Scoring

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There are ten badges (plus one bonus badge) in Desktop Dungeons, each earned by completing the dungeon in a certain way. You must win the dungeon to earn badges; if you retire before defeating all the dungeon bosses you will never earn a badge.

  • Cheeky: The first monster you kill must be a higher level than you (easy)
  • Ding! Max: Reach level 10 (easy)
  • Faithless: Do not worship any gods (medium)
  • Feeling Parched: Do not drink health or mana potions (other potions are okay; medium)
  • Hoarder: Never convert any item (using Wizard.exe subdungeon is okay; hard)
  • Miser: Do not purchase items from shops (the Translocation seal is okay; medium)
  • Purist: Do not use any preparations except basic potion loadout, or the Vicious Token (hard)
  • Specialist: Kill the last boss using either magical or physical damage, but not both (medium)
  • Unstoppable: Kill all main dungeon monsters (level 8 or higher) without using petrification (medium)
  • Warmonger: Never use a glyph skill (converting is okay; very hard)
  • Vicious: Complete the dungeon run with the Vicious Token prepared (very hard)


Every single badge is attainable, although their difficulty may vary based on which dungeon you're playing and with which class. You will earn a small amount of gold when you first obtain a badge on a dungeon, and there are also several quests which can only be completed if your run is worthy of a particular badge (regardless of whether or not you have earned this badge before on the given dungeon). Apart from this, badges aren't worth anything except the personal pride of having overcome the dungeon with accolades.

Badge Acquisition Strategy

Most of the badges require a specialized playstyle, so they are easiest to obtain with a class that works well with that strategy.

Ding! Max

Ironically, this badge becomes easier to earn on harder dungeons, which are often longer and feature more enemies. There are a handful of dungeons, such as Naga City, where it is virtually impossible to win the dungeon without having earned this badge. Ding! Max is hardest to earn on Hobbler's Hold, where there are substantially fewer enemies. Using a deity who grants bonus experience or level increases, such as God: Tikki Tooki Tikki Tooki, God: Jehora Jeheyu Jehora Jeheyu or God: Dracul Dracul is a good idea. If you want to go overkill, a combination such as Class: Fighter Goblin Fighter will make it much easier. If you reach 10th level and then subsequently worship God: Glowing Guardian Glowing Guardian and request the humility boon and end as a 9th level character then you will still earn the badge. If you worship the Glowing Guardian earlier and never reach 10th level then you will not.

Feeling Parched

Most gods have end-game spike benefits which help in situations where you would otherwise desire potions, and these can play a crucial role. Altar preparations aren't really necessary to earn this achievement, but the option is there, and they are worth considering if you are using a specialized strategy. God: Glowing Guardian Glowing Guardian is a great prep. By turning your potions into piety, you can get health and mana refills from your potions through GG as a middleman. God: Dracul Dracul only rewards Item: Health Potion Health Potion conversions, but he might fit better into your overall strategy. You can get mana refills from God: The Earthmother The Earthmother or God: Mystera Annur Mystera Annur. God: Tikki Tooki Tikki Tooki lets you turn your health potions into different potions which do not invalidate the achievement. Jehora Jeheyu also has ways of taking your useless potions off your hands, and you will want to be able to use Chaos Avatar during the boss fight. God: Taurog Taurog's death protections are great for glass cannon bosses, but are sorely lacking against tank bosses. God: Binlor Ironshield Binlor Ironshield would otherwise synergize with potions. He does well if you can regen-fight the boss, but he could easily come up short if the boss has poison, curse, or mana burn.

Hoarder

No conversion means no racial bonuses, and you must be very careful about picking up items. The Class: Wizard Wizard's ability to hold glyphs as small items is a huge advantage. If gold reserves are an issue for your kingdom, then playing as a Race: Halfling Halfling, Race: Gnome Gnome or Race: Goblin Goblin gives you an extra layer of security if you fail to earn this badge so you can at least win the dungeon.

Miser

The Item: Translocation Seal Translocation Seal from the alchemist will allow you to steal from the shops. This does not count as a purchase, and allows you some leeway to get around this badge's requirement. God: Taurog Taurog and God: Glowing Guardian Glowing Guardian are options, as their inventory restrictions are less onerous when you are not using shops. God: Tikki Tooki Tikki Tooki gives you a way to utilize gold. Another superb option is the Item: Crystal Ball Crystal Ball, which gives spellcasters a great way to turn gold into spellcasting power.

Purist

As you do not have any special items to get you off the ground, you will want a class with a strong early game and the ability to adapt to whatever items happen to be available. The Class: Sorcerer Sorcerer, Class: Warlord Warlord and Class: Thief Thief can all play this role. With a more developed Kingdom, the Class: Tinker Tinker can also do well without preparations, as he is well-equipped to obtain the items he needs from shops. Another option is to simply reset the dungeon until you find something favorable - a nice glyph, item, or altar - near the dungeon entrance.

Warmonger

Most classes find it hard to abstain completely from glyph casting, but the Class: Berserker Berserker, the Class: Monk Monk, the Class: Crusader Crusader and the Class: Rogue Rogue (with strong items) all have enough muscle to power through under the right circumstances. Strength potions are highly recommended, as you have no other use for mana. The two stand-out deities for Warmonger runs are God: Taurog Taurog and God: Glowing Guardian Glowing Guardian. Both reward glyph conversion, while Taurog offers melee damage boosts while Glowing Guardian offers the cleansing boon to give you an option to deal magic damage. On dungeons where you're guaranteed to encounter physically-resistant bosses Glowing Guardian should be your default choice, although Class: Half-Dragon Half-Dragon is a good alternative. The Item: Bear Mace Bear Mace is an excellent preparation, as it gives you some utility options that are not glyph related. It is a superb option for maze-like maps such as the Labyrinth.

The Item: Really Big Sword Really Big Sword is another option for beating through physically-resistant bosses, and works best on Namtar's Lair and Ick Swamp. In Ick Swamp, the boss has both physical and magical resistance so magical strikes are of no help. In Namtar's Lair, the physically-resistant form of Namtar is encountered in the underworld and you cannot use Cleansing to beat him. The Half-Dragon also struggles with Namtar's magically-resistant form, and if he cannot line up a knockback chain his run will be ended.

Faithless

If you're going for 100% completion the obvious choice for Faithless is the Class: Vampire Vampire. Since he cannot worship deities at all he will always earn this badge. Otherwise good preparations to limit your need for deity boons are the best way to grab this badge.

Specialist

On most dungeons this badge will be trivial to obtain, requiring only that you play a specialist spellcaster or specialist melee character. Avoid hybrids that rely on a combined arms approach of melee and magical assault, and especially the Class: Sorcerer Sorcerer and Class: Half-Dragon Half-Dragon who have both a physical and magical component on their primary attack. There are a few dungeons where this badge is much more difficult to obtain, such as those that feature multi-form bosses which use different resistances. Multiple forms of the same boss count as the same boss for the purpose of this badge, so you must beat them all with one type of damage. God: Binlor Ironshield Binlor Ironshield can be useful for these situations, as PISORF gives you a physical damage option from spellcasting and he also provides the option to erode resistances. This badge is often easiest to obtain with Warmonger, since if you aren't using glyphs you're unlikely to have any source of magical damage. An attack imbued by the cleansing boon of the God: Glowing Guardian Glowing Guardian counts as magical and not physical.

Cheeky

Obtaining this badge is more luck-based than skill-based. Will you encounter an appropriate 2nd level monster, or will your early exploration be blocked off? If you want to ensure you can grab this badge, preparing God: Jehora Jeheyu Jehora Jeheyu or God: Binlor Ironshield Binlor Ironshield is a good idea. These gods offer glyphs that allow you to move monsters out of your way so you can avoid killing 1st level opponents until you find a suitable 2nd level foe to take down.

Unstoppable

The best way to obtain unstoppable is with the Class: Assassin Assassin due to swift hands, reaching level 10 will allow you to effortlessly execute every non-boss monster. For other classes, dealing with the level 8 and 9 monsters as early as possible (thus maximizing the bonus experience yield they give) is the best way to grab the Unstoppable badge.