Barrier/Guide
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This content is part of the Atlas of Discovery Expansion.
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This article is a strategy guide for Barrier.
Information on equipment, mechanics and strategies are on this page.
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Ancient Relics mode, dungeons only require prior dungeon completion.
Atlas of Discovery Expansion with as little effort as possible. This guide is targeted at people who have either completed or nearly completed the base game. Completion of at least the 
Barrier health bar as well as a regular health bar. Enemies cannot be damaged in any way until the barrier is entirely removed. Only 
Trickery Temple dungeon, enemies also regenerate 25% barrier every 7 attack turns. The player can find or create various pieces of equipment to significantly increase the damage to barriers from familiars, including gems which are placed in the 
Gem Slot introduced in this expansion.
Two-handed weapons are strongly recommended for all of the Since the combat portion is heavily focused on using familiars, the following is strongly recommended:
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Tortoise 
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In case the 
Throne of the Herald Expansion is owned, the following is a better alternative:
Because the combat mechanics in this expansion are rather complex — and minor changes in enemy, equipment, and player stats can make specific items better or worse — it is always recommended to use the Combat Simulator mod to verify how to get the most kills per hour or drops per hour.
The minimal and recommended requirements for every individual section are listed within the sections below.
Preparing for combat
Required:
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- Discover the Point of Interest
Old Village - Find
Torn Chart in the Old Village Dig Site - Discover the Point of Interest
Ancient Market
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Recommended
Aorpheat's Signet Ring and/or 
Ring of Summoning (Error creating thumbnail: File missingLevel 82,Error creating thumbnail: File missingLevel 80)
Necromancer outfit
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Tortoise familiars: unlock the Ancient Market dig site by finding the Torn Chart once in From the Ancient Market, collect a whole bunch of 
Barrier Gem, the ingredient for the Tortoise tablet recipe. The Tortoise is a must have for all the combat in this expansion. Depending on how many tablets you can make at once, and the preservation chance, more Barrier Gems should be obtained. 1,000–5,000 gems is a good number to aim for, depending on the previous factors.
Gem Slot, though this should be continuously replaced as better gems are found.
Entry barrier equipment
Requirements:
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- Discover the Point of Interest
The Eye-Conic Cave - Discover the Point of Interest
Mucky Cave
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- Any combat equipment.
Recommended
Old Summoning Amulet
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This portion of the guide aims at getting the very entry barrier equipment items, outside of the familiars of course. Gear doesn't matter much at this point, so prefer melee because it doesn't use resources. Use the melee weapon that provides the highest hit-chance.
- From defeating
Blind Ghost in the Eye-conic Cave combat area:
- Get 2
Barrier Touch Gem. - Get and equip the
Lesser Summoning Amulet. - Optionally defeat 100 Blind Ghosts for the Error creating thumbnail: File missingTownship Task.
- Get 2
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Ring of Barrier Touch. - In the Mucky Cave combat area:
- From defeating
Vampiric Bat, get and equip the 
Sapping Barrier Gem and 
Barrier Sapping Gloves. - Optionally defeat 100
Slime Shooter for the Error creating thumbnail: File missingTownship Task.
- From defeating
Golem Territory
Requirements:
- All items obtained in the previous section.
- Discover the Point of Interest
Monuments
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- Find
Ancient Stone Tablet in the Monuments Dig Site
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Recommended
Summoning Skillcape or 
Maximum Skillcape
Pure Crystal 2H Axe
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For the Golem Territory dungeon, we still do not require any specific (B) armour. Use the familiars made earlier and let them do most of the work. Make sure whatever equipment you are wearing doesn't result in death, and whatever weapon you are using should once again provide the highest hit-chance that you can find. Melee again works fine for this dungeon, as it doesn't consume runes or ammunition.
Optionally, a Summoning or Maximum Skillcape can be worn to save some familiar tablets, but is by no means required.
Run this dungeon until you have obtained 10
Draining Barrier Gem to upgrade your gloves into 
Barrier Draining Gloves. 3 of these gems can be obtained by turning in the All other items/loot received from this dungeon can be ignored. Do not use the familiar weapons. Unless the player is using very inaccurate and/or low level weapons, these will result in significantly lower clears per hour.
Dungeon Rush
The goal of this section is to unlock the 
Cult Grounds dungeon as fast as possible. The following two dungeons have to be completed once each in order to unlock Cult Grounds. Starting from Trickery Temple, the combat difficulty starts ramping up quite a bit!
Unholy Forest
Requirements
- All items obtained in the previous section.
- Complete the Golem Territory Dungeon once
- Discover the Point of Interest
Glacia City Ruins
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- Find
Old Route Chart in the Glacia City Ruins Dig Site
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Trickery Temple
Requirements
- All items obtained in the previous section.
- Complete the Error creating thumbnail: File missingUnholy Forest Dungeon once
- Discover the Point of Interest
Ritual Site
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- Find
Old Temple Chart in the Ritual Site Dig Site
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- Discover the Point of Interest Lost Temple
- Find
Torn Scrolls in the Lost Temple Dig Site
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The monsters in the Trickery Temple dungeon deal a lot more damage than previous dungeons. On top of that, the enemies there 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 based on the player's max hit. All enemies in this dungeon are also magic-based. It is therefore highly recommended to use the ranged combat style, preferably with javelins or throwing knives to lower the player's max hit, though at the expense of clear time.
Even with throwing knives the reflect and enemy max hit still become very high. Always make sure to use the Combat Simulator mod beforehand to ensure you are not going to die! Alternatively, you can also do one clear by manual eating.
Although this dungeon drops the needed 
Barrier Exalted Shard and 
Siphoning Barrier Gem, the next dungeon Cult Grounds is preferred for farming these, due to the difficult mechanics involved in clearing Trickery Temple.
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. Progress from here will be much slower than before, as hours of farming will be needed to obtain the required materials.
Requirements
- All of the requirements mentioned above.
- Complete the Trickery Temple Dungeon once
- Find
Lost Cursed Text in the Ritual Site Dig Site
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Continue using your Aeris God armour setup for this dungeon, though a crossbow with bolts may now be used, as these monsters do not have the mechanic where they base their max hit off of the player's max hit. 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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Big ol Ron. Terran God (B) armour is also recommended in the next sections of the guide, so it is of benefit to upgrade that set as well.
Collect enough Barrier Dusts to obtain 2,000 
Imbued Dragonite Bar for now. As a base number, 24,000 Barrier Dusts are needed for 2,000 Imbued Dragonite Bars, but this number can be diminished greatly through preservation, doubling, and the imbued bars obtained from the Cult Grounds rewards. 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 God (B) armour set 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 Aeris upgrade, as what results in more kills per hour can change!
| Slot | Item (most effective → least effective) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  Aeris God Helmet (B) |  Aeris God Helmet | |
 |  Aeris God Platebody (B) |  Aeris God Platebody | |
 |  Aeris God Platelegs (B) |  Aeris God Platelegs | |
 |  Aeris God Boots (B) |  Aeris God Boots | |
 |  (B) Ancient D-hide Vambraces |  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 |
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 |  Shield of Ranged Power |  Scaled Shield | |
 |  Jadestone Bolts |  Emerald Bolts | |
 | Old Summoning Amulet | ||
 |  Ranged Hinder Scroll | ||
Underwater Ruins. The equipment below will result in roughly 2,400 Barrier Dusts an hour. More or less can be obtained depending on the actual gear and other bonuses used. The number of Barrier Dusts per 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 gear is recommended over Ragnar with the assumption that this will be (partially) upgraded into (B).
Summoner's Blessed Ring is obtained. This is also a good time to go back to 
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 
Barrier Burn Shield from the Trickery Temple can be used in the passive slot for a lot of extra barrier damage, which will be useful because enemies from now on have a lot more barrier health.
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
- Complete Cult Grounds
- 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
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 
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 
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!
