20 Strategies

Beginner Strategy

When you first enter Dandy's World, your goal is not to reach very high floors. Your first goal is to stay alive long enough to understand how the game feels. Treat your first runs as practice and information gathering rather than attempts to win.

Focus on three things: learning how Twisteds detect you, how machines feel to extract, and how your stamina drains when you run. In early runs, deliberately walk around a bit, lightly poke a few machines, then leave the floor before it becomes too dangerous. This builds familiarity while you still have low investment in the run.

Choose simple, forgiving toons that do not require complex abilities or perfect timing. Stay close to the elevator, especially in your first games, so you always know a safe retreat path. Try to always have a small mental map: where you saw at least two machines, where you saw safe corners to break line of sight, and how to loop back to the elevator.

At this stage, prioritize survival over speed. If a Twisted is close, drop a machine and move, even if it is nearly complete. Learn how sound and line of sight affect aggro by observing which actions attract attention. You will make mistakes, but each mistake should teach you one clear lesson about how not to repeat it.

Intermediate Strategy

Once you consistently survive the early floors, start playing with intention. Every floor should have a purpose, such as extracting safely, testing a new route, or practicing distraction timing.

Begin planning basic routes. When you leave the elevator, immediately sweep one side of the map, remember where machines and safe loops are, then work them in a predictable order. You are no longer just reacting, you are shaping your movement to reduce surprises.

At this level, start assigning yourself a loose role in multiplayer even if your team is not fully coordinated. Decide whether you will mostly extract, mostly distract, or flex between both. Use toons and trinkets that clearly support that role, rather than mixing random effects.

You should also begin to manage risk a little more aggressively. Sometimes it is correct to finish a machine at moderate risk if it will complete the floor. The key is to know when a risk saves the entire team time versus when it only exposes you to an unnecessary chase. Practice judging whether a Twisted’s current path will actually lead to you or if you have time for one more skill check.

Finally, start thinking in terms of floor economy. Conserve healing and stamina items when the floor is already controlled. Use them when they let you avoid a down or escape a lethal situation. The goal is to enter the next floor in stable condition rather than constantly limping forward.

Advanced Strategy

Advanced strategy is about controlling the pace of the run and the behavior of Twisteds, not just reacting to them. At this point, you should already be comfortable with your preferred role, familiar with common map patterns, and confident in handling most Twisteds one on one.

Start thinking in terms of threat windows and power spikes. Each floor has phases: early scouting, mid extraction, and late pressure when machines are nearly finished and Twisteds are on high alert. Your decisions should change between these phases. Play cautiously while scouting, accelerate extraction during the safe mid phase, and switch to survival focused play when pressure peaks.

You should also learn to manipulate aggro intentionally. This includes triggering a Twisted at a time and place that benefits your team, guiding it along safe loops, then releasing it where it will waste the most time pathing back. Good aggro manipulation reduces surprise encounters for your teammates and opens space for rapid extraction.

Build choices become more specialized at this stage. You tailor toon and trinket combinations to specific goals such as deep floors, research farming, or speed runs. You may sacrifice comfort or general safety to maximize a narrow strength, and then use your mechanical skill to cover the weaknesses.

Advanced players also actively plan for recovery. A failed floor, a downed teammate, or a bad map layout are not the end of the run. You evaluate quickly whether to reset the floor, reposition as a group, or change roles temporarily so the team can stabilize. The best players are not those who never make mistakes, but those who recover from them efficiently.

Fast Floor Strategy

Fast floor strategy trades safety for speed. It is best used when you already know the Twisteds on the floor, trust your mechanical skill, and accept that some runs will end early.

Your pathing should be direct and decisive. From the elevator, sweep quickly to find machines, then commit to the most machine-dense section of the map. Minimize wandering. Every second you are not extracting, you should be either moving directly to a machine, kiting a Twisted intentionally, or returning to the elevator to push the next floor.

When extracting, take more aggressive risks with skill checks, even at unfamiliar machines. Fast runs depend on consistent, high extraction uptime. If a Twisted is not already close, finish the current cycle of skill checks before repositioning. You accept a higher chance of being interrupted in exchange for faster overall progress.

In teams, specialize heavily. Assign one or two dedicated extractors and one dedicated distractor whenever possible. The distractor should grab aggro early and keep it busy far from the main machine cluster. Communication is minimal but sharp: quick calls for Twisted locations, machine completion, and elevator pulls.

Fast strategies are least forgiving on high floors. Use them intentionally when you are farming lower floors or pushing timed challenges, not during serious deep runs where each floor is precious.

Safe Floor Strategy

Safe floor strategy is about survival first and progress second. You use it for learning new Twisteds, playing with weaker groups, or pushing into floor ranges you have not mastered yet.

Your movement is methodical. From the elevator, you chart a conservative path that avoids long sightlines, loud chokepoints, and repeated passes through the same dangerous area. You spread machine work across the map instead of clustering in one risky corner, so you always have a fallback machine to work on if an area becomes too hot.

During extraction, you favor reliability over speed. You back off machines early if a Twisted might be approaching instead of trying to squeeze out extra progress. You might even intentionally leave machines slightly incomplete so you can coordinate safe completions later when Twisteds are temporarily distracted.

Item usage in safe strategy is conservative but not stingy. Use healing items to avoid being in one heart territory for long, since that is when one mistake becomes fatal. Use stamina items preemptively when you know a dangerous area must be crossed, such as open corridors where you cannot easily break line of sight.

In teams, safe strategy prefers loose grouping and mutual support. Players do not stray too far from each other, and everyone stays aware of where at least one other teammate is located. This allows for quick rescues and shared information about Twisted positions.

Research Farming Strategy

Research farming focuses on confronting Twisteds efficiently without necessarily climbing very high. The aim is to encounter, survive, and sometimes be downed by specific Twisteds in controlled ways, depending on research requirements.

Your first decision is floor targeting. Identify the floor range where the Twisteds you need most commonly appear, then repeatedly play within that band instead of always pushing higher. This keeps difficulty consistent and predictable, and maximizes the number of relevant encounters per run.

You choose toons and trinkets that help you interact with Twisteds rather than simply avoid them. Strong survival, good stamina, and reliable escape tools are more valuable than raw extraction power. You often let machines progress at a moderate pace so that the Twisted you need stays active on the floor longer.

Positioning becomes intentional. You allow Twisteds to see or hear you more often so they engage, but you do so near loops and safe structures. This controlled exposure yields chases, near misses, and escapes that satisfy research conditions without ending the run too quickly. When a research task requires being hit or downed, you still pick a safe location to recover from.

In groups, coordinate who will interact with the target Twisted. If only one player still needs research, the others can focus on extraction and loose distraction while that player manages the specific behavior needed, such as long chases or particular escape patterns.

Ichor Farming Strategy

Ichor farming optimizes the number of completed floors and associated rewards over time. This does not always mean reaching the highest possible floor, but rather completing many efficient runs or segments.

First, choose an ichor efficient floor range. Often, mid floors provide a strong balance of reward and difficulty. Consistent runs to a reasonably high floor that end safely will usually outperform risky pushes that frequently wipe your group early.

Builds for ichor farming tend to favor consistent extraction speed and personal survival. You still want good chase tools, but your main focus is maintaining high machine uptime. The fewer complete stops you have from downs or chaotic team wipes, the more ichor you secure per hour.

Routing should minimize dead time. You learn common machine spawn patterns and choose paths that naturally pass item locations and safe loops. As you become familiar with layouts, you refine routes so that most of your time is spent extracting or moving toward the next useful objective.

In multiplayer, ichor farming works best when roles are defined and respected. One or two players focus heavily on machines while others prioritize keeping Twisteds busy and rescuing anyone who falls. Communication is pragmatic and regular, focused on floor completion and quick resets if a run is clearly doomed.

Toon Unlocking Strategy

Toon unlocking is a long term progression goal, so approach it with a plan rather than spreading your efforts thinly across many tasks. Start by deciding which toons support your preferred playstyle and which ones significantly increase your strength once acquired.

Break your unlocking goals into tiers. In the first tier, target toons that are easy to unlock and immediately useful, especially those that offer simple survival or extraction bonuses. In the second tier, pursue more specialized or mechanically demanding toons that open new roles or advanced strategies. Save the most complex or grind heavy unlocks for later when you have more overall power and knowledge.

Pay attention to unlock conditions, such as specific floor achievements, research progress, or event participation. When multiple toons share similar requirements, plan runs that advance several unlocks at once. For example, if several unlocks need you to reach a certain floor, use survival focused builds and safe strategies during those attempts so you lose fewer runs to risky behavior.

To support toon unlocks, align your currency spending with your plan. Avoid impulsive purchases that do not move you toward your next major unlock. Invest in trinkets or upgrades that make your unlock attempts more likely to succeed, such as ones that help you survive longer or escape Twisteds more reliably.

High-Floor Strategy

High floor strategy is about endurance, precision, and risk management. At this level, small mistakes are heavily punished and Twisteds are faster, less forgiving, and more numerous.

Preparation begins before the run. Choose toons and trinkets that scale well with difficulty rather than only shining on low floors. Strong stamina control, chase survivability, and flexibility under pressure are more valuable than pure extraction speed. You should be fully comfortable with your build before attempting deep runs.

On high floors, information is life. Move with caution, constantly update your mental map of Twisted positions, and avoid assumptions. Never enter a corridor or room at full speed without a quick mental check of possible escape routes. When you hear cues, pause if necessary to locate the source before advancing.

Machine work becomes surgical. You rarely sit on exposed machines for long; instead you take short, safe bursts of extraction between checks of your surroundings. If a machine is in a dangerously open area, you might deliberately leave it for later or abandon it entirely if the risk outweighs the reward.

Resource management is critical. Conserve healing items so that you are rarely at death’s door, and time stamina usage around expected danger zones. You should always have some reserve stamina for surprise encounters, not just for planned chases.

On very high floors, accept that you cannot fully clear every map perfectly. Sometimes the best decision is to prioritize a safe exit over squeezing out one more machine, especially if your team is battered and low on resources.

Team Strategy

Strong team strategy transforms a group of individuals into a coordinated unit. It begins with clear, shared expectations about roles, risk tolerance, and objectives before you even press start.

Assign roles according to each player’s comfort and build. Have at least one reliable extractor and one player prepared to act as primary distractor. Support and scouting responsibilities can be flexible, but everyone should know their primary focus. This reduces confusion and overlap where too many players cluster on the same task.

Communication must be frequent, brief, and relevant. Call out Twisted locations, aggro changes, completed machines, and when you are down or in danger. Avoid cluttering voice or text with unnecessary chatter that hides important information. The key is that everyone can update their decisions based on current team and Twisted states.

Spacing is also critical. Good teams rarely group so tightly that one Twisted can threaten everyone at once. Instead, they maintain enough distance that one player being chased does not immediately endanger others, but not so distant that rescues are impossible. Players working machines should be aware of where the main distractor is currently kiting enemies.

Plan for failure together. Before entering higher floors, agree on how you will handle downs. Decide who prioritizes revives, who continues extraction, and when to abandon a risky rescue. This avoids chaotic improvisation when tension is already high.

Finally, adapt mid run. If an extractor is repeatedly targeted and cannot work safely, another player may temporarily take that role while the first focuses on safer tasks. The strongest teams adjust their strategy as conditions change instead of rigidly following an initial plan that no longer fits the situation.