A "Not So Dead Man's" Guide to DMS. (Excludes Kam)

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[Nymph of Spring]

Welcome to my Dead Man's Shadow Guide!
While I admit, I'm not perfect and don't know everything, I thought I would try and make a guide that was simple and easy to follow for all the new players that I've been seeing around!

In this guide, I hope to pass on what I have learned about Dead Man's Shadow so far.
Everything from Quests, to Monsters, Rings and more!

Please bear with me, as my guide is always going to be a work in progress!
I'm fully aware that this guide is missing things.. I haven't gotten much of a chance to really farm the past few days.. If I'm missing something, PLEASE tell me (nicely) and I'll be more than happy to put it in!

I'm not doing a guide on Kamila, and I'm sorry in advanced for that. I have friends who are working on a guide for that, and I will hopefully be able to link that guide in my Kam Post!
I will however (when I get them) post GENERAL information about Kamila, such as her forms, health and basic information about her. I don't want to take away the hard work my friend's have done on their Kam. Guide. smile

Everything in this guide is my personal interpretation, and from some experience I have with farming, and advice given to me by my friends. I know there are people who play differently, but this is just a real general guide so that people might learn something they might not have known before!

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Loot


Epic Recipes
Very hard to get some of these.. Even harder to make.. 'Nuff said.






Orb Aggregate

This is an ingredient in some recipes.. It's not a common drop in DMS.. It's actually something you have to make!
You get the recipe from the Alchemy store, for 100g. It's a level 1 formula, so it's easy(ish) to make.

+ x100 =

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About Rings

If you're coming from SS, most of your rings will be 10.0. To upgrade your rings further, you need Shadow Orbs. The upgrade from 10.0 to 11.0 takes 10 orbs. So 10 orbs, for 10 spots means you need 100 orbs to upgrade a ring to 11.0 At 11.0, your rings require 20 orbs, therefore upgrading a ring from 11.0 to 12.0 takes 200 orbs.

Please note: ORB DOUBLER DO NOT WORK FOR SHADOW ORBS.

Good Rings General. Any of these are alright to bring.

Attacking:


Possible 3rd Attack ring (ONLY use as back up. Training yourself to carry only 2 attack rings will help you become a stronger player. If you're REALLY not comfortable, choose one of the following.):
Please note: Shuriken and Guns are there due to the DPS (Damage Per Second).. They have a fast recharge rate, allowing you to use it MORE FREQUENTLY than some other rings. Hot Foot is a better ring to bring than Solar.
Bump is a good ring for damage, but it sucks because of the knockback.Take that into consideration.

Healing:

Don't bring unless you really really feel you need it.. Just buy Revives and use them sparingly

Debuffs:

General Buffs:

Attack Prevention & Crowd Control:

Situational Good Rings:



Bad Rings Don't take these.



Choosing Your Rings
Choosing your rings can be hard if you're just starting out and don't have anything leveled past 10.0. But here's a general set you want:
3 Attack 1 Heal, 3 Buffs, Meat.
OR
2 Attack, 2 Heal, 3 Buffs, Meat.
So, For example, here is my choice Rings Set follows the first pattern:



Another thing to keep in mind when choosing your rings, is The Grue. The Grue is a mysterious invisible thing that kills you without real warning. It's unavoidable unless you have on, as the Rays of Light from this ring protect you. Anyone in your crew who isn't wearing Solar, will die. While it's a laughing matter most times, as someone always seems to have solar.. it can really throw you off if you haven't mapped and no one has solar on.
It has been said though that The Grue likes low-bies.. And tends to strike between midnight and 2am.. so time your runs around that.

Self Rage
Another thing you want to keep in mind when choosing rings, are what you can self-buff with. Here is a list of rings that you can use continuously for Self Rage, even if you already have the buff on:

Healing Rings:
- Use on others
- Diagnose you can only rage if EVERYONE needs health. If you want to use it for self rage (like I do) you need to move yourself away from everyone so when you use it, it ONLY hits you.
- Self & others will give you rage.

Buffs:
you can use these buffs over and over until you have R4 rage. So these should be the LAST buffs you rage up and cast. smile


Assigning Rings
Keep in mind that you can use CL Swap once every 24hrs.. You want to try and assign people buffs that they:
1. Actually have - A few CL 10s starting out don't always have every buff.. So starting with the lowest CL first is where you should start your buff assignments.
2. Have a buff they can self rage with, if they don't have Wish or Bandage.
3. Aren't carrying TOO MANY buffs, or double buffs.

Here's a basic assignment of BUFFS for a YM Crew:

• Player 1:
  
  
• Player 2:
  
  
• Player 3:
  
  
• Player 4:
  
  
• Player 5:
  
  
• Player 6:
  
  If you can find someone who has you can factor that in, and adjust buffs around.
  
  If you have a Heal Tank in your YM Crew, here's what that MIGHT look like:
  
  
  • Player 1:
    
    
  • Player 2:
    
    
  • Player 3:
    
    
  • Player 4:
    
    
  • Player 5:
    
    
  • HEAL TANK: 1 Passive (//)
  
  
  If you can find someone with a ring, then you can possibly do some juggling around with rings. If you can spare it, try and have your Heal Tank carry it, as you really don't want your crew to be carrying any more than 3 buffs/CCs/Debuffs.
  
  You will see someone is carrying 4 buffs, instead of the usual 3. This is optional really.. It happens because your Heal Tank is limited on what they can take. Some Heal Tanks may feel okay with not taking a passive, like Integrity, Fitness or Fortunes Favor.. Or may instead take 1 attack ring, instead of two. If this is the case, then they may take a 3rd buff. In General though, Tankers will ONLY carry 1 buff, but will sometimes take out an attack ring for Sweetheart or another buffs.. So that person you see who is carrying 4, more than likely won't be carrying 4.
  
  Yellow Maze tanks have more wiggle room when it comes to how many buffs they want to carry, where in Green Rooms, you really need to stick to what is listed.
  
  In General, You want to have one of every buff.. asides from Cat and Tape. For Yellow Maze, you should carry two cats, and two tapes.. Cat does miss quite frequently if you use it below R2. The Higher the rage, the more likely it will hit, and the more enemies it will scare.
  
  For GM Crew, it's almost the same.. This is a ROUGH guide for buffs.. It really varies depending on if you have a Tanker or not..
  
  
  • Player 1:
    
    
  • Player 2:
    
    
  • Player 3:
    
    
  • Player 4:
    
    
  • Player 5:
    
    
  • Player 6:
  
  
  As you can see, I have swapped out Tape for Quick Sand.. The reason for this, is because Quicksand doesn't miss as much, and lasts much longer. It also will hold more enemies than tape will.. And in Green Rooms, it's all about Controlling your Swarms.
  Also, finding someone with If you can find someone who has is helpful, but you can still get by without it. If you do have a Sweethearter in your crew, you'll have to fiddle around with buffs.
  
  If you have a Heal Tank in your GR Crew.. Rings change a tiny bit again, as the Tank will more than likely carry Quick Sand. Here's what that might look like.
  
  
  • Player 1:
    
    
  • Player 2:
    
    
  • Player 3:
    
    
  • Player 4:
    
    
  • Player 5:
    
    
  • HEAL TANK: (/)
    
    As you can see, one person is going to have to carry an extra buff with my selection here.. Try and make it so the person carrying the extra buff, isn't wearing Knife & Adrenaline. It's hard for one person to do both debuffs at the same time. Another thing you can do, is take only one cat.. Keeping in mind that the higher your CL, and the better your crew, the less CCs you need, meaning you might not need to bring 2 cats, or 2 QS's.. It really depends. CCs are important for GRs, and for Kamila.
    
    
    Terminology
    
    AGGRO: Having Aggro means you're the one being attacked. It spikes enemy interest in you, and they will flock to you.. HOWEVER AoE can still hit other players regardless if the enemy is facing them.. Just the brunt of the attacks will be directed at WHOMEVER has aggro.
    
    TANK: Drawing Enemies away so they won't hit other people, so you don't need to heal anyone. In theory, if you keep enemies away from other players, you don't need to heal anyone.
    You don't need wish to tank if you do it right.
    HEAL TANK: Usually stands around and heals people. Heal Tank and Tank are very close. Healing implies that you will be healing other people
    
    Rings for Tanking:
    Basic Tank Set / (Buff or ) an extra passive, a Debuff, etc.
    Yellow Rooms: BUFF YOUR CHOICE 1 Passive (//)
    Green Rooms: (/)
    
    
    Another good ring to consider taking is . This allows you to run around taking very little damage while you're crew gets in and gets situated. Turtle isn't an easy ring to use, and if you're going to use it, GR's are your better maze. Just give whoever in your crew a few seconds head start in the room (5 seconds or so) and then follow. Next person is should be those who have and to take some of the weight off the tanker, and then those with followed by everyone else.
    
    KITE: Kiting is when one member of a crew controls the aggro of all the enemies in the area, and controls the attacking onto one person, so the rest of the members can quickly kill without taking on too much damage.
    
    Mapping: Can be done several ways. You can memorize where you have gone, write it down, or use "SHOUT".
    While the first two are self-explanatory, I prefer to map using shout. How you do this, is as you go through rooms, switch to shout chat and shout what door you are going into. Abbreviations you can use are BD for Big Door, 0 or O for One Way rooms, UL/LL for Upper Left/Lower Left, UR/LR for Upper Right/Lower Right, SD for Small Door, U for Under, etc. If you use other abbreviations your crew should pick up on it. If you have to walk your way back, simply turn off everything but shout, and you have your map!

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What You Should Upgrade First:


LEVEL YOUR MEATS TO 12.0 FIRST!


Level THREE These Next in Whatever Order you Use them. You ONLY want to upgrade 3 attacks of which you ACTUALLY use.. Suggested are Hack, Mantis and another.


Level the Healing ring you use MOST


This should be the first buffs you level.. They're REALLY important buffs!

After these, it really doesn't matter what you level up.. In Speaking with people who I play with regularly, they advise to level up obscure buffs first, such as Halo and Density.. as not very many people have then leveled. So all buffs after these are really at your own discretion to level up.


Also, keep in mind when upgrading your rings, that some don't scale based on CL. MOST rings you upgrade, will be more effected the higher the CL, but these rings below DO NOT SCALE.. So don't waste your S.Orbs upgrading them right away!

A CL 1.0 of any of these buffs below, are no better than a CL 12.0. So if you can, upgrade these slowly, or as the last rings you upgrade.

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Yellow Maze (YM)
A.K.A Yellow Rooms (YR)
PLAYABLE CL: 10.0 - 11.4

Yellow Mazes are the first section of Caverns. You get to them by going to the right upon entering Dead Man's Shadow. There's no guarantee that you will clear EVERY room before going into Green Mazes. You will find yourself looping back to rooms you've cleared, so if you can try and map where you have been!

It's highly recommended you carry lots of .
While these are both the "Deluxe" amps, the more the better, really..

Rings to Bring:

ALWAYS HAVE:

Healing:


Attacking:
Back-up if you don't have any above:


Buffs:
Other:
If you can find someone with Sweetheart, crew them! Any extra health you can get will help you out in the long run.

Debuffs:

Crowd Control:
However, once you hit 11.4 you don't need to bring CCs for YM.

Generally, in YM you can rebuff every 2nd room, depending on the pace of the crew. Play it safe and buff every room if you can though. If you're a lower CL you really don't want to let buffs fall for too long.

Enemies:


Female Vampires
HP: 7,634.
Average Damage: 171-200 Depending on Buffs.
Control Over You: Sleep. (Control with Iron)
Control: Tape & Cat.


Male Vampires
HP: 7,634.
Average Damage: 180-200 Depending on Buffs.
Control Over You: Sleep. (Control with Iron)
Control: Cat Only.


Werewolves
HP:10,175
Average Damage: 200-300 Depending on Buffs.
Control Over You: Rooting.
Control: Tape Only


Passive Chest
HP: 460
Average Damage: None
Control Over You: None
Control: Cat & Tape


Aggressive Chest
HP: 10,258
Average Damage: 160-180 Depending on Buffs.
Control Over You: N/A
Control: Cat & Tape


Big Dog
HP: 17,952
Average Damage: 200-350 Depending on Buffs.
Control Over You: Rooting
Control: N/A

Night Frights
HP:
Average Damage:
Control Over You: Sleep & Scare
Control: Best way to control is with a Tanker who can Kite well. Adrenaline + Knife sharpen allow for fast killing.


Tactical Approach To Fighting

So here's a general idea of what to attack first in Y.R's.. This is based on Enemies.. It really really really depends on the layout of the room you're in!

1st: Male Vamps - Knife/Adrenaline as quickly as possible. If being attacked by wolves, R4 tape to prevent more attacking than you can handle
2nd: Wolves - Tape or Scare your remaining Female Vamps IF they are attacking you, while you're trying to kill your wolves.
3rd: Female Vamps - Easy kills after Knife/Adrenaline has been applied, provided you don't aggravate a Big Dog or Night Fright.
4th: Big Dogs & Night Frights - R4 Knife and Adrenaline. These generally should be the LAST enemies you fight in a room.

Also keep in mind that you will come across some chests. Depending on if they're an aggressive chest or not, really depends on the preference of the crew on when and where you decide to kill it.

HOWEVER.. If you enter a room, and are beside a Big Dog.. You want to attack the Big Dog FIRST.. as it roots you, and there's really no way of controlling it with tape or cat, etc.
What you attack is situational based on each room, and the layout of the enemies you're fighting. If your crew can handle split-mobbing, then go for it! It will be more work for your crew members carrying Adrenaline and Knife, and can also be a little slower than 6 people attacking one enemy but it can be fun to do.

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Green Maze (GM)
A.K.A Green Rooms (GR)
PLAYABLE CL: 11.5 - 12.0

Green Mazes are the second section of Caverns. They are darker than Yellow Mazes. You will know when you get to a Green Maze, because you will have a loading Screen.. That's your first tip-off. Green Maze has the same type of enemies as Yellow Maze, with the addition of Blood Bats. Blood Bats come in groups of 4. You can have 1-4 groupings of bats (if you have 4 groups, means you have a total of 16 bats in the room)

It's highly recommended you carry lots of .
While these are both the "Deluxe" amps, the more the better, really..

If you have a Tank, you need to be sure that you have a backup healer with Bandage or Wish, one attack and Tape. You have to be careful, sometimes you will steal aggro. If the backup healer DOES steal aggro, then the Tank becomes the backup healer.

Rings to Bring:

ALWAYS HAVE:

Healing:

Attacking:
Back-up if you don't have any above:


Buffs:
Other:
You need to have SOMEONE in the crew with Sweetheart. If you have a crew member who is Heal-Tanking, they need to have R4 SH at all times.

Debuffs:

Crowd Control: Quicksand is really the better control to use, as it's going to trap everything, and holds longer than tape.
Backup Control:


Tanks: Bringing a tank is a good thing to do in GM.
(/)
Also, please consider as a swap in as well.


Generally, you want to rebuff EVERY room to prevent buffs from falling.. If your Buffs Fall and you cant keep up with them quick enough, you will die very quickly.


Enemies:


Female Vampires
HP: 8,675
Average Damage:
Control Over You: Sleep. (Control with Iron)
Control:
Backup:


Male Vampires
HP: 8,675
Average Damage: .
Control Over You: Sleep. (Control with Iron)
Control:
Backup:


Werewolves
HP: 11,563
Average Damage:
Control Over You: Rooting.
Control:
Backup:


Passive Chest
HP: 460
Average Damage: None
Control Over You: None
Control:
Backup:


Aggressive Chest
HP:
Average Damage:
Control Over You: N/A
Control:
Backup:


Big Dog
HP: 18,732
Average Damage:
Control Over You: Rooting
Control: N/A

Blood Bats
** Blood Bats Travel in Swarms of FOUR **
HP:
Average Damage: 200-259 (Depending on Buffs)
Control Over You:
Control:
Backup

Night Frights
HP: 18,732
Average Damage: 200-400 (depending on buffs)
Control Over You: Scare and Sleep.
Control: None. Bring Adrenaline and Knife to speed up killing. Best control you can have is a tank.


Tactical Approach To Fighting

So here's a general idea of what to attack first in G.R's.. This is based on Enemies.. It really really really depends on the layout of the room you're in!

1st: Bats - Have someone Kite your bats (Ensuring this person is a heal-tank and is able to keep them occupied) and then to break some of the bats of their obsession over your Kiter, use Quicksand to separate some bats, and knife/adrenaline as soon as you can for fast killing. Continue this action until all bats are gone.
2nd: Male Vamps - Knife/Adrenaline as quickly as possible. If being attacked by wolves, R4 tape to prevent more attacking than you can handle
3rd: Wolves - Tape or Scare your remaining Female Vamps IF they are attacking you, while you're trying to kill your wolves.
4th: Female Vamps - Easy kills after Knife/Adrenaline has been applied, provided you don't aggravate a Big Dog or Night Fright.
5th: Big Dogs & Night Frights - R4 Knife and Adrenaline. These generally should be the LAST enemies you fight in a room.

Also keep in mind that you will come across some chests. Depending on if they're an aggressive chest or not, really depends on the preference of the crew on when and where you decide to kill it.

HOWEVER.. If you enter a room, and are beside a Big Dog.. You want to attack the Big Dog FIRST.. as it roots you, and there's really no way of controlling it with tape or cat, etc.
What you attack is situational based on each room. You want to try and kill your bats first, as there are so many of them, and they're the fastest moving.. They may not have a lot of health.. but when you're being attacked by 3 swarms, which have 4 bats each.. their hits add up, and quickly.

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The Domo Door and Attuning



This is the Domo Door. What this door is, is a shortcut. But you can't use this shortcut until after you complete your quest. First you speak with Alister about finding her, once you do.. Speak with him again and he gets you to kill 100 of her minions. You don't have to BEAT Kamila to get the quest, you just have to speak with her.

After you speak with Kamila, you will be attuned to the "energy" of the door, and that will allow you to by-pass ALL the Yellow Maze Rooms, and skip directly to Green Maze. This allows for a quick trip to Kamila and EB runs.

"But People tell me they only want Tuna people, what does that mean?"

Being Tuna doesn't mean they're calling them a fish; You will hear people say "Tuna Run!" or "I'm Tuna" all the time, and this is just a slang for being Attuned to this Domo Door. emotion_awesome

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Kamila (End Boss)

I'm not going to be putting in a sectional guide about Kamila, sorry!

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Links & Affiliates
If you want to be an affiliate, please private message me your link!

Links In:

Links Out:

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Special Thanks

I'd like to thank everyone that has helped me with creating this guide. You all know who you are. smile

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Out of the Test Forum and into the Real World! emotion_kirakira

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o 3o 2 poll votes. Ooo Yay ~

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