What You Lose in Dark and Darker (and Why That Matters)
If you die in Dark and Darker‘s procedural fantasy dungeon, you permanently lose all weapons, potions, scrolls, accessories, armor, coins, gems – everything your character was carrying at time of death. Only items stored in your personal Stash chest remain safe. This old-school permadeath means hours of risky PvE and PvP grinding can literally go up in smoke if you‘re caught unprepared.
As a Dark and Darker fanatic myself, I‘ve painstakingly built deadly Barbarians, tank Clerics, and even Glass Cannon Mages – only to lose them minutes from the exit portal after a surprise mimic attack. Here‘s what fellow dungeon delvers need to know about loss and permadeath to avoid total catastrophe.
Quantifying Catastrophic Loss from Death
To understand what you have at stake, let‘s break this down:
That easily totals over 2,000+ gold of hard-earned rewards per run on the line. To quantify it across your Dark & Darker "career", my last survival character alone scored 12,587 coins across all runs – equivalent to $27 USD value!
Losing weapons I‘ve spent hours mastering or rare class-specific loot stings the most. But the hours re-grinding basic gear and stackables also drags. Let‘s examine why loss impacts us at every stage:
Early Game Losses
My last Cleric died only 12 minutes into a Catacombs run to a 2-skull Boss + adds, losing:
- Basic oak staff, leather tunic, 3 minor health potions (56 total silver value)
- 28 silver coins collected
Doesn‘t seem catastrophic, right? But when you‘re scrambling to gear up and build spellpower early on, every minor setback hurts.
Mid Game Losses
My seasoned Battle Cleric fell in a trap-ridden corridor after 51 intense minutes, ambushed by a horde of skeletons and a red-skull Ogre Boss. Losses:
- +2 Blessed Oak Staff worth 689 gold
- Rejuvenation/LightningStorm scroll stacks worth ~250 gold
- Silver/Gold coins worth 1,236 coins
Losing such a painstakingly-enchanted epic weapon and so many prep scrolls crippled my party‘s damage potential for several future runs.
End Game Losses
After whittling him down for 28 nail-biting minutes, my Two-Handed Warrior landed the final strike on an Abyss Dragon – nobody left his epic-rarity Dragon Bone Greataxe behind when fleeing through the exit portal.
Total losses from that crushing lag-spike death meters away?
- +4 Dragon Bone Greataxe worth a soul-crushing 2,038 gold
- Mixed Enchanted Rings & Amulet worth ~755 gold
- Assorted cyan/red quality weapons to sell worth ~1,500 gold
- 689 silver coins left unspent
After so narrowly conquering Dark & Darker‘s ultimate foe only to lose that near-mythical axe minutes later, I almost rage-deleted the entire game.
Coping with Loss and Permadeath
To provide closure, let‘s examine pro tips to avoid or at least process such devastating losses:
Avoid Carrying Excessive Loot
Only keep what you immediately need in your limited inventory. Overburdening yourself with "extra" epic weapons or stackables makes you an ambush away from ruin. Prioritize escape over greed.
Stash Often
Deposit excess scrolls/weapons regularly into your personal chest instead of stockpiling a motherlode to lose. Transfer spare coins to purchase permanent upgrades for future runs too.
Play Hyper-Carefully Near Exits
Most deaths seem to happen suddenly right before escape portals. Slow down and pull enemies carefully, don‘t rush! Surviving with basic gear beats dying with mythic weapons.
Run Solo or With Trusted Groups
PvP thieves are just one more threat to lose everything. For safer grinding, play alone or with responsible teammates committed to extraction, not random chaos.
