Heavy Rains
From A KoL Wiki
Heavy Rains is the Autumn 2014 special challenge path, introduced on August 15, 2014. This path adds variant rules and restrictions to an ascension run. Its description in The Bureau of Reincarnation reads "Torrential rains have flooded the Kingdom, making everything extremely difficult. But you can rise to the challenge (seriously, this one is challenging) with the help of some powerful new skills."
Restrictions
- Non-water-breathing familiars must equip a miniature life preserver (see Divergences), or they will lose most of their functions.
- The Feast of Boris does not give bonus fullness. On the main map, this message appears:
Today is the Feast of Boris. The rain has ruined your festive mood.
- Standard restrictions applied while Heavy Rains was the current challenge path. These restrictions were lifted on November 15, 2014.
Divergences
- On ascending into a Heavy Rains run, the player encounters Why Is the World In Love Again?
- The Council of Loathing has different text reflecting the situation in the Kingdom.
- During combat, monsters will be covered by water that increases their monster level the deeper it is. The depth of the water depends on the zone type (indoors, outdoors, underground) and the general difficulty of the zone.
- A zone is considered "easy" or "challenging" depending on the stat recommendation of the zone (easy being 37 or lower, challenging being 40 or higher). An easy zone has a base depth of 1, and a challenging zone a base depth of 2.
- If the zone is outdoors, the rain level is unchanged; indoor zones gain +2, and underground zones gain +4.
- Depth can be increased and decreased with items and effects. Personal Thundercloud and The Rain In Loathing both increase the depth level by 2, and equipping the heavy duty umbrella decreases it by 2.
- Depth level has a minimum of 1 and a maximum level of 6.
- Depth increases Monster Level by +10 per level of water depth.
- The extra ML caused by the rain depth is not taken into account to determine the monsters you encounter in Oil Peak.
- Depth decreases Initiative by 20% per level of water depth.
- This initiative penalty can make capping the initative tests for Vanya's Castle or Modern zmobie a bit more difficult; bear this in mind when playing the path.
- The water depth is visible by mouse-hovering on the monster icon during a combat. (Exception: monster images that are not the standard size do not display the water, and mouse-hovering does nothing.)
- Unsurprisingly, underwater locations are not modified or affected by the kingdom-wide flooding.
- After combat, some items may be washed away by the water. The chance of losing an item is 5% per level of water depth.
- Each item's chance of washing away is independently rolled. You may lose multiple items in the same combat.
- Quest items and items with a 100% base drop rate will never wash away. Items dropped due to yellow ray may still be washed away.
- Fishy Whiskers reduces this chance by a flat 10%, which will completely negate the washaway chance if the water level is 2 or less.
- Wandering monsters will appear.
- The first monster is met on turn 9-11 of the run, and all subsequent monsters are seen 35-45 turns after the last.
- Re. encounter priority, HR monsters are higher than Daily Loathing Ballot monsters.
- The monster seen depends on the water depth of where you are adventuring, and (for the depth-6 "skillbook"-droppers) the terrain type:
Depth Terrain Monster Notes 1 Any giant isopod Drops 1 freshwater fishbone 2 Any gourmet gourami Drops gourmet gourami oil 3 Any freshwater bonefish Drops 2 freshwater fishbones 4 Any alley catfish Drops catfish whiskers 5 Any piranhadon Drops 3 freshwater fishbones 6 Underground giant tardigrade Drops thunder thigh 6 Indoor aquaconda Drops aquaconda brain 6 Outdoor storm cow Drops lightning milk
- (Monsters which drop multiple fishbones may not have 100% drop rates on each fishbone.)
- The depth-6 monsters are instakill-immune
- The water inhibits non-water-breathing familiars in some way which is not yet fully understood.
- If your active familiar is inhibited by the water, any familiar inside a Buddy Bjorn or Crown of Thrones will also be inhibited, even if the latter is water-breathing.
- The General Store sells 4 new items during this path:
- water wings for babies (50 meat) – Multi-equippable accessory that raises maximum HP by 10 and lowers monster level by 15.
- miniature life preserver (100 meat) – Familiar equipment that makes your familiar immune to the familiar-blocking effects of the rain.
- heavy duty umbrella (300 meat) – Offhand item that lowers the water level by 2 when equipped.
- pool skimmer (500 meat) – Offhand item that randomly lets you receive items that have been lost in the water by other players after combat.
- The player can't earn an Order of the Silver Wossname -- The Last Stand shows up as normal, but using a flaregun in your chosen boss fight fails to summon the pirates.
Bosses
Most ascension-required bosses have been replaced with a mass of sentient water. These new rain bosses drop different items, and there is a hard cap on damage that can be dealt to them.
Normal Boss Rain Boss New Item Hard Cap Notes Boss Bat Aquabat neoprene skullcap 12 Knob Goblin King Aquagoblin goblin water 23 Removes a buff every round Bonerdagon Auqadargon nothing 28 Does not drop rib or vertebra Groar Gurgle liquid ice 56 Reflects spell damage Lord Spookyraven Lord Soggyraven Lord Soggyraven's Slippers 39 Protector Spectre Protector Spurt Ancient Protector Soda 21 Dr. Awkward Dr. Aquard Sogg-Os and dumb mud 39 Spell damage is reduced to 1 The Man The Aquaman filet of The Fish 200 The Big Wisniewski Big Wisnaqua Wet Russian 200 The Naughty Sorceress The Rain King beautiful rainbow 40 Removes all clothes at the start
Removes an effect each time he acts
- Ed the Undying is not changed, although he is given a different introduction.
- Because The Naughty Sorceress is replaced, you do not need a wand of Nagamar.
Skills
When you defeat one of the wandering monsters at Depth 6, it drops an item that can be used to learn one skill. The skills have no prerequisites besides requiring using the item. There are three groups of skills, each with its own skill-granting item, and its own unique resource which is used in place of MP.
Every time you complete a Heavy Rains run (at the time that you kill the Rain King, not breaking the Prism), the game counts which skill tree you have the most skills in. On future Heavy Rains runs, you'll start with the corresponding skill-giving item. Each run's item is remembered independently. If you have a tie for most skills in multiple trees, the game chooses one at random.
There is a limit of 3 of each starting skill item (i.e. you max out at 3 thunder thighs, 3 aquaconda brains and 3 lightning milks). If you've already maxed the skill tree you have the most skills in, the game will use your second-highest skill tree for this run. However, you must have learned at least one skill in a second tree. You can't start with lightning milks if you have never learned a Lightning skill at all.
These are the resources:
- Thunder: Used for skills gained by using a thunder thigh from a giant tardigrade. It is measured in dBs.
- Every 10 combat wins, you will receive the following message post-combat:
- A peal of thunder sounds nearby. You swallow X dB of it.
- X is equal to 30, or 50 if you know Thunder Thighs.
- Every 10 combat wins, you will receive the following message post-combat:
- Rain: Used for skills gained by using a aquaconda brain from an aquaconda. It is measured in drops.
- Every 7 combat wins, you will receive the following message post-combat:
- You turn your smiling face up to the rains, recovering 7 drops.
- Every 7 combat wins, you will receive the following message post-combat:
- Lightning: Used for skills gained by using a lightning milk from a storm cow. It is measured in bolts.
- Lightning does not regenerate other than at rollover, unless you have Thor's Pliers equipped.
- Every 11 combat wins with Thor's Pliers equipped, you will receive the following message post-combat:
- You raise Thor's Pliers to the tumultuous heavens and are struck by a torrent of lightning, recovering 11 bolts.
All three resources are capped at 100. Whenever you learn a skill from each group for the first time, you will start with the full amount. The three resources are also refilled to max at rollover.
Due to how the depth mechanics work, you will need to know Thundercloud in order to encounter an aquaconda, and you need to know both Thundercloud and Rainy Day to encounter a storm cow.
 thunder thigh |
 aquaconda brain |
 lightning milk | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Type | Effect | Name | Type | Effect | Name | Type | Effect |
 Thunder Clap |
Combat 40 dB |
Banishes the monster for 40 turns, or until another foe is banished with this skill |  Rain Man |
Non-combat 50 drops |
Allows you to fight any copyable monster you know |  Lightning Strike |
Combat 20 bolts |
Insta-kills monster without spending an Adventure |
 Thundercloud |
Non-combat 20 dB |
Personal Thundercloud Increases water depth by 2 (100 turns) |
 Rainy Day |
Non-combat 20 drops |
The Rain In Loathing Increases water depth by 2 (100 turns) |
 Clean-Hair Lightning |
Non-combat 10 bolts |
Charged Hair Maximum MP +100% (100 turns) |
 Thunder Bird |
Combat 1 dB |
Delevels monster by 15%, rounded up |  Make it Rain |
Combat 10 drops |
Increases meat drops by 300% at the end of combat (Usable once per fight) |
 Ball Lightning |
Combat 5 bolts |
Yellow Ray disintegration, X damage if on cooldown (99 turns of Everything Looks Yellow) |
 Thunderheart |
Non-combat 20 dB |
Thunderheart Maximum HP +100% (100 turns) |
 Rain Dance |
Noncombat 10 drops |
Rain Dancin' +20% Item Drops from Monsters (100 turns) |
 Sheet Lightning |
Non-combat 10 bolts |
Stormswaddled Spell Damage +100%, Damages attacking opponents (100 turns) |
 Thunderstrike |
Combat 5 dB |
Stuns monster for X turns (Usable once per fight) |
 Rainbow |
Combat 3 drops |
Deals prismatic damage (6-7 per element) |  Lightning Bolt |
Combat 1 bolt |
Deals 1 damage, or 5000+ damage if cast the 3rd time in a single combat |
 Thunder Down Underwear |
Non-combat 60 dB |
Once per day, gives thunder down underwear (disappears at rollover) |  Rain Coat |
Non-combat 40 drops |
Once per day, gives famous blue raincoat (disappears at rollover) |  Lightning Rod |
Non-combat 20 bolts |
Once per day, gives lightning rod (disappears at rollover) |
 Thunder Thighs |
Passive | You regain 50 dB every swallowed clap, instead of 30 |  Rain Delay |
Passive | +3 Resistance to All Elements |  Riding the Lightning |
Passive | Maximum MP +100% |
Strategy
- See Heavy Rains/Strategy for a discussion of speed strategies.
- If you are finding adventuring too difficult, particularly at the start of the run, you may wish to buy and equip one (or more) water wings for babies from The General Store.
- The Maze of Sewer Tunnels leading to Hobopolis will always have giant tardigrades and is always available provided you can survive the ~300 ML monsters there. (You can get whitelisted into bumcheekcity's Basements to get free access.)
Rewards
- Finishing a Heavy Rains run that began while it was still the current special challenge path -- that is, between August 15th, 2014, and November 14th, 2014 -- gives players 100 (in Hardcore) or 50 (in Normal) extra karma points the next time they visit Valhalla.
- You receive a beautiful rainbow for completing a Normal or Hardcore run while this is the current challenge path.
- Players will receive a Thwaitgold spider statuette upon defeating The Rain King.
- Hardcore Heavy Rains runs will also receive the class-appropriate stainless steel equipment upon defeating The Rain King.
