There is one goal: WORLD DOMINATION. This means you have have kill all 4 main villians.

Campaign mode automatically starts you in the center of map, with highlighted villians and allies in your initial sphere of influence.


If you select Freeplay mode, you will be asked to select a location for a base. The map will consist of at least 4 main villains, which must be conquered to win. There are also lesser villians, which can be conquered by choice. Conquering a villian gives a large boost of mana. Other players dungeons can be loaded, and they will take a place a main villian. I recommend placing your base far from preloaded dungeons, as they can wipe you out if they in are your starting sphere of influence. Place the base near enemies you feel confortable conquering; the first destruction of a main villian is the most important.


Allies are useful entities that offer services after either meeting their leader or discovering their location. For example, dark elves can be recruited after conquering the 3 floor random dungeon to meet the leader, but orges can be recruited after entering their cave. A map will look something like the one below.



The sphere of influence is defined as area in which you can travel to other places, and who can travel to you.


After selectin a location, you will see which enemies are initially hostile to you (shown in red). They will attack you if triggered. Triggers include the throne, as well as aggression toward other tribes. As you defeat enemies, the other main villians will become hostile via the "aggression trigger."

Congratulations on spawning into the world. Now it is time to get to work. Look at your map to see where the ores have spawned. You want to build your base next to the ore pocket without '?' marks near it. '?' are enemy minidungeons (at least on the starting map), and you don't want to build your base on top of them. It is useful to control your Keeper, and scout the area to determine how you want to begin. Before we begin building a home, its important to understand the 4 first minion types.




Imp:
Primary function: Slave to build structures
Cost: Gold (First 4 are free)
Pro: Can carry unlimited items
Con: Not effective in combat.
Used to cost mana prior to A23


Orc:
Primary function: Melee Combat
Secondary: Can craft, not very good
Pro: Most needed minion early game. Orcs can go toe to toe with basic enemies by melee combat ability.
Con: Only basic skill set. No specialization
Requirements: Bed, Training Dummy.






Goblin:
Primary function: Crafting
Secondary: Disarm traps
Pro: Really great crafter, makes traps, weapons, armor at respecible rate
Con: No combat ability.
Requirements: Workshop, bed




Orc Shaman:
Primary function: Healer/SupportMagic in combat.
Secondary function: Potion crafting.
Pro: Can learn magic up to advanced sorcery. Sorcery skill is 70%, so the spells have good cool down.
Con: Squishy. They are easily killed in melee combat.
Other: Orcs used to have the Mana Generation skill.
Requirements: Library, Bed



Use the dig tool to start mining pieces of the mountain. SHIFT CLICK to select larger areas. Note that the mountain is made of two types of Rock: Soft (Outer) and Hard (Inner). Soft rock is easier to mine, while hard rock takes a significant amount of time. You will need slaves to efficiently dig hard rock to expand your dungeon to a reasonable size. To start build a small hallway into a 5x5 room. Branch off a 3x3 room and a 4x4 room. The 5x5 will be your temporary training area, 3x3 temp storage, and 4x4 temp bedroom. In the 5x5 room, put in 1 workshop, ~3 libraries, ~3 training wooden training dummies. This temporary space will be used to attract minions while the imps build the rest of the dungeon. Mine the iron and use it build a some prison tiles.


Use the dig/cut tool to cut trees.
TIP: Use the prioritize tool to make the imps cut a selection of trees.

TIP2: Use the prioritize to change the order of jobs in the queue.

The most important early game research is advanced sorcery. It makes Orc Shamans much more effective.

Finally, your Keeper is the most important unit. If he dies, the game ends.
An example of an early game dungeon, with a Peasant Slave.



NOTE: Use torches to light up you dungeon. This allows for crafting/training to proceed at the fastest possible rate.

The wooden library allows your units to train up to spell level 3. This allows them to learn heal self, summon flies, and heal other. The wooden training dummy lets your units train up to level 3. Iron lets them train up to level 7.

KeeperRL alpha 21 introduced an immigration system. Instead of minions randomly joining when you meet the requirements, prospective minions appear in the bottom left of screen. The green question mark opens up the immigration screen where you can see all the minion types and their requirements. You can checkmark a minion to automatically accept a minion of the type. Prospective minions will appear above the imp icon. Their icon will be grayed out if you do not meet the requirement for the minion. In the example below, you can see a werewolf as a prospective minion.
(Note that the UI has changed as of A24. The immigration system is the same as in A21. The UI shown here is from A21.)

This section outlines the remaining, more advanced minions.

Orcs, orc shamans, goblins, and imps were covered in the previous section.

Ogre:
Primary function: Combat, Forging
Secondary:
Pro: Can train to a higher melee level than an orc. Also tougher.
Requires: Bed, iron training dummy

Harpy:
Primary function: Long Range archery combat
Secondary: Alchemy.
Pro: Can levitate, best archery user in the game. Can take out higher level units in long tunnels that are far away.
Con: Low defense. Unit is easier to kill at close range than an orc.
Requirements: Bed, need to have bow, wooden training dummy

Zombie:
Primary function: Death fodder
Secondary: Dead weight
Pro: Can continue attacking even if lost head, other body parts. Is resistant to poison.
Con: Can't go out in sunlight, really slow.
Requires: Graves
Honestly, this minion isn't very usefu.

Skeleton:
Primary function: Undead archer
Pro: Undead unit that doesn't burn in sunlight.
Con: Fragile.

Vampire
Primary function: Combat,
Secondary: Sorcery. Used to be able to produce mana.
Pro: Is recruited at a good base level, is stronger than most non-legendary, non-beast units when first encountered. It is also one of the few non-keeper units that have good combat skills that can also use magic.
Con: Can't go out in sunlight. Can't heal.
Requires: Graves, 1 iron training dummy

Ghost
Primary function: Chaos.
Secondary: Rituals, to bring other demons into the dungeon.
Pro: Comes with the invisibility spell. Can attack enemies to give them the insanity debuff.

Requires: One Demonic shrine. Having more than one with floors to increase efficiency increases the chance of finding one.



Doppelganger
Primary function: Becomming a high powered non magic combat minion.
Secondary: Rituals, Eating other lower useless minions that lost limbs.
Pro: Absorbs minion's attributes. For example, eating a harpy gives it archery skills. Can also eat prisoners.
Con: Requires eating minions to enchance skills. Additionially, they must eat a minion before it can equip items and be useful in combat. The process of building a powerful Doppelganger can be time consuming.
Requires: Three Demonic shrines.
Other: Great way to recycle minions with lost limbs.
Notes: The image for demonic shrines is outdated.



Succubus
Primary function: Giving birth to units. Can give birth to legendary units if respective mutations are unlocked.
Secondary: Rituals, raising morale of minions by sleeping with them.
Pro: This is how you breed legendary units, after the skills have been unlocked.
Con: Terrible combat skills compared to other units. Can't train.
Requirements: One Demononic shrine.



Dark Elves
Primary Function: Great combat ability. Can use magic and level up through training. Much better than Orc Shamans.
Pro: Excellent Combat skills. Also is recruited with an elvish sword.
Con: Can't craft.
Requirements: Have Dark elves ally on map, conquer the dungeon, meet the dark elf leader, pay gold. Can recruit in groups of 4. Make sure you don't recruit when under attack or your guys will be killed and your gold will be wasted.
Can't attract, must buy.




Beasts
There are several types of beasts: Raven, Bats, Wolves, Cave Bear,
Primary function: combat
Secondary: N/A
Pro: good unarmed attack.
Con: Can't equip items. Can't train to level up. Wanders on its own and can aggro enemies before they would aggro on their own.
Requirements: Cage.

Werewolf:
Primary function: combat
Secondary: N/A
Pro: Regeneration skill.
Con: Can't craft
Requirements: Cage, 2 iron dummies


Raven and Bats are great for scouting, but can't fight and have the combat skills of an imp. Cave Bears are recuited alone. Wolves can only be recruited at night, and spawn in packs of 6-8. Werewolves start with the Regeneration skill, which makes them superior in melee combat.


Legendary Units:

Legendary Units are the best in the game. They have a high melee and magic level cap. Can be obtained by freeing them from the tower (If they are an ally.) or by breeding them.

Lastly, some units are only obtainable by enslavement.

There are three types of training:

1. Magic, uses library
   
2. Melee, uses training dummy
   
3. Archery, uses archery range

Each facility is not open to all minions, and minions can only train based their race. To see what a minion can do, click on them. Minions can be ordered to do tasks by clicking and dragging them to a facility, or by changing the activity. Also, minions will train to the highest level permited by the quality of the facilities or their own level cap. For example, orcs can train up to 3 levels of melee combat with a wooden dummy. However, orcs can train a full 7 levels of melee combat, but an iron dummy is required. Once a minion has reached the limit the facilities can provide, the number will be highlighted in red. Orcs that reached their training limit are great crafting workhorses.

Once you have recruited minions to do your bidding, you can form a team with them. For example, you can have two Orcs and an Orc Shaman together. To control the team, select it and choose a pawn to be the leader. The others will follow them. To exit unit control mode, press 'U'. To travel to another area, press 'T' while you are controlling a member of the team. Note that you have to control minions to pillage far away lands. The Stand Ground orders means only the team leader will move and the other minions will stay in the same spot. Ignore enemies means your minions won't go off and attack others unless they are right next to an enemy.

To access the skill tree, click on a library or book icon. Here is the initial skill tree:



Glorious isn't it? In order to advance, you need mana. To get mana, conquer (i.e kill OR enslave) tribes. Mini-dungeons give 50 mana each. Examples: Bandit caves, dwarf nests, kobolt dungeons, peasant villages, and elf villages. Lesser villains give 100 mana each, and Main villians give 200 mana. Each research costs 100 mana. Note that the first human village (on the starting map) gives 100 mana.

1. Alchemy: Uses the laboratory. Lets you brew basic potions (costs gold). Precusor to Advanced Alchemy, Humanoid mutation, Beast Mutation, and Alchemical conversion (convert resources to/from gold). Advanced Alchemy lets you brew the best potions (Healing, speed, invisibility, etc).
   
2. Pig Breeding: Lets you build the pigsty (costs wood) to raise population cap by 4.
   
3. Iron working: Lets you build iron dummies to increase the melee training cap accessible by your minions. Wood only lets you get to level 3, while iron lets you get to level 7. Precusor to two handed weapons. This research also gives you access to the forge to craft iron weapons (Like swords). Second best research in the game.
   
4. Advanced Sorcery: Lets you build an iron bookcase, to get access to more powerful spells. Basic socery (unlocked from the start). Best starting research in the game. Precusor to Master Sorcery.
   
5. Master Socery: Lets your keeper cast the most powerful spells. Note that Orc Shamans cannot make use of this research, as they can only learn all the spells in advanced socery.
   
6. Traps: Lets you build traps in the workshop. Most cost wood except for the boulder trap.
   
7. Demonolgy: Build demon shrines. (Precursor Advanced Socery).

Like many games, resources management is important. The five resources are: Mana, wood, iron, stone, gold.

Mana is used to:

• Research upgrades.
  
• Build throne (300). Huge increase of population limit. (10).
  
• Mana is obtained by killing enemies.

Prior to Alpha 23, mana was used to summon imps to gather resources, build demon strines, and Brew Potions. Mana can no longer be obtained by having minions study in the library.

Wood:

• Build Libraries.
  
• Build wooden training dummies.
  
• Build workshop.
  
• Build wooden floors to increase the efficiency of your constructions.
  
• Beds
  
• Basic armor, traps

Wood is the most needed resource, and thankfully the easiest to obtain. Have your imps brutually kill some trees. Note that wood is flammable.

Iron:

• Produce iron dummies, and weapons
  
• Prisons

Obtained by mining/looting.

Stone:

• Build a Laboratory to make potions
  
• Build a grave for undead units
  
• Build Stone floors to increase the usefullness of training rooms and manufactoring stations
  
• Build a boulder trap

Stone is great mid game resource, as it allows you increase your efficiency of your buildings, and build graves for corpses. Its a good idea to have at least 1 grave, to contain the gas from rotting bodies. Obtained by mining, looting.

Gold:

• Build Jewelery
  
• Build Carpet for max effiency.
  
• Obtained by killing Warriors, knights, elves, or dwarves or bosses.
  
• Also obtained by mining

Instead of killing your enemies, you can enslave them. To enslave them, right click the enemy are order and choose "Order Capture." Then defeat them in combat. To add the unit to your dungeon, exit minion control mode and look above the immigration tab. Click on the prisonor you want to add and they will make their way to your dungeon. Note that you need to have empty prison cells.



Some minions can only be recruited by enslavement. To recruit an enslaved minion, make sure you have 1 free population space, and a torture table. Select the minion you want to recruit and change the activity to torture. He/She will make His/Her way down to a torture table, and a fellow prisoner will then torture him/her. The prisoner will either die or join your forces. This method can be used to recruit the cyclops, shaman (main villain), dwarves, bandits, and more. Prisoners are great for digging out hard rock to expand your dungeon.

Dwarf Females make the best slaves because they are easy to defeat, have 100% digging skill, and can help with crafting. Free labor with no cost to valuable population space.

A great Prison:

Peasants, Dwarfs, Elves, and Torture Tables!

In no particular order, here are some tips:

• The lesser villian "Undead Cementary" is an easy source of mana. Just don't open the coffins until you are ready.
  
• Your first research should be advanced sorcery. Your second should be iron working. Advanced sorcery makes Orc Shamans great.
  
• The human village on the starting map is you best starting source of mana, early gold, and slaves.
  
• The bandit cave on the starting map is your best source of swords. Swords are better than clubs and you can get them for free this way.
  
• Craft basic weapons and armor in the workshop!
  
• Torches are a great ranged weapon!
  
• Your starting team should be 1 goblin, ~3 Orc Shamans, ~4 Orcs. Orc Shamans die easily, so its good to have some spares.
  
• Remember to use full control mode. Try micromanaging 2 orc + 1 orc Shaman to kill enemies instead of letting the AI do it.
  
• Capturing and recruiting lesser/main villains is worth it.
  
• Don't mine the blue stuff early game!
  
• Lesser villains often have other sites on their map worth looting.

Some minions are different from others, and have unique bonuses and pitfalls. These minions have orange marking in their immigration bubble. Mousing over reveals their unique traits.

Here is a list of some of the more "common" unique traits. Some minions can have multiple bonuses.

For Orcs:

• Disarm Trap
  
• Swimming
  
• Extra Archery Potential
  
• Extra Melee Potential
  
• Magic Vulnerability

For Orc Shaman:

• Extra Laboratory
  
• Extra Spell Training
  
• Extra Socery Skill (Spells have faster cooldown)
  
• Magic Resistance

For Vampires:

• Telepathic
  
• Fire Resistant
  
• Flying

For Harpies

• Extra Archery Potential

For Orge:

• Extra Archery Potential
  
• Slowed/+5 Defense
  
• Magic Vulnerability

Insanity is another special trait. This trait gets its own section because it is the only trait to change minion behavior. Insane minions are hostile to all other minions, and will try to kill everything. However, insane minions are worth recruiting because they have special bonus. It is best to create a room outside your dungeon with the training items to seperate them from the rest of the population.

Note that insane minions

• Will obey your commands in full control mode. You can lead them to a bed and make them go to sleep.
  
• Respect locked doors. Right click on a door to lock it.
  
• Are required to craft ego items, like a magic sword. Use a happy insane goblin with a succubus to raise their moral.
  
• Are basically straight upgrade minions when used as a one man army.