Shroud of Shadows

Shroud of Shadows Japanese 闇の衣
闇のころも Rōmaji Yami no koromo Type Passive buff Older names None

Shroud of Shadows is a protective skill used by many Archfiends within the series, wrapping the monster in a cloak of darkness that greatly increases their power. The shroud cannot be stripped from the demon kings with skills such as Disruptive Wave: the player must use a plot-related artifact obtained through the normal course of a game as an item in battle to nullify it.

Appearances

Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation

Zoma begins the battle with the shroud applied, raising his attack, defence, and agility to 500, 350, 255 respectively, and he will recover 90~110 HP every turn. He is immune to every spell in the game save for the fire-breathing effects of Puff!, but this will deal a measly 85~94 damage and is not enough to offset his automatic HP recovery, to say nothing of how often he uses Disruptive Wave.

To have a fighting chance the player must use the fabled Sphere of Light, which is bequeathed by the Dragon Queen in the world of light.

Dragon Quest X

Shroud of Shadows is used by several monsters, but its exact properties depend on the user. The offensive and defensive power will increase significantly and the interval between actions will diminish, but the amount varies from 150%~250% for attack strength and from 10%~75% for defence. In some cases, the shroud is a temporary buff that will expire after 20~40 seconds pass, but for plot-related bosses a special item and the presence of Princess Anlucia is required to dispel the darkness. Anlucia's Luminary's Light can cancel out the effects of Shroud of Shadows.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Calasmos will take half damage from all forms of attack in the vanilla and S editions of the game, but an agonizing 20% in the Nintendo 3DS version. Furthermore several of his skills will be empowered, such as the Final Flame's damage range increasing from 450~500 to 700~900. The Super Sword of Light must be used as an item to weaken the alien menace.

Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below

Zoma wears his shroud during his battle and the Sphere of Light renders him vulnerable as before. Skilled players can defeat the demon without using the sphere, but expert precision and pattern reading are required to pull this feat off.

Dragon Quest Heroes II: Twin Kings and the Prophecy's End

Known as the Cloth of Darkness, it is worn by all the monsters in Accordia from the darkness-infused Cup of Kings, that render them immune from any damaging attack and spell, as well as Coup de Grâces, forcing the party to obtain the Heart of Brightness from the Tomb of the Sun to dispel the Cloth.

Dragon Quest Rivals

Shroud of Shadows is an effect card that voids all types of damage for a limited number of turns when played.

Dragon Quest Tact

Known as the Dark Robes in this game, it is one of the basic perks possessed by Zoma at level 1. At the start of battle, the Dark Robes will reduce all damage taken by 20% for three turns. It can be enhanced through Talent Blossoming into Pitch Dark Robes, which reduces damage taken by 30% for 10 turns instead.

Trivia

• Zoma's cloaked colors and his normal tones are flipped in the NES version of III due to a programming error. This has been corrected in all subsequent versions.

Gallery

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  Shrouded Zoma in the Erdrick Trilogy, Nintendo switch version

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  Shrouded Gullray Beast in X

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  Calasmos losing his shroud in XI

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  Rivals card

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  Dark Robes icon in Tact