General Role and Gameplay[]
Dwarves are one of the two major parts of Dwarves Vs. Zombies. They are the starting play role for all players and they are the defenders of the dwarven shrines. As the last of their once proud race their job is to defend the keep to its last against the unending horde and as a result always lose eventually. Dwarves function in three major Phases they are as follows: Pregame, Plague Event, and Combat. They also eventually become a Monster to fight the remaing dwarves.
Pregame[]
This is also commonly known as the Build Phase
The beginning of any game of DvZ starts with everyone as a Dwarf or a Squire and must complete a set of tasks to prepare themselves for the coming onslaught of monsters.
Weapons, Tools, and Kit Items[]
A dwarf will spawn in with any kit items they have (Anything that is not the Weapon, Bow, or Juice they have chosen). These items can include: Scrolls of Magic Stone; Starting Cobblestone, Torches, or Mortar;Swords of Sanctification, or Enchanted Lamps. Weapons, Bows, and Juice are gained from going up to each one in the map and clicking on it. The places to get weapons bows and Juices are retextured Ladders, Rails, and Redstone Torches respectively. Once the Dwarf has weapons they require tools. the tools are gained in the same manner as Weapons and are as follows: Mighty Pickaxe, Lumberjack Axe, and Dwarven Shovel. Once every required tool is collected it is time to collect resources.
Collecting Resources[]
There are four major resources a dwarf needs to focus on collecting in the Pregame. They are as follows Mortar, Torches, Cobblestone, and Gold. Details on how each of these are created is available on thier respective pages. A stack of Mortar, Torches is reccomended at the end of plague. Cobblestone usually comes down to preference but, there are two major concepts involved with it as well as other resources. Focusing on gaining lots of one resource and then putting in the chest for others to use works especially well for cobble meaning a lot is available to players building without havng to go back and mine it and assures a supply is available later in the game. The other is to collect a small personal supply of about two stacks and focus on some other task like torches, or Building.
Building Defences[]
More descript and advanced tactics are available at Wall-Building and Inner Keep Defense for Outer and Inner defenses respectively. Feel free to persue the discussion on the matter on the Talk Blog for sharing you opinion. The general consensus on how to build walls is that they should be five blocks thick and tall. They should NOT have a full stair case and should only have a few ways onto the walls. A common feature for defenses to not directly attached to the wall and are small structures such as Jimmy Corners. Inner defenses are focused on preventing Monsters from effectively moving through the Keep to reach the Shrine rooms by fighting in the Hallways. There are many ways to do this and it is often the source of common debate. In order to effectively defend a hall keep the following things in mind
- Do not leave space above the defended area for mobs to move over, they will quickly partition and kill trapped Dwarves no matter how well defended the upper part is it can always be over run easily.
- Do not place a roof over top of where Dwarves will be, the roofs will turn to gravel and fall onto the path blocking dwarves from effectively doing anything.
- Do not create paths that move perpendicular to the hall. these are often known as mazes and slow dwarves down and prevent them from fighting
- Do balance the amount of space, five wide is to big to defend, one wide is too narrow to fight in. Two and three are often the best.
- Place torches in places where the monsters can not reach them. i.e. hidden in walls or up high. (The latter is not advisable)
Keeping those in mind making a defensible path to protect the shrine in should be easy. Just remeber the thousands of dwarves that defended a hall before you probably can tell yu what works, listen to experience but don't be afraid to have an idea. You will die eventually anyway.
Plague Events[]
The Plague is an event which occurs at the end of one Minecraft day (11 Minutes) on most maps, the exception is Plains in which the dwarves have the first day, night, and the second day (30 Minutes). It usually kills off about 20% of dwarves and comes in many forms. As of the Jan 2016 update these include:
- Zombie Plague, in which dwarves must infect others like a game of tag to kill as many as possible. the infected all die after ten seconds of being infected unless enough dwarves die before them. Run away from infected during the plague
- Rage, in which dwarves must kill each other. If enough do not die the dwarves who have done the least damage die of a heart attack.
- Death, in which Death in the form of an enderman teleports to a random player and then warps over and over to the nearest player to it and snaps their neck. Run away from Death
- Dragon and Mother Nature are admin events in which and admin becomes either a Dragon or Mother Nature and use a set of tools to kill the Dwarves in the most hilarious and brutal ways possible. Its rare and its fun. also Run Away!
- There are a few more too!
The Plague will also trigger the release of the monsters and thus the game begins.
Combat[]
Combat is confusing fast and brutal. It is impossible to explain every possibility and if it was the game would be no fun. there are several major mechanics to watch out for, everything else comes down to how you prefer to play, class and luck.
How to Use Your Weapons[]
While it seems incredibly simple to swing until your target is dead, but there is much more to every weapon than meets the eye. Familiarize yourself with your weapon of choice and be aware of combos. Some examples of special things in weapons include (but go far beyond): PROC gained from the Greater Runeblade, Axe of Malice, and Dragonskin Bow; Levelling from using the Warhammer, or the Temporal Disjunction of the Warpweaver Bow.
Watching Mana and Armor[]
Two things sustain life for a dwarf and those are Mana and Armor. No matter how well a Dwarf can fight they are nothing without the ability to get smacked around otherwise they wouldn't be anywhere near as tough as the stone they mine. Armor is measured by the ability of your armor to protect you from incoming damage and incoming damage. It is degradng by being hit. Some mobs do more or less Armor Shred than others and thus can be more or less dangerous based on current standing. As armor is depleted, less mana is regenerated and less damage is blocked, making a deadly combo for a dwarf who isn't careful. Mana is the magical energy that a dwarf has and is gained through natural regen or by other means such as using the special of the Warhammer. Mana is consumed by healing and without it dwarves can not heal. Running low on mana will cause a dwarf to "bleed" where they will emit red particles showing monsters that a dwarf was weak. Low Mana and Armor are dangerous especially in combination. Avoid combat when either one is low.
A normal dwarf has 20 hearts 40 health points 10 armor haunches (1000 armor) and 1000 mana (+25 a sec full armor)
Maintaining Defense and Supporting Other Dwarves[]
Some classes of Dwarves are designed to assure others are capable of fighting the monsters rather than fighting the monsters themselves. These are called support classes. They often heal others with things like the regrowth star or with granting procs or doing AoE with the emerald bow. They also build defenses farther to fall back to and they maintain the strength of current defenses. Also in this category are users of things like longbows that pick off Zombies that seem to be doing a particularly good job at undermining dwarves or in stopping skeletons and gobos from getting in position. They dont often fight melee but the support they provide is far more effective when paired with good frontline than if they fough themsleves. Supports should be calm, levelheaded and exercise control over the battle feild not attack with reckless abandon.
Not All Dwarves Have to Be Fighting All The Time[]
All to often Dwarves neglect to prepare a place to fall back to because they are to busy fighting up front. Some dwarves rack up 1000 kills all by themselves, others get barely three kills but have done more to assure the game goes well. It is important for balance in all things and that includes people making ready further defenses in the back. These more advanced strategy than just smack and shoot enemies is what sepperates tragic games from glorious defense of a strong dwarven keep.
Lore[]
The entire world of DvZ is set in the horrible punishment of BruceWillakers (The Old Man) by the dwarven gods. In the old days, the dwarven general / Captain BruceWillakers fought hard against the endless hordes of Monsters along side the elves and humans and other goodly races and the Dwarves prospered with numbers in the thousands. Then the second war came and it crushed the Races one by one until the dwarves were all that remained in their strongholds. With no support the dwarves no longer could take the fight to the Monsters that would rise from the bodies of the dead simply gained numbers while the dwarves dwindled. Fragmented and broken the dwarven army was no longer able to fight in open battle. Instead they holed up as best they could and prepared for a last stand. BruceWillakers attempted to lead his Dwarves against the monsters "Choosing the Night" on which he would fight.After his defeat instead of being left to die peacefully amongst his fellow great generals he is instead doomed to endlessly relive the night he chose against the monsters. Each stronghold has its own tale of demise and BruceWillakers is forced to relive them all for eternity and watch the dwarves all die over and over for his failures in his suicidal attempt to take down the monsters at the last stronghold. As they shrines fall, the dwarves all lose the protection of the gods as shrines fall until they are doomed to suffer the same forsaking of BruceWillakers only to have their souls called forth to do battle one last time alongside their once revered general.