Starting your journey in DPS: Desktop Pension Squad can feel a little different from other RPGs. Instead of controlling your characters directly, you build a squad of heroes that automatically fight human adventurers while you continue using your computer.
The game is designed around idle progression. Your heroes keep fighting, defeating enemies, collecting rewards, and gaining EXP. You can check on them whenever you want, upgrade their skills, equip better gear, and improve your squad to progress through tougher stages.
In this beginner guide, we will explain everything you need to know about DPS: Desktop Pension Squad. From understanding your first squad and automatic battles to levelling heroes, collecting equipment, using runes, unlocking pets, and claiming offline rewards, we will cover the important mechanics step by step. If you are just getting started, this guide will help you understand how the game works and what you should focus on first.
DPS Desktop Pension Squad Beginner Guide – Progression
DPS: Desktop Pension Squad is an idle RPG that runs directly on your desktop. A small battle area appears above your Windows taskbar, where your heroes automatically fight enemies without requiring constant input from you.
You play on the side of the demon lord, commanding a squad of three heroes who fight against human adventurers. Your characters handle combat automatically, so you can continue working, browsing the internet, or watching videos while they progress.
Your main job is to manage the squad and improve its strength. You can return to the game to:
- Equip better weapons and armour.
- Spend skill points to unlock new abilities.
- Upgrade your heroes’ passive skills.
- Open boxes and collect equipment.
- Spend Soul on rune upgrades.
- Unlock pets for additional bonuses.
- Check your stage progress and offline rewards.
The main idea is simple: your heroes fight automatically, while you make decisions that help them become stronger.
Understanding Your Starting Squad
When you start DPS: Desktop Pension Squad, you already have three heroes available. Each one has a different role, so understanding their abilities will help you build a balanced team.
Your starting squad consists of Minos, Diana, and Mori & Gula.
Minos – Frontline Tank
Minos is your frontline tank. His job is to stand ahead of the other heroes and absorb incoming attacks.
He uses an Axe as his main weapon and a Gauntlet as his off-hand equipment. His abilities include a shield that activates when he takes damage and an area attack that triggers after every five basic attacks.
Minos also has an ability called Wrath of the King, which increases his ATK temporarily and converts some of the damage he receives during that time into HP.
As a beginner, you should understand that Minos is important for keeping your squad alive, especially when enemies become stronger.
Diana – Ranged Damage Dealer
Diana is your ranged physical damage dealer. She uses a Bow and Arrow and specializes in critical hits and Brand effects.
She has a longer attack range than the other two starting heroes, allowing her to attack enemies from a safer distance.
Her Hunter’s Verdict ability fires three consecutive shots and applies Brand to enemies. Her Wraith Arrow can also activate when she lands a critical hit, dealing additional damage.
Diana is particularly important because her Brand effect increases the damage an enemy receives from all sources by 25%.
Mori & Gula – Magical Damage Dealer
Mori & Gula are your magical damage dealers. Mori is a lich who uses Gula, a spirit that takes the form of a staff.
They use a Staff as their main weapon and an Orb as their off-hand equipment. Their element is Earth, and their abilities focus on magical attacks and Gluttony stacks.
Their Ravenous Feast ability attacks enemies multiple times and generates Gluttony stacks. They also have Chomp, which activates when an enemy receives Brand.
This creates an interesting connection with Diana because her Brand application can trigger additional attacks from Mori & Gula.
Understanding Your Squad Positions
Your squad has three positions:
- Front
- Middle
- Back
The front-most living hero leads the squad. Enemies appear approximately eight units ahead of your heroes.
This positioning matters because the hero at the front is the first one exposed to incoming enemies. If a hero is defeated, another living hero takes the lead.
One important thing to remember is that a hero removed from the active squad cannot return for 60 seconds. So, pay attention to your squad arrangement and make sure you have a balanced team.
How Auto Battle and Stages Work
One of the best things about DPS: Desktop Pension Squad is that you do not need to control every attack manually.
Your heroes automatically move forward and fight enemies. Once a monster appears, your squad attacks it using basic attacks and available skills.
Understanding Waves
Normal stages are divided into 10 waves.
Here is how the wave structure works:
| Wave | What Happens |
|---|---|
| Wave 1–4 | Regular enemy waves |
| Wave 5 | Ends with an elite or boss-grade monster |
| Wave 6–9 | Regular enemy waves |
| Wave 10 | Boss wave |
Stages 10 and 20 are special chapter boss stages that contain only one wave.
A wave does not end simply because all currently visible enemies are defeated. All monsters assigned to that wave must spawn and be defeated before the next wave begins.
There is no time limit, so you do not need to rush through battles.
What Happens When You Clear a Stage?
Once you defeat all enemies in a stage, the next stage automatically begins after two seconds.
If you want to farm a particular stage, you can enable the Repeat Stage option. This allows your squad to keep fighting the same stage instead of automatically progressing.
This can be useful when you want to collect rewards or improve your heroes before attempting harder stages.
What Happens When Your Hero Dies?
Your heroes can be defeated during combat, but that does not mean you immediately lose the stage.
A defeated hero automatically revives with full HP after 60 seconds, as long as at least one other squad member is still alive.
However, if all three heroes are defeated at the same time, the stage fails. Your squad then restarts from Wave 1 after 1.5 seconds.
The good news is that you keep everything you earned before the defeat, including rewards and progression resources.
Hero Levels and Skill Points
Levelling your heroes is one of the most important parts of progression.
Every time your squad defeats an enemy, all three heroes receive the full EXP reward. EXP is not divided between the heroes.
This is useful because even if one hero is defeated, they still receive EXP from kills made by the remaining squad members.
What Do You Get From Levelling Up?
Each hero level provides:
- 5% additional HP.
- 1 skill point.
An important thing to understand is that levelling up does not directly increase your hero’s ATK.
Your attack power mainly comes from equipment, skills, runes, and pets.
This means you should not rely only on hero levels when trying to increase your damage. You also need to improve your equipment and unlock useful abilities.
How Skill Points Work
Every skill level costs one skill point.
However, you cannot unlock every ability immediately. Some skills require you to spend a certain number of points on that particular hero before they become available.
For active skills, the unlock requirements are:
| Active Skill | Points Already Spent |
|---|---|
| First Active | 0 |
| Second Active | 3 |
| Third Active | 10 |
Passive skills have different requirements, ranging from 0 to 40 previously spent points.
The complete skill tree contains 71 skill points, meaning a hero needs to reach level 72 to obtain enough points to unlock every skill level.
How Active Skills Work
Your heroes have multiple active abilities, but only three equipped active skills can trigger during combat.
This means you need to pay attention to which abilities you equip.
Do not assume that unlocking an active skill automatically means your hero will use it. You need to make sure it is equipped in the active skill slots.
Also, after levelling up an already equipped active skill, the updated level may not immediately take effect. Re-equipping the skill, rearranging the hero, or restarting the game can refresh it.
Boxes and Equipment
Equipment is another important part of making your heroes stronger.
During battles, monsters can drop different types of boxes. These boxes contain equipment that you can use to improve your squad.
There are three main box categories:
- Regular Box
- Boss Chest
- Elite Box
Chapter bosses can drop Elite Boxes, while regular monsters and boss-grade enemies can provide other box rewards.
Understanding Box Rewards
Different boxes have different equipment rewards and rarity chances.
| Box Type | Common | Uncommon | Rare | Unique |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Box | 60% | 27% | 10% | 3% |
| Boss Chest | 50% | 30% | 15% | 5% |
| Elite Box | 40% | 32% | 20% | 8% |
As you can see, Elite Boxes have the highest chance of providing Rare and Unique equipment.
However, Unique is the highest rarity available directly from these boxes. You need Workshop Fusion to obtain Epic equipment.
Important: Open Your Boxes Regularly
There is a limit of 10 boxes for each box type.
If another box drops while you already have 10 of that type, the additional box disappears.
You also need an available bag slot to open a box.
For this reason, I recommend checking your inventory regularly and opening your available boxes instead of allowing them to reach the storage limit.
How Weapon Boxes Work
Some drops are weapon boxes that contain weapons for a particular hero.
These boxes have two possible weapon types:
- Main Weapon – 50% chance.
- Sub Weapon – 50% chance.
The weapon box is associated with one of your squad’s heroes, so make sure you check which character the weapon belongs to.
Equipment Requirements
Equipment only provides bonuses to the hero wearing it.
For example, if you equip a better weapon on Diana, Minos and Mori & Gula will not receive its bonuses.
You also need to check the equipment’s level requirement. A hero must meet the required level before they can equip that item.
When comparing equipment, check its stats and make sure it is suitable for the hero you want to improve.
Soul, Runes and Pets
Apart from equipment and skill points, DPS: Desktop Pension Squad has two important progression systems: Runes and Pets.
Both can improve your squad, but they work differently.
What Is Soul?
Soul is the main currency used in the game.
You can obtain Soul through:
- Defeating enemies.
- Offline progression.
- Salvaging equipment.
You will mainly use Soul to purchase rune upgrades.
You should pay attention to your Soul spending because the rune board does not have a reset option.
Understanding Runes
Runes provide additional bonuses to your heroes.
One important difference between equipment and runes is that equipment only benefits the hero wearing it, while rune bonuses apply to every hero in your squad.
This makes runes particularly useful because a single upgrade can improve Minos, Diana, and Mori & Gula at the same time.
However, there is something important to consider before spending your Soul.
Maxing the entire rune board costs 74,546 Soul, and there is no reset option.
I recommend taking your time with rune upgrades and checking what each bonus provides before spending your resources.
How Pets Work
Pets are another way to improve your squad.
Unlike equipment, pets do not need to be assigned to individual heroes to provide their bonuses.
Every unlocked pet helps all heroes in your squad, whether that pet is currently equipped or not.
However, pets must be unlocked manually through the Arrange screen once you meet their unlock conditions.
So, if you meet the requirement for a new pet, remember to visit the Arrange screen and unlock it.
This is important because simply meeting the condition does not automatically activate the pet.
Understanding Offline Rewards
One of the most useful features for beginners is the offline reward system.
Since DPS: Desktop Pension Squad is an idle RPG, your progress is not limited to the time you actively spend playing.
The game tracks up to eight hours of offline time. When you launch the game again, your offline rewards are automatically calculated and paid based on the time away.
How Offline Progress Works
Your offline rewards depend on the stage you were progressing through before leaving the game.
Your heroes also receive EXP from offline progression, and the EXP is awarded to every squad member.
Here are the important things to remember:
- Offline progress is capped at 8 hours.
- Rewards are automatically paid when you launch the game.
- Your PC clock determines the offline time.
- Offline progression follows the stage you were on.
- All three heroes receive EXP.
If you are planning to leave your computer for several hours, it is worth checking that your squad is progressing properly before you go.
Understanding Important Combat Mechanics
Once you understand the basic progression systems, it is worth learning how combat calculations work.
DPS: Desktop Pension Squad uses several different stat categories to calculate your heroes’ damage and defensive abilities.
You do not need to understand every formula immediately, but knowing a few important mechanics can help you make better upgrade decisions.
How Stats Add Up
Hero stats receive bonuses from different sources, including:
- Equipment.
- Passive skills.
- Runes.
- Pets.
- Squad-wide bonuses.
These bonuses are grouped into different categories: Static, Add, Rate, and Multiplier.
The game combines bonuses within their respective categories before calculating the final stat.
For example, a CRIT bonus of 10% does not necessarily mean you receive 10 additional percentage points of critical chance.
If your base critical rate is 5%, a 10% relative increase makes it 5.5%.
Flat critical points from Static bonuses work differently.
Another important example is damage multipliers. A multiplier displayed as ×3 represents an additional 300% bonus, rather than simply adding 3%.
Which Upgrades Affect Your Whole Squad?
Not every upgrade benefits all three heroes.
Here is a simple breakdown:
| Upgrade Source | Who Receives the Bonus? |
|---|---|
| Equipment | Only the hero wearing it |
| Runes | Every hero |
| Pets | Every hero |
| [Party] Passive Skills | Entire squad |
| Regular Passive Skills | Only the hero who unlocked them |
| Hero Level | Individual hero |
This is important when deciding where to spend your resources.
For example, Diana’s Hunt’s Guidance increases CRIT Rate for the entire squad, while her regular personal passives only improve Diana.
Important Combat Stat Caps
Some stats have maximum limits.
| Stat | Maximum Value |
|---|---|
| Attack Speed | ×5 |
| Skill Haste | 300 |
| Defense Reduction | 75% |
| Evasion (base value only) | 75% |
| Gluttony Stacks | 10 (×3.0) |
| Hero Level | 110 |
| Shortest Skill Cooldown | 0.1 seconds |
You should keep these limits in mind when upgrading your heroes.
For example, Attack Speed cannot go beyond ×5, so investing further into attack speed after reaching the cap will not provide additional benefits.
How Damage Works
Damage calculations depend on several factors, including your ATK, enemy defence, critical hits, elemental resistance, and damage bonuses.
The game first considers bonuses against the enemy’s type, such as Normal, Elite, or Boss enemies.
After that, basic attack or skill damage bonuses are applied.
Critical hits can increase the final damage even further. The critical chance depends on your CRIT Rate compared to the target’s CRIT Resistance.
Understanding Brand
Brand is one of the most useful combat effects in your starting squad.
When an enemy receives Brand, it takes 1.25× damage from all sources.
This means the enemy receives 25% additional damage from your entire squad.
For example, if an attack normally deals 1,000 damage to a branded enemy, it deals 1,250 damage instead, before other applicable calculations.
Brand does not stack. Applying another Brand simply overwrites the existing duration.
This is why Diana and Mori & Gula work well together. Diana can apply Brand through Hunter’s Verdict, while Mori & Gula’s Chomp activates whenever someone applies Brand.
Physical and Magical Defence
Enemies can reduce incoming physical and magical damage through their defence stats.
The amount of damage reduced depends on the enemy’s defence and the stage’s defence modifier.
As you progress through stages, enemies become harder to damage with the same amount of defence penetration or damage bonuses.
Elemental damage is also affected by the corresponding resistance.
The four elemental types include:
- Fire
- Ice
- Lightning
- Earth
So, when you are struggling against a particular enemy, remember that its defensive stats and elemental resistance can affect your damage.
Attack Speed and Skill Cooldowns
Attack speed and skill cooldowns are two important stats that affect how frequently your heroes attack and use their abilities.
How Attack Speed Works
Basic attacks follow the hero’s attack animation.
The base attack cycle consists of a 1-second swing and a 0.2-second pause.
The total time is divided by the hero’s attack speed.
For example, Diana has a base attack speed of 1.25, which means she performs approximately one basic attack every 0.96 seconds.
Increasing attack speed allows your heroes to perform basic attacks more frequently.
This can also help with skills that activate after a specific number of basic attacks.
How Skill Haste Works
Skill Haste reduces the cooldown of abilities that use cooldown timers.
For example:
| Skill Haste | Cooldown Reduction |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0% |
| 100 | 50% |
| 200 | 66.67% |
| 300 | 75% |
The game uses a minimum skill cooldown of 0.1 seconds.
Not every ability benefits from Skill Haste in the same way. Skills triggered by conditions such as every five basic attacks or enemy deaths do not follow the normal cooldown calculation.
For example, Mori & Gula’s Carrion Feast activates on every monster death rather than waiting for its listed cooldown.
DPS: Desktop Pension Squad is an idle RPG where understanding your squad and progression systems is just as important as letting your heroes fight automatically.
As a beginner, start by learning the roles of Minos, Diana, and Mori & Gula. Then focus on improving their active skills, collecting better equipment, spending skill points, and unlocking useful runes and pets.
Remember that every system contributes to your overall progress. Equipment improves individual heroes, while runes, pets, and party-wide passive skills can benefit your entire squad.
You do not need to rush through everything at once. Keep checking your boxes, use your Soul carefully, unlock pets when possible, and make sure your heroes have the right skills equipped.
Once you understand how these systems work together, progressing through tougher stages and defeating stronger enemies becomes much easier.