After being rescued from execution for being infected with Grey Decay, a friend, Sebastian Kerr, leaves you to survive these dangerous areas alone.
The prospect may be intimidating, but here are some tips to help you stay alive and eventually reach the strongest adversary and reward.
Building Your Base
Before you can fight the lone boss of GS:DF, you will need to master the basics and build your way up. If you’re a new player, you’ll want to first collect all the resources in the starting area and set up your home base. To do so, collect resources and build essential tools, such as a club for clearing out nearby enemies, axes for wood, and pickaxes for stones.
At this point, you will have recognized the issue of storage. Limited storage never quite goes away, no matter how far you’ve progressed, so the first things you should invest in are Peasant Chests.
In the spawn location, you will find an area with a floor and a preexisting chest. I recommend starting your base here and expanding on it as you progress. You should go ahead and build a second chest at this location and a ragged sack. If you feel like supporting the game developers, you can pay $5.99 for a much larger and more useful Backpack, but be wary – you can still lose this item if you die.
These essentials will expand the number of items you can carry and store as you begin crafting and looting.
Once you have storage, form walls around your base to protect against eventual enemies such as the Night Guest, an unbeatable opponent who appears in the night.
Though torches can scare it away, having walls around your home will keep the Night Guest at bay.
One of the final things you should make before venturing out into the fog is the Raven’s Cage which provides goals and rewards for your character.
After completing these core components of your home, you are free to venture into the world and create any other crafting stations you desire.
Looting Locations
While locations can give you natural resources, the more important items you will find are essential tools for building and crafting as well as weapons and armor.
Before leaving, take out unnecessary items in your inventory such as building resources because you are going to find a lot of loot, all of which you can’t carry. Bring any armor you are wearing, a sturdy weapon, and a stack of food.
If you don’t have meat yet, try Cooked Leeks to improve your hunger and health. Pack a few before you head out.
At first, don’t go to any locations that are three skulls or more. This game involves hardcore survival, and it is easy to die in these areas. Therefore, it’s best to wait and scavenge the less dangerous spots for armor and weapons.
If you are in some of the safer zones without Damned Knights or Templars, try slowly and cautiously clearing out nearby enemies before looting. You may face wolves, bears, and lepers, but these creatures won’t pose too much of a threat.
The challenge arises when you explore dangerous territories that have better loot such as powerful weapons and armor.
Defeating Enemies
Some of the opponents you face will pose little to no threat. However, others can be the result of your demise. Consider each of their skills before approaching them in combat.
Weak
Common and lower stakes enemies include standard wolves, bears, lepers, and damned. These opponents are easy to face head-on and don’t take long to kill.
However, this doesn’t mean you should run through a pack of them. Take each on one vs one to avoid getting bombarded with attacks.
Challenging
Desecrators, Forsaken, Damned Templars, and Damned Knights are all intimidating enemies, and if not handled strategically, could lead to your downfall. These enemies are often guarding valuable loot, so the risk of engaging with them could be worth it.
Improve your armory first though. Some of the greatest weapons you can invest in are long-range melee weapons such as a Halbert. These types of tools are the best to use against slow-moving lethal targets such as a Templar. They allow the wielder to dodge and keep a safe distance instead of hacking away like the previous creatures.
Another powerful weapon for challenging enemies is the Bastard Sword. Use this against difficult opponents rather than wasting it on easy kills.
Boss
Currently, the only boss is the Forsaken Gate Keeper, and he is the ultimate goal for players to defeat since he has a dungeon key, a requirement before accessing loot-filled dungeons.
How to Get a Dungeon Key
After investing time in leveling up, growing your base, and acquiring new gear, you will find this challenge awaiting you. Powerful weapons and armor are stored in dungeons, but to explore them players must defeat the Forsaken Gate Keeper.
Don’t rush in. To face him be sure you have Level 2 armor and that you bring sources of health because trust me, you’re going to need it. As for weapons, I found the Halbert works best since you can fight from a short distance with it.
Once you are prepped, head out to battle.
He dwells near packs of wolves but only attacks if any stragglers notice you. No matter what, you will still have to fend some off as you fight the giant opponent, but you can lessen the work by sneaking and clearing some out. All the while, don’t let the Gate Keeper close the distance.
This opponent is slow and needs to be near to inflict devastating damage. Use the Halbert to stab him and after each strike, take a step back.
Rather than staying in one spot to gain multiple hits, attack him once then back away. Progressively you will weaken him and be victorious. Your win will reward you with a key that you can use to explore the loot-filled dungeons.
Get Back in the Game
Time to get back to it. Reaching a level where it is safe to attack the Gate Keeper won’t happen in a day but if you continue building your base, looting other areas, and assessing your opponents, the day will come where you will feel confident to take on Goliath. Use these strategies to get to this point and win the battle for the immense treasure.
