Shadow Dungeon Guide
Official Shadow Dungeon Steam screenshot of elemental combat inside a gothic dungeon.
1.0.1 · evidence-first

Builds that were played. Fixes that were checked.

Shadow Dungeon is already drowning players in skills, loot and launch-week questions. We cut the noise: official facts stay official, gameplay tests stay labeled, and old demo advice does not quietly become “1.0 meta.”

Start hereTested Lightning build

The useful stuff first

Not release-date filler. These are the questions players are actually hitting in the first days of 1.0.

Beginner · P0

Shadow Dungeon Beginner Guide: The First Hour Without Wasting It

The practical first-hour guide: class choice, first skill, loot filter, town services, inventory, respec and the launch-version systems worth learning early.
Builds · P0

Shadow Dungeon Lightning Sorcerer Leveling Build: A Tested Arcanist Start

A launch-day tested Lightning Sorcerer route using Arcanist, Lightning Ball, Lightning Barrier, Thunderstrike, Electric Sprite, Thunder Teleport and Arcane Bomb.
Combat · P0

Shadow Dungeon Auto Attack & Auto Cast: How the One-Key Setup Actually Works

A tested guide to auto attack, grouped skill shortcuts, controller targeting, mana burn and when automation makes combat worse instead of better.
Loot · P0

Shadow Dungeon Loot Filter & Inventory Guide: Stop Drowning in Gear

How to use pickup filters, sorting, stash, buyback, class-aware selling and backpack expansion without inventing drop rates or fake farm locations.
Gear · P0

Shadow Dungeon Gear Guide: Affixes, Set Items and Why Skill Procs Matter More Than Color

A practical 1.0 gear guide covering weapon affixes, skill-granting equipment, set effects, elemental alignment, reforging, loot filtering and what to keep while leveling.
Builds · P0

Shadow Dungeon Talent Trees: Skill Points, Respec, Paragon and What to Build First

How Shadow Dungeon's 12 talent trees actually work in 1.0, including unlimited skill points, respec, Paragon at level 100 and a tested Sorcerer example without invented skill names.
Settings · P0

Shadow Dungeon Performance & Graphics Guide: Stutter, Resolution, Steam Deck and Launch Fixes

What is actually verified for Shadow Dungeon performance: patch 1.0.1 resolution/controller fixes, official particle optimization, Steam Deck status and practical troubleshooting without fake settings.
Endgame · P0

Shadow Dungeon Greater Rifts & Paragon: What Unlocks After the Story

Official endgame guide to Greater Rift unlocks, four difficulties, rift-exclusive rewards, level 100 Paragon and the facts we do not yet know.

Official 1.0 shape

160 story maps → level 100 → Paragon → Greater Rifts

The campaign is tuned for roughly 30–50 hours and should land you near level 99–100. Greater Rifts unlock after the story; Paragon starts at the level cap.

Read the endgame guide

Our rule

If we cannot verify a boss, drop or number, it does not become a fact.

Competitor pages and videos are research leads. We cross-check them against official notes, current gameplay and multiple player reports before publishing specifics.

How verification works

20 quick answers

The first ten are visible. Open the extra ten when you need them — no wall of accordion clutter on mobile.

Why can’t I attack when I first enter the dungeon?
Spend the first talent point, choose an active skill, and bind that skill to the shortcut bar. A real Steam thread shows players mistaking the small sword icons for a built-in basic attack; they are not a substitute for binding your first skill.
Is Shadow Dungeon multiplayer?
No. Steam lists the game as single-player. There is no co-op system to build around in version 1.0.
How many classes are in the full game?
Four at launch: Sorcerer, Holy Warrior, Archer, and Necromancer. Steam describes them as elemental magic, dual blades, precision ranged play, and demon/skeleton summoning respectively.
How many talent trees are there?
Twelve total, three per launch class. The official store also advertises more than 370 skills.
What is the maximum character level?
Level 100. After you hit the cap, Paragon Levels and the Paragon Talent Tree become the post-cap attribute progression layer.
How many chapters are in Shadow Dungeon?
The full game has 7 chapters and more than 160 maps/stages. OO Cat says the campaign is tuned for roughly 30–50 hours and should leave you around level 99–100 at the end.
Do enemies scale to my character level?
The 1.0 notes say monster levels and item drops are tied to the map instead of your character level. That is why grinding an early map does not rewrite later-map loot.
When do Greater Rifts unlock?
After you complete the main story. They are a post-campaign system, not a demo feature.
What are the Greater Rift difficulties?
Normal, Master, Nightmare, and Inferno. The developer says higher difficulties increase the chance of rare items and let weapons roll more affixes.
What do Treasure Sprites do?
They help pick up equipment, can salvage unwanted equipment directly into gold, have sprite-specific extra effects, and can pass through walls to retrieve gear stuck outside collision.