General stuff to make your life a little easier in the dungeons of this unforgiving game.

Go slow at first, peek around corners, be patient and watch the floor and walls for traps (working on a traps section), take your time, and don't rush, Delver can (and will) kill you at any time especially in the first stages when you are low level. It never hurts to be careful in the first half of the game. Enjoy the cool chunky environment of the levels as you go. As often as you will be punished for exploring, you can be rewarded for it with secrets or a shiny new weapon or some food or a cool new area you haven't seen before.

Like this

For a Pixel graphic game, this is pretty Effing cool..

When you start you will have a very basic low level dagger as a melee weapon, it will break really soon, but don't discard it just yet! Once it breaks you can use it as a tool to break stuff to get loot.

As for breaking things...

Break ALL the things! I mean it, Break everything you can find. I've gotten some incredible equipment from random things such as stacks of books, a chair, tables and of course the obvious Boxes Barrels and Jars. it's worth it. Use your broken dagger cause once it's broken, it can't be broken again, saving any good weapons you (hopefully) pick up for the jerks that lie ahead.

Now while breaking things you must be careful, as with just about everything in Delver, it can get you killed very easily. Patience again is key here as you will often find Bombs inside breakable objects, such as jars boxes and barrels. If you are mindlessly hacking away at a box or a jar or what have you to get your well deserved loot, you might just accidentally smack a bomb and unless you are high level or have very good armor you will probably die.

Now this all sounds a bit grim, However you can use a lot of these things to your advantage in combat, as you can lure your enemies near said explosive items and fire away with a bow or a wand. Though this can take practice as aiming with the bow is quite and unexpectedly realistic for such a simple looking game. The bow has an arc and the further you are away from the target the more you have to compensate by aiming up. I recommend Doing some practice runs....

As for Runs, sometimes you will get a run where you seem to collect either Magic Wands or lots of really awesome Melee stuff, or a weird mix of both (every run is very different). If you find yourself picking up lots of wands, you are in what I call a Magic Run... lemme break it down from my point of view. I might do a separate section for run strategies in the future, but the RNG gods probably wont let me glean enough info to do it justice. (I'm probably already butchering this but whatever It's my first guide and I'm having fun making it.)

Runs (hopefully not the toilet kind...)
With all runs you will need to focus on different attributes as you level up. There are 6

Health - Your Hit points. pretty simple. You gain one hit point with every level no matter what attribute you choose to improve. (I really wish this worked for all attributes, but life isn't fair)

Defense - The more defense you have the less damage you take.

Attack - Ups the damage you deal with melee weapons and the bow.

Speed - How fast you move. I always throw a couple of points into this as I go. Moving fast is awesome, but be careful and mind your surroundings, one misstep can end your run real fast.

Agility - how fast you swing your melee weapon or draw your bow. I have yet to do a run where I put my points into this attribute. It depends on your play style of course, I just tend to love magic and speed while bolstering health and defense occasionally. But it all really depends on the gear you find and how the run goes.

Magic - with each level you gain a damage output boost and a charge (magic ammo) to each wand that exists in the game. This applies to any wands you expended and dropped earlier, so if you drop a wand in dungeon 1, then level up magic 5 times as you go deeper, if you go back and pick up that wand it will now deal more damage and have 5 additional charges. This makes a Magic Run one of the most interesting runs as you can become a very powerful wizard.

Now on to the levels and the jerks within.

Use your map as much as you can when it's safe, the only way to pause the game is to hit Esc. Opening any other menu does not pause the game and you can (and probably will) get killed.

I like to explore every nook and cranny that I can. To do so, the map is your best friend, just press M.

You will eventually come across a scroll called "Scroll of Discern Reality" This guy will reveal the entire map! Yay! But wait. Don't use it just yet. You will thank me later when you want to scrounge for unexplored areas. If you use this little scrap too soon, you will make it near impossible to tell where you have and have not already explored. The best time to use this scroll is when you have already scoured the map and haven't found any secrets yet. It has helped me a few times to find secrets. Now sometimes these secrets are worth it, something they get you killed... so its up to you to decide wether or not to use it and search for them. Sometimes they have nothing... (looking at you Lost City) I will do a section on secrets if this guide gains any real traction with you delving folks.

Here you will find some lore, some loot and some shops.


You can buy Magic Scrolls from the wizard or weapons, potions and other items from the vendor Joff. I recommend saving all the gold you find for future runs. Gold is hard to come by in Delver and items are expensive.

Once you leave The Camp and enter the dungeons, there is no going back until you complete your quest to obtain the Orb of Yithidia.


Stick Boy
This wood toucher is the easiest of the 5 Human enemies in the game, just back pedal and time your attacks and he will go down in no time. There's usually no need to waste anything special on him, I often use my broken (smasher) weapon on him unless I am at low health or he has friends.


Knife Guy is a lot like Stick Boy but he tends to do a bit more damage, same strategy applies here.


Hit Girl
She will sound kinda innocent and ask "Who's there?" or "huh?" She is not innocent, she's a total B word and will leap at you once she gets close enough, best to use ranged weapons on her if you have any or try to backpedal and time your attacks with a strong charged weapon.



Nick Fury
Nick is like Knife Guy, but he tends to be a little tougher and more aggressive. He usually shouts things like "Quit hiding!" or "You're Dead!" The usual strategy of backpedaling while timing your attacks works well on this dude. Lure him into traps if you can.



Rogue Mage
The Rogue Mage is by far the most dangerous of the human enemies, He has a raspy voice and will say things like "I hear something" or "Whats that". He has a nasty ranged magic attack and (for me at least) always seems to be smarter at hiding and spotting you, he will try to flank you as opposed to the other humans. He has a lot less health than the rest but it is not a good idea to charge him with a melee weapon (unless you have no other choice) since he is very fast and will backpedal while shooting magic at you.


Slime
Slimes are a generic and basically annoying enemy, they aren't hard to kill and while I think they used to poison you in earlier versions of the game, they have yet to dsiplay this tactic since I picked this game back up. Slap em with your weapon till they go down. The only threat they pose is if you are low level or there's some other d-bags converging on your position.


Box Slime
Box Slimes will only inhabit breakable boxes or jars or maybe other breakable things, easy to kill not a lot of damage, but once killed can spawn additional box slimes. Be careful when killing as they can lure you into a false sense of superiority and make you hack-happy. If you are clicking away carelessly you might hit a breakable behind them that contains a bomb of sorts and blow ya dumb self up.


Box Spider
These little guys are like box slimes, only hide out in breakables. They are easy to kill, but instead of multiplying when you kill them, they can jump at you. Gotta be quick to take em out, but they are not a major threat.


Bat
Consider yourself to be the Joker where Bats are concerned in this game, they are annoying as all hell. They fly, they are fast they can hide and be anywhere above below and beside you as the environment, oh so forgivingly (to them) allows, and while not particularly dangerous on their own... yes you guessed it, they often are very popular at the many fancy events thrown in the depths of this game. There is no one right way to kill a Bat. They show up in the Dungeons, the Caves, the Well and the Sewers. Get ready to hate them... BRUCE!

The well Is like The Camp. Two NPCs to buy items from. Again save your money if this is one of your first runs. (more to come)

Zombie in webbing

Zombie
These dimwits will be out and about but also as in the above screenshot can be hiding out in spiders webs, a wack or two with your weapon (or enemy attack) will free them from their creepy entanglement and they will be on their way to give you a sloppy and potentially poisonous kiss. They are slow and pretty easy to deal with, but as with their simple human predecessors, they can cause trouble if there is a party going on and everyone's invited.


Spider
Spiders are FAST and they tend to come in numbers or with a Poison Worm (below) They hit hard and fast, it is recommended you take them out from a distance ASAP. They can sometimes be very tough to kill.


Poison Worm
Slow, and relatively easy to kill, but will jump at you sporadically and has a good chance of inflicting poison, they are often annoyingly large in number and the best way to take them out it with ranged attacks, but don't waste ammo. They can be dealt with if you time your melee attacks well.


Cthulu Spawn
These sons of unholy mothers are like the Rogue Mages from the Dungeons, but they can fly. Wands with direct shots like the Missle Wands or Storm Wands, BUT If you have a decent bow, know how to use it well and have plenty of arrows I would use that instead. Save your wands if you can,

You can buy some scrolls from the Stranger here. Not much else to do, some smashable things here and some items lying around. Maybe an enemy or two. Usually Bats or Zombies.

This is a strange level. There is not much going on, but you can find some of the few Named Weapons here.

The Forgotten
The Dawn
More to come... as I learn why certain screenshots wont show up in my roll...

Anyway. You will encounter...

Ghosts
Not hard to kill, but can be a pain if they jump you in numbers. They will show up late in this short level, luring you, once again, into a false sense of safeness. Keep your wits about you and you will be just fine. They disappear if you leave them too long and then they rush you. If you hit them they brighten back up and you can see them.

You will see Cthulu Spawns here, but they are more dangerous and more numerous, same strategy applies as with the regular ones back in the Caves. You will also have Bats and Poison worms in greater numbers down here along with...

Ogres
Big hulking dumb brutes that go straight for you. They are really dumb and will often fall in the water below you and get trapped. I have yet to see one use a ladder, tho I haven't tested this yet. They follow you no matter how far you go. They aren't particularly dangerous by themselves but pair them up with another one, a Poison Worm some Cthulu Spawns, Knife Traps, and the possibility of backpedalling i

By far more dangerous than The Sewers as falling off the edge here means getting lava in your pants. This is the penultimate set of levels. Be careful. Watch your footing and don't rush. Navigation here is akin to The Caves, but much worse.


Skeletons
They come in full and bite size. They are pretty simple but tough and fast when they want to be. Backpedal carefully and take them out. They are almost never alone....


Lost Skulls
Like Bats, they fly and are highly annoying. They can take a beating and are very aggressive. I like to use up any excess wands I have on them. Otherwise smarty times assaults with your metal will take them out.

The final stage.

This is it.

Game on.

You will go through a small Ruins like section until you come to a pedestal of flickering purple glowing embers.

The Portal(screenshot pending)

Be as ready as you can based on your own style of fighting. Honestly, if you have made it this far, then you already have what it takes to get the Orb and make it out again.

This boss level has been totally revamped to make it much harder than he used to be. You have to be ready for what comes next.

My own personal favorite strategy for the end boss, who I will call The Lich. Is to get next to The Portal and have your best weapons on deck ready to go Paralyzing wands, followed by Storm Wands and then I also throw in a heavy weapon if I can for the aftermath. Then down some shots of Resist Magic, Iron Skin, Scroll of Haste, Ale for a health regeneration boost and then dive into the Portal. Immediately assess the surroundings, and bolt either left or right depending on what you are facing. and rush to get behind The Lich. Hit him with as many Paralyzing wand hits as you can before switching to Storm Wands, or other heavy weapons. Hopefully if you will have magic amped up enough to do some serious damage. If you are more melee at this point switch to the heaviest weapon you have and knock him off his altar into the lava below. Then you can focus on the mass of skeletons and other jerks until he burns up and dies. Once he is dead pillars directly behind the Lichs pedestal will lift up revealing an inclined corridor leading to The Orb. There are no enemies here, backpedal towards The Orb and fire or swing away at the remaining enemies. You will likely level up here. Choose whatever you think you need the most and keep hitting.

To be continued with some more screens.

There are 4 types of weapons in the game I will try to divid them up in this section as best as I can and explain the best tactics I have found for use of each. They can come enchanted or gilded, sometimes for better or worse,


Melee
Melee weapons are the bread and butter for the first few stages, you start off with a light dagger, it's fast but does little damage, it will break very early, but keep it as a smasher for boxes and things, I always keep a smasher, and as I get better melee weapons and they break, so do I upgrade said smasher with the next strongest broken weapon. Broken weapons cannot break again and can be used to fight off lesser enemies in a pinch.

Medium and heavy weapons

Like this bad boy are usually much more powerful but take a lot longer to swing, there are Swords, Hammers, and Maces to be found. Great for slamming slower enemies, especially when you upgrade into Speed and Agility.

The Bow
Tricky to master the bow. The projectile will arc due to gravity and the farther away your target, the more you will have to compensate by aiming above them. You can usually collect your arrows from the bodies of your fallen enemies or they can get stuck in walls and the ground, though they often break as well. Be wise with your ammo if you can.

Bombs


Regular Bomb
It goes boom and does a significant amount of damage to anything near it when it goes off including and most often, you. I think I'm repeating myself here, but don't hit these things with melee weapons. the are often in Jars and Boxes, be careful when breaking things you moron (me)


Arrow Bomb
I don't even use these other than to set them off in a small space and then run away and collect the arrows for ammo after it detonates. They tend to have a very short fuse so hitting them from a distance(like all bombs) is of course recommended.


Fire Bomb
As you can probably tell by now, I don't much care for bombs, and this one is in my opinion the worst one as not only does it explode, but it sets things on fire (usually you) Useful if you are very good at leading the enemies into a bomb trap (mentioned below)

As they go I find bombs to be very risky to use and quite tricky to use correctly, I tend to avoid them unless I am flush with arrows and have time to set up a bomb trap for multiple enemies or a very strong enemy. To do so you have to be prepared with a bomb, lure your enemies close together by circling them until they clomp together, then drop (or throw but this is more dangerous) the bomb near them. I recommend dropping it with Q and shooting it from afar with magic or an arrow as thrown objects sometimes catch on low ceilings (especially in the caves) and blow you up and not the jerks. Drop and shoot is the safest method, and I use the word "safest" in the loosest possible sense.

Thrown items
You can in fact throw items from your inventory at enemies. It is an absolute last resort and if you are that desperate then you are likely doomed. I will update this if this ever actually saves my bacon. Yes, i've tried it many times.

This section is for all items that are not weapons.

First thing is...
FOOD! Yum!
There are several foods that I know of to consume and they give you healing for a certain amount of seconds.


Apples

Bread

Cheese

Meat

Steak

Ale

Potions
Potions come in several colors.
Red, Blue, Green, Purple, Bright, Dark and Gold. They will always have "???" until you drink them as their effects change with each run. The effects that you can get from these are as follows.
Healing Can be a set amount all at once or restoration over time.
Poison You will lose a health point every second for several seconds.
Paralyze You won't be able to move for a short period.
Iron Skin You will take much less physical damage for a time.
Magic Resist You take less damage from magical attacks.

As with bombs, potions can be struck to trigger an explosion, if you get hit with this the effects of that potion will affect you and any enemies in the blast radius. This can be very useful if you know what a potion does. For example if you have drop a paralyzing potion on the floor, you can lead a group of melee enemies to it (ranged attackers can still shoot you) shoot the potion, and then take them out from afar without having to backpedal.

There are several items that I have so far found absolutely no use for and I will not be including screenshots so I can focus on more important stuff.
Candles
Books
Plates
Tankards
Skulls
Bones
Lanterns (They do provide light, but you will want to save that inventory slot for something better)

There is a floating skull you can sometimes find in the first dungeon areas that is in a church like alcove with pews and and altar with candles surrounding the skull.

I have a suspicion that it has something to do with the massive set of doors in the Lost City level just before the Sewers. I haven't made it that far with the skull in my inventory, so I am not sure. Let me know if you have tested and proven anything either way.

The world of delver is sprawling with traps, you should always be watching your step and in general being aware of your surroundings at all possible times. Often times your strategy will be to backpedal and draw your enemies out into a more manageable formation, but you will have to know whats behind you to do so safely. This means keeping a mental inventory of any traps you see as you go forward into the deep, dank, dark, peril infested dungeons.


Floor Plates
They are quite common and often times will be unavoidable as they will take up an entire passage. This is where upgrading your speed comes in handy because if you move across them fast enough, they wont trigger. Otherwise avoid or try to skirt them diagonally as to not trigger them. They can Trigger a few different types of damage that I am aware of, including, Poison, Fire, Teleporting your to a random location and I think just plain old direct damage.




Spikes
Also common they will be littered all over the floor in every section of the dungeon except for t The Camp, The Well and I have yet to see them in The Breach so far. They will trigger when you get close to them and can sometimes be very well hidden beneath grass and debris and stuff. This brings us back to taking your time and watching your step. They are generally not too hard to avoid if you keep your wits about you. Also in later levels they can spawn on walls and in greater number and also have a kind of puzzle timing formation that you need to watch an memorize to circumvent, though they are usually not complicated.


Zombie Rooms
If you see this mark in the first 2 Dungeons. It means there are some rooms with multiple zombies in them. Not a major threat if you are observant, but if you aren't careful, or you are just unlucky... These places can mess you up in the early game.


I don't know what to call these yet, but sometimes you will find that the walls will spit fire. They are on a timer and I have yet to find trigger based ones. They are rare in the first levels, but it never hurts to keep an eye out for them, the later levels can have these in multitudes and in conjunction with other traps.


Pillars
These only show up in the Ruins from what I have seen, they can come in varying formations, dropping down from the ceiling to crush you, I have just recently been hit by these, they don't outright kill you but do plenty of damage so pay attention and memorize the patterns before you cross. Knowing where you need to go before hand by checking the map is also very useful.


Pits
You will often find no floor, or in later levels, Lava. The lava is survivable but will leave your burning. The endless pits mean death. Sometimes you will get lucky and you will fall into water. Hope for water, expect death or damage. Also, as of this far, I have not experienced any fall damage if you hit the ground. I wouldn't take chances on this. I think the Dev is either being REALLY forgiving or perhaps just didn't think to include it.


Web balls
Wont hurt you but will slow you down and the bigger ones will sometimes have zombies trapped in them. Honestly, they are rally frustrating to avoid. I just kinda hate the caves as they are absolutely littered with the damn things. Take it with a pinch of salt and upgrade your speed often.


Lava
Lava is surprisingly survivable, it will burn you and leave you burning when you get out of it. So it's not to be taken lightly, but sometimes you will find that you have to take a little burn damage to progress or explore.


Breakaway Tiles
Down in the Ruins, the penultimate levels, the ground will become significantly more treacherous with more lava to fall into and now, floor that falls away after you step on it, you have maybe a full second to move. Tiles like this are recognized by their brown color and from the side they are thin and do not reach the ground. Being aware and careful is paramount in the Ruins. I feel like the Devs did an awesome job with this as previously, in the sewers, you can fall down almost anywhere and just be kinda trapped down there until you find a ladder. I found this to lure me into a sense of false security where it comes to falling, and tricking me into being lax where it comes to minding my footing.