Ludibrium PQ Guide, All Nine Stages and What Alishar Drops

Ludibrium PQ in MapleStory Classic is the best thing you can do with your levels between 35 and 50, if Classic keeps the pre-Big Bang version we all remember and Ludibrium is open on day one, which Nexon has not confirmed. Six players, nine stages, about twenty minutes when the party knows what it is doing, and experience that beats any solo grinding spot in that bracket. You start at Red Sign on the top floor of Eos Tower, in the Ludibrium map with the toy-block walls. Here is every stage, what the leader does, and where parties fall apart.

The level range is 35 to 50 inclusive, the party must be exactly six, and at least one person needs a decent ranged attack for the later stages. Nexon has not confirmed the exact range or party size for Classic, so we are describing what GMS had.

Stages one to three: boxes, rope, and the first track

Stage one is the box stage. The room is full of breakable boxes, and Ratz and Black Ratz spawn around them. Hit the boxes until passes drop, collect the number the NPC asks for, and hand them in. Everyone attacks, and it is fast.

Stage two is the rope stage. Platforms connected by ropes and ladders, monsters on each, and passes on some of them. The leader assigns platforms so people are not fighting over the same Bloctopus while another platform sits untouched. This is the first place a party learns whether its leader talks.

Stage three is the first "track": a long map with sections of Ratz and Bloctopus to clear in order. The party moves as a group, kills the section, picks up passes, moves on. Somebody with mobility (a thief with Haste, an archer with range) goes first and the rest follow.

Stages four and five: the second track and Dark Eyes

Stage four is the second track, with the tougher Ratz variants and more platforms. Same idea, more HP on the monsters, more reason to have a ranged attacker. Pass everything to the leader as you pick it up, or clear it yourself if the leader has said so.

Stage five is the cage stage with Dark Eyes and the last big pass hunt. It is the stage that separates a level 35 party from a level 45 one.

Stage six: the jump stage

Stage six is famous and it is famous for a reason. It is a jump quest through the tower, with platforms and boxes that only some of the party has to cross. One mistake and you fall to the bottom and start again. The stage does not need everyone to complete it, only the people who reach the top and hit the box, so the leader sends the two or three best jumpers and tells the rest to wait at the start.

Do not send six people. Six people on the jump stage is six chances to fall, and a level 38 warrior in heavy armour who has never done it will cost you five minutes and his own dignity. One of us once spent an entire LPQ run on this stage while the party leader typed "you can do it" in increasingly small letters. We could not, in the end.

Stages seven and eight: Rombots and the combination

Stage seven is the room with Rombots, the round robot monsters. Kill them for passes, hand in, move on. It is short.

Stage eight is the combination stage. Nine boxes on platforms, and the party must find the correct set to stand on. The leader calls the combinations in a fixed order (we used the standard list every guild had pinned to its forum) and the party members climb to the called boxes and stay still while the leader checks. Moving off your box early gives a wrong answer and wastes an attempt.

Stage nine: Alishar

The last stage is Alishar, the boss. He hits hard for the level, he spawns summons, and he has a fair amount of HP. Everyone attacks. Ranged classes stay at the edge of his reach, melee classes stand where they can keep hitting without eating every attack, and everyone watches their own HP, because a Cleric is welcome in LPQ but never required, and most parties run without one.

When he dies, the party gets its experience and the drops, and then the bonus stage opens: a room of breakable boxes on a timer. Break as many as you can. Scrolls and gear come out of those boxes and this is where the run's meso value lives.

Rewards and what Alishar drops

The experience is the reason to run LPQ. From 35 to 45 it is roughly a level every few runs, and from 45 to 50 it stays worthwhile. Alishar himself drops a mix of scrolls and equipment, and the bonus stage boxes add more scrolls, potions, and the occasional mid-level weapon. In the version we played, Alishar also dropped Broken Glasses, which could be collected and turned in for one of the coloured glasses items at Ludibrium. We are not certain that trade-in is in Classic, so check with the NPC before you spend a week collecting them.

What a good leader does

The leader stands at the NPC, talks in party chat, and assigns. Platforms in stage two, order in the tracks, jumpers in stage six, boxes in stage eight. A good leader also refuses invites from people at the wrong level and does not start with five. The most common failure in LPQ is not any stage. It is a silent leader.

The second most common is a party of six thieves with no way to hit the flying monsters, so check the mix before you enter.

Once you have done LPQ enough times to be bored of it, you are 50 and it is time to think about Orbis and the tower and the 30 to 70 leveling spots. If you are still under 35, the Kerning PQ guide is where you should be.