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=== Race Selection ===
 
There are two ways to go about race selection:  Picking a strategy in advance, or keeping open to whatever the dungeon presents. You should probably pick your race considering the boss, but Halflings and Gnomes are almost always helpful.
 
  
=== Game Phases ===
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This page explains general '''strategies''' and tricks to solve dungeons. But of course, every game is different, so there is no single strategy to guarantee a win. Moreover this advice is intended for '''intermediate''' players; true veterans may have to discard familiar strategies to reach new heights.  
One strategy that can be effective is to play the game as if there were 3 distinct phases to it:  Scouting, Preparation, and Boss Battling
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*Scouting: Levels 1 to 3. It's rarely possible to kill monsters of significantly higher level at this stage, but it can be useful to do some quick scouting around the dungeon and find what Gods and Runes are available, as well as what Boss spawned (If in a random boss dungeon). You can significantly speed this up if you Scout: Altar.
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*Preparation:  Levels 3 to 7.  It's possible to kill monsters of significantly higher level during this phase, to generate more exp by using the level-up steamroll and the experience catapult.  The goal is to generate enough bonus experience to be able to reach levels 9 or 10.
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*Boss Battling:  Levels 7 to 10.  At this point, dungeon exploration likely stops (unless you're using a poison glyph against a boss or can out regen them), and the battle begins.  It can be useful at this point to be almost at the next level, allowing the player to use the level-up steamroll to instantly heal to full health and mana, possibly even multiple times during the fight.
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=== Character Builds ===
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If you are new DD, you might want to read the [[New Players Guide]] first.
There are several different approaches to character builds which generally fall into one of the following categories:
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==== Striker ====
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You can also find more specific strategies in the [[class]], [[race]], [[gods]] and [[dungeons]] topics, and are also encouraged to the read the different [[Annotated Playthroughs]].
Focusing heavily on attack damage and one-time buffs, Strikers are characters that attempt to end their fights quickly with a few powerful physical attacks.  Strikers only use spellcasting to supplement their damage, primarily relying on physical attacks.  Character classes such as the {{c|Warlord}}, {{c|Rogue}}, and {{c|Crusader}} make strong strikers.  Strikers tend to only want enough health and resistances to survive a single attack from enemies, and put no further effort into defenses, instead focusing on offense so they only ''need'' to survive that one attack.  Temporary buffs that only last for one attack are very useful to striker builds, since their battles end shortly afterwards and they can then explore to recharge their mana and re-cast their buffs.  Strikers benefit enormously from any item that increases their attack damage, and greatly enjoy the {{s|CYDSTEPP}}, {{s|ENDISWAL}}, and {{s|GETINDARE}} glyphs which allow them to tack on a few extra attacks with little additional effort.  These characters prefer to fight low-health monsters such as Goats, Gorgons, and Warlocks.
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The {{r|Human}} and {{r|Orc}} are generally the best races for strikers, though strong striker strategies exist for every race except for the {{r|Dwarf}}.  
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'''Important note :''' The word "wisely" or similar ideas are often used. It might lead you to believe that a wrong decision will doom your character. Ok, this will sometimes be the case, but you will be amazed how resourceful your hero can be. So don't take that word too seriously. '''Keep playing even if''' you think that '''you screwed your run''', and you might discover that true power lies beyond your mistakes!
  
==== Brawler ====
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==Phases==
The sister build of the Striker, the Brawler attempts to balance offense and defense to outlast opponents by sheer attrition.  While they do not focus on ending battles quickly like the striker, attack damage is still the most important aspect for a brawler character.  Permanent resistances are very useful to the Brawler, making deities that offer boons to that effect very valuable. Classes such as the {{c|Berserker}}, {{c|Monk}}, and {{c|Paladin}} make superb brawlers.  Brawlers make exceptional poison fighters with the {{s|APHEELSIK}} glyph, and can often make great use of {{s|HALPMEH}} and {{s|BYSSEPS}}. Glyphs that deal damage directly are poor choices for brawlers, which need to use more mana-efficient options to win battles of attrition. Brawlers prefer to fight low-damage monsters such as Meatmen or Golems, but are heavily penalized for fighting monsters with debuffs such as bandits.
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Dungeon exploration can be divided into four phases, each with their own challenges:
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*'''Preparation''': You are not in the dungeon yet, but you still have strategic choices to make. Which class/race/preparation will the best, or the most enjoyable?
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*'''Scouting''': Your first few steps in the dungeon, when you are getting a feeling of the place. You are doing more exploration than monster fighting.
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*'''Build-up''': When you start building up your character and stacking resources for the final fight. This is really the place where the game is won or lost.
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*'''Boss fight''': Unleash all your might to defeat the nasty boss (or bosses) in a flurry of deadly blows, powerful mana and yummy potions.
  
In some cases, the line between Brawler and Striker may become blurred.  Since both builds prioritize attack damage foremost, opportunity and necessity may cause strikers to play like brawlers and brawlers to play like strikers.  This overlap means you can often enter the dungeon with preparations that would suit either a brawler or striker and then develop on the build that makes most sense based on the boss and the deities, items, and glyphs available to you.  
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==Preparation phase==
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Ah, the preparation screen, the place you'll spend hours picking the right [[class]], [[race]] and [[preparations]] combination that will enable you to solve your next dungeon.  
  
The {{r|Human}} and {{r|Orc}} make the best Brawlers, but specific brawler strategies exist for every race.
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Don't over-think it though; every single dungeon can be won by any class and without any preparations, although some combination are certainly easier than others.
  
==== Caster ====
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=== Race selection ===
Specializing in either the {{s|PISORF}} or {{s|BURNDAYRAZ}} glyph, a dedicated caster eschews the normal focus on attack damage, instead diverting attention to max mana or other unconventional advantages.  The caster will primarily rely on glyphs for damage, and survivability is largely a non-issue.  This make utility glyphs that help your combat performance largely worthless, but makes the {{s|BLUDTUPOWA}} glyph invaluable.  The {{i|Crystal Ball}} item is by far the best selection for a caster, although you'll need to save a decent sum of gold to abuse it. Casters can deal massive amounts of damage without ever taking retaliation from monsters, enabling them to casually ignore debuffs and massive damage that an enemy might otherwise have.  The largest downside casters face is that they have trouble killing weaker monsters when performing level-up catapults, since their total focus on magic means their attack damage is going to be very low and they will either have to use mana or health resources to defeat weaker monsters that should be push-overs.  This makes the ''swift hands'' class feature of the {{c|Assassin}} very useful for caster characters.  Other strong caster classes are the {{c|Wizard}} and {{c|Bloodmage}}.
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''Main article : [[Race]]''
  
Casters should almost always play as an {{r|Elf}}, {{r|Gnome}}, or {{r|Orc}}.  Elves and Gnomes grant additional spellcasting power, while the Orc's bonus to base attack greatly increases the damage he deals with {{s|PISORF}}. Orc Caster builds are very uncommon since there is no way to ensure PISORF or Binlor (without prepping him) will appear in the dungeon, and your entire character setup depends on that.
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There are two ways to go about race selection:  Picking a strategy in advance, or keeping open to whatever the dungeon presents. You should probably pick your race considering the boss (if you know what it will be), but Halflings and Gnomes are almost always helpful.
  
==== Hybrid ====
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The races can be sorted into two groups:
These characters, for whatever reason, do not have any particular attributes that make them well suited to one specific approach. Instead, they present a well-rounded character that alters his approach for different monsters and situations.  Hybrids lack the specialization of other builds, and as a result are much weaker overall and will need to leverage their versatility to use their resources more efficiently.  They also tend to suffer because they will want to keep a wider variety of glyphs, and will not gain benefits from having converted them until later in the dungeon. Classes such as the {{c|Fighter}}, {{c|Thief}}, and {{c|Sorcerer}} have the kind of versatility that makes for a good hybrid.  The {{c|Wizard}} is also potentially a good hybrid choice, as he is able to carry a large number of glyphs and does not need to convert them directly in order to extract conversion points from them.  Obviously your deity choice would be entirely based on your scenario.
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* Those giving a permanent bonus: [[Human]], [[Orc]], [[Dwarf]]. Convert early, and you'll get the benefit of the race for the whole game.
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* Those providing resources: [[Halfling]], [[Gnome]] and [[Goblin]]. Convert late, for a powerful [[spike]] during boss fight, or during build-up to defeat high level monsters and trigger juicy XP bonuses.
  
Races that are back-loaded (that is to say, you benefit most by converting items and glyphs late), such as the {{r|Halfling}}, {{r|Gnome}}, and {{r|Goblin}} make for excellent hybrids. The {{r|Human}} and {{r|Elf}} are also sufficiently diverse to offer a strong option for hybrids.
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=== Character builds ===
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A user proposed a while ago different [[Character Builds|character builds]]. But that classification is somewhat simplistic and probably a relic of the old alpha version. It is not really used nowadays.
  
=== God Selection ===
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Another classification, still very limited compared to range of possibilities, could be:
God selection is essential to victory. Nothing is worse than picking a god only to discover that the selection is going to prevent you from winning. On the other hand, getting a god early usually means more piety and access to better boons. Whether or not you should grab a god as soon as you see them is a factor of your race, class, level, items, glyphs and the state of the dungeon. Here are some general rules for each:
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* '''Striker''': Characters who deal high damage, but won't be able to survive many hits. Often regen-fighting is one good way to deal with the nasty monsters. Debuffs that apply on each hit ({{t|Weakened}}, {{t|Cursed}}, etc) are not a big concern for a striker. Instead, positive effects applied on attacks are ineffective. Monsters with low health are good targets.
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* '''Tank''': Characters who are able to receive a lot of damage. Tanks can "burst" damage on target better than strikers, but regen-fighting is very ineffective.  
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* '''Caster''': Characters relying on heavy use of glyphs to deal damage. There are two types of casters: {{s|BURNDAYRAZ}} casters and {{s|PISORF}} casters (also known as punchomancers). Maximum mana and methods to heal mana are of great concern to casters. Sometimes casters completely give up their normal attacks. Low health monsters are good targets, and they can ignore lots of malicious debuffs.
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* '''Regen-fighter''': characters able to heal faster than the monsters. There are three important aspects for regen-fighters, '''damage''', '''defense''', and '''poison'''. Maximum health or mana is not an interest for them. Certain glyphs or items will help regen-fighters immensely. Low damage monsters are good targets regardless of their health pool, but debuffing monsters are just out of question.
  
*{{g|Binlor Ironshield}}: Binlor works as a source of magic resistance and resistance reduction, and is an okay source of piety. He grants a free PISORF on worship, which may be tricky to get piety with. You can get ENDISWAL for 35 piety, or can pick one up if it spawns making Extra Glyphs a good preperation to take if you plan on worshiping him. If you have the BLUDTUPOWA glyph then you can accumulate piety with Binlor faster than with any other deity. Constantly requesting Stone Skin and Stone Heart will allow you to rack up a great amount of magic resistance. Binlor is also a good desecration target, as long as you don't have any resistances. One downside to Binlor is that if the boss has high resistance, it's important you find the boss as soon as possible, as Stone Heart works on visible enemies only.
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However, don't take this classification too seriously; the same character will often change its playstyle as the dungeon unfolds. It will depend on the [[items]], [[glyphs]] and [[gods]] you find and how close you are to the [[Strategy#Boss fights|boss fight]].
*{{g|Dracul}}: Dracul is a good selection for most melee classes, due to how much health he can bring to the table. By conserving blood pools and exploiting his Blood Tithe boon, you can get the equivalent of a dozen Health Potions, even more if you're a Bloodmage. Unfortunately, he HATES all holy magic (HALPMEH and CYDSTEPP) so if you rely on these he is not a good choice. The other reason he's useful is for if Blood Shield boon, which stacks extremely well with the Dragon Shield, but has a high piety cost. His Blood Hunger boon works well for striker builds, since you can overheal using life steal.
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*{{g|The Earthmother}}: A somewhat useful deity by herself, but a great source of piety. The exp bonus from IMAWAL can work to your advantage, and you gain piety from it! Her Plantation boon allows you to get 100 Piety extremely easily, which can be used to convert to another deity. She also works well with The Pactmaker. As for her other boons, they provide decent leverage early game, but tends to fall off late game. Vine Form is a cheap source of HP at early levels. Clearance provides a cheap source of mana for the first few requests. Greenblood is a weak boon, but it's usable if you desperately need to get rid of curse. Entanglement can be used for cleaning up, since killing slowed enemies gives you an extra experience point. The Earthmother's also an easy desecration target, since a single Burn Salve negates her punishment.
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*{{g|Glowing Guardian}}: A powerful deity for every class except Bloodmage and Assassin, or Tri-Sword/Alchemist's Scroll builds. Worship him as early as possible to get the most piety out of him. Absolution is deceptively powerful, allowing gain a ton of max HP, although it costs 1/5 of an item slot and some potential XP. Enlightenment can be used to your advantage, providing a nice bonus to everything, plus a complete curse wipe. Unfortunately he hates potions, and converting in and out of him isn't a great option.
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*{{g|Jehora Jeheyu}}: A very strange god. His boons can be very powerful, but will deplete your potions so they must be used carefully. Piety gain is random; if you get lucky, he can give you inordinate amounts of piety. However, punishments are also at random! Try to get the Petition boon to end his punishments as soon as possible. He can also be desecrated easily if you time your level ups.
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*{{g|Mystera Annur}}: Mystera works well for certain strategies. Refreshment is a powerful boon, providing roughly 5-6 Mana Potions worth of mana, so saving glyphs for mana replenishment is crucial. Mystic Balance is a strong boon that allows for 5 MP fireballs and 8 MP CYDSTEPPs, although it fares poorly with other cheaper glyphs. Flames and Weakening is an option if you desperately need magic damage. Magic basically equates to 1 almost-free MP. Don't worship her if the dungeon is full of magical monsters or mana burners, however.
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*{{g|The Pactmaker}}: Not a real deity. The Pactmaker offers 5 pacts which decrease your piety, but give you god effects when certain things happen. If you cannot pay the piety because you have no other god, nothing happens. If you have a god, but can't pay the piety, you do not invoke the gods punishment. You can also use Consensus for instant piety gratification or for converting out of a deity. Works well with "piety farms" like The Earthmother and Taurog, as well as the Stone Sigil.
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*{{g|Taurog}}: Taurog is a good source of piety, and benefits classes that beg for physical damage, especially the Berserker and the Monk. However, the mana penalty can be crippling and his boons will fill your inventory and prevent you from purchasing other items from shops. With Taurog, you can either worship him full-time and abuse his Unstoppable Fury boon or grab a few of his items and convert out of him before the MP penalty cripples you.
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*{{g|Tikki Tooki}}: Good choice as a later game deity, as he enjoys you slaying lower level monsters, but a big no for tanks. His Dodging and Poison boons are useful, and Reflexes gives you two powerful potions at your disposal. Tikki's Edge can also be abused if you saved a lot of low-level monsters. The best part of Tikki Tooki is that his boons give you gold, so you can afford buying powerful items and abusing gold-consuming items like the Tri-Sword or Crystal Ball.
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=== Preparation ===
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Some other builds are described in the [[Strategy#Power builds and other odd tricks|power builds]] section, and the [[class]] pages.
The preparation phase for the boss battles is highly significant, as it requires maximizing exp gain, minimizing resource usage, and choosing an appropriate strategy.  It's worthwhile to note that while dungeon exploration is itself technically a limited resource, it is often desirable or even necessary to exhaust all dungeon exploration during this phase to maximize exp gain, unless intending to use a [[Full:Glyphs|APHEELSIK glyph]] or regen tactics to defeat the boss(es).  In dungeons where there are two bosses, it can be helpful to try to leave a corridor, corner, or area unexplored to allow for regeneration between boss battles.
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When reaching level 6 to 7, it's often beneficial to have explored most if not all of the dungeon, and begin creating an "exp farm."  By weakening several lower level monsters to within a single hit from death, they can be finished later to gain exp for further level steamrolling.  Note, it is less useful or even dangerous to leave creatures with the First Strike ability weakened as a part of an exp farm, as they will deal still deal damage to you when you come back to finish them off.
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=== Gold and kingdom ===
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Remember that preparations will cost you gold. So if your vault is near empty, you might want to go as purist.
  
=== Basic Combat Techniques by Numbers ===
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You can also seek the IN DEMAND trophy, take the bet on boss preparation, and score 1050 gold off the boss kill.
  
These values are with no damage powerups, and often times the disparities can be bridged with glyphs / race / class / deity bonuses, or by fighting monsters with less than the standard 100% health for their level (Gorgons, imps, wraiths, ...)The three most basic combos are the '''two-one''', the '''two-two''' and the '''four-one'''.  Some race/class/deity setups are capable of doing far more advanced combos, but these are the basic underlying methods available to all.
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Prior to unlocking IN DEMAND trophies, Transmutation Seals can be used on boss trophies to convert them to their full gold valueAgain, the "Bet on the Boss" preparation increases the cash gained.
  
As a note, monsters with lower starting health can often be killed at even lower levels than the charts suggest.  The example of a level 8 gorgon falling to a level 4-5 '''four-one''' attack comes to mind.
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Later in the game, '''PQI''' and '''flaming dungeons''' will also provide opportunities to make more gold.
  
==== Two-One Attack ====
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==Scouting phase==
Two fireballs, followed up by a melee blowDamage dealt is calculated by (4 x 2 x player level) for the fireball damage, and (5 x player level) for melee damage.  This technique is most effective early-game.
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'''Levels 1 to 3'''It's rarely possible to kill monsters of significantly higher level at this stage, but it can be useful to do some quick scouting around the dungeon and find what [[Gods]] and [[Glyphs]] are available, as well as what Boss spawned (if in a random boss dungeon).
  
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
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The length of scouting depends on your play style, but also on the dungeon. Some players might kill few monsters before they have cleared 25% of the map, and thus have more choice for early Build-Up, while others might try to level-up as soon as possible to avoid wasting [[black space]]. Even though it's possible to fully explore {{d|Hobbler's Hold}} before fighting any monster and still win, for most dungeons, don't over explore though in scouting phase. Black space is a valuable resource.
|- style="background-color: #EEEEEE"
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!Player Level
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!Damage Dealt
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!Monster Level
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!Monster Health (100%)
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|-
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| 1 || 13 || 2 || 15
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|-
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| 2 || 26 || 3 || 26
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|-
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| 3 || 39 || 4 || 39
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|-
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| 4 || 52 || 5 || 54
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|-
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| 5 || 65 || 6 || 71
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|-
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| 6 || 78 || 7 || 90
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|-
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| 7 || 91 || 8 || 111
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|-
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| 8 || 104 || 9 || 134
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|}
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As the chart shows, at most early levels it's possible to kill monsters of one higher level with a simple '''two-one''' attack.  An early item such as a [[Items|Fine Sword]] can make this tactic effective well into level 5.
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===Scouting tools===
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The most useful glyph for scouting is {{s|LEMMISI}} which tends to prioritize revealing altars, the boss, [[subdungeons]], shops, and other glyphs.
  
==== Two-Two Attack ====
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Some classes also provide extra information for scouting, such as {{c|Fighter}}, {{c|Wizard}}, {{c|Tinker}}, {{c|Half-Dragon}}, and {{c|Rat Monarch}}
This technique is similar to the '''one-two''' attack, but requires First Strike, [[Full:Glyphs|CYDSTEPP]], healing, or enough health to survive two attacks from the monster.  When successful, however, it allows for easily killing monsters two levels higher.  This technique is most effective mid-game, although coupled with a level-up, it can be chained into a '''four-two''' or even a '''four-four''' attack for slaying extremely high level monsters.
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{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
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===Scouting mana investment===
|- style="background-color: #EEEEEE"
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While scouting, you probably will have plenty of mana left. Instead of wasting it, {{s|WONAFYT}} is another useful glyph at this stage, enabling you to prepare a nice salted [[popcorn]] bowl. Each summoned monster will grant 1 bonus XP, but could also be the occasion for a mid-fight level-up. Summoning brings monsters to you, helping to preserve [[black space]], and is even more efficient if you have a {{i|Balanced Dagger}}.
!Player Level
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!Damage Dealt
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!Monster Level
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!Monster Health (100%)
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|-
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| 1 || 18 || 3 || 26
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|-
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| 2 || 36 || 4 || 39
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|-
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| 3 || 59 || 5 || 54
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|-
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| 4 || 72 || 6 || 71
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|-
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| 5 || 90 || 7 || 90
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|-
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| 6 || 108 || 8 || 111
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|-
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| 7 || 126 || 9 || 134
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|}
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==== Four-One Attack ====
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If you already are worshiping a god rewarding glyph use such as {{g|Mystera Annur}}, {{g|Binlor}} or {{g|Jehora Jeheyu}}, your extra mana could be invested there.
  
By leveling up mid-combat, the player can use 4 fireballs in a single battle against a monster (even 6 or 8, through gear / deity / race / class / etc.). This technique is highly effective, but often harder to use.
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==Build-up phase==
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'''Levels 3 to 7'''.  It's possible to kill monsters of significantly higher level during this phase (to generate more XP by using the level-up steamroll and the experience catapult). The goal is to create the appropriate conditions for the final boss(es) fight(s):
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*Plenty of resources remaining for the boss fight (piety, conversion points, [[popcorn]], potions...)
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*Attaining sufficient level and being one kill away from leveling up
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*Accumulating boons from [[god|gods]]
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*Useful items
  
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
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The build-up phase is highly significant, as it requires maximizing XP gain, minimizing resource usage, and choosing an appropriate strategy.  It's worthwhile to note that while dungeon exploration is itself technically a limited resource, it is often desirable or even necessary to exhaust all dungeon exploration during this phase to maximize XP gain, unless intending to use a {{s|APHEELSIK}} or regen tactics to defeat the boss(es).  In dungeons where there are multiple bosses, it can be helpful though, to leave some black space for regeneration between those fights.
|- style="background-color: #EEEEEE"
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!Player Level (start/end)
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!Damage Dealt
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!Monster Level
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!Monster Health (100%)
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|-
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| 1-2 || 34 || 4 || 39
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|-
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| 2-3 || 55 || 5 || 54
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|-
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| 3-4 || 76 || 6 || 71
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|-
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| 4-5 || 97 || 7 || 90
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|-
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| 5-6 || 118 || 8 || 111
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|-
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| 6-7 || 139 || 9 || 134
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|}
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=== Advanced Techniques ===
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When reaching level 6 to 7, it's often beneficial to have explored most if not all of the dungeon, and begin creating an "XP farm."  By weakening several lower level monsters to within a single hit from death, they can be finished later to gain XP for further level steamrolling.  Note, it is less useful or even dangerous to leave creatures with the First Strike ability weakened as a part of an XP farm, as they will still deal damage to you when you come back to finish them off.
  
==== Level-up Steamroll ====
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===Exploration===
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''Main article : [[Exploration]]''
  
With very few experience needed to gain the next level, you can fight a tough monster, and then when you can't fight any more, kill a low-level monster in order to level up. This will restore your health and mana without healing the tough monster. You can then go back to killing the tougher monster with full strength.
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Always remember that during build-up, black space is your main resource. Black space is mana and health. You will transform that health and mana into damage, experience, objects, etc. for the final fights.
It is possible to level up more than once during a single fight. This usually requires the player utilizing the "Experience Catapult" strategy first (see below) so that he has a lot of low-level monsters to kill. Nonetheless, keeping track of how many experience you can get from the available monsters is always a wise thing to do.
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So don't be shy in exploration, but explore wisely. (Easier said than done, no?)
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As said before, if you don't expect to [[Battle of attrition|regen fight]], you might want to fully explore the map before the final boss fight to collect all remaining power ups and reveal all monsters.
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===The hunt for bonus XP===
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''Main article : [[Level]]''
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One of your main goals in build-up phase is to gain enough experience to reach a high enough level to conduct the boss fight, and to create a nice [[popcorn]] bowl (for mid-fight level-up). However, if you stick to killing same-level monsters, you will never manage to rise higher than level 5, and will exhaust all potential popcorn. So you need to get bonus XP.
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The main source of bonus XP is killing monsters which have a higher level than you. The wider the difference, the bigger the bonus. But there are other tools to get bonus XP:
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*{{s|IMAWAL}} which after being cast on a monster will award you a 50% XP bonus on your next kill. This works best if your next kill will award you a lot of XP. Also, note that the XP of the monster you petrified is lost, so prefer low level monsters, monsters which you won't kill (too tough), plants, or the occasional no XP monsters you might encounter.
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*Slowing monsters for a tiny 1 bonus XP (still useful when cast extensively)
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*Items such as the {{i|Balanced Dagger}}
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*{{c|Fighter}}s and {{r|Goblin}}s also are helpful to gain levels with less XP
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*Some gods will also give you boons helping to gain levels or bonus XP, such as the {{g|Glowing Guardian}}, {{g|Tikki Tooki}} or {{g|Jehora Jeheyu}}.
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Also, note that when choosing a higher level monster to kill (level +2 or +3), you might discover that killing it will cause you to level up. But you might be able to slip in another bonus XP kill (level +1 or +2) before leveling, thus optimizing XP bonuses. However, that will be one popcorn less. So it's up to you to decide which is the most important...
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===Popcorn collection===
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''Main article : [[Popcorn]]''
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It often is useful to recover health and mana during a boss fight. If you don't want to regen-fight or use potions, one way is to have a mid-fight level-up. The easiest way is to start the fight with your XP one (easy) kill from level-up.
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But if you wish to get 2 level-ups during the fight ('''level steamroll'''), you will need a lot of weak monsters to kill during your boss fight. That group of low level monsters is called a '''popcorn bowl'''. Leaving a lot of popcorn requires you to gain XP fast, leaving many monsters alive. One technique is to perform an '''experience catapult''' (killing a monster with an major difference in level, which makes you gain multiple levels at once):
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* For example, a L1 hero killing a L9 monster gets 67 experience, and will suddenly catapult to level 5.
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* A L2 hero killing the same L9 monster gets "only" 53 experience.
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Of course, this works better if you do it a low level. 
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===Monster selection===
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In the search for bonus XP (or simply gathering XP without exploring too much), you will have to choose your next target wisely.
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* When possible try to go for the highest level monster.
 +
* Only start fights that you will win: carefully read the combat prediction and check your resources before starting the fight.
 +
* Pay attention to the monster's traits and make sure you know the consequences it will have. Hitting a monster with {{t|Life steal}} and {{t|Blinks}} when there is still a lot of black space left might not be the best move as you will probably have to start the fight all over again.
 +
* If you are preparing a popcorn bowl, check that the monsters you are leaving actually are good popcorn. For example, cursing or death-gaze monsters might be dangerous as popcorn. So it might better to kill them before starting the boss fight.
 +
* Don't be too scared of debuffs. For example, being mana burned or poisoned just before leveling up is really not a problem (as it will be cleared on level-up). Maybe 1 or 2 {{t|Weakening}} or {{t|Corrosion}} debuffs might not be such a big deal in exchange for critical XP (especially if you can get it cleared).
 +
* Really pay attention to your god, especially when you can't afford losing XP. Some gods like you killing some monster types: {{g|Taurog}} loves it when you kill spellcasters with {{t|Magical attack}}, and the {{g|Glowing Guardian}} {{t|Undead}}, but others hate when you kill the wrong target: {{g|Dracul}} does not like when you kill {{t|Undead}}, and {{g|Mystera Annur}} when you kill spellcasters.
 +
 
 +
===Inventory management===
 +
There is one important rule when taking items: they occupy room in your inventory, and the only way to get rid of them is to convert them.
 +
It may be detrimental to fill your inventory with objects you don't need now, or to be obliged to convert an item too early to make room for another powerful artefact...
 +
 
 +
So think twice before picking something up, and think twice too before converting an object.
 +
 
 +
In the same way, spend you gold wisely in the shops.
 +
 
 +
=== Single-use glyphs ===
 +
Single-use glyphs are a special case of inventory management. If you know early on in the game that you will be worshiping {{g|Taurog}}, you can still get limited use from some glyphs. The effects of {{s|CYDSTEPP}}, {{s|BYSSEPS}}, and {{s|GETINDARE}} will persist after you convert them, and those effects activating will ''not'' anger {{g|Taurog}} (or {{g|Binlor Ironshield}}, for that matter), so it can be very beneficial to pick up and activate these glyphs (especially {{s|CYDSTEPP}} for non-Fighters), before beginning worship, then convert them afterwards for [[Gods#Piety_and_Altars|piety]] and the racial effect.
 +
 
 +
{{s|LEMMISI}} is another situation where you might want to convert early, once you've done enough exploration with it.
 +
 
 +
=== God selection ===
 +
''Main article : [[gods]]''
 +
 
 +
Gods are among the most powerful features in game, granting powerful boons. Actually, a good god understanding is one of the keys to successful [[vicious]] dungeon runs. But they might be scary as they will dislike some of you actions, or even punish you if your [[piety]] gets below 0.
 +
 
 +
They are not equal; some will interact better with some classes (you'll get more information in the [[class]] pages), some will be more efficient if you worship them early (Glowing Guardian or Jehora Jeheyu), some can be worshiped or converted to in late game (Dracul or the Earthmother), some hate when you kill some monster types which might be important in your dungeon.
 +
 
 +
So the trick is to understand what they could do for you, when is the right time to worship them, but also keep in mind that you are not obliged to always do what they wish you to do if you have enough piety in stock. Remember also that if you have more than 50 piety points, you can '''convert''' from one god to another (if there is more than 1 altar in your dungeon), which might entirely change your play style but also open new opportunities. Note that you will keep the traits the god offered you when converting.
 +
 
 +
If you urgently '''need some piety''', other altars can be '''desecrated'''. The punishment for it might be costly, but it sometimes is extremely useful.
 +
 
 +
'''Here is short review of existing gods:'''
 +
*{{g|Binlor Ironshield}}: Binlor is a god of resistance, resistance erosion and {{t|Might}}. It is mainly fueled from wall destruction. It will help you tank huge damage and increase your attack. When used correctly, the {{t|Knockback}} effect granted by the {{boon|Stone Fist}} might be incredibly useful.
 +
*{{g|Dracul}}: The dark god which helps you heal from blood pools and weak monsters. You'll hit stronger, but loose max resistance and max health.
 +
*{{g|The Earthmother}}: An extremely powerful god, but which will clutter the map with plants. Used properly, you can get a huge amount of piety from her, transforming it into mana, multiple corrosion layers, first strike or resistance.
 +
*{{g|Glowing Guardian}}: A good god to worship early for XP bonuses and health and mana regeneration in late game. It will clutter your inventory though.
 +
*{{g|Jehora Jeheyu}}: A very strange god. His boons can be very powerful, but will deplete your potions so they must be used carefully. Piety gain is random; if you get lucky, he can give you inordinate amounts of piety. However, punishments are also at random! Try to get {{boon|Petition}} to end his punishments as soon as possible.
 +
*{{g|Mystera Annur}}: The god to improve your glyph casting.
 +
*{{g|Taurog}}: Taurog is good for melee fighters but will clutter your inventory with powerful objects. An easy to use god, which will provide you useful death protections in the late game.
 +
*{{g|Tikki Tooki}}: Good choice as a later game deity, as he enjoys you slaying lower level monsters, but a big no for tanks. He loves money, and will help you hitting tough monsters.
 +
*{{g|The Pactmaker}}: A different kind of deity who can be worshiped at the same time as other goods.
 +
 
 +
==Boss fights==
 +
Levels 7 to 10.  At this point, dungeon exploration likely stops (unless you're using a poison glyph against a boss or can out regen them), and the battle begins.  It can be useful at this point to be almost at the next level, allowing the player to use the level-up steamroll to instantly heal to full health and mana, possibly even multiple times during the fight.
 +
 
 +
The ideal position to be in when starting a boss battle is at Level 7 with 34 / 35 experience, with proper runes, and all health / mana potions remaining, and an exp farm containing 96 experience worth of monsters (enough for level 10) although this is very hard to do.  The first phase of the boss battle involves the player using all available health and mana points (but not potions) against the boss before killing weakened monsters to gain a level.  This phase ends when the player no longer has enough weakened non-boss creatures to gain another level, or has reached level 10.
 +
 
 +
Phase two of the boss battle involves the player using other available resources (health & mana potions, etc.) to defeat the boss. This is sometimes called to [[spike]] the boss.
 +
 
 +
In dungeons with two bosses, it can often be effective to kill the "hard hitting" boss with magic attacks during phase one, as they usually have lower max health.  This allows the player to save as many health and mana potions as possible for the "tank" boss, who generally doesn't retaliate as powerfully.
  
 +
==Combat tricks==
 +
=== First Strike Finisher ===
 +
''Main article : [[Strike Order]]''
  
==== First Strike Finisher ====
 
 
First strike will often allow you to kill a monster you couldn't otherwise beat. Cast it just before the final blow, and the monster gets no retaliation hit.
 
First strike will often allow you to kill a monster you couldn't otherwise beat. Cast it just before the final blow, and the monster gets no retaliation hit.
 
* Keep in mind that you still take a retaliation hit if the monster has first strike as well.
 
* Keep in mind that you still take a retaliation hit if the monster has first strike as well.
  
==== Fireball Softener ====
+
=== Fireball Softener ===
 
Hitting a monster with fireball before combat will often reduce the number of hits it takes to kill it. Can be used with first strike to take on otherwise dangerous foes without taking any damage.
 
Hitting a monster with fireball before combat will often reduce the number of hits it takes to kill it. Can be used with first strike to take on otherwise dangerous foes without taking any damage.
  
 +
=== Regen-fighting ===
 +
''Main article : [[regen-fighting]]''
  
==== [[Battle_of_attrition|Battle of Attrition]] ====
 
 
If you have enough attack to do more damage in one hit than your enemy is able to regenerate in the time it takes you to regenerate the damage that he does with a single hit, you can heal between attacks and still be able to have a net effect of his health decreasing. Be careful however, that it might be very exploration consuming.
 
If you have enough attack to do more damage in one hit than your enemy is able to regenerate in the time it takes you to regenerate the damage that he does with a single hit, you can heal between attacks and still be able to have a net effect of his health decreasing. Be careful however, that it might be very exploration consuming.
 
* A way to determine if you are able to damage your foe quicker that he would heal, is to compare the number of tiles you would need to recover from one of his strikes (damaged caused his attack / health you recover per explored tiles), and the number of tiles he would need to recover from one of your strikes (damaged caused by your attack / health he recovers per tile you explore). If you need less tiles than he does, you will heal quicker. Don't forget to take your spells in account !
 
* A way to determine if you are able to damage your foe quicker that he would heal, is to compare the number of tiles you would need to recover from one of his strikes (damaged caused his attack / health you recover per explored tiles), and the number of tiles he would need to recover from one of your strikes (damaged caused by your attack / health he recovers per tile you explore). If you need less tiles than he does, you will heal quicker. Don't forget to take your spells in account !
 
* Even if you heal slower than the enemy does, sometimes exploring one or a few blocks mid-battle can regenerate your HP/MP for additional hit/spell so that you can deal enough damage to kill the enemy.
 
* Even if you heal slower than the enemy does, sometimes exploring one or a few blocks mid-battle can regenerate your HP/MP for additional hit/spell so that you can deal enough damage to kill the enemy.
  
==== Slow Poison ====
+
===Slow Poison===
 
Attacking an enemy and then poisoning it and exploring (or using the LEMMISI glyph) allows you to take on enemies that would otherwise outlast you in a fight. If attacking with magic you can use this technique to beat a foe that would otherwise kill you with one hit.
 
Attacking an enemy and then poisoning it and exploring (or using the LEMMISI glyph) allows you to take on enemies that would otherwise outlast you in a fight. If attacking with magic you can use this technique to beat a foe that would otherwise kill you with one hit.
 
* This technique relies on either of two abilities.  You can last as long as you can survive a single hit, so if your HP or resistance are as high as possible, you will be able to outlast harder hits.
 
* This technique relies on either of two abilities.  You can last as long as you can survive a single hit, so if your HP or resistance are as high as possible, you will be able to outlast harder hits.
==== Death of a Dozen Flames ====
 
# Cast BURNDAYRAZ.
 
# Cast APHEELSIK.
 
# Explore until you have enough mana to cast both again.
 
# Repeat as needed.
 
  
==== Persistent Martyr ====
+
=== Level-up Steamroll ===
# Cast CYDSTEPP.
+
With very few experience needed to gain the next level, you can fight a tough monster, and then when you can't fight any more, kill a low-level monster in order to level up. This will restore your health and mana without healing the tough monster. You can then go back to killing the tougher monster with full strength.
# Explore until you have enough mana to cast APHEELSIK.
+
It is possible to level up more than once during a single fight. This usually requires the player utilizing the "Experience Catapult" strategy first (see below) so that he has a lot of low-level monsters to kill. Nonetheless, keeping track of how many experience you can get from the available monsters is always a wise thing to do.
# Attack monster until CYDSTEPP protects you from a fatal blow.
+
# Cast APHEELSIK.
+
# Explore until you have enough mana to cast CYDSTEPP.
+
# Repeat as needed.
+
  
==== Experience Catapult ====
+
=== Brawling ===
Depending upon the hero's class and which glyphs and items are available, there are different ways that a low-level character might be able to take out a quite high level character. When such an opportunity arises, it is beneficial to follow through when your hero is at the lowest possible level. The experience formula greatly rewards going after creatures above your level.
+
''Main article : [[brawling]]''
* For example, a level 1 hero killing a level 9 monster gets 81 experience, and will suddenly catapult to level 6.
+
* A level 2 hero killing the same level 9 monster gets "only" 65 experience, and will wind up at level 5.
+
  
==== Single-Use Glyphs ====
+
It often seems more efficient to fight only one monster at a time, entirely devoting your mana and health bar to this fight. But in some cases, it is actually much more efficient to fight two or more monsters at a time. Popcorn for mid fight level up is an example, but more are listed in the [[Brawling]] article.
If you know early on in the game that you will be worshipping Taurog, you can still get limited use from some glyphs. The effects of CYDSTEPP, BYSSEPS, and GETINDARE will persist after you convert them, and those effects activating will ''not'' anger Taurog (or Binlor, for that matter), so it can be very beneficial to pick up and activate these glyphs (''especially'' CYDSTEPP for non-Fighters), before beginning worship, then convert them afterwards for piety and the racial effect.
+
  
==== Gold-Farming ====
+
==Power builds and other odd tricks==
If your vault is near empty, but you know where to kill the IN DEMAND trophy, take the bet on boss preparation, and you can score 1050 gold off the boss kill.
+
This section lists particularly powerful builds tricks and niche strategies, which -honestly- no sane person could have imagined. The fact that they have been developed tells a lot about DD Community's fading sanity.
  
Prior to unlocking IN DEMAND trophies, Transmutation Seals can be used on boss trophies to convert them to their full gold value. Again, the "Bet on the Boss" preparation increases the cash gained.
+
===Level 1 Boss Fight===
 +
Some classes, such as {{c|Rogue}} or {{c|Crusader}}, have enough damage output to snipe the boss at level 1. {{r|Orc}} is preferred as how much damage they can pull out at level 1. Since 10th level boss can kill you at a single blow, {{i|Quicksilver Potion}}, {{i|Reflex Potion}}, and {{t|Death Protection}} are required. With proper preparations and some god luck, it's even possible to snipe the standard health level 10 boss with Vicious Token. Caster builds can also kill the boss at level 1, such as Acid Caster. Acid Caster is described below.  
  
=== Boss Battling ===
+
===Level 1 Double Bosskill===
 +
As a lower classification of Level 1 Boss Fight, it's possible to do '''Level 1 Double Bosskill'''. It's not practically possible because the only two ways to attack two monsters at once are knockback and burning. But knockback cannot kill the second target; while the burning stack has too low damage to finish a monster off. However, if you do the two at the same time, it's possible to kill two targets at once. Other classes can theoretically do the trick, but the {{c|Rat Monarch}} can deal a massive damage to the second target so it's considerably easier.
  
The ideal position to be in when starting a boss battle is at Level 7 with 34 / 35 experience, with proper runes, and all health / mana potions remaining, and an exp farm containing 96 experience worth of monsters (enough for level 10) although this is very hard to do,. The first phase of the boss battle involves the player, using all available health and mana points (but not potions) against the boss before killing weakened monsters to gain a level. This phase ends when the player no longer has enough weakened non-boss creatures to gain another level, or has reached level 10.
+
===Acid Caster===
 +
The Acid Caster is a build designed to kill the boss as a level 1 character by stacking layers of corrosion on the boss before a massive fireball chain. {{GnWi}} is best since he gets both cheaper fireballs and the ability to carry all his utility glyphs, but you can also do it as a {{GnSo}} or {{GnBl}} for their improved mana potions. Prep {{g|The Earthmother}} and cast {{s|IMAWAL}} on every enemy who is not in your way to build piety. Purchase 6 or so levels of the Greenblood boon just before fighting the boss or whenever your piety becomes full, and do not take {{boon|Entanglement}} in this phase (the bonus XP is still given when you petrify enemies, and your goal is to not level up). This is much easier with the {{s|WEYTWUT}} and/or {{S|ENDISWAL}} glyphs, and on open levels.
  
Phase two of the boss battle involves the player using other available resources (health & mana potions, etc.) to defeat the boss.
+
Explore the whole level before beginning the boss fight, and use all your mana potions and piety (for {{boon|Clearance}} - you can generate plants cheaply with {{boon|Entanglement}} once you're done petrifying enemies) to fling fireballs at the boss until it dies. Helpful items include {{i|Crystal Ball}}, {{i|Keg of Mana}}, {{i|Dragon Soul}}, or anything else that gets you extra mana. The Extra Glyph preparation may be useful for an extra shot at valuable utility glyphs.
 +
 
 +
===Punchomancer===
 +
The Punchomancer is any character that spams {{s|PISORF}} until both bosses die, but is pulled off the best with an {{OrWi}}. Prep {{g|Binlor Ironshield}}, {{i|Crystal Ball}}, Extra Mana, Black Market, Sword, and anything else that looks appealing. Worship Binlor to get PISORF, level up a bit to get some damage, convert everything you see for even more damage, then position the bosses next to each other and cast PISORF until they both die. Refill your mana bar with midfight level-ups, potions, and the Crystal Ball as necessary.
 +
 
 +
===Lower Level Hunter===
 +
Normally, it's necessary to earn bonus experience to win a dungeon. In general cases the bonus experience comes from killing the higher level monsters. But what about if you can earn lots of bonus experience from the other source? Being a {{r|Goblin}} or taking {{i|Amulet of Yendor}} are good ways to do this, but these are often not enough. {{g|Tikki Tooki}} can give you a massive bonus experiences from 2-3 shots of {{boon|Tikki's Edge}}, and it makes you not forced to fight higher level monsters. You can earn tons of piety under Tikki Tooki, buy good boons, and snipe the boss with the remaining resources that you never used. {{c|Assassin}} is a fabulous class to do this trick because of the {{a|SWIFT HAND}} class trait. {{c|Fighter}} or other high damage classes can do the trick. {{g|Dracul}} provides {{boon|Blood Curse}} for assassins to effectively start from level 2.
 +
 
 +
{{GoAs}} of TT is a greatest class-god combination. It can effectively skip the whole leveling phase and face the boss with every resources left on the ground. You can make the dodge chance starts from 100% with free {{s|GETINDARE}} if you want. Early {{s|WONAFYT}} makes it even better, it gives tons of bonus XP on top of alreath overflowing XP, and when you face the boss you would have 3/4 f the blackspaces left for you, who have {{s|APHEELSIK}} in the pocket.
 +
 
 +
=== TT Punchbag (Infinite TT Piety) ===
 +
If your attack power is 0 and the incoming damage is also 0, you can infinitely attack the monster. When you do this with {{boon|Dodging}} under {{g|Tikki Tooki}}, you can gain infinite piety; you will finally have 4x {{t|Learning}}, 10% {{t|Dodge}}, 9x {{t|Poisonous}}, and some reflex/quicksilver potions if you want. You can convert to {{g|Jehora Jeheyu}} afterward and getting near infinite piety.
 +
 
 +
To make your attack power 0, first you need to find {{t|weakening}} enemy or get punished by TT (although not recommended), so that your base attack becomes 1. Base attack cannot become lower than 1. {{d|Vicious Gaan-Telet}} or {{d|Naga City}}, for example, have weakening enemy. You also need to have negative attack bonus. Being a certain class such as a {{c|Monk}} gives you negative damage bonus from the start; otherwise you need to find {{i|Bloody Sigil}} or {{i|Mage Plate}}. {{boon|Flames}} is possible but making the conversion chain might be hard to achieve.
 +
 
 +
To make incoming damage 0, you need to have enough {{t|Damage Reduction}} such as {{i|Platemail}} or {{i|Shield}}. Plants were possible targets at the past, but after an update, plants now die after two hits.
 +
 
 +
===Infinimuter===
 +
These strategy uses a bug with {{c|Transmuter}}. If the Transmuter triggers the {{a|SPIRIT SWORD}} after his maximum mana is lowered, spirit sword does not absorb your mana bar but fills it instead. Gaining maximum mana or levelling up rejects the bug. It's theoretically possible to perform this trick without the bug, but you would have to enlarge your health and mana pool too much thus it is practically not possible to do. You need all of these:
 +
 
 +
* {{i|Fire Heart}}
 +
* {{s|HALPMEH}}
 +
* {{s|BLUDTUPOWA}}
 +
* Item that increases mana, such as {{i|Pendant of Mana}}: you can almost guarantee to have one of these in the shops with proper veto slots.  
 +
* As much maximum mana and health as possible. {{g|Jehora Jeheyu}} is the best god. {{r|Dwarf}} is the best choice, but other races can do it though being very hard.
 +
 
 +
With Fire Heart + HALPMEH + BLUDTUPOWA, and enough health and mana pool, you can start to execute an infinite loop. Then you can gain infinite conversion points, which makes you auto-win the dungeon.  
  
In dungeons with two bosses, it can often be effective to kill the "hard hitting" boss with magic attacks during phase one, as they usually have lower max health.  This allows the player to save as many health and mana potions as possible for the "tank" boss, who generally doesn't retaliate as powerfully.
 
  
  
 +
[[Category:Strategy]]
 
{{MainNav}}
 
{{MainNav}}

Latest revision as of 02:15, 11 December 2018

This page explains general strategies and tricks to solve dungeons. But of course, every game is different, so there is no single strategy to guarantee a win. Moreover this advice is intended for intermediate players; true veterans may have to discard familiar strategies to reach new heights.

If you are new DD, you might want to read the New Players Guide first.

You can also find more specific strategies in the class, race, gods and dungeons topics, and are also encouraged to the read the different Annotated Playthroughs.

Important note : The word "wisely" or similar ideas are often used. It might lead you to believe that a wrong decision will doom your character. Ok, this will sometimes be the case, but you will be amazed how resourceful your hero can be. So don't take that word too seriously. Keep playing even if you think that you screwed your run, and you might discover that true power lies beyond your mistakes!

Phases

Dungeon exploration can be divided into four phases, each with their own challenges:

  • Preparation: You are not in the dungeon yet, but you still have strategic choices to make. Which class/race/preparation will the best, or the most enjoyable?
  • Scouting: Your first few steps in the dungeon, when you are getting a feeling of the place. You are doing more exploration than monster fighting.
  • Build-up: When you start building up your character and stacking resources for the final fight. This is really the place where the game is won or lost.
  • Boss fight: Unleash all your might to defeat the nasty boss (or bosses) in a flurry of deadly blows, powerful mana and yummy potions.

Preparation phase

Ah, the preparation screen, the place you'll spend hours picking the right class, race and preparations combination that will enable you to solve your next dungeon.

Don't over-think it though; every single dungeon can be won by any class and without any preparations, although some combination are certainly easier than others.

Race selection

Main article : Race

There are two ways to go about race selection: Picking a strategy in advance, or keeping open to whatever the dungeon presents. You should probably pick your race considering the boss (if you know what it will be), but Halflings and Gnomes are almost always helpful.

The races can be sorted into two groups:

  • Those giving a permanent bonus: Human, Orc, Dwarf. Convert early, and you'll get the benefit of the race for the whole game.
  • Those providing resources: Halfling, Gnome and Goblin. Convert late, for a powerful spike during boss fight, or during build-up to defeat high level monsters and trigger juicy XP bonuses.

Character builds

A user proposed a while ago different character builds. But that classification is somewhat simplistic and probably a relic of the old alpha version. It is not really used nowadays.

Another classification, still very limited compared to range of possibilities, could be:

  • Striker: Characters who deal high damage, but won't be able to survive many hits. Often regen-fighting is one good way to deal with the nasty monsters. Debuffs that apply on each hit (Trait: Weakened Weakened, Trait: Cursed Cursed, etc) are not a big concern for a striker. Instead, positive effects applied on attacks are ineffective. Monsters with low health are good targets.
  • Tank: Characters who are able to receive a lot of damage. Tanks can "burst" damage on target better than strikers, but regen-fighting is very ineffective.
  • Caster: Characters relying on heavy use of glyphs to deal damage. There are two types of casters: Glyph: BURNDAYRAZ BURNDAYRAZ casters and Glyph: PISORF PISORF casters (also known as punchomancers). Maximum mana and methods to heal mana are of great concern to casters. Sometimes casters completely give up their normal attacks. Low health monsters are good targets, and they can ignore lots of malicious debuffs.
  • Regen-fighter: characters able to heal faster than the monsters. There are three important aspects for regen-fighters, damage, defense, and poison. Maximum health or mana is not an interest for them. Certain glyphs or items will help regen-fighters immensely. Low damage monsters are good targets regardless of their health pool, but debuffing monsters are just out of question.

However, don't take this classification too seriously; the same character will often change its playstyle as the dungeon unfolds. It will depend on the items, glyphs and gods you find and how close you are to the boss fight.

Some other builds are described in the power builds section, and the class pages.

Gold and kingdom

Remember that preparations will cost you gold. So if your vault is near empty, you might want to go as purist.

You can also seek the IN DEMAND trophy, take the bet on boss preparation, and score 1050 gold off the boss kill.

Prior to unlocking IN DEMAND trophies, Transmutation Seals can be used on boss trophies to convert them to their full gold value. Again, the "Bet on the Boss" preparation increases the cash gained.

Later in the game, PQI and flaming dungeons will also provide opportunities to make more gold.

Scouting phase

Levels 1 to 3. It's rarely possible to kill monsters of significantly higher level at this stage, but it can be useful to do some quick scouting around the dungeon and find what Gods and Glyphs are available, as well as what Boss spawned (if in a random boss dungeon).

The length of scouting depends on your play style, but also on the dungeon. Some players might kill few monsters before they have cleared 25% of the map, and thus have more choice for early Build-Up, while others might try to level-up as soon as possible to avoid wasting black space. Even though it's possible to fully explore Dungeon: Hobbler's Hold Hobbler's Hold before fighting any monster and still win, for most dungeons, don't over explore though in scouting phase. Black space is a valuable resource.

Scouting tools

The most useful glyph for scouting is Glyph: LEMMISI LEMMISI which tends to prioritize revealing altars, the boss, subdungeons, shops, and other glyphs.

Some classes also provide extra information for scouting, such as Class: Fighter Fighter, Class: Wizard Wizard, Class: Tinker Tinker, Class: Half-Dragon Half-Dragon, and Class: Rat Monarch Rat Monarch

Scouting mana investment

While scouting, you probably will have plenty of mana left. Instead of wasting it, Glyph: WONAFYT WONAFYT is another useful glyph at this stage, enabling you to prepare a nice salted popcorn bowl. Each summoned monster will grant 1 bonus XP, but could also be the occasion for a mid-fight level-up. Summoning brings monsters to you, helping to preserve black space, and is even more efficient if you have a Item: Balanced Dagger Balanced Dagger.

If you already are worshiping a god rewarding glyph use such as God: Mystera Annur Mystera Annur, God: Binlor Binlor or God: Jehora Jeheyu Jehora Jeheyu, your extra mana could be invested there.

Build-up phase

Levels 3 to 7. It's possible to kill monsters of significantly higher level during this phase (to generate more XP by using the level-up steamroll and the experience catapult). The goal is to create the appropriate conditions for the final boss(es) fight(s):

  • Plenty of resources remaining for the boss fight (piety, conversion points, popcorn, potions...)
  • Attaining sufficient level and being one kill away from leveling up
  • Accumulating boons from gods
  • Useful items

The build-up phase is highly significant, as it requires maximizing XP gain, minimizing resource usage, and choosing an appropriate strategy. It's worthwhile to note that while dungeon exploration is itself technically a limited resource, it is often desirable or even necessary to exhaust all dungeon exploration during this phase to maximize XP gain, unless intending to use a Glyph: APHEELSIK APHEELSIK or regen tactics to defeat the boss(es). In dungeons where there are multiple bosses, it can be helpful though, to leave some black space for regeneration between those fights.

When reaching level 6 to 7, it's often beneficial to have explored most if not all of the dungeon, and begin creating an "XP farm." By weakening several lower level monsters to within a single hit from death, they can be finished later to gain XP for further level steamrolling. Note, it is less useful or even dangerous to leave creatures with the First Strike ability weakened as a part of an XP farm, as they will still deal damage to you when you come back to finish them off.

Exploration

Main article : Exploration

Always remember that during build-up, black space is your main resource. Black space is mana and health. You will transform that health and mana into damage, experience, objects, etc. for the final fights.

So don't be shy in exploration, but explore wisely. (Easier said than done, no?)

As said before, if you don't expect to regen fight, you might want to fully explore the map before the final boss fight to collect all remaining power ups and reveal all monsters.

The hunt for bonus XP

Main article : Level

One of your main goals in build-up phase is to gain enough experience to reach a high enough level to conduct the boss fight, and to create a nice popcorn bowl (for mid-fight level-up). However, if you stick to killing same-level monsters, you will never manage to rise higher than level 5, and will exhaust all potential popcorn. So you need to get bonus XP.

The main source of bonus XP is killing monsters which have a higher level than you. The wider the difference, the bigger the bonus. But there are other tools to get bonus XP:

  • Glyph: IMAWAL IMAWAL which after being cast on a monster will award you a 50% XP bonus on your next kill. This works best if your next kill will award you a lot of XP. Also, note that the XP of the monster you petrified is lost, so prefer low level monsters, monsters which you won't kill (too tough), plants, or the occasional no XP monsters you might encounter.
  • Slowing monsters for a tiny 1 bonus XP (still useful when cast extensively)
  • Items such as the Item: Balanced Dagger Balanced Dagger
  • Class: Fighter Fighters and Race: Goblin Goblins also are helpful to gain levels with less XP
  • Some gods will also give you boons helping to gain levels or bonus XP, such as the God: Glowing Guardian Glowing Guardian, God: Tikki Tooki Tikki Tooki or God: Jehora Jeheyu Jehora Jeheyu.

Also, note that when choosing a higher level monster to kill (level +2 or +3), you might discover that killing it will cause you to level up. But you might be able to slip in another bonus XP kill (level +1 or +2) before leveling, thus optimizing XP bonuses. However, that will be one popcorn less. So it's up to you to decide which is the most important...

Popcorn collection

Main article : Popcorn

It often is useful to recover health and mana during a boss fight. If you don't want to regen-fight or use potions, one way is to have a mid-fight level-up. The easiest way is to start the fight with your XP one (easy) kill from level-up.

But if you wish to get 2 level-ups during the fight (level steamroll), you will need a lot of weak monsters to kill during your boss fight. That group of low level monsters is called a popcorn bowl. Leaving a lot of popcorn requires you to gain XP fast, leaving many monsters alive. One technique is to perform an experience catapult (killing a monster with an major difference in level, which makes you gain multiple levels at once):

  • For example, a L1 hero killing a L9 monster gets 67 experience, and will suddenly catapult to level 5.
  • A L2 hero killing the same L9 monster gets "only" 53 experience.

Of course, this works better if you do it a low level.

Monster selection

In the search for bonus XP (or simply gathering XP without exploring too much), you will have to choose your next target wisely.

  • When possible try to go for the highest level monster.
  • Only start fights that you will win: carefully read the combat prediction and check your resources before starting the fight.
  • Pay attention to the monster's traits and make sure you know the consequences it will have. Hitting a monster with Trait: Life steal Life steal and Trait: Blinks Blinks when there is still a lot of black space left might not be the best move as you will probably have to start the fight all over again.
  • If you are preparing a popcorn bowl, check that the monsters you are leaving actually are good popcorn. For example, cursing or death-gaze monsters might be dangerous as popcorn. So it might better to kill them before starting the boss fight.
  • Don't be too scared of debuffs. For example, being mana burned or poisoned just before leveling up is really not a problem (as it will be cleared on level-up). Maybe 1 or 2 Trait: Weakening Weakening or Trait: Corrosion Corrosion debuffs might not be such a big deal in exchange for critical XP (especially if you can get it cleared).
  • Really pay attention to your god, especially when you can't afford losing XP. Some gods like you killing some monster types: God: Taurog Taurog loves it when you kill spellcasters with Trait: Magical attack Magical attack, and the God: Glowing Guardian Glowing Guardian Trait: Undead Undead, but others hate when you kill the wrong target: God: Dracul Dracul does not like when you kill Trait: Undead Undead, and God: Mystera Annur Mystera Annur when you kill spellcasters.

Inventory management

There is one important rule when taking items: they occupy room in your inventory, and the only way to get rid of them is to convert them. It may be detrimental to fill your inventory with objects you don't need now, or to be obliged to convert an item too early to make room for another powerful artefact...

So think twice before picking something up, and think twice too before converting an object.

In the same way, spend you gold wisely in the shops.

Single-use glyphs

Single-use glyphs are a special case of inventory management. If you know early on in the game that you will be worshiping God: Taurog Taurog, you can still get limited use from some glyphs. The effects of Glyph: CYDSTEPP CYDSTEPP, Glyph: BYSSEPS BYSSEPS, and Glyph: GETINDARE GETINDARE will persist after you convert them, and those effects activating will not anger God: Taurog Taurog (or God: Binlor Ironshield Binlor Ironshield, for that matter), so it can be very beneficial to pick up and activate these glyphs (especially Glyph: CYDSTEPP CYDSTEPP for non-Fighters), before beginning worship, then convert them afterwards for piety and the racial effect.

Glyph: LEMMISI LEMMISI is another situation where you might want to convert early, once you've done enough exploration with it.

God selection

Main article : gods

Gods are among the most powerful features in game, granting powerful boons. Actually, a good god understanding is one of the keys to successful vicious dungeon runs. But they might be scary as they will dislike some of you actions, or even punish you if your piety gets below 0.

They are not equal; some will interact better with some classes (you'll get more information in the class pages), some will be more efficient if you worship them early (Glowing Guardian or Jehora Jeheyu), some can be worshiped or converted to in late game (Dracul or the Earthmother), some hate when you kill some monster types which might be important in your dungeon.

So the trick is to understand what they could do for you, when is the right time to worship them, but also keep in mind that you are not obliged to always do what they wish you to do if you have enough piety in stock. Remember also that if you have more than 50 piety points, you can convert from one god to another (if there is more than 1 altar in your dungeon), which might entirely change your play style but also open new opportunities. Note that you will keep the traits the god offered you when converting.

If you urgently need some piety, other altars can be desecrated. The punishment for it might be costly, but it sometimes is extremely useful.

Here is short review of existing gods:

  • God: Binlor Ironshield Binlor Ironshield: Binlor is a god of resistance, resistance erosion and Trait: Might Might. It is mainly fueled from wall destruction. It will help you tank huge damage and increase your attack. When used correctly, the Trait: Knockback Knockback effect granted by the God boon: Stone Fist Stone Fist might be incredibly useful.
  • God: Dracul Dracul: The dark god which helps you heal from blood pools and weak monsters. You'll hit stronger, but loose max resistance and max health.
  • God: The Earthmother The Earthmother: An extremely powerful god, but which will clutter the map with plants. Used properly, you can get a huge amount of piety from her, transforming it into mana, multiple corrosion layers, first strike or resistance.
  • God: Glowing Guardian Glowing Guardian: A good god to worship early for XP bonuses and health and mana regeneration in late game. It will clutter your inventory though.
  • God: Jehora Jeheyu Jehora Jeheyu: A very strange god. His boons can be very powerful, but will deplete your potions so they must be used carefully. Piety gain is random; if you get lucky, he can give you inordinate amounts of piety. However, punishments are also at random! Try to get God boon: Petition Petition to end his punishments as soon as possible.
  • God: Mystera Annur Mystera Annur: The god to improve your glyph casting.
  • God: Taurog Taurog: Taurog is good for melee fighters but will clutter your inventory with powerful objects. An easy to use god, which will provide you useful death protections in the late game.
  • God: Tikki Tooki Tikki Tooki: Good choice as a later game deity, as he enjoys you slaying lower level monsters, but a big no for tanks. He loves money, and will help you hitting tough monsters.
  • God: The Pactmaker The Pactmaker: A different kind of deity who can be worshiped at the same time as other goods.

Boss fights

Levels 7 to 10. At this point, dungeon exploration likely stops (unless you're using a poison glyph against a boss or can out regen them), and the battle begins. It can be useful at this point to be almost at the next level, allowing the player to use the level-up steamroll to instantly heal to full health and mana, possibly even multiple times during the fight.

The ideal position to be in when starting a boss battle is at Level 7 with 34 / 35 experience, with proper runes, and all health / mana potions remaining, and an exp farm containing 96 experience worth of monsters (enough for level 10) although this is very hard to do. The first phase of the boss battle involves the player using all available health and mana points (but not potions) against the boss before killing weakened monsters to gain a level. This phase ends when the player no longer has enough weakened non-boss creatures to gain another level, or has reached level 10.

Phase two of the boss battle involves the player using other available resources (health & mana potions, etc.) to defeat the boss. This is sometimes called to spike the boss.

In dungeons with two bosses, it can often be effective to kill the "hard hitting" boss with magic attacks during phase one, as they usually have lower max health. This allows the player to save as many health and mana potions as possible for the "tank" boss, who generally doesn't retaliate as powerfully.

Combat tricks

First Strike Finisher

Main article : Strike Order

First strike will often allow you to kill a monster you couldn't otherwise beat. Cast it just before the final blow, and the monster gets no retaliation hit.

  • Keep in mind that you still take a retaliation hit if the monster has first strike as well.

Fireball Softener

Hitting a monster with fireball before combat will often reduce the number of hits it takes to kill it. Can be used with first strike to take on otherwise dangerous foes without taking any damage.

Regen-fighting

Main article : regen-fighting

If you have enough attack to do more damage in one hit than your enemy is able to regenerate in the time it takes you to regenerate the damage that he does with a single hit, you can heal between attacks and still be able to have a net effect of his health decreasing. Be careful however, that it might be very exploration consuming.

  • A way to determine if you are able to damage your foe quicker that he would heal, is to compare the number of tiles you would need to recover from one of his strikes (damaged caused his attack / health you recover per explored tiles), and the number of tiles he would need to recover from one of your strikes (damaged caused by your attack / health he recovers per tile you explore). If you need less tiles than he does, you will heal quicker. Don't forget to take your spells in account !
  • Even if you heal slower than the enemy does, sometimes exploring one or a few blocks mid-battle can regenerate your HP/MP for additional hit/spell so that you can deal enough damage to kill the enemy.

Slow Poison

Attacking an enemy and then poisoning it and exploring (or using the LEMMISI glyph) allows you to take on enemies that would otherwise outlast you in a fight. If attacking with magic you can use this technique to beat a foe that would otherwise kill you with one hit.

  • This technique relies on either of two abilities. You can last as long as you can survive a single hit, so if your HP or resistance are as high as possible, you will be able to outlast harder hits.

Level-up Steamroll

With very few experience needed to gain the next level, you can fight a tough monster, and then when you can't fight any more, kill a low-level monster in order to level up. This will restore your health and mana without healing the tough monster. You can then go back to killing the tougher monster with full strength. It is possible to level up more than once during a single fight. This usually requires the player utilizing the "Experience Catapult" strategy first (see below) so that he has a lot of low-level monsters to kill. Nonetheless, keeping track of how many experience you can get from the available monsters is always a wise thing to do.

Brawling

Main article : brawling

It often seems more efficient to fight only one monster at a time, entirely devoting your mana and health bar to this fight. But in some cases, it is actually much more efficient to fight two or more monsters at a time. Popcorn for mid fight level up is an example, but more are listed in the Brawling article.

Power builds and other odd tricks

This section lists particularly powerful builds tricks and niche strategies, which -honestly- no sane person could have imagined. The fact that they have been developed tells a lot about DD Community's fading sanity.

Level 1 Boss Fight

Some classes, such as Class: Rogue Rogue or Class: Crusader Crusader, have enough damage output to snipe the boss at level 1. Race: Orc Orc is preferred as how much damage they can pull out at level 1. Since 10th level boss can kill you at a single blow, Item: Quicksilver Potion Quicksilver Potion, Item: Reflex Potion Reflex Potion, and Trait: Death Protection Death Protection are required. With proper preparations and some god luck, it's even possible to snipe the standard health level 10 boss with Vicious Token. Caster builds can also kill the boss at level 1, such as Acid Caster. Acid Caster is described below.

Level 1 Double Bosskill

As a lower classification of Level 1 Boss Fight, it's possible to do Level 1 Double Bosskill. It's not practically possible because the only two ways to attack two monsters at once are knockback and burning. But knockback cannot kill the second target; while the burning stack has too low damage to finish a monster off. However, if you do the two at the same time, it's possible to kill two targets at once. Other classes can theoretically do the trick, but the Class: Rat Monarch Rat Monarch can deal a massive damage to the second target so it's considerably easier.

Acid Caster

The Acid Caster is a build designed to kill the boss as a level 1 character by stacking layers of corrosion on the boss before a massive fireball chain. Class: Wizard Gnome Wizard is best since he gets both cheaper fireballs and the ability to carry all his utility glyphs, but you can also do it as a Class: Sorcerer Gnome Sorcerer or Class: Bloodmage Gnome Bloodmage for their improved mana potions. Prep God: The Earthmother The Earthmother and cast Glyph: IMAWAL IMAWAL on every enemy who is not in your way to build piety. Purchase 6 or so levels of the Greenblood boon just before fighting the boss or whenever your piety becomes full, and do not take God boon: Entanglement Entanglement in this phase (the bonus XP is still given when you petrify enemies, and your goal is to not level up). This is much easier with the Glyph: WEYTWUT WEYTWUT and/or Glyph: ENDISWAL ENDISWAL glyphs, and on open levels.

Explore the whole level before beginning the boss fight, and use all your mana potions and piety (for God boon: Clearance Clearance - you can generate plants cheaply with God boon: Entanglement Entanglement once you're done petrifying enemies) to fling fireballs at the boss until it dies. Helpful items include Item: Crystal Ball Crystal Ball, Item: Keg of Mana Keg of Mana, Item: Dragon Soul Dragon Soul, or anything else that gets you extra mana. The Extra Glyph preparation may be useful for an extra shot at valuable utility glyphs.

Punchomancer

The Punchomancer is any character that spams Glyph: PISORF PISORF until both bosses die, but is pulled off the best with an Class: Wizard Orc Wizard. Prep God: Binlor Ironshield Binlor Ironshield, Item: Crystal Ball Crystal Ball, Extra Mana, Black Market, Sword, and anything else that looks appealing. Worship Binlor to get PISORF, level up a bit to get some damage, convert everything you see for even more damage, then position the bosses next to each other and cast PISORF until they both die. Refill your mana bar with midfight level-ups, potions, and the Crystal Ball as necessary.

Lower Level Hunter

Normally, it's necessary to earn bonus experience to win a dungeon. In general cases the bonus experience comes from killing the higher level monsters. But what about if you can earn lots of bonus experience from the other source? Being a Race: Goblin Goblin or taking Item: Amulet of Yendor Amulet of Yendor are good ways to do this, but these are often not enough. God: Tikki Tooki Tikki Tooki can give you a massive bonus experiences from 2-3 shots of God boon: Tikki's Edge Tikki's Edge, and it makes you not forced to fight higher level monsters. You can earn tons of piety under Tikki Tooki, buy good boons, and snipe the boss with the remaining resources that you never used. Class: Assassin Assassin is a fabulous class to do this trick because of the Class trait: SWIFT HAND SWIFT HAND class trait. Class: Fighter Fighter or other high damage classes can do the trick. God: Dracul Dracul provides God boon: Blood Curse Blood Curse for assassins to effectively start from level 2.

Class: Assassin Goblin Assassin of TT is a greatest class-god combination. It can effectively skip the whole leveling phase and face the boss with every resources left on the ground. You can make the dodge chance starts from 100% with free Glyph: GETINDARE GETINDARE if you want. Early Glyph: WONAFYT WONAFYT makes it even better, it gives tons of bonus XP on top of alreath overflowing XP, and when you face the boss you would have 3/4 f the blackspaces left for you, who have Glyph: APHEELSIK APHEELSIK in the pocket.

TT Punchbag (Infinite TT Piety)

If your attack power is 0 and the incoming damage is also 0, you can infinitely attack the monster. When you do this with God boon: Dodging Dodging under God: Tikki Tooki Tikki Tooki, you can gain infinite piety; you will finally have 4x Trait: Learning Learning, 10% Trait: Dodge Dodge, 9x Trait: Poisonous Poisonous, and some reflex/quicksilver potions if you want. You can convert to God: Jehora Jeheyu Jehora Jeheyu afterward and getting near infinite piety.

To make your attack power 0, first you need to find Trait: weakening weakening enemy or get punished by TT (although not recommended), so that your base attack becomes 1. Base attack cannot become lower than 1. Dungeon: Vicious Gaan-Telet Vicious Gaan-Telet or Dungeon: Naga City Naga City, for example, have weakening enemy. You also need to have negative attack bonus. Being a certain class such as a Class: Monk Monk gives you negative damage bonus from the start; otherwise you need to find Item: Bloody Sigil Bloody Sigil or Item: Mage Plate Mage Plate. God boon: Flames Flames is possible but making the conversion chain might be hard to achieve.

To make incoming damage 0, you need to have enough Trait: Damage Reduction Damage Reduction such as Item: Platemail Platemail or Item: Shield Shield. Plants were possible targets at the past, but after an update, plants now die after two hits.

Infinimuter

These strategy uses a bug with Class: Transmuter Transmuter. If the Transmuter triggers the Class trait: SPIRIT SWORD SPIRIT SWORD after his maximum mana is lowered, spirit sword does not absorb your mana bar but fills it instead. Gaining maximum mana or levelling up rejects the bug. It's theoretically possible to perform this trick without the bug, but you would have to enlarge your health and mana pool too much thus it is practically not possible to do. You need all of these:

  • Item: Fire Heart Fire Heart
  • Glyph: HALPMEH HALPMEH
  • Glyph: BLUDTUPOWA BLUDTUPOWA
  • Item that increases mana, such as Item: Pendant of Mana Pendant of Mana: you can almost guarantee to have one of these in the shops with proper veto slots.
  • As much maximum mana and health as possible. God: Jehora Jeheyu Jehora Jeheyu is the best god. Race: Dwarf Dwarf is the best choice, but other races can do it though being very hard.

With Fire Heart + HALPMEH + BLUDTUPOWA, and enough health and mana pool, you can start to execute an infinite loop. Then you can gain infinite conversion points, which makes you auto-win the dungeon.