Trap Map: Spy Hunt (with video link)
This is the trap map for “Spy Hunt”, an easy 3 k mission. The grid in the map below is as always the same grid you see when you press “M” inside of the mission. The traps are updated now (see comments). I included also the location of the 4 spawn points (small red “x”). At these points Zhuge Liang informs you that there are even more mobs inside this missions and spawns them afterwards. It is a good opportunity to heal up, trigger the cut scene and have a free turn afterwards.
| Name | Spy Hunt |
| Minimum level | 120 |
| Maximum number of participants | 3 |
| Size of a party | main + 3 |
| Time limit | 60 minutes |
| Total number of vehicles allowed | 1 |
| Entry fee | 6 M |
| Total upgrade cost | 23.5 M |
| Catapult cost | 5 M |
| Reward | 9 x Commander’s Loot (=90 Atlantica Gold Coins) |
| XP victory bonus | 390 M |
Updated 2012-04-27.
This is one of the easier mission. My alt Fritz, then level 120 (not upgraded), could do it quite easily, see video below.
A short overview:
1. Kill the two summon portals (I do the one in C8 first, but there is no special reason behind that).
2. Kill the first boss (in my case: Cai He, following after the destruction of the summon portal in K9).
3. After you have killed him you can retreat from the mission and re-enter (but only if there is a catapult safe and alive, and you will lose that when you re-enter). I don’t do that, as shown in the video – you get more loot if you fight your way back and you don’t lose your catapult. But while fighting back you can be reckless, because if you are killed it is even beneficial. You are saving yourself a part of the running back routine.
4. Kill the second boss.
5. Enjoy the boxes.
The masses of monsters may seem terrifying at first but with proper management they are not so evil. Pay attention to the traps, make the cannon monsters your first priority and you should be fine.
Video of one of my runs:
secretsofatlantica 
(T) before the south east boss is Net trap and the other 2 (T) are flame traps
Thanks, will update it on the next weekend.
The first trap at all is a flame trap.
Updated the map.
By the way: there are traps in the upper region (H11 and left and right) but I omitted them because nobody save curious people like me ever enter there…
just to note, I’m pretty sure the mobs on the mountains (the cannon mobs) either have higher “sight” or “range” (maybe both) so I can’t sneak past them by leaning on whichever cliff side is nearer to base on the roads like I usually do…
Just squadsoloed this for the first time with my Staff-Main + sethed Jani + Lady Knight + Cata. Also I have only around 1m might.
It was definitely no piece of cake *sweat*
But fyi, you *can* definitely avoid the cliff giants’ attacks but sticking to the opposite cliffside. The hardest part is the beginning where you have to destroy the right (or left) portal while the other one keeps summoning. After that it’s a pure concentration job. Don’t walk into the net traps and have resurrection scrolls because both bosses are accompanied by some giants which are rather hard to finish off while the boss is attacking all the time.
I won with only 10 minutes left but hey, 90 coins are 90 coins :)
I don’t think this mission is normally soloable by any non-staff 120.
Well, i managed to do it, but only with event +7 nix weapons and just barely. As soon as they are gone – i don’t think i could be able with my “normal”+4 nix weapons.
Fritz is at 114 now. I am waiting eagerly for him to get to 120 and to prove you wrong :)
But I should mention that my original estimate of the difficulty of this mission was before the summon portals were introduced.
The way I handle it with subpar gear is to simply take care of the summon portals first before going to clear the bosses. Head down a lane, destroy the summon portal and clean up the mobs that you’ve aggroed then just head down the other lane and destroy the remaining summon portal. You can continue to head down that lane and then after killing the boss, you can suicide and respawn at base to head down the remaining lane (obviously you’ll need to have a catapult left behind for this) for a faster clearing time if needed.
I just did this mission, though in solo mode and there weren’t any summon portals. :)
Did this mission when I hit 120. If you take summon portals and only then go to the bosses then its quite easy. Just a few notes:
1. There are some catapults on the cliffs, when I was destroying the first summon portal, they kept attacking me and I was like “wtf”, took like 8 turns to figure out whats happening :D
2. The boss is a gun, though it hit my cata over a “meat wall” of 3 mercs, cata was like 5 dots away, but one merc in front got hit and as well my cata 5 dots away got destroyed.
By the way, when I was doing the second boss, I was down to like 15mins and all of my buffs were already gone, except for BL and +20atk feast. So the bosses are quite easy.
“my cannon main and my sheriff do the same sethed (ok, with +10 evil weapons)” – man, how many dead presidents ($) spend for this game monthly???
Since I got the hang of TBS I spend nearly no money on IM. Let us say 35 Euro when there is an Atlas sale. All the rest (including blessing) I can get in-game (I use Momotaro if I cannot buy a blessing license).
Just beat this, same set up as in Shaman Returns except the Elementalist goes back to being a witch. Was a very easy mission – only mildly complicated part was near the start when a few mobs from one lane came after me while i was starting the siege of the first summon portal. Handled it though, and it was a breeze from then on out – Kill SP, go get other SP and continue down its lane, destroy cata shortly before boss and remake at base, kill boss, let group get wiped, clear other lane, win. Took quite a bit of time (had around 15-20 minutes left) but all in all wasn’t that difficult to do. I would go so far as to say that a 5 is rating this mission too difficult :)
i just did this after talking with you claudia, i’m an instruM and i did this at 122, my team was witch+ora+sheriff, the only trouble i found were the cannon mobs on the cliffs, the ones on the left side were easy to avoid but on the right side saw me no matter where i went :|
As a freshly dinged 120 staffM, I tried this for the first time today. First observation – the freshly spawned mobs do NOT sit around their portal! They wander to the OTHER portal and then sit around. This means that you until you get a portal down, you constantly have to deal with spawns from both directions, which was too much for my weenie 650k might.
My might is 1.3m – can’t finish it in time with +5 DG and +4 evil weps…
My might is 1.0m. I finish it with nix +0/+1 armor and nix +2/+3 weapons.
SpearM + Druid + Jani + Ora. Basically, a crapload of buffs on jani/cata = destruction. Seth + BS cata destroys cliff mobs and gates, then it’s really easy.
Also, when you clear first path, just before getting to boss, return cata to base. Then face boss, kill him with cata safe in base. Get all your mercs wiped. There’s no need to clear that way on the way back. Cata is safe so they can all die. Spawn at base and go to the next boss.
I purchased a +7 evil bow and some more +4 +5 evil weps. Still can’t do it – there are simply too many mobs. I can’t believe how can you do it with those gears…
Doesn’t matter any more, I decided to quit AO.
That is sad to hear, Pakke.
Is it possible to bomb the portals from the higher planes (or upper, you know, where the lurking cannoners are) and after come down and kill the remaining mobs?
yeah, i can solo it at staff main and wonder we candestroy cata through the mountain, sorry for bad english
Interesting idea. It should be possible. I will try it this weekend.
Guys, don’t underestimate this TBS, this is pretty hard. If you have no uber gear or very strong FB and meteors, you’ll get attacked from both side while you try to kill the first SP. And the backstabbin’ mob will kill your cata for sure, what means you’ll have to rebuild it = loosing precisious time. I say this is safe for a staff main after lvl 135.
about something that i already forgot: back there when this mission was interesting to me, it was a strategy to exit mission after first boos is killed and join again to avoid fighting the road back into the middle, this way you started again from your base and won few minutes of fights. (of course if you can 1 hit kill, that’s not interesting anymore for you because you will advancing fast and probably want to loot) but for people who have time dificulties, could be a good solution.
so, my question for which i forgot the answer is: when you rejoin, you have your previous upgrades or you will loose them?
Better strategy is to get cata back to base when you’re close to the first boss. Then kill boss, get wiped with cata safe in base, and just enjoy being spawned in the base.
Ivan, I just shared what i can remember from this mission, but when i wrote that comment i was more interested by the upgrades (which i suppose we still keep and i need it for another higher mission).
but please let me point out something:
* with your alternative you keep the cata, but main and merc need to wait 3-4 turns till they will be wiped and can ress. back at base. Also they will ress with minimal HP amount and no mana. But i suppose you rely on your cata and want it to keep it undestroyed
* from my point of view, (with an average PC) is faster to withdraw and join again, also with 1 water of life, all team are healthy and ready to go when you spawn at base. cata not really needed anymore because summon gates are already down (but if you need it you can build it again but not matter anymore, there are only few mobs left so …)
@withdraw oh wait, u can withdrawn in squad solo mode and rejoin again?
Are u serious?
YES I AM
Yen we can withdrawn in squadsolo…
I realized this when I got my internet disconnected while I was doing Reversal misson, but I have a friend on my squad (he didn’t join the mission)
In reversal, if u got disconnected or unfortunatelly ur boat were destroyed, it is he end. Everything will be as if we never started the mission, the bridges will be there but the poseidon statue is gone
I didn’t know if the upgrades will still be applied but when you get back in after withdrawn u cannot upgrade anymore ( In my case, I have finish 5th upgrade before withdrawn/dc)
If we withdraw from squad mission, will we spend more tbs point? or no point consumed at all?
till mission time is not consumed, you can join as many time you want and not consume any more points but the initial ones
I’m a lvl 120 SwordM my TBS merc are, sherif, vamipre and wiicth.. might arround 1M
do you think I can finish this TBS mission in solo mode (lets talk later about sqaud solo)?
my experience in TBS not so much
but I can finish TBS alishan 115 in squad solo mode quiet faster,,
do U think I can finish this one? and if you have ane tips for this mission it will really help me,
i am a lil bit afraid to go on this mission before collecting enough info because it will just like throw My TBS point away
Note: i’m on indonesia server
I hope PhoenixCalgary reads this comment – he is a sword main. I have no experience with that, so I cannot advise you (except revialling to cannon main, of course, but I am sure you don’t want to hear that one again).
you can finish it easily in solo mode, also because is like you going duo mode but less and weaker mobs, you bring there not just you sheriff, vampire and witch, but you bring there main +5 mercs, so very easy mission in solo mode (like every mission in solo mode)
i recommend solo mode especially for level 130 upgrade quest, where usually is difficult to find a partner, but in solo mode, you done in no-time.
127 saw main/122 jani/120 witch/123 Oracle.
Armor nix +2,other pieces +1. +2 nix on jani and +5 on main. RIngs+4 endurance on Staffs,+1 120 dextrity on jani,+1/+0 Necropolis on main
LVL 70 stance+70 Meteor,oracle/jani with charm II,main/witch with charm III
Total Atk 204%/def 130% (maybe less)
This run is the proof that strategy means a lot in tbs. Even with my not-so-good gear I achieved this quest,thanks to your trap map(actually I hadn’t defuse a single trap,but knowing where they were helped a lot) and to the “Portal1(notice and kill giant cannoneer)-(killing cannoneer first this time:P)Portal2-Boss2(avoid cannon)-Suicide with cata @ base-Boss1” strategy.
I must post some videos on youtube about my tbs runs,expecially alishan 120 and spy hunt,just to proove that saw main are good @ tbs,only thing needed is mediocre gear and STRATEGY.
About videos,how do you write on them:)?
K, I gotta know what gear does your mercs have on them. Especially on your sheriff, what gun is that? I did the run once with a gun main (before my fiance was anywhere near 120) and it took us a a half hour just to get to ONE summon portal. Never touched this mission again, as I was traumatized. Does this mission truly call for the witch (or sorceress–I have both, but both are still under 120; witch is closest at 114), or could I use a ball slinger (read: cannoneer or arty) in lieu of them? I’m pretty sure that my 2-gun that I roll with for Alishan missions won’t work in this one (doesn’t work in Flamethrower either), but if your 120 witch barely dents these mobs, pretty sure my 114 can’t do much better.
You see my gear in the video – at the start I scroll through all mercenaries who participate. My sheriff has +4 osg (equivalent to +4 nix). That is not bad but not overdone for a char in level 120 with countless TBS missions done. With seth my sheriff most often kills with one shot.
A second gunner would be better than a witch because a witch cannot kill mobs here, but she hurts them badly. I see no reason why your level 114 witch should do worse – if she has lvl 60 meteor strike.
Btw: I have downgraded the grade of difficulty of this mission from 5 (barely doable on minimum level) to 4 (ok, but you must be careful).
Am I severely undergeared for a 120? I tried this with:
117 Jani: +4 OSG, +2 divine, +5 Endurance Rings – Absolute shit, even with SS and Seth can’t kill mobs.
110 Witch: Charms, +3 div staff, full +2 divine set. – Around 50% of HP as Meteor damage.
120 StaffM – Charms, +7 freezing staff, +2 divine set, Car, Rocket Launcher, necklaces etc. Flame Blow is enough to kill, usually.
117 Oracle – Gear pretty much irrelevant, 60 seth & Heal.
At first I tried Ali 120. Witch is shit, Jani is shit. Main can nuke all trees, but each wave is spread out into 2&2, makes it impossible to nuke.
Having failed that on the way to 2nd spawn, I try Spy Hunt. Noone else does decent damage except main and Cata.
I can breeze through Ali 110 and 115 easily. Then BAM. You breeze through 120s on a musicM and a sheriff that wrecks all mobs like they’re nothing. What gives?
I didn’t really “breeze” through this mission but your difficulties are a bit weird. Your Jani (properly played, meaning, shooting stance at the right moments activated) should have it even a bit easier than my sheriff to kill mobs. Your witch should have a good hat (often underestimated) for additional intelligence. The more intelligence the more damage your meteor strike makes. You have a staff main which is a HUGE advantage compared with musician main – but of course you miss out the debuff of Ravaging Melody. *You* – not me – should breeze through the mission.
And you are not undergeared. Personally I would try to buy endurance rings+10 if already possible for you, btw. One on your janissary and one on your main would already help greatly.
You use blessing potions (or license), title and feast buffs, right?
yeah doing this mission, the first thing to remember before any gates destroyed is that the mobs will come for you, from the both side, so beware after 4 – 5 turn you passed there might be 2 mobs behind you when you try to destroy the first gate ( there always 2 mobs come for you before all gates destroy ). never leave a gate alive behind you or you will face an exteamly many of mob in the way you back to 2nd boss! ( 100 % for me that you will never cleared this wave )
i have experienced this case so dont makes foolls like I do.. :D
and don forget dont come near to the cannon mobs, give them a space 8-10 squares from your merc, or they will attack you,
i use main(staff), sheriff, oracle, and spartan, none of merc wearing extreamly high gears just 1-2 grade of nix, with the oracle still wearing 101 ind dungeon gears and +4 divine staff, except the sheriff who wear a +7 nix gun from the day coupon.
nevertheless to say that your strategy is the first, and the gears is the last
the strategy that i use is : go for the first gates at the c8 and defend your cattapult untill you destroy the 2nd gates in the k9 use the cattapult to destroy the cannon mobs in the side of cliff both of the groups on the each side if your cattapult still allive, then kill the 1st boss Cai He, then destroy the cattapult if still any, remember dont go to the mobs after you kill the boss before you build a new cattapult on your base! then you have to die ahahah i love to say that,,after respawned go for the 2nd bos kill them and enjoy your gc..\vic (the die part is the shortcut to avoid the after boss mobs) its better to kill all of them to sure that there is no mobs behind you for extra exp and drops..
Ps: oh for admin i just want to add some additional cut scenes and mob when you enter the boss room too deep,, i mean dont go far away to the boss room, or you will spawned a new group of monster behind you
thank CMIIW
I’ve run this twice in the following squad:
– level 120 cannon main (not upgraded yet, nix +0, nix cannon +3, +1 necropolis rings, fox, lea wings)
– 117/119 Sheriff (nix +0, nix gun +3, +5 endurance rings)
– 115 Shaman (dark night/frozen +2/+3, +10 charm, BoL and Brutal Will at 60)
– and.. my personal favourite… Tadam! The one and only level 103 Witch! In Dark Night +2, +2 Frozen staff, +3 int rings from the ID98, +10 charm.
The first time was a nightmare (as most first times are ^_^). I used like 15 ressurection scrolls, I bumped into every trap, I placed my nets wrong, lost 3 catapults and around a billion brain cells. A few times I had only one character left and barely alive to use a ress scroll. Nonetheless, I finished it with about 10 min left. Felt totally devastated though =)
Today I ran it for the 2nd time. Same gear, which is – as you see – faaaar from perfect. Still had 26 min left when I finished the mission. Went much-much smoother. And that’s with me still facechecking all the traps because – shame on me – I still can’t figure how to disarm them =) Used 1 ress scroll when I accidentially triggered the net trap at the boss.
My buffs were: +30% atk/5% def from feast, blessing licence, two +12% atk/def titles, +4% atk/def from the guild (yeah, I’m in a lowbie guild)… and our server’s always winning the tower fighting, if this adds some bonus too, I’m not sure.
So, this is perfectly doable, a couple times more and I’ll include this in my ‘farm’ list, right after 110/115 Ali and Black Depot.
Note: I’m playing the Russian localization of AO, but I don’t think missions are any different.
for someone above: you still have any completed upgrade when U leave and come back.
for other guys: seth the cata and hit the mobs in the hill ….. then meteo them if they are not dead ^_^
dont worry too much about the cata right next to the SP …. they will attack your Oracle first ‘heh so kill the mobs on the hill first is a better option IMO.
it will easier if u climb up the hill and use cata destroy summon gate, mob never catch u when u in the fill for sure 100%
I just reached lvl 120 and i tried this mission.This is not to easy if you don’t have a witch . .My formation was Lady knight(for tanking purposes), jani ,oracle + music main.
Cannon mobs on the cliff are a pain in the ass, a lot of mobs to kill , if u don’t kill 1 summon portal you will be doomed., and summon portal heals every turn
I managed to kill both summon portals and first boss…but failed because of time limit when last boss was 3 % hp.This mission is doable but with proper formation and gear..
Don’t force urselves to do this crap. One of the most annoying TBSs, there are many ones with far more fun, loot, exp….
yes now with alishan and mapahajit .. but till now it was only troy and 3k and this one was a great one compared to troy
I read all comment here, and noted nobody trying to split force in solo mode. I mean by splitting force is not about in two direction, but one force, My trusted Saw Main with +2 evil Saw, and witch using +1 DG staff in lower ground, and my Ora with +1 DG staff and Cannoneer with +10 nix cannon shadowing from above ground. It takes a much longer run to do, but there are more monster to kill, so more likely there are chance to have more loot. And the fun part is, that the upper ground force never died. Lol.
The key in this strategy is always keep the lower force closely to the cliff, so if anything happen, your oracle can revive them. As for the boss, you can lure him into the range of your cannoner. Do this for the opposite direction.
Ps. : Sorry for my bad english, i played in Atlantica Indonesia.
speaking about myself only, i always try to finish mission as soon is possible, not as long is possible, so i don’t see the meaning to kill all unnecessary mobs.
This has become a lot easier with Rin. Now you get two guns or cannons for the price of one. I have horrible might, never have a feast, and even worse gear. But I have one good gun on a Jan. At that plus Rin is all you need as a double tapped Janisary with Seth obliterates everything.
Cannonmain Lvl 133, +8 Evil Cannon, Rin, Oracle and Sheriff. Finished tis mission with 25mins to spare. V easy!