DungeonSettlers.wiki

Beginner Guide: Your First Days

Steam

Dungeon Settlers is a colony sim wrapped around a dungeon crawler. You build a settlement and recruit a squad, then level it and push expeditions deeper into the dungeon. The main story (Crawling Doom, Main Quest 0 to Main Quest 8) doubles as a tutorial spine that advances automatically as you do the right things, so use it as your to-do list.

At a glance

Main story spineMain Quest 0 to Main Quest 8: wagon -> workstation -> starter gear -> 4 recruits -> first run -> return -> Research Station -> Goddess Statue and 2 units at level 2+ -> Red Monster Rat
One in-game dayAbout 18 real minutes at 1x speed
Candidate refreshEvery 480 in-game minutes; inspect to reveal talents first
Elf recruitsFrom clan rank 2 only
Leveling wallGreater and Supreme mana stones have no source in this build. Expect the ladder to stall at level 6
Depletion rule of thumbRotate floors; a floor at 0 depletion gets -50% drops until it refills
Red Monster RatElite; 4'500 total HP, 144 physical attack, Bloody Scratch + Rat Swarm
The last two stepsMain Quest 7 wants the Goddess Statue and 2 units at level 2+; Main Quest 8 is the Red Monster Rat kill

Your first day

  • Interact with the support wagon (Main Quest 0). It holds your starting kit.
  • Build a Basic Workstation (Main Quest 1), then craft Textile x6, Cloth Armor x1, Wooden Arrow x2 (Main Quest 2).
  • Recruit up to 4 units (Main Quest 3). Read the recruiting advice below before you spend.
  • Make a first, short dungeon run (Main Quest 4) and come home (Main Quest 5). Gather wood and grass. Take the easy kills, and don't push deep on the first day.
  • Stock food and put beds down before night.
  • Build a Research Station (Main Quest 6) and start research immediately. Idle research is wasted time.
Watch outSleeping on the ground gives a far shorter comfort buff than a bed or a proper bedroom.

Recruiting

TipInspect candidates before you buy. Inspection reveals hidden talents.

Talent tiers decide stat growth for a unit's whole career. A fresh candidate only has about 2-5 tiers total across its 6 major stats, so one Exceptional or Genius stat is a genuine find.

Candidates already carrying inscriptions cost extra, by rarity: Common +50 gold, Uncommon +100 gold, Rare +300 gold, Legendary +500 gold. That surcharge is often a bargain against the 2.00% Rare / 0.300% Legendary roll odds.

Elves only appear from clan rank 2. Humans and Lizardmen are available from the start.

Mind the dietary rules when planning your kitchen. Elves take a mood hit from meat, Lizardmen from vegetables (Food & Mood). A mixed-race roster wants a mixed pantry.

Leveling and mana stones

Leveling is manual: a prayer that consumes mana stones (Leveling & Experience).

Pick the offering tier deliberately. Bigger offerings buy bigger stat gains per level, but stones are the real bottleneck.

Watch outThe wall is real. Greater Mana Stone first appears when reaching level 6, and no table in this build - drop, recipe, merchant, event or quest - hands it to you. Expect progress to stall there.

Spread levels across the squad rather than rushing one unit.

At every level-up you pick an inscription from 5 choices. Use the Retry button freely and don't settle for a weak Common (Inscriptions).

Dungeon habits

Rotate floors rather than farming one to the bottom.

RuleFarming one floor to 0 depletion puts a -50% drop-rate debuff on that floor, and a bottomed-out floor takes 15 in-game days to refill.

Respect the clock (Time). Night (20:00 to 06:00) cuts vision, and long expeditions stack escalating Dungeon Stay mood penalties day after day. Go in, hit your goal, come home.

Watch gear durability and pack food and arrows. Broken weapons and hungry settlers end runs early.

The Red Monster Rat

The main chain's finale (Main Quest 8) is killing the Red Monster Rat, an elite rat with 4'500 total HP and a hard-hitting 144 physical attack. It is backed by Bloody Scratch and a Rat Swarm call.

Bring:

  • a full squad carrying the levels the chain itself asks for (2 units at level 2+) and crafted gear (Bone or Carapace tier is comfortable)
  • a shield-user to guard
  • healing items

Killing it ends the story. It does not unlock the next region (How Regions Unlock).

The last two steps

The chain closes on two quests. Main Quest 7 wants the Goddess Statue built and 2 units at level 2+, and Main Quest 8 is the kill itself (Red Monster Rat x1).

NoteBoth come straight from the quest table's own completion conditions, so this page follows the chain the game actually ships (Quests).