The Sandworm Lair, And how to do it.

[MitchFrenzal]

As you may be able to see, I'm quite a decent player (well decent-ish.) But I've never been able to get the heart from this dungeon, Can someone impart some information to me, As i get the feeling it's a slight trick I'm missing. Thank you in advance.

[CaptainTrips]

What exactly is making you fail? Can't find the next level? Getting killed? By creatures or cave ins?

The biggest challenge with the Sandworm Lair is getting used to the mechanic. Once you know how it works, it's actually one of the more harmless dungeons in my opinion - provided you're paying attention. As I don't know how familiar you are with the layout and mechanic, I'll just give a brief overview and you can respond with specific questions if you want.

The levels all consist of several stable rooms of relatively small size which are separated by large areas of sand. The only practical way of moving between these 'safe havens' is to rely upon the sandworm tunnelers that are zigzaging throughout the area. Your basic strategy should be to clear out the stable room you're in of enemies, then wait for a tunneler to pass through your room in a direction you haven't explored yet. Follow the tunneler, and make sure you stay directly in the path created by the specific tunneler you're following. Don't try to switch paths into another tunnel, and don't turn around. You should be trying to get to the next 'safe haven' as soon as possible. When you reach the next stable room, repeat this process until you find the stairs. Cave ins are the biggest threat in this zone, but are easily avoided in most situations if you are careful to follow the exact path made by the tunneler and don't dally in the tunnel.

Other than that, the general rules of survival apply here - try not to let yourself get surrounded, have a reliable means of phase door or teleport, etc. The creatures aren't too terrible for the most part. I don't know what else to tell you without more specific questions, so if you're still having trouble just say what aspect you're having trouble with.

[MitchFrenzal]

That pretty much answers my question, Follow the tunnellers and take a teleport/phase door with me?

(It's usually cave-ins, I pretty much can see what my problem is now.)

Thankyou.

[Tom]

That pretty much answers my question, Follow the tunnellers and take a teleport/phase door with me?

(It's usually cave-ins, I pretty much can see what my problem is now.)

Thankyou.

Beware of the Boss if you are low on hp's. The first attack can be pretty nasty.
Phase Door is not as useful as Teleport, but you might have one in case the Teleport was bad.

[MitchFrenzal]

I've generally done all of the other dungeons around here by the time I go for that, Level 20-something should work, Right?

(As in Trollmire+bill, Kor pul, Maze, Old Forest+fortress, Daikara/Temporal rift,)

[CaptainTrips]

I would recommend doing the Lair before doing Daikara. Once you understand the mechanism and get used to it, the Sandworm Lair should seem fairly easy compared to the sometimes overwhelming number of boulder-tossing giants and dragon hatchlings hanging out in Daikara. But to answer your question more directly: yes, level 20 is certainly high enough to take on the boss.

[Tom]

I would recommend doing the Lair before doing Daikara. Once you understand the mechanism and get used to it, the Sandworm Lair should seem fairly easy compared to the sometimes overwhelming number of boulder-tossing giants and dragon hatchlings hanging out in Daikara. But to answer your question more directly: yes, level 20 is certainly high enough to take on the boss.

+1

BUT, it depends a bit on what character you play.
With a fighter or archer it is very easy when you know how to do it.
But when I was there with my archmage, I knew before I was in deep trouble with my fragile body with few hp's.
*BOM* You die!!!
Did not even see the worm.
Was resurected by the potion but that was a nasty experience.

Daikara on the other hand, with Inferno, was a walk in the park.

[MitchFrenzal]

I did it fairly easily understanding the mechanic, My CL25 Human fighter was easily enough to contend with it, Easy when you know how, It goes against my normal play style to thrash out a dungeon so quickly though, Thanks very much for the help.

*edit Oh, I only left it that way this game because I'm usually scared of it, I can usually do all the others, (I actually saved Derth and finished the blood cult before I got there this time.)

[greycat]

One other thing about sandworm lair is that having a light (or vision) radius greater than 2 will help a lot. If the worm you're following gets out of your vision radius (which can happen easily if it's only radius 2), you might not be certain which way to go when you come to an intersection.

A way to light things up certainly doesn't hurt either. Summertide's great here. Or any of the illumination spells (Illuminate, Bathe in Light, Sun Flare, possibly others). Most disappointing is the staff of illumination which has an 80-turn recharge. Shield of the sun is only 10 turns!

[MitchFrenzal]

I had a sight range of about 6, That helped. Lost the char in dreadfell L9 being greedy. Don't usually get that far into the game, Thanks again.

http://te4.org/characters/6707/tome/33a ... 25900d6212

*Edit - Although, I do play at home quite a lot, I got lucky this time, That's about the best I've ever done.

[Postman]

Wear all items with blindness resistance which you have, sand drakes and queen use blindness attack a lot, and blindness is annoying . Boots of speed, nimble armor also help a lot - you can explore side tunnels. Movement infusion is a great help - you can run from the queen. Try not to fight in tunnels.

[budswell]

Also try not to "press ahead" (e.g. don't hit 6-6-6-6-6) when walking through tunnels. If you do get trapped in a cave in, you get one turn before you suffocate. So you can step out of the sand, or use a teleport rune to escape back into breathable safety.

[marvalis]

Mitch, I see your character did not use any movement infusions. Try to play around with them sometimes. They are also a great way to escape collapsing tunnels (or quickly run trough them before they can collapse).

[MitchFrenzal]

For the record, I'd changed to the teleport dropping the movement just after the lair, I did have movement at that point, I just didn't need to use it.

[martinuzz]

I never use teleport or phase door in the lair. Too much risk of teleporting into a stretch of tunnel that is about to collapse on you.
Following the tunnelers is all you need to find your way through the lair. They move at the same speed as a standard character, so no worries of losing track, just hug them.
Blindness resists are definitly a good idea to have here. Movement is nice, but not a must.
A level 15 character can clear the lair, but to be safe, a few more levels won't hurt.

On a sidenote: there is an artefact digger that allows you to dig fast enough, to be able to dig out a tile while standing in a freshly-dug tunnel, without it collapsing on you. Can come in handy if there's some loot trapped in a cave-in.
IIRC, the tunnels last 12 turns, from creation to collapse, but it's been a while since I played.