Basement Diving Guide

Data on this page needs confirmation. Check for truthiness. Many aspects of the basement are not yet known confidently: there are reports that a 5% padding is not quite enough. Add more ideas. The "Meat cost" section is pretty much empty.

For Loathers wanting to do a basement dive to upgrade their telescopes, the present article aims to provide strategies for doing so efficiently. While the focus will be on reaching floor 500, the strategies will also be applicable for those who want to go beyond.

Challenge Overview

Fernswarthy's Basement consists of several different types of challenges, which get more and more difficult the deeper into the basement one goes. Every fifth level is a reward (usually a stat reward, whose magnitude scales to your main stat).

Combat Challenges

Monster Level in the basement scales roughly as twice the basement level (BL) to the 1.4^th power. That is,

 ML = 2 × BL1.4

Because of how quickly ML (and hence monster defense) scales, and how Hit Chance is calculated, it will eventually be impossible to hit with a "normal" weapon attack. This includes attack skills like Thrust-Smack and Moxious Maneuver. By BL 300, a character will need almost 5900 attack strength to hit the monsters. The story gets worse, because monster defense also absorbs damage due to Muscle. Alternatives to weapon attacks are discussed in the skills section of this guide.

Monster	Notes
The Beast with n Ears
The Beast with n Eyes
A n Stone Golem	Has some Physical Resistance
A n-Headed Hydra	Can do hot, cold, and stench damage
The Ghost of Fernswarthy's n great-grandfather	Has 100% Physical Resistance Can be defeated easily using a scroll of ancient forbidden unspeakable evil
n Bottles of Beer on a Golem	Blocks a high percentage of spell attacks, so spellslingers may need to use stunning items Spectral Snapper (uncapped spooky damage based on Muscle) isn't blocked
A n-Dimensional Horror	Blocks a high percentage of attacks that use weapons Can be most easily defeated using uncapped spells (scaling with Mysticality) like Fearful Fettucini, Saucegeyser, or Weapon of the Pastalord Moxious Maneuver and Spectral Snapper also work

Elemental Challenges

There are five different Elemental Resistance challenges, which test two elements at once. The same amount of damage is done in both elements; failure results if HP is reduced to 0. As with the combat challenges, the damage scales with basement level:

 Elt = 4.48 × BL1.4 + 8

To repeat, the above damage is applied using both elements of the test, so the total raw damage is twice the calculated value. Additionally, there appears to be about a 5% variation in the equation, so having exactly enough HP and resistance to survive the damage indicated does not guarantee the test will be passed. This also means that it is possible to pass the tests with fewer HP than implied by the equation. Note that the elemental powder potions' effects (e.g., coldform) force elemental damage rules to be followed, so that one of the two prongs (the elemental forms cannot stack) of each test can be reduced to one point of damage. However, care must be taken to choose the form which won't double the damage received from the other prong. Damage Absorption has no effect on these challenges.

Elemental Test	Elements	Optimal Elemental Form
Singled Out	cold and sleaze	Coldform (phial of coldness)
Peace, Bra	sleaze and stench	Sleazeform (phial of sleaziness)
Still Better Than Pistachio	stench and hot	Stenchform (phial of stench)
Unholy Writes	hot and spooky	Hotform (phial of hotness)
The Unthawed	spooky and cold	Spookyform (phial of spookiness)

Attribute Tests

The remaining challenges are passed or failed based on buffed Muscle, Mysticality, Moxie, HP, or MP.

The stat tests are thought to scale as:

 Stat = BL1.4 + 2

The HP test probably scales like:

 Phys = 10 × BL1.4

The MP test likely scales as:

 Drain = 1.67 × BL1.4

It is believed that like the elemental tests, all attribute tests have a 5% variation.

Attribute Test			Notes
Lift 'em!	Push it Real Good	Ring that Bell	Muscle tests
Gathering: The Magic	Mop the Floor with the Mops	Do away with the 'doo	Mysticality tests
Don't Wake the Baby	Grab a cue	Put on the Smooth Moves	Moxie tests
Throwin' Down the Gauntlet			HP test Damage Absorption applies, so maximizing DA and Muscle/HP helps
A Festering Powder			MP test Maximizing your Mysticality/MP helps

Number-Crunching

Assuming that the combat challenges can be handled, the major hurdle for divers will be the non-combat tests. The question of whether basement diving is feasible can be asked in two related ways:

• How much damage is done/how big do player attributes have to be to pass the non-combat tests at a given basement level?
• Knowing the stat/damage results, what main stat will be required to reach a particular basement level, given the buffs a player is willing to run at all times?

Table of Test Strengths

Knowing the approximate values of the tests as discussed in the outline, it is useful to have a reference of the stat strength/damage done at several common stat levels.

The following table calculates two series of numbers for every 25^th level of the basement. The first set of numbers is the requirement/damage done for the equations as listed in the overview; the second pads using a 5% safety margin. The HP test is calculated at 0% DA, 60% DA (easily achievable with the armor parts of the Antique Arms And Armor outfit, plus publicly available TT buffs Astral Shell and Ghostly Shell), and 90% DA (which requires Tao of the Terrapin). Elemental damage is calculated at the 0%, 60%, and 80% levels, assuming a powder potion has been imbibed to reduce the optimal element to one point of damage -- hence the number listed is the expected damage under the appropriate resistance for the unpowdered element.

BL	Stat	Phys (0% DA)	Phys (60% DA)	Phys (90% DA)	Drain	Elt (0% Res)	Elt (60% Res)	Elt (80% Res)
24	88	856	343	86	143	392	157	79
24 (5% padding)	92	899	360	90	151	411	165	83
49	235	2325	930	233	389	1050	420	210
49 (5% padding)	247	2441	977	245	408	1102	441	221
74	416	4140	1656	414	692	1863	745	373
74 (5% padding)	437	4347	1739	435	726	1956	783	392
99	625	6222	2489	623	1039	2796	1119	560
99 (5% padding)	656	6533	2613	654	1091	2935	1174	587
124	855	8527	3411	853	1424	3829	1532	766
124 (5% padding)	898	8954	3582	896	1496	4020	1608	804
149	1105	11028	4411	1103	1842	4949	1980	990
149 (5% padding)	1160	11579	4632	1158	1934	5196	2079	1040
174	1373	13702	5481	1371	2289	6147	2459	1230
174 (5% padding)	1441	14387	5755	1439	2403	6454	2582	1291
199	1656	16535	6614	1654	2762	7416	2967	1484
199 (5% padding)	1739	17362	6945	1737	2900	7787	3115	1558
224	1954	19515	7806	1952	3259	8751	3501	1751
224 (5% padding)	2052	20490	8196	2049	3422	9188	3676	1838
249	2265	22630	9052	2263	3780	10147	4059	2030
249 (5% padding)	2379	23762	9505	2377	3969	10654	4262	2131
274	2590	25874	10350	2588	4321	11600	4640	2320
274 (5% padding)	2719	27167	10867	2717	4537	12180	4872	2436
299	2926	29238	11695	2924	4883	13107	5243	2622
299 (5% padding)	3073	30700	12280	3070	5127	13762	5505	2753
324	3274	32717	13087	3272	5464	14665	5866	2933
324 (5% padding)	3438	34353	13741	3436	5737	15399	6160	3080
349	3633	36305	14522	3631	6063	16273	6509	3255
349 (5% padding)	3815	38120	15248	3812	6366	17086	6835	3418
374	4002	39997	15999	4000	6680	17927	7171	3586
374 (5% padding)	4202	41997	16799	4200	7014	18823	7530	3765
399	4381	43789	17516	4379	7313	19626	7851	3926
399 (5% padding)	4600	45979	18392	4598	7679	20607	8243	4122
424	4770	47678	19071	4768	7963	21368	8547	4274
424 (5% padding)	5009	50062	20025	5007	8361	22436	8975	4488
449	5168	51659	20664	5166	8628	23152	9261	4631
449 (5% padding)	5427	54242	21697	5425	9059	24309	9724	4862
474	5576	55731	22293	5574	9307	24976	9991	4996
474 (5% padding)	5854	58517	23407	5852	9773	26224	10490	5245
499	5991	59889	23956	5989	10002	26838	10736	5368
499 (5% padding)	6291	62883	25154	6289	10502	28180	11272	5636

Main Stat Requirements

Knowing the stat/HP/MP requirements for the tests at particular basement levels allows for the conversion of the challenges into statements about main stat.

The three stat equalization potions first treat the off-stats as if they were equal to the unbuffed potion stat, and then calculate percentage boosts of off-stats as if they were the potion stat. Hence stat tests of all three stripes are really tests of main stat, which is in practice highest.

• oil of stability -- equalizes base Moxie and Mysticality to base Muscle, and calculates percentage Moxie/Mysticality boosts as if they were equal to Muscle
• oil of expertise -- equalizes everything to Mysticality
• oil of slipperiness -- equalizes everything to Moxie

For the elemental tests, given a resistance level, the expected damage can be calculated, and HP can be related to the Muscle stat, which can be related to main stat as above. Similar reasoning applies to the HP/MP tests.

For the purposes of generality, the following assumes the equipment available to a diver is of negligible help. Since percentage boosts are much better than absolute boosts at the stat levels being discussed, and it is tedious to layer on many buffs at once, only common, cheap percentage buffs will be assumed for the following discussion. A complete list of percentage buffs can be viewed at the appropriate sub-page of the Dressing For Success project.

The important potion buffs include:

• 200% single-stat potion
• 100% single-stat potion
• 100% potion of temporary gr8tness
• 100% (approximately) for 30 turns of the six wad effects -- this requires the use of three mojo filters to free up spleen if Spleen of Steel is unavailable
• 50% tomato juice of powerful power
• 50% funky dried mushroom -- Mysticality
• 25% Dungeons of Doom potion
• 20% Flower Power -- this requires available fullness or drunkenness
• 20% Worm Wood item:
  • bellhop bell -- +20% Muscle, -20% Mysticality
  • bottled inspiration -- +20% Mysticality, -20% Moxie
  • sensitive poetry journal -- +20% Moxie, -20% Muscle
• 15% can of hair spray -- Moxie
• 15% Ben-Gal™ Balm -- Muscle
• 10% Black Market item
• 10% Stevedave's Shanty of Superiority

This totals to +635% to all stats (and an additional +15% moxie/muscle only and +50% to myst only) from "easy stat buffs" anyone can maintain. The following table then calculates the required main stat for every 25^th basement level according to the equations listed previously, as well as the required stat with a 5% safety margin, given the easy buffs shown. Because of class differences, several common scenarios need to be spelled out for the HP, MP, and element tests.

• Class differences do not affect Muscle, Mysticality, or Moxie tests, and thus there is only one column.
• Muscle classes get an innate 50% HP bonus. Tao of the Terrapin enables a large boost in DA. Hence the HP test has four columns.
• Mysticality classes get an innate 50% MP bonus. The MP test can be divided into Mysticality/non-Mysticality.
• Mysticality classes cap their elemental resistance at 80%, whereas other classes cap at 60%. The innate HP bonus again has an effect. Moxie classes lose out on both the HP and 80% cap, so in practice there are three elemental categories: Muscle (60% resistance, +50% HP), Mysticality (80% resistance), and Moxie (60% resistance). The numbers in the table assume that the correct powder potion has been imbibed to reduce one element to negligible damage.

While the above does not capture the full range of possibilities given the passive skills available, it gives a good idea of what is possible.

BL	Stat	Phys (Mus, 60% DA)	Phys (Mus, 90% DA)	Phys (Other, 60% DA)	Phys (Other, 90% DA)	Drain (Other)	Drain (Myst)	Elt (Mus)	Elt (Mys)	Elt (Mox)
24	12	31	8	47	12	20	13	14	11	21
24 (5% padding)	13	33	8	49	12	21	14	15	11	22
49	32	84	21	127	32	53	36	38	29	57
49 (5% padding)	34	89	22	133	33	56	38	40	30	60
74	57	150	38	225	56	95	63	68	51	101
74 (5% padding)	60	158	40	237	59	99	66	71	53	107
99	86	226	57	339	85	142	95	102	76	152
99 (5% padding)	90	237	59	356	89	149	99	107	80	160
124	117	309	77	464	116	194	130	139	104	208
124 (5% padding)	123	325	81	487	122	204	136	146	109	219
149	151	400	100	600	150	251	168	180	135	269
149 (5% padding)	158	420	105	630	158	264	176	189	141	283
174	187	497	124	746	187	312	208	223	167	335
174 (5% padding)	197	522	131	783	196	327	218	234	176	351
199	226	600	150	900	225	376	251	269	202	404
199 (5% padding)	237	630	158	945	236	395	264	283	212	424
224	266	708	177	1062	266	444	296	318	238	476
224 (5% padding)	280	743	186	1115	279	466	311	333	250	500
249	309	821	205	1232	308	515	343	368	276	552
249 (5% padding)	324	862	216	1293	323	540	361	387	290	580
274	353	939	235	1408	352	588	392	421	316	631
274 (5% padding)	370	986	247	1479	370	618	412	442	332	663
299	399	1061	265	1591	398	665	443	476	357	713
299 (5% padding)	419	1114	279	1671	418	698	466	499	375	749
324	446	1187	297	1781	445	744	496	532	399	798
324 (5% padding)	468	1246	312	1870	467	781	521	559	419	838
349	495	1317	329	1976	494	825	550	590	443	886
349 (5% padding)	520	1383	346	2075	519	867	578	620	465	930
374	545	1451	363	2177	544	909	606	651	488	976
374 (5% padding)	572	1524	381	2286	571	955	637	683	512	1024
399	597	1589	397	2383	596	995	664	712	534	1068
399 (5% padding)	626	1668	417	2502	626	1045	697	748	561	1122
424	649	1730	433	2595	649	1084	723	775	582	1163
424 (5% padding)	682	1816	454	2725	681	1138	759	814	611	1221
449	704	1874	469	2811	703	1174	783	840	630	1260
449 (5% padding)	739	1968	492	2952	738	1233	822	882	662	1323
474	759	2022	506	3033	758	1267	845	906	680	1359
474 (5% padding)	797	2123	531	3185	796	1330	887	952	714	1427
499	816	2173	543	3259	815	1361	908	974	730	1461
499 (5% padding)	856	2282	570	3422	856	1429	953	1022	767	1534

The last row, 499, is most informative. It shows that all classes really need Tao to survive the HP test. Muscle/Moxie classes really need Wisdom of the Elder Tortoises in order to make diving feasible. Mysticality classes fare best against the elemental tests. Moxie classes are the worst in every category.

Strategy

From the information above, conclusions can be drawn about configurations that are very useful to have in a basement dive.

Permed Skills

Doing a dive without these skills can significantly increase the time and Meat costs of reaching level 500.

• For most of the combat challenges, an uncapped combat spell will help: Fearful Fettucini, Saucegeyser, or Weapon of the Pastalord. Pastalord normally does only physical damage, which can be a problem for the ghost, but this can be rectified by using powder potions.
• Spectral Snapper is considered a weapon-based skill and not a "spell," so it's the only uncapped attack that will always hit the beer golem. The golem often blocks spells, and at higher levels it can become difficult to survive against beer golems long enough for spells to get through. However, uncapped spells scale to a larger portion of their associated stat and benefit from percentage-based spell damage increasers, so spells are a more efficient choice than Snapper when fighting anything other than the beer golem.
• It's difficult to maximize DA without Tao of the Terrapin, and it helps with combats as well as the HP test.
• Wisdom of the Elder Tortoises gives a 50% MP bonus, making the MP test much easier.
• Spirit of Ravioli provides a 25% HP bonus.
• Impetuous Sauciness gives five extra turns when drinking Sauceror potions, driving down costs.
• Ambidextrous Funkslinging enables a player to use two combat items per round. Funkslinging the divine combat items (divine noisemaker, divine can of silly string, divine blowout) is an effective (though somewhat expensive) alternative to scaling combat spells. Remember to use powder potions if fighting a physically resistant monster.

Several buffs help in diving, but are available via buffbots and do not need to be permed.

• Stevedave's Shanty of Superiority grants +10% to all attributes.
• Elemental Saucesphere gives +20% resistance.
• Astral Shell gives +10% resistance, and helps to reach the 1000 DA cap.
• Ghostly Shell helps with DA.
• Empathy of the Newt provides +5 familiar weight if familiars are a part of the diving strategy.

Several other skills are not "must-have" like the above, but do simplify a dive.

• The five passive resistance skills can free up equipment slots for more Muscle/HP buffing.
• Torso Awaregness allows the wearing of shirts to help maximize resistance/DA.
• Spirit of Rigatoni enables the wielding of chefstaves, the bonus spell damage of which is nothing to sneeze at.
• Rage of the Reindeer gives a 10% Muscle boost.
• Gnomish Hardigness and Cosmic Ugnderstanding provide modest HP and MP percentage bonuses.
• Amphibian Sympathy and Leash of Linguini increase familiar weight.
• Springy Fusilli and Overdeveloped Sense of Self Preservation help with winning initiative.
• Entangling Noodles provides a low-cost way of getting free hits as monsters get tougher.
• Cannelloni Cocoon heals all HP; scrolls of drastic healing accomplish much the same thing pretty cheaply.

Class Choices

As noted previously, there are several innate differences between character classes that can help one decide whether to do a dive on the current ascension.

1. Mysticality classes have a resistance cap of 80%, and also an MP bonus of 50%. Saucerors get a five-turn duration bonus when imbibing saucecrafting potions (on top of any Impetuous Sauciness bonus), and additionally cook potions at a 3:1 product-to-ingredient ratio. For this reason, Saucerors are accepted as the cheapest class to dive.
2. Muscle classes have a lower resistance cap of 60%, which is somewhat ameliorated with an intrinsic 50% HP bonus. Those needing to level and unwilling to clover their stats due to expenses might prefer Muscle classes to Mysticality ones, because of the Louvre Muscle reward speeding level-grinding.
3. Moxie classes have neither HP nor MP bonuses, and have a 60% resistance cap. They are the worst classes to use in a dive.

Familiars

Given that there are no item or Meat drops in the basement, and monster levels ramp up so high so quickly, very few familiars are actually useful in a dive.

• An Exotic Parrot helps with the elemental tests, without taking up an equipment slot. In practice, maximizing elemental resistance is easy even without passive skills and great equipment. Sans dietary effects, 60% can be achieved with public buffs and readily available potions. An Exotic Parrot of 40 lbs will add an additional 20% to reach the 80% cap for Mysticality players.
• A Levitating Potato can block attacks, which may be particularly helpful against the beer golem.
• A Hovering Sombrero may be a good choice for increasing the already large stat gains at deep basement levels.
• A Crimbo P. R. E. S. S. I. E. can act as an improved Sombrero. It can boost stat gains like a Sombrero, buff your stats, restore MP, block enemy attacks, attack, and delevel.

Useful items

Equipment choices

The Dressing For Success pages offer many hints on how to raise stats high enough to defeat the attribute challenges. However, several pieces of equipment are very useful in a dive and deserve explicit mention.

• The Ascension Rewards for Hardcore, HCO, and Bad Moon runs give very good stat buffs, often among the best of any equipment available.
• Due to the way that spell damage is calculated, a longhaired hippy wig (+5% Mysticality) may be a better choice for spellslinging than regular spell damage increasers.
• A battered hubcap gives 20% resistance, as well as Muscle and HP increases.
• Those lucky enough to own a navel ring of navel gazing can use it to good effect. Not only does it offer a hefty percentage-based increase to both Mysticality and Bonus Spell Damage, but its intrinsic dodging ability can help against high-level monsters.
• A V for Vivala mask offers a worthwhile percentage-based muscle boost, which can help with the Gauntlet and Muscle tests. The mask also adds +50% damage to combat items, which is very helpful for characters lacking a scaling damage spell.

Consumables

• Divers having problems with combat encounters can always make use of the divine combat items (divine noisemaker, divine can of silly string, divine blowout). Each of those items deals damage equal to the player's (buffed) stat.
• If the elemental tests are proving difficult, the 90% resistance semi-rares can let off some pressure. They are not affected by resistance caps. Again, this could get expensive:
  • SPF 451 lip balm (hot)
  • bottle of antifreeze (cold)
  • black eyedrops (spooky)
  • Dogsgotnonoz pills (stench)
  • donkey flipbook (sleaze)
• Stunning items -- in particular items which stun monsters for multiple rounds -- can be a help if monsters cannot be killed quickly.

General Strategy

• Characters willing to use up their fullness can drink Jumbo Dr. Lucifers to cheaply refill their MP for the MP tests.
• Those having trouble passing the tests should save the diet buffs (e.g., wad effects, Flower Power) for basement diving later in their KoL day, after they've had a chance to raise their main stat some more.
• The attribute and damage tests are not necessarily constant; due to the variations, one can pass a test with the exact same stats that have failed previously.
• Doing the Mysterious Island Quest's side-quests as a Frat will be helpful. Mysterious Island Arena's Frat reward includes the Elvish buff, and the Nunnery's Frat reward heals up to 3,000 HP and MP per day.

Optimal Time to Start a Dive

Many players choose to do their dives concurrently with attaining their level 30 class trophies (e.g., the Seal Clubber's Scourge of Seals), as the high main stat at level 30 makes for an easier dive. However, a dive need not start at level 30, because the stat rewards over the course of finishing 500 basement levels are considerable, due to scaling monster levels. At level 100, 300 stats per combat are expected, roughly half of which will be distributed into the main stat. At level 400, over 2000 stats per combat will be earned.

Here is some rough math:

 Monster level = 2 * (basement level)1.4
 Sombrero weight = 40
 Sombrero bonus = sqrt(40 * monster level) / 10
 Total stat gain from monster = (monster level / 4) + sombrero bonus
 Chance of combat on a non-reward basement level = 0.46 (estimated)
 Expected mainstat gain on a non-reward basement level =
   0.46 * (total stat gain from monster) / 2
 Expected mainstat gain on a reward basement level = current mainstat * 2 / 3

If we approximate your current mainstat as 780, then you can expect to gain 168K mainstat from the Basement, assuming no stat days. This is enough to move you from 738 to 845. In other words, if there's no stat day in the near future, mainstat 738 might be a good point to enter the Basement.

Cost Expectations

Here is a rough table for computing how much a Basement dive might cost. We assume that the character initially has a mainstat of 750 and offstats of 200. We assume the character has equipment-based stat buffs totaling 100% to each stat (for example, a full Brimstone outfit). For each section of the Basement, the table gives the potions that would be required to pass all stat tests in that section. After 330 basement levels have gone by, we assume the character has reached a mainstat of 800.

For meat-per-adventure calculations we assume that each potion grants 10 turns of its effect.

Basement Levels	Active Potions	Lowest Stat	Meat/Adv	Cost
1-70	(none)	200*2=400	0	0
71-180	oil of stability or oil of expertise or oil of slipperiness	750*2=1500	100	11000
181-210	the above, plus tomato juice of powerful power	750*2.5=1875	160	4800
211-280	the above, plus potion of temporary gr8tness	750*3.5=2625	310	21700
281-330	the above, plus philter of phorce, ointment of the occult, serum of sarcasm	750*4.5=3375	490	24500
331-450	the above, plus Ferrigno's Elixir of Power, Hawking's Elixir of Brilliance, Connery's Elixir of Audacity	800*6.5=5200	1010	121200
450-500	the above, plus the five elemental wad effects (requires rollover to refresh spleen)	800*7.5=6000	1010	50500
Total:				233700

These potions are not the only expense: in deeper levels the player will need additional effects to survive the elemental damage tests. Mysticality and Muscle classes can get by with phials; Moxie classes will also need some semirares, which can be very expensive. Roughly fifteen percent of Basement levels are elemental damage tests.

Players might be able to save some meat by employing food-based buffs (such as flower petal pies or roasted marshmallows), but these come at a substantial cost in that they prevent the player from gaining adventures from higher-quality food. In general it is more efficient to eat the higher-quality food, use a few extra potions, and make up for the cost by spending the extra adventures meat-farming.

Other buffs, such as those gained from Dungeons of Doom potions, are inefficient compared to sauce potions, and should only be used as a last resort.

On the other hand players can save some meat by having better equipment, or being more careful about their buffs (using wad effects, can of hair spray, and Ben-Gal™ Balm to best advantage). Players can save quite a lot of meat by playing as a Sauceror, which makes all sauce potions last 15 turns instead of 10.

Still, it's reasonable to expect that a basement dive will require roughly 250K worth of potions.

Notes

• The original spading and strategizing for basement diving was largely done in the HCO forum.