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 (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.

Getting There

There are about two ways to get to the Steps of Madness: the easy way and the hard way.

The Easy Way

Added in the 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'.

The Hard Way

The hard way is much harder than the easy, well... at least for Clan characters, because you need to go overland from your faction's closest city and there is no clan city that is close to Omni Forest. Omni Characters can easily reach the dungeon by leaving Omni Entertainment via one of the East exits and traveling slightly north east. Clan characters need to do one of two things: either they can start in the Athens and travel down through both East Stret Banks areas, Milky Way, and Pleasant Meadows to Omni Forest, or they can risk it all and take the grid to Omni Entertainment themselves. If they are cautious enough, Clanners can make it out of the city alive.

Walk Through

Traveling north from the Omni-1 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 (which nevertheless resemble Meta-Physicist bots). 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 aracnid ether.

Cavern of Sanity

Figments of Imagination

Cavern of Hatred

Pulsing Hatred which drops nervjolter 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

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 is heavily camped. 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. 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: Out of all the encounters you met so far, Neleb is possibly the only non-monster in the entire dungeon. 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. Once they are disposed off in quick succession, engage Neleb and 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 would have guessed by now, is a Meta-Physicist by profession, and has some neat tricks up his sleeve. His first is a passive minor nano drain which sucks 3 nano points on every hit. Second, he will use some normal MP nukes against you, such as mind scream, abolish rage, and even nanoskill debuffs. Finally, he will unleash 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 definately would not want him to refresh his shield once more. For soloers, it is 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