The way builds work in 20 Minutes Till Dawn is quite unique as they combine the character you choose, the weapon, and lastly, the level-up upgrades. All of this means that you can work with nearly limitless possibilities, making the game ultra-fun.
Best builds in 20 Minutes Till Dawn can sometimes depend on the luck of the draw for the level-up upgrades and sometimes on the character’s unique abilities. Whatever the case may be, we decided to present these simple builds so that anybody can quickly get around. Keep in mind that we will be talking about all characters and all weapons in the game, so if you don’t have them unlocked, go farm the aliens and do that ASAP.
If you’re new to the game and would like to know more about its basics, we’ve got you covered in our 20 Minutes Till Dawn Beginner’s Guide.
Best Summon Builds
Building around summons is one of the easiest ways to conquer all Darkness levels if you know what you’re doing. However, there are a few things to keep in mind when going for these builds.
The most important thing is that some summon-boosting level-up trees like the Trainer tree and Frenzy Tree won’t show up for you before you’ve taken your first Summon. So, if you want to see them, grab any Summon as soon as possible, regardless of whether it’s Dragon, Ghost Friend, Magic Scythe, etc.
Lilith + Batgun
Lilith is a character with a powerful Summon ability. Every time she kills an enemy, a summoned ghost shows up chasing new enemies and daming them. When you put a Batgun in her hands on top of that, she becomes a real menace because bats fired deal damage based both on Bullet damage and Summon damage.
Keep in mind the fact that damage of the bats is based on both of those damage sources because if you pick up a tome or a level-up upgrade that brings +30% Summon damage and -30 % Bullet damage, you actually didn’t do anything for the bat damage output. The first perk gave them 30% damage, which the latter took away. If you have other Summons in this situation, they will only feel the benefits.
The first upgrades to pick up in this build are all that might increase your shot count, like Double Shot (more bats flying around), and increase the bounce of your bullets, like Rubber Bullets (bats hit more enemies as they’re flying around). Piercing and Reload Rate are also great when you can find them.
For the overall damage output, you should chase the Summon-oriented upgrades that give pure damage and attack speed for your creatures. One of the most powerful ones to look out for here is Feed the Beasts, as it permanently increases your Summon damage the more enemies you kill.
Great Synergy choices are definitely Summon Mastery and Kunoichi. The best Tomes, if you get them, are Tome of Summoning and Tome of Elasticity.
Dasher + Anything?
Dasher is a really OP character, and that’s due to her main ability, which allows her to turn into an invincible deer every 10 seconds. This allows you to basically run through any Darkness level on any map because all you need to do is dodge and survive between deer forms and then just run over the aliens when you turn. You can play her with any weapon, but if you need help deciding, you can head over to our 20 Minutes Till Dawn Weapon Tier List.
Deer form damage is based on Summon damage and Move speed, so you’ll want to increase those stats whenever possible. The Bat gun can work fairly well with Dasher as the Summon damage boost can’t hurt, but all in all, you can use any weapon to pick off enemies between running at them in deer form.
When you hit enemies in deer form, you’re not only damaging them but also pushing them back. Keep this in mind when fighting bosses and elites since they are the ones that won’t quickly die from one or two deer hits. You can push them in whichever direction you want, and this is one of the major reasons this character is OP.
Titan is a great Synergy to aim for since you get +25% Move speed, +25 Character size, and +2 Max HP. Move speed directly buffs your damage, while character size lets you hit more enemies when in deer form. When it comes to Tomes, the best choices would be Tome of Speed and Tome of Summoning.
Best Bullet Builds
Best Bullet builds in 20 Minutes Till Dawn include those ones that mostly rely on your Bullet damage. This doesn’t mean that you can’t and don’t need to include other sources of damage, but you will primarily be building around the damage that your weapon does.
One effect that works in any Bullet build is the Curse, as its damage is based on your Bullet damage. Furthermore, when you get the Ritual upgrade, your own Bullet damage will start increasing by 1 % for every 10 enemies killed with this effect.
Luna + Crossbow
Luna has a crowd-control ability that creates a black hole every time she reloads. By pulling the enemies in, the black hole allows you to kill them more easily. Especially when you have a weapon like a Crossbow.
Crossbow is a one-of-a-kind weapon in that it has a single shot in the magazine that requires charging. Reaching max charge will, of course, deal maximum damage. The main thing you’re looking to do with this build is to pile up the enemies with the black hole and then kill them all with one charged-up shot from the Crossbow.
As you’ll notice, the Crossbow doesn’t require a full charge to kill the small enemies, so this build can work from early on. The upgrades you should be looking at are Power Shot, Big Shot, Reaper Rounds, Penetration, and Sniper. Anything that buffs up your Bullet damage, reduces reload time, and gives piercing will always be a good choice.
All upgrades that benefit from shooting out last ammo like Fan Fire, Ice Shard, and Holy Arts should also be considered. Since Crossbow has only 1 round in the magazine, you’ll be seeing these effects often.
Crucial Synergy to get it Mini Clip as it gives you + 75% Reload Speed and +50% Bullet damage. The -5 ammo that it takes away doesn’t affect you, as you already only have 1 ammo. For Tomes, look out for Tome of Power or Tome of Electro if they spawn.
Diamond + Cyclone Sword
Even though Diamond doesn’t seem so attractive for making combos since she doesn’t have a distinct active ability like most characters, she can be a great asset when combined with Cyclone Sword. Her advantage is her passive ability – massive HP pool.
The build mainly focuses on Cyclone Sword’s spin while reloading and Smite. You need to get Holy Arts and Holy Might upgrades as soon as you can. This will give you Smite every time you reload and increase the ability’s damage by +10 for every HP you currently have. Since Diamond starts with 7 HP, you’ll have +70 damage right away (if you haven’t been hit).
To further boost this build, you need to get everything you can that will increase your HP. So, Vitality upgrade, Tome of Vitality, Titan Synergy, etc. What is also vital with this build is that you don’t take any boosts to your reload speed. You want your reload speed to be as long as possible so the sword’s spin lasts longer.
Bulk Up character evolution gives permanent +15% to Bullet size and Bullet damage every time you heal, so you can stack up some nice damage with this passive ability. Just make sure you have healing capabilities through your runes, like the Healing one.
Spark + Dual SMGs
This is one of the most popular builds out there because it’s really simple to work around. Spark’s ability to call down Lightning on every shot with a 24-bullet weapon sings victory from minute one. Naturally, the best thing to do here is to build around this by picking up all the Lightning upgrades, such as Electro Mage, Electro Bug, and Electro Mastery. If you’re using Holy Shield, Diving Wrath can also be a great add-on.
To make this Lightning build explosive, get Fire Starter and chase down the Overload synergy. Having these upgrades only will get you through many Darkness levels.
As the upgrades above simply set you up with a ton of Lightning chance and Lightning damage, you’ll need to shoot as fast as possible if you want to make that Lightning fill up your screen. Pick up any upgrades that give you fire rate and reload time. Rapid Fire, Quick Hands, and Take Aim are some of the best that you can grab early on.
Tomes to look out for are Tome of Elements and Tome of Electro.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. Best builds for 20 Minutes Till Dawn that will help you defeat most, if not all, Darkness levels. Keep in mind that plenty of this depends on the in-game RNG that decides which level-up upgrades and Tomes you’re going to get. But in general, we’ve outlined the path that you should follow to make all these builds successful.
If you’d like to learn more about the characters in this game, you can check out our 20 Minutes Till Dawn Character Tier List.
Photo credits: Erabit.
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