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Dan The Man Ultimate Guide: 15 Tips & Tricks to Defeat Your Enemies

Halfbrick Studios, the creators behind Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride gave us one of the best free mobile games of 2016 titled as Dan the Man. The game is based on a web series (which you should check out since it’s really good), putting you in the boots of Dan, who has to save the kingdom from forces of evil. Combining platforming and beat-them-up elements, Dan the Man is a fast-paced experience in which you’ll shatter hundreds of vases, kill thousands of foes, all that in beautiful pixel art levels.

Dan the Man isn’t one of those free-to-play titles where progress is halted after some time, where the game basically asks you to shell out money in order to continue advancing through it. Every upgrade is bought for coins, and there are piles of coins waiting for you to pick them up on each level. The only free-to-play features in Dan the Man is the presence of ads, but they aren’t annoying and will appear occasionally, some can even be skipped.

The game is easy during early stages, but later becomes one heck of a tricky experience, with tougher foes and harder platforming. We made this guide in order to make the game easier for all gamers and to make a proper warrior out of you, worthy of Dan the Man. So, let us begin.

1. Shatter Every Pot

Pots are scattered on every level, giving you a couple of coins for breaking them. Yeah, at first the prizes may seem like too humble but since there are a couple of dozens of pots on each level, shattering them all can give you hundreds of coins, enough to help you buy much-needed upgrades.

2. Be Careful When Faced With Ranged Enemies

Ranged foes can be pretty lethal, but with one simple tactic, every single one of them will be much easier to beat. Just look at their animations; when they look like they will fire, just start beating them. They won’t be able to fire their guns while you give them one hit after another. Also, special weapons that can be found (or bought) can easily kill ranged enemies. Just ignore them until they are ready to fire, and then attack them with combo hits. They’ll be gone in a matter of seconds.

3. Look Out For Hidden Areas

As with most platformers, hidden areas contain lots of coins, but are pretty tricky to reach. In most cases, they can be grasped via a hidden platform that’ll appear after you jump near it. It’s usually hidden near the unreachable platform that leads to a hidden area. Just jump near it (no matter if water or lava is under it) and the hidden platform will appear. Use the platform to reach hidden areas and collect hundreds of coins.

4. Conserve Special Weapons For Tougher Opponents

Special weapons (throwing knives, rifles, bazooka, etc.) can be found on levels, bought from the store, or earned as a prize for watching ads (statues holding TVs can be found throughout the game). The ammo is limited so try saving it for tougher foes (flying and ranged enemies, as well as bosses and mini bosses). Note that special weapons can be carried to the next level, but if you lose a life, they will disappear.

5. Upgrade The Combo Move First

Combo punch is the most useful move in Dan the Man. Try upgrading it before other moves; it will make beating opponents much easier, giving you an edge against foes and making you beating levels much faster. It’s best to focus on upgrading just one character so before you buy any upgrade, pick a character with whom you want to play.

6. Utilize Down Kicks Often

Down Kick is the second most helpful move, after the combo. It’s very easy to perform (just jump at an opponent and hit the punch button) and can be pretty lethal. After improving combo move, focus on improving the Down Kick. Upgraded Down Kick can hit an opponent two times in sequence, killing most opponents with just two presses of a button.

7. Watch The Ads – They Can Give You Lots Of Coins And Some Very Helpful Prizes

Ads can be watched while in-game (you’ll see statues holding TVs, just smash them) or in the store located on main menu screen. One ad watched inside the store will give you 200 coins, and you can watch as many ads as you like. Spend five minutes every time when you play Dan the Man and soon you’ll be able to unlock most upgrades. Ads placed inside levels can give you special weapons, energy refills and coins. If you’re low on health the best thing you can do is to smash the statue, watch an ad and refill your health.

8. Try Throwing Enemies Into Water / Lava / Spikes

The fastest way to kill foes is throwing them into water, or lava. Just start hitting them near gaps between platforms and after you make the last combo move they’ll start flying and with any luck will fall into the abyss. This can greatly help when faced against tougher opponents, like the Shield Wielder.

9. When Playing A Boss Level, Save All Special Weapons For It

In Dan the Man, every third level contains a boss. When starting a Boss level, always remember to save up special weapons for it, since it is much easier to defeat them with ranged weapons. Bosses can be pretty frustrating when attacking them with melee strikes, since they are tricky to hit, can shave off half of your health with just one attack, and even if you manage to hit them, they’ll probably take a bit of your health. When armed with special weapons, all you have to care about is avoiding Boss attacks, and as soon as they stop attacking just send a barrage of bullets or a bunch of throwing knives in their way. This way Boss battles will be finished before you know it.

10. Shielded Foes Are Extremely Vulnerable To Down Kick

Aside from enabling you to kill most enemies in just a couple of seconds, Down Kick is a perfect weapon for shielded opponents who are immune to other strikes. Just jump over them, so you are placed behind their shield, and start jumping and striking. Most shielded enemies will die after just a couple of Down Kicks.

11. Play The Weekly Challenges

Weekly challenges are relatively easy to beat, with each challenge containing solid prizes. If you finish all weekly challenges, you’ll get lots of coins. Also, you don’t have to buy powerups in order to beat weekly challenges; Dan the Man (or any other character) is more than enough for them, just play your best and all challenges will be crushed.

12. Don’t Play With A Custom Character

Custom character option becomes available after a couple of levels. Since you can’t start the game with it, all upgrades you bought for the character you played until then won’t matter and you’ll have to start from a scratch. On top of that, most customizations need to be unlocked with coins, meaning that you won’t be able to unlock combat upgrades since all coins will be spent for customizing the custom character. It’s better to just pick a playing character at the start of Dan the Man and stick with the choice; that’s the fastest way of getting much-needed combat upgrades.

13. Special Weapon Upgrades Aren’t Needed

After a while, you’ll unlock special weapons upgrades, like more ammo and power. They aren’t needed since most enemies can be defeated with ease just by performing melee attacks. And for Bosses, even basic special weapons will be enough. So, don’t spend coins on upgrading weapons, it’s much wiser to spend your hard earned coins exclusively on combat upgrades. Purchase special weapons upgrades only after you buy enough upgrades to make Dan the Man an easy journey.

14. A Couple Of Tips Regarding Combat

Combat in Dan the Man is awesome, but it can be even better if you incorporate following tips.

Firstly, try hitting more than one enemy at once. This is very handy after you purchase combo upgrade since with just one successful combo you can defeat two or even three foes at once. This will make Dan the Man much easier.

Secondly, always try to keep yourself at a distance from foes. You’ll be able to plan your attacks without the need to constantly avoid enemy attacks.

Thirdly, don’t let foes sneak you from behind. You’ll soon lose lots of health since enemies are most lethal when attacking you from behind.

15. Patience Is The Key

Be patient when platforming, wait for the right moment to perform jumps. A moment too soon, or too late and you’ll lose health just because you weren’t patient. Dan the Man is an old-school game that cherishes timing and smart platforming. So, be patient and no level will be too hard to beat.

Thanks for reading Dan the Man guide. We tried to gather as many tips as we could. Remember, just be aggressive, try hitting more than one enemy at once, and frequently use combo and Down Kick attacks. We hope this guide helped you in becoming Dan the Man master. Happy Gaming!