Ziggurat

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Version 0.32: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
A portal leading to a ziggurat.

A ziggurat is a strange tower constructed of incrementally larger combat arenas, each containing greater wealth and even greater danger than the last. Beware, for a ziggurat is not a place for the faint of heart: even the bravest and most skilled adventurers have met their ends in one. While a portal to safety will be present on every level, once left, a ziggurat cannot be re-entered.

One ziggurat is guaranteed in the Depths. Tales tell of an magical item found at the bottom of each ziggurat, granting access to a new ziggurat in turn. Such an item is also said to be found at the bottom of the Tomb of the Ancients. Each time a ziggurat is conquered by exiting it from the final floor, subsequent ziggurats will become increasingly dangerous and lucrative.

“Captain: Take off every ‘zig’!!
Captain: For great justice.”
-Zero Wing

Ziggurats are the most dangerous, unpredictable, and lucrative branches in the game. A ziggurat has 27 oval- or cross-shaped floors, each increasing in size, monster count, and treasure.

Useful Info

There are 2 ways to enter a ziggurat:

Ziggurat portals do not expire over time. Once one has left a ziggurat, the portal turns into an empty arch and may not be reentered. Any new portal encountered or created leads to the first floor of a fresh ziggurat. Summoned creatures cannot follow the player through a ziggurat portal or stairway.

If you successfully complete a ziggurat (exit from the 27th floor), all subsequent ziggurats become more difficult (more monsters, more loot), up to the 13th (some monster sets will continue to get more difficult forever). Also, clearing a ziggurat stops the Zot clock for the rest of the game.

Layout

Each floor has a number of monsters of a particular theme. The 1st floor may contain 2-3 monsters, the last floors will contain hundreds. Most are based around branches (e.g. Shoals or Elf floors), though some are ad-hoc. Deeper floors will have a greater ratio of powerful monsters to weak ones, and can generate all monsters awake and wandering (0% chance for Zig:1-4, 100% chance for Zig 25-27).

Each floor may also contain a central clump of dungeon features known as pillars. Most of them are cosmetic, but some can contain foes ranging from crimson imps to royal mummies. There are always 4 identical pillars generated in each "corner" of a ziggurat floor (actual contents may vary, but they are always the same type of feature). There is a small chance for a Zot trap pillar to generate.

The entrance to each floor closes as soon as you walk through; the only way out is at the opposite end of the floor. Except on the final floor, there are always 2 staircases down, and 1 portal out. On the final floor, there's 2 portals out.

To compensate, ziggurats contain large amounts of treasure, including armour, jewellery, valuable potions (many of which are potions of experience), manuals, and many other wonderful things. Note that items can spawn on the exit portals/stairs, so don't forget about them.

Monster Themes

Unless mentioned otherwise, the chance for any given set is (approx.) 4.39% for Zig:1-13 and 4.26% for Zig:14-27.

Enemies listed in italics have Symbol of Torment or other dangerous abilities, such as Lehudib's Crystal Spear, or the high burst damage of a juggernaut.

Branches

Lair, Shoals, and the Hells all have 50% of the normal chance to spawn. Tartarus has 20% of the normal chance to spawn.

Theme Sets

Giants, dragons, archers, conjurers and the Vestibule have 20% of the normal chance to place, while Lair rune branches has 50% of the normal chance.

Elemental

Elemental floors all have 20% of the normal chance to place, aside from Chaos.

Strategy

If you actually intend to complete a ziggurat, it's usually the last thing you should do - Zig:27 can potentially be the hardest place in the game.

That being said, a character ready for Zot is likely able to handle the first few floors of a Zig. If you need certain items, like potions of mutation or spellbooks, dipping into a ziggurat can be a good option. You could come across a nasty pan lord on the first floor, so it's recommended to have consumables (scrolls of blinking, potions of haste, etc.) if you want to enter.

Tips & Tricks

  • Ziggurats only get harder if the previous one is fully completed, and you get 2 chances to enter a fresh Zig. So if you exit the 1st Zig from level 26 or before, you'll get a 2nd Zig at the same difficulty.

Completion Strategies

Main article: Mega-Zig

Preparation is similar to Pandemonium, but harder. For a reasonable amount of safety, the following is highly recommended:

  • XL 27 and very high skills.
  • Decent (~40+) AC and EV.
  • As many resistances as possible; at least something like rCorr, rElec, rPois, rC+, and rF++. You should strive for rN+++, especially if you're susceptible to torment.

The following are recommended, if not essential:

  • Scrolls of fog to block enemy sight, and scrolls of blinking to escape.
  • Potions of curing to cure confusion (especially if you use an orb of energy), potions of heal wounds to recover lost HP, potions of might/brilliance/haste to enhance your battle prowess, and potions of magic to recover MP in a pinch.
  • Blink and Passage of Golubria at 1% failure, to avoid getting surrounded, create some distances from powerful enemies, or just escape.

Keep in mind you're limited to 52 items; only bring what you know will be useful, else you might not be able to take all the loot you want with you. Artefacts with multiple resistances and intrinsics are your friend!

Conjurer Strategy

The basic strategy is to use death form and cast your offensive spells. Throw javelins at silencing foes. Depending on your god choice, you can also use Sif Muna's channel (more reliable), Vehumet's MP gain on killing (somewhat more random, but passive), or Gozag's magic potion (expensive at first). Keep in mind that you can't escape to rest for MP, so make sure to have backup in the form of a potion of magic, Sublimation of Blood, etc...

Spells

Support Spells:

Offensive Spells:

If you plan on going past 1-2 ziggurats or so, you should rely mostly on Ignition rather than Fire Storm/Chain Lightning. Ignition hits every enemy in the cramped floors of a ziggurat 9 times over, which can outdamage both spells. However, Ignition cannot hurt fire-immune enemies, so you'll still want to have one of the latter spells. Also, for most of the 1st/2nd Zig, Fire Storm can match or even outperform Ignition. (Ignition can still be useful to have for one-time ziggurat divers.)

Optional Spells:

  • Discord: this makes floors with many natural monsters with low willpower, such as orc or merfolk floors, very easy.
  • Chain Lightning: Useful for killing dangerous monsters (especially Pan lords) who get close to you. Crystal spear is an inferior alternative, but can work if you can't cast Chain Lightning yet.
  • Dragon's Call: Creates distractions for a somewhat efficient MP cost, though it'll use your entire bar if you aren't careful.

Equipment

In addition to the general equipment:

  • Enhancers (e.g. rings of fire/ice, staff of conjuration/fire/cold/air, etc...) to enhance the power of Fire Storm, Ignition, or Polar Vortex. A robe of the Archmagi is amazing for this purpose, if low AC.
    • A ring of wizardry to improve the success rates of your level 9 spells, if necessary. Also, try downgrading your shield type (tower shield to a kite shield to a buckler) if your Shields skill isn't high enough. Your offense is your best defense.
    • Orbs of mayhem can disable an entire screen's worth of enemies, including orbs of fire and other nonliving enemies, by causing them to go into a frenzy and attack their former comrades. This will also disable their spellcasting.

Specific Floors

Most floors can be completed by spamming high power spells. However, some need special care; more detail can be found in the Mega-Zig article.

Silence, whenever it be from silent spectres or pandemonium lords, should be your main threat. It disables nearly all of your damage output and escape options.

Fire floors, with orbs of fire and balrugs, demand a spell that is not Ignition. Ozocubu's Refrigeration and Chain Lightning work nicely.

Necromancer Strategy

While this is not as effective as using offensive, full-screen elemental spells, a more companion driven variant is still effective. Begin every ziggurat floor with Death Channel. Use Infestation in crowded groups of enemies, and begin by slaying the first few infested monsters to begin snowballing with undead. Ignition is a great way of initiating the cascade. In particularly difficult floors, be prepared to escape with Death's Door and a scroll of blinking or two.

Spells

Support Spells:

  • Anguish: Affects the entire screen, so every monster that passes a willpower check takes damage from attacking. A scroll of vulnerability can greatly increase the number of affected targets, but be careful of dangerous hexers.

Offensive Spells:

  • Death Channel & Infestation: Create undead allies in large quantities.
  • Ignition: Hits every enemy in the cramped floors of a ziggurat up to 9 times over; does not harm allies.
  • Non-Elemental Spells: A lesser priority, but spells like Iron Shot are useful for hitting singlular immune enemies when Death Channel has not started yet.

Spell-less Strategy

Generally, you shouldn't attempt to fully clear a Ziggurat without spells of some sort. It is very likely to be fatal. Having said that, the first few floors are usually safe for many XL 27 characters, although this can still be risky.

The Singing Sword is a notable exception to this, and it is viable to clear the first ziggurat by using it with Manifold Assault.

See Also

  • Mega-Zig - also includes strategies to beat them.

History

  • After 0.32, ziggurats now scale monster difficulty three times as fast and the monster count twice as fast.
  • In 0.31, a vestibule floor was added, and many floors were revamped to compensate for the difficulty change caused by other gameplay reworks.
  • Prior to 0.28, ziggurats required at least 2 runes of Zot to enter.
  • In 0.27, the Zot clock now stops when you complete your first ziggurat.
  • Ziggurat player ghosts were added in 0.25.
  • Prior to 0.18, ziggurat portals generated randomly in the Pandemonium, requiring money to enter.
  • 0.16 introduced so-called Mega-Zigs. Every time a ziggurat is cleared, subsequent ziggurats become much harder.
  • Prior to 0.16, ziggurats required at least 3 runes of Zot to enter.
  • Prior to 0.15, a ziggurat portal could be summoned by the Trowel card of a legendary Deck of dungeons once per game. The Trowel card was removed in 0.15.
  • Prior to 0.14, ziggurat portals would generate randomly in the main Dungeon, and required you pay an admission fee of 2,100 to 14,000 gold to enter.
  • Prior to 0.10, it was possible to permanently leave a ziggurat via Banishment.
Temporary Portals
Early Game Ossuary • Sewers
Mid Game Bailey • Gauntlet • Ice cave • Volcano
Late Game Desolation of Salt • Wizard Laboratory • Ziggurat (Mega-Zig)
Peaceful Bazaar • Treasure trove
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