Steps of Madness

Steps of Madness or SoM is a static dungeon in northern Omni Forest. Added to the game in 2001 as a Halloween treat, players originally needed a special teddy bear called Childhood Memory (the object of a separate quest) to enter. When SoM was made a permanent fixture, the teddy bear requirement was removed.

With the addition of Patch 17.9, the dungeon has been newly updated to scale the monsters down in health to even out the challenge for all players and loot was added or updated.

Players in teams are advised to be of level 30 or higher, and a level of 50 or higher is recommended for solo play.

Right click on the eyeball to enter

Steps of Madness is but one of the Halloween special events and added content, so numerous they have their own, extensively detailed article.

Getting There and Getting Back

Neleb Priestess, Newland City

There are two ways to get to the Steps of Madness: the easy way and the hard way. The hard way is also the only way to get back.

Added in the Patch 17.9 update, there is a new face in Newland City; a strange Nanomage who floats near the western gates named Zyvania Bagh. If you talk to her, she will be willing and eager to tell you about the revelations of the Neleb and the Steps of Madness. If you can talk politely with her for long enough, she will offer to teleport you to the entrance of the dungeon so you can start your own 'journey of enlightenment'.

Clan route in red, Omni in blue

Omni characters can easily reach the dungeon, or return, by leaving Omni Entertainment via one of the East exits and traveling slightly north east.

Clan characters need to do one of two things. They can risk it all and take the grid in Omni Entertainment themselves. If they are cautious enough, Clanners can possibly make it through the city alive.

Or they must use other modes of travel, such as travel northwest to the northern border of Omni Forest, northwest across Pleasant Meadows, and take the ferry exit north of the OT Outpost across The Stret River to Harry's and its Grid exit. Vehicles will speed this up considerably. Or, to return back to the last Insurance Terminal the character saved at, just suicide, either the old fashioned way or by typing /terminate and choosing to accept.

Walk Through

Notum Habit

Traveling north from the Omni Entertainment east gate, players will come upon a path composed of parallel rows of standing stones. The path leads to a large rock with what appears to be a living eyeball in it. The eyeball eerily rolls around and watches the players approach. Access to the dungeon is afforded by right-clicking the eyeball.

Players are then teleported into a winding system of caverns occupied by nightmarish creatures with equally horrific names, many of which are the Manifestations so similar in appearance to the Meta-Physicist summoned pets. Most of these mobs drop items unique to SoM.

Childhood Horrors

Spider monsters in level 30 range, large spider in the 45+ level range which drops Fear Forged Blade and Arachnid Ether.

Cavern of Sanity

The Caverns of Madness

Figments of Imagination

Cavern of Hatred

Pulsing Hatred which drops Nervejolter and Tidal Ether

Caverns of Disassociation

Roving eyes, Detached Psyche, Fragment of Sanity which drops Ether and Loving Hands. Jealousy drops Essence of Jealousy. Notum Habit drops Neutrino Flash, Ether and sometimes Dark Dreams.

Caverns of Madness

Stalactites grow from the floor of this cave; stalagmites hang from above. Bones are scattered between.

Neleb the Deranged

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The final boss, Neleb the Deranged, is a painfully thin male who fights with great speed and strength. He also uses nukes and drains liberally. His spawn was once heavily camped, and can still become so on occasion. He is guarded by four to six of the higher level mobs, so taking him on will likely require one or two teams operating cooperatively, or higher level characters. Mob Type: Human Behaviour: Aggressive Level: 70 Respawn Time: 10 min Coordinates: {{ #if: {{{coord}}} | {{{coord}}}| Unknown Location }} In {{ #if: {{{area}}} | [[{{{area}}}]]| Unknown Area }} Difficulty: Requires 6 non-twinked L55s, Soloable at L75-100 Tactics: If possible, start by getting your team (or yourself) to pull the surrounding mobs carefully. These mobs must be dealt with quickly as they are on a quick respawn timer. Only when they are disposed off in quick succession, engage Neleb. Trader drains and Meta-Physicist Nano skill debuffs on Neleb (confirm or deny: possibly generic debuffs?) can stop him from casting his nanos. It cannot be stressed enough how much easier this makes the fight. Draw him out of his altar immediately. This prevents pulling any more respawned adds which could turn the fight to Neleb's favour. Quickly start your DPS on him as there will likely be adds in the middle of the fight if you do not down him fast enough. Neleb, as you might have guessed by now, is a Meta-Physicist by profession, and has some neat tricks up his sleeve, if his nano skills have not been sufficiently debuffed. His first is a passive minor nano drain which sucks 3 nano points on every hit. Second, he uses some normal MP nukes, such as mind scream, abolish rage, and even nanoskill debuffs. Finally, he unleashes his last skill: a protective shield which will absorb roughly 95% of all damage. It is generally used when he is down to his final bars of health, and attempting to damage him at this point is often futile. Your team must wait out the shield until its 30 second duration expires. You can use this time to rid the area of adds, or to heal up your team quickly. Once his shield dissipates, finish the fight with haste. You definitely do not want him to refresh his shield once more. Low level soloers are generally discouraged to take Neleb with his 6 guards surrounding him. A perma stun is possible as the Guardian of Thoughts and Betrayer of Memory will chain their stuns, possibly extending for more than 25 seconds. Attack Information: Special Attacks: Speed: (unknown) Type: (unknown / melee?) Range: Unknown None Immunities: Template:AODB Calms: ??% Template:AODB Charm: ??% Template:AODB Snares: ??% Template:AODB Roots: ??% Template:AODB Blind: ??% Template:AODB Divests & Plunders: ??% Template:AODB NanoSkill Debuffs: ??% Template:AODB Offensive Debuffs: ??% Template:AODB Initiative Debuffs: ??% Template:AODB Fear: ??% Drop: ID NOT FOUNDNeleb's Nano-circuit Robe - 100% drop chance. ID NOT FOUNDFractured Sanity - 100% drop chance. ID NOT FOUNDNeleb's Notum Battlerod - 100% drop chance. ID NOT FOUNDDark Dreams - Almost 100% drop chance. (not 100% drop chance, but sometimes drops 2) ID NOT FOUNDDream Mesh Circuit - 100% drop chance.

Maps

Loot

Weapons

ID NOT FOUNDFear-forged Blade ID NOT FOUNDNervejolter ID NOT FOUNDBrainchopper

ID NOT FOUNDNeleb's Notum Battlerod ID NOT FOUNDNeutrino Flash

Armor

ID NOT FOUNDBrutal Hands ID NOT FOUNDLoving Hands ID NOT FOUNDGentle Hands

ID NOT FOUNDNeleb's Nano-circuit Robe ID NOT FOUNDFractured Sanity

Miscellaneous

ID NOT FOUNDEssence of Pure Jealousy ID NOT FOUNDEmotional Sponge ID NOT FOUNDCortex of the Executioner ID NOT FOUNDDark Dreams ID NOT FOUNDDream Mesh Circuit ID NOT FOUNDSanity Recovery Medication ID NOT FOUNDNightmare Therapy Pills

ID NOT FOUNDNightmare Tidal Ether ID NOT FOUNDNightmare Arachnid Ether ID NOT FOUNDNightmare Spacial Ether ID NOT FOUNDNightmare Burning Ether ID NOT FOUNDNightmare Darkness Ether

Tradeskills

The updates to the Steps of Madness brought with it a couple of new tradeskills that improve some of the old items.

• Aggression Enhancer (Jealousy Augmented)
• Complete Nightmare Ether
• Neleb's Nightmare Battlerod
• Neleb's Nano-master Robe
• Fractured Nightmare

See Also

• Dungeons
• Uniques (Neleb & other bosses)
• Joo 'Little One' near entrance
• NCU Memory (Dark Dreams)
• NCU Belt (Dream Mesh Circuit)
• Halloween The special content of which the introduction of SoM is only a small part