Matrix of the Lord of Evil

**Matrix of the Lord of Evil** is a game mode that can be unlocked as soon as the Magic Area becomes available.

It is an endless version of Level Mode.

## Access

Matrix of the Lord of Evil is a looping game mode available in multiplayer and single-player.

* In Multiplayer, the host can set this game mode by pressing the switch on the top left conner of the screen.
* In single-player, the player can enter this game mode via the Matrix Portal located in the Magic Area.

The player can also choose to play this game mode in Normal or Badass difficulty.

Legendary Heroes and Summoner's Artifacts are prohibited this game mode.

## Loop Travel

Much like how the original Loop Travel game mode worked, the game continues beyond 3-5 until the player dies. It follows the same sequence of stages throughout the run (e.g. Forest on 4-1 and Knight Kingdom on 5-1).

Looped enemies will continue to drop materials and seeds, while getting progressively tougher as the game proceeds.

## Pressure Mechanic

### Pressure Bar

The pressure bar determines whether the player will receive a generally positive or negative challenge condition at the end of a floor (X-5). It consists of:

* A **Progress bar** that fills up by defeating enemies.
* A  **Marker** that slowly encroaches to the right.

After the player enters the portal to the next floor, the Lord of Evil will evaluate the player's performance on the previous floor. If the **Progress bar** exceeds the  **Marker's** location, the player is given a "Reward." Otherwise, a "penalty" will befall the player.

* The reward has a 70% chance for a Positive Challenge Condition, and a 30% chance for a Neutral condition.
* The penalty has a 40% chance for a Negative condition, and a 60% chance for a Neutral one.

Some of the commonly seen Challenge Conditions are not obtainable in this way.

The marker will always exceed the bar if the biome takes too much time.

Upon entering the new floor, both the progress bar and the marker will be reset.

### Pressure Level

As the players advance forward, they will feel more pressure from the Lord of Evil.

* The Pressure Level is shown under the Pressure Bar.
	+ Starting at 0 when the player enters this game mode, the Pressure level will increase by 1 every time the player clear a floor and enters the next.
	+ The Player can reduce Pressure level by 1, if the  condition is present.
* Every time the Pressure level increases, Enemies and Bosses will gain an extra 15% of their base health.
	+ The new health of the enemy is equal to [base health]\*(1 + 0.15\*[Pressure Level])
	+ For example, the same enemy that has 24 HP at Pressure level 0 will have 24\*(1+0.15\*3) = 34.8 or 35 HP at Pressure level 3.
	+ Boss health in Matrix is calculated using: [Normal]\*(1 + 0.15\*[Pressure Level])
		- If the boss is in it Champion form, the above value will be multiplied with 1.25.
		- If the  condition is present, the above value will be multiplied with 0.75.
		- For example, 2 Champion Floating Laser UFO at pressure level 20 will have 1200\*(1+0.15\*20)\*1.25\*0.75 = 4500 HP each.
	+ The turrets from Turrets Room, Crystal Mine and Gold Mine will also receive a boost in their health.
		- On top of having health boosts from pressure levels, the turrets from Turrets Room will also have their base health increased by 15 after every floor. For this reason, their health is increased at exponential rates and will surpass bosses’ healths.
	+ Higher Pressure level also increases enemy resistance to Status Effects, and increases the chance for mutated enemies to spawn

### Weapon Level

* The Weapon Level is shown on the Weapon Button . Each instance of a weapon will have it own level.
	+ Under leveled weapon will be less effective against enemies in higher pressure levels.
	+ Weapon damage is reduced by 1 for every 2 pressure levels the weapon level is under.
	+ This also applies to weapon attachments, and weapons used by Assassin's doppelgängers.
* However, there are weapons that completely ignore this mechanic, such as Shield, Serenity, Death Note, Staff of Anubis, etc.

## Exclusive Content

In Matrix of the Lord of Evil, a character has 38 Buff slots. Between some levels in a run, the player has to choose a Buff among 3 randomly generated choices. The chosen Buff will then occupy the empty Buff slot, until the player runs out of Buff slots. These Buff selections happen after level X-2 and X-5. An already-chosen Buff will not appear again in the same game.

### Buffs

The following Buffs only appear in Matrix of the Lord of Evil.

### Challenge Condition

There are 6 Challenge Conditions which only appear in Matrix of the Lord of Evil. Along with most of the normal Conditions, there are 3 types of Challenge Conditions: Positive, Neutral and Negative.

*Killing monsters have a chance to revive all teammates.** Essential for unlocking the "World Savior" achievement.

### NPCs

These NPCs can appear on the first level of each biome, after passing level 1-5.

* Increases the weapon's resistance against the pressure level at the exchange of half of the player's gold.
* 50% success rate; otherwise, 1 Pill is given by the Gambler as compensation.
* Every player can interact once.
* "Lucky me."
* Increases the weapon's resistance against the pressure level at the exchange of 1~3 Evil Crystals.
* 100% success rate.
* Every player can interact once.
* Bans 1 negative challenge condition for 5 levels (starting from the next level) at the exchange of 1 Evil Crystal.
* 100% success rate.

## Rewards

In Matrix of the Lord of Evil, killing enemies will still drop materials, but the drop rate is half that of the Normal Level Mode. Materials can also be found in the Matrix Crystal.

In addition, the number of Gems obtained at the end is no longer linked to the number of enemy kills and Gold, but is obtained by opening the Evil Crystals collected.

Each time Pressure Level increase, the player will get 4 Evil Crystals (in Normal difficulty), or 5 (in Badass difficulty). The Evil Crystal may issue items such as materials, gems, seeds, vouchers, etc.,

* Each Matrix Crystal can only be issued with one of them.
* There is a limit to the amount of items that can be obtained in a single run.
* When the maximum amount of items is obtained, Matrix Crystal will only drop gems.
* The Cancel Pressure Challenge condition does not affect Evil Crystal yield.

The Evil Crystal can only drop a set amount of vouchers:

* 2x  Free Trial Voucher
* 2x  Trial Voucher for Legendary Hero
* 3x  Voucher [Weapon Attachment]
* 4x  Voucher [Challenge Condition]

Challenge condition vouchers: Challenge condition vouchers are randomly determined to be a positive or neutral condition when obtained, and the specific contents of the factor vouchers can be viewed in the Workshop - Vault. Only one can be used at a time.

## Related Achievements

Reach Pressure Level 20 (21-1) in Matrix of the Lord of Evil.
Rescue 3 teammates at a time in Matrix of the Lord of Evil.
Receive the evaluation "Well Done!" 5 times in a row.
*Reward:* none

## Trivia

* This game mode was introduced in Update 4.2.0 as the successor of the original Loop Travel available between Update 2.7.0 and Update 3.0.0.
* Before Update 4.3.0, this mode was only exclusive to Multiplayer.
* The Lord of Evil icon is based on the mythical creature Lich.