tough jam. Rather, when things get tough, USE MAGIC. Keep your potion stocks full (you might even want to consider buying potions.) Luckily these two classes have some powerful Turbo attacks to help them out. Strafing with these classes is an absolute must, because your hand-to-hand is pretty lousy and you don't have the speed or the armor to wade in and out of melee range. Luckily these guys are fairly fast, and the Sorceress has the advantage of her slow attack, Kiss of Death, being able to cut through several enemies at once and damage generators. This is a VERY slow Slow attack but learn to use it and you will take the bad guys out cold. You can also combo this in as her hand-to-hand The Wizard's Turbo attack, Rock Shower, has a VERY wide area and like the Archer's Turbo attack, it's very useful and you should consider using it. In a multiplayer game, go ahead and let the Wizard/Sorceress have the potions. You'll be pleasantly surprised at just how good they can clear a room with just one. Note the ability at level 25 and 50 to purify poison food. This can REALLY make things easier for the Wizard or Sorceress, especially with a low armor rating and a constant need for food to restore health. Just as the Knight and Valkyrie have to depend primarily on hand to hand attacks, the Wizard and Sorceress would be well advised to AVOID close combat whenever possible. Against Bosses your magic's not going to be super useful. Instead, consider using the Magic Shield option to protect yourself as you attack. Besides, getting close enough to use a potion on a boss is...well...a bad idea. Wizard Stats: Sorceress Stats: Strength: 250 Strength: 200 Speed: 350 Speed: 400 Armor: 150 Armor: 150 Magic: 600 Magic: 600 Weapon: Staff of Power Weapon: Magic Wand Level Titles: Level Titles: 10: Magician 10: Witch 20: Mage 20: 40: Conjurer 40: Conjurer 60: Spellcaster 60: Spellcaster 80: Archmage Upgrade Class: Jackal Upgrade Class: Medusa Class Ability: Level 25: Magic turns Posion Fruit in range into fruit. Level 50: In addition, Magic turns Poison Meat into Meat. Wizard Moves: Quick Attack: Staff Shot -- A blast from his staff. Decent speed. Slow Attack: Two-Handed Blast -- Pretty slow...be careful using this. Turbo Attack: Rock Shower -- Something you should consider using. A rain of rocks drops in the general area of the Wizard. Pretty wide area. Useful when low on Potions. Full Turbo: Death Skull -- Summons a huge skull to fly forth and destroy things in its path. Wizard Combos: Q, Magic Punch -- A one-two light-powered punch combo. S1, Staff Smash -- A two-handed staff thrust. Short range. S2, Staff Sweep -- 360 spinnin' Wizard action! S3, Spinning Staff -- A powerful staff smash. Medium range. Sorceress Moves: Quick Attack: Wand Shot -- A blast from her wand. Good rate of fire like the Wizard. Slow Attack: Kiss Of Death -- A green pair of cloudy lips move forward from the Sorceress. Mind numbingly slow but can hit multiple enemies in a line! Use this to take out generators, but this thing has a limited range. Turbo Attack: Acid Rain -- Spins around spraying acid from her wand. Unlike the Wizard's Rock Shower, this has a VERY small area. Full Turbo: Spell Storm -- Summons forth 6 Skeletons around the Sorceress. The three in front fly forward in a wedge formation and mow down whatever's in the way. This has a pretty BIG area of effect. Sorceress Combos: Q, Double Slap -- The Sorceress slaps the crap out of foes. :) S1, Kiss Of Death (yellow) -- This stronger version of Kiss of Death has more power behind it. Good for frontal assaults. S2 Wand Sweep -- It must be hard to pivot on those high heels, but she can do it all folks. A 360 sweep with her wand. S3 Kiss Of Death (red) -- This even MORE powerful version of Kiss of Death is great for killing generators. Pros: Cons: + Superior Magic... - ...which does no good without potions! + Good Speed (especially Sorceress) - Lousy hand-to-hand power. + Decent RoF on Quick Attacks. - Lousy Strength (especially Sorceress) + Kiss of Death hits multiple foes. - TERRIBLE Armor (only 150) + Good Turbo/Full Turbo attacks. - Difficulty with bosses. --------------------------- IV. The Worlds/Walkthrough --------------------------- Here's the heart of the FAQ folks, a walkthrough on how to get the hidden items. Getting to the exit is easy enough, but the hidden items (Legendary Weapons, Runestones, and Secret Levels) can be tough to find. Remember that there's never more than one of these items on any one level, so you only have to search for one of the three. General directions are shown for each hidden item. You can also ask Sumner where the hidden items are, but he won't tell you about the Treasure Room levels. PAY ATTENTION TO THE FMVS FOR LEGENDARY WEAPONS. As you enter a level where a Legendary Weapon is kept, you'll see a FMV sequence showing a general location in the level where the weapon is kept. You'll need these to overcome enemy bosses. Trust me, they make the fight a LOT easier. At least you have a good heads-up that there's a legendary weapon somewhere on the level, so search search search! Sumner's Tower -------------- Sumner's Tower is broken up into 4 main sections, Tower Center, West Wing, East Wing, and Lower Tower. You'll start the game in the Tower Center, but to get to the other 3 sections you'll need to collect enough of the proper Golden Icon to open it up. There are 11 Worlds to enter, the first 8 are accessible if you have enough Golden Icons to get there and enough of the proper Crystal to open the World. World 9, Desecrated Temple is accessible after you have defeated all 8 bosses. World 10, The Underworld is accessible after you beat Skorne in World 9 and have 12 Runestones. World 11, The Battle Grounds is acessible after you defeat True Skorne in World 10. Center Tower -- Worlds 1 and 2, and 9 and 10, Sumner West Wing -- Worlds 3, 4, and 5 -- Need 12 Golden Fangs East Wing -- Worlds 6, 7, and 8 -- Need 20 Golden Feathers Lower Tower -- World 11 -- Need 28 Golden Claws Enemies ------- In each of the first 8 worlds you'll meet three types of enemies, a normal enemy, a strong enemy, and a weak enemy type. Normal Enemies -------------- Normal enemies are simple ground level baddies, they usually come in 3 levels. Normally they carry hand to hand weapons and attack in packs. You'll kill literally thousands of these guys throughout the game. You can use hand-to-hand combos on them, regular attacks, whatever you like. In some Realms these guys are tougher than others, so be careful. Normal enemies also have three variants, Archer, Bomber, and Suicide. Archers: -------- Archers will shoot arrows at you over walls and backpedal to avoid you closing into hand-to-hand range. They are annoying and will take a fair amount of damage off you if you don't kill them. Bombers: -------- These guys love to lob bombs over walls and doors to hit you. They should be dealt with quickly, as they are good shots and can really put the hurt on you, especially in groups. Suicides: --------- These guys are ESPECIALLY annoying. With either red (explosive) or green(poisonous) barrels strapped to their backs, they will quickly charge your party and explode, causing a large amount of damage. Shoot them QUICKLY once they charge to turn their weapon against their comrades! Luckily, these guys scream like fanatics as soon as they see you, so you'll get an audio warning to open fire! Strong Enemies: --------------- Strong enemies are somewhat tougher than Normal enemies and take a few more hits to finish off. They are also fast and mean, particularly the level 2 and ESPECIALLY the level 3 variety. These guys can often attack with long range attacks and should be treated with caution. You want to take out high-level generators for these guys in a rapid and violent fashion, or else you can find yourself down several hundred or even thousand health points VERY quickly! Nothin says lovin like a Full Turbo Attack through a couple groups of these clowns. Weak Enemies: ------------- Usually these guys have levels, but not always. They are fast but weak enemies that rely on numbers to hurt you. They aren't very bright, either. Hand-to-hand with these guys involves literally kicking them to death, as they tend to get underfoot. Deal with them at a distance by themselves, or just run them over on your way to the real enemies. More an annoyance than anything else, they cause little damage but can be obnoxious if you don't kill them. In addition to these three types and their variants, you'll also have to deal with these foes: Generals: --------- These are super-powered versions of the Normal enemy type in each world, and are bigger and more powerful. Luckily they are armed with hand-to-hand weapons, so you can attack them from a distance. Their favorite tactic is to charge at you and then swing, so dodge the charge and hit them from behind. A dozen hits or so will take one out. Annoying in pairs. You'll know when one is around, it stomps around like an elephant and makes a hell of a racket. Hang one of these guys up on a corner and then finish them off. They drop items when you kill them, ranging from Junk to keys or gold and even food. Hand-to-Hand against them is a bad idea. Golems: ------- These guys have different appearences too in each Realm, but they are always as obnoxious. They look like part of the background, but if you approach one it will get up and lumber after you. They have a LOT of health, and it'll take several dozen shots to finish it off, but thankfully they are SLOW. Concentrate your fire (use strafe to backpedal into a previously cleared area) and finish it off. At close range it'll use stomping and quake attacks to knock you down, but they have no range attack. Don't let one of these sneak up on you, do what you have to do to kill it. They also drop items. Gargoyles: ---------- Because you'll need Golden Icons to access the higher levels, you actually need to defeat the Gargoyles in the various worlds. Gargoyles are large, obnoxious dragon looking things with bad attitudes and a nasty breath weapon. They come in three flavors, Snake (Golden Fangs), Eagle (Golden Feather), and Lion (Golden Claw). These guys have TONS of health and can use their breath weapons to great effect to hit you for hundreds of damage by the time you finish one off. You'll want to circle it just outside of paw-swipe range (using Robotron style controls) to do rings around it and avoid its breath weapons. Ignoring one will only get you pegged in the back of the head with its long range blasts (which are VERY accurate and VERY painful.) Keep hitting it and it will die. To get enough Golden Icons you may need to revisit Worlds to kill more Gargoyles. Any Golden Icons you can get as hidden items from solving switch or button puzzles or behind secret walls mean that's one less Gargoyle you have to fight, so be on the lookout! DEATH! ------ Death stalks you at every turn...what was I saying? DEEEEEEATH! Death comes for us all, and in true Gauntlet tradition Death will come for YOU more than once. Death will follow you around and drain experience points from you. If Death corners you, you can even lose an entire level! To get rid of Death, you need to use Magic. A Magic blast will send Grim Reaper Boy there packing. Death will sometimes come out of chest and barrels, so if you know where he's hanging out, you have a couple options. First, using a potion on a barrel or chest where Death is hiding will turn him into a good item. Secondly, if you can find a Anti-Death Halo, you can drain experience from Death! You can actually GAIN a level from Death this way, and this is usually the best way to get levels once you hit level 80 or so. Also, Death's sidekick, Red Death (he looks just like Death, only in a red robe) will drain up to 100 Health from you (yuck.) Turn the tables on him with the Anti-Death Halo and drain Health from HIM. YOu can even go above your current maximum Health this way (cool!) You can shoot Death 100 times and he'll leave, but this is a lot harder than it sounds. Death is the number one reason you should always have alt least ONE potion on hand at all times... Traps: ------ These aren't enemies, but each level includes floor and sometimes wall traps. They are pretty nasty, ranging from Floor Spikes to Buzzsaws and are a general nuisance. You can float over floor traps with the Levitation item. Wall traps need to be avoided outright. You timing will have to be good to avoid traps in general, the best way to avoid them is to be speedy. Avoid fighting a battle over a trap! The Realms ---------- There are Eight Realms in the world, each with its own features. There's at least one Runestone in each realm and sometimes two. Also, there's a Legendary Weapon and a hidden level somewhere in the Realm. You won't be able to complete the game without finding all 12 Runestones, and the Legendary Weapons make boss fighting a LOT easier, so be on the lookout. Points of interest in each level are marked by a "o". Special hidden items are marked by an asterisk "*" so if you are specifically looking for the hidden items, check those passages. Currently the Walkthrough details the areas up through the Desert Lands world. 1.) Forsaken Province ---------------------- Needed to Enter: 15 Orange Crystals These are found just outside the level entrance in Sumner's tower, and one is in front of Sumner himself. This is your introduction to the world of GDL, so pay attention, get used to controlling your hero, and good luck! Boss: Lich You'll need the Book of Protection for the Lich. It will deal some heavy damage to him, and you'll find it in the Sky Shipyards area of the Sky Dominion. Areas: I) Poisoned Fields -- Runestone 1 II) Ghost Town -- Hidden Level 1 III) Haunted Cemetary -- Parchment of Fire IV) Mausoleum -- Runestone 2 V) Lich's Crypt Enemies: Normal -- Zombie. They attack with farm implements (what a fun word!) Strong -- Ghost. They float, but are pretty slow. Weak -- Giant Maggot. Squish them underfoot. I) Poisoned Fields This is your introduction to the world of GDL. You'll have to work your way through the groups of Zombies that come from the headstones. Zombies are pretty easy to kill, even the Level 3 ones. They are slow and generate slow as well, so it's a good place to gain a few levels. o Work your way around the hill to the windmill, collecting the Red Crystals you'll need for the Mountain Kingdom Realm. Watch out for the windmill blades, they'll knock you on your face right quick. You'll pick up a scroll near the windmill that mentions a well-guarded crypt...that's where Runestone #1 is being kept. * Past the mill you'll find a Zombie General in front of a stone crypt. He's a pain at this early stage, but you should be able to finish him at a distance. Soot the secret door in front of the crypt to reveal the Runestone. If you reach the water wheel over the river, you've gone too far. Backtrack to the crypt and get your prize. o When you enter the fields, shoot the large haystacks for Items. o Cross the bridge over the river (shoot the side of the bridge for some hidden items) and work your way around to the far side of the other bank. Flip the sundial on the ground to raise a chest, underneath is a button. Open the chest and press the button to raise the sundial up and take a Golden Fang as your reward. o Work your way up the hills towards the end of the level, you'll have to flip two switches before you use a key to open a gate (a scroll will tell you not to advance until you do.) These switches will open the path to the exit. The first will lower a bridge where another Zombie General waits. the other will lower the bridge to the Exit itself. o After you cross the bridge over the chasm, youll come out near the end of the level. Death is hanging around here. You may not have to fight him at all, but to get the button on the hill, you'll need to deal with him in some way. Take the Exit. II) Ghost Town This is a shorter but fun level. You're looking for the first hidden Treasure Room level, but that's not until the end (in fact it's past the exit). You start on the hills above town, walk into town dealing with the Zombies and Maggots. The town is on fire, but as long as you avoid the large bonfires in the area, you'll be safe. Collect various crystals. o Your first stop is the Saloon, with the player piano in the background. Climb up to the second floor and shoot the Target Switch, then go back downstaris and shoot the wall behind the bar for another Golden Fang. Head upstairs, then back down towards the stables. The narrow corridors make for some close quarters, but it means you can't be surrounded either. o Eventually you'll want to work your way through town to the Hangman's platform in the middle. You'll have to hit more than one switch here to raise the barrel of gold in the middle and raise the ramp to the platform, but again Death is "hanging around" the vicinity (heh). Work your way around to the other side of town, where you'll get a scroll about the Belfrey tower. There's more in there than bats and the Exit, it's where the first hidden level is. * To lower the ramp so you can climb the Belfrey, you'll have to break the hidden door under the east wall of the base of the tower (it looks like a big stable door). Climb the belfrey, passing the exit and enter the first Treasure Room. * Hidden Level 1 -- Crops. Grab all 25 coins to unlock the Medusa character. (There's a coin in the top center that people tend to miss because it's a bit far back.) The level is in the shape of the Midway "M". After you are done, head back to the Exit. III) Haunted Cemetary Watching the FMV here will give you a HUGE clue to where the Parchment of Fire is, they practically hit you over the head with the location. Anyway, your mission is to find it, and if you need this walkthrough to find it, get another game. ;) o Anyhow, you start outside the gates. It will creak open as you approach, leading you into the Cemetary proper. There's several graves here, break the rotting stumps to reveal switches, buttons, and items. The switch to lower the wall to the north is in the southeast corner of the field. Fight your way through, but watch out for the Gargoyle on the other side of the wall! Tough it out, collect your well-earned Golden Fang and raid the graves for crystals. Check the tomb near the far right of the area for a barrel with a tasty ham (mmmm, ham!) and a Limited Growth potion and a switch. o Cross the next bridge, taking time to grab the X-Ray goggles behind the door and the Key Ring behind the other. Hit the switch and head back to the graves for some tomb raiding. ;) o At the end of the bridge you'll face a wall, on the left some barrels, and the right a path. Take the path, hit the switch to lower the wall...leave the barrels alone (you'll see why in a sec.) Hit the hidden wall to reveal the switch, that raises the platform with a chest and a switch next to the stone wall on the left. Hit that switch, then break the two stone walls on the large wall to reach the switch that will open the wall. You'll get a Thunder Hammer on the other side, and break the hidden wall at the tree stump to get a potion. o Head back past the barrels to the switch. Two small crypts behind you will have opened, the left has an Anti-Death Halo, the right has Death! Go get a level! Then, for added fun go back a bit to the barrels I keep telling you to ignore, avoid the red barrel behind you and break the wooden one on the far side for Red Death! Drain 100 health from him and you should be in good shape. Head down the crypt path to the pond. * As it was in the FMV, the pond is on fire. You need to find the ground switch that will open the last crypt on the right for a Gas Mask and a button that will lower one of the columns on the far side of the pond. On each column is a button. The first will put out the fire and lower the other column, the second will raise the ramp to the Parchment of Fire! Grab it. o Cross another bridge after lowering the wall and head left into a group of fences. Your goal is to work your way to the tomb in the back, behind it is the switch that opens the way to the exit. Head back to the right and take out the golem that's guarding the path to the exit, but before you go down the path head back and up across the small bridge and unlock the gate. You'll be back in the area behind where you got the Parchment of Fire. Grab the items here. o Down the path are several stumps, break them for a switch and some items. The switch will pop two chests up near the Exit, select the one on the right. The left one is a bomb trap and will destroy both chests (and waste a key.) Exit the level. IV) Mausoleum The second Runestone is on this level, close to the middle in the upstairs part of the level. The level is populated by pesky Ghosts, who are rather tougher than Zombies and can fly over traps. Still, you should be able to handle them. o You'll have to find a switch on the other side of the floor traps on the left of your start point to advance to the right and up the stairs, attacking the Ghosts along the way. Use the Levitation wings to get across the traps. Fight the Zombie General and then work you way upstairs and find the switch to lower the bridge across. * On the other side of the bridge you'll see a steak next to the red crystal. To get it move forward and break the corner wall to reveal a button, then head back to the steak and the button there to raise the ramp to the treasure. The scroll mentions there's plenty on this "altar" and there is...break the wall behind the treasure chest for the Runestone! o Find some more switches to lower the next bridge across and head up to the chapel area of the level. There's plenty of treasure here in the walls, but watch out for trapped chests! At the back of the chapel is a Gargoyle. You don't have a lot of room to manuever, so you'll have to be careful. Work your way past the crumbling floors to the statue. Activate the elevator there and work your way back down to ground level. o There's several switches here and another Zombie General. Pick up the loot and lower the way to the Exit, then leave after you've picked up everything. V) Lich's Crypt See the Bosses section for more on the Lich. You shouldn't need to mess with him until you are level 25 or 30 or so, and have the Book of Protection from the Sky Dominion. 2) Mountain Kingdom -------------------- Needed To Enter: 100 Red Crystals You'll find these scattered around the Forsaken Province. If you need more, make a run through the Poisoned Fields for Crystals and Food. Those of you who've played Gauntlet Legends will recognize these levels right away, they are layed out the same for the most part, only with a couple of surprises. Boss -- Dragon You'll want the Ice Axe before taking on the Dragon, you'll find it in the Castle Stronghold level. This will probably be the first boss you actually fight once you obtain the Ice Axe. Areas: I) Valley of Fire -- Runestone 3 II) Dagger Peak -- Treasure Room 2 III) Cliff IV) Fire Cave V) Volcanic Cavern -- Javelin of Blinding VI) Dragon's Lair Enemies: Normal -- Grunts. These green orcs are stupid but violent. Strong -- Fire Demons. The big ones spit fireballs, so look out! Weak -- Scorpions. Just run them over before they can sting you. I) Valley of Fire Gauntlet Legends veterans will recognize this area right away. There's only a couple of changes from the previous version... * The Runestone is right at the beginning of the level. Go up the stairs and attack the wall behind the waterfall to reveal the switch that will raise the ledge where the Runestone is. o Head up the stairs, dealing with the grunts and scorpions along the way. o Watch out for the fire traps on the walls. o Before you can leave, there's a pesky Gargoyle blocking the exit. Finish him off. II) Dagger Peak Not as short as the Valley of Fire, but still a small level. You'll find the second Treasure Room in this area near the end. o You'll start out at the base of the mountain. Work your way up the peak, use keys to open the doors. You can run out of keys fast here, so only open the gates you need to. o On the far left side of the middle level you'll find a golem. Kill it and check the area around it for some treasure. A switch past this guy will open the stone head behind the Golem for a Rapid Fire. * To the right of the Golem is a pair of gates. Head on through, on the far right corner of this upper area is the Treasure Room, "Gauntlet" in plain view. o Gauntlet -- It's old skool tyme! Check out the overhead view and the music. :) Head straight north and get all the coins (get through the weak walls to get the coins in there) then return to the lower half of the level and grab the rest of the coins to unlock the Warrior's upgrade class, the Minotaur. o On your way out there's another pesky Gargoyle on the slopes guarding the exit. Take him out. III) Cliffs of Desolation This level should also be familiar to Gauntlet Legends players. You'll start at one end of a long series of passages and exit at the other. o There's more than one way to get across at most points, some of these paths involve locked gates, others don't. Keep an eye on your keys. o Two Grunt Generals guard the switches that will lower the gates on either end of a bridge to a Golden Feather. The Feather is on the lower part of a pair of bridges near the end. Find them and take them out to get the feather. o If you have extra keys, you can get some decent treasure here, especially on the lower paths. o There's a Gargoyle on the other side of the double bridges guarding the exit. Use the Invisibility item to attack him without getting hurt. IV) Lost Cave Again this is familiar territory to GL players. You'll meet the nasty Lava Demons here. Be careful, the higher level red Demons spit fireballs. o Get the X-Ray Glasses at the start of the level. There's plenty of good loot to scope out. Take out the Golem at the start of the level before you pick up the Glasses. o There's plenty of breakable walls here. Check anything that looks suspicious. o Search for some Golden Fangs just lying around near the second pair of X-Ray Glasses (and get those too). o Use the Glasses to scope out the many chests in the second half of the level. o Work your way around the lava to the Exit. V) Volcanic Cavern Again you'll face the Lava Demons. Your mission here is to find the Javelin of Blinding (You'll NEED this later on!). o Work your way from platform to platform across the bridges. Some bridges will break...don't worry, just go around. Grab the treasure, and look for a chest with rapid fire and a 3-Way shot just past it. Watch out for Red Death in one of the chests near the 3-Way Shot. * Halfway through you'll find a scroll that mentions if you can get the Golden Fangs, you can get the Javelin. A bit past this scroll is a rather suspicious boulder against the wall of the cavern. Break it for a switch and a Super Shot. Hit it to spin a platform near the end of the level so you can reach it. Work your way around towards the end of the level, where there's another boulder against the wall (just past the now accessible platform). This will raise the pit in the middle of the platform where the Fangs are. Get the Fangs to raise the ledge leading to the Javelin. The elevator to the Javelin is guarded by a Golem just past where the second switch is. Both of the switches you need to get the Fangs are between the Scroll and the Golem. Ride the elevator down to the Javelin. o Just past the Golem and the Javelin is the exit, guarded by a Gargoyle. Take him out and use the Exit. VI) Dragon's Lair See the boss section on how to defeat the Dragon. The Ice Axe you'll want for this task is in the Castle Stronghold World. 3) Castle Stronghold -------------------- Needed to Enter: 125 Purple Crystals Again if you need to get Crystals, backtrack through the Mountain areas, they're relatively short. This is the home of the Valkyrie's keep. Here you'll face off against the nasty Dark Elves and annoying Death Knights and Rats. There's a Runestone here, the Ice Axe, and you can unlock the Falconess class for the Valkyrie. To gain access to this level you must first open the Tower West Wing by getting 12 Golden Fangs, so if you've not got 12, it's time to head back to the Poisoned Fields for a few more. Boss: Chimera Chimera is an ancient Greek mythological monster. The word means "3 headed wussy beastie with wings." Seriously, you should kill this guy often later on, as you can net 7,000 gold for a minimum of health loss and effort. See the boss section for more on Chimera killing for ca$h. Areas: I) Castle Courtyard II) Dungeon -- Treasure Room III) Barracks -- Ice Axe IV) Armory -- Runestone 4 V) Treasury VI) Chimera's Keep Enemies: Normal -- Dark Elves. Sword wielding punks. Strong -- Death Knights. Tough walking suits of armor. Weak -- Rats. Vermin that deserve to be stomped. I) Castle Stronghold This area introduces you to the Dark Elves that have overrun the Valkyrie's Castle. Time for some extermination. Consider purchasing an Anti-Death Halo for here, you can reach a Red Death on the other side of the moat. o Clear out the start area, then go up the ramp towards the moat. Lower the switches to raise a platform in the water with a Black Crystal. o Work your way around the moat to the other side, looking out for the pesky Death blocking the gate. Use the transporters to get to the other side of the moat. Raise the switch and get the crystal. o Follow the scroll's advice. Head past the suspicious looking door in the wall and find the switch, then head back for a Golden Feather. o You'll have a few choices on which way to go in the Courtyard. Go up the short staircase and clear out the lower courtyard before you head up the ramp and the big staircase to the castle walls and the second half of the level. Hit a switch to raise a chest on the large staircase up to get a reflective shield. There's a lot of Archers on the walls. o Once you've cleaned out the downstairs, head up to the walls. There's several gates at the corner towers of the walls. Unlock these for treasure, a Steel Golem, and a button to lower the way to the fourth gate and the Exit. Watch out for the many floor traps and Archers along the way. In the barrel that's on the bridge to the exit, there's a steak. o Check the alcove behind the Exit for a breakable wall and some fruit. II) Dungeon of Torment You'll find the third Treasure Room almost right away, and if you search around there's a lot of treasure and even a Full Meal to be had! * Past the two back-to-back locked doors is your first Eagle Gargoyle. He's literally standing on the Treasure Room door. Take him out and head on in to the "Space" Level. On the way to the Gargoyle break a cell door in the wall. You'll come back here soon. * Treasure Room "Space". Use the transporters to get the coins, then work your way around. The last coin is at a transporter dead end, so if you are missing one, head back quickly to the transporters. o After the Treasure Room, flip the switch behind the Gargoyle to raise some treasure near the exit. Where this treasure is, a switch is nearby to lower the Exit itself. o Where the scroll mentions the dead man, there's a switch that will raise some treasure in the cell near the start. Backtrack and grab the gold. o Work your way along the bridges. Eventually you'll come to an Elf General and Death in the same area. Be careful! o Just to the left of this is the barrel of treasure you should have raised earlier from behind the Gargoyle. Hit the switch here to get to the Exit, then head to the right up the stairs but don't exit yet! o At the top of the stairs is a switch. Hit it, then backtrack down the stairs to the platform it raised with the Black Crystal near the stairs. Break the wall here to find the switch that will lower a Full Meal! Backtrack to where the Full Meal is (you'll have to go back to where the scroll mentioning the dead man was.) o NOW you can leave. Feel free to come back here for Treasure and Food in the early part of the game. III) Castle Barracks Here you'll make your way through the Mess Hall and Barracks of the Castle. You'll even face...the SHOWER OF DEATH! (scary music) Oh, and don't forget to pick up the Ice Axe from the freezer. :) o From the start, work your way through to the switch that lowers the bridge. Open the gate, hit the next bridge switch, and head across. You'll see a third bridge on the right, but that switch is a ways up the road. You'll come back however. o Head up the stairs and across the bridges, watch out for the General. o Past the double gates and up the stairs is the Mess Hall. At the back of this area is another Elf General. Cap him and check the seemingly dead end area behind him. Break the wall for a chest. You'll see an archer here, as well as a button and a Golden Feather you can't reach yet. You will in a sec. * Ok, head back to the Mess Hall and through the gate and hit the switch. This will raise the platform where the button and the Golden Feather is. If you reach the Shower of Death, you've gone too far. Head over to it. Press the button and it will drop that third bridge back near the start of the level. (In fact, from the ledge where the Archer was you can see the far corner where the bridge leads if you look towards the water). Head back down to that third bridge, and kill the rats. Break the amazingly suspicious wall with the suspicious line of frost along the bottom of it and the puddle of suspicious water in front of it and claim the Ice Axe! o Now head back to the Shower of Death. Turn off the water with the switch and deal with him. On the other side of the Shower is a Gargoyle, kill him. o Next stop, the kitchens. There's a chest hidden behind a secret wall on the top of the platform above the huge vat of chow. o Work your way across the bathing pond (it's green, yuck) to the Barracks themselves. A switch near the pond will lower a bridge to some Wings. Use them to get over the floor spikes in the Barracks and head towards the Exit. o There's a Steel Golem hanging around the Exit. The switch to lower the gate to the Exit is just around the corner. IV) Castle Armory You'll meet a new enemy, the tough Death Knight. These walking piles of armor can be rough, so be prepared to do some serious fighting. The Runestone for this Realm is here as well. o Near the start is an Elf General. Be careful, as there's Death Knights and Rats all over the place here. o Work your way upstairs to the maze-like passages through the Armory. You can get around to where you need to go, but some gates are a waste of a key. Explore before opening a gate. o Upstairs is a forge and cauldron. You'll be heading back here soon. For now, fight on and beware of the Death Knights. o Eventually you'll head back downstairs into another maze-like section. Fight your way through, taking note of the scroll where the Steel Golem is. Behind him is a switch... * To get that switch, you'll need to head north and a bit west of where the golem is. Find the switch to lower the wall in front of the golem in a room with some tough Level 3 Death Knights, and a Black Crystal. Head back and kill the Golem, then hit the switch behind him. Take the Golden Feather too. Remember the Forge and Cauldron upstairs? Head back to that room to get the Runestone on the now raised chain. Head on back to where the Golem was. o Now you've got to clear out the rest of the level. If you are playing multi-player you can cross over the pit with one of you standing on the button while the other player crosses over to another button, and the first player heads across to join the second. This is a shortcut, but not necessary. o To get to the Exit, you'll want to head upstairs. To do that head west from the Golem and break a secret wall to reach the staircase. Head up, fighting the Death Knights on the way, then Exit. V) Castle Treasury Like the name implies, there's a lot of loot to be had if you are willing to backtrack from the Exit. o Head down the stairs from the start to get some Keys and a Potion. o Head back and advance to the Throne Room. The scroll on the throne has good advice, what you want to do is work your way PAST the Treasury to get behind it and access the switches to completely open up all the loot in there. o The Treasury is WELL guarded. Advance down to where the Treasury is, grab the Invulnerability cube and tackle the Gargoyle and General, then head past the Treasury towards the transporters. o Hit the switches after dealing with the General guarding the stairs up from the pit and take the Transporters. Clear a path to the Exit if you'd like to, but backtrack to the Treasury before you leave! o Back in the Treasury, grab the loot, hit the switches, and wipe out the Dark Elves guarding the place. The switch on the ledge on top of the column elevator will open the gate to the Golden Feather near the front gate of the Treasury. The silver on the other side can be obtained by hitting the elevator switch in the throne room. o Head back to the Exit. VI) Chimera's Lair See the Boss section on how to deal with this clown. You'll find yourself here a lot over the course of your GDL career, it's great for stat building once you get good at killing him. 4) Sky Dominion --------------- Needed to Enter: 150 Blue Crystals Probably the Dungeon level of the Castle is the easiest place to get the Crystals you need for this level. The Knight's home turf has been taken over by the Plague Fiend and his toxic crew. You'll have to brave the skies on some pretty wild rides to make it through each area. There's an awful lot of Green Barrels around this World too, so watch your shots so you don't end up polluting your lunch. Boss: Plague Fiend I hate this guy. I really really do. He's a big lump of toxic waste with a serious attitude and some nasty damage dealing ability. You can tackle this guy once you've cleared the rest of the areas and gotten the Javelin of Blinding from the Mountain Kingdom, but my advice is wait until you've got some serious levels so your max health is up to the challenge. Areas: I) Toxic Spire -- Treasure Room II) Cloud Docks -- Runestone 5 III) Sky Shipyards -- Book of Protection IV) Mothership -- Runestone 6 V) Vat of the Plague Fiend Enemies: Normal -- Toxic Trooper -- Mask-wearing psychos with knives. The Level 3 ones carry nasty acid rifles with bayonets, so be careful. Strong -- Fiends -- These flying cycloptic horrors like to slash with their clawed arms. Attack them from a distance. Weak -- Slimes -- Luckily these guys are easily killable and have only one level. They wander about aimlessly and they're almost kinda cute. Almost. I) Toxic Spire This is your introduction through the Plague Fiend's toxic ravaging of the Sky Dominion. The Treasure Room level is at the end of the area, but you'll need to do some work to get there. o You start out on a boat. This is cool, but the Toxic General on deck isn't. Take him out quickly, but watch the barrels! After defeating him break the barrel on the left for an Anti-Death Halo then break the barrel on the bow for Red Death. Have a snack! o Work your way through the the lower level of the spire, watching out for the many green barrels. Find the switch to open the way upstairs. Check the upper part past the floor spikes for some loot. There's some ham down here too, as well as several keys. Then kill the Toxic General and cross the bridge. o On the other side you're looking for another switch in the lower section to open the next bridge. There's a Toxic Golem on patrol, not to mention Death poking around. Find the switches to raise the Thunder Hammer. o Across the second bridge is some food and a Gargoyle. Ignore the Gargoyle and quickly head forward to the switch in the corner to raise a Time Stop near the Gargoyle. Grab it and kill everything you can. There's a Super Shot around here too. o Find the switch and cross the last bridge to the spire itself. Watch out for the rolling barrels that rip down the ramp! Work you way up the ramp. * The hidden level is accessed by finding the switch to lower a wall on the side of the Spire, then a switch to raise a platform opposite it. A third switch on the platform will open the caged switch, which will raise a platform with ANOTHER switch a bit up the ramp. Hit this switch, head BACK down to the caged switch and break the wall to reveal the final switch that will open the wall to the Treasure Room at the top of the spire. Ride the balloon across only if you've done all this, it's one way. * Treasure Room "Cloud9" -- Ride the cloudss across and pick up the coins on the way. You only have one shot to grab all the coins, so don't miss! Get them all to unlock the Knight's upgrade class, the Unicorn. o Before you exit, clear the top of the spire and head past the exit up the ramp to the chest hidden in the back for a Full Meal, then book it outta there. II) Cloud Docks This level will test your vertigo capacity, that's for sure. Also, the entire place reminds me of the old Disney "Tale Spin" cartoon, only EVIL. o You start out near a runway for the sky planes. One will continually take off, circle, and land on the green lighted strip. Try NOT to be on the runway when it comes in for a touchdown. o On the middle left side of the runway is a floating platform and a switch that will activate another platform on the left side of the runway. Unlock one of the gates (they both lead to the platform) and fight your way to it. If the platform leaves, go back and hit the switch. o Once you get to the left platform, it'll take you on a ride to a Toxic Golem, a Super Shot, and a switch for the far left upper platform off the end of the runway so you can get a Key Ring and some crystals. o Head back to the upper left platform, grab the key ring, and fight the General on the next platform. Enjoy the ride, it's one way! o At the next section you'll face a Gargoyle. Kill it and hit the switch to move on. At the top of the elevator upstairs is a Toxic General. * Continue on until you reach a fan blade across your path, and a caged chest and scroll. To raise the pit on this platform, head forward a bit and find the three switches. Hit all three then return, one of them will raise the pit. Throw the switch in the pit to raise the cage. Open the chest for the Full Meal (YUM) but remember the scroll! Behind the chest is a secret wall where the Runestone is! o Keep moving. You'll reach another Toxic General and fan blade, and you'll want to catch another ride towards the second half of the level, but only AFTER you have the Runestone. Check out the view! o Use the switches to open the way across as you head to the second Runway. o Fight your way across the second Runway section. Avoid the plane, and look for the Gas Mask and Anti-Death Halo as you clear it out. A bit past the second runway is Red Death. Fight on through the breakable crates. o Another platform ride takes you to a Gargoyle. Waste him and climb the rigging across the upper part of the last section. o A final platform ride will take you down to the Exit. III) Sky Shipyards You're looking for the Book of Protection here. It's pretty easy to find at the end of this level as you do some ship-to-ship swashbuckling to some catchy pirate music. o Work you way across to the first large ship and fight across the decks. There's a lot of floor spikes here, so be careful. Luckily you don't have to deal with any more Fiends. Arrrh! Watch out for Death off the starboard bow, matey! o A couple of annoying battles later, you can work your way across another platform to the second larger ship. Hit the Target Switch on the elevator up to raise a chest of booty! Arrrh! o Swab the decks before you head to the flying platform on the bow. Shiver me timbers! It's a one way trip! o On the other side of the ship you'll find some scurvy dogs guarding two Golden Feathers, a fearsome crew of a Toxic Golem, Toxic General, and a blasted Gargoyle! Keelhaul the lot of em! The switch to reach the second Feather is in the crates near the Slimes below. o Jump ship and work your way across to a smaller pair of ships at the end. There's the Book of Protection in the hold of the second-to-last ship, but you'll have to reach the Exit, ya seadog! * Backtrack from the Exit to find the two switches you'll need to open the hold and raise the switch that will raise the Book. Run yer sword through the bilge rat Toxic General guarding the final switch, and take yer prize! o Exit the level already so I can stop this goofy pirate routine. IV) Mothership Beam me up! There's no intelligent life here, but there is a Runestone and a couple of OBNOXIOUS switch puzzles. o Before you hop on the elevator to the middle decks from the start, backtrack from the switch to find some Meat. Avoid the chest. o Cross the deck and move on towards the first switch puzzle. There are four switches guarding the stairs up. AVOID THE LOWER RIGHT SWITCH, that's the one that will reset the other switches and screw you up. Flip the other three until all three are green, and you can pass. o Head on towards the Runway, but before you get there climb the gun emplacement to flip a switch for a Light Amulet, then head around to the ramp down to the flight deck. o The elevator off the Flight Deck is hidden in a couple switches. Check the crates near the airplane elevator for one switch, then head to the end of the runway for the other. Watch the Toxic Golem at the top! o Work your way down the elevator on the other side to the bow. Flip the switches here to reveal the dreaded Runestone Six Button Puzzle (scary music, lightning)! * Flip the switch on the wall to open the way, then hit the buttons in this order from left to right...1,4,2,5,3. If you screw up, run over a few buttons until button 1 rises again, then try again. Get the Runestone. o Now that THAT'S done with, activate the switches to get you across the barrel ramps. Look out for Death on the other side! Look for a hidden switch to raise a Full Meal, too. You'll need it for what's ahead... o ...because what's ahead sucks. You'll have to get into the ship's hold to get to the exit. The downside is that inside the ship's hold are not one but TWO Gargoyles. Be ready for them! After you kill them hit the switch behind them to reveal the switches to activate the crane over to the exit. Watch out for Red Death, chillin' on the crane. o Exit the level, the crane's one way anyhow. V) Vat of the Plague Fiend Did I mention I hate the Plag...yeah, I guess I have. Check the Bosses section for more on this green pile of *#^$@. You more than likely have the Javelin of Blinding at this point...but wait until level 45 or 50. 5) Forest Realm --------------- Needed to Enter: 175 Green Crystals The Archer's home turf has been taken over by a bunch of cold-blooded Saurians and the Spider Queen and her brood. Your job: clean them up. Again, I hope you're not afraid of heights as you climb the trees. Boss: Spider Queen Half babe, half giant arachnid, but she's all heart, really. Do yourself a favor and rip that heart out before she returns the favor. Some people suggest killing the Spider Queen is the best way to get money and exp, me, I say it's the Chimera, but it's all good. Whatever works for you. Areas: I) Acid Swamps II) Twisted Roots Of Evil -- Runestone 7 III) Ancient Tree -- Treasure Room IV) Gnarled Branches -- Scimitar of Decapitation V) Web of the Spider Queen Enemies: Normal -- Saurians. These lizard losers keep on coming. Strong -- Treants. Walking tree dudes that want to chop YOU down. Weak -- Spiders. The Queen's kids want to play, too. Stomp em. I) Acid Swamps It's the Nature Trail To Hell (In 3-D!) The wildlife around here is pretty wild, so don't stick around playing with the plant life...it WILL play back. o Hit the switch before you cross the bridge to raise the steps to the Temple, you'll head over there shortly. Meet the Saurian General and say hi. o Head south and clear out the Saurians and get to the switch to open the temple door. Watch out for the Vine and Log Traps. Backtrack to the temple to get a Full Meal and some cash. o Head BACK south to the huts. You can use the two-player shortcut here, but there's a switch around the way. Reach the hut in the center for a chest with a Shrink Enemies potion, so you can head south to defeat a Gargoyle past the "dead end" switch easily. o Heading north to the ruins section, raise the bridge across and pass through the locked gate. Check the rock here for a Golden Feather. o Head south to the Swamp Golem and take him out. The bridge to the Exit is to the right, hit the switch and backtrack south to the General for loot and food, then clear outta this eco-challenge. II) Twisted Roots of Evil Don't get lost on the narrow winding roots here. Also, bring plenty of keys, you'll need them. There's plenty of doors here, and you don't want to run short. o The switch you see right off the bat is the key to this level, but you'll have to get it from the other side. For now, head south and around the bend for some loot and food...of course the Gargoyle may object. o Backtrack north and cut your way through the crowd. Your Turbo attacks will come in handy here along the narrow pathways, as will strong Magic attacks. * You'll come back around at the switch I mentioned earlier. That will lower the Runestone, so pull the lever. Head east through the gates and the Saurian General. You'll see the Runestone on the ledge above, if you need more keys head south and flip the switch to raise the chest near the Runestone switch. East of the Runestone platform is the target switch for the elevator up. Ride up and clear the way to the Runestone, but watch for the Swamp Golem. o Work your way around north again through the gated paths. Some of the chests contain Key Rings, so feel safe to explore. Look out for Red Death, who's apparently taking in the fresh air at a fork in the road. o Like the scroll says, check the bend for a target switch, you'll need to hit it to lower the Exit. Continue to the end of the level and head on out. III) Ancient Tree This tree is justified and ancient, but unlike the old KLF song, it does NOT roam across the land. YOU get to roam across IT. Also you get to meet the Treants, who apparently think you would make a nice wood shop project. (Maybe you've already twigged to the fact these saps are branching out as an eco-terrorist splinter group, but really they wood rather prefer that you leaf them alone before they decide to bark out a paper-thin tree-ty and log a motion have you cut down.) o You start right next to a Treant Log. Take them out before you get jumped and work your way from treetop to treetop. You'll see the exit, but won't be able to get there for a while. o When you get to the General and the log bridge, make sure you've cleared everything out before you cross, it's a one-way trip. o Examine the pit below the bridge for some loot and powerups. The switch to reach the pit is around the corner. Backtrack to the bridge for another switch to raise the treasure in the pit. * Some of the loot and powerups will appear in the next pit down the road. There's a Gargoyle there. Use the Rapid Fire you raise to take him out. The Treasure Room is under the Gargoyle in plain view. * Hidden Level "Psychadelic". Grab all the coins in this mushroom room. It's fairly straightforward, work your way around the room and grab the coins from each section. o Continue on to the large tree. Lower the elevator tree to get to the last section of the level, watch the Golems and Death nearby. Again, this is a one-way trip, so make sure you've cleared the area before the tree. o The last section before the exit has a pretty fair number of Treant Logs. Fight your way through and take the loot they guard, then bug out of this arboreal ambush. IV) Gnarled Branches I suppose this place is pretty gnarly at that. No Treants, just Saurians stomping around on the leaves and branches. Prune them as you look for the Scimitar of Decapitation. o It's gonna be a long fight to the end here, so settle in and get your Turbos ready to roll along the leaves. The Saurians generate fast, so it's going to be a running battle. Wade in with hand-to-hand, use Turbos, or clear them out with Magic. o You'll reach a General guarding a platform with Archers and Bombers in the center. Circle around the platform to the switch to open the gate and the way across to it. o The next General you meet is guarding a suspicious wall like the Scroll mentions, flanked by two White Crystals. Break it to reveal the Scimitar's hiding place, but you'll have to press forward to raise the hollow. Grab the X-Ray goggles here for the trip. * Head up, down, and up again on the elevators to the Swamp Golem on the log platform. Hit the button here next to the hut to raise the trasure and another switch...this switch will raise the Scimitar. Backtrack and grab it. o Work your way forward again and face another long stretch of Saurian generators and another General. Fight your way to the Exit, but don't leave yet. o Just past the exit is a gate. Head into this part of the area, you're looking for some loot, some Spiders, and the obilgatory Gargoyle. Take him out, clear the area, then head home. V) Web of the Spider Queen For more on this eight-legged evil, check the Bosses section. The Poison Bellows you'll want to use on her is in the Desert Lands. 6) Desert Lands ---------------- Needed to Enter: 200 Yellow Crystals You'll also need to make sure you have 20 Golden Feathers so that you can enter the East Wing. If you lack the Feathers or Crystals, head back to the Forest Realms. The Sky Dominion levels are a better spot if you only need Feathers however. Note the difficulty of the levels ramps up here. The Wizard's home turf has been taken over by the Genie and his army of Sandmen and Mummies, and you'll find that the Desert Lands are harsh on travellers, and you may find yourself down a couple thousand health or so from the punishment. There's GOOD experience to be had here however, so that makes up for it. Visit the Chimera or Dragon for some cash for food between levels. Boss: Genie And he's a Meanie Genie too. Must be the Plague Fiend's brother or something with that one eye. Anyway, he's a bit tougher than he was in Gauntlet Legends, but still killable, just not really farmable because getting the Lamp of Dark Obstruction is a pain. Areas: I) City Ruins -- Runestone 8 II) Temple of the Magi -- Hidden Level III) Mystic Pyramid -- Poison Bellows IV) Tombs of the Undead V) The Genie's Sanctum Enemies: Normal -- Sandmen. The Genie has summoned an endless army of fanatical followers from the desert itself. Beware the Level 3 Sandmen, the ones in robes. They'll zap you for some heavy damage if you don't take them out FAST. Strong -- Mummies. Really, what Ancient Egyptian themed Desert Lands world would be complete without Mummies? Duke it out and have a Sluggy Mummy Christmas. Weak -- Asps. As in "Pain in the." These little guys are LIGHTNING fast and you'll find yourself in trouble if you decide to wade through a couple dozen of them. Finish them off however you can, because the damage they can cause with multiple bites adds up QUICKLY. I) City Ruins Get ready to take a whole mess of damage here. The neightbors aren't nice, but you will find the Runestone you're looking for in a pretty obvious place. o Right off the bat you'll meet the Sandman General and his welcome wagon. He wants to say "Ankh you very much" but you should reply "No ankh you!" Hit the Target switch here. o Grab a Full Meal in the chest on the left as you enter the ruins, then wade into the maze-like city. The large triangular doors are in fact locked gates, so watch your keys. Hit the switch behind the gate to raise the way to the Black Crystals at the start, but watch out for Red Death. o Work your way through the city and up the elevator. Another Sandman General wants to play, so oblige him. o You'll end up above where you started. (you'll be able to see the Target Switch below.) A scroll here mentions you should check the walls, but first deal with the Lion Gargoyle. These guys are noticeably tougher than the other two varieties. You have been warned. * Check the switches here and to the left after you clear out the area. One in the far left corner of this upper area will open a wall switch and some food. Hit this switch and backtrack to the Runestone near where the scroll was. o Another switch on the far left will open the way forward. Fight on through the maze. Watch out for Death too. o Say hi to the Sand Golem here. Break a secret wall to continue on to the exit. You'll greet yet another General before you come to the shallow path across the water. Grab the 3-Way Shot from the chest and clear your way through yet ANOTHER General before you leave. The Sandman Generals have determined that smoking YOU is hazardous to your Health! II) Temple of the Magi I dunno what a Magi technically is, but if it means "Level 3 Sandmen with really painful shots and good accuracy" then this place is aptly named. The trick to getting to the Treasure Room in this level is covering it up...and then uncovering it up. o Grab the Lightning Shield here at the start and do the NFL linebacker thing through these sandheads as you manuever to the temple entrance. o Fight your way into the temple proper and down the steps into the dreaded Pit Of A Hell Of A Lot Of Sandmen. At least they're giving you a proper greeting. Clean em out and hit the switch. o You'll see the statue move forward and cover up the Treasure Room! But...you'll be able to deal with it in a bit. It WILL allow you to get into the Arena. * Do the Gladiator thing and check the secret walls near the statues for a hidden switch or two. One will move a statue and reveal a button. Hit this button to reveal the Treasure Room again. * Treasure Room "Lab" -- Hey, it's the Midway Games production team lab! Say hi to the guys (they've worked themselves to death!) and grab the coins. Don't stick around for the sound bites, time is tight here. o Of course where there's a Golden Claw in the Arena center, there's a Gargoyle hanging out behind Door #1. The switch for the platform is through HIM. Grab both Claws. o As you move on you'll face a large maze of rising and lowering steps here. Depending where you go, you'll end up getting access to different food and treasure. However guarding the place is a couple Generals and two Sand Golems. Dealing with all of them at the same time is a BAD idea, so be careful through here. Check the switches and chests. There should be some X-Ray Glasses around there to make life a little easier. o At the end of the area are several switches and buttons. Use them to open the wall to the north where the exit is. Of course, the Exit is protected by a cast of thousands. Avoid the chests on the steps, they are all pretty much wastes of a key. The one in the back right has some food however, and at this point you'll need it. III) Mystic Pyramid As opposed to Mystic, Connecticut. Still, inside is the Poison Bellows, and it's pretty close to the start of the level, although you'll need to do some work to get it. Climb to the top of this 100,000 Enemy Pyramid and you'll more than likely gain a few levels. o You start outside the pyramid. Fight your way into the structure and find a switch past 4 red barrels. * This switch will reveal the Poison Bellows right off, but to get to the bellows you'll have to work your way over to the platform with the switch, barrel and button in an L-shape layout. Head through the locked gate and head down to the dead-end...it's actually the elevator up! Stand on it for a while and it will take you to the switch. Throw it, come back down, hit the newly revealed switch where the 3-Way Shot now is and it will reveal a Golden Claw. Behind the Claw is the sarcophagus with the Poison Bellows. o Now you can fight your way through the first level of the pyramid. Head down into the pit. Hit switches to open the way, you'll have to backtrack a lot. o Reaching the scaffolding will take you back around to the start, but now you can continue along the scaffolding up to the second level. o On the second level there are more switches and gates, and backtracking. Clean out the second level and kill the General. Find the switch to raise some treasure near the top of the pyramid. There's a Super Shot here, it will help with the Sand Golem on the scaffolding outside. o Past the Sand Golem is a Gargoyle and another General. Fight on to the top of the pyramid. This is a pretty tough stretch here. o The switch to raise the exit is close to the top. Grab the loot, raise the Exit, and split. IV) Tombs of the Undead Where's Lara Croft when you need her? This place is begging for some rocket launcher action, but at least you're armed. Nothing hidden here, just a slugfest to the finish line. o You'll start in the center of the tombs. A General is hanging out on the north side near the water. Head around to find the switch. o Head on through the corridor. Check behind the altar for the switch to lower the gate and head up to the walls for more switches. Work your way across the walls and use the teleporters to get the treasure. o Work you way down into the pit. It's a TOUGH room in here, mummies and a pair of Gargoyles are guarding the steps out. There's a Shrink Enemies potion in a chest near the ramp in here. Make use of it. o Survive this and head up to another maze-like section where you can pick up some decent powerups, but look out for Red Death in a chest. Grab the Reflect Shield and Acid Breath to deal with the locals. o Raise an elevator with a chest on it. Head up and into a room with a pool. Clear it out, unlock the left door, hit the switch and the target switch, then backtrack to the now open room in front of the elevator on the right for some ham (mmm, ham!) o Head back to the pool room and hang a right. There's a Sand Golem and Death hanging about. Deal with them and head on to the next section, through the pair of locked doors. o Another Sand Golem and a General await you in this last section before the Exit. Clear them out and fight your way back into the Exit room. Head on out, you've earned it. You might want to stock up on some cash from the Chimera and get yourself back in shape before moving on to the Ice Domain. Also, you're probably a high enough level to deal with the Spider Queen now. V) The Genie's Sanctum For more on defeating this one eyed no horned flying purple people eater, check the Bosses section. 7) Ice Domain -------------- Needed to Enter: 225 White Crystals Hope you packed your long underwear, because it's cold out here. There's only 4 levels and the Yeti's Cavern, but each level has a hidden secret, and all of them are pretty long and tough. The Dwarf's frosty fortress has been taken over by Miner Goblins and the occasional Iceworm, so it's up to you to evict them. Boss: Yeti This abominable snowman wants to put you on ice. You'll need the Parchment of Fire to handle him safely, but you should have picked THAT up oh so long ago in the Forsaken Province world. Areas: I) Arctic Docks -- Treasure Room II) Frozen Camp -- Runestone 9 III) Crystal Mine -- Runestone 10 IV) Erupting Fissure -- Lamp of Dark Obstruction V) Yeti's Cavern Enemies: Normal -- Miner Goblins. (No, not Nose Miner Goblins.) These nasty guys are packing pickaxes and mattocks, and they want to undermine your progress. Strong -- Iceworms. These guys are pretty nasty, the Level 3 variety likes to spit icicles at you. Weak -- Rock Wolves. Bad doggies, smack em on the nose and they'll go away. They generate FAST however, so use Turbo/Magic if you get overwhelmed. I) Arctic Docks Across the ice and snow you'll go, but there's plenty of killing to do to keep warm. You'll find a treasure room once you get to dry land. o You'll start out on a frozen shipwreck. Be careful NOT to destroy any barrels on board until you've found the switch on the ice outside, there's a level in it for you if you play it right. Beware the Goblin General on deck! Go to the switch, raise the barrel from the hold, and smash it FIRST to get the Anti-Death Halo, THEN break the other barrel for Death. Drain him. o Go through the locked gate and find a switch underneath some ice. Hit it, then backtrack to the ship and head the other way. Cross the ice floes and you'll face a Gargoyle. The switch you hit will give you access to the key ring, use the Speed item to finish the job. o Climb the cliffs and head for the mainland. The locked gate here leads to a dead end with a General, so you may want to avoid it. You'll find yourself back on the ice. o The ice will keep cracking, so you'll have to work your way around to the shore the long way. Hit the switch to raise an iceberg to get across to the docks. Break the crates blocking the way. There's of course another Gargoyle waiting for you here. * On the other side of the wooden palisades, there's a locked door and a Polar Bear (the Golem for this world.) Kill the Polar Bear for a key. Underneath the Bear is the Treasure Room. * Treasure Room "Docks". You have plenty of time, but a long way to go. A fast character will have a much easier time here. Grab all the coins on the narrow wooden walkways. Keep moving to earn the Dwarf's alternate form, the Ogre. o Clear out the dockside area before heading up the mine track to the next section of the level. There's a 3-Way Shot on the dock and a speed on the far right of the tracks. o Clear out the area at the top of the ramp and head left to the switch to raise a Golden Claw in the next section, then head right and take on the General. o Follow the mine car quickly down the next section of track, then head right. Red Death is waiting in the chest next to the ice ramp! Grab the Golden Claw you raised before in the second tower past a locked gate before you cross the windy bridge. o The windy bridge is PACKED with Miner Goblins. Turbos away, Captain! Reach the switch to raise the tracks across. You're almost home. Take the scroll's advice here and save a couple keys for the exit. o Head through the gate and under the bridge if you like, there's some food down here, then head across the tracks. Watch out for the mine cars. Grab the reflective shield from the chest if you have a lot of keys. o At the end of the line is an area full of Rock Wolves and Goblins. Take them out, then use the key to get through the gate past the exit on the left side. Collect the treasure and bug out. Whew! II) Frozen Camp Here you'll be looking for the next Runestone as you work your way across the Miner Goblin's main camp. o Grab the Acid Amulet from the chest at the start and head across the bridge. Hit the switch to open the small room to where you'll fight a tight battle with a general, then hit the next switch to open the door out. o Cross the ice to the tracks. If you're feeling bold rather than cold, follow the tracks to a pineapple and some Black Crystals. Head down to the switch to raise an ice bridge to an elevator down to ground level. o There's a switch just inside the lowered gate next to the furnace vent. Hit it and backtrack to the elevator for a Golden Claw, then work your way forward to the tents and the locked gate, behind which Red Death and a Gargoyle are waiting for you. A barrel reveals a scroll that informs you of a "five-piece puzzle." * That of course is the Runestone! #1 is the switch next to where the Gargoyle was. #2 is the switch behind the wall #1 opened. It raises a bridge to switch #5. #3 is next to the ramp up to the furnace, that lowers a gate. #4 is in front of the furnace and spins the furnace around to reveal #5, which with the lowered gate (#3) and the bridge (#2) allows you to reach the Runestone at the top of the furnace tower. Hit all five and it's yours. o Head past the furnace to the tracks. If yer feeling ballsy again, head up the tracks to get a Lightning Amulet, then head back down and take on the Polar Bear and the General past him. o The next section involves a lot of track and mine car mayhem. Grab the Invisibility from the chest and take out the crowd. Before you head up through the locked gate, head around to the other side of the scaffolding and defeat the General there, then hit the secret wall in the scaffolding to get to the switch for the chest. There's meat inside. Grab it and head up. o Work your way across from track to track. A scroll will tell you that red lights won't lead you to your goal, and that's actually lousy advice. Check all the tracks for food and items. At the four way-intersection, the left track leads to a switch, trust me it's worth it. Clear out the tracks and watch the mine cars, and you'll be okay. o As you reach the end of the level, you'll see the switch has given you access to a Full Meal (woo!). Hit the switch next to the Wolf Cave, head up the tracks and grab lunch, then head down. The switch near the wall will reveal the exit, check the chest for some more meat if you're still hungry. Head on out. III) Crystal Mine Here you'll find yourself up to your neck in Iceworms, so be careful. Luckily they don't seem to swarm as much as Goblins do, so you should be able to handle them as you look for the next Runestone. o From the start, work your way along the cart track. The bridge is a dead end, but the elevator will take you up to the next level. * The Runestone requires 3 switches, the first is next to the scroll under the steam vent, the second in the pit with the Goblin General the scroll mentions, and the third is next to the ore bins on the far left that the second scroll mentions. You'll need all three to get to the Runestone. Head up the ramps and to the right, lower the gate, and head across. There's treasure in the chest, grab it and the Runestone. o After that's done, head to the right and work your way across the bridge to the next area. At the end is an elevator switch, hit it to lower the platform and then head up. o Clear the area then head up the ramps. There's a General waiting for you at the top next to the mine car tracks. Fight your way across and down the next elevator, where there's an Anti-Death Halo in the chest. Lower the gate and head across th narrow bridge. Inside the chest is Death, whack him and then deal with the Gargoyle. o Past the Gargoyle on the far right is a switch between two mine cart tracks. Hit it to reveal a floor button. To the left is another elevator, head up and hit the button to reveal a pile of treasure. Then head back down and left to the teleporters. o Head up and to the right. Before you lower the elevator, hit the switch on the far right, then head up. Hit both switches in the icy area you just opened, then head across the bridge to the Golden Claw, which you can now get. o Across some more bridges you'll find a pair of locked gates and a pit. Head down into the pit on the elevator to lower the gate. Past the gate is yet another Gargoyle, so be careful. Get through him to reach the exit. Grab the treasure and food at the end, then escape. IV) Erupting Fissure This dark cave is home to the Lamp of Dark Obstrcution, but it's a pretty long journey to get it out once you have it, so be prepared. o From the start, you can take either the left or right fork. Bridges connect the forks, and if you follow the scroll's advice and go left, cross the bridge to the right, then cross the next bridge to the left, you'll get through without wasting any keys. You can see the Lamp down below the right fork, but it's going to be a bit of a journey down there. o After the bridges, clear the mine area and head up the ramp. A switch will lower a Rapid Fire into the pool. Grab it before you head across the steam pipe. Head down the ramp to save a key. * You'll come to a fork. Take the upper path first. Kill the General and then break the ice wall near the Miners there to get to the switches. The second one will raise the Golden Claw and the button that lowers the Dark Lamp's pedestal. Then take the lower path. Past the lava is a locked gate and a Gargoyle, kill him and then enter the cave behind him to get the Dark Lamp! o Head down the ramp and then cross the bridges that are suspended high over the cavern floor. A General gaurds the end of the bridge near a waterfall, and at the end of the bridge, break the diamond-shaped wall to the left and fight the second General, then head right. o Work your way to the next section, check the pit at the top of the screen for some food and treasure, then head down the wooden ramps to face another Gargoyle. Take him out! o Work your way down the path and across the bridges, past the mine machinery. Under a big suspicious looking lump of green crystal is a Thunder Hammer. Grab it, then clear out the area. Head down the ramps and face a Polar Bear. Behind him is a pipe you can break to reveal a switch. Hit it to lower a wall and avoid the steam traps to reach the goods. o Down on the ground floor, check the pipe next to the lava for a switch to open the gate further on, then take the colored switch elevator down. Head across to the crystal platform, an arrow points out a ramp on the right side near the green barrel, so be on the lookout for it and take it to the exit. Look out for Red Death in the second chest here. V) Yeti's Cavern Check the boss section to see how to cool this frostbitten varmint off. You'll find the Parchment of Fire to keep you warm and toasty in the Forsaken Province world. 8) Dream World -------------- Needed to Enter: 250 Black Crystals The Jester's homeland has gone from a eccentric dream to a horrific nightmare thanks to the vile Shadow Wraith and his demonic forces. You can't take anything for granted here, for not everything is as it seems. The Dream World contains some of the craziest and most difficult levels in the game, and you'll face hordes of sadistic Imps and the truly nasty Mirror Mages. Boss: Shadow Wraith This guy may look like a pale shade, but he's easily the most obnoxious and powerful boss you've faced yet. Shed a little light on his life with the Lantern of Revelation, which you'll find close by right in the Dream World. Areas: I) Carnival Of The Lost II) Haunted Grounds -- Lantern Of Revelation III) Haunted House -- Treasure Room IV) Your Worst Nightmare -- Runestone 11 V) Maze Of Illusion -- Runestone 12 VI) Wraith's Haunt Enemies: Normal -- Imps. These flying freakshows are armed with nasty weapons and are just itching for a fight. Strong -- Mirror Mages. These reject reflections are bad news. They can disappear and reappear at will, so just when you think you've cleaned them up, they get you from behind. And if that's not bad enough, the higher level ones will blast you with their magic for heavy damage! Weak -- Haunted Hands. These spidery pests crawl about the Dream World, but they pack a punch. Blast them before they can grab you. I) Carnival Of The Lost I HATE CARNIVALS. They're spooky, even the normal everyday ones are mildly evil in my book, so of course a haunted one filled with minor demons and evil crawling hands really gives me the creeps. o Right off the bat you'll be outside the carnival. Kill the Hands and be prepared to deal with Red Death and an Imp General right away, then enter the midway, where the shooting gallery is shooting back at you! Grab the steak from a crate, then enter the cages. o Past the cages is a circus tent here in this three ring hell, and in ring number one is a Shadow Golem. Tame this beast, then move on to the rides. o Be careful on the carousel, the horses will knock you on your rear. Circle around and take a ride on the roller coaster! o Follow the track up BUT DON'T HIT THE SWITCH! You'll lose a Full Meal if you do! Get the meal FIRST, then backtrack to the switch. Hit it, and ride the ferris wheel down. o Continue along the track, hit both switches to spin the ferris wheel again so you can move on. o Hit the switch as you get off this crazy ride, there's a test of strength waiting for you next to well...the test of strength. Defeat the Gargoyle at the bottom of the ramp, then enter the tent and hit the switch next to the spinning target, then backtrack to the switch next to the wagon for some treasure. o The second ring of the big top features a Pojo Egg. Grab it if you dare, then enter the freakshow behind the tent. There's plenty of freaks here, including another Imp General and Red Death. o A quick battle leads to the third ring of the tent, where there some treasure if you didn't blow it up. Pass through and up the ramps to the exit. II) Haunted Grounds At the end of this spaced out graveyard is the Haunted House, but before you enter, check the porch light: It's really the Lantern of Revelation. o You'll start on a ramp above the area. The button near the start will raise a chest with a 3-Way Shot. Before you cross the bridge, check for a hidden wall and a button to lower the chest on the pedestal. o To get the button and the Speed item on the next pedestal, cross the next bridge to the button and then backtrack. Use the Speed to deal with the Shadow Golem guarding the area. o The second button will send over a flying platform to pick you up. There's an Imp General waiting to fly you over too, how thoughtful. Watch out for Red Death behind a secret wall. o Cross the bridges and head up the stairs to another flying platform. On the way there you'll notice a set of closed doors. Take note, you'll be back here. o The next platform will drop you off at a large area with a fountain. Another Imp General guards the way here. Hit the button behind the fountain to raise a pair of bridges to take you back to the (still closed) double doors. Take the second bridge opposite the doors. o Here, you'll find the button that will open the double doors after a bit of fighting. Check the buttons near the statue. Backtrack to the doors and cross the bridge. o You're in for some nasty fighting here, there's a Gargoyle guarding the stairs. Take him out, then fight the Shadow Golem to the right to reach another statue and some food and loot, then cross back over to the left and take on an Imp General and grab some keys and a Shrink Potion, THEN climb the steps the Gargoyle was guarding. o Death awaits you at the top of the steps to the Haunted House, and another closed door on the left is blocking the exit. You can see the Lantern hanging above the porch, but you're going to need to clear out yet ANOTHER Imp General and the Imps in the area in front of the house to get it. * To get to the Lantern, you'll have to find a way to get to the second floor. There's two buttons on the far right of the first floor, one will open the exit doors, the other will reveal another button. Hit this button to reveal a thrid button, which will lower the elevator. Ride up to the second floor and find the switch to lower the Golden Claw pedestal. Looks like a dead end...hardly! Smash the secret walls to your left and hit the switches to get across to the area above the porch. Break the wall directly above the porch to get the Lantern! o On the way out, grab the Golden Claw and anything else you missed, then exit. III) Haunted House This place is crawling with Mirror Mages, and there's a virtual army of them between you and the exit. To get to the Treasure Room, you'll have to figure out how to get to the second floor first. o You start out in the Library. Fight your way through the Mages and SMASH those Mirrors they come out of. You'll be able to get the goods here on top of the bookcases after you reach the Kitchen. o Fight on through the Study, hit the buttons and switches to reveal a way across to the Kitchen. Grab the Reflective Shot and 3-Way Shot for loads of bouncy fun. o In the Kitchen you'll face another Imp General. Take him out, then hit the switch behind the stove to raise the bookcase blocking the way. The switch also opened the area next to the start of the level, so backtrack to the Library and clean up the loot. o Head up the stairs to the Foyer. Here you'll face another Imp General (too many Generals, not enough soldiers!) and a secret wall behind the General will reveal a chest with a Speed item...if you avoid the button! Hit the switch near the front of the stairs to raise the path to the Organ down the hall, then fight your way through. o Hit the switch at the Organ to raise the way to the second floor. There's a Shadow Golem guarding the top of the stairs, so shut him down and start breaking debris to make your way through. Hit both switches on the wall to reveal a Silver Invulnerability, grab it and slug your way upstairs. o To get the Golden Claw in the Upstairs Bedroom, break the chair and nightstand next to the bed where the Claw is. Hit the button there, and then backtrack to the first bed for the button to lower the Claw. Past the Bedroom you can't head back downstairs, so make sure you have everything before you head forward. When you're ready, hit the switch and cross the bridge to the Unfinished Room. * To get to the Secret Door here, hit all the switches anb buttons you can find to open the way. There's a Levitation item in the upper right corner of the room. Use it to get over the many spike traps here. Clear out the area, then enter the Secret Door. * Treasure Room -- "Pojo's Henhouse". Yeehaa, head down to the farm and grab all the coins. Remember two of the coins are hidden behind secret doors, break down the Barn door and one of the Henhouse doors to reveal the hidden coins, but HURRY. You'll reveal the Jester's alternate form, the Hyena. o After that's done with, head upstairs to the Attic. Grab the Anti-Death Halo and head up the elevator, then drain Red Death for some health before entering the Attic. o In the Attic, hit the buttons and switches for some Ribs, some treasure, and to reveal the path to the exit. Clear out the locals, and head out of this madhouse. IV) Your Worst Nightmare! Actually, my worst nightmare involves public speaking while naked in high school, but that's just me. YOUR worst nightmare may very well be this place, which looks and sounds very much like a speed metal horror video gone very very bad. Grab the Runestone here. o You start out at the top of this monstrosity. The scroll warns you to be like an angel...Angels have Halos, and so should you. Grab one from the chest on the other side of the secret wall, then go down the ramp and harass Death as you head 'Down the hatch!' o At the bottom, you'll face an Imp General guarding the bridge...and the Gargoyle waiting for you on the other side! Fight on through this double trouble and head for the Heart. * It's important that you round the corner and face the Gargoyle here. Defeat him and hit the switch to lower the gate around the Heart Piston. Backtrack down the ramp opposite the Gargoyle and ride the Heart Piston up. Follow the route to the colored switch to lower the drawbridge, then fight to the elevator. At the top the next Runestone is guarded by an Imp General. Beat him and take your prize, then head down and cross the bridge behind where the Gargoyle was. (If you reach the Fan Blade before you have the Runestone, you went the wrong way, backtrack.) o Past the Fan Blade is a ramp and a locked door. Hit the ramp first and clear out everything down there, then hit the switches to reveal the bridge under the Golden Claw. Head back up the ramp and get the Golden Claw and the Key Ring, but avoid the switch behind the Claw, it'll only reveal Red Death. Grab the Thunder Hammer. o In the next Heart section, ride the piston up to get a Rapid Fire, but try not to blow it up with all the Exploding Crates. An Imp General waits for you at the top of the ramp, defeat him and hit the switch to slow the next Fan Blade down enough so that you can get across. Ride the elevator up. o Hit the switch on the spikes to get to the Levitation so you can get across the Abbitoire without getting blown into the spikes by the air vents. Head down the ramp and to the left to fight a Shadow Golem. Defeat him to get a Key Ring. Grab the Ribs and X-Ray Glasses here, then hit the switch. Head to the right fork and hit the other switch, then grab the chest it lowers for a Rapid Fire. Head down the middle fork and take the raft. o Like the scroll says, don't take the first bridge. When you get to the middle island with the two rafts, take the second one. You'll get some treasure for your troubles. Circle back to the first raft to move on. o Head to the weird blood vessel looking place. Fight your way through and deal with one last Imp General, then work your way across the wooden platforms and bridges. The chests here contain various items, but one has Red Death, so be careful. Fight your way to the colored switch platform. Ride it to the exit at the top, grabbing the Magic Potion on the way. If you still have a key left, open the chest at the exit for some food. V) Maze Of Illusion Frankly this is one of the best looking parts of ANY PS2 game I've ever played. This level REALLY shows off the graphical power of the console, but don't get distracted from your goal of finding Runestone #12! (And try not to get lost, either...) o You'll arrive at the center of the Maze, the screwed-up staircase square. There are four columns, one at each corner of the staircase. Hang an immediate right and grab the Shrink Potion, hit the switch to lower a Golden Claw, and get the chest. Kill the (teeny) Imp General on the stairs, then find the path with the moving floor. More Mirror Mages are hanging around the level too, so be careful. * The scroll mentions walking where there's no visible floor...you'll have to do this to get the Runestone. As you travel along the path, it will fill itself in section by section. To get to the switch floating in space, there's an invisible floor next to the fountain (head right and around to the switch.) It will lower the Runestone. GETTING to the Runestone will take some time, but make sure you do that first! o Hit the switch on the wall using the invisible floor to make a ramp up, then fight the Shadow Golem on top of the column. You're just above the Runestone, but it'll be a bit before you can reach it. Head back down and to the dead end to reveal more path, and hit the colored switch to move on. o You'll fight your way over to the next column. Hit the switch to lower the blocking column, and then hit the other switch to reveal the ramp back down to the staircase. Grab the Golden Claw you can now reach, and head across to the next area of the Maze. o Hit the switch and head across, fighting Mirror Mages along the way. Kill the Imp General at the top of the ramp for a Gold Invulnerability. Hit the colored switch and move across to the two ground switches. Hit them both, then climb up the ramp to the top of the column. Kill the Shadow Golem and hit the switch to lower the blocking column, then head down the ramp the other switch created. Flip across to the third column area, the chest, and the staircase again. * FINALLY you'll be able to reach the Runestone. The scroll cautions you to continue forward only if you have the Runestone, but the switch next to the scroll will lower the fourth column so you can get it. Backtrack to the staircase and grab it. Then you can take the platform. o OK, now things get REALLY weird. As you cross the second half of the maze, the ground will rotate, allowing you to travel on the next section of the maze. Just fight across until you reach the next scroll, which warns you that none can return after you all move on. Before you jump on this platform, walk on the invisible floor to the switch and grab the Full Meal. The floor button will reveal a Golden Claw you can get later on. Then take the platform. o You'll fight across to Death. Luckily there's an Anti-Death Halo in the chest next to him, QUICKLY grab it and drain the guy. Fight across to the Golden Claw you revealed a bit ago, then head down the ramp and out of this twisted maze! VI) Wraith's Haunt Boy, are you in for a fun fight. Check the boss section to see how to shine the light on this dark foe. The Lantern of Revelation is right in the Haunted Grounds, you should have it and about 75 levels under your belt before you try. 9) Desecrated Temple -------------------- Needed to Enter: All 8 Shards (Defeat all 8 Bosses) With all 8 Shards recovered, you can now try for Skorne. To banish him from this world, you'll have to enter his Temple, once a pristine place to worship. It's now a living hell, filled with baddies. Clean it out and look for the Soul Savior to put the hurt on Skorne. Boss: Skorne Duh. Huge Demon King guy, infernal powers, bad attitude, the main bad guy, etc. See the boss section on how to tackle him, but I suggest you find the Soul Savior in the Temple. Areas: I) Desecrated Temple -- Soul Savior II) Altar Of Skorne You'll automatically face Skorne after you exit the Temple. Enemies: The Purple Generators (they look like Purple versions of the teleporters) will generate random Normal enemies from all eight worlds, like Zombies, Imps, Toxic Troopers, Dark Elves, etc. (And LOTS of them.) I) Desecrated Temple Here we go. Be prepared for a LONG fight against overwhelimg odds. Make sure you have full health and a full key ring before you enter. o Open the Temple doors and grab the X-Ray glasses, and FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. Use your Full Turbo attacks and Magic to clear the way through the Temple proper. o On the right side of the temple is an alcove. Red Death guards it. Use a Potion here, then hit the switch to reveal an Anti-Death Halo on the left alcove behind Red Death there. Break the doors to get a Speed and a Reflective Shot. o Fight across, grab the Halo, drain Red Death, break the walls to get 3-Way Shot and Lightning Amulet, then hit the switch and backtrack to get the Rapid Fire behind the first Death. Wade in and KILL. (3-Way Rapid Fire Reflective Lightning Shots will ruin ANYONE'S day.) o Fight to the gate, then on back to the switch on the right. The Switch will open the gate into the Temple Altar. Fight through, open the gate, grab the X-Ray Glasses and get ready for one HELL of a fight in the Altar. o Clear out the area. Hit the switch near the left wall to lower the table and get the Invisibility. The button will lower the back wall. * To get the Soul Savior, clear out the area and hit the button near the back of the room, avoiding the exit and Death, hanging around the lecturn. This will lower a switch in the wall. Hit it for another wall switch, and that will lower the platform in the back. Hit the button on the platform to lower the chandelier with the Soul Savior, then grab it and SPLIT. II) The Altar of Skorne Hi, I'm Skorne and I'll be your waiter for this evening, our house special is deep fried and corroded hero, sliced laser-thin by my eye beams. Check the boss section for tips on how to deal with this clown and send him packing for home. 10) The Underworld ------------------- Needed to Enter: 12 Runestones and Defeat Skorne If you've beaten Skorne in the Temple and recovered all 12 Runestones, you can now try for True Skorne in the Underworld. I caution you this area, although similar to the Temple, is MUCH more difficult, as is True Skorne. Boss: True Skorne Skorne's true demonic form is that of a living lava demon with a firey temper and REALLY good aim. Check the Boss section to see how to cool him off. Areas: I) Gates of the Underworld II) Throne of Skorne As with the Temple, you'll automatically fight True Skorne after you exit the Gates. Enemies: The Purple Generators here create random Strong enemies, so you'll have to deal with Ghosts, Lava Demons, Mirror Mages, and Fiends. I) Gates of the Underworld What, you were expecting Skorne to hang out in Club Med? It's HELL people, and you get a front row seat. Pack your flame retardant underwear, you'll need it. o Starting out, check behind you for a 3-Way Shot. Use it to advance. o The key here is using the items you get to kill the enemies and Generators until you reach the next item. Luckily there's PLENTY of useful items about here, like Super Shot, 3-Way Shot, Invulnerability, Fire Breath, Light Amulets, Fire Wall Shield, etc. Knowing how to use these items will get you through to True Skorne with a minimum of Health loss. o Don't forget your Turbo and Magic atacks! o Fight your way from item to item and switch to switch, destroying each generator along the way. o As you reach the end, you'll face two scary lava golems. You should still have a 3-Way Shot and a Thunder Hammer on you from nearby. Use the Three-Way Shot to quickly waste the Lava Golem on the left for a Full Meal, then lower the switch. Kill the other Lava Golem, THEN get the Meal and the Fire Amulet from the Golems. Hitting the switch early allows you to get the most time out of your Fire Amulet, you'll need it for True Skorne. The switch takes several seconds to lower the path to the exit, so hit it as soon as you kill the left Golem. o Exit the level and prepare to face True Skorne! II) Throne of Skorne Check the Boss section on how to kill this evil Demon King. 11) The Battle Grounds ----------------------- Needed to Enter: 28 Golden Claws and Defeat True Skorne This is it, the last area. Here your mission is to collect the mysterious 13th Runestone, find the last Treasure Room and face the evil that is Garm. He has unleashed an army of undead Skeleton Warriors to attack Sumner's Tower, and YOU have to wade through them to save the day...good luck! Boss: Garm The final boss is detailed in the Bosses section. You don't get anything to help you here, so be prepared to FIGHT. Areas: I) Battle Trenches II) Fortified Towers -- Treasure Room III) Infernal Fortress -- Runestone 13 IV) Garm's Citadel Enemies: Normal -- Skeleton Warriors. These guys ARE the strong enemies here, frankly. They spawn by the railroad container car-load and rush headlong into death. You'll literally kill thousands of these jokers before it's all said and done. Luckily they don't shoot at you, but they do pack nasty swords. Weak -- Bone Hounds. Undead doggies, woof. Annoying and fast, give them the boot before they overwhelm your position. I) Battle Trenches Garm has set up right outside Sumner's Tower and is conducting a full siege. His catapults are pelting the area with fireballs and his troops are dug into trenches arrayed all around the tower. You're going to get a firsthand look at why war is hell. o You start right outside the Tower. Down the ramp is a pesky Skeleton General. Take him out and clear the area. o Fight your way down through the locked gates to the base of the Tower. Death is in the chest next to the ramp. Fight on past the burning catapult wrecks, and watch out for catapult shots, they HURT. o Head into the trenches. Fight through to the next area, there's another Skeleton General waiting for you at the top of the ramp. Hit the switch and head back into the trenches past the ramp. There's a dead end and a door, and you'll find a Super Shot in the other direction. Remember the dead end, you'll be back. o You'll fight through to another island. There's a nasty steam-powered War Golem here, take him out for a 3-Way Shot. There's a Thunder Hammer here too. o Hit the switch up the ramp past the Golem, then backtrack to the now open dead end for some food and treasure. Head back to the ramp and grab the Shrink potion in the chest, then head down and to the left, and down into another set of trenches. o Look for a switch at a dead end to raise a Key Ring and the way across a pit. Exit the trenches and fight another Skeleton General. Watch out for the catapult shots. Fight your way up the hill to another set of trenches, but before you enter this ramp head right across the wooden bridge to the switch. Pull it to reveal a Gold Invulnerability, and there's even a ramp here, but the scroll mentions the long way is best. Head back to the other ramp into the trenches (cross the bridge and hang a right). o The second ramp will cause the switch to reset, so you'll have to take the long way. Go to the left before you enter the trenches and hit the switch and get the Halo. Head to the right from the other ramp to get the Gold Invulnerability and to drain Red Death, who will pop out to greet you. Head back to the left path in the trenches, the switch will have lowered the block there. o Climb up and face the War Golem. If you still have the Halo on you, one of the barrels has another Red Death in it. Head left and across the bridge to another switch, then cross the narrow bridge next to the burning wooden beams (it's diectly across and a bit to the left of the ramp into this area from the trenches.) o Back into the trenches for you on the other side. Hit the switch here behind the door to get the Fire Wall shield. Mow down the Skeletons and hit the other switch, then climb up the ramp. You'll be on the other side of the island area you were just on. Head up the big ramp. o The exit's in sight! Fight your way to the top of the hill and get OUT of this hellhole! II) Fortified Towers These towers are fortified with switches and Skeletons, making them a nutritious part of this Gauntlet asskicking. Seriously, there's dozens of switches in this level, and luckily they tend to be near each other, so you just have to find them all. The Treasure Room is at the end of the level. o Break the barrel at the start for a Rapid Fire. Clear out the Skeletons on the ground floor before tacking the General on the ramp. Hit the switch/button group here to raise an Invisibility at the top of the first tower. o Fight through to the second tower. Hit the switch group here to raise and elevator so you can get down (and get funky with Death, who's hanging out around the bend.) Take care of him to reveal a switch/button group for a chest with a 3-Way Shot, and then clear out the area. Take the small elevator up to tower #3. o Another switch group will open the way further. Head across the bridge. Just to the left of the tent is a secret wall with a hollow in it. Kill the War Golem to the left (you can do it without lowering the gate if you use your familiar) and search the wall there for a button to raise the hollow. Get the ham and switch there, then head right down the ramp to the scroll. Check the wall next to the scroll for the Pojo Egg the scroll mentions. o Ride the elevator down, but before taking the next one up check the wall for a secret switch and button that will raise a chest with a Silver Invulnerability at the next tower. Check the base of the tower to raise the potion at the top, break the obvious looking wall to find the switch to lower the gate up. The switch at the top of the tower opens the way forward. o Head down the misty mountain to find the barrel of gold the switch waaaay back by the ham revealed. Fight your way down through the crowd and up to the scroll. o The scroll means that you can fight one or three War Golems before the exit. To fight only one, break the pyramid shaped rock next to the scroll and hit the buttons there (you can see the exit.) The button will release one Golem, but in doing so allows you to go through the gate where the Golem was WITHOUT hitting the switches on either side of the gate around the Golem. Touching these switches means you'll free all THREE Golems. Face your foes, then ride the elevator up. * The Treasure Room (no, I haven't forgotten about it) is at the end of the small wooden bridge to the right, just before the exit. It's in plain view. * Treasure Room "Trenches". It's dark, it's long, it sucks. Getting all 25 coins will require multiple tries unless you are super lucky. Use the speed items to help you through the area. Get all 25 coins to reveal the super secret character, Sumner! o Take the exit after you are done. III) Infernal Fortress Yeah, this place fits the bill alright, it's on fire and over a lake of boiling blood. Luckily you'll get a handy-dandy Runestone detector to help you find the final Runestone, which is near the end of the level. This final level before the fight with Garm is HUGE, so settle in for the good fight. o Fight your way across the burning bridges to the switch. The frontal approach isn't going to work, so head along the right side of the level across the Lake O' Blood. o Climb up the ramp and face the General. There's a two-player button switch to get across a small gap, but you'll still have to face the General either way. o Fight your way into the outer fortress walls, then hit the switch and head up the elevator and across the birdges, then back down. Go around the long way opposite the locked door to lower the wall that leads into the fortress proper. Fight your way in the front door. o For some reason there's a basketball goal here (left over from NBA Showtime no doubt.) There's a Silver Invulnerability in the barrel next to the goal. Guess the Skeletons needed to do something to pass the time. Work your way around to the other side of the crates and break the ones you can to reveal ramps up. Clean out the area, then check the wall next to the red barrel for the switch to lower the next wall. o Fight your way in and check the crates again, checking for treasure and a key ring. Follow the winding path to the War Golem. Take him out! In the area behind the Golem is a chest with a rare Time Stop. Use it and hit the switch behind it to raise the bridge across the pit past the elevator. Ride the elevator up. * The Runestone Detector should be going nuts now. You're standing on top of the Final Runestone, it's inside the bridge below you. Grab the Super Shot and clear the area, then hit the switch to ride the elevator down. The Runestone is under the bridge, to get to it you can break a narrow secret wall at the end of the bridge opposite the elevator. Grab it BEFORE heading to the teleporters at the other side of the bridge! While you're down here, hit another switch to raise a bridge to a barrel of gold. o Now that you have the last Runestone, use the teleporters. Fight your way down into the pit below. After the second teleporter set, look for a switch to raise a bridge across and take the elevator. Cross the narrow bridges above the Fortress entrance to the other side. o Several doors here reveal hidden items, of course Death is hanging out here. Hit the switch and go taunt Death to get him to move, then Magic him. Use the button/switch group that Death reveals to get a Light Amulet, some Magic, and Treasure and Food. There's a General hanging out at the end of the doors, guarding the elevator down. o Look for the barrel of gold here, and find the switch to lower the wall to the exit. Face one more General before you leave, and exit this nasty place. IV) Garm's Citadel See the Bosses section below for more on the final battle of the game! -------------------------------------------- V. Items, The Shop, and Character Management -------------------------------------------- There are several Items in the game that you can get. Most are helpful, some will harm you however. Know the difference and you'll prevail. Key and Key Ring: You'll need these to open doors and chests. A Key Ring can have up to 3 Keys on it. Since you can have a maximum of 9 Keys, if all the keys on a Key Ring would put you over 9, the extra keys will "stay behind" on the Key Ring. Open a chest or two, then head back to the Key Ring. Backtracking for Keys is normally a good idea anyway. Food: Food restores your health, varying by the food itself: Cherry -- 10 pts Apple -- 25 pts Melon -- 50 pts Bananas -- 50 pts Pineapple -- 75 pts Drumstick -- 100 pts Ribs -- 125 pts Steak -- 150 pts Ham -- 200 pts Full Meal -- 500 pts You won't find Full Meals just lying around for the most part, you'll have to hunt for them, they are hidden well! Poison Fruit is -50 pts and Poison Meat is -100 pts, so avoid these, or use a high level Wizard or Sorceress to turn these back into good food. Poison barrels exploding near food will turn food bad, so be careful with green barrels. Treasure: Money makes the Gauntlet world go round too. You can use gold to buy items in the shop as well as stat increases, so be sure to pick these up if you see them. Pile of Junk -- 10 gold Pile of Silver -- 100 gold Pile of Gold -- 150 gold Chest of Silver -- 200 gold Chest of Gold -- 250 gold Chest of Gems -- 300 gold Barrel of Gold -- 500 gold Bronze Coin -- 500 gold Silver Coin -- 1000 gold Gold Coin -- 5000 gold Junk can be turned into Silver or Gold by high level Warriors and Dwarves using Magic. Coins are received from defeating Bosses. Potions: You can have up to 9 potions, they come in 4 flavors: Red -- Fire Potion Blue -- Lightning Potion Green -- Acid Potion Yellow -- Light Potion See the Magic section under Playing the Game for more on Magic potions. Shooting potions will cause them to explode, so be careful. Power-Ups: There are several Power-Ups in the game that will give you various abilities on a temporary basis. Some of these are VERY useful, so careful searching in a level can net you some nice abilities to make killing enemies easier. Name Symbol Ability Turbo Charge Inverted pyramid Tops off your Turbo Meter. with flashing "T" o Fire a Full Turbo shot before picking this up, or it's wasted. 3-Way Shot Circle with 3 Fire a spread of 3 shots at once. Arrows o Buy these in shops for Boss fights. They're a steal at 450 gold. 5-Way Shot Circle with 5 Fire a spread of 5 shots at once. Arrows o These are VERY rare to find. Rapid Fire Purple cloud Doubles rate of fire. with white sparks o Good for Archers/Jesters. Speed Boost Winged boot Doubles movement rate and increases rate of fire. o This increases your rate of fire for Strafe mode too, so these are helpful. Reflective Shots Crooked arrow Shots bounce off walls. o Good for narrow corridors. Levitation Pair of wings Float above floor traps for 30 secs. o GREAT for avoiding traps. Breath Weapons Green cloud 5 Acid Breath shots. Blue spark cloud 5 Lightning Breath shots. Red flame cloud 5 Fire Breath shots. o Save these to clear out rooms. Weapon Amulets Yellow amulet Light powered shots. Red amulet Fire powered shots. Blue amulet Lightning powered shots. Green amulet Acid powered shots. o A must for ANY boss fight. Your shots do a LOT more damage. X-Ray Goggles Green glasses You can see inside chests and barrels. Last a while. o I love these. Good for exploring and finding food or Death. Anti-Death Halo Golden halo You can drain exp or health from Death. o If you find one of these, Death is almost certainly nearby. The best way to gain levels, especially when you are already high level. Gold Golden metal cube You are invincible for 10 seconds Invulnerability Silver Silver metal cube You are invincible for 20 seconds Invulnerability o These certainly make fights easier. Just wade in and waste em. Invisibility Transparent swirl You are invisible for 30 seconds. o Bad guys can't see you, so they will wander aimlessly about. Use the time this buys you to destroy generators and take out Archer/Bombers easily, they can't see you to shoot at you! Reflective Shield Mirrored shield Reflects enemy shots. o Good for dealing with groups of Archers/Bombers. Lightning Shield Shield with Bolt Lightning zaps enemies at hand-to hand range. Fire Wall Shield Round Shield Fire blasts enemies at hand-to-hand range. o Grab one of these and mow enemies down! Great for enemy-packed rooms, just charge everything in sight and take it out, you're the king of hand-to-hand. Limited Growth Expanding round Doubles your size for 15 secs. potion bottle o "I'm HUGE!" This doubles your size and makes your hand-to-hand and Turbo attacks simply frightening. Clear em out! Shrink Enemies Shrinking spiral Halves the size of the bad guys. potion bottle o Really fun to use if you get one. Shrunken enemies have substantially less Armor and are easier to kill. Great if you get one near a Golem, Gargoyle, or other large enemy. Gas Mask Brown gas mask Prevents poison gas damage while worn. o Pretty handy in the toxic waste prone Sky Dominion areas. You can run right through gas clouds. Phoenix Familiar Golden phoenix Gives you a powerful familiar. If you already have a familiar, this increases its firepower. o This is NICE if you don't have one yet, you can lay waste to all kinds of stuff with one of these. The better your rate of fire, the better this is. Thunder Hammer Blue and white 3 Thunder Hammer shots. warhammer o This weapon sets up a room-clearing earthquake when used, but you only get three uses, so be careful. Note this will set off anything even remotely close by, red and green barrels, hidden walls, etc. Super Shot Crossbow with a 5 Super Shots. HUGE yellow arrow o This will cut down anything and everything in its path and severely damage large enemies. Note that you CAN combine this with 3 or 5 way shot. For loads of fun, give this to your Archer and let her use BFG with this on. :) Bomb Trap Ticking stuffed Explodes and damages all around it. pineapple head o Sometimes chests will contain these. Back off if you see one. Annoyingly enough they are placed near groups of barrels, chests, or items and if you set it off it WILL destroy those items! Magic Egg Glowing chicken Turns you into Pojo the Chicken for egg about a minute! o Yes, it's Pojo the Firebreathing Chicken! The upside is you spit fireballs but the bad news is you can't use hand-to-hand combos (but you can peck the crap out of anything close!) This is hysterical, not very useful...but being an asskicking chicken is just FUNNY. Stop Time Hourglass Stops time for 30 seconds. o This stops time for everyone but the players. You can safely beat the stuffing out of enemies while time is frozen, nobody can hurt you. This stops traps too. The Shop -------- In the shop you can buy items for your gold: Item Cost ---- ---- Cherries -- 50 Two cherries for 20 health. Key -- 100 Levitation -- 150 Meat -- 250 100 health. Magic Potion -- 250 Growth -- 300 Acid Breath -- 350 Lightning Breath -- 350 Fire Breath -- 350 Acid Amulet -- 350 Fire Amulet -- 350 Lightning Amulet -- 350 Light Amulet -- 350 Super Shot -- 400 Reflect Shield -- 400 Fire Wall Shield -- 425 Lightning Shield -- 425 Rapid Fire -- 450 Phoenix Familiar -- 450 Thunder Hammer -- 500 3-Way Shot -- 550 Invisibility -- 600 Invulnerability -- 600 X-Ray Goggles -- 650 Gas Mask -- 650 Anti Death Halo -- 750 +10 Strength -- 1000 +10 Speed -- 1000 +10 Armor -- 1000 +10 Magic -- 1000 Normally you'll want to save your cash for Stat bonuses, since they will serve you well in the long run, especially if you have a particularly lousy stat (such as the Warrior's Magic or Wizard's Armor). Fighting Bosses is the best way to get cash for Stat increases and food runs, particularly the Chimera and True Skorne. See the Bosses section for more on farming these foes for fun and profit. Character Management -------------------- In Sumner's Tower (and after most levels) you can access the Shop and Character Management screens. Here you can save, change or load a character set. Saving will save all your characters up to this point. Change will get you a new character at level 1 if you've not played that class before on this saved game. A Saved game can contain one character of each class, technically. If you want a brand new character set, choose New and enter your new name/initials. You can have up to 8 saved games on a memory card, for a total of 128 characters. For instance, on one saved game you can have a level 50 Knight, then use change to play a level 1 Warrior. The Warrior will have to start over at the beginning, but you can get the Warrior up to say level 20, then switch back to the Knight, or start a Jester character, etc. The current level of ALL your 16 characters will be recorded when you save. Classes you haven't unlocked yet will show up as black outlines with question marks. -------------- VI. The Bosses -------------- There are a total of 11 Bosses in GDL. They range from the easy to the powerfully difficult. I've rated them from 1 (pushover) to 10 (a very good chance of you getting killed.) Note that I include rating for having and not having the Legendary Weapons when you kill them, they do make a difference. The first time you fight a boss, HAVE THE LEGENDARY WEAPON. Don't fight them until you do, it makes it much easier. Taking the time to get the Legendary Weapons will get you exp and stats as well. You DO NOT NEED TO KILL THE BOSS TO ADVANCE TO THE NEXT REALM, that's what the Crystals are for. Come back for a boss when you have the proper Legendary Weapon and you are high enough level to have the health to withstand the Boss. The key to killing Bosses (besides Legendary Weapons) is to use the Robotron control method, and move with the left analog stick and fire with the right. This is the best way to attack continually while moving to avoid return fire. If you don't master this method, the later Bosses will SLAUGHTER you. The bosses are listed in order you should tackle them. You shouldn't even worry about Bosses until you have cleared the areas in the first three worlds (Province, Mountain, Castle) and have reached Level 30. Mountain Kingdom: Dragon Difficulty: 4 With Ice Axe: 1 The Dragon should probably the first boss you'll face. Buy a Weapon Amulet and have the Ice Axe from the Castle Stronghold before you face him. You and the Dragon will square off in a "amphitheatre" type cave, with the Dragon at the top of the screen. Using the Ice Axe will freeze him solid for several seconds. Use this time to advance to the forward right rock, in front of which you'll find a 3-Way Shot. With your Amulet and the 3-Way Shot, the Dragon will be way down in health by the time he thaws out...you might even kill him outright. Without the Ice Axe this guy is easy if you stay far enough back to avoid his quake stomp and Fire Breath. He'll lazily spit fireballs at you if you are back far enough, so as long as you keep moving you'll be fine. Be Level 30 before you attempt the Dragon so that before the battle you get your familiar, the Castle Stronghold levels are good exp for getting to this point. The Dragon's worth 5000 gold. Forsaken Province: Lich Difficulty: 5 With Book of Protection: 3 The Lich is a relative wimp compared to later bosses, but you should still get The Book of Protection because it will slow him down considerably and take a pretty healthy chunk off his life bar. You and the Lich will face off in a circular crypt, so use the Robotron controls to circle around him and keep the pressure on. His main attack is to rush you with his axe, he also likes to toss small skulls at you and summon a bone hand to grab you from the ground. If you get too close he'll try to stomp you, knocking you over. His axe rush has a good range, so either get to the side or Defend to suck it up. He can do some damage if he corners you against the wall or grabs you and throws you on the ground, but his life bar will quickly dwindle if you come in with a Weapon Amulet and the Book. Technically if you wait until you find each Legendary Weapon, the Dragon is the first boss you'll fight and the Lich second. He's worth 3000 gold if you kill him. Try to be level 35 before messing with him, by the time you get to the Book of Protection you should be at or above there anyway. Castle Stronghold: Chimera Difficulty: 3 With Scimitar of Decapitation: 2 You'll face off in a wide amphitheatre style arena with the Chimera in the center. You have LOTS of room to manuever here, and this helps make this guy is the biggest wuss in the game. He LOOKS tough, with his three heads and all. Each head has its own life bar, the green at the top is for the Snake Head, the center red bar for the Lion Head, and the blue is for the Eagle Head. The Scimitar of Decapitation will outright kill the Lion Head, taking away the Chimera's only real weapon, the triple Breath Attack. Finish off the Snake and Eagle Heads at your leisure, as long as you stay back and keep moving the lightning balls and acid balls the Eagle and Snake Heads spit will miss (the Chimera is a LOUSY shot) and you won't have to worry about Breath Attacks. Without the Scimitar the Chimera is still very killable, simply buy 3-Way shot and let him have it. Concentrate your efforts on finishing any one of the threee heads off to remove the Triple Breath Attack, then finish it off. I've killed this guy and lost a grand total of 80 health once, that's how bad of an aim he is at long range. If you need experience, money for stats, and later on money for Food, killing the Chimera repeatedly is the best way to get cash in the game, he's worth 7000 a pop. You can easily kill him, spend 1000 on Food, spend another 1000 on powerups like 3-Way and Weapon Amulets and still have 5000 for stats. later in the game when your health maxes out at 8 or 9 thousand, killing the Chimera will get you about 2800 health a pop and takes about 3 or 400 to kill, so this is the best way to get back to full health after a particularly tough level. KILL THE CHIMERA REPEATEDLY FOR CASH AND EXP. He's the best effort/cash ratio in the game by far. Once you get good at killing him the game becomes much easier, and frankly in the East Wing worlds you'll need the Stat boosts and Food. Before taking on a tough boss, max your health out with Meat purchased from a Chimera kill or two. You should be able to take on the Chimera at Level 40 easily, with or without the Scimitar. Sky Dominion: Plague Fiend Difficulty: 9 With Javelin of Blinding: 7 This guy is an ass, where the Chimera is about the best boss to farm, stay AWAY from this guy. You'll find yourself in a VERY tight amphitheatre with the Plague Fiend taking center stage, and there's nowhere to avoid taking damage. The Javelin of Blinding will make the Plague Fiend's shots fall short and stright ahead, so you can attack for a while before he recovers. AVOID THE PIPES. When he dives under the toxic waste, he'll splash waste out of the pipes and knock anything close by down and causing a lot of damage. His acid shots are PAINFUL and his sweeps are annoying. He's also pretty quick on the draw. Come in packing an Amulet. Even with the Javelin this guy is a tough customer and you may find yourself down several THOUSAND points of health if you're not careful. In fact even though you can find the Javelin of Blinding in the Mountain Kingdom and you can face this guy after you've cleared the rest of the Sky Dominion, WAIT. Head on to the Forest level and gain some exp, and then come back to him later. Get the Scimitar of Decapitation in the Gnarled Branches level, kill the Chimera, and power up your levels and stats first. Even at level 99 this guy is obnoxoiously bad for your health meter. Be careful, this is the first boss who is more than capable of killing you if you aren't cautious and you aren't at full health. You get 9,000 for killing him, and you'll be spending it all on food, trust me. Make sure you are at full health and you are at least level 45 before you even THINK about messing with this guy, you might even want to get to level 50. Forest Realm: Spider Queen Difficulty: 6 With Poison Bellows: 4 She's mean-looking, but not too difficult. If you can handle the Plague Fiend (bastard!) then this lady should not pose a threat. You'll face off in a circular arena, the Spider Queen's web. The Posion Bellows will slow her down and reduce her size slightly, so her range is lowered. Simply back off and attack like you did the Lich, and she'll go down eventually. Her main attack is to charge you and try to run you down. Avoid this if you can, and try to stay out of her whip arm range. Occasionally she'll lay spider eggs that release small spiders to annoy you, use a Full Turbo attack to clean them up. Without the Bellows she's somewhat tougher, faster, and has better range, and I don't suggest fighting her too often, even though she's worth 10,000 the Chimera's a better deal and a faster kill IMHO. Still, SEVERAL people have pointed out that killing the Spider Queen is a GREAT way to get exp and cash later on in the game. I've tried it, they're right for the most part. After the Chimera becomes too easy and you have the cash and stats for the Spider Queen, there's several strategies for killing her multiple times for major cash and exp. You'll want to be Level 55-60 before taking her on, you can get exp from the Desert Lands areas, but you'll almost certainly need a few Chimera kills to put your Health back together, the Desert Lands are tough. Still, once you CAN kill her, she GREAT for farming your way to the higher levels. Here's some strategies for killing her, submitted by other GDL players: "B L" has his own game plan: You cite killing the Chimera for exp/gold. I used the spider queen for that. Simply: buy 5/6 super shots, 2 3-way shots, rapid fire, amulet / fire/lightning shield (if you're at a low level). Costs about 3.5k maybe. Run up to her, let it loose. You should get about 11k gold from her and 10k experience. From about level 40-85 I gained between 2-3 levels each fight. Good money, good exp =) "Ryan" offers this advice on farming the Spider Queen for fun and profit: "When I beat the game, I was not a level 99 Legend. I was at about 80. I wanted to boost my experience levels as quickly ans as easily as I could. Since after a while level increases only increase you maximum health and not you stats, I wanted to get money to pay for my attributes in the shop. I decided to go defeat past bosses to get the experience, as well as the money. I found that the easiest boss with the gratest balance of experience (2 levels per fight) and money (over 10,000) Was the Spider Queen in the Forest realm. Since she stays mostly stationary you can pelt her from a distance, and when she charges at you use a turbo attack. The damage you inflict shouldn't be that severe as long as you stay away from her. YOu don't even need the toxic billows! After only a few fights I had gotten to level 99 and all my attributes were at 999. Then I could go about the buisness of tying up loose ends (getting the hidden characters). Since I only started this after I beat the game, I don't know if it is a good mid-game strategy, but I know it was really easy, and now I'm as powerful as sumner, and rich to boot! That's just a suggestion to those people struggling to get experience points above level 80." Michael Lowman also adds his Spider Queen killin' strategy: "To gain levels very quickly, kill the spider queen once, then with the money you earn, buy the following: 7 invulnerability 7 3-way shot 7 rapid fire 1 acid amulet 1 growth Now fight the spider queen, stand just out of melee range to take full advantage of your 3 way shot and keep firing. She will die VERY quickly and you will gain levels extremely fast (like 3 per kill drops down to about 2 per kill when you get near 99.) All of these work pretty well, find your groove and stick with it. You'll need the exp and cash for stats around this point in the game. Desert Lands: Genie Difficulty: 7 With Lamp of Dark Obstruction: 5 You'll face the Genie in a large circular arena, but the Genie is stationary in the center rather than moving around like the Lich or Spider Queen. You'll want to stick to the outer "track" around his sanctum. The Genie's a tough customer, but you can get the kill on him by using the Dark Lamp to blind him, come in with an Amulet. While he's blind simply circle around behind him on the outer track where he can't hit you with his eye blasts and beam sweep. When he recovers (and your Amulet wears off) pick up the Light Amulet close to him and finish him off. Try not to hang around too close, otherwise he'll do the old "Hassan CHOP!" manuever and try to behead you, or summon up some mummies for you to play with. Be careful of the whirlwind he occasionally summons, it's avoidable but HURTS if it hits and will knock you over. His Beam Sweep is a pain, but that's why you have Defend, yes? Cap him for 12k in cash. The Genie's also a farming candidate to an extent, especially if you journey to the Ice Domain and get the Dark Lamp. I prefer the Chimera though. Try to be level 65 or so before you put him back in his bottle. Ice Domain: Yeti Difficulty: 8 With Parchment of Fire: 6 The Yeti is a beefy guy, he can take a LOT of punishment before he goes down. Like the Plague Fiend the quarters are tight here and there's little room to hide. He'll throw ice balls at you and punch the side of his cave to drop ice boulders on you, but the Parchment of Fire will block those attacks. What it WON'T block is his ice wall attack, he likes to punch the ground which will make an ice wall under you, blocking your attacks and causing damage. He does this a lot and those ice walls will stay until you break them, use a Turbo attack to clear several at once, they tend to add up. Doing this while trying to kill the Yeti isn't easy, you're going to simply have to outlast him. Luckily getting the Parchment of Fire is super easy. Still, this guy can deal out several thousand points of damage Parchment or no Parchment, so be at full health before you go in at level 70 or so. He's worth 13 grand. Dream World: Shadow Wraith Difficulty: 10 With Lantern of Revelation: 8 And you thought the Plague Fiend was a pain in the ass, meet the Shadow Wraith. This guy is insane mean, has tons of Health, can do 150+ damage in a single blow and will pour on the pain. You can easily lose 4 or 5 THOUSAND health fighting this guy, and even more if you are unlucky. Again, like the Plague Fiend and Yeti you're in tight quarters, but at least there's no obstructions (yet.) The Lantern will block his shadow attacks for a while, but it WON'T attack his blade attacks which HURT. Try to stay in as far back in the middle as possible so you can avoid the blade attacks, if you stay on the far left or right you'll get smacked. These blade attacks will attack either the left side or right side of the arena and are hard to defend against because they are so fast. Eventually the Shadow attacks will start in as the Lantern fades and these cause some HEAVY damage, especially the slow moving green and black shadow ball. The faster Shadow shot is EXTREMELY fast and nearly impossible to dodge. The Fiend will compound your troubles by lobbing lumps of shadow at you that will stay on the arena floor and damage you if you run into them, cutting off your evasion room. Try to outlast this guy, but it's going to be a tough and long battle. You'll want to be Level 75 before you attack this guy, and do NOT go in without full health (go kill that damned Chimera a few times and stock up on yummy meat.) Your prize is a cool 15,000 but you'll need it just for the food bill, remember that 15k will only buy you 6000 health, and you just might be THAT far down after the battle! Desecrated Temple: Skorne Difficulty: 7 With Soul Savior: 5 BEFORE you take on Skorne, visit the Chimera a few times and stock up on food money. You'll want to buy food and get to full health before you dive into the Underworld after taking this guy, as you won't get a chance to use a shop between the Temple and Skorne's Altar. Skorne's a wimp compared to the Shadow Wraith. After you've capped all the other Bosses at least once you can visit the Temple. Tight quarters here in this arena, but luckily Skorne's pretty easy to deal with compared to the Wraith and Yeti. With the Soul Savior his attacks will be blocked and you can pound away on him, just watch out for the beam attacks from his mask. Skorne is invulnerable to magic attacks, so those aren't going to help other than healing you slightly at level 75+. After the Soul Savior wears off he'll launch lightning and acid attacks from his hands at you. These can be avoided, you should be able to kill Skorne with the loss of only a few thousand health. After you kill him you'll be able to choose from his weapons, I tend to take his Mask. With the Food money you've saved, restore your health to full and then visit the Underworld to put Skorne down for good. The Mask will give you a beam attack for several minutes. Use it to get through most of the Underworld. Be level 80 before you take on Skorne and True Skorne, the additional firepower from your upgraded Familiar helps a lot. The Underworld: True Skorne Difficulty: 9 This guy's a toughie, but here's some things to make life easier on you. First of all make sure you are at full health before going into the Underworld, you don't get a shop break! Secondly at the end of the Underworld you'll face two Lava Golems. Kill the one on the left and get the Full Meal, and pull the switch. THEN kill the one on the right for the Fire Amulet. While you kill the second Golem the exit gate will lower fully and give you maximum time to use the Fire Amulet on Skorne. You don't have a Soul Savior this time, and he hits rather hard too. He likes to use that beam attack on you and this will drain a LOT of health. Keep pounding on him, you have VERY little room to manuever here. As with the Shadow Wraith, try to avoid what attacks you can and try to outlast him. You'll prevail with the Fire Amulet, you can get him down to half before it wears off. It's important that you're at full health before entering the Underworld, and being level 80+ helps immensely. If not you'll find yourself rather low on HP by the end of this fight after slogging through the Gates level and maybe even dangerously low by the time you're near the end of the battle. Again, the key here is to simply survive. If you do, collect your prize of 20,000 gold! You've earned it, spend it well. Battle Grounds: Garm Difficulty: 10 You can enter this final battle with a shop run, I highly suggest 3-Way Shot and a Weapon Amulet for this battle. I suggest being Level 85 or so, boost your stats into the 800's before you go in. Garm has stolen Skorne's power after you defeated the nasty Demon King and has set himself up as the man to beat. Garm has taken the form of a living statue of Skorne, and he fights very similarly, only his attacks are even more fearsome. The good news is you can reduce his attacks by breaking pieces of the statue off. Aim for his arms, wings, and chest to reduce his attacks significantly. Take out the chest first, if you do you'll disable his close range attack and can freely get up close and personal with Garm. The bad news is that when you break pieces of him off, they form into 2 deadly Zealots. They will attack you with energy bolts, and killing them will turn them into screaming skull monsters that will charge you before they disappear. This charge will drain a couple hundred health if it hits, so stay out of their way when they go! Combined with Garm's blistering attacks you can find yourself in a bad situation VERY quickly. Garm's attacks can do 150-250 damage a pop, you can't withstand that level of assault for long, even at 8000+ health. Eventually only his legs will remain after you break his arms, wings and chest. Finish off his 4 leg sections and deal with the Zealots that appear. Finally, after all sections of Garm are destroyed, the statue will crumble, and Garm will melt into a puddle of purple goop. Enjoy the ending. ----------------------- VII Secrets and Extras ----------------------- Currently you can find all the secret Character codes on the GameFAQs code page for GDL. No reason to reprint it here (I may someday soon, with permission of course.) As far as Extras are concerned, yes, there are 11 worlds if you count the Desecrated Temple, the Underworld, and the Battle Grounds. To reach these hidden levels you must complete the other eight and defeat the bosses. Defeat all eight bosses for the shards needed to access World 9, the Desecrated Temple. Defeat Skorne and collect 12 Runestones to access World 10, The Underworld. Defeat True Skorne in The Underworld to access World 11, The Battle Grounds. Find the 13th Runestone in the Battle Grounds to access the final battle with Garm. Yes, I know there's a hidden Level in the Fortified Towers level in the Battle Grounds. Supposedly if you get all 25 coins in here WHICH IS HARD you get access to Sumner as a charcter class, and his stats are all 999. If you can confirm this, let me know. UPDATE on that...Many many MANY people wrote me to tell me indeed that Sumner is a playable character. I found him myself on like the 7th try through the damned Towers level. His stats are indeed all 999, and you start with all levels cleared and accessible. He has 9999 health, 9 keys, 9 potions, and 5000 gold when starting a new game with him. --------------------------- VIII Credits and Legal Junk --------------------------- Gauntlet, Gauntlet Legends, and Gauntlet Dark Legacy are copyright 2001 Midway Games West. Midway is copyright 2001 Midway Entertainment, Inc. PS2 and PlayStation 2 are copyright 2000-2001 Sony Entertainment Corporation of America. This FAQ and the information contained therein is copyright 2001 by me, Jon Mott. Do not distribute this Faq in whole or in part without express consent of the author. Shoutouts to CJayC and GameFAQs, who not only owns j00, he dominates all he surveys from under his pile of submissions. Gamers everywhere need to salute the man and those who assist him for keeping this place up as long as he has. :) Creds to Inflateahead, Cory Lantman, B L, and Saraz for some level titles. Keep em coming, guys. Creds to B L (again), Ryan, and Michael Lohman for Spider Queen killing strategy. I've tested them, they all work pretty well, I just prefer the Chimera because I'm cheap, but the Spider Queen killing works really well once you get to her. Questions, Corrections, Additions, Confirmations and Requests can be sent to me by email at zandar@iname.com. Please feel free to do so. I leave you with this note: I wish I had Sumner's voice, I really do. I would get women like THAT (snaps fingers).