Journeyman

Journeyman is the Summer 2022 special challenge path, introduced on May 15th, 2022. This path adds variant rules and restrictions to an ascension run. Its description in The Bureau of Reincarnation reads "Journey to out-of-the-way places to find your skills."

Restrictions

• You cannot enter The Sea:

  That shack you saw on the main map was just a picture of a shack drawn on the ground.

• Consultations with your guild trainer are curt and unproductive:

  You may not learn skills on this path.

• Skill books can't be used, including the emotion chip, book of facts and the Bird-a-Day calendar:

  You don't feel like reading this right now.

  Where we're going (on this path), we don't need skills.

Divergences

• You start with no skills. Regardless of your class and permanence.
  • Moxie classes are still able to Pickpocket.
  • Conditionally granted skills like Steal Accordion are available, as are skills granted by equipment, such as CHEAT CODE: Replace Enemy.
  • *Bookshelf skills can be used as normal.
  • Skill books cannot be used and guild trainers will not offer you any skills, although guild access is otherwise unaffected.
• You gain skills by exploring seldom-essayed zones of the Kingdom. Each of those zones has exactly six different skills in it.
  • Noob zones: Noob Cave, The Dire Warren
  • Marketplace quest zones: The Overgrown Lot, The Skeleton Store, Madness Bakery
  • Dungeoneering areas: The Haiku Dungeon, The Limerick Dungeon, The Enormous Greater-Than Sign
  • Misspelled Cemetary: The Unquiet Garves, The VERY Unquiet Garves
  • Knob nethers: The Knob Shaft, Cobb's Knob Laboratory, Menagerie Level 1, Menagerie Level 2, Menagerie Level 3
  • Island areas: The Obligatory Pirate's Cove, Barrrney's Barrr
  • Pandamonium: Infernal Rackets Backstage, The Laugh Floor, Pandamonium Slums
  • Spookyraven Manor: The Haunted Laboratory, The Haunted Nursery, The Haunted Storage Room
  • Moon sign areas: The Spooky Gravy Burrow, Thugnderdome, Outskirts of Camp Logging Camp, Camp Logging Camp
  • Sidequest areas: Tower Ruins, Whitey's Grove, The Valley of Rof L'm Fao
• The skill is awarded in a free non-combat adventure, which will occur after every 3 adventures in an appropriate skill-granting zone.
  • The order of skills gained in each zone depends on your class. However, you can find skills from any of the six basic classes, not just your own.
  • Order and location of the skills are different for different classes, but consistent for all players of the same class. See the spreadsheet linked below for more information.
  • The Gnomish trainers Fragnk and Melvign can bestow skills (if accessible).

Aftercore

Upon freeing the King, you will retain any skills learned, and regain all your permed skills. Guild trainer access is restored, though unpermed class starter skills such as Clobber remain unavailable. You may use items that grant skills to learn skills, as normal.

Strategy

• Depending on how many IotMs you have, learning as few skills as possible, or possibly even learning zero skills directly translates to turns saved.
• The Gnomish Gnomad Camp can be used to pick up small bonus item, meat, HP, MP and the ability to wear a shirt. Useful shirts include surgical apron and lynyrdskin tunic (if you're picking up Armorcraftiness or pulling it in normal).

Astral gear and consumables

• Any of the astral consumables are fine.
  • However, if you have trouble leveling up quickly enough, consider taking the astral hot dog dinner. Since you don't have combat skills or buffs by default, you can't run as much +ML, which means you won't be gaining levels as quickly as you normally would.

• As for the astral equipment, the run is overall similar to Standard, but there are some additional factors to consider.
  • The astral pet sweater is useful as always, since you do still have access to your normal familiars. +10 points of weight can provide a lot in the way of additional item drops or experience gain.
  • While normally a good choice, the astral belt is rather dangerous. Experience gain is valuable, but you'll have to pick up some buffs or combat skills, or you may not actually be able to survive the extra monster level.
  • You can't actually wear the astral shirt without Torso Awareness. If you want to use it, make sure you pick a moon sign that gives you access to The Gnomish Gnomad Camp, or be prepared to do The Shirt Off His Lack of Back quest in the mountains (which you may still start by trying and failing to wear the astral shirt - or any other shirt you can get.)
  • If you're playing a class for which bonus item drops are hard to come by, the astral mask is also worth considering. It'll also help you survive if you're playing as one of the squishier classes.

Class choice and skill acquisition

• The location and order of skills varies by class, but is consistent across players and ascensions.
  • For example, a Disco Bandit adventuring in Cobb's Knob Laboratory will always learn The Sonata of Sneakiness first, followed by Bind Angel Hair Wisp.
  • A Pastamancer visiting the same location will learn Kneebutt, then The Long View.
  • There is a spreadsheet for this path that may help with your routing: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NNDAN4FAuzXLyJpa16uEKO3IxkyiBVF1XAfYuE_RLuQ/htmlview#
• Beware skills that require multiple skills or specific classes to function, as they can cost a huge number of adventures to learn. For example, Batter Up! requires being a Seal Clubber with Wrath of the Wolverine, Ire of the Orca, and Batter Up! itself, which requires more than 40 adventures to set up for a skill that is highly unlikely to save anywhere near that many.
• Many Guild skills are marginal or useless, so don't feel obligated to get most of them. You're best off approaching this path as one would a low-skill Standard run, i. e. you should only pick up the skills you need and avoid the filler.
  • You can refer to Hardcore Skill Analysis for an idea on how useful the various skills are. The page is somewhat outdated and unlikely to be applicable to cutting-edge speedruns, but it's still useful as a rough outline.

• Here are some specific types of skills you might want to pick up:
  • Anything that increases familiar weight. Familiar weight can be converted into item drop chance or experience gain as you need. This means Amphibian Sympathy, Empathy of the Newt and Leash of Linguini. In theory, Testudinal Teachings also applies, but the effect is very slight.
  • Anything that directly increases experience gain and item drop chance, such as Pride of the Puffin and Fat Leon's Phat Loot Lyric. Note that you'll also need to pick up a combat skill if you want to pile on +ML.
  • Turn generation can be something of a challenge on this path. The Ode to Booze will pay for itself very soon, The Long View might be worth considering on slower runs. The crafting skills to make advanced food and booze items are available, but unlikely to be worthwhile, unless you're struggling to make daycount.
  • Ways to manipulate Combat Frequency, such as Smooth Movement and The Sonata of Sneakiness. This is less important if you have access to IotMs, as CHEAT CODE: Invisible Avatar, unbreakable umbrella, porkpie-mounted popper and atlas of local maps are all available.
  • A source of Cold damage for The Smut Orc Logging Camp, such as Saucecicle or Northern Explosion. You also can run more +ML if you don't have to rely on standard attacks for combat.
  • Ambidextrous Funkslinging can make it easier to flyer without dying, and also to beat your Shadow.
  • A healing skill like Cannelloni Cocoon or Tongue of the Walrus can be useful to avoid spending meat on healing items. Muscle classes can use Medicinal Herb's medicinal herbs, after opening the guild, instead.

Miscellaneous

• As in Grey You, it's a bit of a challenge to find additional hero keys for runs shorter than 3 days.
  • In softcore, pulling and eating key lime pies is a viable approach.
  • In hardcore, reminiscing a fantasy bandit and copying it 4 times will yield a fat loot token. Alternatively, using the full-length mirror to chance a copy of zappable Vending Machine accessories.

• Turn generation is a bit of an issue on this path, but there are some tricks you can use.
  • Normally, it's not worth your while to spend turns on turn generation. However, in Hardcore, the steel margarita may be the difference between a 3-day run and a 4-day run.
  • If you're short on high-quality booze, but have access to a Melodramedary and a combat lover's locket, consider copying, spitting and (if needed) disintegrating a Craggy bartender.

• Using the The Big Book of Every Skill to learn a skill, then getting that skill from nomcombats will result in the noncombat saying you've gotten the skill despite already having it.

Rewards

• Finishing a Journeyman run while it is the current special challenge path -- between May 15th, 2022, (and August 15th, 2022) -- gives players 50 (in Normal) or 100 (in Hardcore) extra karma points the next time they visit Valhalla.
• Finishing a Journeyman run also gives a The Big Book of Every Skill.
• Players will receive a Thwaitgold harvestman statuette upon defeating the Naughty Sorceress.
• Players in Hardcore gain the stainless steel equipment for their class.

Notes

• There was no announcement when this path became available, and it hasn't been acknowledged in the History of Loathing (2022).
• This path was released without official leaderboards, the Journeyman plinth was not visible until August 8th, 2022.

Ascension Paths
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Special Challenge Paths
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