Minecraft Dungeons:Difficulty

Difficulty is an option in Minecraft Dungeons that influences the balance by affecting how challenging the gameplay is.

Modes


There are three sequential difficulty modes: Default/Normal, Adventure, and Apocalypse, and Apocalypse Plus; completing the game on a difficulty setting opens the next mode. On higher difficulty modes, enemies are more strong and hard to defeat; more enchanted enemies with new enchantments. However, better items are rewarded to players as they go through higher difficulties, alongside with new gear and artifacts. A player retains all items between difficulties and may return to a lower difficulty at any time, and it's possible to re-play the missions that are already completed. The three difficulty levels also have their own skull icons, with each becoming more menacing, possibly to represent the increased challenge provided with each difficulty. They also have their own mob to represent this in the selector screen as well, with Default having a Chicken Jockey, Adventure having a Necromancer and Apocalypse having a Redstone Golem.

Levels
There are seven difficulty levels in each difficulty mode (20 in the upcoming Apocalypse Plus). They range from I - VI (VII as of Jungle Awakens). The higher the difficulty, the higher the power of the weapon/armor drops and artifacts. For each difficulty, the game recommends a power value to balance the game's difficulty. The game also recommends a difficulty level for the player based on the mission's recommended power and the player's power, which is also known as dynamic game difficulty balancing (DGDB). In a multiplayer game, it instead goes for the average power of all players. For some missions, there's a set minimum or maximum difficulty. The only mission with no difficulty levels is Squid Coast, the tutorial, which is always set at Default I.

Daily Trials
Daily trials also have their own set of three difficulties, Hard, Harder and Epic. This also increases the power level of gear drops.

Seasonal Trials
Seasonal trials also have their own set of difficulties/power levels as well as seen in this image.