Minecraft Dungeons 2 launched today and for many its a chance to go back to one of the best spin-off franchises out there. For others this might be your first foray into the series. If that’s you, or you just need a refresher on some things, we’ve got you covered with a beginners guide.
Minecraft Dungeons 2 is a fun little RPG that takes a lot of its inspiration from games like Diablo. You have an open world map to explore and as you do you will be faced with hordes of enemies that will drop loot for you to make your character better as you gain XP and level up.
There are of course quests to do, both main quests and side quests, but the majority of your time will be spent slaying mobs of illagers. There are little outposts scattered about that will have vendors allowing you to purchase new gear and upgrade what you already have as well. With the basics out of the way, lets get into some tips.
Experiment Early, Perfect Build Late
The main thing you are going to want to focus on for your character is finding the right build and the right gear. In the early games its best to experiment with your gear to find what you like. Do you want to have some faster melee weapons that do less damage but are constantly striking? Or do you want a heavier weapon that deals massive amounts of damage but it takes awhile to get off an attack.
The early game is a perfect chance to do this as once you get a little further into the game and more vendors start opening up, you will want to hone in on a build a little bit more. Same thing goes with Artifacts as you find which 3 you want to use and what benefits you most. By the time you get to the end of the campaign you should have a pretty focused build. The endgame is where you can get the best gear as well so you can work to compliment your build even more once there.
Enemies Level Up As You Do
Some RPG’s developers will keep each area of the map at the same level no matter what. If you are level 50 that first area is still full of level 2 enemies that you can quickly dispose of.
Mojang and Double Eleven have gone the other way, meaning that the enemies you face will level up as you level up. This means if you are level 50 the enemies will be of similar level. This has its advantages and disadvantages. While you won’t be able to quickly run through areas, you will constantly be gaining worthwhile XP every enemy you kill. With a level cap set at 100 at launch, this means grinding up to that level won’t be too hard.
Potions & Artifacts Have A Cool Down
Minecraft Dungeons 2 uses a cool down system for everything you do in terms of health, artifacts and dodging. Rather than having multiple potions, you get a single potion that you can re-use after a certain amount of time. This means you have to play it safe at times as you wait for your potion to come back or risk dying.
You can get special abilities on your gear to make the cool down timers quicker which will help. Also later in the game you can get enchantments that can allow you to carry multiple potions which will make like much easier. But in the early game its a much different story.
The same can be said for your artifacts and how they work. Not only do you need to defeat enemies to gain souls which power your artifacts, but you also have to wait for them to cool down after use. This isn’t as big of a deal as it is with potions, but still something to keep in mind.
The Blacksmith & Enchanter Are Your Best Friends
About midway into the game you are going to find the Blacksmith and the Enchanter. These are the 2 most important merchants in the game and you will be spending a lot of time going to them.
The Blacksmith will allow you to level up your gear as you level your character up. If you upgrade the Blacksmith using echo shards you can even re-roll the special abilities on your gear to help you enhance a specific type of build. While doing both these actions are quite expensive in terms of the different in game currencies, it is a fast, efficient way to ensure you are always powerful enough to keep fighting on.
The Enchanter will allow you to put an enchantment on each piece of your gear. These enchantments must be found first by finding enchantment books in dungeons and rifts, but they are very powerful add ons to all of your gear. Enchantments can take your build from solid, to overpowering real quick, especially when leveled up.
Salvage Everything You Don’t Use
The simplest way to ensure you always have Emeralds and Echo Shards is to constantly salvaging your unused gear. You can hold down Y on Xbox to do a multi-salvage that will let you select many items at once and salvage them all. This is a must do every so often, especially later on in the game once the Blacksmith is available.
Not only does this get you the necessary emeralds needed to upgrade what you are wearing, but it also helps keep your inventory tidy. Loot drops constantly in Minecraft Dungeons 2 and you don’t want to be sorting through hundreds of items.
Emeralds & Echo Shards Aren’t Unlimited
While you do want to salvage items as much as you can, you do need to keep in mind how many emeralds you have on hand. You are capped at holding 9,999 Emeralds at once. If you go over this number then the second you leave the salvage screen you will lose whatever Emeralds you have over that number.
Because of this you will want to keep an eyes on your Emerald count as you salvage your items. While cleaning up your inventory will be nice, you will be losing out on a ton of valuable emeralds. To counter this just salvage as close as you can to 9,999 and then go spend the Emeralds on upgrades before salvaging once again.
The Echo Shards are also capped at a maximum of 100 in your inventory. This one you don’t have as much control over as you can only gain Echo Shards by defeating bosses and the diamond glowing enemies out in the world, so if you go over you just won’t be earning anymore during those battles until you spend some.
Check Out Dungeons & Rifts
The last thing I’m going to point out here is to make sure you periodically enter dungeons and rifts. These locations are a bit out of your way from the main campaign but running through one will earn you a lot of loot and XP, especially early on.
Dungeons and Rifts are a great way to gain echo shards which you will need in the early going to level up your merchants and eventually your enchantments. They are also the only places where you can get enchantment books.
Hopefully these tips will help you get on the right track with Minecraft Dungeons 2. It really is a fun game and a great alternative for games like Diablo, especially for younger kids. If you are looking for specific achievement guides we have plenty below, but otherwise enjoy the game!
Minecraft Dungeons 2 Guides
- Minecraft Dungeons 2 100% Achievement Guide & Roadmap
- Blowout Achievement Guide
- Mystic Librarian Achievement Guide
- Spider Slayer Achievement Guide
- Worked Like A Talisman Achievement Guide
- Strike While It’s Hot Achievement Guide
- Scrapping Over Scraps Achievement Guide
- Code Cracker Achievement Guide
- Wobble Watcher Achievement Guide
- Guardian of the Golems Achievement Guide
- Ka-BOOM! Achievement Guide
- Choir Conductor Achievement Guide
- Maxed Out and Geared Up Achievement Guide
- Track Record Achievement Guide
