CHAD GUIDE ON BLOODMOON/STYGIAN "WORLD END" *IN PROGRESS*

(This guide can also help new players in lower difficulties) This chad descends his knowledge upon you on how to become a chad heir and defeat the beta ancestor all the while avoiding being cucked yourself

Introduction

This guide is aimed to ease your hardships when attempting to do a BM/Stygian run for the first time before going into this guide be prepared for the following to occur during your time spent on getting this achievement:

• Hero deaths you will absolutely have no control over (we're not fighting goblins, 100YR+ demon kings that want to take over the world, elves, we're fighting eldritch horrors that can bend reality at their will, you're practically sending them to their death more than half the time.)
  
  
• Possibly multiple runs deleted due to an unbearable setback (My failed runs number around the double digits)
  
  
• Frustration
  
• Becoming a Chad by the end

If you are ready for all of these then you can proceed through the guide which will be structured like this.

INTRO (You are here now)

HEROES
(DLC heroes first then base heroes)

TIPS FOR EARLY GAME AND THROUGHOUT

LOCATION INFO/TIPS

MOBS/HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM

BOSS GUIDES

TRINKETS (what to get and what not to)

Some F.A.Q stuff

Q: Am I still going to get my butt kicked in BM/Stygian after this guide?
A: Hell yes you are, this is BM/Stygian expect a lot of hurt during these runs and even having to restart some, my journey through BM/Stygian was not easy by no means, there was a lot of Hero blood, sweat, and tears shed throughout it. TL;DR don't expect a flawless no death run.



Q: My favorite hero died what do
A: Cry and then get back up.

The Flagellant

Pros:

• Strongest bleeds out of any hero in the roster
  
• Safe reliable heals that only need the flag to be
  under 40% hp to use
  
• A good choice against bosses that use
  multiple actions per turn, susceptible to bleed
  and sit in ranks 1-2 for most of the fight.
  
• Decent Speed

Cons:

• Nerfs have made him less appealing before his
  broken state
  
• Weak base DMG
  
• Can only become afflicted, can never roll virtuous
  
• Is useless in the Ruins, mediocre in the Coves
  
• Has a hard time with high prot enemies
  
• Will only flagellate for stress relief

The Flagellant during release was an "OP" hero that was able to solo multiple bosses and also sporting his role of Tank, Healer and Amazing Brawler, however with the new nerfs (Everything) he is in a weird where he's somewhat outperformed by some brawlers, tanks, and healers HOWEVER. The flag is still incredibly useful to use he's just not broken and cannot solo dungeons anymore, I am pretty sure this is what the devs wanted it to be like with the Flag.

To make the most out of his now wonky kit take him along only to these dungeons: Warrens, Weald, Courtyard, and the Darkest Dungeon. although you can bring him in some boss fights to other areas you would have to deal with his mediocrity THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE DUNGEON which is something one would want to avoid in a BM/Stygian run.

Another thing to take into account is to NEVER try to have him become afflicted despite what some people might say about it being only a buff, the RNG of him attacking himself/your team or doing something else that is harmful/negative for you is too high, we want to limit as much risk factors as possible, this is one of them.

For builds I've found this to be the most useful:
Skills

• Punish
  
• Rain of Sorrrows
  
• Reclaim
  
• Exasnguinate

In a BM run your going to want to pressure the enemy backline (ranks 3 and 4) so you will usually be starting a fight off with Rain of Sorrows, unless there is a very threatening frontliner like a Drowned Thrall. Use his heals with caution, only one heal will truly be decent, the rest will be trash.

Camping Skills:

• Lash's Solace
  
• Lash's Kiss
  
• Lash's Cure (don't really need this just keep it if your flag already spawned with it)

Honestly you will usually be spamming Lash's solace on him for the extremely good -50 stress heal.

Recommended Quirks:

• Hard Skinned (Tankiness)
  
• Hippocratic (Better healing)
  
• Tough (Tankiness)
  
• Early riser/Quick reflexes (So he can get his heals on your Deaths Door vestal before the spitter crits 33 her)

Why not "x" skill/quirk? His other skills have been nerfed to either being: inefficient, risky, and/or useless which we don't want to have in a BM/Stygian run also dmg modifier quirks rely on decent to high base DMG for most effectiveness which the flag doesn't have and neither does he rely on. This applies for all the other hero tabs in this guide as well.

The Shieldbreaker

Pros:

• Designed for high prot enemies and does her job well
  
• Brings with her Aegis tokens which deny a hit
  
• Mobile and still useful when displaced
  
• Very good against blight susceptible enemies
  
• Brings with her permanent buffs if you finish her personal quest
  
• Shares title of highest base crit in the game

Cons:

• High prot enemies are usually your last focus and least threatening
  
• 3rd lowest health pool in the game
  
• Her de-stealth only hits ranks 1-3 and can't hit rank 4 ( usually the one thats stealthed and high priority.)
  
• You have to babysit her for a decent amount of time
  
• Her campfire quest tends to be EXTREMELY DETRIMENTAL to any quest especially early game dungeons/Boss fights
  
• Outperformed by most damage dealers.

The Shieldbreaker has always been a niche hero since release, designed to be a frontline brawler to help against high prot enemies. However her job is outdone by most prot debuffs due to the fact that they come with a mark that INCREASES dmg dealt to them whiles the Shieldbreaker has a -10% dmg modifier on her base skill.

Another thing to take of note is her camping quest: where after you use all your camping skills and rest you will be surprised to see that you are in a desert fighting 3 snakes (1 is stealthed). This fight is pure DIARRHEA in BM/Stygian runs. The rank 2 snake will usually if not always guard the snake that is stealthed (rank 1) this is very trouble some due to the fact that it has high speed so it will usually get off the guard before you can destealth the rank 1 snake (The most threatening one).

Leaving with you having to spam aoe skills that hit ranks 1 and 2, bringing someone that can hit the rank 3 snake, and/or bringing someone that can just pummel the rank 2, 3 snake to oblivion (Houndmaster +DMG vs Beast.), as well as someone who can stun the rank 2, 3 snake (just be prepared that it could fail and this entire fight is a race agains time). How you want to go about this is up to you, however I would reccomend bringing someone that has decent to high base DMG and a AOE that hits ranks 1 and 2 (Leper Hew, Crusader Accusation they also come with a lot of HP as well).

Bring Holy Water just for these nightmare sequences

Skills:

• Puncture(This helps against High prot enemies guarding ranks 3-4)
  
• Captivate (Use this during the camp fights, so she doesn't get riposted.)
  
• Pierce (Bread and Butter of Shieldbreaker)
  
• Adders Kiss/Expose your choice here

During the camp fights or "Nightmare sequences" you should have your SB placed in rank 2, this allows her to Expose the rank 1 Pliskin if she rolled first (then all you need to do is Puncture the pliskin if he is still guarded or just Pierce the pliskin) as well as target the rank 3 snake if she didn't. The entire fight is a race against time and you will automatically fail it if the SB reaches deaths door. Serpent Sway is a waste of time and wont help against the snakes blight procs, which she is the least resistant in.

Camping Skills:

• Snake Skin (So she doesn't get melted immediatly in her nightmare sequences.)
  
• Adders embrace (Helps her resist blight procs.)
  
• Snake eyes(The snakes gain prot when guarding, this helps with AOE spamming.)

You will really only be using Snake Eyes for the nightmare sequences as well as her Adders Embrace. Snake Skin is incredibly useful for her outside of this scenario however.

Recommended quirks

• Beast Hater/all hater quirks (Helps with her DMG output for Nightmare and outside of it.)
  
• Hard Skinned
  
• Precise Striker (And any other Crit chance related quirks.)
  
• Early Reflexes

The Abomination

Pros:

• Two for one kind of deal
  
• Good stun chance that hits ranks 1-3
  
• Great DMG in his monster form
  
• Nice AOE skill that hits ranks 1-2 whiles buffing himself
  
• Decent base DMG
  
• Good self HP/Stress heal
  
• Has access to eight usable skills instead of just four.
  
• Shares second highest base SPD of entire hero roster

Cons:

• Stresses himself and the entire team
  
• Costs a good chunk of money to upgrade
  
• Somewhat trinket reliant if you don't run stress heals (Padlock)
  
• Receives stress DMG for every turn he is in monster form.
  
• High skill cap to use effectively due to stress dmg dealt and utility

The Abomination used to be a mediocre class due to being more of a burden than a strong force (Couldn't party with Religious, Pre-nerf Flag, no viability for Darkest Dungeon due to stress dmg, Outperformed by other DMG dealers due to them not stressing the party.)
However with his recent changes and buffs he is in an IMMENSELY better spot than he was, with these changes he has changed from manlet trash to an alpha in training.

Your Abomination should ALWAYS be placed in rank 2, this is where you will gain access to his entire kit which is extremely versatile and useful for any scenario you come across. You should only change him into monster form if you feel threatened from the mobs spawned during an encounter (Spitters, Thralls, and/or Bosses) or are in need of a Comeback/Kill after taking a heavy assault of high roll attacks or crits. Other than that your abomination will play the role of Disabler and Blight DMG dealer stunning the Rank 1/2 that guards the backline and or stunning the rank 3 Marksman.

Camping Skills:
All are pretty decent your choice on this one honestly, I would prioritize Psych Up However.

Recommended quirks:
Any hater quirks(DMG output)
Hard Skinned(Tankiness)
Tough (Tankiness)

The Antiquarian

Pros:

• Raises gold cap from 1750 to 2500 (750+ for each Anti you have in your party
  
• Whiles she's in a party rare and valuable trinkest have a chance of spawning

Cons:

• Lowest HP maximum in the game
  
• Mediocre SPD
  
• Trinket reliant (Useless without them.)
  
• Lowest DMG base of entire Hero roster
  
• Nerf to her "Protect Me" has drained A LOT of her viability
  
• Lowest base resistances of entire hero roster (except bleed)

Honestly I wouldn't recommend using this class for your BM/Stygian run especially if it's your first, there is just not a lot going for her. Before her "slight" nerf she was a huge Dodge/Prot steroid for whoever you spammed Protect me with now she's just a burden to your team due to the fact that you usually don't have any money issues because you will be spamming Med/Long dungeons which always ensure a decent profit. However if you feel like taking her then do it solely forPROFIT.

Also she is now even more useless in boss battles (Still viable for the Siren boss for which we will go into detail later in the guide.) due to the Protect me nerf, just use her in normal dungeons for maximum effectiveness and if your in desperate need of gold

Skills:

• Nervous Stab (Finish a mob off with this)
  
• Protect Me (Dodge/Prot steroid)
  
• Flashpowder (De-stealth)
  
• Fortifying/Invigorating Vapours (I would go for Fortifying but it is up to you.)

Camping Skills:

• Trinket Scrounge (Always make sure your Antiquarian has this)
  
• Strange Powders (Free holy water during a boss fight)
  
• The other two are not really that useful IMO don't waste gold on them

Recommended Quirks:

• Evasive (Dodge)
  
• Quick Reflexes (Better SPD rolls)
  
• Hippocratic (Better healing)
  
• Any quirk that increases Accuracy (De-stealth

The Arbalest/Musketeer

Pros:

• Good threat to enemy backline
  
• Has a heal that buffs helaing received to the target she healed
  
• Can clear stuns
  
• Tanky for a back liner
  
• EXTREMELY Good debuff against enemy Backline.
  
• Shares title of highest crit chance of entire hero roster

Cons:

• Only useful in ranks 3-4 better on rank 3
  
• Somewhat trinket reliant
  
• A lot of her DMG will come from attacking Marked targets

The Arbalest is a great backline her that is good at doing her job of Killing/Weakening the enemy backline. I usually place her in rank 3 so that my squishy healer can't be targeted by most rank 1-2 mobs that can usually hit ranks 1-3 but not 4. Her dodge debuff is good making her a hero to consider bringing if you struggle with high dodge enemies. Her Smoke/Suppressing is also a great Great ACC and Crit debuff against the backline (Marksmen/Fusiliers and stress dealers will have a less chance of hitting as well as one shotting your back line to deaths door).

Reccomended Skills:

• Sniper/Aimed Shot
  
• Smokescreen/Suppressing Fire
  
• Snipers Mark/Call the shot (Or Rallying Fire/Skeet Shot if you already have a mark.)
  
• Battlefield Bandage

Camping Skills:

• Clean Musket/Restring Crossbow
  
• Marching Plan
  
• Encourage

Recommended quirks:

• Hater Quirks (DMG output)
  
• Accuracy Quirks (ACC)
  
• Tough (Tankiness)
  
• Hard Skinned (Tankiness)

The Bounty Hunter

Pros:

• Passive DMG modifier against Humans
  
• Mark debuffs Prot
  
• Versatile kit
  
• Can fill ranks 2-3 easily less impactful in ranks 4 and 1
  
• EXTREMELY Good debuff against enemy Backline.
  
• Crit Mcgee
  
• Camping skills can make some boss fights extermely easier.
  
• Can hit rank 3
  
• Chad Adept

Cons:

• Not good against boss that make multiple actions per turn (Marks go away faster against these bosses) unless there in range of his Caltrops/Flashbang
  
• Somewhat Squishy
  
• A lot of his extra DMG will come from attacking Marked targets

The Bounty Hunter is a great front/back liner depending on what rank you need filled for your party composition. His main attack "Collect Bounty" can only hit ranks 1-2 but this skills name is much deserved due to hitting like a TRAIN against any marked/human targets. The Bounty Hunter will always have a strong impact in your fights due to his versatility and DMG.

Skills:
Most fights:

• Collect Bounty
  
• Flashbang
  
• Finish Him
  
• Caltrops(ALWAYS TAKE THIS SKILL FOR BOSS FIGHTS/Mark for death if you have no other hero to mark targets

Camping Skills:

• Planned Takedown (Only for boss fights that are size 2)
  
• This is How we do it (Crit chance and ACC)

Recommended Quirks:

• Any Hater Quirks (DMG output)
  
• Crit Chance Quirks (Burst DMG)
  
• Hard Skinned (Protection)
  
• Quick Reflexes (SPD)
  
• Evasive (Dodge)

The Crusader

Pros:

• Passive DMG modifier against Unholy
  
• Second highest base HP out of the entire Hero Roster
  
• Good stun chance
  
• Great one-off DMG against backline
  
• Nice Stress heal as well as torchlight
  
• Shares Second highest base DMG of the Hero Roster
  
• Camping skills offer nice stress healing
  
• Instead of being useless he is STRONGER when he is shuffled to the back
  
• Chad Adept

Cons:

• Slowest Hero in the game
  
• Low Accuracy

The Crusader is an amazing rank 1-2 hero who can start off a fight in rank 3 with a very strong back line skill. The Crusader will be able to tank a lot of hurt as well as heal stress DMG dealt to your party during the encounter. My recommendation for using this class to it's fullest potential is always start him off in rank 3 and to use a holy lance on their stress dealers.

Skills:

• Smite (Bread and Butter of Crusader)
  
• Stunning Blow (Stun the person guarding ranks 3-4)
  
• Holy Lance (Amazing rank 3-4 ability, use to pressure/kill enemy backline at start of encounter)
  
• Inspiring Cry (Stress heal plus torchlight is nice)

Camping skills:

• Zealous Vigil (Prevent ambush and strong self stress heal)

Recommended Quirks:

• Unholy Hater/Any other hater quirks (DMG output)
  
• Warrior of Light (DMG output, Cru can keep the torch light up due to Inspiring cry)
  
• Hard Skinned (Tankiness)
  
• Tough (Tankiness)

The Grave Robber

Pros:

• Highest SPD base out of the entire Hero Roster
  
• Great backline threat
  
• Good base DMG
  
• Decent Crit chance

Cons:

• Very Squishy
  
• Dodge Heroes suffer in BM/Stygian

The Grave Robbers expertise is in killing the backline and she does so effectively with her kit. you will usually if not always have her in rank 3, this is where most of her high DMG skills can be used (Lunge which can oneshot a lot of backline mobs early game). The buffs to her Shadow Fade also make her much more viable due to being able to survive a round or two from the stealth instead of being one-shot by any of the enemy mobs.

Skills:

• Lunge
  
• Shadow Fade
  
• Thrown Dagger
  
• Your choice

Camping Skills:

• Night Moves
  
• Rest of unique kit is inefficient/risky/terrible to waste points on

Quirks:

• Crit chance quirks
  
• Evasive
  
• Hard skinned
  
• Any hater quirks

The Hellion

Pros:

• Can hit any rank
  
• Nice AOE stun
  
• 2nd highest base DMG
  
• Pretty Tanky

Cons:

• Skills debuff her DMG sometimes
  
• Can only hit rank 4 if she's in rank 1

The Hellion is considered by most of the community to be the best frontliner out of the entire front line Hero Roster and for good reason, she's able to kill the enemy ranks 3-4 easily, has good base DMG and Accuracy, decent base crit, and pretty much has everything one could want in a front liner.

Skills:

• Wicked Hack
  
• Iron Swan
  
• Barbaric YAWP!
  
• If it Bleeds

Camping Skills:

• Battle Trance
  
• Sharpen Spear

Recommended Quirks:

• Any Hater Quirks
  
• Hard Skinned
  
• Tough
  
• Crit chance quirks

The Highwayman

Pros:

• Good threat to enemy backline
  
• Has access to riposte
  
• Useful in every rank
  
• Good DMG

Cons:

• Squishy
  
• Dodge based hero

The Highwayman is able to manuever and fit himself in every position quite well thanks to his versatile kit that is COMPLETELY based on dealing DMG to the enemy mobs, front or backline. His decent DMG and good crit chances ensure an easier time when dealing with the enemy backline.

Skills:

• Tracking Shot (Use only to destealth or for boss fights that you plan to take a while to beat)
  
• Pistol Shot (Spam this against enemy backline)
  
• Duelists Advance
  
• Your choice here

WTF?!?!?!? no point blank shot?!?!?! Let me explain, point blank shot requires our Chad Highwayman to be in position 1 and he can only hit the rank 1 mob, this makes it so he can only tracking shot/use PBS. Our main priority isnt the rank 1 33% Prot Mob it's the back line so we want to position him in ranks 2-3 (3 is where you want him to be) where he can shoot at the back line and use Duelist advance to hit rank 3 giving himself riposte whiles still being able to kill the backline. I would recommend only using his PBS against bossfights where the boss either starts or tends to stay in rank 1, which isn't the case with a lot of boss fights.

Camping Skills:

• Bandit's Sense (Stop Ambush)
  
• Clean Guns (DMG output)

Recommended Quirks:

• Any hater quirks
  
• Evasive
  
• Quick Reflexes
  
• Hard Skinned

The Houndmaster

Pros:

• Is useful in ranks 2, 3, 4
  
• Good party stress heal
  
• Mark debuffs Prot by 20-30%
  
• His "auto" can hit any rank
  
• Good base Trap disarm and Scouting chances.
  
• Brings with him Hounds Treat to any dungeon, giving him immensely good buffs for a fight. (also interacts with some curios)
  
• Base DMG modifier against beast enemies
  
• Chad in training

Cons:

• Low HP
  
• Dodge based hero
  
• Weak DMG

The houndmaster is a ranged DMG class that focuses on versatility of kit so he will always be useful in every encounter you may come across in any dungeon although he has weak DMG compared to other Heroes you can fix this simply by having him target beast enemies (Warrens has a lot of beast) or marked enemies.

Skills:

• Hound's Rush
  
• Target Whistle
  
• Cry Havoc
  
• Your choice depending on what pupose you want him to serve (BlackJack for disables, Guard Dog for saves.)

Camping Skills:

• All of his camping skills are extremely useful so get all if you can/feel like you need to.
  
• Prioritize Hound's Watch however.

Recommended Quirks:

• Evasive
  
• Hard Skinned
  
• Hater Quirks

The Jester

Pros:

• Best stress heals out of entire Hero Roster
  
• Has a good party-wide buff
  
• Shares 2nd highest base SPD

Cons:

• Low HP
  
• Dodge based hero
  
• Weak DMG
  
• Finale requires buildup

The jester is a backline class that thrives in comps that have high DMG/Good healing but need some form of stress healing due to inabilities of said comp (Can't hit ranks 3-4 etc.). I would recommend to always bring a jester if you plan on using an Abomination in your run if you have no idea how to manage stress with an Abom in your party.

Skills:

• Inspiring Tune
  
• Battle Ballad
  
• Slice Off
  
• Finale (Only use this when shuffled to the front/start off an encounter your choice)

Camping Skills:

• All of his skills are useful (Prioritize Turn back time, Every Rose has it's thorns and Tigers eye.)

Quirks:

• Evasive
  
• Hard Skinned
  
• Warrior of light

The Leper

Pros:

• Highest base DMG out of entire Hero Roster
  
• Highest base HP out of entire Hero Roster
  
• Strong self HP/Stress heals
  
• Is a true Chad

Cons:

• Lowest Accuracy base out of entire Hero Roster
  
• Can only hit ranks 1-2 with auto (Intimidate is a very weak DMG skill that hits all ranks however)
  
• Immobile
  
• 2nd Slowest Hero out of the entire Hero Roster
  
• Lowest Bleed resistance out of every Hero in the roster (Occultist healing not so effective)

The Leper is a hero where his kit focuses on dealing DMG to anyone in his range as well as taking care of himself, He can man Ranks 1-2 however some of his skills demand he be the front line to use. Our king here will serve the purpose of hitting the ranks 1-2 hard so if he is paired up with anyone that can move ranks 3-4 to ranks 1-2 then he is made even more useful as he can oneshot a lot of backline mobs. His high base DMG also means that AOE skills work well with him since he still does a lot of DMG with the AOE modifiers

Skills:

• Chop
  
• Solemnity
  
• Withstand
  
• Hew/Intimidate (Depending on where you have placed)

Camping Skills

• Quarantine (Prioritize)
  
• Reflection (Prioritize
  
• Let the Mask Down
  
• Bloody Shroud

Recommended Quirks:

• Any Hater Quirks
  
• Crit Quirks
  
• Tough
  
• Hard Skinned
  
• Slugger
  
• Warrior of Light

The Man-at-Arms

Pros:

• 3rd Highest base HP
  
• Spammable Guard that increases Prot
  
• Good party-wide buffs
  
• Can man any Position
  
• Can hit rank 3
  
• Old Chad

Cons:

• I have found nothing wrong with this hero

The Man-At-Arms or MAA for short is a Tank that focuses on survivability for himself and his entire team, the MAA excels however with his extremely effective and useful partywide buffs "Bolster" and "Command". The MAA is great if you feel as if though your backline is always focused down and if you need something to help with increasing ACC or Dodge. His CC is also amazing.

Skills:

• Bolster/Command (Choose one either extra Dodge/Stress DMG modifier or ACC/Crit)
  
• Defender
  
• Retribution
  
• Whatever you want here

Camping Skills:

• All of his Camping Skills are extremely useful, prioritize what YOU personally need

Recommended Quirks:

• Hard Skinned
  
• Tough
  
• Stun Resistance (So he doesn't get stunned and can't guard the Deaths Door Vestal)

The Occultist

Pros:

• Highest healing possible in game
  
• Good Crit
  
• Good debuffs
  
• Can hit backline

Cons:

• Heal is RNG-based and extremely risky to use
  
• Low HP
  
• Dodge based hero
  
• "High Risk/High Reward" we never want to rely on this kind of strat in a BM run.
  
• Manlet

Despite what some fans of the Occultist will tell you with the same wikipedia links The Occultist is a MAIN HEALER, with his heal being very risky and RNG based to use I would recommend bringing a Plague Doctor to stop the bleeding or a comp with self heals. Despite this the Occ is a great class that can dish out a lot of DMG due to his high Crit chance especially to Eldritch Horrors.

Skills:

• Wyrd Reconstruction
  
• Sacrificial Stab/Abyssal Artillery
  
• Vulnerability Hex
  
• Daemon's Pull

Camping Skills:

• Unspeakable Commune
  
• Dark Strength

Recommended Quirks:

• Any Hater Quirks (Eldritch recommended)
  
• Hard Skinned
  
• Hippocratic
  
• Evasive

The Plague Doctor

Pros:

• Focuses on blight DMG
  
• Good backline threat
  
• Can cure Bleed/Blight during a fight
  
• Can hit backline
  
• Can shuffle enemy comp

Cons:

• Dodge based hero
  
• Low base DMG

The Plague Doctor is a backline hero that excels in dishing out DMG to the enemy backline, disorienting them as well, and also on keeping your heroes healthy with her Battlefield Medicine. She can set up a kill for your frontline against the backline by shuffiling the back to the front which i'd recommend doing by starting a fight with Disorienting blast on the rank 3-4 mob

Skills:

• Plague Grenade
  
• Battlefield Medicine
  
• Disorienting Blast
  
• Blinding Gas

Camping Skills:

• They're all useful prioritize on what you're comfortable with/need

Recommended Quirks:

• Evasive
  
• Hard Skinned
  
• Quick Reflexes

The Vestal

Pros:

• Nice consistent heals
  
• Can hit any rank
  
• Good cc
  
• Is always there when you're in a pinch

Cons:

• Low HP
  
• Not a lot of Dodge
  
• Low DMG

You're going to be seeing this hero class A LOT especially so if this is your first BM/Stygian run, I would recommend to ALWAYS bring her with you for the purpose of filling the healer role.

Skills:

• Divine Grace
  
• Divine Comfort
  
• Judgement
  
• Dazzling Light

Camping Skills:

• They're all useful

Recommended Quirks:

• Evasive
  
• Hard Skinned
  
• Hippocratic
  
• Stun Resistance

TIPS FOR EARLY GAME/THROUGHOUT

In battles your main obj. will be to always kill the backline and stall so you can heal hp/stress stick to this formula and you should be golden backline die first frontline dies last.

Upgrade your Hero Coach to have a selection of 4 Heroes each week then stop, you don't need to do it anymore. Then just upgrade Roster limit to the max.

ALWAYS lock in quirks that are good especially EARLY ON it is cheaper and can save your heroes life. You can also upgrade the sanitariums quirk factor to lower the cost and have more rooms available.

ALWAYS bring someone that can stop an ambush during a camp on Med/Long Dungeons, ambushes in BM/Stygian are EXTREMELY dangerous especially if you have an immobile comp, this is due to the already increased DMG, ACC and Crit from BM/Stygian but also from more DMG, ACC, and Crit from full dark and don't even get me started on the surprised factor of ambushes as well.

I've honestly never upgraded a single aspect of the tavern, abbey and nomad wagon so I would recommend not doing so either.

Focus on getting Hero equipment to lv 2 for both weapons and armor as well as skills. You can still do Appretince dungeons with lv 2 equipment and skills just know it will be hard and only do it if you know what you are doing.

Strategize for the long term in a Med/Long dungeon especially if it's a boss use any tool you have to help alleviate a Med/Long run (Stalling), your enemy outnumbers you greatly they will also use any tool at their disposal as well.



Prepare for before hand as well, which is what I will go through in the Location section

LOCATIONS

TIPS

Always bring torches to keep the light above 75 I recommend these amounts during Short,Med, and Long dungeon runs:

8
12-14
14-18

CC DLC ACTIVATED/OWNERS TIP
The crimson court DLC adds a new mechanic that has a chance of spawning a "secret room" which one has to scout in order to gain access to but dear god is if ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ amazing when you do scout, when you use a key on the treasure you can gain one of three "heads" which are all pretty good especially Junias Head, as well as items that sell for 3500. So bring a good amount of keys to open the chests inside.

Courtyard (DLC)

Key Features:

• Crimson Curse
  
• Bloodlight (Counts as 75+ so Warrior of light is good here)
  
• Lot's of bleed procs
  
• Very minimal blight procs
  
• Bloodseeker Faction

I honestly wouldn't recommend doing CC during your first BM/Stygian run but it's your choice so decide, I can however help you if a challenge is what you want just don't expect the trinket rewards to be good.

Getting a Sanguine Vintners early on is really good for this since it takes away the issue of having to go on Winemaker Reserve quests.

Quest 1 (Burn The Hives) (CC)

Things you want to bring:

• 5 Shovels (You only need 2 but BloodFlowers give you loot if you use a shovel
  
• 5 Holy water (Theres a fountain after the 2nd hive that heals stress, the rest are for the boss fight)
  
• X Bandages ( I would recommend 4-6 we're also saving these purely just for the boss fight.)
  
• 3 Torches (2 for the throbbing eggs that we can heal stress and the last for the boss fight.)

Your first mission will be to activate 3 thronging hives I would honestly just look up a guide for the map because you honestly only need to fight 3-4 times, the last being the hardest.

Prepare for the "Crocodillion" fight by bringing a good amount of Holy Water and Bandages, also bring shovels as the Blood Flowers are interactable with shovels, bring 5 shovels if you want to use all the BloodFlowers for Max Profit. Also bring 3 torches, there will 2 eggs you can burn for stress heals as well as the last one will be used for the Crocodillion to increase our ACC.

Activate the first one then when you're at a crossroads go up and fight then activate the 2nd one if you keep on continuing up there should be a fountain that can stress heal if you interact with it using Holy Water.

Afterwards just keep on going through the middle path until you meet the croc, there will be a shrewd along the way that will give you good loot if you present him The Blood. Remember to equip skills designed against this boss.



During the fight the "Croc" will start off by submerging himself and then "Apex Predator" which will deal GOOD AMOUNTS OF DMG to anyone that gets in it's trajectory, it also bleeds which is why we will bring holy water and bandages. You honestly only need to worry about "Apex Predator" the rest of it's kit just deals stress and only shuffles, which shouldn't be a problem if you have Holy water with you. I would recommend using the Flag against the croc and just spam Punish/Rain depending on where the Croc is at.

Ruins

What to bring

• A lot of holy water (A lot of curios interact with HW)
  
• Medcinal herbs (Iron Maiden and Table interact with Herbs)
  
• Keys (Locked Cabinets interact with keys)

Weaknesses:

• All unholy enemies are susceptible to blight

The ruins is the easiest of all the other areas and it's where you will start off in, the only dangerous mobs here are the Marksmen/Courtiers throughout all tiers of Ruin dungeons, there are some more dangers added later as well such as:

Bone Captain

Stats	Nums
HP	62/87(apprentice/Champion)
Dodge	8.75%/22.5%
Protection	33%

Threat Level: 1
Priority: Last

This guy is more of a nuisance than a threat honestly, he takes up the first two ranks so you will only ever fight against 2-3 enemies at a time, during any fight with the bone Commander/Captain your priority should be his backline, the Comm/Cap is only a nuisance whiles his backline is the real threat. His entire kit is revolved around stunning you with Low to Moderate DMG.

Bone Spearman



Threat Level: 2-3
Priority: First or second

Stats	Nums
HP	27/38(apprentice/Champion)
Dodge	8.75%/22.5%
Protection	0%

This mob usually spawns in ranks 2-3-4, this is one of the more dangers mobs since he can move your backline to the frontline allowing them to be assaulted by Deaths Door inducing crits by the frontline. If there is a Courtier or Arbalest present however focus those down first.

Bone Bearer



Threat level: 4
Priority: Always kill first

Stats	Nums
HP	54
Dodge	35.5%
Protection	15%

This mob will only spawn in champion tier but it is pure DIAHHREA to deal with his presence alone inspires a permanent 25% buff to DMG unless he is killed. He also buffs one of his partygoers with a 20% DMG plus 10 ACC buff. And if you kill one of his comrades without destroying the corpse he brings them back to FULL HEALTH this is without a doubt the mob you will focus down first every encounter you see him in.

Warrens

What to bring:

• A lot of medicinal herbs (Most curios react to herbs)
  
• Holy Water (Again curios)
  
• Antivenom (A lot of blight bring this if you feel worried)

The warrens is a Beast-filled dungeon that brings with it Blight and Disease procs, becareful after adventuring a dungeon in the Warrens, the risk of catching a disease here is extremely high.

The only dangers really are the Gorers and the backline Drummers/Wretchs that mark and stress your party to ♥♥♥♥. The Choppers appretince/champion tier Healing debuff can be fatal however.

Large Carrion Eaters

Stats	Nums
HP	58/82(apprentice/Champion)
Dodge	8.75%/22.5%
Protection	0%

Threat Level: 3-4
Priority: Kill first (unless spawns with a Swine Skiver or other detrimental backliners)
Note: Also spawns in Courtyard

This guy can only target ranks 1-2 but dear god is he pure AIDS to deal with it will usually start off with "Weakening Prey" with marks and debuffs one of our front liners DMG by 20% and ACC by -10 this is STACKABLE you can usually just focus him down easily since he doesn't have any prot and has a low-mediocre dodge chance he's only really a pain if he spawns with a Skiver or a Swinetaur that will IMMEDIATLY start the fight with a boar rush, doing hefty DMG to a frontliner and possibly sending them back.

Swinetaur

Stats	Nums
HP	78/111(apprentice/Champion)
Dodge	8.75%/22.5%
Protection	40%/40%

Threat Level: 1 (4 if he is in the back)
Priority: Last

This guy just like Bone Captain is more of a nuisance, however he is EXTREMELY dangerous if he is ever in any rank besides 1 this is because he has access to his ability "Boar rush" which deals Moderate-Heavy DMG to any frontliner with a good chance of sending them all they way back. clear corpses/stun him when he is in the back line, his move resistance makes extremely unlikely that you will move him back to the front. Besides this the rest is just him retreating to the back and stunning any rank.

Swine Skiver

Stats	Nums
HP	62
Dodge	32.5%
Protection	15%

Threat Level: 4
Priority: Kill first

The Swine Skiver spawns in ranks 3-4 and will use "Spit to roast" and "Cripple Them" from these positions, both do Moderate to High DMG this is why you want to take him out first, he can be easily move and is susceptible to bleed and stuns his 15% makes a bit tankier but not to tanky so a PROT debuff is not needed but could be appreciated if you have a marking team, also debuffing his dodge goes a long way into any encounter with him.

Weald

What to bring:

• Medicinal Herbs (Curios)
  
• Antivenom (Lots of blight and Curios)
  
• Bandages (Curios and dog encounters)

The weald is a blight heavy area that focuses on having Eldritch/Human hybrid mobs, the threats here will be the fungal artillery which you will want to heavily focus down. Also the rabid dogs can be a pain in the butt to deal with especially if 4 spawn in an encounter. Ectoplasms aren't really a threat and they're more just plain annoying to deal with.

Crones



Note: They will always be stealthed at the beginning of encounters

Stats	Nums
HP	23/33(apprentice/Champion)
Dodge	28.75%/42.5%
Protection	0%

Threat Level: 3-4
Priority: First

They debuff, mark, Stress, Blight and Disease proc, and lower your torchlight, this is by far the most annoying backline of the entire Weald selection, she also comes with stealth so try to bring someone that can de-stealth her.

Unclean Giant

Stats	Nums
HP	123/173(apprentice/Champion)
Dodge	8.75%/22.5%
Protection	0%

Threat Level: 2-3
Priority: Last

This guy is a nuisance, he shuffles your party and blights them, however he can be a big problem if he decides to spam his "Treebranch Smackdown" Starting off with a Guard can help alleviate this if he does spam. Other than that you can just focus him down easily since he has no Prot and just relies on a giant amount of HP.

Hateful Virago

Stats	Nums
HP	69
Dodge	48%
Protection	7%

Threat Level: 4
Priority: First

She debuffs, blights, and cancels out any form of healing if you leave a corpse alive, use corpse clears and people who can move her out of her rank 3-4 position if your frontline can't reach her. She also deals a decent amount of DMG to 2 people at a time. Stunning her is impossible.

Cove

What to bring:

• Medicinal herbs (Curios and Trap debuffs)
  
• Shovels (Curios)
  
• Antivenom (only one curio so idk if you want to risk it)

The hardest area out of all currently, the mobs here have a severe upgrade from their other counterparts, their bulwarks have acces to guarding at Beginner tier and can bleed. Their groupers are extremely danger because of their base dmg and crit chance. Their shamans can stress two people at a time, buff and heal. The snails debuff your people and give them diseases, and the Thralls explode which can lead to run ending scenarios.

Honestly just focus down the Thralls and Shamans then you're good, just pray/stun the bulwarks if they guard the Thralls.

Uca Majors

Stats	Nums
HP	74/104(apprentice/Champion)
Dodge	8.75%/22.5%
Protection	50%

Threat Level: 3-4
Priority: Second or first

This crabman can only stun/knockback or bleed/debuff, but dear god is the bleed a pain in the butt, it bleed damages you for 8 DMG A TURN AND THEN GOES UP TO 10 IN CHAMPION not only that he has some nasty health and prot values as well, I would recommend to always bring a Plague Doctor especially if you have no idea how to face off against him since she can blight him and counter his bleeds.

Squiffy Ghast



Threat Level: 4
Priority: First

Stats	Nums
HP	66
Dodge	33.5%
Protection	0%

This man only does one thing and one thing only, and that is stress DMG but he does his job extremely well, his two moves will either target one or party-wide stress DMG whiles shuffling him from ranks 1-4 constantly, he can be stunned and blighted.

Darkest Dungeon (SPOILERS)

What to expect:

• EXTREME amounts of stress
  
• One of the hardest encounters in the game (Quest 2 - Lighting the Way)
  
• A very brutal retreat mechanic (One hero must die so the others can safely leave if you mess up and HAVE TO retreat.)
  
• Lv. 6 "Darkest" dungeons
  
• You will start to notice chad features on your body
  
  
• Satisfaction
  
• Ambushes seem impossible to occur in this dungeon.

You have come this far in your quest to become a chad. Be proud of yourself not a lot of people can say they have been to darkest dungeon let alone on BM/Stygian. Now to help you actually complete the games main objective we must first go through a list of enemies to watch out for/what to bring. There are enemies out of the 4 questes that are extremely dangerous and hard to beat however some of these will be EXCLUSIVE to only that quest so they will get their own seperate section.

What to bring:

• A lot of Holy Water
  
• A lot of Bandages
  
• A lot of Food
  
• Lots of torches
  
• Vestals, we want consistent healers, we also don't want to fail any of these quests when we're so close to winning.

Recommended things to monitor/do:

• If any of your heroes stress is above 50 they are INCREDIBLY SUSCEPTIBLE to having an affliction check.
  
• Stress+ trinkets/camping skills are very bad for this location due to buffing the already absurd amount of stress DMG

Each quest has it's own fixed layout for which I would just look at the maps that this guide gives to help map out what route is optimal for you.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=612579203

For the sake of this guide I will tell MY choices and how I beat the darkest dungeon in my run.

During your fights you will notice that the enemies are just upgraded forms of previous ones however there are some new ones. We will be going over IMO the most dangerous ones. For most fights however I recommend focusing down the Witchs/Priests.

Cultist Priest



Threat level: 4
Priority: First

Stats	Nums
HP	46(apprentice/Champion)
Dodge	23.75%
Protection	0%

These aholes will be the main source of your frustration for most of your time on these quests. They deal good amounts of stress dmg/debuff bleed resist and have a nasty Moderate-High DMG bleed proc skill. Combined with the Ascended witchs skill kit they can one shot anyone above 50 stress easily in one round. They only take one action a round and are susceptible to moves/stuns/and blights.

Polyps

Stats	Nums
HP	30
Dodge	33.75%
Protection	0%

Threat Level: 3-4
Priority: Second if spawns with: Ascended Witch/Cultist Priests, First if with: Flesh Hound

These eldritch "thingies" have access to "Banish" which can move your frontline to the backline which is annoying but not run ending HOWEVER they have also have another skill that is pure peepee to deal with and it's "Venomous Phlegm" where it will usually use it as it's first action dealing Moderate DMG and causing (150% chance) Blight 6PR3 meaning that if two spawn it will most likely use VP twice this is extremely dangerous since the first VP marks so it will most likely attract another VP on the same target (possibly increasing the blight to 12PR3) making it as dangerous as a 4-man spider spawn with just two mobs taking the place of the 4 spiders.

Rapturous Cultists

Threat Level: Laughable
Priority: Last (Use this mob to stall healing HP/Stress)

Stats	Nums
HP	26
Dodge	0%
Protection	0%

This mob can only heal and guard his teammates/itself. He only becomes a pain when he guards a Witch/Priest but this can easily be fixed with a stun thanks to it's incredibly low resistances.

Maligant Growth

Stats	Nums
HP	51
Dodge	18.75%
Protection	0%

Threat Level: 2-3
Priority: Last or third

This is one of those "nuisance" mobs, he two skills where he will attempt to stun you but the one we really want to worry about is if he decides to spam "Maul the Flesh" where he will hit a hero with Moderate to high DMG and attempt to apply a bleed proc if it become a big bleed proc we fix with bandages, this is why we bring a lot of bandages.

Defensive growths

Stats	Nums
HP	51
Dodge	13.75%
Protection	0%

Threat Level: 3-4
Priority: First if it spawns with: Maligant Growths Second if it spawns with anything else.

It can guard, heal, and stress DMG your team it has everything! However the most dangerous ability it has is: "Bolster" this ability buffs one of his allies SPD by 5, Crit and ACC by 10% and this is stackable with most mobs here having skills based around Bleed procs those procs can become deadly quick after a few crits thanks to this guys buff.

Quest 1 - We Are the Flame

• Size: Medium
  
• Difficulty: Darkest
  
• Objective: Kill 1 Shuffling Horror
  
• Reward: 3 Talismans of the flame and 15000 gold.

Shuffling Horror



Note: two actions per turn, one of them is based on shuffling dealing 1 DMG
Another Note: Save your holy water and try to save as much bandages as possible for him he will be packing lots of bleeds.

Stats	Nums
HP	195
Dodge	23.75%
Protection	33%

This quest will involve you traversing through the first parts of the Darkest Dungeon in order to slay the "Shuffling Horror" which surprise surprise Shuffles your heroes at the end of every round with his "Undulations". He also spawns with a cultist priest for which we will IGNORE ENTIRELY and NOT KILL HIM because he just spawn another one or spawn a defensive growth which is even worse. For the entire fight he will just be spamming "Lacerate" which is a Moderate DMG bleed proc skill that will hit two people.

What heroes I personally do not recommended:

• Leper: this is the most immobile hero in the game and will be pretty much ENTIRELY useless in this fight since even though he won't be shuffled your ENTIRE party will be so don't bring him along
  
• Flagellant: Same reason as the leper

Heroes I recommend as a must have/high priority for this quest:

Jester: He is extremely useful here due to his stress healing and usefulness in any rank, i recommend going into the boss fight with the following skills: Inspiring Tune, Dirk Stab, Slice Off, and Finale.

Composition I used to beat this level:

Vestal/Houndmaster/Bounty Hunter/Crusader (in this exact order)

The only real pain in the butt will be getting to the boss, use your camp once someone is at/above 50 so they don't get oneshotted. The journey here is the most dangerous part about this quest, not the boss itself. As long as you manage your stress and play very safe this quest shouldn't be a problem.

Quest 2 - Lighting the Way

• Size: Medium
  
• Difficulty: Darkest
  
• Objective: Activate 3 Locust Beacons
  
• Reward: A Very Rare trinket and 15000 gold.

What to bring:

• Torches
  
• Holy Water
  
• Bandages
  
• Antivenom
  
• Food

WARNING: Make sure to INTERACT with the beacons before you leave the room there is a bug that makes it so when you re-enter a Locust Beacon room that you already entered but forgot to activate uninteractable, meaning that you will have retreat and one hero will die for nothing.

The second quest out of the 4 Darkest Dungeon quests remember those "Talismans of the Flames" you got as a reward? im talking about these things:



Well you are going to want to equip these on your heroes for this quest because it is legit impossible without them, their entire purpose is to neuter one skill that only two types of mobs ever use in this dungeon which are the Templar Warlords/Impalers, but trust me this skill is extremely BROKEN this skill is called "Revelation" and will end any run you attempt if you don't have these on your heroes.

However you will notice that there are only THREE talismans and not 4 no this is not a bug this is intended one of your heroes will have to venture into the dungeon and be extremely vulnerable to dying.

Templar Warlords

Stats	Nums
HP	126
Dodge	28.75%
Protection	0%

This is one of your pains in the butthole, He has two actions per turn one of which is pretty much almost always going to be revelation, whiles the rest has him blighting your team to all hell whiles debuffing their DMG plus Crit (This is why we bring herbs) and finally dealing moderate to high DMG to ranks 1-2.

Templar Impalers

Stats	Nums
HP	165
Dodge	26.25%
Protection	0%

This is the second and hopefully the last pain in your rearhole, his blights don't debuff your team and he also does Moderate to high DMG to your frontline however he is equipped with a Body slam which can stun and send your front line 2 moves back which can be dangerous.

You will have to activate three Locust Beacons each guarded by their own team comps with the minibosses listen above these three are the following team comps you will face off against:

• 1x Templar Impaler 1x Templar Warlord (This is the hardest one so go for this one first or last)
  
• 2 x Hounds 1x Templar Warlord
  
• 2x Polyp 1x Templar Impaler

I will teach you how I did this last and other strats first (I came up with this strat for quest 2 after my unfortunate first expedition resulted in me retreating.)

Bringing a Man-At-Arms/Houndmaster and equip them with the talisman, they can guard the vulnerable hero allowing them to their job without worry of an affliction check/death.

Or you can have it so you have the member of your team that doesn't have the talisman not be needed in your comp and have them be a sort of "Sacrificial Lamb" to the eldritch gods.

My strat is a version of the "sacrificial lamb" strat.

Team Comp I used to beat this quest
Occultist/Vestal/Leper/Leper
Notes: Makes sure to equip the Vestal "Pray" and your lepers "Reflection"

We basically give the Vestal and 2x Leper the talismans and leave our unfortunate Occultist as our "Sacrificial Lamb"

We then camp before every fight, using "Pray" which gives our Lepers -15 Stress and +15% Prot for 4 battles this is VERY GOOD for the Templar fights. After using pray make sure both lepers use "Reflection" and use the last three points to your best ability. We can equip our Lepers with either Focus Rings/Signet Rings, Focus gives good ACC and Crit, whiles Signet gives good ACC and 10% Prot, choose whatever is better in your opinion or scrap by with what you have.

We will start off every encounter with the Templar Impalers/Warlords with "Withstand" this gives us an extra 30% prot giving us 45%-55%(if we have Signet rings) in the first round of the fight as well as an 30% increase to almost all resistances on the Leper so we can't be pushed around by the Warlord/Polyps/and Hounds that you can encounter in these fights. This will then be followed up with Chops until the Mobs that spawned die and so will the Mini-Bosses.

In my run my OCC rolled virtuous for his check so i decided to try and keep him alive, however if he rolls afflicted then it's your choice on what you want to do, you can even give him 2 Virtue chance trinkets so that he has less chance of becoming afflicted.

BOSS TIPS

Always bring Holy Water

Always camp before and get good buffs for your team

Come prepared for blight/bleed depending on what they have.

It's okay to study up before you go into the fight (gamepedia, guides, etc.) This is BM/Stygian come as prepared as can be.

EVENT BOSSES (Brigand Vvulf and Shrieker)

As the section title suggests these two bosses spawn from events and thank god they do because they are one of the hardest encounters/bosses in the game especially Vvulf.

Wolves at the Door/Brigand Incursion (Brigand Vvulf)



This event boss will have a chance of spawning under the following conditions:

• Will not appear if you do not have more than 40 weeks in game.
  
• Having at least 4 Lv 5 Heroes (Very bad if it occurs during this time I explain later why.)

After having met these conditions the base chance of it spawning is 12% then going up by 3% for every time it does not proc until it does. After you have "finished" this quest it will not appear again for a minimum of 4 weeks.

You will know when you receive this quest when the Ancestor reads IMO one of the most badbutt lines in the game.

Things of note: You can decide not to do the quest but this will end up in Vvulf destroying up to three town building upgrades. Also if you decide to retreat during the quest it is treated as a "Darkest Dungeon" quest meaning that one will have to die for the others to survive.

Things to buy:

• All the shovels you can
  
• Lot's of torches
  
• Lot's of Bandages
  
• Food
  
• Holy Water
  
• Herbs

What to avoid:

• "High Dodge" team comps, you will get your sorry butt melted even before you meet Vvulf
  
• Occultist. His heals are FAR TOO RISKY to use during this quest we want consistency which is why we will bring pure christian waifu (Vestal)
  
• Heroes who can't hit rank 3
  
• Antiquarians

Brigand Vvulf



Note: he has two actions and two auto-actions one used in the start and one used in the end of a round.
Note: All mobs he spawned with/during the fight will die once he is killed.

Stats	Nums
HP	200
Dodge	25%
Protection	0%

This guy in short is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ raidboss he has towering amounts of HP as well as a decent amount of dodge but the worst part about him is just the HUGE AMOUNTS OF DMG he deals every round. He spawns with a "Barrel of Bombs" which you will be avoiding throughout the entire fight because it ripostes dealing a good amount of DMG as well as Vvulf just spawns back another barrel, killing it will stop one of his moves but it will just stall the battle and trust me we want this fight to be over very quickly. He also spawns special Brigand raiders which have a good amount of HP, Prot, and DMG. We want to avoid these guys as well and just hammer down on Brigand Vvulf, sending him back to where he belongs.

He is vulnerable to Blights/Bleeds/ somewhat to stuns and cannot be moved.

Throughout the fight he will use his two big threats every round "Bombs Away!" and "Times up!". "Bombs Away!" Targets a rank which you will know which one with a red light above it and a literal bomb placed right on the rank Vvulf will activate the bomb at the end of every round with "Times up!" dealing 23-45 DMG to a single hero It can also crit for much more, these are his auto-actions. His two actions will consist of him summoning Brigands, stunning whiles summoning, guarding one of his brigands (THIS IS EXTREMELY GOOD, this allows frontline heavy brawlers that can't attack the backline leper, crusader, etc to attack Vvulf himself allowing us to end this fight sooner.) whiles having a chance to summon, and dealing stress DMG to your team (this skill is the least threatening).

Tips

DO NOT BRING LV 5 HEROES TO THIS QUEST this quest is almost neigh doable with LV 6 let alone with lv 5s. Brigand Vvulf will just melt your helpless Lv 5s during this quest and laugh at the progress that was lost. We want a crew of hardened heros Lv 6s with fully upgraded armor/weaponry. Fully upgraded skills with the best trinkets you can outfit them this is after all considered by many The hardest encounter in the game. Note however it is still doable but much more harder and riskier, we don't want this.

If you feel like you can't do this which a lot of people can't blame you for it's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Brigand Vvulf not to mention it's on BM/Stygian then you can just send in 4 useless heroes (lv 0 fresh from the Coachwagon.) and immediately surrender one of them will of course die but they are Lv 0 so not a lot of progress would be lost like say losing a Lv5-6 hero. I have heard you will lose a trinket or two but overall it is easier to comeback from losing up to three town upgrade buildings.

Strategies

Bringing a Man-at-Arms will help make this fight immensely easier, this is because he can just keep on protecting the ranks that have Vvulfs bombs on them and since the protection buff stacks you can be sure the bombs won't do nearly as much DMG as they would without a MAA in your comp. We also want to avoid using a HoundMaster in place of an MAA because im pretty sure you can't dodge Vvulfs bombs, we also don't want to rely on risky tactics.

Heavy hitting frontliners who can't reach rank 3 aren't neccesarily bad for this fight but they have to be given an oppurtunity by Vvulf himself to attack him by lowering one of the brigands health baiting Vvulf into guarding allowing himself to be wailed on. You can also kill the brigands but this wastes time since we just want to kill Vvulf.

Leper and/or Abomination can do the job of eliminating Vvulfs brigands, and hitting Vvulf himself hard.

Necromancer & Prophet

Necromancer



He is the easiest boss fight out of every boss in the entire game, although this does not make the fight easy by any means, he will always make a move on your team (Stress, DMG) and after that move is done it will spawn a skeleton, the trick to this is by having a frontliner that can auto the skeleton and then aoe rank 1-2 to kill the first skeleton and dmg the next skeleton that spawned. He is also susceptible to both Blight and Bleed and can also be stunned/moved.

Prophet



With the Prophet you want to have a lot of holy water to counter his Blight/Stun procs and have a team that can all target rank 4 with DMG abilities, there used to be a way to kill the pews and the boss but with the nerf to OCCs weakening curse it's just no longer doable. Just focus the boss down and make sure to have reliable heals and DMG for his auto actions at the end of his turn, which deal MASSIVE DMG to anyone in the ranks he prophesized doom for, bringing a MAA can help with this.

The Hag & Brigand Pounder

Hag



The fight will start off with her literally dumping one of your heroes into her pot and boiling them alive this cause them to take DMG everytime someone takes an action herself included, you mainly just want to focus and wittle her down whiles your hero is in the pot, you can in theory have a very high dodge team to avoid getting into the pot in the first place but thats for late game. Right now we just want people who excel in damaging ranks 3-4 as well as using Bleed which she is susceptible to. You never want to stun her since this just wastes time, just heal your team if they're LOW not when they're medium health because again this fight is a race against time.

Brigand Pounder



This fight can be extremely difficult if you have no idea what you are doing, this fight will spawn with a Cutthroat, Fusilier, Matchman and the boss itself at rank 2. The entire fight revolves around you solely killing the Matchman which has 10/15/20 HP depending on what dungeon lvl your in the boss itself can only act if the Matchman is left alive by the end of the round. He also has the slowest SPD out of anyone in the entire game so he will always go last, I would recommend bringing an Arbalest and Highwayman to take care of the Matchman whiles your team keeps the others alive/kills the boss. All the mobs despawn when you kill the boss.

The Swine King & Formless Flesh

Swine King



The Swine King will open up with his partner in crime "Wilbur" who will mark one or two of your party members, In apprentice and Champion tier dungeons he will also stun during the beginning of the fight. This will be followed up by the Swine King using "Obliterate Body/Masses" which hits for massive dmg. NEVER HIT WILBUR it will cause extreme amounts of pain and lead to a party wipe. You want a vestal and people who high base DMG who can chop through the Swine Kings HP. The vestal keeps the team alive with her AOE heals. After killing the Swine King becareful because Wilbur will no despawn and will put in rank 1, from this rank he will spam stuns against our team which can proc Deaths Door checks.

The Formless Flesh



This fight can be easy/hard depending on what RNGesus spawn you, the fight is against 4 pieces of flesh that all share a HP bar, this means when one is kill the rest will follow and when one is DMGed all the other are to. There are 4 "heads" that spawn, the Spine looking thing that Stuns, the pig head thing that bleeds, a brain looking thing that just heals (this one is the least threatening), and a weird pig body thing that attacks with an ass worm that blights. the most threatening are the Pig/Blight worms due to their ridiculous amounts of DMG. Focus on stunning these unless they spawn in rank 4 where they can't attack. Bring a Houndmaster or two and spam Hounds Harry which will bleed all of them. Alternatively you can bring a Flag and Rain of Sorrows, Abom and spit blight.

The Siren & Drowned Crew

Siren



This boss can be a nuisance but with care preparation she is very easy, she has two actions per turn with one always focused on "Charming" one of your heroes to join her side, with this knowledge we know not to take anyone that can guard or else they will guard her(if you brought someone that can just switch the skill with something else before the fight). Her "charm" counts as a debuff so bringing debuff resistance trinkets and Holy Water will come a long way in this fight. You can bring an antiquarian (make sure she has protect me followed by useless skills) and have her spam protect me on a high debuff resistance hero, this makes the Siren focus her down but instead target the hero thats guarding her, and after you used all the 3 turns Protect me the moment she gets charmed she will be useless for the Siren providing low DMG and terrible buffs. She is also very susceptible to blight/somewhat with bleed(Plague, Shield, Abom. Flag, Hellion, and Highwayman) and can spawn trouble some mobs like the bulwarks which you should focus on stunning only when they guard her. Other than that it's pretty easy.

Drowned Crew



The crew has 2 actions per turn and spawns an "anchorman" which "drowns" one of your heroes, making them suffer from stress DMG for every action taken during the fight, the crew stresses, shuffles/debuffs, and bleeds your team so be prepared for that by using Holy Water. they are very susceptible to blight/somewhat with bleed (Plague, Shield, Abom. Flag, Hellion, and Highwayman)
Another strat is to have a bounty hunter flashbang the anchorman moving him to rank 4 where he can't do anything, if you dont have a BH though having the person focused down the anchorman is pretty much mandatory left alone for too long the anchorman will grant heals and prot for the crew which we dont want.

CC Bosses (Baron, Viscount, Countess and Garden Guardian)

Baron



Your first boss, the boss itself isn't hard It's the journey this will be case with some bosses in the CC, excluding Countess, Viscount, and Garden Guardian they are extremely hard. during the fight he will have multiple "acts" which will spawn eggs that deny healing, the trick is to only hit one at a time and dealwith the mob inside of it, if it spawns the baron depending on how much health he has kill him or take care of the other eggs to gain back healing abilities. he has multiple actions per turn so Bleeds are extremely useful for him.

Viscount



The viscount has an intimidating 4 actions per turn he comes along with 3 bodies behind him the body in rank 3 can heal him for a good amount so if you want to kill the bodies only kill rank 3 since it's the most impactful in the fight, as of course Bleeds are extremely useful with him and burst DMG is as well.

Garden Guardian



He has bleeds, stun, and debuffs. just bring Holy Water/Bandages along with focusing down the head or main body whatever it's called, due to the shield despawning and spear as well when the body dies. manage the bleed with HW and Bands and this boss becomes easy.

Countess



This will be a very tiring boss fight, she has 4 actions per round along with HIGH DODGE, bring a team that has good base ACC and bleeds which she is susceptible to, she also favors party-wide attacks so bring heroes with riposte is a good idea. she will have two modes where she will have access to 4 or 2-3 actions per turn 4 turns is her normal form where with the 4th action she will be famished and turn into her bug form dealing DMG. Manage her modes and DMG and your good. Bring Holy Water and Bandages.

MINIBOSSES

The Collector



This guy will most likely pay you a visit if you have A LOT OF LOOT ON YOU but will sometimes just appear, he has one action and uses it to call 3 "collected heads" he also has a stress DMG for ranks 1-2 and a lifesteal DMG skill for any rank. The most dangerous part about the fight is the head spawns. The Man-at Arms can guard the Collector prolonging the fight but this can be solved with a stun so it's not really to bad the most dangerous head is the vestal which can heal and buff any of her comrades dmg by 50% and increase their crit chance by 10% this is stackable. any of these buffs on a Highwayman or Collector is extremely dangerous and i recommend taking her out first due to the fact that sometimes the Collector will just spam show collection if he is in the front ranks and just keep two heads alive. Stunning and moving the Collector is doable and i'd recommend that be your first action against him.

Shambler



This will never spawn since we wont be interacting with his Altar as well as we will always have the torch at 75+ so don't worry.

The Fanatic



This is a CC exclusive boss, he will always spawn BEHIND something (Curios, Traps, Fights) so he can easily be avoided. He also only spawn if you have a Crimson Curse afflicted hero on your team, You will know if he spawned because he comes with a special loading screen if he does, you will know when you see it. If you can't he's just a reskinned hag fight so have high priority on backline DMG

TRINKETS

For the sake of time any trinket not listed here will be considered by UTTERLY USELESS that you would rather sell.

If you see these trinkets on the map try to get them unless you see an even better trinket in the list.

Of course the Very Rare and Rare trinkets will outclass earlier (very Common, and Common) trinkets, these sections are here to teach you what trinkets are useful for you early game, mid game and late game as well as teaching what Heroes use them more efficiently than other heroes.

(very) Common (750g)

Extremely useful for Siren Boss fight, outside of that don't ever use this and just keep them.



Free 10% Stun Chance use this early game when you don't have anything better.

Common (1125g)

The resistances can be useful to help lower Bleed/Blight procs, also there are very few mobs who give diseases and the chance of them having one of your Heroes undergo a disease check goes even lower.



DMG for the cost of dodge, use this on moderate-high base DMG heroes to get most out of it



use this on ranged heroes who you find that can't hit high dodge mobs, or else just sell this.



Free stress DMG mitigation with no downsides.



Free spd can help with speed rolls



even though items that lower SPD are all trash, this one on a high Scouting/Trap chance heroes (Highwayman, Houndmaster, and Grave Robber.) allow us to scout ahead and seeing dangers and traps.



Same as the damage stone except for melee frontliners



Use this on low ACC melee heroes (Leper and Crusader)

Uncommon (1500g)

Useful for Bleed procs, especially for Leper



Increases heals take this if nothing much better.



Useful for siren especially on occultist other don't take it.



can be useful on high Scouting heroes.



use this for ranged heroes who can't seem to hit enemies



with the buffs it's more amazing, use on melee heroes with good crit, it also comes with acc for the leper as well.



nice spd use this on people who need to act first (Backline Killers, and Healers)

Rare (2250g)

All of these rings are extremely useful given they're used in the right places

Beast Slayers: Warrens/Darkest Dungeon
Eldritch Slayers: Cove/Darkest Dungeon
Man Slayers: Warrens/Wolves at the Door quest
Unholy Slayers: Ruins/Cove



+3 SPD, 15% Extra DMG is great, the negatives can be subsided and taken care of with right team comps and skill



Honestly I wouldn't use this since there has been a big buff to crit, slayer rings, and other trinkets however if you want consistency then use this.



This is one of the new trinkets, IMO it has potential but in Appretince/Champion dungeons you want trinkets that help you out more.



This can be of extremely good use if you have a predestined target that you know will be focused down (Man-at-arms, Houndmaster, etc.)



Eh. you will be focusing down backline so you usually don't have to worry about stress, use this when you know there will be a lot of unavoidable stress.

Very Rare (3750g)

For the sake of time I'll just tell everything currently in this rarity is useful except for Martyrs Seal which requires us to be on deaths door to use, which we never want to be in the first place.

[DamnedSpot]

You mention spamming med/long dungeons but it's buried in the Antiquarian's description. Maybe you should expand your "general tips" section?

[ESTEBAN]

Being a dodge based hero is a con but so is having low dodge?

[Thats it im dead]

wheres the guide to beating Heart of Darkness?

[opossumtrot]

alpha guide

[GreedRecycler]

Nicely written

[Thanos]

wtf is a Chad?

[santox]

Can confirm that secret rooms have always been a thing for med/long dungeons. Loved the animu Estate, need more waifus on my dungeons.

[steelAndRhubarbDev]

@SpaceDuck have they always? I remember playing older builds and never seeing them

[SpaceDuck]

CC didn't add secret rooms with locked chests in them. Those have always been a thing.

[Dazdinga]

You forgot the Shrieker