The Imp is a unique creature type featured in Dungeon Keeper, Dungeon Keeper 2, Dungeon Keeper Online, and Dungeon Keeper Mobile. Unlike regular creatures, Imps are not attracted to your dungeon through conventional methods and don't require sleep, food, or payment. They serve as your dungeon's most important and dedicated workers, handling all the mundane tasks such as digging tiles and dragging objects. These tasks are crucial for the smooth operation of your dungeon, and Imps tirelessly carry them out, only stopping when there is nothing left to do. They only pause when there are no tasks left for them to do. Imps are the backbone of your dungeon, essentially its life force, as the dungeon cannot function properly without their diligent efforts.
In Dungeon Keeper 2, they require mana for sustenance.
Dungeon Keeper[]
Portrait
Imps digging out a room.
In many ways, the Imp is the most important creature a Keeper has in his disposal. Along with hero Tunnellers, Imps are the only creatures that can expand and maintain a dungeon, including digging, claiming land, installing traps, moving dead or unconscious bodies, etc. They do these tasks free of charge, and their labour is never interrupted by fatigue or hunger. Despite them having no qualms about toiling forever more, there is a limit to the number of tasks they can be assigned to at any one time: 300. Each tile marked for digging counts as one task.
An Imp smoking during a break
An Imp's happiness rating never gets lower. They aren't even able to sleep or eat food to restore health, even enemy Imps in Prison, but they also don't lose health due to starvation. When there are absolutely no jobs available (or they are stuck somewhere), Imps often smoke to restore health they are injured; otherwise, they will obambulate until there is work to be done. It is possible to convert enemy Imps in the Torture Chamber, but not possible to torture one's own Imps in it.
Ingame animation
They do not fight, except the occasional scuffle with enemy Imps, and instead almost always run from battle. However, should the Dungeon Heart be threatened, Imps will defend it to the death.
Imps are created with the Create Imp spell. Most levels start the game with at least a few Imps under the player's control. They don't gain experience from performing jobs, but they can gain experience in the Training Room. However, this still costs gold, as it does for every other creature. As Imps do not require sleep, food, or pay, they keep training and do not return to their usual drudgery until either you reassign them, you run out of gold, or they reach level 10. At level 3, they gain Speed, making them much more useful. In this fashion, it may cost less money in the long run in some instances to train Imps rather than to spawn more. Their Teleport ability at level 10 is powerful, but training Imps to level 10 is (under most circumstances) extremely time-consuming.
Provided that the player has nimble hands, possessing an Imp can greatly improve its performance. Possessed Imps claim land much more rapidly (they only need to use Dig once on an unclaimed patch to do so), and can also dig much more rapidly; however, there is no way to reinforce walls, lay traps, or drag creatures while possessing an Imp (these are possible in KeeperFX 0.4.9).
If a Keeper's Dungeon Heart is destroyed, all his Imps die immediately.
Tables[]
- Main article: Query
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Speed: | 96 |
|---|---|---|
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Base Health: | 75 |
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Base Strength: | 5 |
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Defence: | 5 |
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Base Skill: | 5 |
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Base Dexterity: | 60 |
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Luck: | 0 |
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Primary Job | Dig |
|---|---|---|
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Base Research Skill | none |
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Base Manufacturing Skill | none |
|
Training Skill | 1 |
|
Training Cost /64t | 10 |
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Base Scavenging Skill | none |
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Scavenging Cost /64t | n/a |
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Praying Anger | n/a |
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Sleeping Anger | n/a |
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Sleep Recovery | n/a |
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Hunger | never |
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Base Wage | none |
Trivia[]
- Before the major revamp in 1996, Imps were magical creatures and appear to have cost 30 mana each to summon.
- Imps can be diseased directly, and they can spread it to, but not catch it from, other creatures.
- In the Japanese version, your Imps seem to address you directly by exclaiming '
一寸 待 っていれ！' (which means, roughly, wait a moment) if they're overworked (that is, you've reached the task limit) and you try to give them yet more work. In other languages, including English, what happens is that the Mentor simply tells you that you can't give them any more work. - Imps require more than double the usual quantity of experience required to reach level 2 (2500 points, compared to the 1000 points for every other creature), but the same as other creatures afterwards.
- The manual falsely says that Imps learn Invisibility and Flight at higher levels.[2]
- As of KeeperFX 0.4.8, the game, or specific campaigns, can be configured so that Imps gain experience and level up from working, like they do in Dungeon Keeper 2. This is a setting in the rules.cfg file. From KeeperFX 0.4.9, it is no longer possible to create Vampires using Imp corpses.
Gallery[]
Dungeon Keeper 2[]
Concept Art of Imps working
Like the first game, Imps will happily toil away at the donkey work: digging into walls, gold seams, and gem seams, collecting gold, claiming land, reinforcing walls, arming traps or doors, and dragging bodies to a Lair, Prison, or Graveyard, placing Magical Items and recovered Spellbooks, but their fear often interrupts them in such tasks. A Keeper automatically starts with 4 (quickly reaching that number at the beginning of a level), sometimes 6. They have no need for food, sleep, or pay, and never flag or become unhappy; they are sustained solely by mana, and heal when on your own territory. They are extremely weak in battle having really low health which puts them in danger when trying to do their job near an enemy force, and only fight enemy Imps or in a last-ditch effort to protect their master's Dungeon Heart. Imps are created by the Create Imp spell (level 1, or 4 if upgraded), or are received from a Conjure Magical Workforce magical item (level 5); there is no other way to obtain them, though your Dungeon Heart will automatically produce some if you have or your amount gets decreased to fewer than four of your mana per second balance allows it. They are your dungeon's primary workforce; without them, your dungeon cannot function, expand, thrive, or evolve.
Imp Experience[]
The Imp panel icon
Imps gain experience from performing their labour. At level 4, they gain Haste Self, and at level 8, they will become extremely fast due to the Teleport skill (although it does have a cooldown). The easiest way to increase your Imps' experience is to let them reinforce your walls. If there is no wall to reinforce, break them down with your Tremor spell and your Imps will start over again. Or alternatively, pick up those who are already level 8 into your hand and let the lower level ones constantly dig into a Gem Seam, and if your Treasuries get full, either build something, give the money to creatures, or pick up a large amount of money and place it behind a locked door area.
Note: Many enemy Keepers will target Imps knowing that, collectively, they are the engine house of your operation. Placing tougher creatures in nearby guard rooms can safeguard your dungeon against an Imp slaughter.
Tips[]
- Uniquely, as work experience is an unusual trigger, Imps get experience when digging in possession.
- They thrive on mana. When standing on their own Keeper's land, they heal quickly, 67hp per second. King Reginald also heals on his own land, 400hp per second.
- Imps and Dwarves do not react to a Call to Arms.
Bugs[]
- Sometimes may not do what they are supposed to do.
- A mess / Unfinished development: Enemy Imps can be Turncoated on your territory, their programming will make them roam their original territory but will act hostile towards their once-friendly Imps when they meet. They will still heal on their original land. They can get into infinite fights with allied Imps that do not stop even after Turncoat has stopped, and they all receive claimed tile healing. They occasionally do show signs of damage against each other. The infinite fight can only be stopped if a Keeper Heals either participant. Luckily even A.I. Keepers may do that. But this ordeal also may trigger an A.I. Keeper to initiate a Call to Arms on the location. The problem is, the A.I. may be too stupid to cancel it. Traps won't be discouraged to deal with Turncoated Imps as hostiles. This can be a great diversion to enemy Imps and Keepers alike but may break suspension of disbelief in single player.
Trivia[]
- The more Imps you have, the less mana you receive each second. Each Imp costs you 7 mana per turn.
- When a Dungeon Heart is destroyed, Imps will not heal themselves.
- If your mana is low, your Imps will disappear.
- At 2am, the Mentor will jokingly state that your Imps are about to lock your dungeon up.
- One of its original new DK2 concept art designs toyed with the idea of giving them a hood over the top of their heads.
Gallery[]
Dungeon Keeper Online[]
In Dungeon Keeper Online, Imps performed dungeon labours, like in previous instalments. In the overworld, they served Keepers with provisions.[3]
Dungeon Keeper Mobile[]
Imp
As with previous instalments, the Imp was used to perform dungeon labour, including tunnelling jobs, clearing the way for travel and/or the building of rooms, traps, bolstering etc. However, only one Imp could be working on a task, though having multiple Imps enabled multiple projects to be worked on simultaneously.
Notes[]
- Imps were required to remove blocks but not to place them
- Imps were not present when defending or attacking
Bolstering[]
- Imps could be used to bolster buildings providing you with benefits for the cost of gold
- The benefit amount was dependant on the buildings level*
- The higher the level of building, the higher the cost, even if the benefit didn't improve
- When an Imp was bolstering, he could not be used for other tasks
- If you had an Imp bolstering and attempted an action when you had no Imps available, it would ask you if you wished to use gems to complete the building that had the shortest time to complete rather than using the Imp that is bolstering.
- Bolstering training rooms or guard posts would add the guild perks to it as well
- For buildings such as hatcheries, gold mines, and quarries, the benefit was only as good as the lowest level building. Bolstering the lowest level one would provide the same benefit and cost less
See Bolstering for a complete list
Imp Cost[]
| Imp Count |
Cost (Gems) |
Promo Cost (Gems) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Free | Free |
| 2nd | 200 | 120 |
| 3rd | 800 | 480 |
| 4th | 1,200 | 720 |
| 5th | 2,100 | 1,260 |
| 6th | 4,200 | 2,520 |
Slap Boosting Time[]
| Imps | Boost Time | Guild Perk Level 1 - 2% |
Guild Perk Level 2 - 5% |
Guild Perk Level 3 - 10% |
Guild Perk Level 4 - 20% |
Guild Perk Level 5 - 25% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Imp | 15m | |||||
| 2 Imps | 1h | 1h 3m | 1h 6m | 1h 12m | 1h 18m | |
| 3 Imps | 2h | 2h 6m | 2h 12m | 2h 24m | ||
| 4 Imps | 4h | 4h 12m | 4h 24m | 4h 48m | ||
| 5 Imps | 8h | 8h 24m | 8h 48m | 9h 36m | ||
| 6 Imps | 16h | 16h 48m | 17h 36m | 20h |
Trivia[]
- It would take 96 days (without the slap boost) for a single Imp to dig out the entire outer ring of Hard Gem Vein connecting all of the Quarries and Gold Mines.
- Slapping any one Imp would boost all of the Imps.
References[]
- ↑ 地下城守护者地下城生物之魔族生物大全 (Chinese). dk.178.com (31 March 2012). Retrieved on 20 April 2020.
- ↑ Dungeon Keeper Gold manual. p. 53.
- ↑ 小鬼简介 (Chinese). games.qq.com. Retrieved on 1 April 2023.
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