Chiku's Progression Guide

Guide Sections

This page starts at the Level 0 progression route and focuses on the main path players should follow while progressing through Dungeon Defenders.

• Level 0 - First Hero + Main Campaign
• Level 20-ish - Challenge: Raining Goblins
• Level 22-ish - Tinkerers Lab Power Leveling
• Upgrading and Recommended Heroes Based on Meta
• Level 74 - Fish
• Level 74 - Dread Dungeon
• Level 78 - Arcane Library
• Preparing DPS Heroes
• Monk DPS Pets Route - 3k Tower Damage
• Monk DPS Pets Route - 4k Tower Damage Options
• Propeller Cat DPS Route - 3.5k Tower Damage
• Wintermire
• Mana
• Maps for Accessories and Their Set Bonuses
• The Guide Continues?

Level 0 - First Hero + Main Campaign

Step 1: Pick Your First Hero

Start by choosing one hero. You only need one hero at the beginning, so do not worry about making a full roster yet.

Recommended starting heroes:

• Hermit
• Guardian
• Warden
• Series EV
• Jester
• Apprentice or Adept
• Countess or Squire

Beginner-Friendly Notes

These heroes all have strengths and weaknesses. Series EV and Jester can make some early campaign maps very easy, but later they can be harder to use because their placements need to be more precise.

Apprentice, Adept, and Warden can be a little more complicated. Hermit, Squire, Countess, and Guardian are usually easier to start with. Guardian is especially strong because her tower damage scales with Tower HP.

Chiku personally enjoys Adept the most for this route because it is more complicated and fun to use.

Step 1.5: Optional Early Cheese

After picking your first hero, you can optionally do a small cheese strategy before starting the campaign.

1. Open Challenge: Halloween Invasion.
2. Set the difficulty to Nightmare Hardcore.
3. Find it under the Lost Quests tab.
4. Open chests for early items.
5. Restart the map as many times as you want.

The goal is to find a low-level weapon with useful damage. A staff with damage and good knockback is especially useful because knockback also affects the radius of your slam attack.

Look for items with very low level requirements. If you find something usable at level 1, that is ideal. High-level items are not useful here and are not worth picking up.

When you are done checking chests, press G to ready up, or Ctrl + G if you are hosting a group. Then restart and repeat as many times as you want.

You can also use the extra mana from this to buy a pet from the pet shop for extra DPS.

Step 2: Start the Main Campaign

After that, jump into the main campaign and focus on the first four maps. Your goal is to beat Alchemical Laboratory and unlock the challenge map.

Chiku recommends doing these maps on Hard Hardcore because it gives better experience and better items.

• Play the first four campaign maps.
• Use Hard Hardcore if you can.
• Put your level-up points into Tower Damage.
• Beat Alchemical Laboratory.
• Unlock the challenge map for the next step.

You should be able to clear the first four maps without too much trouble if you keep putting your points into Tower Damage. If you fail, just try again. You still gained character experience and probably picked up some useful items.

Level 20-ish - Challenge: Raining Goblins

Step 3: Early-Game Item Farming

Challenge: Raining Goblins on Nightmare Hardcore is Chiku's go-to early-game item farming map.

The main goal here is not always to beat the map. The goal is to farm early items with useful tower stats.

• Items can roll up to around 50 in a stat.
• Items can also have around 50 upgrades.
• This is very strong for a low-level hero.
• Good rolls are not common, but they are possible.

What Stats You Want

Your main target is to reach around 200-350 Tower Damage, with some points in your other tower stats.

• Main focus: Tower Damage
• Also useful: Tower Health
• Also useful: Tower Range
• Also useful: Tower Rate

Optional Goal: Level 60 Staff

If you keep going until you beat the map, you can obtain a very good staff for a level 60 hero. This is optional, but it can be a nice upgrade if you are able to clear the challenge.

Step 3.5: Optional Level 15 Jester Strategy

Challenge: Ogre Crush is an alternate way to farm early items, but it is mainly useful if you are using Jester.

This strategy uses Jester's Wheel of Fortuna ability to instantly kill the first ogre.

1. Reach around level 15 on Jester.
2. Unlock Challenge: Ogre Crush.
3. Use Wheel of Fortuna.
4. Roll Sword, Sword, Blue Crystal.
5. Instantly kill the first ogre.
6. Loot the second build phase chests.
7. Restart and repeat.

To unlock this strategy, you need to progress farther in the main campaign until you beat Castle Armoury.

Level 22-ish - Tinkerers Lab Power Leveling

Before Starting Tinkerers Lab

After farming Raining Goblins until you reach around 200-350 Tower Damage, you can start running Tinkerers Lab on Nightmare Hardcore.

Step 3.7: Optional Leveling Before Tinkerers Lab

If you want a few more levels before trying Tinkerers Lab, you can run the first couple waves of Dread Dungeon on Insane Hardcore.

This is useful if you collected higher-level gear from earlier farming and want to level up enough to equip it.

• Map: Dread Dungeon
• Difficulty: Insane Hardcore
• Goal: Reach around level 45 or higher
• Reason: Equip better gear before Tinkerers Lab

Step 4: Power Leveling in Tinkerers Lab

Tinkerers Lab Nightmare Hardcore is the map you can use to build your full team of heroes.

The main loop is simple:

1. Start Tinkerers Lab on Nightmare Hardcore.
2. Clear the first wave.
3. Loot the chests after the first wave.
4. Look for Mythical gear.
5. Restart and repeat.

This map can power level your other heroes to level 74 and can push your stats into the 500s, possibly higher if you complete an armor set.

Armor Set Reminder

A complete armor set means all four armor pieces are the same type. This can give you stronger stats.

• Leather
• Chain
• Mail
• Plate
• Pristine

For the armor set bonus, all four pieces need to match one of those types.

Step 4.5: Optional Deeper Well Easy Survival

Before Tinkerers Lab, you can optionally run Deeper Well Easy Survival for a meme pet called Nessie.

Nessie is mostly a funny pet, but it is also useful because it gives flat 100s across all your stats. This can make Tinkerers Lab and the next step easier.

• Map: Deeper Well
• Mode: Easy Survival
• Reward: Nessie
• Reason to run it: Flat stat boost across all stats
• Best time: Before Tinkerers Lab, or less importantly after it

Chiku does not have several reliable builds for this section. If you need a general idea, use your main tower hero with Monk auras and Series EV beams.

Upgrading and Recommended Heroes Based on Meta

Upgrading Basics

When Chiku lists stats like Damage > Rate > Range > HP > Cast Rate, that means you should usually upgrade the first stat until it caps, then move to the next stat.

For example, on a builder, you would upgrade Tower Damage first. If Tower Damage is capped on that item, then upgrade Tower Rate. You still want the gear to already have useful Range, HP, and Cast Rate.

Level-up points should usually go into your main stat. If you are missing an important stat, you can use hero level-up points to help fix it. At level 100, you have 985 stat points to work with.

Hero stat points are easy to respec. Item upgrades are not. Once an item is upgraded, it cannot be reset because the game does not save the previous state of the item.

Resistances

Every hero you keep active during combat needs resistances to survive. This matters for both support heroes and DPS heroes.

The easiest way to get capped resistances is to use a full armor set and upgrade each resistance until it reaches 41% on all four armor pieces. With all four pieces at 41%, your hero reaches 90% resistance on Nightmare difficulty.

Recommended Meta Builders

These are the main builder heroes Chiku uses or recommends going forward in the guide.

• Series EV
  Stats: Damage > HP > Rate = Range
  Use: Buff Beams and protecting towers.
  Costume: Default Costume.
• Adept / Apprentice
  Stats: Damage > Rate > Range > HP > Cast Rate
  Use: Main tower damage.
  Costume: Apprentice should use a small hero costume. Adept costume does not matter.
• Warden
  Stats: Damage > Rate = Range
  Use: Alternative to Adept or Apprentice, especially on open maps.
• Monk / Initiate
  Stats: Range > Damage = HP > Rate
  Use: Removes elemental immunities, slows enemies, and clears weaker mobs.
  Costume: Any small Monk costume. Initiate costume does not matter.
• Summoner
  Stats: HP > Damage > Rate = Range
  Use: Self-healing walls and webbing enemies.
  Costume: Does not matter.
• Huntress
  Range Build: Range > HP = Rate > Damage
  Damage Build: Damage > Rate > Range = HP
  Use: Gas traps, darkness traps, stalling enemies, and some trap-based damage builds.
  Costume: Avoid Legendary Huntress costumes.
• Hermit
  Stats: Damage > Range > HP > Rate
  Use: Helps kill tanky enemies and can make some bosses easier to tower-kill.
• Guardian
  Stats: HP > Rate > Range > Damage
  Use: Can be used as a main tower hero. Guardian is unusual because her tower damage mostly scales with Tower HP.

Recommended DPS Heroes

• Monk
  Stats: Resistances > Damage > AB2
  Use: All-around DPS hero that scales pet damage very well. Monk is versatile because you can swap DPS pets for different situations.
  Costume: Normal costume for now. Super Legendary is optional later.
• Series EV
  Stats: Resistances > Damage > AB2
  Use: Deletes bosses with Proton Charge Blast, also called AB2.
  Weapons: Honey Gun, Ember Scepter, or Lumeric Staff.
  Required Support: Propeller Cat and a Monk boost.
  Costume: Normal costume for now. EV 1.75 later.
• Huntress
  Stats: Resistances > Damage > AB2
  Use: Solid starter DPS option. A Monk boost helps, but is not required.
  Starter Weapons: Moonbase or Halloween Spooktacular 1.
  Pet: Propeller Cat can double your DPS.
  Costume: Angel costume can float. Super Legendary later.

Recommended Support Heroes

• Tower Boost Monk
  Stats: Resistances > AB1
  Use: Boosts towers.
  Weapons: Forest Ogre Crush, Spring Valley, or Magus Citadel.
  Pet: Genie.
  Costume: Normal costume for now. Super Legendary later.
• Upgrader Adept
  Stats: Resistances > AB1
  Use: Upgrades defenses quickly.
  Weapons: Tomb of Etheria or Tinkerers Lab.
  Pet: Genie.
  Costume: Does not matter.
• Guardian Summoner
  Stats: Resistances > AB2 > HP
  Use: Holds guardian pets.
  Costume: Does not matter.

Other DPS Options

Countess and Jester can also be used as DPS heroes, but they usually do not become important until after this guide. There are also more niche hero options, but this guide sticks to the heroes listed above.

Level 74 - Fish

Step 5: Double Your Tower Stats With One Pet

After farming Tinkerers Lab, you should be sitting around 450-600 in most or all of your tower stats, even without upgrading your items.

The next goal is to get a Fish in a Bowl pet from Moonbase. This pet does not attack, but it can give huge stat bonuses.

• Map: Moonbase
• Difficulty: Hard Hardcore
• Reward: Fish in a Bowl
• Why it matters: It can give around 500-600 in each stat

How to Get the Fish

Moonbase has a secret you need to complete before beating the map. The basic process is:

1. Hit the two secret buttons.
2. Dance on the DDR machine.
3. Click on the fish.
4. Beat the map.
5. Receive the Fish in a Bowl pet.

Level 74 - Dread Dungeon

After Getting Fish in a Bowl

After getting a Fish in a Bowl pet, or even a few of them, you should be around 1,000 in most or all of your tower stats. At this point, Chiku considers this around mid-game.

The next goal is to start farming better armor.

Step 6: Clear Dread Dungeon Nightmare Hardcore

Start by clearing Dread Dungeon on Nightmare Hardcore. Clearing the map unlocks Survival, which is where the real armor farming begins.

First Wave Tips

The first wave can be rough, and there are a few ways to handle it. Chiku recommends starting with auras, then swapping to an Adept builder for in-wave building.

• Start with Monk auras.
• Swap to your Adept builder.
• Build and spam towers during the wave when you can.
• Avoid spiders while building.
• A Genie pet makes collecting mana much easier.

Another option is to upgrade a DPS weapon and fight through the first wave with hero damage instead.

Step 7: Dread Dungeon Nightmare Hardcore Survival

After clearing the map, move into Dread Dungeon Nightmare Hardcore Survival. Turning on Mix Mode can help improve drops.

Around wave 17, Transcendent items can start dropping. These are the armor pieces you are mainly farming for at this stage.

• Mode: Survival
• Optional: Mix Mode
• Important wave: Around wave 17
• Main goal: Farm Transcendent armor
• Secondary goal: Level heroes to 78

How to Improve Armor Drops

You can keep your heroes out to level them to 78, but Chiku recommends limiting the weapon types that can drop. This helps more armor drop overall.

A stronger alternative is to use multiple Summoners in play. Summoners force only armor to drop, which makes armor farming much better. However, Chiku recommends focusing on reaching level 78 first before fully switching to Summoner-only armor farming.

Stat Goals Before Moving On

You can farm Dread Dungeon Survival until you are happy with your gear. The next steps require much higher tower stats.

• Next step: Around 2,500 Tower Damage
• Step after that: Closer to 4,000 Tower Damage
• Good upgraded Transcendent sets: Can get you close to 4,000 Tower Damage

Step 7.5: Alternative Armor Farming Maps

There are other maps you can farm at this stage. They are generally harder, but they can also give better rewards.

• King's Game: A solid option with no boss.
• Mistymire Forest: Has an easier boss and can drop strong stat weapons.
• Moraggo Desert Town: Possible at this stage, but the boss is harder. Mana Bomb can help.
• Aquanos: Around the same level as King's Game, but the boss is tougher.
• Sky City: The best option here, but the boss can be very difficult without a proper DPS hero and good resistances.

Level 78 - Arcane Library

Recommended Stats

After farming Transcendent items and gaining more stats, you should be around 2.5k-4k Tower Damage.

These maps can be done with around 2.5k Tower Damage, but the more stats you have, the easier they will be.

Step 8: Arcane Library Nightmare Hardcore

Arcane Library Nightmare Hardcore is a great place to farm useful rewards without having to fight a difficult boss.

• Good for: Accessories
• Good for: Experience
• Possible rewards: Random useful loot
• Possible pets: Guardian pets that buff towers
• Main target: A strong Genie pet

Why You Want a Genie

A good Genie is extremely useful because it helps generate mana. This makes upgrading defenses much faster during combat.

Chiku recommends getting multiple Genies if possible:

• First Genie: Tower Boost Monk
• Second Genie: Upgrader hero
• Optional third Genie: Tower-building Adept

Lupine Bow Note

Arcane Library can also drop the Lupine Bow. This is very good on a Jester when paired with a Genie because it lets you upgrade towers very quickly.

Step 8.5: Moonbase Nightmare Hardcore

Moonbase Nightmare Hardcore is a little harder than Arcane Library, but it also gives random rewards.

Moonbase can reward DPS weapons for each hero. The most useful rewards here are usually a strong staff, a strong gun, and more Fish in a Bowl pets.

• Map: Moonbase
• Difficulty: Nightmare Hardcore
• Difficulty compared to Arcane: Slightly harder
• Main rewards: Random rewards, DPS weapons, and more fish

Preparing DPS Heroes

When Should You Make a DPS Hero?

Around this point is a good time to start preparing a DPS hero. You technically can do this earlier with lower stats, but now it becomes more useful.

One big reason is Sky City. The boss can be annoying, and you will want a hero with good damage and proper resistances before pushing too far.

Step 9: Halloween Spooktacular 1 Ruthless Hardcore

Halloween Spooktacular 1 Ruthless Hardcore is an easy clear at this stage and rewards strong DPS weapons for level 70 heroes.

• Map: Halloween Spooktacular 1
• Difficulty: Ruthless Hardcore
• Reward: DPS weapons
• Required level for rewards: Level 70
• Extra rewards: Random rewards can also drop here

This map can be done with around 500 Tower Damage, but it is not very relevant to the progression route until now because this is when you are starting to prepare DPS heroes seriously.

Step 10: Clear Sky City Nightmare Hardcore

Next, clear Sky City Nightmare Hardcore. You want to clear it for Survival access, achievements, and the Initiate skin.

• Map: Sky City
• Difficulty: Nightmare Hardcore
• Goal: Unlock Survival
• Also gives: Achievements and Initiate skin progress

Step 11: Sky City Nightmare Hardcore Survival

After unlocking Survival, run Sky City Nightmare Hardcore Survival and aim for a Propeller Cat from wave 25.

The Propeller Cat is extremely important later for late-game DPS content. It can more than double your entire team's hero and pet damage.

• Map: Sky City
• Mode: Nightmare Hardcore Survival
• Target wave: Wave 25
• Reward: Propeller Cat
• Why it matters: Huge hero and pet damage boost

It is especially useful for DPS heroes like Series EV, Huntress, Apprentice, and Gunwitch. It is not required for the very next maps yet, but it is important enough that this is a good time to grab one.

Monk DPS Pets Route - 3k Tower Damage

Stats Matter More Than Level Now

Depending on how much you farmed the previous maps, you may already have a few heroes close to or at level 100.

From this point forward, hero level is not the main focus. Progression is mostly based on your stats.

Why Make a DPS Monk?

To move out of mid-game and into late-game, you need enough DPS to kill tougher Nightmare bosses.

A DPS Monk is a strong choice because Monk has Hero Boost, also called AB2, which increases pet damage. Monk also has strong base pet damage scaling in general.

Step 12a: Magus Citadel Insane Hardcore

Start with Magus Citadel on Insane Hardcore. The main reason to clear this map is to unlock Survival, but it also gives useful rewards.

• Map: Magus Citadel
• Difficulty: Insane Hardcore
• Main goal: Unlock Survival
• Extra rewards: Accessories and weapons

This map can reward a DPS staff, but the bigger reward is a Monk weapon with 10 projectiles that shoots through walls. That makes it very useful for your Tower Boost Monk.

Step 13a: Magus Citadel Insane Hardcore Survival

After unlocking Survival, run Magus Citadel Insane Hardcore Survival. The main target is wave 30 for Harpoon Pets.

• Wave 25: Random Guardian pets
• Wave 30: Harpoon Pets
• Wave 35: Deadly Striker Tower pets
• Extra rewards: Completion rewards are also useful

The Harpoon Pet is probably the best DPS pet for content below Nightmare difficulty. You can use it for early achievements that require a DPS hero.

Step 13.3: Volcanic Eruption Insane Hardcore

Volcanic Eruption Insane Hardcore is very easy with a Harpoon Pet. You do not really need a build for Insane.

Nightmare may require a build or stronger heroes, but for this route the goal is to get a useful weapon reward.

• Map: Volcanic Eruption
• Difficulty: Insane Hardcore
• Main target: The BF Drill
• Why: The map rewards weapons of each weapon type

Step 13.5: Lab Assault Nightmare Hardcore

Lab Assault Nightmare Hardcore becomes pretty simple once you have The BF Drill.

This map can reward mid-tier accessories, random pets, armor, and lots of items. Some very strong armor can drop here, so you technically can use this as an armor farm, but it usually requires many runs.

• Map: Lab Assault
• Difficulty: Nightmare Hardcore
• Useful item: The BF Drill
• Rewards: Accessories, pets, armor, and sellable items
• Main reason to run: Best DPS Series EV skin reward

This can also work as a mana farm if you are playing solo and not trading with other players, since it rewards many items quickly that you can sell.

Step 14a: Crystal Escort - Spring Valley Insane Hardcore

With an upgraded Harpoon Pet and a DPS Monk, you should be able to clear Spring Valley on Insane pretty easily.

Spring Valley rewards an accessory, another great Monk weapon for tower boosting, and most importantly, Free Ranged Eggs.

• Map: Crystal Escort - Spring Valley
• Difficulty: Insane Hardcore
• Main target: Free Ranged Eggs
• Insane reward: 1 egg per hero on completion
• Nightmare reward: 2 eggs per hero on completion

Free Ranged Chicken Goal

Collect 10 Free Ranged Eggs. Then go to your tavern and head to the top floor near the pet cages outside to create a Free Ranged Chicken.

Free Ranged Chickens are DPS pets that are on par with end-game pets, making them a huge upgrade for this stage of progression.

Monk DPS Pets Route - 4k Tower Damage Options

After Getting a Free Ranged Chicken

Once you have your Free Ranged Chicken, you are ready to start taking on tougher bosses. Chiku recommends being close to 4k Tower Damage at this point.

The more tower stats you have here, the easier these maps become.

Step 15: Infested Ruins Nightmare Hardcore

Infested Ruins Nightmare Hardcore is mainly a weapon farming map. The biggest targets here are the Honey Gun, Honey Spear, and Staff.

• Honey Gun: Used with Series EV for Proton Charge Blast, also called AB2.
• Honey Spear: Useful as a DPS weapon.
• Staff: Useful for tower stats or DPS if you get a good one.

Step 15.1: Infested Ruins Nightmare Hardcore Survival

Infested Ruins Nightmare Hardcore Survival is a great map for farming armor. After reaching it once, start on wave 22 for future farming runs.

• Mode: Nightmare Hardcore Survival
• Start wave after unlocking: Wave 22
• Main goal: Farm armor
• Wave 35 reward: Wasp Queen pet

The Wasp Queen pet from wave 35 is especially useful for taking out the Kraken boss.

Step 15.3: Optional Lovers Paradise Nightmare Hardcore

Lovers Paradise Nightmare Hardcore is an optional map that is good for weapons, mask accessories, and Heart Fragments.

Heart Fragments work like an in-game currency. You can sell them to other players for a lot of mana.

• Map: Lovers Paradise
• Difficulty: Nightmare Hardcore
• Good for: Weapons
• Good for: Mask accessories
• Reward: Heart Fragments

Heart Fragments can also be used to spawn Heart Pets. These pets look nice and are among the better tower pets in the game, but Chiku recommends trading the fragments for mana for now.

Lovers Paradise Survival is doable around 5k stats and is similar to Infested Ruins for armor farming.

Step 15.5: Optional Spooktacular Bay Nightmare Hardcore

Spooktacular Bay Nightmare Hardcore is another optional route before Infested Ruins. Chiku notes that this may even be the recommended armor farming map until Infested Ruins becomes easier.

• Wave 25: Wizard pet
• Wave 30: Eye pet
• Wave 35 completion: Pirate Skelly on Treadmill builder pet

The Wizard is a strong all-around DPS pet. The Eye Pet is useful for Lovers Paradise. The Pirate Skelly on Treadmill is a builder pet, but it requires level 100.

Propeller Cat DPS Route - 3.5k Tower Damage

When to Use This Route

If you already have a Propeller Cat and a decent gun or staff from either Moonbase or Halloween Spooktacular 1, this route is a good option.

This section is mainly about unlocking your next armor farming options.

Step 12b: Lovers Paradise Ruthless Hardcore

Lovers Paradise Ruthless Hardcore is used because the boss is much easier on Ruthless. The Nightmare version of the boss does too much damage at this point.

Do not activate the secret, and the map should be much easier to clear.

• Map: Lovers Paradise
• Difficulty: Ruthless Hardcore
• Main goal: Unlock Nightmare Survival
• Reward focus: Monk weapons
• Important note: Do not activate the secret

Step 13b: Spooktacular Bay Nightmare Hardcore

Spooktacular Bay Nightmare Hardcore is another important step. With the right build, the bosses are not too dangerous.

The main reason to complete this map is to unlock one of the easiest late-game armor farms.

• Map: Spooktacular Bay
• Difficulty: Nightmare Hardcore
• Main goal: Unlock late-game armor farming
• Difficulty note: Bosses are manageable with the right build

Step 14b: Infested Ruins Nightmare Hardcore

Infested Ruins Nightmare Hardcore is one of the best armor farms in the game if you can clear it. Lovers Paradise is still fine, but Infested Ruins is a very strong option.

The boss can be stalled with Ogre minions, which helps make the clear more manageable.

• Map: Infested Ruins
• Difficulty: Nightmare Hardcore
• Main goal: Weapon rewards and armor farm unlock
• Boss tip: Stall the boss with Ogre minions

Weapon Rewards to Look For

All four weapon reward types from this map can be very good, but Chiku mainly wants these two:

• Honey Gun: Used for DPS Series EV.
• Honey Spear: Used for DPS Monk.

Wintermire

Before Starting Wintermire

Before attempting Wintermire, Chiku recommends having your DPS Series EV set up with a strong Honey Gun. A good target is a Honey Gun with upgraded base damage above 300,000.

Your Tower Boost Monk should also have some Hero Boost stats. This makes the fight easier without needing a separate Monk just for Hero Boost, though making a second Monk for that role is also an option.

• Recommended DPS hero: Series EV
• Recommended weapon: Honey Gun
• Honey Gun goal: 300,000+ upgraded base damage
• Support hero: Tower Boost Monk with Hero Boost stats

Step 16: Wintermire Nightmare Hardcore

Wintermire Nightmare Hardcore is what Chiku considers the DPS check into late-game.

The waves themselves can be cleared with around 2.5k tower stats, but the bosses are very tanky and difficult to kill. The real challenge is having enough DPS to finish the bosses.

Wintermire Rewards

Wintermire gives several useful rewards and resources.

• Monk weapon: Decent weapon reward for Monk
• Accessories: Useful accessory drops
• Coal: Currency-like reward item
• Diamond pet: Coal can be used to spawn a Diamond pet

Coal works similarly to Heart Fragments in purpose. It can be used like a currency and can also be used to create a Diamond pet.

Step 17: Wintermire Nightmare Hardcore Survival

Wintermire Nightmare Hardcore Survival is an important survival map at this stage because it gives several strong pets that help with DPS, Assault maps, and tower building.

• Map: Wintermire
• Mode: Nightmare Hardcore Survival
• Main goal: Farm useful mid-to-late-game pets

Important Pet Rewards

Wintermire Survival rewards multiple pets that are useful for different parts of progression.

• Snowman Pet: Great for DPS content and is on par with the Little Wizard.
• Christmas Elephant: Great for Assault-style maps.
• Turkey on Treadmill: The next tower pet Chiku recommends farming.

Mana

Entering Early Late-Game

After defeating Wintermire Nightmare Hardcore with a DPS hero, Chiku considers you to be in early late-game.

At this point, the game opens up a lot. You are capable of farming most maps, or at least farming the things you need to prepare for end-game content.

Best Mana Farming Options

These are the main ways Chiku recommends getting mana at this stage.

• Coal and Crystal Shards: Farm these from Nightmare or Ruthless Winter maps, or from Lovers Paradise, then sell them to other players.
• Pirate Invasion: A tough map, but it is designed to give more mana the farther you progress.
• Lab Assault Nightmare or Ruthless Hardcore: Run it repeatedly and sell the rewarded items.
• Challenge: Assault Ruthless Hardcore: Very good for mana if you can clear it quickly.
• Nightmare Hardcore Survival armor farming: Slower for mana, but you also farm armor at the same time.

Coal and Crystal Shards

One of the most reliable ways to get mana is farming Coal or Crystal Shards and selling them to other players.

These can sell for around 60b-80b+ each, depending on the market and the player economy.

Lab Assault and Assault

Lab Assault Nightmare or Ruthless Hardcore can be repeated quickly once you are comfortable with it. The rewards can be sold for mana.

If you can run it fast, Challenge: Assault Ruthless Hardcore is also a strong mana farm. It is also useful for farming the Blasticus, which can be a starter stat weapon for Series EV and Huntress.

Armor Farming for Mana

Nightmare Hardcore Survival armor farming is one of the slower mana options, but it is still very important because you need armor anyway.

This helps you earn mana while also farming armor upgrades. That matters a lot if you want to eventually reach around 7k-8k stats.

Maps for Accessories and Their Set Bonuses

Accessory Farming Overview

A lot of players ask which maps are good for farming accessories, so this section lists useful accessory farming locations and the cosmetic set effects they can give.

This list may become outdated as the game receives updates, but these maps should still be useful accessory farming options for progression.

Best Accessory Mentioned

The single best accessory mentioned in this section is a bracer from True Boss Rush on Ruthless difficulty. It is strong because it has a small movement speed buff by default.

It can also roll Ultimate quality, but Chiku notes that the movement speed buff is the important part.

Nightmare+ Double Accessory Drops

These maps can reward double accessories on Nightmare or higher.

• Frostdale Wonderland: Falling Snow effect (Winter / Christmas / Holiday Sets). Rewards triple accessories with the secret.
• Temple of Love: Hearts effect (Love / Valentine Set). Rewards double accessories with the secret and triple accessories on Ruthless.
• Arcane Library: Magic Circle on Back effect (Arcane Library Set). Locked Transcendent quality. No bracers.
• Wandering Heart: Hearts effect (Love / Valentine Set).
• Palantir: White Wings effect (Annatar Set). Update 9.4.0 made these accessories good again. Shields are part of the random accessory rewards here.
• Challenge: The Love Machine: No visual effect (Cat Ears). Target-farmable drop. The farther you get, the more rewards you receive.

Ruthless-Only Double Accessory Drops

These maps reward double accessories only on Ruthless difficulty.

• Warping Core DLC Maps: Butterfly Wings effect (Zamira Set). Each piece is rewarded from a different map, so it is target farmable.
• Jester Spooktacular DLC Map: Devil Wings effect (Cursed Devil Mask). Target-farmable drop.
• Valentine Citadel: Hearts / Skulls effect (Elegant Pirate Set).
• Return to Moraggo: Eerie Wisps effect (Oni Set).
• Forest Ogre Crush: Red Lasers effect (Goblin Set).
• Tomb of Etheria: Yellow Wings effect (Cat Set).
• Wintermire / Winter Wonderland / Frostdale Royal Court: Falling Snow effect (Winter / Christmas / Holiday Sets).
• Boss Rush II: Shiny effect (Pristine Set).
• Scorched Arabia: Blue Fire / Sparks effect (Ember Set, but blue fire).
• Volcanic Eruption / Glitterhelm Caverns: Brown Floating Crystals effect (Minor Set).

Other Strong Accessory Farming Maps

These maps are still valid to farm and can reward high-quality accessories.

• Omenak: Black Wings effect (Omenak Set).
• Buccaneer Bay / Pirate Invasion: Skull and Crossbones effect (Pirate Set).
• Embermount Volcano: Fire / Sparks effect (Ember Set).
• Flames of Rebirth: Fire / Sparks effect (Ember Set). Rewards a guaranteed shield plus one other accessory. Double shield drops on Ruthless.
• Magus Citadel: Magic Circle on Floor effect (Magus Set). No bracers.
• Emerald City: Floating Green Crystals effect (Emerald Set).
• Spooktacular Bay / Sky Spooktacular: Flying Ghosts effect (Halloween / Spooky Set).
• Tavern Defense: Confetti effect (Party Set). Locked Transcendent on Nightmare, but not Ruthless. No bracers.
• The Striking Tree: Floating Green Orbs effect (Elf Set).
• Karathiki Jungle: Falling Leaves effect.

Maps Not Recommended Just for Accessories

These maps can reward accessories, but Chiku does not recommend farming them only for accessories.

• Greater Turkey Hunt: Feathers effect (Turkey / Thanksgiving Set).
• Crystalline Dimension: Floating Blue Crystals / Shards effect (Crystal Set). Rewards double accessories.
• Akatiti Jungle: Tiki Mask.
• Crystal Escort - Spring Valley: Bunny Mask. Double accessories and weapons on Ruthless only.

The Guide Continues?

After the Main Progression Route

Chiku finished the YouTube series for this route and wanted to share what came next. At this point in progression, there are many different paths you can take.

You can basically start farming whatever you want, but this section lists the maps Chiku personally ran to gain more stats quickly.

Step 18: Tomb of Etheria Nightmare Hardcore

Tomb of Etheria Nightmare Hardcore is great for accessories, a DPS pet, and weapons. Every weapon rewarded here is useful for something.

• Gun: Works well as a stat stick for builders.
• Spear: Can be decent for DPS or used as a strong stat stick.
• Staff: Very good for an upgrader Adept.

If you get a good staff with strong tower stats, Chiku will be jealous.

Step 19: Spooktacular Bay Nightmare Hardcore Survival

Spooktacular Bay Nightmare Hardcore Survival was Chiku's armor farm until reaching around 5k stats. Chiku ran it about ten times.

Along the way, this map also gives strong pets. All three pets from this map can be useful.

• Little Wizard: Chiku's best DPS pet at this point.
• Pirate Skelly: Useful on builders.
• Eye Pet: Least important, but still something worth wanting a good roll on.

Step 20: Tinkerers Lab Nightmare Hardcore

Chiku ran Tinkerers Lab Nightmare Hardcore nine times to level several heroes to level 100.

From level 0, it takes about ten runs to get a hero to level 100 on this map, which makes it very strong for experience.

Tinkerers Lab Weapon Targets

Chiku was also looking for weapon rewards from completing this map, especially the Proto Staff for an upgrader Adept.

• Proto Staff: Main target for an upgrader Adept.
• Blaster Rifle: Good DPS weapon and possible stat stick.
• Spear: Good DPS weapon and possible stat stick, especially for Hermit DPS.

Step 21: Lovers Paradise Nightmare Hardcore Survival

Lovers Paradise Nightmare Hardcore Survival brought Chiku to around 6k stats. Chiku also ran this map about ten times to change things up.

The Cupid pet is useful for soloing Polybius, but the pets here do not have much purpose in the main meta outside of that.

The survival build Chiku used here was much easier and faster to build than the Spooktacular Bay build.

Step 22: Infested Ruins Nightmare Hardcore Survival

Infested Ruins Nightmare Hardcore Survival was another map Chiku ran about ten times, mostly to change scenery again.

This map is also useful because of the wave 35 rewards and strong weapon rewards.

• Honey Spear: Always useful to farm for a better roll.
• Wasp Queen Pet: Great against the Kraken boss.
• Honey Gun: Great for DPS Series EV.

Original Guide

This page is a port of Chiku's progression guide into the Dungeon Defenders Progression Hub layout.

• View the original Steam guide