Improved ADOM Guidebook

Caverns of Chaos (CoC) in general and early levels

The Caverns of Chaos is the most important dungeon in ADOM, and one of two dungeons that are absolutely essential to visit in order to win the game, the other being the Tower of Eternal Flames (2.5). It is the home of the Chaos Gate, which is the source of all the corruption in Ancardia. The Cavern of Chaos is the second biggest dungeon in the game (behind the Infinite Dungeon – 2.2), at fifty levels plus side branches.

It has many special levels with guaranteed features. It is also the only dungeon in the game to have "sub-dungeons", that is, dungeons leading off from the main CoC to other special locations. Refer to the CoC navigation for an overview.

3.1.1 Early levels of the Caverns of Chaos

The early levels of the CoC should not be a problem for PCs that manage to make it this far. They are comparable in difficulty to the Village Dungeon or the Unremarkable Dungeon. It is never wise to become overconfident, however. Even these levels may contain lesser vaults, tension rooms and named artifact guardians. There may be a split in the early dungeon levels of the CoC. Two down staircases may be available. This is by no means guaranteed.

When two down staircases are found on D: 1 or D: 2, the level D: 2 (or D: 3) has a roughly 50% chance of containing a lesser vault. The level S: 2 (or S: 3) will never contain a vault. This suggests the S level may stand for 'S'afe or 'S'hortcut.

The main objective in the early part of the CoC is to find the Arena. More about the Arena level is found in the next section 3.2.

Updated February 23rd, 2020