Confronting The Level 3 Dung Beetle Knight - Part 2 (Patreon)

The Level 3 Dung Beetle Knight: Part 2

We’ve laid most of the groundwork now, so in this second part I’ll go through the rest of the pieces, the trap, burrow and builds.  Please bare with me, because Patreon ate this post on Friday and I've had to restore it.  Sigh.

The Trap:

So the DBK’s Trap was designed to be ‘ungameable’ by the design team (to paraphrase Zachary Brash). Unfortunately for them we figured out how to game it very quickly.  Essentially it’s beaten by long range attacks because the DBK needs to get adjacent to its target in order to be able to dunk them.  If it can’t then the trap does absolutely nothing at all, it’s as harmless as the King’s Man trap when you have a shield and just leaves the DBK stranded quite a distance from its ball.  

The traditional method of doing this is by using a long range weapon such as the Vespertine Bow – but the Level 3 DBK moves just fast enough to catch a Vespertine Bow user in the trap.  So how do we get around this?  Well the two most optimal choices are both gifted to us by the Sunstalker (Because that expansion is the best Node 4 quarry monster currently in the game, just get it already): 

Option 1 is a good old trapper with Spear + Blue Charm + Cycloid Armor + Shield (that’s how I beat the L3 DBK the first time), it’s something I created specifically to deal with the DBK trap back when I was figuring out the fight the first time (I got the first recorded L3 DBK kill with just one death due to misplay and we also got the first TOM kill but I had to play with the deck missing 1 AI card that doesn’t exist at the moment).  

[For the record here; I beat TOM (The Old Master Legendary Dung Beetle Knight) by building four Fetorsaurus in a single campaign by farming 3 L3 Flower Knights (for the Sleeping Virus Flower) and some DBKs.  Fetor works very well at neutering the Dung Ball, which is the single largest part of TOM’s threat level because he will baller with it often 2 to 3 times in a single turn and its damage is based off * which Fetor crushes.  It's cheesy as fuck, but the Ball is too hard to handle when it is being tossed around that much.]

Option 2 is to activate the Sky and Sun String quiver from the Sunstalker (top tier item) which will give your bows +2 Range (and give you three arrows extra outside of your grid to help you shred the DBK without sacrificing Utility). It is worth noting that the Arc Bow and the Ink Blood Bow are also very effective choices for this matter, they will all have sufficient range to do the same as the Vespertine, so you do not have to build that bow (however I recommend that you do consider using the Vespertine the first time you fight any DBK, it will help a LOT until you are more comfortable with your play).  

However, without access to the Sunstalker the right answer is to use a Spear User, and if you do not have access to the Sunstalker then in People of the Lantern this can be a Blue Savior because they are more able to activate the blue charm. Personally; if you are going this way I recommend a Blue Savior in Screaming Armor with Blue Charm + Shield plus some other blue affinity pieces to complete the set. Give them some if you can Dried Acanthus because messing up the trap shuffle hurts a LOT, but a Shield is more important.  I recommend Screaming Armor here because the auto wound second slam ability from 1.5 Screaming Armor will help cut an L3 DBK down a lot faster than otherwise.

There are worse traps in the game (Lion God, Hand, Watcher, King’s Man); but they are not common and way easier to game than the Slam Dunk.

Century Carapace Plates and Burrow:

Right, so here we are. This is the scariest bit of this fight, even scarier than the Dung Ball. These reaction cards and this trait combine together to create the single biggest power spike in the entire game.  You’ve probably experienced them when fighting the L1 and L2 DBK and been annoyed with how they are tough, do not give wounds, come back occasionally and can strip survival from you when you fail to wound.

Well the L3 DBK and Burrow takes this to a whole new level of fookery, this fight is is no joke and it is because of these Carapace Plates.  The reasons for this are multifold and I’ll break them down for you here.

1. These cards do not cause wounds to the DBK.

2. These cards are removed from the deck when you beat them, increasing the frequency of the trap.

3. These cards have massive defence that is hard to overcome unless you hit them with a Club, Shield, Pickaxe or one of the biggest hitting weapons in the game (Black Sword, Perfect Slayer, Griswaldo).

4. If you do succeed at removing them, the DBK will burrow, causing catastrophic damage unless you either spend 4 survival or you are standing on a Giant Stone Face (which will destroy the face once it happens).

5. You gain 4 survival for breaking these HLs with a pickaxe, 1 otherwise.

6. The location is super dense – which means it will break normal pickaxes (There are 2 non-frail pickaxes in the game right now). 

7. The DBK can heal back these Plates if you mismanage its AI.  You need to let it attack, not instinct.

8. Burrow is tied to the monster level, not * so Fetorsaurus will not negate it.

There you are, Burrow hurts like hell, its massive severe injuries will cripple your survivor and often cause death, so breaking the plates without a good bank of survival is not really an option most of the time (unless you are desperate).  However, if you are breaking the carapace with a pickaxe then you gain enough survival from the action that you can avoid the worst of Burrow.

This is where the Manhunter comes into the game, having an evasion based survivor wielding a pickaxe with the Manhunter’s tool belt, is generally accepted as being one of the best ways to get the job done.  This technique is often married with an Acanthus Doctor, because the massive amount of strength that the Acanthus Doctor gets, in combination with the Sharp the tool belt gives and all the armour points that a well-built Acanthus Doctor has (to absorb damage from reactions the DBK has, not for tanking) and the evasion.  

If you happen to build a green savior acanthus doctor in a campaign where you have the Manhunter and the Sunstalker then if you add the tool belt, their natural evasion and the Sunstalker’s Shadow Saliva Shawl (which is INSANE when combined with tools, because it only gives slow to weapons) then they can actually offensive tank without a shield because the DBK will only be able to hit on 10s.

Preparation:

Ok so how should one approach this fight? What is going to help deal with the L3 DBK?

First of all, Weapon-wise the following Masteries are very powerful vs the DBK.

Katar, Grand Weapon, Axe, Spear, Fist and Tooth, Shield and Bow

I consider Katar Specialisation, Grand Weapon Specialisation, Fist and Tooth Specialisation and Spear Spear Specialisation to be the essential elements of trivialising this fight, but Bow, Shield and Axe all have strong benefits.  So if you are planning to handle the L3 DBK it is optimal to master Katar, Grand, F&T and Spear as your first four masteries.  This fits with the most optimal pathway for training masteries anyway (Which is Katar, Grand, F&T, Spear as first Tranche then Bow, Axe and Shield as the second tranche, taking advantage of the power of the specialisations from the first set you’ve trained up).

Next you need to consider the weapon load out you are taking.  In an ideal world I would recommend picking and choosing from the following builds:

Primary Tank: 

Beacon Shield/Fetorsaurus + Grand Weapon (Calcified Zanbato, Skleaver or Dragon Slayer).  Armour set is likely to be Rolling Armor or Leather or Gorment with lots of evasion stacked.  You want 8 to 9 evasion ideally.  Take a Green Savior if you don’t have anything else, their passive +Evasion is their best ability.  Armor points are less important than having Block 2 and High Evasion.

Alternate Tank: 

As above but with Gloom Hammer for AI Control, Lantern Armor is fine here, or you can take the mick with the Gloom Hammer/Green Ring abuse build (see my post on that one elsewhere in the free builds section).  In this build you will have a massive amount of armor points and you will be dealing damage.

Off Tank: 

Digging Claws; Beacon Shield/Fetorsaurus + Blood Paint.  Armour can be anything as long as evasion is good.  Rolling or Cycloid are the best choices, but Rawhide is actually very good if you are careful and have Katar Specialisation.  If you have Spear Mastery in the settlement ensure that they have a Spear for trap poking if you do not have a dedicated trapper/sniper.

Pickaxe DPS: 

Digging Claws; Leather Shield, + Wisdom Potion + Spear (if you don’t have it elsewhere), Armor should be Cycloid, Rolling, Gorment or Rawhide (if you can keep them very safe).

Bow DPS – “Sniper Trapper”: 

Sky Quiver and Sun String (Sunstalker) + Arc Bow/Ink Blood Bow/Vespertine Bow with support items and Rawhide Armor.

Spear Trapper: 

Cycloid Armor + Blue Charm + Beacon Shield/Fetorsaurus + Sky Harpoon/Finger of God 

Or Rolling Armor + Beacon Shield/Fetorsaurus + Lantern Glaive 

Or Blue Savior + Blue Charm + Screaming Armor + Finger of God

Alternate DPS – “Doctor Pick”: 

Acanthus Doctor + Pickaxe + Manhunter’s Tool Belt, lots of Green Affinity items like the Carapace Plates, Bloodskin, Satchels, Sunspot Lantern, Shadow Saliva Shawl etc etc.

Alternate DPS 2 (Trapper Axe/Spear Hybrid): 

Cycloid Armor/Screaming Armor + Rainbow Wing Belt + Lantern Glaive + Shield (Axe Master + Spear Specialist)

Alternate DPS 3 – “The Black Vagabond”: 

Black Sword + Vagabond Armor + Shield + Blood Paint (True Blade is phenomenal on this build, but they absolutely cannot be relied on for many survival actions at all).

Alternate DPS 4 – “The Warlord”: 

Denticle Axe/Xmaxe + Cycloid/Warlord Armor + Shield + Blood Paint.  Really works best with axe mastery as that will cripple the DBK.  You can also go pure DPS with twin axes + Blood Paint

Alternate DPS 5 – “The Illusive Cultist”: 

Cult Speaker Knife + Rolling Armor + Evasion Gear (Shadow Saliva Shawl really helps fine tune the Cult Speaker Knife for combat vs the DBK – its natural speed of 3 can be problematic otherwise)

Alternate DPS 6 – “The Cycloid Clubber”: 

Riot Mace + Cycloid Armor + Luck Charm + Leather Shield

Pure Support: 

Rawhide + Bandages + Cat’s Eye Circlet + Wisdom Potion + Pulse Lantern + Crest Crown and so on.  No weapon, just ball pushing and AI/HL Control.

All of these builds (and more) have been successfully employed against the L3 DBK on multiple occasions but you may figure out others, you just want to make sure that the weapons you are using are amongst the best in their class, that you have shields on everyone who might end up taking hits (generally at least 3 shields) and that you min-max as much as possible.  I do not recommend Whips or Daggers at the moment, the weapons are not powerful enough to do the job with the exception of the Cult Speaker Knife which is utterly Insane (Get the White Speaker Promo box for it)!

In addition I will be writing about many of these builds separately in the future with my ‘mini-build’ articles, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each and considering how you manage to build them in a timely fashion (Rolling, Gorment and Cycloid in particular can be very time consuming and require laser focus to complete).

You can take a dedicated support character in one slot if you want, but I’ve found that spreading out the support actions/items between the three DPS characters is more beneficial because it gives you a ton of flexibility and redundancy if you lose a character.

Armor wise I’d recommend Rolling Armor, Gorment Armor, Leather Armor, Vagabond Armor (Black Sword user in particular, but Steel Swords are very good also), Rawhide Armor with a shield, Screaming Armor, Warlord Armor and Cycloid Armor.  

There’s also a neat trick you can pull with Rolling Armour where you wear the Phoenix Placart and activate it so you can ignore 1 hit you take each turn (as long as you remain insane) and then stack that on top of your natural damage prevention from Rolling armor plus shields; that’s something to discuss in the future.

While I am discussing Rolling Armor, I’d like to say I cannot praise this armor enough.  It is amazing, and while yes it requires a lot of effort plus work to get the building cycle right (need that level 3 Black Harvest for the Rubber Bone Harness), but it is worth it. I’d say that even without Calcification this armor is one of the best armour sets in the game (and to be honest I think Calcification is not enough benefit for the time investment unless you have a spare set of armor or plan to take it easy for three years until you get the armor back).  This will probably change in the 30+ LY Campaigns as those extra years and the higher difficulty of the fights that the Gold Smoke Knight, Screaming God and Ivory Dragon suggest at this point, may require the fully enabled Ripple Pattern you get from Calcification (plus the extra armor) to help mitigate damage. 

On the Shield front - If you are playing with the Flower Knight and Gorm expansion as well; you can upgrade Beacon Shields to stack 3 Fetorsaurus in a group btw, you essentially trivialise the ball actions the DBK takes (as mentioned above where I talked about TOM), turning it from a dangerous threat into a cotton ball.  This only requires that you beat 2 level 3 Flower Knights (a trivial task in comparison) and that you are sensible with the first Sleeping Virus Flower you get your hands on, putting it on a survivor who is just going to hide in the settlement and not do anything until they have those flowers ripped from their body and wrapped around a Beacon Shield.

In Conclusion Beetle Bashing:

So here we are.  This is a collection of thoughts, builds, ideas and similar items which should help you understand how to handle one of the most difficult yet satisfying fights in the entire game.  The level 3 Dung Beetle Knight teaches you so much about proper play and patience in this game.  

As for how to put this together, if you’re willing to play ‘not live’ I’d recommend a practice game with some build combinations that you want to try out.  If you start out with an evasion based rolling armor grand weapon/fetor tank, a calcified digging Claws/Blood Paint/Beacon Shield Off Tank, a DPS and a Support Character in Cycloid Armor + Bow + Quiver or similar.  Just keep it simple, basic and matching what you’re used to (or able to build) and ensure that you have both the Cats Eye Circlet and the Wisdom Potion.  Then remember that heavy armour points are best on characters who are going to take a lot of damage from AI cards AND Reactions.  Stinky (Monster Grease) items should be on tanks and that all stinky characters should stand at exactly the same distance (because of the DBK sometimes targeting ‘furthest stinky threat’) and take your time.  

If you really want to practice you can even go as far as playing with the AI deck top card face up in order to understand the positioning rules – or you can grind a ton of the L2 DBKs live as practice, almost everything you learn about handling the L2 DBK applies against the L3 – it’s just more intense and the Century Carapace Plates/Burrow hurt like heck.

Post Script:

So that’s it, that’s a load of stuff on this, now I will supplement it by sharing the various builds mentioned here in little ‘mini’ articles.  And I’m going to put one of these together for the Lion God soon, because that’s another monster which is a lot less scary than people make out.  However, until then if there are any questions specific to the DBK here, or if you have monster specific requests, please feel free to ask me in the comments section below and I will do the best I can to oblige with answers.

Also as always, I can be contacted in the public chat section of my discord (see the social media links section) and there is a second private section for you Patrons where I upload extra pictures and you can contact me about commissions etc. etc. (I always have special deals for loyal Patrons).  I pick up messages there daily, don’t be fooled into thinking that I’m not around just because I appear offline.

Until then; adapt, adopt and above all else abuse the shit out of mechanics. The monsters will do the same to you if they get the chance; so don’t play fair.