Question on the Second Assault on the Darkest Dungeon...

[BlooMood]

Would the houndmaster's Guard Dog Skill suffice well enough to replace a MaA? I know I need a guard move for the one hero who doesn't have a torch and I want to know if a houndmaster could be a good substitute for the MaA. Also, any other tips from people who have completed the mission would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Madmax]

You could try, but the Hound Master's Guard only lasts one turn, while the Man-at-Arms' Guard lasts two. So bringing a Hound Master means fighting with three heroes, or risking having an unprotected hero.

[BlooMood]

Dang, yeah I kinda assumed a Man at Arms would be better. Sadly, I just lost my lvl 6 while I was trying to camp to save him ._. He was masochistic and refused to eat causing himself to bleed out without me being able to do anything about it at that exact moment. Well, I have my word cut out for me then for the most part it seems. Thanks for the fast response!

[wckowalski]

Yeah, it's great to have a man at arms for the templar fight so you can alternate using guard and retribution. You average more than one counterattack per turn against one of the templar.

[BlooMood]

Hey, gonna add a question to this, which Templar fight do you guys reccomend doing first? The double Templar?

[quantumbanana]

Houndmaster is great as a backup guard, just in case MAA is indisposed. You can also try stacking dodge on the character going without the Talisman. Very risky, yes, but some have succeeded. Although given the heavy damage output from the Templars, a failed dodge could mean instant death. So you definitely want a strong healer in this case even if you have stacked dodge to a ludicrous amount (like Grave Robber after 3 Shadow Fade). Alternatively you could try spamming Protect Me with an antiquarian?

[wckowalski]

I think it's probably safest to fight the double templar last.

[Madmax]

Agreed. I usually go clockwise, starting with the Templar on the bottom-left of the map. Then camp right before the top Templar and again before the double Templar fight in the bottom-right of the map. If you're concerned about the in-between fights, you can always backtrack through the paths you've already covered, as there won't be new fights there (I think?).

[Radical Rat]

I completed it without MaA.

I used : Hound Master - Occultist - Leper - Leper.
Both Lepers equipped with Recovery Charm trinkets, and one with Crew's Bell ( so i used Hound Master to protect him ). Revelation hit him once or twice ( ~ 35 Stress dmg ) , because i did not choose to guard him all the time and concentrated on killing monsters. It wasn't that bad, because he was able to recover himself later.

[Scootz]

I used Houndmaster/Vestal/MaA/MaA.
I had no weird-trinket on the vestal, since she's the weakest and needed protecting anyway. She had double heal trinkets. It went SMOOTH.
I had three people with guards just incase my MaA got stunned so they could cover the weak link, the MaA's just riposted everything to death.
There's a guide by MrBunnyMan, guide to the darkest dungeon, I go by whatever he recommends.

[BlooMood]

Hey guys! Managed to beat that assault first try with: Houndmaster - Vestal - Leper - Leper! Thank you guys for all the help and suggestions! Now I move on to Belly of the Beast! Houndmaster ended up trivializing the Templars with a huge 120 dodge which avoided basically every attack while he was defending my leper (Who didn't have the torch trinket). Not to mention the lepers self heals and PROT + Stress heals came in very handy during this run.

[Goblin King]

I ended up not bothering with the Hound Master's & MaA's Guard skill. Revelation doesn't do that much damage, even without the torch trinket. I was fine just using the Vestal to heal any damage.

[T-ruth]

I'm so happy that I just finished the second Darkest Dungeon.
I chose: Arbalest (damage/crits + heal skills), Antiquarian (self protection + heal skills + blight + and dodge for the whole party), Bounty Hunter and Hellion.
Was not a perfect run. BH died and the other ones were mostly afflicted and at deaths door, but it was interessting.

[Melodious]

I took both for insurance. Houndmaster is just an all-round great class.

I also recommend doing the double Templar last.