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Pure Strategy is a game mode similar to Survival where only the heroes' defenses can fight enemies.

It is generally less difficult than standard Survival, but the stats of loot and pets earned are significantly worse by comparison.

Key Differences from Survival Mode[]

  • Heroes cannot attack at all.
  • Heroes do not collide with physical defenses or enemies.
  • During combat, the player(s) can only move around the map, upgrade defenses and pickup mana and items.
  • Pets never attack enemies; guardians and other passive pets will still function as normal though.
  • Enemies completely ignore heroes and are unable to damage them.
  • Enemies do not have any elemental resistances.
  • Djinn, Sharken and Goblin Copters never spawn, even when playing on Nightmare difficulty.
  • Ogres will spawn, albeit less frequently and with much smaller health bars.

The rewards of Pure Strategy are identical to those of Survival (see Survival Rewards). However, Pure Strategy rewards, as well as loot drops, usually have lower stats due to the fact that Pure Strategy cannot be combined with Mix Mode and does not benefit from Hardcore Mode.

However, Pure Strategy is a viable game mode to farm experience or even obtain some placeholder versions of pets if the player is not confident in their ability to complete the map in question on Survival.

Strategy[]

Because repairs are not allowed during the combat phase, upgrades become the only way to restore a tower's health during the combat phase. The party must balance between the effectiveness of their defenses and the number of times they can be upgraded. In preparation for longer waves, it may become necessary for the party to replace upgraded defenses with non-upgraded ones to ensure that they last the entire wave. Monk auras and Huntress traps generally expire relatively quickly, and are often the first to be replaced.

Equipping Guardian pets will make things much easier since they still boost defenses in combat.

In Redux[]

Pure Strategy has been overhauled in Dungeon Defenders Redux, removing ALL Vanilla restrictions from the mode on players and enemies. General loot quality is also on-par with Survival.

Regardless of the map and starting wave a Pure Strategy run is initiated, the first-wave chests always contain 2,020 mana each. Defense and Minion Unit capacities are permanently set to 0 once the first Combat Phase begins. Players are therefore unable to recover any sold or lost defenses going forward.

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