Slice & Dice is a tactical roguelike where your party of five heroes fights enemies using dice instead of traditional combat systems. Each hero has a custom six-sided die with faces showing attacks, shields, heals, and special abilities. The strategic depth comes from rerolling dice, choosing which faces to use, and upgrading die faces at level-ups. With 100+ hero classes, 20+ difficulty levels, and runs taking 30-60 minutes, Slice & Dice is the most elegant dice-based combat system in gaming — simple to learn, endlessly deep to master.
Starting Slice & Dice can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Slice & Dice is a roguelike game built around dice combat and hero rerolling. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Warrior | Excellent for beginners | Deal consistent melee damage, use Shield faces defensively, upgrade toward cleave for AoE. |
| Mage | Good (but demanding) | Use spell faces for AoE damage, reroll for spell faces on critical turns, upgrade spells for stronger effects. |
| Healer | Good (but demanding) | Heal damaged heroes each turn, use Shield when healing isn't needed, keep the party alive. |
| Ranger | Excellent for beginners | Deal consistent ranged damage, mark high-priority targets for team bonus damage. |
| Specialist | Excellent for beginners | Leverage unique class mechanics for effects other classes can't replicate. |
Our recommendation: Start with Mage. Mages have dice with spell faces dealing AoE damage, debuffs, or utility effects. Their upgrade paths include Fireball (AoE damage), Ice (freeze enemies), and Lightning (chain damage). Mages deal the highest AoE damage but have fewer defensive options. The best heroes for clearing multi-enemy encounters.
Avoid Specialist as your first pick. Specialist classes (Bard, Monk, Alchemist) have unique die faces not found on standard classes.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn dice combat
Each turn, your five heroes roll their six-sided dice simultaneously. Each die face shows an action: Sword (deal damage), Shield (block damage), Heart (heal), or special abilities. You choose which face to activate for each hero. Unused dice are wasted. Enemy attacks are visible before your turn, letting you plan defense and offense strategically.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how dice combat works before worrying about anything else.
Step 2: Head to Forest Encounters
The starting battle set with basic enemies (goblins, wolves, slimes). Low damage output gives you time to learn die mechanics and hero abilities. The forest shop introduces the item system.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Ice Staff Die — it's the most accessible early upgrade. An upgraded Spell face that deals ice damage and freezes the target (skip their next turn). Freeze is one of the most powerful control effects — preventing an enemy attack is worth more than dealing extra damage. Ice upgrades are the best defensive Mage path.
Step 4: Understand hero rerolling
You get free rerolls each turn to change unfavorable die results. Rerolling a hero's die randomizes all faces. The number of free rerolls per turn starts at 2 and can be increased through items. Knowing when to reroll (bad faces on key heroes) versus keeping (acceptable faces) is the core tactical decision.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early — it pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Cave Battles
Underground encounters with tougher enemies (trolls, bats, elementals). Enemies here deal more damage, requiring healers to be active. The cave boss is the first real difficulty check.
Essential Mechanics Explained
dice combat
Each turn, your five heroes roll their six-sided dice simultaneously. Each die face shows an action: Sword (deal damage), Shield (block damage), Heart (heal), or special abilities. You choose which face to activate for each hero. Unused dice are wasted. Enemy attacks are visible before your turn, letting you plan defense and offense strategically.
hero rerolling
You get free rerolls each turn to change unfavorable die results. Rerolling a hero's die randomizes all faces. The number of free rerolls per turn starts at 2 and can be increased through items. Knowing when to reroll (bad faces on key heroes) versus keeping (acceptable faces) is the core tactical decision.
item shop
Between fights, a shop offers items that modify gameplay: extra rerolls, passive bonuses (all Sword faces deal +1), hero-specific upgrades, and new heroes to recruit. Gold earned from fights is limited, so spending decisions matter. Shop items persist for the entire run.
boss encounters
Every few fights features a boss with high HP, unique abilities, and powerful attacks. Bosses require multiple turns to kill, testing sustained damage output and healing capacity. Some bosses have special mechanics (shields that must be broken, phases that change behavior) requiring adaptive strategies.
class upgrades
At level-ups, you choose to upgrade one die face for one hero — changing a basic Sword (2 damage) to a better Sword (4 damage) or a special ability (3 damage + poison). Class upgrades are permanent for the run and define each hero's role. Choosing between offensive and defensive upgrades shapes your party's strategy.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Not using all free rerolls — leaving rerolls unused is wasting your most valuable resource
Even if a die face is acceptable, rerolling might give something better. Use every reroll.
2. Skipping the healer role — all-damage parties die on boss fights
At least one hero should have strong Heart faces for sustaining through multi-turn encounters.
3. Buying expensive items late instead of cheap items early — a 3-gold item at encounter 1 provides value for 19 encounters
The same item at encounter 15 provides value for only 5.
4. Upgrading the same hero every level-up — spread upgrades across the party
A team with one maxed hero and four weak heroes is worse than a balanced team with moderate upgrades on everyone.
5. Wasting Shield faces when no enemies are attacking that hero — check enemy targeting before assigning shields
Shield faces used on untargeted heroes provide zero value.
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand dice combat and hero rerolling
- Choose Mage as starting build
- Clear Forest Encounters main content
- Acquire Ice Staff Die or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Cave Battles
- Rerolling dice is free (up to your reroll limit) — use rerolls every turn. A bad face on your healer when healing is needed should always be rerolled. Don't accept suboptimal faces passively.
- Healing prevents more damage than extra offense in most situations — keeping your heroes alive for more turns generates more total damage than killing one enemy slightly faster.
Tips for New Players
- Rerolling dice is free (up to your reroll limit) — use rerolls every turn. A bad face on your healer when healing is needed should always be rerolled. Don't accept suboptimal faces passively.
- Healing prevents more damage than extra offense in most situations — keeping your heroes alive for more turns generates more total damage than killing one enemy slightly faster.
- Shop items persist for the whole run — spending 5 gold on '+1 to all Sword faces' at the start means 15+ extra damage over the run. Early shop purchases have the highest total value.
- Class upgrades at level-ups change die faces permanently. Choose upgrades that cover your party's weakness — if you have strong damage but weak healing, upgrade your Healer's Heart faces.
- Positioning matters for AoE dice — enemies are arranged in a line, and some AoE effects hit adjacent enemies. Position your AoE heroes' targets to maximize collateral damage.
- The two free rerolls per turn are your most valuable resource — use them on the hero whose current die face is least useful. Rerolling a Shield face when you need damage is correct.
- At least one Healer is mandatory — parties without healing die to sustained damage in boss fights. Even the best offensive party can't out-damage boss HP without surviving long enough.
- Enemy attack numbers are visible before your turn — allocate Shield faces to heroes who will take the most damage. Don't waste shields on heroes that aren't being targeted.
- Boss fights last multiple turns, so sustained DPS builds (DoT, consistent damage) outperform burst builds (one big hit then nothing). Upgrade faces for reliability over peak damage.
- Higher difficulty levels (20+ available) add modifiers like 'enemies have more HP' or 'fewer rerolls.' Start at difficulty 1 and increment by 1 each successful run for optimal progression.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Slice & Dice like Dicey Dungeons?
Similar dice-based concept but different execution. Slice & Dice manages a party of five heroes simultaneously with visible enemy attacks, creating a more tactical experience. Dicey Dungeons has single-character roguelike runs. Slice & Dice is more strategic; Dicey Dungeons is more puzzle-like.
How long is a Slice & Dice run?
A run takes 20-40 minutes across approximately 20 encounters. The game is designed for quick sessions. With 20+ difficulty levels, replayability comes from pushing higher difficulties with optimized party compositions.
Is there multiplayer in Slice & Dice?
No. Slice & Dice is a single-player game. The tactical party management is designed for one decision-maker controlling all five heroes.
How many heroes/classes are there?
Over 100 hero classes across multiple categories (Warrior, Mage, Healer, Ranger, Specialist). Each class has unique die faces and upgrade paths. You pick 5 heroes per run from your unlocked roster.
What to Read Next
- Slice & Dice Builds — Optimize your build once you've learned the basics
- Slice & Dice Walkthrough — Full progression path
- Slice & Dice Tips — Advanced strategies for when you're ready
