How to utilize the Antiqurian? Dark Runs?

[OntologicalWeevil]

I'm hesitant to hire her becasue of the 'bad skills' but I've heard good things about loot.

Also, dark runs are scary, how should I prepare for them?

[FreyaMaluk]

no need tbh... darkness gives enough money to compensate for antiquarians.. but if you do want to go that route, then you definately can use her prot me to you advantage if you use a reposte character to do the job for her... make sure she goes first on every turn

[LaserGuy]

It's much easier to bring an Antiquarian than do a Dark run. Bring an otherwise strong team (preferably with upgraded gear for the area), and you should be fine.

Definitely don't need to do both. Antiquarian generates enough loot all on her own. Just make sure she interacts with every treasure curio.

[Белый Кот]

Most of Antiqurian skills are bad, but her "Protect me!" is very strong. So just put a tank on position 1, put her on position 2.
1 stacks of PM gives 30% prot, 5 dodge
2 stacks of PM gives 60% prot, 10 dodge
3 stacks of PM gives 80% prot, 15 dodge (you cannot have more then 80)
So it does not need even to be a tanky character, this skill will make anyone into one. The safest one is of course Man-at-Arms (and Retribution is good as well). Highwayman is a bit more risky, but his damage is better.
Note - lots of enemies can attack only 1-2, so you'll be able to heal a lot while finishing them (for example in cove Pelagic Guardian can hit only 1-2, Pelagic Grouper can hit only 1-2 when he is on 1-2 himself)
In my early game I like to get 2-3 Antiqurians and put one of them on every run, so I can collect lots of gold.

[Dies Horribly]

Dark runs have one particular thing that makes me utterly terrified to do them. Namely there's a chance that the Shambler will ambush your party if you enter an encounter in pitch blackness. Meet him, and if you aren't prepared, you're gonna have a bad day.

Antiquarians have a few skills that are usable, though Protect Me is definitely up there because it lets her pretty much avoid the worst damage and stress as well as making her bodyguard a lot tankier. Her blight is handy when you need to wear down a high-protection baddie, even though it's the weakest blight available to heroes. And the dodge buff affects the whole party.

So yeah, she sucks at doing straight damage, but she at least has some support options. Her main draw is still, of course, her capacity for finding treasure.

[DeyánStoi]

Originally posted by Dies Horribly:

Dark runs have one particular thing that makes me utterly terrified to do them. Namely there's a chance that the Shambler will ambush your party if you enter an encounter in pitch blackness. Meet him, and if you aren't prepared, you're gonna have a bad day.

Antiquarians have a few skills that are usable, though Protect Me is definitely up there because it lets her pretty much avoid the worst damage and stress as well as making her bodyguard a lot tankier. Her blight is handy when you need to wear down a high-protection baddie, even though it's the weakest blight available to heroes. And the dodge buff affects the whole party.

So yeah, she sucks at doing straight damage, but she at least has some support options. Her main draw is still, of course, her capacity for finding treasure.

I actually beat the shambler with an antiquarian in my team. It was: Antiquarian, Arbalest, Abomination, Hellion. I always was healing with her + the heal of the arbalest if neccesary. If it was not required, I usually used protect me or invigorating vapours. Her abbilities are not as good as others, but she is useful in combat too.

[Panfilo]

Don't think of her as straight up 'bad'. Since you're not using her as a primary damage dealer or healer, it frees her up to take trinkets and skills that would feel like a waste on a stronger hero. Taking Ancestor's Map+Survival Guide, for example, gives you a lot of scouting chance and the higher your scouting chance the more likely you are to find secret rooms which is where the real money is- why risk a dark run when you could hit paydirt on a secret room and get just as much money for none of the risk? Similarly, some quirks that might feel like a waste of space on some other heroes are just fine with her, like the scouting ones.

Having the Antiquarian interact with curios that give money will always at least give you a Small Antique (500g, stacks to 20) and occasionally a Large Antique (1000g, stacks to 10). Because these stack so high you can gather a ton of them easily.

She works really well with heroes that have Riposite like Man at Arms or Highwayman; use Protect me on them and every time they get targeted they'll attack the enemy back. I'll usually also take her AoE dodge buff, her heal and her stab (or blight, depending on dungeon). The dodge buff is when you can't really do much else, the heal is for pulling heroes off Death's Door in an emergency, and the stab/blight is for finishing off near-dead enemies that would be wasted on a powerful attack.