Dungeon Defenders

Dungeon Defenders

I cant to ascii art.. So I'll just use caps

DUNGEON DEFENDERS

A strategy/faq by KrizzleyBear 

 - "I'm not saying I'm right, I'm just saying that I have an opinion"

v.7 I wrote this guide in about 5 hours. There will be mistakes. Please let me 
know: krizzleybear@gmail.com

v.8 Fixed up definitions of towers into 'Tower', 'Wall', and 'Utility'. Added
more information about how I play some of my chars, trapstress information and
lightning towers. 
Need: More info on darkness traps and ethereal spike traps.


Prelude:
I've played a lot of tower defence games. While there may be some problems with 
Dungeon Defenders,it mostly stems from the fact that it is also an action/hack 
and slash element involved. Notto mention the "rpg" element of improving stats 
to improve gameplay. Overall, I think 60% of people aren't really getting how 
to play this game. I figure this because everytime thereis a rebalancing of the
 game, everyone rages, except me. Why? Well read this guide, and you'll see.

In this guide I wont be, at least initially, giving my strategies for 
completing maps, as in actualy tower placements, etc. I will however, be 
giving my strategies for using towers 'correctly'. Time after time I see bad 
placement and overuse of a particular class (*coughsquirecough*).

I will also be putting into writing all the questions I get because apparantly 
me having 5 level 70's means I have some secrets. No, I have just played this 
game too much.

I will also talk about some mechanics that will help you if you choose a type 
of specialty or "spec" for your character. Damage Per Second(DPS)/
Damage Dealing(DD)/Crowd Control(CC)/Builder(B) are really the 4 main types of 
character, although I rarely see CC used not in a B sense. You'll see what I 
mean later.

This isn't really a beginners guide. Play the game awhile, and if you're not
able to work out how to best proceed, come back and see if this guide can help.
There is a lot of references and information that is kind of assumed knowledge.

I won't be talking about unlocks, secrets, bonus', 1337 items, etc etc. This
 guide is about playing the game, not winning the game. Anyone can win this game
 if they enjoy it and actually try to calculate the best strategy. 
I'm hopefully going to provide you with the formulae to do so.

Contents
(search id)
1-GO		The Game Overall

2-TC		The Classes
2a-S		Squire 
2b-A		Apprentice
2c-H		Huntress
2d-M		Monk

3-RH		The Roles of my Heroes

4-BT		Best use of towers 

5-FAQ		FAQ

6-FT		Future topics


1-GO: The Game Overall

Dungeon Defenders has its heart in the Tower Defence realm. While players can 
choose to play more as a hack and slash (while patiently waiting for Diablo 3 
:P), part of the charm of the game is that it allows players to do that. Each 
class can be specialised to just towers, just damage, or a hybrid of both. 
And in fact, while I <3 Tower defences, I would never try to 'AFK' any map in 
this game. You are gimping your game enjoyment and you are one of the people 
that will rage incessently when ever your classes gets modifications made. 
4 level 70 characters with poor gear will always do just as well as 1 
overgeared lvl 70, or perhaps better. What is most important about this game is
 Teamwork. 
This is why there are 4 classes, with 4 spots in a game, up to 4 player split 
screen, 4 different skill sets etc. etc. etc. This game is BEST PLAYED using 
ALL CLASSES as OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. I cannot stress this enough. Getting 1 
character so outrageously geared that he can single handedly beat all campaign 
maps is great, but you wont be able to do all the challenges, and I doubt 
(after nerfs) you could get very high on Survival (the true test of your 
skills!) if you do. As often as possible, use at LEAST 2 classes, whether its 
1 builder 1 dps, or other variations. Your game experience will improve 
substantially with a friend or just a random ally. If you don't have 3 friends 
each with another class, this is fine. In a game you are able to swap to other 
classes between waves, meaning 1 person can play all 4 classes without excuses. 
Another reason why this game is based around using all classes...


2-TC: The Classes

In Dungeon Defenders, there are (currently) 4 distinct classes: Squire, 
Apprentice, Huntress and Monk. Each have their own towers, abilities, and 
weapons that all benefit the game in different ways. When the game tells you 
that each character has a different 'difficulty', this is based around the idea
 of "teamwork". For a new player that may have no one else to play with 
(*coughMEcough*) choosing a class that doesn't have walls, i.e Huntress/Monk is
far more difficult to play than one that does, i.e Squire/Apprentice. The only 
'difficult' part to Huntress and Monk is that you need to know the game first 
before you can get the most out of them. Its really just a form of 
discouragement, like how some games have the starting difficulty as 'medium', 
but you could set it to 'insane' if you wanted to.

Quick Glossary
Wall = stationary tower with short range that blocks creep movement, usually 
higher hp than towers.
Tower = damage dealing tower to pump out the dps, usually lower hp.
Utility = More useful for something else:knockback, stun, etc.

DPS: Damage per second. Essentially, this is vs 1 target. This is a measure of
how quickly you can kill an ogre. You are the boss killer, the hired gun.
You should still have a high cast speed for repairing when there are no ogres,
but a good move speed for jumping into action is invaluable.
DD: Damage Dealer. Primarily huntress and apprentice. This revolves around
doing large areas of damage to clear Mages/lanes. A good mana bomb or pierce
is all thats needed.
CC: Crowd Control. Ever get the feeling that the swarm of enemies coming is too
 much? Mostly happens on survival. Get your CC in there! The huntress and monk 
are great, their quick cast buildings can slow or damage a wave before they get
 to your main defences. Also, a quick casting apprentice could setup a 
temporary mini-base to give the main defences more time. Or, the Squire or 
Apprentice can use their knockback skills to hold back/knock lanes off an edge.
B: Builder. A squire or apprentice that has good stats for building, but poor 
everything else. Usually they take over the building of a map, leaving the
other players to hold back the lanes. They may stay to repair/upgrade, but 
are mostly swapped out for something else next wave.

Note: All characters have a skill that drains mana over time. The amount of 
mana drained per second INCREASES the longer it stays active. These abilities 
are best used only as they are required.

Note: All characters except Squire have towers that do elemental damage. Creeps
 also can have an elemental preference: Poison, Fire or Electric. Basically, 
Fire damage is reduced to 0 when attacking a Fire creep. Physical damage is 
usually less than elemental, but it can harm all creeps equally.

2a-S: The Squire

The Squire is probably the most controversial character at the moment. I often 
get into arguments about how best to use him, but it all comes down to the fact 
that I use all 4 classes, where as most 'Tower Squires' are soloers. I will 
admit, if you're starting out and you want to get all classes eventually, the 
Squire is your best starting character. Look to the FAQ for the questions I get
 about levelling. Just like he appears, the Squire is a hardy, defensive 
character. His damage towers are more a utility than a way to really pump out 
damage, as they have a high DU cost. The controversy of this character comes 
from the recent 'nerfs/buffs' to his towers. Again, look at the FAQ.
The Squire is unique in that he has a block to reduce incoming damage from a 
direction. Great for tanking ogres/bosses, and all his towers do physical 
damage.

Squire
Attack: Melee - Left click to swing, repeatedly click for combo (more damage 
per hit),right click to block (% damage reduced specified on weapon)
Skill 1 : Spin attack. I haven't seen one do heaps of damage, but its great for
 knocking mobs off the edge/into spikes/lava. Increased points (I assume) 
increase damage and knockback.
Skill 2 : Bloodrage. Buffs your move speed, attack damage and attack resistance
 at the cost of a fair amount of mana drained per second. Increased points 
increase all effects and reduce cost per second.

Building 1 : Spiked Blockade (Wall). Lots of HP, deals some damage to creeps 
when they attack it with Melee.
Building 2 : Bouncer Blockade (Utility). Modest HP, deals good damage and 
pushes the creeps relative to the location on the circumference (if they bump 
into it at 1 o'clock, they get pushed in that direction) in melee range.
Building 3 : Harpoon Turret (Tower). Modest damage. Benefits most from the fact 
that its shots pierce through up to 12 enemies. Decent fire rate and range. 
Aims at Air units first before Ground units.
Building 4 : Cannon Ball Turret (Tower/Utility). Modest damage. Benefits most 
from shooting downhill and using momentum of the balls to push back multiple 
enemies. Good fire rate, great range. Ground only
Tower 5 : Slice n' Dice Blockade (Tower/Wall). Great damage (low damage but 
highest speed in game), modest hp, melee range. Takes about 2 seconds to spin 
up to full range, and can't hit range units if they get aggro.

Quick Best use: Use his Spiked Blockade at any location with an Ogre, Bouncers 
are not high HP! Harpoons best when creeps in a straight line, and can be good 
for wyverns. Cannon Balls down stairs, NOT ON FLAT GROUND. Slice n' Dice 
great for assisting DPS for range towers that can't kill orcs (can
essentially stun lock enemies by attacking so fast) and in some cases ogres.

2b-A: The Apprentice

The Apprentice is probably the highest tower damage dealer in the game. Before 
you put on your troll hats, this IS a difficult claim even for me. Look in the 
Best Use of Towers section for my explanation. I have seen some solo 
Apprentices, and they are without a doubt the best anti-wyverners in the game 
(ignoring huntress shooting them by hand!) in terms of efficiency. 
His Staves can pump out some great damage, but just as he appears, is not great
 in melee range. Him and his towers have lower HP than the Squire. 
Most of his towers have low DU cost and are great as gap-fillers.
The apprentice is unique in that his staves have a 'charge rate' stat. 
This is a base increase to all charge times. (Can someone verify this? 
Email at bottom of page). Also his towers have very quick targeting and can 
target ground or air, good for wyverns or everything else

Apprentice
Attack: Ranged - click to shoot, click and hold to charge stave for a larger, 
more damaging slightly AOE bolts. Right click to send a burst of energy for low
 damage but high knockback.
Skill 1 : Overcharge. Makes ANYTHING that has a summoning time quicker 
(building, upgrading, repairing, charging stave, manabomb), drains mana over 
time.
Skill 2 : Mana Bomb. Can be used 1 per minute. Does A LOT of damage in an area 
around the apprentice after 3 seconds (instant while in overcharge), at the 
cost of a lot of mana.

Building 1 : Magic Missle Tower (Tower). Good damage for its DU value, low hp, 
fast attack. Have left over DU? Need a bit more damage in a spot? 
Skeletons skitting around your walls? Chuck a magic missle tower up!
Building 2 : Magic Barrier (Wall). Modest HP, but very cheap! Units that 
attack this wall in melee range lose their 'Element' (Go to Those Dang Mobs! 
for more info). Great for emergency walls, gap fillers or just something to get
 in an ogres way for a few seconds.
Building 3 : Fireball Tower (Tower). Good damage, good attack rate, good 
targeting and good aoe. This is your bread and butter damage tower. Uses Fire 
element attacks, does not damage Fire immune mobs
Building 4 : Lightning Tower (Tower/Utility). Poor damage, great attack speed, 
Great range, hits many enemies (up to around 14). This tower shoots a bolt of 
lightning that leaps from enemy to enemy within range, damaging them for a few 
seconds before 'recharging'. Their attack range is substantially increased by
leaping from enemy to enemy. Mini-stuns all enemies except orcs, ogres and 
bosses (good for mages) - Thanks to "wizardpc" for this!
Building 5 : Deadly Striker Tower (Tower). Very Good damage, poor attack speed
, huge range, low hp. Prefers air over ground targets. Shoots THROUGH WALLS. 
A unique and expensive tower, essentially a sniper tower. Good positioning will
kill all wyverns in a lane + thinning out another
lane. Physical damage.

Quick Best use: You will usually either need a combination of towers in all 
situations, including towers from other classes. The elemental damage means 1 
tower can only hit (if each element is spawned in equal amounts) 75% of units, 
since fire towers cant damage fire mobs. Please... don't just use a fireball 
tower for your wyverns. And even just a Striker can be risky if you don't 1 hit
 them or if too many come at once due to slow attack speed. Use fireball + 
lightning, or striker + magic tower, and always look to combine with towers 
already on map.
 

2c-H: The Huntress

The Huntress is the ideal roaming mob killer in the game. A DPS huntress can be
 invaluable if your defences are lacking and can single handedly kill a lane 
while the builders fix up. Having recently made a Trapstress, I am thoroughly
enjoying it! The Huntress is a mobile character, going where she is needed most
, either bolting down the map to repair towers, or placing traps to slow/damage
 creeps before defences, or just ramboing for the fun of it. Once you grow 
tired of building, a DPS/DD huntress is a great next step, you will have fun.
Her traps are ideal of aiding defences. They are cheap DU, of each element, aoe
or massive single target, and stunning.

Huntress
Attack: Ranged - Click and hold to shoot a flurry of bullets/arrows. Right 
click to reload. 
Skill 1 : Invisibility. Makes mobs not target you, even if you attack them, 
with the exception of Warriors who will still target you. Drains mana over time
Increased points, as far as I'm aware, simply reduces mana cost 
(to the point where so long as you are killing creeps, they cant see you. 
Handy vs Ogres/bosses!)
Skill 2 : Piercing Shot. Damages a line of enemies until it reaches its max 
range. Travels through walls. Damage is determined by your attack damage 
(weapon dam * hero damage stat modifier) multiplied by an invisible number 
based on your pierce stat. Increased points increase damage.

Traps Note: Traps do not take 'damage'. They have a limited number of 'uses' 
that can be refreshed by repairing/upgrading. Putting traps in high-traffic 
areas = repairing more often 
Building 1 : Gas Trap (Utility). Causes an area of enemies to cough. But they 
can't move when they cough. Immobolises enemies that aren't Poison immune.
Building 2 : Proximity Mine Trap (Tower). Deals physical damage in an area. 
Closer to the centre = more damage.
Building 3 : Inferno Trap (Tower). Similar to Gas Trap, but burns instead of 
irritates. Deals fire damage in an area over time, does not effect fire immune 
units.
Building 4 : Darkness Trap (Utility). Causes units effect to not be able to see
 Heroes, causing them to lose their targeting. 
(More info needed, does this effect warriors? Do they still target towers?)
Building 5 : Ethereal Spike Trap (Tower). Causes massive lightning damage to 
hit 1 enemy in the area of effect. I believe the enemy is chosen at random, or
 prefers 'closest to crystal'(Verify?). Does not effect lightning immune units.

Quick Best use: Have your map up, often. The huntress not generally being a 
builder means you can farm mana from creeps to upgrade weaker defences, kill 
'clumping' of Mages, quickly get to that 1 creep that got through to the 
crystal, maybe before he hits it, deal with wyverns if the Harpoons just aren't 
getting it right today. You may be a killing machine, but don't just be 
everywhere at once, be where you are needed.
If you are a builder, you will probably be CC. Go invis and place a needed Gas
Trap in an unfinished spot, or proximity mine to thin them out. Place Inferno
Traps in Electric auras for 1-2k dps in aoe together!

2d-M: The Monk

Why is it in almost every game, the Monk is the most difficult class? This 
isn't entirely true of this game, like I said earlier, he just doesn't have a 
method of stopping mobs in their tracks. The monk is the thought to be the 
hardest character in the game, only because you are often what holds a team 
together. If you cannot imagine playing a game where all you do is help other 
players succeed, I suppose you could just make a builder and swap out, or be 
greedy and use your team boosts just for your own DPS needs. The monk is very 
fun, because it makes you feel like part of a team. A good monk is always the 
most loved player in a match. The monk is unique in that his skills boost the 
abilities of Walls/Towers and/or Players. He is also the only character to have 
towers/abilities to heal other players (although it isn't very effective on 
tanky Squires...)

Monk
Attack: Left click to Melee (repeatedly for combo damage like squre), Right 
click to use. Ranged (often multiple projectiles like Apprentice). Although it 
should be a truth that the monk can choose, most weapons have a melee/ranged 
preference. So I guess you can choose per/wave which would be most effective by
 changing weapon between waves.
Skill 1* : Tower boost. Heals and increases the damage of all tower/walls in an
 area. Does not heal traps/auras (because they don't take "damage" they have 
"uses"). Drains mana over time. Points increase healing, damage and decreases 
mana drain.
Skill 2* : Hero boost. Heals and increases the damage of all players in an area
Drains mana overtime. Points increase healing, damage and decreases mana drain.

*Note: Both auras can be used at once! But it drains both skills mana at the 
same time.

Auras note: Auras do not take 'damage'. They have a limited lifetime to stay up
This lifetime goes down over time, but goes down even faster based upon how 
many enemies this aura is currently effecting. High traffic areas = quicker 
lifetime drain. 
Building 1 : Ensnare Aura (Utility). Slows an area of creeps to a crawl, for 
cheap du. Good range, ok drain, does not effect poison immune creeps.
Building 2 : Electric Aura (Tower). Deals good electric damage to an area of 
creeps. Good range, ok drain, does not effect electric immune creeps.
Building 3 : Healing aura (Utility). Heals heroes that stand in the aura. 
Great range, slow drain.
Building 4 : Strength Drain aura (Utility). Causes enemies within to hit for
reduced damage. Ok range, quicker drain.
Building 5 : Enrage aura (Utility). Causes enemies within to attack each other.
Ok range, ok drain, small radius, low hp. Does not effect fire immune creeps.

Quick Best use: You are a team player. Your auras can be useful as permanent 
placements, but require maintenence. Use your auras where the main builder in 
the game thinks they would work best, or ask him to save 6 DU for emergencies. 
This will allow you to chuck up ensnare or electric or ensare + electric or 
strength drain anywhere on the map. If players are struggling to dps, give them
 a hero boost. If a group of towers are dieing due to ogre bashing, use tower 
aura to repair the walls while you manually repair the damage dealers. Think of
 what the team, always. <3

3-RH		The Roles of my Heroes

And this is by far, not the only way to play
these classes. I have only played with 1 huntress Builder, and 0 huntress CC.
Most prefer DPS over everything else, because the best weapons for her are
tailored towards that. One day I will role a builder and DPS for each class,
for funsies.

I do not believe that core components of a game are ever a product of an 
accident. I dont think that the 4 classes were just to add variety to the game,
 or to allow different play styles. They are meant for synergy, for working 
together against a primary foe.
This section is essentially how I play my 4 characters.

Squire: He is a tank in every sense of the word. I use his walls to give great
damage buffers to towers, slowing ogres and annoying creeps. During bosses, I
sometimes equip a weapon with high damage % reduction and use quick blocks
to stop damage. However, I'm also quite crafty with him. I use bouncers to 
knock creeps off a path and redirect them to one that has more defences. 
I use harpoons to assault thin lines of creeps and bowlers to knock creeps 
backwards or off edges, especially if they are already slowed by an ensare. 
My preference is a hybrid: healthy towers with decent damage, but good HP, 
dam % reduction and bloodrage for ogres + bosses.

Apprentice: One of the more fun classes to run around with, but mostly because
mine has ridiculously low hp (350 or thereabouts on insane = almost instant 
death xD).
He is my glass dagger, but one with excellent tower damage. I've recently 
discovered that magic towers, in numbers, can be more useful than fire towers
in numbers, from a DU perspective. I use a fire tower only if: It can hit 2
seperate lanes and/or the enemies clump in that lane even after being thinned
out by auras. Magic towers + ensnare are sufficient for wyverns, strikers only
If i can position them to hit wyverns + 1-2 lanes.
Very recently, I was able to solo Summit Insane, using the Mage to kill the
Dragon. I died probably 15 times, but the towers held, and my 30k dps was just
enough xD 

Huntress: My character that I run around with the most. If I'm soloing, I will
build with my other classes and maintain with my huntress. Modest HP, mostly 
from items (about 1-1.5k) but with very high Hero damage,hero summon and Pierce
This allows me to kill ogres by hand to protect defences, clear waves of 
enemies, and upgrade/repair quickly. Running around the entire map, killing 
where I please or am needed. Although my traps are poor, a Gas Trap is always 
useful to have handy, so leave 3 DU.
However, on my OTHER huntress, I use traps a lot. Inferno in an electric aura
is fantastic. For 9 DU, an ensnare, electric aura and inferno trap can kill
90% of mobs without getting aggro. 
The only cases I've seen for solo squires that can do that use 2 bowlers for 
14 DU..

Monk: The character I'm so glad I made. I was amazed at the usefulness of auras
For 2 DU, an ensnare aura can allow the same defences probably 2x the amount of
 time to kill some creeps. Invaluable. Ensnare + Electric + fireball tower + 
spiked barricade = win for me.
I don't usually run around with my monk, but If i do I support other 
players/towers. I chuck a strength drain on my squire walls to make them 
impenetrable while the ensare slows the attack rate of foes and the towers 
just pick them off, killing ogres with time. High HP, Effect and Range on auras
 make them giant balls of usefullness that last a decent amount of time even in
 high traffic areas. Even when my monk was lvl 40 it was profoundly useful. 
The healing aura is also invaluable when I'm dpsing with my apprentice or 
huntress.

4-BT		Best use of towers 

This is mostly my section where I rage about 'Tower Squires'. If you, or anyone
you know, now refuse to play a squire because they are underpowerd after the 
nerfs, then you were not playing the game correctly to start with. 
Admittedly, it wasn't your fault: the game should have been balanced better to 
start with. You were just playing to win ;)
Essentially, it boils down to this: Anyone who uses only 1 class, cares more 
about stats than strategy. They pump a particular stat, normally tower damage, 
then use this stat to its advantage on a map. This. Is. Backwards. 
Start again, start on easy or medium, and actually work out a strategy before 
you max your stats. Not all strategies are equal, not all strategies will work 
with particular players, but honestly. If all you do is pump Squire tower 
attack damage, then put harpoons and bowlers wherever you can...
You are beating the game, but not playing correctly. 

This is why the game was nerfed. 

Squires then got re-buffed, improving harpoon and bowlers attack speed and 
'utility', which is bowlers knock back capabilities and harpoons aiming and 
anti-air capabilities. Squire towers are expensive for a reason: they each 
have utility AND damage, or hp AND damage. An ensnare aura is useful, but does 
0 damage, thus is only worth 2 du. A bowler hits multiple enemies, has a good 
attack speed, long range downhill, and knocks back enemies, and does damage. 
But putting 10 of them on the map means that all you need is 1 dark elf warrior
 to jump over a wall, and attack it. Then you have 0 towers in that lane. 
Also, harpoons struggle when you don't aim them straight, so you end up using 
1 harpoon per lane of wyverns. I will only accept this strategy if the harpoon 
can actually ensure that all the wyverns die everytime. 6du is a good number 
for air supremacy per lane imo. I usually use an ensnare + magic tower for 5, 
or just 2 magic towers for 6 anyway.

Another point: Bouncers should not be used as Spiked barricades. The purpose of
 a SB is to stop enemies in their tracks and take the damage while towers 
finish them off. People use bouncers because 'they're a wall but they do 
damage too'. A bouncer is useless vs an ogre. An ogre can stand outside the 
range and just bonk it until its small amount of hp for DU value runs out. 
I will accept bouncers in low traffic/ non ogre lanes, because if a spiked wall
 is too much hp, for 1 du you can lower hp and add damage/utility. 
They still require a ranged tower nearby to kill ranged units though. 
I still prefer bouncers for their utility: redirecting creeps towards stronger
defences/off edges. If you have never tried this, you really should. It means 
you aren't just beating the game, but playing it.

Phew, ok, I think thats out of my system. As i said before, synergy is where 
its at, not stats. If you got full stats + strategy, you are indeed a pro, not
just that guy with 1 squire that brute forces a map. No doubt a fully geared, 
tower maxed Squire can solo the Halloween map on hard (Before AND After nerfing 
of Spooky). I've had people tell me that they've played with squires that have 
no clue on that map, of which i have also experienced. By tower maxed I mean 
120+ attack speed and 200+ish tower damage. So no doubt someone with good stats
 still requires strategy to use their buffed towers to their potential on this 
map. 

But. 

I had no where near maxed stats. I had a lvl 70 huntress, Crystal Tracker fully 
upgraded, armour and animus no more than half upgraded. I had 110 hero damage, 
and was doing about 20-30kdps with 20k(14k after nerf) pierce. I also had a lvl
 60ish squire that had about 115 in tower hp. I also had a lvl 45ish monk tower 
spec and lvl 38ish apprentice. I used the towers together, and was able to solo
 it on hard. My towers had no more than 100 in any stat on my  monk and 
apprentice, but I could still solo it. My huntress was run ragged, and I got a 
breach on the last wave, in both pre and post nerfing of the Halloween map. 
Now I believe that a tower squire would also be run ragged. Why? Because I lack
 stats, but they lack strategy/synergy.

I guess my biggest problem is that now everyone believes that everything is 
about stats. Just like Diablo, everyone is gagging for the best gear, 
most slots, etc etc etc. But what you really need, is a team of people who have
 fun playing together, and know what each person is best/capable of, and 
working together. I would not bother trying to make the high scores 
(of which I have) if it weren't for the fact that I had people to play with and 
work together.

Here is my breakdown:

You do not NEED stats, but they help. 

Stats help your strategy.

Work out your streategy, then improve it with stats.

You will have more fun playing the game than grinding the gear.

Please, just try it.


Heres an example of synergy vs tower squire..

You could have 2 bowling ball turrets setup for 14 DU. And you dont have any 
walls. I have seen this build several times.

An alternative?

Ensnare + Electric aura + fireball tower = 10 DU.

People overuse squire towers because physical hits everything. 

Ensare + electric = 5 Du. Add a fireball tower for another 5 DU and you have
a way of killing all the mobs. An electric + ensnare can kill anything not 
electric immune. A fireball + ensnare can kill anything not fire immune, and an
 electric + fireball can kill anything that is poison immune. 
Synergy of 3 elements that are more effective together. 
Now you have saved 4 DU, you could put 1 spiked wall to protect your tower from
 kobolds, warriors, etc.

Lets up the amount you have to spend on to 17 DU. Now you have 2 bowlers and 
1 spiked wall, so you might save your bowlers from archers and mages, but not 
an ogre. I know you could also have an awesome dps to handle an ogre by hand, 
but lets assume you're at the other end of the map killing another ogre. You 
need that defence to last until you can get back. A spiked wall might last.. 
but with the bowlers hitting the ogre, they're not hitting mages, or kobolds, 
or archers. Your wall will die.

The alternative?

Well we've only used 10 du. So were also able to put a Spiked wall for 13DU. 
What else could we do? If we had 19 DU, i'd put a strength drain, but I can't. 
And a magic tower isn't going to help substantially. A bouncer could possibly 
help if you put it behind the ogre to distract creeps, but you're busy on the 
other side of the map. Well if you're smart, you checked the wave boards 
beforehand to know it was coming. I'd put an inferno trap so that it just hits
 the ogre behind him. Now we have an ogre with a slow attack speed, hitting a 
spiked wall. He's taking damage over time from electric aura, damage overtime 
from the inferno aura the creeps set off, and damage from the fireball tower. 
The creeps are still getting slowed and electric hit, but might not be hit from
 fireball tower unless they're close to the splosion, an electric immune mage 
or archer could still cause trouble. With the trap, they now take damage over 
time from that and should die, or at least the mage will be busy healing rather
than summoning skeles and shooting. Now you only have an ogre and a couple of 
creeps slowly hitting your wall and taking a lot of damage.

There is 1 drawback to my build, is that it requires more attention. Auras and 
traps will die with use over time. It takes smarter play to know when to repair
Personally I would have repaired as soon as the ogre at the other end of the 
map appeard, then ran over.

My strategy, as it always has, is to play smarter, not harder.

Using heroes as 'duct tape' for your build can be ok, such as huntress taking 
care of wyverns that harpoons fail to hit, etc. And this is fine, until 
something goes wrong. A warrior jumped a defence and attacked the towers. 
The builder had been swapped out, so someone has to plug that gap. Now wyverns 
are taking pot shots at the crystal, and an ogre comes, and 2 of your dps are 
plugging gaps. You have to be confident that the remaining 2 dps (assumedly) 
can take the ogre, but the other defences are now unattended. 
Or maybe you had 1 repairer. Now you have 1 person doing dps, and 1 repairing 
70% of the map. I much prefer being able to run around the map keeping auras 
and towers upgraded so that when an ogre comes, everyone can run over, 
demolish it, then calmly run back to keeping auras up. 

Your hero is not just a character with a weapon. 
Your hero is defending their dungeon of unspeakable horrors with any means they
 have at their disposal.
The amount of enemies assaulting them is insurmountable for one person to take 
them all on.
Even four fully armed children cannot hold them.

Your only choice is to put up defences and not just hope they hold, but 
actively ensure that the defences stay up, to protect you and your crystals, 
and the land of Etheria.


5-FAQ		FAQ

Q. Whats the quickest way to level my character/get money/finish the game?

A. People think I'm trolling them when I give this answer. Being a lvl 70x4 I 
bet people think I'm witholding my secret. But when I say "Just have fun 
playing the game", people dont believe me. Honestly. I have played this game 
too much, because its so much fun. That was my only strategy.

That being said, I've begun doing Glitterhelm on hard. If you also build the
towers, and with 2 people in the game, i went from 3-33 in one game, but of 
course you need 1-2 characters that can build to solo that first, 
then swap them out for your noobie char and hope it can repair the massive 
level. While I do this swapping technique, in general, just play the game, 
seriously

As for $$$, well I am at the point where I need more of it. So I do 
insane-survivals to wave 15, specifically Hall of Court (yay, genies!). 
This gives me about 500k without having to pick up items, and a familiar to 
sell by the end of it. Given that a good familiar can sell for 1-5 million not 
upgraded, thats good value I guess. But it is longer than doing Glitterhelm on 
hard and picking up every piece of crap on the ground and selling it each wave 
to get 600k and a crappy reward. Experiment, find your favourite way to get $$$
I'll be leaning towads solo Summit soon...

Q. My squire sucks now, should I make something else?

A. Firstly, your wrong. The nerfing to your squire has not made him suck, you 
just can't use him in the same way. Secondly, yes, yes you should. They are not
 going to significantly re-buff the squire, so you should experiment the other 
classes that have been buffed. Why not? Your squire isn't going anywhere, and 
now he can help the lower level characters level.

Q. Whats the best character?

A. There isn't one. They each have their own merits. I'm not going to suggest a 
Monk when you prefer to FPS, and I'm not going to suggest a Huntress when you 
actually prefer strategy. Play them all, then choose your favourite. And don't 
give up at level 5. Get to level 30, and if you still hate them, then try 
something else.


Q. Can you help me do x mission?

A. Yes


Q. Can you do x Mission for me?

A. No


Q. Whats the difference?

A. By helping you, I let you define a strategy. If it doesn't work I'll tell 
you why and we'll start again. If you ask help to build, I'll let you build 
first and bolster it with my utility towers. If your towers are struggling, 
I might replace them with mine to see if its just the stats or the strategy 
thats failing. This way you know what works, you just need to gear up to do it.
By doing it for you, I'm playing the game for you. I'll only do this if I owe 
you a favour.

Also, by watching you do it, I learn new techniques I may not have thought of. 
If you want to learn the most about building, roll a dps/repairier and help 
others build their strategies, and take what you want for yourself. I was sold
on auras when I saw that they could hit wyverns, traps when they cleared lanes.

Q. How much did you pay for your x?

A. I don't do a lot of trading. Usually if someone has a great weapon, I'll 
trade them an equally great weapon for their class. Or a rare familiar. 
I don't buy things with $$ cos I never have any, I spend it all on my equipment
 usually, experimenting with increasing different stats.
Usually if you see me with something awesome, I earned it myself. 
Like my Huntress Animus that is as big as an Apprentice xD


Q. What do the stats do/how much of an effect do they have?

A. Urgh, I'm really not happy with the information on this atm. The wiki is.. 
sub par.
It boils down to something like this; lets use Hero damage as an example. 
You have a weapon that does 100 damage. You have 0 hero damage. 
It does 100 damage. You put 1 point into hero damage, it now does 102 damage. 
So while it appears 1 point = 2%, this is not the whole story. 
This % increase , decreases the higher you go. So if you have 100 hero damage, 
and you're doing say 2000 damage with a 1000 base dam weapon 
(this doesn't calculate, but thats ok.) 
adding another 1 point will not exactly equal 2020 damage. 
It will be less, because as the level gets higher, the increase is
reduced. 
This is a feature to encourage equal levelling. I'm sure you're aware of the
trade off betweeen damage and speed. Whats better, 1000d and 1sps, or 100d, and
 10sps? The answer is not, "They're the same!"

The answer is: does 100d kill everything? 

If so, its better to have 100d 10sps, because you can kill 10 things per second
, rather than 1. 1000d is overkill. So having 250 in tower damage is actually a
 detriment imo. You could have bolstered your tower damage speed once you say, 
kill orcs in 4 hits. 
You could kill that orc with a harpoon in 3 hits at 2 hits 
per second. 
Or, in 4 hits at 3 hits per second. 
This is about the same, but the harpoon that kills in 4 hits still kills 
goblins in 1, so you're killing more goblins behind the orc than the one that 
is overkill.
Do enough damage to kill something, then increase the speed to kill more things
Balance the stats so that the towers are killing what needs to be killed, 
from far away, at the fastest speed, with the most health in case of ogre.

In short, its more efficent use of stats to have an even spread of stats then 1 
stat really high. The only exception is a DPS builds like huntress. 
Hero damage = weapon damage + pierce damage.
And attack speed is on the weapon. 
Pump that hero damage! Once you have a high pierce anyway.


Q. Why don't you like the Wolfenstein electric gun thingy?

A. Its not that I don't like it. Its the fact that its irritating to get a good
 one, and I prefer a bit of variety. Running around with 4 huntresses blasting 
things with an op weapon, and yes it IS OP after nerfs, even if it is only 
electric damage, seems silly. I have a blasticus, it kills everything I need to
I also have a crystal tracker for some challenges. If I find an upgrade, i'll
upgrade, but I kill everything i need to, so I'm not going to stress over 
getting one, and i'm sure as hell not going to buy one.
It is OP because the 4-6 projectiles shoot straight and through objects. A 
mage could have higher DPS than a wolfenstien thingy, but he has to be right up
close in smashing distance of an ogre to do it. If the projectiles spread, then
I would officially call it not OP. There has to be a trade of, and ele dam on
a huntress with pierce is no trade off...
Until there are electric immune ogres


Q. The huntress pierce got nerfed, that sucks! Why don't you think it sucks??!

A. The huntress pierce hits an infinite amount of creeps to a certain distance 
and accuracy. I do 17k to everything in a line, after nerf. Before nerf, and 
before I had improved my stats, i was doing 20k ( got dropped to about 14k). 
The point of pierce is not to kill ogres... Its to take out a line of weaker 
mobs, like mages through their waves of skeles. 
If your pierce can kill a mage in 1-2 hits, its strong enough. 
Your gun should be able to deal with everything else.

Q. Why don't you use a genie with your huntress? Infinite pierce ftw!

A. You have infinite pierce anyway, if you just move your huntresses fat ass 
and stop standing on the crystal and spamming. 
You are not a tower, you can move and collect the mana from your kills. 
I have an animus that does almost as much damage as I do. Without pierce I can 
charge through a lane and kill everything. If I run into trouble I can 
invisible and still kill without pierce with almost infinite invis. 
If I run into a group of mages, I pierce, then keep running. 
I can invisible for about 2-5 minutes depending on mob concentration. 
If i wasn't going invisible, I could easily spam pierce, if i wanted to. 
Its already infinite, you just have to pick up the mana.
I use genies on my builders so that they can get more mana to build/upgrade 
quicker, and possibly I will use on a DPS squire/monk so they can attack the 
ogre quicker/without dieing.
I will concede that particular challenges, like Ogre Crush, and possibly bosses
 that having a genie to give you attack dam + pierce while killing, is useful.
Using pierce with attack dam that is. But I get higher dps with my animus than
pierce.

Q. Why did you kick me, I'm not a hacker, I'm admin!

A. *boot*
There is no way I am ever going to believe that. If you are a hacker, 
please listen to me. Hack realistically. Hack in a way that makes you almost 
the best in the game, and go the extra mile and play well to get to the top. 
Stop making ridiculous weapons and ruining the game for other people. 
All you have to do is make one of the rarest, best blasticus' in the game, 
and you're already leet. Theres no reason to go overboard. Its idiotic. I am in
 no way encouraging you to hack. I think its a stupid waste of your time to 
play a game you are ruining. But if you do want to hack, and also want to play 
the game and have fun because you don't want to put in the effort, I wont 
accept stupidly idiotic weapons like +1000 to each element. I will boot you, 
and if you actively ruin a game of mine, well its not actually my job to stop
hackers, its Trendy's, but if they implement an easy way to do so, I will 
report you.
Be a hacking dick in your own game, not mine.

And seriously? I know trendy can be annoying, but they're not such big dicks 
that they'd give their admins op weapons to troll lowbies games. And afaik, 
there aren't even admins, theres only 4 slots in a game, why would
 someone admin 4 people? Pretty much a waste of time.



6-FT		Future topics

Probably talk more in depth about stats

Probably talk more in depth about ways to develop your own strategy

Example character builds, pros/cons

Example tower synergies, pros/cons

Suggested character builds

Arguments I have with people

Campaign Level strategies... maybe. 

Challenge Level strategies... maybe. 





7-C		Credits

Thanks to all the people I have played with. I learned a lot from you all, and 
mostof you have also been a pleasure to play/chat with.

If you have taught/shown me something that I've mentioned here, feel free to 
email me  your gamertag/name you want mentioned and i'll give you a 
mention here.

Thanks to poobumwee for info on grinding, being patient with me, and following 
my builds, and going to wave 21 with me... it was really too long (6.5 hoursxD)
Also Gabs, Morded, Spoogie, you're all hilarious and fun to play with.

If you found this guide useful, I'd love to know how/why. I'll develop those 
areas.

It has, so far, been written entirely by me. If people provide me with info, 
i'll add you into the credits too :)

Krizzleybear@gmail.com