Skill Point Guide
I’m going to be blunt: I feel like some skill levels in this game have a lot more utility than others, and I pretty much don’t deviate from a standard load-out.
Other Dungreed Guides:
First, you’re always going to want 20 points in Mystic. That allows you to bring an item back with you from the dungeon, and those items can make most runs trivial.
For your other 10-15 skill points, I’d suggest improving on your strengths rather than covering weaknesses. I always take the 20% more gold perk, since combined with the 20% I’m gaining from Aegis, I no longer have to worry about running out of gold in a run. If you’ve unlocked the Focus tree, I’d recommend 10 points in that, since it gives you an easy boost to HP, reloading speed and critical bonus, with some HP regen as well. Note that you can swap between melee and ranged weapons to take advantage of the healing bonuses I told you about in tip 11.
If you haven’t unlocked Focus, then it’s mostly up to preference. The 25 satiety boost from Greed doesn’t do much for you in number-terms, but if you act like you still had a 100-point satiety when moving between floors, you’ll never have to worry about missing a powerful buff. Starting with a shield can be handy, and extra dashes and jumps are useful so long as you remember you have them.
Strategy
Always take Toughness when available, unless you’ve got a good build going and see something else that will make your build even stronger. The best way to play Dungreed is to focus on your strengths, not cover for your weaknesses. If you get a good build going, it can spiral into something completely ridiculous so long as you keep focusing on it.
Always take true damage if you’ll have at least 3 points and you know there’s a possibility of finding rapid-fire weapons. 3 points is enough to start a low-level true damage build, and even if you can’t find the other requirements for it, it will still add to your damage at the end of the day.
Lastly, find what works for you and stick with it. My strategy is always to find a rapid-fire, medium-long distance, accurate ranged weapon. When I say ‘accurate’, I mean that throwing knives and kunai seldom make the cut. Think of every missed attack (and every missed opportunity for an attack, for you melee masochists out there) as eating a huge chunk out of your DPS, because it really is.
Getting faster attack speed (and reloading speed for gun users) stacks multiplicatively with power and critical, so the best damage builds will have a combintation of all three. It’s possible to win even without strong weapons – I’ve fought the true final boss three times now and killed on my last two, first with just an Advanced Pistol (blue-tier) and second with a Colt (white-tier). Just remember to focus on your build.
The Trials
Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do for you in the Trials – they are brief tests of skill sandwiched between long tests of patience to reach them. All I can say is; take your time and don’t let failure frustrate you. The first and fourth trials are probably tied for the hardest of the five, with the second and fifth ones tied for easiest.
Once you’ve completed the fourth trial, you can access the fifth on any run. Defeating Erta Ale and buying the optional item afterwards will allow you to challenge the true final boss after defeating Kaminela.