Dungeon Settlers Difficulty Levels Explained: Which Should You Pick?

Dungeon Settlers launched into Early Access on September 4, 2026 with its default difficulty set to Hard — and within three days, three patches reshaped what each difficulty actually means. This page collects every difficulty-related fact CanOpener has published, so you can pick a difficulty with the current rules instead of launch-day rules.

What are the difficulty levels?

Official patch notes and the launch roadmap name five difficulties:

• Easy
• Normal
• Hard
• Very Hard
• Devastation Management (shortened to “Devastation” in the v0.4.12 patch notes)

Exactly how each tier scales enemies or settlement pressure has not been itemized in official sources yet — to be documented as CanOpener publishes it. What is documented is how the tiers differ in rewards and options, below.

What changed with difficulty in the first patches?

Three difficulty-relevant changes shipped in the first three days of Early Access:

Which difficulties let you lock level-up rolls?

The level-up lock option — locking Ability stat increases or Inscriptions before rerolling — is currently available only on Easy and Normal. CanOpener’s September 6 “Your Feedback in Action” post lists expanding it to all difficulties among changes being prepared “ASAP”, with no ship date given.

Related but separate: v0.4.19 also added reroll locking to the Expedition Founding scenario (portraits, ability stats, Major Traits, Sub Traits) — that one applies when creating your expedition, before difficulty comes into play. See the v0.4.19 patch notes.

Which difficulty should you pick?

Based only on what official sources document:

• New to colony sims or want the reroll lock while leveling → Normal (the new default) or Easy — these are the only two tiers with the level-up lock today
• Want the launch-week challenge the devs originally intended → Hard, which was the default for the first two days of Early Access
• Very Hard / Devastation Management → the drop-quantity penalty is gone (v0.4.19), so the documented remaining cost on Devastation is starting Cog Wheels cut from 2 to 1 in v0.4.12

Where do these facts come from?

All changes above come from CanOpener’s official Steam posts: “[Update] v0.4.12” (September 4), “[Update] v0.4.19” and “Your Feedback in Action” (both September 6), and the launch-day roadmap — see Updates for each patch article. Anything not listed there is deliberately left undocumented here rather than guessed.

What to read next

• Dungeon Settlers Update v0.4.19 — the patch that changed the default difficulty and removed drop penalties
• Beginner’s Guide: Your First Days — the Normal-difficulty opening walkthrough
• Starter Party Building Guide — who to bring regardless of difficulty