d. Charms
Originally, the Mousehunt trap process consisted of three parts: the trap, the base and the cheese. The various stats- power, attraction and luck- helped decide whether or not you attracted a mouse, whether or not you caught it, and what loot it dropped, if any.
Now there is a fourth component- trap charms. These little doodads are attached to your trap to do various things, whether its to increase the chance of catching a mouse, altering the drop rates or loot, or other nifty alterations to your hunting! This section of the guide will attempt to explain what the charms are, and what they do. However, given that the charms are a fairly new addition to Mousehunt, I won’t be able to offer recommendations of any kind. It will likely be a couple of months before we really know which charms are worth it and which ones are not.
Moustachio the Charmer, Charms & You
So you want to try these charms out, right? The logical question, then, is where does one start? Well, the best place to start is at the beginning, and charms begin when you reach the rank of Journeyman and can visit Moustachio the Charmer in the Mountains of Gnawnia at his Charm Shoppe.
Charms are consumable items that you can attach to your trap. They can be obtained in a number of ways:
- Purchase them from Moustachio’s shop
- Craft them
- Purchase them from other hunters in the Marketplace
Moustachio only sells the most basic charms in his shop; the more useful ones are all crafted.
Conduits
In order to attach them to your trap you will need to purchase a conduit; conduits do not get used up after each hunt, so you will only ever need one of them. However, reading the description of the Pine Charm Conduit (which is sold in the charm shoppe) reveals this this is a “level 1″ conduit. This means that, sooner or later, you’ll have to upgrade your conduit in order to use certain charms. Currently the pine conduit is the only conduit that exists, and all current charms are usable with the pine conduit. Presumably the nicer charms will require us to make a better conduit, but we are not entirely sure when that will happen or what it will entail.
For now, the important thing is to buy that Pine Charm Conduit. Congratulations, you may now attach charms to your trap! But in order to attach them, you have to get them first. To do that, you’ll need supplies, which are conveniently sold right here in Moustachio’s shop!
Charmbits and Orbs
A charm is comprised of two parts: charmbits, which are the juice that make the charm go, and orbs, which hold all of the ingredients together. Charmbits are the main ingredient- think of them as the equivalent of Curds & Whey when crafting cheese. You’ll need anywhere from 1 to over 100 charmbits per charm that you craft. They cost 25 gold apiece and are sold by Moustachio.
Orbs, on the other hand, are a little harder to come by. They’re dropped by all kinds of different mice throughout the kingdom. There are four grades of orb: Flawed, Simple, Flawless and Divine, and the level of orb that the mouse drops corresponds with what kind of mouse it is. The easier, more common mice drop flawed & simple orbs, while the more uncommon mice drop the flawless and divine orbs.
The actual list of what mice drop each orb is sure to be overwhelmingly long, so I won’t list it here. However, check the respective pages of each charm on the wiki; while there’s no information there yet, I’m sure they’ll eventually list it. In the mean time, check the forums, where lists are quickly being built.
Once you have your orbs and your charmbits, it’s time to get to crafting! From here, I’m going to list out all of the charms, along with the recipe, stats, and a brief description of what it does. Go find yourself some orbs and you can get to crafting!
Collecting Orbs
Before we get into the information on the charms, I wanted to quickly mention this. There are specific areas that seem to be the best places to collect certain kinds of orbs.
- Flawed Orbs- the Windmill; three of the windmill mice drop orbs
- Simple Orbs- the Mountain; using prospector charms (explained below), they should come quite quickly
- Flawless Orbs- the Bazaar; equip your brie and hunt burglars, and then use the gilded you receive to hunt Master Burglars. Both drop flawless orbs
- Divine Orbs- the Pinnacle Chamber; Dojo Senseis drop them 3 at a time
Simple Charms
These four charms are “basic” charms- they’re purchased from Moustachio and don’t really do a whole lot. They’re a great place to start!
First Ever Charm
Cost: 50
Effect: 40 power; consumed upon encountering a mouse
This charm was only sold for the first week that charms were around, so even if they weren’t particularly useful, collectors grabbed them while they could! Not much to say about this charm- there are better ones. Get it for the sake of having one, really.
Power Charm
Cost: 200
Effect: 120 power, 1% power bonus; consumed upon encountering a mouse
The name says it all- for a solid power boost, equip this charm. That 1% bonus is somewhat beneficial on a higher-powered trap, although in the end the total bonus is likely no more than 200.
Attraction Charm
Cost: 300
Effect: 5% attraction bonus; consumed upon encountering a mouse
Of the initial charms, this one looks the most appealing to me. It should prove very useful in the Seasonal Garden where attraction is crucial, or in a place like Derr where the cheese attraction isn’t always the best. We’ll see if it proves to be worth the 300 gold, though.
Luck Charm
Cost: 400
Effect: 1 luck; consumed upon encountering a mouse
With luck helping both catch rate and loot drops, this provides a nifty bonus to any trap. It will also likely prove invaluable in studying the effects of luck- just how much of a difference does one luck make? Hopefully we will know the answer sooner rather than later!
Crafted Charms
Here’s where things get fun! Grab your orbs, your charmbits and whatever leftover loot you’ve got- it’s time to make charms!
Ultimate Luck Charm
Cost: -0-
Effect: 20 luck; consumed upon encountering a mouse
20 luck? Talk about an impressive boost to your trap! Everyone who collected a Ronza Voucher from Squeaker Claws got 20 of these for free from Ronza. I’d hold on to them for now unless you intend to chase after either a really rare loot or a really difficult mouse- we may never get these charms again, and they’re worth quite a bit!
I put this on the crafted list, but really we’re not sure if it will ever be craftable. As powerful of a luck boost as it gives, they may only be released on special occasions.
Rotten Charm
Recipe: 1 Stale Cheese, 1 Flawed Orb, 12 Charmbits
Effect: 160 power, 1% power bonus, & increases the odds of staling cheese; consumed upon missing a mouse or staling your cheese
The most basic of crafted charms, with the most basic of stat bonuses. The total cost is 300 gold, when considering the cost of charm bits. Plus it uses up stale cheese. The verdict? Use the power charms- you lose a whopping 40 power, for a huge saving in cost.
Super Rotten Charm
Recipe: 1 Stale SB+, 1 Flawed Orb, 12 Charmbits
Effect: 200 power, 2% power bonus, & increases the odds of staling cheese; consumed upon missing a mouse or staling your cheese
The recipe for this charm is a step up from the rotten charm, but the effects are hardly any different. A little more power, a slight nudge in power bonus, in exchange for stale SB+ which is hard to come across. Currently there’s no other use for stale SB+, but I’m pulling for a more useful charm to come along in the future. If no such charm emerges, then feel free to make it- it’s certainly better than the power charm!
Prospector’s Charm
Cost: 450 gold -or-
Recipe: 1 Meteorite Piece, 1 Simple Orb, 16 Charmbits
Effect: 200 power, 1% power bonus, & increases the attraction rate of gold, diamond and silvertail mice on the Mountain; consumed upon encountering a mouse
This charm can be either crafted or purchased. At 450 gold apiece, it’s already a good competitor to the power charm, and the added effect is… intriguing. This makes an excellent charm to start out with, for one purpose: collecting orbs. Between the gold and diamond mouse, which both drop orbs, you can bring in orbs at an accelerated rate. And then of course there’s the simple fact that it gives a pretty nice bonus anywhere.
I’m not sure why you’d craft it, though- it’s the same cost, and you have to use a meteorite piece, which you can’t get until you’ve most likely left the mountain, anyway.
Antiskele Charm
Recipe: 1 Radioactive Sludge, 1 Simple Orb, 36 Charmbits
Effect: Keeps all skeleton mice away from your trap; consumed upon encountering a mouse
This is a really useful charm when you’re collecting scrap metal in the catacombs, as the skeleton mouse is far and away the most abundant mouse in the catacombs; you’ll seriously increase the odds of seeing scavengers and terror knights. Not to mention the point and gold totals will get a big boost.
The catch, of course, is that you need a lot of radioactive sludge to make good use of the charm; sludge you could be using to make limelight and get the dirt dwellers. It’s a crossroads, that’s for sure.
Scientist’s Charm
Recipe: 1 Living Shard, 1 Flawless Orb, 4 Charmbits
Effect: 100 power, & increases the attraction of potion-dropping mice in the Laboratory, as well as increasing the # of potions dropped
This is an expensive charm, considering that living shards are 1200 apiece and that you need a flawless orb to make it. However, the return you get is quite impressive. Increasing the odds of potion-dropping mice and increasing the number of potions dropped means that you’ll be able to get in and get out of the laboratory that much faster. It’s expensive, but may be worth it for people who are sick of hunting in the lab for RB potions.
Empowered Anchoring Charm
Recipe: 1 Scrap Metal, 1 Flawless Orb, 40 Charmbits
Effect: 300 power, 4% power bonus, & prevents the hunter from being washed out of Balack’s Cove by the Riptide Mouse; consumed upon encountering a mouse
This is a monster charm. A bunch of power makes this an excellent charm wherever you hunt, but that secondary effect of keeping you in the cove doesn’t hurt, either! Of course, once again the effects come at a price- a piece of scrap metal. Scrap metal doesn’t come easily, and most people spent all of their scrap metal on the Molten Shrapnel Base. However, for those people who don’t intend to ever make the Molten Shrapnel Base or have made it and have scrap metal left over, this is a great charm that will give any trap a nice boost.
Dragonbane Charm
Recipe: 1 Frozen Scroll, 1 Divine Orb, 120 Charmbits
Effect: Increases your catch rate against dragons; consumed upon encountering a dragon mouse
Of all charms released, this one has me the most excited. Dragons are a pain in the neck to catch, but they’re also incredibly valuable. Increasing your catch rate against the dragons can only make hunting for them even more exciting. Throw in the fact that they’re only used when you encounter a mouse so that you don’t waste them, and this is an excellent charm and a great way to use up all of your frozen scrolls.
Freshness Charm
Recipe: Unknown
Effect: Will keep cheese fresh as long as possible
What “as fresh as possible” means, we can’t be sure of. Will it make your trap “Uber Fresh”, or will you not be able to stale at all while using it? We’ll have to wait and see!
Super Luck Charm
Recipe: Unknown
Effect: 3 Luck
If one luck is good, three must be better! No word on how to get this charm yet, but keep an eye out for them!
Forgotten Charm
Recipe: Unknown
Effect: Unknown!
This charm has no description attached to it, so we know nothing about it yet. Intriguing…
Using Charms
Something that has undoubtedly caught your attention about the list of charms is that, for the most part, they’re not all that helpful. Most charms fall into the category of “Not worth the effort.” So what is a hunter to do? You’ll be collecting orbs, and I’m sure most people want to make use of those orbs and make charms. What happens when you’ve made a bunch of them but don’t need them?
Well, the answer’s simple enough- sell them! Head to the marketplace and put them up for sale. You could also just sell the orbs before you make them into charms at all. Charms and orbs that you have no use for may be very useful to other hunters, and you can make a fair profit selling them on the market to hunters that might need the charms more than you do.
And that’s all for Charm Pack #1! Stay tuned for Pack #2, and I’ll be sure to update this page when that update comes.
