Kobold Island: Short Cuts - EPIC

Requires access to adventure pack
Definition: Adventure Pack
A list of all adventure packs
: Vaults of the Artificers

(Note: This does NOT mean it requires purchase of anything, you may play with free daily tokens.)

The once-busy Dragonshard Extractors on this island have stopped working. The local Kobolds keep stealing the Extractors' bright shiny parts.

Kobold Island: Short Cuts - EPIC
Level Range:	21-25
Duration:	Fixed time limit 10 minutes
Base XP Range:	2100-?
Takes place in:	Kobold Island
Challenge entrance(s) in:	House Cannith
Patron:	House Cannith
Free to Play:	Yes
Group Difficulty:	Average
Solo Difficulty:	Difficult
5 Star Difficulty:	Impossible
Kobold Island: Short Cuts - EPIC map (legend)

Loading screen

Overview

Kobold Island: Short Cuts is one of the challenges added in Update 12.

Spoiler Warning: Spoiler material below this point!

Star Objectives

Extract 500 Dragonshards
(Optional) Do not kill any Kobolds
(Optional) Deplete all portals (8 total)
(Optional) Kill 5 Orthon Lieutenants
(Optional) Maintain an extraction rate of 12 Shards per second for 2 minutes

Note: You must complete the first star objective to receive experience & rewards from this Challenge.

Known Traps

None

Tips and Misc

Epic

The monsters for this Challenge are meant for very experienced players. But, you do not have to be level 21 or higher to enter this Challenge.
Epic Challenges offer alternate rewards that can upgrade Challenge loot into its Epic version.
Although the challenge is called "epic" and offers epic-level rewards, that's about where the comparison to other epic quests stop. Challenges do not feature epic difficulty. Examples: No monsters possess Epic Ward, traps do not deal as much damage as other epic quests, there are no repeat timers, shrines reset, re-entry is allowed (within 3 minutes), epic fragments and tokens do not drop, and other non-epic rules are present. They are essentially Normal difficulty, with some tweaks to make them more challenging.
The main technical differences are enemies gain deathblock and a lot more hitpoints when compared to the lvl20 version of the same challenge.

Player Notes

First and foremost: Bug: The "Kill 5 Orthon Lieutenants" objective is broken, meaning that six-star completion of this challenge is impossible.
There are 8 Portals to deplete, deplete them by jumping through (using) them. Three jumps into a portal will deplete it; exiting through one does not count.
- The portals take you to various spots around the island; however, the destination is random, and will sometimes bring you back to the same spot.

The Orthons do not appear until the quota is met.

There are 4 small extractors and 3 large ones. Ideally you will get all going at once. 7 total, thus a 6 man group can place 1 member at each, and guard the remaining one with Magefire Cannons.
- Magefire Cannons can be bought at any Extractor menu (10 shards and 3 mechanical parts)
  - Use it from inventory or a hotbar to place it
  - They can be upgraded once at a cost of 25 shards and 5 mechanical parts. Upgrading will repair all damage.
  - They have a CR of the same level as the quest.
  - You can only purchase five without a requisition form.
  - They can be demolished and return parts; L1s return 2, and L2s return 3.
  - They can have some buffs cast upon them (haste, blur, bardic Inspire Courage & Inspire Greatness), but not others (rage).
  - A single first-level cannon, properly placed, can generally protect an extractor on its own when soloing. However, they become individually less useful with groups (monsters get tougher with additional players). Extractor 3 can be particularly difficult to protect because of the terrain – archers can often find a spot on either side where they're covered by a ridge.
  - Make sure to place them a few feet away from the extractor, so they can shoot at anything attacking it!
- Resurrection and Rest Shrines can be summoned from a Large Extractor, at a cost of 25 shards and 50 shards, respectively. The extractor doesn't need to be active for this.
  - These shrines are only temporary – they'll disappear in about a minute.

Individuals with access to Repair spells can utilize them to repair the extractors, but they have such a large pool of HP that it is hard to tell it is working. Additionally, extractors can have some buffs cast upon them: Resists, Protection from Energy (single or mass), Stalwart Pact, and Inspire Greatness are worthwhile; Spell Resistance, Protection from Evil, Shield of Faith, and Divine Intervention can be applied but probably aren't worth it. Bear's Endurance, Blur, Displacement, Haste, Invisibility, Mass Aid, Prayer, and Rage do not work. To buff/repair an extractor, click on the crystal in the center, not the control panel.
- Upgrading an extractor will remove all buffs upon it and fully repair all damage. It's essentially a brand-new extractor.

Extractors produce Dragonshards while active:
- Small, not upgraded: 0.25/second (1 mechanical part)
- Small, upgraded: 0.75/second (75 shards and 3 mechanical parts)(takes 2:30 to get a Return Of Investment or ROI)
- Large, not upgraded: 2.5/second (300 shards and 3 mechanical parts)(takes 2:00 to get a ROI)
- Large, 1st upgrade: 5.0/second (400 shards and 5 mechanical parts)(takes 2:40 to get a ROI)
- Large, 2nd upgrade: 7.5/second (500 shards and 7 mechanical parts)(takes 3:20 to get a ROI)

This quest is essentially considered normal difficulty no matter what level you select. In regards to all factors difficulty affects such as dungeon scaling, shrine resetting, etc.

The lantern Archon can be killed for a large Dragonshard bonus, but once killed will not return. The Archon will be marked on your map when it appears. While alive, it will drop bags of 5 shards every couple of seconds, that will disappear after 10–15 seconds.

The supply crates dropped by "your employer" are marked on the map when they appear. They provide a random boost, ranging from mechanical parts to various player boosts to the player that picks up the orbs. They will self destruct if not collected within a couple of minutes.

The same random boosts are also available by using a Challenge Token (free Daily Token or DDO Store Universal Token) to open one of the Supply Vaults on the Airship.

"Use" the Kobold Idols to desecrate them. Once destroyed no more Kobolds will appear at that camp, though there are other smaller camps with Kobolds in them and no idol.
- Desecrating an idol will cause any living Kobolds at the camp to flee.
- One of the idols requires a decent jump to get to – The stone narrows on the side away from the kobold camp; you can approach the jump from behind the idol.

500 Dragonshards is just a milestone – so when you hit it, you can spend shards on upgrades/etc.

Quick Start Guide

Help activate and defend Extractor machines so they can harvest as many Dragonshards as possible from a monster filled island!
Retrieve the stolen mechanical parts needed to repair Extractors by killing Kobolds or desecrating their idols!

The Rules

The Extractors

Dragonshard Extractors on the island will extract Dragonshards – activate and upgrade as many Extractors as possible to maximize your Dragonshard extraction rate!
Extract as many Dragonshards as possible before time runs out.
Once you activate an Extractor, you’ll need to protect the active Extractor from the attacks of various roaming monsters.
- Tip: You can earn extra treasure for killing red named boss monsters!
If the monsters do enough damage to an Extractor it will shut down and need to be activated again, costing you more resources.
- Tip: Extractor status information will be provided to you on-screen. However, Extractors are always either "on" or "off". When "on", they operate at full efficiency, producing dragonshards at the rates noted above. Only once the percentage reaches 0%, do Extractors become "Inactive" and produce nothing. Thus you need not concern yourself with keeping the percentages as high as possible; you merely need to keep the equipment operational (important for soloing).

Activating Extractors

Extractors must be activated before they begin to extract Dragonshards. Click on the lever in front of the Extractor to see the activation options.
You will need Mechanical Parts to activate Extractors. You get Mechanical Parts by killing the Kobolds that infest the island or by desecrating their idols.
- Tip: Non-Kobold monsters never drop mechanical parts.
Camps of Kobolds can be found scattered across the island. Hunt down the Kobolds to retrieve the mechanical parts needed for the Extractors.
- Tip: Desecrating a Kobold Idol will drive all the Kobolds away from that camp forever, but also give you several Mechanical Parts right away.

Upgrading Extractors

Extractors can be upgraded using a combination of Dragonshards and mechanical parts taken from the Kobolds. Upgrading an Extractor makes it extract faster, and allows it to take more damage before it is deactivated by monsters.
- Small Extractors can be upgraded to Level 2.
- Large Extractors can be upgraded to Level 3.
- Tip: Remember that spending Dragonshards subtracts from your harvested amount.

Purchases from Extractors

You can buy Magefire Cannons from all Extractors, and you can buy temporary Shrines from Large Extractors.
You can place Magefire Cannons to protect the Extractors. Magefire Cannons can also be upgraded using Dragonshards and mechanical parts.

Monsters

The Large extractors are guarded by either a red-named Horned Devil or Succubus Huntress. They give chests upon their defeat.
Short Cuts starts with lots of aggressive Tieflings and Hellhounds already on the field, so guarding the extractors is important. High-damage Bearded Devils and Orthon Lieutenants will start spawning as you near your quota.

The Archon

A benevolent Lantern Archon will sometimes appear and drop Dragonshards that you can collect and use to add to your score.

Supply Crates

From time to time a patrolling airship will drop supply crates. These crates contain orbs that will temporarily enhance your abilities in various ways for 1 minute when picked up.
Supply crates will only remain for a limited time!

Supply Vaults

The same random boosts are also available by using a Challenge Token (free Daily Token or DDO Store Universal Token) to open one of the Supply Vaults on the Airship.

Score

You will earn points for the following:

Collected Dragonshards, both extracted and collected from the Archon (spent shards will decrease your score)
Monsters killed – 1 for regular monsters; 5 for mini-bosses; 10 for bosses

Challenge Duration

Fixed: 10 minutes

Can only be increased by a maximum of one minute via the minute of time watch.

Loot

Chests: One per red named. 6+ available at the start, more spawn later. They show up in one's inventory as chests, which must then be opened. They can be opened after the adventure.

Ingredient reward: Epic Orthon Metal Scrap – ~27% of your total score

Monsters

Name ^{( picture )}	CR	Type	Race
Bearded Devil ^{( view • edit )}	Challenge Level + 2	Evil Outsider	Devil
Hellhound ^{( view • edit )}	Challenge Level	Magical Beast	Hellhound
Horned Devil ^{( view • edit )}	Challenge Level + 3	Evil Outsider	Devil
Kobold Scavenger ^{( view • edit )}	Challenge Level	Reptilian	Kobold
Lantern Archon (benefactor) ^{( view • edit )}	Challenge Level	Good Outsider	Ghaele Eladrin
Orthon Lieutenant ^{( view • edit )}	Challenge Level + 2	Evil Outsider	Devil
Succubus Huntress ^{( view • edit )}	Challenge Level + 3	Evil Outsider	Devil
Tiefling Archer ^{( view • edit )}	Challenge Level + 2	Native Outsider	Tiefling
Tiefling Rogue ^{( view • edit )}	Challenge Level + 2	Native Outsider	Tiefling