Meta Builds

[Lowbei]

Looking for some new build ideas for the darkest dungeons. Endgame players only please, as I dont care what little Timmy pulled from the stagecoach to run Ruins lvl1.

I run Crusader, Man at Arms, Bounty Hunter, Vestal.

Crusader does dps and stress heal.
Man at Arms ripostes and guards.
Bounty Hunter marks, pulls, and executes.
Vestal does vestal stuff.

Works well for me, but gets boring.

[No One]

OCC-PD-BH-HEL is actually pretty good, though I prefer PD-OCC-BH-HEL so the OCC can stab. Only downside is junia's head / prophet's eye is a killer combo for the OCC. I ran through DD2 blind, and one-shot it, with this team. It's only 'pretty good' because I've lost the BH a couple times on boss fights, which makes me think he's too squishy for row 2. That was before the ancestor's signet and candle existed, though, which is what I use now.

That was my old favourite party. My new favourite is PD-JES-♥♥♥-OCC. Ridiculously fast, which more than makes up for the fact it has no damage. They frequently all go first. Stunning all four slots is also fun. PD/HEL can do that too, but the speed on the OCC and ♥♥♥ completely leaves poor Yawp in the dust. You'd think I would have issues with the OCC being squishy but I haven't. This team has all the utility. Using the ♥♥♥ transform consumes JES and ♥♥♥ turns later for removing the stress, but since it's later it can be used for arbitrage. Spend turns on easy fights to relieve stress on fights where I suddenly need damage output.

I also rather like HM-OCC-♥♥♥-MAA. This has actual damage output. I do miss ceiling tentacles. This is an actual good team for DD2, though it's also a good team everywhere else. I use bellow for the times when row 4 has 1-2 HP left.

Modified mark: HM-ARB-BH-CRU. Has two offhealers and two stress offhealers, which I found surprisingly fun. ARB in row 3 since HM can lick himself. Crushed stygian DD3 with this one. Does require stall tactics though. Normally I find the crusader agonizingly slow, aggravated by his range issues.

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by No One:

OCC-PD-BH-HEL is actually pretty good, though I prefer PD-OCC-BH-HEL so the OCC can stab. Only downside is junia's head / prophet's eye is a killer combo for the OCC. I ran through DD2 blind, and one-shot it, with this team. It's only 'pretty good' because I've lost the BH a couple times on boss fights, which makes me think he's too squishy for row 2. That was before the ancestor's signet and candle existed, though, which is what I use now.

That was my old favourite party. My new favourite is PD-JES-♥♥♥-OCC. Ridiculously fast, which more than makes up for the fact it has no damage. They frequently all go first. Stunning all four slots is also fun. PD/HEL can do that too, but the speed on the OCC and ♥♥♥ completely leaves poor Yawp in the dust. You'd think I would have issues with the OCC being squishy but I haven't. This team has all the utility. Using the ♥♥♥ transform consumes JES and ♥♥♥ turns later for removing the stress, but since it's later it can be used for arbitrage. Spend turns on easy fights to relieve stress on fights where I suddenly need damage output.

I also rather like HM-OCC-♥♥♥-MAA. This has actual damage output. I do miss ceiling tentacles. This is an actual good team for DD2, though it's also a good team everywhere else. I use bellow for the times when row 4 has 1-2 HP left.

Modified mark: HM-ARB-BH-CRU. Has two offhealers and two stress offhealers, which I found surprisingly fun. ARB in row 3 since HM can lick himself. Crushed stygian DD3 with this one. Does require stall tactics though. Normally I find the crusader agonizingly slow, aggravated by his range issues.

yeah, i hate stall tactics but sometimes...

[No One]

Do you mind resetting positions after every fight, or is that just me? E.g. I tried ARB-CRU-OCC-LEP so the CRU could assist with assassinating the back row. Worked, but re-cocking the machine every fight isn't worth it.

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by No One:

Do you mind resetting positions after every fight, or is that just me? E.g. I tried ARB-CRU-OCC-LEP so the CRU could assist with assassinating the back row. Worked, but re-cocking the machine every fight isn't worth it.

im ocd as hell, as i think most darkest dungeon players probably are, and yeah i make sure all positions stay right, unless its the man at arms and crusader swapping the front slots, because that doesnt matter, tho id rather the man at arms be in the back since he can move 2 spaces and the crusader cant

[Herr Sten]

Jesus christ you are a rude individual.

[Zunkin]

Originally posted by Lowbei:

Originally posted by Rusty Shackleford:

I literally just use OCC PD BH HEL (the same party i pulled off the wagon to run ruins lvl1) and they make amazing boss slayers for the cove and the ruins for some reason.

thats nice timmy, and i hope the ruins go well for you. endgame players only please.

Yeah, you can beat the DD with this party aside for that one mission where you should have a character that guards. Just run a load of speed trinkets and stun everything. Stress will be an issue, but not an insurmountable one. I would personally swap out the BH for a Hound Master.

[Zunkin]

Honestly most semi competently built parties will take down the DD without an issue. It doesn't really require a special recipe. I personally don't like the Vestal much, but she is hardly a deal breaker and my dislike of her is more due to personal tastes. I also find the Crusader painfully slow, but then again that is also not a deal breaker and I have cleared at least one level of the DD with each of those classes without any issues.

I like Hellions, Man at Arms, Hound Masters, Flagellants, Bounty Hunters and Occultists in particular as stand out classes for the DD.

[Stal Hamarr]

Just completed the game on stygian in 70 weeks and 3 deaths (all in the final mission).

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1200336685


DD1: pretty much any solid composition with moving skills is ok here. Highwayman with riposte is excellent. Bring a stress healer.

DD2: one of the very few places where a leper is useful.
Give him trinkets with accuracy and damage vs eldritch. Bring at least a houndmaster or a MaA to guard the leper. My last party here was: vestal - houndmaster - leper - MaA.

DD3: anything that can hit rank 4 hard
Did it today with arbalest - plague doctor - occultist - hellion
I took the shortest route (two cyst fights total) and didn't get a single teleport. Camp before the cyst fights and buff the damage on the arbalest and hellion to kill the white cell in 1-2 hits.
You can camp three times, so stress healers are not necessary here.

DD4: i severely uderestimated the stress in this mission on stygian. Pretty much anything not terrible works, but I will never go here without a jester. The ancestor decided to focus all the stress on my highwayman (20+ stress each time) and my houndmaster was simply unable to keep up, so I lost one character against the ancestor. I went with three against the heart and barely made it with the houndmaster awkwardly finishing the boss with blackjack (can't use the hound from rank 1, but at least I got the lone survivor achievement). Party was: vestal - houndmaster - highwayman - bounty hunter. I would definitely replace the HM with a jester.

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by Shizu:

Just completed the game on stygian in 70 weeks and 3 deaths (all in the final mission).

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1200336685


DD1: pretty much any solid composition with moving skills is ok here. Highwayman with riposte is excellent. Bring a stress healer.

DD2: one of the very few places where a leper is useful.
Give him trinkets with accuracy and damage vs eldritch. Bring at least a houndmaster or a MaA to guard the leper. My last party here was: vestal - houndmaster - leper - MaA.

DD3: anything that can hit rank 4 hard
Did it today with arbalest - plague doctor - occultist - hellion
I took the shortest route (two cyst fights total) and didn't get a single teleport. Camp before the cyst fights and buff the damage on the arbalest and hellion to kill the white cell in 1-2 hits.
You can camp three times, so stress healers are not necessary here.

DD4: i severely uderestimated the stress in this mission on stygian. Pretty much anything not terrible works, but I will never go here without a jester. The ancestor decided to focus all the stress on my highwayman (20+ stress each time) and my houndmaster was simply unable to keep up, so I lost one character against the ancestor. I went with three against the heart and barely made it with the houndmaster awkwardly finishing the boss with blackjack (can't use the hound from rank 1, but at least I got the lone survivor achievement). Party was: vestal - houndmaster - highwayman - bounty hunter. I would definitely replace the HM with a jester.

very nice

[No One]

Originally posted by Shizu:

Pretty much anything not terrible works, but I will never go here without a jester.

I went with my antiquarian team. HWM-VES-ATQ-MAA. It was sort of challenging. Sacced the ATQ and HWM.

[Stal Hamarr]

Originally posted by No One:

Originally posted by Shizu:

Pretty much anything not terrible works, but I will never go here without a jester.

I went with my antiquarian team. HWM-VES-ATQ-MAA. It was sort of challenging. Sacced the ATQ and HWM.

How did you manage the stress?
After getting up to DD3 with zero deaths, I expected a cakewalk on DD4, but the ancestor fight completely took me by surprise. Too much stress, all focused on Dismas, who eventually bled out after the third heart attack.

[No One]

Originally posted by Shizu:

How did you manage the stress?

It was bad. But I lived anyway.

[Shucks]

Dude you have 170 hours in Darkest Dungeon and havent beaten the game. You literally are Timmy.

[Lowbei]

Originally posted by Benefit:

Dude you have 170 hours in Darkest Dungeon and havent beaten the game. You literally are Timmy.

back when the game came out and i did 160 of those hours, there was no darkest dungeon, so the game couldnt be beaten.

ive beaten it now, and it was easy. gg lol

[White Shadow]

I don't think there's a proven one build that fits all sizes. It depends more on your playstyle, and also, each Darkest Dungeon level has slightly different challenges, so your team composition will change too.

In DD1, the main challenges are high amounts of stress and bleed
In DD2, the main challenge is being able to stand toe to toe with the Templars, 3 times.
In DD3, the main challenge is battle of attrition and being able to survive a super long dungeon with up to 4 camping stops. Lots of blight in that one too if I recall.
In DD4, the main challenge is the overdrawn boss fight that changes from one stage to another. You need some very decent damage in this one and in-combat healing since there's no chance to camp at all.

I did them all with different party compositions. And yes, everyone's least favourite Leper also ran one of those for me (DD3 if I recall). Man at Arms could certainly come in handy in most of these levels so to protect your most vulnerable party members. And get at least a couple of good damage dealers that can hit the back ranks. Highwayman and Graverobber are very good for this.