The Crypt Book - (Tips & Advice)

Fighter’s Class/Melee
* The Fighter class in the crypt is pretty straightforward.. You just bash things.. No matter if you're using a mithril weapon or using the stings.. The fighter's job is to concentrate on the Crypt Risen and move away from the enforcers.. The melee users are handy in helping to defeat the Skeletons which can spawn from the coffin or if they are placed on the floor.

* You will need to watch out for the Risen when it gets badly injured.. It is then you will start to see their hand waving around as they are about to harm them self to heal, lucky enough they only get one per Risen, but even so.. they can be a pain to hit since their AC is high.

* The Risen spawns in a pack of 2.. But also watch out.. Each room has two spawning points.. So you might spawn 4..

* There will be chances of you stunning them with your “Stun” strikes this is a good feature to have and use against them.. Since they are mobile and will not heal for a short period of time.. But they will take the chance to heal if you're not quick enough..

* On the second map within the crypt you will be doing your normal adventuring and come across, The Pillar of Might.. This is for melee uses to bash.. It will take some time to destroy it.. And you will see random numbers float above your head.. These numbers above your head are just your class level but it will display different numbers which either multiply or divide.. It just looks more interesting in the damage output..

* On the second map.. It would be the best if melee users stay behind the rogue while they are trying to find and deactivate the traps on the floor, there will be the odd times when you will step on one and spawn six skeletons, So be careful.

* The Mini-Boss on the second map.. - You will need to be careful of this boss since it has a large aura that hurts the players within it.. It will do a huge amount of acid damage so keep an eye on your HP. The boss will cast acid and it does hurt.. Plus it has a damage reflection of acid.. To work around this to stay alive a little longer.. Use a source tab and do your best but also be careful of the area dispel which happens every 1 minute. It will debuff your buffs & the source tab.

* The Risen & Enforcers will drop source tabs.. This is to help with harder monsters that you might face as you progress so be sure to have a few in your backpack.


Bard
* Bards are a huge help even though their songs only last for 1 minute so you will need to be smart about what instruments you use.. Some tend to use 4 different ones in a loop. E.g:
* Attack Moracca
* Mandolin of Health
* Crazy War Drumstick
* Wounding Horns

* Lets not forget about the bard song this does help as well, lucky enough you don’t need to be seriously close it has a large range, but I don’t think it works through walls.

* You will tend to use the Whistle of Skill a few times in case a rogue is having problems unlocking or disabling traps.

* The curse can be a major boost when it comes to the enforcers, since it reduces the saves for the PM or the Clerics to use their certain spells. When you see or hear about the word “enforcers” keep focused and use the curse song to help the other classes out. Once that is done.. Get out of the way and let the others take over so that you're not in their way. You can use the curse song also on the risen it will reduce there AC and there Attack bonus and a few others bits and bobs.

* Do not.. Under any circumstances just quarry/macro your songs and leave your computer to do its songs without good reason.. You will need to be fully focused like the others of what is happening around you and be there when called, you will be fully active and need to keep up…

* If you go in, as a bard.. Do not try to be melee as well.. You just need to be the helper. So allow the melee users to do their job, and for god’s sake.. Be a bard and not 15-20 bard with other classes, you will just end up upsetting others.. They asked for a bard not a goddamn watered down hybrid.

* It is also good to know.. If you have a rogue setting a bunch of traps.. They will ask you to cast a Whistle.. This will boost the damage output from the traps when a creature steps on it, also keep an eye on the area dispel.. It tends to happen when you the least want it to.

* You can also help out on the Cold Pillar - cast a cold spell on it and hopefully you will open the portal to the other side.. But also you can leave this to the caster as well.


Shifters
* As usual, your best form here is going to be manicure. While your other forms (Death Salad, Dragon/wyrmling, Rakshasa, Kobold, Death Lord) can work down here, other classes will perform the job better, and you are going to be limited by the amount of times you can shift in certain forms.
* It is possible to use the server shout to make your form immune to the area dispel (useful for Dragon/Rakshasa), but you will still get dispelled by the Enforcers.
* Kobold can unlock the sarcophaguses but will not be able to spot the traps.


Arcane Archers/Rangers
* The Arcane Archers works near the same line as melee but in this case you have the range.. There will be opportunities where you will see skeletons across from you on a ledge which melee can not reach. It is pointless to call shot leg or arm to slow certain undeads down so that is off the table.

* So it will be best to just do what the melee does and just concentrate on the risen. If you want to get the odd shot in, into the enforcers to provoke them so that they now attack you with spells you can while it might save someone from death.. But try and not get in the way of the casters while there in line of fire.

* When you come across fighting the bosses, be careful of your attack rounds when using rapid shot; it can come out of nowhere, where you will die and already your arrows have been shot.

* When you come to a Pillar.. The pillar of Might will be the one you bash like the melee.

* It does help to shoot a few arrows if you would like the boss to come forward near you.. If a rogue has put traps down, this could be beneficial.


Monk
The monk class does pretty well in the raid since their AC is high, so they get more hits in, don’t bother with the enforcers you will not do more damage.. It would be best if you just concentrated on the risen like melee. They need all the brute force while they can.

When you get to the second map.. It would be wise to not run off because of certain traps that you might find so mind where you step.

They are handy to have around when going up against the mighty pillar since you get more attacks in.


Wizard/Soc
The role of the wizard/ sorcerer in the crypt is to be able to eliminate the caster only enemies, prevent melee only enemies from healing and to counter spell bosses and dragons.

Spells to use against melee:
1. Timestop: The timing of this spell is critical to prevent targets from healing. Your melee companions will appreciate it. Until you reach the bosses you can slot all your level 9 spells as time stop. This minimizes resting along the way.

Spells to use against casters:
1. Time stop: if you have a cleric or bard, this will allow them time to curse bless and implode the casters.
2. IGMS: must be empowered. If implosion failed or not available then you will be relied on to kill the monsters.
3. Great thunderclap: very effective against groups larger than two.

Spells to use against Bosses:
1. Time Stop: gives the group time to buff, use source tabs or setup counter spelling.
2. IGMS: empowered. Mind the reflect though.
3. Meteor Swarm: empowered and mind the reflect.

Misc. Notes:
1. Don't bother slotting buff spells
2. Don't bother with summons.
3. Be sure to have pez dispenser.
4. Stay away from melee enemy's
5. Keep a few ice storms handy.

Counter Spell during boss encounters:
Spells needed: Mord, greater dispel and ice storms.
During certain boss encounters you will be required to keep the boss busy by counter spelling him/her. Get as many mords and greater dispels as you can as the will burn through them quickly. Enter counter spell using your spell casting radial dial after you target the boss


Pale Masters
This is not much to be said about the Pale masters because basically there's not really caster types but it can be good in some sort of melee.. That being said.. Some work has been done to make some casting features applicable to the class as well. So.. Not much can be said part from using some wiz/sorc spells.

* Timestop is one of them which will help to freeze them.
* Negative ray and Negative burst has been augmented and changed to help towards the PM levels so the damage will be around 200-400 negative damage.
* Circle of Death is like Neg burst.
* Horrid Wilting does ok, But not much damage

A wonderful spell that can be used on the enforcers is called Undeath to Death. It works similar to the implosion spell which is casted from the clerics. It would be a good idea to work alongside the bard as well once they cast their curse song which will reduce the enforcers saves for a better chance of death damage.

At this present time.. Not much can be done by the PM, apart from being more like a backup class to have and it really can be useful if there is no cleric around at the time.


Clerics
Clerics can be a powerhouse in the crypt...

Enforcer's
If the Divine caster does not wait for the bard to demoralize the enforcers with a curse song, the spells cast will only have a 5% chance of hitting full force. The reason having a bard around is that their curse can reduce the saving throws which make it much easier for the cleric to cast implosion towards them for a better success. So by doing this the cleric is also being overly optimistic if they start casting on the enforcers with only a curse song in effect.


The team does have the scout announce there are enforcers ahead, the bard sneaks up and curses them, while the bard is doing this… the cleric casts battle tide to help the effectiveness of his offensive spells. This adds a little of insurance for our rogue to also use his Ward against Demons to hit the enforcers with a prayer spell or if someone does it before, EVERY little helps, we take them down as a team.

There will be times when your implosion will not work on the enforcers or you have run out, So the wise solution would be to cast Sunbeam’s or Firestorm/Flame strikes since this spell will do reasonable damage to take them down.

Risen's
One will also encounter the crypt creatures called the Risen, these creatures provide the hardest challenge for the clerics. One cannot cast spells at them because they are immune to magic so working smarter is the key to getting past them and the challenging part is to do nothing.

Or to try and hurt them with a weapon of some sorts. But without a mithril ring the odds of doing significant damage is small. What you can do is support the weapon users and be ready to recharge the front lines if they fall with a resurrection item.


Rogue/Shadow dancer/Assassin
* Rogues are the main person who leads, they are appointed to go first and seek out what will be spawned first and allow others to know it would be best if the rogue warns the players to stand back a few steps and allow the rogue to do their job.. This will help to practice when it comes to the second map.

They are the best class to open the coffins that you find within the map, each coffin is a gamble if its either:
* Items
* Spawns a bunch skeletons
* Nothing drops.

* If you have mothers milk you can do some nice damage to the risen/enforcers it will help the party to kill the creatures a little quicker. Make sure you have as many skills as possible in - open lock & find traps as well. You will find most things to have traps on them.

* When you come to the switches/leaver at the end of a room you will need to do two things.. Unlock it and also use find traps.. If your skills are low.. Do ask the bard to cast the whistle this will help a huge amount in your skills but also make sure it's not within the 1-minute nuke or you will need to ask again.

* The second map.. It would be a good thing to have find traps on a wand if it can be made. Some other classes can use the find traps but it will not disable them if it's not strong enough. You will need to be on your A game, if you're the rogue.

* As you adventure along there will be times, where you will need to use your Spyder traps so have at least 2-3 pages full to get a nice damage output and try to put them on top of each other.. This will take practice and also have your widows marks in your hand as well as set them down.

* *tip* A helping hand would be to buy and use One with the Land spell if you took a little UMD, the spell will help with some skills to boost.

* *tip* When you get to the end boss It would be wise to set lots of traps before you run in like a headless chicken, it can go bad quickly, you will see 2 statues one on each side.. Try to put traps around there and not so close to the opening, because the boss tends to walk around close. A suggestion would be to put down around 30-50 traps.. It seems a lot but it will make the fight a little smoother if it's done correctly.

* *tip* someone will need a pickpocket as well.. So ask someone if they have some skill in pick pocketing or you can do it.. When the time comes.

Summary - A special thanks to ( Mike, Zedd, Soppi ) for the help with the imput of this book and a few others who may have did some spell checks..

L0BSTER