https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kQ03CJTBVORzFSabcOKzyZ_3VS4NjHqzr_lW5HB6R3o/edit?usp=sharing

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8EcCiC9wpD9oh8itXTwUNw/videos?view_as=subscriber

https://www.twitch.tv/dark_emperor

New DDA guide : https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1917708270

I've seen so many noobs come into DD2 not knowing what to do, where to start.

The official dd2 discord has been a huge help for lots of new players (especially the help section)
If you haven't joined it , do so now ! : discord.gg/dd2

The goal of this guide is divided in 2 parts :
-> Turn new players into veteran
-> Be a quick reference guide for current meta (I'll try to keep this updated)

Do note that the following sections can be consulted in any chosen order and will usually go straight to the point of information that is vital.
This guide should be enough to get you trough all the dd2 content currently available easily !

What I'm currently using to build :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzH18HRRIOw




For example I won't talk about ALL enemies/ shards / mods I suggest consulting these resources for more detailed information (not related to me in any way) :
-Shards : https://wiki.dungeondefenders2.com/wiki/Shards
- Lightrayne's excell file : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ONuUAUofbdaav4GUVvWy69CLEatFalT73mGuhhLaXJg/edit#gid=1534092592
Good ressource for mods / ennemies, etc
-Juicebags videos :
Be careful however , not all videos are up to date, might reflect an old meta
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrJuicebags
- zeroday's market prices :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hxKeWaK-tADdhGJu9xx9B777lM1mCx4LQDSMueODrUM/edit#gid=1388066981
-random's spreadsheet :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EmCtnV1cHboura0ohJZKiipMt35J3b4fVGOp6L1lyxw/edit#gid=1016308653

DD2 , much like Dungeon Defenders 1 is a Tower defense / Rpg / Loot / PvE / Multiplayer /Grind game
I did Write there that it is a Grind game !
Can you play it and not grind ? Yes ! Only campaign that is !

The endgame of DD2 requires you to grind shards , grind mods, grind medals, grind ancient power and grind onslaught floors ! So if you do not like grinding , you can still have fun in the game for a little while but don't expect to ever reach the late game !

Now that I've disclosed that, what are all those things you gotta grind for ?! It is all explained in detail in the next sections step by step.

If there is so much grind to do is the game still fun ? HELL YHEA !!!
I'm still here playing , writing a guide about it. I'm currently farming with my buddy as I'm writing this guide haha.

This game is mostly about trying to be the very best , much like in pokemon , but you use towers instead of .....yhea bad comparison.
Honestly this game is all about finding the best ways to build against waves of enemies that get stronger and stronger ...and then have fun bashing some mobs with your dps heroes.

It is a PvE multiplayer game, so you can play with your friends, or make new friends to play with.
The community is really great, fun and generally helpful !

Now is DD2 really free to play ? I mean is it pay to win ?
Let's see what you start with in the free version of DD2
-> 4 basic heroes
-> Few hero slots
-> Few bags
Now what can you buy ?
-> New heroes
-> More bags / vault space
-> Skins
-> Shard packs (But imo that is a waste of money, do not ever buy that !)

Let's go over every point that takes currency slowly
-> Buying new heroes with currency isn't necessary !
While playing you'll get medals that you can use to buy these heroes !
Are they required to play the game ? No , not early that is !
Endgame I'd say you need more than the starters , but by the time you get there you'll be able to buy them using medals (that are free)
-> More bags / vault space is great ! It saves you so much time trying to manage inventory ! You just auto-collect everything and sort it out later ! Do you need more bags ? No , you can somehow manage with few bags (it s gonna be an inventory management pain however). There are ways to bypass that inventory limit , like puting gear on alternative heroes.
If you have real monney to spend , use it on bags first , not needed however, but great to have !

-> Skins !!! Doesn't affect gameplay at all and you'll get some chests with cosmetics just by playing onslaught ! (With some exclusive ones that you can't even buy)

-> Shard packs ....do not spend on this , how to waste your monney , playing any maps gives you shards at the end.

So DD2 is in my opinion a real free to play (You will have to grind more medals this way, but still , you are playing a game for free !)

Ok this is the first part that confuses so many players !
Why are there so many game modes !!
I'll make a short list and explain more about every mode afterward.

There is :
-> Campaign
-> Adventure
-> Expedition (chaos)
-> Onslaught
-> Mastery
-> Incursion
-> Markets
-> Prime incursions

Campaign is where you will be forced to start upon logging in. It is the tutorial , has some cool event, everyone has to complete it. Just do it !

Adventure are cool maps where you'll have to face bosses. Looks pretty much like campaign. Won't find loot there, but you'll get gems (the real $$ currency) by completing it. Do it once and use the gems to buy some bags if possible.

Expedition, also called chaos, is the game mode you'll play the most at the beginning of the game.
It goes from c1 to c7 (c stands for chaos). C1 being the easiest and c7 the most difficult.
Chaos features special enemies that will slowly appear.
C1 -> Vanguard goblins that block projectiles with their shield (you can shoot them in the back)
C2 -> Cyborcs that disable nodes, traps and auras when they get near (with their attacks)
C3 -> Shield geodes that create a bubble that reflect all projectiles
C4 -> Orc ladies that run fast and are immune to slow
C5 -> Dark assassins that will jump on players, make them unable to attack for a while and that hurt a lot (you can use defenses that stun to get them off you, or a sparkle pet)
C6 -> Hex throwers that are super long range enemies , usually countered by using reflect walls from ev (reflects projectiles) or using auras to kill them first
C7-> EMP koblds are the bane of turrets (they dive and disable it) , get some decent anti-air to counter them
This part of the game is all about using the right defenses at the right time. Usually the easier way is to use auras / nodes for chaos , except for c2 and c5 (because of cyborcs) where you'll want to use towers instead.
You'll farm better gear here, shards , gold, even mods. (I'll get back to it)

Onslaught is an alternative to chaos. It features floors that start easy and get more difficult. It goes from campaign enemies to c7 enemies the more you climb; later introducing special frost enemies and adding modifiers to lanes. (For example a lane could take less physical damage and more magical damage). There are a lot of modifiers , you'll get to know them all by playing it. Use shift to examine each lane before you start the wave.
Onslaught can drop defender packs that contain cosmetics. (only when playing your highest floor)
Rewards the most awesome flair in the game. (Imo)
Drops special weapon mods (later on)
Drops special upgrade materials to upgrade gear to c8 level (later on)
Drops c8 shards.
Features the special map lost temple that makes lots of players cry (It is a test of your skills that you can't evade, every few floors) (+Draken frost keep now)
Just so you know onslaught floor 31 is about the same as chaos 7 , after that onslaught gets more difficult

*EDIT : mastery is really easy now if you use elemental combos (electrocute/petrify) and boom mods
Mastery is the perfect mode for masochists. It downscales your gear to whatever chaos mastery you are doing. (Same chaos for mods, max of previous chaos for item level). It adds restrictions, just look at them in the mastery tab. The more challenges you complete the more stars you earn.
Earning stars gives you rewards.
The main worth of mastery is to get the Hyper shards.
The best ones are Mass destruction (Better destruction) that you get for completing 1/7, Vicious strike (Range shard) for 2/7 and Destructive Pylon (Destruction + buff desfenses around) for 6/7. When i say 1/7 i mean get 1/7 of all the available stars in the game mode.
Check this link for more info :
https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=3E9E9E4BD4B4FC06!259874&ithint=file%2cxlsx&app=Excel&authkey=!AMFsgiW-MtpHLvM

Incursion is the Mode noone really does, it unlocks wayfairer's weapon. If you want to have a subpar weapon that is really cool, costs 500 medals and is meme material then incursion is for you !! Seriously i'd suggest getting a meowmere whenever you have more medals than you know what to do with it. (Which won't happen early game, or mid game..or even late game? idk ). If you played terraria you know what a meowmere is ;)

Markets ! Do people use these ?! There is a looking-for-trade channel on discord , you can also sell in town directly ! Well it's to trade, but meh.

That's about it for gamemodes, people usually do Chaos and onslaught modes ! Others are mostly modes you complete once and don't touch anymore after.

*Prime incursions : Check the new prime incursion section of this guide bellow*

DPS : Monk, Gunwitch , Barbarian

Builder : Monk and EV2

All the heroes are :

Basic heroes :
-> Monk
-> Squire
-> Apprentice
-> Huntress

Heroes you have to buy with medals or gems :
-> EV2
-> Abyss lord
-> Dryad
-> Lavamancer
-> Mystic
-> Gunwitch
-> Barbarian
-> Initiate (Fake monk)
-> Adept (Fake apprentice)

Remember that most heroes can be builders or dps (set-up defenses, or bash enemies themselves).
Hero dps builds are debatable and most heroes can be great if set-up correctly early game.
The strongest dps heroes at the moment are barbarian, gunwitch and nuke monk. (Check out my spreadsheet for barbarian guide)

The first hero you should buy is Ev2 ! She is one of the strongest builder atm (with monk). Just the utility the character adds is worth it (basic reflect) even if you don't want to build that much with her.
Btw EV is my main builder.

After that buy whatever character you want.

Adept and initiate are the gender bender versions of apprentice and monk. Not worth getting until you have all the other heroes.

General Info : Rule of thumb if it's a wall , it's trash ...you're welcome !

1) Apprentice : Good

Flamethrower : Trash tier
Can be used against rollers, there are better options
Tower, too easy to get destroyed, damage is too low

Arcane Barrier : Wall = trash tier

Frostbite Tower : Really good
Can be built to bait Emp-Kobolts (appear c7+) , for that all you need is protective downgrade (good anti-air)
Pretty good cc (slow) , great for omega wave as the focused target (1 or 2 with the shard) doesn't generate DR stacks

Earthshatter Tower : Really good
Really good single target damage, insane range (do not put a range shard on it for Christ sake)
Really good to proc the petrify combo
Pretty $$$ 60 du (high onslaught , don't bother if you don't combo using it)

2) Squire : Good

Canonnonball Tower : Really good
Good single target damage (mostly for omega)
Cheap du wise (30 du)
Can cc stun (shard)
*PS : Physical damage*

Spike Blockade : Wall = trash tier

Ballista : Good
Decent aoe damage
Tower, so can be destroyed, but good enough range
Some decent damage shards
Projectile defense (requires piercer mod, can miss, be blocked by terrain)
*PS: Physical damage*

Training Dummy : GOD TIER
Looks sick , worth placing whenever you don't need du at all
MEME potential off the charts (really it's bad)

3) Huntress : Good

Explosive Trap : Really good
Awesome damage
Even more damage with upgrades (in game)
Need 100% tenacity to use it (or reflect)
Fire for effect is amazing
*PS : physical damage*

Geyser Trap : Trash tier
Damage sucks
Too long recharge rate for a good cc

Poison dart tower : Really good
Awesome single / aoe damage
Great for combo
Can only place 1 per lane (enemies can only be poisoned by 1 at a time anyway)
Can be used for air lanes

Blaze Balloon : Trash tier
Same as 2 flame auras but less flexibility and way less damage

4) Monk OP AF

Flame aura : OP tier
Awesome Damage
Great range
One of the best anti-air
Cheap
Good upgrade scaling
Need to be careful about cyborcs, but can outrange / use tenacity / place behind reflect

Boost aura : OP tier
Great damage buff to surrounding defenses
Use boosted grasp or UNINSTALL
Great cc, slow

Sky Guard tower : Good ?
Surprisingly bad as an anti-air
Decent potential with petrify combo

Lightning strike aura : OP tier
Awesome range
Probably the best single target damage in the game
Awesome for omega wave , place 4 in a boost and enjoy the bosses disapearing
Downside : need to create a new monk every time for it to fit 4 in a boost

5) Abyss Lord : Bad

Orc Blockade : wall = trash tier

Skeletal Ramster : Okay
Cost a lot of DU (50)
Horrible upgrade scaling (leave it T1)
Penetrates (doesn't need piercer)
Decent way to apply elemental damage (but still cost too much)
Overall Good early game , get rid of it later

Skeletal archers : Trash tier
Not enough range, not enough damage, just bad

Colossus : Okay
Only wall that can survive 1 hit without protective downgrade

6) EV : OP AF

Proton Beam : OP tier
Really good to apply elemental damage
Freezes (shard)
Need 100% tenacity

Reflect beam : OP tier
Best against ranged enemies
One of the best anti-air
Good damage
For utility super easy to set-up -> Any totem
For damage , needs 100% tenacity , 100% rate
Best cyborc counter
Downside : Harder to set-up + damage falloff ( if you don't know how to build you'll fail)

Buff Beam : Trash tier
Like boost aura , but cost way more and does less

Weapon Manufacturer : OP tier or okay
Do you have Legacy Shocking rev + water relic ? -> OP
One of the best anti-air (CC wise)
Don't have it ? Bad range , cannot be upgraded , good damage, cost too much to only apply 1 elemental damage

7) Lavamancer : Really good for fissure, otherwise bad

Fissure : OP tier
Like a Flame , but deals more damage but doesn't target air units
Slightly more range (doesn't matter at all)

Maw of the earth drake : Trash tier
Used to okay for petrify , now useless

Oil Geyser : Trash Tier
Bad since DR

Volcano : Trash tier
Bad damage
Cost a lot (100 du)
Needs Piercer

8) Mystic : Okay

Serpent coil : Fun but trash tier
Mod in onslaught to spam it , it looks great
Don't bring this in onslaught

Snaking sands : Trash tier
Bad since DR

Sand viper : Okay
Single target (or 3 with shard)
Damage is okay
Cannot target the same enemy as an other sand viper, thus bad for omega

Viper's Fang : Would be good if wasn't a wall (for cc)

Obelisk : Really good
EMP bait , good anti-air
Nice buffs across the map
Okay single target damage

9) Dryad (I'll update when she is changed) BAD

Needs to place a world tree to place her defense (around it), it's a wall, increases du cost by 20 (gives a nice healing for players but that's about it)
Need to stay on dryad during combat phase otherwise her defenses are worst (limits options)
AI is wonky at best (bees targeting, harpy reload time, nimbus travel time)
Good to easily spam build a map , if you want to really push onslaught don't bother using her

10 ) Initiate = same as monk OP tier

11) The Adept =Same as apprentice defense-wise, but without the frostbite (she has a trash tier anti-air instead) BAD

Felt this deserved it's own, albeit short, section.

Medals are used to :
-> Buy new Heroes
-> Buy hero cards
-> Reset ascension points (you can delete and recreate the hero, just move the gear to safety first)
-> Tinker mods (move mods from an item to another)
-> Upgrade gear (instead of gold, but don't do that early , medals are precious)
-> Buy wayfairer weapons
-> Buy pets (you can buy some from other players too)
-> Reroll defender packs (cosmetics)
-> Buy shard packs (I don't recommend it medals are too precious early on)

Medals are rewarded from :
-> Completing weekly gives 600
-> completing dailies 450 maximum every day ( you can accumulate up to 3 daily missions at once)
-> Playing games (only a few medals per and has a cap each day)

Best things to do with it:
-> Buy new heroes
-> Tinker gear , (try to plan it ahead, and remember that it makes the gear untradable)
-> Buy hero slots

Oh boy shards, a HUGE part of the game.
You'll be wondering what are the best shards
Farming shards
Gilding shards
Dream about shards

Damage in this game comes from base gear + shards + mods
Base gear is pretty straight forward , the higher the value the better.
Shards can be moves around independantly of gear. But require an actual item equiped to take effect.

Now the hard part is chosing shards and mods for each defense and hero.
There are too many hero shards to make a quick list of the best ones.
Just go there , and look at all shards until you find the ones you want to equip :
https://wiki.dungeondefenders2.com/wiki/Shards

Now for defense it is a bit easier. In the current meta for most defenses you want to use Damage / rate and range.

Let's start with shard farming :
Shard farming means going to a specific chaos map (or onslaught floor of appropriate level) to get as many unidentified shards as possible of the given level. When you finish a map you get in the victory chest an unidentified shard of the difficulty level you are in and 1 or more shards of lower difficulties. If you are in a winning streak (after 5 wins) you also get 1 shard bonus. So let's say I want to get a rate shard. I can go check the shard list, see it drops in chaos 4. By farming chaos 4 every map I,ll gain 1 c4 shard, and 1-2 lower level chaos shards. If I am instead in a winning streak I'll get 2 c4 shards every game instead. That is why you should always be in a winning spree when farming for shards, do many hours of farming at once whenever possible.

Next is shard gilding :
Gilding a shard means using 11 times the same shard + 2 m gold to make 1 gilded shard. So with 11 rate shards and 2 m gold I can consume it all to get 1 gilded rate shard. Gilding a shard adds 4 levels to it. It is thus way more effective on shards that have a low number of upgrades (better % upgrade versus normal shard). A gilded shard also doesn't get reseted when doing an ancient power reset, so makes you save gold on the long run. The best shard to gild is rate shard because a normal rate shard + acsension rate + rate mod is required to reach attack speed cap or simply ascension + gilded rate shard. It saves a mod spot. It is also possible to use a max rate mod of c8 level to get to cap and thus saving a shard spot and using mod slot instead.

Noteworthy shards are :
-> Destruction (defense power increase) c1
-> Deadly strike (range) c3
-> Rate c4

I'll expend this list later on, but these are the 3 shards you absolutely need for your defenses.

Mods are the new economy of DD2.
Wanna get rich ? Be lucky get a 10/10 mod, sell it for 100m. Then regret selling it cause 10/10 mods are really good. (Edit not anymore since reroll tokens haha, max $$$ for a mod is 45 m)

Mod:
But what is a mod ? A mod is something that comes with gear itself. When you drop an item there are 1-2 lines that say the passives (mods) it has. You can then tinker these mods and move them from one item to an other. However tinkering destroys the item you moved the mod from and makes the item that receives the modification untradable to other players. So make sure you know what you are doing before you start tinkering mods around. (left destroyed in tinker interface , moves mod from left to right)

Mod level :
A mod has a level. When it drops it is the same level as the item. If you find a c5 item the mods on it are c5. If you find a c7 items the mods on it are c7 level. So if you want to move a mod make sure that both the items have the same level or you ll be having weaker mods on the new item. If you upgrade the item the mod is on it will upgrade the level of the mods on it too.

Mod quality
Mods also have quality, quality always stay the same for a mod. Let's say you have a green quality mod of c5 level. If you upgrade the item it is on you'll have a c6 item with a c6 green mod on it. Values of a mod are affected by its quality and its level.
Quality is defined by the color of the mod it goes from 1/10 to 10/10. There is a chart that explains it visually. But there are in fact 3 tiers that are important to know.
1/10 to 8/10 is a tier, 9/10 is one and finally 10/10.
Going from the max value of the mod possible
1/10 to 8/10 gives around 50% of the passive stats
9/10 gives around 75%
10/10 gives 100%
So make sure to keep all your mods that are bright green, either perfect or near perfect.

What are the best mods ? Really depends on your play style, preferences and how you like to build. What ennemies are giving you the most trouble, etc. Usually a good trick is to find someone that uses a specific defense in high onslaught and ask said person what his build is like.

List of some mods to consider :

Defenses :
Defense range servo (for utility defenses)
Defense rate servo (Either a red one if no gilded rate, or a 10/10 one to remove shard)
Diverse power (Good on boost)
Fire servo (makes the defense deal fire dammage, double dammage versus frost mobs, +50% to skelly)
Anti-melee (one of the best mod available, melee are scary and everywhere)
Anti-ranged (good for anti-air , and can be good for specific lanes)
Anti-chaos (decent choice to deal with orc ladies and cyborcs + all other chaos)
Anti-frost (A weaker version of fire servo, can stack with it)
Anti-orc (Great mod choice, 2 chaos mobs are orcs, and a few bosses)
Anti-miniboss (helps dealing with omega waves in onslaught)
Controller servo (Great with any cc build)
Boom mods (nerfed recently, good early , bad in high onslaught, lacks scaling)
Shocking Revelation (makes the WM op with water ...edit : legacy wm)
Piercer (Counters shield geodes, amazing)
Tenacity ( Awesome mod since the addition of Draken frost keep, makes the defense imune to the dragon freeze, best in slot on reflect beam)

Walls : (Keep in mind walls are trash late game so don't invest too much)
Fortitude (more hp )
Accumulator (returns % of dammage taken)
Protective downgrade (instead of being destroyed goes down a level, once per wave, gives 2 lives to t2 blockades)

What should you do in this game !!

Lots of things to do, you guys can decide the order you want to do it.

1. Campaign, needs to be done
2. Adventure , free gems who doesn't like that , can buy bags
3. Expedition chaos / low level onslaught
At this point you want to get better gear / decent starting shards until you can do c7 fairly easily
4. Farm c7 until you have the mods you need (can be red for now)
5. Complete 2/7 of mastery (mass destro and vicious)
6. Farm gilded shards, mostly rate in order to save a mod spot
7. Complete prime incursion for more hyper shards
8. Push onslaught as far as you can (for the min ascension and talent caps)
9. Complete mastery
10. Do ancient power, but only reset when you are ready for it (it takes planning) and do many resets or it won't be worth it
11. Do a big onslaught push using your newfound ancient powers for even more min ascension (you'll have to upgrade all your gear that got reset by ap at this point)
12. Reset 1 last time
13. Profit

Prety much during all the steps you want to be building up your defenses and at least 1 dps hero. Try to get the best mods possible.
Upgrading a relic to c8 is worth considering to push farther.

One of the best way to farm better mods is to play frost maps (chaos 7) or any onslaught map. Every win will give reroll tokens, after 286 rerolls you are sure to get a 10/10 mod.

This is what to do in DD2 atm to become a badass , but you don't necessarily need to do all these steps to enjoy the game ! =)

At some point you might want to try incursion just for the fun of it !

Gold is needed in this game.
Especially for trading and for ancient power resets.

How to farm gold !
-> Equip jackpot shard ...it's not much but it helps
-> Choose which shard you decide to upgrade carefully , it takes 2 m per
-> Play ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of c7 maps with the win bonus, and sell the random trash loot that you find.
-> Sell good mods you don't need to players (Fairly random, mods are RnG)
-> Sell resources (Plain mote stacks sell for 3 m get some by farming c1-c3 drops everywhere, pristine clusters stacks are worth about 15 m you get 1 per c7 dungeon map, sometimes 2, reroll tokens 15 m a stack and the fastest goldfarm imo )

Best gold farm = frost maps and sell tokens 15 m a stack or catacomb farm and sell clusters (second best). But then again you'll also need these ressources to progress in the game.

Ancient power in gold farming
-> It costs a lot of gold to ap , but it gives +5% bonus gold for every ap , it does stack fairly quickly !

Diminishing returns DR is a system that prevents next level of cheese that turned bosses into living statues....that would eventually die without doing anything.

It was possible with many cc (crowd control) stacking
But Successive ones are gonna get shortened
Now cc are less effective the more cc are applied

Exemple : (on same mob)
First electrocute 8 sec
Second Electrocute 4 seconds
Third electrocute 2 seconds

All you need to know is that to maximise your dammage you need some dps defenses and some cc , without going overboard with cc.

There is DR for stuns, a DR for slows, etc and each are unrelated one to another. So try to use a stun and a slow instead of 2 stuns for exemple.

Few tips on how to make a good build that can work for high onslaught

1) Not all defenses are created equal
First of all you'll need good defenses
Game isn't balanced at all
Some defenses are way better than others
Refer to the defense analysis above for more information

2) Work with the available DU

It's super easy to hit insane dps in tavern , but in real play these builds are trash tier
A good build , should work in real matches
Keep in mind that you have 200 du to work with for ground lanes and 100 for air lanes
(in lost temple, the new maps and the decent old ones too)
Try to make your general build cheaper than 200 , so you can spend more on hard lanes
Exemple my reflect of mass destruction is 150 du for normal lanes, 200 du for hard ones

3) Invest in your damage dealing defenses

A lot of support defenses can be used even with bad mods / cheap set-ups
Your main damage defense should stack defense power and anti-mods as much as possible
DEFENSE POWER , crit is bad
Make sure you use hyper shards (mastery)
You should always (imo) spend the most $$ gearing up your best relic

4) Include crowd control

CC is a damage multiplier , once you have enough damage CC is the way to go
Rule of thumb , make sure your set-up includes a stun and a slow (general)
For Stun you want to make sure to either use electrocute (8 sec storm + water) or petrify (5 sec poison + earth, slightly better body block)
*PS : ignite and shatter are useless*

5) Don't use too much crowd control and use it at the RIGHT TIME

Too much crowd control is spending du for no effect because of DR stacks
Always make sure that your longest stun happens first (electrocute / petrify)

6) Be careful with CC placement

Make sure enemies are cc ed in your killbox, not before of after
Adding cc before your killbox (like stun canons with great range, even behind the actual killbox) will ♥♥♥♥ up your dps
It's a damage multiplier after all
Always make sure that your longest stun happens first (electrocute / petrify) Important so written twice lol

7) Know your enemies and prepare

Make sure you learn all enemies / lane mods in onslaught
You need to be able to adapt
Your build should include a general set-up
An anti-air set-up
A frost lane set-up
A physical/magical damage option is great (didn't use physical myself , yet reached floor 950)
*PS : need to know what you should reroll for fast clear*

8) Know the strengths and weaknesses of your build
There is not 1 build that is OP against everything , know what you need to be careful of and what you can spend less on

9) Plan your mods ahead of time

Captain obvious here but you only have 3 shard and 3 mod slots per defense
Think about the purpose of the defense (Damage, CC) and thinker your mods carefully
Can help to use a spreadsheet to visualise it

10) Be aware of the impact of ascension

A build might change depending on your max ascension
Without 999 in tower hp , most of the time vampiric shard isn't that great (Exemple)

11) Get rid of walls

The more you climb the more useless it becomes, while the harder the enemies are

12) Be flexible

Plan how you'll modify your build in real time to adapt
Think about alternatives depending on each lanes
Exemple -> Anti-air I use bait frostbite/obelisk if lane is only emp-kobolt, Only reflect beam if there are 100% wyverns, flame aura + wm in some case , sometimes a mix of all

13 ) Don't rely too much on your dps hero

At some point in your climb chances are you'll need to start dps ing bosses
Make sure your defenses are able to hold out by themselves against normal mobs
You cannot be everywhere at once

14) Spawn camp , but leave the mobs some privacy

Building close to spawn is a good idea in a build to decrease the chance of a pathing bug happening
Don't build too close , or mobs are gonna be imune to damage / you'll lose some of your killbox range

15) Get your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hyper shards

No good build exists without hyper shards
None !
Not for climbing anyway
Get them all

16) Use multiple characters

Need 2 protons with different elements ? Make 2 ev (at least)
Using flame aura and lightning strike ? Make 2 monks to spend full ascension in each
I personally usually use 4 monks , Flame for frost lane, flame for air, boost aura, lightning

17 ) Single or aoe ?
Single target defenses are great for bosses (and lady orcs)
However, aoe defenses usually have higher dps since 10 targets are affected (dps X 10)
Because of that your build should have more aoe defenses than single target ones (mostly for omega wave)

18 ) $$$$

Make sure the build you create is affordable for you
My reflect beam of mass destruction cost a lot of gold (getting all the mods , etc)
But also a cost I can afford, so I've climbing with it easily

19 ) Think about surviving on your hero too

Make sure you have a way for your defenses to help your hero get rid of assassins
If any boss stright up counters you , make sure to have a defense ready to help (canon ogre on barbarian can be tricky when you are not used to it, for omega I place reflect beams to guard against their ranged attack)

20) Be ready to face draken frost keep

Back in the days I was a huge fan of not using tenacity at all (or barely)
But if you want to afk draken frost keep a good idea would be to include 100% tenacity on all your defenses (or automation) or make sure your build can be placed in no-freeze spots

21) How much range is enough ?

Usually any defense that has a gambit ascnesion tree will have enough range with a gilded deadly strike
Reflect requires vicious strike
Defenses without gambit will have a pretty good range if you stack deadly and vicious
You want your defenses to 100% cover your killbox (especially in the case of flame aura overlap for exemple) any more than is not needed.
Best use of range is on stuff like flame to hit both ground lane and air lanes at once

22) Don't focus too much on numbers

Numbers are often tricky
DPS tooltip can be bugged , super high dps , but horrible range might not work out so well
Sometimes you want to sacrifice raw dps for utility
Reflect build isn't the best damage wise, but it's still one of the top tier build out there

23) Test it over and over again

No matter what the theory says , no build is complete without an actual test in game
I usually test my builds at floor 900+
If it works, I'll consider it a decent build
A good way to create a good build, is start with an initial theorycrafting, and climb using it while improving it as you go

24) Where does destructive pylon go ?

In the best case scenario destructive should be on a support defense that doesn't need damage and is placed near a boost aura (if you use boost). This way it will increase the boost defense power and overall increase the defense power of your set-up

25) Always something to learn

I'm usually lurking on the offcial DD2 discord, help chat , tavern chat discusions are super helpful in creating your own build. Will help you get a good grasp of what other plaeyrs are doing and how to improve what you are using.

26) A build should be personalised
A build is all about having a good synergy between all the defenses included in it
That is why there is not only one right way to set-up a relic for a defense
But do be careful because there are wrong ways to do it

27) Be ready to jump ship when it sinks

Some patch have made defenses useless
Don't be affraid to change your build based on the changes that happen over time
Having a good build is also about adapting it to current update, be ready sometimes it won't be possible. Right now without a legacy wm reflect beam of mass destruction is impossible to make

Last one
If you ain't using dummy in you build and meowmere on your hero , it will not qualify as a good MEME build (Direct insight from Nictus) and remember to max game volume

Hero card :
In dd2 , once you unlock an hero you can create as many of it as you want ...given you have sufficient hero cards. Hero cards, or hero slots simply means the max number of heroes you can have, it costs 2 k medals to buy one (or gems).

Multiple times the same hero :
Now why would you want to create more than one of the same hero ? Because of the ascension.
After level 50 you gain ascension that you can spend in one of 3 trees , Hero / Defense / utility
Ascension is a level. Ascension is used in the ascension tree of each hero.

Let's use the exemple or a player that has 2 monks and is ascension 100
That would give him 34/33/33 points in each ascnesion trees.
Let's just consider 2 defenses for now and the second ascension tree.
This player wants to build flame auras for ground units and skyguard auras for air-units.
In the second tree he'll put 20 points in defense rate (because it s the best thing ever).
That leaves him 13 points to put in either flamme aura dammage or skyguard dammage.
With 1 monk he'd have to pick one. With 2 monks , he can have 1 monk have added dammage to skyguards and 1 monk with added dammage to flamme aura for more overall dps in his build.

This is especially vital when you consider high ascension value. At maximum talent cap ascension adds 19 980 defense power to a specific defense and that is extremely valuable considering a max c7 relic gives only around 51 000 defense power.

Ascension gain :
-> Every map played gives xp , eventually you will level up. There is a bonus to xp if you are in a winning streak (5+ wins in a row)
-> Min ascension and reset , you get minimum ascension by climbing onslaught. Once you reset it becomes your current ascension. You roughly gain 12 ascension per floor achieved after floor 30. This is a far more efficient way to get ascension.
-> Every ancient power you have gives you +5% bonus xp

Onslaught is the endgame of DD2

Every floor the difficulty increases
Before even considering ancient power you should push onslaught as far as you can

In onslaught check the lanes with shift and build depending on the mods the enemies have !

Onslaught is (in a set of 10 maps)
-> 8 normal maps (random, different map pool for 3 and 8)
-> Lost temple (every x4 floor) : more lanes with 1 opening every wave, starting around floor 50+ 6 waves instead of 5 with the last one being an omega wave with enemies only being bosses (3 per lane). Designed to test the players' skills.
-> Draken frost keep (every x9 floor). Dragon will freeze your defenses. Ignite the torches to unfreeze. Best way to do so is the burning strikes shard (c5). If your defenses have automation or 100% tenacity it won't freeze. There are no freeze spot on the map also.

Onslaught affect talent caps and minimum ascension a lot

Bonus talent cap =
(Onslaught Floor Reached - 30) * 4.16 + (Ascension Level / 50)

Minimum ascension = ((Max Onslaught Floor Reached Ever - 30) x 4.16 + (Max Ascension Level Reached ever / 50) ) x 3.

Roughly for someone without ancient power , every floor after 30 adds 4 talent cap and 12 minimum ascension level.
(With ap simply consider the onslaught floor you started at for talent caps, since you didn't climb it)

Around floor 110 will give 1000+ min ascension
Around floor 190 will give 2000+ min ascension
Around floor 245 would give max talent cap (In 1 reset)
Around floor 270 will give 3000+ min ascension
Around floor 510 will give 6000+ min ascension

*Here is a placeholder for onslaught modifiers, I feel like the wiki the devs are working on will show it anyway*


The onslaught map you get depends on the last digit of the floor :

0-1-2 = Map pool #1
3 = Map pool #2
4 = Lost Temple

5-6-7= Map pool #1
8 = Map pool #2
9 = Draken Frost Keep

The best maps for onslaught climb are :
Map pool #1 -> Greystone Plaza + Siphon Site D
Map pool#2 -> Dragonfall Sewers + Forest Biome

Ancient power is op !!!!! When well planned, otherwise it just removes all your progress x)

Ancient power reset :
-> Get 5% bonus gold and xp (stacks every time)
-> All gear changes to be campaign level
-> All shards become level 1 except the ones that are gilded
-> You gain 1 ap power every time (not strong by itself but it does stack quite fast)
-> Your current ascension is reset to your min ascension value
-> Your talent caps increase (max 999)

Ap powers bonus :
-> just press i and check the powers tab
-> Current max usable ap points is 70, but can do as many ap as you want

How to ap the smart way :
-> Be ready , you'll need ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of resources to upgrade your stuff
(only up a relic every ap = 50 plain , 40 shiny, clusters too )
-> When you start to ap keep going until you reach your ap goal , you cannot do other content , all your gear is campaign level (I mean yhea you can farm c7, but better keep going)
-> Make sure you have enough gold (1.2 m for 0/10 c7, 1.8 m for 10/10 c7 , shards need gold to upgrade if not gilded, hyper can't be gilded and cost 2 m to max)
-> Make friends, will make the journey way more fun

How a ap reset usually works :
-Ap , all your gear is trash
-Up a relic to c7
-Do onslaught from base floor to target floor
-Ap again ..guess what your gear is trash !!!
-Repeat a few times until ap goal
-Profit

Ap doesn't seem much when you only have a few points but it is a gamechanger in the long run ! =)

Mats required to upgrade a relic to c7 =
-40 plain motes
-40 shiny motes
-1.2 m gold for c7 0/10 + Pink clusters
-1.8m total for c7 10/10 + 2 pristine cluster

Defense power is the way to build in dungeon defender at the moment !

CRIT BUILD SUCKS, (JUST LOOKING AT THE DPS VALUES), YOU'VE BEEN WARNED !!!

How does crit work in DD2 ?
Old timers will remember the dammage and crit dammage being separate entities, that is not the case anymore !

Every attack will deal dammage based on defense power + a bonus in % of base defense power if it is a crit.

So for a crit build you need crit chance , crit dammage ...AND defense power !!!
That is possible , but requires a lot of investment in shards and mods for it to happen.
A crit build would do a lot of dammage to all ennemies in the game !
The downside to that is that makes it so you can't specialise against specific troublesome ennemies with anti servos.

The hypothesis I am using in this theory is that the way targeting works in dungeon defender you will always need a set number of defenses per lane no matter how easy the ennemies on it are.
A defense only targets 10 ennemies maximum.
Since there is a minimum of required defenses, you having a great dammage against all ennemies will produce overkill against the weaker ennemies and a lack of dps against the most troublesome ones.
Thus you want to specialise.

The easiest way to do that is to go max defense power and anti-mods.

That added to the fact that defense power increase dammage significantly AND boost the crit dammage , straight DP is just better atm

Of course that shouldn't be the case and I expect trendy to buff crit builds in a near futur ( probably trough crit shards modifications) I'm still hoping ....butnot expecting it anymore lol

It is possible to be carried in this game

The most vital aspect to winning a map is building. If you are playing a map you can't solo build you are getting carried. There was a guide done before on how to leech, you guys can find it on steam.

But pretty much :
-> Ask in looking for group on discord
-> Make sure the builder accept to carry you (an additionnal player increases the mobs hp)
-> Give mana at the start of the game
-> Press G whenever needed (not too soon, wait for the builder to press G)
-> Be active if needed (You are the first one that should be fighting bosses if needed)
+ some mob specific general guidelines
-> Stay alert for bastille master (boss), she needs to go down fast
-> In some builds you need to stay far away from yeti boss (he has a freeze, you being there might mess up the aggro), other builds need to dps him fast ; ask the builder
-> Stay away from defenses and core in case an assassin jumps on you and deal aoe dammage (c5 and up)
-> Kill rollers (the weak point is behind them)

Early game : Exglint's flame aura build
-> 4 flames in a boost aura and done , perfect for chaos 7 farming

Mid game : Juicebags' One amp warrior , petrify reflect build
-> Spin on the reflect build, but way more affordable than the one I am using
-> Petrify combo using the shattering torpedo shard (c8 shard)

End game : Reflect beam of mass destruction
-> Requires legacy wm (coming back soon if you guys don't have it)
-> Requires heavy investment $$$$
-> OP

*PS : contact me if you want your build to be listed

What is all the fuss about WM for CC ?
The legacy wm !
Either you have it and wm is great ....or you don't and it's not that great a defense

It is impossible to apply 2 elemental mods on the same relics.
If you get water mod on a relic you cannot also put a storm mod on it.

However before IT WAS POSSIBLE to use both water and shocking revelation on the same relic.
The reason being shocking revelation was not considered an elemental mod.
That GOT CHANGED AFTERWARD.

A legacy wm looks like this

https://imgur.com/6lfWjs7

The water mod drenches
The shocking revelation applies storm damage
That means a 100% electrocute chance (8 seconds stun)

That makes it an extremely efficient way to apply electrocute (DU wise) especially considering that wm has great range and affects both ground lanes and air lanes (and can outrange cyborcs).

So either you have ....or RIP
Devs did say at some point the Legacy wm should be coming back for EVERYONE (old and new players alike)

1) Get damage (good damage dealing relics)

2) Boost that damage (destructive pylon at least + boost aura depending on build)

3) Add cc ( to max the time enemies spend in killbox, remember with 4 players cc barely works)

*All flame names I'm using are not official names , but nicknames *

General flame used on all lanes :

1) Early game ->
Destruction Rate
Rate Anti
Deadly strike Anti

2) Mid game -> (overcap, why not, want to spam it everywhere , enemies are still weak)
Mass destruction Rate
Gilded rate Anti
Deadly strike Anti

3) End game -> (will have a specific flame for frost lanes, that specific flame will be overcapped)
Mass destruction Rate
Destruction Anti
Deadly strike Anti

Antis to use :
BiS imo Melee and controller
Other decent options : Chaos, Orc,


Frost-Flame only for frost lanes (overcapped 100% rate to be immune to frost orcs debuff) :

Destruction Rate
Rate Anti-frost
Deadly strike Controller

PS mine is rate, melee , controller because it's a general relic I later turned into a frost-flame...works well enough. Also you'll only be getting a frost-flame endgame

Anti-air flame to use against air lanes ( really efficient if you have a good anti-air cc, best being legacy wm)

Destruction Rate
Encroaching flame Anti-ranged
Deadly strike Controller

This one is only to help kill wyverns in lanes reflect has trouble protecting.Flying emp are dealt with bait towers.

Placeholder for prime incursions

Drops c8 weapons (new weapon skins) c8 5/5

Completing each group gives an hyper shard + 1 bonus for completing all
Group 1 : Destructive Pylon (if you have 2 put one on an lsa or something lol)
Group 2 : Explosive Guard (useless)
Group 3 : Thunderstruck (almost useless)
Group 4 : Radiant critical power (almost useless)
Group 5 : Automation
Group 6 : Vicious Strike

Bonus for completing All : Mass destruction

Drops c8 amps (best rates are gonna be in group 6, stay tuned for better farming strategies as content is released)

https://youtu.be/YbkvSHBJ4uU

Frost Lord can appear as a mini-boss everywhere.

To kill him just ignite him then do damage, or kill him directly while he is petrified (might be a bug)

As for frost keep there are multiple ways to beat it. The dragon will freeze your defenses every wave. Here is how to deal with it.

1) Ignite the torches (burning strikes shard c5) manually. Get a ranged hero that attacks fast for that.

2) Use 100% tenacity mod or automation shard to make your defenses immune to the freeze.

3) Place your defenses in no freeze spots.

Here is a nice video from cryo. Don't think I'll make one. To know all no-freeze spots you want to launch a frost keep map, let the dragon freeze every lane without unfreezing. Then during build phase you can just place new defenses and see if it gets frozen instantly or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEOzgHXM-DI&app=desktop

Not all maps are equal and balanced , especially when we consider onslaught bringing mutators to the table !

The best maps for onslaught climb are : (copy pasta from onslaught section above)
Map pool #1 -> Greystone Plaza + Siphon Site D
Map pool#2 -> Dragonfall Sewers + Forest Biome

Best chaos maps for farming are :
-Unholy Catacombs (clusters)
-Frost maps (Reroll Tokens)

Easiest maps to complete in chaos are probably :
-Jacked Sparrow
-Forest Biome
-Greystone Plaza
-Dragonfall Bazar

For this section I will be using the Lost Temple DU standard for analysis.
Ground lane = 200 DU
Air lane = 100 DU

Expected DU, Real DU and Balance are all based on real number of lanes (read the equivalent of 1 group of enemies, ex. : 1 spawner can have more than 1 lane at the same time while both are at the same physical location.)

Merger -> Note when it's easily possible to merge lanes. Be careful merging is way easier in chaos than onslaught. For example if you don't have 100% tenacity in all your defenses and you want to merge 2 lanes ....if one is curse-kaze you'll be in trouble with the usual general set-up !

--Ancient Ruins--

Forgotten Ruins



Ground lanes 4
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 1000
Real DU 900
Balance -100 DU
*Can merge 2 mid ground lanes and west ground +air for positive balance*

Nimbus Reach



Ground lane 6
Air lanes 3
Expected DU 1500
Real DU 1200
Balance -300 DU

--Dragonfall Castle--

Assault on throne room



Ground lanes 8
Air lanes 0 (sub protected)
Expected DU 1600
Real DU 1100
Balance -500
*Can merge South lanes (save 400 DU) , still a negative balance*

Rampart Siege



Ground lanes 5
Air lanes 4
Expected DU 1400
Real DU 1000
Balance -400
*Can merge ground + air everywhere , but require something like a decent range flame aura*

The Ramparts



Ground Lanes 5
Air lanes 2 ?
Expected DU 1200
Real DU 1000
Balance -200
*Merge mid ground + air to achieve a 0 balance*

The throne room



Ground lanes 6
Air lane 0
Expected DU 1200
Real DU 1100
Balance -100
*Simply better than the assault version*

--Dragonfall Town--

Dragonfall Bazaar



Gound lanes 3
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 800
Real DU 800
Balance 0


Gates of Dragonfall



Ground lanes 3
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 800
Real DU 600
Balance -200
*Can somewhat merge ground + air for balance of 0 but not a perfect merge, height problem*

Greystone Plaza



Ground lanes 4
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 1000
Real DU 1000
Balance 0
*Great initial balance + can merge east air + ground lane fairly easily*

Little-Horn Valley



Ground lanes 5
Air lanes 3
Expected DU 1300
Real DU 1000
Balance -300
*Pretty bad, sacrifice of sub + turtle can be done in chaos, but in onslaught it's suicidal*

--Drakenfrost--

Drakenfrost Keep



Ground lanes 8
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 1800
Real DU 1300
Balance -500
*Can merge east lanes (save 400 DU) , can merge ground + air, positive balance overall if merger possible (keep in mind onslaught modifiers can make that hard) *

Drakenfrost Resort



Ground lanes 6
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 1400
Real DU 1100
Balance -300
*Cluster of 2 ground + air can be merged, still negative balance overall , height problem for air*

--Lost Dungeon--

Buried Bastille



Ground lanes 6
Air lanes 3
Expected DU 1500
Real DU 2000
Balance +500
*Awesome balance, can merge south air lane with ground*

Crumbled Bulwark



Ground lanes 5
Air lanes 3
Expected DU 1300
Real DU 900
Balance -400
*Can merge ground lanes into 3 lanes (save 400), but easy to get overrun in onslaught*

Molten Citadel



Ground lanes 8
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 1800
Real DU 800
Balance -1000
*Not that bad without modifiers because of enemy timing (1 lane at a time = balance of 0), problem is for every lane you need a different set-up to max damage in onslaught*

Unholy Catacombs



Ground lanes 6
Air lanes 3
Expected DU 1500
Real DU 800
Balance -700
*Can merge everything into 3 lanes, horrible in onslaught*

--Rotting Ravine--

Dragonfall Sewer



Ground lanes 4
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 1000
Real DU 900
Balance -100
*Can merge air with ground (positive balance), just be careful of sub-core*

Siphon Site D



Ground lanes 4
Air lane 1
Expected DU 900
Real DU 800
Balance -100
*Can easily kill air with ground lane defenses because of pathing (above 1 ground lane and bellow the other)*

Temple of Necrotic



Ground lanes 9 (counting skelly lanes)
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 2000
Real DU 1300
Balance -700
*hard to calculate because of forced merging lanes , with merging balance is pretty much 0. Also little skelly lanes complicate it a bit, need to build something there, but maybe not full lane*

The Dead Road



Ground lanes 7
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 1600
Real DU 1250
Balance -350
*Can merge 2 west ground lanes and can merge both air with ground, balance of 0 with merging*

--The High Seas--

Plunderer's paradise



Ground lanes 7
Air lanes 3
Expected DU 1700
Real DU 1200
Balance -500
*Can merge 2 x 2 ground lanes south and west. All air but south-west can be merged easily, flies low, balance of 0 *

The Jacked Sparrow



Ground lanes 9
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 2000
Real DU 2000
Balance 0
*With merger can do 4 ground lanes and have a balance of +1000, but a nightmare in onslaught since the lane mods are bugged and not showing*

--The Liferoot--

Forest Biome



Ground lanes 6
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 1400
Real DU 1250
Balance -150
*2 x 2 ground lanes are in the same spawn so easy merging, can also merge ground and air, really good map for onslaught because of high DU and overall pathing, with merge balance is ++*

Forest Crossroad



Ground lanes 4
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 1000
Real DU 800
Balance -200
*Air lanes can be merged , but it's bot perfect either, north one is kinda high*

Liferoot Forest



Ground lanes 4
Air lanes 2
Expected DU 1000
Real DU 800
Balance -200
*Low flying air , can be killed with ground defenses eaily, balance of 0 with decent placement*

Enemy level by content :

Chaos 1 : 203
Chaos 2 : 387
Chaos 3 : 739
Chaos 4 : 1306
Chaos 5 : 2125
Chaos 6 : 3231
Chaos 7 : 4657

In theory floor 50 = 9 024 -> checks out
And floor 40 = 7 299 -> checks out
And floor 35 = 6 436 -> checks out
And floor 30 = 5 574 -> 5 165 nope -> Manual input for 0-34 ish or different formula ?

Onslaught 100 : 17 649
Onslaught 200 : 34 899
Onslaught 300 : 52 149
Onslaught 400 : 69 399
Onslaught 500 : 86 649
Onslaught 600 : 103 899
Onslaught 700 : 121 149
Onslaught 800 : 138 399
Onslaught 900 : 155 649
Onslaught 944 : 163 235

Every floor (rounded) -> + 172.5 enemy level (little under that)

Onslaught 945 : 163 411
Onslaught 946 : 565 911
Onslaught 947 : 968 411
Onslaught 948 : 1 370 911
Onslaught 949 : 1 773 411
Onslaught 950 : 2 175 911
Onslaught 951 : 2 578 411
Onslaught 952 : 2 980 911
Onslaught 953 : 3 383 411

Every floor past 945 -> + 402 500 enemy level

In theory :
Enemy level on floor 999 = 21 898 411 -> roughly 4 702 times the level of c7 mobs