Darkness is coming gentlemen, and if you haven't brought torches with you, hope that your blades are sharp and your armor is strong, because sometimes one blow is enough. Darkest dungeon is going to test your strength, your nerves and your will, are you ready to apply your strength to emerge victorious from hundreds of deadly fights? Shake hands firmly and slap your heroes on the shoulder, every fight could be their last. Now we're going to talk about how to make this winding dark path that you're about to take easier. We will provide you with a tool to light your path in the darkness - "Darkest Dungeon Guide".
The point of the game is to defeat evil. This path is difficult and if you have not lost partners yet, gather your will into a fist, the loss of a comrade is not uncommon here. In war as in war.
To complete the game, we will need to close a series of dungeons by defeating their bosses. Ruins, catacombs, a bay, a forest and a garden (new DLC), all these locations bring us a series of tests that we must pass, bringing light to the very depths of the darkest dungeon... in principle, you can go in the dark, but this is most often suicide.
To gain access to the boss, we need to complete a series of tasks, such as exploring rooms (90%), fighting in all rooms, cleaning altars, collecting grain, etc.
The dark dungeon is dangerous not only for physical health. Do you love horror movies? What is the most terrible thing in them - an almost invulnerable creature? I would venture to suggest that the worst thing is to kneel down and wait for death to come. It is our will that can save us in difficult situations, and the loss of control most often leads to inevitable death, so we will try to keep ourselves and our guys in control.
We will also have to deal with diseases, because these places are far from harmless. A hero who can't dodge hits is dead before he even goes on the march.
Now let's talk about how to get through the game and how the guide can make life easier for us.
To maintain a crusade in Darkest Dungeon, we need two things - good equipment and money.
When choosing quests, it is worth giving preference to those in which you can find artifacts that improve your basic abilities, such as healing the vestal.
Next in value are money missions. Money missions are those in which you can endure so much expensive trash that you then have to treat your back.
This is not one of those games where you should try to cut down on the time, because some mistakes can set you back by hours. The fact is that some important artifacts that can be critical for passing can be lost by the death of the team. There is a chance of a mission with a reward in the form of the desired artifact, but it is not great.
Passing tasks, we will receive items, the importance of which is difficult to overestimate. For example, the ability to heal a Vestal Virgin can be increased by 60% with a few items.
Money missions
To get the most money from the "money" missions in Darkest Dungeon, we have to take an antique dealer with us on the road. Her influence on the group is simply amazing. If she inspects the caches (she should be the one to inspect), then she finds valuable relics. The cheapest one costs 135 coins (if I'm not mistaken), but you can collect a lot of such items. There is a chance to find a valuable figurine whose value is over 1000. In addition to these items, it increases the cash capacity from 1500 to 2000 coins per slot that you can take out.
The payoff lies in a weak character who barely knows how to defend himself, but there is a way to significantly improve its effectiveness. The warrior is able to counterattack enemy attacks. If the antiquarian "hides" behind the warrior, then the latter has the opportunity to respond to anyone who has raised a weapon against him. Antiquarian Hide and Seek also increases the target ally's defense, so the defense can be quite high.
Of course, the use of a warrior is optional. On simple levels, the enemies are tolerable, and you can deal with them with almost any group, but the healer (healer) is a must.
In money missions, the antiquarian has a primary (albeit passive) role, and the healer has a secondary one. In any other missions, heal is the most important link. There are many fighters who have their own healing or a little help to allies, but the vestal and sorcerer have the main healing.
The Vestal is able to heal the entire group and a specific character by focus. In additional skills, she can deal good damage to the undead and stun, although some artifacts can worsen the stun chance.
The sorcerer has strong focus healing, but can cause bleeding. In some particularly unfortunate cases, bleeding can be randomly stacked, and the effect of the healing may be zero, since its ability implies healing in the range 0-14.
To be honest, there were missions in which I didn’t take doctors at all (there weren’t enough people). Sometimes it worked out to survive, but, in principle, these were suicide missions, so there should always be a healer.
In addition to the antique dealer and the healer, we will need two fighters. You can select them individually, for each specific location. For example, if you are going to a bay, then you need those who can inflict poison or bleed. This is done so that opponents with high defense do not rejoice for too long. Temporary damage is not reduced by the character's defense.
There is a significant limitation on dd (from damage dealer, meaning "damaging") companions in Darkest Dungeon. Finding a hidden room can significantly increase the profitability of a sortie. This room is not always in your current dungeon. You can find it only with the help of a critical intelligence effect. This means that one or both of the damage dealers should improve the scouting chances. Both items (whistle of the trainer) and actions in the camp can improve the chances of detection.
Above in the guide, we talked about the universal team, but not everything is so simple. Each character develops their skills as they progress through the instances. These can be positive improvements, such as inflicting additional damage. There may be minor ones, for example, an improvement in the chance of a stun for a character who is basically deprived of this ability. Also negative ones that increase stress damage from certain characters, in certain areas, or obsessive thoughts (forcing the character to perform some uncomfortable actions).
If you have characters that increase the chance of exploration, be sure to take them. An improvement of 30% is quite enough for the correct passage of the dungeon in order to find a room, but you can not limit yourself to this figure, the main thing is that the damage of the group does not suffer too much.
Long dungeons are worth choosing. It is assumed that in long periods there is more chance that the room is there. Even if you don't find it, the antique dealer picks up a very heavy bag of trinkets along the way.
Long dungeons also allow you to use survival abilities, which can increase your chances of scouting and combat effectiveness.
Priority in the money missions of Darkest Dungeon should be given to tasks in which you need to inspect the rooms, because then you can avoid unnecessary fights, while collecting all the interesting loot.
Some objects can be very effectively interacted with. For example, on the alchemy table, if you use herbs, you will receive a reward with 100% probability. You can find these useful bonuses in other articles. Unfortunately, it is difficult to guess the correct number of items we need with us, so sometimes we have to throw out a couple of valuable stones to fit the jewel.
Household or how to support fighters
A large menagerie of heroes will come in handy, as each of them can receive an upgrade in intelligence or combat. Also, there is a good chance that they will be injured and unusable for the subsequent battle, so replacement will always come in handy.
Decide on the fighting style and team you prefer. Groups can be completely different, so the choice is huge. I once saw a group of four werewolves, so that's something to think about.
You can heal your heroes and give them rest, or you can expel them without a twinge of conscience. Treatment can be too expensive, just don't drive away those who can still be useful or those whose care is less beneficial. For example, if the cost of training a youngster is equal to the cost of treating a veteran, then the choice is not so simple.
It makes sense to improve buildings intended for recreation and treatment. So you will reduce the amount of gold consumed, which will have a beneficial effect on the need to often go to raids for money.
It is worth preparing the guys for battle carefully and carefully. Decide who you can sacrifice to defeat the boss, and who you feel sorry for. In this way, you can keep the most important characters and their property, because Darkest Dungeon does not forgive mistakes.
First of all, it is worth improving the armor of the characters. Upgrading your armor allows, in addition to improved health, better defense, so your characters will more often dodge attacks.
The second step is to improve skills. By upgrading them, you will be able to use abilities more accurately, also increasing damage or other properties.
Upgrading weapons increases base damage, and since not everyone actively uses weapons, the effectiveness of this improvement is not so significant.
Survival skills can give you some extremely important benefits that will make your journey easier. These advantages may not be as significant in the early stages, but in campaigns for bosses they are simply necessary. You can not give a second chance, because you will have to pay for it for a "long" time.
With the new dlc, the construction of special buildings was added. Their cost is very high, but some of the benefits are worth it. To be honest, at first glance, only the one that increases the rest time is especially important, since very often there are not enough hours for better preparation.
Boss hunting
Each instance of Darkest Dungeon has several bosses. After winning, their levels increase. They become stronger, but their tactics do not change. The easiest way is to break through each of the dungeons one at a time. In other words, it is easier, gradually pumping, to reveal the ruins. Then, after killing all the bosses, you can inquire about, say, the catacombs. It's a pity to sacrifice high-level characters, so if it makes sense to use them, save them. You might even polish your elite fighters if funds permit.
Get ready to attack the city, this is the only enemy that can take you by surprise, so be prepared. Learn the tactics and leave the group at home, ready to defend at the first call.
Against each boss, you must know the tactics in advance, good, tactics are talked about on all corners of the Internet. If you are a supporter of your own experience, then be prepared to run away, or conduct a training battle to determine all the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy.
The key to success in this guide is careful preparation. Use all available means, because the loss of an important person will cost you dearly. Before the battle, rest and improve the characters in battle with buffs. If you're very careful with your inst movement, you can try to build abilities early enough to get into a few skirmishes, it won't hurt...if your company is prepared enough. In these battles, you can heal your comrades, which will be of help to the final battle, and extra loot is never superfluous.
Passing strategy
Immediately one of the most important things - beware of the tmannik! Do not light the torch of the night if you are not ready to face what awaits you, because from there you cannot escape! In this battle, I lost several artifacts that I collected within five to ten hours, do not repeat this mistake, it was extremely expensive. Darkest Dungeon has the ability to deliver deadly surprises, without knowing which, you can lose a significant amount of progress.
Before starting active operations, it is worth acquiring artifacts that can increase your chances of survival. The list of artifacts can be found on the Internet. As mentioned above in the guide, some items are a way. Unfortunately, there are a lot of items here, but the opposite is true of locations. In addition, you may simply not find suitable fighters to master the desired inst.
On the first couple (on easy travels), you don't have to level up the heroes, they will do just fine, and a serious injury can be too expensive. Consider replacing with a beginner so as not to spend extra money.
Experienced and worthy fighters should be left to fight the bosses.
When you reach 100000, you can switch to bosses and relics that improve buildings.
Be careful when fighting the Collector. If you can stun him in the first round, you can deal a lot more damage to him before the heads are called. After about two retreats, the collector will get tired of chasing you and will leave the insta, so there is a chance to pass even if you are terrorized by this non-human.
You can tell a lot more interesting and useful things about this game, which will happen over time, but what has already been said is enough to rush into the hell with a calm soul... or rather, into the darkness of Darkest Dungeon...
A short guide for anyone who has encountered one of the most hardcore games of the year. January 19, 2016 finally saw the release of an indie RPG that had been in pre-release for a long time. Darkest Dungeon showed an incredible scale, quality and elaboration of the world to the smallest detail, and many players have already managed to compare the gameplay with the complexity of the Dark Souls series.The main task in the game will be to form a group to clear various dungeons in the old family estate, which is shrouded in a dark past. Many players, even at the stage of early access and testing, appreciated the highest difficulty of the game and rather cruel rules that will not allow you to go through the campaign mode lightly.
This guide is designed to help novice players understand the mechanics and features of certain elements that will be relevant throughout the passage.
Frequently Asked Questions for Beginners or FAQ for Darkest Dungeon
How does the "stress" mechanic work?
Many factors influence the growth of stress levels, most of which are negative. Weak lighting, critical hits of enemies, hunger, various obstacles and unsuccessful activation of objects on the map and much more, all this will increase the level of stress. When it reaches 100 points, the character passes a decisiveness check, after which he receives one of the negative statuses, which directly affects his actions. For example, getting "fear" after a check will cause the hero to often skip turns in a panic, and "aggression" will cause him to automatically use attacking skills. Checking occasionally can also bring a positive “determination” bonus, which will give positive effects not only to the hero, but to the entire group.
How to relieve stress?
In this game, stress is a key mechanic, so there are many ways to influence this indicator. In the city, you can relieve stress in two places: the Monastery and the Tavern. Each building has 3 different departments, but it is worth considering their features. For example, in the gambling hall of the Tavern, a character in an impulse can pawn a worn item and lose it, and after deep meditation in the Monastery, he can go on a faith campaign for a week. Also, stress can be removed right in battle, due to the skills of some classes.
How to remove quirks?
Darkest Dungeon has special passive skills called Quirks or Quirks. They shape the behavior of the character, and also affect all of its characteristics. For example, rabies will add damage but lower defense, fear of God will not allow you to relieve stress in the Monastery, and kleptomania will make you reach for any, even the most dangerous, objects on the map. You can remove quirks only in the Asylum (the “Chamber” department), but it should be borne in mind that over time they get worse and become “permanent” (marked with an icon), so getting rid of them will cost much more. Also in the Hospital there is a second department (treatment), in which you can get rid of extremely unpleasant diseases that take away a lot of characteristics.
How to heal during a fight?
You can restore health in the game only in battle or during a halt (for medium and long missions). It is best to put a Vestal or Ocultist in the role of a healer, although the latter does not differ in stable treatment. If the Vestal has healing, AoE and even a hit skill that restores health, then the Occultist is less stable. He has only one skill, which at the base level heals from 0 to 12 units (with a chance to inflict bleeding on the target), so he can either completely restore life or waste a turn. Also, some classes have small recovery skills (for example, the Crusader) and skills for self-healing (Animal Trainer, Arbalester, etc.).
How to organize a halt?
If a halt is provided for in the mission, then before it starts, you will be given “firewood”. To organize a parking lot, you need to click on an item in any room of the dungeon.
How to sell unwanted artifacts?
To do this is quite simple, you need to go into the chest in the city, point at the object and hold down the Shift button.
How to save?
There are no standard saves in the game, and all progress and its changes are recorded automatically. This allows you to close the game and continue from the same point on the next entry, but does not allow you to load the record in case of failure. That is why the death of characters in Darkest Dungeon is irreversible and you will have to hire new heroes.
How to start a new game?
To do this, you need to delete your entry in the save folder. They are located at "C:\Users\Username\Saved Games\Darkest".
- Try to collect as many healers as possible, because without them you won't be able to kill a single boss. You must have at least 2 Vestals and an Ocultist on your list.
- Try to choose characters so that they complement each other. For example, the Mercenary and Arbalester will be able to receive a lot of additional damage from the target mark.
- The most important and primary improvement will be the expansion of the barracks in Stagecoach. After that, you can invest resources in other improvements.
- Always take a shovel and plenty of food in the dungeon. For fast dungeons, you need 1 shovel and 8 supplies, for medium and long dungeons, 2 and 3 times more.
- Torches must be taken to any dungeon. For fast, 8-10 is suitable, for medium 12-16, for long 16+. The less light - the more stress, it is worth considering.
- Do not forget to improve the skills and equipment of the characters. For characters above level 3, this is considered a prerequisite.
- If you see that the battle is lost, then do not try to fight to the end, if the characters die, they will be lost. It's much more profitable to retreat and try again, plus you'll save all the loot you've accumulated in the dungeon.
- Do not try to buy gear with all your money, spending too much will result in you not having money for upgrades. Focus on the standard amount of equipment for different types of dungeons.
- There will be many traps in the dungeons, so it is important to have at least one character with a high disable skill (40% or higher). This will allow you to get additional trophies and avoid unpleasant effects.
In this guide, you will receive tips for passing certain locations: Ruins, Thicket, Reserve, Bay. And also what to take with you and what enemies are waiting for you in the location. Locations and what to bring:
I recommend first get acquainted with the guide on the heroes (their pros and cons) and how to kill the bosses (who is better to take).
Locations and what to bring:
What to take to the Ruins?
- a small number of shovels, since there are few walls here;
- a couple of herbs for iron maidens and alchemical machines;
- when compared with other locations, here you need a few more keys for closed sarcophagi, showcases and chests;
- a few bottles of holy water will come in handy for a stronger buff from the altars, clearing thoughts in the confessional and cleansing the urns. Again, vials in this location will take an order of magnitude more than in other places;
- in the absence of a good heal, bandages are required. Otherwise, you will be cut up by heretics.
The ruins are the easiest region - there are a large number of altars that buff your squad, opponents do not damage much, however, you need to be extremely careful with skeletons with knives and crossbowmen.
The stress drops off quite a bit.
- Books should not be touched. Open altars with holy water, and chests with keys. Enemies don't bleed, so it's pointless to take such heroes. The Crusader is perfect.
What to take to the Chascha?
- more shovels, as they will be needed for excavation of graves;
- since the dogs will inflict bleeding here, bandages are indispensable. They are also useful for examining stumps with cobwebs;
- more antidote, because there is a strong etching from the "mutant mushrooms." Tree stumps also need an antidote;
- more herbs and food;
- a few keys for chests or a couple more antidotes (capable of acting on dug out and family chests);
- since there are practically no occult objects here, holy water will not come in handy.
Quite a difficult region, enemies have strong resistance to poison, but weak to debuffs, bleeding, movement and stuns. If everything is applied correctly, then there are no harmful objects here. If the mushroom gunner put a mark on one of the heroes, then control the zombie mushrooms, otherwise the marked character will quickly die.
What to take to the Reserve?
- if you did not take the Plague Doctor with you, then without bandages you simply cannot survive here. Also useful for stands with weapons;
- two or three shovels, except for the walls there is nothing to dig here;
- more grass to get a buff from barrels of alcohol and from carts to stock up on food;
- antidote optional, as nasty worms don't appear as often;
- a couple of bottles of holy water, as occult objects and piles of bones periodically come across;
- more torches, since scrolls will often come across that are burned and thereby save the hero from unwanted perks;
- 1-2 keys for chests.
An uncomplicated region - except for diseases, the enemy does not hang anything. The composition of the detachment can be chosen at will, it is passed by everyone. The only wish is to make a damaging emphasis on distant positions and control near ones.
What to take to the Bay?
- a large number of shovels, there are a lot of walls + shovels are needed to open chests with shells and corals;
- there are also more herbs, here you can find "shaggy coral", which calms the nerves, and the remains of fish. In the Bay, as a rule, half of the reserves are spent on removing the debuff from traps;
- bandages are extremely necessary, in particular when going as veteran champions. There are savage crabs here, which with their “arterial pinch” impose bleeding, from which you can die in a couple of moves. Or take the Plague Doctor;
- holy water and antivenom are not needed at all. A totem that can buff is extremely rare. Antivenom can only be useful to reduce stress in a puddle with a skeleton;
- 1-2 keys for family chests.
Difficult region, because the group is under a lot of stress and damage. You don't need to use anything on the round altar.
There are games that are easy and simple. There are normal games for people. There are difficult games, for masochists and just lovers of difficult tasks. And there are hopeless games, playing which you understand that everything is decay, that life is a fleeting thing, and that very evil uncles live somewhere who hate all this gaming, casual kids, and who want this same kid to get wet from their own tears. Tears of irresistible sadness from the realization of the futility of life and their own insignificance. Darkest Dungeon is just that.
Darkest Dungeon was released on Steam on February 19, 2016. Prior to that, it had been at the rank of an early version for several months, but even then it was clear that the Dark Dungeon was one of the most complex and merciless games of our time, which, however, did not prevent it from holding a solid first place on the same Steam in the category with the tag " Step game. In general, as you understand, now we will tell you a little about how not to win in Darkest Dungeon, or at least not to lose for a long time, but how not to lose right away.
First you need to remember that hunting for treasures and family heirlooms such as busts, jewelry and other items is not a top priority. This is not something that should be put at the forefront of any mission. At least not throughout the game. At first, you will certainly need this, because you will somehow need to pump your heroes. But in the future, try to play in such a way as to head towards the accomplishment of Feats. Well, be sure to choose the right priorities, pumping primarily the Blacksmith and the Trainer. These are the two main NPCs, without which you simply cannot go any further.
When choosing missions, shuffle your team each time, reorganizing it and rearranging the fighters depending on their phobias and combat parameters. Do not be lazy to look into the soul of each fighter, and see what exactly he is afraid of. As you progress, some of your heroes will be afraid of everything. Someone of darkness, and someone of a certain damage, and someone of a specific type of enemy. At the same time, already having experience in completing specific missions, you will know what kind of enemies you will encounter there, and what kind of attacks they will be afraid of. Therefore, remember the old game of Rock, Paper, Scissors and try to select the composition not only in such a way as to protect your warriors, but also in such a way as to cause as much harm as possible to your opponents. For example, characters who have anti-beast or anti-beast damage - in the Wasteland (Weald), for "fat" monsters with a large supply of health, you need a hero with "bleeding" damage. There are especially many of these in the Corridors (Warrens), and in the location of the Bay (Cove), those heroes who inflict burn or poison attacks.
Competent rotation of the team is the key to victory.
Also, don't think that after a few fights you've come up with the perfect, so-called "imbo" lineup. Yes, indeed, after several victories, one can believe in this, but at one fine moment, some nondescript group of monsters will destroy, or simply thoroughly beat up your squad. But we must not forget that the dead hero cannot be resurrected - this is the most offensive detail of this game.
And there is no need to be afraid of medium or even long missions. By focusing only on short dungeons, you run the risk of wrapping the game in the wrong direction. You can go through a long dungeon, after having a good rest, much easier than a short one, but without rest. In addition, do not forget about the elementary rotation of heroes. Well, and most importantly - have a good rest before the battle with the boss. This is an obvious, but, nevertheless, mandatory advice.
In general, the ability to shuffle fighters is the main guarantee of victory. And in order to shuffle them, you need to have a "shuffled" team, which is subject to permutation. In Darkest Dungeon, each fighter has the most comfortable position. But there are also fighters who feel best at one point. Therefore, the worst thing you can do with your team is to collect it from heroes who will claim the same place. In this case, you can easily be destroyed even by a small group of weak, but able to conduct a competent rotation, opponents. Your group needs a backbone, and the most versatile backbone is the Warrior, Crusader, and Nun.
Properly use amulets, or, as they are also called, key chains. Remember that sometimes a seemingly useful keychain can be the death of your entire team. You will not always find a keychain that has only positive effects. Often you will come across those where, against the background of a positive effect, there will also be a negative effect. In this regard, one of the indicative cases is the use of a charm that increases damage by 1-2 points, but reduces initiative. As a result, it is worth considering: is it worth increasing this very damage to a minimum, sacrificing, for example, the fact that your Crusader will hit last? Will there be any sense in his strike by that moment?
Before a difficult mission, rest in the Brothel and the Manor, and also visit the Blacksmith and the Trainer.
Do not be greedy for the training of soldiers. The miser pays twice, and in this game, having decided that enough is enough, saving a few hundred coins before a difficult campaign, and not buying the proper number of shovels, torches, bandages and medicines, you risk losing the warrior forever, in which you have already invested several thousand. Think about it.
But the above idea also has a dark side. In the process of passing, you are guaranteed to get a couple of neurotic fighters, whose psychoses are so great that these characters do not leave the state of deep stress, and there is no longer any possibility to run around with them in taverns and brothels so that they get better there. In this case, you need to remember that "driven horses are shot", but no one will mind if they fight a little more before that, earning you a few extra hundreds of coins. So when you dig up those fighters that it's time to part with, equip them with a budget model and send them on a couple of tasks from which they most likely will not return. Such is practical cynicism.
You also need to immediately blacklist low-level characters who picked up negative traits at the beginning of their career. The sooner you part with these, the better for you and your wallet. And the sooner you recognize those heroes, which it is better not to spend money on pumping, the better. Cruel, but such is life in the Dark Dungeons.
Break up with heroes who have acquired psychosis, not forgetting to earn money on them before that.
In the early stages of the game, skills such as Corruption and Bleeding will bring a special effect. Attacks with this effect are especially good for "fat" enemies, and for "skinny" ones that fall in packs, it also works well. Neglecting such attacks is one of the main mistakes of beginners. The reason is that these attacks do little starting damage, and it may seem like it's all for nothing. But already after a couple of moves, Corruption or Bleeding for the second time will lay more enemies in the graves than those who died from the sword.
Focusing the attack of the entire group on one enemy is always better than spraying the attack on all opponents at the same time. This is another banal, but at the same time, effective advice. Remember that the faster you put one enemy from the group back into the ground, the faster this very group will reduce the number of possible attacks.
Caught psychosis, especially by a strong fighter, is much more dangerous than just taking, albeit tangible damage. Such a fighter, if he happens to survive, will then require a lot of money for recovery, and it is unlikely that he will be cured. In the meantime, in the course of the battle, infected with stress, it will pull your entire team to the bottom. Therefore, before the start of the battle, evaluate your enemies and beat the one that will send psychoses. This is your #1 goal.
Once you've dealt with the fear-inflicting enemies, pay close attention to those with ranged attacks. These guys tend to find the "skinniest" character you have and purposefully aim at him. And, if left unchecked, they often succeed. Remember that there are a lot of monsters, and you have few heroes, so the exchange of 1x2, 1x3 or even 1x5 will not suit you absolutely, so hit the rangers next, especially since such enemies can stun your shooter, who is pushed into the rearguard of your group, and from there it will be of little use. Well, in the third place, you should be interested in those who inflict attacks with consequences like poisoning or bleeding.
If there is no way to hit the most dangerous one, then try to weigh all the chances and in turn attack the enemy whose turn has not yet come. If you calculate everything correctly, then perhaps his turn to walk will never come.
These were all the basic tips that a beginner needs to help them on their adventures through the dark world of Darkest Dungeon.
Attention! This material is relevant for version 7794 of the game. If you notice any inaccuracies, then leave a description in the comments. Possible update.
After an unsuccessful start, do not start the game again.
In order to lose in Darkest Dungeon, you need to try very, very hard. The fact is that throughout the game you have access to a free live resource, namely new heroes, who, regardless of the circumstances of your previous campaigns, appear again and again in the recruiter's wagon.
Cemetery of heroes with a description of where and at whose hands they died. Nervous often the list is not recommended to view.The deaths of previous recruits only affect the length of the list in the graveyard. Therefore, starting all over again, especially if you have upgraded several buildings, makes no sense.
Carefully choose the heroes in the roster.
First of all, pay attention to the illnesses of the applicant - the fewer of them, the better. Next, check the abilities of the hero and choose the one that has more useful ones, because you will have to spend extra money to retrain a hero with “left” skills that you do not use.
Carry out balanced improvements to the city.
Do not neglect the reduction in the cost of healing, improving armor and weapons, as well as pumping abilities, since you, for example, cannot upgrade armor or weapons of the second level to a character of the first level.
Don't worry - putting level 1 armor on a level 0 hero won't work either.
That is, in order to wear level 4 armor, the character must be at least level 4. Therefore, if you do not have high-level heroes in your team, then it is worth spending resources to reduce the cost of buying skills, armor, weapons, etc.
Reduce the cost of buying survival abilities last.
This is due to the fact that at first there will be few long trips, short and medium ones will come across much more often. In the first, you will not be able to use these abilities at all, and in the second, only once, and this time their incorrect selection will not be critical. Also, short runs are best for farming, as they require fewer resources to complete, which take up fewer inventory slots, and you can take just about anything you can get your hands on in the dungeon.
The improvement not only reduces the cost of travel skills, but also increases their number.
After increasing the number of heroes in the roster, you can quite painlessly gather a group with various camping skills, instead of buying the ones you need in a tent.
Gather teams and select a "dream team".
After a few experiments with the composition of the team, you will understand your ideal combination, which you will be comfortable playing. Because in the roster you can have a maximum of 20 heroes, then we have 5 teams of 4 people each. Do not recruit random classes from the wagon to your roster - select specific classes for future teams. Create a team with classes of heroes that you still do not understand in order to experiment once again, to find out their strengths and weaknesses.
Dream Team Candidate: A bunch of useful permanent buffs and one minor disease.
In this case, there is no need to rush, if there is no required class, and there is no one to go, then recruit random heroes for a “suicidal campaign”, the purpose of which will be to update the set of recruits in the wagon, earn the maximum money from the campaign, followed by the dismissal of all the heroes of such a “suicidal campaign” ”, who picked up stress and for the treatment of which it is a pity to spend money.
Have balanced Camping Skills in your team to complete big levels.
On camping trips, you will deal with stress, low health, dots and debuffs, as well as possible battles immediately after the camp is closed. Therefore, in a full-fledged team that expects to go through long runs through the dungeons without any problems, there should be heroes with different abilities.
Excellent travel ability of Vestal, reducing stress for religious team members (Bounty Hunter, Crusader, Occultist).
That is, a team sharpened, for example, to relieve stress in the camp, can easily finish the journey without drinking solo due to the fact that they could not replenish enough health during the parking due to the lack of necessary skills among its members.
Spend resources on upgrades wisely.
Do not improve something just because "I have enough for it right now!". Decide what is critical for you in this situation: if your team has picked up diseases that need to be urgently cured, then there is no point in investing in a forge, and if your heroes are very “staggered”, then of course there is no point in improving some kind of cathedral to relieve stress right here and now, especially if you have few characters with a critical level of stress. Be patient and after one successful or not very successful campaign, improve what you really need badly. You should not forget about "suicidal campaigns" for farming either.
Treat critical illnesses first.
All diseases that give a digital minus are treated first. All other diseases are situational and therefore less dangerous. These include kleptomania, various phobias and desires to climb into any chest or search through any altar. The logic here is simple - you may not encounter altars and other dangerous things, and these diseases may simply not work. But diseases with digital minuses always work (with the exception of minuses for specific types of enemies).
A typical "critical" illness. In the Weald dungeon, Masha will be stressed by 20% more. It is better to cure immediately than to suddenly find such a hero in this particular dungeon with this disease.
Also watch out for diseases that prevent characters from relieving stress in the city in any building (cathedral or tavern), especially if you don't have those buildings upgraded. Don't treat "useless" illnesses. For example, a character that does not hang pillboxes can "get sick" minus the chance to apply a pillbox. It is clear that there is no need to spend money on curing this disease.
Lisa has a -5 to ranged attack accuracy. Because she is Hellion and she has an ax in her hands (unexpectedly), which she does not have the opportunity to throw, then this disease does not need to be treated.
Open obscure objects with a character with less stress and high health.
If you are lazy, do not want to go into the DD wiki and you still have little experience with what you can meet in the dungeons of the game and what effect climbing with playful hands on incomprehensible gizmos will entail, I recommend opening everything with a healthy and stress-resistant hero. You can accidentally get a debuff or a huge chunk of stress, causing the hero to risk dying or going insane. Well, or "if you don't know, don't touch."
Before the hike, calculate the amount of money needed for its comfortable passage.
First of all, after returning to the city, decide which dungeon you will go to next, who will go to it, estimate how much you will spend on supplies (food, shovels, torches, etc.). So you will understand how much free money you will have that you can spend on treatment, stress relief and pumping the skills of heroes.
One hundred and fifty gold left. We do not treat anyone, we do not buy anything.
Such a sequence will not leave a chance to mindlessly spend gold on the city and heroes, while remaining without supplies for the next trip. Does not apply to "suicidal trips", which can go on no supplies at all.
Keep pumped heroes.
Yes, you can't lose in Darkest Dungeon due to the constant influx of people who want to get brains in dark places, but you can lose a ton of time and money if you lose a really pumped hero (heroes) in the race. Even the most impressive reward is not worth the money and effort that you spent on a character, say, the fourth level.
A very useful button that, if there is no time to explain, everything is bad, will allow you to run away from the battle, flashing your heels.
This is especially true for combat units without diseases and with accumulated permanent buffs (displayed to the left of diseases in yellow), highly pumped skills, armor and weapons. The beauty is that you can leave combat at any time during your turn. Do not neglect this opportunity, do not throw corpses at bosses, be prudent.
Kill single targets.
The best heal for your squad and the best way to not get stressed is to quickly kill the enemy. It makes no sense to leave four targets with 5% health and still take damage from each or a large portion of stress on the next turn. Use abilities that deal damage to multiple enemies in situations where, for example, one of the targets has very little health and you are guaranteed to kill it, while hitting a nearby enemy. Leave armored guards for a snack, taking out targets with high damage and a small amount of life first. Do not forget about the priorities at a particular point in time - if the main thing for you is not to get stressed, then kill the enemies that inflict it one by one (usually such uncomfortable opponents are behind), if you have problems with the health of the team, then focus on the lightly armored high damage targets. The more you play, the faster you will study the enemies - which of them critically more often, who hangs stress, who hits several targets at once, etc. Memorize the abilities of opponents and then you can understand who poses the greatest threat.
Stack dots and buffs.
All dots and buffs in the game stack up to a certain level, so feel free to attack your enemies with as many dots as you can and get as many buffs as you can. Stacking buffs on yourself is especially effective before boss encounters when you're camping in a room adjacent to the boss. Get as many buffs as possible on your best damage dealer and good luck!
Use dots and stamps mainly on "thick" and hard-to-reach enemies.
There is no point in using dots or marks on frail targets (which you can kill in one or two hits), on targets that are about to die. At the same time, dots and marks are extremely effective on "fat" bosses and "fat" enemies, which you will pick for a long time. Dots also show themselves well on bosses or simple enemies, which over time roll back to the last positions, instructing skeletons in front of them (the Necromancer boss) or worse. Don't forget to check the enemy's resistances before placing a pillbox on them.
Have at least one crusader on your team.
Quite controversial advice, but only this hero has the ability to relieve stress right during the battle. It is because of this ability that it is worth taking him to the team. If your gang has accumulated a lot of stress, then leave one or two frail enemies, and take the stress off your heroes with a crusader, while stunning the enemy.
Love him for stress heal +5.
Remember that if you do this without damaging enemies for several turns, then the heroes will get stressed. If your team does not have stun abilities, then hit the remaining enemies that you only need to relieve stress with low-damage abilities (various tags, dots, etc.).
Think over the route through the dungeon.
As soon as you get on the map, the first thing to do is make a route in which you would have to go through the already once open passages and rooms as little as possible. This will save you time on the passage, save the heroes from unnecessary stress and save on torches.
Try not to use abilities that rearrange enemies.
The main purpose of using such skills is to pull forward an uncomfortable and dangerous enemy standing behind, and then kill him with the skills of heroes who can only put the first 2-3 targets well. There are three reasons why I give this advice. Firstly, sometimes it's easier to kill the enemies standing in front, so that the enemy standing behind himself, as it were, pulls himself up to you. The exception is when the first two places are occupied by one thick enemy, but even in such a situation it is sometimes easier to kill the monster in position 3, thereby pulling position 4 to the position of the enemy killed in position 3. Secondly, abilities that rearrange enemies do very little damage and you, roughly speaking, lose a whole turn on this, which could be spent on causing damage to monsters standing in front. Thirdly, when assembling a team, it is desirable to have a hero in the third or second position, who could more or less beat all the targets, or at least the target in position 3.
