Dungeon Masters

On floors 30, 60, 80, and 99 of each of the Normal Dungeons, the player will face a special enemy called the Dungeon Master. Each Dungeon Master has a unique style of attack, and may only be injured by damage to their "D.M.'s Weakness", eyeballs that appear when one of the regular enemies in the level dies. The Dungeon Masters can be some of the most difficult challenges in Hunger Quest, but with the help of a Hero, they can be overcome.

## Blaze Dragon

The Blaze Dragon is the first and weakest of the Dungeon Masters, and can be found in the Yggdrasil Woods. Its attack is a fireball that targets a random assortment of grid squares in the level. The fireball damages the player and enemies, and destroys colored blocks.

The Blaze Dragon's first phase targets around eight visible squares, but when aggravated it can target up to 16. As the dragon summons more blocks for the player, it will also bring up enemies that appeared on the previous floors of the dungeon, including boomshrooms, mages, and even dragons.

### Strategy

The Blaze Dragon is the easiest Dungeon Master to beat, as it summons few enemies and its attacks rarely target the player. But because of the randomness of the fight, you might find it difficult to plan ahead and have an escape route from the tougher floor enemies. If you don't have the Hero available, try using the Onion Soldier for a strong attack.

## Golem

The Golem is the protector of the Arid Ruins. It has two types of attacks which it cycles through during its first attacking phase. The first attack is a punch that covers a 2x2 square, with one square centered on the player. The other attack is a two-handed smash that destroys three full rows of blocks, with the player in the center row. During its aggravated phase, the Golem attacks with the smash move only.

When the Golem raises the floor of the dungeon, it summons enemies from the nearby floors as well. These include golem parts, mages, zombies, and boomshrooms.

### Strategy

Unlike the Blaze Dragon, fighting the Golem requires a good deal of planning and forethought before each move. Since its attacks center on the player, you must always be in a position to to dodge and attack at the same time. For example, to avoid the smash attack, your attack must hit any enemies or weak points you are aiming for while simultaneously dropping your character down at least two squares.

Fortunately, the Golem often targets its own weak points, dealing 25 damage to itself for each one it attacks. This is roughly in the range of what the player's attack would do anyway, so a useful strategy can be to focus on dodging while letting the Golem destroy itself.

## Grim

The Dungeon Master of the Mechabastille is Grim, the god of death. Grim does not attack the player directly, but summons hoards of minions to do his fighting for him. As the battle progresses, Grim will call on more difficult types of enemy, and summon them more often.

Grim summons enemies in groups of five or six. In his first attacking phase, he summons Boneheads, Ka-boomshrooms, and Bratty Batties. When aggravated, he moves on to Bone Knights, Sinister Spooksters, and Dark Mages.

### Strategy

The Hero is almost a necessity for fighting Grim. The high number of enemies on screen will lead to a high attack bonus for the player, but if you're not able to kill all of them each turn, you will suffer harsh consequences. The leftover enemies will swarm and overwhelm the player, or attack from afar with ranged shots. A single misstep will likely result in failure.

The key to defeating Grim is patience. Don't waste your attack bonus unless there are enough enemies in range to build it up again for next turn. On the turns where Grim is unconscious, it's often a better idea to wait for him to wake up than to destroy a few leftover eyeballs. Save your attacks for when you can take out a whole screen of enemies in one turn.

## Nugget

The fourth Dungeon Master is Nugget, a phoenix that can be found in the Fiery Caverns. Nugget does not spawn many regular enemies when he raises the floor like the other Dungeon Masters, but attacks by summoning monster eggs. The only way to damage him is to break the eggs and destroy the enemies inside. He also has a dive bomb attack which targets an entire column.

With each attack, Nugget summons three to four eggs, which contain all manner of fire birds, such as Killer Birds, Mage Birds, and Flame Birds. As he moves into his later attack phase, his dive bomb will expand to target up to four columns at once. On the 80th Floor and above, instead of attacking four adjacent columns, Nugget will attack three to four columns, with one space between each one.

### Strategy

Since not every egg is guaranteed to hatch into an enemy, Nugget doesn't summon enough minions to overwhelm the player like Grim can. Instead, his dive bomb attack is much more dangerous. In the later stages of the fight, when Nugget targets 4 columns at a time, it can be impossible to get out of the way. And once you end up at the bottom of a canyon of blocks, it will be that much harder to dodge the next attack.

You can try to juke him by standing at one edge of the screen when he aims his dive, but it can be difficult to attack while managing the blocks so that you can cover the entire screen in a single move. It may be better to just tank his attacks and focus on killing as many eyeballs as possible.

## Ice Queen

The Ice Queen is the Dungeon Master of the Shivering Stronghold. She does not summon enemies like Nugget or Grim, but focuses on attacking the player with a variety of sword slashes. These include horizontal and vertical slashes and an X strike which covers both of the diagonals the player is standing in. Along with the sword strikes, she also spawns snow monsters and Ice Blocks when she raises the floor.

When aggravated, the Ice Queen will attack every turn, and her attacks target a larger space. The stronger slashes take up two rows or columns, and the legs of the X strike become three blocks wide. There doesn't appear to be a pattern to the type of attack that the Queen uses; she seems to choose from one of the three types at random with each attack.

### Strategy

The Ice Queen is arguably the most difficult Dungeon Master in the game so far, because her onslaught of attacks gives the player little room to maneuver. If she uses the vertical slash multiple times in a row, you can get trapped in a valley where it is impossible to dodge the next attack. Also, if you spend too much time dodging, it can be difficult to clear enough blocks to raise the floor of the dungeon and spawn more Frosties that can be turned into weak points.

There's no silver bullet to defeating the Ice Queen. It takes time, luck, and plenty of healing items. It's probably best to dodge as many of her attacks as possible, and let her attack her own weak points.

## The Dark Destructor

The final Dungeon Master is the Dark Destructor, lurking in the Darkness. His attacks include horizontal and vertical swipes of his claws, each of which target multiple staggered columns or rows. During the early stages of the battle, the Destructor will only attack every other turn, but when aggravated he attacks every turn.

The swipes take up 2-3 rows or 2-4 columns, often filling the whole screen. Along with his attacks, the Dark Destructor also spawns exploding rock-type enemies and Burning Blocks and Icy Blocks disguised as Enigma Blocks. You can usually tell them apart by the counter, since he doesn't seem to spawn any other type of block.

### Strategy

The staggered attacks are both a blessing and a curse. It's fairly easy to dodge the horizontal strikes, but if you get trapped in a valley made by his vertical attacks, it can take a few turns to escape where you will still be vulnerable. In a lot of ways, the staggered columns make the fight easier than fighting the Ice Queen.

His attack is high enough and he targets enough blocks that you can hang back and let him do the majority of the damage to himself. An important strategy is to stay at the top of a single column after one of the Destructor's vertical strikes. The next time he attacks vertically, you can dodge one square over and continue alternating for each attack. If you end up in one of the valleys, then the next vertical attack will just dig you deeper and make it harder to escape. It's better to take one hit from a Shatterstone or Burning Block than to get stuck and take multiple hits from the Dark Destructor.