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The be clear, all mutations in Despot’s Game: The Dystopian Army Builder have some value. A certain army composition may demand investment in different strategies. However, a few of the mutations are common among the players at the top of the leaderboards and do merit more weighty consideration than other choices.
10 Energy Vampirism
All units restore x% of magic skill damage dealt as health
There is a reason that roguelike games crack down on healing abilities. The core mechanic of these games involves whittling players down before they can cross the finish line. Healing abilities like Energy Vampirism throw off this balance big time.
The only thing working against Energy Vampirism is how deep it is in the tree. It will appropriately require lots of investment to get there. Once acquired, though, this helps more than just casters since most units have magic damage as well.
9 Hedonism
Buying food restores a percentage of humans’ health equal to the number of tokens spent
As with many great roguelike RPGs, humans will have to eat to live. By the end of the game, gamers will probably need to eat at least once per floor in sizable portions.
Hedonism will top off the entire group. Healing can’t occur ordinarily outside of combat. Overriding this sets the healers up for success and permits the to start the next round healing the tanks up front instead of the secure units in the back.
8 Wide Selection
Increase free mutation rerolls at the altar by x
While gamers do have some power over team composition at the shop, it’s far from total control. Sometimes the run will give the players more mages, other times they’ll get more warriors. Altars offer buffs for specific classes, but sometimes that class isn’t really useful.
A free reroll can be all gamers need to get more useful buffs. Altars are rare enough and the right buffs here are key to winning the game. Wide Selection maximizes these rooms and allows players to enjoy the wonderful pixel art game.
7 Attack Speed Bonus
All humans receive +x% to attack speed
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Aside from merely staying alive and trying not to laugh at the dark humor about death in the game, damage can’t be completely negated. The longer that enemies live, the more they will use their one-shot kill abilities.
Attack Speed Bonus is in the very first column and it’s a good one to start with that holds up even better late in the game. Don’t hoard tokens hoping something better will come later, a few points in this mutation will help with both offense and defense.
6 Magic Defense Bonus
All units receive +x% to magic defense
Although physical damage is more common, magic damage is far more terrifying. Physical damage generally tends to annoyingly whittle the team down until they’ve got nothing left. Magic damage can take a full health hero and instantly destroy them.
While this might be a funny death in gaming, it also ruins the run. Even just one point in Magic Defense Bonus is usually enough to stop instant-death moves from being instant death.
5 Attack Bonus
All humans receive +x to attack
A raw bonus to attacks is powerful for all physical damage dealers. Although some might prefer a percentage boost, it turns out the raw damage is much better for units that feast on attacking quickly. Suddenly, these damage dealers hit like a truck at a rapid speed.
Whether fighting single target bosses or tons of minions, this will be helpful in every situation. Being able to hit as hard as the game’s toughest opponents minimizes the opportunity for enemies to do anything substantial.
4 Health Multiplier
All humans receive +x% to health
As a first-tier mutation, it’s absurdly inexpensive to more than double the humans’ health totals. Health Multiplier is critical to success as the standard amount of health humans get is not enough to survive simple attacks toward the end of the game.
Great defense helps obviously as many of those skills are on this list. But even the best defenses can be reduced to zero by various monster abilities. The whole team will wipe unless gamers have invested moderately in Health Multiplier.
3 More Altars
x more alter room per level
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Altar rooms are ultra-rare. Each one gives a free mutation, something that usually requires a steep token investment. Getting one or more guaranteed altar rooms on each level? That’s a game-breaking advantage.
With an early enough investment, players can get loads of mutations for all of their humans by the end of the run, turning their whole squad into beastly attackers with various abilities.
2 Armor Bonus
All humans receive +x% to armor
An armor bonus at all for any class would be worthy of this list. Giving an armor bonus to all humans? Now that’s overpowered. After acquiring a few points in Armor Bonus, mages feel like tanks and tanks don’t even notice when something is hitting them.
Successful teams are always going to have maxed out Armor Bonus as it is key to survival. About midway through the game, enemies will teleport or charge behind the front lines with regularity. Protecting the entire team with this cheap second-tier skill will be crucial to victory.
1 Regeneration
The humans restore x% health after a fight
Restoring everyone’s health in between fights does what a lot of other skills on this list attempt to do. The resistance to wearing down before the run is over makes each run a breeze. There is a reason this ability is top-tier and not accessible early.
Healers will often get stuck healing those who aren’t in danger before healing the tanks. By topping off the squad, the healers will start each fight healing those who need it most.
Despot’s Game: The Dystopian Army Builder is available now for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
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