The Squire

Melee all day is the way to play the squire! At least when it comes to getting into the thick of things. Massive weapons are the key to success here with a four-hit combo (three actual button presses) that helps deal with massive hordes of enemies. The alternate on the Squire is a block which causes the Squire to stop moving and attacking to take very reduced damage and act as a wall in a pinch. The Squire’s abilities include a Circular Slice (which does what it sounds like it does) which can be triggered for 60 mana and a Blood Rage ability which sends the Squire into a rage, doubling speed and damage which can be toggled on for 20, and drains mana over time while in use. His tower set includes a spike blockade which deals physical damage to enemies that are pressed up against it, a bouncer blockade which punches outwards knocking back enemies and dealing damage, a harpoon turret which, well, fires harpoons that pierce enemies, a bowling ball turret which fires a large cannonball that knocks over enemies and lastly the mighty Slice N Dice blockade which deals massive damage in an area around it after it spins up.

Towers

  • Spike Blockade (30M) [3DU] – Deals damage to enemies which touch the front of it, but is vulnerable to attack from behind or the sides. Has tons of health and isn’t too expensive.
  • Bouncer Blockade (40M) [4DU] – While slightly less healthy than Spike Blockade, the Bouncer does way more damage in a small area around it at set intervals. This one’s going to get a lot of use, it’s great for knocking enemies into pits or just whittling through the lower health enemies.
  • Harpoon Turret (80M) [6DU] – The first non-blockade for the squire is the fantastic harpoon turret. While it’s easy to limit this one to being an anti-air weapon (a job which it does well for the most part), each shot pierces enemies for a bit making it great for defending flat surfaces. However, ultimately this one is there for anti-air or covering wide areas as the Squire, the only drawback being low firing speed.
  • Bowling Ball Turret (100M) [7DU] – This one’s got a slightly similar role to the Harpoon turret in that it “pierces” enemies, but it fires a physical cannonball which rolls along its way until it breaks. The Bowling Ball Turret is the ultimate stair-dominator, firing cannonballs down stairs will decimate enemies as it rolls through them.
  • Slice N Dice Blockade (140M) [8DU] – Blades, blades everywhere! It takes a bit to start spinning, but once it gets up to speed this one absolutely mows down ground enemies, but ultimately if it gets overrun by enemies with a lot of health it’ll be a huge liability. It’s a good idea to use spike blockades to funnel enemies into the Slice N Dice, and to back it up with ranged towers or hero supports.

Hero abilities

  • Circular Slice (60M) – Does exactly what it says. Bust it out in the middle of a walkway or large area or… anywhere, really. It’s a bit expensive though, so make sure it’s leveled (and so is the Squire’s hero damage stat) or it won’t be worth the mana investment.
  • Blood Rage (20M per second) – Doubles the Squire’s speed and damage, excellent for rushing to defenses that are about to go down, or fighting off massive waves of enemies, but don’t leave it up for too long once the mana reserves start to run out because it’ll burn through mana really quickly.

Weapon description and relevant stats

The Squire uses melee weapons like a true warrior knight should, ranging from daggers to massive warhammers to… chainswords? Yes, things are getting a little Warhammer 40k in Dungeon Defenders, but then again, what’s a game without its references? Every character has weapons that vary in size, but size really does matter when it comes to the Squire. While large weapons versus small weapons aren’t affected by any other stat (meaning a small weapon can still be slow), they do affect attack radius, so bigger is always better.

  • Swords – Swords are the main weapons for the squire and have an average attack rate.
  • Katanas – Like swords, for the most part, but much faster.
  • Axes – Axes tend to be larger, but have a slower attack rate.
  • Hammers – Hammers are almost always huge, but are by far the slowest.
  • Special – There are some special weapons, such as the flamewarder, which are a bit more difficult to categorize. However, they’re usually only found as boss loot.

Size versus speed is tough. Ideally, find a large sword to use to keep the attack rate up if it has good stats. Ultimately, however, if the Squire has points in its Circular Slice and the player makes good use of it, having a large weapon is definitely important.

  • Knockback Bonus – This modifies the distance enemies are knocked back when being hit by a regular attack. Again, something to have a high percent on if attached to a larger weapon.
  • Blocking Damage Resistance – Does what it says, really. The block doesn’t get used very often, but having it in a pinch is great, especially when tanking bosses or holding the line when a defense falls. Maybe not worth putting points into, but it’s worth keeping an eye out for a good stat.

Beyond the Squire-specific stats, having high armor ratings is great for the Squire since his health is naturally higher than the other characters. That way, stacking defense on health means massive tankiness! A really powerful bloodrage is a big deal, and can definitely save the day.

Challenge loot

  • Unlikely Friends (easy – hard) – Ogre Safety Razor

Boss Loot

  • Laboratory (Level 4) – Demonic Training Blade
  • Throne Room (Level 8 ) – Diamond-Tipped Carver
  • Summit (Level 12) – Flamewarder
  • Glitterhelm (Level 13) –

Hero build

  • Tank: health, speed and casting speed – As a tank, being stuck in one place is a bit useless, so speed along with health is very important. While it may seem strange to get casting speed when you won’t be placing as many towers, casting speed actually applies to repairing and healing as well, so being able to heal yourself as well as towers is important. On top of that, finding good equipment with armor, resistance, knockback and block resistance are going to be priorities to help keep enemies away.
  • Juggernaut: health, damage, Bloodrage – This build is all about holding down a single area for most of the game, rather than sprinting to help with other areas. Building health, again, is necessary, but this time you’ll want to bring a ton of damage to the table, and also a huge weapon. Even if the weapon is slower, it’s okay because most of the time you’ll be using your tower mana for Bloodrage instead, which will come in handy when ogres and mages show up. Focus on large weapons, attack damage, and find a pet that does a lot of damage to help out.
  • Burster: damage, speed, Circular Slice – This one’s more of a fun one, and may be a little less applicable in the campaign, but the idea is to fly around the map helping hold off areas while they get repaired, using the Circular Slice to put sizable dents in the oncoming forces’ numbers. Tanking may be a bit more ideal, but using the Circular Slice is just so fun! On top of that, it’s great for getting awards involving quick kills or killing in general.

Tower build

  • Shield: tower health, tower attack speed, casting speed: Yes, yes, casting speed is a hero stat, but since it applies to repairs, it’s important to have or repairing the Squire’s towers with health way into five digits will take far too long. As for taking attack speed over attack damage, it’s important to take advantage of the Bowling Ball and Harpoon Tower’s slight knockback as much as possible, same with the Bouncer Blockades. Bouncer Blockades which don’t attack fast enough get hit too often. This build is pretty straightforward and allows other more DPS-built heroes to really dominate without having to worry about the towers.
  • Siege Machine: tower health, tower damage, casting speed: Not too different from the shield build, but it’s attack speed versus attack damage means different towers are going to be better. For instance, the spike blockade will be preferable to the bouncers so they can tank more and be combined with a Slice N Dice, which will be absolutely insanely powerful, turning Ogres into sashimi in seconds. This build WILL top leaderboards (and already is), and is absolutely great for some of the later challenge maps where building towers is allowed.

Hybrid build

  • Tank / Shield – This build is just about never, ever dying. Lots of health for completing repairs and fending off enemies when a blockade goes down, which shouldn’t happen thanks to beefy towers as backup.
  • Juggernaut / Shield – This build is a great solo build, allowing the towers to last for a long time while the player is still free to kill baddies. It’s also helpful on boss levels where the towers will need to hold their own for a long period of time while the player is free to beat the snot out of the boss.
  • Tank / Siege – Perhaps the more common hybrid build, the Tank/Siege build has towers kicking butt and tanking names and relying on the player to keep the towers up as they can’t take as much damage as normal. As such, the player won’t die so much and likely be a lot less frustrated, and is helpful in coop for healing other people’s towers.

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