Challenges

Combat Challenges

These are optional challenges you can do ingame, in the form of putting yourself under some form of restriction(s)

If you like to use advanced combat tactics and maximizing your available resources to overcome ingame challenges then these are for you. 

All of these challenges have been confirmed as being and completed by at least one person.

In the description of a specific challenge you will see a "Restriction" section and a "Highscore" section. the restriction section is how the challenge was initially proposed. And the highscore section is what the one with the highscore did to make the challenge harder by either increasing the harshness of one or more of the required restrictions or added additional restrictions.

The challenges will have a spoiler in their section, this is the strategy used to beat them. So if you want to try it out before knowing the trick, avoid the spoiler.

If you can come up with different costum challenges feel free to add them or leave them in the comments. There will also be records associated with the challenges so if you think you can beat said record give it a go and tell us stories of your victory.

Universal Restrictions

These are restrictions that are on all the challenges, unless it specifically says otherwise.

• No Satisfaction equipment.
  • These are equipment gotten via satisfaction, such as the Dragon Rings and Knit Cap. They are restricted because the stats on them are too high.
• No Amazing Old Mans combat items.
  • His combat items are just too strong.
• No Easy mode.
  • All challenges are done in normal mode.
• No Naming screen codes.
  • This means nothing gained from calling hero any of his Name codes nor any of the other codes. This also restricts calling Doll Vriska.
• No Manor lever codes.
  • This is the same as above, no items or resources gained from this.
• No Permanent stat boost items.
  • These are items such as Willis' Distilled Tonic.

Possible Restrictions

• Levels.
  • An example would be like this: 2/1/1/1, the numbers refer to the level of the party members, in this case Hero would be level 2 with the rest of the party members being level 1.
• No Bought equipment.
  • This means equipment gotten from drops, buried treasure, chest and other forms of loot are fair game, so long as it isn't bought.
• No Consumables.
  • This means no item usage whatsoever.
  • Equipments still fair game though.
• No High-Grade items.
  • These are items that are aren't instant-win items, but are still really potent.
  • Everything else is fair game though.
  • If you already have the No Consumables restrictions on, this restriction is meaningless as no consumables already restricts high-grade items.
  • List of items(To be expanded)
    • Bag of Marbles
    • Dragon Egg
• Day ends
  • Is the amount of day ends you have to complete the challenge(This does not count the initial day end after "Lord of the Manor".
• No buried Treasure.
  • Meaning you can't dig up the buried treasures
• No achievements:
  • When it is specified no achievements, the first walking achievement: "Walk in the park" is allowed since 1,000 is next to impossible to avoid. And achievments gotten in battle during the actual challenge, and not in the preparations is allowed.

Challenges

Early "Stuck in the Middle With you"

The premise of this challenge is that you want to complete Bronwyn's recruitment quest: Stuck in the Middle With You with a low leveled party.

Restriction:

• 5/4/4/4 party
• No consumables

Highscore:

• 2/1/1/1 party
• No consumables
• No achievements

Strategy

So the trick to getting this quest to trigger early and not taking an EXP penalty, is knowing which quest doesn't require any fighting to complete. These quests are Cannery Can-Can, The Pusher's Lament, Maid to Order and Scholastic Excellence. Those four quest plus Lord of the Manor which is unavoidable will clear the 5 level requirement for Stuck in the Middle With you, and then make sure you pay the knights extorting Bronwyn instead of fighting them to avoid the EXP penalty.

 

 

The party setup for this quest will be:

• Hero
  • Teach Hero Encourage to supplement healing as healing will be very limited in the beginning. Blazing Aura for mana regen to the party, this is key there is no way you are finishing this quest without out.
  • Equipment: You are gonna want to use light armor for Hero to keep his threat count lower than Dolls, but he still needs some measure of defense for the attacks he takes therefore light armor over clothing.
    • Weapon: Rusty Sword/Empty; For the first two fights equip Hero with a shield
    • Off-hand: Empty/Round Shield; For the first two fights equip Hero with a shield
    • Headgear: Lined Helmet
    • Bodygear: Iron Scalemail
    • Accessory: Iron Gauntlet
• Doll
  • She is needed to tank, and her natural regen is a necessity to survive especially in the first few fights.
  • Equipment: Doll needs heavy armor because of high threat count and because she will be taking a high amount of damage the extra defense is needed.
    • Weapon: Wooden Club
    • Off-hand: Iron Shield
    • Headgear: Knight Helm
    • Bodygear: Steel Armour
    • Accessory: Iron Gauntlet
• Meline
  • You want her instead of Healbot because Scintillating Shards can Daze the enemies, and Dazing is key to doing this challenge.
  • Equipment:
    • Weapon: Wood Staff
    • Off-hand: Basic Prayerbook; Until Doll reaches level 4, this will be your only source of decent healing.
    • Headgear: Bunny Eears
    • Bodygear: Layered Gown
    • Accessory: Cute Shoes
• Bronwyn
  • First of all she is required, but her DoT attacks is your only source of decent damage in this challenge.
  • Equipment:
    • Weapon: Longbow
    • Off-hand: Empty
    • Headgear: Lucky Hat; Since she will be doing most of the attacking, and it decreases threat count by 10% she will be getting this instead of Hero
    • Bodygear: Layered Gown
    • Accessory: Winged Shoes

Combat:

DoT = Damage over Time. I.E. Bleed, Poison etc.

First things first, in the fights with the common enemies ALWAYS DoT the Madcap Jester first, it will ensure he runs away on the next turn.
Secondly, starting from the second fight you can rush the jester and initiate to boss battle early, that way you wont have to deal with him in the rest of the fights. Although I suggest waiting until after the 3rd fight with doing this, simply because of your party stats.

Surviving the fights:

Alright since you will be highly underleved in this challenge your goal will be to mitigate the damage taken, because you won't have enough healing to outheal the damage, and you don't have to stats to simply outlast it.
What you can do is manipulate the threat and there redirect the damage to Doll since she will have the highest defense plus her natural regen, you do that by equipping Doll out in heavy equipment since that draws to most threat and always keeping Defender of Life active.
The second thing you do is to Daze the opponent with Meline, Daze gives all physical attacks 60% miss chance and since all the damage you will be taking is physical, Daze will significantly lower the damage taken.
As for who to Daze first, I usually go with the Brutal Slaver first, he uses Throw which attacks two party members and both attacks have a 80% chance to stun, and he's stagger skill also has an 80% chance to stagger. But it is not needed to focus on him first, it is also possible to win by focusing on the Chainmaster first. Never Daze the Jester in the common fights, if you DoT him on the first round he will run away on the second and he will always attack before you, so Dazing him on the first round is just wasting a turn.
Except for whenever Doll needs to reapply Defender of Life or needs to heal someone else, she should always be guarding.
You will also have emergency heals from Meline and Hero, and speaking of Hero since he won't be doing much damage anyway, equipping him with a shield in the first two fights and only have him guard, except for when Encourage and Blazing Aura is needed, will increase your survivability.

Winning the fights:

There really is only one way to do this, and that is Bronwyn's DoT attacks, they are the only source of decent damage in this challenge. Since Bronwyn should be rarely attacked with the threat management, you should always be attacking with Bronwyn to make sure you have the Momentum to reapply your DoT effects.
As for who to kill first, after having applied a DoT on the Jester, I again I always focus on the Brutal Slaver he tends to give me the most trouble, for the same reasons stated above. And again it is also possible to win by focusing on the Chainmaster.

The Boss:

Whether or not you do this fight early or at the end of the quest, the strategy is the same as with the common enemies.
Make sure Doll have Defender of Life active at all times and always Guard with her unless she needs to reapply Defender of Life or heal someone.
With Hero you can either have him defend or attack, both are possible after the 3rd fight, so do whatever you feel comfortable with just make sure he have enough Momentum to top off your MP pool.
Bronwyn should keep reapplying her DoTs.
And Meline shall keep him Dazed and heal if needed.

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Early "Corrupted Mycon"

This challenge was born out of Conash trying the early Stuck in the Middle With You, and it coincidentally rained the same day he tried it. Therefore the premise is much the same, defeat the Corrputed Mycon with a low leveled party.

Restriction:

• 5/4/4/4 party

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Early "Bewitchy Women"

The goal is to take out the nymphs inside the ice castly with a party that is as low leveled as possible.

Restriction:

• 7/6/6/6 party
• No High-Grade Items

Highscore:

• 5/4/4/4 party
• No High-Grade Items
• No achievements

Strategy

Getting this quest early is easy enough, just make sure you donate to the shrine in the slums before your last day end to make sure it will rain

 

 

The party setup for this quest will be:

• Hero
  • Teach Hero Encourage to supplement healing and Def boost. Blazing Aura for mana regen to the party, this is key there is no way you are finishing this quest without out.
  • Equipment: You are gonna want to use light armor for Hero to keep his threat count lower than Dolls, but he still needs some measure of defense for the attacks he takes therefore light armor over clothing.
    • Weapon: Rusty Sword
    • Off-hand: Empty
    • Headgear: Lucky Hat: Hero will be doing the damage in this challenge therefore he gets the Lucky Hat
    • Bodygear: Studded Leather
    • Accessory: Warrior's Belt
• Doll
  • She is needed to tank, and her natural regen is a necessity to survive especially in the first few fights.
  • Equipment: Doll needs heavy armor because of high threat count and because she will be taking a high amount of damage the extra defense is needed.
    • Weapon: Wooden Club
    • Off-hand: Wood Shield
    • Headgear: Knight Helm
    • Bodygear: Chain Mail
    • Accessory: Warm Cloak: We go with that instead of iron gauntlet, because magic will be the trouble here, and warm cloak gives a 20% resistance to Cold, which is the element used here.
• Meline
  • This challenge hinges on you being able to use Scintillating Shards to Daze the Melee fighters.
  • Equipment:
    • Weapon: Wood Staff
    • Off-hand: Basic Prayerbook
    • Headgear: Silvered Hairties
    • Bodygear: Frost(tm) Brand Dress
    • Accessory: Warding Charm
• Healbot
  • Equipment:
    • Weapon: Slingshot
    • Off-hand: Magical Handbook
    • Headgear: Silvered Hairties
    • Bodygear: Magic School Uniform
    • Accessory: Warding Charm

Combat:

There will be fights with a mage common enemy, these can be hard to handle without the stats to do so, luckily there is a way to get a few levels before having to face on of those fights.
First chance; after the first fight, there will be a fork in the road, first go straight down that fight will be without mages.
Second chance; Do NOT go upstairs that will basically guarantee a mage fight, instead go back up the fork and go the other way, and inside the barracks will be another fight without another mage.

Surviving the fights:

Winning the fights:

The Boss:

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Day 1 Coastburg

The challenge is to be able to clear the daily dungeon Coastburg on day 1

Restriction:

• 0 day ends

Highscore:

• 0 day ends
• No bought equipment
• No consumables

Strategy

The limiting factor in this will be your levels and equipment, there isn't a whole lot to do with equipment since the no bought equipment(This is only for the highscore, if you don't care about that you can make this much easier by buying equipment from the guild shops), but there is some to be gained.
However there is a surprising amount of ways to gain some EXP on day 1.
First way, Giant's path + the ogre, this one also gives us the Earth Spirit Charm for Doll.
Second way is completing Elvo's Manor, you will also find the Leather Bandana and Magical Handbook for Healbot here.
Third way is a murder route in Fairyest Of Them All, and clear out the rest of the fairies flying around in Innsbrook while you are there.
Fourth way is the fight inside the warehouse in Northmarket - Slums.
Fifth and final EXP opportunity is the bandit random encounter found to the north east of the world map.
As for the last bit if equipment is found in buried treasures, The Knight Helm is the buried treasure next to Northmarket Manor, and the Fortified Cloak is the buried treasure in front of Southport Magical Academy

The party setup for this challenge will be:

• Hero
  • Teach Hero Encourage to supplement healing and Def boost.
  • Equipment: You are gonna want to use light armor/clothing armor for Hero to keep his threat count lower than Dolls.
    • Weapon: Rusty Sword
    • Off-hand: Empty
    • Headgear: Lucky Hat: Hero will be doing the damage in this challenge therefore he gets the Lucky Hat
    • Bodygear: Leather Jacket
    • Accessory: Fortified Cloak
• Doll
  • She is needed to tank, and her natural regen is a necessity to survive these fights.
  • Equipment: Doll needs heavy armor because of high threat count and because she will be taking a high amount of damage the extra defense is needed.
    • Weapon: Wooden Club
    • Off-hand: Buckler
    • Headgear: Knight Helm
    • Bodygear: Studded Leather
    • Accessory: Earth Spirit Charm
• Healbot
  • Healbot being able to knockdown with the Magical Handbook is vital for this challenge.
  • Equipment:
    • Weapon: Slingshot
    • Off-hand: Magical Handbook
    • Headgear: Leather Bandana
    • Bodygear: Magic School Uniform
    • Accessory: Cloak of Resistance

Combat:

First of all, after every fight you should leave the dungeon to save(or just rely on the autosave upon re-entering the dungeon). Second of all do all the fights with 2 zombies before the ones with 3 zombies the one extra level gained from the 2 zombies fight will be a real boon for the 3 zombies fight.

Surviving the fights:

Keep Defender of Life active on Doll is essential. Also keep guarding with her, except for the times she needs to re-apply Defender of Life and the occasional heal for other party members.

Healbot should be on knockdown duty, so only stop casting Magic Missile if he needs to cast Cure Light Wounds. Whenever you have a succesfull knockdown switch to the next zombie, and don't switch away from that zombie until you succesfully knockdown that one. Do not try and re-apply a knockdown on a zombie that has already been knockdowned before, because with every succesfull knockdown an enemy gains a higher resistance to it, so you actions are better spend on a zombie that hasn't already been knockdowned. The only exception is of couse if you have already succesfully knockdowned all enemies present, then you can try and re-apply it.

Hero CAN buff Assault and heal with Encourage should it be needed, but try and use it sparringly as he is better off damaging.

Winning the fights:

There is no trick to make these fights faster, so just spam attack with hero and Healbots Magic Missile and you will eventually get there. Whenever a zombie dies a Parasitic Worms will spawn, and you need to focus on them when they because their Sonic Boom can be really devastating, so your goal is to take it out before it overwhelms you with sound. And for that same reason don't ever make two of them spawn at the same time.

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Speedrun Challenges

Challenges

Hell To Pay

The goal is to complete "Hell To Pay" as fast as possible on Easy mode.

Restriction: Easy Mode, no Wiki-tan, no Cerulean, no Codes & no mods†

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Princess Bride

The goal is to complete "Princess Bride" as fast as possible on Easy mode.

Restriction: Easy Mode, no Wiki-tan, no Cerulean, no Codes and no mods†

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Manor Assault

The goal is to complete "Manor Assault" as fast as possible on Normal mode.

Restriction: Normal Mode, no Wiki-tan, no Cerulean, no Codes & no mods†

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†Graphical/Cosmetic mods and the Inconvenience mod are allowed.

Leaderboard

Hell To Pay - Easy Mode

Rank	Name	Time
1st	Jasonk	2h 10m 54s
2nd	SO5Z	3h 16m 38s
3rd	-	-

Hell To Pay - Normal Mode

Rank	Name	Time
1st	Jasonk	2h 31m 03s
2nd	-	-
3rd	-	-

Princess Bride - Easy Mode

Rank	Name	Time
1st	Jasonk	2h 20m 00s
2nd	SO5Z	3h 17m 45s
3rd	-	-

Journeyman - Normal Mode

Rank	Name	Time
1st	Jasonk	0h 24m 19s
2nd	-	-
3rd	-	-

Manor Assault - Normal Mode (glitchless)

Rank	Name	Time
1st	Jasonk	0h 15m 39s
2nd	SO5Z	0h 17m 33s
3rd	Zephyr Shadow	0h 17m 57s

Manor Assault - Normal Mode (Lotm-skip)

Rank	Name	Time
1st	Jasonk	0h 11m 59s
2nd	SO5Z	0h 15m 52s
3rd	-	-

Triforce - Easy Mode

Rank	Name	Time
1st	Jasonk	3h 20m 45s
2nd	-	-
3rd	-	-

Triforce - Normal Mode

Rank	Name	Time
1st	Jasonk	5h 15m 42s
2nd	-	-
3rd	-	-