Minecraft Dungeons has arrived, available now on Xbox Game Pass or the Microsoft Store for an absurdly low price of $20. Dungeons takes an old-school approach to dungeon action RPG, with an emphasis on loot and discovery. The game has quite a few hidden levels, and heaps of loot and playstyles to build, all on three major difficulty levels.
As a level 90 player with dozens of hours of gameplay, here are some general tips and tricks that I would offer for those just getting started for the first time.
The aim of the game is the loot
Minecraft Dungeons is not a story game, although it does contain some fun plot details and lore for fans of the franchise. The game revolves around the Arch-Illager and his Orb of Dominion staff, granting him powers beyond the Minecraft world. You’ll complete the base difficulty level relatively quickly, in about 3-4 hours, depending on how much exploration you do. However, the real meat of the game is its loot and gear system.
As you head into Adventure and Apocalypse difficulty, new types of armor and weapons open up to you, as well as powerful “Unique” armor and weapons that provide unique synergies with the Artifact abilities of the Game.
Finding a specific weapon or armor set you want to build your class around is ultimately the name of the game, grinding levels with your friends, and creating different builds.
After beating the game on Apocalypse difficulty, there’s not much left to do except go loot hunting. Still, Mojang is preparing to add two more DLC packages in the future, and there’s a mysterious broken Nether portal hidden inside the camp area, possibly hinting at some procedurally generated upper rifts. Diablo-style for more endgame-style content. Getting to the end of the Apocalypse difficulty will eventually take around 20-30 hours, depending on your pace. Personally, I’m waiting to defeat the final boss on Apocalypse difficulty until I perfect my build.
You get more loot (and fun) with friends
Since the object of the game is loot, the most efficient way to get the coins you want is to play with friends. As with other games like this, adding more friends adds even more difficulty to the game. Just adding three players into the mix creates huge swarms of mobs that can be really hard to get through if you don’t work as a team.
To compensate for this difficulty bump, the game is also adding more loot and rewards.
Synergize your artifacts and armor with your weapon style
Like Monster Hunter World and other gear-based progression titles, Minecraft Dungeons character development is all about their gear. There are no defined classes, and instead your loadout determines your playstyle.
I’ve seen reviews where reviewers complained that melee classes are too weak and die too easily, for example. The reality is that they weren’t using an optimal build for this particular style of play. If you’re planning on playing something like a Squishy Berserker, for example, using a dual ax or other heavy melee weapon, you’re going to want to use defensive artifacts that can help you mitigate tons of incoming melee damage. The Iron Hide Amulet and Gong of Weakening give you defense bonuses, and the Light Feather allows you to roll across the battlefield stunning enemies as you go, preventing them from attacking you.
If you find that your current setup isn’t working, try to identify your weaknesses and adapt to a different version. You can also buy more suitable items at the level of vendors, and don’t be afraid to go back and find better gear at a more manageable level if you think you need it!
General Gear Tips: Melee, Archery, and Souls
Minecraft Dungeons offers dozens of potential playstyle combinations that you can create by mixing and matching gear, artifacts, and enchantments. The sky really is the limit, and finding out what works for yourself is part of the fun. However, if you want to get started, here are some tips for beginners.
Tips for scrum players
Melee players can be squishy, especially on the higher difficulties. There are specific armor sets designed to mitigate damage, such as plate armor, mercenary armor, and many more. You’ll want to wear them to withstand blows, but even then you can die very quickly in the midst of a large group of monsters.
You can compensate for incoming damage using artifacts such as the Ironskin Amulet and Weakening Gong mentioned previously. There are also items like shock powder which stuns enemies in a wide area of effect for quite a long time. Melee attackers can also prioritize getting enchantments like Lifesteal or Radiance that heal you in exchange for melee damage. Mitigation should be a key part of your build mentality when playing a melee character, whether through auto-heals, stuns, or defense buffs.
Advice for archery style players
Archery style players will want to pick up armor that increases ranged damage. Hunter armor not only does that, but also grants more arrows. Indeed, the arrows are finished in Minecraft Dungeons, and the whole group shares their drops.
If you use the comm wheel to say “Need more arrows!” to your teammates, it will help you make sure you are on top. Additionally, armor like Ghost Armor allows you to increase the number of souls you can absorb from defeated enemies, which works well with the Quiver of Torment, turning souls into arrows. Using an item like the Ghost Cloak can help you get past obstacles set up by enemies, allowing you to reposition yourself in a snap.
Advice for Players Using Souls
The soul mechanic is interesting since it allows you to convert defeated enemy souls into resources. Some abilities, like the Corrupted Beacon or the Harvester, are immensely, immensely powerful and require tons of souls to operate. This is fine if there are a lot of mobs to kill, but in boss fights where adds don’t appear, you may need to finish the boss off with a melee or arrows, so don’t worry take !
That said, there are weapons in the game like a unique Soul Knife that grants you souls on hit rather than death, helping to keep your Artifacts powered up.
Don’t read detailed guides (even ours), find out for yourself!
Honestly, the best thing about Minecraft Dungeons is the sense of discovery. Throughout the exam program, naturally, I didn’t have internet access to read guides and that sort of thing, and working it all out on my own was incredibly fun. Experiment, explore every corner of the map, use the dodge roll to jump over gaps that don’t seem passable, you never know what you might find. And of course, have fun.
Bonus Tip: Spiders will become your most hated enemy towards the end of the game, for their ability to capture you at the most inopportune times. Kill all the spiders as soon as possible!
Minecraft is growing and reaching out.
Minecraft Dungeons is the next saga in Minecraft history, and it looks like Mojang and Microsoft are knocking another one out of the park. Minecraft Dungeons combines the familiar world we all grew up in with an injection of Diablo, great fun. Available on every platform you’re on, for a ridiculously attractive price, what’s not to love?