Barrier/Guide
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This content is part of the Atlas of Discovery Expansion.
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Ancient Relics mode, dungeons only require prior dungeon completion.The following guide takes the player through the combat of the Atlas of Discovery Expansion. This guide is primarily aimed at players who have completed or nearly have nearly completed the base game. Completion to at least the Air God Dungeon is recommended once you get to the higher levels, but in general, this guide can be followed alongside the main game.
Every enemy in this expansion has a Barrier health bar as well as a regular health bar. Enemies cannot take damage until the barrier is fully removed, and only familiars are able to damage the barrier. Furthermore, starting from the Trickery Temple dungeon, enemies will start to regenerate 25% of their barrier every 7 attack turns.
The familiar's hit-chance is based on the player's hit chance, and so the higher the hit chance the quicker the barrier will be removed. Two-handed weapons generally have a higher hit chance and so are recommended. However, if Damage Reduction is needed then this should take priority. Similarly, if barrier weakening shields are used, then these can tear down the barrier quicker in some cases.
Since combat is focused on using familiars, the following combo is recommended:
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Tortoise 
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If 
Throne of the Herald expansion is owned, the following provides a stronger alternative:
The combat mechanics in this expansion are more complex than the base game. Small changes in the enemy, equipment and player stats can make some items significantly stronger/weaker, and so it is recommended that the Combat Simulator is used to check if there are improvements that can be made e.g. higher kills/hour or drops/hour.
Good Luck!
Preparing for combat
In all of the following sections, the minimum and recommended requirements are listed.
Required:
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- Find
Torn Chart
Recommended
Old Summoning Amulet
Ring of Summoning or 
Aorpheat's Signet Ring
Necromancer outfit
Unlock the 
Ancient Market dig-site and upgrade the map to perfect using
. Ideally, refine the map and get the +1 artefact bonus too. Optionally, refine the Tiny Artefact, however this is not necessary as there are many ways to obtain 
Barrier Gem as combat progresses.
From the Ancient Market, collect at least 1,000 Barrier Gem. These will be used to make Tortoise familiars and you need enough for the the combat in this first section.
Depending on your skill in
, you will want to aim for around 50,000 Tortoise and higher preservation chances, increased doubling or more summons will make this easier. If possible, equip the Necromancer outfit, Old Summoning Amulet, Aorpheat's Signet Ring and any potions that can be used to increase tablet output.
Similarly, make
tablets. If you do not have enough 
Dragon Bones then other familiars can be used, but note that it will take longer to break down the barrier.
Equip both the Tortoise and
tablets. These will be used for all combat encounters.
Entry barrier equipment
Requirements:
- Discover
The Eye-Conic Cave - Any combat equipment.
Recommended
This portion of the guide focusses on some of the early barrier damaging items, outside of the familiars of course. Gear is less important, but melee is recommended because it doesn't use as many resources. Use a melee weapon that provides a good hit-chance, ideally 75% or higher.
- Fight
Blind Ghost to get the 
Barrier Touch Gem and 
Lesser Summoning Amulet
- Optionally, kill 100 for a Township task
- Craft the
Ring of Barrier Touch and equip it. - Fight
Vampiric Bat to get a 
Sapping Barrier Gem and 
Barrier Sapping Gloves
- Optionally, kill 100 for a Township task
Dungeons
The aim of this section is to unlock 
Cult Grounds dungeon, by completing the dungeons in order. From 
Trickery Temple onwards, the difficulty level starts ramping up considerably!
Golem Territory
Requirements:
- All items obtained in the previous section.
- Find
Ancient Stone Tablet
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Recommended
Summoning Skillcape or 
Maximum Skillcape for reduced tablet consumption.
Pure Crystal 2H Axe for improved accuracy
For the 
Golem Territory it is not sufficient to wear standard Armoud i.e. without Barrier (B) or Crystallization (c). However, your armour needs to have be sufficient so that the max hit of all monsters are above your auto-eat threshold so that you can idle this dungeon safely. Your weapon choice should give you a decent hit-chance i.e. 75% or higher so that you can quickly kill the monsters once the barrier is drained. The familiars are more than capable of breaking down the barriers.
Idle this dungeon until you have obtained 10 
Draining Barrier Gem and use these to upgrade your gloves into 
Barrier Draining Gloves. The Township Task associated with this dungeon provides 3 Draining Barrier Gem. On average, you will need 48 clears for the upgrade.
Other loot from the 
Golem Chest is not that important at this tune, but you should try to keep it all if you have the space as it will be of use later on. For example, the 
Barrier Pure Shard can be used to upgrade armor. You should not switch to any of the familiar weapons or amulets that drop unless they provide a significant boost on your current weapon. Most will either not improve your clear times or result in longer clear times.
Unholy Forest
Requirements
- All items obtained in the previous section.
- Complete Golem Territory
- Find
Old Route Chart
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The
dungeon can be completed using a similar strategy to the first dungeon. Equip 
Ancient Armor or stronger if you have it, and check that you have enough DR to survive the dungeon's max hit which is from the 
Grumpy Willow/File:Furious Mahogony (monster).png Furious Mahogony. Melee is recommended as you big hitters are melee and ranged.
For this guide, you just need one clear of this dungeon to unlock the next dungeon.
Optionally, you can idle this dungeon to get the 
Doubling Gem which gives a extra 3% chance of doubling items, but uses the gem slot. If you are planning an unholy build, then there are some important items here that you might want to obtain too.
Trickery Temple
Requirements
- All items obtained in the previous section.
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- Find
Torn Scrolls
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The monsters in the trickery temple deal a lot more damage than earlier dungeons. The enemies have a reflect mechanic where part of the damage the player deals is inflicted back upon the player, and a mechanic where the enemies' max hit is proportional to the player's max hit. Enemies in this dungeon are also magic, and so ranged is recommended. For example, using 
Rune Javelin or 
Rune Throwing Knife can help reduce your max hit, and therefore reduce damage taken.
Whilst the Trickery Temple drops 
Barrier Exalted Shard and 
Siphoning Barrier Gem, due to the reflect and max hit mechanic, the Cult Grounds dungeon is recommended for farming these so that you can focus on dealing more damage to reduce the clear times.
However, even with lower damage weapons, max hit may still be too high for your build. If this is the case, then consider using the combat simulator to check your build, or manual eating so that you can unlock Cult Grounds.
Upgrading to (B)
This section is about clearing and effectively farming the Cult Grounds dungeon and monsters for 
Barrier Dust. The player can progressively upgrade their Aeris God armour pieces to increase the kills per hour with every item upgraded.
Requirements
- All of the requirements mentioned above.
- Complete Trickery Temple
- Find
Lost Cursed Text
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Continue using your Aeris God armour setup for this dungeon. These monsters do not have the mechanic where they base their max hit off of the player's max hit, a crossbow with bolts can be used. As soon as enough Barrier Exalted Shard and Siphoning Barrier Gem have been obtained to upgrade the first item, it is advised to go collect barrier dust. All of the individual armour pieces have the same passive effect, so the order in which they are upgraded doesn't matter. Start with the armour piece that costs the fewest Barrier Shards and Siphoning Gems.
| Item | Upgrade Cost |
|---|---|
   
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4 Barrier Exalted Shard 2 Siphoning Barrier Gem
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10 Barrier Exalted Shard 5 Siphoning Barrier Gem
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6 Barrier Exalted Shard 3 Siphoning Barrier Gem
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5 Barrier Exalted Shard 5 Siphoning Barrier Gem
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Once enough upgrade materials have been obtained, depending on the gear the player has, kill either
or
. The benefit from killing Cult Members for barrier dust, is that only the Aeris set needs to be upgraded for maximum effect. However, the Cult Imp can potentially drop more barrier dust in a given hour. Especially if the player is using 
Big ol Ron. Terran God armour is also required in the next sections of the guide.
Collect enough barrier dust to obtain 2,000 
Imbued Dragonite Bar. Upgrade your armour piece and move back to the Cult Grounds dungeon until enough materials have been obtained for the next upgrade. Repeat this cycle until the full Aeris armour has been obtained. Finally, also upgrade a pair of 
(U) Ancient D-hide Vambraces as they are slightly better than the previously used Barrier Draining Gloves.
Recommended starting gear is similar to that of the previous dungeon. Be sure to double check the amulets and rings that offer damage and familiar damage bonus after every (B) Aeris upgrade, as what results in more kph can change!
| Slot | Item (most effective → least effective) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  Aeris God Helmet | ||
 |  Aeris God Platebody | ||
 |  Aeris God Platelegs | ||
 |  Aeris God Boots | ||
 |  Barrier Draining Gloves | ||
 |  Maximum Skillcape |  Ranged Skillcape |  Cape of Ranged Preservation |
 |  Lesser Summoning Amulet |  Old Summoning Amulet |  Deadeye Amulet |
 |  Summoner's Blessed Ring |  Deadeye Ring |  Ring of Barrier Touch |
 | Error creating thumbnail: File missing Shockwave |  Pure Crystal Crossbow | Error creating thumbnail: File missing Ancient Crossbow |
 |  Shield of Ranged Power |  Scaled Shield | |
 |  Jadestone Bolts |  Emerald Bolts | |
 | Old Summoning Amulet | ||
 |  Ranged Hinder Scroll | ||
The following gear is starter gear to farm cult imps for barrier. If you do not have Big ol Ron, simulate how many barrier dust you are receiving with your alternative, and potentially use ranged on cult members instead. It is recommended to upgrade the melee armour used, with a preference over upgrading Terran. This is because the extra Damage Reduction is required for the 
Underwater Ruins. The equipment below will result in roughly 2,400 barrier dust an hour. More or less can be obtained depending on the actual gear and other bonusses used. The amount of barrier dust an hour rises to around 3,100 with Terran fully upgraded to (B). Depending on your choice in the next section, you do not need to fully upgrade Terran.
Again, Terran is used in this recommended gear over Ragnar with the assumption that this will be (partially) upgraded into (B).
It is advised that the player stays at Cult Grounds until the 
Summoner's Blessed Ring is obtained. This is also a good time to go back to
with the gear recommended here since the 
Trickery Mirror is required for the next section. With fully upgraded Aeris (B) and the other barrier damage items, it shouldn't be a problem at all taking these down much faster than before.
Lastly, if the player has finished
at least once, and thus has obtained the passive slot, it's a good idea to go for another item. The enemies from now on will have a lot more barrier to take down. The 
Barrier Burn Shield from the Trickery Temple can be used in the passive slot for a lot of extra barrier damage.
Melantis?
This section is about unlocking the final combat zone and dungeon from Atlas of Discovery.
Requirements
- All of the requirements mentioned above.
- Complete Cult Grounds
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Water Expert Wizard Robes
Ancient Infernal Cape- Trickery Mirror.
Melantis is a Point of Interest that first needs to be discovered to unlock the 
Underwater City and Underwater Ruins dungeon and combat area.
The player first needs to find 
Melantis Clue 1 from the Monuments dig site and follow a trail of clues. Alternatively, you can look for the solution here.
Underwater Ruins
Requirements
- Have followed this guide up until this point, or have obtained all relevant items mentioned in this guide.
- Discover
Melantis
Recommended
- Full (B) god armour for the chosen combat style.
Cloudburst Staff for magic (if 
Water Pulse Staff isn't obtained prior.)
Ultima Godsword for melee.
Damage Reduction Potion IV
Fury of the Elemental Zodiacs- Barrier Burn Shield if the passive slot is unlocked.
- Summoner's Blessed Ring
The Underwater Ruins contains 4 enemies of which 3 drop weapons that are potentially an upgrade. The monsters also all drop plenty of Barrier Dust, which allows for easy upgrading of the remaining god armours that haven't been upgraded yet.
The player has a choice of killing the following monsters:
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Engulfing Vortex Longbow - Error creating thumbnail: File missingMerman for the Water Pulse Staff
- Error creating thumbnail: File missingMerman Guard for the
Hasty Trident
These monsters and their drops can be obtained in order, since they are all one part of the combat triangle. For example, the Mermaid Archer can be killed for the longbow, which can then be used on the Merman for the staff which then can be used to obtain the trident from the Merman Guard.
It is strongly recommended to start this section with the Ultima Godsword and killing Mermaid Archers. This is because the Ultima Godsword is a very strong weapon, and the Engulfing Vortex Longbow resulting from this is also a very strong weapon.
Mermaid Archer
The following gear is recommended for the Mermaid Archer, since she has a very high max hit. Getting the Ultima Godsword is highly recommended to start killing Mermaid Archers. Alternatively, Merman Guards can be killed first to obtain the Hasty Trident.
The gear below assumes an optimal situation for the gear that is available at this point. When diverting from this gear, be sure you have auto-eat threshold and damage reduction to idle this enemy!
Merman
The best weapon, by far, for killing Mermans is the Engulfing Vortex Longbow. Therefor it is suggested to get this bow from Mermaid Archers before killing Mermans. Mermans have a significantly lower maximum hit. As a result, the player needs a much lower auto-eat threshold and damage reduction. It is suggested to use a 
Ranged Strength Potion IV or 
Diamond Luck Potion IV, whichever results in more kills per hour.
The gear below assumes an optimal situation for the gear that is available at this point. When diverting from this gear, be sure you have auto-eat threshold and damage reduction to idle this enemy!
Merman Guard
Merman Guards can be killed with the Cloudburst Staff or the Water Pulse Staff effectively. However, because the Water Pulse Staff provides 8% extra damage reduction over the Cloudburst Staff, a player would need more hitpoints and more damage reduction to idle this enemy effectively.
Additionally, since the Water Pulse Staff cannot miss, a 
Magic Damage Potion IV can result in more kills per hour over the Cloudburst Staff.
The gear below assumes an optimal situation for the gear that is available at this point. When diverting from this gear, be sure you have auto-eat threshold and damage reduction to idle this enemy!
Underwater City
Requirements
- Discover Melantis
- Damage Reduction Potion IV
- 70%+ Damage Reduction depending on hitpoints
Recommended
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Relic Shield - Error creating thumbnail: File missingPiety
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- Agility obstacles that provide damage reduction
The enemies, and especially the
hit very hard in this dungeon. A lot of damage reduction is required in order to idle this dungeon without dying. Alternatively, the player can return after having progressed through the Throne of the Herald expansion. Having more hitpoints or other damage reducing and damage inflicting bonusses can greatly speed up the clear times of this dungeon.
The Relic Shield is preferred over the 
Earth Layered Shield, because it offers 4% more damage reduction at
and above. Alternatively the 
Devouring Barrier Shield can be used, once the upgrade item has been obtained from this dungeon. However, the player should check if the 4% reduction in DR doesn't result in death. The 
Eradicating Gloves (m) should be equipped immediately when obtained from this dungeon.
Clearing the Underwater City dungeon provides 1 
Barrier God Shard every time it is cleared. These can be used to upgrade (B) god armours into their respective (C) armours. These can then be used to very effectively clear
for 
Crystal Binding Dust if the player hasn't already done this.
The gear below assumes an optimal situation for the gear that is available at this point. When diverting from this gear, be sure you have auto-eat threshold and damage reduction to idle this enemy!
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