

The entrance to the Black Market (center) hiding behind a tile. Spikeballs can also be used to create a hole to Vlad's Castle, although this can be dangerous and time-consuming. Powder Boxes appear in the ground, which can be detonated to save on resources. If only bombs are used, the spelunker will need approximately 8-10 of them to reach Vlad's Castle, which may be difficult to attain. As the terrain that the Drill bores through is no different than standard terrain, it is possible for the spelunker to create the tunnel to Vlad's Castle themselves. The level that contains Vlad's Castle can be easily ascertained by seeing if the Drill spawned on the top row of the level. In the level containing either secret area, a Compass will indicate to the spelunker that there are two exits on the level.

If the player forgot to pick up the Udjat Eye or did not want to spend the resources to obtain it in Dwelling or does not want to sacrifice it for use in Volcana, there is still a way to continue the run into Vlad's Castle or the Black Market without it.Īs a general rule of thumb, neither Vlad's Castle nor the Black Market spawn on the first level of either area, nor do they spawn on the same level as the Moon Challenge. It was commonly seen depicted in the hands of gods, pharaohs, and priests.A tunnel created with Bombs that leads to Vlad's Castle. The Scepter resembles the Was-scepter, a symbol of power and dominion in ancient Egypt.The user should always be conscious of nearby allies (such as Shopkeepers or Tun) or risk accidently killing them, which may ruin many opportunities originally offered to the Spelunker.If the Scepter is to be used, the Spelunker should be mindful of nearby corpses, or risk being hit by a ring juggling a corpse around in wild directions.Because entrance into The City of Gold is required as part of the process in obtaining the Tablet of Destiny, it is highly unlikely that one will be able to bring the Scepter into the Sunken City without skipping the need for the Qilin.This makes the Scepter a reasonable weapon choice in low score runs, speedruns, and other types of runs ending in 6-4.

Against Tiamat, the Scepter will trivialize the fight and defeat her in a matter of seconds. If a player does not intend to go to The City of Gold, they may find use for it in later levels.
