Dungeons of Daggorath Walk-Through

Dungeons of Daggorath Walk-Through version 1.20.01

This walkthrough enables anyone to defeat the Dungeons of Daggorath videogame, save the humle folk of Rivenshire, and becaome a powerful wizard.

LEVEL 1
A player of DOD should be very familiar with the following key sequences to be entered at the start of the game.
P R SW
P L T
U L
You can use several tactics to find and kill the monsters on level one. The important thing is that you do not leave level one until you have 10 items including the sword in hand and the lit torch. Before going down to level two, reveal and have in hand an iron sword and an item to drop if you land in the middle of a bunch of monsters, which you probably will.
Once all the items are in your inventory go find a hole or ladder and climb down to level 2.

TACTICS TO FIND MONSTERS:
All the monsters in DOD move by the same algorithm. They will go all the way down a hallway until they come to an intersection with another hallway, or run into another monster, or they run into the player. At an intersection they will randomly decide if they will go down the intersected hallway unless the player is down that hallway in which case they would go towards the player or an item is on the floor down a hallway in which case they would go to pick up the item. The random options are *continue in the direction the monster is going, *turn and go down the hallway. The option of turning around and going back in the direction they came from is never taken unless the monster runs into a dead-end, or another monster.
If the monsters run into another monster both monsters will go in the opposite directions in which they were previously going, unless they are at an intersection and randomly decide to take it, or if the player is down the same hall that both monsters are down, then the monsters will follow the player around until the player leaves the hall. Monsters see through all hidden doors, but they do not see around corners (which comes in handy when trying to loose a monster). So it is possible for the same monster to go in little circles and stay in one corner of a map for hours before you ever find it, if you are also staying in one little section of the map.

SIT & WAIT TACTIC
Find an intersection of two long hallways, preferably one in the middle of the map with a lot of other hallways joining them. Find a spider or other weak creature that can not kill you and let it follow you to the intersection. Now take your lit torch out of your backpack and hold it in an empty hand so that you cannot see anything. This keeps your torch from burning out and makes it last longer. Wait in the middle of the intersection with no torch lit and with a spider the same cell/room that you are in and let the spider attack you. Now go make a sandwich, go to sleep, etc. Make sure the game will not be disturbed by children/pets/spouse or the step dad who wants to save electricity!!! When you come back, the halls should be loaded with monsters. Just drop everything in your backpack EXCEPT a sword and a torch and if you are on a deeper level, a couple of hale flasks. Light the torch and kill the spider/weak creature. From this point use any attack tactics to destroy the monsters and obtain the items.

SEEK & DESTROY TACTIC
This tactic may be quicker then the sit & wait tactic but it might take up more of the player's active time in the long run. Walk around in a big circle, covering the outside parameter of the whole map. When you hear a monster, turn and look down every intersection that is passed. If the monster sound starts to fade, turn around and go down an intersection methodically seeking the monster going in the direction that makes its sounds louder. Once the monster is found and killed using any attack tactic , backtrack to where you left the circle and start circling again. Often while circling the map you will run into a wall. Just go around it. Even if you do not have the map, try to visualize a map and which direction you are going and keep going that direction, even if you have to go around walls to keep going that way, until you come to a point in which you can not go in that direction (which is the end of one side of the map). Then turn 90 degrees and go in the new direction before you. You can either circle clockwise or counter clockwise.
Another variation of this tactic is to just go in any direction, trying not to go where you have immediately been before. Try not to repeatedly go in little circles. Try to cover new ground if you do not hear any monsters in the area that you are in. Although once a monster is found, track it out and destroy it. Occasionally you will come to a dead-end. Try going through it, it may be a hidden door. While walking around, do not let your heart beat too fast. One can faint and die from walking to fast. If a monster is found and your heart is beating very quickly you can try to let the monster follow you while your heart rate slowly declines or you can try the SLAP THE MONSTER SILLY TACTIC.

SEER SCROLL TACTIC
This is an advanced tactic that will not be accessible until the Seer scroll is obtained on level 4. The Seer scroll lets the user know where he is on the map and where all monsters are, thus making it easy to find all monsters.

ATTACK TACTICS:
Attacking with any item other then your hand, a torch or an unincanted ring, a flask, and a scroll will raise your heart rate. Being hit by a monster will increase the heart rate a lot. Having a shield in hand does not absorb any damage from an attack. For some monsters it is better to use a sword and on others it is better to attack with a shield. The difference is negligible so it will not be covered in detail here. Just use your sword for most battles because it is quicker. For the experienced keyboard typist who knows all about the home keys and where to lay the fingers, you will find it easy to keep the main attacking weapon in the right hand for repeated attacking (i.e. slap the monster silly tactic). Although when your fingers and wrists get tired of this position one can use the main attacking item in the left hand and press 'A' with the index finger on the left hand and (space with the thumb, 'L' with the index finger and ENTER with the pinky of the right hand). Some monsters attack quicker then other monsters. Some monsters pick up items off the floor quicker then others as well.

STICK & MOVE TACTIC
After finding a monster make it follow you to a long hallway with few intersections . Type A R/L (that's A R or A L not actually A R/L) with the sword in hand and wait for the monster to step up to you. It will often step up to you right after it makes a noise. Hit the ENTER key as soon as you see him in your room and quickly move forward one or two rooms and repeat. When you get to the end of the hallway turn around and when the monster is in front of you and moves into your room quickly move forward pass him and he will be behind you so you can continue sticking and moving until you reach the other end. This saves you from typing A R/L ENTER all while the monster is in front of you. By typing A R/L before it gets to you, you have that much more time to attack and escape before it hits you. By staying in one long hallway without many intersections, it makes it less likely to run into other monsters while fighting this one. With this tactic it is easier to fight a monster one at a time and if another monster enters the hallway you can try to make the monster that you are focusing your attack on follow you around a corner while letting the other one wonder off and stick and move down little hallways or even other corners if necessary. Try to avoid unknown turns while using this tactic. It is possible to attack the monster 3 or more times before moving but your chances of getting hit will be greatly increased. Also you can press ENTER often as soon as you hear the monster if it is in a room next to you and is about to step in your room, even before you see the monster and still the blow will often hit the monster when the drawing routine catches up with the keyboard.

SLAP THE MONSTER SILLY TACTIC (SLAP SILLY)
Warning! This tactic is known to cause carpeltunell syndrome, but it works. I can feel my wrists aching just typing about it! Use at your own risk. When you find a spot that will give you the time to drop all your items without encountering any creatures, stand there and type E ENTER to enter examine mode. From here you can see what is in your backpack. Drop all your items on the floor except a lit torch in your backpack, a good sword at one hand and an unlit torch in the other hand. When a creature is in the same room that you are in (you will know because it will say "CREATURE" at the top of the examine screen, just hit the creature repeatedly with a torch as fast as you can. A R ENTER A R ENTER A R ENTER A R ENTER A R ENTER A R ENTER A R ENTER By using the torch to attack with instead of your hand, you can get more blows in less time because the torch sound is shorter then the hand slap sound. Hitting the monster repeatedly with a torch does not raise the heart rate considerably and does a lot of damage to the enemy with little damage to the user, but be careful! As you are typing away watch your items as they are picked off the ground one by one. When you are down to about 4 to 7 items you do not have much time before the monster will start attacking you so start hitting the enemy with the more powerful weapon in the other hand, but do not let the heart rate go to high. If the monster picks up all the items before you can kill it then quickly 'LOOK' by typing 'L' ENTER and use a different attack tactic such as stick & move tactic. Note: 'T A' ENTER makes the computer process all these new graphical sequences giving you time to load up your keyboard buffer with attacks so you can turn around every once in a while while attacking to give the creature even more blows.
If the monster is somewhat weak and you know you just have 2 more hits before it is dead and there are a lot of items on the floor, you might want to wait until the monster picks up some more items and you are down to 2 or 3 items before you finish the creature off. This is useful because the wait will let your heart slow down and it is even more useful if there is another monster right behind the monster you are attacking.

BESERK TACTIC
If you are confident in your ability to attack quickly and the monster is not too strong it is often possible to hit the monster 7 or more times before it hits you, often killing it, but this is very dangerous and should not be attempted in any serious game without backup.

Level 2
As soon as you come down from level one go find a place where there are no monsters about to attack you and use the slap the monster silly attack tactic. You may want to combine that tactic with the sit and wait tactic by unloading everything and waiting for the monsters to find you and then slapping them silly once they find you and finishing them off and then waiting for the next monster while your heart rate slows down. On this level you will find some new items. You do not need to use the lunar on this level so do not. Just use your pine torches until you do not have anymore. Compared to level 3, level 1 and 2 are very easy if you go by the tactics mentioned here. On level two you will notice that the stone giants are stronger then the ones on level 1. This is not really so. The ones on level one had clubs. These strong ones on level two have axes, so they are different creatures entirely, even though they make the same sound. Another odd thing which you will notice sometimes on level 2 is an evil knight with a long object hanging from between his legs. This as well is not really what it appears to be. This unseemly image occurs when a snake is standing behind the armored monster and the snakes tail is seen giving the optical illusion of something other then its intended meaning, or unintended meaning depending on the programmer's alignment.

When you finally have a total of 25 items you are ready to climb down to level 3, but do not just climb down from anywhere. Level 3 is very tough and dangerous and must be prepared for on level 2. To do so you must: Use your vision scroll to locate the hole at the top/rightmost corner of the map. Yes, that is the one, not the one with the ladder but the hole to the right of it. Wait and let your heart rate go all the way down. Double-check and make sure you have all 25 items. Item arranging tactic, which is mainly designed for this moment. Pull out your iron sword in your right hand and something to drop in the other. Say a prayer. Take some deep breaths and climb down.

ITEM ARRANGING TACTIC
Pull out all your torches and drop them on the ground. Get out your Lunar torch and light it. Now after stowing your lunar torch, stow all your other torches. This makes your lit torch the last one that will be pulled out. This is useful in preparation for the slap the monster silly tactic. The last thing you need when about to fight a big monster in Examination mode is to pull out your active/lit torch and throw it on the ground and have the monster come pick it up before you realize what has happened and then the only torch, if any, that you can pick up is a nonmagical torch which wont let you hit the magic creature that has your lunar torch... so use this tactic if you are a beginner.

Level 3
The dreaded level 3. Assuming you followed the previous instruction on level 2, you should end up in a nice cozy small little island somewhat cut off from the rest of the area on the level 3 map. In this little section there will be a few monsters. Which ones you find there will depend on how long it took you to get to level 3. Usually the wizard will not be in there but if he is in your cozy section, run like hell, you can tell if he is there by the sound of his attack. Oh, where to run? Run down that long hall that separates the little protected area that you start in from the rest of the map and run to the other end where the wizard is not around. OK, he is really the fake wizard but I will call him the wizard for now. If the more common event of the wizard does not appear in your area then you still have a big struggle ahead of you but it will be easier. Be aware. Always be ready to attack. There is this little monster called a scorpion which in your lunar torch light may look more like a hand coming from the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It makes a twitchy sound, like twigs breaking. Real quick. They move and attack very quickly. One hit from them means sudden death. Sometimes they will attack you before you ever hear them, that is how quick they are. Just a half second of a glance of their dotty small form on your screen and then you are dead. If they catch you off guard move quickly, for typing move is quicker then typing 'A R/L ENTER'. OK, so you come down the hole and there you are. Listen intently for the scorpion's short quick scuttle. If you hear it then you can stay still with 'A R/L' and your finger on the ENTER key with your eyes intently focused on the screen. Does it get louder? If so, then stay there. If it does not then listen for the other guys. If it is just a smiling blob then move forward out of your blind little room past the door. If the coast is clear of axed stone giants and evil knights and the wizard then find a spot and unload for slap silly tactic. If on the other hand you hear very tough guys all ready then just stay in your one celled room w/ 3 walls, a door and the stairs you just climbed down and unload there. Either way use the slap silly attack tactic. After every kill try revealing your solar torch, the one you got on level 2 but could not reveal. Once you have killed everything in your somewhat safe area move on down the long corridor that leads to the rest of the map. Try to reveal that solar torch as soon as possible for it will let you see the scorpions at a distance, which will be a Godsend. Speaking of God, say a prayer before leaving your area. Praying is important because it helps you to stay focused and calm. The main reason people die in this game is that they panic and get all-nervous and either start hitting the wrong keys or doing stupid things. If you can find a blob that will help too because you can use it as a body shield and to escape the wizard and other enemies w/ the body shield tactic!

BODY SHIELD TACTIC (The Pet Spider/Blob)
Find a weak creature that cannot raise your heart rate too much , like a Blob. Walk slowly and let him catch up with you wherever you go. Do not turn a corner unless he is caught up with you or you can loose him. If you run into a very tough creature you can give the Blob all of your items you do not need and then kill the Blob. Then you can use the slap silly attack tactic. While walking with your pet creature if you happen to hear a scorpion nearby you can quickly go to where the blob is at and let the blob protect you. Then once the scorpion is next to you you could quickly move, attack and move back in every direction where the scorpion could be. This would be useful if you only had a lunar torch and a scorpion is nearby. If you ran into the wizard and your blob was nearby you can use the blob as a body shield. When the wizard is right behind the blob you can quickly leave your body shield in the opposite direction of the wizard and hide behind a corner. The slow blob will catch up with you but the fast wizard will bump into the blob and go in another direction. It is possible to lose the wizard this way without running very far and getting your heart rate all rushed.

So try to find a pet, but if you do not, it is ok because you can use the slap silly method with all the items you have that should not be a problem. The main thing to watch for is the scorpions and the wizard. If you unloaded all your items and the wizard comes near you, pick the items up as quickly as you can and zigzag through turns and quickly go to the other side of the map, but do not let your heart rate get to high. Eventually you will kill all the enemies on Level 3 except the wizard. When you get the Thews flask, use it right away. Always know that your Hale flask is there if needed. When you have killed all the guys on Level 3 but the wizard, then you are ready to go back up to level 2. The ladder is located at the top/leftmost section of the map. Use your scroll. Make sure you have all your items. Do not leave any anywhere. When you examine your backpack it will be completely full and then some. That is ok. Let your heart rate slow down. Use your solar torch. Get ready for some real battle. Go on up the ladder to level 2. Move up on the map twice. Past the door and at the corner is where you will be. Unload all the un-needed items there. Listen. If you hear a winged wraith coming then get ready to slap it silly. It takes about 250 slaps to take a wraith out on level 2 if you have followed this walkthrough thoroughly. Or you can slap it 20 times and attack it with your iron sword about 30 times. Those big guys are not so tough with all the items you have but do not let them hit you. There is also this monster with a funny face(Galdrog) that makes a scorpion sound which will attack you. Kill them the same way with about 14 iron sword hits. Once you killed all the monsters you can here, just leave your items on the floor 2 steps away from the stairs and go to the stairs. Quickly climb down and climb back up. Go to your stash. Turn right to see whats coming and wait a little bit. If another wraith comes great! Kill it. The purpose of this is to build up your strength for level 4 and the wizards. Just keep climbing up and down the ladder listening for wraiths and killing them and just keep repeating it until your solar torch runs out. Do not use your solar torch the whole time while on level 2, only use it when you hear a scorpion, otherwise use up all your lunar torches. Wraiths are killed just as well with a lunar torch than a solar torch. When you have used up all of a (one) solar torch, then pull out your second solar torch that has not been used and light it . Now go to level 3 and start hacking and slashing the enemies you run in to except for pets, until you find the fake wizard. Try to keep some pets around like a spider, snake or something. Yes, on level 3 you will find spiders after you come back up from level 2 a second time. By this time it should take about 15 hits with an iron sword to kill a wraith. At this point you are one bad dude, but the wizard can still take you out with one blow, although you may be surprised to know that you can take a direct hit from the fake wizard if your heart is very slow, but I do not recommend it. OK, so let your heart get very slow and attack the wizard with the incanted Vulcan ring. Now run down a long hall and use your hale flasks to let that heart rate go way down. Pull out your incanted rhime ring on one hand and the iron sword in the other hand and when the wizard comes up to you blast it with your incanted rhime ring. This should take you to level 5, but if you have not followed the instructions exactly you may need to hit it some more with your incanted rings. Always make sure your heart is completely relaxed before attacking the wizard with a ring because when you go to level 4 your heart rate will still be pounding at the same speed it was after you attacked the wizard and there are monsters EVERYWHERE on level 4. Try to have one ring that has been used once on the fake wizard and a good sword in the other hand after killing the fake wizard because when you go down to level 4 you will leave everything in your backpack behind and will only have what is in your hands.

Level 4
After killing the fake wizard and arriving on level 4 you will run in to monsters everywhere including scorpions. On this level the scorpions are not so bad because they are the only easy kill. So from your starting point just start walking around. Monsters will come at you from all directions. Just walk past the tough guys real quick before they attack you. Try to only take passageways on level 5. Avoid doors and magic doors because there is probably a monster behind it with a wall in front of it and if you do decide to go through a door on this level be ready to turn quickly and move quickly before you get hit. While walking around and letting your heart rate slow down from slaying the fake wizard, keep an eye out for scorpions. Kill them along the way and pick up what they leave behind. Eventually you can collect a few items like this. There may be a point where you find a nice little secluded corner where there is a wall on 3 sides and you can see in down the hall whats coming. Go into this little corner and let your heart slow down from walking. Try to find some safe spot to rest, somehow. When it gets to a point where you feel comfortable attacking with your sword then unload and use the slap silly tactic if you do not hear any wraiths around. If a wraith is coming pick up your stuff and if you see him find a new spot to rest. Eventually you will have collected enough items to kill a wraith. It is one of these wraiths that will leave you the ultimate in weaponry. Your mithril shield should kill a wraith in about 10 blows and the elvish sword should take about 3 blows to kill a wraith, but your heart rate will soar from attacking with that sword. It is worth it. After killing everything on level four make sure you use all your newly gained Thews flasks and keep all your items on you. Get out your elvish sword and use your new solar torch and put things in the other hand to drop and go to

Level 5, the last level.
This should be easy from here. There are pets everywhere, you have your elvish sword and you can kick ass. Kill all the wraiths and galdrogs because you will get another Thews flask. Use that and you can kill a wraith in 2 blows. Keep some pets alive on this level for the wizard. Hit the real wizard with all 3 of your incanted joule ring blows and both of your rhime ring blows. Once you have emptied out all of your rings on the wizard with about 5 incanted ring blows, then hit the wizard anywhere from 1 to 3 times if you followed the walkthrough with your elvish sword, otherwise it may take more strikes but once the wizard is defeated you will come to the last and final riddle of the game, which is indeed the toughest. Get the wizard's ring which is said to be the 'Ring of Endings' in the instructions and reveal it.

Are you sure you want to read this part or figure it out on your own? I hate to ruin a great game for you. I gave you plenty of clues already. Once revealed you will know the rings name. It is the 'Supreme Ring'.

Solving the last incantation:
I opened 5 dictionaries and spent several long hours trying to figure it out. I wrote down from every definition of 'supreme' every word it might be. I had a list of well over 50 words. I tried them all and the last 9 or so had it. Then at the very end of the game there is a picture of a wizard with a star on his staff and on his robe and the text says exactly as I am looking at the screen right now 'BEHOLD! DESTINY AWAITS THE HAND OF A NEW WIZARD'

A truly amazing game, likely the best game play for a videogame in existence of all time.

ITEM SECRETS:

TORCHES
A torch can be used twice. Once as a pine torch and again as the torch it is revealed to be. So before revealing your torch, use it until it starts to dim. Then incant it and use it as an incanted torch without any loss of torchlight for the incanted torch. Warning! Do not let your unincanted torch become a dead torch because then it will be unincantable, so you must incant it as soon as things start to dim.
If the torch starts to dim then you will miss your creature while attacking it more often.
Torches make great weapons if used in the slap silly attack tactic.
A torch can be put out to conserve its lifespan by pulling the lit torch out of the backpack and holding in your hand.
It is possible to see a scorpion come around a corner with a lunar torch even though you can not see it one room away directly in front of you with a lunar torch.

SHIELDS
Some monsters are more easily killed with a shield then with a sword. The shield makes a poor weapon because it is slow (the noise takes a long time for the computer to sound out), letting the monster get in more blows. Shields do not block any significant damage from an enemy blow. The Mithril shield makes a good weapon if the Elvish sword is not in hand.
Attacking with your shield is not going to attract monsters. They do not follow sound.
Mithril is a magical elvish substance invented by J.R.R. Tolkien used to make armor in Tolkien's famous, 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy.

SWORDS
The Elvish sword does twice the damage as an iron sword but raises the heart pulse considerably with every blow. You will find it on level 4, along with the Mithril shield after killing a wraith.

SCROLLS
The vision scroll, found on level 2, lets you see a map of the level, while the seer scroll lets you see a map of the level and where all the enemies are. The seer scroll, found on level 4, lets you see how the enemies move and think and is worth studying once obtained.

RINGS
Incantations:
Vulcan - God of (fire)
Rhime - Another word for (ice)
Joule - A measurement of (energy)
Supreme - The ring of Endings
Each ring can be used 3 times before it turns to gold. The last ring will not be used as a weapon. Once a ring is attacked with, it considerably raises the heart rate and does a lot of damage. Rings should be saved for the wizards and used only on the wizards.

FLASKS
Abye (punish) - It will weaken you and make your heart rate climb. Never drink it.
Hale(strength) - It will not affect your strength but will considerably lower your heart rate.
Thews(muscles) - It will lower your heart rate a little bit and make you 1000 points stronger.

CREATURES:

Spiders and Snakes (or Vipers) are self-explanatory.

Club and Axe Wielding Massive Stone Giants:
The stone giant with the club I have always called a daggorath because on the game there is a picture of the creature (except with an axe) and it says the title. Well it also has a snake on the cover too and this name is not what it really is called. The one on level one carries a club and is generally easy to defeat and does little damage compared to the one on level two. The one on level two has an axe instead of a club and can kick ass, so be aware of the guys weapon in hand. They both make the same noise as the wraith, so they do not make good pets on levels that have wraiths because you do not know when there is a deadly wraith nearby.

Smiling Blobs:
Smiling blobs have kind of a half smile. In my younger days I only saw a headless cloaked figure. I never saw a smiling blob, but since most people see a smiling blob(so do I now that I am older) and since the instruction book calls them smiling blobs, I no longer call it the headless horseman(without a horse). The sound it made, use to scare the hell out of me. They make great pets later on in the game.

Two-Eyed Evil Knights and One-Eyed Evil Knights:
Please note the distinction. BIG BIG difference an extra eye can make. The two eyed one is allot more gentle and friendly when compared to its one-eyed big brother, so always count how many eyes the guy has, and no that is not what you think it is.

Scorpions:
Refer to the long, detailed description in the level 3 section. They are the most deadly monsters in the game because of how invisible they are and how deadly their attack is and how worthless the items are that they leave behind. They look like a boney hand with a lunar torch.

Galdrogs:
These guys make the same sound as the scorpions and leave nice gifts behind after you kill them. It should take about 6 hits to kill them when you get to them on level 4 if you follow the walkthrough.

Fake Wizard:
He can be killed with nothing but a sword but why waste your time. Take him out with a few ring attacks.

Real Wizard:
Surprisingly an easy kill if you can get to him if you have some good rings with you, but do not let him hit you. The real wizard you will become at the end of the game, but whereas his symbol is the fading moon, the winning adventurers symbol is a brilliant star.

To those who have had the courage and determination to complete the game, may peace be upon them.

This game, a wizards masterpiece.
Fine artworks sigh to the painter.
Surreal, untimely gratifying.
Unendable, beyond a game.

About the Walkthrough:
When I was around 12 years old I repeatedly tried to get past level 3. I dove into the game and attacked it with mighty vengeance and lost. Many years later, after graduating from school I came back to it as soon as the medium was opened to me 'the internet' to look for it and now I bring it to others. Many people have asked me for hints and help defeating this game and now this walkthrough is my reply. I hope someone finds it useful.

Louis Jordan