As much as I enjoy the game. I cannot see myself ever beating it

[CadeOfRoots]

I enjoy the game but the chance of me ever beating it is so unbelievably slim. Like there's basically no way i'll be able to beat half the stuff this game has when it constantly goes "well you constantly a jester and plague doctor in every group."

Cause if you don't, stress runs rampant and you don't have anything to stop bleeding, burning, and blight.

Not to mention how if an enemy ever has counter attack its going to crit 75% of the time, meanwhile if you have a 75% chance to dodge it will never work a single time.

I enjoy this game for the hero story's you can uncover but actually playing it is the most painful thing of all time cause its a constant "yah no." in every single fight against every single enemy.

I will never understand how anyone even makes it to the second boss when all the lair bosses just make me lose every single time or i don't even make it to a lair boss cause i've basically already lost by the time i get there so I just give up and restart.

[Velvet Waltz]

you need to free yourself from the Jesters shackles. also Vestal is still very good.

[CadeOfRoots]

Originally posted by Can Throne:

you need to free yourself from the Jesters shackles. also Vestal is still very good.

There is no other person that gets rid of 2 stress and horror at the same time on a base ability. He's basically the best stress healer off that alone.

[Rak335544]

1) Jester isn't a single option for stress healing. Try to unlock other hero's abilities, many of them can self-heal stress. Also in battle try to focus on stress inducing enemies if you have problem with it. Don't neglect combat/inn consumables. (Cleared 3 chapters without Jester and pick Jester rarely).
2) DOTs can be dealt with consumables. When you choose a region buy consumables to heal DOTs. Also other heroes can heal DOTs too (Vestal at least).
3) If RNG is trying to kill you, lean on mechanics that are less RNG. Your 75% dodge doesn't work? Use 75% defence. Counters CRIT on you? Take counters with tanks.
4) Don't give up and restart. If you are losing - then lose. But try to win. Game's design is about suffering, "getting out of bad situations and blah-blah-blah" after all.

[CadeOfRoots]

Originally posted by Rak335544:

1) Jester isn't a single option for stress healing. Try to unlock other hero's abilities, many of them can self-heal stress. Also in battle try to focus on stress inducing enemies if you have problem with it. Don't neglect combat/inn consumables. (Cleared 3 chapters without Jester and pick Jester rarely).
2) DOTs can be dealt with consumables. When you choose a region buy consumables to heal DOTs. Also other heroes can heal DOTs too (Vestal at least).
3) If RNG is trying to kill you, lean on mechanics that are less RNG. Your 75% dodge doesn't work? Use 75% defence. Counters CRIT on you? Take counters with tanks.
4) Don't give up and restart. If you are losing - then lose. But try to win. Game's design is about suffering, "getting out of bad situations and blah-blah-blah" after all.

I get the rest of the stuff but when i'm still looking at other unlocked abilitys they just don't ever seem worth it. And losing is just the worst cause its a slog to lose a fight so usually its better for me to just give up and restart instead of wasting time. but yeah the dodge is basically useless compared to armor or heavy armor.

[RopeDrink]

I enjoy the game but the chance of me ever beating it is so unbelievably slim. Like there's basically no way i'll be able to beat half the stuff this game has when it constantly goes "well you constantly a jester and plague doctor in every group."

Cause if you don't, stress runs rampant and you don't have anything to stop bleeding, burning, and blight.

So long as someone genuinely believes that they need X, Y, or Z to succeed in DD2, then they will always stifle themselves and limit their success (for example: believing you need a Jester or Plague Doctor every run, despite neither being necessary for anything since 2021, thus restricting compositions or ability to learn).

However, comps are just one aspect. You also have to learn mechanics and counters, good relationship management (eg. keeping heroes at or below 3 stress as much as possible to avoid as many negative pips as possible), good hero + skill compositions, so on and so forth -- hence rigidly sticking to very specific choices can cause more harm than good.

There is no other person that gets rid of 2 stress and horror at the same time on a base ability. He's basically the best stress healer off that alone.

Keeping heroes "tense" is far more important to me than wiping horror, and it's quite easy to maintain for 90% of the game, hence infrequent bouts of horror don't mean much as it's usually just one button press away from being reset back to tense by any half-decent stress-healer or self-soothes -- not to mention items, prog (trinkets, camping, etc), or just well-greased comps taking less damage/stress/horrors.

Truly, the only anti-horror I consistently equip is stray Laudanum, other than being a natural part of Jester's inspiring tune, which I use to get people from 5-to-3.

Soothers:
Jester, Crusader, Man-at-Arms, Flagellant, Vestal - and technically Hellion + Duellist.

Self-soothers:
Grave Robber, Abomination, Leper

Healers:
Plague Doctor, Crusader, Flagellant, Vestal, Occultist - and technically Runaway.

Self-healers:
Grave Robber, Hellion, Leper, Abomination, Runaway - and technically Man-at-Arms + Jester.

Much like DD1, the best healing and soothing comes from strangling damage and stress in the first place -- be it fast kills, priority focus, greased comps, relationship management, progression, camping, and all the other bells-and-whistles that help you win more efficiently and staying ahead of the problem(s).

Along the way, heroes like Flagellant can be tweaked into the most potent healer and soother by avoiding cooldowns and some thresholds outright (especially when considering specific paths, either stress-resistance, fellow soothers to keep him sane, or ignoring him and leaning straight into toxic relationships) -- anything that helps him lash -3's off people every round without going nuts, weaved between his great collection of obnoxious self-healing or team-healing buttons and support (including an optional horror remover).

Heroes like Crusader can get people down to tense with Inspiring Cry and also remove 1x stress from themselves regardless of how much he has), not to mention having stress-reducing combo attacks, direct healing, tanking, and even regeneration builds on top of being one of the meatiest flesh-bags.

Man-at-Arms is one of the most popular soothing choices considering he can reduce himself and one other 5-stress hero down to tense simultaneously via one mastered Bulwark, all while slapping himself with protection tokens or weaving in combo Crush for free self-sustain, guarding, hypermobility, displacing foes (etc), all of which helps reduce intake as well.

Vestal can assist other soothers with mastered Sanctuary, guarding heroes in danger while pushing them back down to tense (-2 stress), all while lending other support, such as brain-dead regeneration builds, tokens, direct healing, etc.

Meanwhile, heroes like Hellion can soothe -3 from themselves (and also -1 from anyone else above 5) via a self-healing button with no per-battle limit, while heroes like Leper are brainlessly self-sustained. Just like DD1, he's one of the most durable meat-sacks, capable of -3 and chunky self-heals to himself on demand.

The list of considerations (for party, target, or self) goes on and on -- and as said, there are four slots to help mash all those tools together -- but if people genuinely think they need a Jester or Plague Doctor specifically just to get anywhere -- and they continue not getting anywhere -- then they have clearly become inefficient crutches that should be put to bed for a while. Take some time to dabble with other comps, or failing that, check out some guides to help broaden your horizons (if the idea of experimentation or blind tests doesn't appeal).

Sadly, I don't have many (recent) videos of DD2, but here's just one old example I used to love running with back in the day which is obnoxiously sustainable and doesn't contain PD or JES:

4. GR (self-soother & self-healer)
3. RUN (healer and self-healer)
2. FLA (team healer & soother)
1. MAA (self-healer & team soother)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3081668533

RUN can hide (regen), cauterize bleeds, and provide mobility/range, as does Grave Robber, who is one of the most self-sustained assassin archetypes in the game (stealth, 2x healing, and optional (mastered) stress-reducer). They are backed by Flagellant, one of the most obnoxiously potent supports in the game - and Man-at-Arms, one of the most consistent stress-dumpers and ease-makers.

Lately, I've dropped MAA for CRU (so that RUN+CRU can play back-rank fire builds while FLA/GR drop blight) -- with CRU being yet another stupidly good healer + stress-healer by himself. That's an idea of a very sustain-stacked team -- in a game where the main difference-maker is knowledge, not the amount (or type) of sustain you're bringing.

[CadeOfRoots]

Originally posted by RopeDrink:

I enjoy the game but the chance of me ever beating it is so unbelievably slim. Like there's basically no way i'll be able to beat half the stuff this game has when it constantly goes "well you constantly a jester and plague doctor in every group."

Cause if you don't, stress runs rampant and you don't have anything to stop bleeding, burning, and blight.

So long as someone genuinely believes that they need X, Y, or Z to succeed in DD2, then they will always stifle themselves and limit their success (for example: believing you need a Jester or Plague Doctor every run, despite neither being necessary for anything since 2021, thus restricting compositions or ability to learn).

However, comps are just one aspect. You also have to learn mechanics and counters, good relationship management (eg. keeping heroes at or below 3 stress as much as possible to avoid as many negative pips as possible), good hero + skill compositions, so on and so forth -- hence rigidly sticking to very specific choices can cause more harm than good.

There is no other person that gets rid of 2 stress and horror at the same time on a base ability. He's basically the best stress healer off that alone.

Keeping heroes "tense" is far more important to me than wiping horror, and it's quite easy to maintain for 90% of the game, hence infrequent bouts of horror don't mean much as it's usually just one button press away from being reset back to tense by any half-decent stress-healer or self-soothes -- not to mention items, prog (trinkets, camping, etc), or just well-greased comps taking less damage/stress/horrors.

Truly, the only anti-horror I consistently equip is stray Laudanum, other than being a natural part of Jester's inspiring tune, which I use to get people from 5-to-3.

Soothers:
Jester, Crusader, Man-at-Arms, Flagellant, Vestal - and technically Hellion + Duellist.

Self-soothers:
Grave Robber, Abomination, Leper

Healers:
Plague Doctor, Crusader, Flagellant, Vestal, Occultist - and technically Runaway.

Self-healers:
Grave Robber, Hellion, Leper, Abomination, Runaway - and technically Man-at-Arms + Jester.

Much like DD1, the best healing and soothing comes from strangling damage and stress in the first place -- be it fast kills, priority focus, greased comps, relationship management, progression, camping, and all the other bells-and-whistles that help you win more efficiently and staying ahead of the problem(s).

Along the way, heroes like Flagellant can be tweaked into the most potent healer and soother by avoiding cooldowns and some thresholds outright (especially when considering specific paths, either stress-resistance, fellow soothers to keep him sane, or ignoring him and leaning straight into toxic relationships) -- anything that helps him lash -3's off people every round without going nuts, weaved between his great collection of obnoxious self-healing or team-healing buttons and support (including an optional horror remover).

Heroes like Crusader can get people down to tense with Inspiring Cry and also remove 1x stress from themselves regardless of how much he has), not to mention having stress-reducing combo attacks, direct healing, tanking, and even regeneration builds on top of being one of the meatiest flesh-bags.

Man-at-Arms is one of the most popular soothing choices considering he can reduce himself and one other 5-stress hero down to tense simultaneously via one mastered Bulwark, all while slapping himself with protection tokens or weaving in combo Crush for free self-sustain, guarding, hypermobility, displacing foes (etc), all of which helps reduce intake as well.

Vestal can assist other soothers with mastered Sanctuary, guarding heroes in danger while pushing them back down to tense (-2 stress), all while lending other support, such as brain-dead regeneration builds, tokens, direct healing, etc.

Meanwhile, heroes like Hellion can soothe -3 from themselves (and also -1 from anyone else above 5) via a self-healing button with no per-battle limit, while heroes like Leper are brainlessly self-sustained. Just like DD1, he's one of the most durable meat-sacks, capable of -3 and chunky self-heals to himself on demand.

The list of considerations (for party, target, or self) goes on and on -- and as said, there are four slots to help mash all those tools together -- but if people genuinely think they need a Jester or Plague Doctor specifically just to get anywhere -- and they continue not getting anywhere -- then they have clearly become inefficient crutches that should be put to bed for a while. Take some time to dabble with other comps, or failing that, check out some guides to help broaden your horizons (if the idea of experimentation or blind tests doesn't appeal).

Sadly, I don't have many (recent) videos of DD2, but here's just one old example I used to love running with back in the day which is obnoxiously sustainable and doesn't contain PD or JES:

4. GR (self-soother & self-healer)
3. RUN (healer and self-healer)
2. FLA (team healer & soother)
1. MAA (self-healer & team soother)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3081668533

RUN can hide (regen), cauterize bleeds, and provide mobility/range, as does Grave Robber, who is one of the most self-sustained assassin archetypes in the game (stealth, 2x healing, and optional (mastered) stress-reducer). They are backed by Flagellant, one of the most obnoxiously potent supports in the game - and Man-at-Arms, one of the most consistent stress-dumpers and ease-makers.

Lately, I've dropped MAA for CRU (so that RUN+CRU can play back-rank fire builds while FLA/GR drop blight) -- with CRU being yet another stupidly good healer + stress-healer by himself. That's an idea of a very sustain-stacked team -- in a game where the main difference-maker is knowledge, not the amount (or type) of sustain you're bringing.

Annoyingly enough every single time I don't bring either vesta or plague at the very least. I never leave a single fight without losing nearly all their health and having zero way to heal it back so I'm forced to take either or both of them. Self sustain character stuff just never seems to work for me regardless of what I do or build cause chances are I just waste the turn healing only to get slammed in the face by a crit and a random debuff for thinking I can run something without PG.

And I genuinely have no clue how you're dealing with horror so quickly given every time an enemy shows up that gives it, they will hit it every time, and they will give 3+ atress and by the end of the fight all of my people have 5 stress cause I didn't bring Jester.

And some enemy's are just completely bs like the doctor zombie one with the leeches that I got my ass kicked by and gave up my last run on.

[FDru]

Chirurgeon is busted though. My last run had a solid team (maybe some ♥♥♥♥ quirks but, you know whatever, I'd beat the game with it so it's fine) and I spent a lot of time setting it up before heading out. First node outside of the inn was a "?", forced chirurgeon fight and I got wiped. That thing sucks.

[Modragor]

Originally posted by CadeOfRoots:

Originally posted by RopeDrink:

So long as someone genuinely believes that they need X, Y, or Z to succeed in DD2, then they will always stifle themselves and limit their success (for example: believing you need a Jester or Plague Doctor every run, despite neither being necessary for anything since 2021, thus restricting compositions or ability to learn).

However, comps are just one aspect. You also have to learn mechanics and counters, good relationship management (eg. keeping heroes at or below 3 stress as much as possible to avoid as many negative pips as possible), good hero + skill compositions, so on and so forth -- hence rigidly sticking to very specific choices can cause more harm than good.



Keeping heroes "tense" is far more important to me than wiping horror, and it's quite easy to maintain for 90% of the game, hence infrequent bouts of horror don't mean much as it's usually just one button press away from being reset back to tense by any half-decent stress-healer or self-soothes -- not to mention items, prog (trinkets, camping, etc), or just well-greased comps taking less damage/stress/horrors.

Truly, the only anti-horror I consistently equip is stray Laudanum, other than being a natural part of Jester's inspiring tune, which I use to get people from 5-to-3.

Soothers:
Jester, Crusader, Man-at-Arms, Flagellant, Vestal - and technically Hellion + Duellist.

Self-soothers:
Grave Robber, Abomination, Leper

Healers:
Plague Doctor, Crusader, Flagellant, Vestal, Occultist - and technically Runaway.

Self-healers:
Grave Robber, Hellion, Leper, Abomination, Runaway - and technically Man-at-Arms + Jester.

Much like DD1, the best healing and soothing comes from strangling damage and stress in the first place -- be it fast kills, priority focus, greased comps, relationship management, progression, camping, and all the other bells-and-whistles that help you win more efficiently and staying ahead of the problem(s).

Along the way, heroes like Flagellant can be tweaked into the most potent healer and soother by avoiding cooldowns and some thresholds outright (especially when considering specific paths, either stress-resistance, fellow soothers to keep him sane, or ignoring him and leaning straight into toxic relationships) -- anything that helps him lash -3's off people every round without going nuts, weaved between his great collection of obnoxious self-healing or team-healing buttons and support (including an optional horror remover).

Heroes like Crusader can get people down to tense with Inspiring Cry and also remove 1x stress from themselves regardless of how much he has), not to mention having stress-reducing combo attacks, direct healing, tanking, and even regeneration builds on top of being one of the meatiest flesh-bags.

Man-at-Arms is one of the most popular soothing choices considering he can reduce himself and one other 5-stress hero down to tense simultaneously via one mastered Bulwark, all while slapping himself with protection tokens or weaving in combo Crush for free self-sustain, guarding, hypermobility, displacing foes (etc), all of which helps reduce intake as well.

Vestal can assist other soothers with mastered Sanctuary, guarding heroes in danger while pushing them back down to tense (-2 stress), all while lending other support, such as brain-dead regeneration builds, tokens, direct healing, etc.

Meanwhile, heroes like Hellion can soothe -3 from themselves (and also -1 from anyone else above 5) via a self-healing button with no per-battle limit, while heroes like Leper are brainlessly self-sustained. Just like DD1, he's one of the most durable meat-sacks, capable of -3 and chunky self-heals to himself on demand.

The list of considerations (for party, target, or self) goes on and on -- and as said, there are four slots to help mash all those tools together -- but if people genuinely think they need a Jester or Plague Doctor specifically just to get anywhere -- and they continue not getting anywhere -- then they have clearly become inefficient crutches that should be put to bed for a while. Take some time to dabble with other comps, or failing that, check out some guides to help broaden your horizons (if the idea of experimentation or blind tests doesn't appeal).

Sadly, I don't have many (recent) videos of DD2, but here's just one old example I used to love running with back in the day which is obnoxiously sustainable and doesn't contain PD or JES:

4. GR (self-soother & self-healer)
3. RUN (healer and self-healer)
2. FLA (team healer & soother)
1. MAA (self-healer & team soother)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3081668533

RUN can hide (regen), cauterize bleeds, and provide mobility/range, as does Grave Robber, who is one of the most self-sustained assassin archetypes in the game (stealth, 2x healing, and optional (mastered) stress-reducer). They are backed by Flagellant, one of the most obnoxiously potent supports in the game - and Man-at-Arms, one of the most consistent stress-dumpers and ease-makers.

Lately, I've dropped MAA for CRU (so that RUN+CRU can play back-rank fire builds while FLA/GR drop blight) -- with CRU being yet another stupidly good healer + stress-healer by himself. That's an idea of a very sustain-stacked team -- in a game where the main difference-maker is knowledge, not the amount (or type) of sustain you're bringing.

Annoyingly enough every single time I don't bring either vesta or plague at the very least. I never leave a single fight without losing nearly all their health and having zero way to heal it back so I'm forced to take either or both of them. Self sustain character stuff just never seems to work for me regardless of what I do or build cause chances are I just waste the turn healing only to get slammed in the face by a crit and a random debuff for thinking I can run something without PG.

And I genuinely have no clue how you're dealing with horror so quickly given every time an enemy shows up that gives it, they will hit it every time, and they will give 3+ atress and by the end of the fight all of my people have 5 stress cause I didn't bring Jester.

And some enemy's are just completely bs like the doctor zombie one with the leeches that I got my ass kicked by and gave up my last run on.

I think you need more damage to get shorter fights. Damage crits keep stress level low, also high damage kills enemy faster, focus on one one enemy and kill him as fast as possible. Preferably one of the backliners which buffs the enemy or does high ranged damage.

Then you are 4vs3 and you can kill the left over enemies easier as you get less damage and stress. Use high dmg heroes like grave robber, highwayman or duelist with fleche and preparation. Also use mastery points on your main dmg skills and look out for high dmg, high crit or high speed items for your damage dealers, they make a big difference.

To the dots: You don´t have to debuff every dot, you can outheal it, for example vestal seraph with mantra can heal 2 heroes at once and use heal over time which counters the dot damage.

[CadeOfRoots]

Originally posted by Modragor:

Originally posted by CadeOfRoots:

Annoyingly enough every single time I don't bring either vesta or plague at the very least. I never leave a single fight without losing nearly all their health and having zero way to heal it back so I'm forced to take either or both of them. Self sustain character stuff just never seems to work for me regardless of what I do or build cause chances are I just waste the turn healing only to get slammed in the face by a crit and a random debuff for thinking I can run something without PG.

And I genuinely have no clue how you're dealing with horror so quickly given every time an enemy shows up that gives it, they will hit it every time, and they will give 3+ atress and by the end of the fight all of my people have 5 stress cause I didn't bring Jester.

And some enemy's are just completely bs like the doctor zombie one with the leeches that I got my ass kicked by and gave up my last run on.

I think you need more damage to get shorter fights. Damage crits keep stress level low, also high damage kills enemy faster, focus on one one enemy and kill him as fast as possible. Preferably one of the backliners which buffs the enemy or does high ranged damage.

Then you are 4vs3 and you can kill the left over enemies easier as you get less damage and stress. Use high dmg heroes like grave robber, highwayman or duelist with fleche and preparation. Also use mastery points on your main dmg skills and look out for high dmg, high crit or high speed items for your damage dealers, they make a big difference.

To the dots: You don´t have to debuff every dot, you can outheal it, for example vestal seraph with mantra can heal 2 heroes at once and use heal over time which counters the dot damage.

I'm gonna be honest i have never tried to do a crit anything before besides the highwaymans prep skill that gives him a crit. Besides that i've never touch graverobber or duelist either cause both seem way to weak to me. With duelist requiring way to much of a brain i do not have to actually make her good. I bet she's fine but i'm not nearly smart enough to know how

[Sam]

Just him the random party comp and go with what you have, balance the team with hereos specialisations and work with it, it can be harsh but best way to keep the game fresh and interesting imo

[Julez]

Can't blame you for picking Jester & PD every time since they are exceptionally good at their respective role. I used to run the "better safe than sorry" strategy as well, only picking my go to heroes.

However I would highly recommend experimenting with new team comps. There are many ways to approach a viable team. Very rarely should your dedicated health/stress healer spam their heals as it only prolongs your inevitable demise.

For instance, a self reliant front ranker that taunts and heals him self up when needed (MAA, Hellion, Leper, Crusader) goes a long way in keeping your team safe enough to perhaps consider a less consistent backup healer (Occultist, Flag, Crusader) opening up more possibilities to output heavier damage or control via de-(buffs). Always have some healing combat items / Laudanum as a backup when things go south (they always do).

Relationships. They matter. A lot. You can do without but for now, they would technically solve all your immediate issues: buffs, dot removal, stress heals... . Prioritize having every team member neutral and focus on the ones that seem to get along the most. Investing in all the booze you can find goes a long way.

Essentially: learn how to be resourceful at any given situation. Never ever reset a run until your party wipes. Restarting early poisons your progress. I've had successful runs even though half my team died at some point and I had to somehow crawl my way across half the map and survive the cultists encounter. Learn from your mistakes. Anticipate bs RNG. You can't prevent it from happening so make sure to minimize it's impact.

This might have not been very helpful concrete advise. It's all situational anyways. In time, you'll learn how to be more flexible by trial, luck and error. And eventually you definitely will succeed consistently - just like all of us have or one day will.

[CadeOfRoots]

Originally posted by Julez:

Can't blame you for picking Jester & PD every time since they are exceptionally good at their respective role. I used to run the "better safe than sorry" strategy as well, only picking my go to heroes.

However I would highly recommend experimenting with new team comps. There are many ways to approach a viable team. Very rarely should your dedicated health/stress healer spam their heals as it only prolongs your inevitable demise.

For instance, a self reliant front ranker that taunts and heals him self up when needed (MAA, Hellion, Leper, Crusader) goes a long way in keeping your team safe enough to perhaps consider a less consistent backup healer (Occultist, Flag, Crusader) opening up more possibilities to output heavier damage or control via de-(buffs). Always have some healing combat items / Laudanum as a backup when things go south (they always do).

Relationships. They matter. A lot. You can do without but for now, they would technically solve all your immediate issues: buffs, dot removal, stress heals... . Prioritize having every team member neutral and focus on the ones that seem to get along the most. Investing in all the booze you can find goes a long way.

Essentially: learn how to be resourceful at any given situation. Never ever reset a run until your party wipes. Restarting early poisons your progress. I've had successful runs even though half my team died at some point and I had to somehow crawl my way across half the map and survive the cultists encounter. Learn from your mistakes. Anticipate bs RNG. You can't prevent it from happening so make sure to minimize it's impact.

This might have not been very helpful concrete advise. It's all situational anyways. In time, you'll learn how to be more flexible by trial, luck and error. And eventually you definitely will succeed consistently - just like all of us have or one day will.

I barely manage to beat some parts of the first game on radiant and haven't ever attempted the actual darkest dungeon in the game.

But losing half my party would just be a death sentence to me regardless of how far I am, not sure how its "poison" when losing even 1 team member usually means its time for me to give up and restart.

Relationships only really work if I constantly keep stress down cause the whole "stallwort" thing or whatever the positive effect for hitting max stress has never happened to me the whole game and it's happened maybe once in the first game. It just feels sorta tacked on.

Party wise though yeah i probably should try and use different frontliners.

[Necrophoria]

Originally posted by CadeOfRoots:

I enjoy the game but the chance of me ever beating it is so unbelievably slim. Like there's basically no way i'll be able to beat half the stuff this game has when it constantly goes "well you constantly a jester and plague doctor in every group."

Cause if you don't, stress runs rampant and you don't have anything to stop bleeding, burning, and blight.

Not to mention how if an enemy ever has counter attack its going to crit 75% of the time, meanwhile if you have a 75% chance to dodge it will never work a single time.

I enjoy this game for the hero story's you can uncover but actually playing it is the most painful thing of all time cause its a constant "yah no." in every single fight against every single enemy.

I will never understand how anyone even makes it to the second boss when all the lair bosses just make me lose every single time or i don't even make it to a lair boss cause i've basically already lost by the time i get there so I just give up and restart.

You know there's other stress healers, right? Crusader, flaggelant, hellion, and man at arms, hello? Not to mention there's heroes who can manage their own stress like the leper and now abomination.

Also, you can build your heroes to have high crit, as critting enemies tends to heal stress. Also, making path choices in expeditions based on hero preference shouldn't be ignored unless you are at 0 stress across the board.

You just need time to learn the enemies from each area, which comes with practice, or you can otherwise watch ShuffleFM on youtube who makes decent guides.

[Julez]

Originally posted by CadeOfRoots:

But losing half my party would just be a death sentence to me regardless of how far I am, not sure how its "poison" when losing even 1 team member usually means its time for me to give up and restart.

Relationships only really work if I constantly keep stress down cause the whole "stallwort" thing or whatever the positive effect for hitting max stress has never happened to me the whole game and it's happened maybe once in the first game. It just feels sorta tacked on.

Party wise though yeah i probably should try and use different frontliners.

It's poison in the sense that it hinders you from learning how to overcome true adversity. The combat strategy aspect is way more refined in dd2 compared to dd1 and team synergies is something to be mastered. Consider following through with what you have started instead of trying to push your luck with the same approach every time. Worst case, you'll die in the next battle anyways but reaching the inn with just a single team member left means you can replace fallen heroes and potentially win.

But more importantly: playing a team of 3 gives you valuable insight into what your team could benefit from the most. You can't constantly stress-/heal since you need to press damage to end the fight quick. What are your priority targets, how do you deal with the ones you can't focus on? What abilities are essential, which ones are redundant? You are getting shuffled out of position, how about considering some movement abilities as a contingency to avoid losing turns?

When the fight starts you want to deal with problem enemy back liners (stressors, buffers) swiftly. Get rid of the weak scrubs but also mitigate harm done by bigger threats. However, once you are at an advantage, you also might want to stall the fight as long as possible to stress heal or top up your hp while you have the breathing room to do so. You'll learn this best with a beaten up crew imo.

I am also quite curious what constantly stresses out your team that much. Ditch your preferred pathing in favor of your teams wishes when necessary. Maybe try to avoid early lairs until you have a couple positive relationships going. Especially avoid lairs that your team can't handle well (sleeping general would be your arch nemesis I presume). After all, one trophy is enough to enter the mountain anyway. Unlocking more inn items will greatly enhance your stress healing capabilities.

And finally: We are here to have fun and all but the game is frustrating by design. Embrace it. Clutching with single guy left standing against all expectations is the best. Once you are a more seasoned player you'll just know when a run is truly doomed and it's time to quit out. But for now try to struggle till the end opposed to giving up and restarting early.

[Reedo]

Originally posted by CadeOfRoots:

Originally posted by RopeDrink:

So long as someone genuinely believes that they need X, Y, or Z to succeed in DD2, then they will always stifle themselves and limit their success (for example: believing you need a Jester or Plague Doctor every run, despite neither being necessary for anything since 2021, thus restricting compositions or ability to learn).

However, comps are just one aspect. You also have to learn mechanics and counters, good relationship management (eg. keeping heroes at or below 3 stress as much as possible to avoid as many negative pips as possible), good hero + skill compositions, so on and so forth -- hence rigidly sticking to very specific choices can cause more harm than good.



Keeping heroes "tense" is far more important to me than wiping horror, and it's quite easy to maintain for 90% of the game, hence infrequent bouts of horror don't mean much as it's usually just one button press away from being reset back to tense by any half-decent stress-healer or self-soothes -- not to mention items, prog (trinkets, camping, etc), or just well-greased comps taking less damage/stress/horrors.

Truly, the only anti-horror I consistently equip is stray Laudanum, other than being a natural part of Jester's inspiring tune, which I use to get people from 5-to-3.

Soothers:
Jester, Crusader, Man-at-Arms, Flagellant, Vestal - and technically Hellion + Duellist.

Self-soothers:
Grave Robber, Abomination, Leper

Healers:
Plague Doctor, Crusader, Flagellant, Vestal, Occultist - and technically Runaway.

Self-healers:
Grave Robber, Hellion, Leper, Abomination, Runaway - and technically Man-at-Arms + Jester.

Much like DD1, the best healing and soothing comes from strangling damage and stress in the first place -- be it fast kills, priority focus, greased comps, relationship management, progression, camping, and all the other bells-and-whistles that help you win more efficiently and staying ahead of the problem(s).

Along the way, heroes like Flagellant can be tweaked into the most potent healer and soother by avoiding cooldowns and some thresholds outright (especially when considering specific paths, either stress-resistance, fellow soothers to keep him sane, or ignoring him and leaning straight into toxic relationships) -- anything that helps him lash -3's off people every round without going nuts, weaved between his great collection of obnoxious self-healing or team-healing buttons and support (including an optional horror remover).

Heroes like Crusader can get people down to tense with Inspiring Cry and also remove 1x stress from themselves regardless of how much he has), not to mention having stress-reducing combo attacks, direct healing, tanking, and even regeneration builds on top of being one of the meatiest flesh-bags.

Man-at-Arms is one of the most popular soothing choices considering he can reduce himself and one other 5-stress hero down to tense simultaneously via one mastered Bulwark, all while slapping himself with protection tokens or weaving in combo Crush for free self-sustain, guarding, hypermobility, displacing foes (etc), all of which helps reduce intake as well.

Vestal can assist other soothers with mastered Sanctuary, guarding heroes in danger while pushing them back down to tense (-2 stress), all while lending other support, such as brain-dead regeneration builds, tokens, direct healing, etc.

Meanwhile, heroes like Hellion can soothe -3 from themselves (and also -1 from anyone else above 5) via a self-healing button with no per-battle limit, while heroes like Leper are brainlessly self-sustained. Just like DD1, he's one of the most durable meat-sacks, capable of -3 and chunky self-heals to himself on demand.

The list of considerations (for party, target, or self) goes on and on -- and as said, there are four slots to help mash all those tools together -- but if people genuinely think they need a Jester or Plague Doctor specifically just to get anywhere -- and they continue not getting anywhere -- then they have clearly become inefficient crutches that should be put to bed for a while. Take some time to dabble with other comps, or failing that, check out some guides to help broaden your horizons (if the idea of experimentation or blind tests doesn't appeal).

Sadly, I don't have many (recent) videos of DD2, but here's just one old example I used to love running with back in the day which is obnoxiously sustainable and doesn't contain PD or JES:

4. GR (self-soother & self-healer)
3. RUN (healer and self-healer)
2. FLA (team healer & soother)
1. MAA (self-healer & team soother)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3081668533

RUN can hide (regen), cauterize bleeds, and provide mobility/range, as does Grave Robber, who is one of the most self-sustained assassin archetypes in the game (stealth, 2x healing, and optional (mastered) stress-reducer). They are backed by Flagellant, one of the most obnoxiously potent supports in the game - and Man-at-Arms, one of the most consistent stress-dumpers and ease-makers.

Lately, I've dropped MAA for CRU (so that RUN+CRU can play back-rank fire builds while FLA/GR drop blight) -- with CRU being yet another stupidly good healer + stress-healer by himself. That's an idea of a very sustain-stacked team -- in a game where the main difference-maker is knowledge, not the amount (or type) of sustain you're bringing.

Annoyingly enough every single time I don't bring either vesta or plague at the very least. I never leave a single fight without losing nearly all their health and having zero way to heal it back so I'm forced to take either or both of them. Self sustain character stuff just never seems to work for me regardless of what I do or build cause chances are I just waste the turn healing only to get slammed in the face by a crit and a random debuff for thinking I can run something without PG.

And I genuinely have no clue how you're dealing with horror so quickly given every time an enemy shows up that gives it, they will hit it every time, and they will give 3+ atress and by the end of the fight all of my people have 5 stress cause I didn't bring Jester.

And some enemy's are just completely bs like the doctor zombie one with the leeches that I got my ass kicked by and gave up my last run on.

Something that really helps is having a character that can taunt. It helps you direct where the damage goes, so your squishy heroes are free to do things other than heal. Eg: Take a leper, he can use "withstand" to draw attacks by enemies onto himself and has "solemnity" available to heal that damage and stress away again. In the meantime, you can focus on removing enemy threats, normally best focussing on taking down the back ranks of your enemies.
I think it's interesting that you feel like rng is a big factor in this game, cause I'd say there is very little. It's really all about learning how to act in what situation.