The Different Types of Heroes
Fighters are the warriors of strength, endurance, and willpower. They favor dungeons featuring Warrior-themed treasures, represented by sword iconography. With naturally high hitpoints, these heroes can take great hits before being vanquished, more so than any other class. To effectively counter them, your dungeon should contain rooms that inflict very high damage over time. The “Golem Factory” and “Dracolich Lair” would be good examples of room types worth incorporating. Cast spells that either increase the damage inflicted by these rooms or hit the Fighter directly so they are weakened before they get too far into your own realm’s depths.
Thieves are quick and crafty. They are drawn to dungeons where sinful treasure glitters in the dark, especially cash, signified by a sack of gold. These heroic heroes are best utilized by escaping very quickly through your dungeon, using their moderate health points and clever abilities. Counters such as traps and slowing effects in rooms are effective against thieves. “The Bottomless Pit” or “The Crushing Wall” are excellent at snaring thieves and doing them damage over time. Spells like “Freeze” or “Slow” in combination with these rooms may help ensure that they are damaged consistently throughout their travels.
Clerics are unyielding champions revered predominantly for their healing prowess. They discover dungeons that contain artifacts of the faith, indicated by a cross icon. Because clerics can heal and protect themselves, they are more daunting enemies than other types of heroes. Rooms should be constructed that impose continuous damage over several turns. Poison-themed rooms like “The Swamp” and others that inflict lasting injury serve especially well against their healing ability. Offensive spells like “Fireball” that deliver direct, unavoidable damage would help ensure that Clerics don’t survive their healing efforts.
In search of ancient knowledge of the arcane, Mages are the heroic figures wearing a book icon. Their health points may be lower than those of other heroes, but this is mitigated by their ability to wield fearsome magic. This is what makes them deadly. Mages can cast spells that pass through regular defenses within your dungeon. They require quick, decisive responses. Deploy rooms that will do immediate and grave damage, such as “The Specter Sanctum” and “The Haunted Library,” to create hot spots for the Mages. The goal is to disable the Mages before they are allowed to cast a single spell. Spells such as “Magic Missile” or “Lightning Bolt” that target the Mages’ lower health directly can be crucial to this end.
Special Heroes have unique powers and characteristics, usually brought by an expansion or particular special rules of the game. Some of these heroes might be immune to certain damage types, possess greater health, or create certain special effects under specific conditions. To fight Special Heroes, it is important first to know what special abilities they have. If a Special Hero is immune to trap damage, players should aim to construct monster-themed rooms that cause large amounts of physical damage. If a Special Hero has high health, it is paramount to create a series of rooms that can inflict very large damage in total. Variable damage rooms, or those with effects like the “Demon Circle,” which boosts damage according to the number of adjacent rooms, can be powerful against Special Heroes. It is also critical to use spells that counter the special powers of the hero, ensuring that your dungeon remains versatile enough to neutralize the different threats posed by Special Heroes.
Epic Heroes enter the stage at the game’s late moments, significantly raising the level of challenge. With increased health points, damage, and immunity to some attacks or ailments, Epic Heroes test your dungeon and your strategic mind. To prepare for such mighty enemies, upgrade your rooms whenever able and make sure each one is built up capable of doing the most damage possible. Save the strongest spells for when you face an Epic Hero. They can be the turning point for you. “Soul Harvest” spells which either do powerful direct damage or significantly improve your dungeon rooms become almost essential in these fights. If an Epic Hero has physical damage resilience, flexibility in using magical damage can be the way to victory.
Optimizing Your Dungeon for Maximum Effect
Keep monster and trap rooms mixed up. A dungeon without a balance will not be able to accommodate the different skills of Fighters, Thieves, Clerics, and Mages very well. One room type alone will not allow the dungeon to address the primary strengths and weaknesses of each of these hero classes.
Enhanced damage or extended effects improve many upgraded rooms, making them more powerful. When to upgrade rooms versus when to bank your resources is a matter of strategy. Early game upgrades can help fend off initial attacks from heroes effectively, while late game upgrades make it very sure that your dungeon is not easily beaten by Special and Epic Heroes.
Efficient use of your spells is the key to maximizing the impact of your dungeons. A well-placed damage amplification spell like “Fireball,” for instance, or a well-times defensive spell like “Freeze,” can completely alter the success of a hero’s journey through your dungeon. The well-times use of high-damage or utility spells can turn the tide between victory and defeat.
If you can see the patterns in which heroes arrive in your dungeon, you can seek to best prepare for their coming. Observing hero behavior over time during normal play has offered players insight into such actions, depending on the treasures heroes seek. Treasure should be placed in regions that would be the hardest for heroes to traverse. Doing this might involve placing high-damage rooms at the start of the dungeon to weaken heroes at first glance or ensuring that your most powerful room is positioned where it can do the most harm.
Final Tips and Tricks
Many rooms have abilities that activate based on adjacent room types or specific conditions. Placing a trap room beside a monster-themed room that benefits from weakened heroes increases your overall damage output. Pay attention to room abilities, and try to place them here and there to create synergies that increase their effects to the maximum level.
When choosing cards, make sure to consider present and future scenarios. Pick rooms that have a synergy with future probable additions. Mark as versatile priority spells, meaning they may be used effectively in more than one situation. The larger the range of rooms and spells in your deck, the more flexibility and effectiveness it will have as the game continues.
Keep tabs on your enemies’ dungeons and the heroes they recruit. Noticing the strengths and weaknesses can help define your strategic moves accordingly. If a foe is heavily drawing Fighters, it may be in your best interest to attract other types of heroes to cut down direct competition and increase the likelihood that heroes enter your dungeon. Viewing the Layouts of your enemies’ rooms may help you discover effective or faulty arrangements you should not duplicate—or model after.
Certain rooms possess special powers and can perform those powers under specific conditions. Use those powers prudently, though, to get maximum value. Rooms dealing extra damage to heroes with the most health should consistently be placed in paths that intersect with the most formidable heroes. Rooms that counter heroes should be triggered at critical points in a hero’s passage through your dungeon and at opportune moments.