Metal Menagerie

Table Of Contents
1: Introduction
2: Slime Challenge
3: Metal Ticket
4: Inside the Menagerie
5: Scouting/Obtaining Metals
5: Useful Items/Skills
1: Introduction
If you're reading this FAQ, it probably means that you're either curious 
about what this place is, already know what it is and trying to get 
help to get access to it, to kill metals, or are just randomly reading this 
out of boredom.
First of all, I'll explain what it is. Metal Menagerie is a special room in
Madame Rummy's castle on Palaish Island. It's home to only the three main
metal monsters; Metal Slime, Liquid Metal Slime, and Metal King Slime.
What is so special about them, you may ask? Other than being a complete pain
to scout, they are the single best source of EXP in the game. You might have
noticed a Metal Slime on Celeste or Fert, and might have killed it, to be
rewarded with over a thousand EXP to a full group. That's just the smallest
one, giving 1024 exp. Liquid Metal Slime gives roughly ten times that, a
whopping 10 024 exp. Metal King Slime gives even more, at 21 884. And that's
to a full group of three - if you killed Metal King with only one monster, it
would get 65 535 exp.
What's the catch? The first problem is their high defense and Metal Body
trait. Unless you have over 500 or so Attack, you will rarely if ever see
more than 0 or 1 damage against these slimes. Having Metal Beater trait and
Metal Slash (both earned from the same skillset) along with a Metal-Killer
weapon usually allows you to do up to 2-4 damage per hit though. I'll
elaborate later on. Psaro (rank x) is a very good monster to use. Mine has over 
600 attack at level 45, and does 32 damage to Metal Body Slimes.
Second problem is the fact that they're hard to encounter. You have to do a
challenge each time you wish to enter the Menagerie, in which you have to
defeat a bunch of slimes in 5 minutes. Each time you try, the counter goes
up, until you have to defeat 24 slimes each time. For the most part, they
appear in groups of 3, so it isn't that hard unless they use Clang too much.
Once again, I'll discuss this more at a later part of the FAQ.
In short, these are the ultimate source of leveling up and getting skills.
Although a pain to kill, they have some weaknesses which are not that hard
to exploit.
2: Slime Challenge
As the main focus of this guide is the Metal Menagerie, it's important to
know the easiest ways to enter it. A brief rundown - You have to kill a
bunch of slimes which spawn all around Rummy's gardens. 
Here are a few tips - Try to set a path for yourself to follow. I personally
go through the first screen, which nets me 2-3 groups of slimes. After, I
move onto the second screen and head left to where the main "path" leads.
I don't go down to the lawn, just kill up to there, then retreat and go the
other way to where the two or three ladder towers are. Kill the slimes up on
those towers, and head back to where I first went, killing what respawned and
whatever is on the lawn. By then, I usually have all 24. The reason I do that
backtracking is because the third screen isn't as good in killing the slimes.
There, they can appear in groups of one or two, and you have to kick down the
drawbridges, which does nothing but annoys you.
Also, if you have a monster with Double Trouble trait, it might be best to
leave it in reserve, at least for this part, and take it back out when you 
get to the Metal Menagerie. The reason - The slimes like to use Clang. If you
played the original DWM 1-2 games, it's the Ironize spell, but only lasts on
the slime who cast it, for one turn. They become immune, so the attack
animations do nothing but waste time. I personally didn't bother with
removing my Jamirus, but it could help if you usually end up coming a few
seconds short.
By the time it makes you kill 24 slimes over and over again, you should get
to know the gardens a little more, and know your way around. Good luck
with it though, it gets rather annoying. Which is why the Metal Tickets are
there
3: Metal Ticket
The Metal Ticket is a way to bypass the Slime Challenge and go straight into
the Metal Menagerie. It can only be purchased after you beat the game, and
costs 10 000 per ticket. It's found on Domus Isle, in the sewers, sold by
a blue haired girl next to the armored guy selling weapons. It's a one time
use token, which does nothing but lets you bypass the challenge once. It
doesn't grant any extra time or last forever as some say it would.
Personally, I find it rather decent. The cost is steep, but there's nothing
else to buy after you finish the game, really. I don't find it worth going
back and forth between the islands though, so I just buy one whenever I'm
at Domus, instead of going there purposely just for the ticket. Wish the
jetty between Palaish and Domus led straight to Rummy's mansion, instead of
making you go all the way around her gardens.
4: Inside the Menagerie
The Menagerie itself is three platforms connected by bridges. The first
platform has a bunch of Metal Slimes on it, and has a bridge on either side
leading to the second. The second has two Liquid Metal Slimes, and a few more
normal Metal Slimes, and one of those kickdown bridges that leads to the
third part. The third simply has a Metal King Slime, nothing else. It's not
hard to navigate, and it looks a lot simpler than I could describe it.
The only catch is that you only have two and a half minutes, 150 seconds,
before they kick you out of there. I'm usually able to get 3-4 Liquid Metal
Slimes and the King before the timer runs out, but early on you should just
try to focus on killing one or two and trying to get to the King for that
chance of it not running away. Metal Slime always has 3 HP, so with Metal
Slash and Metal Beater trait, you will usually beat it in 1-2 hits. Metal
Slash tends to never miss, so combined with a decent Attack and an anti-metal
weapon, it should do 2-3 damage sooner or later. Liquid Metal Slime is a step
above, and has between 9 and 11 HP. You could consider using Hatchet Man,
which is also from the Anti-Metal Skillset. It's a 50% Critical Or Miss type
attack, and critical moves deal normal damage on a metal, as they ignore Def.
Metal King Slimes have between 29 and 33 HP, making it harder to beat unless
you strike a critical with Hatchet Man or are able to consistently hit decent
damage with one of your guys at least. Believe me, once you start hitting 5,
you seem to randomly start hitting a good 10-12 damage, since apparently that
is when you get above his defense. Tends to happen above 500 or so Attack, so
you know where to aim.
Personally, I used two metal hunting monsters, and a third who just randomly
was there, either healing or attacking for 1-2 damage. First, I had my
Beatleboy, who is a Rank B monster. It gains Attack really quickly, and was
my first monster who was able to put a dent in their HP. Second, I had my
Jamirus, who got Anti-Metal straight off the Gigantes I bred it from. With
Anti-Metal on both of them, I also gave them Attack Boost. Upon mastery of
both skills, I bred them to get Attack Boost II and keep Metal Boost and the
first Attack Boost, for an even larger upgrade. Still haven't gotten to
Attack Boost III on my Beatleboy, as I didn't find it necessary to upgrade
him any further.
5: Scouting/Obtaining Metals
First of all, you can obtain a few without any scouting whatsoever. After you
beat the game, head for the Commissioner's Office. There are two people
standing there. For having 100 different Monsters in your Library, you get a
Liquid Metal Slime. Similarly, 100 Skillsets gives you a Metal King Slime.
150 Skillsets gives a Metal Kaiser Slime, which needs a bunch of different
metals to get in the first place, and 200 Monsters gives you a Grandpa Slime,
which needs a Metal Kaiser to be bred in the first place. These are all
pretty useful, and are needed in high end breeding combinations, such as
Gemslime (GoldSlime).
Otherwise, there is a place you can fight KingSlimes without them running
away. Climb up the ladder to the side of the Scoutpost on Palaish Island,
during the day. There's only one ladder on that screen, you'll know which one
it is. Enemy Scouts show up randomly in the little pool right next to where
you get off of the ladder. Look for a girl named Orephilia. She has two Metal
King Slimes in her party, which don't run away. Sadly, you can't use this
easily repeated opportunity to get a lot of experience, as it just gave me
about 3000 exp for winning the battle. It's still a major pain to scout, but
at least they're obtainable in a place they won't run away while you attempt
to Psyche Up and Oomph to increase the scouting chance.
Some metal slimes can be encountered outside the Menagerie in the wild too.
Metal Slime can be found on Celeste Island (South, Danger Level B) and on
Fert Island. I found two at once on Fert by whistling on the pier at night,
but they also appear with the Hell Hounds that appear at night and Bodkin 
Archers that appear during the day.
Liquid Metal Slimes can appear in the last dungeon. Whistle on the first
screen, where you're just walking across this pink passageway. It's as soon
as you enter the tower like place, where the AoS was guarding the entrance.
I heard that Metal King Slime can appear somewhere in the last dungeon too,
but I haven't seen it myself.
I can't really say much on Scouting them though. Try to get a high Attack
monster with a metal killing weapon, with Critical Massacre trait. A Critical
hit would scan a lot, while not having to be charged like Psycho. I caught a
Metaly with a 6% scan chance, it's all luck really.
6: Useful Items/Skills
Here I'll put a few items I may or may not have mentioned so far, as well as
skills that could help out.
Phoenix Scepter - It's found on Palaish Island, in the Shrine. Third floor,
behind the Green Dragon. Said dragon is a one time spawn, so you might want
to try and Scout him, but he can easily be synthed. The Scepter is a useful
item as it allows the holder to retain his form after Synthing. It can be
used to breed a skill such as Anti-Metal onto a monster without changing what
the monster is. I used it with my Beatleboy and Jamirus a few times when
leveling got slow, combining them with monsters I scouted from wandering
scouts.
+/- Scepters - These two make it so that the result of the Synthesis is a
specific gender. They help save time on resetting the game because of a wrong
gender synth, and while they may not have much to do with the Metal 
Menagerie, they help out with Synthing which is a main thing you will want to
do. Especially after leveling and getting so many skill points quickly
because of the high exp of the metal slimes. The Plus Scepter can be gotten
from the tests on Infant Isle, while the Minus Scepter is a reward for
clearing Rank C in the battle arena on Xeroph Isle. You can also get them in the first dungeon of the tower in Infern Isle, in the chest on the platform with the skeleton soldier on it.
Obsidian Sword - This is one of the anti-metal items, a sword that does more
damage to metal slimes and the like. It's found in a chest behind the Boss
Troll monster on Fert Isle. It's a one time spawn, so you might want to Scout
it. It can also be dropped by Hunter Mechs on Celeste Island, if you want
more than one.
Metal Talons - This is also an anti-metal item. It can be gotten from the
tests on Infant Island. More monsters can equip swords than claws in general,
at least of those I used, so I didn't find as much use in these as the 
swords.
Anti-Metal - This is one of the most important skills for beating the metal
slimes. It has Metal Slash, which might add a point of damage, and rarely 
misses. This is important, as the slimes tend to dodge very often, until you
are strong enough to deal decent damage against them. It also has Hatchet
Man, which as earlier discussed, is a Critical Or Miss skill which could help
take down Liquid Metal Slimes or Metal King Slimes until your normal attacks
are strong enough. You can Synth it from Gigantes, Hunter Mech, Boss Troll, 
or Restless Armour.
Attack Boost - This can be gotten from a lot of different monsters, just
search through your storage. It tiers to Attack Boost II and Attack Boost III
when you master the skill, which should be pretty easy when training on metal
slimes.
Guide was written by Demonwing13
Dragonmaniac12 13:44, 26 March 2008 (UTC)Vrael Dracolord