The Arena
Entry
The Arena Master stands in the plaza of the Nexus’ top-left square. His pedestal takes 500 fame per player, and the Arena gives no fame back. Friends who pay one after the other land in the same Arena, until someone says READY in chat to start wave 1.
Two more pedestals skip the early waves, same price: Start at Wave 11 for a level 20 character, Start at Wave 21 for a character that has cleared wave 20 in the Arena before (each character remembers its best wave). Skipped waves give nothing; the first pause is wave 15 or 25 and pays that checkpoint’s bonus.
Waves
Every monster that can fight outside its own dungeon has a combat value worked out from its HP, DEF, the damage and rate of its attacks, its speed and its minions. Each wave gathers random monsters until their values add up to the wave’s budget, which grows 30% a wave (+500% for each extra player), with at most 24 monsters. Solo budgets: wave 1: 30 · wave 5: 85 · wave 10: 315 · wave 15: 1170 · wave 20: 4342 · wave 25: 16123. Some waves are themed on one realm band or dungeon; dungeon bosses never appear.
Bracket bosses. Every fifth wave, the last of its bracket, brings a boss in the middle of the sands (never within 5 tiles of a player): a quest monster or god worth up to 40% of that wave’s budget, one of the three strongest that fit; one that falls short gets more HP, up to 8 times. Solo, that is about a Bandit Leader or Hobbit Mage at wave 5, a Slime God or Flying Brain at wave 10, a Cyclops God or Eagle Sentry at 15, and a Red Demon or Cyclops God with several times its HP from wave 20.
The sands start small and grow: a ring of wall falls back every 10 waves, 14x14 for waves 1-10, 20x20 for waves 11-20, 26x26 for waves 21-30, then the whole 34x34 room.
Loot
During the waves monsters drop only Health and Magic potions. Of everything else they would have dropped, rolled from their usual loot tables, about 25% is kept for you (each item a 25% chance; a shared drop goes to one player, picked by share of the damage). At every fifth wave you get it in bags only you can open, plus a bonus, and one stat potion for sure; no fame:
| Checkpoint | Gold | Magic dust | Affixed gear for your class | Arena weapon | Stat potions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (wave 5) | 10 | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| 2 (wave 10) | 30 | 3 | 1 × T8, 25% each | 2.5% | 1 |
| 3 (wave 15) | 60 | 6 | 2 × T9, 25% each | 7.5% | 1 + 1 at 25% each |
| 4 (wave 20) | 100 | 10 | 3 × T10, 25% each | 15% | 1 + 2 at 25% each |
| 5 (wave 25) | 150 | 15 | 4 × T11, 25% each | 25% | 1 + 3 at 25% each |
| 6 (wave 30) | 210 | 21 | 5 × T12, 25% each | 25% | 1 + 4 at 25% each |
| 7 (wave 35) | 280 | 28 | 6 × T13, 25% each | 25% (two) | 1 + 5 at 25% each |
Tiered gear is for your class at that tier (abilities and rings a few tiers lower) and, like the stat potions, one that some monster on this server drops. Life and Mana potions join the stat potions from checkpoint 5. Read from ArenaRewards.cs.
Top tiers from wave 25. Before wave 25 the Arena gives none of the two top tiers of each weapon type, nor the top tier of each ability and armor type, from any source (rings are not held back): Ballista of the Siege Lord (T6), Bow of Innocent Blood (T11), Bow of Covert Havens (T12), Cloak of Ghostly Concealment (T6), Agateclaw Dagger (T11), Dagger of Foul Malevolence (T12), Acropolis Armor (T13), Helm of the Great General (T6), Muramasa (T11), Masamune (T12), Hydra Skin Armor (T13), Planefetter Orb (T6), Pavise of the Last Gate (T6), Baneserpent Poison (T6), Prism of Apparitions (T6), Quiver of Elvish Mastery (T6), Robe of the Grand Sorcerer (T13), Saya of the Last Ronin (T6), Scepter of Storms (T6), Scroll of the Void (T6), Seal of the Blessed Champion (T6), Colossus Shield (T6), Doom Circle (T6), Bloodsucker Skull (T6), Elemental Detonation Spell (T6), Staff of Astral Knowledge (T11), Staff of the Cosmic Whole (T12), Skysplitter Sword (T11), Sword of Acclaim (T12), Tome of Holy Guidance (T6), Giantcatcher Trap (T6), Skull of the Loa (T6), Wand of Ancient Warning (T11), Wand of Recompense (T12), Whistle of the Grey Alpha (T6), Drum of the Old Bear (T6), Lure of the Sun Falcon (T6).
Arena weapons
The Arena has a weapon of its own for every weapon type, about as strong as a T10 of its type with a little less raw damage and one trick. They drop nowhere else: a checkpoint can give the one for your class (the “Arena weapon” column above; from checkpoint 7 a second one of another type, for your other characters). They are soulbound. No other untiered item comes out of the Arena: a UT a monster rolls there is never kept for you, and the bonuses never give one.
| Weapon | Type | Damage | Range | Trick |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Champion's Verdict | Sword | 200-240 | 3.5 | Verdict: every kill heals you 40 HP and makes you Berserk for 3 seconds |
 Bloodsand Fang | Dagger | 80-150 | 5.6 | Bleed: every hit makes the enemy bleed 40 damage a second for 3 seconds, ignoring DEF |
 Retiarius Longbow | Bow | 3 × 42-62 | 7 | Netted: each arrow that hits has a 20% chance to Armor Break the enemy for 2 seconds (not bosses) |
 Wand of the Jeering Crowd | Wand | 80-120 | 10 | Jeered: every hit Curses the enemy for 3 seconds: it takes 10% more damage from everyone, bosses too |
 Pyre Staff of the Fallen | Staff | 2 × 50-90 | 8.6 | Pyre: an enemy you kill bursts into flame: 150 damage to every enemy within 2.5 tiles of it |
 Riposte of the Sands | Katana | 105-130 | 5 | Riposte: when an enemy hits you, you are Damaging for 3 seconds (once every 6 seconds) |
Leaving
You can leave only in the lobby and at a checkpoint: a Portal to Nexus opens there, and after someone says READY you still have 10 seconds. During the waves the Nexus key (and auto-nexus), /nexus, /vault, /realm and portals are locked. Dying, or disconnecting during the waves, loses everything won since the last checkpoint; the Arena is permadeath like everywhere else.