Forest of Apprehension

**Forest of Apprehension** is a Competitive Gamemode that was available during Ashes of Memory from November 9th to November 30th, 2023.

## Gameplay

The Forest of Apprehension is a game mode where players team up to fight against the Hunter, "Fool's Gold". This mode consists of four phases-Struggle, Suffering, Madness, and Vanity with increasing difficulty. Unstable Grounds within Darkwoods increases with the difficulty and would continue to collapse starting in Vanity difficulty, so don't forget to dodge! Clearing the game mode in a previous phase will unlock the next. Unlocking Vanity requires clearing Madness and is only available at a specific time.

Forest of Apprehension comprised of four difficulties: Struggle, Suffering, Madness, and Vanity. Vanity is cleared with 3 escapes while all other difficulties require 2 escapes to be cleared.

"Fool's Gold" may carry the [Excitement] or [Blink] ability.

### Co-op Rules

Recruit teammates or create your own team to challenge" Fool's Gold" in Darkwoods. "Struggle" difficulty can be attempted individually as the system will match you with AI bots. "Suffering," "Madness," and "Vanity" difficulties require a team of 4.

### Leaderboard

Ranking symbolizes the highest honor of this challenge and keeps records of teams that have cleared the 5-Star Vanity difficulty. Ranking Priority: Escapees → Clear Time → Clearing Order. Note: A "first clear" means the first team to clear the difficulty.

## Difficulties

### Torture

1-4 players. Bots will substitute for empty spots if there are less than 4 players. "Fool's Gold" does not cast abilities in this difficulty.

**Details - Difficulty 1**

* Unstable Grounds - 0%
* Collapse Duration - 0 sec.
* Number of Unstable Cipher Machines - 0
* "Fool's Gold" Talent Points - 40

### Pain

4 players. "Fool's Gold" will use abilities in this difficulty. [Magnetic Conversion] is unnecessary as "Fool's Gold" can activate all unstable grounds on the field by causing a Collapse.

**Details - Difficulty 2**

* Unstable Grounds - 0%
* Collapse Duration - 0 sec.
* Number of Unstable Cipher Machines - 0
* "Fool's Gold" Talent Points - 80

### Madness

4 players. A lasting unstable ground exists on the field. [Magnetic Conversion] is unnecessary as "Fool's Gold" can activate all unstable grounds on the field by causing a Collapse.

**Details - Difficulty 3**

* Unstable Grounds - 66%
* Collapse Duration - 0 sec.
* Number of Unstable Cipher Machines - 3
* "Fool's Gold" Talent Points - 120

### Deception

4 players. The field is covered in unstable grounds. "Fool's Gold" may carry [Excitement] or [Blink], and all abilities have their cooldowns reduced. Most Rocket Chairs and Cipher Machines are showing signs of instability. Unstable Grounds will continue to collapse throughout the match.

Difficulty 4 will be unlocked when Deception has been cleared 1000 times (China and Asia) or 300 times (NA/EU) in the server.

**Details - Difficulty 4**

* Unstable Grounds - 100%
* Collapse Duration - 2 sec.
* Number of Unstable Cipher Machines - 4
* "Fool's Gold" Talent Points - 120

**Details - Difficulty 5**

* Unstable Grounds - 100%
* Collapse Duration - 3 sec.
* Number of Unstable Cipher Machines - 5
* "Fool's Gold" Talent Points - 280

## Achievement Quests

A set of quests were available for players to complete. More quests were available for other parts of Ashes of Memory Chapter II but the following are only the ones related to the Forest of Apprehension.

## Gameplay Tips

### Characters

The following characters were frequently used in Deception difficulty.

* Doctor - Doctor is able to safely decode Unstable Cipher Machines as she can easily heal any chip damage she takes from map-wide Collapses as well as healing teammates.
* Professor - "Fool's Gold" will often hit Professor's scales, even when carrying a Survivor, allowing for balloon rescues. "Fool's Gold" will not use Excitement for his scales.
* Gardener - "Fool's Gold" will often hit Gardener's shield, which can also be used to block chip damage from Collapses. She can extended a Survivor's chair time by breaking it and "Fool's Gold" can only repair a Rocket Chair if he is holding his pickaxe.
* "Prisoner" - "Prisoner" can use his connections to decode Unstable Cipher Machines from a safe Cipher Machine. Even if he is chased, these connections can be used by other players.
* Female Dancer - Female Dancer can set up her music boxes for her or one of her teammates to loop an area, but "Fool's Gold" will sometimes break the music boxes.
* Cheerleader - Cheerleader can Encourage her teammates and support them while kiting with the Cheerful speed boost and Excited recovery.
* Lawyer - Lawyer's Take Notes speed boost in combination with Female Dancer's music boxes or Cheerleader's Motivate allows for strong looping potential.

### General Strategies

* Doctor is the main decoder is nearly all strategies. She can decode Unstable Cipher Machines with no worry and will always be able to rescue, even if everyone else is injured. She cannot be chased first.
* A common looping area is the two log ramps with the swinging rope in between. There is no Unstable Ground on the ramps, making it easy to avoid chip damage. A supporting character such as Cheerleader or Female Dancer assists the kiter in looping the area.

## Trivia

* Priestess and Thief were unavailable in this gamemode.
* Most of the difficulties have two different names: Struggle = Torture, Suffering = Pain, and Vanity = Deception.
* The number of clears to unlock Deception Difficulty 4 was reduced from 1000 to 300 for the NA/EU Server on November 16th, 2023. The Asia Server and Chinese Server had already achieved 1000 clears at this point.
* Many players used the lowest difficulty of this mode in order to easily complete Deduction Quests and gain Logic Points.

## Gallery

Matching and Difficulty Selection InterfaceRanking Interface