Starting out in Duelists of Eden can be an exhilarating experience for new players. Aside from creating their character. Duelists of Eden is a fast-paced action multiplayer game where you create a deck, select a character and duke it out on the grid. The game has elements from fighting games, the multiplayer mode of “One Step From Eden” which was the predecessor of DoE, and from other grid battlers, specifically Megaman Battle Network.
This Duelists of Eden Beginner Guide will try to answer the most common questions that may run through your mind while you try out this game for the first time, as well as expand points made in the tutorial, which you should go through.
You get a t-pose banner for finishing it, and it provides a great and concise overview of the game and will teach you enough to try and fight in your first few matches
Duelists of Eden Beginner Guide, Walkthrough, and Secrets
HUD & UI
Health: This is your current amount of HP. If it reaches 0 you lose the game. Note that this is also displayed numerically on the bottom of your character and on any structure on the field.
Shield: This shows the current amount of your Shield. See [link to shield mechanic somehow] for more info.
Timer: This timer starts at 0 and counts up, practically indefinitely. There is basically no limit on the timer currently.
Status Effects: If a status is applied to a character or structure, it will appear here. There are several effects and counters, some positive but mostly negative, and will be displayed beside each other. See [section on status effects] for more info.
Mana Gauge: This displays your current mana, the source of energy for your weapons and spells. The numerator represents your current mana, and the denominator represents the maximum amount of mana you can hold.
Mana Regen Bonus: This is a reminder UI about the mana regen bonus, where standing on tiles closer to the center will provide extra mana regen. The number underneath the bottom tiles indicate the multiplier level. Note that in the last column, mana regen is reduced (0.9).
Hand & Deck: This displays the current cards in your hand, and the spells left in your deck queued up. Note that the hand is also displayed on the top of each character. If you are shuffling, a bar will show how long it will take to finish.
Poison Healing Spots: This will show up if someone is poisoned. If the poisoned target is moved to one of these highlighted tiles it will be cured. More info in Beginner Guide to Duelists of Eden
Spears: Sometimes a spear will drop onto a tile. If you step onto the tile you will gain a spear.
Basic Controls and Mechanics
Movement
Default keybind: arrow keys
Up Down Left Right. It takes 8 frames to move to a new tile. This is the easiest way to traverse the stage.
Weapon
Default keybind: E
Fires your primary weapon (The community shorthands it to w1). Each character has an individual weapon that has different properties. No limit to firing.
Sub-Weapon
Default keybind: R
Fires your secondary weapon (The community shorthands this to w2). Each character has an individual sub-weapon that has different properties. No limit to firing. You can fire your sub-weapon while shielding.
Spell 1/2
Default keybind: Q/W
Casts the spell currently in your first or second slot. If you still have a spell in your deck, it will be drawn into the slot that you just cast.
Shuffle
Default keybind: Space
Discards your hand and deck and after a period of time, your deck will be shuffled and your hand is refreshed. Shuffle time has a variable time, determined by how many times you have shuffled so far in the game, and if you pressed the shuffle button or if an automatic shuffle was triggered by running out of spells.
The base shuffle time is 2.5 seconds, or 150 frames. Manually shuffling will bring down the base shuffle time to 120 frames (2.0 seconds). For every shuffle, regardless of manual or automatic, a 25 frame penalty is added to the shuffle time, up to a max of 150 frames. So the longest possible shuffle can be 300 frames, or 5 seconds.
Dodge
Default keybind: Left Shift
Dodge costs 1 mana. When you dodge, your character is put into an invulnerable state where nothing can hit you or apply status effects on you for roughly 27 frames, or roughly half a second.
There is a hidden dodge mechanic called dodge staleness that punishes repeated uses of dodge. An additional frame of startup is added to dodge if you repeatedly dodge (4 times or more) and additional recovery is added, for up to 4 frames. This is applied if you repeatedly dodge within a time frame of 90 frames, or 1.5 seconds. To recover from the staleness, avoid using the dodge mechanic for 1.5 seconds, and it will return to the normal frame data
Dodge frame data breakdown:
Un-staled:
Startup: 2 frames
Invulnerable Frames: 3 – 20
Recovery: 7 frames
27 frames total
2 dodges done staled:
recovery extended by 1
3 staled:
recovery extended by 1
4 staled:
Startup extended by 1 (dodge active frame 4)
5 staled:
Recovery extended by 1
6 staled:
Recovery extended by 1
I may make a separate section in the future for just tactics and tricks you can do with dodge.
Shield
Default Keybind: D
Press and hold the shield button to guard your character. Shield will drain when held, and will drain faster the longer it is held. Every character has 12 shield points and can take 12 points of damage before being shieldbroken. If a character is shieldbroken, they are vulnerable to all hits for roughly 2.3 seconds (143 frames), and the opposing player restores 3 mana.
Hits on shield will put you in stun for less time then if you got hit, which means you can escape certain scenarios faster than dodging.
When you release a shield, there is a 4 frame window to “deflect” an attack. Similar to parries in fighting games, this grants you a short time of invincibility to escape an attack or potentially counter their attack. Try and go for it when you start feeling comfortable with the game!
Taunt
Default Keybind: T
Every character has a taunt. It can be canceled by any action, even itself, so it is spammable. Warning, using this might make you some enemies.
So there we have it, that’s Duelists of Eden Beginner Guide, Walkthrough, and Secrets.