POKEMON MYSTERY DUNGEON ADVANCED DUNGEON MECHANICS

In addition to wild Pokemon battles and mazy dungeon layouts, many later dungeons have other events which make navigation more difficult. This guide will cover these mechanics. This guide continues on from the Basic Guide to Dungeons.

Status Ailments, Stat Changes and the Wonder Tile

Sometimes, during battles, your Pokemon may be inflicted with status ailments such as Burn, Poison or Confusion. Most effects, such as Poison, will remain unless you cure yourself with the relevant cure items, or go to another floor. Other effects, such as Confusion, Attraction and Paralysis will cease after several moves or steps. Note that some status ailments can be cured in special ways. For instance, to cure a Burn, simply step into deep water.

Your Pokemon's stats may also be lowered as a result of stat-lowering moves, such as Growl. These will persist until you go to another floor, and are indicated by a yellow arrow hovering over the affected Pokemon.

However, there is also a way to restore your stats to normal without leaving the floor you're on. Scattered in random locations around dungeons are tiles with a green arrow. These are known as Wonder Tiles, and stepping on one will restore your stats to their normal, default values.

Note that stat increases, brought about by stat-boosting moves such as Agility, are also eliminated when you step on Wonder Tiles, so be cautious when using them.

Traps

Traps are only found in later dungeons, mostly those that are unlocked after the main storyline has been completed. For more information about Traps, use the Traps Guide.

Terrain

In later dungeons, there will be special terrain which can be accessed only by certain Pokemon. For example, only Fire Pokemon can walk on Lava, while only Water Pokemon can move on deep water. Most Ghost Pokemon can move in walls, with the exception of Dusclops and Sableye.

There are also Pokemon which levitate or are capable of flight. Examples include Abra and Shuppet. Such Pokemon are capable of moving on (ie floating over) lava, deep water and other forms of terrain. However, they will not be able to move through walls.

Special IQ Skills and items can allow your Pokemon to move around on special terrain. For instance, using a Mobile Scarf allows you to pass through walls, while the IQ Skill Super Mobile allows you to move on any terrain. Do note that moving through walls lowers your Belly very quickly, specifically, 5 Belly per step. Also note that non-Fire types will be inflicted with the Burn status when moving on Lava.

Sometimes, you will need these special abilities to get across barriers which surround key items. Your other partner Pokemon, which are unable to travel on the special terrain, will simply skirt along the edges, and eventually wonder off on their own if you walk too far away. If you attempt to go back on normal terrain, but your partner Pokemon is in the way, the game will prompt you to warp the partner Pokemon to another part of the dungeon, essentially creating space for you to move onto the normal terrain.

Since your partner Pokemon might get stranded in a distant part of the dungeon if you do so, it is best not to get into such a situation where you're stuck on special terrain with no way to get back on the normal terrain unless you warp the partner Pokemon away.

Barriers and Hidden Items

Some dungeons have special items (most notably HMs) which are sealed off by barriers and special terrain. The most common barrier is the locked chamber, and to unlock these you will need Keys. Other barriers include special terrain such as deep water, which require you to have a Water Pokemon.

Items may also be hidden in walls, and to get to them you will either need a Pokemon which can pass through walls, use Dig, or use the move Rock Smash to break the wall. Sometimes, these items may be very deep within walls, so such methods will not be feasible. Instead, use a One-Room Orb to eliminate all walls in the floor. For instance, if you use a One-Room Orb in the Far-off Sea, you can find Trap Scarves, Bounce Bands, Dodge Scarves, Mobile Scarves and Goggle Specs which are hidden in the walls.

Weather

Weather conditions exist in certain floors of some dungeons. They are actually special status ailments which affect all Pokemon on the floor. If a certain floor has special weather conditions, you will be notified when you first enter the floor via a quick animation followed by a report.

Some Pokemon can also trigger weather effects which are temporary by using the associated moves. For instance, a Pupitar can use Sandstorm to trigger off a sandstorm. You can create weather effects by using the relevant Orbs. For instance, using a Rainy Orb will trigger Rain. Here is a list of the possible weather conditions which you can encounter:

The Wind

Wind does not actually exist in the game, but there is something colloquially known as the "Wind Demon". It is basically a mechanic to limit the number of steps you can take in each floor of a dungeon. Should you stay on any single floor of a dungeon for too long, the game will give you warning signs that your time is about to run out. Each warning sign is characterised by leaves blowing past you and a warning message. The messages are, in this order, "Something's stirring...", "Something's approaching..." and "It's getting closer!". The final message is "It's right nearby! It's gusting hard!". When this happens, you will be blown out of the dungeon by "an unseen force". Your current mission will be considered failed, and you will be teleported out of the dungeon with immediate effect.

As such, as soon as you spot any of the aforementioned warning signs, you should locate the stairs and leave the floor as soon as possible.

Dungeon Restrictions

In the later part of the game, some dungeons have certain restrictions pertaining to entry into them. For example, you will require certain HMs in your Toolbox or Pokemon which know the move to enter certain locations. Some dungeons have a limit on the maximum body size of your party, or the number of members in your party. For instance, only one Pokemon can enter the Purity Forest. You will not be able to enter a dungeon unless you have fulfilled all the necessary requirements.

Here is a list of all the possible restrictions and limits which dungeons might have:

Kecleon Shops

You can sometimes find Kecleon Shops in dungeons. Certain items such as King's Rock and the Leaf Stone can only be bought in these special Kecleon Shops. You can walk around on the mat to browse through the items on display, and pick items up to buy them or drop items on the mat to sell them.

When you leave the mat, the Kecleon will warp to your location and first pay you for items you've dropped, before asking for payment for items you have taken.

You can either pay up at this moment and proceed on peacefully, or decline. Should you decline, the Kecleon will be incensed and call you a thief, inducing Kecleon to appear all over that floor of the dungeon. All these Kecleon will attack you on sight, and they not only move very quickly (covering a few steps in a single turn), but are very strong. Unless you are at a high level and can defeat the Kecleon, you should pay up or risk getting knocked out.

There are ways to avoid all the enemy Kecleons though. If the Kecleon Stall is located near to the stairs, simply grab the items you want, defeat the shop owner, and leave the floor immediately. If you do not wish to engage any Kecleons at all, use a Trawl Orb, which warps all the items on the floor to you, near the stairs, then grab all the items and leave, hopefully before any Kecleons get to you.

However, note that stealing items from Kecleon Stalls is the only way to get wild Kecleons to appear. Hence, if you want to recruit Kecleon as a Friend, you will have to steal items from such stalls.

Monster Houses

In later dungeons, there exist events known as Monster Houses. Monster Houses only occur in rooms and not the corridors joining the rooms, and they are triggered the moment you step foot into the room.

Monster Houses will always be found in rooms where your are rescuing another player. However, in normal gameplay, there is no absolute way to ascertain if a room would turn out to be a Monster Room. Typically though, rooms which have quite a few items or those with many Wonder Tiles are very likely to trigger off Monster Houses. Sometimes, if luck goes against you, you might even land right in the middle of a Monster House as soon as you enter that floor of the dungeon. In this case there is no avoiding the event.

So what then are Monster Houses? Basically, the event, once triggered, will cause a large number of enemies to appear in the room, which can spell trouble if your Pokemon is too weak to defeat all of them.

There are ways to clear Monster Houses with greater ease, however. You can make use of moves which affect the entire room, such as Powder Snow, Heat Wave and Magnitude, to attack all the enemies at once. Also useful is the Petrify Orb, which will petrify all the enemies in the room.