Apprentice

The **Apprentice** is one of the heroes the player can play as.

## Defenses

The Apprentice has access to four traditional towers and one blockade for defenses. His towers are powerful, but fragile; they should be supported by other hero defenses that protect them from enemy attacks, such as Reflect Fields and Spiked Blockades.

* Magic Missile Tower - A basic tower that rapidly fires magical missiles at a single target, dealing physical damage.
* Elemental Barrier ‐ Blocks enemies and strips away their elemental immunities when attacked.
* Flameburst Tower ‐ Launches powerful fireballs at enemies at a moderate rate. These explode on impact, dealing splash fire damage to foes caught in the blast.
* Lightning Tower ‐ Channels an electric current that can chain-hit multiple enemies, dealing lightning damage and stunning weaker enemies for the attack's duration. Must recharge after attacking.
* Deadly Striker Tower - Locks-on and charges a deadly blast of energy that deals high physical damage to a single target from afar, even through walls.

## Abilities

* Mana Bomb ‐ Unleashes a massive explosion of arcane energy, dealing massive physical damage and knockback to all surrounding enemies.
* Overcharge ‐ Infuse yourself with arcane energy, allowing your Arcane Surge to empower nearby defenses, boosting their attack rate.

## Weapon Skills

* Magic Bolt ‐ Launches one or more balls of condensed magic at the enemy. Staves that fire multiple projectiles usually have a horizontal spread.
* Arcane Surge - Releases a surge of arcane energy, dealing physical damage and knocking enemies back. This attack can be charged up for a larger area of effect.

## Notes

* The Apprentice's stats are generally put in a Power-to-Defense Rate ratio between 2:1 and 4:3.
* Defense stats from most to least important are as follows: Range > Def. Rate > Power > Fortify

## In Other DD Games

### Dungeon Defenders I

The Apprentice is one of the four original/classic heroes of the *Dungeon Defenders* franchise. In the first game, he and the other staff users: Adept, Series EV and Jester, were able to fire charged shots from their staff, but the close-range Arcane Surge was not as powerful. The Apprentice's Overcharge ability drastically increased his casting speed, allowing him to repair, upgrade or summon defenses in a pinch. Mana Bomb rooted him in-place from charge up to detonation. Its cooldown was 2.25x longer, at 45 seconds. It could be interrupted during the channeling period which shortened as the Apprentice's *Casting Rate* increased. Overcharge also worked to unleash the bomb sooner. Mana Bomb's massive explosion could blast enemies through walls.

The Adept's Purity Bomb does less damage to everything except Dark Elf Mages and Skeletons, but the explosion radius is significantly bigger. It also had a 10-second shorter cooldown and takes slightly less time to cast. This was further helped by the Adept's higher base *Casting Rate* than the Apprentice. As a tower builder, the Adept is the second fastest hero in DD1, only beaten by the Jester. This trait gave her a slight edge over her male counterpart to build faster.

Lighting and Deadly Striker Towers are two of the most used defenses in the PC metagame, with the former able to clear most 'trash' mobs as well as lure in Ogres from anywhere on most maps. In *Redux*, both the Apprentice and Adept have better *Hero Damage* scaling and all of their lesser used towers were buffed. Overcharge was changed to be more similar to the Squire's Blood Boil, boosting damage and movement speed as well as Casting Rate. Mana Bomb's cooldown was lowered to 35 seconds. Both mages also have a new Snowball Tower which slows enemies and a Fire Bomb ability which casts a powerful fireball.

### Dungeon Defenders II

In DD2, the Apprentice is five years older and his new outfit closely resembles his father. This style carries over into *Awakened* as he 'appears' to have reverted to his starting age.