For players who have played other versions of Orcs Must Die, you will be well acquainted with the Arcane Dragon.
The Arcane Dragon is quite powerful Trap that will have players excited due to it’s unbeatable range and it’s versatility which allows players to debuff enemies.
I still remember how useful this Trap was in my early days of playing Orcs Must Die: Unchained and just how much I used to rely on this Trap on specific maps due to the amount of range it had and the fact that it really helped stack debuffs on mobs so I could easily shred through them.
While the Arcane Dragon doesn’t deal the most damage, when stacked with other traps, it is extremely effective, especially because attacks caused by the Arcane Dragon will go through enemies, effecting all enemies that are in line.
I personally recommend getting yourself an Arcane Dragon early if you’re dealing with maps with long hallways and struggling to damage the majority of mobs that are coming your way.
This guide will take you through everything you need to know about the Arcane Dragon and how to effectively utilize it.
HOW TO UNLOCK THE ARCANE DRAGON
The Arcane Dragon requires players to turn over Skulls if they hope to unlock it, though when it comes to this Trap, I strongly recommend choosing to use it.
The reality is, there are many maps where this trap will be very useful, though the opposite could be said if players are not playing on a map that doesn’t have long hallways as these are the spaces where they are most effective.
ARCANE DRAGON STATS
The Arcane Dragon is quite a costly Trap, coming in at 1,000 Coins, though the reality is that players will not want to set up too many of these to get the most out of them.
The reality is the Arcane Dragon Trap is that in many cases players will be placing between 2-4 of them, depending on how thick a hallway is. If players have a very long hallway they want to place it in the area where mobs are walking towards, versus against walls that mobs are walking past, meaning that this severely cuts down where the Arcane Dragons should be placed.
The Arcane Dragon is a wall trap that will take up 1 standard wall space, equaling to 2×2 squares.
The best thing about the Arcane Dragon Trap is the fact that it has an infinite range, which is why it is ideal to place these at the end of a very long hallway, especially if players have set up a Barricade maze for mobs to go through as this will severely reduce the speed of mobs and ensure that they are actually affected by the Trap.
While the Arcane Dragon will deal 20 damage to each mob affected, the true damage comes from the fact that each enemy affected by the Arcane Dragon is going to receive a 5 second Debuff to all damage dealt to it.
Arcane Debuff essentially allows mobs to take an additional 15% percentage damage to all other elements, including other Arcane traps. While Arcane debuffs do not stack, they do refresh based on other Arcane Traps, so having different sets of Arcane Traps is not a bad idea, though players will want to set up Traps based on which can deal the most damage, especially if they have elemental properties.
An Arcane Dragon is fairly slow, which is why players will be focussing on putting them in long hallways as this will ensure that mobs have enough time to get hit by the Arcane Dragon. Unlike many other Traps, the Arcane Dragon will fire even no mobs are nearby, acting much like a Ceiling Laser, though admittedly not as effective.
ARCANE DRAGON UPGRADES
As is with most standard Traps, players will have access to two different Upgrade Paths, including “Level Upgrades” and “Unique Upgrades.”
Level Upgrades can be utilized immediately, however, Unique Upgrades will require players to kill 75 mobs while using the Arcane Dragon.
Realistically, the number of mobs to kill is fairly low due to to the fact that the Arcane Dragon is used for assisting damage more than it is used to actually kill mobs, so don’t sweat it if you don’t unlock these upgrades immediately, it’s based on RNG whether or not you actually kill a mob using the Arcane Dragon.
LEVEL UPGRADES
Level Upgrades are going to increase the amount of damage dealt by the Arcane Dragon.
I wouldn’t rush these upgrades if you’re not flush on Skulls as the Arcane Dragon isn’t meant for dealing damage as much as it is used for affecting mobs with Arcane/Magic Vulnerability.
If you take your time with this upgrade the only thing that may be a “negative” is the fact that you will not be able to grind the Unique Upgrades fast enough, though this isn’t the biggest deal as mentioned.
The following are the tiers of upgrades players will be able to obtain when using the Arcane Dragon:
The first upgrade costs 5 Skulls and increases the Arcane Dragon’s damage from 20 to 24 damage.
The second upgrade costs 7 Skulls and increases the Arcane Dragon’s damage from 24 to 28 damage.
The third upgrade costs 9 Skulls and increases the Arcane Dragon’s damage from 28 to 32 damage.
UNIQUE UPGRADES
As mentioned the Unique Upgrades may take a bit longer for players to acquire simply due to the fact that the fact that Arcane Dragons deal comparatively less damage than other Traps and their fairly long cooldowns.
The reality of the Unique Upgrades is that there is one that can always be used and the other will be useful in some situations.
Essentially the first upgrade, which costs 7 Skulls will affect all mobs targeted by the Arcane Dragon with a Magic Debuff for 7 seconds instead of 5 seconds.
This upgrade is the one I recommend using in most scenarios as it will allow players to deal some extra damage for a few more seconds.
The more particular upgrade is the second, which also costs 7 Skulls and causes the Arcane Dragon’s attack to bounce off of a wall a single time.
The reason this is more particular is because players will not always have a second wall to bounce off of, especially when it comes to the fact that while the Arcane Dragon has unlimited range, it’s attack actually stops or disappears after 8 seconds.
So, players will not be able to damage all mobs in a room a second time, even if there is a wall across from them.
This, however, does allow players to use Arcane Dragons in very small spaces to essentially deal double the damage which can be useful, though still not recommended.
I would strongly think about this or test out both if you have enough Skulls to rotate between maps, especially in the late game.
IS THE ARCANE DRAGON GOOD?
I strongly encourage players to utilize the Arcane Dragon as it is by far one of the best ways to debuff a good amount of mobs.
While the Arcane Dragon itself does not deal a great deal of damage, the fact that it can affect unlimited amounts of mobs really helps balance out this factor so players will not feel as bothered by the cost of the trap.
I strongly recommend purchasing the Arcane Dragon and placing it on maps that have long corridors as this is where it is the most effective and when placing an Arcane Dragon I recommend changing your traps to deal elemental damage as this will help deal even more damage, especially fire damage or other forms of Arcane Damage that can reset the timer.
It must be restated that the Arcane/Magic Debuff cannot be stacked.
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