Overview
Many of you are familiar with my guides in DD (please refer to my Steam guides). Now, it is a good time for me to work on my DDE builds/guides. There are several major differences between DD and DDE in terms of build mechanics, removal of MU being the most prominent. However, I will prioritize my work towards new maps, popular maps (for farming) or highly requested maps, as I only have quite limited amount of time at my disposal.This guide will be updated constantly as I add in more maps. If you don’t want to miss out on the new contents, you could either follow my Steam guides or subscribe to my Youtube channel. If you have any questions and/or suggestions, please leave a comment below.
Omenak Nightmare Hardcore
Omenak is one of the best maps for gears atm. This build works for both Campaign mode and Survival mode on NMHC. For Campaign, if you are having trouble damaging the boss due to lag, use a tower boost Monk (not Initiate) and boost your minions so that they can kill the boss for you. For survival, you need to take down Siege Mechs yourself before they get too close to your minions, unless of course you have very high stats. Otherwise, your minions can be destroyed by Pulse Cannon in a flash. And a small tip for Hardcore mode, don’t jump unless you have to – falling off the map and having to start over due to a lag spike is not fun.
Build layout[puu.sh]
Embermount Volcano Nightmare
Build layouts:
Build phase 1 (before wave 4)[puu.sh]
Build phase 2 (before wave 5)[puu.sh]
Embermount Volcano is arguably the best map currently for gears. It is the only map where gears are being dropped during boss fight. Hence without killing the boss too fast, you get yourself a survival within the campaign mode. The build I’m going to show you is based upon a forum post by Derfan. I did modify the build quite a bit so that it works for those who have been farming in Nightmare for a while now, with decent gears, but not extremely high stats. My average solo combat time is around 40-45min. With more players, you can easily extend the duration of boss survival. Do take note that this is not a fixed build, and it is by no means the most ideal build for the longest boss survival duration possible. You should tweak the build according to your builder stats as well as your personal preference. Other tips and suggestions please refer to video commentary and/or picture annotations.
Build layouts:
Build phase 1 (before wave 4)[puu.sh]
Build phase 2 (before wave 5)[puu.sh]
As a variation of my Nightmare boss survival build, this Nightmare Hardcore (NMHC) boss survival build aims to tackle 2 major issues – much higher enemy (including boss) health and survivability of players. Due to the nature of Hardcore mode, once you die, you are DEAD. Therefore, survivability should probably be the first priority. In addition, as enemy health is quadrupled, unless you have ridiculously high tower stats (which is, ironically, not ideal for prolonged boss fight duration), you need to take down most Ogres and Harbingers yourself. As for the uber-enormous-mind-blowing LAG, all I can do is wish you best of luck. Before boss fight, all Buff Beams and Physical Beams should be upgraded to 3 stars. If your Auras or Traps have low health, you need to upgrade them as well, although not necessarily 3 stars. Other tips and suggestions please refer to picture annotations.
Build layouts:
Build phase 1 (before wave 4)[puu.sh]
Build phase 2 (before wave 5)[puu.sh]
High-scoring build:
Build layout[puu.sh]
Moonbase Nightmare
Amongst all possible ways to build Moonbase, 1-crystal build arguably requires the least amount of efforts and the build itself is very stable. Do note that it is possible to defend all 3 crystals simultaneously, however, that will mean more building, more maintenance and a larger area to cover when you loot.
Build layouts:
Build phase 1 (before wave 5)[puu.sh]
Build phase 2 (before wave 6)[puu.sh]
Akatiti Jungle Nightmare
This is a speed run build (for farming repeatedly) – you can finish the entire build in the very first build phase, and each wave goes faster due to Aura stacks killing all trash mobs off spawns. Only Ogres can get through – you need to deal with them yourself during combat phases (unless you have crazy Auras). This build, therefore, is not meant for low stats. You need to have good damage and range on your Aura Monk, a good Wall EV and a decent Buff EV. That being said, I have beaten Akatiti Nightmare consistently using this build with only pre-Nightmare (i.e. pre-CU1) gears. Hence the stats requirement for this build to work isn’t that high really.
Build layouts:
Build phase 1 (before wave 7)[puu.sh]
This is a regular build – it’s more stable than speed run build.
Build layouts:
Build phase 1 (before wave 7)[puu.sh]
City in the Cliffs Nightmare
You can finish the entire build during the 1st build phase. If you can’t, leave EV walls to the last – you can build EV walls during the 1st combat phase. You can also rearrange Archers if some area needs to be strengthened. In addition, be careful when you travel from South to East – Ogres may be aggro’ed onto you and attack the vulnerable side of the East crystal.Build layouts:
Build phase 1 (before wave 7)[puu.sh]
Tavern Siege Nightmare
Build layouts:
Build phase 1 (before wave 7)[puu.sh]
Build phase 2 (before wave 8)[puu.sh]
DDFreeRunsByRequest is recruiting
DDFreeRunsByRequest is the largest (with over 1800 members) non-official Steam group for Dungeon Defenders. We do free runs for the community and we strive to provide a friendly and helpful environment for all DD players and fans. Many good-hearted and capable DD players have joined our course. We are now recruiting mature and skilled DDE players for our new DDE map requests which will be available in the near future. If you are interested, kindly contact me over Steam (please leave a comment on my profile first) – my SID.