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Dungeons of Dredmor > Guides > SkyHoglet's Guides
103 ratings
Little Dredmor Things
By SkyHoglet
Tips and tricks I've picked up from playing this game way too much. Currently a work in progress-- updated when I feel like it.
   
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Created by
SkyHoglet
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Category: Gameplay Basics, Secrets
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
10 Jul, 2013 @ 9:05pm
10 Jul, 2013 @ 9:06pm
7,279 Unique Visitors
72 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Rules of Engagement - How to survive the dungeon 
Traps 
Wands 
Encrusting 
Comments
Rules of Engagement - How to survive the dungeon
  • Ranged combat first, especially against boss monsters.
  • Wands, bombs, spells, and bolts...make liberal use of them against the toughest enemies and mobs. You will find more later.
  • Don't ever fight more than two monsters at a time. Bottlenecks and corners are nice.
  • Mid and late game, it's a terrible idea to fight boss monsters in melee, especially on Going Rogue. Some of them can instakill you with the dreaded counter-crit-crit-- a counterattack which crits, followed by a normal attack which also crits.
  • Mid game, you should never fight a monster in melee combat while at 50% hp or under. On Going Rogue, this is 66%. Counterattacks and crits are too risky.
  • Doors are OP against monsters.
  • If you're in a tight spot, use a displacement potion or an invis pot/inky hoglantern. You can eat and drink while invisible.
Traps
  • Your trap detection stat is equal to the number of tiles away from you; if your trap detection is two, you will see tiles up to two spaces away from you.
  • Trap detection also affects your ability to see invisible monsters (same rules as above).
  • You can drop a trap at your feet without using a turn with shift + click. This is great if you're running from a boss monster.
  • Stacking multiple traps of the same type on one tile will not proc them all-- you'll just end up wasting the pile. One at a time!
  • Traps which are spell-based (acid, fire, magic gargoyle, etc) deal damage scaled to your magic power.
  • Spell Mines are slightly different from traps-- if they are cast on the tile you're standing on, and you stay on that tile next turn, it will go off. Solar inscription and Rune of Exploding are like this. Some monsters later in the dungeon will cast these on you.
  • Caltrop eruptor traps will take out destructable walls when they are set off. Collect a few of these and some Shoddy Dwarven IEDs to get to those secret items.
  • Antimagic traps work on Dredmor! Many high-level players collect a couple of these for use at the end of the game.
Wands
Most notable:

  • Bony Wand - summons zombys in a 3x3 area around the target. Good for distracting enemies in a pinch.
  • Handy Wand - pushes enemies away in a 3x3 area around the target. Can be blocked by enemies, so not always reliable. Can be targeted on self.
  • Zodiacal Wand - curse/debuff removal!
  • Coral Wand - Minor regen buff (2 hp per second for 10 turns)
  • Stony Wand - Unliving Wall - creates a wall on the tile, pushes the target back, and does 2 Blast, 6 Crush + 0.25 x Magic Power. Lasts 48 turns. You can create bottlenecks with this. (Example: stand in a corner, cast on one side, fight enemies on the other.
  • Rock Wand - Boulderization - Knocks enemy back, 15 Crush plush 0.2 x Magic Power. Good for bosses.
  • The Naarwhaand - (On Primary Target) 1 Elec + 3.5 x Wand, 14 Blast + 0.1 x Magic, 33 Elec + 0.55 x Magic. (AOE 3x3) 3 Blast + 0.1 x Magic, 4 Elec + 0.15 x Magic. Then 3x3 3 Ice + 0.2 x Magic for 4 turns. Awesome for mobs, bosses, and robots. Just awesome, really. But don't get hit my it, because it hurts.
  • Fiery Wand - Single target. 6 Blast + 1 x Wand, 10 Fire + 1 x Wand. Leaves a 6 Fire mine for 10 turns. Good for bottlenecks and monster zoos.
  • Camera - 50% chance to stun enemies in 3x3 area around you!
  • Laser Wand - Solid damage and a fire mine.
Encrusting
15 Comments
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RapidRotation 5 Oct, 2023 @ 10:21am 
For the record, the DoT was applied by a Diggle Geologist, and killed me three turns after I killed it
RapidRotation 5 Oct, 2023 @ 10:21am 
Hard agree on the "no melee in lategame", I just wiped a solid run on floor nine, somehow ended up taking a DoT that killed me in four turns from full HP. I'm still salty. I wish I'd paid more attention to the combat log but there's so much going on at that point it just goes and goes and goes
Sly-Scale 12 Sep, 2023 @ 3:39am 
Additional tips:
-Enemies prioritize your minions in melee, protecting you from the dreaded counter-crit-crit.
-Consumables are destroyed when "stolen" by enemies. They target the entire stack, too.
-Some enemies can damage your magical equipment.
-Thieves and magic-corrupting enemies have no counter chance (untested on Going Rogue.)
-Certain enemies have a chance to use ranged attacks. Beware an unlucky volley of shots!
Pumpkinreaper 31 Mar, 2023 @ 6:54am 
I started play again after a long time and wanted to add that the camera has a drain life effect, in that it heals you for all 'living' enemies it hits.
otheofoolo 3 Jul, 2020 @ 7:02pm 
dont forget to list the fungal mancy mushrooms ;3 some of the most useful ingrediants in the game
TABula Rasa 3 Jul, 2020 @ 2:50pm 
wow this will come in handy. I have SO MANY ITEMS just chilling in my wizard space from a years old playthrough where I am slowly making by way all the way down these huge floors. think I was on floor 14 last I played. never seen the boss yet lol but this save, altho slow, is my best run yet. so many traps and wands built up
Midas 8 Sep, 2015 @ 1:08am 
Very nice to read this thankyou!
Johnny Iron 31 Jan, 2015 @ 12:51pm 
Some things that might be useful (though some may seem obvious or pointless, it's still useful to know):
-if you drop any steak (fresh, aged, or normal) onto a grill it becomes grilled steak, which gives more health when eaten (and more ground meat when ground up).
-the nth dimensional lathe is useless without the wand lore skill, though whether the wand lore skill is worth taking depends on how much you use wands
-you can pick traps up off the floor when your trap affinity is high enough, even if you can't craft the traps
-abilities that trigger when killing monsters (such as the ones in blood mage, big game hunter or fungal arts) trigger when you attack your pets too, so you can summon and slaughter your own minions if you run low on supplies (or are just very sadistic)
-cheese items usually lose 1-2 hp of total healing when grated
Xurathar 14 Oct, 2014 @ 7:31am 
Great guide! Thanks!
Sly-Scale 21 Apr, 2014 @ 1:32am 
Ah, don't forget the tentacle wand and pearlescent wands, they're good too. Tentacle wand does hefty damage as well as confuse the enemy (great for bosses), while the sheer Righteous damage of a Pearlescent wand is a great way to hurt Snow Baals around floor 7.

Mushrooms are really handy, and taking the fungal arts skill makes them plentiful to the point of using your favorites for every single fight. Confuse enemies with Odious Puffballs, toughen up with Grunge Ear, The Prince, Lobstermane Fungus and Plumber's Agaric, restore health and mana with Fairywodgers and Night Cap respectively, hit harder and steal health with Fell Fungus and Greedy Blungecap, be smarter with Azure Mob-Bonnet, and go invisible with Inky Hoglantern.