Trapped in a space station at the center of the galaxy’s equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle is not the best place to be. Not only is every floor of Endless Dungeon’s superstructure overrun by monsters, but the only way to break free is to fight all the way to "The Core" to defeat the malevolent AI that’s taken control. 

Thankfully, you have two things in your favor in Endless Dungeon. Number one: A fancy replication machine means you just get sent back to the space station’s saloon if you die. Number two: Many unlikely heroes have found themselves trapped in the station over the centuries, and they will fight with you to escape.

Still, even with the threat of death wiped away and a few friends willing to face the infinite alien hordes at your side, you may want a few tips for your journey to the center of this infested space station in a black hole of space. And wouldn’t you know it, my spaceship’s hold is just chock-full of Endless Dungeon tips.

Don’t forget, Endless Dungeon is a tower defense game


Since you control a set of heroes with special abilities—whom you can upgrade with perks and load up with different weapons—it can be easy to lose track of what Endless Dungeon is at heart: a tower defense game. While your heroes may be the best damage dealers at your disposal, you can place turrets throughout the dungeon as you explore, and keeping your heroes alive isn't your main objective. 

At the start of each run on The Core, you begin in a room on an unexplored floor of the space station. It's just your two selected heroes and your trusty crystal bot. If aliens knock one of your heroes down in a fight, you can revive them, and if they die, they respawn at the end of the battle. However, if you lose your crystal bot, then it’s game over, and you return to the saloon. Over anything, you need to keep your crystal bot safe.

When exploring the dungeon, keep to the first principles of tower defense games: You want to make the path to the crystal bot as long and windy as you can, and you want that path to lead enemy waves through as many turrets as possible.

Create the longest route to your crystal bot

When opening doors in the dungeon, pay attention to the route you're creating to your crystal bot. You want incoming waves of enemies to travel the furthest possible journey to your vulnerable base. The longer they have to walk, the more time you have to deal damage to them, and the more towers you can lead them past, the more of their ranks you can thin out. Distance is your friend.

If you find yourself in a room with multiple potential exits, open the one furthest from home. If that room also has an exit, then open that before opening any others in the first room.

As the levels become more complicated, you will find opportunities to create shortcuts within the maze. Don't forget that any shortcut you open could allow the waves to sidestep your traps and directly attack your crystal bot.

Try not to rush. Once a door is open, it can’t be closed, so ensure you’re not creating a hole in your defenses that you will need to cover for the rest of your run.

Let the turrets do the killing


Blasting every alien on sight with one of your heroes’ weapons is tempting, but it's often best to let your towers do the heavy lifting. Not only does it keep you out of danger, it also gives them the chance to earn a little experience. You can upgrade your towers to deal even greater damage when they have killed enough enemies.

Bear in mind that if a turret is destroyed, it returns to your lowest researched level. By default, that's level one, but if you've researched a turret type to level two at the research station, it won't drop below that. To keep your turrets alive long enough to level up, you can step in and give them a whack to restore their health. The higher your wit score, the more you heal with each thwack.

The advantage of letting your turrets level up is that it can give you the space to leave them to tackle waves independently while you explore further into the dungeon. Therefore, it's usually a good idea.

Place your people

While you can order your squadmates to run around with you and spew bullets at any nearby enemy, it's often best to treat them like a mobile turret. You can tell them to remain in a room that's a vital junction on the way to your crystal bot.

A well-placed teammate can hold the line against a mega-wave, freeing you up to focus on another fracture in your defensive line. The AI also does a great job of swapping to the weapon that’s most effective against an incoming wave, too.

Learn your characters’ strengths (and weaknesses)


It can be easy to see every character in Endless Dungeon as a fighter when they cut through waves more effectively than your turrets, but each has a specific role they perform best in, and for many, it’s not on the frontline. For instance, your starting character Sweeper is great at supporting defensive turrets. Their high wit score means they can repair machines to full health in a few hits, and most of the skills they pick up from upgrade stations enhance their mechanical abilities.

If Sweeper is on your squad, make sure you also take someone who is a more natural fighter, such as Zed, whose passive ability increases their fire rate with each kill. Leave your supports and defenders on the line and explore the dungeon with characters who are more likely to be able to take on a wave of enemies solo.

Prepare for your journey

A couple of alien types populate each district of the station. The Devotion Garden, for instance, only spawns bugs and robots, whereas the Procedural Factory only spawns blobs and robots. You can use this information to plan your weapon pickups and turret research to ensure you’re best prepared for each enemy wave.

For example, you can plan a run as follows: If you start in The Devotion Garden and know you will visit the Procedural Floor after that, and then you’ll fight through the Life Incubator before ending your run in The Core. You know you will face robots in the first two stages, so it makes sense to research electricity-based turrets early, as these are super effective against the machines. You also know that should you find any chests, it’s worth picking up the weapons that deal shock and electricity damage. However, once you’re nearing the end of the second district, you won’t face any more robots until The Core, so you may want to swap an electrical weapon for one better suited for fighting bugs, blobs, or blurs.

If you know what’s coming up, you can make smarter choices about what you research and equip and when. Don’t waste resources upgrading your Tesla Turrets to level three if you’re not facing any more robots on your journey.

Expand your squad

After you’ve unlocked the Workshop back at the Saloon, one of the most expensive upgrades you can buy is Standing Room Only, which allows you to take three heroes on a run instead of two. It’s pricey, but having the option of a third character significantly increases your tactical options and damage output. It will make your runs last longer and give you a greater potential to earn currency to buy more upgrades. Other upgrades may let you purchase advanced skills and earn cash faster, but you should get those only after expanding your squad size.

No two runs of Endless Dungeon are identical. Each district is a random assortment of pre-generated rooms; the turret unlocks offered change each time, and the skills you can upgrade also shift and change on each mission to The Core. You have to learn to be flexible if you stand a chance of ever making it out alive.

Endless Dungeon is now available on the Epic Games Store.