by I’ve already missed a couple of times the content that we currently have available in the early access of Darkest Dungeon 2 and I’ve decided to create this post giving you tips to make your journey to the mountain go better .
Despite the fact that at the moment we only have a part of the total content, things are still quite complicated and you will have to know 100% all the mechanics and make the most of your resources if you want to achieve it and be more prepared for the day in the one that we finally have the complete game available (what do you win now).
And by the way, one thing you may not know is that I was bummed out by my first good game. To get to the mountain yes or yes you have to kill a boss in your first three routes. It doesn’t matter when, but you have to do it before you get past the third.
That said, I leave you a compilation of tips that will surely come in handy.
TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH IN DARKEST DUNGEON 2
The first and fundamental thing will be to keep your characters alive, it sounds very obvious, but in this game nothing is easy. The enemies will be causing you damage (sometimes too much) and you will have to survive with what you have (which is usually little).
From the outset it is essential to have a healer in your group . The first option we have available is the Plague Doctor (put her in position 4, that is, as far back as possible, so she will receive less damage) who can heal us. It heals little, in fact it is a cure that can only be performed when the character’s health is below 50% and it is not a huge cure, but it also eliminates altered states such as bleeding, plague or burning (on top of that you can only use it a maximum of 3 times per combat). It sounds like this is very little, but you will have to learn to put up with it mainly and of course with the support of other things that I am going to tell you about:
- There are other characters not facing the role of healing that can heal others or themselves, something that is phenomenal and that we have to take advantage of. The Grave Raider, for example, can heal herself with Absinthe; the Fugitive (unlocked at profile level 6) can heal characters suffering from bleeding and remove that status; the Leper can also heal himself and later on at a fairly high profile level you will have the Occultist at your disposal, which is another healer.
- You also have some objects such as the Healing Ointment (it can work out for you, you can buy it…) that allows you to heal yourself. Also, using items doesn’t consume the action of the character using them, it’s very key.
- The Hospital is one of the areas that you can find during your route and it is very key because you can heal yourself if you see it necessary (it is better that you do not do it unless it is essential), but at a price, of course.
- Also keep in mind that at the end of a battle, all your characters will heal up to a minimum health (I think it’s 25%) and also as you move with Diligence you will also heal.
- Getting to the inn is the key because there you will be able to use all the food and inn items that you have acquired and you will be able to heal yourself without any problem (unless you have thrown these things, which you better not…).
HOW THE GATES OF DEATH WORK
The Doors of Death is a fantastic mechanic and at the same time horrible, I tell you. When a character reaches zero health, they won’t die (that’s cool), instead they will enter the Gates of Death.
What happens in this mode? Well, from that moment on and until you heal the character (if you heal him, you leave the Gates of Death) any damage that character receives will have to go through a check based on the Resistance to Death that said character has ( statistics that you can see in the section of each of your characters); and when I say any damage is any damage (even the passive for bleeding, plague and that kind of thing).
If, for example, your character has 75% death resistance, each time he takes damage you will have a 75% chance to resist death and still stand (and a 25% chance to die). The problem is the obvious, if your character dies… he will die forever (in that game, obviously) and therefore don’t play it and quickly heal all your characters who enter the gates of death, since you only lose one of them you can give your game for lost.
TAKE CARE OF ANGUISH
Stress (Anguish) already in the first Darkest Dungeon was an essential mechanic to master if you wanted to survive and of course in Darkest Dungeon 2 they were not going to leave it aside. It still works more or less the same way.
Certain events will stress your characters, either because they have Peculiarities that make them fear certain things (such as hemophobia, where the character will gain anguish when under the effect of bleeding), because they have chosen a route they don’t want, because they receive certain attacks from enemies or just because (the game already takes care of them acquiring Anguish).
Alleviating it will be very important because the more Anguish they have, the more they will anguish the other companions and also if they reach the maximum of Anguish (fill the entire bar) they will enter into a collapse that will stress their companions and will also have a great impact on their relationships (which we will talk about down).
How are we reducing it?
- When performing a critical hit there is a high chance that that character will be healed by 1 Anguish, on rare occasions even a teammate can have their Anguish reduced for this reason.
- There are characters that have abilities to reduce it, such as the Harlequin, the Man-at-Arms, or the Plague Doctor if you level up one of their abilities.
- The Oasis is an area where our characters can rest and reduce their stress somewhat.
- The Laudanum, a combat item that will reduce the Anguish of the chosen partner by 1 (remember that using an item does not deprive you of performing skills, you have to use the item first).
- At the inn you can restore it with various inn items.
- If the character has a very good relationship with others, they will occasionally see their Anguish reduced.
TAKE CARE OF THE AFFINITY OF YOUR CHARACTERS
Yes, this is the most innovative section of Darkest Dungeon 2 and it is very important not to neglect it because it can greatly influence how well or badly your route goes. In short, you are very interested in your characters getting along so that they cooperate better , help each other and so on; you will get a lot of advantage if you succeed.
If the group has good Affinity you will get Anguish reductions, protections from one partner to another, character buffs and even sometimes you may attack with one of your characters and his partner comes out to attack for free with him in a combined attack (cool cloth when it jumps, really). If, on the other hand, they have a bad affinity… ugh, very bad things can happen: Characters who don’t let you use certain skills, who insult each other and cause Anguish, who put debuffs on their companions… and surely there will be worse things that I haven’t seen yet. viewed.
This goes in sections, the positive Affinity will fill the affinity diamonds with yellow color and the negative with blue color. Upon reaching the maximum (of one or the other) they will obtain a random Affinity (good or bad depending on the color). Filling in all the gaps will put the relationship to the test and that is when you will get a relationship of: Friendship, hate, respect, resentment… there are more and each one has its peculiarities, but come on, you want all the good ones you can and none of the bad ones .
But the question here is… how do I make them get along?
- Having low Anguish is essential for good vibes, the higher it is the more likely bad behaviors will start and things will decline, so make sure you have your characters low in Anguish as much as possible.
- Certain actions can improve the relationship between characters (it is random that it jumps) such as giving a partner a buff, protecting him, healing him or taking him out of the Gates of Death, hitting a good blow… things like that.
- There are several inn items intended to improve the Affinity between your characters, use them as much as you can and if necessary even buy some items for this purpose because this is worth gold.
KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR TORCH AND QUIRKS
It is better that you have the Torch elevated because the lower it is, the more powerful the enemies will be and that obviously does not interest you at all. You can increase it through objects or by going to certain areas that are on all the routes, an example is those areas where we help people (Some Poor Devils I think it’s called, the icon is like wings or something like that).
Peculiarities will also be essential to take into account and treat them. Each character will start with some good ones and some bad ones, there is a bit of everything… the key here is to use the Hospital (hospital cross on the map) to fix the most powerful ones (the peculiarities can change, but you can fix the ones that you like). like the most) and eliminate the most dangerous ones . All this for a price, of course, but it is essential to invest in them because they are very important.
MANAGE YOUR TEAM OF CHARACTERS
The first thing is to choose your team, to begin with you will start with the Man-at-Arms, the Grave Raider, the Bandit and the Plague Medic (put the Man-at-Arms in front of everything, the Plague Medic behind everything and in between place to the Bandit and the Tomb Raider as you like).
The Man at Arms will play the role of Tank, the key is that you defend your teammates and attack when you can. The Grave Raider and the Bandolero will be your DPS, you see damaging the enemies (it is usually better to focus on the ones in the back first, but that will have to be seen). The Plague Doctor will be the Healer, but she can also support and damage by applying diseases when healing is not needed. This is the usual build ( Tank, 2 DPS, Healer ).
Make sure you put combat items on each of your characters, especially the ones you’re most interested in using like Laudanum, Healing Ointment, things that remove Burn, Plague, or Bleed (depending on what’s common in the area)… that sort of thing. stuff.
Regarding equipment, you must equip the tanks (Man-at-Arms, Leper, Diabla) with damage and things that increase their stamina such as higher health for example or resistance to Hemorrhage, Burn and Plague (depending on the area and depending on what has more under the character; you can see these resistances on the character sheet). DPS will usually look for Speed, Critical and Damage (Banditler, Tomb Raider, Fugitive …) and Healers will seek healing, Speed and things that improve their stamina as well (especially resistances to altered states, which very few physical attacks will reach you).
MANAGE YOUR OBJECTS AND RESOURCES
Regarding objects and resources that you acquire on your route, you must bear in mind that the space in the Diligence is limited and therefore you will have to keep the best things. Things carried by your characters do not count towards this loadout (you can see the available space in your inventory).
The first thing is that you can improve this load that you can carry in the Diligence with an improvement for it that is very common and therefore it will surely come out at some point, you can buy it badly. In the Stagecoach section you can equip these things (in the inn).
For the rest, you will have to throw away the most useless things and keep the best ones: Money, relics, trinkets that interest you (don’t accumulate them either, if your character already has better ones, you can throw them away), Laudanum, Ointments Healing, useful inn items (good food, good buffs, Anguish reduction, things that improve your party’s affinity…).
