The Duat is the Egyptian realm of the dead. Here one battles the god Osiris and his resurrected son Anubis II, to obtain a Jetpack and the Tablet of Destiny before reaching the Ice Caves.
The Duat parallels Tide Pool's Abzu, the only other location where one can get their hands on the Tablet of Destiny.
Entering[]
Entering Duat by sacrificing oneself on the altar in the City of Gold.
To enter the Duat, a player must sacrifice themselves on the Kali Altar in The City of Gold while the Ankh is in their inventory. All other players and Hired Hands will be teleported to the realm with them.
There are multiple ways to sacrifice oneself on the altar:
- The most common method of entry is to jump from a platform high above the altar and jumping down onto it. The player will take 1 fall damage before being subsequently sacrificed and teleported to the Duat.
- This method is flawed, as if the player is at 1 HP, they will die from fall damage instead of dying from being sacrificed, and they will lose their Ankh without teleporting to the Duat.
- One of the many Leprechauns in The City of Gold are easily capable of stunning the player. By having one stun the player just over the Altar, they will be swiftly sacrificed.
- A broken Arrow may be used to enter the Duat by throwing it at a wall and having it bounce back at the player, stunning them onto the Altar.
- An Arrow can easily be obtained from the Arrow loaded in the Crossbow found in the Stars Challenge in the level prior to The City of Gold, or by sacrificing a Rock to the Altar while at 16 favor or more to produce an Arrow.
- In Co-op or Online Multiplayer, another Spelunker may simply set the player with the Ankh down onto the Altar.
A player that sacrifices themselves on the Altar in The City of Gold will always leave behind any back items they were wearing. If the player obtained a back item prior, or in, Olmec's Lair and wants to keep the item for after the Duat, they may leave it in the hands of Waddler, and retrieve it from him in the Ice Caves.
All friendly Spelunkers and Hired Hands will teleport into the Duat with the sacrificed player, although delivering a Pet to the level exit in The City of Gold then entering the Duat will lead to it falling into the open space found in the level transition screen, preventing players from gaining an extra heart.
Features[]
Duat, like the Sunken City, is a "reverse" level, where the player spawns at the bottom of the level and must climb to the top, avoiding various enemies.
As Duat is one of the two locations in the game that can have no wall (the other one being Tiamat's Throne), Rope may not activate, as there are a lot of tiles that have no solid background they can hold to.
Throughout Duat, the player will encounter numerous Snakes, Cobras, and Ammit. Occasional pockets of lava can appear throughout, rarely containing Magmars.
A Spelunker indirectly dying at the hands of Apep, when it triggers lava to fall onto them by passing through.
The Egyptian god of chaos, Apep, passes through the level frequently. Making contact with its body will deal two damage and stun a player, while being hit by its head will kill a Spelunker instantly. Apep will repeatedly appear in only two sections of the map; one being some point near the halfway mark through the level, and another being just below the top of the level before the boss battle.
Rather than having indestructible tiles on the ends of the level, the Duat opts for large black walls of smoke clouds keeping the player within play boundaries in order to accommodate Apep's appearances. Making contact with these clouds will stun the player and fling them backwards.
A Kali Altar will always spawn near the top of the level just below Apep's second appearance, and depending on the player's favor, will have a certain item on it. Entities cannot be sacrificed on this altar.
| Favor | Reward |
|---|---|
| 7 or less | Nothing |
| 8-15 | Cooked Turkey |
| 16-23 | Bomb Bag |
| 24 and above | Bomb Box |
Unlike other secret zones, there is no unlockable character here, as Au is already found in The City of Gold.
The Ghost will never spawn in Duat, and neither will an angered Tun or Shopkeeper.
At the top of Duat, the judger of souls, Osiris will appear. Anubis II will spawn alongside him shortly after. Killing Osiris will cause him to explode into emeralds and leave behind the Tablet of Destiny, before opening a portal to the Ice Caves. Anubis II will always drop a Jetpack after his death, making the Duat the only area in the game with a guaranteed Jetpack.
Enemies[]
Strategy[]
- The player should make sure to ascend carefully, or risk meeting a grisly fate at the hands of Apep. Apep will only stay in one horizontal section of the screen and only appears in two different areas in the entire level, making his appearances predictable.
- Apep is guaranteed to be constantly appearing just below the boss arena, making retreat a difficult option during the battle.
- The player can take as much time as they need completing the level, as they do not need to worry about The Ghost.
- Bomb Paste is arguably the most important item in this level. With it, all that a player will have to do to defeat Osiris is throw 4 paste bombs in his face.
- If a player has Paste, it is recommended that they advance their favor with Kali to the 24 or above. This will let the player obtain a valuable Bomb Box from the Kali altar for the fight at the top of the Duat.
- At this level of favor, the player should also have the Kapala, meaning they can also use the Snakes, Cobras, and Ammit to farm blood for health before the battle.
- Due to the movement behavior of Osiris and Anubis II, starting the fight from the right side of the level is more likely to get Anubis II killed when the player sticks the paste bombs onto Osiris.
- If a player has Paste, it is recommended that they advance their favor with Kali to the 24 or above. This will let the player obtain a valuable Bomb Box from the Kali altar for the fight at the top of the Duat.
- When defeating Osiris or Anubis II, one should take caution to collect the items they drop (eg; Tablet of Destiny, Jetpack) as soon as possible, as depending on where they die, the items they drop may fall into a dangerous spot where they are difficult to recover, or even into lava where the items become irretrievable.
- The Duat is generally considered much harder than Abzu is in terms of obtaining the Tablet of Destiny and general difficulty. While Kingu may be easily defeated with the power of Excalibur, Osiris and Anubis II must by killed by the player's hand alone.
Trivia[]
- The Duat is the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. The sun god, Ra, would battle Apep, who embodied the primordial chaos that the sun had to defeat to rise in the morning. The correct way to refer to the realm in a sentence is not as "Duat", but "the Duat", similar to how one would say "the underworld".
- Ushabti can be commonly associated with the Duat, as they are intended to be servants for the dead in the afterlife.
- Prior to version 1.20.2a, not only did Anubis II not drop a Jetpack, but the altar in the Duat would give the player a Powerpack if they had 32 or more favor. These two mechanics were changed as many players felt that the Duat was not worth visiting due to many different reasons, such as how entering the Duat requires the player to consume their Ankh, leave behind any back item they were wearing, and reset their HP to 4.
| Spelunky 2 Places | |
| Area 1 | Dwelling |
| Area 2 A | Jungle (Black Market) |
| Area 2 B | Volcana (Vlad's Castle) |
| Area 3 | Olmec's Lair |
| Area 4 A | Tide Pool • Abzu |
| Area 4 B | Temple of Anubis • The City of Gold • Duat |
| Area 5 | Ice Caves |
| Area 6 | Neo Babylon • Tiamat's Throne |
| Area 7 | Sunken City • Eggplant World • Hundun's Hideaway |
| Area 8 | Cosmic Ocean |
| Miscellaneous | Camp |
| See also | Level Feelings |