The guide below applies to the original version of the game. It will only work for the part that hasn't been updated.

DD is a game where monsters spawn in a pre-defined way. Every time you reach a certain time (let's say 62 seconds for instance) a specific set of enemies will appear.

This means that in this game there is very little room to interpretation on "what to do" because if you don't get rid of a wave of enemies (or say, 95% of it) you will probably die when the next one appears.

It's pretty much like when you let work or homework pile up. Procrastination ♥♥♥♥♥ your life up.

As there are different monsters, priority needs to be established.


#1 laughing skulls

They chase you and they are generally faster than you, although it's possible to keep distance by moving through multiple jumps.

#2a spiders

These guys not only prevent you from collecting red gems, they also eat them and make spider babies out of them. Gross.

#2b spawners

Those squid things that generate skulls must be destroyed ASAP. The priority can be traded with spiders at a certain point of the game.

#3 roaming skulls

They are not that threatening but they will eventually kill you by accident when you don't expect it. They also drop red gems which are important.

#4 normal skulls

They are slow, you could potentially keep distance forever although when they pile up they can be an issue.



Now given that if you're reading this you're already familiar with the jumping around, the collection of red gems by holding fire, the fact that you should get to level 2 when you kill the first spider and laughing skull and get to level 3 shortly after the first worm and a few squid spawners...

Kill roaming skull first, then all the normal skulls, then the spawner.

Repeat 3 times, then listen out for the spider, kill it fast and turn around to find a laughing skull chasing you. Kill it, kill his friends.

You're now level 2 if you have collected all the gems. Kill the laughing skull spawner. Shoot one of the two gems whilst you run towards it and around it to shoot the other one.

Now there is a repetition of 3 times again (I think) with 2 spawners at once, one for laughing skulls and one for normal ones. Get rid of laughing skull and friends first, then roaming, then spawners, then clean the standard skulls out.

Repeat until one final laughing skull spawner appears. Kill it fast, the first worm will appear and a spider shortly after. Go kill the spider, then turn towards the worm. The worm goes up and down, let him chase you until you're ready to shoot him from below, standing still. Ideally you want to kill him now and collect all its gems.

Same repetition of wave 2 but faster. After killing the first 2/3 spawners you should turn to level 3.

Now the difference with before is that you can shoot homing daggers with right click.

Homing daggers are essential but they aren't always accurate. You should think of them as a simple mean to massively decrease the number of opponents when they are too many.

As soon as you get to level 3 start shooting all you have as you collect the red gems. If you've been fast and tidy, there shouldn't be any more than 3 spiders at the same time + a brand new worm. Kill them all, spiders first. If worm doesn't die it's okay, will have to kill it last.

From now on try saving as many homing daggers as you can: faster repetitions of the double spawner scheme will happen so you will need to shoot a few but try saving 75%. Also another 3 spiders will appear. If you clear everything out fast (shortly after the three spider have appeared) you should have a few seconds to rest.

Don't be scared cause this is easy. Two waves.

#1 something like 8 of the basic spawners

Run around and shoot everything that moves and also use a good 80% of the homing daggers

#2 same but with the laughing skull spawners, keep shooting homing daggers as you collect red gems from dead skulls and spawners. The trick here is to strafe jump in a circular way as you clear out everything, because every skull will be following you, they should be relatively easy to aim at because they'll be quite central in the screen.



Collect everything, at 264 seconds the first mega worm will spawn.

Now this is going to be the most painful part, because this is where things start becoming a bit random in the game and you will need some luck.

The idea is that 3 mega worms will spawn. They won't spawn together, there will be a slight delay between 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

The problem is that there is the optimal way to do this and then there are other ways which will make you want to cry, question existence more than you already do and most especially want to break your screen.

The ideal way to do it is to hear where the first worm is spawning and then moving as quickly as possible towards the sound/smoke on the floor. Then try looking at where the smoke is going and try placing yourself in front of it, start shooting as soon as it comes out with no interruptions, stand there till it's dead. Collect gems whilst you immediately go find the closest worm and try shooting for a couple of seconds, not any longer because 3 spiders will spawn.

Now the problem with this part is that you have the chance to get A LOT of gems but there are going to be lots of spiders which will prevent you from taking them and make your life hell. What you want to do is get comfortable (and this will require practice and/or watching replays I guess, I did the first of the 2) with how much time you have before the first wave of 3 spiders spawns. This is because you will then know exactly what the optimal amount of damage you'll need to have made before it's too late.

Ideally you should take one full mega worm out and 20% of another one before addressing spiders.

You could do a little bit less and still make it later but it might result in death.



The reason why this is random is that the worms spawn fast from the moment you hear them and sometimes no matter what you do they will spawn backwards and then self adjust in air, showing the gemmed part too late for you to complete your plan according to optimal timings.

Although I've always tried surviving every single time no matter what happened, I've come to realise that if this goes wrong you might as well press reset. Because yeah, what's next is much worse...





Either way, if you've killed the first 3 spiders you should immediately go back to killing more of the worms, always prioritise starting from their head. Don't bother using homing daggers here or with the spiders because they're not effective and too slow for your purpose.

Now same thing happens another couple of times: as worms get in and out of the ground, there will be two more spawns of 3 spiders.

If you're doing well, you should reach a point where there's nothing in the arena.



Then more spiders will follow: they are a lot, start getting rid of a few and as soon as two spawners (1 normal, 1 laughing skull) appear, PRIORITISE SKULLS AND SPAWNERS and then go back to spiders. There will be be a moment here when everything will be too ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ much.

This moment is made to make you panic because even if you've been on top of everything until now, the amount of stuff on the screen will be unbearable.

Now is the time to start using the homing daggers.

Shoot short sequences of homing daggers as you quickly aim at the spiders.

This part is more about instinct than anything but key element: don't use ALL the homing. In fact try using the least amount as possible because you will need them for the final boss fight.

Remember that spiders aren't that threatening unless they eat loads of gems. If you get rid of the spawners and the skulls, the rest will be easier to manage.



So let's say you've made it... You've cleared everything out and the fortress, the final boss starts appearing....

NOTE: Never, ever, for any reason, go under the fortress. It will suck you up. Not in a nice way.

1. as it spawns start shooting aiming up (watch videos of top scores for reference)
2. You should manage to kill about 3 or 4 if you're lucky of the pieces that are on top of the fortress before you have to bring your aim back down
3. Shoot in the centre clearing out those skulls that are getting under the fortress to be upgraded
4. Turn left, start shooting 80% of your homing daggers (shoot them, but don't shoot ALL you have) as you shoot everything that moves, keep turning 180 degrees as you move because there's A LOT OF STUFF here.
5. As soon as you've cleared out 95-100% of the stuff, bring the aim back up, finish the fortress.


Easy innit?

Be creative. Shoot spawners and skulls first, use homing daggers, absorb red gems again, shoot the spider, try and survive the worms. You're only a small number of seconds away from getting to 500.

If you deserve it you will get there!

Now, little final note...

If you have a look at high scores, most especially #1 in the world, you will find that the story goes on and on... But the reality is that after the fortress there is no new content, also the achievement is done at 500 seconds. That makes me assume that it's what game creators intended as the "end" of the game. There is still a logic of predetermined spawns even after the 500 seconds, and maybe if I one day go REALLY mad I might even think of going further... But I think being 33rd, 522 seconds and all that, it might be a good time to drop the mouse and give my hand a little rest...

Hope you enjoyed the guide or that at least it eased the pain.
Good luck.