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DOOM GAUNTLET >> Complete Strategy Guide

The following is a collaboration of information from various sources, mainly from the knowledge and experience of SHE members.

Basics [Top]

Note: The Gauntlet now works on a Tokuno system, so as long as you keep killing monsters, you get points, and eventually you get an arty drop. We will change the proceeding data soon, but the majority still applies to the drop! Bottom line, if you can loot the corpse (outside of party), then you are getting points!

++Luck Matters. When a doom boss dies, there is a chance for an artifact to be created. This chance depends on which doom boss was defeated. The Dark Father has a 1 in 20 chance. Other Doom Boss Monsters have a 1 in 300 chance. The 1 in X chance is influenced by the luck value of the top attacker only. That player's luck is used as follows:

1. Take the square root of the luck value.
2. Multiply that by the chance value (either 20 or 300)
3. Divide by 100
4. Subtract this value from the original chance

That value is the new 1 in X chance of spawning an artifact.

Example: the top attacker against the Dark Father has a luck value of 900.
1. The square root of 900 = 30
2. 30 x 20 = 600
3. 600/100 = 6
4. 20 - 6 = 14

The chance for an artifact to be created is thus 1 in 14.

The artifact then goes to a random player that has looting rights to the boss monster corpse. This is completely random, and luck or damage amount does not affect who is chosen. The type of artifact created is also completely random. [Tigger]

++The more players there are inside of the gauntlet, the more champions will spawn per a room/phase. If there are four or less players (does not count pets/summons), only one boss will spawn per a room/phase.

++A tamer (using Vet, Magery, whatever) can not keep his/her pet alive when fighting a Dark Father champion, unless they can somehow manage to cut the "Unholy Bones" the Dark Father spawns (requires a bladed weapon and a last object/target macro :P). The best chance to solo the Dark Father is to either use a mage, an archer with hiding skill and spell weaving (nature's fury to distract DF), a vampiric embrace dexxer, or a bard/tamer bard (provocation at 120, and music at 120). Otherwise, it is best to have a secondary healer if you intend on using a tamer, or a party. Remember, never give up on healing, no matter how grim it looks for the pet or player. Also, remember Dark Fathers, Shadow Knights and Darknight Creepers all have the Wither spell, and Abyssmal Horrors use a whirlwind-like move that extends two tiles, so use the Veterinary skill is not always easy. The Dark Father has the real whirlwind move, but tamers using vet can avoid the damage if they are two tiles away, while still healing their pets.

++Cu Sidhe's are the safest pets to bring to the Gauntlet, although White Wyrms do well taking damage as well. Both have issues against the Abyssmal Horror because Cu Sidhes and White Wyrms have low fire resist, but the Cu Sidhe's healing makes it ideal for the tamer who is looking to tank the damage. The Rune Beetle/Nightmare combination works best for damage, but the Nightmare is very hard to keep alive against a Dark Father. Rune Beetles work great for groups, but the bonus of the Rune Beetle's "armor corruption," which puts a target's resists down to 0 for a short time allowing for armor-ignore like damage, applies to all players/followers whom attack the target, whether in party/guild or not. Dragons will do more damage than White Wyrms overall, as well as have more total hit points, but White Wyrms have better resists overall and better melée damage, and are therefore better companions than Dragons. Bake Kitsunes are better than a Nightmare as far as tanking goes, as Bake Kitsune have much better resists and slightly better hit points. Nightmares do a lot more damage in melée and have a firebreath. While Bake Kitsunes do less damage, they also receive less damage from Dark Fathers in return, which might be best for a tamer who has trouble with a Nightmare. After all, a dead pet isn't doing any damage!

++Warriors can do champs, however, you will have to cross-heal* with another warrior in order to stay alive in melée. Paladins and parrying warriors are good here. Archers can do good damage, however, Flesh Renderers and Dark Fathers are usually too fast for an archer to run away, stop a second to shoot, then run again. Archers are best within a group of mixed characters (unless you want to cross-heal with archers as well, but this practice is dicey). The absolute best template for a warrior right now is the Vampiric Embrace bushido dexxer, a warrior who has swords or fencing (usually) and relies on Vampiric Embrace and Bushido's Evasion ability, a necro spell which provides abilities of Hit Point leech on every hit (20%). It is possible to solo even a Dark Father in this template, although it is a hard template to manage.

*Cross-healing refers to the practice of two warriors (or players with the skill of healing) staying within one to two tiles of each other, healing whoever is getting hit (the "tanker") to insure that they stay alive, regardless of the odds you would find fighting the creature one on one. Successful practice results in the ability to stay right next to the creature, landing many hits. This style is a more practical method than running back and forth, like an idiot. However, despite cross-healing's innate power, some creatures, especially some of the champs found in the Gauntlet, can prove too tough, especially the Dark Father with its ability to Blood Oath. Always try to cross-heal first though, before you end up just hit and running. It is important to note your surroundings when cross-healing and to check to see if any other spawn or champs are coming at you. Cross-healing in general is against one tough monster; cross-healing against two can be done (if one takes each participant as a target), however, this is not a desirable position. It would be suggested that both participants run at this point in order to avoid imminent death.

++A good practice is to have one player stay on the outside of the active room at all times. This player will act as the designated rezzer and general "target." This allows you to "lure" the champs to the player outside (who cannot be hurt), allowing you to cast and target the champs without worrying about them targeting you for a short duration of time. This is especially useful against Flesh Renderers, as they are EXTREMELY fast. Make this person alternate, unless, for some reason, the person can not do anything else ('cause of lag, or a phone call for example).

++Remember, the reason room champs cannot go through doors is because they are "red" (locked). No creature or player can pass through the "red" doors. Once the doors are all normal (when Dark Fathers spawn), the doors will be able to be opened by both the Dark Father and his spawn. However, if a person opens the doors before they turn red and stays in the the way of the door to keep the door open, it is possible for a champion to exit its intended room!

++For long trips bring pack horses/pack llamas and/or beetles. Keep in mind that a pack horse/pack llama counts as 1 slot of control, while a beetle counts as 3. This will cut a mage's summon ability down. Also, keep in mind that a heavy beetle can not run while you ride it. For these reasons, the most logical players of the group to bring a pack horse/pack llama and/or beetle would be a warrior or archer, someone who will not be using pets or summons to aid in the fight. The best case scenario is a warrior who has a ethereal mount. This way, you can walk your beetle into the Gauntlet Arena, then hop off and mount your ethereal.

++There is a safe area to the East near the entrance "pipe." There will be a npc there called a "variety dealer." He sells a few things such as regeants and bandages, although, the amount of items found there will usually not sustain you, since they all start as a spawn of 20 items. They'll also cost an arm and a leg! This area, however, is a great place to log out or/and keep pack animals in. The odds of a monster ever coming into this area are quite slim, but nothing is safe in the Gauntlet, and remember, people are assholes. Keep in mind that until the Dark Fathers spawn, you can keep the pack animals right outside of the active room, but before you finish the last room (Room 5, Abyssmal Horrors), the pack animals should be moved to the safe room.

++Pack animals should hold a variety of things. Namely, extra bandages, explosion potions, and regeants seem to hold the most importance. It is suggested that you bring, if you have both, a lower reg cost suit as well as a luck suit (if you are a caster, of course). If you do not cast at all, it would be suggested that you bring a high resistant suit as well as a luck suit. Pack animals should be used as if they were a mini-banking system, since the bag of sending will not work within the Gauntlet Arena.

++It is suggested that all pets and all rides brought into the Gauntlet Arena be bonded. Fighting on foot is not fun. A tamer should be with the group to insure healthy pets =).

++For both gauntlet and champ spawns: try to get your sacrafice and compassion up so that we can insta-rez, if we ever have to, with all our loot! [Edited, Silver Spikes]. There is a rumor Justice works as well, allowing double the drops.

++"The reason for the seemingly smaller quantity of items, is that the gauntlet champions are one of the only monsters in the game that have a chance of dropping an item with 100% item property intensity (in other words, you can only feasibly get the really, really, really high-end magic loot on gauntlet champions)." [Helios (I think)]

So In other words... It's worth just going for the loot itself, so if ya dont get an artifact just think of the possibility of getting an awesome item from looting. [Silver Spikes]

++"One thing I would like to try on my next visit is x-boxing it with energy fields and dumping a keg of GE on it."

++"http://hyperionics.swmirror.com/HS5Setup.exe." DL for a pic making prog -- well, a s/s maker. (Screenshots).

++If you want to be a bard here, you need 120 in every skill you want to use :P

Room-by-Room [Champions] [Top]

Location	Picture	Name	Hit Points	Weaknesses	Abilities	Attack Method
Gauntlet, Last Spawn [Center]		Dark Father	30,000	All are 30 even (Phys, Fire, etc.) [Demon], rumored to be [Elemental] as well but focus on [Demon]	Summons [Undead] Lessers (Rotting Corpse, Lich Lord, etc.), Double Strike, Whirlwind Attack, Crushing Blow, Necro, Increased Run Speed When Hit	Melee/Mage/Necro/Unholy Bones (Use a bladed weapon and target bone pile; best to have a last object/last target macro)
Gauntlet, 1st Room [East]		Darknight Creeper	4,000	Physical/Fire, [Undead]	Very strong Cold and Poison resists, lethal poison at close range, necro	Melee/Mage/Necro
Gauntlet, 2nd Room [South East]		Flesh Renderer	4,500	Fire/Cold [No Slayer, although Beetle Slayer Talisman might work?]	Very strong Poison and Physical resists, can dismount, innate poison (rarely seen), VERY fast	Melée
Gauntlet, 3rd Room [South]		Impaler	5,000	Fire/Poison [Demon]	Very strong Energy and Physical resists, bleed, mortal, innate poison	Melée
Gauntlet, 4th Room [South West]		Shadow Knight	2,000	Fire/Poison [Undead]	Very strong Physical and Cold/Poison resists, hides	Melée/Mage/Necro
Gauntlet, 5th Room [West]		Abyssmal Horror	6,000	Physical, Cold [Demon]	Very strong Fire and Energy resists, incredible mage skills (watch out for curses), mortal and some sort of whirlwind, animates Lich Lords from other Abyssmal Horrors!	Melée/Mage/Necro

Room-by-Room [Detailed] [Top]

Disclaimer: most of the information in this section is outdated (pre-UO:ML)

**SPECIAL NOTE** Leaving a pet outside to make the champ focus on them can be considered as an exploit, so be weary of that.

Room 1: Darknight Creeper
Weakness: Undead Slayer, Phys, Fire
Note: Slow yet they poison lvl 5 with magery
Tip: Use Earth Elementals
Mage: EQ, Earth Ele, Fire-based spells.
Warrior: Undead Slayer Wep, Focus on Phys/Fire.
Note: Champ is slow yet can DP with magery -- watch out for poisons and spells (hit and run). Get focus on warriors then let mages EQ/ Earth Ele. EQ is best damage yet takes a lot of mana and can get you killed fast. Could lure to door, use fire fields and EQ.
Tip: Leave a horse outside and let the champ target it.
Tip: Fire based spells, potions

Room 2: Flesh Renderer
Weakness: Fire, Cold
Warning: Can dismount you and are VERY fast (can't outrun)
Tip: Use parry warrior w/ high defensive chance items and crossheal
Tip: Leave someone or a pet outside of room to act as a target while mages EQ/Fire Field -- be sure to be ready to invis though
Mage: Best bet is to Fire Field, then run to other end of room and be ready to invis. EQs work well for awhile until maybe 3/4 of the life is gone. Try to look for high defensive buff items/ shields or go for spell damage increase/ eval increase items -- depending on spell. Mindblast is best cold spell to use. Always be ready to invis.
Warrior: Focus on Fire/Cold (that doesnt make sense... being hurt by the two opposites) and parry helps a lot... crosshealing with parry is possible. Try to look for high defensive buff items/ shields. Always be ready to run.
Notes: Champ is very fast and can dismount you. In general, you can't outrun these. The best bet is to lure them to someone outside and make that person go back and forth so the champ goes through a fire field. I haven't seen two many attempts of using warriors on these but i think that two warriors could solo one well, if the tank had parry. Watch out, the champs also can deadly poison with melee hits. All damage done is melee though.
Note: Seems to have auto-dispel.

Room 3: The Impaler
Weakness: Daemon Slayer, Fire, Poison
Note: Try not to melee (they bleed attack, innate poison and mortal)
Tip: Use Fire Fields
Tip: Fire-based spells and damage
Necro: Cast Poison Strike
Mage: Best bet is to fire field -- can lure them to wall and cast. In general, you can do something sort of nifty -- you cast fire field and then you target yourself. It should always create a wall of fire going from North to South. Sorta interesting to play with. Can set one person as "runner" and set up fire fields for the baddies to go through.
Warrior: Get a Daemon/ Demon slayer, focus on Fire and Poison -- and parry again helps a lot... crosshealing with parry is possible but there are so many special attacks to worry about. Try to look for high defensive buff items/ shields. This is an easier creature to defeat with a mage I think.
Notes: Champ is moderate in speed and has a crazy amount of deadly special melee moves -- although no magery I think. Fire fields are the best bet -- just get them trapped or make them run through. Like all champs, dispels things fast (or kills EVs fast, at least).

Room 4: Shadow Knight
Weakness: Energy, then Fire
Note: They hide and stealth (?). Use summon/pet to track, explosion pots, EQ or Reveal Hidden.
Mage: They are weakest to Energy and then Fire -- so basic combos. They hide -- use EQ/ or Pots, or Reveal if you have to. They make a sound to listen for.
Warrior: Make sure you have pots or some way to track them. Not too tough but they are mages and can do considerable damage. As stated, you need a little resist verse these.
Notes: Champ is annoying. Although it is suppose to be clever, I think that hiding monsters are gay. 2000HP per, easiest champ by far. Using a pet helps to find.
Tip: Use EVs
Note: They don't show on tracking menu

Room 5: Abyssmal Horror
Weakness: Daemon Slayer, Physical, then Cold (don't do fire)
Note: Use Earth Elementals here
Tip: Leave a horse outside and let the champ target it.
Tip: EQ works VERY well (80-110 damage), but then every single one might target you. Try to separate them first.
Note: Dispels EVs fast
Tip: Blade Spirits (Phys), though they are dispelled fast - idea is to make the Abyssmal Horror run into a large group of blade spirits.

The Final Stage: Dark Fathers
Weakness: Daemon Slayer
Warning: Summons Lessers (Lessers meaning Lich Lords and Rotting Corpses!)
Warning: Dark Father does Double Strike, Whirlwind Attack, Crushing Blow
Warning: Dark Father has Increased Speed when hit (movement)
Note: 30,000 HP Per
TIp: Use Earth Elementals
Note: Reflects damage back at you
Warning: Do not do field spells that cause damage. Try EQ or direct spells but be careful if the Dark Father targets you.
Tip: Take them one by one by luring them into a room and then leaving any spawn they make in that room.
Warning: You MUST have a team of players to deal with the "lesser" spawns; you must cut the bones as they land or lure and EV. If you dont, you'll be lagging in no time, similar to the Niera Champ Spawn.
Warning: The Dark Father is extremely fast. If you do direct damage and it chases you, expect to die trying to run away.

Lessers [Top]

++What you will find during quest and what to expect:

Name	Strengths	Weaknesses	Notes
Restless Soul	No particular threat	Poison, Fire [Undead]	Nothing much
Vampire Bat	When they hit you, they leech hit points	Fire, Cold	Fairly annoying, yet prove no real threat
Gibberling	Will dismount you - fairly good offense	Poison, Fire/Cold	Substantial melée though no real threat
Patchwork Skeleton	Will dismount you have 100% elemental poison resist	Energy, Fire	Tough armor, but no real threat alone
Gore Fiend	None really	Poison, Cold	Relatively weak
Flesh Golem	None really	Cold, Fire	Relatively weak
Ravager	Innate poison [GP or higher]	Energy, Poison	Can be hard to melée if not ready
Wailing Banshee	Mortal Wound, strong cold resist	Fire, Poison	Not much of a challenge alone
Devourer of Souls	Very strong melée as well as magery	Cold, Fire	Avoid :P, they are tough
Lich	Good melée as well as magery	Fire, Energy/Physical [Undead]	None
Lich Lord	Strong melée as well as magery	Fire, Energy/Physical [Undead]	None
Rotting Corpse	Strong melée and innate lethal poison	Fire/Energy, Physical [Undead]	Be prepared to cure
Bone Daemon	Use dragons or summons, melée near impossible	Daemon Slayer, Fire, Energy	Be prepared to run

Bone Daemon

Note: It takes 1000 Daemon Bones for Victoria to summon the Bone Daemon. When defeated, a Golden Skull is received by the person who made Victoria summon the Daemon (will change in Publish 21) . You take this to the bell, ring the bell, place the skull on the person and then get on Boat. If there is an undead dragon there (the Skeletal Dragon), you must kill it first.

TAMER WARNING!!!: The Skeletal Dragon causes pets to lose loyalty levels FAST. If you do not feed your pet a lot and then try to issue a command, your dragon or WW or whatever might go loose - and if it dies, then you lose the pet (no ghost cause it's loose - thus no bond). I learned this the hard way. *Grins*

How to read the Floor Pentagrams [Top]

Note: Pentagrams allow Spellweavers to circle =D

There are 6 Pentagrams on the floor of the main room.

The White Pentagram means that the Champion is not summoned.
The Red Pentagram means that the Champion is active.
The Black Pentagram means that the Champion is defeated.

The NORTH (in-game it's the NW) pentagram marks the FIRST room

So if you see that 3 Pentagrams are black, the 4th is red, and the rest are white, this means:

The "4th" Champion is active.

If the center is red and all else are black, this means the final Champion is active.

The room with a set of double doors that are red and cannot be opened is the active Champion. Note that when the Dark Father spawns, all doors will open and the Dark Fathers will spawn from the center area of the Pentagrams.

Special Thanks: Tigger and Silver Spikes for editorials, Lauren Evenstar for the picture of the Shadow Knight =), and the guild of SHE for rockin' it out =P!