Overview
A short guide to the most basics of how to start playing Dungeon Defenders Eternity.
What is new to DDE that wasn’t in DD1?
For this information, check out Gigazelle’s guide
Hardcore
Hardcore is perma-death and deletes your characters and items. Play at your own risk.
[EDIT] : Trendy has removed Hardcore and restored previously deleted items and characters. The new hardcore system has yet to be announced.
Basic Controls
WASD for movement.
G to ready up to speed up build phase or to start a game in the tavern.
X to activate pet ability.
R/Mousewheel for abilities.
1 to = for ability hotkeys.
Left Alt + 1 to 4 for consumable slot.
Left Ctrl for leap/dashing.
Left Click for primary attack
Right Click for secondary attack/block/charge.
Start with a Squire
it is reccomended to start with a tower class that has barricades (specifically, squire or countess) and then a 2nd class that can double as a DPS and a support tower class, (Like Monk, Huntress, EV,) or a summoner. However, minions now use DU, so summoner is not as vital as in DD1.
Squire is a main tower class and his towers are very powerful early game.Usually builds use squire towers, so it is really helpful to level a squire builder as your first hero. The best stats for a tower squire are tower HP and tower DMG.
Remember: Make sure to position your harpoons far enough away from your barricades to protect against all of the varieties of splash damage.
Getting Experience and Gear
Currently, many people are playing survival on normal, hard, or insane to get gear and levels. XP/Item boosters work well on survival, but only if you know you can last a whole hour.
Personally, I think that playing a difficulty you can last the whole hour combined with item boosts is the best for gear and levels, others might say that doing a harder difficulty that you last 10-20 minutes on is better for gear, as boosters may not be necessary.
Remember: There is an option to change your gear comparaison preference for Hero or Tower stats. This can be helpful for organizing items in the item box or quickly identifying gear in the game.
Co-op
The more people in your game, the more enemies you fight, the more loot that drops, and the more EXP you get. The game’s difficulty and rewards both scale as you have more players.
Pets
You can pick up egg items, these take up your consumable item slot. After fighting, the eggs will become ready to hatch. You need to inspect the egg by pressing I while hovering your mouse icon over the item to inspect the item, and then you can click hatch to discover what pet is inside your egg.
Respeccing and Modifiers
You can respec your hero by simply going to the tavernkeeper, switching to the Miscellaneous tab in the shop menu, and buying a respec potion.
You can use this potion by going to your forge, switching to “Item Box” on the top tab, and check your modifiers on the right. You can activate respec potions and other modifiers that you have gathered in your time playing the game here.
Getting and Understanding Amulets
You can naturally get amulets by finding them as item drops as you play the game, or you can trade for amulets with willing players.
Amulets can be inserted into the consumeable slot, which is shared with actual consumable items, and for pet eggs. Amulets usuallly cost mana over time or are a one time mana cost, with the cost increasing the longer that the buff is active for. They also usually have a cooldown, which can range from short to long, depending on the effect.
Consumable Item Slots
The consumable slots can hold pet eggs, consumable items, and amulets. These slots can be accessed through the default “1” hotkey to open a menu where you can choose between your consumables, or by holding left alt and pressing a number 1-4 to activate or use the item in that slot.
Getting and Applying Dyes
You can get dyes by finding them in-game as item drops, or by buying them from the tavernkeeper. You can apply dyes by talking to the shroomite crafter.
Change Hero Color
Simply go to the craftsman, switch to the “dye” menu near the top, and dye your outfit. You may need to unequip your current outfit if you wish to dye it.
Upgrading Items
You can upgrade items by inspecting it. It seems like hero stats and tower stats are boosted by approximately 10% of the base stat every level. Levels cost increase exponentially the more you level that item.