The Vaults

Possibly constructed by some powerful madman, the Vaults are said to be home to great treasures. The blood spattered liberally around the entrance suggests that there is a certain amount of violence, too. The Vaults are eight levels deep and contain the silver rune. The entrance can be found between levels 14 and 19 of the main dungeon.

These stairs lead down into the Vaults, said to be home of great treasures. They are sprinkled with spots of blood.

The Vaults are an expansive 8-floor Dungeon branch filled with countless treasure chambers (most of which are unfortunately empty). They are guarded by a wide variety of late-game monsters, but the promise of the silver rune of Zot, access to the Crypt and the Hall of Blades, and four guaranteed treasure or shop vaults makes it well worth the hazards. Stairs to the Vaults can be found between floors 14 and 19 of the Dungeon.

Layout

The Vaults' floor plan is extremely regular: the first 7 floors will be large rectangles spotted through with many solid rectangular pillars or small rectangular rooms with doors. Construction materials vary as you descend; rock walls are common in the higher floors, but stone and metal makes up the majority of what you see on the lower floors. The only breaks in this design are the occasional unusual vault, such as a teleporter tile that sends you to an otherwise inaccessible treasure room, or a large chamber seemingly composed only of several layers of secret doors (Hint: Do not open the chamber seemingly composed only of several layers of secret doors). You can also find stairs to the Crypt on V: 2-5 and the Hall of Blades on V: 4-6.

The 8th and final floor changes this pattern abruptly. The floor contains four very large rectangular chambers that take up almost the entire floor, except for a cross-shaped hallway separating them all and an outer hallway bordering everything. All three normal staircases from the 7th to the 8th floor dump you in the very middle of the room, which will be surrounded by many vault guards and other angry Vault inhabitants. Fortunately, this floor also houses an immense amount of loot or several shops, and the silver rune of Zot.

Useful Info

The Vaults are inhabited by a wide variety of monsters with a very diverse array of attacks, but generally speaking the biggest threat is simply getting beaten to death by sheer brute force. Stone giants, yaktaurs, and other creatures which can deal high physical damage output at range are common enough, and the open floor plan makes it difficult to effectively bottleneck opponents or cut off lines of fire. Pack enemies also appear in great numbers, ranging from high-level orc bands to devastating hell knight packs. Bring sufficient fire power, take your time, and be ready to take a different staircase down if the one you just used placed you in the crosshairs of multiple ranged opponents.

Do not go to Vaults: 8 before you are ready for it. If you had difficulty with floors 1-7, floor 8 will probably be too much for you.

Vaults: 8

The eighth floor is an abrupt change from the first seven. All of the standard down staircases to V: 8 place you in the very middle of the floor, with a ring of over a dozen vault guards waiting for you and several other (much more dangerous) opponents lurking right behind them. These monsters can include titans, storm dragons, quicksilver dragons, shadow dragons, and liches, along with the worst of what you've encountered in the top 7 floors. No matter what your character type may be, charging in and slugging it out is very likely to go poorly.

Melee characters should stair dance to break up the enemy as much as possible. You can usually get a small group of vault guards to follow you up initially; if you have trouble dealing with them, then you're probably not ready to face the floor. Casters can create some useful chaos by casting Alistair's Intoxication with Clarity; this will confuse the majority of the guards, giving you time to blast the biggest threats with a wall of bodies in the way. Bolt or Cloud spells that can target multiple enemies at once help with crowd control here immensely, as do the Storm spells if you have them. Even so, be prepared to run as soon as things get ugly, as several of the monsters here have smite-targeting attacks or breath attacks that will tear right through your confused guards, and making this much noise will attract attention from the four treasure vaults.

Resistances are much more important on Vault: 8 than on the floors above. The draining attacks of shadow dragons can strip away your experience with frightening speed unless you have negative energy resistance (preferably rN+++). Storm dragon breath can be brutal as well without electricity resistance. This also protects against the lightning bolts of titans, but they also know Airstrike, so avoid flying in their presence. Quicksilver dragons deal severe damage regardless of your defenses, so try to make them a high priority. Packing some fire and cold resistance on top of everything else is advisable, as there are plenty of other dragon types around, not to mention casters with broad spell lists.

Alternatively, you can enter and teleport as quickly as possible to one of the hallways at the edge of the map. This will give you time to recover, as these hallways are much less densely populated than any other part of the level, and you can cautiously clear out the central cluster of opponents without being surrounded. Heading down an escape hatch from V:7 to V:8 may place you in this safe outer hallway, but there's a better-than-even chance that you'll end up stuck in one of the four vaults and have to fight your way out.