Since I’ve been farming for 12 hours a day to hunt dusts on very easy mode, I found no thrill in killing mobs (it is too easy), so, I focused my attention to the map. Clearing floors and observing the structures of every map I run.
So here is what I’ve observed.
Legends:
• Red: Spawn point and Cartographer/Portal
• Yellow: Shrines and Pools
• White: Others
Ex. 1:
I conducted a five-map experiment, observing the positions, designs, and the relations on those five maps. Here, on example no. 1, I marked my spawn point (red circle, north), and where the Cartographer is found, (south).
I spawned at the north side of the map (see the circle), and the I found the Cartographer at the south side of the map. From this, I can conclude that if you spawn up the north side of the map, then the Cartographer/Portal must be found at the south side of the map. (Based on THIS MAP)
Now, I marked a shrine I found below my spawn point. We will talk more of this as we progress, but we need to see the other four maps in order to form a solid conclusion on shrines.
Ex. 2:
This is the second map. I spawned up north, and found the Cartographer down south, same as the first example. I also marked the spawn point/Cartographer and the shrines. As you can see, we have two shrines on this map. A pool and a blue shrine.
But upon looking to it closely, we can see some parallelism that is happening here. Look at this:
Same picture, same map. The only difference is that I had drawn a white line to pinpoint this. On this map, the shrines and the Cartographer are PARALLEL to the spawn point. You can also see it on the first example, the spawn point is PARALLEL to the Cartographer.
Q: Meh, these points are coplanar. Any Shrines/Cartographer on maps will always be parallel to the spawn point.
Yes, I am aware of that. But what can we observe on these examples?
If you spawn at the north side of the map, there is a high chance that the Cartographer will be at the south side. Now, we know that the spawn point and Cartographer will be always parallel. So from your spawn point, you can just head south on a straight line (since they are parallel) and smack the Cartographer in the face. Navigating the map this way will grant you faster floor climbing and meeting less stronger enemies that could potentially kill you.
Ex. 3:
On this third example, my spawn point is not placed to the northernmost side of the map. In fact, I spawned at the northeast. But knowing the if-I-spawn-north, then the Cartographer-is-south information, there are two possible directions where I can find it. Either I find him on the south, or southwest, (opposite to northeast).
Knowing that the spawn point and Carto are parallel, I can just navigate my way and follow a straight path (see the white line). So its either I go straight to southwest or to the south, likewise, the Cartographer should be on those two sides of the map. If I don’t find him in southwest, I go directly to the south to find him.
By doing this, it will save me a lot of time because I don’t have to explore the map completely. I just use this information to find the Carto and run another map, and do that all over again.
Ex. 4:
Here on the fourth map, we spawned at the east. What is opposite to east? West. The Cartographer must be on the west side of the map. We just follow a straight path going to the west (take left and right turns if needed), and boom, kill the Carto.
Ex. 5:
The fifth and final map. Here I spawned north, but I tried not navigating to the south. Instead, I headed for the west, isolated side (marked with X) of the map. This is a common mistake for hunting the Carto. Because that side of the map is isolated, we have this feeling that the Carto is there, but isn’t. I found him at the south.
Now we saw all of the five experimental maps. We can now talk about shrines. Observe the examples 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
All of them are found at the SIDES and CORNERS of the map.
If we look at our examples, all of the shrines are placed either on the sides or corners. There are no shrines found at the center of the map.
Using this information, we can hunt epic enemies through hunter ring or perk and find the shrines as quickly as possible. Since we know that they are placed on either side or corners of the map, we therefore navigate the perimeter of the map, not on the center.
Say if you spawn east, you can navigate clockwise or counterclockwise of the perimeter of the map. Either of the two, you can still find the Carto on the west side. By doing this, you can save a lot of time by exploring just the sides and corners of the map, not on the center.
Conclusions:
• The Cartographer must be found at the opposite direction of your spawn point. If you spawn on south, the Carto must be up north, vice versa.
• If you spawn on the east, follow a straight path to the west and you can find the Carto, vice versa.
• Shrines and Pools are found on the sides and corners of the map.
Dungeon Quest randomly generates unlimited number of floors with unique structures, but there is a relationship between spawn points, Cartographer/Portal, and shrines. Navigating this way will save you a lots of time.
To boost this tips, you can use a legend item with a movement speed affix or use Flight mythstone. This will grant you more mobility as you use this guide.
Note: This is based on my own observations. The experimental probability of these conditions to be met is 5/5, since those five experimental maps supports my conclusions. There are times when the Carto/Portals are found right next to you, but they trigger quite rarely.
