I really hate the Collector. A lot.

[ThisGuy]

Team Comp, from back to front,
Vassal, Abaralest, Highway Man, Man-at-Arms.
What with the MaA head's high Stun resist, the 8-12 heals from from the cleric head, the everytime bleed from the Highway Man head on my Healer, the Collector is literally eating every party I send into anywhere, alive. Can't run, tried twice, as my dudes just take more and more damage.
Can we just remove him? This is the second file I've run into him on, This time was 3rd Excursion, the other time was the 2nd. TPKs are not fun, and I'm doing my best to not to swear, because I love this game, but I hate this mob more.

[Arreghas]

What strategy are you using to kill him ?

The best way is usually to disable his summons while dealing massive damage to him. If his MaA guards your target, stun him, otherwise keep the Collected HWM stunned and focus down the Collector.

If you spend too much time attacking his summons you are digging your own grave.

With the party you had, depending on what skills you had equipped at the time, your Arbalest should have marked the Collector and she and the HWM should have gone all out on him, while the MaA would either stun enemies or protect your damaged Vestal.

Since you only have two characters who could DPS the backline, you should expect a tough fight, but definitely not an impossible one.

Also, this is very important, if you can stun the Collector on round 1 before he does a Collect Call, do it as an absolute priority. It gives you a lot more time to hurt him and allows your frontline damage dealers to hit him once.

I often get the Collector down 30-60% on his first turn.

Hope that helps you out.

[ThisGuy]

I tried to stun on round on, he resisted. I did not have an Arbalest with a mark ability, sadly no one did, but the caravan had yet to give me anyone who had a mark. No good trinkets from the quests, either. I have a file that is on their 8th in, no collector, but everytime I suck at this game and restart, instant collector.

Maybe I'm just bad at the game, won't deny that, but all these TPKs are really getting under my skin.

[Biopanda]

You know you can respec skills in the guild right? Give people what you want.

Plus there's no need for restarting unless you just started, losing heroes doesn't really matter at all. They're replaceable.

I suggest giving the MAA a stun increase amulet of any kind, or a Houndmaster. High speed and a reliable stun.

[Tailwind]

Just like others stated, stunning Collector/Highwayman helps you a lot. Also, don't waste turns killing Vestal/Man-at-Arms.

If you still have a trouble, or your team happens to be incapable of winning the fight, retreating is a viable option - it replaces the Collector with a generic encounter.

[Pixel Peeper]

This guy actually has very few HP. The problem is he gets guards and heals, and also heals himself. You have to put out enough damage to break through his defenses and healing.

Stunning the Collector is great if you can manage it, but if your chances are too low (no Stun trinkets, didn't max the skill, etc), you're probably just wasting your character's turn.

You have to Stun MaA heads whenever they put up a guard, and just plain kill Vestal heads so they don't heal him and he wastes turns summoning them back instead of healing himself. Aside from that, all efforts should be spent dealing damage to him. If you try to whittle his HP down in a sustained battle, he will likely win.

I lost three characters this playthrough, and one was to the Champion Collector. He kept critting for 20 damage on his life drain and I stupidly brought in an Occultist to heal, who almost always healed for 4 HP. Collector crit a character for 20, a Highwayman head crit the same character for 22, Occultist decided to heal for 0 that time (he did that twice in that fight) and the character failed his first Death's Door roll. Bad RNG all around.

I still won, but now I have to get another Houndmaster back to level 6 and pay for all his skills and gear... I also had to cancel the mission and pay for stress relief for the other characters.

That 2,500g item he gave me? Not exactly good compensation for all my losses.

He's cool in early dungeons when he's easier and gives special loot, but later on he's just a useless pain in the ass.

[whitneygal]

Originally posted by SugarDaddySatan:

Can't run, tried twice

If you'd like to ease some of your frustration while you're learning the game, you can go into the game settings (Esc) and uncheck "Combat Retreats Can Fail." That way, you will always be able to retreat sucessfully.

Originally posted by SugarDaddySatan:

Maybe I'm just bad at the game, won't deny that, but all these TPKs are really getting under my skin.

You will be bad at the game for a while. I was terrible at the game for my first 30 hours, then just bad at it for about 30 more. Then began the slow but satisfying crawl towards "good enough to be fairly successful," which is where I am right now. Maybe one day I'll be finally be plain good at it. ;)

My point is that it's a brutal game to learn, and you'll have to readjust how you play it quite a few times before you start to see consistent success.

The Collector gets much easier once you figure out a strategy, although as is always the case with Darkest Dungeon, sometimes even the best strategy doesn't work out so well. ;)

I personally like to stun the Collector and the summoned Highwayman (using BH, Vestal, or PD), and take out the summoned Vestal, and leave MaA alone for a while (or stun him so he doesn't guard). The summoned Vestal and MaA don't do any damage, but the Vestal will keep healing the Collector and if you take her out then he will resummon her instead of doing damage or healing himself.

I stack up DoT effects on the Collector and HWM, and then use some brute force to whittle down their HP. Having a Houndmaster who can mark the Collector and debuff his PROT is useful.

I haven't lost a hero to a Collector in quite a while, on any level dungeon. If I don't have a Vestal in the group, I'll typically come out with low HP, but the fights aren't nearly as frustrating as they used to be for me.

Originally posted by Tripoteur Ventripotent:

I lost three characters this playthrough, and one was to the Champion Collector. He kept critting for 20 damage on his life drain and I stupidly brought in an Occultist to heal, who almost always healed for 4 HP.

I have said terrible, terrible things to my Occultist during battles like that.

Terrible things.

[Milunay]

Yes Occultists are powerful but not really reliable (Chaos prime^^). Now with this meeting (I have lost so many heroes / quests with him) , I turn back, lose some stuff and return and the Collector is remplaced by other mobs. So keep a light inventory is better but in long dungeons it's difficult to keep it light.I would like some food / torches grouped better. :p

[Pixel Peeper]

Originally posted by whitneygal:

Originally posted by Tripoteur Ventripotent:

I lost three characters this playthrough, and one was to the Champion Collector. He kept critting for 20 damage on his life drain and I stupidly brought in an Occultist to heal, who almost always healed for 4 HP.

I have said terrible, terrible things to my Occultist during battles like that.

Terrible things.

I told mine that "Occultists are worse healers than Arbalests".

The scary thing is I kind of believe it. I've been sending Arbalests to heal on level 5 shorts.

[CloudSeeker]

The best way is to have make him have 1 Man-At-Arm and 2 healers. Then you just stun the Man-At-Arm when he shield the collector and you then kill the collector.

[LaserGuy]

One useful thing. Collector can be pulled out of back line. His move resist is only 70% at Champion, and the heads are only 55% (and super low at Apprentice level). He'll move back if he summons more heads, but you can pull him forward pretty easily. With the party you were using, I'd walk him forward with the MaA (use Rampart to stun a head and push it back). Once he's up to Rank 2-3, you can use stronger attacks from your MaA/HWM against him.

[Xerkie]

The best Collector-Killer team so far i've seen so far from back-to-front is Vestal, Houndmaster, Highwayman, Leper. Leper demolishing Summoned Highwaymans (With help from a HM/HWM if needed), with the Houndmaster and Highwayman continually pounding into the big bad boy himself. It can be worth it to replace the Highwayman with the Houndmaster and give the third slot to a Jester if you have a lot of Damage/Bleed trinkets however (I prefer HMs collar + Dismas' Head), because the Jester can spam Battle Ballad to make you MUCH faster than the Collector or any of his Summons, counter some of the Collectors "Show Collection" Stress, or, when his job is done, spam Slice-Off if the Collector's in third or if a HWM is in 2nd/3rd and he NEEDS to die.

[CloudSeeker]

Originally posted by Xerkie:

The best Collector-Killer team so far i've seen so far from back-to-front is Vestal, Houndmaster, Highwayman, Leper. Leper demolishing Summoned Highwaymans (With help from a HM/HWM if needed), with the Houndmaster and Highwayman continually pounding into the big bad boy himself. It can be worth it to replace the Highwayman with the Houndmaster and give the third slot to a Jester if you have a lot of Damage/Bleed trinkets however (I prefer HMs collar + Dismas' Head), because the Jester can spam Battle Ballad to make you MUCH faster than the Collector or any of his Summons, counter some of the Collectors "Show Collection" Stress, or, when his job is done, spam Slice-Off if the Collector's in third or if a HWM is in 2nd/3rd and he NEEDS to die.

Maybe you should try:
Occultist > Plague Doctor > Houndmaster > Bounty Hunter / Hellion

The Occultist can bombard the collector in the back, as well as marking a target.

The Plague Doctor apply a heavy blight on the backrow.

The Houndmaster can make use of the mark from the Occultist as well as applying bleed.

The Bounty Hunter can deal with the 3 in front as well as using the mark for other enemies in the level. He can stun the 2 in front and the PD can stun the back

The Hellion can attack the collector in the back and as well as attacking any of the heads in the front. He stun however isn't the best due to the self debuffs.

[Xerkie]

Originally posted by CloudSeeker:

Originally posted by Xerkie:

The best Collector-Killer team so far i've seen so far from back-to-front is Vestal, Houndmaster, Highwayman, Leper. Leper demolishing Summoned Highwaymans (With help from a HM/HWM if needed), with the Houndmaster and Highwayman continually pounding into the big bad boy himself. It can be worth it to replace the Highwayman with the Houndmaster and give the third slot to a Jester if you have a lot of Damage/Bleed trinkets however (I prefer HMs collar + Dismas' Head), because the Jester can spam Battle Ballad to make you MUCH faster than the Collector or any of his Summons, counter some of the Collectors "Show Collection" Stress, or, when his job is done, spam Slice-Off if the Collector's in third or if a HWM is in 2nd/3rd and he NEEDS to die.

Maybe you should try:
Occultist > Plague Doctor > Houndmaster > Bounty Hunter / Hellion

The Occultist can bombard the collector in the back, as well as marking a target.

The Plague Doctor apply a heavy blight on the backrow.

The Houndmaster can make use of the mark from the Occultist as well as applying bleed.

The Bounty Hunter can deal with the 3 in front as well as using the mark for other enemies in the level. He can stun the 2 in front and the PD can stun the back

The Hellion can attack the collector in the back and as well as attacking any of the heads in the front. He stun however isn't the best due to the self debuffs.

But if you're constantly blighting the foe in the back, you're likely damaging a Vestal too, not to mention the Hellion and BH can rarely do enough controlled damage to end the possiblity of 2 HWM, which means that it can be really easy for a HWM to get through and crit to end your foes, and if you're killing Vestals with PD's back-row blight, you're adding the possibility for 2 MAA/1HWM, 2HWM/1MAA, 3HWM spawns, which can be absolute NIGHTMARES to complete.

[CloudSeeker]

Originally posted by Xerkie:

Originally posted by CloudSeeker:

Maybe you should try:
Occultist > Plague Doctor > Houndmaster > Bounty Hunter / Hellion

The Occultist can bombard the collector in the back, as well as marking a target.

The Plague Doctor apply a heavy blight on the backrow.

The Houndmaster can make use of the mark from the Occultist as well as applying bleed.

The Bounty Hunter can deal with the 3 in front as well as using the mark for other enemies in the level. He can stun the 2 in front and the PD can stun the back

The Hellion can attack the collector in the back and as well as attacking any of the heads in the front. He stun however isn't the best due to the self debuffs.

But if you're constantly blighting the foe in the back, you're likely damaging a Vestal too, not to mention the Hellion and BH can rarely do enough controlled damage to end the possiblity of 2 HWM, which means that it can be really easy for a HWM to get through and crit to end your foes, and if you're killing Vestals with PD's back-row blight, you're adding the possibility for 2 MAA/1HWM, 2HWM/1MAA, 3HWM spawns, which can be absolute NIGHTMARES to complete.

Well then I guess I must be doing something strange then because I can often kill them pretty easy. You can also actually just eat 1 hit or 2. You have a Occultist and a Plague Doctor, you can cancel all bleed effects and you can do a massive heal on someone. That is enough to give you the time you need for the front row to deal with the problem.

[LaserGuy]

Originally posted by CloudSeeker:

Originally posted by Xerkie:

The best Collector-Killer team so far i've seen so far from back-to-front is Vestal, Houndmaster, Highwayman, Leper. Leper demolishing Summoned Highwaymans (With help from a HM/HWM if needed), with the Houndmaster and Highwayman continually pounding into the big bad boy himself. It can be worth it to replace the Highwayman with the Houndmaster and give the third slot to a Jester if you have a lot of Damage/Bleed trinkets however (I prefer HMs collar + Dismas' Head), because the Jester can spam Battle Ballad to make you MUCH faster than the Collector or any of his Summons, counter some of the Collectors "Show Collection" Stress, or, when his job is done, spam Slice-Off if the Collector's in third or if a HWM is in 2nd/3rd and he NEEDS to die.

Maybe you should try:
Occultist > Plague Doctor > Houndmaster > Bounty Hunter / Hellion

The Occultist can bombard the collector in the back, as well as marking a target.

The Plague Doctor apply a heavy blight on the backrow.

The Houndmaster can make use of the mark from the Occultist as well as applying bleed.

The Bounty Hunter can deal with the 3 in front as well as using the mark for other enemies in the level. He can stun the 2 in front and the PD can stun the back

The Hellion can attack the collector in the back and as well as attacking any of the heads in the front. He stun however isn't the best due to the self debuffs.

With this party, you should use your BH to pull the Collector forward so that he can focus fire him while he's marked.