Strategies (DD1)

This is the place for strategies, optimal routes, builds, min-maxing, and all that good stuff. This page assumes you know how to play the game somewhat. As such, there may be abbreviations and terms that newer players may not understand.

## Min-Maxing

### Positive Buffs

The Positive Buffs have been split into 3 tiers, Top, Middle, Situational/Low. Top tier buffs are usually must have for serious runs. Middle tier are buffs that can be run and work fairly well, situational/low are for niche runs or specific characters and should be low priority picks.

* Top Tier: Adrenaline and Astral Resist

* Middle Tier: Outdoorsman, Thick Hide, Tough

* Situational/Low Tier: Preferred Potions\*, Better Bandages\*

(\*) : Preferred Potions and Better Bandages are not recommended on Vampire at all.

### Negative Buffs

The Negative Buffs have been split into 3 tiers, Top, Middle, and Run Killers/Low. Top tier debuffs can usually be run without hindering your game too much. Middle tier can be run somewhat decently. Run Killers/Low tier will definitely turn your run into a death sentence and should be avoided.

* Top Tier: Thraxe Curse

* Middle Tier: Fragile\*, Sensitive Skin

* Run killers/Low Tier: Sluggish, Scared of the Dark\*\*

(\*) : Fragile is a Top Tier choice on Living Armor and Lumberthraxe.

(\*\*) : Scared of the Dark can be run somewhat decently with Astral Scythe.

## Serious Builds

### Vanilla Templar for Chapter 2

Yearning for the good ol' days before you got your shiny new Astral Scythe from papa spiritual blessing? This is a somewhat vanilla Templar build that was used to defeat Jaerlaxus when Chapter 2 was still new. Don't let this build stifle your creativity if you want to run a Medallion or Freban with it.

* Pick the Templar. It is recommended you have the following buffs: Adrenaline or Astral Resist with the following Debuff: Thraxe Curse.
	+ Stockpile Immos and firebombs.

* Pick Shrine, you're playing Templar after all and you need your holy weapon.

* Item priority: Pit or Farmhouse (for the Rot damage), Clearing, Plains

* Defeat the Bishop and pick up your sweet holy beat stick.

* Pick City, only do Garden if you feel you'll be tanky enough.

* Item priority: Hut, Lost, Marsh

* Defeat the Gargoyle (or Horror), equip your Visage.

* Teleport to Ch. 2

* Item priority: Tower is required and Crypt is required. You ideally want Tower one day, Crypt another. Other good items are in Hole and Cave.

* Smite the evil from this frozen wasteland.

### Frenzy Banner for Chapter 2

If you are a lazy bum who relies on your loyal canine pals to do the work for you, then look no further. This build can be run by any class, but you will find that some classes have an easier time than others getting this build to work. Beastspeaker and Witch can get these runs to work fairly well, and Dragonkin is next on the list. All other classes will need some good luck. This build is extremely versatile due to various class needs and RNG.

* Pick any class. It is recommended you have the following buffs: Adrenaline or Astral Resist with the following Debuff: Thraxe Curse.
	+ Optional: Pick up a medallion. (Fire should be the go to choice, unless you're playing Vampire, who should go Blood.)
	+ Optional: Pick up the Merc if you are not a Beastspeaker or Witch

* Pick Shrine or Village. Shrine guarantees you a mainhand weapon, Village grants you temporary damage.

* Item priority: Farmhouse (Beastspeaker and Witch can pick two other items from this list, as can Dragonkin all other classes may want to hope for a second Farmhouse unless they have dirt), Clearing, Plains, Pit (if going Shrine) or Forge (if going Village)

* Defeat the Shrine or Village boss, equip the item.

* Pick Garden or City. Beastspeaker, Witch, and most likely Dragonkin could do City. Garden should be the priority if you have dirt and need another companion.

* Item priority: Hut, Lost (Required for Beastspeaker if he got a decay squirrel or you don't have dirt), Marsh (Required for Dragonkin), Den (Required for Vampire). Lowest priority: Temple (if your run is falling apart and you just need something/have no dirt)

* After defeating City or Garden, do not equip the Visage.

* Teleport to Chapter 2.

* Item priority for Chapter 2: Crypt, Hole, Cave; Town or Tower (Town is more damage in a Town vs Tower vote. Tower is best for templar)

* Immolate the first Scourge of Frost in Jaerlaxus's lair.

### Hatchet for Chapter 2

If you have something against snow and ice and wanted to contribute to global warming, this build is for you. This build can be fairly versatile in items, but expects you to stockpile torches, incendiary bombs, and immolates to buff you weapon. This build gets better with the Fire Medallion, but can still be run without it.

* Pick any class. It is recommended you have the following buffs: Adrenaline or Astral Resist with the following Debuff: Thraxe Curse.
	+ If the medallion event comes up, pick Fire.

* It is recommended you go Shrine for a main hand weapon. You can go Village, but should try to pick up a greatsword (DO NOT replace the Hatchet with Living Flame).
	+ Stockpile and use: Torches, Incendiary Bombs, Immolates (Immos should be saved for Ch. 2)

* Item priority: Farmhouse, Clearing or Hunt (You can do Farmhouse twice), Pit

* Defeat Shrine/Village boss.

* Pick City, only do Garden if you have dirt and really want Audrey (and to be made of glass.)

* Item priority: Hut, Marsh (if you didn't get Clearing). Lowest priority/situational: Knight (if you don't have Fring and want some temporary damage), Temple (if You don't have a 2nd pet and want some extra damage), Track (if you dont have Fring and want some temporary damage), Den (if you went Village and have no weapon)

* After you defeat the Gargoyle in city, equip Visage of Protection, it doesn't matter if you have Fring, equip it. If you decided to do Garden equip Visage of Pain only if you don't have a Medallion, or are not a Dkin.

* Teleport to Chapter 2.

* Item priority for Chapter 2: Crypt, Hole, Town or Tower (Town is the better choice between a Town and Tower vote; Tower is best for a Templar). You must do Crypt or you will most likely die at the boss.

* If you are only using a hatchet, prioritize Fire Bombs on enemies from rumors, use 1 Immo on the ice brood horde before Jaerlaxus, save your other immos for Jaerlaxus. If you have a hatchet and Fire Medallion, prioritize Fire Bombs on enemies from rumors, fire bomb the ice brood horde before Jaerlaxus, save immos for Jaerlaxus.

### Astral Scythe for Chapter 2

Astral Scythe is one of the other Spiritual Blessing weapons that can take on Chapter 2's enemies and win. There are two variations of the build; the safer and traditional build, or the Astral Scythe + Astral Gauntlets version. The Astral Gauntlet build can only be run if you have an immolate and plenty of fire bombs for the rumor required.

* Pick any class. It is recommended you have the following buffs: Adrenaline or Astral Resist with the following Debuff: Thraxe Curse.

* Pick Shrine or Village, Village is preferred for the temporary damage from Living Flame.

* Item priority: Farmhouse, Clearing, Hunt, Plains

* If you did Village: You may Loot and wear the Ankh if you want. Equip the Living Flame.

* Pick City or Garden. City is recommended, but either works. Go City if you want more defense and an extra 5 health heal. Go garden if you have dirt and want an extra pet or if you're confident you have enough gear to do the Astral Scythe + Gauntlet variant.

* Item priority: Hut, Lost (You should replace your living flame, unless you're satisfied with Hut, Marsh/Clearing and Blessed Visage armor in city. If you do garden, it's highly recommended you equip the shield), Marsh (if you didn't get clearing); Lowest priority/situational: Temple (if You don't have a 2nd pet and want some extra damage), Track (if you dont have Fring and want some temporary damage), Knight (if you don't have Fring and want some temporary damage)

* Equip the Visage of Protection/ Visage of Pain when you finish City/Garden's boss.

* Teleport to Chapter 2.

* Item priority for Chapter 2: Crypt, Hole, Cave
	+ Item priority for Astral Scythe + Gauntlet build: Legion, Hole, Cave (For Legion, you need to immolate the first knight and use firebombs to get the enemies down asap)

* Immolate the first Scourge of Frost in Jaerlaxus's lair.
	+ General rule of thumb for Scythe: Attack if you need health so you heal, use your powerful items (Immolate, Tfuse, Firebomb) when you are at 90% health or full, use wotion if you are frozen and at low health if you are frozen and at high health use a damaging fire consumable.

### Astral Scythe for Chapter 3

Let's face it, when everything here is weak to astral, all the items do astral, and all the armor gives astral boosts, it means you need to pull out the Astral Scythe. This is currently the go to build for Chapter 3. See below for an experimental Astral Staff build that would be interesting to test (but may not be worth the effort).

* Pick any class. It is recommended you have the following buff: Astral Resist with the following Debuff: Thraxe Curse.
	+ Exalt at least once for a scroll, keep torches you find.
	+ Fire, Rot, and Blood Medallions are not recommended to be picked up.

* Pick Village, you could pick Shrine if you wanted.

* Item priority: Farmhouse, Clearing, Plains, Hunt

* If you do Village and this event comes up, Loot and equip Ankh.

* Say Yes to the Seer. (He asked you to say yes!)
	+ Transform your magic scroll at the astral brazier, transform torches at the floating astral flame.

* Item Priority: Face is required. Pool is next, Silence is an alternative/sidegrade. Temple if you love to gamble (you need blessed medallion). If you arent into gambling you could try Statues or Void (these should be day 3 choices when you have gear).

* Beyond the first Chaos Keeper, attack and heal with you scythe (even when things look grim). Only use essence if you get cursed (red pentagrams/0 red armor)

* If you have another Beyond scroll, use it on Omniscia. Sit and attack with your scythe, essence only if you get cursed and need that hp (Red pentagrams/0 red armor), use astral torches if you get cursed and think your health is fine.

* Hopefully the RNG didn't murder you and you win. :')

### Astral Scythe for Challenge Mode

If you're looking to get more trophies for a character, specifically Challenge Mode trophies, one option is to run the Astral Scythe with as much defense as possible and a few damage consumables here and there. This build can be fairly boring, because it mainly relies on auto-attacking to keep your health up. This is not the only way to get challenge mode trophies.

* Pick any class that needs trophies. Do not pick a class with following debuffs: Sluggish, Sensitive Skin, Fragile.
	+ Make note of what trophies you need, go Shrine or Village.

* Item priority is armor above all else, damage items come second.
	+ 1st Armor: Clearing, and Plains. 2nd Damage: Farmhouse, Hunt

* If you are going Village, Loot and equip the Ankh. (If you have a Fire Ring, you are replacing it Armor > Damage).

* You want to have around 8+ armor for these challenges. If you have consumables the bosses are weak to use them on round 1. (Bishop Rotbomb/Decay; Ascendant HHgren). Even if the boss takes normal damage from a scroll, consider using it (Fire on Bishop, Decay on Ascendant) The goal is to get the first of the three enemies down as fast as possible with your consumables, then sit and auto attack the other two. Potions, Sbreaths and Tfuse/Blood Bomb should be used to either stall your last breath, or used after you last breath to keep from dying for good.

* Item priority is still armor above all else after Shrine/Village. Damage is still second.
	+ 1st Armor: Hut, Lost, Marsh. (Cshield in city is an alternative for lost if you need city trophy). 2nd Damage: Knight, Track.

* You want 15+ armor for these next challenges. 20 is most ideal.

## Fun Builds

These are just fun silly builds to consider doing on your playthroughs.

### Rot Knight

* Pick any class, if you're going for complete style points, pick Templar or Living Armor so that you're a knight.

* Pick the Rot Broadsword blessing.

* Stockpile and use Corrosive Concoctions, Rot Bombs, and Decay.
	+ Always use these items whenever you can.

* Pick Shrine. (Village only if you want some temporary extra damage.)

* Hope for the Medallion event, pick Rot. Avoid any fights with fire enemies.

* Item priority: Farmhouse (Bone Dog), Clearing, Plains or Hunt

* Find an Immolate scroll. Ideally, find a Tfuse Scroll too.

* Pick City.

* Item priority: Knight, Hut, Lost or Marsh (If you got clearing, Lost > Marsh)
	+ Use Immolate on the Rot Knight for an easy Decay talisman.

* Fight King; Tfuse the Fire Knight, tank the Blood Knight.

### Mixer's Spicy Dragonkin

* Pick Dragonkin, as if that wasn't obvious.

* Pick the Inflamed Hatchet Blessing.

* Stockpile fire items; torches, incendiary bombs, fthraxes, immos.
	+ Use these items when you can.

* Pick Shrine.

* Hope for the Medallion event, pick Fire. Avoid blood enemies.

* Item priority: Hunt, Farmhouse (Bone Dog), Pit, Clearing

* Pick City or Garden, either works.

* Item Priority: Marsh, Hut, Scavenge

* Pick Chapter 2, or just stomp Castle and King

* Chapter 2 item priority: Crypt, Hole, Town or Tower (Town is the better weapon)

* Fire bombs should be used on all normal monsters, with torches to follow up. Immos are for Jaerlaxus.

### Onepunchboi

While this build is just for fun, it can do Glitch trophies for Chapter 4 extremely easily.

* The only rule is that the character needs to have done Chapter 2, so they can get the full benefit of buffs.

* Pick Y at the Error screen.
	+ Pick Knight as your companion so you get Physical boost.

* Now get out there and one shot pretty much everything!
	+ Don't pick up armor, you're now allergic to it.

### Experimental Astral Staff Build

This build has never been tested, but would be interesting to try and run. It may not be worth it in the long run, because Omniscia is pretty mean and does 100 damage sometimes.

* Pick any class. It is recommended you have the following buff: Astral Resist (maybe Adrenaline) with the following Debuff: Thraxe Curse.
	+ Pick a strong weapon blessing.
	+ Exalt for scrolls, keep torches you find.
	+ Fire, Rot, and Blood Medallions are not recommended to be picked up.

* Pick Village or Shrine depending on your needs.

* Item priority: Farmhouse, Clearing, Plains, Hunt; Pit or Forge depending on your needs

* If you do Village and this event comes up, Loot and equip Ankh.

* Say Yes to the Seer. (He asked you to say yes!)
	+ Transform your magic scroll at the astral brazier, transform torches at the floating astral flame.
	+ Do the Astral Being event, which is really hard and scary and probably will waste most of your consumables to survive.

* Item Priority: Face is required. Pool is next, Silence is an alternative/sidegrade. Temple if you love to gamble (you need blessed medallion). If you arent into gambling you could try Statues or Void (these should be day 3 choices when you have gear).

* Beyond the first Chaos Keeper, attack, heal when needed.

* If you have another Beyond scroll, use it on Omniscia; attack, heal when needed.