Heavy Rains

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.
• 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.

• 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.

Ascension Paths
Boozetafarian	Teetotaler	Oxygenarian
Special Challenge Paths
Spring Summer Fall Winter 2011 None Bees Hate You Way of the Surprising Fist Trendy 2012 Avatar of Boris Bugbear Invasion Zombie Slayer Class Act 2013 Avatar of Jarlsberg BIG! KOLHS Class Act II: A Class For Pigs 2014 Avatar of Sneaky Pete Slow and Steady Heavy Rains Picky 2015 Actually Ed the Undying One Crazy Random Summer Community Service None 2016 Avatar of West of Loathing The Source Nuclear Autumn None 2017 Gelatinous Noob License to Adventure Live. Ascend. Repeat. None 2018 Pocket Familiars G-Lover Disguises Delimit None 2019 Dark Gyffte Two Crazy Random Summer Kingdom of Exploathing None 2020 Path of the Plumber Low Key Summer Grey Goo None 2021 You, Robot Quantum Terrarium Wildfire None 2022 Grey You Journeyman Fall of the Dinosaurs None 2023 Avatar of Shadows Over Loathing Legacy of Loathing A Shrunken Adventurer am I None 2024 WereProfessor 11 Things I Hate About U Avant Guard None 2025 Z is for Zootomist Hat Trick 11,037 Leagues Under the Sea None