c. Whisker Woods
Welcome to the other path of the game of MouseHunt. This is a divergent path from the typical mountains-burroughs path, the guide for which can be found on the corresponding page. I recommend you read it, because you’ll want to traverse both areas at some point!
Quick Recap
Very quickly for those who did not read the prior part of the guide, here’s where we are at right now:
- You should hopefully have the Swiss Army Mouse Trap.
- You should be using the explosive base. If you don’t have it yet, that’s fine- make it a point to get one, though.
- You should be using Swiss cheese. If you are using something different, make the switch now.
- In the harbour, you caught a Granite mouse with the calm clearing map- without it, you can’t come here!
JOURNEYMAN AND WHISKER WOODS
So you’ve decided to leave the beaten path and trek bravely into another region. You’re going to see a ton of new mice and it’s a lot of fun there. Whisker Woods is very colorful and has a lot of cool mice. First, let’s head to the Calm Clearing.
Calm Clearing
The mice here are radically different, and I for one thought it was quite fun to catch them all (If you didn’t get that the first two times I pointed it out)! If you’ve been to the mountain already, it’s essentially a mirror image; the mice are worth about the same points and gold as all of the mountain mice are. Drop your bags, stay a while, and enjoy the change. While you’re relaxing, you’re looking for two things:
The treant mouse drops splintered wood, which is useful for crafting a new base very shortly.- The most powerful mouse in the area, the Cyclops Mouse, drops the next map. Now, if you’re using the Swiss Army, this is going to be a bit tricky. The cyclops is rare and it’s very difficult to catch. It’s like looking for the ninja mouse at the mountain; you may miss a few before you get it. However, like the ninja mouse, it will come eventually! When you DO catch it, it should (hopefully) drop the next map piece: the Gnarled Tree map piece.
When it does, well… you’re done, really. There’s not much to this new area. Good luck finding the foxy and eagle owl mouse; they’re really rare and they’re also pretty powerful. Thankfully, they’re found in this next area, too- don’t sweat it if you aren’t able to get them.
However, if you’re interested in seeking one of the rarer mice, check out the page in the side quests section about collecting rare mice to read about the Cherry Mouse.
As was true at the mountains, this next area is only for masters and above, so you may have some extra time on your hands while you wait for the next rank. While you’re waiting, it might not be a bad idea to go get that map off a ninja mouse from the mountain if you haven’t done so already. When you do finally get to master, get ready to enter the darker portion of the forest, towards the Great Gnarled Tree.
MASTER
Congratulations on the promotion! If you’ve gotten the map from the ninja, you can head over to the Burroughs now if you like. Or if you prefer, you can stay here and move forward.
One thing: if you were able to get 4 pieces of splintered wood, either from Ronza during one of her stops, from the Dwarf Mouse on the Mountain, or from the Treant in the Calm Clearing, you can craft a new base, the Dehydration Base. To do this, you need:
4 Splintered Wood- 213 salt (purchased from the general store in the Harbour)
- 1 Dehydration Base Blueprints (also purchased from the Harbour general store)
If you have any confusions about how to craft, consult the MH Kitchen for help.
If you are unable to craft it, don’t worry- you can get it later on.
To the Great Gnarled Tree
Now, you may notice that there’s a ??? on the trap. That’s because we want to go to the trapsmith now and buy the next trap before we continue. The trap available from the trapsmith is a curious one: the Venus Mouse Trap. 
Now, you’re probably gawking at the price tag, aren’t you: 300,000 gold?! Most likely you don’t HAVE 300,000 gold. Is that really necessary? And more important, HOW are you going to get that money?
Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to this question. It requires nearly 500,000 points, and most 0-10% masters couldn’t buy the trap even if they wanted to. And here’s the thing- there are a LOT of tactical mice in the Great Gnarled tree, and most of them are a bit too tough for your Swiss Army Mouse Trap. You can try to hunt here using it, if you want. However, be prepared to see a lot of Eagle Owl mice swooping in and stealing a few thousand every time they visit.
So what do you do, instead?
Well… you leave. Go off to the Laboratory, the Town of Digby, and the Mousoleum. When you do finally collect the points and gold, you can come back here, purchase the Venus Mouse Trap, and hunt here. The problem with this strategy is that in the process of trying to make 300,000, the right answer may be to go to the mousoleum; that costs 140,000 gold. Radioactive Blue? Another 150,000 or so. By the time you get back to the Great Gnarled Tree with the money you need, you’ll be nearly done with the rank of Master, anyway!
So, look at it from this point of view: you’re basically going to skip the Great Gnarled Tree for a while, and come back as a grandmaster (or near Grandmaster, anyway). By that time you’ll have the money to buy the VMT, you’ll need it for Furoma, too. By that point you’ll have enough points that you’ll be able to upgrade the Venus Mouse Trap into a better-still trap, the Mutated Venus Mouse Trap. It will be useful in both Furoma and in Whisker Woods; a win-win situation.
If you did purchase the NVMRC, feel free to stay in the Great Gnarled Tree- you’d be better off going to the Burroughs, but the NVMRC is powerful enough to do quite well; well enough that you won’t get frustrated like you would using the Swiss Army Mouse Trap.
As for the Great Gnarled Tree, your goal is to catch ANOTHER absurdly rare mouse- this time it’s the Fairy Mouse. It’s a tactical mouse, so if you expect to catch it, the Venus Mouse Trap is a MUST. The map it drops is the map to the lagoon; those of you who have bought the Venus Mouse Trap or just looked at it in the trapsmith will recognize this name!
However, you can’t travel here until you’re a grandmaster, so you may have a while to wait anyway. In the mean time, collect some gnarled curd potions and sit on them; don’t use them until grandmaster because you get a bonus to potion-making as you rank up. You can also head back to the Burroughs and try the mousoleum if you haven’t done so already.
And when you finally hit Grandmaster and if you have the map, head to the Lagoon!
The Lagoon
Once again, a question mark. No, we’re not buying a new trap. However, you might not use the Venus Mouse Trap, either.
You see, there are FOUR types of mice here- the physical, the tactical, the shadow AND Hydro mice. Shadow traps are useless against tactical mice, tactical traps are useless against shadow mice. Physical traps? Not good against either one, and then no trap type works well against Hydro either!. So what trap do you use?
The simple answer is that there IS no answer. There is no best trap for this area, and people cannot seem to agree on even which traps are better than others. However, I’ll see if I can at least point you in the right direction, OK?
As a grandmaster, fresh out of the Great Gnarled Tree, there’s really only one answer: The Venus Mouse Trap (Or the Mutated Venus Mouse Trap, if you can make it). There aren’t any better traps for this area unless you decide to go to Furoma first. However, it’s not a very good answer either- the MVMT is less effective against shadow mice, and so the harpy and goblin mouse are going to be tough to get. The all-powerful Hydra mouse might as well attack your cheese unguarded with all the good the Venus will do against it. And the Troll? Well, the troll is just super powerful and so you’ll have a tough time with it no matter what.
Therefore, the right answer is really to skip the lagoon for now (again). Go back to Furoma, hunt those student mice and snag the Ambush Trap. Once you’ve done that, come back here. The Ambush trap does MUCH better against the mice here than the Venus Mouse Trap- you can actually catch the Harpy and the Hydra with the Ambush!
Now, for those of you who are perhaps a bit further into the game, the Ambush is still the primary trap of choice. However, if your mouse of choice is more the harpy mouse or the troll mouse than anything else (they are the rarest and most difficult after all), then you can use another trap- use the Arcane Capturing Rod of Never Yielding Mystery. Here’s the catch, though- the ACRoNYM does terribly against tactical mice and hydro mice, and so while you might have a better chance of catching the harpy and troll, you will miss a lot of other mice, and they will steal tons of points in the process. So be aware! It’s not necessarily the smartest move and should really only be used if you’re desperate for those mice in particular.
If you’ve got a Limited Edition trap, then use one of those for sure. These are by far the best, all-around traps for this area. The physical ones may not be great at catching tactical and shadow mice, but as you may have learned in using it in the other areas in the past, they do a pretty darned good job all the same. They’re also not altered by the hydro-type mice, which make them an excellent candidate for catching the Hydra mouse. The tactical ones also do pretty well, although against the tough mice, they tend to be outdone by physical LE traps.
As for the cheese, go ahead and use Gnarled Cheese. Don’t bother with Wicked Gnarly, despite what you may hear. You’ll come back to that chese later when you chase the Silth mouse.
Whatever you do, don’t waste your time trying the other kinds- like the mousoleum, you need a special kind of cheese here, period. Thankfully the potion drop rate has increased, so you’ll be able to collect enough potions to go hunting there.
Ultimately your goal is to catch the elusive Hydra Mouse. This mouse drops blueprints for the ship that you will soon be constructing. If you’ve been following my guide and its recommendations and never sold a trap, here are your strongest traps (sorted by type):
- Physical- Swiss Army Mouse Trap
- Tactical- Ambush Trap
- Shadow- Sinister Portal
If that’s the case, then you’re in for some bad news- NONE of your traps will work well. Hydro mice aren’t easily caught by physical, tactical OR shadow traps. What’s a hunter to do?
From a pure “What’s best” perspective, we’ve got the devs to the rescue! According to Dave, one of the game developers, the best trap you can get to hunt the Hydra mouse is the Digby Drillbot.
Now, this is a trap that I’ve NEVER talked about. Sold in Digby, I’ve completely ignored discussing it and you may not have even noticed it as you were buying the Sinister Portal. The reason for this is that at nearly 405,000 gold, there was never a good reason to spend the gold on this trap. However, given the prospect of paying for the ship blueprints (discussed on the Rodentia page), you may want to just absorb this cost and buy the Drillbot.
Here’s the kicker- you’re headed to the Tribal Isles next; on the Isles there’s a location where using the Digby Drillbot will be absolutely necessary, and it’s useful for crafting an even stronger trap. That means that owning the Drillbot now is a good investment for the future. You’ll either buy it now or buy it later!
Of course, if you have one of Ronza’s traps, you’re all set already. And for those of you lucky enough to get the Kraken or Explosive Toboggan Ride? Shoot, you probably caught two Hydras while reading this article- Hydras drop like flies before those traps.
And if you did follow my advice but don’t really want a new trap now, use the Ambush. Plenty of hunters have caught their Hydra with the Ambush trap. Just be warned that it’s not the recommended trap and so it may be VERY painful.
As for your base, it depends on what trap you’re using. Drillbot users should equip the Explosive base (Monolith base if you have it) to give them as much power as possible. As for the Ambush, equip the Dehydration base (Monolith if you have it); dehydration gives you some luck, while the monolith just gives a HUGE power boost.
(If you’re unfamiliar with the monolith base, check out the Side Quests section)
You need Ship Blueprints from this dastardly Hydra. Getting them will be the first major step in planning your trip to Rodentia!
The Silth Mouse
So you’re a Baron and you find yourself needing a Silth mouse, eh? Well then, let us see what we can do to help you can this mischievous mouse.
Found in the Lagoon, the Silth is a rare, powerful mouse that can only be attracted using Wicked Gnarly cheese. So before we begin, let’s discuss the bait of choice, which up until now you’ve never had or used. To get this cheese, you’ll have to equip your gnarled cheese and head back to the Great Gnarled Tree. Using gnarled you will attract a different, special mouse known as the Curious Chemist. When you catch this mouse, it will drop wicked gnarly potions. These potions convert at a MUCH lower rate than regular gnarled, not to mention the curious chemist isn’t the only mouse you’ll find using gnarled. Needless to say, you’ll be using up a lot of your gnarled for very little payoff. However, this Wicked Gnarly is the only way to attract the rare Silth mouse.
More powerful than even the mighty Hydra, the Silth causes a lot of frustration for hunters due to the sheer power it has. Hydro traps are your best bet, but even with an Ancient Speargun or Kraken Chaos the Silth will run all over your trap more than a few times. And really, one of the biggest problems is that you just don’t see that many of them (see the Acolyte and Balack).
There is (unfortunately) no better advice than to just be patient. I know that I went through several hundred wicked gnarly and never got the darned thing, but then there are others who get one within 50. Pray that you’re the latter!
However, as I said, these are some of the most interesting mice that have been released, so even if the overarching purpose seems dull, you should be enjoying the experience nonetheless!
So let’s get going.
Quick Recap
Very quickly for those who did not read the prior part of the guide, here’s where we are at right now:
- You should hopefully have the Swiss Army Mouse Trap.
- You should be using the explosive base. If you don’t have it yet, that’s fine- make it a point to get one, though.
- You should be using Swiss cheese. If you are using something different, make the switch now.
JOURNEYMAN AND WHISKER WOODS
So you’ve decided to leave the beaten path and trek bravely into another region. You’re going to see a ton of new mice and it’s a lot of fun there.
BUT, before we begin, there is one thing worth pointing out to you, and that’s white cheddar and the mole mouse. This is a COMPLETELY optional thing that you can choose to
do if you want to catch the elusive mole mouse. Basically what you’re going to do is you’re going to equip the Wooden Base with Target onto your Swiss Army Mouse
Trap along with crafting maybe 100 pieces of white cheddar (Now that you’re a journeyman, you can do this without fail!)
Head to the meadow and just start hunting. Because there are no white, grey or brown mice, you’ll see a ton of dwarf mice and other mice, including the mole. So if you want a mole mouse now and have not gotten it yet, this will give you a VERY good chance of snagging one. Does it serve a useful purpose? No. However, there’s something to be said about completing your collection of mice.
Once you’re done with that, we’ll move on.
Not much else to say, really! First to the Calm Clearing.
Calm Clearing
Tucked behind the dense trees of Whisker Woods is a quiet and peaceful clearing.
In the center of the clearing is a glowing boulder with colourful fungi growing
around it. The magic rock seems to draw mice near to it, as if empowering them.
TRAP: Swiss Army Mouse Trap
BASE: Explosive Base
CHEESE: Swiss
RANK: Journeyman
The mice here are radically different, and I for one thought it was quite fun to catch them all (If you didn’t get that the first two times I pointed it out)! If you’ve been to the mountain already, it’s essentially a mirror image; the mice are worth about the same points and gold as all of the mountain mice are. Drop your bags, stay a while, and enjoy the change. While you’re relaxing, you’re looking for two things:
1) The treant mouse drops splintered wood, which is useful for crafting a new base very shortly.
2) The most powerful mouse in the area, the Cyclops Mouse, drops the next map. Now, if you’re using the Swiss Army, this is going
to be a bit tricky. The cyclops is rare and it’s very difficult to catch. It’s like looking for the ninja mouse at the mountain; you may
miss a few before you get it. However, like the ninja mouse, it will come eventually! When you DO catch it, it should (hopefully)
drop the next map piece: the gnarled tree map piece.
When it does, well… you’re done, really. There’s not much to this new area. Good luck finding the foxy and eagle owl mouse; they’re really rare and they’re also pretty powerful. Thankfully, they’re found in this next area, too- don’t sweat it if you aren’t able to get them.
As was true at the mountains, this next area is only for masters and above, so you may have some extra time on your hands while you wait for the next rank. While you’re waiting, it might not be a bad idea to go get that map off a ninja mouse from the mountain if you haven’t done so already. When you do finally get to master, get ready to enter the darker portion of the forest, towards the Great Gnarled Tree.
MASTER
Congratulations on the promotion! If you’ve gotten the map from the ninja, you can head over to the Burroughs now if you like. Or if you prefer, you can stay here and move forward.
One thing: if you do NOT have the polar base and you were able to get 4 pieces of splintered wood, either from Ronza during one of her stops, from the Dwarf Mouse on the Mountain, or from the Treant in the Calm Clearing, you can craft a new base, the Dehydration Base. To do this, you need:
- 4 Splintered Wood (again, you can buy it from Ronza when she’s here and the dwarf mouse found on the Mountain drops it)
- 213 salt (purchased from the general store in the Harbour)
- 1 Dehydration Base Blueprints (also purchased from the Hiarbour general store)
If you have any confusions about how to craft, consult the Crafting Guide for help.
If you are unable to craft it, don’t worry- you can get it later on.
To the Gnarled Tree.
Great Gnarled Tree
At the edge of Whisker Woods lies a tree older than Gnawnia itself. Its magic roots
stretch far underground and deep into the woods, giving life to the other trees. The
shadow it casts is so massive that it began to affect the surrounding area through
time, blocking necessary light from other trees. As as result, the other trees seem
almost alive as they bend back and forth, seeking out the light.
BASE: Explosive Base
CHEESE: Swiss
RANK: MasterNow, you may notice that there’s a ??? on the trap. That’s because we want to go to the trapsmith now and buy the next trap before we continue. The trap available from the trapsmith is a curious one: the Venus Mouse Trap. Now, you’re probably gawking at the price tag, aren’t you: 300,000 gold?! Most likely you don’t HAVE 300,000 gold. Is that really necessary? And more important, HOW are you going to get that money?Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to this question. At nearly 500,000 points, most 0-10% masters couldn’t buy the trap even if they wanted to. And here’s the thing- there are a LOT of tactical mice in the Great Gnarled tree, and most of them are a bit too tough for your Swiss Army Mouse Trap. You can try to hunt here using it, if you want. However, be prepared to see a lot of Eagle Owl mice swooping in and stealing a few thousand every time they visit.So what do you do, instead? There are a few options before you:1) If you purchase the NVMRC Forcefield trap, you can hunt here. It won’t be quite as good as the Venus Mouse Trap, but you’ll be able to buy it.
However, it’s not a very practical option. At 250,000 gold, it still costs a bundle, and where the Venus Mouse Trap would double as a useful trap
for Furoma (thereby saving you 415,000 gold down the road), the NVMRC will not. That means that you’re going to need to save up a TON of gold
while you’re a master, and unfortunately that’s not always easy to do. This option is really only for those people who already bought the NVMRC- if
you didn’t, I don’t recommend it.
2) The next option is to leave the Great Gnarled Tree (I know, it’s unfortunate, but it’s the right answer.) Head back to the lab and start the path through the burroughs.
When you do finally collect the points and gold, you can come back here, purchase the Venus Mouse Trap, and hunt here. The problem with THIS strategy is that in
the process of trying to make 300,000, the right answer may be to go to the mousoleum; that costs 140,000 gold. Radioactive Blue? Another 150, or so.
By the time you get back to the Great Gnarled Tree with the money you need, you’ll be nearly done with the rank of Master, anyway! Which leads to the third option:
3) Skip the Great Gnarled Tree for a while, and come back as a grandmaster. If you can’t afford Zugzwang’s Last Move, you can come purchase the Venus Mouse Trap. If
you were able to afford it, you’ll have an even better tactical trap to help you catch the mice here. Heck, you could even wait until you’ve got the ambush trap and
REALLY clean house. Up to you.Now, whichever strategy you choose, there’s really not much to the Great Gnarled Tree, yet. However, you can start catching bear and frog mice so that you can collect Gnarled Curd Potions. What do they do? Well, they turn your brie and SB+ into Gnarled Cheese. Don’t use it, yet- save it for the next area, the Lagoon.
Your goal is to catch ANOTHER absurdly rare mouse- this time it’s the Fairy Mouse. It’s a tactical mouse, so if you expect to catch it, the Venus Mouse Trap (or better) is a MUST. The map it drops is the map to the lagoon; those of you who have bought the Venus Mouse Trap or just looked at it in the trapsmith will recognize this name!
However, you can’t travel here until you’re a grandmaster, so you may have a while to wait anyway. In the mean time, collect some gnarled curd potions and sit on them; don’t use them until grandmaster because you get a bonus to potion-making as you rank up. You can also head back to the Burroughs and try your hand at the mousoleum if you haven’t done so already.
And when you finally hit Grandmaster and if you have the map, head to the Lagoon!
The Lagoon
The enticing blue water hypnotizes hunters, distracting them from the dangerous mice that take up
residence nearby. The terrain that surrounds the Lagoon is extremely unsteady, comprised of jagged
rocks and slick moss. High up in the trees that surround the Lagoon are the nests of Harpy mice who
act as a plague to all hunters, stealing their cheese, gold and crippling their courage. Some mice here
are not attracted to conventional bait. It is highly recommended that a hunter use Gnarled cheese when
hunting at the Lagoon.
TRAP: ???
BASE: Explosive Base
CHEESE: Gnarled
RANK: Grandmaster
Once again, a question mark. See, there are FOUR types of mice here- the physical, the tactical, the shadow AND a Hydro mouse. Shadow traps are useless against tactical mice, tactical traps are useless against shadow mice. Physical traps? Not good against either one, and then no trap type works well against Hydro either!. So what trap do you use?
The simple answer is that there IS no answer. There is no best trap for this area, and people cannot seem to agree on even which traps are better than others. However, I’ll see if I can at least point you in the right direction, OK?
As a grandmaster, fresh out of the Great Gnarled Tree, there’s really only one answer: The Venus Mouse Trap. There aren’t any better traps for this area unless you decide to go to Furoma first. However, it’s not a very good answer either- the Venus Mouse Trap is less effective against shadow mice, and so the harpy and goblin mouse are going to be tough to get. The all-powerful Hydra mouse might as well attack your cheese unguarded with all the good the Venus will do against it. And the Troll? Well, the troll is just super powerful and so you’ll have a tough time with it no matter what.
Therefore, the right answer is really to skip the lagoon for now. Go back to Furoma, hunt those student mice and snag the Ambush Trap. Once you’ve done that, come back here. The Ambush trap does MUCH better against the mice here than the Venus Mouse Trap- you can actually catch the Harpy and the Hydra with the Ambush!
Now, for those of you who are perhaps a bit further into the game, the Ambush is still the primary trap of choice. However, if your mouse of choice is more the harpy mouse or the troll mouse than anything else (they are the rarest and most difficult after all), then you can use another trap- use the Arcane Capturing Rod of Never Yielding Mystery. Here’s the catch, though- the ACRoNYM does terribly against tactical mice and hydro mice, and so while you might have a better chance of catching the harpy and troll, you will miss a lot of other mice, and they will steal tons of points in the process. So be aware! It’s not necessarily the smartest move and should really only be used if you’re desperate for those mice in particular.
If you’ve got a Partybot, Snow Barrage or Deathbot (Chrome Edition), then use those for sure. These are by far the best, all-around traps for this area. The partybot may not be great at catching tactical and shadow mice, but as you may have learned in using it in the other areas in the past, it does a pretty darned good job all the same. It’s also not altered by the hydro-type mice, which makes it an excellent candidate for catching the Hydra mouse.
As for the cheese, you need gnarled cheese, end of story. Don’t waste your time trying the other kinds- like the mousoleum, you need a special kind of cheese here, period. Thankfully the potion drop rate has increased, so you’ll be able to collect enough potions to go hunting there.
Best of luck to you, sir. The Lagoon may very well be the toughest area we have, leaving even the most veteran hunters (including me) a bit confused and frustrated by the apparent lack of a sound strategy. Try things- see what works, and happy hunting!
Ultimately your goal is to catch the elusive Hydra Mouse. For more on THAT, check out the guide to RodenWelcome to the other path of the game of MouseHunt. This is a divergent path from the typical mountains-burroughs path, the guide for which can be found here. I recommend you read it, because you’ll want to traverse both areas at some point!
Before we begin, I have a bit of a disclaimer for you all: this pathway is, for all intents and purposes, an amusing divergence from the rest of the game. While there are MANY fun mice to be caught here, the general “pathway” that has been created basically allows the hunter to almost completely bypass Whisker Woods. The only purpose Whisker Woods serves in continuing the path is to give you access to the final store where you can buy crucial ingredients later on- the mice themselves are nothing special and unfortunately it makes the place kind of dull.
However, as I said, these are some of the most interesting mice that have been released, so even if the overarching purpose seems dull, you should be enjoying the experience nonetheless!
So let’s get going.
Quick Recap
Very quickly for those who did not read the prior part of the guide, here’s where we are at right now:
- You should hopefully have the Swiss Army Mouse Trap.
- You should be using the explosive base. If you don’t have it yet, that’s fine- make it a point to get one, though.
- You should be using Swiss cheese. If you are using something different, make the switch now.
JOURNEYMAN AND WHISKER WOODS
So you’ve decided to leave the beaten path and trek bravely into another region. You’re going to see a ton of new mice and it’s a lot of fun there.
BUT, before we begin, there is one thing worth pointing out to you, and that’s white cheddar and the mole mouse. This is a COMPLETELY optional thing that you can choose to
do if you want to catch the elusive mole mouse. Basically what you’re going to do is you’re going to equip the Wooden Base with Target onto your Swiss Army Mouse
Trap along with crafting maybe 100 pieces of white cheddar (Now that you’re a journeyman, you can do this without fail!)
Head to the meadow and just start hunting. Because there are no white, grey or brown mice, you’ll see a ton of dwarf mice and other mice, including the mole. So if you want a mole mouse now and have not gotten it yet, this will give you a VERY good chance of snagging one. Does it serve a useful purpose? No. However, there’s something to be said about completing your collection of mice.
Once you’re done with that, we’ll move on.
Not much else to say, really! First to the Calm Clearing.
Calm Clearing
Tucked behind the dense trees of Whisker Woods is a quiet and peaceful clearing.
In the center of the clearing is a glowing boulder with colourful fungi growing
around it. The magic rock seems to draw mice near to it, as if empowering them.
TRAP: Swiss Army Mouse Trap
BASE: Explosive Base
CHEESE: Swiss
RANK: Journeyman
The mice here are radically different, and I for one thought it was quite fun to catch them all (If you didn’t get that the first two times I pointed it out)! If you’ve been to the mountain already, it’s essentially a mirror image; the mice are worth about the same points and gold as all of the mountain mice are. Drop your bags, stay a while, and enjoy the change. While you’re relaxing, you’re looking for two things:
1) The treant mouse drops splintered wood, which is useful for crafting a new base very shortly.
2) The most powerful mouse in the area, the Cyclops Mouse, drops the next map. Now, if you’re using the Swiss Army, this is going
to be a bit tricky. The cyclops is rare and it’s very difficult to catch. It’s like looking for the ninja mouse at the mountain; you may
miss a few before you get it. However, like the ninja mouse, it will come eventually! When you DO catch it, it should (hopefully)
drop the next map piece: the gnarled tree map piece.
When it does, well… you’re done, really. There’s not much to this new area. Good luck finding the foxy and eagle owl mouse; they’re really rare and they’re also pretty powerful. Thankfully, they’re found in this next area, too- don’t sweat it if you aren’t able to get them.
As was true at the mountains, this next area is only for masters and above, so you may have some extra time on your hands while you wait for the next rank. While you’re waiting, it might not be a bad idea to go get that map off a ninja mouse from the mountain if you haven’t done so already. When you do finally get to master, get ready to enter the darker portion of the forest, towards the Great Gnarled Tree.
MASTER
Congratulations on the promotion! If you’ve gotten the map from the ninja, you can head over to the Burroughs now if you like. Or if you prefer, you can stay here and move forward.
One thing: if you do NOT have the polar base and you were able to get 4 pieces of splintered wood, either from Ronza during one of her stops, from the Dwarf Mouse on the Mountain, or from the Treant in the Calm Clearing, you can craft a new base, the Dehydration Base. To do this, you need:
- 4 Splintered Wood (again, you can buy it from Ronza when she’s here and the dwarf mouse found on the Mountain drops it)
- 213 salt (purchased from the general store in the Harbour)
- 1 Dehydration Base Blueprints (also purchased from the Hiarbour general store)
If you have any confusions about how to craft, consult the Crafting Guide for help.
If you are unable to craft it, don’t worry- you can get it later on.
To the Gnarled Tree.
Great Gnarled Tree
At the edge of Whisker Woods lies a tree older than Gnawnia itself. Its magic roots
stretch far underground and deep into the woods, giving life to the other trees. The
shadow it casts is so massive that it began to affect the surrounding area through
time, blocking necessary light from other trees. As as result, the other trees seem
almost alive as they bend back and forth, seeking out the light.
TRAP: ???
BASE: Explosive Base
CHEESE: Swiss
RANK: Master
Now, you may notice that there’s a ??? on the trap. That’s because we want to go to the trapsmith now and buy the next trap before we continue. The trap available from the trapsmith is a curious one: the Venus Mouse Trap. Now, you’re probably gawking at the price tag, aren’t you: 300,000 gold?! Most likely you don’t HAVE 300,000 gold. Is that really necessary? And more important, HOW are you going to get that money?
Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to this question. At nearly 500,000 points, most 0-10% masters couldn’t buy the trap even if they wanted to. And here’s the thing- there are a LOT of tactical mice in the Great Gnarled tree, and most of them are a bit too tough for your Swiss Army Mouse Trap. You can try to hunt here using it, if you want. However, be prepared to see a lot of Eagle Owl mice swooping in and stealing a few thousand every time they visit.
So what do you do, instead? There are a few options before you:
1) If you purchase the NVMRC Forcefield trap, you can hunt here. It won’t be quite as good as the Venus Mouse Trap, but you’ll be able to buy it.
However, it’s not a very practical option. At 250,000 gold, it still costs a bundle, and where the Venus Mouse Trap would double as a useful trap
for Furoma (thereby saving you 415,000 gold down the road), the NVMRC will not. That means that you’re going to need to save up a TON of gold
while you’re a master, and unfortunately that’s not always easy to do. This option is really only for those people who already bought the NVMRC- if
you didn’t, I don’t recommend it.
2) The next option is to leave the Great Gnarled Tree (I know, it’s unfortunate, but it’s the right answer.) Head back to the lab and start the path through the burroughs.
When you do finally collect the points and gold, you can come back here, purchase the Venus Mouse Trap, and hunt here. The problem with THIS strategy is that in
the process of trying to make 300,000, the right answer may be to go to the mousoleum; that costs 140,000 gold. Radioactive Blue? Another 150, or so.
By the time you get back to the Great Gnarled Tree with the money you need, you’ll be nearly done with the rank of Master, anyway! Which leads to the third option:
3) Skip the Great Gnarled Tree for a while, and come back as a grandmaster. If you can’t afford Zugzwang’s Last Move, you can come purchase the Venus Mouse Trap. If
you were able to afford it, you’ll have an even better tactical trap to help you catch the mice here. Heck, you could even wait until you’ve got the ambush trap and
REALLY clean house. Up to you.
Now, whichever strategy you choose, there’s really not much to the Great Gnarled Tree, yet. However, you can start catching bear and frog mice so that you can collect Gnarled Curd Potions. What do they do? Well, they turn your brie and SB+ into Gnarled Cheese. Don’t use it, yet- save it for the next area, the Lagoon.
Your goal is to catch ANOTHER absurdly rare mouse- this time it’s the Fairy Mouse. It’s a tactical mouse, so if you expect to catch it, the Venus Mouse Trap (or better) is a MUST. The map it drops is the map to the lagoon; those of you who have bought the Venus Mouse Trap or just looked at it in the trapsmith will recognize this name!
However, you can’t travel here until you’re a grandmaster, so you may have a while to wait anyway. In the mean time, collect some gnarled curd potions and sit on them; don’t use them until grandmaster because you get a bonus to potion-making as you rank up. You can also head back to the Burroughs and try your hand at the mousoleum if you haven’t done so already.
And when you finally hit Grandmaster and if you have the map, head to the Lagoon!
The Lagoon
The enticing blue water hypnotizes hunters, distracting them from the dangerous mice that take up
residence nearby. The terrain that surrounds the Lagoon is extremely unsteady, comprised of jagged
rocks and slick moss. High up in the trees that surround the Lagoon are the nests of Harpy mice who
act as a plague to all hunters, stealing their cheese, gold and crippling their courage. Some mice here
are not attracted to conventional bait. It is highly recommended that a hunter use Gnarled cheese when
hunting at the Lagoon.
TRAP: ???
BASE: Explosive Base
CHEESE: Gnarled
RANK: Grandmaster
Once again, a question mark. See, there are FOUR types of mice here- the physical, the tactical, the shadow AND a Hydro mouse. Shadow traps are useless against tactical mice, tactical traps are useless against shadow mice. Physical traps? Not good against either one, and then no trap type works well against Hydro either!. So what trap do you use?
The simple answer is that there IS no answer. There is no best trap for this area, and people cannot seem to agree on even which traps are better than others. However, I’ll see if I can at least point you in the right direction, OK?
As a grandmaster, fresh out of the Great Gnarled Tree, there’s really only one answer: The Venus Mouse Trap. There aren’t any better traps for this area unless you decide to go to Furoma first. However, it’s not a very good answer either- the Venus Mouse Trap is less effective against shadow mice, and so the harpy and goblin mouse are going to be tough to get. The all-powerful Hydra mouse might as well attack your cheese unguarded with all the good the Venus will do against it. And the Troll? Well, the troll is just super powerful and so you’ll have a tough time with it no matter what.
Therefore, the right answer is really to skip the lagoon for now. Go back to Furoma, hunt those student mice and snag the Ambush Trap. Once you’ve done that, come back here. The Ambush trap does MUCH better against the mice here than the Venus Mouse Trap- you can actually catch the Harpy and the Hydra with the Ambush!
Now, for those of you who are perhaps a bit further into the game, the Ambush is still the primary trap of choice. However, if your mouse of choice is more the harpy mouse or the troll mouse than anything else (they are the rarest and most difficult after all), then you can use another trap- use the Arcane Capturing Rod of Never Yielding Mystery. Here’s the catch, though- the ACRoNYM does terribly against tactical mice and hydro mice, and so while you might have a better chance of catching the harpy and troll, you will miss a lot of other mice, and they will steal tons of points in the process. So be aware! It’s not necessarily the smartest move and should really only be used if you’re desperate for those mice in particular.
If you’ve got a Partybot, Snow Barrage or Deathbot (Chrome Edition), then use those for sure. These are by far the best, all-around traps for this area. The partybot may not be great at catching tactical and shadow mice, but as you may have learned in using it in the other areas in the past, it does a pretty darned good job all the same. It’s also not altered by the hydro-type mice, which makes it an excellent candidate for catching the Hydra mouse.
As for the cheese, you need gnarled cheese, end of story. Don’t waste your time trying the other kinds- like the mousoleum, you need a special kind of cheese here, period. Thankfully the potion drop rate has increased, so you’ll be able to collect enough potions to go hunting there.
Best of luck to you, sir. The Lagoon may very well be the toughest area we have, leaving even the most veteran hunters (including me) a bit confused and frustrated by the apparent lack of a sound strategy. Try things- see what works, and happy hunting!
Ultimately your goal is to catch the elusive Hydra Mouse. For more on THAT, check out the guide to Rodentia!
tia!
