Eternal Ordeal

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Zote the Mighty Grey Prince Zote The Eternal Ordeal

Godmaster Content

Always Win Your Battles.
– Zote

The Eternal Ordeal is a secret challenge which can be found in the Hall of Gods in Godhome. It requires defeating as many Zotelings as possible before dying.

The Eternal Ordeal always starts with a fight against Zoteling the Mighty (who is the same as Zote the Mighty as he is fought in the Trial of the Warrior; however, he is able to deal contact damage). After defeating him, a full-screen title card appears displaying "The Eternal Ordeal", and a counter with Zote's head appears as a HUD in the lower-left of the screen to track Zoteling kills.

Zote begins to sing along with the music as waves of Zotelings begin to spawn. As the counter racks up kills, the difficulty increases and more variants appear, some exclusive to the Ordeal (the Zotelings unique to the Ordeal do not have Journal entries).

Rewards

Menu Style reward

Once 57 Zotelings have been killed, the counter turns gold (as does the hidden Zote statue) and a new Menu Style is unlocked: The Eternal Ordeal. The title screen features a statue of Zote with him singing the main menu theme of the game.

Location

Getting into the Eternal Ordeal. The arch to enter is marked with a big pink arrow.

The Eternal Ordeal is located inside the Hall of Gods. Unlike Hidden Dreams content Grey Prince Zote, this challenge is unlocked by default, not requiring ever meeting Zote. To access it, the Knight must first navigate to the far east of the second level of the Hall of Gods and break the ceiling above the third arch from the right. (Howling Wraiths/Abyss Shriek is useful for finding and breaking the barrier, but Nail attacks can also be used to break it.)

Then, reach the hidden ledge above the arch by Super Dashing off the right wall (The Sharp Shadow Charm also works since it extends the range of Shadow Dashing) and then double-jump to grab the wall.

After entering the secret room above, a pounding noise comes from the crumbling left wall. Once this wall is broken, a statue of Zote enters the room accompanied by Zote's voice. This statue can be challenged which starts the Eternal Ordeal. When the Knight dies in the Ordeal, they are returned to this statue.


Types of Zotes

  • Kills to Spawn is the minimum to spawn this Zoteling. New Zotelings only spawn when a previous one is killed, selecting randomly from among the available types. This means a new Zoteling type may not spawn immediately.
  • No more than 2 of the same type of Zoteling spawn at the same time.
  • All Zotelings increase in speed with each kill. The speedup is subtle but becomes highly noticeable around 50 kills. At ~80 kills, charging Zotelings and Lanky Zotelings can cross the arena in ~1s.
  • No Zotelings other than the initial Zoteling the Mighty, Winged Zotelings, Hopping Zotelings, and Volatile Zotelings can be hit with the Dream Nail.
    • The initial Zoteling's Dream Nail dialogue is the same as when he is fought in the Colosseum of Fools.
    • The other Zotelings' Dream Nail dialogue is the same as when they are fought alongside Hidden Dreams content Grey Prince Zote.

As there are no official names given for any of the unique Zote themed enemies in this challenge, these names are unofficial and assigned for ease of function.

Zoteling the Mighty

Essentially the same as Zote in the Colosseum of Fools, but deals contact damage.

Initial Health: 200

After First Kill: 120

Kills to Spawn: 0

Winged Zoteling

Flies toward the Knight; slow turn-around. (Same behaviour as the ones spawned by Hidden Dreams content Grey Prince Zote.)

Health: 60

Kills to Spawn: 1

Hopping Zoteling

Hops toward the Knight in a slow, tall arc. (Same behaviour as the ones spawned by Hidden Dreams content Grey Prince Zote.)

Health: 60

Kills to Spawn: 1

Heavy Zoteling

Leaps back and forth slowly in a tall arc. Wherever it lands, it creates a small shockwave that covers a portion of the arena and quickly dissipates.

Health: 190

Kills to Spawn: 8

Turret Zoteling

Dangles from the ceiling and shoots acid at the Knight; No contact damage. Leaves on its own after a while (which does not count as a kill).

Health: 100

Kills to Spawn: 15

Lanky Zoteling

Behaves exactly like Zote the Mighty, only with a taller hitbox and longer Nail reach.

Health: 150

Kills to Spawn: 20

Head of Zote

Falls from the ceiling, creating a large shockwave which covers the entire arena and remains immobile for a short while after. Nail strikes do not give SOUL; Leaves on its own after a while (which does not count as a kill).

The fall and the rise of the head kills other Zotelings; these friendly fire deaths do add to the kill counter. Head of Zote briefly appears at the ceiling before falling straight down.

Health: 200

Kills to Spawn: 25

Volatile Zoteling

Appears in the air. Explodes on death or after a few seconds, dealing 2 Masks of damage. (Same behaviour as the ones spawned by Hidden Dreams content Grey Prince Zote.)

This explosion kills other Zotelings; these friendly fire deaths do add to the kill counter though ones from a self-destruct explosion usually does not.

Health: 30

Kills to Spawn: 30

Fluke Zoteling

Bursts from the ground and flies upward leaving lingering blobs of acid in its wake. Leave on its own as soon as it reaches the ceiling (which does not count as a kill).

Health: 100

Kills to Spawn: 35

Zote's Curse

Appears in the air. Floats around the arena and slowly drains SOUL from the Knight; Deals no contact damage.

Health: 100

Kills to Spawn: 40

Simultaneous Zotelings

The maximum number of Zotelings alive at any time increases with the number of kills.

Max Zotelings Kills
1 0 kills
2 1 kill
3 2 kills
4 15 kills
5 30 kills
6 40 kills
7 52 kills

Charms

  • Fragile Strength/Grimm Troupe content Unbreakable Strength decreases the number of hits required to kill Zoteling the Mighty from 6 to 4, and Winged Zotelings and Hopping Zotelings from 3 to 2, which is very valuable when the fight speeds up. Be careful that the Knight then kills Volatile Zotelings (and subsequently makes them explode) in a single hit.
  • Shaman Stone allows killing the Turret Zoteling, Fluke Zoteling, and especially Zote's Curse in a single full blast of Abyss Shriek, unless they leave the attack before all of the damage is dealt.
  • Grubsong and Thorns of Agony convert damage taken into advantageous SOUL and damage, respectively. In a long and drawn-out fight like this one, they provide significant help while costing just 1 Notch each.
  • Longnail and Mark of Pride help against Zotelings with charge attacks, especially Zoteling the Mighty and Lanky Zotelings which both have a very fast flail attack.
  • Soul Catcher, Soul Eater, and Spell Twister are useful for casting more spells, useful in a chaotic environment like this.
  • Grubsong and Weaversong allow the Weaverlings to collect SOUL making it less of an issue, especially as the number of enemies increases.

Gallery

Trivia

  • The fifty-seven kills to unlock the Eternal Ordeal title screen is a reference to the fifty-seven precepts of Zote.
  • Zote's Curse resembles Salubra's Blessing; however, it drains SOUL instead of regenerating it.
  • The 57 precepts are represented by the Lore Tablets behind the Zote statue that is the entrance to the Eternal Ordeal.
  • The Eternal Ordeal statue has a cut description of:
"Intruder amongst the gods of Hallownest"
  • By shifting the statue sprite around after loading the level in Unity, cut content can be found: what appears to be a selector for a "mode" (Attuned, Ascended, Radiant) and a switch that allows for changing bosses between dream variants.
  • Killing Zote at the beginning of the Eternal Ordeal unlocks his Journal entry. However, killing Winged, Hopping and Volatile Zotelings during this encounter does not unlock their entries.
  • There is a glitch where if a Heavy Zoteling leaps against a wall, it immediately creates shockwaves from the point where it jumped.
  • There is a glitch where if the Knight finishes off any Zoteling with the Flukenest Spell, the kill count increases for each Fluke that hits the Zoteling. This glitch was patched in some earlier versions of the game, but still works.
  • Heads of Zote cannot be damaged by the Defender's Crest and Spore Shroom Charms.