Zot:5

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Zot:5 is the final floor of the Realm of Zot. Part of the floor is similar to Zot:1-4, but the rest is taken over by the massive Orb chamber, one of several pre-designed vaults containing the Orb of Zot. Picking up the Orb allows you to ascend the Dungeon, escape, and win the game.

The Orb chamber is one of the most dangerous places you'll have to trudge through, barring some of the worst Ziggurat floors. It is almost entirely constructed of indestructible walls and has a layout that makes monsters likely to come at you in groups. These monsters include:

Charging in is almost certain suicide. To succeed, consider your build and plan your approach around that. The rest of the page provides helpful information and outlines common strategies.

Preparations

The following items, abilities, and intrinsics are recommended for surviving the Orb chamber. They are ordered in terms of importance. A more experienced player can clear the chamber with fewer, while a player who just reached Zot:5 for the first time will probably want to have as many of them as possible.

Preliminaries

  • Clear Zot:1-4. This is optional, but it gives a large amount of experience and makes the ascension run safer.
  • If you have one, use a scroll of magic mapping once you reach Zot:5 to see the layout of the chamber. Consider excluding the entrance to the orb chamber so you don't autoexplore into it (shift-x, select the entrance, press e twice to block the spot).
  • Clear everything outside the chamber first, which makes escaping from Zot:5 much safer; this section will be similar to the upper floors of Zot. Do note that as you explore the orb chamber, monsters may stumble into the permanent teleport traps within and be scattered across the level, including areas you have already cleared.
  • If you have a way to dig, consider making a kill hole near the entrance to the Orb chamber; this can help pare down the dangerous monsters you'll be fighting at once. Be sure to leave an exit for yourself, as teleporting away will be slow and potentially dangerous, as you might end up teleporting into the Orb chamber itself.

Monster Strategies

  • Killing off ancient liches should be your top priority.
    • Check which spells the lich can have and what their range is. An ancient lich with Lehudib's Crystal Spear is far less terrifying when at the edge of your line of sight than when it's up close.
    • Buff yourself up whenever dealing with them. They can summon brutal demons with torment and damnation, or cast Iron Shot or Crystal Spear for massive damage. Some of the best ways of killing them are: good weapons of antimagic (a short sword of antimagic is not a good weapon) or holy wrath, Dispel Undead, Orb of Destruction, Shatter, Iron Shot, Tornado, Summon Horrible Things, Dragon's Call, or Shadow Creatures. If you're using heavy Conjurations, couple it with a Spellforged Servitor.
    • Ideally you'll be able to kill any ancient liches before they summon too many demonic reinforcements. If they do get anything frightening out, remember that killing the summoner is the fastest method for destroying their summons. Attempting to flee by blinking is extremely risky, and fleeing by foot often results in death by torment and damnation. Don't let the liches last long enough to make this a problem!
    • Remember that they won't cast anything if they can't see a target; try not to spend too long with them in your line of sight without attending to them. Melee characters will want to retreat around corners to force them into melee range, as rushing towards them gives them several turns to hit you with a crystal spear or summon fiends, not to mention the fact that you'll likely encounter even more enemies as you enter unexplored areas.
    • Silenced liches cannot cast spells and will instead rely on their pathetic melee skills; their single attack is draining-branded, but it's still far less terrifying than their magic. Of course, you'll block your own spells at the same time.
  • Orbs of fire are next on the list (but if you're facing ancient liches and orbs of the fire at the same time, you should strongly consider making an escape). If you lack at least rF++, they can deal incredible damage very quickly, and they will almost certainly mutate you several times if you don't resist mutations.
    • There's no safe way to deal with them, since they have very high HP and defenses, resist almost all elements, and have enough damage output to chew through most summons almost as fast as you can create them. Melee fighters should use antimagic weapons to negate their attacks (if you haven't found one yet, freezing or vorpal weapons are your best alternatives). Conjurers should cast their most powerful non-elemental Conjurations, such as Iron Shot, Lehudib's Crystal Spear, Orb of Destruction, Tornado, or Fire Storm. Absolute Zero is perfect for dealing with them, if you can cast it and get them within range.
    • Again, spellforged servitors shine here. Their elemental resistances allow them to soak a few fire spells without dying, their spells are nearly as potent as your own, and you can hide behind one to avoid any bad mutations reaching you.
    • There is no such thing as overkill when it comes to orbs of fire. Pull out all the stops -- potions of might, brilliance, haste, or resistance, god-given abilities like Okawaru's Finesse or Sif Muna's Divine Exigesis... Do everything in your power to kill them as quickly as possible.
  • Whenever you come across a monster, grab its attention and retreat to a safe place to kill it. Keep in mind that creatures with ranged attacks (Killer Klowns, dragons/draconians, electric golems) will shoot at you as they chase you, so you may have to hide behind a corner to force them to follow you.
  • Speaking of Orb Guardians, they are fast and strong, but they can be confused. If you're about to be swarmed by a bunch, it's often a great idea to have them bashing one another instead of you.
  • Moths of wrath may berserk monsters or you. Try not to be there when this happens to a pack of Orb Guardians.

Trap Strategies

The inner chamber and the lungs are littered with traps. Dispersal traps will blink you around randomly, possibly putting you behind enemy lines and in sight of something unpleasant. Alarm traps will wake most of the floor and ensure everything can hunt you down. Net traps will drop throwing nets on you, potentially pinning you down long enough for something to come along and kill you. Pressure plates will drop a bunch of Killer Klowns on top of you. Zot traps will apply one of several unpleasant effects (list includes draining your MP, paralyzing you, durably summoning a greater demon, and more). Furthermore, monsters can and will use traps against you by stepping on them. However, traps can only affect you if you can see them; it may be safer to stay out of sight and shout into the chamber lungs to attract attention.

Be sure to immediately quaff a potion of cancellation if you get marked and begin planning a retreat (as creatures will continue to move towards your last known location for a time). Be especially wary of dispersal traps in this situation, as random blinking will almost certainly stymie any attempt to flee on foot. Should you be trapped in an endless cycle of blinking, reading a scroll of teleportation may be your last chance to get out alive.

An artefact with -Tele may become a lifesaver, as it will prevent dispersal traps from blinking you. However, it will also prevent you from teleporting to safety; be prepared to begin retreating the instant things start to turn south.

Strategies

WARNING: The strategies below call for specific abilities and tactics, and may not apply to your character!

Clear the Chamber Gradually

The most straightforward strategy is to simply walk into the chamber, wake up as few monsters as possible, retreat and kill them one by one; rinse and repeat. When exploring the two areas adjacent to the Orb's chamber, stick to the dividing wall, peek around the corner, and lure back anything you find. Approaching too aggressively will likely pull down more threats than you can handle at once.

This strategy can also be accomplished with careful use of noise (shouting and spells are the most reliable means of attracting attention). Make some noise to attract some monsters, get them chasing you, and run away. Note that due to the chamber layout and the patrolling Orb Guardians, this may be hard to do without getting swamped.

Go In With an Army

If you can, summon as many creatures as possible. You can then hang back as they fight the enemies. This may be accomplished in many ways:

It's worth noting that in Zot, almost any permanent servant will be annihilated quickly, especially when the orbs of fire start tossing around fireballs. Hordes of minions can certainly take down any given local, but you'll be going through a lot of minions! Since all of these units are fairly short-lived, this makes summons and divine companions much more attractive than the more "permanent" minions, as they depend less on limited resources like corpses.

Blast Your Way Through

A Conjurations specialist with a reliable means of recharging MP (potions of magic, Sif Muna's channeling, Sublimation of Blood, etc.) can often simply blast his way through with high-end spells like Lehudib's Crystal Spear, Orb of Destruction, Fire Storm, or Shatter. This is especially true when you're accompanied by a spellforged servitor. Mind the noise, don't attract more monsters than your MP can handle, and don't be afraid to fall back and recover if need be.

Lugonu's Corruption

Worshiping Lugonu can make rushing into the Orb chamber a much less daunting task. If you corrupt the level at the entrance of the left or right side of the chamber, you will likely break through a path to the Orb room and in the meantime create walls and demons blocking the path of monsters. Haste yourself if possible, rush past any remaining guardians, read a scroll of teleportation, and grab the Orb. If you wind up in a dangerous spot, teleport yourself again and hope for a better landing. If need be, banishing yourself to the Abyss can save your life and give you a chance to heal, but don't forget that you will return to the exact same spot you left from.

Shatter

If you don't worship Lugonu but can cast Shatter, you can make yourself a shortcut through the stone walls in the orb chamber. Note, however, that this is much slower and will make a lot of noise, enough to instantly awaken almost every monster on the floor. As a bonus, however, Shatter deals very respectable damage to many enemies found here (apart from dragons, orbs of fire, and electric golems). Once you clear a path to the Orb, grab it quickly and teleport away as described above. Zin's Sanctuary ability is a nice addition to keep you alive when all else fails.

Stealth/Stabbing

Walk into the Orb chamber and try to stab any sleeping monsters (Orb Guardians, ancient liches, orbs of fire, etc.). If possible, cast Darkness to limit the number of opponents you have to deal with. Be sure to have a means of escape and stack as much stealth as possible if you want to try this approach. If an Orb Guardian wakes up, lure it outside the chamber before fighting it to avoid waking up any other monsters. When you're in sight of the Orb, grab it and teleport away.

History

  • Prior to 0.19, the translocations restrictions of the Orb of Zot did not apply to the entire Realm of Zot
  • Before the removal of teleport control in 0.17, teleport control was disabled on Zot:5
  • Prior to 0.12, digging out everything outside the Orb chamber would increase the chances of landing somewhere safe after a random teleport.
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