This guide is heavily outdated, and I apologize if you actually relied on this. This was written way back on the initial PC release, when Bandit was in desperate need of changes and such only had 2 real ways to play.
Bandit today has it much better, with the addition of character exclusive accessories and a general numbers tweak that makes him better overall. A long overdue revamp of this guide is in the works, but I cannot have it take priority over more important things in my life.

I'll admit I haven't had much experience in playing DMFD yet but I have played Bandit at a pre-release event and thats why I wanted to get DMFD when it arrived on Steam.
Now I write this to help people with stuff related to Bandit, and to start off, unlocking Bandit to begin with.

Bandit requires you to beat a DLC Quest Line and see the ending of said line. Despite being DLC it is already in the Steam version and requires no further purchases.
This handy spreadsheet found at the DMFD discord shows what quests are part of this line, and how to access them yourself.[docs.google.com]
Though as they contain spoilers on the ending of the game I will provide the relevant parts here if you do not wish to see them.


I did them all with a friend and we did not notice Ciconia outside the Bar to give us The Dragon's Hoard until we had done them all.

Below here is a quest rundown that assumes you are playing on the easiest difficulty available to each quest.

This one is simple, go to the spot on the map and fight the bosses. The bosses are Poison and Wind in that order. If you played The Castle Burns you might recognize this.
The map here seems to be RNG dependent. The boss can be found at the arena with a dead end. If none of them have a dead end, it will be found at one of two that are connected, specifically the one that is blocked off that requires another player to access early. The boss is an Asura and is Water.
You'll have to go though the castle and herd the Werewolf into somewhere without windows. However you'll need to find the Silver charm to even hurt it, so the first 3 encounters you'll need to hit switches to unstuck them and use them to block off the moonlight from the boss to get it to retreat. You'll have to fight another boss in order to claim the Silver charm, and then the final encounter with the Werewolf will be an actual fight. The Werewolf is Poison while the second boss is Thunder. The rooms on the map are numbered in the order you go through each encounter.
Go to the end of the stage and enter the gate. Instead of fighting the bandit though, you'll chase after him instead. He'll leave electric orbs on the ground and send clones after you to impede your progress. Sometimes, he'll stop to either spawn a wave of clones or spread out some orbs in the way, you can use this moment to catch up. During this chase you can hurt him so that he drops money, though emptying his health bar won't kill him, but it'll make him easier in the upcoming fight. Eventually he'll enter another gate and you fight him for real there. The boss is Wind.
Another RNG map. Traverse the Labyrinth and find the teleporter to the trap. I've always found it in the middle arenas though which one it could be I cannot determine. Within it you'll fight Bandit once again. For the sake of consistency I'll note that the boss is Wind.

You fight 4 bosses here. The first 2 are fought alone but the last 2 will be fought together. They're all Asuras, 3 of them were fire and 1 was Thunder. The bosses I found were consistently on the top 3 arenas in the middle, with the duo on the topmost one. If this is RNG, I have not seen any changes within the multitude of times I have played this quest. Please tell me if this isn't consistent though.

Once again you hunt and kill the Werewolf, but instead of a Silver charm, you’ll need to ring the bell on the roof to be able to fight it. By finding the 3 switches in the map you can close off a room from the Werewolf and thus fight him less. Since you need to go back and forth to the bell between encounters, it's best that you hit all the switches so you only need to hit the bell twice. For the map B is for the Bell, S for switches, T for the teleporter and the numbers are the order of room you fight the boss in. Near the teleporter labeled on the map are wooden stakes blocking the way, without Warrior to break it you’ll need to take the teleporter to get to the bell. The boss is Poison.
Find the spirits of those who died and return them to their bodies. If you don’t know where to go this quest is frustrating, which is why I have composed a Map of each spirit and their corpses. S is for spirit and C is for Corpse, match them up to their respective number.
An easy one, go and kill monsters and be sure to manually pick up the gems they drop. Reaching the limit ends the quest on the spot.
Find every blank scroll and give them your blood to progress. Despite needing blood, you won’t lose health for doing so. I labeled the map with all the places I found blank scrolls in with a S. After getting all 3 a teleporter will appear next to you and you fight the boss. It’s an Asura and its type is Water.
After a short gauntlet of enemies it's time for the final showdown with the Bandit. Defeat him in order to fight the final boss of this quest line. Bandit is still Wind, but I’ll leave the details of the final boss for you to figure out yourself.

Now that you've unlocked Bandit, getting familiar with the Moveset should be the next step.
Bandit can equip two different types of weapons, Short Swords and Shurikens.
While you cannot use both at the same time as Bandit does not have a dedicated Shuriken button as Shinobi does, you can set a weapon swap to quick commands to switch between the two quickly. Bandit gets all their movement options from Relics, but without them you only have one jump and a Divekick-like move with Air Dragon Claw.

This is one of two ways Bandit can replenish Relics, This one being the more offensive way of doing so. This can Inflict the debuff of whatever element contract you took. You will get 2 relics minimum upon landing this move, with additional relics based on your luck stat. The first 2 relics are based on your contract while the third is based on the enemy's element. This only takes one bar of DP.

Ground: Bandit winds up the attack, then lunges at the enemy, grabs them and breaks off with more relics. This can be held to both inflict more damage, and obtain more relics. You recover quicker from this if you hold it as the Claw starts to repeat but before it actually does you let go of the button. This makes Bandit jump back as if he held the Claw normally instead of just recovering if he hasn't.

Air: Bandit winds up the attack and lunges diagonally downwards at the enemy. This cannot be held like the Grounded version.
You obtain DP with every hit landed with a short-sword, where as Shurikens do not, though both provide DP on kill.

Ground: Bandit does two quick slashes in succession. This can combo into a Dragon Claw for one bar of DP without any startup but cannot be held. By holding forward while repeatedly attacking Bandit inches forwards while maintaining the attack.

Air: Bandit slashes twice in midair much in the same way as on ground, but while it can lead into air Dragon Claw, it still retains start up if you have done it raw. By combining short hops with this, Bandit can keep momentum and still attack.

Unlike Shinobi, Shurikens do not cost DP to throw. You cannot combo into Dragon Claw or Relics with Shurikens as you can with Short Swords.

Ground: With each button press Bandit throws 3 Shurikens, another set of 3 and then a wide spread of them. Finishing this combo has a very short recovery before Bandit can throw again. Bandit can also aim upwards with Shurikens, but this does not have a combo attached to it.

Air: Bandit throws 3 Shurikens out in front, and then another 3. There is no wide spread as on the ground, but in midair Bandit can throw upwards and downwards as well.

Each Relic can afflict their corresponding debuff except Poison. You can chain each relic into another, but you cannot repeat other relics until you land. You can repeat relics of the same type of your contract once. The exceptions to this is Wind and Thunder, which can be repeated once in every contract, meaning they can be repeated twice under their respective contracts. You store more relics of the same contract you are in.

Reload: The other way of obtaining Relics. Bandit stands in place before chomping down and obtaining a random amount of relics. If Bandit is hit before it finishes the Relic won't be obtained. Requires 2 bars of DP, which is the max you can naturally regenerate.






Fire: This one is bound to the same button as Dragon Claw. Bandit rises up in the air after a spinning fire rod, and then crashes down onto the ground again. Since the ground pound is optional, this can act as another jump if needed. This does have invulnerability during the
upwards ascent only and can be used to pass though attacks.The ground pound can be maneuvered before landing.

Water: This can only be used in midair. Bandit rises up on a water jetpack for a limited amount of time. You are locked to your current height but can move horizontally as well as attack during this time. You cannot turn around or switch weapons types however until you land.

Wind: Bandit jumps up with a gust of wind and floats for a short amount of time before falling at normal speed. This can damage enemies and launch them too if you're close enough.

Thunder: Bandit lunges forwards and jumps back when it lands, or stops in place if it wiffs. This can act as your dash when needed. This does have Invul, but only after you start moving.
Poison: This can only be done while grounded. Bandit powers up and can hit 75% harder for a short period of time. Under poison contract this increases to 100%. This does not apply poison on your weapon. If you are hit while it starts up you still retain the buff.

Dragon Relics are rarities that appear when gaining relics, they have a distinct sound cue when you do get one. It may appear you can only obtain more from claw attacks but it is possible to gain them from reloading. Luck influences your Dragon Relic chance, so if you plan to rely on them, increase luck. Fire and Water Dragon Relics are limited to one relic only where as the rest can store 2.

Fire: This can only be done while grounded. Bandit's arm turns into a cannon that spews out fireballs. This can be held, but when it finishes Bandit will be vulnerable for a moment. If canceled before firing the Relic is preserved.
Water: Bandit puts up a barrier that covers everyone within it. The barrier can be held but if held for too long Bandit will be dazed and vulnerable. The barrier goes from Blue to Yellow to Red before finally giving way.

Wind: Bandit has an unlimited amount of relics to use for a short period of time, but still bound to the repeat limits.















Thunder: Bandit throws a bomb that expands as it explodes. You are safe from your own explosion, it will not harm you if you are caught in it.
Poison: Bandit dashes fowards and locks onto the first enemy he dashes into. While locked on, normal attacks work differently. Short-Swords hit the target regardless of distance, and Shurikens will home in onto the target ignoring anything in the way. Damage for Shurikens is based on PIE during the lock on duration. Like Shinobi this dash has Invul, but using this purely as a dodge is costly.

Bandit has yet to be fully explored since its not long after his debut, but ideas on how to build and play Bandit has circulated that I'll note them here.

Poison contract, Strength/Agility focus. This is suited for early game. With this build you'll be doing most of your damage with your weapon, rather than relics so treat them more as mobility tools. Prioritize Strength first, as doing more hits with high Agility won't matter if your attack does poor damage to begin with. When Strength is high enough, Agility should be raised next. Until then your accessories should cover Agility and should you need it, survivability. Examples of a good Agility accessory is the Hastan Anklet, or if you don't have one, a Leather Choker. For Vitality, Ring of Life can prevent you from getting oneshot while providing a good chunk of Vitality. Pendant of Hope is also an option as it gives Luck and Vitality so that way you can obtain more relics, but does not prevent one shots.

Thunder contract, Luck/Piety focus. Due to the high stats required this for later game. This build is focused on bombing the enemy with the Thunder Dragon Relic, and thus you need high Luck in order to obtain more Dragon Relics. Piety is needed to scale Dragon Skills damage up, and with deficiencies in other stats, this requires knowledge on bosses and patterns to evade damage. Raising Luck is a first, but early points in Piety will help you get by until you can rely on Dragon Relics. You can play this with the Fire contract for a theoretically higher damage cap than Thunder, but this is highly impractical due to the nature of the Fire Dragon Relic. Without Dragon Relics you have to use short swords to generate DP to reload, and do damage with Claw and Relics since they also scale with Piety. Accessories for this build would boost Piety, cause Holy attacks to never miss, as well as survivability if possible. I've yet to acquire accessories suited for this build, so I can't verify the viability of this myself.

The information above I feel is too rigid and seems as though Bandit only has two ways to play. I'll leave the information above for reference sake. Instead this section will cover aspects of Bandit and what kind of play style they might synergize so you can attempt to come up with something that works for you instead of whats the Most Effective Tactic Available.

First we should recap and look at what stat increases what.

• STR increases weapon damage per hit
  
• AGI increases weapon hits per attack, up to 8 hits for Short-Swords but Shurikens can only hit once no matter what.
  
• INT increases Elemental Relic damages and select weapons that do Magic damage, namely the Foil and Flame Chakram. It also used in Magic defense
  
• VIT increases health and Physical defense.
  
• LUC determines your Dragon Relic chance and how many Relics you obtain from Reload and Claw. It also helps determine if you inflict status aliments with Relics and Claws and rarity of loot from chests.
  
• PIE determines Dragon Relic and Claw damage. When locked on using the Poison Dragon Relic this determines Shuriken damage.

Next, you should decide what kind of Contract you want to take. Bandit by default starts out on Thunder contract. When starting out your stats would be low, especially Luck. This means you cannot rely on Relics early game. This means Dragon Relics shouldn't be a factor in choosing at this point but rather what Relic you prefer. The only stand out here is the Poison contract, since its the only Contract that buffs the relic associated with it, as every other contract allows you to use more of a Relic per jump. Later on when you can at least boost Luck to 100~ Dragon Relics appear often enough to bank on using them. Fire and Thunder are purely offensive options that rely on Piety for damage scaling. Water is a defensive option if you cannot find how to dodge or pass though boss patterns. Wind and Poison are utility offering Relic usage and a lock on dash respectively.

Determining what type of weapons you want to use depends on how you want to engage. Short-Swords require you to get up close while Shurikens allow you to deliver safe damage from a distance. However the 2 weapons have different attributes which should be accounted for. Short-Swords need more of an investment with Strength and Agility to maximize effectiveness but allows for more damage over Shurikens as well as increased DP gain. Shurikens only need Strength since they hit once but DP gain isn't as high as Short-Swords and the max damage you can obtain requires you to get close like a Short-Sword. There is an exception to Shurikens that need to be noted, the Flame Chakram. As said above it deals Magic damage, but it also boosts INT by 20, allowing you to take it on builds where INT isn't a focus. If you can get it, its worth taking in every build.

lv.10 SCIMITAR - 50% vs Primal
+0 : The Castle Burns 15
+1 : The Castle Burns 15-25, They Come From Hell 20
+2 : The Castle Burns 25-35, They Come From Hell 20-30, Aim For High Heaven 10, Dragonblood Village 10
+3 : The Castle Burns 35-45, They Come From Hell 30

lv.20 DAGGER - 50% vs Asura, 50% vs enemies 10+ levels above
+0 : Ogre Fort 20, Undying Dragon 20
+1 : Ogre Fort 20-35, Undying Dragon 20, Werewolf Hunting 25, Cavern of Torment 21-30
+2 : Ogre Fort 35-50, The Sleeping Tome 20, Aim For High Heaven 20, Dragonblood Village 20, Werewolf Hunting 25, Cavern of Torment 21-30
+3 : Ogre Fort 50, Werewolf Hunting 25, Cavern of Torment 21-30

lv.30 GLADIUS - 50% vs enemies 10+ levels above
+0 : Undying Dragon 30, Cavern of Torment 21-30
+1 : Undying Dragon 30-45, They Come From Hell 40, Werewolf Hunting 35, Cavern of Torment 21-30
+2 : Undying Dragon 45-55-70, Aim for High Heaven 30, The Sleeping Tome 30, They Come From Hell 40-50, Werewolf Hunting 35, Cavern of Torment 21-30
+3 : Undying Dragon 55-75, They Come From Hell 50, Werewolf Hunting 35

lv.35 FOIL - Deals magical damage, movement speed and jump distance +20%
+0 : The Frigid Nest 40, Calamity's Portent 35, The Bell Tolls 35
+1 : The Frigid Nest 40, Unearthed Royalty 35, Calamity's Portent 35-45, The Bell Tolls 35
+2 : Calamity's Portent 45
+3 : Calamity's Portent 55

lv.35 FLAME CHAKRAM - Deals magical damage
+0 : Unearthed Royalty 55-70-80-90

lv.40 PIRATE CUTLASS/MACHETE - 50% vs Primal
+0 : Truth in Heaven 40
+1 : Aim for High Heaven 40, The Sleeping Tome 40, Truth in Heaven 40-50, Werewolf Hunting 50, Dragon's Struggle 50
+2 : Truth in Heaven 50-60, Werewolf Hunting 50, Dragon's Struggle 50
+3 : Truth in Heaven 60, Werewolf Hunting 50

lv.50 DRAGON SLAYER - 50% vs Asura, 50% vs enemies 10+ levels above
+0 : The Sleeping Tome 50, Marked for Death 30-40-50
+1 : Undying Dragon 45, Marked for Death 30
+2 : Undying Dragon 55-70, Marked for Death 40
+3 : Marked for Death 50

lv.55 SHAMSHIR/ZOMORRODNEGAR - 50% vs Primal, can not die from Poison damage
+0 : The Castle Burns 55, Calamity's Portent 55
+1 : Unearthed Royalty 55-70-80-90, The Castle Burns 55-70, Calamity's Portent 70
+2 : The Castle Burns 70, Calamity's Portent 70-80-90
+3 : Calamity's Portent 80-90

lv.60 COSSACK KNIFE/SHASKA - 50% vs Asura, 50% vs enemies 10+ levels above
+0 : Ogre Fort 60
+1 : Ogre Fort 60-70
+2 : Ogre Fort 70-80
+3 : Ogre Fort 80

lv.65 GREATSABRE/LUCKY SABRE - Movement speed and jump distance +10%, 50% Blight Mushroom become Might
+0 : Soul Vessel 70
+1 : Soul Vessel 70-80
+2 : Soul Vessel 80-90
+3 : Soul Vessel 90

lv.70 TALWAR - 50% vs Primal, 75% bonus damage during negative status effect
+0 : Truth in Heaven 70
+1 : Unearthed Royalty 70, Truth in Heaven 70-80
+2 : Truth in Heaven 80-90
+3 : Truth in Heaven 90

lv.75 FALCHION - 50% vs Asura, 50% vs enemies 10+ levels above
+0 : The Castle Burns 80
+1 : The Castle Burns 80-90
+2 : The Castle Burns 90
+3 : The Castle Burns 100, Calamity's Portent 110

lv.85 GUANDAO/IPETAM - 50% vs Primal, permanent poison status
+0 : Sea of Tumult 80
+1 : Sea of Tumult 90
+2 : Sea of Tumult 100
+3 : Sea of Tumult 110

Stuff here is info that doesn't really belong anywhere but I feel should be noted somewhere.

Bandit's favorite food is this Sandwich, meaning he heals the most from it.
At the very least I've yet to have found something more effective.

Lunging off an edge with the Dragon Claw won't make you fall until the move finishes.

It's possible for Dragon Claw to land but pass though an enemy so that you no longer damage them but still obtain Relics.