How to change difficulty in Minecraft Dungeons

Like many dungeon crawler games, Minecraft Dungeons retains variable difficulty levels that increase players' rewards depending on how much they're willing to risk defeat.

Minecraft Dungeons separates its difficulties into three categories: Default, Adventure, and Apocalypse. Within those difficulties are multiple degrees of rank, increasing the danger as the difficulty's rank increases.

Heroes tackling the early ranks of Apocalypse will have a different experience compared to those that are running the same difficulty in the higher ranks. This is similar to the way dungeon crawlers like Diablo III operate, increasing the dangers but yielding progressively higher-quality rewards.

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Minecraft Dungeons: Changing the difficulty

A level's difficulty and rank is typically set before entry (Image via Mojang)

When Minecraft Dungeons players are just starting out, only the Default difficulty will be available to them. However, as they progress through the game and replay levels, more difficult options will eventually become available.

Players will be able to check out difficulties before activating them, complete with their own recommended power ratings to ensure those taking the challenge aren't overwhelmed.

When entering one of the game's many dungeons, players can fine-tune their difficulty rank to their liking on the left panel of the screen, where other details on the level are listed.

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Once players have cleared the game on at least Default difficulty, they can change the game's difficulty in the bottom right of the dungeon select screen as well. Between these two options, one can change both their difficulty and the degree of their difficulty on the same screen before diving into battle.

Keep in mind that once in-game, players will be unable to change the game's difficulty until they exit the level one way or another.

Taking on a new difficulty or scaling up its rank should be done gradually, as the disparities between the three difficulties are already wide without accounting for the sub-ranks at all.

Finding the right balance between a comfortable challenge and improved rewards is key when starting out in Minecraft Dungeons.

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However, there are likely plenty of players who are willing to take on the more grueling aspects of the game's challenges in the interest of accruing great loot or showing off their skills. Regardless of where a player may find themselves on that spectrum, the changes made to difficulty begin when they're selecting their mission.