Just use it. There are no special tricks or hints needed, it is that good.

Biggest differences to me is that Google seems to handle natural questions like "how do i..." in a "smart" way whereas ddg seems to be more altavista like in that your keywords have higher weight rather than trying to outsmart you. Another difference is that Google is much better on local search thanks to its strong bonds with Google maps, like checking opening hours. For anything not maps related DDG has been my default for can't even remember how many years, over 5.

I would also find this interesting, I switched from DDG to StartPage.com (proxied Google results) for this reason.