Chrono Ark: Methods to Find Hidden Walls

Hidden Wall Generation Rules:

1. Hidden walls can be generated in maps 1-2, 2-1, 2-2, and 3-1.
2. There will always be event tiles around the hidden wall spawn point.

• Event tiles include teleportation pads, buildings, treasure chests (surface resources), battles, and vending machines.
• In the current version, after a battle or picking up a treasure chest, the tile will also be marked, making it easier to locate hidden walls. All marked points on the map are event tiles, including vending machines. However, note that once an event building is used, it becomes a wall without a marker, and opened treasure chests have markers but do not turn into wall tiles. Pay attention to the location of used buildings.
• There is a small chance that the marker for battle points disappears after the battle ends (reason unknown), so try to analyze if there are any hidden walls nearby before and after battling, and rely on your memory.
• The hidden tunnel in 2-1 (the one that requires a key) is not considered an event tile because it generates after the hidden walls.

3. The center tile of the boss teleportation point’s immediate right side, two tiles away, is the boss’ central tile. Hidden walls will not generate within two tiles of the central tile.

• For example, in the images below, number 1 represents the boss’ central point, and hidden walls will not generate on the tiles marked with a red “X”.

4. Hidden walls will not generate directly above the building tiles.

• This rule is generally not relevant but may occasionally apply when there is a treasure chest with only one wall tile above it. Knowing that hidden walls do not generate there is sufficient.

5. Hidden walls will randomly generate in valid tiles that have the highest number of empty neighboring tiles.

• Empty tiles refer to all walkable tiles, including teleportation pads, battles, treasure chests, and vending machines. They do not include buildings.

Key points: There will always be events around hidden walls; hidden walls will not generate within two tiles of the boss’ central tile; hidden walls will generate where there are the most empty neighboring tiles.

Additional Tips: Hidden walls can be revealed using Scroll of Curse Removal or Scroll of Purification. Both scrolls have a range of two tiles, and some people mistakenly believe that the Scroll of Purification has a range of only one tile, but this is due to the special effect of the scroll. The Scroll of Purification can clear battles within one tile, but the original effect of revealing hidden walls within two tiles is still present.

Methods for Finding Hidden Walls:

1. Edge Exploration Method:

• This method is well-known among experienced players. If a certain tile is a hidden wall, standing on one side of the edge will reveal the map on the other side (pay attention to the mini-map; normally, the map on the other side should not be visible).
• Even in fast mode, this method is very useful because it allows you to explore many tiles adjacent to battles. So, explore around monsters instead of teleporting directly onto them. Even if there is no battle, pay attention to walls with many empty tiles nearby while walking and check if you can see the other side. In the example below, hidden walls were found by exploring nearby walls with many empty tiles during map exploration.
• Additionally, hidden walls can also appear next to buildings, so tiles next to buildings can also be explored. It is true that “hidden walls rarely appear next to buildings” because walls next to buildings naturally have fewer empty tiles, usually only four empty tiles. However, it is not impossible for hidden walls to appear there.

By using this method, even if you don’t find the hidden wall, you can eliminate possible locations, which can be advantageous when searching for hidden walls at the end.

2. Statistical Exclusion Method:

• After exploring all the maps, use the hidden wall generation rules to identify all possible locations for hidden walls. In most cases, based on the positions excluded using the edge exploration method, you can narrow down to one or two potential hidden wall locations.
• Specifically, observe the walls around event points and identify walls with a higher number of empty neighboring tiles. Among them, determine the wall with the highest number of surrounding empty tiles; the hidden wall will be located there. The maximum number of empty tiles is often five, but sometimes it can be four or six.
• There is a common misconception that hidden walls must have at least four empty neighboring tiles. This is generally correct, but it depends on the map generation. I have seen extreme cases where people found hidden walls with only three empty tiles around them, but that was in an older version. It’s unclear if the latest version can still generate maps like that. If you come across such an extreme map, feel free to share it for everyone to appreciate.

Examples:

Note: These examples use older versions of the game and have a mod that shows vending machines for visual demonstration purposes. In the current version, vending machines are displayed as hidden tiles. Additionally, for convenience in demonstrating, the following images show all surface resources picked up but without using any buildings.

• In rare cases, as shown below, walls with no battles nearby and entirely empty tiles indicate hidden walls. These can be easily identified. Some people mistakenly believe that hidden walls rarely appear near walls with six empty tiles, but in reality, these are the easiest hidden walls to find—whenever there are event tiles nearby, there is a high probability that it is a hidden wall.
• Possible hidden points are 1, 2, and 3, all of which have five empty tiles around them. By excluding points 2 and 3 during exploration, the hidden wall can be easily found near point 1.
• Similarly, possible hidden points are 1 and 2. In this case, by using Scroll of Curse Removal to explore areas around point 4, the hidden wall is easily found (the presence of a monster near point 3 disappeared after marking the map due to a bug, but I excluded point 3 directly during exploration).
• In more complicated cases, possible hidden points are 1, 2, and 3, all with four empty tiles around them. In this situation, pay attention to the possibility of hidden walls appearing near buildings. By using three Scroll of Curse Removals, you can explore points 1 and 2. Fortunately, the hidden wall was found near point 1.
• Similar to the previous example, possible hidden points are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, all with four empty tiles around them. In this case, the worst scenario requires three Scroll of Curse Removals to find the hidden wall. However, if you pay attention during exploration, both points 1 and 2 can be easily determined using the edge exploration method: point 2 can be checked by standing against the wall before battling, and point 1 can be checked by standing against the wall after defeating the monster. Ultimately, the hidden wall was found near point 1.

In practice, as an experienced explorer, you can usually discover hidden walls during exploration or narrow down to one or two potential hidden wall locations through statistical exclusion, making it possible to solve with just one scroll.

Other Methods:

• Map-making scrolls: These scrolls allow you to create maps. If you don’t have Scroll of Curse Removal, you can take a gamble with the Scroll of Teleportation. It has a 15% chance of teleporting directly to a hidden tile, which is not a low probability (some say it’s a 10% chance, but based on the code, it’s written as 15%, although it doesn’t make much difference).
• Another method is using the relic “Mysterious Wreath.” However, since you have reached this point, I believe you are a qualified explorer and no longer need to rely on the wreath.

Tips for using scrolls: In 1-2, you can look at the dropped item icon next to the cursed monster when fighting them; that will always be the Scroll of Curse Removal.