In this beginner’s guide, I will provide information, tips and tricks to help new players get started.
Tips and Tricks for Beginners
Core Concepts
Dungeonborne is an extraction game; in a normal run, your objective is to gather items from a dungeon, avoid being killed by monsters, then find a portal and escape before time runs out. If you succeed, you get to keep all the treasure and artifacts you may have found; if you fail to escape, not only what you’ve gathered but also any equipment and items you took in with you will be lost!
This creates a fun and interesting risk/reward situation – since each run can have lasting consequences, it escalates the tension of different encounters.
Further, Dungeonborne is PvPvE (Player vs. Player vs. Environment) –the dungeon may hold not just monsters but other players who may prove hostile to you! An encounter with hostile players can be very dangerous but very rewarding – players can be unpredictable and dangerous in a way most monsters can’t, but if you defeat an enemy player you will be able to loot their items, potentially gaining a full loadout (or more!) worth of gear!
That said, not all player encounters will necessarily be hostile. In some cases, players may meet and go their own way or even team up to fight monsters together. One way to signal peaceful intent if you meet another player is to take out your torch and crouch/jump in place repeatedly – just be ready to swap back and fight if they start attacking!
Dungeonborne also features multiple maps and modes. The best one for a beginner is probably Clouseau Castle on Casual, but as you become more familiar you may wish to head over to Sinner’s End, a dungeon with more difficult enemies but also more rewarding loot. Once you’ve gotten some better items, you can also enter either of these dungeons on “Classic Mode”, which is more difficult still but has even better loot!
Combat Tips
Dungeonborne features both melee and ranged weapons. However, melee is the “bread and butter” combat style of most classes and worth learning – ranged weapons, while good at sniping at distant opponents or getting hits in from outside a monster’s attack range, tend to have long reload/recharge times that can make them impractical when pressured at close distance.
Most melee weapons in Dungeonborne have at least three functions – basic attacks (left-click), heavy attacks (hold left-click) and blocking (hold right-click).
Basic attacks are usually the most efficient when chained together, but are vulnerable to being blocked and/or counterattacked. They tend to have less reach than heavy attacks as well.
Heavy attacks are less efficient than basic attacks by default. However, on many weapons these attacks break blocks. Further, these attacks often have a “lunge” built into them, giving them more reach than normal swings. They can thus be better against enemies that are blocking or dodging back.
Blocking can protect you from basic attacks, but leaves you vulnerable to heavy attacks. Additionally, most weapons do not block 100% of incoming damage, so if you just sit there blocking while someone swings at you and never counterattack, you will take substantial “chip damage” and end up being defeated!
However, some weapons have ways to turn blocks into a direct advantage – for example, the sword and shield can counterattack with major bonus damage following a successful block. This lets you defend against initial attacks, then try and turn the tables with strong attacks of your own!
Sometimes, attacks will inflict a “critical hit” and do bonus damage. While there is a random element to this, you can guarantee a critical hit by hitting your target in the head! This means that good aim and awareness of your weapon’s attack pattern can give you an advantage in a fight.
Different swings in an attack pattern can have different attack angles and properties. For example, the Longsword has a three-swing combo when doing repeated basic attacks — the first swing is a right to left ~horizontal cut, the second swing is a left to right ~horizontal cut, and the third swing is a thrust that does extra damage and hits straight forward. Get familiar with your weapon’s attack pattern to use it more effectively and score more critical headshots!
If you want to get some extra knowledge about various weapons, the in-game help information has useful videos showcasing the different weapons and their attacks, and you can also go to the training room to practice and get a better sense of your capabilities.
Some consumable items can also play a role in battle. Each player has three “quick-use” slots for consumables, and while you do have to switch to these and unequip your weapon, sometimes doing so can be what you need to gain the advantage. Healing potions can easily be used in a lull in combat and provide a substantial heal over time, while various flasks can give an advantage if used in the right way. Play around with consumables and find out which ones best suit you and your build!
- Tip: While Bandages do heal immediately once applied, they also have a long use time that renders you very vulnerable. I do not recommend trying to bandage in the middle of a fight unless you’re very sure that opponents will not be able to rush you!
Finally, let’s consider active skills. Different classes have different skills that they can use to get an advantage! Going into the details of all the classes is probably out of scope for this introductory guide, so I’ll just give one key tip – all three of the “frontline melee” classes (Swordsmaster, Fighter, Death Knight) have active skills that deal damage in a wide area around them – the Fighter’s whirlwind attack, the Death Knight’s shadow damage aura, and the Swordsmaster’s spinning sword. Do not stand in these effects! They will rapidly kill you if unanswered – try to get out of range when these abilities are active!
- Tip: Against the Fighter and Swordsmaster’s skills, if you can’t manage to evade, block up – you can block most of the Whirlwind damage as well as that from the Swordsmaster’s spinning blade if you look towards the incoming attack and defend. (This works best with a shield!)
Items
Items are at the heart of Dungeonborne – they’re what you go into the dungeon to get and they’re a key component in player progression! There are several tiers of equipment items, going from basic to Unique. In general, rarer items will be stronger overall for your character.
However, it’s important to note that equipment items also have random characteristics, stat bonuses, and other affixes – some of which might be suited to a character and some of which might not! In some cases, a “weaker” item with a better roll for your character might be better than a “rarer” item with bonuses you don’t care about – for example, my Fighter probably cares a lot more about a sword with Strength and +X% Physical Damage than he does about a rarer one that gives bonus Intelligence and +X% Fire Damage! Be sure to look at the bonuses items give and check whether they fit into your build.
One way to ensure that you get items that have useful bonuses for your character is to use the Heirloom system. This system allows you to craft and upgrade items that – while weaker than normal items of their type – have guaranteed bonuses that you want and are available more easily than other items, allowing you to more reliably get a basic kit together.
In order to unlock and upgrade your heirlooms, you’ll need to dismantle items you extract from the dungeon. At first, basic (white) items are good enough, but in order to keep upgrading your heirlooms you’ll need to start dismantling uncommon (green) and magic (blue) items.
Heirlooms have two main components – first, their overall level (uncommon/magic/epic) and secondly their affix bonuses. Upgrading the overall level of an heirloom not only upgrades the item as a whole, it also opens another slot for an affix. Affix bonuses are unlocked independently – click on one of the plus signs underneath the heirloom’s description to see what affixes are available and how much they will cost to upgrade!
In order to craft an heirloom item and take it into the field, you will either need a Mithril Token (available from the Merchant and from doing various quests) or a small amount of ore obtained from dismantling items of the relevant level. However, the price of this token/ore will likely be much less than that of getting an item of that level “normally”!
- Tip: The most efficient items to dismantle inventory-wise are necklaces, which don’t take much inventory space but.still dismantle for significant resources. Rings aren’t quite as efficient as necklaces but are still better than most other items. The least efficient items to dismantle inventory-wise are large weapons. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth carrying them out, though!
Items can also be bought or sold either to the Merchant or to other players via the Trade system. In general, do not sell any equipment item of green or above rarity to the Merchant! These items command a much better price when sold to other players! The Trade system can also be used to buy from others using gold. Note that when you buy or sell items via normal trading, their affixes/bonuses are rerolled — this means that you don’t know what bonuses an item you buy will have, which is another reason why using the Heirloom system can help you set up a build more effectively!
However, you can also use the Auction House to buy or sell items while retaining their rolled bonuses/affixes. Since this involves a substantial additional fee, it is generally only worth it to list items there if you think they have unusually good bonuses that someone would be willing to pay a premium for! (Note that these bonuses don’t necessarily have to be for your class — if you happen to find a shadow sword that would be great for a Death Knight but not for your Fighter, that might well be something a Death Knight player would be willing to pay for!)
Getting better items is a key way to progress your character. While leveling up provides minor stat boosts, the stats you get from items can be more relevant, especially since you have more control over them.
When equipping for different stat bonuses, it’s worth considering both what stats are more valuable for the character you’re playing in general and whether there are any stat thresholds you want for relevant passive skills. Highlight stats in the character screen to see what benefit they provide and what levels you need to unlock passives!
- Tip: Not all passive skills are of equal value for all modes and playstyles! For example, the Fighter’s passive that prevents inflicting or receiving friendly fire damage is excellent if playing with friends, but not when playing solo! Adapt your build for your own playstyle and situation!
As you get better items, your character will get more powerful — don’t get complacent though, as you will also likely be grouped with opponents who have higher level equipment themselves! This can be a big opportunity though — not only does better equipment allow you to defeat NPCs more efficiently and hence gather more treasure, if you fight another player with good equipment and win you may be able to reap major rewards if you can extract with their equipment!
In order to mitigate the risk of taking better items into the dungeon, you may want to take advantage of the Mithril Dice! Available for free from the Merchant a certain number of times each day, this protects a single equipment slot for your next run when used, saving the item in that slot even if you don’t make it out!
- Tip: If you’re thinking of upgrading your loadout and aren’t sure what item to get next, try getting the MIthril Dice and then upgrading the item in the “protected” slot!
Note that extra items can be stored in your inventory for later use, and this is a good idea to do! Spare consumables and even equipment loadouts can be good to have available so that you don’t have to go all the way back to the basic “broken” tier equipment if you die — I like to have an extra set or two of gear for my character in the stash plus lots of consumables/ingredients!
If your stash is getting full, you can pay gold to upgrade it with another box. Note that your stash is shared across multiple characters, which means if you start a new character you might be able to start off with some better equipment you’ve broiught back before!
Also, keep in mind that if you are in a group and one of your teammates is defeated and cannot be revived, you can take their stuff and it will automatically be returned to them if you manage to make it out — even if you don’t save their life, you might still save their equipment!
One last note on items pertains to consumables. The Alchemist in camp can make consumables for you using ingredients you bring back, and this is much cheaper and easier than paying the Merchant’s exorbitant prices for potions, bandages, and the like! In general, I strongly disrecommend buying consumables from the Merchant — instead, try to bring back extra consumables and ingredients and put them in your stash for later runs!
I personally like to bring some extra consumables in my inventory so that I don’t just have the stacks in my quick-use slots — this can be useful if you find yourself having to heal up after an intense battle or two!
The Mithril Order
One other way to play the game is in Mithril Order mode. In this mode, you don’t play as your normal character, but rather as a “Mithril Order” character that comes with its own loadout! The Mithril Order classes are variations on existing classes with different active and passive skills and some basic starting equipment.
When playing as a Mithril Order character, you do not get to equip items you find in the dungeon or keep any items you extract with — however, they automatically get sold (for treasure) or dismantled (for equipment) and sent back to your main character.
- Tip: If you’re not sure you’ll have time for a full session or are feeling tired or otherwise “off your game”, doing a Mithril Order run might be a good way to avoid risking your stuff!
Note that you can reequip a Mithril Order character with gear that you might find more appealing from the MIthril Order selection — so if you want to give your Mithril Order Zealot a mace + shield and crossbow instead of the default equipment, feel free! That said, Mithril Order equipment is weaker than normal players’ equipment of the same level.
As you play Mithril Order, you will gain Mithril Order Reputation, which allows you to have better loadouts for future Mithril Order runs, though still much worse than what a “normal” character can get!
This makes Mithril Order mode a safer way to build up your gold and ore — you don’t risk losing any of your hard-earned items, but can still get rewards! At the same time, the potential reward isn’t as high and you don’t progress your main character’s XP, so this mode is lower risk but also lower reward.
