by The Crew is the second boss of the Darkest Dungeon Cove , we can defeat him once we have dealt with the first boss of the area, which is the Siren .
Its name will change depending on the difficulty of the Dungeon:
- Apprentice: Waterlogged Crew.
- Veteran: Crew Drowned.
- Champion: Submerged Crew.
It is a boss in which it will be vital to manage the stress of your teammates very well (so you can imagine which character we will recommend for him) and also have characters that cause good damage and have good mobility; Blight and Stun are also great.
The boss itself is quite easy, the real problem is that it will summon a guy with an anchor that will annoy us a lot, but in this guide I will explain how to overcome this battle in the easiest way.
HOW TO DEFEAT THE CREW IN DARKEST DUNGEON
The head of the Crew is made up of 2 different entities, on the one hand we have the Crew itself (which are 3 Impious as if united together, forming a single unit that occupies 3 positions) and on the other we have an enemy that will be summoned the Crew called “Sailor”, although I prefer to call him “the Anchor Guy “.
CREW
We will begin by seeing the attacks of the crew, it is the least important part of the battle at the end, and after this we talk about the Anchor Guy. The Crew have 2 actions per round, so they will do one of these 2 attacks each round:
- Everyone on Deck! : It will try to move one of your characters from position 2, 3 or 4 to the first one and it will also summon the Anchor Guy, which we will talk about below so you will understand why this is not too cool. It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t cause stress or anything; only that. This is the attack it will try to perform when there is no Anchor Guy present on the field.
- Claws on Board : It is the most powerful attack it has in terms of damage (and it is not that it is very high), it can also apply Hemorrhage. It will hit a random character in any position.
- Drink with the Dead : It does very little damage, but the important thing is that it will apply a noticeable amount of stress to one of your characters in positions 2, 3 or 4. In this fight , stress management will be very important , so this attack it’s quite annoying.
- Mutiny : A decrease that will apply again to one of our characters (except the one in position 1). It will reduce the damage and crit of the character, so it would be ideal to take it away with the Medicinal Herbs. The damage is negligible again.
Now let’s see the Anchor Guy, which is what can really complicate things for us. The Crew has no Protection and a low resistance to Blight and Stun (at least as standard, I’ll explain below), which we’ll take advantage of.
SAILOR (THE ANCHOR GUY)
As we have already commented in the previous section, it is an enemy that will try to summon the Crew, this will be placed in first position. He has a single attack, but it’s very troublesome:
The movement is called «Al Pairo!», it will be made to the character in first position (that’s why he tries to bring our characters who are not in first position closer with one of his attacks) and it will anchor him (pun intended) in that position .
The anchored character will receive a large amount of stress each round, so it will be easy for him to end up filling the stress bar (and you know that the first bar will depend on luck that something good or bad happens to us). Luckily, if we defeat the Anchor Guy, this effect will wear off. Also, if the tethered character fills the first stress bar and you luckily miss a Virtue, the character will break free of the tether and become immune to “being tethered”; which if it happens practically gives you the game.
The downside is that when performing the move both the Anchor Guy and the Crew will get a fairly high Protection and resistance buff (until you defeat the Anchor Guy). And not only that, but on top of that the Crew will be constantly healing.
RECOMMENDED CHARACTERS AND EQUIPMENT
We are interested in those characters that can deal very good damage, that can adapt to a position change (in case they end up stuck in position 1), and that can help us deal with stress . Infection also comes in handy in this battle. Forget characters that apply Bleed.
This setup works extremely well.
- Crusader : The most recommended character to be in position 1 and eat the anchor, especially for having an increase in damage against Impíos with his most powerful attack. He can also Stun, heal Life or Stress himself if things get hairy. If you have any trinkets that increase Virtue, much better, so if it reaches maximum stress there will be a greater chance of getting rid of the Anchor.
- Leper : A good alternative to the Crusader as he has very good damage and also takes good care of himself. We don’t care enough if they fix it to us in the first position, as in the case of the Cruzado.
- Bandolero : He can hit well regardless of position and his counterattack will be great for us. In addition, if for whatever reason it ends up in position 1 (anchored or not) we have at our disposal the movement Point Blank that does brutal damage to the enemy’s position 1 and also makes us go back (and if we are anchored we can do it every turn so that the Anchor Guy does not last at all since we will not move).
- Grave Raider : Alternative to Bandolero also interesting. He can hit well even if he is moved and he has a lot of mobility. His infections and his basic attack that ignores Protection will come in handy.
- Bounty Hunter : Interesting for having good damage and mobility, he can also Signal the Crew to also do more damage. The downside is that to take better advantage of the Signal it would be good to accompany it with an Arbalestera (which also increases its damage with the Signal and can Signal), they make a very good combo together, but if they move you to the Arbalestera (and if they anchor it, that’s it ) yes, it is true that things will go awry a lot. Come on, you could take these 2, but I think it’s not worth it for what I’m saying, having other better options.
- Jester : The one who for me is the best character we can take for this boss. The idea is to buff the companions and also help the character that is anchored to reduce their stress (remember that in addition to reducing stress, it also applies a buff so that they receive less stress in later rounds). Also, we have Apotheosis in case they move it, which will be a terribly hard blow and we will return to our place in the process. If they fixed it on us we could at least continue using Apotheosis to deal a lot of damage to the Anchor Guy.
- Plague Doctor : Especially because of the tremendous application of Infection (it’s a good combo with a Grave Raider) and it can also help us cure those Bleeds that the boss applies. However, I don’t like it that much because if we are unlucky enough to get moved and anchored in the first position, we will lose a lot of potential.
- Vestal : To heal us if things get complicated, although really in this battle the stress is more dangerous than the damage. Still, it’s nice to have and when healing isn’t necessary we can stick to Stun, which is also vital in this battle.
STRATEGY
First of all, when camping, take the opportunity to put on the typical buffs that reduce the stress your characters receive (especially the one you plan to put in first position, which a priori will be the one they anchor unless they move it, of course you will have to quickly put it on your site), that will be great.
We will have to attack the Crew or the Anchor Guy depending on the situation :
- No Anchor Guy: We hit the Crew with everything and try to put a Stun on them so we can keep attacking longer (Vestal would be the Stunner if you use the team I recommended so others focus on doing damage).
- There is Uncle of the Anchor :
- He hasn’t anchored anyone yet : We hit the Crew with everything and we try to Stun the Anchor Guy with some character precisely so that it takes longer to anchor someone.
- Has Someone Pinned: You forget to stun and focus on killing the Anchor Guy.
If you go with a Jester as I have recommended, just buff your teammates to increase their Critical, Speed and Accuracy (remember that the buff can be stacked 3 times); if they move it to you, you roll Apotheosis (you will deal a tremendous blow and you will go back) and if a character anchors you, you help him deal with stress (while maintaining the buff , of course).
You will see that following this strategy with the characters that I am talking about falls extremely easy.
