Stress is a problem.

[Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠]

Every mental breakdown causes mental debuffs, causes heavy relationship drop, reduces health by 80% and it hard to manage. Not to mention, bad relations forces you into skills that ruins the cohesion. This is not even fun, who tested this?

Can't even focus on it long enough because the majority of the time is focused on staying alive.

[thorin.hannahs]

Welcome to Darkest Dungeon 2.

[Guzu]

Originally posted by Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠:

Every mental breakdown causes mental debuffs, causes heavy relationship drop, reduces health by 80% and it hard to manage. Not to mention, bad relations forces you into skills that ruins the cohesion. This is not even fun, who tested this?

Can't even focus on it long enough because the majority of the time is focused on staying alive.

That's just an issue you will have as long as you lack experience. Later, meltdowns aren't really something on your mind because they are that rare and even when they happen you can always fix a 3-4 pip loss.

The easier meltdown prevention measures:
- bring a stress healer (MAA or Jester are best)
- buy Laudanum
- when 2-3 enemies are dead prolong the fight to squeeze out extra recovery when needed
- equip the pup (one of the strongest pets anyways)
- bring enough dmg in your team so you can burst through normal fights in 2-3 rounds and bosses in about 4

[calderon]

1. Match/develop the overall strategy to the final boss in the mountain.
2. Select the right team members to this strategy and plan which skills to master during runs.
3. Select the right pet and stagecoach items.
4. Know your enemy's skills in every region and focus on eliminating such enemies asap.
5. Develop a strategy for eventual shuffling.
6. Don't hire Bounty Hunter but learn to use your team members correctly.
7. Select the appropriate regional boss.

If you still have problems with stress then:
8. Invest in scouting to choose the right nods.
9. Quit encounters with projected negative outcomes.
10. Buy/pick up and use proper items.
11. Watch streams on yt.

[RopeDrink]

A copy/paste from the "Meltdowns and Friendships" thread, which is practically identical, as both Meltdowns and Relationships all hinge on stress management.

-----

Relationships:

Keeping your heroes below 4 stress is key, as that negates negative banter/reactions. For example, if Joe Soap is above 3 stress, and you consider healing Jane Bloggs instead, Joe might get annoyed about it - leading to negative relations.

Whenever this has a chance of happening, you'll notice a downward-pointing arrow on the annoyed hero while targeting someone else with heals, items, or support skills - so, don't be hasty - take the time to mouse-over and consider how it will affect you in the long run.

Aside from combat, other considerations include node interactions and quirks. For example, if Joe Soap wants to 'help' people at an Assistance Node, but Joe Kleptomaniac wants to steal from them, this may lead to an unavoidable (negative) relationship pip.

-----

Stress Healing:

Take a look at stress-healing capabilities and fit your needs into the team.

Stress-healers:
MAA - VES - JES - FLA - CRU - DUE

Party/Self-soothers:
GR - LEP - HEL

Each option has pros, cons, cooldowns, thresholds, and other things to consider.

[MAA] can target someone with 5 stress and reduce it by 2 via Bolster -- bringing them to the 3-stress threshold -- and if Bolster is mastered (and the MAA himself is on 5 stress), then he will reduce his down to 3 as well, for a total of 2+2.

[CRU] can reduce a target from 5-to-3 as well, but if his ability (Inspiring Cry) is mastered, he will receive -1 personal stress 'regardless', meaning he can keep people at 3 stress while pushing his own down to 0, unlike MAA, who can only get people down to 3, thus one (or the other) will be favourable at different times.

[FLA] have no cooldowns or thresholds to consider - he can heal 2-3 stress on the target every turn so long as they are above 0 -- and in return for that power, he will stress himself instead. By using stress-resistance skills and trinkets, you have a chance to negate this cost, with the potential to turn him into the most powerful stress-healer by a country mile.

[JES] can reduce up to 3 stress when mastered, and can also passively provide inherent stress resistance, making it possible for your team to ignore a lot of intake entirely. He has the most potent (standard) option, but also, the only target-soother with positional requirements - so be careful when you wish to use other heroes in R4/R3.

[VES] can reduce stress when her Guarding skill (Sanctuary) is mastered, which is great for protecting her heal/soothes from follow-up nukes - but due to being an additional benefit to a Guard skill, she cannot soothe/guard herself - thus, she serves better as a heal/soothe/tanky flex-pick to help out when more than one stress-healer is required.

[DUE] is the latest addition to the stress-heal group, capable of healing 2-3 stress as an Instructrice via Ruthless Instruction (while in defensive stance). Whenever stress-healing isn't required, she can use it in offensive stance to stress a target and apply a damaging buff.

-----

Self-Soothers:

[GR] can reduce up to 3 pips of personal stress every fight (regardless of threshold) by using Dead of Night on corpses, which also provides stealth and serves as a massive self-heal. As a result, it's easy for GR to protect her bars and stay healthy/sane throughout the game.

[LEP] can reduce 2-3 pips with each use of Solemnity - a cooldown/limited self-heal - and also 1-2 via Reflection - his anti-blind with a cooldown, but no limits. As a result, he can maintain 0 stress quite comfortably without help from anyone else in most cases.

[HEL] is currently the only hero with a party-wide effect (ever since PD's Ounce nerf). By using Revel, she can reduce 2-3 personal stress whenever she's 5+, and if anyone else in the team is 5+, she will reduce theirs by 1 as well - up to a total of 6 per use.

-----

Now, when you're building teams, consider how you wish to approach the problem. It is always wise to push for teams that can end fights quickly and efficiently, thus reducing health and stress intake - and this is best done by teams which can tackle all ranks. However, your health and stress will (inevitably) take damage, and when that happens, a good combination of self-sustain and/or targeted support will make life easier -- the more, the merrier.

Once you keep your team healthy and/or below 4 stress, you will conquer relationships with the greatest of ease. It's up to you to figure out which combinations suit you.

[SIEGE CREEP (DEADLOCK)]

Yep stress is a problem and you have to deal with it. Welcome to DD !

[Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠]

Originally posted by eric:

Yep stress is a problem and you have to deal with it. Welcome to DD !

No duh, it's better in dd1

[SIEGE CREEP (DEADLOCK)]

Originally posted by Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠:

Originally posted by eric:

Yep stress is a problem and you have to deal with it. Welcome to DD !

No duh, it's better in dd1

Skill issue to be honest. Its way easier to manage in this game than in DD1

EDIT: Someone above has already written down all ways to reduce stress. Just take the leper and upgrade inspiring melody or take the man at arms and upgrade bolster. That is literally it

[#deca.fade]

Its kind of hard to manage stress early in game, given that most stress reducing/relationships items (like booze) are not unlocked at first.
Unlock few of those for candles, should be easier to manage stress afterwards.

[Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠]

Originally posted by eric:

Originally posted by Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠:

No duh, it's better in dd1

Skill issue to be honest. Its way easier to manage in this game than in DD1

EDIT: Someone above has already written down all ways to reduce stress. Just take the leper and upgrade inspiring melody or take the man at arms and upgrade bolster. That is literally it

Dd1 is much easier to manage stress for several reasons.

[Jinxedster]

Originally posted by Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠:

Originally posted by eric:

Skill issue to be honest. Its way easier to manage in this game than in DD1

EDIT: Someone above has already written down all ways to reduce stress. Just take the leper and upgrade inspiring melody or take the man at arms and upgrade bolster. That is literally it

Dd1 is much easier to manage stress for several reasons.

Can you elaborate this?

DD1 had more enemies who's sole purpose was to stress you. Every region had like at least 2 stress specialists who would target the same hero without mercy. Your only ways to reduce stress was to camp, during battle and then use a hamlet activity.

DD2 has far less stress centric enemies and they do not target the same heroes like they did in part 1. I think the worst might be the cardinal if he crits you with hollow vessel dealing 4 points. Most of the enemies in DD2 have stress dealing attacks, but they must chose between using them whereas in part 1 you had enemies who only wanted to stress you and were far better at it.

DD2 has more combat stress healing, a couple of combat items and a wider range of items you can buy at the inn.

I find it way easier to manage stress in DD2.

[SIEGE CREEP (DEADLOCK)]

Originally posted by Jinxedster:

Originally posted by Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠:

Dd1 is much easier to manage stress for several reasons.

Can you elaborate this?

DD1 had more enemies who's sole purpose was to stress you. Every region had like at least 2 stress specialists who would target the same hero without mercy. Your only ways to reduce stress was to camp, during battle and then use a hamlet activity.

DD2 has far less stress centric enemies and they do not target the same heroes like they did in part 1. I think the worst might be the cardinal if he crits you with hollow vessel dealing 4 points. Most of the enemies in DD2 have stress dealing attacks, but they must chose between using them whereas in part 1 you had enemies who only wanted to stress you and were far better at it.

DD2 has more combat stress healing, a couple of combat items and a wider range of items you can buy at the inn.

I find it way easier to manage stress in DD2.

exactly. Im currently replaying DD1 and noticing how BS some of these stress dealing enemies are. Tempting goblet is a meme for a reason. Most of them can even use their stress attacks from rank 1 while many enemies in 2 have to use really bad attacks if you push them back or pull them up. But like i said, Im convinced this is a troll topic. He is not listening to a single constructive post

[Modragor]

Originally posted by Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠:

Every mental breakdown causes mental debuffs, causes heavy relationship drop, reduces health by 80% and it hard to manage. Not to mention, bad relations forces you into skills that ruins the cohesion. This is not even fun, who tested this?

Can't even focus on it long enough because the majority of the time is focused on staying alive.

I can assure you the following: These nightmarish creatures can be felled! They can be beaten!

[Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠]

Originally posted by Jinxedster:

Originally posted by Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠:

Dd1 is much easier to manage stress for several reasons.

Can you elaborate this?

DD1 had more enemies who's sole purpose was to stress you. Every region had like at least 2 stress specialists who would target the same hero without mercy. Your only ways to reduce stress was to camp, during battle and then use a hamlet activity.

DD2 has far less stress centric enemies and they do not target the same heroes like they did in part 1. I think the worst might be the cardinal if he crits you with hollow vessel dealing 4 points. Most of the enemies in DD2 have stress dealing attacks, but they must chose between using them whereas in part 1 you had enemies who only wanted to stress you and were far better at it.

DD2 has more combat stress healing, a couple of combat items and a wider range of items you can buy at the inn.

I find it way easier to manage stress in DD2.

Hound and jester can easily reduce in DD1 without a 5+ requirement in dd1. And like you said, camps that you have the decision to set up which contribute as well towards reducing stress.

Unlike DD2 where if your not in combat, you literally have to wait until you've arrived at inn to buy items to manage stress and that's if merchant is selling stress relievers.

During combat in dd2 its pretty much the same situation where not the majority of the encounters have a stress specialist, majority of the attacks you suffer have a chance to apply stress, especially with higher chance of being hit with a crit, which for me up to four to five times on most of my encounters.

Unlike what eric decides to believe, this post is mostly on the harsh effects after receiving meltdowns.

[Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠]

Originally posted by eric:

Originally posted by Jinxedster:

Can you elaborate this?

DD1 had more enemies who's sole purpose was to stress you. Every region had like at least 2 stress specialists who would target the same hero without mercy. Your only ways to reduce stress was to camp, during battle and then use a hamlet activity.

DD2 has far less stress centric enemies and they do not target the same heroes like they did in part 1. I think the worst might be the cardinal if he crits you with hollow vessel dealing 4 points. Most of the enemies in DD2 have stress dealing attacks, but they must chose between using them whereas in part 1 you had enemies who only wanted to stress you and were far better at it.

DD2 has more combat stress healing, a couple of combat items and a wider range of items you can buy at the inn.

I find it way easier to manage stress in DD2.

exactly. Im currently replaying DD1 and noticing how BS some of these stress dealing enemies are. Tempting goblet is a meme for a reason. Most of them can even use their stress attacks from rank 1 while many enemies in 2 have to use really bad attacks if you push them back or pull them up. But like i said, Im convinced this is a troll topic. He is not listening to a single constructive post

Actually there was two posts that explained why, but conveniently for you, their suddenly missing. Maybe it's your skill issue in DD1, but as I said before I don't run into the problems because I've planned ahead. Scouting, disarming, there are trinkets that reduce stress, characters perks, camps, etc. You get more options in darkest dungeon one than you do in this game. I don't about you but waiting until 5+ is not logical. And btw I didn't respond back because I'm testing the builds I've been shown to mix it to my party composition.

And don't think I didn't notice you deleted your other comment to cover your ass.

[Jinxedster]

Originally posted by Dir†y McNΔ§†ÿ× {ҐӬҌӭls}♠:

Hound and jester can easily reduce in DD1 without a 5+ requirement in dd1. And like you said, camps that you have the decision to set up which contribute as well towards reducing stress.

They are good stress healers, but it's a struggle to keep up with the stress especially on short dungeons because every encounter has a stress specialist and you will NOT be able to camp. While the houndmaster has the best total relief, it is not centered around one hero, which is a problem because most stress enemies target the same ones over and over.

Unlike DD2 where if your not in combat, you literally have to wait until you've arrived at inn to buy items to manage stress and that's if merchant is selling stress relievers.

I have never seen an inn without stress relievers, ever. (300h playtime) It's possible that whoever is playing has not unlocked the items yet at the altar of hope, which is a different topic altogether. Then you have a hoarder, but I almost never buy stress relief items off him because they are literally chuck full at every inn and remember, you also gain stress relief from some relationship items.

You are also wrong, because if you have certain quirks or stagecoach items you gain or lose stress during banter on the road. That is a double edged sword because you can get negative points too but if you know the game it's really easy to avoid them. Oh yeah, you also gain or lose stress depending if you go where your heroes want you to go on crossroads.

During combat in dd2 its pretty much the same situation where not the majority of the encounters have a stress specialist, majority of the attacks you suffer have a chance to apply stress, especially with higher chance of being hit with a crit, which for me up to four to five times on most of my encounters.

I disagree, there are no stress specialists in DD2, at least not the kind as DD1 had. Most attacks have a chance to deal stress, so they completely changed the mechanic. The difference is that the stress is not centred around one hero. Stress specialists in DD1 were able to submit you to high tier stress attacks from turn one and would just keep spamming those attacks. DD2 the enemies use a bigger variety of attacks and some of them require other tokens to cause stress or they correspond with your negative quirks.

On top of that a meltdown causes relationship and health drops and has no potential of sending the rest of your team into meltdowns either which was possible in DD1 if I remember correctly. It feels to me that you got stressed to hell and took it all on face value without taking into account any mechanics going on in the background. You are welcome to disagree with me, but I find it easier to deal with these new mechanics because by now I know everything about them than just getting spammed by Acolytes, madmen and those goblet guys.

Lastly, there is an actual stress resistance stat in DD2, correct me if I'm wrong that wasn't the case in part 1? It's perfectly possible to increase the resistance to stress in part 2, although it's rare. Best you could do in part 1 was reduce the stress by 20% or so per attack.