Sorcerer's Lair Strategy Guide

As a long-time FX2 player on Xbox 360, I have become quite proficient at this game. I am naturally a strategic and systematic kind of thinker and realised early on that this is the approach that you need to take if you want to get anywhere with Pinball. All my guides focus on helping new players to think more strategically about taking on a table and to help them work systematically towards beating the wizard mode. Sorcerers Lair, as a free table, is the obvious place to start and as it turns out, also one of the best tables to learn the different aspects of pinball on.

I believe that most reward from a table comes from reaching and beating the wizard mode rather than just scoring big. Scoring big then becomes a consequence of mastering the table rather than spamming any modes.

I have written a lot on the official Zen Studios Forums so follow this link if you want to take a look:

http://forum.zenstudios.com/showthread.php?3582-Cloda-s-somewhat-vain-and-sort-of-self-indulgent-thread

Background

This guide is adapted from my guide[forum.zenstudios.com] on the official Zen Studio Forum.

Although you can play Sorcerer’s Lair without a specific strategy - mostly because you don’t have to finish the missions to play Midnight Madness - you would definitely be able to score much higher in the same amount of game time if you have a strategy rather than just shooting randomly. This table is quite easy in the sense that if you avoid certain dangerous locations on the table, it is quite possible to keep the ball alive for a very long time, but by having a strategy there are ways to play it safer and prolong your game even further. Take a look at ShoryukenToTheChins’s guide[blog.zenstudios.com] if you are uncertain about any of the terms, concepts or locations on the table.

General

- As always, start off by activating your kickbacks and keeping them activated. The best way to do it is to continually shoot up the Citadel ramp as the ball will be diverted first to the right inlane and then to the extra ball ramp where you will shoot it to emerge above the left inlane.
- Extra balls are one of the obvious ways with which you can prolong your game with. Two of the four extra balls are relatively easy (Whisper Award and 6-way Combo) and the other two, if managed correctly, can reward you an extra ball later in the game (Elusion Master Combo and 10x multiplier). When the game first start (with the ballsaver active), I always first go for the Whisper Award as the table is usually generous by lighting the Extra Ball with in the first two or three activations and then I go for the 6-way combo Extra Ball. From ball 2, it is not so generous anymore and then I go for the 6-way combo first. Take note though that all the extra balls are available more than once but you have to first go through Midnight Madness before you will for example be able to light the Extra Ball again with the 6-way Combo.
- By being awarded the “Hold Bonus” by Whisper and using it opportunely (e.g. when you lost the ball with the multiplier on 8x) you will be able later in the game to use it to your advantage to get the 10x multiplier extra ball. Also keep track of you Elusion Mastery Combo’s and you can also at the opportune time complete the final combos to light and extra ball (I need to confirm this).
- Not hitting the Whisper hole flush can be perilous and can lead to ball drains so concentrate on only going for it when ball save is active. There are more than enough opportunities; by locking a ball with the Sorcerer and in the Gargoyle hole it is activated and also by shooting the ball through the Extra ball ramp 5 times. Also rather avoid the left orbit because a miss hit can also lead to a drain.
- All three multi-ball modes (especially Gargoyle and Citadel) can be used for more than just scoring Jackpots. By focussing on it you can use them to safely complete Elusion Mastery Combo’s, build up your multipliers and reactivate your kickbacks.
- The Citadel Multi-ball mode can be used very efficiently to complete one of the main table missions and possibly achieve an Obsidian Stone. After 5 successful Jackpots you need to hit one of the balls up the Citadel Ramp and into the Extra Ball lane to achieve the modes goal. At that point the currently selected main table mission will be automatically completed and if you have not already scored two Obsidian stones with that mission (before having to go through a 13 stone Midnight Madness to reset the count) it will also be awarded.
- There are a few cool things about the table; one is that each shot up the Ghost ramp awards you a score that is increased by 25 000 points with each hit. After 40 shots you score a nice 1 million per shot so get used to constantly shoot that ramp especially as the ball often comes down above the right top flipper when you go for the 3 mission runes - in the end it can lead to a very helpful boost for your score. Another cool thing is that at some point each further ramp shot after a 6-way Combo scores you 1 million points rather than just 300 thousand points - I think it is if you have advanced your multiplier to x10, but irrespective of how it happens, you'll be happy if it does!

Obsidian Stones

- With regards to scoring, Obsidian Stones is your main focus on this table as each stone achieved (to 13) multiplies your Midnight Madness score by an additional half (.5). With 13 stones your Midnight Madness score will be multiplied by 7.5 (1 + 6.5).
- A stone can only be achieved once by completing the modes (not sure about the Whisper award) but twice by completing the missions for building up 13. You will only be able to achieve more stones with each mission or mode if you complete Midnight Madness with 13 stones because the table resets back to 0 stones but you are rewarded with an additional bonus of 50mil for completing Midnight Madness with 13 stones.
- There are two different strategies that I can suggest. The Complete Table Experience Strategy with which you can score a high score but likely not as high as with the Spam the Midnight Madness Strategy.
- With the first strategy, play the missions and the modes such that you always achieve more than 7 stones in a play through so that every second play through you have 13 stones. Using this strategy for each two play through’s you can score around 800 – 900 million as you also score the maximum points for other missions and modes on your way to Midnight Madness. It takes more concentration though and is more risky because you are required to play a whole variety of shots.
- The second strategy is to build your stones to 12 and then to play repeatedly through to Midnight Madness by starting missions but not finishing them. Using this strategy for each two play through's you can score around 600 - 700 million which is less than the first strategy but you will definitely get through a whole lot more Midnight Madness’s and you play with much less risk.
- If you play with the second strategy, you need to avoid the Whisper hole and the Elusion Master combo so that you don't get further stones. You second extra ball per original ball will then come from 10x multiplier or a second 6-way combo (after you have been through Midnight Madness again). Use all ball save periods and multi-balls to activate the multipliers and remember not to save Whisper when you get to Midnight Madness.

Midnight Madness

- When Save Whisper start, you will notice that the ball come out just above the top right flipper, ready for a shot. Don’t take that shot because you won’t hit Whisper as she is not on the Ghost ramp yet. Rather let the ball fall down and bounce on to the right flipper over to the left, ready to be caught. Once Whisper has moved high enough up the Ghost Ramp, shoot the ball up the Citadel ramp where you will either let it drop through Whisper or shoot it through her down the extra ball ramp depending on her position.
- There is not really a wrong way to play Midnight Madness but by deliberately aiming your shots to hit the Ghosts, including round the orbits and up the Ghost Ramp, your score will be closer to around 50mil rather than 30mil. With the Obsidian Stone multiplication that can make quite a big difference in your scoring.
- Make sure you reactivate your kickbacks following Midnight Madness because not doing so can lead to a very frustrating and against the run of play drain!

I hope these strategy thoughts are of use to you guys and gals that have read this far and please let me know if it helped you to beat my score! Please also share your thoughts and I will be more than happy to update the strategy if it is helpful or to make corrections.

[Barney]

It's fine, you don't have to play through it again just for my sake, it was worth asking on the off chance that you knew or remembered. :)

I have another question regarding extra balls; after the second Midnight Madness the table doesn't seem to provide any further extra balls, do you know if this is intentional? I couldn't see any mention of it in the guides so like before I wasn't sure if there was something funky going on.

[PinStratsDan]

Great! Glad you found it of use. I haven't played it in a while, so I'll look next time I play to see what the situation with the Citadel/Whisper multiball and the cellar artwork is.

[Barney]

I've been playing this table recently via PFX3 on the Switch and can never see an opportunity to shoot the extra ball lane during the Citadel/Whisper multiball; I hit 5+ jackpots during the mode but every Citadel ramp shot takes me down the right track where the tree is. Do you know if this was something they changed between PFX2 and PFX3 or if it's a bug they never fixed?

Another oddity I noticed is that the second Cellar table still shows the old artwork from PFX2; I've seen the correct one on YouTube videos so I wonder if it's potentially something else they never corrected on the Switch version.

Thanks for the advice in this article, both yours and Shoryuken's guides have been helpful and allowed me to enjoy the table more.