Legacy of Loathing

Legacy of Loathing is the Summer 2023 special challenge path, introduced on May 15th, 2023. This path adds variant rules and restrictions to an ascension run. Its description in The Bureau of Reincarnation reads "Play with replica items from the past 20 years of Mr. Store!"

Restrictions

• Your Familiar-Gro™ Terrarium is empty.
• You cannot use non-replica familiar hatchlings:

  You can't use non-replica familiars right now.

• You may not pull equipment from Hagnk's Ancestral Mini-Storage:

  Only food, booze, potions, combat and usable items may be pulled on this path.

• Eudoras are not sent.
• Your IotMs don't auto-pull, and most are blacklisted from being pulled manually. Exceptions:
  • Workshed: In hardcore, only the replica Little Geneticist DNA-Splicing Lab is available. In softcore, the Asdon Martin keyfob (on ring), and various non-IOTM worksheds, are pullable.
  • The Clan VIP Lounge is inaccessible, but if you own a VIP key (in Hagnk's; it can't be pulled), you can visit the Underground Fireworks Shop (via /go) or buy from it directly (via /buy).
• After ronin expires, pull restrictions are lifted and you can retrieve your equipment from Hagnk's Ancestral Mini-Storage normally.
  • The following real IOTMs may not work as normal post-ronin (but pre-aftercore) : every Garden, S.I.T. Course Completion Certificate, Autumn-aton, Cosmic bowling ball and possibly others.
• You cannot enter The Sea:

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

• When the path was current, Standard restrictions were expanded to include items and skills derived from the IotMs replicated in this path.

Divergences

• Your adventure begins with "Starting Your Legacy."
• You start the run with a replica Mr. Accessory. You loot another from every main boss you defeat (for a total of +8 replicas).
  • You start with 1 additional replica Mr. Accessory for each standard Legacy of Loathing run you've completed, and 2 additional for each completed hardcore run, up to a maximum of 19 extra replicas (i.e. a starting total of 20).
  • If you have a Cincho de Mayo and/or 2002 Mr. Store Catalog and/or Patriotic Eagle and/or august scepter, you start with an additional replica Mr. Accessory per IotM. These four IOTMs are "special" for 2023 because they were the IOTMs that were in Mr. Store during May, June, July and August 2023, the months during which Legacy of Loathing spent time as the "current active" challenge path (15 May to 15 August).
    • Thus, in total, the maximum replicas you can ever have over the course of one run is 32: 20 to start, +4 if you own the relevant IOTMs from 2023, +8 gained in-run.
• Replica Mr. Store is available in Market Square.
  • Within this store you can purchase one of three replica Items of the Month (IotM) for each year. The years start with 2004 and end in 2022.

• Only one year's IotM are available at a time. When you purchase one, the next year's items become available instead.

• Exception: If you have already purchased and used the May 2023 IotM, the Cincho de Mayo, a replica version will be additionally available below the older year's section.
• If you have already purchased and used the June 2023 IotM, the 2002 Mr. Store Catalog, a replica version will be additionally available.
• If you have already purchased and used the July 2023 IotM, the Patriotic Eagle, a replica version will be additionally available.
• If you have already purchased and used the August 2023 IotM, the august scepter, a replica version will be additionally available.

• When you purchase an item from 2022, the items from 2004 become available again, and so on.
• You are not stopped from purchasing a second of the same item, even where that makes no sense.
• Up until June 5th, 2023, using a second hatchling behaved as if it were the first one of that type you'd used. If you used the second one with the first one out: it created a second familiar of that type in the terrarium. Taking this second one with you reset its weight to zero and destroyed any familiar item that was equipped.
• When you use a replica familiar hatchling, if you own the real version of that familiar, the replica will be named after that familiar. (Like in Bad Moon.) If you don't, it'll receive a default name. If you rename a replica, that name will not be applied to the real familiar, and it will not carry over to replicas in future ascensions.

• Most bosses are replaced with their original/past versions.
  • Instead of the Boss Bat, you fight the Classic Boss Bat.
  • Instead of the Knob Goblin King, you fight the Weirdly Scrawny Knob Goblin King.
  • Instead of the Bonerdagon, you fight the Orignial Bonerdagon.
  • Instead of Groar, you fight a Flock of Groars?.
  • Instead of Dr. Awkward you fight Jr. Awkwarj.
  • Instead of Lord Spookyraven you fight Little Lord Spookyraven.
  • Instead of Protector Spectre, you fight a Protector Spectre Candidate.
  • Instead of The Man you fight The Boy.
  • Instead of The Big Wisniewski you fight The Little Wisniewski.
  • The Naughty Sorceress, Ed the Undying, Ron "The Weasel" Copperhead and Baron von Ratsworth are unchanged.

• As with many challenge paths, it is not possible to earn an Order of the Silver Wossname at The Last Stand.

Aftercore

• All replica familiars and equipment disappear immediately upon freeing the King, as does Replica Mr. Store.
• Some effects from replicas may linger into aftercore, however, like intrinsic effects received from the Little Geneticist DNA-Splicing Lab.

Strategy

General advice

• Remember to set up your breakfast muffin before you ascend, so you can get a muffin tin to use in-run -- bran muffin is probably the best for low-progression runs.
• With low progression, getting enough stats to level may be difficult. Consider drinking two meat muck with Cincho: Dispense Salt and Lime for 150 to each substat per drink from level 4 onwards.
• Seal Clubbers also have access to a banishing skill, which is vital for low-progression runs. Moxie classes do get to Pickpocket, though, and may be worth a look once you have enough progression.

• There is also some things to know about specific replica items.
  • You can powerlevel your Bandersnatch by casting Saucestorm against a monster immune to elemental damage -- Spawn of Wally is a good pick for a Seal Clubber, as you'll probably be opening the guild anyway to get Ticking Clock. Cannelloni Cannon is (usually) more expensive but can be tuned with Flavour of Magic to fight elementally aligned foes.
  • The Source Terminal has its own progression mechanics, involving items that are very rarely dropped by the Extract skill. Farming all the files and then manufacturing all the chips will take a very long time. However, in a softcore run, you can just pull and use all the single-use chips, as well as all the files. Some chips you'll have to make for yourself, though. Fortunately, all upgrades are permanent across future ascensions.

Astral gear, consumables and moon sign

• The astral pet sweater makes all your familiars better, and in particular gives +2 free runs from the Frumious Bandersnatch.
• If you want to buy familiar equipment from Replica Mr. Store (see below), you could also consider the astral belt (experience gain), the astral mask (item drop) or the astral shirt (no competition for the slot until you have lots of progression).
• Astral hot dog dinner is likely the better choice for early runs, at least in Hardcore, where leveling up takes a while. The astral six-pack becomes better once you have some runs under your belt.
• For your first few runs, it's probably a good idea to pick a moon sign that lets you access Chez Snootée or The Gnomish Micromicrobrewery, just to improve your diet a little. Once you have access to the Replica Smith's Tome on day one, you'll pretty much always pick a Knoll sign for access to free crafting.

Softcore-specific stratagems

• Note that you can't pull equipment and miscellaneous (i. e. non-usable) items, eliminating many traditional shortcuts via pulls. You will have to farm equipment for quests (Blackberry galoshes, Mohawk wig, a war outfit, and so on).
• While the path was under Standard restrictions, items that were derived from the replicas were recommended as pulls, even if you didn't have the replica source item. Many are still worth considering today.
  • For example, you can pull an infinite BACON machine and use it for viral videos and print screen buttons without ever buying the intergnat.
  • Other interesting targets include Smithsness items, Robortender drinks, and hot jelly/spooky jelly/stench jelly.
  • Pocket wishes are able to be pulled from Hangk's, granting access to an extra wish per day. The very useful Blessed rustproof +2 gray dragon scale mail is also available.
  • The only exception to this is The Neverending Party - you do actually need the replica invitation if you, for some reason, want to use those items.
• Facsimile dictionary and Liquid ice can be pulled to be autosold for early meat; many traditional meat pulls are restricted by path restrictions.
• A sufficiently powered up Glitch season reward name may be pulled and used for stats (and meat), but since the path is out of standard restrictions, better options exist.

Replica Mr. Store choices

• Making good purchases from Replica Mr. Store is key to having an enjoyable time in this path. Below is a suggested shopping list, which should cover most of your needs.
• Remember that you only get eight replica Mr. Accessory from fighting bosses, four of which come from the level 11 and level 12 quests. Therefore, later runs (where you can buy more items immediately) are very different from early runs (where you'll spend most of your time with only the first 2-5 items.) For your first few runs, pick items with immediate utility. Planning becomes more important as you progress through your runs.

Shopping list

Year	Recommended purchase (with little progression)	Recommended purchase (with lots of progression)	Notes
2004	crimbo elfling	hand turkey outline	Item drop bonuses are universally useful, so you really want a fairy-type familiar as soon as possible. However, once you have some progression, you can use the angel from 2011, which frees up 2004 for the leprechaun. You don't need the volleyball-type familiar here - the impact on stat gains is rather minor, and you'll always get the Bandersnatch from 2009 anyway.
2005	miniature gravy-covered maypole	miniature gravy-covered maypole	Not an impressive year. If you have an astral pet sweater, and so little progression that you won't get the Bandersnatch anytime soon, then you might as well buy the shaman instead. Otherwise, the item drop bonus is nice to have.
2006	jewel-eyed wizard hat	replica Tome of Snowcone Summoning	With low progression but a high number of skills permed, the jewel-eyed wizard hat is one of the only sources of MP regen you can get this early, and it makes your buffs last longer too (and is near-required if you're running shaman). The snowcones only provide minor bonuses, so if you don't have any familiar equipment yet, consider the pumpkin basket.
2007	navel ring of navel gazing	V for Vivala mask	Free runaways are extremely useful for delay-burning. The V mask also provides a free banish once a day. However, you can also get the Greatest American Pants from 2010, which frees up 2007 for the V mask.
2008	haiku katana	haiku katana	If you still don't have a familiar equipment, get the box of fireworks. Otherwise, the katana has some utility, especially if you also got the V mask.
2009	Apathargic Bandersnatch	Apathargic Bandersnatch	The Bandersnatch is one of the most powerful IotMs ever released, providing a free runaway for every 5 lbs of familiar weight. It's also a Volleyball-type familiar if you need the experience gain. This one is an obvious pick.
2010	organ grinder	Greatest American Pants	Leprechaun-type familiars are useful in exactly three spots, and the pies are a nice bonus. If you didn't pick the navel ring above, you should take the Greatest American Pants here, because they use the same counter for free runaways.
2011	a cute angel	a cute angel	Fire a badly romantic arrow is the first source of copying monsters available on this path, which is vital for lobsterfrogman farming and useful in some other spots. Other sources become available later, but since the alternatives for 2011 are not particularly exciting, you probably still pick the angel.
2012	deactivated nanobots	replica Libram of Resolutions	Unleash Nanites with Nanoballsy active provides a yellow ray effect that can reasonably be used once a day. Once you have access to other yellow ray effects, the Libram is the better pick.
2013	replica Smith's Tome	replica Smith's Tome	The Smith's Tome was an infamously powerful item in its day, providing access to high-quality equipment, food and booze, as well as banishers and yellow rays. Sheila Take a Crossbow is a good source of Combat Initiative.
2014	still grill	Little Geneticist DNA-Splicing Lab	The grill is a sombrero / starfish that offers a way to boost ML. At low progression when you're struggling to level quickly, it's a large boon. The DNA lab provides a wide variety of buffs, including elemental damage and meat/item drops.
2015	replica Deck of Every Card	replica Deck of Every Card	The Deck of Every Card offers tower keys (which makes it a natural pick for Hardcore), stats for levelling, ores, wool and some buffs (stats / init / item). Also consider Chateau Mantegna to fight copies of certain important monsters, gain extra free rests for Cincho: Fiesta Exit (and later more adventures to meet daycount), and maybe get some potions or meat.
2016	Source terminal	Source terminal	Another infamously powerful IotM that provides everything you could possibly want - buffs, monster copies, and EPIC-quality food/booze. Note that the terminal has its own set of progression mechanics (described elsewhere on this page.)
2017	genie bottle	genie bottle	While the robortender's booze +Meat drop bonus are quite powerful, it doesn't measure up to the genie bottle, which provides the ability to summon monsters for you to fight and particular effects, like extra sleaze damage for the zeppelin.
2018	January's Garbage Tote	January's Garbage Tote	Provides a variety of useful bonuses (including +Item drop and experience gain). The other two choices mostly provide free fights, which is nice, but subject to diminishing returns.
2019	Fourth of May Cosplay Saber	Kramco Sausage-o-Matic™	Banishers and copiers are in short supply, and the saber provides both. Plus, +10 familiar weight means 2 more free runaways from the Bandersnatch, and it's a great quality-of-life improvement in general. However, the extra delay-burning and the free scaling fights and the bonus turn generation from the Kramco make it the better item for cutting-edge competitive runs.
2020	baby camelCalf	baby camelCalf	Speeds up desert exploration, duplicates item drops. The Powerful Glove is less powerful now that you no longer need white pixels, and the functionality of the Cargo Cultist Shorts is already covered by other IotMs.
2021	emotion chip	emotion chip	One of relatively few sources of -combat %, and another banisher besides, with a lot more utility on top. While there are no bad choices for this year, the emotion chip is probably more universally useful.
2022	Jurassic Parka	Jurassic Parka	Forces non-combats, provides a yellow ray effect with a relatively short charge time, and offers some other incidental buffs. Also the only worthwhile shirt available in hardcore. The grey goose is also very powerful, but not as universally useful.

Other uses for replica items

This path offers benefits of some IotMs without owning them. There are many possible applications of this, some are listed here. But it's important to know that most of this is only possible before the prism is broken (as the replicas are lost after that), and during that some things like non-replica familiars are not available. It's also important to calculate when a given replica will be available, as many of the ones listed below require many replica Mr. Accessories.

• 100% familiar runs are possible with any replica familar (if you can buy it before spending turns).
• Some replicas can offer more "aftercore" (remember you can't break the prism) value to low-shiny accounts than they lose by staying in the path, e.g. some farming familiars.
• A small number of things, including the intrinsic from the replica Little Geneticist DNA-Splicing Lab, persist into the actual aftercore.
• replica Deck of Every Card (2015) allows drawing specific cards instead of relying on the RNG with gift cards. This gives many options, such as getting skills to perm, getting fights for factoids and other purposes and getting spades for the puzzle (note that the puzzle requires the Sea access so it seems to need several Legacy of Loathing runs).
• replica yellow puck (2015) can be used to get a kill screen much faster than using a Quantum Terrarium run.
• replica disconnected intergnat (2016), technically, can give the demon name, but it's useless without the familiar.
• replica Source terminal (2016) gives access to the puzzle (though its result, green pill, is tradable).
• replica Witchess Set (2016) gives access to the Witchess Puzzles.
• replica genie bottle (2017) can be used e.g. for the puzzle, though one can use pocket wishes in any aftercore instead.
• replica Neverending Party invitation envelope (2018) can be used for progressing the quest, though one can use day passes in any aftercore instead. Note that you need a PARTY HARD T-shirt for the deluxe stages and it can't be pulled while in Ronin.
• replica Kramco Sausage-o-Matic™ (2019) allows creating and stockpiling magical sausages (limited by magical sausage casings dropped), which you can consume in any aftercore and also use to make an otherwise inaccessible sausage golem.
• replica Cargo Cultist Shorts (2020) give access to the demon name.

Rewards

• Finishing a Legacy of Loathing run while it is the current special challenge path -- between May 15th, 2023, (and August 15th, 2023) -- gives players 50 (in Normal) or 100 (in Hardcore) extra karma points the next time they visit Valhalla.
• Players will receive a Thwaitgold splendor beetle statuette upon defeating the Naughty Sorceress.
• Players in Hardcore gain the stainless steel equipment for their class.

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