Dire Island

*This is about Kingdom Two Crowns.*

* Single
* Co-op
 **Single**

 **Co-op**

**Dire Island** is a challenge island where the Monarch rides a wolf and has to protect its pup, while escaping with them through as many islands as possible.

## Raw Fury description

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>  | With the new Dire Wolf mount as your aid, protect its pup at all costs. No crown, no monarch. No pup, no monarch! Now build the boat and try to escape as you run to as many islands as possible before the inevitable.—Raw Fury   | „
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With the new Dire Wolf mount as your aid, protect its pup at all costs. No crown, no monarch. No pup, no monarch! Now build the boat and try to escape as you run to as many islands as possible before the inevitable.Raw Fury

### Technologies

The stone and iron technologies are available on every Dire Island. Once paid for each type, their respective tech will be activated for all next islands.

### Wolf

*For the default mount on this island, see: Dire wolf.*

### Wolf pup

The wolf pup follows its mother from the beginning.

It behaves exactly like the dog, barking in the direction of any incoming Greed and being especially useful before Blood Moons.

**Co-op** – Both Monarchs have to keep their pups.
If one Monarch loses their little wolf, the challenge is over.

Note that the Monarch can still lose the challenge if a greedling takes the Crown, however, losing the pup is a lot more likely to happen, given the pup's position that's not fully controllable and the fact that it can be taken even if the Monarch has coins in the pouch.

*For tips on how to protect a pup, see: Dog § Keeping it safe.*
### Portals

Unlike the campaign, the number of portals is the same on every island.

There are two small portals on both sides of town.

* 1
* 2

### Waves

Blood Moons take place with the double frequency that's typical for the challenges, followed by the usual truce.

There is an overall day count, as in the *Two Crowns* campaign, making regular waves and Blood Moons harder as the days pass. However, waves tend to be easier during the first two days on each island, giving the Monarch enough time to build stone walls when it becomes necessary. Even on Blood Moons, only greedlings and masked greedlings spawn, without breeder, floater or crown stealer.

## Spanning the islands

The Dire Island is for speedrunners. Each coin spent on anything not absolutely necessary, means one coin not invested (or delayed to be invested) on the boat, which probably means the Monarch will not travel to as much islands as he/she could. The major distractors are:

1. the Banker 【  】He is the number one enemy of the Kingdom in these lands.

2. the stone technology on the very first island. 【  】Stone walls are not necessary for the first island defense.

3. the iron technology for the first islands. 【  】Iron walls are not necessary to defend the early waves and Blood Moons. Also note that mines only need to be unlocked once, even if they still accept coins on other islands.

4. the town center for the first island. 【  】It only needs to be upgraded once during the challenge, in order to recruit three squires who will follow the Monarch on his boat and help defending the next islands. It should not be done on the first island because it already takes time to recruit the four archers and three builders who can fit in the boat.

5. farms 【  】Too expensive and too slow. The wildlife income with the wolf's ability to hunt should be enough.

6. destroying portals 【  】These should be avoided at all costs.

7. towers and pikemen 【  】They are not needed to protect the Kingdom if the Monarch has hired squires, who can follow him in the boat.

## Cursed crown

 **Single player** – *Only feral rulers will find this crown!*

To get the cursed crown in Dire Island in single player mode, the Monarch has to travel to the tenth island, i.e. use the boat nine times (gold crown requirement) and to kill a certain amount of greedlings *with* the wolf's charge. If the required amount of greed is killed before traveling to the tenth island, the Monarch will receive the cursed crown instead of the gold one when traveling there.
 **Cooperative** – *Only for feral and logistical rulers!*

To get the cursed crown in Dire Island in co-op, the gold crown requirements must've been fulfilled. Then, each player must pay for everything when sailing away at least once. This means they must pay for lifting the shipwreck off the ground, for every single piece of the boat, for ringing the wharf bell, for putting the boat in the water, and for launching it. Just as in the silver and gold milestones, the boat in these trips should be "full", with four archers, three builders, and three knights with their retinues. Throughout the entire challenge, each player must also kill a considerable amount of greedlings with their own wolf.
## Video guide

The first video below was created before cursed crowns are introduced in the game, so it guides players up to the gold crown.
The second one supplements with the tips for the cursed crown.

## Speedrun

These are the current speedrun world records for the gold crown held on Dire Island:

Currently all records were held on PC on the European setting.

## History

 2022-03-01
 Players will now have different colored wolf cubs when playing co-op in the Shogun setting.

## Notes

1. ↑ Entering the challenge already counts as the first travel. Therefore, travelling to the second island already grants the bronze crown.
2. ↑ Once the Monarch has travelled to nine lands, acquiring the gold crown, it is still possible to visit new islands.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 **Bug** – Once paid for the stone and iron mines, if they are activated for all next islands, the expected behavior is that these mines do not reappear on next islands or, if they do, they should have at least the aspect of activated mines and not accept coins at all. But since the release of Challenge Islands up to the current state of the game, the mines on next islands still have their natural appearance and accept coins. This can confuse inexperienced monarchs, and make them spoil their resources unnecessarily.

## References

1. ↑ Challenge Islands are here! 29 August 2019.
2. ↑ As shared by the speedrunner One-Dragon and confirmed by the developer Gordon on Reddit, on November 2020.
3. ↑ Details at speedrun.com.