Hidden Temple Strategy

From TheKolWiki

Basics

Assuming that you do not have an intact ten-leaf clover in your inventory, the eight Hidden Temple adventures are equally likely (the positive and negative outcomes of two of the traps are distinct adventures). In all, then, there's a 1/4 chance of boosting each stat, a 1/8 chance of taking MP damage, and a 1/8 chance of taking HP damage.

When you get a stat-boost adventure from the Temple, the amount of the boost is equal to twice your base score in the corresponding stat, plus a small amount which may depend on how many ascensions you have completed. The maximum substat gain (ignoring stat day effects) is 50.

Being Beaten Up does not decrease the substat gains from Temple adventures. After you get hit with the Rolling Stone trap, the best ways to recover are to go to Doc Galaktik's Medicine Show and pay 10 meat for one hit point or to have a HP-regenerating item equipped. Likewise, there is no penalty for having no MP. If you use all your MP on buffs before entering the Temple, the Lightning Traps will have no effect on you.

Rewards

Assuming your stats are at least 25, each stat boost will give you a full 50 substats. Thus on average one Temple adventure will gain you 12.5 of each substat, for 37.5 substats in total. As of NS13, this is equivalent to fighting a level-150 monster (such as those in the Palindome). (Of course, if you are using a volleyball or sombrero familiar, you can fight somewhat weaker monsters and still get 37.5 substats.)

However, for speed-ascenders, the goal is not to gain stats indiscriminately. For gaining levels, the only stat that is important is your main stat. When you gain substats from combat, (on average) half of the substats gained are in your main stat. Thus, gaining 12.5 substats towards your main stat in the Temple is equivalent to gaining 25 substats from a combat adventure. As of NS13, this is equivalent to fighting a level-100 monster (again, less if you have a volleyball).

Costs

In order to unlock the Temple, you must complete the Spooky Temple Map Quest, which requires getting three separate non-combat adventures in The Spooky Forest. As of NS13, unlocking the Temple is mandatory, so you may as well get it done early.

The Temple does not produce food, booze, or meat; you will need to adventure elsewhere to acquire these. A more subtle problem is that adventuring in the Temple will not cause your familiar to gain experience. You will have to decide whether the rapid stat gain in the early levels is worth the pain of having a weaker Volleyball or Sombrero in the later levels.

When To Use The Temple

You won't get the full effect from the Temple unless your base stats are at least 25. If you can usefully adventure in other zones, go there first. If you reach the point where you can't do your next quest yet because your stats aren't high enough, it's time to hit the Temple.

Watch the amount of substats you get from combat. Once you start getting 25 substats from fighting monsters, it's no longer useful to adventure in the Temple.

The Temple is a good place to use turns if you're suffering from a debuff (such as Beaten Up, Temporary Blindness, or any variety of Poisoned). You can also use these turns in the Sewer, or Cooking or Cocktailcrafting, depending on what you need.

One of the goals of NS13 was to increase the time players spend questing (and decrease the amount of time spent merely leveling). Players who have many skills (so that they can survive high-level combats early) may find that they have no need of the Temple at all.