darkSpyro

The Dam

The first thing you'll probably want to do is take care of the four Wyverns that are following you. They're not particularly strong so fly about meleeing and breathing on them until they explode into gems. You don't get hurt if you hit the water like you would in the previous two games so there's no worries there.

Head to the left side of the dam from where you start and you should spot a wooden platform on a square stone structure the furthest left you can go. Fly up to it and smash the Green Magic Crystal on it. From here fly towards the Shadow Door ahead of you on the side of the dam and use Cynder's Shadow Breath to get under it. In here you'll find a few gem clusters and a Red Life Crystal.

Fly around the "foot" of the dam going right and inbetween the two feet at the bottom is a Blue Gem Cluster. Next fly right down to the right end of the dam where there's another Shadow Door. Open it from inside and pick up an orb from the floor on the left.

Head outside and go to the left, smash the vases if they're still there and then run along the wall following the scratch marks onto a climbing zone. Slide to the left and wall run on the next bit as well. From the platform jump up onto some more climbing vines on the left and climb your way to the top, you'll need a jump left and a jump up to get there. Jump off onto the platform at the top and then down onto the "foot".

Place the orb on the blue circle and not only will the hexagonal pole thing unlock so you can move it but some Wyverns will also attack. Take care of them first and then have one character jump onto the end of the pole whilst the other flys away from the dam pulling out the pole. Once you've got it all the way the water level will rise a bit.

Fly back down to the right and pick up another orb from the same place you got it from before. Take it all the way down to the other end of the dam and fly up one of the toes of the other foot to place the orb on the blue circle on this one. Again more Wyverns will attack, once you've killed them pull the pole out and the water will rise again.

Now that the water is as far up as it's going to get for now fly to the far right end and you'll be able to reach a platform and some climbing zones you couldn't before. Climb the vines to the top where you'll find a piece of Tail Armour for Spyro.

Head to the middle of the dam where you can now fly up onto the platform there. Go through the doorway and you'll be on an elevator. Use the wheel on the left to make it go up about halfway, stop just about when you get to the arch that blocks your view a bit. Go to the other end of the elevator and jump off it to the right where you'll find a Blue Gem Cluster and an identical twin Blue Gem Cluster next to it.

Continue up by using the same wheel you were before on the left until you get to the very top. Jump up to the left to where there's a save point, if you want to save the game, and then head to the other side of the life either via wall run or the climbing zone and head out the door.

As soon as you do so a large enemy will appear and the exits will close. He'll also have a couple of Orcs running about but concentrate your attacks on him until you manage to defeat him. It's just your usual tactics for big enemies, fly around dodging the attacks whilst hitting him. Once he's dead and the two Orcs are too a chest will appear in the middle of the area which contains some Bracer Armour for Cynder.

Head down the long corridor to the right and out into the area on the other side. You'll be attacked by Orcs. Kill them all and then use Shadow Breath to get under the door in the middle of the wall. Smash the Red Life Crystal inside, go back out and head to the righthand corner of the area to climb the vines above the square stones there.

Grab the Orb and jump back down, next to the entrance to this area you'll see some more vines to climb. Climb these up to the top and jump left to where you'll see a Blue Gem Cluster. Smash it and then advance towards the Orb lying on the floor ahead of you. Leave it for now and use Cynder to climb the vines on the wall next to the brown rocks.

Stop above the doorway full of rocks and then use Spyro to swing into them using Earth Breath. Behind the rocks you'll find a Green Magic Crystal. Grab the orbs again (or leave them here for a little bit while we sort something else out) and climb the vines all the way up. An Elite Enemy Orc should appear in the corner.

Same tactics as all the previous Elites, work out from its mask which element to use at first and then once his mask falls off do whatever you like. There are some gem clusters in the corner that will reappear after a bit so use them if you're running low on breath or health.

Grab the orbs again and start climbing the vines, you might find it easier to carry one orb all the way and then to go back for the other one, it should still be where you left it. Climb until you get to some water pouring down on the right where you'll need to wall run to another section of climbing zones further ahead.

From there it's just a simple climb the rest of the way to the top. You'll find the last collectible of the level, a Blue Gem Cluster, right there when you get up. Go forwards into the larger area and to the left end. Place the orbs down on the blue circles to unlock the pole for pulling.

This will trigger the spawn of a bunch of Orcs, kill them and then start pulling. I'm not sure what happened to those reinforcements you saw earlier but that's the level completed.

With The Destroyer slowed down, Spyro and Cynder can catch it up.