Spiral Cup gauntlet

I’ve been spending the last few weeks farming the Spiral Cup gauntlet. I’ve written down every single drop I’ve gotten and now I’m here to tell you what my conclusions are.

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Some basic information about how gauntlets work

The Housing Dungeon comes in 5 different versions, depending on the level of the lowest wizard joining. This means that if, for example, 3 Exalted wizards enter the Dungeon with an Adept wizard, they will get the Adept version of the dungeon, and the drops that are associated with that dungeon. These different versions of the dungeon are called Tiers and there’s 5 of them:

• Tier 1: level 1-19
• Tier 2: level 20-39
• Tier 3: level 40-59
• Tier 4: level 60-79
• Tier 5: level 80-100

This means you can get an easy version by bringing a friend that’s lower level. However, in the Spiral Cup, the drops are different for the different Tiers! This means that doing the lowest Tier as a top level wizards means you won’t get certain items that you could have gotten by doing the level-appropriate version.

For this article, I’ve farmed the lvl 80-100 version (Tier 5) and the lvl 40-59 version (Tier 3). As such, I can’t say anything about the other Tiers. If you want to see an analysis of the other Tiers, let me know in the comments!

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I will be answering the following questions

• What kind of drops can you expect in the gauntlet?
• Is there a difference in the drops of the two Tiers?
• Is either of them worth farming?
• Which battle has the goodies?
• How rare of a drop is the item?
• Should you buy the Spiral Cup Bundle?

Every section of this article will give you information about which things are dropped, which things are found in both Tiers and which ones are exclusive to either Tier 3 or Tier 5. Do realize that I can’t say anything about the other Tiers, as I haven’t done those!

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1. Pets in the Spiral Cup

These are the pets that drop in the dungeon. If you’re doing the Gauntlet especially for the pets, you might as well stick with the lower Tier. Both Tiers seem to drop the same pets at about the same rate. Fight 1, 2 and 3 each drops only certain pets, as you can see from the table below.

As you can see from the data, most of the pets drop in both Tiers. In my research, the only exception seems to be the Dill Piggle, which may not drop at all in the lower Tier. In addition to these pets, someone has reported getting a Sprite pet from the third battle. I haven’t gotten one personally, and my guess is that this pet drops in one of the Tiers not included in this test.

Your chances to get a pet are high. In Tier 3 I got a pet in 44 % of the runs I did, and in Tier 5 in 34 % of the runs. Take into consideration that I’ve done only 50(ish) runs, so the drop percentages are a little off. I’m guessing the real percentage is between these two, and is the same for both Tiers.

If you’re doing the dungeon specifically to get the Rude Goblin, know that it only drops in the final battle.

2. Pet snacks in the Spiral Cup

This dungeon does NOT drop any mega snacks.

The snacks are not fight-specific: every snack has a chance of dropping in any of the battles. However, some snacks are Tier-specific: there are snacks that only drop in the top level Tier, for example. They have in common that they are a tad better than the third Tier snacks (rank 5 & 6 rather than rank 4). I did one test run in the lowest level tier (for levels 1-19), which confirmed that this Tier drops even lower rank snacks.

Your chances of getting pet snacks are high. During my research, all of the wizards entering have consistently gotten 12 or 13 snacks per run.

3. Plant drops in the Spiral Cup

There are a lot of seeds in this dungeon! Most of them are Tier-specific but not fight-specific (aka they can drop in any of the fights, but only in eg. Tier 3). I’ve divided the plants into common and rare ones. Common plants drop in all of the fights except the final battle (so in fights 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), while rare plants only drop in the final battle. Tiers 3 and 5 have no plants in common.

One important difference between the Tiers is that Tier 5 drops Deadly Helephant Ears (DHE)! These plants drop mega snacks at Elder. Up to now, getting Deadly Helephant Ears involved a long process of farming for Huckleberries and hoping for them to drop DHE seeds. The Spiral Cup has simplified the acquisition of DHE’s significantly. They’re not even rare in the Spiral Cup!

Concerning all plant drop rates: there is great variation between the runs I did. The chances of getting a seed during this dungeon in general range from 1 to 7. During one battle Molly Daisyfountain got 2 White Laugh-o-dils, 1 Ninja Fig, 2 Deadly Helephant Ears and 2 Burning Snap Dragons. During another, all she got was 1 White Laugh-o-dil.

Concerning Deadly Helephant Ears drop rates: in 41 runs, I got 23 drops. That’s a 56% chance to get a seed! If you’re farming this dungeon just for the seeds, I would stick to doing the fights leading up to the big boss fight only, and skipping the final battle. It’s not worth the trouble.

4. Treasure Card drops in the Spiral Cup

The most common Treasure Cards to drop are blades. Both Tiers drop the same blades at about the same rate, so if you plan on farming this dungeon for blades, you can stick to the easier version.

It’s interesting how they kept the 4 pip Treasure Cards out of the Tier 3 version of the Spiral Cup. I don’t really see any reason for it, as wizards can train a 5 or 6 pip spell already at level 42. Access to a 4 pip TC is not going to make much of a difference.

Out of curiosity, based on these numbers, I decided to take a look at the Tier 1 Treasure cards. What I found out in my single run in Tier 1 was kind of surprising: at level 1-19, wizards are able to get the same TCs that level 40-69 wizards will get: Evil Snowman, Lightning Bats and Locust Swarm were among the drops I got.

5. Reagent drops in the Spiral Cup

Here’s another reason why you might want to farm the Spiral Cup: no membership, but need Turquoise? The Spiral Cup can let you get some! At Tier 5, you can be pretty much sure to get at least one Turquoise every time you run the dungeon. No need to do the last boss battle, he doesn’t drop reagents!

As you can see, the drop rates fluctuate a lot for reagents. Turquoise is useful when you’re doing the Azteca Crafting quest, as well as for crafting the Critical Block Boots in Azteca.

 

6. Musical Scroll drops in the Spiral Cup

I doubt anyone cares about this, but for the sake of being complete, the Spiral Cup drops the following Musical Scrolls:

• Fight 1: Wysteria Main Theme
• Fight 2: Wysteria Theme 1
• Fight 3: Wysteria Theme 2
• Fight 4: Wysteria Combat Theme
• Fight 6: Avalon Main Theme, Avalon Tense Theme, Avalon Wyrd Theme and Avalon Combat Theme

These Musical Scrolls have a chance of about 6% to drop at any of the battles mentioned above. Battle 5 doesn’t drop any Musical Scrolls.

7. Gear Drops in the Spiral Cup

Last but not least: gear! The Spiral cup drops two kinds of gear: Crowns gear and Spiral Cup gear. The Spiral cup Robes are named after the school the represent. Their names start with “Vestment of” and then the name of the Pigswick Academy school (e.g. Vestment of Equilibrium, Vestment of Earth, Vestment of Chaos). These robes don’t have any stats. The Spiral Cup Cowl and Boots are also free of stats. If you want these items, I suggest trying the Bazaar instead of farming the Spiral Cup. You have about 4% of a chance to get the Spiral Cup Boots, 2% to get the Spiral Cup Cowl and each of the Vestments seems to also have a drop rate of about 2%.

The Crowns gear comes in three versions: the Greenwarden’s Energetic, Peaceful and Brilliant sets. Of these, the Energetic one is the one you’re most probably want to get. Tier 3 drops the level 40+ versions of the gear, and Tier 5 the level 90+ versions.

• Greenwarden’s Energetic gear (Mask, Shroud and Boots together) will give you 61 additional energy at level 90, and 34 additional energy at level 40.
• Greenwarden’s Peaceful gear (all three items together) gives only 15 additional energy at level 90, and 4 additional energy at level 40.
• Greenwarden’s Brilliant gear (all three items together) gives no energy at all.

While I haven’t gotten all of the gear yet, I think we can assume that all three sets drop in the Spircal Cup. However, they’re a very rare drop. Below, I’ve listed the drops I have gotten while running the Spiral cup (50 times at Tier 3 and 41 times at Tier 5). Based on those numbers, you’re likely to get a piece of gear 6-7% of the time.

 

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Recap

What kind of drops can you expect in the gauntlet?

• various pets, including the Rude Goblin
• low rank pet snacks
• reagents (perhaps noteworthy: Turquoise)
• seeds (most importantly Deadly Helephant Ears)
• Treasure Cards (especially school-specific blade TCs)
• gear (energy gear as a rare drop)

Is there a difference between the drops of the two Tiers?

Yes, there is a difference. It’s especially significant for seeds: Deadly Helephant Ear seeds don’t seem to drop in the lower Tier. Some pet drops seem to be Tier-specific as well (Sprite & Dill Piggle). Turquoise is also only dropped in Tier 5. There are different pet snacks and Treasure cards as well, but those variations hardly have any impact.

Is either of the Tiers worth farming?

I can see the top Tier of the Spiral Cup being used to farm for Deadly Helephant Ear seeds. In addition to seeds, you could also farm for Greenwarden’s Energy gear, but be prepared for the low drop-rates.

Tier 3 on the other hand doesn’t seem to be of very much use. Most of the drops sell for very low amounts of gold and none of the seeds seem to be very interesting.

Which battle has the goodies?

Surprisingly, every battle except for the final boss fight seems to have a chance for dropping good stuff. The final boss – based on my runs – drops a single snack on most runs. If you’re looking for the Rude Goblin pet, the last battle is the place to be. In all other situations, why not make your life easier and just skip that final battle! A Fire Cracker isn’t worth dying over.

How rare are the good drops?

The good news: I wouldn’t call the Deadly Helephant Ear seeds rare. The bad news: Greenwarden’s Energy gear could keep you farming for quite a while. Still, the drop rates are higher than in Tartarus for example.

Should you buy the Spiral Cup Bundle?

Depends. Do you really really want Energy gear and are you ready to run the dungeon many times? Then, maybe. The good drops are focused on gardening, so if you need that energy gear and Deadly Helephant Seeds, it is the place to be. However, for the price of this bundle, you could buy a whole garden of Evil Magma Peas, which are clearly superior to Deadly Helephant Ears.

If you do buy it, and start farming for gardening related needs, know that – once you get enough seeds and gear – you won’t run this dungeon any longer. Unlike the other gauntlets, the Spiral Cup doesn’t drop enough sellable loot to make farming it for gold reasonable. Maybe you could just bug a friend to use their Spiral Cup.

If you want the Tanglewoord Vine mount, however, then without a doubt, this is the thing to buy. My wizard is enjoying his mount immensely and is really happy he has it 🙂

 

Have you done the dungeon yet? How did you like the story line? Did you get any cool drops?

As always, the comments are open!

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