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And three, the different Gadgets that players can get in each run to help them get through the onslaught of shadowy creatures are all widely different. So, let’s rank each of the Gadgets (Secondary online, not Primary Artifacts) against each other, talk about what situations it’s best to pick them in, and what makes the best ones so universally great.
8 Blast Mining: One Explosive Digging Option
Last on the list is sadly the most “explosive” Secondary Gadget, the Blast Mining charge. If players pick this, a machine spawns on the lower part of their dome that creates a circular blast charge device every now and then.
The player can then take this charge, pick it up, drop it where they want it to go off, and wait for a second so it blows up the surrounding terrain. And while that sounds useful, especially since it doesn’t destroy any resources in the explosion. It still, unfortunately, isn’t more useful than just using the standard Drill most of the time. Of course, with upgrades Blast Mining can become a lot better and even mines in specific directions, but just about any other Gadget will prove to be more useful over the course of a run. It’s a shame because mining is such a crucial aspect of any survival game, even the more difficult ones, so usually an item that makes that faster would be a massive help.
7 Stun Laser: Combat Safety Net
Next up is the Stun Laser, a Gadget that seems incredibly strong within the first couple of runs in Dome Keeper, but quickly becomes less and less useful as the player becomes more experienced with the game. The Stun Laser is a small turret that’s added to the outside of the dome that auto-targets enemies, firing a small beam at them that both deals minor damage and stuns them.
For the most part, it’s just useful to keep an enemy still while the player is taking care of one on the other side of the Dome. But, against waves of smaller enemies and with proper upgrades, the Stun Laser does have the potential to do some real work. To put it simply, it gives players who might be struggling under the pressure of the waves in their first few hours a bit of a safety net.
6 Condenser: Infinite Water Source
There are three resource types in Dome Keeper, Gold, Iron, and Water. Each resource has its uses for certain upgrades, with Gold being the most commonly used. Water, on the other hand, is used much less but is still needed for some key upgrades as well as overcharging the Dome Shield or certain Primary Gadgets.
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But, these Water Orbs can be pretty sparse, and often players can’t seem to find any right when they need it. This is where the Condenser comes in, as it auto-spawns water periodically, and this production only increases with upgrades. It’s not the most exciting Gadget, but it can contribute to a player’s success quite a bit over the course of a run.
5 Resource Converter: Turning Iron Into Gold
While the Condenser is a great way for players to passively gain more Water, the Resource Converter is pretty useful for generating Iron. Of course, this Gadget does more than that, as its primary function is to allow the player to convert one resource for another over a span of time.
But, the main reason people use it is for its Iron Multiplication upgrade that can seriously break the iron economy in a Relic Hunt run, giving a player essentially unlimited Dome repair, as just one example.
4 Probe: No More Random Searching
While Dome Keeper does have three different material resources to keep track of, the actual most important resource in it is time. Players are constantly balancing the time they spend underground with the time it takes to fly back up to the dome before the next wave starts. This constant balance is one of the reasons the game is such a niche hit, and hopefully its enough for the title to become a major success story.
So, anything that can make that process a bit speedier or more time-efficient is a huge help, which is where the Probe comes in. As its name implies, this Gadget probes the nearby terrain when used, pinging the player and letting them know exactly where resources are in its vicinity. The only downside of this Gadget is the fact that players need to go back to the Dome to recharge it after each use, but with its final upgrade, this issue is entirely solved.
3 Lift: Going Up & Going Fast
At first, the Lift is a Gadget that many players don’t see the merit of. The description makes it sound like the Lift quickly takes any resources that fly into it back up to the Dome in an instant, but that isn’t the truth, at least not at first.
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But, with the proper upgrades, the Lift does actually help quite a bit in transporting resources back up, or at the very least it makes the psuedo-platforming sections of the game avoiding all the un-mined blocks a lot irritating. Basically, it helps alleviate one of the game’s biggest intentional timesinks. Not only that but the player’s flight speed is also increased while in the Lift, which only increases in usefulness the further a player digs down.
2 Drillbert: An Extra Hand To Help Out
Drillbert may be a bit of a controversial pick for the number two slot in Dome Keeper, but that depends on the individual. Some players feel that Drillbert sleeps on the job a bit too much and requires a lot of babysitting while others feel like he doubles the Drilling output in the early parts of a run and that this only increases the more he’s upgraded.
Frankly, it all depends on how quickly the player can upgrade him and how well they place and direct him where exactly to dig. Regardless, having another Drill searching for resources, especially such a cute little pixelated creature, is obviously a big help and easily earns him a higher ranking spot.
1 Teleporter: The Best Of All Worlds
And in the number one slot in the Teleporter, much for the same reason as the Lift. This doesn’t turn the player character into a teleporter all Nightcrawler-style, rather, it’s an actual “portal” that connects to the dome players can carry and place wherever they want. Again, time is of the essence in Dome Keeper, and the Teleporter manages to cut down on both travel time and the time it takes to bring resources back to the surface.
If a player is picking the Teleporter, they should almost immediately get the upgrade that allows it to transport resources as well, as this makes it so that the player always has a way to get instantly back home and a hole that they can drop any resources to while mining to get them right back to their storage.
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