Desktop Dungeons

[cicobuff]

Wow this is addictive. I actually stopped dragon age for a bit to play this and have not been touching dragon age!!!

Cleared the 1st level chars with

1) Human Fighter (Taurog)
2) Halfing Priest (Taurog)
3) Halfing Thief (Glowing Guardian)
4) Elf Wizard (Mystera Annur)

I did the Fighter first because the monsters are weaker so a pure dmg approach works well for me.
The wiki is invaluable because it describes what the gods does.

Edit 5) Human Berserker (Glowing Guardian)

[GreenGoo]

That's a good idea Cico, I'll list them all in the same post too.

Tier 1 Classes
1) Fighter/Human/??
2) Thief/Human/Taurog
3) Priest/Halfling/Glowing Guardian
4) Wizard/Elf/Mystera Annur

Tier 2 Classes
1) Berserker/Human/??
2) Rogue/Human/Glowing Guardian
3) Monk/Human/Taurog (+ extra life amulet)/Goat Boss
4) Sorcerer/Elf/?? (Not Mystera Annur)


That's it. So all tier 3 classes are available but I haven't won with any of them yet.

[cicobuff]

Nice going Goo.

I just managed to do

6) Human/Warlord/Glowing Guardian/Goblin Boss

But it only unlocks new items and monsters without new classes. The wiki mentioned Vampires. Wonder how to unlock that one.

Edit:

7) Human/Rogue/Glowing Guardian/Serpent

[GreenGoo]

Must come from the challenge dungeons. Or something.

[cicobuff]

8) Human/Assasin/Glowing Guardian/Skeleton Boss

Hmmm, makes me wanna unlock everything.

[GreenGoo]

You are moving Cico.

Going to try some of the challenge dungeons next, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow. 2 Bosses on those.

[cicobuff]

hah indeed.

Must stop now..... must bring daughter to the pool for a swim.....

9) Elf/Sorcerer/Glowing Guardian/Goblin

Edit: I found the monk really hard. He's a dmg reduction guy but his attacks sucks. So it will mean a pure magic approach yet, that does not make use of his dmg reduction at all. Very bad synergy with his skills. Maybe with taurog and full on attack will work with a goat boss. But that is like an extremely lucky roll.

[Zurai]

You can mouse over the unlockables to find out how to unlock them.

I have all of the tier 3 classes unlocked, plus three of the challenge dungeons and one of the extra races. Currently frustrating myself (in an entertaining way) trying to beat the Crypt dungeon with the Assassin class for an unlockable.

[cicobuff]

Didn't realise that the unlockables have hover =).

Is there an info anywhere that says how items can be unlocked? Only saw the list in the wiki.

Edit:

10) Dwarf/Monk/Glowing Guardian/Mage Boss
11) Human/Paladin/Glowing Guardian/Medusa Boss

Woot! Cleared all normal tiers.

12) Gnome/Blood Mage/Mystera Annur/Skeleton Boss

Sumary:

1) Human/Fighter/Taurog/?
2) Halfing/Priest/Taurog/?
3) Halfing/Thief/Glowing Guardian/?
4) Elf/Wizard/Mystera Annur/?
5) Human/Berserker/Glowing Guardian/?
6) Human/Warlord/Glowing Guardian/Goblin Boss
7) Human/Rogue/Glowing Guardian/Serpent
8) Human/Assasin/Glowing Guardian/Skeleton Boss
9) Elf/Sorcerer/Glowing Guardian/Goblin
10) Dwarf/Monk/Glowing Guardian/Mage Boss
11) Human/Paladin/Glowing Guardian/Medusa Boss
12) Gnome/Blood Mage/Mystera Annur/Skeleton Boss

Now for the other maps!

13) Crypt - Halfing/Priest/Glowing Guardian/Zombie? + Skeleton (Unlock Goblin)
14) Snake Pit - Elf/Sorcerer/Mystera Annur/Medusa + Snake (Unlock Transmutter)
15) Snake Pit - Human/Monk/Binlor (Unlock Gorgon)
16) Crypt - Human/Assasin/Glowing Guardian (Unlock Vampire)

[GreenGoo]

Nice job Cico, you are really humming.

Crypt - Priest/Halfling/Tourog/Frank and Mana Burning Ghost thingie (just obscene how unfair this was. Definitely overpowered. Although Holy guardian would be INSANE)

Unlocked goblin.

[cicobuff]

Hmmm,

I find myself hitting a huge wall with the factory. Probably it needs to be tackled after getting more starting gold (crypt) and better items (library)?

17) Crypt - Human/Warlock/Glowing Guardian
18) Library - Human/Berserker/Taurog

[GreenGoo]

Gold carries over, so you can just grab a goblin thief and run whatever dungeon you want and you can probably max out in 1 trip. 2 at the most. There is a gold cap, and I don't know what yours is, but mine is 75 at the moment. At 10 gold per transformed rune thingy, it doesn't take long.

I've been plugging away at assassin/crypt, and haven't even managed to kill 1 boss yet, let alone two. I've only seen the holy god twice maybe, in 30-40 attempts, so I've had to use Taurog a few times, and that just isn't cutting it.

[Zurai]

Yeah, I havn't managed to win assassin/crypt yet, either. I did get the zombie boss down, but didn't have enough left over for the wraith boss. Not being able to use APHEELSIC in the crypt sucks, because normally I'm able to run around and slaughter high-level enemies for mega experience by poisoning them and doing hit-and-run attacks.

And yeah, I've had virtually no luck getting the anti-undead god in the crypt, either. Once only, I think, and that wasn't even the time I managed to kill the zombie.

[Zurai]

Hah! Just did it. Orc/Assassin/Pactmaster/Crypt. I did it by managing to buy a Scout Orb (half-reveals a second tier of tiles) right near the start, snagging the Pactmaster at level 2, getting the fireball glyph, then sniping away at high-level wraiths and vampires until I could one-shot them with the Assassin's first strike, eating glyphs and lower-level enemies for experience to reset my mana bar. Killed the wraith boss first, then used up all of my potions and leveled to 10 for more mana/health resets and managed to kill the zombie boss with 14 health left. Wouldn't have been able to do it without the Pactmaster for the extra mana.

The funny thing? I snagged the Pactmaster as soon as I found his altar, then found the Glowing Guardian's altar about a level later with at least 15 undead still on the map ><

[GreenGoo]

It might be too soon for me to be trying the crypt. I still haven't finished the normal dungeon with any of the tier 3 classes, so maybe I need some higher level items to buy.

I don't know. Could be bad luck, could be me sucking, could be lack of decent items.

Still having fun, but less obsessive about it now.

[cicobuff]

Not sure about you guys, but I scout the map for the altars for worship even before trying to kill any enemies. I know this uses up the auto heal feature.
I also find myself restarting a lot when I cant find the god i want to worship. Hmmm I should try opening up the orc. Seems to have missed that one.

Edit: Oh I actually had orc opened up. Not sure when I did it though.

[Zurai]

Extra items open up from beating the Library, and I'd only done that twice (Berserker, which is a total cinch, and Monk IIRC). Orc helped but I could probably have done the same thing with Gnome or Elf; I didn't even eat all the glyphs on the map when I won, and there were still two monsters to kill aside from the boss, so the extra XP from that wasn't really that important.

I definitely do NOT scout out the entire map before killing monsters. Even with the assassin with his first strike and instant killing, that's a good way to run out of hp and mana before you can beat two bosses. It works OK for the basic dungeon, but you have to be more precise (or lucky) to win a challenge dungeon without exploration regen. The reason the scout orb was so important is that it let me scout without wasting the regen (it reveals runes, altars, shops, monsters, and "other items" as separate icons, so I knew exactly where to go for altars and runes).

As for resetting when I don't get the god I'm looking for -- I almost reset when I grabbed the Pactmaker then saw that I'd missed out on the Glowing Guardian. I think both those deities can be used to win that map. You could probably win with Taurog, too, and I imagine a dodge build with Tikki would work as well. Zeroing in on one deity is going to be very frustrating because you only have a 30% chance of any specific deity showing up on a map (there are only ever 3 altars, and there are 10 deities), and there's no guarantee you'll get a favorable monster/item/rune layout in the times when you get that one god you're looking for.

[Shinjin]

Dwarf Berserker taking Dracul the Undying was amusing. Slew the dragonspawn at level 8 without cracking a health potion.

[cicobuff]

19) Library - Human/Assasin/Dracul

Edit

20) Library - Human/Warlord/Pactmaker (Unlock Half Dragon)
21) Library - Half Dragon/Binlor

[Archinerd]

Finally, after a long drought I managed to unlock the rest of my tier 2's and 2 of the tier 3's. I won with both the Assassin and Bloodmage as well.

I think the unlocks are organized pretty well, I wouldn't have had any idea of how to win with the bloodmage if it had been available earlier. Even then, I'm still not sure what the use for BLUDTUPOWA is beyond the low levels.

[GreenGoo]

Yeah, when I saw the health cost climbs as you level, I pretty much gave up on the Blood Mage, or at least using the glyph. And using a mana potion eats health? Who thought that was a good idea?

No luck last night. Nothing new opened. I have been roaming the dungeon trying to find a decent god to follow before killing anything. Obviously if an altar is near it works great, but if you get unlucky then I just start over. I do try to minimize the amount of fog I eat while I search.

[Edit: Ignore the health part of this. Error. Error. ] I also leave the health bonuses until I'm high level, as they scale with your level. The mana bonuses don't seem to, so I just grab them when I see them.

In about 90% of my games, I sacrifice all or nearly all glyphs. Of course that depends on class and god, but it certainly seems like I throw most of them into the detransmogrifier.

[Tscott]

I also leave the health bonuses until I'm high level, as they scale with your level. The mana bonuses don't seem to, so I just grab them when I see them.

From the New Players Guide:

Every Health Powerup gives you 1 Max Health per Level. This scales as you level up, so don't hesitate when you see one -- pick it up!

I took this to mean that while you only get +1 health at level 1, it then gets added to how your health increases when you level. So if you start at 10 HP, you'll be 80 HP when you reach level 8, assuming no bonuses -then pick up one powerup and it adds 8 HP for a total of 88. Or pick up one health powerup at level 1 for +1 HP for 11 HP, and again assuming no other bonuses, at level 8 you'll be at 88 HP (11*8). The main difference is you'll have an advantage of extra HP all along, rather than waiting till the end to get it.

[GreenGoo]

I thought so too. But now I'm realizing my "test" wasn't very accurate, so I withdraw my comments that the extra hp powerups should be left until later.

[McKnight]

I thought so too. But now I'm realizing my "test" wasn't very accurate, so I withdraw my comments that the extra hp powerups should be left until later.

I thought the same as you when I originally saw the difference in increases between levels for health/attack upgrades. After a couple of games though with my new theory I realized it didn't make a difference.

May I say what a gargantuan effort you guys have been putting in. I've managed to win once with a Gnome Wizard and haven't managed it again since. Although I got ridiculously close with a Halfling priest but made some silly mistakes that cost me the games.

[GreenGoo]

I was actually a little dismayed at Cico's progress. Here I was/am struggling to scrounge out the occasional win, and he comes around with a long list of unlocks, and the list keeps growing.

And I really am struggling now. Haven't had any success in a long while, although a few "close ones".

[Tscott]

So far I've only won once. As a Halfling/Thief I think. Been trying to win as a fighter and gotten close, but not close enough.

[cicobuff]

I was actually a little dismayed at Cico's progress. Here I was/am struggling to scrounge out the occasional win, and he comes around with a long list of unlocks, and the list keeps growing.

And I really am struggling now. Haven't had any success in a long while, although a few "close ones".

Hah, I think I better slow down a bit. Didn't get to play last night as daughter started to get annoyed at me for spending so much time in front of the laptop staring at these blocky pixels. =)

Some general spoilers about how I crack the classes without being too specific to spoil the fun

Spoiler:

1. I try as much as possible to synergize the hero's skill as possible.

2. The higher tiered items are a lot better. E.g. I think there is a +20% Attack Bonus +2 Health Gauntlets! (60 bucks) So I try to get some crypt done and then library before tackling the factory (one tough cookie)

3. If possible kill the highest level monsters that you can without dying first. The assassin with some hp buffs is best (or the poison glyph) for this. E.g. You can kill a level 2 low attack mob at char level 1. And a level 4 with level 2. This allows saving of low level mobs until you get to meet your god. If you hp is up to it, go for as high level a mob as possible, e.g. lvl 7 with a lvl 4 char.

4. I always try to find a god before anything else if I don't have poison attacks.

5. I always farm for gold until I get max before trying out a map in earnest.

6. Of the 2 bosses, I almost always kill the higher HP one first. E.g. poison the high hp one and use the exploring to heal. Then burst dmg the lower hp boss with consumables.

I think the game rewards unlocking the bonuses before trying the others. Which is why I am doing the library (and crypt for cash) because some of the other items are simply awesome. Things agnostic collar are simple crazy! (Not unlocked for me yet, saw it in wiki)

And to make Goo feel better, i retire a LOT. I think I can retire 10-15 times before finding an acceptable map where I know have a chance to win.

[Haavok1]

After you win a game do you retire, and then go to the next. I saw above someone saying your gold carries over, mine doesnt seem to carry over. I also see the submit button and was wondering what that is for.

[cicobuff]

22) Library - Human/Rogue/Taurog (and use of protect of death glyph)

The gold does not seem to carry over when I move between PC and Laptop even when I copy the entire directory over. Maybe the gold resets after you close and restart game?

Edit:
23) Library - Human/Thief/Glowing Guardian (and use of healing glyph)

Correction:
23) Crypt - Human/Thief/Glowing Guardian (and use of healing glyph)

[GreenGoo]

No idea on the gold thing.

Finally got around to finishing normal with a warlord.

warlord/human/Holy god/boss ??/normal

Which opened up the rez glyph. That's helped some, and I've had a lot more "close ones" than before, including a human assassin on normal with only 18 hp left on the goblin boss and no way to finish him off. That was disappointing.

[cicobuff]

24) Library - Human/Paladin/Jehora (took jehora because started with a poison glyph which together with heal glyph is quote OP and the other gods were unavailable)

Edit:

Spoiler regarding wall destroying glyph.

Spoiler:

I always thought that the wall destroying glyph sucks and normally converts it immediately but it suddenly occured to me in a game with the assasin that it is in fact awesome. If u poison a guy and have access blocked, you can tunnel and open up lots of places to get more manna. In fact with poison and wall destroyer, you can kill bosses even at relatively low levels with a lot of other heroes.

25) Library - Vampire/Dracul

Yippee! I just did my first FACTORY win! 1 additional shop!

26) Factory - Gorgon/Pactmaker (Unlocked Tinker)

[GreenGoo]

Hah, I think I better slow down a bit. Didn't get to play last night as daughter started to get annoyed at me for spending so much time in front of the laptop staring at these blocky pixels. =)

For the record, I meant it tongue in cheek (a joke) that it was depressing that you were doing so well as compared to my own meager progress.

Keep at it, at least it shows the rest of us that it can be done.

[cicobuff]

27) Library - Goblin/Sorcerer/Dracul - This one is weird because I mistakenly forgot to switch to a human but found a venom glyph and fireball glyph right at the start and decided to run with it, didnt think I would make it because of race and god selection (Earthmother and Glitterfinger were the other 2) and yet made it with lots of spare potions!

Edit:

28) Factory - Vampire/Tikki

Made a boo boo, just realised that I need to do Factory with 3 chars to unlock 1 extra shop!!!!

Edit 2:

29) Factory - Human/Sorcerer/Dracul

3 classes done Factory!

Edit 3:

30) Library - Human/Wizard/No God (strangly, didn't need a god to beat the generated map)

[Vorret]

I'm actually really pissed.
Twice I've closed the game with escape when I wanted to close a menu.

Right.
At.
The.
End.

[GreenGoo]

I'm actually really pissed.
Twice I've closed the game with escape when I wanted to close a menu.

Right.
At.
The.
End.

It hasn't hurt me like that, but yeah, I've closed the game with esc a few times as well.

[cicobuff]

31) Library - Human/Fighter/Dracul

With 9 classes having cleared the library and 1 additional shop, the game is a lot easier. The latest Fighter cleared it with after 2 retires and the god was not a good match.

32) Library - Human/Thief/Tikki
33) Library - Human/Transmuter/Earthmother and renounced god
34) Library - Human/Monk/Binlor
35) Library - Human/Priest/Binlor
36) Crypt - Goblin/Paladin/Glowing One (forgot to change race again)
37) Library - Human/Bloodmage/Binlor
38) Library - Human/Transmutter/Taurog
39) Crypt - Human/Sorcerer/Jehora
40) Crypt - Human/Fighter/Glowing One
40) Crypt - Human/Berserker/Glowing One

If it is any consolation, it gets much easier as you unlock more as you move along as the combos become quite apparent and unlocking library is quite important as it gives better items for access.

[GreenGoo]

Er....

Paladin/Dwarf/Normal/Snake Boss

[cicobuff]

I am not sure if the following tips and strategy will spoil the fun of figuring them out. But if you are hitting a brick wall and feel like giving up, maybe these gathered observations can help you get a lot more from this very entertaining puzzle game. They are by no mean exhaustive and are quite obvious, but you never know when every bit of tips can help.

Spoiler:

1. Because of the way XP is calculated (see the official wiki for formulae), it is ALWAYS best to kill the highest possible level creep that you can handle.
Example, try to kill a level 2 monster at level 1 instead of level 2. Because killing it at level 1 will net you 4XPs but killing it at level 2 will only net you 2XP for the same monster.
Using this method, you can level up to level 6-7 by only killing very little creeps, saving them for other combos. The pressure to find Glowing Guardian/Jehora/Taurog etc is much lesser also because they are kill based dependent.
Gods that are not so good for this strategy are Binlor if you cant find him early, Pactmaker is a bad deal because it makes you unable to kill early on, Dracul is also not very good god for this strategy if you take him early.

There are several ways you can do this.
Combo 1A: First Strike + High Damage
This works very well with high damage causing creeps with low HPs, e.g. wraith, bandits, imp
Items (early) and Glyphs to go this combo.
+5 Base Attack Sword
First Strike Glyph of course
I find Human best in this strat as the base damage scales very well with a few useless glyph converts.

Combo 1B: Venom + High HP
This combo relies on using poison to whittle a high HP monster and heal using exploration. A thing you must remember to do is to use your also use up your manna as you will also be regaining this.
Do be careful of taking on creeps with too high HPs as you may run out of unexplored squares to heal. With correct damage, you may be able to take out a level 3 creep at level 1!!!
Items and Glyphs that can help.
+5 Base Attack Sword
First Strike Glyph
Healing Glyph
Fireball Glyph
Venom Glyph of course
A dwarf can very work well as his staying power is great.

2. Boss fights. If you have followed the above strategy, you will find yourself with lots of unkilled creeps at the end. Even a very low level 1 creep can greatly help in your battle against the bosses. The idea is to syngerize the skills to heal yourself in your fight against the bosses. Unless I have very high damage and can tank the bosses via venom and exploration., my map is typically fully revealed before I try killing the bosses. Basically this is to open up all creeps positions for my use as well as pick the best possible god and items for the upcoming battles.

Combo 2A: Creeps + Leveling to heal
Since leveling fully heals yourself, you can use the low level creeps to level up. This is good when you could tackle a boss at level 6 because you can get up to 3 heals and manna regen. I typically hit the boss once or twice and proceed to kill the low level mobs to level up. Calculation is also easy because you just need to add their levels together to get the XP you will gain for leveling up. I think everyone will figure this one out, so I am just stating the obvious here.

Combo 2B: Dracul/Lifesteal + Lots of unused creeps
Once I can take a hit from the boss (HP is higher than boss damage) I can use Lifesteal to regain HP's from the lower level mobs. Because you get first strike if your level is higher than the mob, you can safely leech back HPs. If you have lots of low levels it's good because lifeleech is based on the damage you do and not the HP the creeps have. Paladin (without dracul of course) on crypt can do this most effectively, each unused creep is basicallly a super health potion to him =).

I have also quite a few class specific strats that I follow quite successfully. So if you guys find the above read useful and want more, just let me know.

[Tscott]

Interesting read cicobuff. I've managed to unlock all tier 3 classes and two of the other special classes so far, but my main strategy has seemed to be either get Taurog if I plan to hit things, get Mystera Annur if I plan to kill with fireballs. And scrape by as best I can (or retire) if I can't find either god. I'll be adding some of your tips to my arsenal.

[cicobuff]

Glad to have help, even if it's a tiny bit.

42) Crypt - Human/Rogue/Glowing Guardian
43) Crypt - Human/Monk/Glowing Guardian
44) Crypt - Gnome/Wizard/Mystera