9 Survival Tips for Kickass Victory in Dragon Quest Heroes

Want to win in Dragon Quest Heroes? Here's how. Some of this will be obvious to you, because you're a smarty smartpants, but keep in mind that most people aren't as awesome at games as you. Still, you're likely to find a helpful hint here.

1) Stop and recharge your tension skills

Your tension skills (big, powerful, flashy, attacks) charge up the more damage you do to enemies, but you can also charge them by holding in a button. Usually, this will endanger you, because it takes a bit of time and there are six dozen goblins around wanting to stab you in the kidney. But once in a while, there's a lull in the battle and you'll find yourself with some time. Be patient. Charge yourself to full tension, switch characters, and do it again. Perfect chance to grab a drink or take a bite of your snack. This way, you can go into the next phase of battle with all four characters having tension skills at the ready, giving you a nice head start on a tricky boss battle or huge swarm.

2) Plant monsters near goals

When you beat monsters, they drop coins, which you can hang drop at will. A few become special attacks or buffs, but most drop a copy of that monster in place to fight for your side (these sentries will have a knight's helmet as an icon). They'll usually roam a small space of the map and attack the closest foe to them; they won't follow you all over creation.

Consider the above with a common goal in Dragon Quest Heroes: defend a certain place or person. Aha! Yeah, don't just throw those monsters any old place, carry them back to the places which need a line of defense that can't always be you. This also works with guest characters who need to be protected. Get near them or slightly ahead of where you think they'll run, then drop a monster coin to lend a hand.

Put down some good monsters, blaze a trail on your way out. You've got a monster portal to destroy!

3) Don't break pots unless you need to, or you're leaving the area (smashy smashy)

If your stats are fine, don't break open vases and stuff. Leave them be, because what's in there might be a little HP or MP refresher. When it's busted out, it's got a limited time before it fades out. And then your ass runs back hoping for that HP boost and nope, it's gone. So if you don't need anything, don't break the pots. Only smash them when you're either leaving the area or in need of help.

4) Don't forget to recharge those healstones

Your healing stones are recharged at a church in your hub area. Don't forget to do this, or you might end up screwed in a boss fight. You have to do them individually, which is stupid, but do it. I know this sounds elementary, but there were times during my play that I needed a heal and realized, oh crap, I didn't have any charges.

5) Save Big Skills for Big Enemies

This tip might seem like Warriors 101, but many people in this will be playing only their first or second Warriors game, so it must be said. The more powerful enemies (which in this game also tend to be physically larger) stand the best chance of killing you, so hit them hard and fast. Other enemies tend to be weaker, so you can take most of them out with your regular attacks and face button skills. Golems and stuff, on the other hand, hit hard, and the best defense is sometimes a good offense. Kill them ASAP to stop the pain.

6) …Or save your tension skills for Metal slimes. 

Metal slimes have craaaaazzy high evasion, so you want attacks that are practically guaranteed to hit, which tension skills are. It'll still only do 1 damage, but in a Metal Slime fight, that's a big success. A tension skill to open things up can get you off on the right foot. You need that first hit because as soon as you attack it, the Metal Slime will start running away if it isn't already. With their speed, they tend to escape often. Don't let all that sweet EXP get away. Stomp them with your big skills. If you go after a Metal Slime with a regular attack, you're setting yourself up for failure.

These guys appear on your minimap as a shiny little glimmer. Good luck.

7) Switch equipment among characters to save money

Man, fuck money grinding. If you have equipment that fits multiple characters, and the one wearing it is rotated out of the group? Nuh-uh, put their shit one someone else who will actually be in your four-member battle squad for the upcoming fight.

8) Jessica is Broken AF

She's the only character with a healing skill. You can heal with consumable items and your stones, but she's got an MP-based "Hustle Dance," which restores a good amount of HP to everyone. Since MP regenerate during battle, this makes her extremely good. She's also no slouch when it comes to dealing out damage, so there's really no downside to putting her in the group.

9) Weaken With Yangus, Crush With Everyone

Yangus has a skill that decreases (I think by half) an enemy's physical defense. Use it with Yangus, then let him wail away on AI while you switch to someone else and focus on the bad guy he just nerfed. This obviously works best when you've saved up a tension skill.

Good luck and happy adventuring. Enjoy one of the best musou games of all time.

10) Bonus: Tips from Editor Nick Tan

Here are some extra tips from our reviewer for the game.

– Increase tension time in each character's skill tree once it's available. Activating tension gives your character invulnerability and an infinite amount of MP to unleash devastating skills. Extending this time gives your team a much better ability to defeat a boss and clear the area of all huge enemies. Doric in particular can extend his tension by ten seconds total, allowing to use his Royal Wrath meteor ability for obscene amounts of damage in a short period of time no matter the enemies at hand.

– Save mini-medals for Metal King Shield and Orichalum Gauntlets. Apart from maybe the quick recipes for Dogged Collar (ignore enemy block) and Fishnet Stockings (boggy terrain has no effect), save your mini-medals for these two top-tier items. The Metal King Shield is the best shield in the game and the Orichalum Gauntlets is the best weapon for Alena.