Map guide- a first effort
This is meant to serve a helper for finding your way to the next area. Sometimes you may want to do this because you are in a hurry or sometimes with a weak or single-tree build you just want to get past an area to someplace else, and sometimes you want to run a boss and just get there as quickly as possible. The maps are randomly generated but there are definite patterns that emerge overall.
A general strategy is to follow an edge of a map looking for the exit to the next area, particularly in broad outdoor areas like the Far Oasis and so on.
There tends to be a tendency for the exit to be sooner if you follow the left wall (that is, turn left upon entering the area and follow that surface/boundary) with a couple of exceptions: Cat 2 and the Maggot Lair.
Particular suggestions:
In the jungles, it's worth saying that sometimes the Spider Forest connects directly to the Flayer Jungle and sometimes you have to go through the Great Marsh to get there.
There are a few layouts that you just kind of recognize and it isn't so easy to explain why you basically know where to go, but those guidelines may help some. If anyone has other observations or different experiences, I'd love to hear about them! Of course, these suggestions don't always work, but they can save some time on average. As far as I can tell, the maps that spawn in Single Player seem to be the same that spawn on the realms.
As was pointed out by WarlockCC, there is already a map guide thread in the Community Forum from Quietus which has discussion about the Act 5 areas as well.
This is meant to serve a helper for finding your way to the next area. Sometimes you may want to do this because you are in a hurry or sometimes with a weak or single-tree build you just want to get past an area to someplace else, and sometimes you want to run a boss and just get there as quickly as possible. The maps are randomly generated but there are definite patterns that emerge overall.
A general strategy is to follow an edge of a map looking for the exit to the next area, particularly in broad outdoor areas like the Far Oasis and so on.
There tends to be a tendency for the exit to be sooner if you follow the left wall (that is, turn left upon entering the area and follow that surface/boundary) with a couple of exceptions: Cat 2 and the Maggot Lair.
Particular suggestions:
- Cat 2: turn right after coming down to the WP and follow the wall
- Sewers: sometimes the stairs from level 1 to level 2 are very close to the back door near Meshif
- Maggot Lair: turn right on the first level, follow the wall. Level 2 follow the right wall. Level 3 the chamber always is at then end of a tunnel coming from the lower left direction.
- Claw Viper temple: follow the left wall
- Palace: always the same, everyone has their preferred route through there.
- Arcane Sanctuary: no idea, it usually seems to take me three or four tries!
- Tomb with the Orifice: bear left to find the chamber with the orifice.
- Jungles: I bear left but that doesn't usually seem to help all that much. The little cul-de-sacs may have the wp, dungeons, or little villages, so if you've already found what you want you can skip past the later entrances to the villages.
- Flayer dungeon: bear left. For the third level, usually it's set up so that you have to go all the way around the edge, so if you have Leap Attack or Tele and you just go over/through the walls the wrong way, you'll generally get there more quickly. Occasionally, the chest is in the middle square instead of in the corner almost all of the way around.
- Durrance 2: bear left from WP, or right from the stairs if you walked down from Travincal and don't want the WP.
- Plains of Despair: the exit is either just to the right of the entrance, a short walk away, or on the far side or the left side most of the way to the far side.
- City of the Damned has the stairs down in the middle
In the jungles, it's worth saying that sometimes the Spider Forest connects directly to the Flayer Jungle and sometimes you have to go through the Great Marsh to get there.
There are a few layouts that you just kind of recognize and it isn't so easy to explain why you basically know where to go, but those guidelines may help some. If anyone has other observations or different experiences, I'd love to hear about them! Of course, these suggestions don't always work, but they can save some time on average. As far as I can tell, the maps that spawn in Single Player seem to be the same that spawn on the realms.
As was pointed out by WarlockCC, there is already a map guide thread in the Community Forum from Quietus which has discussion about the Act 5 areas as well.
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