Death Must Die: 8 Beginner Tips

Summary

• Death Must Die offers a satisfying gameplay loop with charming graphics and character classes reminiscent of Diablo 2.
• You should remain patient, as progression in the game involves learning enemy behaviors and acquiring better gear over time.
• Constant movement is key in Death Must Die, as exploring the map can lead to discovering beneficial objects and maximizing loot plundered.

It looks like Vampire Survivors might have some serious competition in the wave-based, Roguelike part of the market; Death Must Die has a satisfying core gameplay loop, coupled with a charming graphical style, user interface, and character classes reminiscent of Diablo 2 to top it all off.

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If you're here to begin with, though, odds are this game hasn't just caught your eye; you've spent the few bucks required, and you're looking to hit the ground running. Thankfully, the tips you'll find below will help with that, but whether this information helps you run towards or away from enemies, is still up to you.

8 Be Patient In The Beginning

You Thought You Could Defeat Death On Day One?

Look, if you're new to this specific genre, the entire idea of progression can be diluted to getting some loot, learning specific enemy attacks and behaviors, getting pummeled into the ground, and coming back with slightly better gear and a bit more knowledge; kind of like Naruto, if you're familiar with that anime.

As long as you keep with it, you'll accumulate better gear, or gold to buy better gear if you didn't find any good stuff, and unlock new characters with their own unique feel, recommended playstyle, and build viabilities. Have faith; eventually, you'll become a god of your own.

7 Stay Moving

Less Hits Taken, More Loot Plundered

Not only is it boring to sit around in roughly the same place as you're fighting enemies, it's actually a disadvantage to do so. While it's certainly okay to periodically farm some enemies for experience, you don't want to miss out on what the map has to offer.

From the start, you should set off in arbitrarily chosen directions, while glancing regularly at your minimap for small yellow dots, which indicate the positions of shrines, graves, wells, altars, statues, and other, oftentimes beneficial objects you can interact with.

6 Look For Blessing Synergies

A Lesson On Positive Feedback Loops

Every time you level up, a random god will pop up and let you choose from one of three Blessings; passive benefits that can augment your damage, such as spell or attack damage, or utility, such as movement speed or ability cooldowns.

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There are all kinds of Blessings you can mix and match to create powerful synergies and combinations, so take the time to read through their descriptions. One example is grabbing the 'Gem High' and 'Force' Blessings from Time, creating a scaling damage and attack speed loop through experience shards.

5 Plan For The Future

Making Use Of Your Pattern Recognition Skills

While it should go without saying that it's a good idea to figure out which characters you like to play the most, and subsequently center the gear you equip around a specific playstyle or build, there are other ways to improve progression or last longer in your runs.

To elaborate, simply paying attention to what you pick up, what you're fighting, and when certain events happen goes a long way. This methodology in action could look like:

• Saving a powerful item in your stash for another character, instead of selling it.
• Recognizing that the green slime wave happens at the four-minute mark, with the first boss fight happening a few minutes later.
• Noticing that certain Blessings, like Incineration, can make some predetermined events easier.

4 Save Heals For When You Need Them

Wait For More Opportune Moments If Possible

If you see a well, fountain, red health orb drop, or some other health-restoring method, it's good practice to avoid instinctively healing yourself the second you're able to, especially if you're almost at max health; it's more efficient that way.

Consider this scenario: you're at roughly 75 percent health, the green slime wave is about to arrive, and a red health orb just dropped. Simply staying near that orb until the slime wave starts leaves you a healing option for when you need it, rather than grabbing it instantly and risking an otherwise avoidable death.

3 Give Your Enemies Respect

Lest You Be Pummeled

The idea of giving your enemies respect is a bit strange if you've never heard of such advice before, but it's practical wisdom: don't get cocky with any enemy you've grown comfortable with, even the common ones; your health bar will thank you.

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Although there are exceptions that can be evaluated at your own discretion, the general practice you should follow is to fight your enemies cautiously, even when you're feeling strong or overpowered; usually all it takes is a few, powerful hits in quick succession to take you down in an instant.

2 Attack And Spell Damage

Knowing The Difference

Every time you pick a Blessing, right below its rarity level, it will disclose its damage type, if applicable, as either an Attack, or a Spell. Merciful Strike, for example, gives you more damage and applies the Weakened status effect, but only for your basic attacks.

Then there are Blessings, like Chain Lightning, that do spell damage, even for ones that activate from your basic attacks. Pay attention to the Blessings you're picking up, and choose passive bonuses that actually influence what you've chosen. Usually, most of your damage is going to come from the spell damage type.

1 Getting The Blessings You Want

Three Tools For Blessing Manipulation

While you don't typically have the option to do so in your first few runs, as you get relevant gear, or come across a passive buff during a run, you'll have up to three dice types at your disposal on the right side of your screen to have more control over Blessing RNG.

• Alteration dice.
• Banish dice.
• Reroll dice.

In short, Alteration dice will replace a god and the Blessings they're offering with a different one, Banish dice will prevent a Blessing of your choosing from reappearing the rest of your run, and Reroll dice will simply refresh the Blessings being offered by a god. At least it's not as complicated as Dungeons & Dragons!

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