Lunatic state

The Lunatic state is the second and worse stage of Sanity loss. The game calls the first stage Abnormal (70% and below, see Abnormal state) and this one Lunatic (50% and below). Everything the Abnormal state does still applies, and on top of it the Lunatic state locks your sanity, drains it, hunts you with a copy of your own hero and changes how bosses fight.

How you enter and what "lock" means#

When a hit, drain tick or item pushes sanity to or below ceil(0.5 x maximum) (50 at the base maximum), the game sets a crazy lock on the hero. While the lock is on:

• every refill of sanity is capped at exactly half of the maximum (50). Since 50 still counts as Lunatic, no amount of Elixirs of Sanity can take you out of the state;
• the hero can drop anywhere below 50, down to 0, which is death;
• the hero cannot be swapped for another team member (the swap function refuses while Lunatic);
• the first time it happens, the achievement "Loss of Sanity" is recorded.

The lock is also set when you load a save where the hero is already at or below the line.

Ways out#

Draining over time#

While Lunatic in the open world the hero loses 0.5 sanity per second (the tick is once per second). From the lock line at 50 that is about 100 seconds before death. Rates for other places:

A trophy with the "Lunatic survival" effect (Skullcutter, Beast Chain, Meteor Bracelet, Hunting Claw, Daemon Mask) cuts every Lunatic drain by 50%; several copies do not stack (Sanity talents and trophies#Lunatic survival). With it the open-world fall from 50 to 0 takes about 200 seconds instead of 100. The maze has two more ways to slow or stop the drain (the Purifying Saint's blessing and the Moon Jellyfish Jar); the numbers are in Sanity in special areas#The maze (Deep into the Dark Mist).

The doppelganger#

In the open world (not in a boss room, the maze, the Lost Valley or the Colossal Grave) the game spawns an enemy copy of your hero as soon as you are Lunatic and still alive. It is described in Sanity doppelganger. Killing it is the intended way to end the state.

What changes in combat#

Your own bonuses and penalties#

The Lunatic state keeps every Abnormal effect. Trophies that mention "Abnormal" give their attack, defence or resistance boost here too. See Abnormal state for the per-hero table and Sanity talents and trophies for the numbers.

Enemies#

The "crazy" flag that makes ordinary enemies chain attacks is set as soon as you leave Normal and is not specific to this stage; it is explained in Abnormal state#Enemies turn aggressive.

Bosses#

In a boss room the hero's sanity floor is pinned at the Lunatic line, so you cannot die from sanity there, but you can hit the line. When you are Lunatic and the boss is still in its first grade, the game freezes the fight, fades to black and promotes the boss to its second grade: new stats, new moves, and its health is topped up to at least 50%. If you never get Lunatic the boss stays in its first form. The tutorial tells players that this state can only be ended by killing the boss and that Elixirs of Sanity stop working, which matches the lock.

Outside a boss room the grade-up does nothing. The achievement "Nightmare" is for defeating a final boss after this promotion; "The Truth" (Achievements) asks you to do so for every chapter boss in one run (the game tracks whether any final boss died without the promotion).

Special cases#

• The Colossal Grave (story 8). Sanity is held at 49.9 (see Sanity in special areas#Colossal Grave and timed boss challenge), so the hero is permanently Lunatic there. The boss-room check runs before the Colossal Grave exclusion, so in the fight against The First Messenger the boss should be promoted to its next grade as soon as it sits at its threshold grade (inferred from the branch order; not tested).
• Maze boss, timed boss challenge, Arcade. The same 49.9 override applies in the maze boss room and the timed boss challenge; in Arcade mode sanity only moves in boss fights. Details: Sanity in special areas.

Hidden mechanics#

• The floor is half the maximum, not zero. Refills stop at 50. Lunatic therefore feels like a timer; in the open world the doppelganger or a rest at an altar cancels it.
• Hero swapping is disabled. While Lunatic you cannot rotate team members; this matters for builds that rely on a second hero.
• The Lunatic slow trophy does not stack. Only one copy counts, so a second one wastes a slot (Sanity talents and trophies#Lunatic survival).
• The lock is exactly half, never rounded. Refills stop at 0.5 x maximum (52.5 / 55 / 57.5 with the Sanity talent), while the Lunatic test rounds its bound up (53 / 55 / 58), so the lock can never lift you out.
• The drain is a flat number, not a percentage. A 115-point maximum (three levels of the Sanity talent) gives a longer pool above 0 but the same 0.5 per second.
• Boss phase two is player-controlled. Staying above the line keeps the first form; this is why avoiding sanity damage on bosses is a real strategy.
• Constant SanDeadRate (0.6) and the sanity-first-kill reduction table are unused.

Related#

Sanity, Abnormal state, Sanity doppelganger, Sanity in special areas, Sanity talents and trophies, Bosses, Characters.

Sources#

• Lunatic-survival in the Lost Valley and maze: controller/controllerstorymode.lua:2185-2242; debuff clear: :2428-2447; Colossal Grave branch order: :2255-2268, StoryMonster story 8 row 8001 (IsBoss 1, BossFinal 1, hero 10006).
• Lock and refills: logic/playervalue/animalbase_value.lua:1651-1657 (SetSanPropertyLockCrazy), :1155-1215 (AddPropertyCommon clamp to GetSanBound), :1255-1290 (SetPropertyToMax clamp), :1118-1133 (entering Lunatic triggers HostPlayerCrazy), :112-130 (re-lock on load).
• Hero swap block: logic/player/animalbase.lua:9514-9545 (IsSwitchPlayerReady, IsHeroSanCrazy).
• Drains and doppelganger spawn: controller/controllerstorymode.lua:19-24, 2180-2290.
• Clearing: controller/controllerstorymode.lua:1896-1902 (SanMonsterDead), :2428-2444 (RecoveryProperty), :920-950 (boss end: RecoveryProperty(true) also refills health for a final boss that is not a maze boss), altar rest via HostPlayerReborn and logic/playervalue/animalbase_value.lua:142-147 (see Sanity#Sources), :3459-3470 (boss kill), :1470-1476 and gamedata/playerdefine/animalbase_value_define.lua:20-21 (forced revive rates), StoryQuest 15075.
• Enemy flag: controller/controllerstorymode.lua:1701-1714; logic/ai/brainbase.lua:40-52; logic/ai/behaviour/attack/attack20001.lua:215-310 and the other attack scripts listed by grep IsAnimalCrazy; logic/player/animalbase.lua:11080-11095.
• Boss grade-up: controller/controllerstorymode.lua:2255-2263, 2872-2880, 1096-1111; logic/player/animalbase.lua:1497-1560; achievements: controller/controllerstorymode.lua:3372-3380, 9437, structdata/ms_achievement.lua:23-53; boss pin: logic/playervalue/animalbase_value.lua:936-966, controller/controllerstorymode.lua:2449-2458.
• Tutorial wording: StoryTutorial 1033-1036 (Lunatic and bosses), 1006 (altars and elixirs).
• Trophies: TrophyData rows with LogicType 124 (e.g. 67004, 67005, 67006, 67016, 67017; NoOverlay = 1), structdata/fs_trophyequiplist.lua:238-252.
• Statues and fountain: StoryMazeStatue rows with GetStatusId 10096 and 10097, StatusData 10096 (Param5 500, Time 300), 10097 (Time 1).
• Colossal Grave override: logic/playervalue/animalbase_value.lua:1456-1466, structdata/ms_storydata.lua:13 (StoryId10011 = 8).