Malmur’s Guide to Tower of the Frozen Shadow

Foreword: The Tower of the Frozen Shadow (ToFS) is one of the most unique EQ zones. It was designed for small groups from their 20s to 50s to ascend. The best way to play this zone is with a partner or a few friends as it is a long haul getting to the top. The tower requires a key to access each floor from a ‘key mob’ that is generated in a few different ways depending on which floor you are on.

It cannot be understated that ToFS is a dangerous place due to escaping being difficult when you find yourself in trouble. Keys are *not* soul bound, meaning if you want to retrieve your corpse it will need either summoned or you will need to follow a keyholder back to it. Thankfully, the keys are not No Rent.

The tower has a mix of living and undead creatures. It has a few that see invis as well.

In the end of your journey, you can battle Tserrina Syl’Tor. She drops ‘Tserrina’s Key’ which will transport an entire group to the Mirror Room on the 7th floor. However, it is *not* as master key – you still need the other keys to use the mirror shortcuts.

Ensure you stock up on food, water, and spell components before you go up. It can take days to make it to the top. Necromancers have a rare advantage in ToFS as it is one of two zones in Velious (the other being Velkator’s Labyrinth) to have undead to charm.

ToFS is wonderful for its lore. All of the torn paintings, statues, and murals of Mayong Mistmoore show Tserrina’s displeasure with him for abandoning her.

FashionQuest Tip: The Crystallized Shadow Armor set drops here. Some folks like to outfit their bankers/mules with the all black armor set that only drops in ToFS. Most mobs can drop these pieces, but the named ones tend to drop them more.

Protip: A high level Necromancer can usually be found there. It isn’t a bad idea to have an Essence Emerald banked and to ask a Necromancer to resurrect you.

Traveling in general: The tower is transversed in two ways – by the mirror on each floor (where you can take a group with a single key) or via the ‘Mirror Room’ where a group can be brought up with a single key (Tserrina’s Key), but groups can’t use a single key to access one of the ‘short cuts’ to other floors.

Ensure you do *not* try to drag a pet to the next floor unless you want to summon a massive train. Easiest method is to have pet GUARD before you click the mirrror, then use SUMMON COMPANION after you pass through. (Note: For Necromancers, Shadowknights – you can bring your pet up if you FD in front of the mirror and click on the mirror while FDed) Do not train mobs upward via the mirrors, as they will follow you.

The Mirror Room: Tserrina’s Key will bring a single group or individual to the top of the tower to a safe room known as The Mirror Room. Facing the mirrors, from left to right the mirrors will take you to Iceclad Ocean, 2nd floor, 3rd floor, 4th floor, 5th floor, and 6th floor. If you wish to access the 7th floor, you will need the 7th floor key (Large Metal Key).

Keys:

2nd Floor: Crystal Key

3rd Floor: Three Toothed Key

4th Floor: Frosty Key

5th Floor: Small Rusty Key

6th Floor: Bone Finger Key

7th Floor: Large Metal Key

1st Floor (Levels 28-32)

The first floor is occupied largely by undead in skeleton, spectre, and gnoll form. Levitate is your friend on this floor due to its slippery nature. If you fall into the pit in the center, you can hop right out. Slaughter everything on this floor as anything can spawn a large undead gnoll. He will spawn directly on top of a random mob. He drops the Crystal Key to the 2nd floor. I have seen him take anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours to spawn in clearings.

A named gnoll Xalgoti spawns on this floor, but doesn’t have any unique loot aside from amour pieces for the broken Spirit Aid quest. You will find this is a reoccurring theme on ToFS, showing the zone was not completed by the original launch in 2001.

2nd Floor (Levels 30-35)

The second floor is entirely undead casters. It is easy to train these mobs if you are not careful. Forms of lulling and pacifying are priceless here. Root should always be ready in case of emergencies. If all else fails, hidden behind a bookcase in the northwest corner is a mirror that will allow you to escape to Iceclad Ocean.

Any mob can spawn the an angry librarian. He carries two of the best items in the tower – Student's Homework and Teacher's Syllabus are two nice range items. The former is a great MR item. From the engaged librarian you will get the Three Toothed Key to the next floor.

There is a named dwarf ghost Zorglim the Dead. His armor drops are for the broken Spirit Aid quest. He can spawn from anything on second floor.

3rd Floor (Levels 30-43)

By far the most unremarkable floor is the third floor. It is mostly undead with some living armor suits pathing in hallways. There is an escape mirror in the bedroom to the outside. Your key mob on this floor is the an enraged shadow beast. He can drop a ring and a unique scythe (FashionQuest or cold resist item). He drops the frosty key to the next floor.

An angry chef is a named mob on this floor. She drops armor pieces for the broken Spirit Aid quest.

4th Floor (Levels 35+)

The 4th floor is perhaps my favorite floor – known at ‘The Crypt’. It is a maze of undead, oozes, and shadowmen. This floor is a blessing and a bane as it has some great drops, but will kill a character if they are not careful.

The moment you click up to this floor expect to fight at list two mid-30s mummies. To your right there is a door you can use the frosty key on to get to a mirror and escape.

The trick to this floor is to be patient clearing. Root rotting helps a lot here. Pay attention to the map and avoid the pits. If you fall in a put, you end up in a room with a torch. Just click the torch and you are back at the beginning of the maze. Always assume there is something around every corner.

The generation of the key mob is very unique. Any mob on the floor can become the (only) zombie Amontehepna. You normally can hear him casting to buff himself long before you see him. Meleeing him is a painful endeavor as he has one of the most annoying stuns in game as it makes you spin. If you hit sit or duck while spinning the stun will not end, but the spinning will halt. He hits harder than you’d think and should not be recklessly approached. He can drop a nice no drop cleric item and a nice little resist necklace. Killing him spawns the key mob Cara Omica at the end of the maze.

You will find her sitting in a coffin. Stay back from her and she won’t attack. Do not sit in the coffin room as it will agro her. Her fight is not remarkable, but she is underconned and has that same spin stun. With her and Amontehepna I prefer to root them, dot them, and duck behind something to avoid their ability to cast on me. She drops the Sorcerous Bowl, a boring knife, and a 1k knife that summons bandages. If she has the bowl, you will see her holding it. These are some of the tower’s best drops. She will also give you the Small Rusty Key for the next floor.

There are a couple named mobs on this floor – the maggot infested flesh that drops some unremarkable items and the named suit of armor Narmak Berreka who drops a cool MR shield for shadowknights and an unremarkable tome.

5th Floor (Levels 32-46)

This floor is one of the smallest and one of the best camping spots in the tower. This floor has the easiest escape right at the floor’s entrance as the mirror will take you outside. Remember this, as things can go bad very quickly on this floor.

Beware, the golems in the hall see invis. However, the halls have no pathing mobs until you meet a single one by the mirror to 6a.

There are a few named mobs here, but the only ones of significance are Nosja and his bride Daman. Nosja drops an impressive ring and Daman a slightly less impressive one with a nice veil. None of the other mobs drop anything significant. The key mob an enraged relative can spawn from anybody on this floor, and at 45-46 the mob is not a push over. He drops some unremarkable resistance armor and the bone finger key to 6A.

The Head Usher and Priest Majes Medory drop nothing unique.

6th Floor (Levels 45+)

This floor is divided into 6A and 6B. The first half of the floor is 6A while the part beyond the keyless mirror is 6B. Remember, there is no way to go from 6B back to 6A. 6A has an escape mirror in the northwest corner in the spectre room. There is an escape mirror in 6B under the ramp in the ‘water room’.

Two things to immediately know about this floor – one, there are traps. Do not fool around on this floor. A trap will harm or kill you easily as it hits you with a strong DD. You can avoid the trap between the two spectre rooms by ducking and hugging the wall at the ‘T’ intersection. However, the trap in the eastern hallway toward 6B is unavoidable. There is also a trap in the northwest spectre room near the dragon statue. Do not move around with low health on this floor. This is one of the few places rogues can use their trap disarming ability. Two, you can invis to undead through the floor. You won’t find any living on it.

I cannot stress enough this floor despises you and has broken many people used to long camps for rare items. I suspect it was never truly completed as your only named mob is the Incoherent Spirit/Lucid Spirit of Abrams for a Kael quest.

Your key mob is similar to the 4th floor. You trigger it by killing spectres until a ‘unique’ spectre pops. You will know it as it is the only one with a pet (skeleton) and looks like an ‘old world’ spectre in all black instead of having the while outline Velious spectres do. I’ve seen it take a couple days of killing the spectres in the two spectre rooms and the end of the west hallway to make that damned thing spawn. Some folks get lucky. Don’t let it break you.

Once you slay the unique spectre, the key mob VhalSera. He is a named djinn that can be found either in the water room behind the 6B portal or in the first room up the ramp. He can charm, but can be fear kited around water room. I recommend using low level fear to ensure he won’t run up camp deeper into the floor. I have seen some folks root rot him and duck behind the ramp where he can’t cast on them.

VhalSera has the only real drops on the floor – an okay earring and an unremarkable no drop talisman. Killing him gets you the large metal key. Now that you have that, you can access floor 7 either through the statue in 6B or via the mirror room. The mirror room is your safest route if somebody with Tserrina’s key bring you to mirror room.

7th Floor (Levels 46+)

Welcome to the top. There are a few traps on this floor. Be ready to drag a friend if their invis breaks or they take a trap and get swarmed. Sadly, the mobs are pretty crowded. However, you can invis around the floor as the only mob that can see invis is the bat that will become Tserrina Syl'Tor herself!

You have two camping options here. The mirror room is a safe place to hang out and med. Tserrina’s hall is very safe as well as there are no wandering mobs in the hallway. Beware of the trap at the very end of Tserrina’s hall.

Tserrina is your only named mob here. She is one of the best small group fights in game with her ability to charm and how tough she can be. The trick is being prepared for her.

The entire tower has a 30 minute respawn timer. Tserrina’s hall is closer to an hour. There are 4 chances to spawn her – 4 room each with a bat. After killing each bat it spawns either a vampire or Tserrina. The trick to knowing which one is Tserrina is using invis. Tserrina’s bat *always* sees invis. Regular vampires all don’t see invis.

Now, do be careful entering the hall. It is behind a mural of the draco lich, but use this wall to your advantage. You can sit in it and mobs on both sides can’t see you. Sometimes Tserrina kills a group and is left up… She never will despawn. She will wait for her next target. Sometimes she even has somebody’s pet she stole from them! Be careful.

Tserrina needs at least a strong 60 duo to kill her. A healer is great. She cannot be stunned, but she can be rooted. I try to root her pet (if she has one), drag her away from it, sick my pet on her, and root her. I can hit her with DoTs and duck into rooms between dots, DDs, and pet heals. Soloing her is usually a poor decision with her charm. Once she charms your pet, it is hers forever. The only advantage is rooting the pet and getting her away from it now ends her threat of charming you, your party members, or their pets.

She drops some nice items. The necklace is alright, the weapons aren’t half bad, the robe is wonderful and unique. I have received 1 Tserrina's Robe out of 50 kills on average.