Is the Plague Doctor too good?

[Mithilius]

Wherever I go, when setting up a team I'm not really satisfied without a Plague Doctor. That backline stun is just too good to miss.

[redtieguy]

She is the only blight character, which makes her a knockout character, but only in two dungeons. Plague Doc in the Warrens is suddenly less useful. I personally have a minimum of 2 on every Roster. Not overpowered, just works well. The Abomination would be the same, but doesn't get along with other classes.

[LaserGuy]

Originally posted by HateSolstice:

I just started playing, and I have a Plague Doctor in my current party. To be honest, she's been pretty useless. None of her abilities have been helpful, and her one attack is a grenade that has to be used from the back ranks and only does 1 freaking damage. It inflicts plague or something, but that doesn't seem to do jack to any of the enemies. The only other things she does a slight buff and a heal that does basically nothing.

You're using the wrong skills. Don't worry about her damage skills. Her job is crowd control. Use Blinding Gas, Disorienting Blast, Battlefield Medicine as your primary kit. Blinding Gas can stun two enemies at once, and the PD is fast enough that she can often get first strike even on the quickest enemies (e.g. the ones that do stress damage). Disorienting blast is single target stun, but also messes up the enemy ranks (which can make it as strong as a double or triple stun) and clear corpses. Her heal doesn't do much in direct healing, but it cures bleed/blight, which can make a big difference later in the game where you can negate 20+ points of DoT damage. You only need the blight skills if the enemy is basically dead and you have nothing better for her to do.

[Zadavaka]

Originally posted by TSense:

ultra high blight on both important ranks at once, check

Only in beginner tier dungeons. On champion level damage is not so great.

[Karinanima]

Originally posted by HateSolstice:

I just started playing, and I have a Plague Doctor in my current party. To be honest, she's been pretty useless. None of her abilities have been helpful, and her one attack is a grenade that has to be used from the back ranks and only does 1 freaking damage. It inflicts plague or something, but that doesn't seem to do jack to any of the enemies. The only other things she does a slight buff and a heal that does basically nothing.

Her heal is more of a dot-cure than a primary heal.
Her main big deal are the stuns, and stuns mean you completely bust a turn for an enemy or 2 while the rest of your party can freely nuke them.
She is a top-tier class, really.

[Skinny Pete]

Originally posted by LaserGuy:

You only need the blight skills if the enemy is basically dead and you have nothing better for her to do.

Plague Grenade is a good way to start the back two rows. Stack it and 10 or more damage per round quickly finishes off things you otherwise might not be able to hit well for a couple rounds. (Often Stun with stun-buffing trinkets is the best thing for keeping an extremely dangerous back ranks monster neutralized until your melee guys can attack it.)

[No One]

Trying to use grenade instead of the stun is only going to make your life more difficult. If your dudes can't attack it, it means you're running leper or crusader, and that's also making your life more difficult.

[Karinanima]

Originally posted by No One:

Trying to use grenade instead of the stun is only going to make your life more difficult. If your dudes can't attack it, it means you're running leper or crusader, and that's also making your life more difficult.

But Crusaders can hit the backline just fine if your mid-row is shuffling?

[guts.kenpachi]

For me I feel like I can't go anywhere without an Occultist. The possible largest variable heal, dodge debuf, and multi back row hit for poke damage is amazing.

[White Shadow]

I guess I am the only one who appreciates her Incision skill, especially when combined with Dissection Kit or Bloody Herb trinkets (and let's face it, Bloody Herb drops like all the time).

[Iron Ben]

Originally posted by White Shadow:

I guess I am the only one who appreciates her Incision skill, especially when combined with Dissection Kit or Bloody Herb trinkets (and let's face it, Bloody Herb drops like all the time).

Thats actually how I use the PD in the warrens; both stuns, her heal and incision from 3rd position.


^_^

[RopeDrink]

Oh and to think that, way back when, she was considered underpowered by most :) It's good to see the community learn.

Am I really the only one who actually remembers how bad she was? How RHook had to revamp her skills due to the sheer level of negative feedback? The PD was so bad in her early incarnation that even the Leper felt sorry for her, so please, don't pretend like the community learned from an apparent 'mistake' when the reality is she was so god-awful and so complained about that the dev's answer was to push her into being the monster she is today.

[White Shadow]

Originally posted by Iron Ben:

Thats actually how I use the PD in the warrens; both stuns, her heal and incision from 3rd position.

^_^

Great to know it's not just me who loves that skill. She's a very versatile class.

[R.O.D.]

Originally posted by guts.kenpachi:

For me I feel like I can't go anywhere without an Occultist. The possible largest variable heal, dodge debuf, and multi back row hit for poke damage is amazing.

if you can DMG and kill the enemy fast yes, if needing to rely on his healing skills, no. He is not a good healer, but an AWESOME debuffer, together with a MAA he laughs on enraged God Swine.
Crusaders are durable and consistent by them own, if met a correct setup he can be a monster Damaging the enemy's rearguard. He suffers from low speed, but if a PD can stun the back rows for 2 turns (as you would mostly use her) you can wipe out them out. With a MAA with Rampart Shield and a Shieldbreaker with piercing DMG skill just keep shuffling the Crusader to Rank 3 and spamming Holy Lance.

I tend to go to dungeons on full Darkness so a UN-suffling party is a excellent choice.

EDIT: You can always do a full Last Crusade team, they may be slow, but with self sufficient STRESS/HP heal there few things to worry. When camping you can use the -%stress skills as to trivialize stress management. With their durability and strength you pretty much go anywhere, but they really shine on the Ruins, just smashing everything.

[Ash Williams]

Originally posted by Benefit:

Anime people are so weird.

Yeah plague doctors pretty sweet, so much utility for fights and essentially gives you a free 2 turns with that backline stun.

I didnt realize how useful they were in the beginning, now i wish i had more in my rotation.

Weird way of spelling weebs

[RopeDrink]

For me I feel like I can't go anywhere without an Occultist. The possible largest variable heal, dodge debuf, and multi back row hit for poke damage is amazing.

There comes a time in every Darkest Dungeoneers life when they realize that: potentially big (but otherwise 'inconsistent') heals just don't cut it when you've got a bro on deaths-door, and there's nothing worse than healing DDoor-bro for 0 and bleeding them for good measure.

Assuming you're using him as a damage-dealer and/or off-heal and/or with a squad who have some self-sustain of their own, he's a fantastic chap to have. If you're throwing him down the back and expecting him to solo-heal a bunch of people who depend solely on you for health, well... I look forward to the 'Occultist killed mah [insert class here]' - eventually.