Dungeon Keeper Wiki
"Hand" redirects here. For the Dungeon Keeper Online creature spell, see Hand (Creature Spell).
Hand of evil 4x

The Hand of Evil as it appears when hovering over something you can interact with.

The Hand of Evil is the player-controlled cursor, and is how players interact with the world.

In Dungeon Keeper, it only appears when the cursor is over something that the hand can interact with; otherwise, the cursor is an arrow.

Holding things[]

You can pick up your creatures no matter where they are (unless they are in the custody of an enemy Keeper; that is, functionally in one of their Prisons, Torture Chambers, or Combat Pits), and any gold within your territory. Creatures in your hand are safe from attack. You can drop off your creatures within your territory, and gold within your Treasure Room/Treasury (or give it to an unhappy creature). You can also pick up Chickens to feed creatures and save them a trip to the Hatchery, but don't let them take advantage. In Dungeon Keeper, Horned Reapers and Vampires do not like being held, and will gradually become more irritated whilst in the Hand of Evil. In Dungeon Keeper 2, all creatures except Skeletons gain 0.5 annoyance per second when being held.[1]

Picking up creatures and dropping them in a room such as a Training Room, will assign the creature to work in that room. Dropping Imps near work such as mining or claiming will set them that task. Dropping creatures near intruders will make them battle. As you cannot drop creatures in enemy territory, you will have to steal their territory, possess creatures or cast Call to Arms.

In Dungeon Keeper, you cannot hold more than 8 creatures (or objects such as gold or Chickens) at a time. In Dungeon Keeper 2, the limit is 64. In Dungeon Keeper, although it manifests itself as an ability of the hand, underneath the hood it is a Keeper spell; if you disable POWER_HAND for a player in a level script, they will be unable to pick things up.

You can hold PageUp in Dungeon Keeper 2 to pick up only objects.

Slapping[]

Your Hand of Evil can also slap creatures, to make them work faster. This was Mark Healey's idea.[3] Imps are used to harsh treatment, but slapping regular creatures too often will make them unhappy. Slapping also reduces health.

Dungeon Keeper[]

A slapped creature has twice its speed and receives a boost to its Training Skill, Research Skill, Manufacture Skill, and Scavenging Skill.

Different creatures gain different quantities of annoyance:

Slap Comparison Table
Creature Annoyance Gained
Archer 200
Avatar 2250
Barbarian 250
Beetle 100
Bile Demon 400
Demon Spawn 200
Dragon 600
Fairy 500
Fly 0
Giant 200
Ghost 500
Horned Reaper 3750
Hound 250
Imp 0
Knight 350
Dark Mistress -400
Monk 250
Mountain Dwarf 200
Orc 200
Samurai 750
Skeleton 100
Spider 200
Tentacle 200
Thief 200
Troll 200
Tunneller 100
Vampire 1000
Warlock 750
Witch 350
Wizard 300

The formula for the quantity of damage dealt is the creature's maximum health (computed using its current health) divided by its Slaps to Kill value. Slapping a frozen creature will shatter, and therefore kill, it instantly.

Although it manifests itself as an ability of the hand, underneath the hood it is a Keeper spell; if you disable POWER_SLAP for a player in a level script, they will be unable to slap creatures.

In the original game, the slap effect does not wear off whilst the creature is being held, but it does in KeeperFX.

Dungeon Keeper 2[]

Slapping creatures harms the target, but makes him or her faster and more obedient.[4] Different creatures gain different quantities of annoyance and lose different quantities of health:

Slap Comparison Table
Creature Health Lost Annoyance Gained
Bile Demon 18 9.1
Black Knight 18 9.1
Dark Angel 16 18
Dark Elf 10 9.1
Firefly 10 9.1
Goblin 12 9.1
Imp 10 -
Mistress 13 -15
Rogue 13 9.1
Salamander 12 9.1
Skeleton 12 0
Troll 10 6.1
Vampire 13 21
Warlock 10 21
Horny 24 24
Dwarf 10 -
Elven Archer 10 9.1
Fairy 12 9.1
Giant 18 9.1
Guard 16 9.1
Knight 18 9.1
Monk 12 9.1
Royal Guard 18 9.1
Stone Knight 18
Thief 12 9.1
Wizard 12 21
Lord of the Land 27
Prince 12 9.1
King Reginald 24


You can also slap other things. Slapping the Call to Arms banner collapses and cancels it. A normal Chicken instantly dies, a creature under the effect of the Chicken Spell does not. Slapping a Boulder Trap triggers it to start towards the slap direction, and receives damage unless on the Bowling bonus map. You can use slaps to lower the health of prisoners to transform into Skeletons faster, just make sure the final damage tick is done by the room itself. You can slap hostile torture clients in your own Torture Chamber too to ensure their death to steer their time spent in your facility towards dying and giving map information.

Slapping your own creatures also increases their efficiency.

You use the default right mouse button to manipulate some objects too, like the slapping function does. You can lock doors not to open at all.

References[]

  1. Dungeon Keeper 2 : Prima's Official Strategy Guide. p. 23. Rocklin, CA: Prima Games. (1999). ISBN 978-0-7615-1805-1.
  2. Dungeon Keeper 2 : Prima's Official Strategy Guide. p. 19. Rocklin, CA: Prima Games. (1999). ISBN 978-0-7615-1805-1.
  3. "The Making Of: Dungeon Keeper". Retro Gamer. No. 143. Bournemouth: Imagine Publishing. pp. 64–69.
  4. Dungeon Keeper 2 Manual. p. 12.