Magikrab's Gauntlet

Magikrab's Gauntlet is a series of randomised combat encounters aboard one of the Mer-Line's interdimensional trains. It was added to the game on 20 November 2024 as part of Version 1.7.

The Gauntlet is unlocked after the player has defeated Aleph Null and completed Part 4 of Take Me On. To enter the Gauntlet, speak to Magikrab in Platform B of Night's Bridge Station. The side quest The Midnight Train starts after Magikrab introduces the Gauntlet to the player.

Overview

Magikrab's Gauntlet is an infinite battle mode where the aim is to go through as many carriages, or rooms, as possible, facing a series of battles that get progressively harder. Throughout the gauntlet, items are limited in use, though the player can encounter Cafe rest carriages where they can heal, switch tapes, or restock items. These rest carriages serve as checkpoints so that the player can resume from there in the future if they choose to leave the gauntlet to claim any unclaimed rewards or if they lose in battle, but the deeper the run, the more expensive the items get from Cafes.

In the gauntlet, battles will feature modifiers in the form of infinite-duration status effects that are present throughout a given battle. The upcoming enemy's level, type (regular encounter, miniboss, or boss), and modifiers are shown to the player.

Taking part in the gauntlet rewards a substantial amount of Fused Material which the player can claim at a Cafe, but quitting the game or losing in battle removes all earned Fused Material. The amount obtained depends on both the current run's streak, the carriage number, and the gauntlet's difficulty.

If the speedrun timer is enabled, the player can input a seed, which affects the carriages as well as the encounters in the gauntlet.

Streaks

Streaks keep track of the number of battles the player has won so far, and excludes Cafe carriages or carriages containing only ranger caches. Streaks end from losing or from exiting a run. This means that getting a high streak requires going through the game in one sitting, as leaving the gauntlet by any means will reset the streak back to zero. The game keeps track of the longest streak for a given difficulty.

It is unrelated to the farthest carriage reached by the player, and it is not necessary to begin at at the first carriage to start a streak.

Difficulties

The Gauntlet offers seven difficulty levels, which affect the starting difficulty of the run:

• Normal
• Hard
• Harder
• Even Harder
• BRUTAL
• Hardest
• Impossible

This difficulty affects the number of status effect modifiers, tape count, overspill, rest carriage frequency, and boss frequency.

As the player progresses through the gauntlet, the difficulty increases. This affects overspill being disabled, the number of tapes the enemies use, the enemy's ability to fuse, and the status effects present in battle. Higher difficulties also reward more Fused Material.

The difficulty does not affect the enemy levels or their AI smartness.

This section is incomplete. Feel free to add the missing information by editing it.

Status Effect Modifiers

Battles can have status effects be inflicted at the start of battle, and have an infinite duration. These status effects are displayed just before entering the next carriage. Any displayed debuff is applied to the player team, while any displayed buff is applied to the enemy team.

Applying an opposing buff gets rid of the infinite debuff counterpart, and applying an opposing debuff gets rid of the infinite buff. For instance, acquiring Multitarget via Echolocation can get rid of the user's infinite Unitarget and replaces it with a finite amount of Multitarget. These infinite statuses can also be removed by using New Leaf or using a Cure-All.

The following lists all possible infinite status effects that can occur in a carriage. The number of statuses applied scales with the difficulty of the run.

Player Debuffs		Enemy Buffs
	Accuracy Down		Accuracy Up
	AP Drain		AP Boost
	Burned		Contact Dmg Beast
	Conductive		Contact Dmg Glitter
	Confused		Deflated
	Evasion Down		Double Speed
	Evasion Nullified		Evasion Up
	Flammable		Gambit
	Fog		Ghostly
	Glass Bonds		Healing Leaf
	Leeched		Healing Steam
	Melee Attack Down		Inflated
	Melee Defence Down		Locked On
	Poisoned		Melee Attack Up
	Ranged Attack Down		Melee Defence Up
	Ranged Defence Down		Mind-Meld
	Shrapnel		Multistrike
	Snowed In		Multitarget
	Speed Down		Ranged Attack Up
	Tape Jam		Ranged Defence Up
	Unitarget		Speed Up
	Window

Summary

This section is a work in progress. It should be improved in the near future, but you are still free to edit it.

Difficulty	Café	Boss	Rewards	Other effects
Normal	Every 5th carriage (starting with #1)	Every 10th carriage (starting with #10)	Per combat carriage: ×Streak ×Number of defeated bosses	Overspill enabled
Hard	Every 7th carriage (starting with #1)	Every 10th carriage (starting with #10)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 2	Overspill disabled NPC enemies can fuse All tapes have Machine Curse 1 infinite (de)buff +1 infinite (de)buff against minibosses This list may be incomplete.
Harder	Every 9th carriage (starting with #1)	Every 9th carriage (starting with #9)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 3	Overspill disabled NPC enemies can fuse All tapes have Machine Curse 2 infinite (de)buffs +1 infinite (de)buff against minibosses This list may be incomplete.
Even Harder	Every 11th carriage (starting with #1)	Every 9th carriage (starting with #9)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 4	Overspill disabled NPC enemies can fuse All tapes have Machine Curse 3 infinite (de)buffs +1 infinite (de)buff against minibosses This list may be incomplete.
BRUTAL	Every 13th carriage (starting with #1)	Every 8th carriage (starting with #8)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 5	Overspill disabled NPC enemies can fuse All tapes have Machine Curse This list may be incomplete.
Hardest	Every 15th carriage (starting with #1)	Every 8th carriage (starting with #8)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 6	Overspill disabled NPC enemies can fuse All tapes have Machine Curse This list may be incomplete.
Impossible	Every 17th carriage (starting with #1)	Every 7th carriage (starting with #7)	Per combat carriage: Same as Normal, but times 7	Overspill disabled NPC enemies can fuse All tapes have Machine Curse This list may be incomplete.

Encounters

This section is incomplete. Feel free to add the missing information by editing it.

References

Locations

New Wirral Harbourtown • Harbourtown Beach • Harbourtown Outskirts • Upper Path • New Wirral Park The Deadlands • New London • Dino Quarry • Southern Isles • Autumn Hill • Mourningtown Eastham Woods • Mire Sea • Lakeside • Ham • Thirstaton Lake • Cherry Meadow • The Marshes • Marshland Caves Piper Farm • Lost Hearts Graveyard • Cast Iron Shore • The Titania Shipwreck • Mt. Wirral • Brokenhead Harbourtown Gramophone Café • Town Hall • Harbourtown Hospital • Sticker Merchants • Chemists' Store Heritage Centre Mer-Line Stations Harbourtown Station • Glowcester Road Station • Mournington Crescent Station • Falldown Mall Waterloop Station • Cherry Cross Station • Landkeeper HQ • Aldgrave Tomb Station Bard Street Station • Icelington Station • Night's Bridge Station • Power Station Others Dead World • Magikrab's Gauntlet Pier of the Unknown Brightside Pier • The Witch House • Cosmic Zone • Funworld