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There are eight floors in the tower that you must invade. Each floor is connected to the floor above and the floor below. With the exception of floors 4 and 5, there is only one staircase between each floor. You begin the game on Floor 1 (the outdoors), and must make your way to Floor 8 by traversing each floor to find the staircase that leads to the next level. There is no way to skip any floors, but you may also travel back down to floors that you've already visited.

To complete the game, you must reach the eighth floor and destroy the demon prince skull that blocks the final staircase by casting a Chaos spell. You are then given a rating based on your performance. Your rating is determined by the following criteria:

  • Your rating increases the more enemies you kill.
  • Your rating increases a lot for each demon prince skull you defeat (there are four in total).
  • Your rating decreases the more you open treasure chests.

In order to get the best rating, you should attempt to kill as many enemies as possible, including all four demon prince skulls, and open as few treasure chests as you can afford to. However, it should be noted that you can open all of the treasure chests and still get the best rating, provided you kill enough enemies to compensate for the penalty.

Dungeon features[edit]

Pentagrams Water
Druid pentagram.gif
The mystical symbol of the pentagram taps into ancient energies that a druid can draw from to replenish his health. While standing on the symbol, all damage that the druid sustains is repaired.
Druid floor water.png
The water found in and around the evil tower is harmful to the druid. Time spend in water will drain the druid's health quite quickly. In a few instances, there is no way to avoid contact with water, so make sure it is as brief as possible.
Damage tiles Demon prince skulls
Druid floor tile large.gif
Druid floor tile small.gif
Throughout the tower, there are particular tiles which can harm the druid if he stands on them. In most versions, they are always active, but in the FDS version, they blink on and off, and are safe to cross half of the time.
Druid demon skull.png
The skulls of four demon princes are placed on various floors in the tower. They blast fiery breath at intruders, and can only be destroyed by casting the Chaos spell while touching them.

Treasure and magic strategy[edit]

In Druid, one half of the battle is staying alive. The other half of the battle is procuring the proper amount of magic. While there are seven possible magic spells to obtain from each treasure chest, you may only select one to take. Failure to choose wisely can result in you becoming stuck with no way to proceed, or running out of ammo at a very crucial moment. There are three attack spells, and four special spells. The special spells are harder to come by and in general should be chosen over basic attack magic with a few exceptions.

Attack magic
In general, you should not choose attack magic over the special magic listed below unless the only special magic offered is Invisibility (Ecnelis in the FDS version), or one of your attack magic quantities has dropped below 50. If one of your magics is below 50, and there is a large cache of that magic in a chest, it would be a good idea to replenish that spell. When offensive magic is the only choice, you should select whichever magic you have the least of. Avoid choosing quantities of magic that would push your supply over 99, as you will lose the extra amount.
Key
Keys are among the two most vital spells in the game, the other being Chaos. Without sufficient Keys, you could very well become stuck and unable to proceed. For example, there is only one chest in all of Floor 1 with a Key (the one closest to your starting location.) If you do not collect the Key from that chest, you will be unable to investigate Floor 2, and you will be forced to quit. The absolute minimum number of keys that you can complete the game with is 14, but it's very helpful to secure a few more just in case.
Invisibility (Ecnelis)
Of all the special spells, this one is the least important. While it is helpful (it freezes the moments of every enemy for a short while) it is not necessary to complete the game, and it's quite possible to go through the game without ever casting it once. Only accept this spell if all of your attack magic is near full (99 for each), and nothing else worthwhile is offered.
Golem
While not a vital spell (you can complete the game without ever casting Golem), the usefulness of a Golem companion outweighs the usefulness of Invisibility by so much that you'd be foolish to avoid collecting them. Keys and Chaos are more important, but it's a great idea to pick up a Golem or two when you feel you're stocked up on the other choices. Golems offer tremendous protection and substantially increase a druid's odds for survival in the later stages of the game. They're particularly useful as shields against the skulls' fire breath.
Chaos
Without this spell, defeating the demon prince skulls is impossible. For that reason alone, you will want to collect at least four. But Chaos is a useful spell in its own right. When cast, it destroys every basic enemy on the screen, and continues to do so for a couple of seconds. In some versions of the game, it also provides a boost in health when cast.