Infinite Shadow Pieces

[KoreanWaffles]

     Most people know that in order to obtain the Shadow Atrium, you must defeat all three Shadow Pieces. Fewer people know that you can craft more than three sculptures to obtain multiple Shadow Atrium (e.g. 1 knight, 1 bishop, 2 rooks = 2 hearts). However, there is no theoretical limit to how many Shadow Atriums you can obtain in a single fight. 

     For those of you who have seen my Day 17 - Ancient Fuelweaver Speedrun, you may know that the Shadow Pieces have a nifty mechanic that allows them to spawn other Shadow Pieces from chess sculptures. This same mechanic can be used to create an endless loop of Shadow Pieces, allowing you to obtain as many Shadow Atriums as you want.

     The most popular way of defeating the Shadow Pieces is Knight lvl 1 → Bishop lvl 2 → Rook lvl 3. However, along with Shadow Pieces being able to spawn other Shadow Pieces, it also doesn't matter what level they are. A level 3 Shadow Piece will still level up a level 1 or 2 Shadow Piece not of the same type. This means that a level 3 Shadow Piece can used to upgrade a level 1 Shadow Piece and reset the level up cycle, allowing you to kill a theoretical infinite number of level 3 Shadow Pieces. It's really a test of endurance. The longer you fight, the better your rewards.

     In the spoiler below, you'll find that I've attached a helpful chart. Below that, you'll find a video demo of how it works. I used Wolfgang in the video to speed the fight up, but this strategy works with any character. (Wolfgang's speed bonus is not needed. Again, you only need at minimum a walking cane and road to dodge a level 3 Rook's attack.)

Spoiler

INFINITE SHADOW PIECES

 

     You don't have to follow the order exactly. In fact, you can use any order you like, as long as you're sculpting the other two chess pieces when one of them turns level 3. I just found this sequence to be the most practical. The level 3 Knight is a knightmare to deal with, so you should just avoid it. Even the level 2 Knight is a pain to deal with, which is why it's important that you kill the level 1 Knight after spawning extra sculptures before killing the level 3 Shadow Piece.

     The fight isn't too different from a normal Shadow Pieces fight; you just have to find time to craft additional sculptures. It is essential to have at least a walking cane and road to dodge the level 3 Rook's attack. Although not mandatory, the bone armor will mitigate all of the Shadow Bishop's damage, and give you extra insurance against other attacks. I highly recommend bringing one. In the video, I crafted the sculptures immediately after a Shadow Piece turned level 3. While it is completely fine to do this, you only have to craft the sculptures before the level 3 Shadow Piece dies. This allows you to avoid the level 2 Bishop's attacks completely when fighting the level 3 Rook; just be careful not to kill it before crafting sculptures.

     What's nice about this strategy is that the chess sculptures drop the cut stone upon spawning, so you can pick them up to rebuild the sculptures, given that you have rocks in your inventory. The Shadow Pieces are also constantly dropping nightmare fuel, along with dark swords and night armor, so you can also stock up on weapons, and never run out of fuel for your bone armor throughout the fight. Another peculiar but helpful aspect of the fight is that when a Shadow Piece attempts to spawn another Shadow piece via a sculpture, the sculpture will drop to the ground to attempt to spawn, so there's less hassle in spawning more Shadow Pieces. 

[Daniel86268]

Very interesting idea to farm up a lot of stuff from one Night. Proper preperation is definitely needed, but might actually come in really handy.

[Sicko Hog]

Why do the sculptures you make just teleport onto the ground like that?

[ShadowDuelist]

This can lead to a very interesting challenge mini game in which a team can leave 2 wolfgangs fighting at the arena while the other players collect food/sanity regen/stones/healing for the fighters to keep going as much as they can.

[Altari]

nice idea. and i think think way can be a way too

A. kill knight lv.l (make bishop lv.2 rook lv.2)

B. make rook lv.1 and kill bishop lv.2 (make rook lv.2 and lv.3)

C. make bishop lv.1 and kill rook lv.3 (make bishop lv.2 rook lv2) 

and infinite B C B C.

dodging 2 rook and 1 bishop can be hard but with bone armor, I think not that hard. 

and also thinking killing 2 rook(lv.3 both) can be applied with this method

[Frodeur]

12 hours ago, ShadowDuelist said:

This can lead to a very interesting challenge mini game in which a team can leave 2 wolfgangs fighting at the arena while the other players collect food/sanity regen/stones/healing for the fighters to keep going as much as they can.

OR be a wolfgang with enought prep ;p

[ShadowDuelist]

1 hour ago, Frodeur said:

OR be a wolfgang with enought prep ;p

Or a Wes with high willpower and good intentions

[Maxposting]

Great way to farm gold nuggets XD

 

 

Joke explanation in spoiler so...

Spoiler

pig king gives 1 nugget for  1 heart

 

[KoreanWaffles]

16 hours ago, Altari said:

nice idea. and i think think way can be a way too

A. kill knight lv.l (make bishop lv.2 rook lv.2)

B. make rook lv.1 and kill bishop lv.2 (make rook lv.2 and lv.3)

C. make bishop lv.1 and kill rook lv.3 (make bishop lv.2 rook lv2) 

and infinite B C B C.

dodging 2 rook and 1 bishop can be hard but with bone armor, I think not that hard. 

and also thinking killing 2 rook(lv.3 both) can be applied with this method

Sadly, this method doesn't work. In order for a Shadow Piece to level up, another Shadow Piece not of the same type must be killed within close proximity, so you can't level up a Rook with another Rook.
Additionally, a Shadow Piece may only level up once from a different type of Shadow Piece. (i.e. A Rook will only level up once from a Knight, and once from a Bishop. You can't level a Rook up twice with two Bishops.) Essentially, you must have at least all three Shadow Pieces to level one up to level 3, which is why it's important to craft the level 1 Knight as well.

[Altari]

6 hours ago, KoreanWaffles said:

Sadly, this method doesn't work. In order for a Shadow Piece to level up, another Shadow Piece not of the same type must be killed within close proximity, so you can't level up a Rook with another Rook.
Additionally, a Shadow Piece may only level up once from a different type of Shadow Piece. (i.e. A Rook will only level up once from a Knight, and once from a Bishop. You can't level a Rook up twice with two Bishops.) Essentially, you must have at least all three Shadow Pieces to level one up to level 3, which is why it's important to craft the level 1 Knight as well.

oh well, I didn't write I will make rook level up with rook. I know it doesn't work.

but as you said, rook level up once from knight and bishop. I didn't know this.

So what i wrote is not working anyway.. knight is essential! thanks for letting me know about this!