~Subset~ Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord ‐ Item Drops - RetroAchievements/guides GitHub Wiki

1) Introduction

The goal of this subset is to collect every possible item as a random drop in battle. With 94 total items (90 if you exclude the four drops that are guaranteed from the boss battles in the game), completing this set requires a lot of patience, and a lot of luck. But you can speed up the process if you know in advance which monsters can drop the items you're looking for.

The purpose of this guide is to list which monsters drop which items, how likely they are to drop those items, and what floors those monsters can be found on. That way, you can reference this guide when looking for a specific item drop. For example, if you need the "Morbid Mace" achievement, you can review the guide below and see:

  1. Morbid Mace is in Item Group 4
  2. You're most likely to get a drop from Item Group 4 on floor B10
  3. 35 different monsters can drop items from Item Group 4

Then you can start farming encounters on B10, and just run away each each time the encounter is against a monster that cannot drop the Morbid Mace you're looking for.

All of the information in this guide is sourced from http://www.pekori.jp/~emonoya/index.htm, and all credit for the information below should go to that site's creator.

2) Tips for item farming

  • Remember to always have some spare slots in your inventory, on every character. I believe that when you would get a random drop, the game chooses a random character to give it to. If that character has no open space in their inventory, you don't get the item!
  • In battle, only the monster that starts at the top of the list matters. If you're in a battle with "1 Dragon Zombie, 4 Bleebs, 2 Master Ninjas", the item you get will come from the Dragon Zombie's drop table, because that's the monster at the top of the list when the battle starts.
  • Murphy's Ghost and Creeping Coin? monsters never drop items, they only drop gold. Farm them for gold or experience points, not for drops.
  • There are three types of encounters in the game:
    1. Set encounters. These are the Murphy's Ghost on B1, the miniboss on B4, and the boss on B10. These encounters are always the same, and always occur when you step on that space. There is no randomness to these encounters - they always drop the same items, so there's no need to farm them multiple times.
    2. Wandering monsters. These happen at random as you explore the maze. These encounters never drop treasure chests, only gold.
    3. Room encounters. When you enter a new room (through a door), there's a good chance that will trigger an encounter. Room encounters are the only way to get random items. There is some RNG in this - not all doors lead to room encounters, and even if a door can lead to a room encounter, it's random whether or not it will lead to one each time you enter the maze.

To optimize farming, you can do the following:

  1. Start in front of a door that leads to a new room (Not all doors lead to room encounters).
  2. Walk through the door.
    1. If you don't get an encounter (and you know that door can lead to room encounters), you got unlucky. Go to step 3 below.
    2. If you got an encounter you wanted, fight the monsters and get the items they drop. Then go to step 3 below.
    3. If you got an encounter you didn't want, run away. Go through the door again to get a new random room encounter.
  3. Exit the room, returning to the square you started on.
  4. Pause the game, and select "Quit". This will return you to the town menu, while your heroes stay in the maze.
  5. From the town menu, select "Restart an OUT party". This will let you return to controlling your heroes in the maze.
  6. Because you exited to town, all of the room encounters have been respawned. You can repeat these steps again and again to quickly fight new room encounters.

3) Item Groups

Each item in the game belongs to a different "Item Group". These are exactly what they sound like: groups of various items. A given monster might have a 10% chance of dropping "anything from Item Group 1", so it's useful to look at the Item Groups instead of individual items.

Item Group 1

  • Available: B1-B9
  • Best floor to farm on: B6 (A random battle on B6 has a 59.7% chance of dropping any item from this group, and a 3.4% chance of dropping a specific item from this group)
  • Points per item: 3

Item list

  • Basic weapons
    • Long Sword
    • Short Sword
    • Anointed Mace
    • Anointed Flail
    • Staff
    • Dagger
  • Basic armor
    • Robes
    • Leather Armor
    • Chain Mail
    • Breast Plate
    • Plate Mail
    • Small Shield
    • Large Shield
    • Helm
  • Basic potions
    • Potion of Curing
    • Potion of Neutralizing

Note: These items don't drop on B10, so you won't be able to find them while farming there.

Item Group 2

  • Available: B2-B10
  • Best floor to farm on: B9 (A random battle on B9 has a 69.7% chance of dropping any item from this group, and a 4.3% chance of dropping a specific item from this group)
  • Points per item: 3

Item list

  • +1 weapons
    • Sword of Slicing
    • Blade of Biting
    • Mace of Pounding
    • Rod of Iron
    • Studly Staff
  • +1 armor (not helmets or gloves)
    • Padded Leather
    • Shiny Chain
    • Body Armor
    • Sturdy Plate
    • Iron Shield
  • Basic scrolls
    • Scroll of Sleep
    • Scroll of Pain
    • Scroll of Fire
  • -1 weapons
    • Sword of Swishes
    • Epee of Dismay
    • Mace of Misfortune

Item Group 3

  • Available: B5-B10
  • Best floor to farm on: B10 (A random battle on B10 has a 57.7% chance of dropping any item from this group, and a 3.2% chance of dropping a specific item from this group)
  • Points per item: 5

Item list

  • +2 weapons (not Dagger of Slicing)
    • Sword of Slashing
    • Epee of Excellence
    • Mace of Power
  • +2 armor (not shields or B-Plate of Boons)
    • Treated Leather
    • Elven Chain
    • 1st Class Plate
    • Iron Shield
  • Moderate potions and scrolls
    • Potion of Glass
    • Scroll of Agony
    • Scroll of Brightness
    • Scroll of Darkness
  • -1 armor
    • Rotten Leather
    • Corroded Chain
    • Broken B-Plate
    • Screwy Shield
  • Miscellaneous
    • Slayer of Dragons
    • Ring of Jewels
    • Gloves of Copper
    • Helm of Hardiness

Note: Even if it's technically possible to find one of these items on B5, it's only about a 5% chance. You definitely want to go all the way to B10 to farm these items: The odds of finding one of these items there is more than 2x the odds of finding them on any other floor!

Item Group 4

  • Available: B5-B10
  • Best floor to farm on: B10 (A random battle on B10 has a 20.0% chance of dropping any item from this group, and a 0.75% chance of dropping a specific item from this group)
  • Points per item: 5 (3 for the Rod of Flame)

Item list

  • Weapons with bonuses against specific monster types (not Slayer of Dragons)
    • Wereslayer
    • Masher of Mages
    • Mace of Snakes
  • +2 alignment-based armor
    • Neutral Plate
    • Chain of Evil
    • Shield of Evil
    • Helm of Evil
  • Rarest potions and scrolls
    • Potion of Healing
    • Scroll of Affliction
  • Rings (not Ring of Jewels, Ring of Healing, Ring of Dispelling, or Ring of Death)
    • Ring of Shielding
    • Ring of Rigidity
    • Ring of Suffocation
    • Ring of Movement
  • -2 weapons
    • Epee of Disaster
    • Morbid Mace
    • Bent Staff
  • -2 armor
    • Robe of Curses
    • Leather of Loss
    • Chain of Curses
    • B-Plate of Fiends
    • Helm of Hangovers
    • Shield of Nothing
  • Miscellaneous
    • Rod of Silence
    • Rod of Flame
    • Blade Cusinart
    • Dagger of Slicing
    • Dagger of Speed

Note: The Rod of Flame is worth fewer points because it's a guaranteed drop from the B4 miniboss. This is also the largest Item Group, and is a very rare drop on B5-B9, so you should focus on farming for these drops on B10.

Item Group 5

  • Available: B7-B10
  • Best floor to farm on: B10 (A random battle on B10 has a 2.3% chance of dropping any item from this group, and a 0.19% chance of dropping a specific item from this group)
  • Points per item: 10

Item list

  • +3 Evil weapons
    • Saber of Evil
    • Soul Slayer
  • +3 Evil armor
    • Armor of Evil
  • Weapons you can invoke for special effects
    • Dagger of Thieves
    • Muramasa Blade
    • Shuriken
  • Rarest armor
    • B-Plate of Boons
    • Armor of Heroes
    • Armor of Lords
    • Armor of Freon
    • Shield of Defense
    • Gloves of Silver

Note: As before, you can technically find these items on B7-B9, but it's a less than 0.1% chance of getting any of these items from those floors. Focus on farming these items on B10, where the odds are a huge 2.3% chance! Much of the set will likely be spent finding these items, so good luck!

Item Group 6

  • Available: B7-B10
  • Best floor to farm on: B10 (A random battle on B10 has a 0.27% chance of dropping any item from this group, and a 0.14% chance of dropping a specific item from this group)
  • Points per item: 50

Item list

  • Rarest rings
    • Ring of Healing
    • Ring of Dispelling

Note: The rarest items in the game. Only ten different monsters even have a chance of dropping them, and it's very low. You'll need a lot of patience and luck finding these. Also keep in mind, the rarest B10 monsters (in Monster Group 9) cannot drop these rings. Don't waste your time fighting those monsters.

Item Group 7

  • Available: B5-B8
  • Best floor to farm on: B7 (A random battle on B7 has a 0.28% chance of dropping the item from this group)
  • Points per item: 25

Item list

  • +2 Shield
    • Shield of Support

Note: The strangest random drop. You can't get this unless you're farming on floors B5-B8, which are poor places to farm for most other items in this game. Remember that only six monsters can drop the Shield of Support.

Boss Item Group

  • Available: B4 and B10
  • Best floor to farm on: N/A
  • Points per item: 10

Item list

  • B4 drop
    • Ring of Death
  • B10 drop
    • Werdna's Amulet

4) Monster Groups

Just like items, each monster in the game belongs to a different "Monster Group". All of the monsters in the same group have the same drop tables. You can mostly ignore Monster Groups 1-5, their drops rates are too low to be worth farming anything off of.

Also note that some monsters in the game look identical and have the same name, but belong to different Monster Groups (

Monster Group 1

  • Available:
    • B1 (Always)
    • B2 (Very common)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 1 (10% chance)

Monster list

  • Bubbly Slime
  • Orc
  • Kobold
  • Undead Kobold
  • Rogue
  • Bushwacker
  • Highwayman
  • Zombie
  • Creeping Crud
  • Gas Cloud

Monster Group 2

  • Available:
    • B2 (Common)
    • B3 (Common)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 1 (20% chance)
    • Item Group 2 (10% chance)

Monster list

  • Lvl 1 Mage
  • Lvl 1 Cleric
  • Lvl 1 Ninja
  • Lvl 3 Cleric
  • Lvl 3 Samurai
  • Vorpal Bunny
  • Capybara
  • Giant Toad
  • Coyote

Monster Group 3

  • Available:
    • B3 (Very common)
    • B4 (Very common)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 1 (30% chance)
    • Item Group 2 (15% chance)

Monster list

  • Lvl 3 Ninja
  • Cleric
  • Were Bear
  • Were Rat
  • Dragon Fly
  • Gas Dragon
  • Rotting Corpse
  • Ogre
  • Boring Beetle
  • Huge Spider (The kind that sometimes appears with Boring Beetles)

Monster Group 4

  • Available:
    • B4 (Uncommon)
    • B5 (Very common)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 1 (40% chance)
    • Item Group 2 (20% chance)

Monster list

  • Swordsman
  • Wizard
  • Minor Daimyo
  • Attack Dog
  • Werewolf
  • Gargoyle
  • Grave Mist
  • Shade
  • Dragon Puppy
  • Huge Spider (The kind that sometimes appears with Shades)

Monster Group 5

  • Available:
    • B5 (Uncommon)
    • B6 (Common)
    • B7 (Uncommon)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 1 (50% chance)
    • Item Group 2 (30% chance)
    • Item Group 3 (10% chance)

Monster list

  • Lvl 4 Thief
  • Lvl 5 Mage
  • Lvl 5 Cleric
  • Lvl 6 Ninja
  • Lvl 7 Mage (The kind that sometimes appears with Lvl 6 Ninjas)
  • Killer Wolf
  • Weretiger
  • Ogre
  • Boring Beetle
  • Huge Spider (A)

Monster Group 6

  • Available:
    • B5 (Very rare)
    • B6 (Uncommon)
    • B7 (Uncommon)
    • B8 (Common)
    • B9 (Common)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 1 (100% chance)
    • Item Group 2 (50% chance)
    • Item Group 3 (20% chance)

Monster list

  • Master Thief (The kind that sometimes appears with Lvl 6 Ninjas)
  • Master Thief (The kind that sometimes appears with Arch Mages)
  • Major Daimyo
  • Troll
  • Ogre Lord
  • Gaze Hound
  • Lifestealer

Monster Group 7

  • Available:
    • B5 (Very rare)
    • B6 (Very rare)
    • B7 (Uncommon)
    • B8 (Common)
    • B9 (Common)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 2 (75% chance)
    • Item Group 3 (25% chance)
    • Item Group 4 (10% chance)

Monster list

  • Lvl 7 Mage (The kind that sometimes appears with Wyverns)
  • Lvl 7 Thief
  • Lvl 8 Cleric
  • Lvl 8 Ninja
  • Lvl 10 Fighter
  • Earth Giant
  • Chimera
  • Lesser Demon
  • Wyvern
  • Nightstalker

Monster Group 8

  • Available:
    • B6 (Very rare)
    • B7 (Very rare)
    • B8 (Very rare)
    • B9 (Uncommon)
    • B10 (Very common)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 2 (100% chance)
    • Item Group 3 (50% chance)
    • Item Group 4 (15% chance)

Monster list

  • Lvl 8 Fighter
  • Lvl 8 Wizard
  • Lvl 10 Mage
  • Thief
  • Master Ninja
  • Fire Giant
  • Gorgon
  • Will o' Wisp
  • Bleeb

Monster Group 9

  • Available:
    • B7 (Very rare)
    • B8 (Very rare)
    • B9 (Very rare)
    • B10 (Common)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 3 (70% chance)
    • Item Group 4 (25% chance)
    • Item Group 5 or 6 (5% chance)

Monster list

  • High Cleric
  • High Wizard
  • Master Thief (The kind that sometimes appears with Lvl 8 Fighters)
  • Hatamoto
  • Frost Giant
  • Poison Giant
  • Fire Dragon
  • Dragon Zombie
  • Vampire
  • Greater Demon

Note: This is the only Monster Group that can drop the rare rings in Item Group 6. You'll be wanting to face these enemies as much as possible! I recommend running away from every B10 encounter that isn't one of these ten enemies until you get both rare rings from them.

Monster Group 10

  • Available:
    • B9 (Very rare)
    • B10 (Rare)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 3 (100% chance)
    • Item Group 4 (50% chance)
    • Item Group 5 (10% chance)

Monster list

  • Arch Mage (The kind that sometimes appears with High Wizards)
  • High Master
  • Raver Lord
  • Flack
  • Maelific

Note: Remember that, despite these enemies being rare and looking threatening, they cannot drop the Ring of Healing or the Ring of Dispelling items. Do not farm them for those two items! (But feel free to farm them for the other rare drops in Item Group 5)

Monster Group 11

  • Available:
    • B5 (Rare)
    • B6 (Uncommon)
    • B7 (Rare)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 1, or some of Item Group 2 (60% chance)
    • Item Group 3 or 7, or some of Item Group 2 (20% chance)

Monster list

  • Spirit
  • Giant Spider
  • Medusalizard

Note: These monsters have weird drop rates that don't align with the Item Groups. None of that matters - all that matters is these monsters have (low) odds of dropping the rare Shield of Support, so you should farm them if you have the chance.

Monster Group 12

  • Available:
    • B5 (Very rare)
    • B6 (Rare)
    • B7 (Uncommon)
    • B8 (Uncommon)
  • Drops:
    • Item Group 1, or some of Item Group 2 (30% chance)
    • Item Group 3 or 7, or some of Item Group 2 (30% chance)

Monster list

  • Champ Samurai
  • High Cleric
  • Arch Mage (The kind that sometimes appears with Champ Samurai)

Note: These monsters have weird drop rates that don't align with the Item Groups. None of that matters - all that matters is these monsters have the best odds of dropping the rare Shield of Support, so you should farm them if you have the chance.