So, you’ve taken the plunge and started playing Diamond Dynasty for the first time. Congratulations on trying something new. Now the first thing you are probably thinking is which part of Diamond Dynasty should you try first. If you are looking to ease yourself into the mode, then the offline game modes are probably your best bet. These modes will give you a feel for your team, while helping you get used to whatever difficulty you like to play on. Here, we will go over each of the different offline modes and give you all the information you need to know to be successful.
Moments
Moments are the quickest and easiest game mode in Diamond Dynasty. Whenever a new program or Team Affinity drop is released, there are always a set of moments to complete. Moments usually involve you being played locked in a scenario, with a goal you have to complete. You might be a hitter tasked with getting so many hits, extra-base hits, or total bases in a game. You might also be a pitcher who has to either get so many strikeouts or pitch so many scoreless innings. Though they might take a few tries to complete, just remember to stick with it and eventually things will fall your way.
The first tip I have for moments is always do them first when new content is released. Moments are the fastest mode to complete. There also is now way to earn progress towards anything else while completing moments. You want to try and finish your moments, and use the rewards you get from doing so in other modes to complete missions.
My only other tip for moments is to not actually do moments in Diamond Dynasty. If you go to moments in a program in Diamond Dynasty, whenever you complete one you will be sent back to the main Diamond Dynasty menu. However, if you back out to the main menu, you can scroll down and find all the moments in the game in one convenient location. If you complete moments from this menu, you will return to this menu when you complete one. This makes it easier and faster to move on to the next moment.
Showdown
Your next step once you have completed Moments is to see if the program has a Showdown. Showdown is another mode where you can’t earn progress towards any missions while completing it. This means it is best to do it first and get what rewards you can from it.
When you start a Showdown, you will go through a few rounds of a card draft. Each round, you will be given four cards to choose from. Who you choose is up to you. There will also be a few rounds where you will choose one of four perks. These perks give you certain abilities if the prerequisites are met.
Once you have drafted your team and selected your perks, you will start progressing through the Showdown. The Showdown is comprised of a series of situations for you to pass. Each situation will task you with scoring a certain amounts of runs before you reach a set number of outs. Sometimes you may also start a situation with runners on base. If you succeed, you will continue to the next situation. You will also be rewards runs that you will start the Final Showdown with. Passing a situation will let you draft a new player and perk to add to your team. However, if you fail a situation, you have to start the entire Showdown over again.
Most Showdowns only have you play hitting situations. This means that position does not matter. When drafting players, focus on getting the best hitters possible, regardless of what position they play. When I play Showdown, I focus mostly on speed and contact. While power can be tempting and is nice to have, small ball comes in to play in these situations. If you have plenty of outs to spare and a fast player on first, then bunting them around to third and then using a sacrifice fly for them to score becomes a viable option.
The perks in Showdown come in three tiers: silver, gold, and diamond. The perks are similar and just give more of a boost the higher their tier is. There are some perks that are better to get than others. The best perk is the one that gives you an exit velocity boost in the 7th inning or later. In Showdown, every situation is considered to be in the 9th inning. This means this perk is always active, making it the best perk. Another perk gives you an exit velocity boost when you are losing. In most of the situations in Showdown, you will at least start out trailing. Also, the boost from perks stack. So if you have both of these perks, you will have an even higher boost to your exit velocities.
Conquest
Conquest is basically the MLB The Show version of the classic board game Risk. You start out with a large map made up of territories and strongholds. Territories are blank in unoccupied, or display the number of reinforcements within it occupied. Strongholds are designated using the logo of the team that controls it. The goal of Conquest is to use your reinforcements to gain control of the entire board.
The first thing you should do when starting a new Conquest map is view the goals for the map. You can do this by pressing triangle on PlayStation or the Y button on Xbox. Most goals are pretty straightforward and you’ll complete them just by completing the map. However, some Conquest maps have extra goals, such as stealing so many reinforcements or capturing a certain stronghold in a given number of turns.
Each turn of Conquest has four phases. The first phase is the Attack phase. This where you can move your reinforcements to conquer other territories. When you move your reinforcements, you move all but one of them, leaving the one behind to occupy the space you are attacking from. If the space is unoccupied, you automatically claim it. If the space is occupied, then you will have to battle for it. Battles for regular territories can be simulated. However, battles for strongholds must be played.
If you do attack a stronghold, you will have to play a three-inning game against the team that occupies that stronghold. The game will be played at the defending team’s ballpark. The difficulty of the game depends on the size of the attacking and defending forces. If your attacking force is much greater than the defending force, then easier difficulties will be available. However, if you attack while you are outnumbered, you will have to play on much harder difficulties. If you win the game, you take the stronghold.
Once you are unable to attack any more territories, you’ll move on to the Steal phase. In this phase, you can choose a team on the map to try and steal reinforcements from. If you choose to try and steal, you will play a 3-inning game against that team. If you win, the amount of reinforcements you earn will be based on the difficulty you played on. This phase can be helpful in some situations. There are also some goals that require you to steal so many reinforcements to complete the map. However, this step only awards at most 5 reinforcements, and that is if you can win a 3-inning game on Legend difficulty. It is usually better to just skip this phase and save yourself some time.
The final two phases are the Reinforce and Move phases. I’m the Reinforce phase, you are given a number of reinforcements based on how many territories and strongholds you control. You can assign these reinforcements to any spot on the map that you have possession of. Then in the Move phase, you can move reinforcements from one spot on the map in your control to another one. After the Move phase, you cycle back to the Attack phase to start the next turn.
Conquest is a great mode for grinding out PXP missions, especially with pitchers. Stamina loss does not carry over from game to game in Conquest. This allows you to pitch the same pitcher over and over if you want to. Also, the pitcher you start will determine which one your opponent starts. So if you start your fifth starter, your opponent will also start their fifth starter. If I have a pitcher I need to complete missions with, I usually try to put them in the fifth starter slot, so I will always be facing the worst starter a team has.
Mini Seasons
Mini Seasons is where Franchise and Diamond Dynasty meet. In this mode, you play against fictional CPU teams in small seasons of 28 games. After the 28 game season, the top four teams move onto the playoffs. Both the semifinal and championship rounds are best of three series.
The teams you’ll face off against in Mini Seasons will be tougher than the ones you faced in Conquest. In Conquest, each MLB team’s Live Series squad would have a handful of diamonds at most. In Mini Seasons, some of the teams will be comprised of nothing but diamonds. The Mini Seasons teams can feature any card in the game, including cards that might not even be obtainable yet. These teams have their own unique names, uniforms, and stadiums.
Throughout the year, different Mini Seasons variations will be available to play. These variations include different roster restrictions, as well as new rewards to earn for meeting certain goals. Team Affinity vouchers are often awarded in Mini Seasons, making them a great way to progress these programs.
Unlike Conquest, stamina does carry over from one game to the next, so make sure to manage your pitchers appropriately. Also, unlike Conquest, you will be playing several home games in Mini Seasons, so find a ballpark you enjoy playing at. During a Mini Seasons playthrough, stats are tracked for every player just like in Franchise mode. At the end of the regular season, awards are given out to the players who performed the best.
Play Ball
The offline modes in Diamond Dynasty are a great way to ease yourself into the mode. You’ll get to play at the difficulty you are comfortable at while earning free rewards and building your team. If you eventually get the desire to tackle online modes that’s great. However, if you just want to beat up on the CPU over and over, that’s ok too. Diamond Dynasty is about you enjoying the game however you want to, which is what makes it the best of the card collecting game modes.