Darkest Dungeon 2: guide and advice for budding players

Darkest Dungeon 2

In this Darkest Dungeon 2 guide we will offer you some useful tips to survive the dangers and monstrosities that lurk in the dungeons of the Red Hook RPG.

Darkest Dungeon 2 takes up much of the formula that characterized its predecessor , modifying some elements, such as the exploration and development of the characters, and adding brand new ones, such as the system of relationships between the characters. The game is currently available in Early Access exclusively for the Epic Games Store. This version offers a good part of the content planned for the launch of the full game, which should take place in about a year according to the developers' plans, also on Steam.

Health Points are important, but watch out for stress!

Darkest Dungeon 2, a crisis One of the most important changes introduced in Darkest Dungeon 2 is the management of your party's stress and health points. Obviously you must absolutely avoid that the HP of a character reaches zero: if this happens this will enter the "point of death" and any attack immediately afterwards could be fatal. And death in Darkest Dungeon 2 is perennial.

Fortunately, the game is much more generous in this respect than its predecessor. Moving around the game world with diligence, your characters will automatically recover health points, while altered statuses such as bleeding and disease will disappear at the end of the battle. In addition, the battle items, which we will discuss later, include tools to restore health.

However, stress is much more punitive. We are talking about those "white dots" that are found under the health bar of each character. These increase according to the type of attacks suffered, as well as based on the relationships with the other members of the party and the decisions you make during the exploration, to which is also added the events related to the RNG (in practice the case). If the stress reaches the maximum value (10 dots) the character will have a "crisis": he will immediately lose a considerable portion of life points and the relationships with the other characters will worsen significantly, with possible chain reactions that could reverse the fate in the negative. of a fight. Therefore it is essential to always keep the stress of your characters under control and to equip yourself with skills and objects designed to decrease their accumulation.

The relationships between the characters make the difference

Darkest Dungeon 2, the relationship "Respect" In Darkest Dungeon 2 a new system of relationships between characters has been introduced.

Actions in battle, crisis, random events and your decisions during exploration could increase or decrease the "affinity" bar between two characters, creating a new positive or negative "Relationship". Statuses like "Resentment" or "Hate" could have unpleasant consequences in battle. For example, two characters could tease each other with vitriolic jokes, increasing the level of stress. Positive reports such as "Respect" instead will guarantee bonuses, such as unexpected but welcome assists in battle.

As explained above, if a character enters the state of "crisis" the affinity with the other members of the party will decrease drastically, therefore all the more reason we once again advise you to always keep the stress of the characters under control.

Positioning in battle

Darkest Dungeon 2, Plague Doctor skills screen Darkest Dungeon parties 2 are made up of four characters, of which you will have to choose the position in battle. This is crucial, as some abilities can only be used if your unit is in a specific location, while others change the lineup of one or more party members.

In the image above, for example, we can see how the Plague Doctor's "Engraving" ability can only be used if it is in the first three positions of the deployment (yellow dots) and can only hit targets which are in the first two positions of the opposing party (red dots).

Keep in mind, too, that deployment is as important to you as it is to your enemies. In fact, some of their deadliest attacks can only be used in certain positions, so in some cases it might be a good tactic to use specific skills to change their deployment on the field. But be careful, they may do the same with you.

Build your team wisely

Darkest Dungeon 2, here's an example of how you should NOT line up your party As an RPG, among other things also rather punitive, forming a balanced and well-organized party in Darkest Dungeon 2 is a fundamental aspect. In addition to the positioning of the units, which we talked about previously, you must pay particular attention to the skills and peculiar traits of the characters. In a standard formation, suitable for all occasions, there should never be a class capable of dispensing cures, such as the Plague Doctor, a tank like the Man at Arms and a hero capable of causing DNT (or DoT, in practice damage over time).

Also take into consideration the areas you will explore. For example in the map "The Stench" you will find enemies generally very resistant to disease status and weaker to bleeding, so abilities like "Poison Bolt" of the Grave Thief or the "Nauseating Blast" of the Plague Doctor will be much less effective.

Do not underestimate DNT

Darkest Dungeon 2, if the affinity between two characters drops it could trigger a negative relationship, such as "Resentment" The skills that cause DNT, or damage over time , are especially useful in Darkest Dungeon 2 when used wisely. The initial damage from these attacks is negligible, but each turn the target hit will suffer a small amount of additional damage from disease, bleeding, or burning. The more turns pass, the greater the overall damage, up to and including that of direct attacks. In short, get into the good habit of starting a fight by applying as many DNTs as possible. Among the characters that you will have at your disposal at the beginning of your adventure both the Plague Doctor and the Grave Thief have skills that cause DNT.

Likewise, your characters may also suffer disease, bleed and burn statuses, which could prove fatal if neglected for too long. The advice therefore is to have at least one character equipped with a battle object that heals the alterations, possibly choosing the one that best suits the enemies in the area you are exploring.

Mastery points

Darkest Dungeon 2, the four initial heroes Unlike traditional RPGs, characters in Darkest Dungeon 2 do not level up and the only way to increase their power is through Mastery Points. These are obtained as completing specific objectives or as a random reward at the end of a battle and can only be used when you are in an inn.

Mastery Points allow you to upgrade a skill of your heroes, but keep in mind which are neither refundable nor shared between characters. This means that if a party member dies, all the points you have invested in them will be lost forever. The advice, therefore, especially in the initial stages, is to distribute the Mastery Points equally among all characters, obviously choosing carefully which skills to enhance.

The battle objects

Darkest Dungeon 2, the Grave Thief One of the new features introduced in Darkest Dungeon 2 are battle items. You can only equip one per character and they include items that restore health points or heal altered statuses and bombs that confuse opponents. The interesting thing is that using them in a fight doesn't affect the character's turn. This means that you can activate the effects of a battle item and then launch an attack with the same hero. In short, they are a real godsend.

A common mistake is not to use battle items for fear of wasting them or to keep them for the most important battles. Here's the bitter truth: In Darkest Dungeon 2, every battle matters. You want it for a mistake, or for a particularly unfortunate RNG, every fight could turn into real hell and in the worst cases lead to the death of a character. In short, do not skimp on your resources too much. A little advice: while you move around the game world with diligence, always try to destroy obstacles such as piles of meat, rubble and so on: in fact, you will often and willingly find inside them battle objects and other useful resources. >
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