What's the best way to handle the Crimson Curse?

[PalmTree]

I just got my first infected hero (A low level Falconer) and I've got a few questions on how the curse actually works:

First: How much Blood should I bring on a quest? I've racked up about 15 vials, and I don't want to have to bring more than I need.

Second: How do you identify the different phases of the curse? I've read that the hero gets a stat buff if you give them The Blood during the second phase of the curse, but I have no clue on how to know when the hero enters the second phase.

Third: How does the Fanatic work? I got a notice in town saying that he would stalk parties with infected heroes. Is he guaranteed to appear on every quest with a cursed hero, or are there times when he won't come after you?

Finally: How does the curse spread? All of the stress relief facilities and the sanitarium have contamination meters now. Do those increase by putting infected heroes in the facilities, or do the meters just increase over time? Also, will infected heroes also infect the other heroes just by being in my roster, or do they need to be using the same facility for the curse to spread?

[Skinny Pete]

1: To play it safe, one for every infected hero. To play it slightly less safe, one for every craving/wasting hero, and hope to pick up more along the way if you need it.

2: There are only four: passive, craving, wasting, and DEAD. If you right click the hero it will say just "Crimson Curse" for passive, the appearance of the hero will change and it will say "Crimson Curse (craving)" for craving, the hero will get flies and "Crimson (wasting)" for wasting, and if your hero is dead, he will be in the graveyard.

It is at craving where you want to drink Blood for a great buff.

3: The Fanatic shows up if you take two or more infected heroes on a run, excepting boss runs (the boss preempts the Fanatic), Courtyard runs, and I am pretty sure Darkest Dungeon runs. To avoid the Fanatic entirely, never bring more than one infected hero on a run where the Fanatic can appear.

Chances of him appearing: 2-3 infected heroes, 20% on medium infection and 33% at high.
All 4: 75% at medium or high.

4: The meters just increase over time. Even if you don't have any infected heroes at all, they will keep increasing. You will even get the Fanatic town event without any infected heroes.

Infected heroes will spread the infection to others using the same building. This is even more likely if they're in the same building and also in the same activity.

The main benefit of lots of infected heroes is boss fights, since you can take a completely infected party against bosses. If you bloodlust the entire party before the boss fight, it can make things very balanced in your favor.

Also if you get rid of the Fanatic by killing him, you can then take infected heroes on missions with impunity. This is really the only good reason for fighting him at all, and you should avoid him entirely if you aren't planning on a high infection roster. His drops are rubbish and there is no real benefit to it.

[nightshift]

Some heroes recieve quite a benefit being cursed, still it might be bad for others.
It is simply awesome on the Flagellant. And being the character that rejuvenates his own HP while bleeding the enemy, I find it quite suitable on him.
But it works well with others too, especially when some DLC trinkets comes in. So nice with the Jester or Graverobber as there is the Shanguine Snuff that will increase the bearer's Dodge and Crit chance if they're in Bloodlust. This works wonders against bosses.
Pairing the Fasting Seal + Rat Carcass on a wasting hero also works great, especially on a PD, Occultist, MAA or Vestal as they get an insane HP bonus with a huge SPD in addition. This makes them start early in turns, so landing their buffs, stuns, debuffs or venom before the enemy makes it1s move, they can heal early - potentially saving characters on Death's Door... plus they don't need any blood at all! If the Flagellant is down below 40%, the mentioned speed buff makes it sure he can use Exsanguinate right at the beginning of the round before taking any more hits. Also the extra HP gives you enough confidence to let him take damage.

Still, if you want to get rid of the infection, you can get a team of vampires together and go farm the Fanatic on regular missions as he will drop two potions each time that cures the curse for good. To have a vampire team is great for Courtyard missions too as you don't need to worry about infection anymore:) Just make sure to get enough blood vials.
For that, build the district that provides 2 Vials each week and you'll be okay. Maybe go blood-farming on those short Courtyard missions, those will get you tons of blood vials.