Game Tips

This is a collection of tips for early game walk through. The Dungeon Survivor 2 Discord channel and Reddit subreddit are good sources for further tips.

## Acronyms and Abbreviations

This guide uses common acronyms for brevity which should be well known to most RPG (Role Play Game) games all out there. Just for a quick refresh and reference, here is a list of the basics:

* DPS: acronym for Damage per Second, referred to a character with skills that maximize damage per second behavior
* AOE: acronym for Area Of Effect, referred to skills or damage that affect all enemies
* DoT: acronym for Damage over Time, referred to skills which keep causing some amount of damage per second  for a specified amount of time. See for example Poisonous Strike of Stolkers or Scorch effects from Mage fireballs.
* NPC: acronym of Non Player Character

## General Tips

* Save all your monster drops and don't trade them to the Great Inventor in the Castle or salvage them; you will need several of them for a quest later. Especially Beast Heart, Cursed Metal, Ember, Monster Claw, Monster Eyeball, Otherside Dust, Silver Badge, Slimy Liquid, and Viscous Liquid.
* Upon dismissing a character, you get back the last emblem used + **70% of spent souls refunded.** It is generally a good idea to upgrade to a higher growth character when you get one. Nevertheless, try not to waste too many souls on characters with growth A and below. They will be replaced quickly.
* Each boss screws with you in a slightly different way, experiment with different characters to find out what works. When you try your best but you don't succeed, try again.
* While spamming AOE skills for damage is extremely tempting, never forget that single target skills kill individual enemies faster, and lesser enemies mean lesser total damage output (Important for bosses).
* Different character portraits have different stats within the same class and growth, making certain characters better for specific class transfers. Check each class' page for recommendations.

## Getting Started

* A party of B-class heroes can take you through about Map 7; S-class heroes can take you through about Map 11; Map 14+ will need mostly SS-class heroes.
* Carry capacity is based on your party's combined Str, so early on include a couple of Warriors to increase the amount of food you can carry. You will get a bag to increase carry capacity on Map 1 that will help until you can level more heroes.
* The recommended party, commonly called the Triangle, is a Paladin, an Elemental Mage, a Priest, and a DPS (preferably an Assassin). This party can take you through Map 14. The Mage and Priest are your main healers (the Mage's healing also boosts Dex on all party members which will increase the Priest's magical resistance boost). The Paladin can do single-target healing, as needed. The DPS will do most of the damage. Assassins have DoTs that can bypass armor and resistance.
* When your party has a carry capacity of 200+, start in Map 2 and circle the entire map killing as many monsters as possible and mining ore nodes. Kill the drake if you can find them; their meat makes a lot of food. Finish your circuit at the entrance to Map 3 and travel to Map 3 (the food you picked up in Map 2 will let you cook and clear most of Map 3). Entering Map 3 this way will not require additional Stamina.  In each circuit you can get 1,000+ Gold and Souls per expedition plus several Wolf Pelts, which will salvage into Leather that will let you craft Town Portal Scrolls. Repeat until your team is out of stamina (repeat for Team #2 and #3 if you have them and they are strong enough).

## Loot

* You can get five Loot to drop per day; each type of loot drops from specific monsters, and each monster is found in specific locations within their respective maps. Look at the maps on the Loot page to see where each type of monster can be found.
* You level up Loot in your Workshop; leveling a piece of Loot to level 8 takes 32,400 XP.
	+ Click the Loot button on the bottom of the Workshop screen.
	+ Click the box in the upper left of the screen and then select which Loot you want to level up.
	+ You can sacrifice metal ingots (click the + in the first box of the Equipment section); ingots provide the most XP to your Loot but it is generally recommended to use ingots to Craft equipment then use the equipment to level up your Loot so that you get Forge XP by crafting the equipment (three Eternium ingots would reach level 8).
	+ You can sacrifice other Loot that you are not planning to use for 1,000 XP each.
	+ You can sacrifice spare equipment that you don't need to level up Loot.
		- White equipment = 2 xp
		- Green equipment = 23 xp
		- Blue equipment = 160 xp
		- Purple equipment = 1,000 xp
		- Gold equipment = 3,500 xp
* Early on there are a few Loots that can help your team earn Gold or Souls on Expeditions (note that these only help the auto-expeditions, not when you manually explore maps).
	+ Amethyst: Found on Maps 2 and 3 on groups of 3x Goblins; at level 8 receives +Gold on Expeditions (max 7.5%).
	+ Dark Claws: Found on Map 5 on groups of 3x Corrupted Walkers; at level 8 receives +Souls on Expeditions (max 7.5%).
	+ To farm Amethysts, take one hero that can kill all goblin encounters near the entrance of Map 3. Zone in, kill Goblins near entrance (refer to Map 3 Loot map), zone out, and repeat. To farm Dark Claws, take one hero that can kill all Corrupted Walker encounters near the entrance of Map 5. Zone in, kill all Corrupted Walkers, zone out, and repeat.
	+ Getting five loot may take three or more full stamina cycles so having multiple heroes capable of farming will be helpful. Heroes with AoE damage (Mages, Mage Knights); carry bags, if needed to have 100+ carry capacity.
	+ At 5\*, characters unlock a second Loot equipment slot, allowing up to eight Loot equipped for the party. If each has 7.5% bonus, then you can get up to 60% more Gold or Souls per run (or a combination of the two).

## Spending Resources and Workmen Priorities

* General Progression in town:
	+ Craftsmen (50+)
	+ Tavern Lvl 7 (Expert Class)
	+ Workshop Lvl 6 (Expert Emblem)
	+ Craftsmen (150+)
	+ Tavern Lvl 14 (Master Class)
	+ Workshop Lvl 18 (Master Emblem)
	+ Craftsman (250)
	+ Tavern Lvl 23 (Hero Class)
	+ Workshop Lvl 30 (Hero Emblem)
	+ Tavern Lvl 31 (Moon ✶ Class and max Recruiting %)
	+ Tavern Lvl 45 (only level as needed to level your heroes)
* Focus craftsmen on Food, Wood, or Iron; buy Mithril and Crystals, as needed, with gold from Expeditions (early on you may not have Gold; you can put workmen on Mithril and Crystals, as needed, for Crafting)
* Craft Torch I - IV and Tent I - IV as soon as they are unlocked. Torches increase your visibility on maps and Tents increase the number of times you can cook and rest while exploring.
* Spending Gems:
	+ Pipeline upgrades to increase your resource production are top priority
	+ Adding team slots (80 gems for Team #2, 800 gems for Team #3)
	+ Purchasing blueprints from the Market (Rune-keeper Armor and Runed Ring are critical, others are optional)
	+ Increasing capacity of your Tavern and Warehouse

## Your Sanctuary Home

### Castle

* Your Castle has three tabs that let you (1) talk to NPCs, (2) learn about NPCs and prominent encounters, and (3) learn about side quests. The information provided is very basic so you won't learn a lot, unfortunately.
* If there are new discussion topics (quests or new trades) or new anecdotes green text will flash under the Castle icon notifying you.
* The People tab will let you talk to several NPCs that offer quests and trade items.
* The Anecdotes tab will give you a brief description of NPCs you meet or powerful monsters you defeat.
* The Side Quests tab will give you a brief description of side quests. If you have completed the quest the button will be highlighted.

### Tavern

* The Tavern shows your roster of heroes, allows you to level them up and change their equipment, and allows you to recruit new heroes.
* Every hour the recruits refresh and show three new recruits. You can also manually refresh the recruits; the first time costs 10 Gold, the second costs 50 Gold, the third costs 100 Gold, 4th - 150 and all times after that cost 200 Gold.  Refreshing at least the first few times will speed up your acquisition of higher rarity heroes, so when you can afford it, it is recommended.
* If you click on one of your heroes you can level them up (if you have enough Souls), change their equipment, rename them, view their stats, see their skills, set their battle tactics, or dismiss them.

### Workshop

* In the Workshop you can craft items, level up Loot, and reforge special items to improve their stats.
* Every item you craft gains Forge XP (higher level items gain more XP); higher Forge levels provide better bonuses when reforging items.
* Items you can craft include ingots, runes, weapons, armor, accessories, daily dungeon keys, class transfer emblems, pickaxes, spyglasses, and town portal scrolls.
* To craft an item you need to have acquired its blueprint; blueprints can be obtained by upgrading your Workshop level, buying them from the Market, trading Honor fragments with the Sage in Red Robes, or as rewards in dungeons.
* You can upgrade Loot by sacrificing ingots, equipment, or other Loot.
* Reforging items may improve their stats; each item has a range for its possible stats, and your Forge level will add additional bonuses.

### Manor

* Your Manor allows you to allocate workmen to harvest resources.  The maximum number of workmen you can hire is 250.
* You upgrade the amount of workmen with food and capacity of each resource with wood.
* The number of workmen you can allocate to each resource can be increased by clearing resource stations in various maps.  Each resource station you clear will add 5-15 to the workmen capacity of the given resource.
* Your Manor starts at a 30-second cycle and will gather resources based on the number of workmen you have allocated every 30 seconds.  You can purchase Pipeline upgrades in the Market to reduce the cycle to a minimum of 10 seconds.  This is recommended to be the top priority for spending gems early on in the game.
* It is generally recommended to use workmen to harvest food and wood early on and then iron and use Gold to buy crystals and mithril.

### Marketplace

* The Marketplace allows you to purchase items for Gold or Gems.  Items you can purchase include resource supplies, Pickaxes, Spyglasses, Town Portal Scrolls, Blueprints, Recruit Tickets, Manor Pipeline upgrades, powerful souls, various materials, and a few quest items.
* The Cargo tab sells items for Gold.  It is recommended to buy Rare Earth, Dark Fire Stones, Ether, and Mighty Blood whenever they are available.  Resource supplies contain 1,000 of the resource and Huge resource supplies contain 10,000 of the resource.  You can buy any resource supplies you may need to progress or craft items.
* The Treasure tab sells items for Gems.  It is recommended to purchase Pipeline upgrades to increase your Manor resource gathering speed and to purchase the Blueprints for Rune-keeper Armor and Runed Rings.  Other Blueprints are optional.  It is not recommended to pay gems for anything else in the Market in the early game; once you progress you can decide whether to buy other items.
* The Market refreshes new content every two hours, or you can manually refresh the Market with Gold, with increased costs for subsequent refreshes: 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 700, 1k, 1.5k, 2k.  You should not need to refresh the Market much, if at all, in the early game.

### Warehouse

* Your Warehouse holds all of your items, separated into four tabs: Items, Equipment, Loot, and Precious Items.
* Items include general materials, class transfer items, class emblems, resource supplies and ores, ingots, runes, Pickaxes, and Spyglasses.  You may salvage resource ores and food supplies (rations and meat) as needed.  Salvage Whole Wolf Pelts for Leather.  You have unlimited capacity of Items.
* Equipment includes weapons, armors, and accessories that are not currently equipped by your heroes.  You may Lock items that you don't want to risk salvaging or sacrificing to Loot.  You can also salvage items for Iron; the amount varies but on average you will get: White ~ 10 Iron, Green ~100 Iron, Blue ~800 Iron, Purple ~3k-5k Iron, and Gold ~15k-20k Iron.  You have an initial capacity of 200 pieces of equipment but this can be increased by paying Gems.
* Loot is all of the Loot you have acquired but are not currently equipping.  You have an initial capacity of 100 pieces of Loot but this can be increased by paying Gems.
* Precious Items are quest items, Town Portal Scrolls, Recruit tickets, Guild Coins, daily dungeon keys, and other keys.
* If you acquire Items, Equipment, or Loot while exploring maps/dungeons, they are added to your Backpack.  If you die before returning to the Sanctuary you will lose all items in your Backpack, including Food, Pickaxes, and Spyglasses.  You will not lose any Precious Items you have acquired.

### Graveyard

* If you die while exploring maps/dungeons (except the Dark Rift) your heroes will all die and will be moved to the Graveyard.  You can resurrect the heroes by spending some Souls.  The amount of souls needed to resurrect your heroes will increase with Class level (1\*, 2\*, etc).
* Equipment and Loot equipped by your heroes is retained when you resurrect them.  If your entire party dies then you will lose all items, equipment, and Loot in your backpack at that time (all items you've collected so far on that expedition).
* When your Tavern becomes too full, you can allow excess heroes to die and save them securely in the Graveyard.  This method can also be used to store excess equipment that you don't want to salvage or sacrifice.

### Expedition (Explore / Manual)

* There are two options when you click on the Expedition glowing crystals in the Sanctuary.  One option is to manually explore maps and the other is to send your team on automated Expeditions (these require you to unlock each of the four locations and are described in the next section).  In both cases you must assemble your team of up to four heroes.
* When manually exploring a map, you decide how many Pickaxes and Spyglasses to bring, and fill your remaining carry capacity with food.  You craft Pickaxes and Spyglasses in your Workshop and gather food in your Manor with workmen.
* Pickaxes allow you to excavate ore nodes for a possibility to find Iron, Mithril, Rare Earth, and Dark Fire Stones.  Some dungeons will require a Pickaxe.  Early on, bring at least a few of these and bring more as your carry capacity increases.
* Spyglasses allow you to view certain combat encounters before you start a fight (usually bosses).  This can be very helpful to figure out if the encounter is way out of your league or to determine if they will be doing physical or magical damage, or are weak to physical / magical damage.  Having at least 1-2 can be helpful.
* Your carry capacity is based on the Str of your heroes.  When you start out it can be helpful to have 1-2 Warriors so you can carry more food.  You can also find bags that will increase your capacity even further.
* Each map costs a certain amount of Stamina to enter.  Your heroes start with 100 Stamina, so they can make multiple trips before getting tired.  When they are out they will need to sit in the Sanctuary to replenish.  Note that Arena, Ruins, and auto Expeditions do not cost Stamina and do not stop your heroes from replenishing Stamina.  Heroes replenish one point of Stamina every three minutes.  You can refresh Stamina with Gems, but that is not recommended.
* Each map also has a food per step cost; every step you take in that map costs a certain amount of food, which is why you want to take as much food as you can carry.  While exploring and fighting, you can acquire rations and meat; you can camp and cook these for additional food to allow more exploration.  Crafting Tents will increase the number of times you can camp while exploring.  When you run out of food you need to return to the Sanctuary, so either head back to the entrance when you get low or use a Town Portal Scroll.  Once you run out of food you can take a few more steps, but if you take 5 steps while out of food your entire party is immediately killed and you will lose all items in your Backpack (not counting Precious Items).
* When exploring a map, combat encounters (little gargoyle head icons) will trigger when you are adjacent to the icon.  Some boss encounters (golden dragon head icons) will trigger when you are adjacent to the encounter, and some require you to step onto the square with the icon.  Check the individual Map pages for locations of other places, like resource stations, towers/dungeons, NPCs, etc.
* On Map 5 you will find the Dark Rift, which is a special dungeon. It requires a Glowing Branch each time you enter and you are allowed to enter five times per day. There is no downside to the Dark Rift, other than the resources needed to Craft the Glowing Branches, so when you can afford it, it is **highly recommended** to run the Dark Rift five times a day.
	+ On the first level you will find a crystal that will allow you to warp directly to level 8, 15, 23, 30, or 34, once you have reached those levels and activated those crystals.
	+ On each level you will find three combat encounters at random locations; once you defeat these three a boss will randomly appear on the map. When you kill the boss you are transported to the next level.
	+ The shape and size of the map is small and is the same on all levels.
	+ Some maps will have additional encounters; chests with information, Ancient Monuments, or NPCs.
	+ You may leave the Dark Rift at any time by moving back to the entrance crystal in the middle of the map. You will also leave the Dark Rift if your party dies.
	+ When you leave the rift you are immediately transported back to town (whether you died or not) and will earn rewards based on what level of the Dark Rift you were able to complete. Rewards include Rare Earth, souls, other materials, and at level 23+ class transfer materials.
	+ You do not collect rewards for any battles in the Dark Rift; just at the end when you leave.
	+ If you warp to a level and die before defeating the boss on that level you will not receive any rewards when you leave the Dark Rift.

### Expedition (Automatic)

* In addition to manually exploring maps and killing monsters, you can send your team on an Auto Expedition.  On these Expeditions, you set your team up, select the Expedition location, and the duration (1-8 hours).
* Once the team is sent, those heroes are locked and cannot be changed; you cannot change their equipment, you cannot increase their level or perform a Class transfer.  You cannot use those team members or that team slot for manual Expeditions.  You can use those heroes in the Arena and in the Ruins.
* Once the duration expires, go back to the Expedition screen to claim your rewards.  The Gold and Souls you earn are based on your heroes' overall Rating, so it is advantageous to give them the highest Score equipment for Auto Expeditions, even if it would reduce their skills, HP, AR, etc.  The amount of Gold/Souls you earn from the first three Expedition locations is the same but the items you can find differ by location.  The fourth Expedition location, unlocked in Map 14, does not give Gold but gives a lot more Souls.
* Some loot like amethyst and dark claw gives bonus to either gold or souls gained, potentially up to 60% each from the base amount, before goblin's jade/soul box (capped at 50%) and x2 multiplier from monthly subscription (crucible), for a whopping 240% (1.6\*1.5) increase or 480% (1.6\*3) golds or souls gained with crucible on.
* You have 12 hours of Auto Expedition available per day.  This can be increased to 24 hours per day by monthly subscribing crucible.  You would need at least two teams to use all 24 hours comfortably to make sure you have time to explore manually.
* Once you have a combined team rating of >8,000 you may find a Class transfer material in each Expedition location.  Refer to the Expedition pages for specific materials at each location.
* Since you cannot use the heroes while they are out on an Expedition (except in Arena and Ruins), it is recommended to send the Auto Expeditions when you will not be available to play the game anyway (work, sleeping, etc).

### Arena

* The Arena allows you to battle other players in real time.  There is almost no downside to the Arena, so it is **highly recommended** to play at least 8 matches every day for the daily chest.
* If a hero is in the Ruins or an Expedition you cannot change their equipment, but you can use them for the Arena.  You can use any of your heroes for the Arena (you do not need to have the same party as you have in the Expedition screen).
* Winning a match will earn you 1 Honor fragment (up to 10 per day) and 20 Arena points.
* Losing a match will cost you 16-20 Arena points.  Dying in the Arena will not send your heroes to the Graveyard.  There is no downside to losing an Arena match except the loss of Arena points.
* Once you have played 8 matches, whether you win or lose, you can collect a daily chest that awards Honor fragments based on your Arena ranking, and once a week you can collect a Season chest with even more Honor fragments.
* Honor fragments can be exchanged for Blueprints, Loot, and materials with the Sage in Red Robes in the Castle.  The Arena page offers guidance on what to exchange for Honor fragments.
* Early on, using your best expedition team is probably the best strategy; as your roster of heroes expands you can try different team compositions.

### Ruins

* The Ruins are a special dungeon you unlock in Map 3 - Lost Capital that is available from your Sanctuary.  You send in your heroes and fight through multiple encounters to receive Ancient Silver Coins that can be used to buy Ruins chests containing powerful equipment.  There is almost no downside to the Ruins, so it is **highly recommended** to battle in the Ruins every day.
* The Ruins consist of 7 layers, with each layer containing multiple floors.  Layers 1-5 each have 50 floors, Layer 6 has 70 floors, and Layer 7 has 50 floors.  Each layer is significantly harder than the previous layer.  If you defeat the boss on the last floor of a layer you are immediately moved to floor 1 of the next layer and cannot ever go back.  So once you beat layer 1 you can never go back to layer 1, so be sure you are ready to move to layer 2.  The only exception is layer 7; since it is the last layer, when you beat it you return to floor 1 of layer 7 when the Ruins reset.
* When you are able to get to floor 50 of a layer in 3 days you are probably ready to move to the next layer.  If you are taking 4+ days to get to floor 50, you should stay on that layer.  You need to be able to get to ~ floor 20 of the next layer to get the same amount of Ancient Silver Coins as the previous layer.
	+ For example, you will earn about as many Ancient Silver Coins on layer 2 floors 1-20 as you do on layer 1 floors 1-49.
* Every layer has a specific order for every floor; all layers have the same order.  For example floor 1 is a prayer to give you a boost, floors 2-5 are combat, floors 6-7 are Options, floor 8 is a combat, etc.  Which Option you might find on a given Option floor is random, but the combat encounters are in a specific order for each layer.
	+ For example, in Layer 1 you will always meet a Relics Surveillant on floor 2 and Evil Spirits on floor 3.
	+ Layer 2 has combats on the same floor numbers, but will always find a Den Lizard on floor 2 and Evil Spirits on floor 3.
* The Options allow you to choose between two choices.  Each choice has a random chance for a positive result or a negative result; neither choice is "right" or "wrong".  But based on what those positive or negative impacts are, some Options have recommended choices to make; the Ruins page provides guidance on which choice is recommended.  Usually the better choices are where you have the possibility of gaining an Ancient Silver Coin or resources.
* Each monster encountered has different strengths and weaknesses.  Early on you will not have enough strong heroes to pick and choose, but at higher layers you will need to pick specific, dedicated teams to address each encounter.  In the beginning just send the heroes you have and let them get as far as they can.  Once you get to layer 4+ you can start working on more specific strategies.
* The Ruins reset every Sunday.  When the Ruins reset, your party is moved back to floor 1 of your current layer.  Once per day you may Reinforce your Ruins team from your roster of heroes using tickets.  You are given 20 tickets on day 1 of the Ruins and get 8 more every day.  When adding people to reinforce it may look like you have filled up your team when the bottom says "Complete 4/4" but you can actually add as many heroes as you want, up to the number of tickets you have or a total of 20 heroes at a time.
* While a hero is in the Ruins, you cannot change their equipment anywhere else (Arena, Tavern, etc).  Your heroes' equipment being locked while in the Ruins is the only downside of the Arena, but early on you will be fighting to the death every day so this will not be an issue.  You can level up a hero in the Ruins (unless they are on an Expedition).
* If a hero dies in the Ruins they are removed from the Ruins but there is no other impact; they do not move to the Graveyard.
* Early on, the best strategy is to send your strongest team (two if you have them) into the Ruins and fight until you die or you reach floor 50. Do not battle the boss on floor 50 until you are ready to move to the next layer.  Every day reinforce what you can and then send them to battle until they die.
* The purpose of the Ruins is to collect Ancient Silver Coins and to use those coins to buy Ruins chests.  The smallest chest costs 10 coins and gives you a random Ruins piece of equipment.  The next chest costs 50 coins and gives you a Glimmering Ruins piece of equipment.  The largest chest costs 300 coins and gives you a Radiant Ruins piece of equipment.  Each chest has a small chance to give you the next higher rarity of item.
	+ Early in the game, Ruins gear will probably be better than anything else you have, so start buying the 10-coin chests as soon as you can; it is better early on to get more gear than to save up for a bigger chest.  In addition to great stats, they all have a special proc; each equipment type has a different proc.
	+ In layer 1, buy the 10-coin chests.
	+ In layer 2, buy the 10-coin chests until you have most of your gear as Ruins or the Ruins gear isn't really much of an upgrade, then start buying the 50-coin chests.
	+ In layer 3 buy 50-coin chests.
	+ In layer 4 consider your equipment and decide when to switch from 50-coin to 300-coin chests.
	+ In layers 5 and above buy 300-coin chests.

### Guild

* Guilds offer another way to earn resources and purchase special items.  There is no downside to being in a Guild, so it is **highly recommended** to join a Guild and start earning Guild Coins.  Different Guilds may have different expectations for involvement or experience.  You can ask on Discord or just apply to Guilds in-game.
* Every day three Guild donations are refreshed.  You can donate different resources for other resources, or Prayers of the Spirit, or Guild Coins.  In the early game it is not recommended to pay Gems for Guild donations.
* Every two days three Guild Quests are refreshed for various activities.  Quests can be taking steps in an expedition, crafting equipment, refreshing the Tavern, and others.  Anyone in the guild who completes one of the designated tasks will count towards completing the Guild Quest.  When a Guild Quest is completed, everyone who contributed will receive a pro-rated amount of Guild Prestige; some Guilds may use this to assess whether you are contributing to the Guild or not.  The Guild will also earn XP for completing Quests and this XP will increase the Guild's level.
* Every two days three Personal Quests are refreshed for similar activities as Guild Quests.  You are the only one who can complete a Personal Quest.  Completing Personal Quests will earn you Guild Coins.
* Guild Coins can be used to purchase items, as shown on the Guild page.  Higher Guild levels add new items for sale.