Tomb of the Ancients Guide

Last updated: Exalt Version 2.2.1.0 (Jan 2022)

(Highly Recommended: 4/8+)


Contents


How & Why to find a Tomb of the Ancients

How


This dungeon can only drop from the Grand Sphinx. While it is suggested to be maxed to fight the Grand Sphinx, it is not required for survival. The Grand Sphinx has 3 phases that all classes have varying advantanges and disadvantages against:
1. Weakening Phase - Great for anyone who does not want to risk anything but still do a little damage. During this phase minions chase players down. During this Phase the Grand Sphinx shoots tiny little fireballs at the closest players, it is a 3 shot shotgun that is very weak in comparison to her other phases. This phase is great for damaging the Grand Sphinx as she is 100% vulnerable, but her shots will inflict Weak Icon Weak on you if they hit you. Anyone who is really good at dodging can do a huge amount of damage to her during this phase, and it is a great time to get your abilities shot at her without you missing or taking tons of damage. If you were for whatever reason, soloing this event, you could just keep fighting her on this attack phase only, as it is much safer, you can do maximum damage to her while she is doing minimum damage to you, win-win.
2. Fireball Phase - Great for Knights, Warriors with Helms of the Juggernaut, Paladins with Seals of Blasphemous Prayer, Mystics with Orbs of Conflict, and Priests. During this phasen minions remain stationary and shoot 6 shots in symmetrically different directions. Though anyone can do some damage during this phase, those listed above have an advantage. Melee classes cannot do the maximum amount of damage during the Weakening phase because if they are close enough to hit her, then they are to close to dodge. This phase consists of the Grand Sphinx shooting big fireballs, and fireball walls that do MASSIVE damage to almost any players. While she is constantly shooting in a 6 shoot random pattern, she also shoots either one fire ball, a fireball wall, or a deceiving shot at the closest players. One fireball is just one fireball, but sometimes those “one” fireballs are actually deceiving shoots which are multiple fireballs packed into one, BIG HURT. When Dodging one shot fireballs, never dodge backwards, as one fireball is allowed to hurt you multiple times if you are as fast as the bullet, this can be hilariously pathetic. The Grand Sphinx also fires fireball walls which is just a massive shotgun of fireballs with no gaps in between, when dodging this you should always dodge backwards and sideways at the same time, if you dodge sideways you can get hit by all of them, if you dodge just backwards you can get hit by one multiple times, so be careful. This phase is great for those classes with armoring abilities, and for priests who can just heal spam themselves, and knights can get a chain stun going on the Grand Sphinx allowing for their maximum damage to be done. The Grand Sphinx is also 100% vulnerable during this phase.
3. Blind Phase - Great for Staff, Wand, and Bow users. During this phase minions stay still and shoot 6 shots in symmetrically different directions. In this phase the Grand Sphinx is not always vulnerable, meaning that you probably shouldn’t waste your abilities on her, as she might become invincible mid-shot. Her attack on this phase is a 340 light blast wall. Though it is hard to tell, she is aiming for the nearest player. She fires a high damage wall of light that gives Black X Blind to players when it hits them, which means you will often be backed up so far that you cannot hit her. If you are a melee class, please don’t try to hit her unless you are a knight, as a knight can wait behind a pillar until she gets close enough for a shield bash. The only way range classes can hit her during this phase is if someone is trying to get closest to the Grand Sphinx exactly 90 degrees away from you, as the openings of her light wall blasts are about 10 degrees in length on both sides. For those of you who hate math, if someone is a quarter away from you on the battle field, on this theoretical circle around the Grand Sphinx, and they are a shorter distance from her than you are, then you will be able to use the very small opening in the attack wall to strike back at her. (did your brain just go boom?) This phase is not the best phase for anyone to get maximum damage in, but you can still get some damage in all the same.

These phases repeat in a cycle after each phase has gone on for X amount of time, so if you want, just choose a favorite phase and only attack during that phase, and regain your HP and MP on the other phases. Though this boss fight might take a really long time if you aren’t in a good group because she has 50000 base hp (plus 5000 per player in the realm) along with 25 defense.
The Grand Sphinx can drop the Helm of the Juggernaut, Potions of Vitality, and Potions of Wisdom.

Why

Potion of Life
The main reason for doing this dungeon is to farm Potions of Life, as it is one of the few dungeons to drop them.

Ring of the Sphinx Ring of the Nile Ring of the Pyramid
Another large reason to do this dungeon is for the three midgame UT rings that have a chance of dropping from their respective boss. The Ring of the Sphinx grants some DPS and utility, while the Ring of the Pyramid grants more defensive stats. The Ring of the Nile is a sort of midground between the former two rings, granitng HP, MP, ATT, and DEX, albeit in smaller amounts. Nile is of course inferior to the Omnipotence Ring (Omni), which grants more of every stat and a larger variety, but the Nile can still be used when one does not own an Omni.

Tome of Holy Protection
The only UT that is not a ring, the Tome of Holy Protection (Prot) is a defensive tome that gives the user Wooden Shield Armored. While this buff is not that strong and may be outclassed by high healing tomes such as the Tome of the Mushroom Tribes (Fungal Tome), the defense at this stage of the game can still be beneficial as a swapout.

Wand of Geb Book of Geb Shendyt of Geb Geb's Ring of Wisdom
This dungeon also has the Priest of Geb Set, an ST set themed around one of the bosses. The Wand of Geb can release a nova inflicting Red Down Arrow Slowed every few seconds, a niche yet potent proc. The Book of Geb is also very unique, as it grants Green Up Arrow Speedy on the user, enhancing the Priest’s rushing capabilities. The Shendyt of Geb can serve another niche role as the superior defensive robe to the T13 Robe of the Grand Sorcerer because the T14+ robes are more difficult to obtain. Finally, Geb’s Ring of Wisdom is essentially a better T6 Ring of Unbound Wisdom, granting both the same amount of WIS along with adding HP and VIT boosts. The ring is even viable on its own without the full set.

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Things to Worry You

Aside from everything in the dungeon, there are many things that should worry you. Here are some descriptions and battle tactics of everything in the dungeon.

Tomb Bomb Traps

These are the floor tiles that constantly shoot bombs straight into the air that land directly back on the trap. There are usually a lot of traps in a room causing limited moving space, if you have cleared all the enemies out the room already then you can try to deactivate the traps. To deactivate a trap you must find the trap floor tile that is usually in the direct middle of all the collective traps in the room. Stand on this trap and it will say “1, 2, 3, Click”. Once it says “Click,” the traps will be deactivated permanently. Keep in mind though, to take out a trap it takes a total of 4 seconds, as click counts as a second as well. If you move off of the trap to dodge at 3, then the trap will be back at 1 when you stand on it again, so make sure you can pull it off before trying.

Elemental Turrets

Tomb Thunder TurretTomb Fire TurretTomb Frost Turret

These non moving threats can not be turned off or destroyed, but they can be Gold Five Pointed Star Stunned, so Knights can disable them temporarily. When you approach them, they will fire an instant, dealing decent damage and a variety of status effects. They can give Red Down Arrow Slowed, Paralyzed Icon Paralyzed, or even Gold Four Pointed Star Armor Broken, i.e. BAD. Be especially mindful of these when dodging other hazards such as enemies or Traps. All white turrets paralyze, all red turrets break armor, and all blue turrets slow, so remember which turret inflicts which debuff.

Quicksand


Quicksand slows you down when you walk on it, and the longer you are in it, the more it slows you down. Your character can sink until only its eyes are showing; at this point you have about the spd of a level -3 Knight. Walking through quicksand combined with being Slowed effectively means you are Paralyzed, as you are so slow you will not move at all. Actually being Paralyzed in the sand is not fun either, as by the time you could move out of the sand, you have been Paralyzed again 4 times over by nearby white turrets. So be careful of how you move through the dungeon, and watch out for when you can actually survive in a pool of sand. The best way to escape sand is to either teleport onto safe tiles with a Prism or Cloak of the Planewalker, or teleport to another player. It will be difficult escaping quicksand when solo though.

Swarms

These are basically the harder versions of the Swarms found within the realm. There are 3 different colors of swarms and 2 different types of swarms. The 2 different types of swarms are Masters and Minions; Masters are large and have 3000 HP, while Minions are spawned by Masters and have only 200 HP. Masters deal more damage and have more attacks, which can be intimidating when combined with the quick speed of Swarms. The color of a Swarm is important as well because they inflict different status effects with their shots. Red swarms inflict Gold Four Pointed Star Armor Broken , Yellow Swarms inflict Swirl Confused and Black X Blind, and Blue Swarms inflict Weak Icon Weak.

Tomb Gang

A Tomb gang consists of 3 different types of enemies, but this does not mean that a group is limited to 3 enemies. The three enemies are:
The Eagle, who is a warrior that has 4000 HP, 35 Defense, rushes players and does 70-90 damage per shot.
The Lion, who is a archer that has 3200 HP, 20 Defense, chases players from a distance and can Slow or Paralyze players while dealing massive damage per shot.
The Jackal, who is a priest that has 2500 HP, 5 Defense, does 100 or 140 per shot, and heals Lions and Eagles.
When fighting these, make sure that you take priests out quickly if you can, and that you try to lure the other 2 types of enemies if you need to.

Tomb Jackals

Tomb Jackals are the dark creatures adorned with Gold armor. A group of Tomb Jackals is lead by a Jackal Lord which constantly heals and spawns the other types of jackals. He is also a fan of chasing players down and camping behind unexplored corners. Jackal Lords have 6000 HP, 40 Defense, and deal 140 damage per bullet. Make sure to take him out first because there is no point in shooting the other jackals while he is still alive. If you can take out a Jackal Lord, then you won’t have any problems taking out the rest of the group. Just be very careful if you get Slowed while they are chasing you.

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Layout and Navigation

Layout:

When trying to go through a Tomb, it is important pick your battles one at a time, as almost every status effect in the game can be inflicted towards you at one point or another. With many enemies in this dungeon, they will try to lure you into other enemies, as they all know what their attack ranges are and will stay that distance from you. If you want to avoid being overwhelmed, then you can aggravate and lure enemies into safer rooms one at a time. Avoid all towers if possible, and do not stop traps until the entire room is cleared. Explore the dungeon for sarcophagi and you may even encounter a treasure room. It is very possible to rush this dungeon on certain classes, however it is very risky due to the many mobility reducing hazards and enemies along with the high damaging Jackal Lords.

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Sarcophagus


In every Tomb, you must kill 1-5 Sarcophagi in order to fight the dungeon’s three main bosses. The sarcs often drop tinctures when they are destroyed, which are great for buffing during the boss fight. You only need to destroy all of the regular sarcophagi in a Tomb in order to activate the bosses, which means that if the bosses activate after destroying less than 5 normal sarcs, then depending on that amount there are some optional treasure rooms you can search for later.

Stats

15,000 HP
100 Defense
Does no damage to anyone, ever.

How to kill it

The most common way to destroy a Sarcophagus is to kill its many holy groupies. If you just jump in and start shooting the Sarcophagus then they will just heal it right back up again. There are 2 types of healers surrounding the sarcophagus, the boys are much smaller, much less details, and much stronger, the girls are much weaker, much bigger, and usually weaken you often. Try to pick a target and chase it until you kill it, then move on to another.

The other way is to accumulate multiple (usually melee) players like pally, warrior and knight in order to rush the sarc and destroy it instantly, giving the priests no time to heal. A mystic is also preferred for her Stasis ability to safely remove any priests from the battle.

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Treasure Rooms

There can be 0-4 treasure rooms in a Tomb. These are some of the best Treasure rooms in the game, as the boss does not attack at all, yet can drop so much loot. There are usually no minions in this room, and in the center of the room is a giant, sand colored Treasure Sarcophagus, which appears to be a regular Sarcophagus, but with its eyes closed. As mentioned before, it does not attack, and it has 50000 HP and 100 Defense. They can drop any stat pot (excluding Life and Mana) and they also drop T4 rings and T9-10 weapons and armors. They also spawn Canopic Jars while you are destroying it, which can drop HP and MP potions when destroyed, although sometimes they spawn Scarabs instead, just to keep you on your toes. This is a great way to prepare for the bosses and a reason to enter a Tomb when you aren’t ready to face the bosses yet.

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Boss Battle General Plan

There are 2 main ways to do a Tomb - Clean and Free For All (FFA/Dirty)

In a dirty Tomb (a.k.a. 95% of public Sphinx-dropped ones with over 10 people), there is little to no organization. Fend for yourself and go as deep as you have the guts to and remember Life>Loot. Bringing a ranged class or Assassin is very nice in these (Doom Bow Archer/Huntress is also fairly optimal). However, if it’s a small group it is important to at least make a conscious effort to not dirty it as a very dirty tomb with few people may result in it not being able to be completed.

In a clean Tomb, usually people shoot Bes first, Nut second and Geb third but sometimes you might need assurance or clarification. This order is good because Bes drops the easiest loot, you can do Nut rage a lot easier than Geb rage and lastly, Geb is chaotic so it’s nice having an open space for him to speed around and do his unapproachable rage phase. The reason to do clean is so it’s a lot easier because these bosses only activate when you hit them. It requires skill but is worth it as a small group might not be able to take out 3 endgame bosses at once and multidirectional circling makes everything a whole lot harder. Unless you are really good, refrain from bringing an Electric pet because not only do they do loads of damage but paralyzing can reverse the circling direction. Skip Traps, Spellbombs, Scepters and Poisons until at least one boss is dead and the second is raging and skip Quivers unless you are incredibly skilled. Necro Skulls, Ninja Stars and other damaging ablities (as well as ranged weapons in general) are slightly less susceptible to dirtying a Tomb but still be careful. Trackpads and Autofire will most likely screw up your Tomb. Lastly, it is often easier to limit how many shots you get in because in some phases in rotation (e.g. when Nut and Geb do the “hugging phase”) it is hard to get shots in without damaging another boss. Also try not to get too mad at someone if they screw up and something activates, it might have been lag and being calm is the best way to play this game.

Tomb Trick Skipping Artifact Phase

Nut


Nut is the one with the white robe and blue phase, an easy way to remember her is that Nut is Nuts, as in Crazy. Or just remember she is not Brown (Bes) and not Green (Geb).

Stats

-Supporter/Healer.?80,000 HP?15 def
Heals Geb and Bes 100 HP per heal.

Attacks

Dark Gray Spinner: No DMG, Weak for 10 seconds?Black Arrow: 40 DMG, Armor Break for 3 seconds?Green Quiver Arrow: 200 DMG, Paralyze for 1.4 seconds?Blue Bullets: 50 DMG, Paralyze for 1 second?Grey Boomerang: 40 DMG, Quiet for 1 second?Blue Boomerang: 40 DMG, Weak for 5 seconds?Green Boomerang: 40 DMG, Slow for 5 seconds?Purple Boomerang: 40 DMG, Blind for 5 seconds?Charge Stage: (Added skills only during charge stage [10% HP])?Black Magic: 180 DMG. Long Range.

Spawns

Sphinx Artifact: Shoots 2 types of green stars:?A. 80 DMG, Slow for 3 seconds.?B. 120 DMG, Slow for 5 seconds, bigger size.

Reasons to aim for this one only first

The main reason to aim for Nut first is if you are playing with people who are inexperienced or if your team has not reached a clear consensus, as they might end up shooting all 3 bosses, but Nut will be the only one who is not healed, as she can only heal the other 2. She is also the least deadly before her Rage phase.

Reasons not to aim for this one first

If you aim for Nut first you will have no choice but to fight Geb at the same time, as when she is attacking you she will occasionally call Geb over to attack you and block your bullets. Additionally, when she gets into her Rage phase she will induce various debuffs which can be really bad if you have Geb or Bes shooting at you too. Also, if someone has already started on a different boss, it is just mean of you to shoot at Nut and make them work for nothing.

Surviving the Rage phase

During Nut’s Rage phase she will shoot out more status effect then ever before, which can be extremely dangerous. The only way to destroy Nut during her rage phase is patience, limit yourself to 2 seconds of attacking, meaning only attack her for 2 seconds or less before making a retreat to regenerate. When she is almost dead you should lure her to a corner, because if you don’t get her away from the others when she dies, then you might not be able to pick up your loot and live.

Bes


Bes is the BIG scary sand golem, if you want to remember his name, Bes, because he is brown(ish)

Stats

-Defender.?100,000 HP?50 def

Attacks

Dark Gray Spinner: No DMG, Weak for 10 seconds?Silver Shield: 2 types, one does 160 DMG the other does 60 DMG, both Stun for 1.2 seconds.?Red Boomerang: 150 DMG, Armor Break for 5 seconds?Black Magic: 240 DMG. Long Range.

Spawns

Pyramid Artifact: Very fast Tri-shot. 40 DMG, Weak for 2 seconds.

Reasons to aim for this one only first

This guy is the most intimidating, therefore it is really nice to get him out of the way early. He does not only do things such as Armor Break and massive damage, but he will also chase players all the way to the wall, meaning you can lure him into a trap, dealing massive damage to him without risk of shooting the other bosses, or getting hurt to much.
Also, Bes drops the best loot considered in the Tomb (prot and pyra) so most people go for him first, in case they may have to nexus sometime later.

Reasons not to aim for this one first

If someone hits Nut while you are fighting him you will be so infuriated that you will lose focus and die, though this is the least dangerous boss of the 3, but his Rage phase is just straight up psychotic. Many of the reasons to aim for him first are reasons not to aim for him first. Sitting on top of Bes while concentrating on Nut is a bad idea. Say goodbye to your 8/8 Knight!

Surviving the Rage phase

This is probably the most manageable rage phase. While he is in his rage phase he will charge any players that come to close, and he will not stop chasing them until the player makes it to the wall. An accomplished Knight can easily Stun Bes and therefore get an easy kill. Wizards and Archers likewise can use their abilities to snipe him from the walls.

Near Death

When Bes is close to its death make sure to get out of the way unless you have a knight to stun it. Bes will throw out around 20 of his armor piercing boomerang doubled up on one another, and if you are not careful this will kill you.

Geb


Geb is the Green archer that likes to snipe, his name is easy to remember because Geb=Green.

Stats

-Attacker.?90,000 HP?30 def

Attacks

Dark Gray Spinner: No DMG, Weak for 10 seconds?Green Boomerang: 100 DMG, Slow for 5 seconds?Fire Magic: 30 DMG, Armor Pierce?Black Small Magic: 200 DMG. Long Range.?Black Magic: 280 DMG. Long Range.?Weak Nuke: 30 Damage with an insane AOE like 8-10.?Grenade: 70 DMG. With same AOE as traps.?Grenade: 160 DMG. Same AOE as medusa’s.?Fireball: 80 DMG, These surrounding him when he’s at 50% HP, these also multi-hit.

Spawns:

Scarabs at range of 4-8. 3 of them, 5 when 20% hp.?Nile Artifact: 180 DMG, Triangle Shot, summons when nearing death.

Reasons to aim for this one only first

He really isn’t intimidating or strategic, he has no advantages or disadvantages to shooting first compared to the othersm he is just there. He is a good one to go after first if you want to laugh at Nut for calling out to him to protect her when he is dead. Great if you plan on going Geb\Nut\Bes.

Reasons not to aim for this one first

The reason not to aim for this one first is that he is the least common one people shoot at, unless everyone agrees on it, don’t try it. He is actually a good sniper so it can be irritating to have him fighting. Geb’s rage phase (below) is extremely dangerous if you are fighting Nut or Bes, because he darts around the room shooting high damage shots. Take care.

Surviving the Rage phase

Geb is the only one of the 3 who will back up if you get to close to him. Instead of chasing you like Nut and Bes do, he will back up and continue to snipe you, but every 8 seconds he will quickly charge at you, which can throw you off. Make sure to stay on your toes.

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Side Note(s)

Although guides are helpful, experience on its own can greatly help with clearing the Tomb of the Ancients, especially due to its high difficulty and messy nature. If you’re scared or new, try to do Tombs in large groups for safety, and use what you learn to help you farm those Potions of Life.

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