Anyone familiar with action RPGs like Diablo will feel right at home loading up Book of Demons.
Outside of its storybook aesthetic, it follows a fairly tried-and-true formula. There are a few wrinkles in it that would take you a while to learn if you aren’t paying attention however. Here are a few tips to hit the ground running with Book of Demons now that it’s out of Early Access.
Watch for Visual Cues
Most of the dungeons in Book of Demons are fairly small, but there are a few visual cues to look out for to help you navigate each one a little smoother. The first thing to notice are your footprints. Obviously, they show you which paths you’ve taken. However, notice that they will turn gold on occasion. That means you’ve explored every branch of the path back that direction – nothing to see here. Once you’ve hit every nook and cranny of a floor, every footprint will turn gold to let you know that you can move on.
If you hover over the icons at the top of the screen, they will point out to you what points of interest you’ve encountered on the map and if there are any others left to find. Finally, if you’re searching for one monster or piece of gold lying on the floor that you previously overlooked, watch the edges of the screen. Every few seconds, you should see a little twinkle. That will show you the direction of any last pieces you’re missing in your exploration.
Know Your Cards and How to Improve Them
Each of the three classes in Book of Demons has its own deck of cards to collect. These cards represent your inventory and abilities, and you have a quick toolbar that can house a growing number of them throughout the game. It’s important to know what each card type is and how they operate:
- Blue: Ability cards. These are things like spells and talents, they use mana each time you activate them, which means being able to top off your mana reserves is key if you use a lot of abilities. Having a few powerful abilities at your disposal is going to be key to surviving as the difficulty ramps up.
- Red: Item cards. These are things like potions, traps, and scrolls. You can collect a certain amount of them that you can hold at a time before you will have to buy more charges for them in town or pick some up during a dungeon crawl.
- Green: Equipment cards. These are items like weapons, shields, armor, and rings. They generally provide passive bonuses, but they lock up a portion of your mana (and fill in a valuable card slot) as long as they are equipped.
There are also two ways to get improved versions of your cards. One is by finding the magical and legendary variants in your adventures. These will add additional, randomized stats to your cards – for example, your normal card might be a Chaos Ring. You might find a “Chaos Ring of the Raven,” which has additional positive effects attached to it. Magic items add one additional positive trait, and legendaries add two.
You can also start finding “Rune Cards” while you trek through dungeons. If you take these to the Fortune Teller in town, you can upgrade your cards from one to two or from two to three stars. They become more powerful as you do (and more expensive to use and recharge).
Understand Different Types of Enemy Hearts
One thing that will get you killed very quickly in Book of Demons is not understanding what your enemies are capable of and not prioritizing them in the order you should be. There are a few different aspects to familiarize yourself with to most effectively defeat your foes and stay alive longer.
The hearts above an enemy’s head show how many more hits it will be until they are defeated. It is important to know that not all hearts are created equal – here’s what you might encounter:
- Red hearts: The normal measure of a monster’s hit points. Each heart will take one point of damage to destroy.
- Green Hearts: These are known as Poison Hearts. They absorb the same damage as regular hearts, but they indicate that the monster will heal if they are hit with poison damage. They also usually mean that the monster will explode into a poison cloud upon death.
- Grey Hearts: These are known as Stone Hearts. They take the same amount of damage, but indicate that the monster is immune to damage effects like poison, burning, or freezing.
- Golden Hearts: Whenever a golden heart is destroyed, the monster’s other hearts will “lock” for a certain period, rendering them immune to damage for a few seconds. They will unlock when you can deal damage again.
- Frozen/Burning Hearts: These function in essentially the same manner as one another. Each heart takes three hits to destroy, and will reveal a different type of heart underneath it. That means it will take four hits for every heart these enemies have; it will take them a while to go down during a fight.
Prioritize Monsters with Spells and Summoning Abilities
Another easy-to-miss aspect of combat in Book of Demons is that you can interrupt enemies who are casting spells. When using a spell or ability, a monster will become immune to damage as a circle above them fills. Once the circle has filled, they will use that ability.
If you are close enough to the enemy, you can hover your pointer over that ability and hold down the attack button to keep them from using it. This will also instantly open them back up to damage – take out those spellcasters quick before they inflict serious damage on you. Note that you cannot disrupt spells and abilities of boss enemies.
Dispel Poison ASAP
If your hit point meter turns green, we all know that means poison. However, there is a quick visual indicator you can use to dispel poison almost as soon as you are inflicted with it.
A small demonic face will drop from the top of your HP orb after a second or two of being poisoned. If you click inside your HP orb when that face is visible, it will cure you of poison. Don’t eat that extra damage – it adds up quickly!
Save Time After Clearing out a Level
I don’t know about you, but I hate it when I find the exit to a dungeon right away, and know I’ll have to explore the entire floor before backtracking all the way back the way I came in order to get to the next level. Luckily, Book of Demons has a lovely little time saver for you.
Once you’ve found the exit for a floor, a little icon will always appear on the edge of the screen to show you what direction you need to go to find it.
Once you’ve completely cleared out a floor, that icon will turn green. You can then just click it and – voila – you will instantly be teleported to the start of the next floor. No backtracking necessary.
Utilize the Magical Cauldron – Before Its Contents Disappear
Occasionally, you will find loot in a dungeon that will appear to fly into a giant pot that appears on the side of the screen. If you approach the Barmaid in town, you will have access to the Magical Cauldron, which can open up all sorts of rare loot.
It may be tempting to leave this to collect, since the cost of using it increases every time you use it. However, keep in mind that, if you die, everything that has collected in the cauldron will disappear. Not getting every last bit of loot in a dungeon crawler is a mortal sin, so don’t press your luck too long – you might get overwhelmed and lose access to several powerful items.
There are still going to be some bumps along the road to your showdown with the Archdemon, but knowing these tips out of the gate will save you time and frustration in your quest. Good luck in your race to the bottom of Book of Demons!
