Note: This guide was written to be current when this game was first released. If the game has been updated since then, it might be out-of-date.

Dark Maus is a "sword and board" action-RPG. Extremely combat heavy and at times unforgiving, reading a guide like this won't guarantee your victory. At best, it will merely provide you with a slight edge in advancing to the next area. The rest is up to your own patience and skill.

Items can be found on skeletons and corpses littered about the game world. The skeletons are the most obvious, while you might have to rummage over fallen enemies. Check the in-game mini-map for any red spots on your radar in order to find items you might have missed. You can pick them up using the contextal button. (Xbox Controller: X Button)

There are multiple places in the game world to find items, but in most cases, you can only carry one. If you are thorough, you might find an item in the early game. If you are not, you may pick one up later on in a different location. When you pick up the same item twice, you get an EXP bonus instead, so it is always good to get the items as early as possible in order to maximize the levels on your character.

This guide will list, where it applies, the earliest possible location of a given item.

Other notes: This guide will be as spoiler free as possible, and will only describe the gameplay in very general terms.

Some Updates:

• v1.03 of the game improved the drop rate of HP restoring items during the mid game. This does not, however, change the overall recommended strategy of not relying on these items.
  
• v1.04 of the game collapsed the skill trees. Beforehand, each weapon type had its own skill category. Now they are merged as: Longswords/Greatswords, Blades/Spears, and Archery/Pyro. Take note of the game version you are playing. I've made some updates where I could find them, but no new weapons or items have been added to the game.

What is the best way to level up my character?

• If you haven't planned ahead, only invest points in weapon categories if you already have a weapon to use with -- they are useless otherwise. The game menus will tell you if this is the case or not by putting an * asterisk next to each.
  
• Vitality, Endurance, and Capacity are the key ones that will get your character's survivability up. Increase them any time you don't have your weapon of choice to improve on.
  
• Resilience is also good as a kind of resistance to stun-lock, but it needs to be levelled up quite a bit before it can take any observable effect.
  
• The effect of Dexterity is hard to notice. It modifies how quickly your weapon swings during the time it can cause damage, but does not affect the amount of time you are open between attacks, even during combos.
  
• Every point in any level after 10 in each weapon category also increases weapon damage very slightly. The gains are less than what you get for upgrading a weapon, but more frequent. Use this as your endgame sink.
  
• There are no hard caps on any of the survivability stats, but over-inflating them may cause some problems if you are not prepared to deal with it ahead of time. (The effect of this should be obvious as the game goes on.)
  
• A more specific example: Stamina regenerates at a flat rate regardless of your maximum total. The higher your stamina, the longer it will take to regenerate to full, and also the longer your cooldown if you expend it. (You really shouldn't need more than 45 anyway.)

How do I gain combat abilities? What combat abilities are the better ones?

• You gain ability points as the game progresses. One ability point can be used to gain access to one combat skill.
  
• You can re-allocate your ability points at any time if you think your current build is not well suited to what you have equipped. No commitment, but more is always better.
  
• The only combat ability the game will force/repeatedly-request you to get is the Sweeping Attack, which is a decent combat move on most weapons.
  
• Another important one is the Advanced Dodge move which requires two ability points to max out. At one point, it extends the length of your dodge. At the next point, you gain more invincibility frames on each dodge. It's pretty important.
  
• You get two ability points for free. After that, you only gain ability points either by levelling up enough or by defeating bosses.

What weapons can use the Spinning Attack?

• You can chain the Spinning Attack onto any weapon that uses a wide swing. It won't work on after using a thrusting attack like the short sword's light attack or anything with most spears. It also won't gain from the heavy attack on greatswords, but will for their light attacks.
  
• Regardless of movesets, all weapons can chain a spinning attack directly after using Sweeping Attack.

My character is moving really slowly when I have the long sword or the feral cleaver equipped. Why?

• You don't have enough equipment burden to carry those weapons yet. Try levelling up your capacity the next chance you get, or equip the Wooden Amulet.
  
• Carrying two weapons at a time also tanks it. Try unequipping the short sword after you're done with it.
  
• You can see your character's Movement Speed stat on the "character" status screen in the lower window.
  
• You will always want at least 90% movement speed. Anything lower will only cause trouble. The game will warn you about carrying too much if you ever go below 75% movement speed.

Is there a good way to get HP restoring items?

• No.

What weapons can attack while blocking?

• You can attack while blocking while having anything that uses the moveset of any short sword or any spear.
  
• This only applies to the light attacks of each, not the heavy attacks.

Why are greatswords so much more expensive than all the other weapons?

• They are not a very good beginner's choice. They might be powerful, but also very heavy and you don't get to use shields.
  
• Only use the greatswords if you are a certain you know what you're doing.

How can I organize my current loadout?

• The player character must always have one weapon and one shield equipped at any time.
  
• You can replace whatever shield the player character is using, but you cannot unequip or move a weapon into a different slot while the player character has it currently selected.
  
• Organize the weapon slots that your player character is not using first, and let the rest follow from there.

My build is godly, so why can't I win against these minibosses?

• This is something you really should figure out on your own.
  
• But in case you simply that dense:
  
• The minibosses in question copy everything about you. Anything you have equipped, they also have equipped. This includes armour, accessories, and even the upgrades on each. Your build is godly? Well, so are theirs.
  
• This is already in addition to minibosses being stronger than you anyway. They have a lot more HP, some extra max stamina, more stamina regen, and better innate fire resistance.
  
• There are some weapons and items that are good for you to use, but be careful! They're just as good when used against you.
  
• Tip: Minibosses will only copy from your current weapon and won't ever switch to anything in your off-paw. As the game goes on, consider investing in a secondary method of attack that you know you'll be weak to in some way. Example: if you use greatswords, then keep a spear or a bow on backup, since greatswords cannot block them.

I understand everything in this guide, but I am still terrible at this game.

• Try jumping.

• Small, Medium, and Large Morsels
  • Function: Restores some amount of HP to yourself or an ally.
  • Location: Enemy Drops. (Rare)
  • You can carry multiples of these items.
  • You don't have any health potions or estus flasks in here. HP restoration is incredibly rare and always best saved for later. Don't rely on them, because they will never be there when you need them most.
  • Farming for them is mostly out of the question. While some enemies do drop them reliably, they are few and far between.
  
  
• Familiar Figurine
  • Function: Forces suicide and respawns you at the last checkpoint.
  • Location: Already in inventory.
  • Counts towards your death total, but doesn't have any other effects so long as you get your EXP back before using it again.
  • Can be combined with a fully upgraded Twisted Figurine to spawn ghosts reliably.
  
  
• Twisted Figurine
  • Function: Spawns a ghost every time you die.
  • You can carry multiple of this item.
  • Locations: Various.
  • When this item is not upgraded, the ghosts will begin to retrace the steps you took on your last life, dying immediately upon the place of death. They will distract enemies for you, allowing you to get past trouble areas.
  • The ghosts will have equipment you were using at the time of your last death.
  • Ghosts can be upgraded by allocating an ability point in Ghost Whisperer. Then, instead of retracing their last steps, they will become self-aware and follow you all the way to the next checkpoint.
  • They cannot, however, help you with bosses. Regardless of upgrade level.
  • Ability points are gained upon level up or defeating bosses. If you don't have too many ability points, using Ghost Whisperer will come at the cost of not having some other combat ability. Be prudent, and use the ability points for something else when you don't have any ghosts around.
  • The effect of this item can be turned on and off by inspecting it in the item menu.
  
  
• Robust Figurine
  • Function: Prevents thievery.
  • Location: Quest completion.
  • Carries over into NG+.
  
  
• Steel Shards
  • Function: Upgrades any weapon to do more damage, upgrades any shield to have more stability, or upgrades any armour to have more defense.
  • You can carry multiple of this item.
  • Locations: Various. First found in the plains.
  • Already upgraded items require more and more steel shards to continue improvement as time goes on.
  • Select this item in your inventory menu, and it will bring up a sub-menu asking which item to apply the upgrade material to.
  • You need to be able to equip and use an item before you can upgrade it.
  
  
• Arrows
  • Function: Weapon ammo for bows.
  • You can carry multiple of this item. (Max 30)
  • Location: Can be stolen from enemy archers, so long as you have a bow to use them with. Alternatively, use an Arrow Chime.
  
  
• Short Sword
  • Location: Already in inventory.
  • The weapon you start the game with.
  • Light attack uses a fast thrusting attack with a narrow attack area. Heavy attack uses a wide swing with a larger attack, but requires some wind-up.
  • Can attack while blocking. (Light attack.)
  • High damage-per-second when used on larger enemies, but extremely weak otherwise.
  • Technically speaking, while still a weapon, it does not belong to any weapon category.
  
  
• Small, Medium, and Large Torches
  • Function: Allows visibility in dark, indoor areas.
  • Location: Start game with small torch. Medium can be found in the garrison. Large, in the prison.
  • Larger torches have a bigger light radius, but burn out quicker.
  • Restore torches at campfires and other checkpoints.
  • If your torch is burning out, you are either taking too long to progress or have missed a checkpoint somewhere along the way.

Curved Blades are fast and lightweight weapons that are low damage, but attack quickly with low stamina overhead. While some curved blades are unique, the set as a whole is decent -- good at little bit of everything, but not great in any one thing. Their comparatively low damage is easy to land with their fluid movesets, but don't have much of a raw impact. You'll need to come up with some other way of breaking through shields and armour. Good for beginners and best played offensively.

• Tachi
  • Location: Forest.
  • Skill Required: 2 Points Dexterity
  • Long blade with wide attack area. Has the largest range of any weapon of this type, but the lowest damage as well.
  
  
• Scimitar
  • Location: Plains.
  • Skill Required: 6 Points Dexterity
  • Shortest range of this weapon type, lower on the damage scale, relatively poor scaling, but still has the highest damage potential.
  • Using the light attack consecutively will increase the attack speed of each following combo attack. Provided you have the stamina to use it, the scimitar has the highest damage-per-second of any curved blade.
  
  
• Katana
  • Location: Garrison. (Miniboss)
  • Skill Required: 10 Points Dexterity
  • Highest raw damage of any given curved blade, but lowest attack speed and damage potential. (Though still pretty darn fast.)
  • The best curved blade available until New Game Plus.
  
  
• Master's Blade
  • Location: Garrison NG+
  • Skill Required: 14 Points Dexterity
  • Only available in New Game Plus.
  • Considered a curved blade, but has the short sword moveset.
  • Roughly as powerful as the Katana, but with a thrusting light attack instead. Higher damage per second for lower stamina overhead, but has a narrower attack area.

Spears are lightweight and high-damage weapons with very narrow attack areas. Extremely good against single encounters and shieldless enemies. Their thrusting attacks are deadly even against armoured enemies, but they have very weak wide attacks and poor crowd control. Also despite being high-damage, they don't pack enough of a punch to break guards reliably. Best played defensively.

• Short Spear
  • Location: Forest.
  • Skill Required: 2 Points Dexterity
  • Light attack can be used while blocking.
  • Use the heavy attack in order to make the most of the range, but you'll be open if you don't land an attack.
  
  
• Long Spear
  • Location: Garrison.
  • Skill Required: 8 Points Dexterity
  • Straight upgrade to the short spear.
  • Light attack can be used while blocking.
  • Use the heavy attack in order to make the most of the range, but you'll be open if you don't land an attack.
  • Highest damage weapon until New Game Plus.
  
  
• Halberd
  • Location: Prison.
  • Skill Required: 12 Points Dexterity
  • Unlike other spears, the halberd has a slashing-style moveset, making it similar to a long-range sword.
  • On average, is weaker than the long spear, but is the only weapon in its category with good crowd control options. (High damage sweeping attack and can use the spinning attack.)
  • Keep on hand as a utility weapon.
  
  
• Javelin
  • Locations: Various NG+
  • Skill Required: 12 Points Dexterity
  • Only available in New Game Plus.
  • You can carry multiple of this item.
  • Straight upgrade to the long spear, but the heavy attack is a fully ranged attack.
  • Using the heavy attack expends the weapon, but it can be picked back up off the ground.

Long Swords are heavy and high-damage weapons with wide attack areas. They are heavy enough that their attacks can reliably break guards on shields, but so heavy they also require extra capacity or else they'll tank your movement speed. They are high-damage, but slow to attack -- it's all about knowing when to strike. Weak against faster enemies which can overwhelm them, like the curved blades. Best played defensively.

• Long Sword
  • Location: Forest.
  • Skill Required: 2 Points Strength
  • Highest damage weapon found in the earlygame, but also the slowest and quickly outclassed.
  
  
• War Hammer
  • Location: Garrison.
  • Skill Required: 6 Points Strength
  • Not the best long-term weapon, but highly effective on shielded enemies due to dealing higher stamina damage than other comparable weapons.
  • While not strictly the heaviest long sword, it is the slowest. Sweeping attacks on this weapon leave you open for longer than usual.
  • On the plus side, it is also one of the only non-greatsword weapons to use the crushing damage-type, meaning it can get around most armour defenses.
  
  
• Bastard Sword
  • Location: Prison.
  • Skill Required: 12 Points Strength
  • Long sword with the highest range, damage, and upgrade scaling.
  • Highest-damage weapon of this type until New Game Plus.
  • If you are a long sword user, then yes, it is the loveliest long sword. Even Steam agrees. ♥
  
  
• Broadsword
  • Locations: Garrison NG+
  • Skill Required: 16 Points Strength
  • Only available in New Game Plus.
  • While technically the most powerful long sword, it is possible for it to be weaker if you've been upgrading your bastard sword. It also has lower upgrade scaling. Note which one of your weapons is stronger by the time you get it.

Great Swords are the heaviest and highest damage weapons in the game -- all are crushed beneath them! They are, however, also the slowest and require foregoing the use of shields. This is not counting the extra capacity you'll need to even use one without tanking your speed. Since you will have literally no defenses while using a greatsword, it can only be played offensively.

They can block enemies that use swords, but cannot block spears, arrows, or attacks by larger predators. The lack of Deflect Projectiles is probably the greatest weakness of this set. On the plus side, the heavy attacks are a guaranteed knock-down. (Something other weapons can only manage using a risky Running Stab Attack.)

• Feral Cleaver
  • Location: Plains. (Miniboss)
  • Skill Required: 4 Points Strength
  • Unlike other starter weapons, the feral cleaver doesn't outclass for a while. Until New Game Plus, it is the most “middle of the road” greatsword with mid-level speed and mid-level damage.
  
  
• Crab Saw
  • Location: Swamp. (Boss)
  • Skill Required: 8 Points Strength
  • The weakest greatsword, but also the fastest, lightest, and with the most minimal stamina overhead.
  
  
• Greatsword
  • Location: Prison. (Miniboss)
  • Skill Required: 10 Points Strength
  • The heaviest, slowest, and highest damage greatsword until New Game Plus.
  
  
• Claymore
  • Locations: Garrison NG+
  • Skill Required: 14 Points Strength
  • Only available in New Game Plus.
  • Straight upgrade to the feral cleaver and greatsword, assuming no upgrades.
  • The lighter and faster of the NG+ greatswords, though not quite as fast as the crab saw.
  
  
• Zweihander
  • Locations: Prison NG+
  • Skill Required: 16 Points Strength
  • Only available in New Game Plus.
  • The heaviest and highest damage weapon in the entire game. Also boasts the highest range of any melee weapon.
  • Slow as molasses, but if you can adapt to it...

Archery is probably the most utility of all given weapon types. Their weapon selection is small, attacking requires use of ammo, and they don't even have access to shields either. All said, a common bow can be one of the furthest range attacks one can manage, allowing selective pulling of specific enemies out of their ambush formations.

There is no comparable difference between the light attack and heavy attack on any given bow in terms of damage. The light attack will dumb-fire a single shot in the direction the player faces, and is suitable for rapid-fire situations. The heavy attack, if held down, will let the player aim a single shot over a long distance, but if not held down for long enough the arrow will not fly very far.

Full archery builds probably won't carry you very far into New Game Plus. All bow weapons can gain a very weak melee attack of the Shield Bash skill is enabled. Said attack can be used to bust open jammed doors, but is not very good for anything else. Range builds should be complemented with another skill set, or amplified using copious amounts of Ghost Whisperer.

• Anna's Bow
  • Location: Quest Completion.
  • Skill Required: 2 Points Precision
  • The baseline of any given bow. A one-to-one ratio of damage and firing speed.
  • Still outclassed by all other archery weapons regardless.
  
  
• Yew Bow
  • Location: Garrison
  • Skill Required: 8 Points Precision
  • Has a very fast firing speed, but very low damage.
  • It is a great weapon to equip on ghosts. Their rapid-fire nature can give them a comparatively higher damage-per-second using the yew bow as compared to any other type.
  
  
• Heavy Bow
  • Location: Garrison
  • Skill Required: 8 Points Precision
  • Its attack speed is horrendously slow, but the punch a single arrow can do is massive. It can be effectively used to snipe enemies from far away, but is very ineffective on moving targets.
  • Its upgrade scaling can make it the single most powerful weapon until New Game Plus, (of any weapon or category,) but since the rate of fire is so low it loses effectiveness beyond that.

Pyromancy are weapons that do fire damage, which bypasses shields and armour. However, they have limited uses and can only be restored back to power at checkpoints. Despite this, a pure pyromancy build is in fact possible and viable, but it requires some background knowledge of the game in order for it to work out. Otherwise, complement it with a secondary skillset using the one pryomancy accessory.

Pyromancy weapons have no difference between light attacks and heavy attacks, except in one case.

• Flame Burst
  • Location: Forest.
  • Skill Required: 2 Points Precision
  • Uses: 8 (16 Max).
  • A single fire-damage attack roughly the size and range of a short sword light attack.
  • Comparatively the safest of all given pyro weapons.
  
  
• Fire Ball
  • Location: Plains.
  • Skill Required: 4 Points Precision
  • Uses: 5 (10 Max).
  • A basic ranged attack with some degree of splash damage.
  • Possible to damage yourself with if badly aimed.
  
  
• Flame Trap
  • Location: Prison.
  • Skill Required: 8 Points Precision
  • Uses: 2 (4 Max).
  • Leaves a mine on the ground which explodes if an enemy walks within a small radius.
  • Possible to damage yourself with if badly placed.
  
  
• Ignition Glove
  • Location: Quest Completion.
  • Skill Required: 14 Points Precision
  • Uses: Unlimited.
  • Despite what it looks like it does, it is actually the weakest of all pyromancy weapons due to very poor upgrade scaling. It does not actually outclass the other weapons in terms of damage dealt, but quantity could reasonably make up for quality if you are persistent enough.
  • Can still damage self if not careful.

Shields convert HP damage into stamina damage when they block attacks. The metric of how effectively this conversion takes place is a factor of the character's stability and the shield's sturdiness. (The only weapon this does not apply to is the War Hammer, which amplifies stamina damage when blocked.) Run out of stamina, though, and your guard will be broken. Sturdiness can be improved using steel shards to upgrade shields.

The other stats on shields include deflection, which governs the Deflect Projectiles skill, and block angle which covers how large the shield is when blocking an attack.

Bows and Greatswords users cannot use shields. One shield must always be equipped, so users specializing in those weapon types should stick with only the default shield due to how little capacity it uses.

Shields can be used to attack using the Shield Bash skill, which is primarily used to break guards. Contrary to what your eyes may believe, this attack does deal some amount of damage, but on most shields it is somewhere between zero and one HP – so pitifully small the UI will classify it as doing no damage at all. Only in very rare circumstances will it actually kill anything.

• Practice Shield
  • Location: Already in inventory.
  • The shield you start the game with. It is the lightest possible shield which takes up the least capacity, but it is also the worst shield in terms of sturdiness, deflection, and size.
  
  
• Wooden Shield
  • Location: Forest.
  • Straight upgrade to the practice shield, but a little heavier. Great to use if you just got the Wooden Amulet, but soon outclassed.
  
  
• Spiked Shield
  • Location: Plains.
  • Overall average shield with the single main draw being it as the only shield whose shield bash has a decent attack value at all.
  • Comparable deflection, but is still one of the smaller shields. Be wary of your flank while using it.
  
  
• Heater Shield
  • Location: Garrison.
  • Probably the most stat-laden shield in the game, having relative highs in all three of sturdiness, deflection, and block angle. Practically renders the player immune to arrows.
  • Downside: Extremely heavy, requiring more capacity than all other shields.
  
  
• Enveloping Shield
  • Location: Prison.
  • Completely nullifies fire-damage!
  • Somewhat light, decent deflection, and has the highest block angle of any shield. (So high it is observable even while equipped.)
  • Downside: Virtually no sturdiness without upgrades. It can block fire, but it can't really block anything other than fire.
  
  
• Kite Shield
  • Location: Garrison. NG+
  • Only available in New Game Plus.
  • Highest raw stability in the game with average deflection.
  • Downside: Extremely heavy, and virtually nonexistent block angle. While not quite as small as the practice shield, it is small enough to render any player equipped with it vulnerable to archers again.

Armour is usually a straight defense buff on the player and also on enemies using the same armour types. The specific defenses an armour confers are aligned by damage type: slashing, piercing, crushing, and (even though it is not displayed) elemental. These defenses can be increased using steel shards.

Every time you take damage, your HP bar is divided into four parts. From left to right: the amount of HP you have left, then the amount of HP you would have lost but the armour's defenses prevented, the amount HP you have just lost which your armour could not prevent, and then the amount of HP you had already lost prior to that attack.

Some enemies and minibosses use armour as well. Be sure to notice what they have equipped and consider your strategy as such.

• Leather Armour
  • Location: Forest.
  • The lightest armour which is the earliest available. Offers some defense against slashing and piercing, but nothing else.
  • No reason not to equip it unless you are short on capacity.
  
  
• Chain Mail
  • Location: Swamp.
  • Has extra defense against slashing damage, but less defense against arrows and spears.
  • Heavier than the leather armour and requires some capacity to wear without being weighed down.
  
  
• Iron Scale Armour
  • Location: Prison.
  • Has extra defense against arrows and spears, but weak to swords.
  • Heavier than the leather armour and requires some capacity to wear without being weighed down.
  
  
• Iron Plate Mail
  • Location: Swamp. (Miniboss)
  • Has the highest defense buffs of any armour in the game – enough to nearly halve all damage against swords, spears, and arrows.
  • Also the only armour type to have any damage reductions against greatswords, hammers, and elemental damage!
  • Downside: Extremely heavy. Probably requires ten full points into capacity before it can be worn and still let you dodge attacks.
  • Further downside: Good on you, but even better against you. Beware any enemy also using this armour. That near-50% damage reduction applies to them too.
  
  
• Boiled Leather Armour
  • Location: Castle.
  • Lategame armour which is comparatively lightweight enough to be a straight upgrade to anyone still using the leather armour from earlier in the game.
  • Good upgrade scaling too, but since it is only acquired very late in the game, it might need to be planned for in order for it to be a good alternative to the iron plate mail.

Accessories can be used to augment your character in specific ways beyond basic combat capability. You start the game with only two accessory slots, but allocating ability points can gain you a total of four.

It should be noted that there are some minibosses who copy your build as the player. Those enemies will also have whatever effects your accessories also give.

• Wooden Amulet
  • Location: Forest. (Miniboss)
  • Function: Grants extra capacity space.
  • Equipping this item essentially sacrifices your equipment slot in order to gain capacity for another piece of equipment. Useful in a pinch.
  
  
• Moss Amulet
  • Location: Quest Completion.
  • Function: 15% extra Max HP.
  • If you skip this item, you can get it again in New Game Plus in the Garrison.
  
  
• Arrow Chime
  • Location: Quest Completion.
  • Function: Checkpoints will also restore any lost arrows.
  • The same checkpoint can be re-used multiple times to quickly grind your arrow count to max. Effect not nullified if the arrow chime is removed afterwards.
  
  
• Fire Blade Oil
  • Location: Plains (Miniboss)
  • Function: Melee weapons do fire damage.
  • Skill Required: 6 Points. (Precision)
  • If you skip this item, you can get it again in the castle, but a miniboss has it there too.
  • Has no effect on archery or other pyromancy weapons.
  • Downside: Good on you, but even better against you.
  
  
• Amber Amulet
  • Location: Garrison
  • Function: 15% extra Max Stamina.
  
  
• Ginseng Amulet
  • Location: Garrison
  • Function: Equivalent of 8 extra levels in dexterity.
  
  
• Clear Amber Amulet
  • Location: Garrison
  • Function: 15% faster stamina regeneration speed.
  
  
• Fuel Jar
  • Location: Garrison
  • Function: Doubles max uses on all pyromancy weapons.
  • Takes effect at next checkpoint.
  
  
• Stone Amulet
  • Location: Prison
  • Function: Equivalent of 8 extra levels in resilience.
  • If missed, it can be found in the plains on New Game Plus.