Ultimate Dragon

Ultimate Dragon is the sole denizen of this area, and defeating him is very tough. Read below on some tips and strategies.

General and Maze Strategies

• No outside effects are permitted from the quest start, which includes turning in of the quest (bless for example) tokens. However items the player brings in himself are permissible with no restrictions (quest potions, wands of restore, etc.). The exception to this rule are the Blood Ritual vials Sorcerers can produce. Vials with a metallic name (copper, silver, gold, shimmering gold), which heal a significant amount of hit points, are not allowed.
• To ensure no affects are present, the Immortal which runs the quest will cast Ablution on you - before the quest is started. This will clear all spells and their affects, and remove all gear, so remember to immediately reequip mana gear (if necessary).
• The timer starts once the player leaves the starting room and goes north. If 30 minutes lapse and the Dragon is not dead yet - it is an automatic loss.
• The Maze is most easily completed by dropping a single coin in it's first room. You need to remember to bring at least one coin with you! Alternatively, dropping any item in your possession will work as well.
• After the starting room is marked with this coin, go through each direction until you find the exit that does not lead back to the first room with the coin. Make sure to write this exit down. Repeat this procedure for every subsequent room - you will have to start from the first room each time you find an incorrect exit. Note: There are approximately 15 rooms (excluding the first and penultimate ones).
• The last room of the maze is unique and the UD will appear on scan - this room can be used to self-spell.
• Self-spelling depends on the class, but most classes will lack Invincibility, Barkskin and/or Steel Skeleton. These can be bought in shops or retrieved by turning in Approval From Your Ambassadors. For the other missing spells use the Suggested Spellcasting Gear page to find replacements.
• Be sure to familiarize yourself with your classes self-spelling capabilities.

UD Fight

The UD himself is a level 88 npc. However, he is obviously much harder than typical mobs of this level due to racial armorancient, significantly more HPs, a painful and frequently-deployed breath attack, frequent tailing, and a decent capacity for meting out melee damage. How hard the fight will be hinges on the player's skill as much as the random nature of how many tails the dragon will dispense. 3-4 consecutive tails, lagging the player for as much as 6-7 rounds, are not uncommon. Be loaded for bear when you try this quest.

Every class has a different UD, in terms of general health. Warriors, for example, face a much beefier opponent than archers. However, the UD is beatable through a clever optimization of three factors:

1. HR/DR
2. AC
3. Saves

While in common gear setups (such as DR hitset, HR hitset, AC tankset) saves are largely ignored, a simple addition of -100 in Saves vs Magic (through, for example two Namure's Leather Collars) can make a difference of five thousand hp worth of damage received less from breath attacks alone (during a warrior fight).

As such, familiarize yourself with Hero Saving-Throw Gear (though generally, two Namure Collars will be sufficient), and replacement mix-gear that combines AC with HR/DR. See Tanking In Hit Gear for some common alternative gear pieces. Of note are the Lizardskin Jerkin, Darklinscale Lamellar, Mega's Spark In A Bottle, Smoldering Crown Of Dying Fire and Orkenfyr Signet Ring, depending on weather you will be trading HR or DR for the AC.

For non-caster classes (casters are too busy casting to quaff potions) - healing is done from the start by drinking double-healies such as Glacial Milk, Herbal Remedy, or if possible, divinity pots such as Panacea or the Red-Brown Vial Of Healing which can be found in lockboxes. For this reason, it is wise to collect and lockpick Small Wooden Lockboxes during the course of the game, and store the Red-Brown potions for UD fight consumption.

All potions (including quest) are legal as they do not require Immortal assistance to use. Exception: higher potency blood ritual potions (copper+).

Class Strategies

Different classes will use different strategies. Here are some general notes.

• Warriors and other brutes cannot use poison and similar. Thus the fight will take a long time and some self-preservation should be in order. Solid saves, and -1000 AC should be sufficient. Berserkers should not ignore AC and self-spelling either, about half a spellup can be achieved through replacement pots and pills.

• Roguetypes should keep in mind that there is no link refresh in the UD arena and that UD will be on top of them. Thus quickstrike is out of question, and aside for the initial stab (if successful), there is not much to be done outside of poisons and quaffing.

• Archertypes should start with poisoned ammo as well, and then switch to explosives. As always, high AC is recommended.

• Casters cannot surge but can quicken. Depending on class and race, this usually means quickening 4, and reducing to 3, if and when appropriate. Full AC and freshly charged shield are suggested, of course.

• Because UD will be on top a Stormlords usual single-target attack spell (Cloudburst) will not work. Worse, it cannot be quickened. Instead they should use (quickened) Disintegrate.

• Healers can use charged shields as well, and many times this is in fact the primary offensive weapon for these classes. Heal self or quaff and keep blocking.

• Small characters should bring additional HP gear, and quaff several potions before switching into actual HR, DR or AC gear.

• Other types such as monks have different strategies - but these include using their own skills. It is imperative you are aware of your own classes capabilities and weaknesses.

Practicing

Going to Ouroborus in Lake Of Tears is a good method to gauge your abilities. Self-spell and see if you can beat one of them using gear you would use in the actual fight. Remember, however, that UD is much tougher, and beating two Ouroboruses in a row could be constituted as a guaranteed success against UD.