Beginner’s Guide to DD

Overview

This is a quick guide to help new people get familiar with important aspects of the game, help them from getting kicked and links them to other resources that will aide them in their quest.

Game Not Working Properly?

DD is fun, if it works for you. For an unlucky few, it may not be working. There are many things that seem to prevent DD from loading properly. It can be a problem of getting the game to start or trying to host a game. Many of these are fixable and pew pew has put together this guide to help you troubleshoot your problems.

[link]

• Cant start game – you made need to run as Administrator
• Cant host – usually Hamachi or a virtual NIC. Uninstall of go to you Network connections and disable all but your onboard NIC.
• Lost Ranked data – DONT log into DD as it may overwrite any other saves Trendy may have. Then go to [link] to submit a request to have it restored and wait for a response. If that doesnt work, there are players usually willing to help get you leveled and geared back up to get going again.
• Linux/Mac cant see Windows games – these are unfortunately on a different version of the game a cannot connect to each other. Trendy had mentioned they wanted to do this still but their resources are currently focused on DD2. So hopefully some time will free up at some point for this to happen soon. Note – You can use Wine or play on a windows box as pew pew pew mentions in the troubleshooting guide linked above. However if you do switch, do not go back to Linux/Mac as it will corrupt your Save file.

Windows and Mac/Linux Not Working!!

Currently Windows is a different version than Mac and Linux. Trendy has been busy with DD2 and so we are still waiting and hoping that their time will free up at some point and be able to bring Mac and Linux back on par with Windows.

Until then your options are to use Wine, install Windows or stay on OSX/Linux.

First thing to Do

Join the Forums. There is a large amount of information stored there and many people like to trade on the forums instead of in shops. Also an item check thread since there are some who enjoy hacking and trading their hacked gear which could get you banned.

• Guides [www.dungeondefenders.com]
• Item Checks[www.dungeondefenders.com]
• Trading[www.dungeondefenders.com]
• General Discussion[www.dungeondefenders.com]

Join a Steam Group

These groups have lots of people who enjoy playing DD and don’t mind helping out and answering questions. Just make sure to read the group rules which are simple to follow.

• DD Runs N Giveaways
• DD FreeRuns By Request – No longer active. Thanks to all the mods who gave their time to help and run others.
• DD Item Check and Trading – No longer active. Thanks to EC-10, thecrystaldefender and ygk for a good run.

Ranked or Open Mode

DD has several options for playing and it can be a little confusing on which option to choose. I am sure many can figure out that Play Online is for playing with others over the Internet and Local is just playing locally on your machine solo of with friends using extra controllers.

When you choose Play Online, you are then faced with another choice, Ranked or Open. Picking the right option may not be obvious, but when in doubt choose Ranked.

Open – Allows players to play the same maps included within Ranked mode but also allows players to download maps from the steam workshop to play. Event maps are played on Open. There are other maps that give endless mana, full XP, and gear with crazy stats. Your data is saved locally which means you can play with your chars in Open and in Local modes. Open/Local items and characters cannot be transferred to Ranked.

Ranked – Ranked mode was designed for Steam Achievements and map Rankings. Sadly hackers usually mess up the map stats but the achievements are still fun and it is where you find the majority of legit players. Also, there is an Export to Open option that will copy, not move, your data to your local drive which will allow you to use it in Open and in Local play modes.

Things not to do (because they may get you kicked)

There are many things that annoy other players or that can just hurt your chances at winning the map. It is good to know certain things before joining someone’s game. Or if you have and wondered why you got kicked, check out this guide by EagleOne. Here are some quick things not to do though.

• Don’t be impatient, especially when you are not the builder. You don’t want to run off a person willing to help you by being impatient and rude. It is a pleasure to help courteous players.
• Don’t ask for gear. Some may be given to you or you may be asked if you could use some though. However, players don’t like to be asked for gear typically.
• Don’t go afk unless you have to and ask the host first.
• Don’t stand on the crystal. Enemies that target you will hit the crystal when trying to hit you.
• Don’t “steal” the starting chest mana if you’re not a builder, either leave it alone or help collecting it and hand over to builder.
• Don’t stand where the builder is building. A builder can’t put down traps when you are standing in the way of it.
• Don’t stand by the forge when someone is building. They need to drop their mana for their next character. You may end up picking it up by mistake if you are too close. People get unhappy about this. If it happens drop it immediatly back to them by pressing M.
• Don’t pick up every piece of loot. You typically don’t need it all and most is useless later. If you want the mana from it then just wait. It will all sell at the beginning of the next wave and get evenly split between all players or when you go to tavern and is given to everyone. If you take a bunch of loot to sell yourself then you are stealing mana from others basically and will likely get kicked.
• Don’t press G before the builder does. Some maps reduce the build timer as people press G. Shortening a builder’s build time is never a good thing.

Things to do

Couple of things that can really help make you a better solo player as well as valuable to others.

• Upgrade. Upgrade. Upgrade. Grab you mana bow and genie pet. Everybody loves a good upgrader. Typically focus on buff beams first and then auras or other defenses. Genies are great because they get you mana as you damage enemies. There is also something known as the genie swirl that can fill up your mana. Basically the mana bow doesn’t do much in damage, but hitting multiple enemies while genie is swirling will typically fill you up with mana to upgrade with. Read about it here[www.dungeondefenders.com].
• Learn to roll if you are playing a jester. 3 potions to heal, 3 swords to damage all or 2 swords and a crystal to kill a percentage are very useful. Full guide here.
• Press G when builders are ready. People don’t like waiting for you as they think you went AFK.
• Use fast menu transitions. It makes switching characters so much faster.

What kind of stats does each character need?

Typically you will want to make one of each type of character. I suggest starting with a jester because they are great for upgrading. Next I would move on to making builders such as the Monk, Summoner, EV, Huntress and Squire/App. Squire and App can be used interchangably. However It can be confusing trying to figure out which stats do what and how each character benefits from each stat. Here is a quick summary from DanielSounds guide and links to guides to help you apply stats and upgrade armor.

Great Summary from DanielSounds guide

• DanielSounds Complete Simple Illustrated Character Guide here[www.dungeondefenders.com].
• Your DPS characters need resistance to stay alive. This is a great guide by EC-10 explaining resistances here[www.dungeondefenders.com].
• Use this tool if you need help in knowing how to properly upgrade a piece of armor here[dungeondefenders.com].

Splitscreen: Bring in extra characters

Want to gain more XP or more rewards in the same amount of time? Bring in extra chars in splitscreen mode. You can use wired xbox controllers or you can use one of the following emulators that just use the keyboard to bring in extra characters.

• I use an emulator on the forums here[www.dungeondefenders.com]. The link to the file no longer works on the forums so I am including a link to it here[app.box.com]. If you join the DDRnG discord, you can download the config I use[discord.gg]. Update: Plane updated the config file to hopefully make it more persistent. Thanks Plane!
• Here is another emulator using Function keys with more control here[app.box.com].
• Another Option is to setup another steam account with an extra copy of DD and run it on the same computer. I have compiled a guide to do that here.

Key map using Plane’s Config file:

Note from Merc about Function Key emulator – In order to activate the crystal with the characters brought in using an emulator go to the document UDKInput. Here it is on my system:
(C:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonDungeon DefendersUDKGameConfig). Since I do not really use the callout on my other characters
I like to switch that function with activating the crystal. This is done by finding the line (I highly recommend using the search function in the notepad):

Bindings=(Name=”XboxTypeS_B”,Command=”CallOutOn | OnRelease CallOutOff”)

Once found change that to:

Bindings=(Name=”XboxTypeS_B”,Command=”ActivateCrystal”)

Now all you have to do is save the document. Launch DD through the configure window as usual and from now on pressing M while controlling
one of the emulated characters will make them activate the crystal instead of doing a callout.

Gearing Up – Armor

Most people may think you will need 6k+ stats to complete end game content and that only ultimate armor and weapons can get you there. This is of course not true. Maps can be done with 2k and 3k stats and myth armor, weapons and accs can get you to 5k stats on your characters. Here is a link for building maps with 2k stats to check out.

[link]

Lab Assault is part of the Tinker’s DLC and gives out lots of great loot as far as armor, pets and accessories go. The weapons it gives are only good to be sold for mana. I made my builders out of double and triple capping myth armor that I pulled from running lab assault with extra characters. I do use diamonds for extra speed in building but most everything else is myth.

Here is a run through video I created for it.

[link]

Here are several screens of characters NoVa made at level 74 and some fun sets that I made to show what can potentially be created just from godly armor as well as 1 of 1 items.

Nova’s Monk

Nova’s Countess

Nova’s Summoner

1 of 1 Auras

Godly Summoner

Many people like to know the caps for different types of armor and what their set bonus is. Set Bonus is what really makes a difference though. Here is a picture from DanielSounds Guide that shows how to get the set bonus.

Sets can be made either in:

• Godly or below tiers
• Mythical or above tiers

Unfortunately, mixing f.e. Godly and Mythical pieces of the same type won’t make you an armor set.

Here are the armor cap values with and without set bonus.

Gearing Up – Weapons

Lab doesn’t give good weapons and generic weapons won’t yield any spectacular results, but there are plenty other maps that do and are fun to farm for. Here are some maps to consider when looking for nice weapons for your characters.

How to upgrade: Up base damage on all swords. Other stats should be left alone.

How to upgrade for Melee: Up base damage only.
How to upgrade for Ranged: Up number of projectiles and then the rest in Ranged damage. May want to up projectile speed if it is too low for your needs.

How to upgrade: Charge speed needs to be positive and should be in the 60-90 range for most people. Higher the number for fast clickers. Number of projectiles is next and then base dmg. May want to up projectile speed if it is too low for your needs.

How to upgrade: Up shots per second and projectile speed to about 15k for most people. The rest goes into base damage. If reload is way negative, you may want to add some to Ammo Clip so you dont have to reload as often.

This is not a complete list, but a beginner’s list. There are other weapons in game that can be farmed on survival that are also very useful for both DPS and builders.

Gearing Up – Pets

Pets are a large part of the game but knowing which pet does what can be confusing. So here are some pets to get to know as a beginner and then feel free to try others.

Pew Pew Pew has a nice in depth guide here about the best DPS pet. Worth a read if you have the time. Here is a list though of common dps pets to get you going.

• Mega Chicken – Tinker’s Lab InsaneHC Survival Reward – Great DPS pet with nice stats typically. Rewarded for completing wave 35.
• Seahorse – Aquanos NMHC Survival – Great DPS pet dealing poison elemental damage. It can be hard to get a good one. Rewarded after completing wave 19.
• Monkey – Akatiti NMHC Survival – Good DPS pet dealing generic damage to enemies or it can heal your hero. Great effective range too. Rewarded for completing wave 24.
• Dragon – Good DPS dealing fire elemental damage. Random pet reward on many maps but many good ones are found when running Lab Assault.

• Kobold – Tavern Defense InsaneHC survival – Great tower pet that can spawn with all tower stats at 600. Rewarded for completing wave 35.
• Skeleton – Winter Wonderland survival – Great tower pet that can spawn with all tower stats at 600 and provides a 11% boost in speed. Rewarded for completing wave 35.
• Turtle – Akatiti NMHC – Stats can spawn up to 400 and provides a 25% boost in speed. Rewarded for completing secret code and finishing the level.
• Small diamond – Winter Wonderland (Medium – Insane) – Formed from 88 Small Coal obtained from beating WW. Stats cap at 360 and provides a 30% boost in speed.
• Diamond – Winter Wonderland (NM) – Formed from 88 Coal obtained from beating WW. Stats cap at 800 and provides a 40% boost in speed.
• Random Lab Pets – Lab Assault NMHC – These pets can have nice tower stats. They can hit 999 with enough upgrades if Ult++.
• Fish in a Bowl – Moonbase – Rewarded after completing map’s puzzle and winning the challenge. Stats cap at 500 and can hardcap up to 600, serves as a step between Turtle and Kobold.
• Treadmill on a Treadmill – Moonbase NM(HC) – Same as Fish, however one additional puzzle needs to be solved in order to obtain this pet. Stats on this pet cap at healthy 700 and can overcap up to 800 and also provides very handy 45% speed boost. (easy method of obtaining)

• Cat – boosts damage of players nearby. If solo then one of the DPS pets might be of more use.
• Genie – mana collection – the first 2 waves are usually critical to establish your build. A genie helps collect mana and allows you to upgrade more than you would without it or save mana for building on the second build phase.
• Fairy – healing – Needed for boss fights, such as Old One on Crystalline Dimension, and Sky O’ Love possibly. If you have low health then it could be for more general use but dps pets would probably be of more use.

For DPS pets up the shots per second and projectiles to max while upping base damage. For tower pets up Tower Damage first in most cases. Here is a part of DanielSounds guide which focuses on pet upgrades.

Leveling up

Many ask what is the best place to level. I strongly advise playing through the game up through insane if possible before trying to power level. You can learn so much about the game just by playing through and enjoying it for what it is. Playing end game maps on Nightmare is fun too but it is not the whole game. If one still chooses to power level or you have played through and want to make new characters, you can get from lvl 1 to 74 in one run of some maps on NMHC.

These are key milestones for applying gear and give you an idea of how much XP is needed until you can apply the next set of gear.

These maps are the common and the quickest ways to level up within DD. The variety of maps allows people to not get so bored and to be able to do some leveling with lesser stats.

• Tavern Defense NM Pure Strategy – This is the easiest and can be done with fairly low stats.
• Tavern Defense NMHC Campaign – This is probably the fastest way to level up.
• Tinkerer’s Lab NMHC Campaign – Slower than TD and requires more stats. You do get more XP though and can get some great rewards.
• Tinkerer’s Lab NMHC Campaign (First Wave) – This has become really popular lately. Doesn’t take much in stats to beat since there are no ogres and gives decent XP, although requires multiple players to get the most amount of XP.
• Tinkerer’s Lab InsaneHC Campaign – Takes a lot less stats than NM, but the XP is decent with a chance of nice rewards.
• King’s Game NMHC Campaign – Slower than TD, but may require less stats to beat.

note: all the listed XP numbers are summed after acquiring all the XP multipliers, also listed below

Make sure to get all of the bonuses each wave to maximize your XP. Each of these will boost your XP earned significantly. Each of these gives a x1.3 bonus of your wave score.

• No Core Damage – Most builders protect these fairly well.
• No Player Damage – If possible, get to a place where you wont get hit directly or by splash damage.
• Only Weapon Used – Get a long range pet to shoot things for you or shoot enemies from a safe area.
• Hardcore – Enabling Hardcore Mode gives you 30% Bonus XP on the end of each wave.

Also, make sure to stop by the tavern keep and buy the XP bonus (70.000 Mana Cost). It is worth it on the later levels to save a little bit of time.

• < lvl 70 provides 30% XP amount required for the next level.
• ≥ lvl 70 provides 10% XP amount required for the next level.

Map Guides

**WIP**
Here are some guides that I found useful when building maps.

– because every defender wants to conquer this beast

• Best Old One Guide Ever – MadeInLondon
• TCDs CD build – one of the best and quickest builds. I believe EC10 and ygk helped with this too.
• Old One Practice in Open – because you can never have too much practice. Skip right to the Old One and learn his tricks before playing through the whole level. Thanks DanielSound!

• Aquanos Survival (Seahorse run)[www.dungeondefenders.com] – quick and fun – Commish
• Sky City Survival[www.dungeondefenders.com] – Commish

• Tavern Defense
• Tavern Defense Survival InsaneHC[www.dungeondefenders.com] – gives better kobolds than NM – MadeInLondon
• Akatiti Survival[www.dungeondefenders.com] – NonofthatK
• Kings Game Survival[www.dungeondefenders.com] – Bonvoyage
• Winter Wonderland[www.dungeondefenders.com] – Xytech
• Tinkers Lab –
• Tinkers Lab (chicken run) – NoVa

• Silent Night[www.dungeondefenders.com] – Mischief (master of maps)
• GTH[www.dungeondefenders.com] – Soikuri
• Halloween Spooktakular 2[www.dungeondefenders.com] – Black Mamba
• Moonbase – pew pew pew

Trading and Currencies

Trading is a big part of DD. There are AFK shops, floor shops, trading section on the forums, and knowing what to look for and where can be very difficult. On top of that knowing what items go for can also be problematic.

• Don’t waste time and money with these. Hacked gear that can get you banned.
• Also, Trendy doesn’t allow for trading for out of game currency whether real money or other things like CSGO, TF2 items, etc. They will likely ban you for it.

• Typically AFK shops are where you find more of the lower end weapons, armor and pets but occasionally you can find some good pieces.
• The best thing about AFK shops is that it only costs Mana to buy and the price is listed.
• Hosting an AFK shop can be risky though. Some have reported having their tavern items stolen, even items from the shop that have not had prices on them.
• Also, if you don’t lock tavern drops, people can drop hacked items on your floor.
• If running a shop, make sure you are not over your item limit in main inventory. This will prevent mana tokens from being created and thus prevent players from buying your gear.

• Typically you find a wider range of items and they are typically mid to high end items as well.
• Downside is that costs vary. Some shops love to play the “offer” game. They make you offer hoping that it will be higher than what it is worth. Even if it is a fair amount, they may try to negotiate it higher. If it is too low then they may just ignore you and never give you a price. Can be very frustrating.
• Also there are some who like to sell hacked items. It is always good to get an Item Checked before buying.

• Mostly high end to top of the line items are sold here, even event items.
• Most of the time it is auction style so you end up bidding against others. This can be good or bad depending on if the bidding drives up the price or not.
• Less chance of buying hacked gear. No one wants to be banned or lose currency because they bought an item that was duped and it ends up disappearing.

• Mana
• Coal – 12-15bil mana
• Cubes – 1 Cube ~ 6 coal
• Diamonds – Non cap tower damage = 4-5 cubes, Single Cap = 8-10 cubes, double cap = 15 cubes
• Lab Runs – 10 NMHC runs with 4 characters = 1-2 cubes

Event Items

Event Items are unique items that were handed out during Trendy sponsored events. Sadly these have ended. Now the only way to get event items is through trade. Trading can be difficult since many who have them have left or are using them themselves. Some use them as currency in trade if they are still worth something. Some older items are worth something to collectors.

For new players, this will not be too big of a deal possibly as most of the event items werent necessarily useful. However there are a few that are really good and that many new people try to find. Just keep in mind they are NOT necessary for beating the game.

• Rainmaker – best staff in the game basically. Very OP and fun to use with your Jester.
• Celebration – best accessory in the game with 500 pts in all 8 stats
• Magicite – quad cap diamond. 800 in all tower stats with lvl 70 requirement.
• Mana Master – max mana getter for upgrading with good stats.
• Glacier – 200k sword to make quick work of some boss fights.
• Rockshatter – best stat weapon in the game.
• Alladin’s Wish – great tower weapon for Huntress or EV. You can get better drops from the game though.

A trace is the proof that many require when trading that the item actually came from the event which it was given out and not a dupe or hacked item. A trace can consist of just providing the line of players the item has been passed around to tracing back to the event. Sometimes just telling someone the trace is enough and sometimes people want pictures of the trades. Typically you should at least have a picture of the trade you made with the player you got the item from.

If you intend to auction an event item on the forums, it definitely is. If you never intend to sell your event item, then it doesnt really matter unless you want to make sure it is legit as possible. Some old players trade event items and so do hackers so it can be hard to know if an item is legit. Traces help with that. If you don’t care about a trace, at least make sure the item is possible to avoid getting banned.