by Sarmenti the Harlequin is an absolutely recommended Darkest Dungeon 2 character and in my opinion it is almost mandatory to always carry it with you if you are interested in making your route to the Mountain much more bearable. He hasn’t changed much from the Jester from Darkest Dungeon 1 (he’s been renamed Harlequin now), which is a good thing because he was a tremendous character.
His virtues are too many: Good damage thanks to his Bleeds, good support abilities, a lot of mobility, he is the character that applies the most Combination Signs (something that almost all characters benefit from, some of them a lot in fact, we will talk about it below) and it also has the best stress cure in the entire game… what I was telling you, it doesn’t fall short.
And you’ll think… well, it will also have bad things to compensate… well, not really, the only bad thing I see in it is that it doesn’t resist damage very well, but nothing beyond that (which is also normal except for more tanky characters) .
So nothing, don’t hesitate to take it with you, and now I’m telling you the best way to play it (in my opinion of course) and in the process you’ll see why it’s so good.
SARMENTI’S BEST SKILLS
These are the 5 skills that we recommend for Sarmenti:
- Sharp Wit : It can be used in positions 2, 3 and 4 to hit the first three enemy positions. It is a normal damage attack with a good Critical that also applies a Combo Sign to the enemy and also moves the Harlequin forward.
- When improving it, it increases the damage a little, its Critical and we will apply an Evasion Sign.
- Road to the Sepulcher : Attack similar to the previous one but that can be used in all positions except the last one. This moves us back and applies a Blind Sign to the enemy.
- The improvement is also like the previous one. More damage, more CRIT, but we will also apply a Combination Sign.
- Inspirational Tune : We will cure 2 stress points (in the game they call it Anguish, but come on, it’s lifelong stress) to one of our characters as long as they have at least 5 stress points. Can only be used in positions 3 and 4 and has 1 cooldown.
- Improved will now heal 3 stress points and remove Signs of Terror (the skulls that produce stress every turn). One of the priorities in order to improve it.
- Harvest : It is used in positions 2 and 3 and hits the same positions of the enemy, but simultaneously. It is an attack with normal low damage that also applies 2 Bleeds and has a 25% chance to also apply Combination (it seems not and since we hit 2 enemies it jumps a lot).
- If we improve it, it will increase the Damage a little, the Bleed will be 3 and the probability of applying Combination will be 33%. Highly recommend improving it.
- Bis : This is used in positions 3 and 4 and what it does is give an additional action to the partner you choose. The only bad thing to make up for how broken this is is that he will apply an Obfuscation Sign to himself (the character will attack last in the round) and a Weak Sign (-50% Damage on the next attack). Has 3 cooldown.
- It will not apply Weak to us and it will have 2 Cooldown if we improve it. One of the first to improve.
An alternative would be « Chopped », which you could change to « Harvest ». I prefer “Harvest” because it hits two enemies simultaneously and because the damage difference is not that great on top. The great advantage of “Chopped” is that if you improve it, it also applies 1 Vulnerable Sign (the enemy receives 50% more damage from the next attack) and in Single Target situations it spreads more.
BEST PATHS OF THE HARLEQUIN
These are the paths of the Harlequin ordered from best to worst based on my experience with the character. The first two seem very viable to me anyway, adapt that a bit to your liking.
- Soloist : +20% Damage, +33% RES Pierce to Bleed, +10% CRIT on abilities that cause Bleed, -20% Health and -3 Speed.
- As you can see it is mainly focused on increasing the damage and the application of bleeding, which is important in a game where the goal is to kill quickly before things get out of control. But keep in mind that this +10% CRIT in Bleeding skills will be great for us to better deal with stress since by causing a Critical hit the character reduces his stress and there is a small chance that his teammates will also reduce it .
- Virtuous : +20% Health, +3 Speed, -20% RES to all status ailments, and 15% chance to give each ally 100% Stress Res at turn start.
- It is also very good, especially due to the stress issue and because both Life and Speed are very useful for us, so it is another option to consider. But what has been said, Solo works better for me, the damage is noticeable and in the end doing more Critics is more damage and more stress healed.
- Intermezzo : It’s horrible, what it does is boost our support abilities with the high price that we will also apply Bleed to our teammates. I don’t recommend it at all.
BEST TEAMMATES
Any character… the utility that Sarmenti brings, the Combination Signs, his damage and the fact that he has the best stress cure in the game makes him a character that fits everywhere . There are characters that already have mechanics to reduce their stress like the Leper, but come on, it’s almost certain that it would still be great for them to be supported in that sense (the stress that the characters eat is not a little).
Anyway, now we talk more about the Leper and other characters that have very good interaction with the Harlequin (despite what has been said, everyone really benefits from going with him):
- Baldwin : Sarmenti is the character that applies the most Combination Signs, which corrects one of Baldwin’s biggest problems, the self-inflicted Blindness. He luckily he can ignore Blind if he attacks enemies with Combination, so he needless to say more.
- Dismas : Pistol Shot stuns enemies with Combination, making it a killer Ability.
- Boudica : Wicked Chop (the first attack) deals 50% more Damage if the enemy has Combination, thus becoming very deadly.
- Barristan : His first attack heals him for Life if he hits an enemy with Combination and since he is a Tank, suffice it to say that he is phenomenal. Besides, he can protect Sarmenti if things get complicated.
- Bonnie : Almost all of her Burns are improved by Combination Signs.
BETTER STATS AND ATTRIBUTES
I believe that the best thing you can improve is CRIT , which is why I have already mentioned the increase in damage and the reduction of stress, 2 in 1 in that sense. Things that allow you to better heal stress (in the traditional way) are also very good for you.
For the rest, Speed is also good for him and anything that allows him to resist a little more since he is a character that does not withstand blows very well. But what has been said, the priority should be the CRIT.
