Getting started

#The main menu

The game opens on a main menu with Play, Sign in, Register, Options, Changelog and (on the desktop) Quit. You can change the options before you play, and Esc or "Main menu" brings you back to it later.

You can play in your browser at dodmg.com/play or with the desktop client from the downloads. Both use the same accounts, characters and vault. See the FAQ for the difference.

#Guest or account

Play without signing in starts you as a guest, with a name of your own ("Guest" and four letters). A guest plays like anyone else, with one exception: guests can't buy from merchants, so the Nexus Bazaar, the shops and the vault's chests are closed to you until you register.

A guest's login is kept on that computer or in that browser. If it's forgotten (you clear the browser's data, or play on another device), the guest account is lost. Register ("Save progress") at any time turns the guest into a full account, keeping its characters, items, vault and fame.

To register, choose a name, an email and a password of at least 6 characters. After 10 wrong passwords for one account, signing in to it is blocked for 15 minutes.

A new account has 2 character slots and 2 vault chests. More slots cost 500 fame on the character screen; more vault chests are bought in the vault (see Items).

#Choosing a class

Every class is open from the start, the classic ones and the Doomed Realms ones: 29 in all. Each class uses one kind of weapon, one kind of ability and one kind of armor, and has its own highest stats. The Classes page lists them all.

Some easy starts:

• Wizard or Priest for long-range damage (the Priest also heals).
• Knight or Warrior if you'd rather take hits up close.
• Archer or Huntress for safe, steady damage from range.

Each class has 5 class quests: reaching 20, 150, 400, 800, 2000 fame with a character of that class. They earn your rank stars (Getting stronger).

#Controls

Every key can be rebound in Options (O).

Hover over any item to see what it does; the numbers that beat what you're wearing show in green. Hover over a nearby player for their rank and gear.

#The Nexus

The Nexus is the safe hub between runs, a castle courtyard. You arrive by the fountains, which heal you while you stand next to them. Around the spawn:

• North, in the keep's great hall: the realm portals, each with its name and how many players are inside.
• West of the spawn: the Vault portal. East: the Guild Hall portal and guild board.
• Beside the spawn: the Name Changer, the Character Changer, the Armoire (skins) and the Support Bot.
• Both sides, behind the colonnades: the market wards, the Nexus Bazaar's stalls. Everything there costs fame.
• South yard: the Battle Arena portals, the locked Wine Cellar portal, the class memorial and four shared vault chests anyone can use.

/nexus or R brings you back from anywhere.

#Free starter gear: /gear

Type /gear in the Nexus for a set of starter gear for your class: a weapon, an ability, armor and a ring from about half way up the regular tiers (never above tier 8). For most classes that's a tier 7 weapon, tier 8 armor and a tier 4 ability and ring. The Classes page shows exactly what each class gets. It also puts an XP Booster and a Loot Drop Potion in your backpack, soulbound to you: use them to level faster and find more loot.

Its limits:

• Once per character. A new character can use it again.
• In the Nexus only, and below level 20.
• It only upgrades. Untiered items and anything as good or better stay where they are.
• The boosters and the items it replaces go to your inventory, so keep a few slots free; it says how many it needs if you don't have room. If your gear is already better, you still get the boosters.

#The Support Bot

The Support Bot stands by the spawn, next to the Armoire. It greets you when you come near and gives a tip every 45 seconds to players nearby. The tips:

1. New here? Type /gear for free starter gear!
2. Type /godlands to jump straight to the Godlands, the realm's toughest and richest part. Get some levels first!
3. Type /realm to go to a realm, and /nexus to come back here from anywhere.
4. Stand by the fountains around the spawn to heal.
5. Type /vault to store items in your vault; they stay safe when a character dies.
6. Type /shop to see the shops: abilities, weapons, armor, potions and keys for fame.
7. Type /sellfame <slot> to sell items you don't need for fame.
8. Type /tell <name> <message> to whisper, and /trade <name> to trade.
9. Type /commands to see every command you can use.
10. Do Damage is open source: github.com/Meapy/Do-Damage
11. Elder dungeons drop much better loot and have a chance of dropping a potion that will max a stat!

It also hands out two things:

• XP gifts. Every 10 minutes, once every gift of the last batch is gone, it puts out 100 XP gifts on the plaza around the spawn. Shoot them for experience: each is worth up to 60 experience to everyone close by. At the lowest levels a single kill gives at most a tenth of what your next level needs, so they help most from about level 7. Between tips it says how many gifts are left and when the next batch comes.
• A dungeon portal. Every 10 minutes (5 minutes after the gifts), it opens a portal to a random dungeon just south of the spawn. The portal closes once that dungeon has been cleared (its boss died and no other boss is left for 15 seconds), or when the next one replaces it. Anyone already inside stays.

#Your first hour

1. Make a character, then type /gear.
2. Kill a few batches of XP gifts by the spawn, or go straight to a realm with /realm.
3. In the realm, start near the beaches (where you arrive) and move inland as you level. The further from the shore, the harder the monsters.
4. Take the dungeon portals that monsters drop. The Dungeons page says which are easy.
5. Once you're level 20, try /godlands with friends. The Godlands' gods drop the best realm loot.
6. Bring stat potions and anything you want to keep to your vault (/vault) before trying something risky.

#Commands to know

The most useful ones; the Commands page lists them all.