Dicey Dungeons: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

Introduction — Why This Game Will Own Your Weekend

Look, I've been playing Dicey Dungeons since it dropped in 2019, and I've got a love-hate relationship with it that borders on unhealthy. I've got 400+ hours across PC and Switch, and I still get my ass handed to me on Reunion runs with the Robot. This game is not fair. It's not meant to be. That's what makes it incredible.

What makes Dicey Dungeons special isn't the "cute dice game" aesthetic—that's the trap. Underneath the chiptune soundtrack and the silly cartoon characters is a brutal, numbers-driven roguelike that will punish you for every lazy decision. Terry Cavanagh (yeah, the VVVVVV guy) built a game where RNG isn't the enemy—your own dumb choices are. I've lost runs because I clicked "end turn" instead of "use dice" on a 6 when I had a perfect counter lined up. I've won runs with a single Wooden Shield and a prayer because I knew exactly how to milk the enemy AI.

What I love: the moment-to-moment puzzle of "how do I spend these exact numbers to not die this round." What I hate: the Lady Luck episode with the Witch. That episode is pure RNG BS and I will die on that hill. But overall? This game respects your intelligence. It doesn't hold your hand, and when you finally clear a run with the Jester on Hard Mode, you feel like you solved a Rubik's Cube while juggling chainsaws.

Getting Started / First Steps — Stuff I Wish I Knew

The tutorial sucks. No, really—it tells you how to drag dice, but it doesn't tell you how to think. Here's what nobody mentions when you boot up the game for the first time:

• Your first character is the Warrior. Good. Stick with him for at least 5 runs. He's the tutorial disguised as a class. His "no frills" loadout forces you to learn dice management without gimmicks. Don't switch to the Thief until you've beaten Episode 2 with the Warrior at least once.
• The "Shop" between floors is a trap for new players. I wasted so much gold on Healing Potions early on. Potions are emergency-only, not a strategy. Buy dice upgrades (like +1 to all odds/evens) or equipment slots first. You need agency, not healing.
• Every floor has a "boss door" that shows you the boss's equipment. This is your single biggest information advantage. If the boss has Shield Bash (which counters your attacks when you roll a 6), you need to manipulate your dice to avoid rolling 6s. Yes, you can actively try to roll low. That's a thing.
• You can see enemy turn order and their dice pool. At the start of each combat round, pause and look at what the enemy rolled. If they have two 4s and you have a Weak Shield that blocks exactly 4 damage, you know you're safe this turn. If they rolled a 6 and you're at 4 HP, you better find a way to counter that.
• Hard Mode isn't "harder enemies"—it's less information. Normal mode shows you the boss ahead of time. Hard Mode hides it. That's the only change for most episodes. It's a massive difference. Don't touch Hard until you've beaten Normal on at least 3 characters.

Core Mechanics & Progression — How the Game Actually Works

Forget what the game tells you. Here's the real breakdown:

• Dice are currency, not damage. Each die face is a resource. A 1 is good for activating cheap abilities or "wasting" on a re-roll. A 6 is powerful but predictable. The game is about assigning value to each number, not just hoping for high rolls. I've seen players reroll a perfectly good 5 because they wanted a 6—and then got a 1 and lost the turn. Don't be greedy.
• Equipment is everything. Your starting weapon is a Baseball Bat (1d6 damage). But equipment has upgrade levels (0 to +5). Upgrading equipment doesn't just increase numbers—it often adds new abilities. Example: The Flamethrower at +0 does 45 base DPS (damage per second) but at +3 it gains "Ignite: Apply 2 Burn each turn." That changes the entire build.
• Burn, Poison, and Freeze are not equal. Poison is garbage in early game. I spent my first three runs trying to stack poison with the Thief and got destroyed by the second boss every time. Why? Because enemies heal faster than poison ticks early on. Burn is better for short fights, Freeze is king for control, and Poison is only good if you have a +5 Poison Dagger and a long fight ahead.
• The Jukebox (character progression) is a noob trap. You unlock cosmetics, but the only thing that matters is new characters. Unlock the Inventor and Jester as fast as possible. The Inventor's "gadget" ability lets you break the game's rules. The Jester's "jester's hat" lets you reroll enemy dice. These are game-changers.

Expert Tips & Tricks — The Stuff Only Pain Teaches You

I've died more times than I've won. These tips came from those deaths:

• Learn to "waste" high dice. If the boss has a Counter that triggers on 5 and 6, use your 6 on a Shield or Heal ability. Or just don't use it at all and end turn. You don't have to use every die. The enemy AI uses all their dice every turn—that's their weakness. You don't have to.
• The "Lady Luck" episode is a lie. With the Witch, your luck stat determines how often you get good rolls. But here's the trick: equip items that reroll your dice as a passive. The Lucky Charm (reroll all 1s once per turn) is literally a run-winner. Without it, Lady Luck is a coin flip. With it, you average 4.2 per die instead of 3.5.
• Against the Bear boss (Chapter 1), don't try to out-damage him. He has Rage (takes less damage per hit but deals more). Instead, use Split Shot or any multi-hit weapon. Each hit reduces his Rage bar. I beat him first time with the Fork (hits 3 times for 1d4 each) because it stripped all his Rage in one turn.
• Your inventory has a hard limit of 10 items. I know—it's a dice game, why is there inventory management? Because you can carry extra equipment to swap mid-battle. Always carry a backup weapon for enemies that resist your main damage type. I keep a Magic Wand (magic damage) even if I'm a physical build, because some enemies (like the Wraith) are immune to physical damage.
• The "Dice Manipulation" gear is the strongest in the game. Items like Dice Press (convert any die to a 6) or Dice Splitter (split a 6 into two 3s) are worth their weight in gold. I once had a run with two Dice Presses and a Boomerang (deals damage equal to your lowest die). I turned everything into 1s and the Boomerang hit for 6 damage per turn guaranteed. Disgusting.

Common Mistakes to Avoid — Don't Be Me

I've made every mistake in this game so you don't have to:

• Sticking to one character. I played Warrior for my first 20 hours and thought I was hot stuff. Then I tried the Robot and realized I didn't understand the game at all. Each character has a unique dice system (the Robot even has overclocking where dice can break). Play all of them to understand the game's full language. The Jester's "dice theft" taught me more about enemy AI than any guide.
• Ignoring the "Event" rooms. On each floor, there's a room with a question mark icon. These are Events—not optional. NEVER skip them. Events can give you free upgrades, new equipment, or remove curses. The "Haunted Shop" event gave me a free max-level sword one time. I never skip Events now.
• Hoarding gold for the "perfect" shop. Gold is useless if you're dead. I used to save 100+ gold for the last shop before the final boss, and I'd die because I didn't spend it on a decent Armor piece on floor 2. Spend gold as soon as you see something useful. A +1 Shield on floor 1 can carry you to floor 5.
• Not using the "Rest" room strategically. Resting heals 50% of your max HP. But sometimes it's better to skip it if you're at high HP and there's a Forge nearby. Forging upgrades your gear permanently. A +2 weapon is worth more than 20 HP you'll lose anyway. I once took a Rest at 50 HP when I could have upgraded my Bow to +3. The next boss had Thorns (reflects damage). I needed that damage, not the HP.
• Falling for the "Lucky Dice" item. It costs 20 gold and guarantees you roll a 6 on your next die. Sounds great, right? Wrong. It takes up an equipment slot and is a single-use. Never buy it. Instead, get the Butterfly Net (catch any die and keep it for next turn). That gives you flexibility, not a once-per-run crutch.

FAQ — The Questions You're Too Embarrassed to Ask

Q: How do I beat the final boss (The Witch's Curse)?
A: The final boss has a Curse Counter that counts down from 10. Every time you attack, it drops by 1. When it hits 0, you get Cursed (can't use dice for 2 turns). The strategy is to use low-damage, multi-hit attacks (like Machine Gun or Fork) to keep damage output low while you tick the counter. Also: save your Divine Intervention item (if you have it) for the turn it hits 0 to negate the Curse.

Q: What's the best character for beginners?
A: Warrior is the best. But if you've beaten the game with him, try Thief. The Thief's ability to steal enemy dice is straightforward—you literally take their resources. The Inventor is a distant third because you have to manage "gadgets" which adds complexity. I don't recommend Jester for beginners because his dice-rerolling mechanics require you to know what numbers you want before you start.

Q: Why do I keep dying on floor 3?
A: Floor 3 is the "gear check" floor. The enemies here have Armor (damage reduction) and Status effects (like Freeze). If you haven't upgraded your weapon to at least +2 or found a armor-piercing item (like Rapier), you're going to die. Also: floor 3 bosses (especially the Pirate Captain) have Dice Steal—they take your best die and use it against you. Equip 0-cost abilities (like Taunt) to waste dice before the steal happens.

Q: Is there a "broken" build I can force?
A: Yes, but it's RNG-dependent. The strongest build I've ever run was Thief + Toxic Dagger (+5 Poison) + Dagger Swarm (multi-hit) + Snake Ring (poison spreads to all enemies). Every hit applied poison to everyone, and with multi-hit, they'd tick for 12+ damage per turn by round 3. But you can't force this—you have to adapt to what the shop gives you. The only build you can reliably force is Warrior + Shield + Counter, which works in any run because you block and retaliate.

Q: What's the deal with Reunion mode?
A: Reunion mode is the "true" endgame. Every character has a fixed build and you face remixed enemies. It's brutally hard because you can't customize your build. The only tip I have is: learn the exact order of enemy attacks. Each Reunion run has a scripted sequence—once you memorize it (like "the second enemy always uses Lightning Bolt on turn 2"), you can pre-counter it. I've beaten Reunion with the Thief by memorizing the Golem fight: he always uses Hammer Slam on the third turn with a 6. So I save my Shield ability for that turn.

Q: Why does the game feel like RNG sometimes?
A: Because it is. But here's the thing: good players win with bad RNG 60% of the time, and bad players lose with good RNG 100% of the time. The game offers dice manipulation tools (re-rolls, dice split, dice duplicators) that mitigate RNG if you prioritize them. If you ever feel like the game is unfair, you probably didn't pick up the Dice Cup (re-roll all dice once per turn) in the Shop. That's on you, not the dice.