The Barony Declassified Hardcore Survival Guide

Hardcore is hard. I've got some tips that might help make it slightly less painful.

Barony.

Let's be honest: Barony hates you. It hates you, and it wants you dead. And apparently you do too, because you decided to make it even worse and tick that "hardcore" box.
Why did you do that? What brought you to this point? How could you have avoided it?
Well, it's too late now. We are, officially, in the sh¡t. We are motherf|_|cking entrenched in this b¡tch. We're so deep we're dodging Steam's censors. So I may as well give you some tips on how to survive down here in these deep dark depths.

Also, if this guide looks like trash, that's because it is, I've never made a guide before. Whoops.

What does Hardcore change?

Every enemy has massively increased health, and massively increased damage. The boost is different per enemy, but you can at the very least expect double on the former and +50% on the latter.

With some cursory testing, a non hardcore Rat has 30 health and 10 damage. A Hardcore rat has 60 health and 15 damage.

A non-hardcore Skeleton has 40 health, whilst a Hardcore skeleton has 93. Their damage varies by weapon, but it all hurts.

Fights last longer, hurt harder, and ones you could have taken are now all but guaranteed death sentences. You may have to swallow your pride and leave some enemies be.

You're gonna have to play dirty.

I'm not gonna tell you the optimal build or race or class or anything like that, because frankly I beat Hardcore with an Automaton Joker and I thought that was funny, and i'm too lazy to make a more in-depth guide. I'd rather you just figure it out in the way you want to play and figure it out.

But you're gonna have to switch things up a notch.

Mindset.

Before anything, there's certain things you need to accept before you get in the thick of it and make a fatal mistake.

• Never underestimate any enemy.
  
• Never assume an enemy is alone.
  
• Never assume a boulder trap isn't around the corner.
  
• You DO NOT need to kill everything on the floor.
  
• Never let yourself get cornered. Always have a way out.
  
• There won't be 'a better time', use your consumables NOW.
  
• Don't carry unnecessary weight. Filter your inventory frequently.
  
• Don't get attached to your allied NPCs. Recruitable humans don't get the health boost.
  
• Your health is a resource. Don't spend it unneccessarily.
  
• Don't let your mana stay at full for too long. Level those casting stats.
  
• You need to learn alchemy eventually. I'm sorry.

Class and Race

Yes, I just said a little bit ago i'm not going to telly you the optimal class or race to play. And I won't.

You can make anything work-- it's just a matter of getting your foot in the door.
But if we're going to be honest, some of them have it a lot more difficult than the others.

How I like to think of it is a sliding scale of sacrifices now for ease later.

Classes that have an easier early game may not find, or have access to, some tools later on.
Classes that don't have the armor or weapons or mana pool to outfight skeletons right out of the gate
are gonna get kicked around until they finally get their foothold.

Physical-centered classes are on the easier now scale.
Ranged ones are somewhat in the center, as they'll have trouble breaking through the armor of enemies until they get better bows and arrows.
Mages and classes that don't start with armor have it the roughest. You're not maybe going to lose a fight to a single rat, you're DEFINITELY going to lose one. But once you've established yourself, gotten decent armor, maybe a blessed ring, picked up a non-cursed shield (finally) and something that isn't your fists to hit something with, you'll have trump cards the physical classes may not or will not have for a long while.

Races should only be determined by two factors.

Do I think this race looks fun, and do I care about shopkeepers, in that order.

There's certain ones that give me a moment of pause, like Goblins, who can't learn magic, or Succubi/Incubi, who will probably run into problems with pre-blessed artifact weapons, but these can be worked around with enough know-how, and so can the shopkeeper problem. They each have their own little bonus factors, so I say go ham.

Unless you're a Skeleton.
Learn alchemy.
Please.

Tactics

So what's a poor little clown to do to survive down here with only a handful of cream pies and a funny green ring?

Get creative.

Hardcore isn't about fighting harder, it's about fighting smarter. Lemme give you some tips.

• Never unnecessarily sacrifice your health. It's your most valuable resource. Unless you're a Healer, or an alchemist with some know-how and good luck to make healing potions, you can't afford to lose any health unneccessarily. And even then, you're gonna run out of mana/potions sooner than later.
  
  
• To that end, never engage in an all-out slugfest unless you seriously out-gear the enemy.
  
  
• If you fight them in melee, you have a slightly longer attack range than your foes. If you're quick and precise enough, you can hit an enemy with a charged attack, turn around and run back before they can retaliate. It's important that you turn around to run instead of just stepping back, you're far too slow.
  Additionally, enemies have trouble targeting you around objects. Chairs and fountains can easily be run around and struck around while your foe has difficulty getting into range to retaliate, while walls can be a little tighter, but still catch an enemy's attack while you can strike around it.
  
  
• Use bodies of water (or pits, if you can levitate) to safely attack an enemy from outside their range. Enemies that can't fly can never enter water, so they'll politely stand there and let you wail on them if you keep their aggro. If all else fails, you can use water as an escape.
  
  
• If you engage from range, use the right tools for the job.
  Enemy armor matters. If you plink at an armored, shield-bearing skeleton with regular arrows from your worn bow-- or worse, the Slingshot-- you might just find out that you CAN, in fact, inflict 0 damage.
  Use high-damage arrows (Silver, Hunting) or DoT arrows (Fire, also Hunting) to get through those defenses. If an enemy has no armor but high health, like a Troll, swift arrows may see their time in the spotlight.
  Collect arrows, and use them judiciously. And praise the Longbow.
  
  
• If you engage with magic, keep in mind that mana regenerates slow.
  Real slow.
  And a wizard's prestigious 50 starting mana pool will barely help him kill a single skeleton on Hardcore.
  So you're going to have to supplement your magic with something. Keep your magic high, for an emergency, but never let it stay max, and never rely solely on it-- you have stats to level. If you start with Light, use it often until you can't learn anything more from it. If you don't, find it, or the cheapest equivalent. It's a godsend for leveling casting early.
  A Fireball spell will let you win a fight with 40 MP, but a Sleep spell will let you end one for 4. A Confuse spells can turn a two-man gank into two dead enemies once you cut down the weakened victor. Your MP doesn't regen fast enough to respect your time, so be efficient with it.

These rules will become less and less important as you get farther, get stronger, with better equipment and better spells. If you've been thorough, you'll eventually be able to play it like regular Barony, barring a few situations.

But there's still more to unpack.

LEARN ALCHEMY.

You know what single-handedly wins you a run?

Being able to print +2 Extra Healing potions for basically free.

Alchemy is strong. Very, very strong. Use it. If you find an Alembic, I better see that thing in your inventory the entire rest of the game unless it's breaks. Pull up a potion guide, swallow your pride, do some experimenting, DO NOT mess with Acid unless you know what you're doing, but I promise you you'll thank me for this.

Alchemy allows you to mix potions together to make different ones, as we all know. But there's a lot of different combinations, and a lot of ways to get to the things you want. And what do we want?

Storm Potions.
Restore Magic potions.
Extra Healing potions.

These will save your time, your life, and your run. These three are the single most important potions in the game, and they ought to be what you spend your time trying to get to once you pick up an Alembic.
And if you can't?
Every potion has its uses. Even the useless ones.
Mixing potions increases your Alchemy level. Discovering recipes increases your Alchemy level. Using potions in any way increases your Alchemy level.
So use every potion you find! No Alembic? No problem. Toss Sickness and Confusion potions at enemies, chug less harmful ones, level that alchemy and save your inventory space before you get brewing.

Because you want to hit 100 Alchemy. And i'll tell you why.
It's not because you automatically make +2 potions at legendary Alchemy.

Bottles of Water are deceptively incredible items. When mixed with a potion, it has a percentage chance to duplicate that potion for basically free. Now, you also have a chance of diluting that potion into water, losing it. Which sucks.

But the higher your alchemy gets, the higher chance you have. All the way up to 100%, at 100 Alchemy.

This means that stack of water bottles you've been building up this entire game by filling empty bottles at water faucets is now an entire massive stack of whatever potion you want it to be.
Nothing in the game can kill you faster than you can chug 30 Extra Healing potions.

Learn Alchemy. Trust me.

Gaming the XP system

You gain XP from killing enemies, but also from leveling your skills. And some skills are easier to level than you think they are.

Did you know that you can max out Swimming as soon as you find your first body of water, giving you free levels and giving yourself Water and Lava Walking?

Did you know that, if you can trade with shopkeepers safely, you can basically invest gold into your level by buying and selling the shopkeeper's items back to him? You'll lose gold, sure, but you'll make plenty throughout your run, and at a certain point, he'll buy them back for the exact same price.. while still increasing your Trading level. You'd be shocked how quick you can max it out like this.

You definitely know how important Appraisal is, of course. So use it. Appraise literally everything on a floor, and toss it if it has no use to you. It's basically just free XP.

Did you know you can level up Leadership just by recruiting, feeding and making Followers rest? Even if human followers are borderline useless on Hardcore, it's still free levels, and non-human followers can definitely hold their own, especially better-equipped.

Even if you're a focused melee fighter, you'll eventually gain enough INT to be able to learn Light. And once you do, there's no reason not to convert your MP pool into Casting and Magic levels, as well as future spell versatility.

And while we're on that, did you know that casting from staves levels your casting stats at no cost? If it's not an immensely powerful staff or a staff of opening, it can very much be worth it to pick it up, empty it of all its casts, then drop it. And don't worry-- it automatically unequips even if cursed.

I don't recommend spreading your physical combat skills too thin, though.

Managing your Inventory

Your inventory space is valuable, and so should the goodies you lug around in it.
But you should focus on practical value, not monetary. A 3000 gold diamond is a worthless paperweight if you never find a shopkeeper accepting it, or are a monster race that can't trade anyway. Don't fall into the trap of filling half your inventory with tens of thousands of gold of gems and deprive yourself of items that could have saved your life.

So what's practical?

Scrolls.

Four in particular.
Enchant Weapon, Enchant Armor, Repair, and Blank Scrolls.
I know I just told you not to fill half your inventory with things that aren't immediately practical, but these four are different. I honestly WOULD recommend you let half your inventory sit with these, if you must. These give concrete, permanent value-- especially with Artifact items. Have an Artifact weapon? Repair it to Excellent, layer enchantment after enchantment on it. Artifact armor? Repair it to excellent, and bless the Sphinx Veil. You get +1 armor class overall anyway, but you additionally get the +1 bonus to Intelligence every time you bless the Veil.
And a Blank Scroll is just whatever you need once you get the Enchanted Feather. You're damn near guaranteed to get one in the Library on floor 16, but you can get one as soon as the Mines. Even start with one as the Shaman. And if you pick up the Blue Orb in the Library, you can give it to the Mysterious Merchant in the Hamlet for a guaranteed feather.

The importance of scrolls can't be overstated. Little in the game can withstand the assault of a +15 Artifact weapon. I made myself +31 Spiked Knuckles once, just for the fun of it. You know what that meant? +32 Armor, +32 Unarmed Attack. You want scrolls. And if you can, buy as many of these ones as possible.

Potions.

As stated previously with Alchemy, every potion has its value. The recipes often lead into eachother, and you'd be shocked what you can make with a seemingly random assortment.
Keep as much fruit juice and booze as you can. They're the base ingredients for most potions, and can usually be bought in bulk at most shops.
And if you need room? Drink a potion, or toss one at an enemy. You'll still get XP!

Whatever your required food is.

Unless you're a skeleton.
There's usually plenty of food to go around unless you spend half an hour on every floor, so if you can afford to? Be picky.
For normal food, it's best not to take chances with mouldy food, unless you're starving. Filling items like Meat and Fish are high-priority and can feed you for a while, especially if they're blessed. You shouldn't need more than two or three slots dedicated to food at any given time.
For Automatons, magic scrap fills you a whole lot more than metal scrap, and can fill you far past metal scrap, too. Magic staves and books should be easy to come across. And if you learn the Dig spell, eat rocks.
No, i'm not joking. Not only can you eat rocks, but they can superheat your boiler. You basically have free infinite food as long as you have the power to cast the Dig spell-- and in a pinch? A quick lava bath will do the trick just fine.
And if you're a vampire, you're living your best life anyway, so.

Magical rings and amulets.

But only really the Amulet of Poison Resistance and Amulet of Reflection for the amulets. You can refer back to the swimming levels thing if you want my opinion on the Amulet of Olympic Swimming.
If you carry around different trinkets, they should be ones that you swap between to let you do certain things that you otherwise couldn't.
Like, say, an Ring of Might to let you push boulders and finish Sokoban. Or a Ring of Levitation to let you do just that.
Otherwise, the ring you have on should be the one that generally helps you not die whilst spelunking. Like a Blessed Ring of Constitution, or a Magic Resistance ring.

Artifacts.

But mostly the weapons, since you'll probably just have the armor equipped as soon as you find it.
You should realistically just stick with whatever the first Artifact Weapon is that you find, since you can't guarantee that you'll get another one. Not soon, at least. But if you find Sharur, keep it around-- it's a free MP regen stick.

We'll get into these more later.

A shield or two.

Considering you'll probably be swapping these out with torches fairly often, I recommend carrying the best defense shield you can find around with you. And in a pinch, a second one if the first one breaks.
If you're lucky enough to find a weirdly expensive steel shield, or see one in the shop, get it. It's a Steel Shield of Magic Resistance, and it's the best shield in the game.
Yes, that's including the Crystal Shield that has one more defense than it. No, that one more defense doesn't make up the difference.

Bear traps.

Yes, they're heavy. They'll also basically win a fight for you for free with no chance of fighting back, because an enemy that steps into a bear trap is paralyzed. This is not only huge and a massive early game boon, it can easily save your life in a pinch. They become less and less important as the game goes on, but they're still massively useful.

A stack of torches.

Game's dark now, man. Before, once you had high enough perception you basically just had fullbright. Now, even at the end of the game I still seriously consider torches over shields. So aside from the practicality of making an area darker and harder to see for enemies, remember to snag torches off the walls.

A pickaxe.

No Dig? No dig staff? No problem. A Pickaxe will be polite enough to open up at least three secret levels for you and make your life a lot easier. They're fairly rare, but you're guaranteed to find gnomes holding them in the Gnomish Mines.
If you dare go there.

Speaking of getting into these more later.

The Artifacts.

You want them. You need them. The pinnacle of gear, and the holy grail of efficiency and powerful effects.
There's a full set of Artifact Armor, and 5 Artifact Weapons, one for each weapon skill. They're going to make your hardcore run infinitely more pleasant. What are they, and where can you get them?

Secret levels, that's where.

• The Sphinx Veil, the Artifact Helmet, has +4 Armor and +8 to Intelligence, and can be found in the Gnomish Mines secret level on floor 2.
  
  
• The Oracle's Treads, the Artifact Boots, have +4 Armor and give Lesser Warning permanently, and can be found in the Haunted Castle on floor 8.
  
  
• The Djinni's Braces, the Artifact Gauntlets, have +4 Armor and give Magic Resistance, and can be found in Sokoban on floor 11.
  
  
• The Dragon's Mail, the Artifact Chestplate, has +6 Armor and gives bonus Health Regeneration, and can be found in the Cockatrice Lair on floor 28.
  
  
• The Wraith's Gown, the Artifact Cape, gives permanent levitation and +1 to magic regeneration, and can be found in Bram's Castle on floor 33.

That's all the artifact armor. The weapons are a bit more difficult to get, and far less guaranteed.

• Dyrnwyn is the Artifact Sword. It deals 10 damage, and has a chance to either burn or smite whatever it strikes, scaling with sword skill. It can be found in two ways: from King Arthur, an incredibly rare human NPC, or Shelob, a slightly less rare but still extremely rare Spider that can spawn in the Mines and Swamp.
  This one might be the rarest artifact weapon, as it has no guaranteed spawn and is basically a complete bust if you don't roll the dice well before the Sand Temple. But if you do get it, it's incredibly powerful, practical, and seeing how all the bosses are either undead, demonic, or both, you're going to be doing silly damage with those smites.
  
  
• Parashu is the Artifact Axe. It deals 10 damage, and has a chance of dealing 1.5x damage and slowing that scales with weapon skill. Possibly the most practical Artifact weapon. Its only drop source is Funny Bones, a skeleton that can spawn in the Mines, the Underworld, and Bram's Castle.
  Luckily, considering the sheer volume of skeletons in the Mines, it's not too uncommon to see Mr. Bones himself running around every run or two. He's an incredibly powerful foe on Hardcore, with almost 200 health and a high likelihood of melting anyone who dares to challenge him that early on, but the axe is well worth the risk.
  
  
• Sharur is the Artifact Mace. It deals 10 damage base, and essentially doubles mana regen, easily making it the most useful weapon in the game for dedicated mages. Even for anyone else, its still a hell of a good bonking stick.
  It's the first weapon here with a guaranteed drop point. It can drop from the Potato King, a powerful goblin most likely to be found in the Swamp, but i've seen him in both the Sand Labyrinth and the Ruins. It can also drop from Anasi, a rare human, like Arthur. And lastly, if you pick up the Blue Orb from the Library, it can be obtained from the Mystic Merchant at the Hamlet.
  
  
• Gungnir is the Artifact Spear. It deals 10 damage base, always does max damage every strike, and has a chance to ignore 50% of an enemy's AC that scales with weapon skill. Definitely the most consistent Artifact weapon.
  It also has a guaranteed drop point, in the Minotaur Maze secret level on floor 13. If you can take it.
  It can also spawn with a rare NPC, Vishpala, along the same vein as Anasi and Arthur.
  
  
• Khryselakatos is the Artifact Bow. It deals 16 damage base, and has a high chance to fire off arrows of a random type that scales with weapon level.
  It's also the most fearsome weapon to get. It has two guaranteed drop points-- the easy way, or the hard way. No random drops. You can either get it at the Hamlet, trading the Green Orb you get from the Temple secret level with the Mystic Merchant.. or breaking into the Underworld during the transition level from the Mines to the Swamp. On the second floor of the Underworld, a specter wielding the bow can be found, and slain.
  But you really shouldn't do that. I wouldn't even recommend it on normal mode, let alone hardcore.

So there you go. Artifact items are insanely practical, and you can basically guarantee the armor with enough moxxie and quick thinking. It's going to be a little more chance based with the weapons-- since you can't guarantee getting another one, i'd recommend sticking with the one that randomly drops first, and picking if you can afford to get a guaranteed one. An early Artifact Weapon can change the entire course of a run.. if you can slay whatever's holding it, of course.

Secret levels, part 1.

There's a lot to unpack here.

Secret levels are uniquely challenging, often deadly, and always hiding some nice goodies. On Hardcore, these aspects are way ramped up.
So you need to ask yourself three questions before you enter a secret level.

Can I survive rushing to get the unique loot and go?
If so, can I survive snagging some extra loot?
And if so, could I possibly clean the level out of enemies and items?

The threat level and reward of each secret level varies. Some, like Sokoban, have little threat, and little extra reward. Some, like the Gnomish Mines, have utterly insane threat level and equally high rewards for clearing it out, in XP, magical weaponry, and even more assorted goodies.

Don't bite off more than you can chew. NO ONE truly has the Gnomish Mines under control. It's a struggle to even get the Veil and go. But with proper strategy and preparation, you can break most of these levels to your will. Let's discuss.

• Floor 2: Gnomish Mines.

  Pac Man from Hell. Easily the deadliest secret level in the game, with the highest long-term rewards. If you NEED to fight anything, use the corners to your advantage, use any projectiles you have, anything to avoid being in the direct sightline of a Staff Gnome. Treat every single corner with the respect it deserves, because you don't know if a Staff Gnome or a Troll is about to instantly kill you.
  To get the Veil and go, either find your way to the shopkeeper at the top right to flip the level and access the Veil, or kill a gnome with a pickaxe and bust your way in. If you want to start killing, somehow kill a Staff Gnome and use that staff to kill other gnomes for their staffs. And just go from there.
  But DO NOT drop your guard for even a second. It will cost you.
  
  

• Floor 3: Minetown.

  In complete aversion to the previous secret level, this one's nothing but nice. It's just a human settlement with 4 shopkeepers and a couple free chests of loot if you can get to them. Even if you're a non-human, always start with 3 Polymorph potions. Pop one, recruit some humies, do some shopping, flip the lever to the chest with gold beside it, and maybe even pop open the gate to the water, if you can. You can find another chest if you can push/destroy the boulder in the way.
  No unique loot here.
  
  

• Floor 7: Jungle Temple.

  The risks here are notable, but moderate, and you have the ability to essentially pick your fights as necessary. The trolls are all in cages, the goblins are locked up, and even when released, you can pretty easily slip past the former. You don't need to bother with the goblins at all unless you want access to a triple chest behind them.
  If you can handle Trolls in whatever way you like, it's a lot of free XP, as trolls are VERY stupid.
  And once you have the green orb, you can use it to open the doors to the waterways to get free gold. The waterway in the Boulder Trap room has a lever that opens the way to the second one next to the exit, but be warned that goblins will spawn on the exit once you get too deep into the second waterway.
  
  

• Floor 8: The Haunted Castle.

  This is either the deadliest secret level or the most pathetic.
  You're under no risk until you enter the castle, and can explore the outer edges for a bunch of free items. In the top right tower is a hatch that leads to free Levitation potions, and that's a surprise tool that will help us later. One of the towers also has a lever that opens the way to three chests at the bottom right behind a pool of water, another surprise tool that will help us later.
  Once you enter the castle, loot the chests, and grab the Oracle's Treads, then the fun begins.
  Several hundred billion angry Ghouls spawn outside, and in an outright slugfest, this is doubtlessly the most dangerous and harrowing level in the game.
  Except for two things: that pool of water, and those levitation potions.
  If you haul ass to the pool of water and get on the other side of it, you're completely safe. The ghouls can neither reach, nor harm you. If you have a ranged attack, it's just free XP, and if you don't, you can drink a levitation potion and mosey on over to the exit at your leisure.
  
  

• Floor 11: Sokoban.

  This isn't a skill check so much as a gear check.
  Did you bring Strength Potions or a Ring of Might? Did you bring a Pickaxe, Firestorm Potion, Dig Spell or Staff to get in? Then you're set. It's just Sokoban! Push boulders into the holes and you win. Preferably with as few screwups as possible. Just take your time and use the minimap so you don't accidentally push one into a corner. You CAN break boulders and still get rewards, but less and less. Also, an angry bug spawns when you break a boulder.
  The Djinni's Braces and the absolute metric load of gold you get for a perfect run make Sokoban well worth the stop.
  
  

• Floor 13: Minotaur Maze.

  This isn't a gear check so much as a skill check.
  This is the saddest way to end your run if you don't know EXACTLY what you're doing. It's dark, there's lever checkpoints with gates, dead ends, and if the Minotaur catches up to you for one solitary second, that's it. You're dead.
  But this places houses Gungnir and the Red Orb. This might be the first Artifact weapon we get, and we REALLY want it. So how can we minimize our risk?
  There's two thoughts to this. One, kill the minotaur. Two, haul absolute ass to the end, then kill the minotaur.
  The first is dependant on two things: being able to get him in a loop where you can outrun him indefinitely, and a way to slow him so you can actually pepper him with ranged attacks. If you have Cold, that'll do the trick. It'll be boring, but it will work.
  The second is going to require a Map scroll or spell, and your ability to not hesitate for a second when hitting a checkpoint. If you can get the Red Orb to the end, you'll be able to take care of the Minotaur infinitely easier, and get your spear prize.
  If neither, you can just leave with the Red Orb. But that's not fun.

I didn't even realize these had character limits, so we're going to part 2.

Secret Levels, Part 2.

• Floor 16: Mystic Library.

  It's like Minetown, but for nerds. Tons of chests full of spells and other assorted magical goodies here, NPCs to recruit and laugh at when they die, and most importantly, the Blue Orb. There's also two hidden chests here, but I trust you to figure those ones out.
  
  

• Floor 18: Underworld.

  You could have gone here at level 5's rest stop, but that's stupid and you shouldn't have, so I put it here.
  Welcome to Almost Hell! We have flying imps with fireballs, flying shadows, traps, teleporter shenanigans, and pain. There's always good loot, and even a chance for Funny Bones, but the real reason you're here is for a chance to go to Actual Hell. There's no unique loot here, so if you ever need to get the hell out, or change your mind about Hell, the way back out's right at the entrance. You can even go back to it once you go to the second floor. And you'd better make it real fast or have a levitation potion if you do change your mind, because the enemies here can seriously bring the hurt.
  And since we're here, Hell also doesn't have any unique loot. Just more floors of demons, pain, lava, and a brutal bonus boss that still takes you to the Hamlet. The only reason you'd want to go here and not take down Baron Herx is if you feel the bloodlust. Which I respect. I always go to Hell.
  
  

• Floor 28: Cockatrice Lair.

  If you've made it to the Crystal Caves, then I have a lot of faith in you to take down the Kobolds here. They shouldn't pose too much of a problem for you, and the Dragon Mail you can get decently early on is a massive reward that makes it well worth the effort. The puzzles to get through the maze aren't too rough once you get a good grasp of the area.
  It's the end that's the problem.
  As Cockatrices are your personal boogeyman for a Hardcore run, imagine a beefed up one. That's what waits for you at the end portal. Your only saving grace is that it doesn't like the Kobolds in the room any more than you, so either use that distraction to lay on the damage or get the hell out of dodge. And remember that the Dragon Mail is in a side room, not along the main path, so please don't forget it like I did that one time. It's really sad.
  
  

• Floor 33: Bram's Castle.

  If you've made it to this point and are properly geared, this place should be a joke. The skeletons are no problem, the succubi are off in their own little rooms, the Shades were scary 10 floors ago, and Mr. Stoker himself isn't much more threatening unless you're on death's door. Cyberbully him with real life violence for his incredibly helpful cape, and make preparations for the final confrontation.

Christ, that was more than I thought it would be.

Priority Targets and Who To Avoid

Almost every zone has something you NEED to kill and something you need to turn around from and come back to later. Fatigue is setting in, so i'll be brief.

The Mines:

• Funny Bones, Shelob and Trolls are priority targets.
  The former two are unique, super-powerful foes, so naturally, you're going to need to be incredibly wary of them, Shelob moreso. But the rewards for out-fighting and out-foxing them are well worth the risk. Trolls are absolutely deadly in melee combat, but are dumber than dirt, and are effectively free XP if you have any sort of ranged attack or just want to sneak attack their backs. Trolls can be found on most floors after this, so keep them in mind.
  
  
• Spiders and Algernon are who to avoid.
  Spiders tend to come in packs, have a lot of health, pack a punch, poison AND be able to slow you. Algernon is basically guaranteed death if he finds you early enough. You can't run from him, you can't kill him in time, and he always comes with a massive pack. Even the reward isn't very great. Stay away.

The Swamp:

• Potato King and Shelob are priority targets.
  Potato king for basically the same reason as Shelob, except he's not as blindingly fast as she is. His possee might be scarier, though.
  
  
• Staff Goblins are who to avoid.
  If you thought massive damage and a DoT were fun on normal mode, imagine hard mode. If you need to kill one, let something else get its attention and wail on it first. Otherwise, you may be dead before you blink.

The Sand Labyrinth:

• Lesser Insectoids and Scarabs are priority targets.
  Lesser Insectoids are tough combatants, but always tend to carry solid gear as well as incredibly nice longbows for archers. Scarabs are basically completely helpless and almost always drop food, which is extremely nice for an area as lacking in food as this one.
  
  
• Skrabblag and Scorpions are who to avoid.
  Basically, scorpions suck. Boss scorpions also suck. Boss scorpions who only drop a dumb gem suck even more. Never assume they won't paralyze you for 10 seconds at a time every time they hit you, and try to avoid melee combat with them if you can help it. Especially if other enemies are around.

The Ruins:

• Young Vampires, Staff Gnomes and Thumpus are priority targets.
  As you become more powerful, Staff Gnomes start seeming less like all-powerful threats and more like free lightning staves. Use them like so. Young Vampires can drop the incredibly useful Vampire Doublet, and Thumpus is just a bigger troll that gives bigger XP.
  
  
• DEMONS
  You can start finding Demons here, and do NOT mess with a demon unless you can basically win the fight before it starts. It has a lot of health, it's fast, it throws fireballs, and it can VERY easily beat you to death. They don't even drop anything that nice. Fear the demons.

Hell:

• Goatmen are priority targets.
  They actually wear armor and are nice enough to drop potions from time to time, so politely convince them to give you stuff with violent murder.
  
  
• DEMONS

The Crystal Caves:

• Kobolds and Crystal Golems are priority targets.
  I don't remember the last time a Kobold didn't drop me a nice potion, and they usually have some pretty neat shields, so that, along with their threat level, makes them pretty useful to beat around. Crystal Golems are up there in the "enemies likely to oneshot you" section, but fighting them as carefully as you fight a troll will often yield you crystal items.
  
  
• C O C K A T R I C E S
  They're here. Oh god.
  You thought Cockatrices were fun in normal mode? Well, guess what. Almost 1200 health, and no amount of armor in the game will keep you from getting shredded in an all-out melee. You fight them smart or you don't fight them at all, no exceptions. And if they paralyze you? Bye bye. You're gone. The Stoneblood staves they can drop are nice, but Cockatrices will put the fear of God in you. Also, do not, do NOT try to dominate one without an Amulet of Life Saving equipped. You will die. No exceptions.

The Citadel:

• Honestly, basically everything by this point is fair game except the Cockatrices.
  Never the Cockatrices.

The Minotaur

I honest to god completely forgot about the minotaur, I was about to wrap this up.

Alright.



When you see a Minotaur warning, you have to ask yourself one question.

Do I have what it takes to kill the Minotaur?

And I don't mean that as a call to action. I mean do you literally have the things required to kill the Minotaur.

Namely, a way to slow him (Cold, Slow), some kind of ranged attack (A bow, thrown weapons, Cold again), and some loop to run him around while you wail on him.

If you do, congrats! You can get a massive chunk of XP, the freedom to clean out the rest of the level, and his pre-appraised gem.

If not, don't bother. Just get out. You WILL NOT win a fistfight against the Minotaur, and especially not once you hit the Crystal Caves. At that point, it's not worth fighting him at all, and he's too fast for it to matter.

If he shows up on a floor with a secret level, make sure the path to it is safe, because once the Minotaur starts rolling in you need an escape.

And yes, if the ZAP Brigade shows up, you COULD get their help to take the minotaur down. But just be warned that their arrival may well be a curse for non-human players, and they might not even win.

Aaaand that's about it.

That's about all I could think of.
Let me know if it helped or if there's anything I need to add.

[Spoing]

You're able to shoot through metal gates, so if you bring a few ranged weapons you can make the Temple on floor 7 an absolute joke

[Ovenio]

I may never play hardcore mode but I enjoyed reading what you had to say about it, thank you for an entertaining read!

[CPRCellPhoneRepair]

Thanks for guide this game is ripping whatever I had left of a soul out of my body

[Marcelo-xv]

Great guide, thank you. :)

[Grandpa Crack Pipe]

You're goddamn right it is.

[Ghoul]

the joker is the best class in the game

[Player Juan]

I'm naturally skeptical when I hear "did you know" and it's not followed by "It is true!" but this seems to check out. Thank you!

[squamly]

very well delivered

[jkim_homie]

This is amazing!