Empress/Recommended Builds

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This page demonstrates Empress's Recommended Builds in Dragon Marked For Death.

The following recommended builds are to be used as a reference. You can always experiment and form your own builds that suit your playstyle.

If you are looking for other details about Empress, please see the following subpages:

• Empress Overview
• Empress/Attacks & Abilities
• Empress/Elemental Contracts
• Empress/Basic Tech
• Empress/Advanced Tech

Status Growth

Empress has an evenly-spread Growth Rate throughout the game's progression. As such, the most recommended level stat allocations change based on her progress in the game. In general, the majority of Empress's abilities shine with Physical builds (or a mixture of Physical and Dragon Skill builds) for the entire game, but she is also strong with Dragon Skill attacks and Magical builds at the early game.

Final Status = Base Status + (Growth Rate * Level) + Equipment Status

The following tables show the Growth Rates for Empress and her Base Status values per Level.

Growth Rates per Stat

Empress	STR	AGI	INT	VIT	LUC	PIE
Growth Rate	30%	30%	20%	20%	20%	30%

Base Stats per Level

Lv	STR	AGI	INT	VIT	LUC	PIE
1	5	5	5	5	5	5
2	5	5	5	5	5	5
3	5	5	5	5	5	5
4	6	6	5	5	5	6
5	6	6	6	6	6	6
6	6	6	6	6	6	6
7	7	7	6	6	6	7
8	7	7	6	6	6	7
9	7	7	6	6	6	7
10	8	8	7	7	7	8
11	8	8	7	7	7	8
12	8	8	7	7	7	8
13	8	8	7	7	7	8
14	9	9	7	7	7	9
15	9	9	8	8	8	9
16	9	9	8	8	8	9
17	10	10	8	8	8	10
18	10	10	8	8	8	10
19	10	10	8	8	8	10
20	11	11	9	9	9	11
21	11	11	9	9	9	11
22	11	11	9	9	9	11
23	11	11	9	9	9	11
24	12	12	9	9	9	12
25	12	12	10	10	10	12
26	12	12	10	10	10	12
27	13	13	10	10	10	13
28	13	13	10	10	10	13
29	13	13	10	10	10	13
30	14	14	11	11	11	14
31	14	14	11	11	11	14
32	14	14	11	11	11	14
33	14	14	11	11	11	14
34	15	15	11	11	11	15
35	15	15	12	12	12	15
36	15	15	12	12	12	15
37	16	16	12	12	12	16
38	16	16	12	12	12	16
39	16	16	12	12	12	16
40	17	17	13	13	13	17
41	17	17	13	13	13	17
42	17	17	13	13	13	17
43	17	17	13	13	13	17
44	18	18	13	13	13	18
45	18	18	14	14	14	18
46	18	18	14	14	14	18
47	19	19	14	14	14	19
48	19	19	14	14	14	19
49	19	19	14	14	14	19
50	20	20	15	15	15	20
51	20	20	15	15	15	20
52	20	20	15	15	15	20
53	20	20	15	15	15	20
54	21	21	15	15	15	21
55	21	21	16	16	16	21
56	21	21	16	16	16	21
57	22	22	16	16	16	22
58	22	22	16	16	16	22
59	22	22	16	16	16	22
60	23	23	17	17	17	23
61	23	23	17	17	17	23
62	23	23	17	17	17	23
63	23	23	17	17	17	23
64	24	24	17	17	17	24
65	24	24	18	18	18	24
66	24	24	18	18	18	24
67	25	25	18	18	18	25
68	25	25	18	18	18	25
69	25	25	18	18	18	25
70	26	26	19	19	19	26
71	26	26	19	19	19	26
72	26	26	19	19	19	26
73	26	26	19	19	19	26
74	27	27	19	19	19	27
75	27	27	20	20	20	27
76	27	27	20	20	20	27
77	28	28	20	20	20	28
78	28	28	20	20	20	28
79	28	28	20	20	20	28
80	29	29	21	21	21	29
81	29	29	21	21	21	29
82	29	29	21	21	21	29
83	29	29	21	21	21	29
84	30	30	21	21	21	30
85	30	30	22	22	22	30
86	30	30	22	22	22	30
87	31	31	22	22	22	31
88	31	31	22	22	22	31
89	31	31	22	22	22	31
90	32	32	23	23	23	32
91	32	32	23	23	23	32
92	32	32	23	23	23	32
93	32	32	23	23	23	32
94	33	33	23	23	23	33
95	33	33	24	24	24	33
96	33	33	24	24	24	33
97	34	34	24	24	24	34
98	34	34	24	24	24	34
99	34	34	24	24	24	34
100	35	35	25	25	25	35

Physical - STR & AGI

For a Physical build, it is recommended to evenly spread your level stat points into STR and AGI, with AGI taking priority, throughout progression.

Empress's STR and base Physical damage is fairly high at the baseline, so, as a first priority, it is recommended to increase Empress's AGI for the benefit of Hit!! counts.

• Although it may not be obvious early on, without enough AGI, most of Empress's attacks will begin to fumble and deal only 1 damage against enemies, indicated by grey damage text.
• Once you have a high enough amount of AGI, you can allocate your remaining points to STR or VIT.
• Increasing STR helps significantly overall, especially when challenging endgame quests such as Ancient Gods, so it is highly recommended to increase this stat beyond the level stat points cap by using the appropriate Accessories.
• During the midgame and endgame, Empress has access to increasingly PIE-rich Weapons and Accessories, which can help deal some extra damage in Physical combos.

Hit!! Counts per Weapon

Weapon	Hit!! Count	AGI over Enemy AGI
Sword	2 Hit!!	10 AGI
	3 Hit!!	20 AGI
	4 Hit!!	30 AGI
	5 Hit!!	40 AGI
Small-sword	2 Hit!!	5 AGI
	3 Hit!!	10 AGI
	4 Hit!!	15 AGI
	5 Hit!!	20 AGI
	6 Hit!!	25 AGI
	7 Hit!!	30 AGI
	8 Hit!!	35 AGI

Recommended Elemental Contracts

Main article: Empress/Elemental Contracts

Recommended Elemental Contracts

Contract	Info
Fire	Burn deals 1.5x Physical damage
Ice	Frostbite lowers enemy AGI, making it easier to reach a high Hit!! count
Poison	Poison gradually shaves off enemy health

Magic - INT & PIE

Empress's Magic-focused builds are dependent on her equipment and are most effective during the early game and midgame. You can put your first 50 level stat points into INT, then put the remaining points into VIT or PIE. Alternatively, for a mixed Magic-and-Dragon-Skill build, you can put your first 50 level stat points into PIE, then put the remaining points into INT or VIT.

Core Magic build Weapons include Rapid Foil at Level 35 and Rune Anelace at Level 45. At the early game and midgame, Magic builds can outperform Physical builds due to the way that Magical damage is calculated.

Magic Damage Calculation Samples

The following damage calculations are done in reference to the Ground Dragon Sword attack (for the respective Weapons) and an INT value of 14.

Final Damage = [M.ATK + (INT / 2) + Magic Base] * Motion Value * Magic Motion Bonus

• M.ATK varies between Weapons
• Empress's Magic Base = 130
• Empress's Base INT = 14
• Ground Dragon Sword Motion Value varies between Weapons
• Magic Motion Bonus varies between Weapons

Magic Damage Calculation Samples

Weapon	Calculation	Variables
Rapid Foil	1360 damage = [59 + (34 / 2) + 130] * 3.00 * 2.20	M.ATK = 59 Empress's Magic Base = 130 Empress's INT = 14 (+20 from Rapid Foil) Small-sword Ground Dragon Sword Motion Value = 3.00 Small-sword Magic Motion Bonus = 2.20
Rune Anelace	1271 damage = [80 + (34 / 2) + 130] * 3.20 * 1.75	M.ATK = 80 Empress's Magic Base = 130 Empress's INT = 14 (+20 from Rapid Foil) Sword Ground Dragon Sword Motion Value = 3.20 Sword Magic Motion Bonus = 1.75

Dragon Skill-focused - PIE

For a Dragon Skill-focused build, you can put your first 50 level stat points into PIE, then put the remaining points evenly into STR and AGI or VIT.

This build setup works the best in the beginning. During the midgame and endgame, however, Empress has access to increasingly PIE-rich Weapons and Accessories, at which point it is recommended to switch to STR and AGI stat allocations.

If you want to maximize your Dragon Skill damage output, you can equip an Eye Amulet and Engraved Earrings for bonus Holy damage and raw PIE increases.

Recommended Elemental Contracts

Main article: Empress/Elemental Contracts

Recommended Elemental Contracts

Contract	Info
Wind	The Dragon Shot and Dragon Cannon pierce through terrain and are highly concentrated in an upward parabola, making it easy to "shotgun" enemies
Thunder	The Dragon Shot and Dragon Cannon are highly effective against many enemies, such as aerial enemies, because the initial ball deals damage and the laser afterward has a homing effect

Recommended Equipment

This article is a stub.
It is either incomplete or needs improvement. Please help out Dragon Marked For Death Wiki by improving this article.

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The following Weapons and Accessories are recommended throughout your progression in Dragon Marked For Death.

Recommended Swords

Recommended Swords

Weapon	Lv	Info
Placeholder	#	Placeholder

Recommended Small-swords

Recommended Small-swords

Weapon	Lv	Info
Placeholder	#	Placeholder

Recommended Accessories

Recommended Accessories

Accessory	Lv	Main Stat(s)	Info
Leather Choker	5-95	AGI 5-75	For AGI builds Goes up to +9
Hastan Anklet	6-96	AGI 5-70	For AGI builds Goes up to +9 Has the effect of "Jump distance +#%"
Metal Earrings	8-98	AGI 5-75	For AGI builds Goes up to +9
Engraved Earrings	18-98	PIE 10-80	For PIE builds Goes up to +8
Ring of Life	22-99	VIT 5-65	For VIT builds Has the effect of "Resist instant-death"
Dragon King's Crystal	50	All 10	For all-around builds Has the effect of "Resist instant-death" Has the effect of "Phys. dmg. taken -20%" Has the effect of "Magic dmg. taken -20%"