View source for Avatar of Boris

''Not to be confused with [[The Avatar of Boris]] ([[Naughty Sorceress]] equivalent in [[Avatar of Jarlsberg]]).''
{{Challenge Path Description
  |image=Aob trusty.gif
  |name=Avatar of Boris
  |season=Spring 2012
  |date=February 15, 2012
  |desc=You're filled with the spirit of Boris, the voracious, ferocious, and prestigious Legendary Warrior of the Times of Old. Armed with only your trusty axe Trusty and your faithful minstrel [[Clancy (companion)|Clancy]], you'll use an entirely new set of skills to defeat the Sorceress.}}
During an Avatar of Boris run, players are given a unique set of equipment and skills, along with a companion in place of the standard familiars.  Boris's (and therefore, your) feasting is the stuff of legend, but his (and your) alcohol tolerance is very poor.

==Restrictions==
*'''Items'''
**No access to your [[Your Mystical Bookshelf|bookshelf]].
**No access to your clan [[A Fax Machine|fax machine]]. Attempting to retrieve a fax gives the following message: ''Boris didn't trust technology. You don't trust it either.''
**Some skill books such as [[Crimbo Candy Cookbook]], [[CRIMBCO Employee Handbook]]s and [[Hodgman's journal]]s cannot be read.  Others such as [[Biddy Cracker's Old-Fashioned Cookbook]] can be used though, and their skills can be learned.

*'''Equipment'''
**[[Trusty]], your two-handed axe.
***Attempting to directly equip any other weapon or offhand yields the following message: ''Boris has no need of lesser weapons. Trusty is all you need.''
***Attempting to equip another weapon through an outfit yields the following message: ''Boris doesn't need that lowly item.''
***You may unequip Trusty (e.g. to equip a [[time halo]] at rollover).
**You will not begin with [[Torso Awaregness]]. You may re-earn it as normal from [[Fragnk]] or [[The Shirt Off His Lack of Back|Melvign]].

*'''Familiars'''
**No access to familiars. Attempting to equip a familiar or place one in the Crown of Thrones yields the following message: Boris has no need for familiars!
***Your minstrel [[Clancy (companion)|Clancy]] will perform functions similar to a familiar and will change functionality depending on what he has equipped. His initial equipment will make him restore HP and MP post-fight (similarly to a [[Ghuol Whelp]], but 100% of the time).
**Cannot use familiar hatchlings. Attempting to do so yields the following message: Boris has no need for familiars.

*'''Skills'''
**No access to any non-Avatar skills.
***Skills gained outside the guild trainer, such as Gnome skills or Spookyraven skills, can be obtained as usual, but any previously permed are still unavailable unless obtained in-run.  For obtaining a Spookyraven skill, the Avatar of Boris acts as a Seal Clubber.

*'''Locations'''
**Since you have no guild affiliation, you cannot open [[The Ruins of Fernswarthy's Tower|Fernswarthy's tower]] or [[Fernswarthy's Basement|basement]].
**You cannot adventure in [[The Sea]].  Attempting to talk to [[An Old Man]] gives the following message: ''That shack you saw on the main map was just a picture of a shack drawn on the ground.''

==Divergences==
*'''''Players will become intoxicated (and unable to adventure) upon reaching a drunkenness level of 5.'''''
*Players may eat to 20 fullness.  This increases to 25 with [[Legendary Appetite]], or 30 with Appetite and [[Stomach of Steel]].
**As in a [[teetotaler]] run, players receive a [[steel lasagna]] from completing [[Azazel, Ma Belle|Azazel's sidequest]] (requires 5 available fullness to consume).
*Players start with [[Boris's key]] and may immediately access [[Boris's Gate]], which serves as a [[#Skills|skill trainer]]. Learning skills does not cost any Meat.
*Attempting to bring an astral weapon or off-hand item during reincarnation yields the following warning:
*:''The Avatar of Boris won't use anything but Boris's trusty axe, Trusty. Are you sure you want to take that astral pet?''
*Attempting to bring an astral shirt during reincarnation yields the following warning: 
*:''The Avatar of Boris has no need to cover his manly nipples, do you really want to take that astral pet?''
**However, you ''can'' buy [[Torso Awaregness]] in run if you ascend under a [[moon sign|Gnomish sign]] or learn it from [[The Shirt Off His Lack of Back|Melvign the Gnome]].
*Attempting to bring an [[astral pet sweater]] during reincarnation yields the following warning: 
*:''The Avatar of Boris has no need of familiar companions, do you really want to take that astral pet?''
*You cannot drop the Avatar of Boris path until day 3.  Boris hated quitters.
*Upon freeing King Ralph you must [[End of the Boris Road|choose]] a [[class]].  If you choose a [[Moxie]]-based or a [[Mysticality]]-based class, muscle will switch with your new class's main stat. If you still have certain quest items when you do this, including [[Boris's key]] and [[Frobozz Real-Estate Company Instant House (TM)]], they are lost. (Not all quest items are lost in this way.)
*Players may free pull [[Boris's Helm]] or [[Boris's Helm (askew)]].
*On the [[Feast of Boris]], despite being a holiday dedicated to you, '''''you do not gain additional stomach capacity''''', just like other challenge paths. The wandering monsters also only drop the lower-level food.

===Class===
Rather than playing any of the traditional 6 classes, you will play as an '''Avatar of Boris''' with entirely different skills.
*Your main stat is [[Muscle]].
*You will not be accepted into any of the traditional [[Guild Hall|guilds]]. You will not be able to use a guild to unlock any quests or areas.
*:''Boris didn't want to belong to any organizations that would have him as a member. Of course, given his history of violence and tendency to eat everything he saw, almost no organization would have him as a member, so it didn't come up very often.''
*You will not be instructed on how to obtain access to the Shore. Note that a [[bitchin' meatcar]] will still work if built, as will a [[Desert Bus pass]] or a [[pumpkin carriage]].
*You receive Muscle class items from [[My Own Pen Pal kit|Your Pen Pal]].
*The [[The Gourd Tower|Captain of the Gourd]] wants [[Knob Goblin firecracker]]s.
*The [[The Trapper's Cabin|Trapper]] gives you Muscle class rewards.
*You find a dead Seal Clubber and get a [[Ben-Gal™ Balm]] from the tavern quest.
*You get a [[giant discarded bottlecap]] from the [[Giant Trash Quest]].
*You can find a [[tattered wolf standard]] in [[The Haunted Bedroom]] to learn [[Snarl of the Timberwolf (skill)|Snarl of the Timberwolf]].
*The [[remains of a jilted mistress]] does not drop any chintzy jewelry.
*The [[Avalanche!]] adventure at [[The Icy Peak]] will not occur.
*You count as a Muscle class for the darrrt game in the pirate bar.
*In the PvP attack dialog, your method of attack defaults to Bully.
*No class name appears in the "search players" dialog.  However, the class name "Avatar of Boris" does appear on public character sheets, and in the Ascension History (with an axe icon).
*The Field of Strawberries in [[A Moment of Reflection]] gives you [[yellow matter custard]].  In the Croquet Grounds, you fight a [[croqueteer]].
*You receive a [[pig-iron helm]] from the [[Empty lot]].
*The [[secret from the future]] gives nothing. Boris lives in the moment.
*You can get the [[Instru-mental]] encounter at [[the Hobo Marketplace]]. You can buy a dinged-up triangle. You do not get offered a sealhide drum.
*Upon breaking the prism, you will lose the Boris path, and be asked to choose one of the original classes to play until you ascend again. Your stats will be switched to fit the new class. You will lose [[Trusty]] and [[Clancy]], and your Stomach and Liver capacities will be set to their standard values (15/14 respectively, or 20/14 if you have [[Stomach of Steel]]).

===Quests===
*Since you cannot equip other weapons, you cannot fight the [[Knob Goblin King]] by wearing the [[Knob Goblin Elite Guard Uniform|Elite Guard uniform]]. This also means that you cannot [[It's Time to Play... Password!|discover the password]] to access the [[Dispensary]].
**Wear the [[Knob Goblin Harem Girl Disguise|Harem Girl disguise]] and [[Knob Goblin Perfume|perfume]] instead.
*You do not have access to the [[Me and My Nemesis|Nemesis quest]] and therefore cannot obtain {{plural|box}} for a [[bartender-in-the-box|bartender]], a [[chef-in-the-box|chef]], or a [[4-d camera]]. (An unrelated update later added a [[On a Downtown Train|way of obtaining boxes]] from [[a Monorail Station]].)
*During the [[Mt. McLargeHuge Quest]] you cannot equip the [[Mining Gear]] to enter [[Itznotyerzitz Mine]]. A new monster called [[mountain man]], which drops ore, appears in the Mine.
*Clancy does not count toward the +50% item drops needed in [[Twin Peak]], but the [[Song of Fortune (effect)|Song of Fortune]] does, as does [[Hungry Eyes]].  If you don't have Song of Fortune or Hungry Eyes yet, you may use [[cyclops eyedrops]], or stack up [[astral mask]] + [[Baron von Ratsworth's monocle]] + [[observational glasses]] + [[miner's helmet]] + [[Hustlin']], or maybe drink some [[crystal skeleton vodka]] or [[pumpkin juice]], or just burn the hotel down.
*Since you cannot equip the [[unstable fulminate]], you'll need to use the other recipe in the [[Spookyraven Manor Cellar]].
*Don't bother obtaining or pulling other items you may be accustomed to using to speed up quests but cannot equip in this path. For example, you won't be able to use a [[loadstone]], [[logging hatchet]], [[UV-resistant compass]].
*[[Boris's key]] will be consumed when you unlock Boris's Lock in [[the Naughty Sorceress' Tower Door]]. If you have unused skill points, spend them before unlocking the lock.
*You do not need a [[Wand of Nagamar]].  The third form of the Naughty Sorceress is [[The Avatar of Sneaky Pete]] and requires no special items.
*Defeating the Naughty Sorceress in hardcore does not produce any equipment as a reward, stainless steel or otherwise.

===Avatar===
Your avatar is replaced by:
[[File:Boris avatar.gif]] [[File:Boris avatar f.gif]]

When wearing outfits, the outfit avatar overrides this avatar.
A custom avatar is not affected.

===Skills===
You begin with two skills:
*{{InlineItem|Mighty Axing}} – A normal attack that never fumbles and gives +1 muscle substat if used at least once during combat, even if it misses.
*{{InlineItem|Laugh it Off}} – Restores 1-2 HP.

Rather than purchasing new skills for meat, you may revel in Boris's glory at [[Boris's Gate]]. You may learn skills from 3 trees: Fighting, Shouting, and Feasting. Each skill you learn costs one skill point, regardless of rank.

You begin with 1 skill point, plus 1 point for each [[Ascension#Normal Difficulty|normal]] (softcore) Avatar of Boris ascension completed, and 2 points for each [[hardcore]] Avatar of Boris ascension completed. (This means that on your first AoB run, you'll only  start with 1 skill point.) You gain 1 additional skill point each time you level up, up to level 15.

Since you only gain skill points up to level 15, if you want more than 15 skills, you must ascend repeatedly for bonus starting points.

You cannot skip ranks within a skill tree. In order to learn a 3rd-rank skill, you must first learn the 1st-rank and 2nd-rank skills from that same tree.

'''You can have only one song effect active at a time.''' Singing a different song will remove the first one automatically.

<p>
{| border="1px" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="3"
!Rank
! colspan="3" | Fighting
! colspan="3" | Shouting
! colspan="3" | Feasting
|-
|
| align="center" |Name
| align="center" |Type 
| align="center" |Effect
| align="center" |Name
| align="center" |Type 
| align="center" |Effect
| align="center" |Name
| align="center" |Type 
| align="center" |Effect
|-
| align="center" | 1
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Cleave}}
| align="center" | Combat<br>5 MP
| [[Hit Chance|To-Hit bonus]] and heavy damage<br>(not auto-hit)
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Intimidating Bellow}}
| align="center" | Combat<br>3 MP
| Delevels by 15% of monster attack
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Demand Sandwich}}
| align="center" | Noncombat<br>5 MP
| Summons 3 sandwiches a day
|-
| align="center" | 2
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Ferocity}}
| align="center" | Passive
| +25% [[Critical Hit Chance#Percentage Modifiers|Critical Hit Chance]]
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Legendary Bravado}}
| align="center" | Passive
| All Attributes +10
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Legendary Girth}} 
| align="center" | Passive
| So-So [[Elemental Resistance|Resistance]] to All Elements
|-
| align="center" | 3
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Broadside}} 
| align="center" | Combat<br>10 MP
| [[Stunning|Stuns]] for 4 rounds
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Song of Accompaniment (skill)}} 
| align="center" | Song<br>10 MP
| [[Clancy (companion)|Minstrel]] Level +3
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Song of the Glorious Lunch (skill)}} 
| align="center" | Song<br>10 MP
| +1 adventure per fullness from food, like [[Got Milk]]
|-
| align="center" | 4
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Sick Pythons}} 
| align="center" | Passive
| 
*[[Bonus Weapon Damage|Weapon Damage]] +20
*Attacks miss less often
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Big Lungs}}
| align="center" | Passive
| Regenerate 8-10 [[HP Regeneration|HP]] per Adventure
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Big Boned}} 
| align="center" | Passive
| [[HP Modifiers#Percentage Increasers|Maximum HP]] +30%
|-
| align="center" | 5
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Pep Talk}} 
| align="center" | Noncombat<br>1 MP
| +30 [[Monster Level]]<br>(toggled at will)
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Song of Solitude (skill)}} 
| align="center" | Song<br>15 MP
| Decreases [[Combat Frequency]] by 20%
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Legendary Appetite}} 
| align="center" | Passive
| Increases [[Fullness|stomach]] by 5
|-
| align="center" | 6
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Throw Trusty}} 
| align="center" | Combat<br>7 MP
| Ranged auto-hit combat skill
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Good Singing Voice}} 
| align="center" | Passive
| Doubles duration of Boris songs
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Heroic Belch}} 
| align="center" | Combat<br>5 MP
| Deals {{element|Stench}} based on fullness
|-
| align="center" | 7
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Legendary Luck}} 
| align="center" | Passive
| Significantly increases [[Critical hit|critical hit]] damage
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Song of Fortune (skill)}} 
| align="center" | Song<br>10 MP
| 
*+25% [[Items from Monsters|Item Drops]]
*+50% [[Meat from Monsters|Meat Drops]]
*First blow is always [[Critical Hit Chance|Critical]]
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Hungry Eyes}} 
| align="center" | Passive
| +100% [[Items from Monsters#Food|Food Drops]]
|-
| align="center" | 8
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Song of Cockiness (skill)}} 
| align="center" | Song<br>15 MP
| +30 [[Monster Level]]
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Louder Bellows}}
| align="center" | Passive
| Improves [[Intimidating Bellow]] ([[Deleveling|Delevels]] by 30%, [[Stunning|stuns]] monster for one round)
| align="center" | {{StackItem|More to Love}}
| align="center" | Passive
| [[Clancy (companion)|Minstrel]] Level +3
|-
| align="center" | 9
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Legendary Impatience}} 
| align="center" | Passive
| +100% [[Combat Initiative]]
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Song of Battle (skill)}}
| align="center" | Song<br>10 MP
|
*Increases [[Combat Frequency]] by 20%
*[[Bonus Weapon Damage#Percentage Bonus Damage|Weapon Damage]] +100%
*All attacks auto-hit
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Barrel Chested}} 
| align="center" | Passive
| [[Muscle Modifiers|Muscle]] +50%
|-
| align="center" | 10
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Bifurcating Blow}}
| align="center" | Combat<br>10 MP
| Insta-kill with 20-adv cooldown
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Banishing Shout}}
| align="center" | Combat<br>50 MP
| [[banishing|Banishes]] up to 3 enemies at a time
| align="center" | {{StackItem|Gourmand}}
| align="center" | Passive
| +1 adventure per fullness from food
|}

Once you have learned all of the skills in a category the page will say:
:<font color=gray>You have mastered <Skill Type>.</font>

When you learn a skill:
:The statue of Boris winks at you, and you feel new strength well up inside you. Or maybe that's just your stomach growling.
<center>{{acquireSkill}}</center>

===Clancy===
[[Clancy (companion)|Clancy]] is your bard, and serves as a replacement for your familiar. [[File:justclancy.gif|left|link=Clancy (companion)|Clancy]]

Clancy can level up, but he does not gain weight like other familiars.  Effects that increase familiar weight have no effect on him.  He gains a level by encountering special path-specific noncombat adventures, and some skills can also increase Clancy's level (eg [[More to Love]]).

Clancy's effects depend on which instrument he is using.  New instruments may be found in various places; using one causes him to swap to it, changing his avatar, and giving you back the previous instrument.

*He begins with [[Clancy's sackbut]], which causes him to act like a [[Ghuol Whelp]] (except that he acts after 100% of fights instead of 50%).
*[[Clancy's crumhorn]], available from [[Uncle P's Antiques]], causes him to act like a volleyball.
*[[Clancy's lute]], available at level 7, causes him to act like a fairy.

When Clancy uses the crumhorn or the lute, his effective volleyball or fairy weight is 5 times his level.

==Strategy==
*See [[Avatar of Boris/Strategy|this page]] for tips & strategies.

==Rewards==
*If this is your first run as the Avatar of Boris, opening the [[letter from King Ralph XI]] unlocks a new class [[tattoo]]. There is also a sparkly tattoo available upon completion of a hardcore run as an Avatar of Boris.
*Players will receive a [[Thwaitgold stag beetle statuette]] upon defeating the Naughty Sorceress.
*Learning all Boris skills (which requires a minimum of 15 extra Boris points at the start of the run) will grant a [[Note from Clancy]] after ascending, which grants [[Request Sandwich]].
*Reaching Level 30 as an Avatar of Boris makes you eligible for the [[And My Axe]] [[trophy]].
**Freeing the King, or dropping Avatar of Boris, will make you ineligible for the trophy.

==History==
*Somewhere around the beginning of September 2012, Avatars of Boris became unable to enter [[The Sea]].  Prior to this, they could talk to the Old Man and enter normally.  This caused some glitches:
**When obtaining a Sea skill, you were treated as a Turtle Tamer.
**If you broke the prism and changed class after entering the Sea but before finishing all of the Sea quests (little brother, big brother, grandpa + skill, grandma), you were unable to proceed with any of them.  This broken state persisted until you ascended.
*Prior to [[The Naughty Sorceress' Tower]] revamp on 2015, the Avatar of Boris was able to bypass some of its obstacles with little resistance:
**No star weapon was needed for the Star Key part of [[A Perplexing Door]]; instead, [[Trusty]] needed to be equipped.
**:''Trusty is made of stuff older than the stars, and makes short work of the cage.''
***However, you still needed [[Richard's star key]] and a [[star hat]].
**You did not have to equip the [[huge mirror shard]] to deflect the Naughty Sorceress's attack:
**:''You laugh as the beam of energy harmlessly bounces off your powerful chest muscles and shoots back down the hallway. You hear a muffled curse and the sound of breaking stone.''
**You needed not fear the Sorceress's familiars:
**:''Calling on all the Boris inside you, you emit a mighty bellow, and the sorceress's pet goes running. That takes care of that!''
* Prior to the introduction of the quest [[The Shirt Off His Lack of Back]], the [[astral shirt]] was of dubious use in a Boris run as it required you to play a gnome sign and buy the skill to wear shirts during the run. Now that this quest was introduced, you can acquire the ability to wear shirts immediately at the start of the run (quest scales with level, and costs 21 adventures). You will still receive a warning if you try to take an astral shirt into a Boris run, but the warning can be safely ignored.

{{Ascension Paths}}