| Last updated: Exalt Version 3.4.1.0 (July 2023) |
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The Ancient Ruins is a medium-level dungeon that is a source of random stat increase potions (excluding Life and Mana), the Cactus Juice consumable, and three untiered items for melee classes: the Arcane Rapier, Amber Encrusted Helmet, and Sandstone Seal.
The dungeon has a chance of dropping from certain enemies in the Highlands biome, specifically from Dark Elf Queens, Hunter Centaurs, Minotaurs, and Flayer Gods.
This dungeon must be completed to earn ‘Travel of the Decade‘, ‘King of the Mountains‘, ‘Hero of the Nexus’ and ‘Realm of the Mad God’ fame bonuses.
“In the ancient times before Oryx had clawed his way to absolute power, others sought the same might through one method or another. Buried deep within the Realm’s barren deserts lay vast ruins. Once built to summon and harness the power of another plane, it soon was home to an army of inanimate warriors, powerful constructs, and long-dormant spirits. But the spirits grew vengeful for their imprisonment, and soon calamity struck. The shrine was entirely annihilated, with the formerly imprisoned spirits being the only remaining alive. The shrine was abandoned, left to decay to the sands of time.
But now the ruins have been discovered. Overrun with wildlife, engulfed by sand, and monitored by the spirits that once ravaged it, remnants of the shrine’s history still remain. They are determined to eliminate all those who seek to know the answers of its past. Though the acquired knowledge from ancient times had unknowingly escaped, and this would not be the last time spirits were abused for warfare…”
- Original Description
| The Realm Eye says: |
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The Ancient Ruins found within the realm’s deserts predate even Oryx’s rise to power within the realm. They were once a shrine used to communicate with the world of spirits. However, these planes were never meant to link. In a single catastrophic moment instigated from the other side, the shrine was detroyed, and all sources of natural life vanished with it. |
The Ancient Ruins Key is available in Mystery Boxes. It is also part of the Epic Mystery Key pool.
The dungeon consists primarily of rectangular rooms linked by narrow hallways. The floor tiles consist of tan sandstone bricks/tiles, brown stone, and stretches of quicksand. Walkable brown stone paths will be present on top of the quicksand. The wall tiles consist of tan sandstone bricks or irregular brown rock, occasionally with exposed amber gems. Decorative broken pillars, pottery, and ruined statue objects can also be found.
There is a chance to find at least one “treasure room” in each instance of the dungeon. A treasure room can have one of two possible layouts: (1) an open square arena made of tan sandstone bricks and hardened sand in the center, or (2) a square arena made of brown rock, with four rocks in the center that serve as obstacles. Depending on the layout, the treasure room miniboss (see below) will have different attack patterns.
The boss room can also have two different layouts (tan sandstone tiles or brown rock tiles) but these difference appear to be purely aesthetic and do not affect the boss’ attacks.
 Ancient Monolith |
  Cactus |
 Desert Scorpion |
 Giant Antlion |
 Sand Elemental |
 Terracotta Knight |
 Terracotta Paladin |
 Terracotta Warrior |
 Vulture |
Minion:
The Sandstone Titan is the boss of the dungeon. At certain points in the fight, it will temporarily become 
Invulnerable and summon several Ancient Spirits that must be defeated to progress.
A treasure room will contain a Magic Lamp in the center. Moving close to the lamp will initiate the battle against the Genie. Once the Genie is defeated, it will allow the player to destroy its lamp for a chance at loot. The lamp essentially functions as a Test Chest.
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The Ancient Ruins is part of the Standard Quest pool from the Tinkerer and has one associated quest.
| Name | Description | Items Needed | Reward |
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| The Titan | Defeat the Sandstone Titan in the Ancient Ruins. |
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Do not be swarmed by Terracotta Warriors, Paladins and Knights! Together they are a formidable force and you may find yourself in a sticky situation. Instead, attempt to take them out one by one. Focus on the paladin as it will heal his comrades.
The Sand Elemental can blind and slow you. Pay attention to its attacks as they could severely decrease your navigation through the rooms and hallways, making you more vulnerable to attacks.
Exploding Cacti can easily overwhelm you if you are not careful. When you are hit by one of Cacti’s shots, you should wait out the Bleeding effect since allowing it to linger on you for enlengthened periods of time will hurt a lot. If you are in a room filled to the brim with Cacti, attempt to trigger them all by damaging one Cactus and awaiting its explosion at a safe distance; This will cause a chain reaction and all Cacti should soon have perished. If, however, not all of the Cacti in a room have exploded, hit all the remaining Cacti while being careful not to be hit by their spikes.
Do not hug Cacti! They sure are pretty and calm but close contact will make them uncomfortable and they will retaliate with spikes!
There are 8 rooms in between the starting room and boss room, assuming no unusual map generation that causes hallways to cross each other.
