Survival mode is one of the available options for offline players who want to get the most out of DNF Duel. The game has a few options for those that don’t like playing online against other people and prefer to play on the same screen with friends or alone, and this is one of them.
This mode will throw you waves and waves of enemies against you, letting you upgrade your stats between battles to survive. However, it will still ask for the best from you. Let’s go over the best tips for Survival mode.
Survival Mode Explained
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Survival mode will make you face a pre-selected number of characters controlled by the AI with only one HP gauge. These are one-round fights and if you lose, you’ll have to start it over again.
After every ten stages, you gain one continue, which means you can lose one round and avoid the reset.
There are three courses you can select from (“Course A”, “Course B”, and “Course C”), and they change in the number of rounds and difficulty. While the latter is always not displayed, you can see from the character selection screen that the first course asks for 15 battles, while the two others make you fight 30 and 100 rivals.
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The rules are always the same: defeat every character trying to make the best score possible in every battle. This score will let you buy unique boosts (more on this below) that will make your character harder and more willing to resist all the rounds.
Contrary to most fighting games, you can save your Survival progress by just pressing “Save and Exit” after winning a battle — it doesn’t matter what course you’re playing. This is great for when you don’t have the time to finish a long playthrough and you don’t want to lose your progress. However, it’s worth mentioning that you can’t save more than one playthrough.
Enhancement Shop
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The Enhancement Shop is the menu that you’ll see after winning a fight. This screen lets you purchase one boost, bonus, or recovery bonus by spending your total score
|
Enhancement |
Effect |
Initial Cost |
|---|---|---|
|
Increase Attack |
You can deal more damage (Red and White). |
50,000 |
|
Increase Defense |
You receive less damage (Red and White). |
50,000 |
|
Increase MP Recovery |
Your MP Gauge will recover faster, whether you’re using simple or complex motion inputs. |
50,000 |
|
Strengthen Guard Break |
You can block more attacks before your Guard Gauge becomes empty. |
50,000 |
|
Potent Destruction Boost |
Your Guard Break will be stronger for three rounds. |
150,000 |
|
Multi-Boost |
You’ll have stronger Attack, Defense, and MP Recovery for only three rounds. |
200,000 |
|
White Damage Depletion Bonus |
You won’t have any combo score for five battles, but the score for your White Damage Depletion Bonus will be doubled. |
0 |
|
HP Recovery (Small) |
You’ll heal 30 percent of your total HP gauge. |
5,000 |
|
HP Recovery (Medium) |
You’ll heal 60 percent of your total HP gauge. |
10,000 |
|
HP Recovery (Large) |
You’ll heal all your HP gauge. |
20,000 |
|
Score Boost (Tribulation) |
Only for the next round, you’ll receive a 1.5 bonus to your score at the expense of facing an enemy with stronger damage. |
0 |
|
Score Boost (Starvation) |
For one round, your MP won’t recover automatically. However, your score will be doubled. |
0 |
|
Score Boost (Agony) |
For one round, your health bar is only 30 percent, but your score will be doubled. |
0 |
|
Combo Bonus |
You won’t have any White Damage Depletion Bonus or Counter score for five stages, but the score for your Combo score will be doubled. |
0 |
|
Time Bonus |
You won’t have any Battle score until you finish five battles, but the score for your Time Bonus score will be multiplied by five. |
0 |
|
Vital Bonus |
You won’t have any Battle score until you finish five battles, but the score for your Vital Bonus score will be multiplied by 1,5. |
0 |
You can always skip the purchase and keep your whole score.
Apart from the free enhancements, all the rest will get more expensive every time you purchase it.
General Tips For Survival Mode
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- Use your favorite character or the ones you know most about. This way you’ll have more chances to achieve victory.
- You can always check the next enemy's stats by looking at the right window on the Enhancement Shop.
- It’s recommended that you avoid purchasing health recovery in the first rounds, whether you got hit multiple times or not — unless you have 40 percent or less HP, which will leave you in a difficult spot. They’ll get expensive every time and you might not have any score left for later stages.
- Score Boost (Tribulation) is a great option to choose in the first rounds, but don’t get too greedy with this. Your enemy will end up being too strong.
- What stats you want to level up is entirely up to you and your playstyle, but it’s better to have a balanced character if possible.