Catacombs

The Catacombs is a game mode available starting at level 15.

## Description

The Catacombs pits the player against a random 3-stage battle, with monster types and levels set according to the player's Keeper Level in a random formation. Each battle features a specific handicap the player must overcome.

Winning earns a player Catacombs Points, which count towards weekly milestone rewards, in addition to standard rewards similar to a PvE campaign.
Like most game modes, weekly rewards are given out based on a player's ranking with his peers in catacombs points earned.

## Mechanics

The cost of participation is food equal to the sum of your heroes' levels.

Your Keeper Level determines the difficulty and secondary rewards (not Catacombs Points). The difficulty of the Catacombs is reduced for early battles, increasing as you accumulate Catacombs Points, reaching its peak once you accumulate 1000.

### Catacomb Maps

Catacomb Maps grant an automatic victory in the Catacombs, along with the corresponding rewards (although passive reward bonus skills like the Cleric's Tithe will not activate). Using a map does not eliminate the price in food or affect the resulting Catacomb Points.

Catacomb Maps can be found in Festival Events, the Guild Shop or bonus campaign missions.

### **Handicaps**

* Shielded: *Enemies start combat with Bonus Health*
* Tough: *Enemies have increased Health*
* Defiant: *Enemies have increased Defense*
* Deadly: *Enemies have increased Attack*
* Champion: *Enemies have increased Attack and Defense*
* Savage: *Enemies deal increased Damage*
* Enchanted: *Enemies have increased Magic Resistance*
* Thick Armor: *Enemies have increased Armor*
* Grevious Wounds: *Healing is disabled*

Note that when Healing is disabled, heal over time effects such as the Cleric's Cleanse will still visually display, although no health is restored. Soul Skills like the Druid's Rapid Regeneration or lifesteal abilities such as the Necromancer's Vampiric Touch are similarly useless, although the Cleric's Resurrect is still fully functional. Skills granting Bonus Health, such as the Paladin's soul skill and Block active, are not affected.

Handicaps are reset upon winning or using a Catacombs Map (though the description does not update if the latter is done, but exiting the menu and reopening it changes the handicap).

## Catacombs Points & Rewards

The Catacombs points rewarded is food cost (i.e., the sum of your heroes' levels) divided by 5, rounded **up**. This means the number of heroes you choose to field isn't important; only the sum of their levels.

**Important:** The Catacombs points are calculated *at the end* *of the battle*, which means if any heroes are dead, their level contribution is not counted toward the Catacombs points received. Catacombs Maps assume that all 4 heroes would have been alive at the time of winning, and therefore give full points.

\* Veteran's Coat, Netherwolf Hide, Mithral Mail, or Battleplate

\*\* Shredder, Crystal Hammer, Murderer's Shiv, Forgotten Wand, Ancient Greatsword, Divine Crusher, Angelic Impaler, Deathbow, Hand of the Righteous

    I add here the sum of all rewards won if you have reached the maximum 10000 points.

## Strategy

* Enemies and handicaps reset after a defeat. If a level seems unbeatable, try the next round to see if there's better luck.
* The most difficult handicaps tend to be the ones that increase damage. The increased armor and magic resistance handicaps do not seem to make too much of a difference compared to the other stat boosts.
* Slow-levelers: If you are going to lose, *or if you are going to win while any of your heroes is dead*, quit out before the last hero falls so you don't gain unnecessary experience.
* Maps are extremely useful to save time. Just as important, maps are guaranteed wins. When climbing to the top, a good 200-300 battles will likely be played through. Having 100 maps or more on hand can make the run much less stressful. Alternatively, they can be a great method for slow leveling if you only spend 20 food (which is the minimum) per match.
* The Catacombs can be used to farm secondary rewards. If you aren't trying to collect Catacombs Points quickly, take advantage of the fact that secondary rewards are fixed to your Keeper Level by running fewer heroes or lower-leveled heroes. You will spend less food per fight, but gain the same gold, artisan points, monster drops, etc.
* The Catacombs can be brutal at lower Keeper levels, because you are not only battling higher level enemies, but more difficult *types* of enemies. Two different monsters of the same level aren't equal if one of them belongs in high-end PvE. The standard solution to scaling with monster type is stars and equipment, which low levels do not have.
* The best solution for low-leveled players is to gain more stars and craft super rare or epic equipment with good magic resistance. You will soon find yourself powering through debuffs and damage that would have killed you before. Crafting a Rod of Ruin or Wand of Endless Suffering is highly recommended and should make almost any combat scenario trivial.
* Here are some difficult enemies encountered for lower levels: Corrupted Inquisitor, Black Fist Evoker, Vile Assassin, Demonic Watcher, and attack buff compositions (e.g. Vicious Overseer). Try to maintain Cleanse for debuffs, or AoE defensive buffs like the Paladin's Holy Shield, and save the Warmaster's Shield Tactics, or the Knight's Inspiration until *after* debuffs arrive. Remember to use the Cleric's Charismatic Leadership passive for resistance bonuses.
* Vile Assassins can be particularly annoying, as they use Sneak Attack, a low-initiative skill that targets the lowest health hero with True damage. In numbers, or with a damage handicap, they can assassinate your Cleric from full health in one rotation. The best strategy is to manipulate your team's health, so that another hero has lower health than your Cleric. Then you can resurrect that other hero if it dies. The Archmage or Warlock are good candidates as they also bring useful area damage; simply adjust equipment and skills until they have lower health than your Cleric. Alternatively, you can use the Paladin's Bless soul skill (with the Devoutness passive) to keep your low-health heroes like the Cleric alive through the burst fairly reliably (although this can be difficult if the Vile Assassins appear in the first round, before you have any Soul Points accumulated).
* Common enemies for reference:
	+ Armored Troll
	+ Battle Ogre
	+ Black Fist Enforcer
	+ Black Fist Evoker
	+ Black Fist Skirmisher
	+ Corrupted Inquisitor
	+ Covenant Guardian
	+ Covenant Witch
	+ Dark Fanatic
	+ Demonic Watcher
	+ Evil Acolyte
	+ Frozen Blood Executioner
	+ Frozen Blood Hero
	+ Frozen Blood Veteran
	+ Ghoul
	+ Lesser Demon
	+ Lesser Lich
	+ Mountain Giant
	+ Orc Warlord
	+ Vampire
	+ Vampire Lord
	+ Vampire Thrall
	+ Vicious Overseer
	+ Vile Assassin