The Mad Rat’s Lab

“It’s time for some crazy monsters… Fufufu!” I rub my hands excitedly, ready to start filling the new botanical garden.

Right now, I haven’t updated the dungeon with the new area because it’s empty. When I introduce the first monsters today, I’ll make sure it’s added so that everyone can enjoy it.

“For starters… it must be the pixie-clown.”

I already told you what I planned to do with them, so there’s no need to delay it further. I open the Template menu and create a new Hybrid. As for the monsters I’m using, it’s the Pixie, one of the weakest units from the Secret Grove, the fairy faction; and the Clown, from the Dream Vestiges faction.

You already know both innate skills, so I’ll skip this part and move to the actual skills.

I want the pixie-clowns to be a nuisance to fight. For this, I plan on giving them two plant-themed skills: Entangle and Thorn Spray.

You all know the famous and universally acclaimed Entangle. One of the most versatile and powerful crowd-control skills… if you time it properly and avoid hitting your allies with it, of course.

When you expect the monsters to be weaker than the invaders, you can’t expect Entangle to last for a long time. But I don’t mind it because I’ll change their AI later to make them fight in groups. When there’s a group using Entangle alternatively, it doesn’t matter if the immobilization breaks in a short time. You just need to apply it one more time.

As for Thorn Spray, it isn’t a widely used skill. This is because while the area of effect makes this skill hard to avoid, the damage it deals is extremely low.

Most players wouldn’t even consider this skill as a valid option at all. But I disagree. Because the important part of this skill isn’t the damage it does but the fact that it’s hard to avoid. Every single damage point counts and, when there are a whole lot of monsters dealing damage at the same time, it quickly adds up.

And believe me when I say there will be a lot of pixies using this skill at the same time.

“So with this, I have the two active skills I want to give them. Now I must give them at least one triggered and one passive skill. And I already know which one will be the triggered one: Focus.”

Yep, you’re right. It’s the one-trick pony skill. The perfect skill for those who only want to have one skill! Fufufu! Hahaha!

No, seriously. A 50% cost reduction for any skill is ridiculous. Weak or strong, expensive or low-cost, half the cost is amazing. This applies to EP and  MP, but it also affects HP or any other cost a skill may have.

But being ridiculous or not doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. Being limited to one skill, regardless of how powerful and versatile it is, is the easiest way to set yourself up for failure. There will always be that monster, trap, gimmick, etc. that you can’t do anything against with that single skill.

In short: you’ll die.

It isn’t as common when it comes to players below level 10, the so-called low-level players, but higher-level players tend to put monsters that work as skill checks in their dungeons. A few examples are monsters that can’t be defeated with fire, groups of swarm monsters that force you to use AoE skills, or stealthy monsters that require detection skills. Of course, the kings of this are the Primordials and their innate elemental skills, but it can be successfully done with any faction, it just requires more effort to achieve the same result.

If you can’t use the required skills because you only have one, or because the Focus skill has too many stacks, you’re done for.

This is why no player would ever pick Focus for themselves, or for any support mob they plan to bring with them to a dungeon.

Unless they’re crazy…

…yes, I know a few who do and constantly invade my dungeon, but I don’t want to be reminded about them right now.

“Khm! Where was I…? Ah, yes. The Focus skill.”

By the way, did you realize when reading the description? It says the cost of the skill can never be under 50%, so no free skills, but it doesn’t say anything about the maximum increase. If you have Focus and use the same skill five times in a row, when you want to use another skill, it’ll cost twice as much. If you use it ten times, it’ll cost three times as much.

After a certain point, it’ll be impossible to use any other skill at all!

Unless you take a 5-minute break, that is… But if it catches you in the middle of combat, you’ll be dead by then.

“Five minutes is veeeery long. When you have to wait, five minutes feels like an eternity.”

So why am I giving my cute pixie-clowns this absolutely horrendous skill? A skill no sane player would ever pick?

That’s because I don’t care about any of the drawbacks! They’re going to use Entangle a single time before casting Thorn Spray and never look back!

Ah, the passive skill I’ll give them is Plant Vision.

Nice and simple. A skill not allowed to Players for obvious reasons, but that can come in handy in very niche situations like this one. I’ll explain to you why shortly.

With this, I’m ready to move to the monster’s aspect. But first…

“Fufufu! Hahaha! Tremble and fear the unending stream of thorns flying your way, invaders! They’ll never run out of juice! Hahaha!”

… OK, I’m done. Let’s move on.

The units I’m using are the Pixie and the Clown. I’m sure you all know what Pixies look like. As for the Clown, they look like old clowns with baggy clothes, a cone hat, and a big red nose. You know, the classical chiché that usually appears in horror films.

I use the Pixie as the base, keeping its small size and child-like appearance, but use the Clown’s clothes and nose. I then make everything green. From the skin, to the nose, to the clothes. Everything is different tones of green, which will help my monsters hide in plain sight.

“Now that I’ve finished, they remind me of those green camo suits. They’re cute tiny camo flying child-like clowns, hahaha.”

Their tiny size and funny outfits make me laugh every time I look at the 3D image displayed in front of me.

But I’m sure the invaders will react differently when they have to face a swarm of them. After all, every time one dies, it’ll explode into ten more monsters. They’ll be like a swarm of bees, continuously launching thorns at the invaders.

Which brings me to the name I’ll give them. Beexie: a pixie that turns into a swarm of angry pixies if poked, continuously stinging the invaders until they leave... Or die.

“Cause of death? Too many stings! Hahaha!”

As I laugh at my lame joke, I open the AI screen and start the modifications. This time there are a lot of changes I want to make.

“Where should I start? I suppose it’s the call to action, right…?”

My idea is that the Beexies will be the caretakers of the botanical garden. Roleplaying-wise, they’ll help me maintain the plants that inhabit it. Gameplay-wise, they’ll try to chase the invaders out.

This is why they need the Plant Vision skill. With it, no invader will be able to hide from them while, on the contrary, they can easily do so thanks to their tiny size and flying capabilities. No player will be safe from them unless they hide behind a monster; but then, they’ll have other troubles to worry about.

When they spot an enemy, they’ll call for the others. They’ll do so by laughing like children in a sinister way. When a lot of them, at least ten, have gathered, they’ll all attack at the same time while keeping the distance between them. They’ll use Entangle one time at different intervals to maximize the time the invaders are immobilized, and then start casting Thorn Spray until they run out of MP. Finally, when they start dying and the tiny pixies appear, they’ll form swarms of at least ten individuals and harass the invaders in groups.

I make so many changes and make them communicate between them so much that I run out of COM points and have to give the Beexies the Commander skill to raise their COM by one.

“I believe I haven’t done so many AI changes since the first Stitched…” I scratch my cheek. “...no. The Tunnel Mimic required quite a lot too, as well as the Hunters. The Sexy Secretary too… and the Goblimps…”

Now that I think about it, aren’t the Good Followers the only monsters I have that I didn’t touch the AI?

No, maybe some of the critters. But otherwise…

I shiver at all the extra work I’ve put into my dungeon. Between the AI changes and the fact that I must capture every monster I want to use, I must have spent at least ten times the time other players have the same level as I have spent to create their dungeons.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do about it. I’d do it again if I had to. I enjoy creating the perfect monsters too much. Fufufu! Hahaha!”

Before saving the Template, I check the Beexies’ status. And thank god I did, because I realize something horrifying: after they explode and multiply, they won’t have enough MP to cast Thorn Spray! Not even a single time!

So I quickly go back, raise their levels two times, give them the upgraded MP Boost skill, and feign everything went as planned.

The best part about status-raising skills is that they work after calculating the Clown Explosion’s status. Now, every Beexie will have enough MP to cast Thorn Spray three times at full price, even after multiplying.

“Error? What mistake? I didn’t see any.”

I finally save the template and admire the work of art. The Beexies will be the first inhabitants, and possibly the only humanoids, of the newly created Botanical Garden. 

Now I’ll have to go capture more Clowns and Pixies, to fill the numbers with the amount I’d like to have. But this is a problem for the future.

“Aren’t I giving MP Boost to too many monsters? I know it’s OP, but if I keep it like this, all monsters will look the same… Yeah, I should stop.”

I say, but five seconds later, when planning the next monster, the first skill I think about is MP Boost.

“Fuck!”

 

“Not all skills are equal. Some are more powerful, some are more versatile…

…and some are useless.

If you want to check the full list, please go to this.isafakeling.com. There, I have listed every single skill, including those exclusive to certain factions, and rated them according to how good or bad they are.”

- It wasn’t uncommon for players to ask which skills were better than others, to maximize their power.