Map for Level 8: The vault - Legend of Grimrock

Level 7 has 2 entrances to level 8.

Main and secret.

Main Entrance will lead to a small area. Clean it first.

First room has alcove with Shock shield scroll  and cave nettle:

The wall behind the nettle has a secret button opening a room with some food and a spider.

Further east is the blue healing stone and some portcullis.

Eastern end of this area has an Iron door needing Gear Key and the way to level 9: Goromorg Temple I.

I don’t think you have to go to the next level yet, so let’s explore this one.

Behind one of the portcullis, you can take a note with quickly drawn map for a rune-button. Grab it, so you can find the place on level 7 which helps you get deeper in level 8. (A secret, I’ve already shown in the previous walkthrough article):

Vault of the Dismantler

This area has entrance from level 7 and level 8, but It can only be unlocked from inside, so we return to level 7.

Find the rune button with the map – Enter from level 7 secret passage and open the portcullis, so you have access to the blue healing stone.

There is a room with traps and lightning shooters to the west (and apparently – immortal spider). Ignore it for now. Go east.

Kill the Ogre and fire elemental if you haven’t already. There is a button there and a room marked as …

Lightning Conduit.

Open and step aside. There will be some lightnings coming your way, so you need to time your entering well.

Don’t rush advancing too much, you are not supposed to take all the lightning hits. Advance smart.

[Even if you have level 22 air magic for the shield spell – you only receive 50% protection.]

A side corridor can be opened and used for this purpose. Just dispose of the fire elemental there.

Collect and pull the lever. It opens a door, so you can advance a bit deeper in the corridor.

Advance a bit east. Pull the chain and enter.

There is a button on the wall, which opens a room with pressure plate.

Press it with something.

Clean the adjacent room from the spiders and elemental. Use the buttons to open 2 more rooms with pressure plates and drop something over.

When all 3 are pressed, a room will open with some plate boots and gloves.

Pull the lever and an area south of the corridor with some elementals will open. You may wait for the lightning corridor to kill them or rush in to help a bit – up to you. There are 3 of them and a spider.

Secret button and lever in the room. The button opens a secret door deeper in the corridor – almost to the alcove. There is also a button in the corridor nearby, which opens another secret room … guarded by and ogre.

The ogre guards the Gear key and a lightning Rod:

[You may take some time to go back to collect the stuff behind the Iron door. It is opened by the gear key. It opens a secret room with the Helmet of Valor and a quarrel of few frost bolts. And there will be 2 heavy fights ahead.]

The lever opens the way to a room with wooden door in the center part of the corridor. Some spiders there.

Alcove with throwing axes, alcove with frost arrows and another Toorum note:

(It is just a note this time 🙂 No cryptic secrets)

The portcullis to the south will provide some heavy ogre bashing, but no good place for kiting so rest well before the fight.

There are 2 ogres and 4 elementals total:

Try to use the corridors in your advantage and use as much ice as you can afford if you get cornered.

There will be some stuff lying around – 2x lightning bombs, few tar beads, some food.

There is also a door needing the Brass key and a teleporter to an area with some poison mushrooms.

I am sorry to say – Very deadly fight.

Even fighter’s challenge is not that bad, because it does not involve poison.

Either kite them or try to stand your ground with Poison shield. (Level 13 Earth spell).

Take the 2 poison cloud mushrooms first. They hurt the most.

Theн take down the 4 (2×2) rapid shooter mushrooms.

Leave the slow mushrooms for desert.

There are two tricks I’ve proven to work.

Trick 1:

Take the Serpent Bracer on your most strong character and cast Poison shield.

For a while, he will be invincible and no poison will harm him/her. Try to cast as many mass spells and shoot your arsenal while kiting. Probably all 3 chars except the bearer of the serpent bracer will die.

Take the 2 brass keys, collect the herbs (and the hatchets, if you need them). Bring your corpses to the blue stone and revive them.

You will not gain some experience but – what the heck – room cleared.

Trick 2:

First brass key is to exit this mushroom infested hole, and you are not obliged to stand and fight if you don’t want to.

Run and let them follow. Grab any of the 2 keys (marked on the map) and go unlock the portcullis.

Cast some heavy damage spells and run away through the portal.

Rest. Re-Enter and repeat. It is a bit cowardly but it works just fine.

Loot everything you like and take the second brass key.

It is time for the next area:

The second brass key is for the door I’ve mentioned above.

The corridors behind that door have 4 pressure plates. You need to drop some objects to activate them. (If you are short on items – go collect the useless throwing axes or the 2 ogre hammers)

4 spiders and fire elemental will come to bite and burn you. And a lever will reveal itself in the place which spawned them.

The lever opens another area west, which has more fire elementals and occasional spider.

(The area also has some throwing stars lying around, 2 alcoves with food and useless knife and helm.)

2 hidden buttons. Both opening a secret with empty chest guarded by an elemental.

In general – very lame area, but it opens the way to the room with the spider, trap doors and lightning bolts …

Lonely Spider hunt. 😀

You need to kill the spider, because he presses the pressure plates which activate the lightning bolt heads shooting.

The trap doors lead to a room on level 9 with some snail (food) and few throwing axes.

Pull the lever to open the way to the main part of the level (and the blue healing stone).

There are 2 hidden buttons on the north and east walls (where the map-note was). They open a portcullis to the south.

Behind the portcullis is a lever which will allow you to collect the stuff you used to kill the spider and a room claiming it is the vault and you are supposed to Beware 🙂

Find the hidden button which opens the secret room for the next treasure (Dragon figurine (5/7))

Place a sword on the marble and get the big one. If you try to grab it and immediately replace it with another sword. You will still suffer at least one lightning blast.

The dismantler is one very good sword, if you prefer using swords on your fighters:

The Dismantler

This concludes everything you may do here. Proceed to level 9: Goromorg Temple I.

Legend of Grimrock, level 6 map.

… I hope you came from level 5 in full health.

You start level 6 with bad fight on your hands.

There will be a bashing Ogre in the hall you will enter. Don’t let him corner you or you are toast.

And not just this but also 3 spiders will come to poison you and stand in your way, so you can’t kite the monster effectively.

Needs some good moves and lots of trial and error.

If you see him running towards you – quickly strafe on any side to avoid the charge attack.

It does very heavy damage.

If you manage to kite him down he gives:

• 750 experience
• Ogre hammer
• A bag with food and a gold key which opens the treasure in the end of the level (but has another much clever use!!!)

Finish all the spiders, so they don’t stay in the way and have a good look at the main hall. There are some few areas, which you can cleanse in an order you like:

1. Spider grotto.
2. Walkabout.
3. Sequencis.
4. Halls of fire.
5. Vault of the orb. (Secret).
6. Haunted halls and Maze of madness.

Spider grotto.

There is a good sword in the alcove and a chunk of meat.

Few spiders for killing. I suggest you clean this room first, because it does not have door and you may see some loose spiders lurking in the main hall.

Walkabout.

There are 3 places in the area which make clicking sounds.

• Start “walking about” clockwise in the path I’ve provided in the minimap above.
• Keep walking.
• Every few walks, something will appear.
• First it is a stone.
• Second a skeleton pikemen.
• Third a (secret) bag with speed potion and its recipe.

Quite an easy area compared to the other ones. Just one skeleton to kill.

Sequencis.

This area is a bit tricky, but it opens the way to the blue stone, so I recommend taking this area ASAP, so you can use the stone.

Deal with the 2 crabs inside.

Go to the teleporter and enter.

You may need to observe the map.

There will be 4 places in which you will start to teleport quickly and will rotate between them endlessly until you exit the teleporter.

DON’T press the button or a poison cloud will be exhaled from the head.

One of the rooms has a door with a chain for opening.

Behind this door is a snail guarding a switch.

Kill the snail and enter.

Pull the switch and save!

Enter the teleport again.

The Northeast room will have an opened portcullis (by the lever).

There is another crab inside you need to kill and you will find the first round key.

When you return to the Sequencis, there will be another crab infestation in the main hall. Be prepared.

I suggest you open the door with the round key and make your stand there (you can get healing from the blue stone if you are low on health).

Clean the spiders and go to the other areas to collect more round keys.

Halls of fire.

Get the fire bomb and jump in the trap door.

The first trap door leads to next level and you have some flyers to take down.

Few herbs, sandals and a shirt. Some closed door you will open a bit later from the same area.

A scroll saying “WestMost” and another trap door leading even deeper to level 8.

Heal if you need and drop to level 8.

There are some herbs, food and a pressure plate which releases half-dozen bugs for killing.

Behind the bugs there is a small secret room with a good plate helm. +12 AC.

You need to depress the plate from inside the bug room to open the secret. Drop the item on the pressure plate from outside in such a manner which will allow you to take it from inside.

If the plate is not depressed, the secret room will not open.

Get back to level 6 when done with the above.

The room near the trap door has 3 crabs and another trap door which leads you behind the wooden door on next level. It is a secret and gives lurker pants and a throwing star.

After the spiders, in the corridor, there is a pressure plate which starts launching fire balls.

The 2 alcoves in the end of the corridor have The Fire sword but you will take heavy damage if you simply rush in.

A button on the west wall will open a small place for you to hide.

Another button exactly after the pressure plate will open another hiding place.

From the second place, you can hide until the fireball passes and quickly go and loot the 2 alcoves.

Edit: Also from the second place, you will spot a button on the north wall which opens a secret way up to level 5. Go there and collect after you are done with the fire sword. (There will be 2 fire elementals there, but the reward is good. Two plate items. Armor and gloves) Thanks to Orley Lima for pointing that out.

The sword is very important if you don’t have a mage with Fire skill 13. Without fireball, you can’t close the trap door in the beginning of the area (the one claiming this entrance is for Mages).

The sword shoots fireballs when you swing. And the fireball is the only way to close the trap door (you need to shoot fireball towards the head.)

If you don’t have or already spent the sword and can’t cast Fireball – you can’t go there – Halls of fire will be closed to you, but you can still continue the game (with less secrets completed though. Either – return later, when you can cast a fireball or abandon this area.

How to enter?

1. Throw an item, so the head spews a fireball and step aside. (If you skip this – pressing the plate later will blow the fireball on you at point-blank).
2. Cast fireball or swing the fire sword. The fireball will close the trap door (You didn’t forget to loot it first. Yes?)

North of the head is secret entrance to levels 7 and 11. A place named “Fighter’s challenge”. You still can’t enter it (Needs Vex sword), so leave it for later.

Go into the trap-door room and dispose of the two fire elementals. They are afraind of ice and poison and give 500 XP each, quite good for a monster which is falling fast.

The “Westmost” scroll is a bit cryptic, but it reveals another treasure:

Go to the western part of the level and fall down in the westmost trapdoor. The “Golden grave”. There is a crab which will give you 10 seconds before the door opens.

Hit hard and grab the crown. (3/7 treasures). After you come back in the pit Hall of fire area, 2 more elementals will come.

Dispose of them and focus on the puzzle:

It takes quick moves.

• At first, only one button in the room can be pressed. Press it and run to the column in the center.
• Press the button, quickly go on the other (opposite) side of the column and press the other button.
• Get the round key from the alcove. Once you grab it, another elemental will come. Either shoot it  or use a spell.
• REMOVE the torch from the stand and another trap door will close, allowing you to go around for the last button.

Now repeat the whole exercise again, but this time press all the buttons in this order:

1. East
2. West
3. North
4. South (see map).

Once done, behind you will open another secret room with another elemental.

He guards a ring mail armor and the Vex sword.

This sword is needed to open the Fighter’s challenge, so don’t throw it away if you don’t use swords in your fighter characters.

Fighter’s challenge

This battle is still a bit hard if you are merely level 10-11, so either risk it or leave it for later. (you will be surrounded by dozens of bugs)

There are 3 tricks you may use to hide, so you are not bitten from all 4 sides:

• The golden key from the Ogre in the start of the level (if you have not used it yet). There is another golden key on the floor, but you can’t rush towards it fast enough.
• The secret room in the Fighter’s challenge. (the button is on the west wall)
• Or just try to quickly kill all the monsters until you advance to any corner.

All three of those are hard, and you will probably lose one of your chars, while trying to hide there.

So – If you decide to fight the Challenge:

1. Be at least level 12, so you have better chance to survive.
2. Before you start killing – Bash your way to any corner OR try to open the secret room with the 4-th treasure (4/7 – Ancient apparatus)  OR use the golden key and make your stand there. This way you will only need to fight 1 to 3 bugs at a time and your rear chars will take fewer or no hits.
3. Use freezing bombs to stop attacks from any side that’s bugging you to death and focus on the other side.
4. Cast as many mass damage spells as you can before your mage falls. Alas, this char always falls first.
5. Mix some health potions before battle and have them handy so you don’t lose time finding them in the middle of the fight.
6. Leave this battle for a time when you have (re)opened the way to levels 5 and 7 already, so you have access to the blue stones. This way if anyone dies – you can revive the char by using the blue stone before any other battles. (Yes, if at least one char survived – let him drag your bodies to the blue stone – and you are okay).

That’s all the advice I can share. I managed to kill them all with always at least one dead char, but the reward is worth it:

Shield of Valor

If you are still level 10, this battle is probably not for you. Read below and decide if you want to grind until levels 12-13 in the “Haunted halls” area.

Vault of the orb. (Secret).

The secret room is opened by placing a torch in the main hall *(there is only one empty torch stand – can’t miss it).

There is a skeleton and grenade for taking (you need this for more damage in the fighters challenge).

Immediately in the same secret room with the grenade is a rune-button (north wall), which opens another room.

Step on the pressure plate.

You need something cheap and heavy (such as the shield of the skeleton you just killed) to press the plate behind the teleporter.

Place the shield in the teleporter (don’t throw, but exactly Place it).

Enter and loot. The orb is very good for mages:

The bad part is … yes … you guessed – two more crabs. And the exit will be closed, so you can’t run to safety.

If you can’t kill two crabs – better leave this secret for later.

Ice bomb is the best choice if you get cornered or mobbed. But you better save it for the Fighter’s challenge.

When done – The same rune-button which opened the room opens the way out.

Haunted halls and Maze of madness.

There are a half dozen of snails which you can kill for food.

When you get back near the entrance of the area, 2 of the snails will re-spawn.

Finally a room designed for food and xp 😉 They only give 60 xp, but it sums fast with the 3 respawning skeletons in the Haunted halls.

Haunted Halls.

The other fun place. There will be 3 respawning skeletons for training.

Apart from the easy training, there is:

• One Secret room triggered by a hidden button with 2 skeleton archers which guard a +50 cold resistance amulet.
• Another secret room (again triggered by a hidden button) will have skeleton pikeman squad (x4) and some Heavy shield and ring boots.
• Third secret room for which you need a patient skeleton to stand on the pressure plate until you run for the door 😀 A bit tricky but you will find a way to do it. Squad of skeleton pikemen, few herbs and Another round key.

I’ve marked the 3 spots with “N”. Feel free to spend some quality time here bashing skeletons. They only give 90 XP but there will be 3 of them + 2 snails in the other room.

The full cycle is giving 390 experience points and takes 1-2 minutes to complete. (15 minutes = 3900 experience):

Legend of Grimrock - Grinding place in level 6.

Maze of madness.

This is a bit tricky and there are 2 things here. Another round key and a +25% experience amulet.

To reach them, first you need to find the 2 buttons and press them. Have a look at the minimap above

First button is on the south wall (1) and clears the way to the key (4). If you don’t press this button, there is another teleporter in front of the key, and you can’t enter.

The second button is near the round key (north wall (4)) and clears the path to the amulet.

The teleports are not very tricky. It takes some trial and error – I’ve put the important ones on the map (see the “N” signs).

Treasure area.

Once you use the round keys to open the way down, the way back to level 5 will also reopen.

There are 4 round keys total.

The Fourth Round key is not mandatory to pass the level – It opens a secret room with Chitin Armor.

You only have one gold key, so choose wisely:

1. Tome of fire: +3 Fire skill and +10% fire resistance.
2. Crossbow.
3. Herbs, flask and fire bomb.

[For me, it was a no-brainer. I love spells, so I’ve chosen the tome]

That’s all you can do here. Descend to level 7.