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How Many Dudes? is a roguelike dudebuilder in which you recruit Dudes, combine their abilities, choose Relics, and watch the resulting team fight automatically. For a first run, do not chase a universal “best” Dude. Instead, inspect each choice, cover the jobs your squad is missing, and select effects that can trigger reliably together.
The fastest way to understand the game is to treat every battle as feedback on your roster decisions. Count which roles and Dude Types you already have, identify the interaction your next pick enables, and use the Dudex, tooltips, stats, Relics, and post-battle results to refine the next choice.
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How Many Dudes? is described by its developer, Butterscotch Shenanigans, as “a roguelike dudebuilder that’s all about game-breaking synergies and simulated chaos.” The App Store listing calls it a “Funny Roguelike Autobattler.” Those descriptions explain the important distinction for beginners: you make the strategic decisions, while battles themselves resolve automatically.
Your job is to recruit Dudes, manage an expanding roster, combine Dude Types, and choose upgrades that make the whole group function better. A single spectacular ability is less important than whether your other Dudes create the conditions that let it matter.
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The official game page describes a roster of 42 unique Dudes divided among six Dude Families:
| Roster fact | Officially described value |
|---|---|
| Unique Dudes | 42 |
| Dude Families | 6 |
| Families named by the developer | Undead Dudes; Employed Dudes; Warrior Dudes; Fantasy Dudes; Sci-Fi Dudes; Action Dudes |
The 42-Dude figure describes the game’s roster. It does not mean you are expected to recruit all 42 in one run, nor does it establish that every Dude appears in every mode or version.
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How do I start my first run?
Start by learning what each available choice means, then build a small team with clear jobs before adding more unusual effects. Use this sequence whenever the game presents a new Dude, Relic, or other decision.
- Inspect before selecting. Click the choice, read its tooltip, and look up unfamiliar terms in the in-game glossary or Dudex. Do not infer an effect from an icon alone; a trigger condition, target rule, duration, or stat may change how useful it is.
- Write down the jobs your squad already covers. At minimum, look for damage, survival, healing or support, and any control or mobility effect the current encounters appear to require. You do not need a perfect spread, but you should know which function is currently absent.
- Choose the option that improves the existing plan. A new Dude should either fill a missing job or create a clear interaction with someone you already recruited. A flashy ability with no way to activate it is usually a weaker first-run choice than a modest effect your team can use repeatedly.
- Read every Relic as a team decision. Ask which Dude changes, what behavior it rewards, how often its trigger can occur, and whether another teammate helps it activate. A Relic that looks powerful in isolation may contribute little if your roster cannot meet its conditions.
- Let the automated battle reveal the result. Watch which Dudes survive, which abilities trigger, and whether damage, defense, or support is falling behind. The fight is a diagnostic report on the setup you selected, not a sequence in which you issue individual attack commands.
- Make the next decision from evidence. If the team stalled because it could not survive, seek durability or healing. If a trigger never occurred, add the condition it needs or stop investing in it. If one Dude is consistently behind, check whether that Dude has received compatible Relics and stats before abandoning the idea.
What should I count when the game says to find and count Dudes?
For a beginner, “counting dudes” is best understood as keeping track of your team’s composition rather than solving a literal counting puzzle. Count the roles represented, the Dude Types that can interact, and the effects you can actually trigger in the current run.
Count roles
Make a quick mental ledger after each recruitment: who deals reliable damage, who keeps the squad alive, who provides healing or support, and who supplies a special condition such as control, movement, or a defensive trigger. When a role has no representative, the next practical pick is often the one that covers it.
Count enabling conditions
Some abilities become valuable only when another Dude creates the required situation. Before choosing a Relic or recruit, identify the condition in plain language: being struck, having a particular stat, attacking a certain target, or having a teammate present. Then count how often your current fights are likely to produce that situation.
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Count investments
Track which Dudes have received Relics or other improvements. Spreading every resource across too many Dudes can leave the entire roster mediocre, while ignoring one recruit can prevent its ability from ever reaching useful strength. The goal is not equal spending; it is enough investment for each chosen interaction to function.
How do I choose between two Dudes?
Compare competing choices on four questions: what role they cover, how dependable their trigger is, whether current teammates support them, and whether the benefit can scale as encounters become harder. These are practical decision criteria, not an official tier list.
1. Which role is missing?
If your squad already has several damage effects but no dependable way to survive, a defensive or support Dude may improve the next fight more than another attacker. Conversely, a team that survives comfortably but cannot finish encounters may need damage or a way to amplify existing attacks.
2. How often can the effect trigger?
Read the exact condition instead of judging by the headline ability. An effect that activates during an event occurring in nearly every fight is easier to build around than one requiring a rare situation. Reliability matters especially early, when you have few other pieces to compensate for a dormant ability.
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3. Do your teammates create the condition?
The developer’s examples show the intended design. Zombie Dudes can explode when struck, Ninja Dudes can throw Shurikens, and Cowboy Dudes can lasso other Dudes out of danger. Each example becomes more meaningful when the rest of the roster creates opportunities for that ability to matter. Ask, “What does this pick help my current team do?”
4. Will it still help later?
A choice can be useful as an emergency patch, but note whether it also improves the plan you want to keep. A recruit that solves one immediate problem while opening a repeatable synergy may be preferable to a temporary increase that has no connection to later Relics or stats.
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How should I read a Dude tooltip and the Dudex?
Use the game’s interface as a reference manual. The beginner guidance for How Many Dudes? specifically points players toward detailed terms in the interface and Dudex, so checking definitions is part of normal play rather than an optional advanced technique.
Start with the ability text
Identify the actor, target, trigger, and result. “Who acts?” tells you which Dude must be alive or positioned to use it. “What starts it?” tells you whether the effect depends on being hit, attacking, an ally, a stat threshold, or another event. “What changes?” tells you whether the result is damage, defense, healing, movement, or a status effect.
Then check the relevant stat
If a tooltip names a stat, determine whether the stat is supplied by the Dude, a Relic, a teammate, or a Trinket. A build can look coherent while failing because the value an ability needs never reaches the required level.
Finally, look for interactions
Read the descriptions of likely teammates and Relics together. The developer’s advice is to understand how each Dude’s Ability and Relics interact with stats, teammates, and Trinkets. Keep the wording visible while deciding; memory is less reliable than the exact in-game text.
What do Relics do in a first run?
Relics are build decisions that change how a Dude or the whole team behaves. Choose one by asking what it enables, how reliably it can activate, and whether the rest of your roster can exploit the change.
Match the Relic to a real trigger
Do not select a Relic only because its effect has the largest number or the most dramatic wording. If it depends on a condition your team rarely produces, its theoretical strength will not appear in automated combat. Prefer a smaller effect that activates under circumstances you see repeatedly.
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Give promising Dudes a chance
The developer’s beginner guide warns: “The most common mistake new players make is to assume a Dude is weak, so they never choose any Relics for that Dude, and then that Dude falls behind his teammates and never gets a chance to shine.” Treat this as a resource-allocation warning. If you recruit a Dude for a specific interaction, give that interaction enough support to evaluate it fairly.
The same guide summarizes the idea as, “Truthfully, the only weak Dude is a neglected Dude.” That is developer advice, not a measured claim that every Dude performs identically. It means you should investigate the missing investment or trigger before declaring a recruit useless.
Use Relics to reinforce a plan
Once you know your plan, Relics should make its key behavior more frequent, safer, or more powerful. If a Relic does not help the team’s current damage, survival, support, or enabling conditions, record why you are taking it; otherwise, it may pull the roster in a direction no teammate can support.
Can I control the fights manually?
No. The cited beginner guidance describes battles as resolving automatically. You do not direct individual attacks during the fight, so the important controls are the decisions made before and between battles: recruitment, setup, resources, stats, Relics, and other upgrades.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesUse each automated encounter as a readable test of your setup. Watch for a Dude whose ability never fires, a support effect that arrives too late, or a frontline that collapses before the team’s damage matters. Then change one major assumption at the next decision instead of replacing the entire plan without learning what failed.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why did my first run stall, and what should I change?
A stalled run usually points to a mismatch between your roster and its triggers, not proof that one Dude is inherently bad. Diagnose the symptom before choosing the fix.
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- The squad dies quickly: Add survival, healing, or protection and check whether your damage Dudes are receiving investment before they can act. A team cannot benefit from a late-fight synergy if it is eliminated first.
- Damage is too low: Look for overlapping low-impact attacks, then identify the teammate or Relic that increases the frequency or strength of your most reliable damage effect.
- A signature ability never appears: Re-read its trigger in the tooltip and Dudex. You may lack the required stat, teammate, target, or event; recruit or invest to create that condition, or pivot to an effect you can activate now.
- One Dude falls behind: Check whether you chose any Relics or stats for that Dude. The developer specifically identifies neglect as a common reason a recruit never reaches its potential.
- The roster feels scattered: Stop adding unrelated effects and choose the next option by role coverage and team compatibility. A coherent smaller plan is easier to evaluate than a collection of disconnected abilities.
How can I improve on the second run?
Carry forward observations, not a fixed tier list. Before restarting, write three short notes: which role was missing, which trigger failed to occur, and which Dude or Relic actually changed a fight.
- Choose an opening direction. Decide whether the early team will emphasize damage, durability, support, or a particular interaction suggested by the available choices.
- Recruit with a threshold in mind. Take a new Dude when it fills a known gap or supplies a condition your current roster can use, not simply because its description sounds unusual.
- Invest before judging. Give a promising Dude compatible Relics or stats, then observe enough automated fights to see whether the trigger is working.
- Prune dead ends. When an effect repeatedly fails its condition, stop spending resources on it unless another available choice can make the condition reliable.
- Record the successful interaction. On the next run, you can look for the pieces that made that interaction possible while still adapting to the choices offered.
How many Dudes are there, and what are the Dude Families?
The official page lists 42 unique Dudes across six families: Undead, Employed, Warrior, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Action. The family names provide a way to organize the roster, but the cited material does not assign a universal strength ranking or state that a particular family is always best for beginners.
Use families as recognition labels while learning individual abilities. The decision that matters in a run is still the exact Dude, its ability text, the Relics available, and the teammates already recruited.
Where can I play How Many Dudes?
The official game page lists Steam, Google Play, and the App Store under “Where to Play.” The App Store listing identifies How Many Dudes? as a paid mobile game and names Butterscotch Shenanigans, Inc. as the developer. The available material does not establish a single current price, identical features across platforms, cross-save behavior, or a shared version number, so check the storefront listing for the platform you intend to use.
What should I remember before pressing the next recruit button?
- Read the tooltip and glossary entry instead of guessing.
- Count the roles your squad covers and the one it lacks.
- Ask what condition the new Dude or Relic needs.
- Check whether current teammates can create that condition.
- Prefer reliable, repeatable triggers over impressive effects with no support.
- Give a chosen Dude enough Relic or stat investment to evaluate it.
- Watch automated combat for evidence, then adjust one part of the plan.
A good first run is not one that discovers a secret universal lineup. It is one that teaches you how recruitment, abilities, stats, teammates, Trinkets, and Relics combine into a functioning squad. Once you can explain why an effect activated—or why it did not—you are already playing How Many Dudes? the way its roguelike dudebuilder design expects.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to collect all 42 Dudes in one run?
No. The 42-Dude figure is the roster description on the official game page, not a one-run objective. A normal beginner decision is about choosing a coherent subset whose abilities and Relics can work together.
Is there one best Dude for every beginner?
The available developer guidance does not establish a universal best pick. A Dude’s value depends on the trigger, stats, Relics, and teammates that are available in that particular run.
What should I do when a tooltip uses a term I do not understand?
Open the game’s glossary or Dudex and read the related ability and stat entries before selecting. Treat those definitions as part of the game’s rules, because an unfamiliar condition can determine whether an effect activates at all.
Are the Steam, Google Play, and App Store versions identical?
The official page lists all three platforms, but the cited information does not confirm identical features, pricing, versions, or save-transfer behavior. Verify the details on the storefront for the edition you plan to play.
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