Welcome back, fellow Dungeon Defenders. In the last article we covered the Squire / Countess. This time we’ll be focusing on the Apprentice / Adept.
The apprentice is a mage class and probably the easiest to use, especially for beginners who are not sure about tower placement. He doesn’t have a lot of health so don’t expect him to go toe to toe with an enemy armada. Luckily, his towers more than make up for that. The Apprentice’s main attack shoots balls of energy from his staff. Some weapons allow you to fire a spread of energy balls. His secondary attack reminds me of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings when he yelled “You…Shall Not…PASS!!!” The Apprentice holds the staff over his head and slams it into the ground, knocking back everyone around him while doing damage. Unlike the Squire, the Apprentice can charge his attacks by holding in the appropriate attack button making them more powerful. His Overcharge ability allows him to cast all of his magic abilities faster and his Mana Bomb ability shoots off a large wave of energy doing massive damage to those around him. Both of these abilities cost mana to use.
The Adept is similar to the Apprentice and acquired via downloadable content (DLC). She has the same towers as the Apprentice but her abilities are slightly different. Her Instant Upgrade ability sacrifices mana to allow a turret / trap to be instantly upgraded without a casting period and her Purity Bomb is a wave of energy that is powerful against undead creatures and necromancers.
Left to Right: Magic Barricade, Magic Missile, Fireball, Lightning, Deadly Striker
Towers:
Magic Blockade: It’s similar to the Squire’s spiked barricade however this one does not do damage. It does, however, remove the magical resistances from any enemy who attacks it. If a goblin is resistant to fire and attacks the barricade, he’ll no longer be resistant to fire. If you’re alone or with friends that aren’t playing as the Squire / Countess, these will be important for halting the enemy’s advance and blocking off choke points.
Magic Missile: Fires arcane bolts at an enemy. It can only hit one at a time but is cheap and powerful in numbers. This tower can also attack the air. I usually throw one of these down in the beginning at each of my choke points due to the lack of mana you have in the early waves for the more expensive stuff. I keep them for the fact that most enemies that have resistances are either resistant to poison, lightning, or fire damage. This tower will aid you in picking off those that your other towers can’t due to enemies with magical resistances.
Fireball: It’s powerful, it’s range is greater, and its damage is an area of effect (AOE) meaning the damage splashes to everything around what it hits. You’ll want at least one of these up once you can afford them, however keep in mind that it will do zero damage to any enemies with fire resistance.
Lightning: Shoots an arc of lightning at one target which then jumps to one nearby, then jumps to the next target, then the next, and etc. It’s very useful for hitting targets out of range as the chain lightning will carry it sometimes all the way back to the enemy’s spawn point. They are expensive however and any enemy resistant to lightning will not be effected by it.
Deadly Striker: It’s your version of a sniper tower if there was such a thing in this game. It shoots a high yield blast of energy over very long distances but the recharge is slow. It can one shot most enemies and great for ogres and bosses but is expensive. It is not ideal for taking out multiple targets quickly.
Strategies:
My general strategy is to place magic barriers down at my chosen two or three choke points and place a magic missile tower behind it. They are cheap and will do damage to all enemies, even those with various resistances. Over the next few waves I add fireball turrets to each choke point, then eventually lightning. These three combined usually do enough damage on their own to take out most waves without difficulty. Depending on the map, you may need a magic missile tower as a standalone by your crystals to get the wyverns that don’t follow the main route. If I have population room left (you’re limited to how many towers / traps you can have at a time) I will place a deadly striker tower behind the choke point that will have an ogre coming at it in possible future waves.
As a caster with crappy health you’ll want to hang back and let your towers do the work. Keep a variety of different towers at your choke points to ensure you’re killing everything. Three fireball turrets won’t do you any good when they are destroyed by a lone goblin with fire resistance. Use your ranged attacks to soften up enemies as they approach, just be sure you stay behind your towers and watch for archers…they can shoot past your defenses and still hit you.
All of the towers attack the air so you’ll have a variety of things to use against wyverns, however I prefer to use a magic missile tower at wyvern choke points just in case a wyvern spawns with any sort of magical resistance.
YOU…SHALL NOT…PASS!!!!
If you do find yourself surrounded, don’t hesitate to push your enemies back with your secondary attack.
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You can see video play sessions here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOukQRuc82M