Avatar of Shadows Over Loathing

Avatar of Shadows Over Loathing is the Spring 2023 special challenge path, introduced on February 15, 2023. This path adds variant rules and restrictions to an ascension run. Its description in The Bureau of Reincarnation reads "Play as one of the classes from the recently-released smash hit video game Shadows Over Loathing, by Asymmetric Games!"

Restrictions

• You cannot join a guild, but you can sort of start the guild quests as a Cheese Wizard or Jazz Agent.
  • Typing "/go guild" in chat will open the guild, but with images as broken links.
  • Clicking center bottom on your first visit will allow the "steal your trousers" quest to start. And they can be stolen in the Sleazy Back Alley. This opens up the rest of the guild as below.
  • Clicking on the top left will give the skill training page but with no skills available.
  • Clicking on the top center spot will give you the Bitchin' meatcar quest. Subsequent visits to the square will give a "No Options - Exit" button which gives the response "I AM ERROR!"
    • Clicking top center after building the meatcar completes the quest, and clicking there again will unlock Whitey's Grove and start the White Citadel quest.
  • Clicking on the top right gives "No such shop."
  • Clicking middle center does nothing.
  • Clicking bottom left does nothing. This will start the "dig up Fernswarthy's key" quest. You can dig up the key and returning to the guild will give you the key back and open up Fernswarthy's Tower.
    • Clicking bottom left after retrieving the dusty old book removes it from your inventory and completes the quest, but does not give you the class-specific Manual reward.
  • Clicking bottom right displays nothing with the header ", the".
• No initial access to any non-path skills, even if permed. However, unlike most other special challenge paths, there are no restrictions on learning skills from items or NPCs.
• You cannot enter The Sea:

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

Divergences

• When starting an Avatar of Shadows Over Loathing run, the player chooses one of three classes in Into the Shadows‎.
• Shadow Rifts are accessible.
• Because the level 12 quest bosses are replaced, it is not possible to earn an Order of the Silver Wossname.

Class

Rather than playing any of the traditional 6 classes, you will play as one of three special classes, each with its own skills:

• Pig Skinners have Muscle as their main stat.

• Cheese Wizards have Mysticality as their main stat.

• Jazz Agents have Moxie as their main stat.

• Jazz Agents do not get to Pickpocket.

Skills

• Regular class skills are disallowed, and each class gets a new set of skills:
  • Pig Skinners start with Tackle and get 21 skills from Advanced Pig Skinning.
  • Cheese Wizards start with Caseus Vampirus and get 21 skills from The Cheese Wizard's Companion.
  • Jazz Agents start with Demoralizing Toot and get 21 skills from Jazz Agent sheet music.

• Skills cost meat and can be purchased in any order, as long as you meet the level requirement.
  • Completing a run also gives you a "skill point" for that class (two points for Hardcore), up to a cap of 11 points. You may spend your points at any time on any of the skills, even if you do not meet the level requirements.
  • The shadowy cheat sheet also gives you one skill point for each class.

Bosses

• Most bosses are replaced with shadowy versions. They drop cursed items with powerful enchantments but significant drawbacks. Cursed items can be turned into uncursed versions which are less powerful but without drawbacks. This cannot be undone.

Boss	Replacement	Cursed item	Cursed enchantment	Uncursed item	Uncursed enchantment	Type
Boss Bat	two-headed shadow bat	cursed bat paw	+25 to Monster Level All Attributes -25%	uncursed bat paw	-25 to Monster Level	accessory
Knob Goblin King	goblin king's shadow	cursed goblin cape	Monsters will be significantly less attracted to you. Cold Vulnerability (-6) Spooky Vulnerability (-6)	uncursed goblin cape	Monsters will be less attracted to you.	back item
Bonerdagon	shadowboner shadowdagon	cursed dragon wishbone	+50% Item Drops from Monsters -50% Meat from Monsters	uncursed dragon wishbone	+25% Item Drops from Monsters	accessory
Groar	shadow of groar	cursed blanket	Serious Resistance (+3) to all elements -20 to Familiar Weight	uncursed blanket	Slight Resistance (+1) to all elements	back item
Lord Spookyraven	shadow Lord Spookyraven	cursed arcane orb	+13 Prismatic Damage -50% Item Drops from Monsters	uncursed arcane orb	+1 Prismatic Damage	off-hand item
Protector Spectre	corruptor shadow	cursed machete	+50% Meat from Monsters You will constantly cut yourself with it	uncursed machete	+20% Meat from Monsters	weapon (1-handed sword)
Dr. Awkward	W. Odah's Shadow	cursed stats	+5 Stat(s) Per Fight Base stats limited to 69	uncursed stats	+1 Stat(s) Per Fight	off-hand item
The Big Wisniewski	shadow of the 1960s	cursed medallion	Combat Initiative +100% Weapon Damage -50% Spell Damage -50%	uncursed medallion	Combat Initiative +25%	accessory
The Man	shadow of the 1980s

• All of these shadow bosses have 100% physical resistance.

• Note that this poses a special challenge for Jazz Agents, who can't purchase a skill dealing elemental damage until reaching level 7. Plan accordingly.

• Ed the Undying and Ron "The Weasel" Copperhead are not replaced. Optional bosses such as Baron von Ratsworth are also unaffected.
• You will fight a shadow version of your path class. This is a purely cosmetic change.
• Naughty Sorceress is replaced with a class-dependent nemesis: General Bruise for Pig Skinners, Dark Noël for Cheese Wizards, Terrence Poindexter for Jazz Agents. The Wand of Nagamar is not required to defeat any of these bosses.

Aftercore

• You keep your path specific skills in aftercore. Your skill book remains usable.
• You can enter the sea and do the Sea Monkees Quest.
  • Pig Skinners receive Summon Leviatuga from Grandpa.
  • Cheese Wizards receive Deep Saucery.
  • Jazz agents do not encounter Grandpa in The Dive Bar and are unable to progress the quest.
  • You do not receive an outfit piece from Shub-Jigguwatt or Yog-Urt.
• Dreadsylvania remains inaccessible.

Council Text

See The Council of Loathing/Avatar of Shadows Over Loathing.

Strategy

• As with Journeyman, the path mostly works like a low-skill Standard run, so the strategy is fairly similar.
  • None of the classes get a survival knife on day 1 or 2, so no need to plan your run around this.

• You do have access to a few new skills, though, some of which are quite powerful.
  • Jazz Agents get Motif, which works as a Transcendent Olfaction effect. Note that the cooldown overlaps with blue rocket, so you can't use both at the same time. Also, Call For Backup grants +10 familiar weight, which is extremely useful, and available as soon as level 2.
  • Pig Skinners have access to a banisher with Punt (takes a turn). Free-For-All is also very useful, being a turn-free instant-kill that can be used every 25 adventures. Make sure you don't use a red rocket if you want to make use of this skill - the cooldowns overlap.
  • Cheese Wizards get a lot of passive +item via Fingers of Fontina and have a disintegration effect with Fondeluge, which is a turn-free instant-kill that can only be used every 50 adventures. The cooldown overlaps with yellow rocket and Spit jurassic acid, but there's no reason to use either of those when Fondeluge is available. Cheese Wizards also have access to a high cold damage skill in the form of Emmental Elemental, which provides an easy, build-in way to trigger Blech House in The Smut Orc Logging Camp with the use of Moxie Modifiers.

• Consider doing a few "just for fun" runs for your class. The first 2-3 skill points are extremely valuable to have in "serious" runs. After that, however, you hit diminishing returns.
  • If you're in a hurry, you can also buy them via shadowy cheat sheet.

• Not all skills are equally useful. You might as well get them if you have spare meat, but don't feel obligated to buy skills just because you've unlocked them.
  • Most of the class skills just deal damage. You probably don't need those, at least if you have a June cleaver.
  • Do note that the new bosses tend to be immune to physical damage. That's irrelevant if you have a June cleaver, but if you don't have one, buy a combat skill that deals elemental damage.

• If you have a Jurassic Parka, make sure you pick a moon sign that gives you access to The Gnomish Gnomad Camp, so you can purchase Torso Awaregness.
  • That plus the Desert bus pass will set you back 10,000 meat, so budget accordingly. Since you also need meat for skills, consider pulling a high-meat value item, like the facsimile dictionary.
  • As an alternative, you could get the skill via Melvign's Comic Shop. However, this takes a lot of turns, so it's unlikely to be worthwhile during a speedy run.

• Some of the cursed boss drops are actually quite useful. Definitely don't uncurse them unless you have to.
  • Cursed goblin cape grants a massive bonus to non-combat chance, which is otherwise hard to come by. Try to get that one as early as possible.
  • Probably delay the 8-Bit Realm until you have the cursed dragon wishbone and cursed machete, because those really help with two of the tests.

Rewards

• Finishing an Avatar of Shadows Over Loathing run that began while it was still the current special challenge path -- that is, between February 15th, 2023, and (May 14th, 2023) -- (gives players 100 (in Hardcore) or 50 (in Normal) extra karma points the next time they visit Valhalla.)
• Players will receive a Thwaitgold anti-moth statuette upon defeating the final boss.
• Completing a run with one of the new classes also gives you a "skill point" for that class (two points for Hardcore), up to a cap of 11 points. These will be useful for future runs of that same class.

Ascension Paths
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Special Challenge Paths
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