DoM FAQs

[Eden Parker]

Below please find a table of contents of all questions answered in this thread. You can click on any question to jump right to the answer!

How do I duel?
What is the Nexus Guide?
How do I send my moves to the Nexus Guide?
Can I use the same move twice in a row?
What are the spells?
What is a focus and how do I use one?
How do I know who won?
What happens if my opponent or I get booted?
How do I become a Tower Keeper?
How do I issue a challenge?
How do I become the Archmage?
What are the ranks?
How long does it take to gain rank here?
How often are tournaments held?
How long is a cycle?
I have a problem. Who do I talk to?

[Eden Parker]

How do I duel?

The first step is finding someone in the room with you willing to duel. One way is asking if anyone wants to duel, the other is using the Nexus Bot command ?LFD. The LFD (Looking for Duel) command will put you in a special role so that other duelists will know you’re interested in a match.

Second is requesting your duel to the Nexus Guide via direct message (DM). The How To guide for interacting with the Nexus Guide bot can be found here under Dueling: https://rhydin.org/info/bot_tutorial.php
Example: the command [ ?blast x “Kalamere” ] will create a DoM duel request for the Annex against Kalamere.

Third is sending your move to the Nexus Guide via direct message (DM). Do not send your move to the room and do not role-play out your action for your move in the room yet. (Please see number 3 under Dueling in the Bot Tutorial https://rhydin.org/info/bot_tutorial.php for how to send your move to the Nexus Guide.)

Fourth is waiting until the Nexus Guide bot has sent the results of the round to the room so that you will know what your opponent has done for that round also.

Fifth is now you role-play out the results of the round in the chat room.

You are welcomed and encouraged to role-play the waiting and watching looking for openings in your opponent's defenses or circling them etc. while you are waiting for the Nexus Guide to put your duel results into the room as sometimes it can take a bit between rounds your opponent is thinking on on what to select as their round choice.

We encourage you to role-play as much as possible while you are with us in the room as a lot of fun can be had bantering with your opponent in between the round results being put into the room by the Nexus Guide. Though Role Playing isn't required, it is generally frowned upon if there is no Role Play during the duel, itself.

[Eden Parker]

What is the Nexus Guide?

The Nexus Guide is our handy dandy robotic friend. They are a neutral party similar to a referee that the two people dueling send their moves to via Direct Message. The Nexus Guide will then send into the chat room, and your direct message conversation with it, the results of that round so the players know what the result of each round is.

[Eden Parker]

How do I send my moves to the Nexus Guide?

Send moves to the Nexus Guide by directly messaging it with a command. The Nexus Guide is always located at the top of the member list on the right side of your Discord client.

?m XX is the move command for the Nexus Guide, with XX representing your move code of choice. The correct way to send a move to the Nexus Guide is like this:

?m MB for instance.

Always put the ?m command and then your move code when sending them in the Direct Message. For a full list of DoM move codes, send ?movelist dom to the Nexus Guide. You can also see the move codes here.

[Eden Parker]

Can I use the same move twice in a row?

No, all moves must have a different move used in the following round.

For example:
You cannot do...

1. MB
2. MB
3. FF
4. FF

[Eden Parker]

What are the Spells?

These are the Spells allowed in the Duel of Magic and their abbreviations/move codes.

There are eight basic spells that everyone can use in DoM:

Mage Bolt = MB
Wizard Blades = WB
Mind Whip = MW
Fear Touch = FT
Shield = SH
Armor = AR
Displacement = DS
Foul Fog = FF
Reflection = RE
Ghostform = GF
Meteor Shower = MS
Arctic Blast = AB

When you reach the rank of Mage you can select one of two more possible spells to use:

Nether Ray = NR
Immolation = IM

The reigning Archmage may use all of these spells.

There are also 5 Tower Keepers in this sport that have access to a spell called Elemental Fury = EF that is linked directly to the elements of their Towers that they can use only during challenge matches and only once per duel.

[Eden Parker]

What is a focus and how do I use one?

As duelists rise through the ranks, they will be able to channel their power into their spells in order to make them stronger, and potentially score more points. This is a maneuver called a Focus.

A focused spell, if it scores, will receive an extra half point over the normal amount. This means that successful focused defenses gain a full point, and successful focused attacks gain up to a point and a half! A focused spell may be roleplayed any way you wish. Unlike Fancies in the other two disciplines, Focus is an acceptable in-character term for the maneuver of powering up a spell, much like how DoF's Feints have clear in-character application.

Using one is easy: Just attach the letter "F" to the front of the move you send in private message to the Nexus Guide Dueling-Bot (example: "?m FFT" for Focused Fear Touch). If your move is successful in scoring, the Focus will add a bonus half-point to your score.

IMPORTANT: In order to have a focus to use, however, you must hold a rank above Apprentice in the standings. The standings can be found on the standings page located in the Duel of Magic menu on the left side of the web page, here. It is your responsibility to stay current with where you are on the standings.

[Eden Parker]

How do I know who won?

Normally the person that gets to 5 points first wins the duel. In order for this to be true you must have a full 1 point lead over your opponent. Until this happens however you continue to duel so you may see a higher score than this in regular dueling hours. Also it is possible to tie in this sport. A tie can happen if two duelers make it to 15 rounds and no one is a full point ahead of the other.

[Eden Parker]

What happens if my opponent or I get booted?

In the case of someone dueling getting booted offline they have 10 mins from the time they are booted from the chat room to return. If they do not return to the chatroom within that 10 mins the person they are dueling then gets to decide if they want the duel to be a tie or a win no matter what the score is at the time their opponent got booted offline.

[Eden Parker]

How do I become a Tower Keeper?

You have to be a Mage or above and challenge a current Tower Keeper then defeat them to take their Tower.

[Eden Parker]

How do I issue a challenge?

The only people that can issue an official challenge are Mages or above in this sport. All other duels here are considered regular duels and take place during regular dueling hours. If you are a Mage or above in order to issue a challenge you need to post your challenge on the In Character DoM message board.

For more instructions, see the DoM rules here.

[Eden Parker]

How do I become the Archmage?

You must win the Archmage Tournament in order to gain the right to face the reigning Archmage in a best 2 of 3 duels format challenge match.

[Eden Parker]

What are the ranks?

Apprentice = 0-1 wins more than loses
Enchanter = 2 wins more than loses
Sorcerer = 5 wins more than loses
Wizard = 10 wins more than loses
Mage = 15 wins more than loses
Mage Emeritus = Former Archmage of the Mage Rank
Keeper = By Challenge or Tournament
Archmage = By Victory in the Archmage Tournament

[Eden Parker]

How long does it take to gain rank here?

That varies depending on how much time you have to spend and how quickly you catch onto the moves. Just don't give up because this is a game of strategy and it takes lots of practice and time and patience to learn to duel. You will have good nights when it seems like you can't lose and then there will be nights when it seems like you just can't win. But with time and patience and practice you will catch on so just don't give up and keep on trying.

[Eden Parker]

How often are tournaments held?

There is an Archmage Tournament at the beginning of every cycle, which anyone of Mage rank is eligible to enter. There is usually an All Ranks Tournament held quarterly which will have varying themes and formats. They are all announced ahead of time in the IC folder so keep a watch there to find when the next one is and what ranks will be allowed to participate.