The chaos orbs are five artifacts that, along with their other properties, play a vital role in any victory the player wishes to achieve.
They are
- the Chaos Orb of Elemental Water
- the Chaos Orb of Elemental Fire
- the Chaos Orb of Elemental Air
- the Chaos Orb of Elemental Earth
- the Chaos Orb of Elemental Mana
Each orb is found in the possession of a powerful unique monster, in a special location which contains a chaotic altar guarded by chaos servants and monsters (typically) of the element corresponding to the orb.
Common properties of chaos orbs[]
- Each orb has a corresponding anomaly deep in the caverns of chaos, which the PC must throw the orb into (by 'u'sing the orb when standing on the anomaly) to restore the chaos orb to Balance. Doing so with all orbs opens the way to the final levels of the caverns.
- Each orb can be equipped in the tool slot of the PC's equipment to boost a particular stat by +10; Water increases Willpower, Fire increases Strength, Air increases Dexterity, Earth increases Toughness, and of course Mana increases Mana.
- Orbs are classified as tools, and each orb can be 'u'sed to generate a particular effect; however, corruption comes as a side effect of handling the chaos orbs in this way. Note that the amount of corruption caused is halved if the PC is wearing elemental gauntlets.
Orb | Effect when used | Corruption points added (no elemental gauntlets) |
Water | Full HP restoration | 600 |
Fire | Replicates the Fireball spell | 300 |
Air | Summons a tame air elemental | 500 |
Earth | Replicates the Earthquake spell | 300 |
Mana | Restores PP and grants a permanent increase of +3 to Mana | 5000 |
- Chaos orbs cannot be removed from the game by any means — deities will refuse to take them, and orbs left behind in wilderness areas or Infinite Dungeon levels will be returned to the PC's inventory when (s)he leaves the level. Additionally, they cannot be sold to shops. As of version 1.2.0[1] more obscure ways to make the game unwinnable by (mostly deliberately) losing the chaos orbs were fixed.