Some Personal Notes on Darkest Dungeon

Some personal notes for how to survive & thrive in "Darkest Dungeon".

Be Prepared

Dear player,

Please be aware that while Darkest Dungeon can be fun, it can also be nerve-wracking and incredibly frustrating. The tide of battle - and your profits, and the lives of your heroes - hinges on a random number generator. The random number generator is never kind, and occasionally it stacks an amount of bullsh*t on you and your heroes that will make you want to ragequit, uninstall, and possibly do grievous harm to your computer.
Please remember that it is not the computers fault: it is the designers fault for making a rogue-like game so heavily based on random number generation.
Before you begin playing, you should be aware of the level of bullsh*t the game can occasionally pull on you:

Recently, I attempted a long dungeon to get the final Ancestors Trinket (extra equipment for heroes) I needed to complete an achievement. I somehow survived the entire dungeon with all my heroes alive & healthy; one had gone insane (large penalties), and another had become virtuous (small bonuses).
Then I encountered the final battle at low light level. The battle comprised of 3 rabid wolves and 1 hedge witch. I slew 2 wolves, and the witch was going to die from bleeding damage in 2 turns.
Then three of my heroes had heart attacks because of high STRESS (mental damage which can lead to insanity, virtue, and heart attacks), even though 2 of them had health left. The only hero to survive was my virtuous Vestal (main healing hero). Note that as pictured here, she somehow lost her virtuous status for no reason I can comprehend***. (Virtue is marked by a white moon-crescent on a heros health bar - no white moon-crescent means no virtue.)

***a generous commentator noted that heroes lose Virtues if they hit 200 Stress again, which I do not remember encountering before on my own, especially since half the purpose of Virtues is to reduce stress... It's possible, I suppose, but does not detract from the angst and frustration of this event.


Because of the skills I had outfitted on my last hero, there, she could not attack the wolf and finish it off. I had to retreat and rearrange her skills so she could attack. However...


When I re-entered the room, all four enemies had respawned at full heatlh. Don't even ask me how they got "surprised". It didn't even matter. I had to survive 6 attacks at deaths door (basically a last-second chance to save a heros life) before I could retreat again. My hero somehow became insane (even though the virtue she had is supposed to last for the rest of a dungeon).
Retreating causes STRESS damage (the white boxes underneath a heros health bar). After all this, my last hero died from a Heart Attack after suffering that final bit of STRESS damage.


If you are the kind of player who is prone to acting rashly when things go terribly in a game, please think twice about purchasing and playing Darkest Dungeon. If you are concerned about your physical health, mental health, or gaming equipment, there are many, many other games out there which do not cause the amount of annoyance, aggravation, and anxiety that Darkest Dungeon does.
I hope this warning has been helpful, and if you still persist in delving into the Darkest Dungeon, read on at your own peril...

Hero Selection & Outfitting

The following build and recommendations are strictly with the Darkest Dungeon quests in mind.

Upgrade the Stagecoach as soon as possible. This provides several bonuses, including:
--wider selection of available classes
--larger number of heroes / week
--possible higher hero starting level (which gives free learned skills and equipment)

After collecting desired achievements, it is not necessary to recruit heroes of every type; recruit only those that have a practical use in your party builds. Antiquarians might be useful in the early game for quick access to trinkets, but afterwards, their usefulness is dependent on how effectively you can use them against stronger and stronger enemies.
For a full roster of 30 heroes, I recommend having 2 of each hero class, except the following:
--4 Arbalests / Musketeers
--4 Vestals
--3 Plague Doctors
--3 Lepers
--3 Bounty Hunters
--can do with only 1 Highwayman and 1 Crusader (default Dismas & Reynauld)

Prioritize Heroes with the following Positive Quirks, and lock these Quirks in with the Sanitarium. Remove all Quirks that penalize these bonuses:
Ranged Heroes:

• Fated ACC
  
• Unerring DMG
  
• Eagle Eye CRIT
  
• Natural Eye ACC
  
• Natural Swing ACC

Melee Heroes:

• Evasive DDG
  
• Precise Striker CRIT
  
• Tough HIT

For Any Hero:

• Eldritch Slayer ACC / CRIT (for the Darkest Dungeon quests)
  
• Quick Reflexes SPD
  
• Hard Skinned PROT
  
• Deadly CRIT
  
• Eldritch Hater DMG / STRESS (for the Darkest Dungeon quests)
  
• Irrepressible VIRT
  
• Unyielding DTHBLW
  
• Luminous SPD, DDG

Fight the Shrieker beast in the Weald as often as possible to gain Corvid Quirks such as

• Corvids Eye ACC / Scout
  
• Corvids Grace DDG / MOVE Resis

Fight the Thing From the Stars in the Color of Madness DLC to gain Quirks such as

• Prismatic Isolation, unique Quirk, +25% Debuff Resist

Don't bother locking in area-specific Quirks unless you want to build an anti-area team (+scouting and -stress are best Quirks for this).

Team-Building Exercises

One of the single best all-around team builds I have discovered is (from left to right)
4 Arbalest / Musketeer
3 Arbalest / Musketeer
2 Vestal
1 Bounty Hunter

Equip the Arbalests or Musketeers for DMG, Vestal for 2nd-slot HEAL, and Bounty Hunter for damage and survivability (DDG, HP, DMG, SPD). The Arbalest and Musketeer benefit from most damage-increasing trinkets, especially class-specific ones. Equip the Vestal with the Profane Scroll and either another healing Trinket or a Martyrs Seal. Give the Bounty Hunter a Wounding Helmet, Berserk Charm, or another Trinket that gives SPD.
With this build, Mark targets with the Bounty Hunter first thing every turn. With luck, the two Arbalests / Musketeers will be able to kill at least 1 "light" enemy per round, and gain a damage and accuracy bonus against large or heavy enemies. The Bounty Hunters MARK power also reduces enemy PROT and gives him a SPD bonus. You will probably have to spam healing with the Vestal, but if you have some breathing room, use her Dazzling Light or Illumination powers.

Special Teams
These teams get a special name when equipped in the right order; I do not know if this special configuration gives any actual bonus, or ust cosmetic. From left to right:
4 Plag 3 Vest 2 High 1 Crus = "Red Hook"
4 Plag 3 High 2 Vest 1 Crus = "Tricky Glory"
4 Vest 3 Plag 2 High 1 Crus = "The Usual Suspects"
4 Grav 3 Occt 2 Abom 1 Hell = "Les Miserables"
4 Occt 3 Grav 2 Abom 1 Hell = "Heavens Devils"
4 est 3 Grav 2 High 1 Bount = "The Guilty"
4 Grav 3 Vest 2 High 1 Bount = "The Mercenaries"
4 Anti 3 Vest 2 Lep 1 Crus = "Seekers of the Grail"
4 Man 3 Vest 2 Lep 1 Crus = "Belle and the Beasts"
4 Vest 3 Plag 2 Grav 1 Lep = "The Strays"
4 Grav 3 Vest 2 MAA 1 Hell = "Charlie's Angels"
4 Arba 3 Hound 2 Shield 1 Bount = "Alpha Strike"
4 Arba 3 Ves 2 Hound 1 Bount = "The Huntsmen Corps"
4 Arba 3 Arba 2 Shield 1 Shield = "The Supreme Suppressors"
4 Arba 3 Vest 2 Shield 1 Man = "The Phalanx"
4 Vest 3 Plag 2 Bount 1 Crus = "The Wardens"

Embark / Quest Screen

a = quest goal & level
b = quest rewards, always including some gold, heirlooms, and a trinket
c = a normal quest, divided up into tiers by color. Green = hero level 0-2, yellow = 3-4, red = 5-6. Higher-tier heroes will not go on lower-tier quests**, and lower-tier heroes receive lots of extra STRSS if they go on a higher-tier quest

**except during the "Helping Hand" rare town event (pictured in "e"), when higher-tier heroes can go on any quest. This is very useful for fighting bosses
d = a boss quest, with the same color-coded tiers as normal quests. Green = 1st tier/encounter, yellow = 2nd tier/encounter, red = 3rd tier/encounter. After beating the boss in its 3rd encounter, you will not have to worry about that boss ever again thank goodness
e = a picture symbolizing the weekly town event, or unique name of your team (see "Team Building Exercises" section)(this week's "Helping Hand" event allows any hero of a higher tier to help on a lower-tier quest)
f = the Provision button that takes you to the Provisioning screen after you have filled your team lineup
g = your list of heroes, with picture, name, stress level (white blocks), weapon upgrade (crossed swords), and armor upgrade (shield sketch)
h = a given hero's level and tier (gray for minimal tier, white for level 2, green for level 3-4, and orange for level 5-6)
i = Crimson Court quest area, only available with The Crimson Court DLC (can be enabled or disabled when you start a new campaign, and can be enabled any time after)
k = Farmstead quest area, only available with The Colors of Madness DLC (can be enabled or disabled when you start a new campaign, and can be enabled any time after)
l = return to Town screen

4, 3, 2, 1 = the position your heroes have in your team lineup. 4 is the position furthest away from the enemy; 1 is the position closest to the enemy. This has a huge impact on which abilities your heroes can use, and which position the enemy can target with their abilities

General Boss Tips

• The boss is always in the room that is furthest from your starting position; you can count the number of rooms away from your starting position to at least narrow down where the boss will be.
  
• Progress straight towards the boss, avoiding as many side battles as you can along the way.
  
• Camp in the room immediately before the boss, and use your most powerful camping skills (such as Bounty Hunter +DMG skills). Make sure to use a "Prevent nighttime ambush" skill to be sure you won't be weakened by battle right before the boss.
  
• Bosses are always at least 2 squares large**, so anti-large abilities and high single-target DMG abilities are helpful.
  
• MRK powers are very very helpful in boss fights, since they give increased damage to certain heroes (ex: Arbalest / Musketeer, Bounty Hunter, Houndmaster). This will allow you to pare down bosses faster, and may reduce annoying defenses like PROT or DDG.

**the only exception to this, sort of, is the Flesh in the Warrens, which takes up 4 single-slot spaces, making it vulnerable to certain AoEs.
The Necromancer and Prophet in the Ruins also only take up 1 space. So basically only some bosses take up 2 or more spaces.
There's also Wilbur. But we don't talk about Wilbur. He's listening. He knows.

The Necromancer in the Ruins

The Necromancer does consistent DMG, and can summon reinforcements of the Bone variety (ex: Bone Rabble, Bone Courtier).
When the Necromancer summons reinforcements (basically whenever he uses another one of his powers), he gets pushed back 1 space. A good long-range team that can hit spots 2, 3, or 4 in the enemy lineup will serve you well. You'll also want a good, strong tank (perhaps with Mark Self, like Crusader or Leper) to hold the line against the Bone reinforcements.

Attacks & Abilities
The Flesh is Willing = medium damage attack against 2 heroes. Summons a Bone minion
Six Feet Under = inflicts medium STRSS on 2-3 heroes. Summons a Bone minion
Graveyard Call =

Bone Minions
Most of the "Bone"-class minions that the Necromancer summons have abilities that move them forward 1 space; each time they use these abilities, the Necromancer will get pushed back 1 space. If there are several Bone minions, the Necromancer will basically always be in space 4 (unless you use a Pull power or keep hacking down the Bone minions).
"Bone"-class minions include:

• Bone Courtier
  
• Bone Veteran
  
• Bone Rabble
  
• Bone Bulwark (the tanks, which can Guard the Necromancer or another Bone minion)

Tactics
Since the Necromancer will almost always be in space 3-4, heroes with long-range attacks are very useful. You can use a couple of my favorite tactics here - stacking BLT, or using MRK + high DMG. For BLT, you can't do better than a Plague Doctor (or two); if you don't bring a dedicated healer like a Vestal, one Plague Doctor can stack BLT on the Necromancer, and the other can use Battlefield Medicine to keep your heroes off Death's Door. An Abomination might also be practical for his 2-space BLT attack and STUN ability.
For MRK + DMG, bring one of my favorite set-ups: Bounty Hunter + Arbalest/Musketeer. Use Bounty Hunter to MRK the Necromancer, and unleash devastation with the Arbalests Sniper Shot/Musketeers Aimed Shot. A good crit will take a chunk of 30-40 HP off the Necromancer, which is about 20% if its overall health.

The Prophet in the Ruins

Do you see what I see...
(Do you see what I see...)
A nasty group of would-be heroes...
(A tasty group of worn-out heroes...)
Do you hear what I hear...
(Do you hear what I hear...)
A heckle of a maddened goon...
(An echo of approaching doom...)
Do you know what I know...
(Do you know what I know...)
This battle will be terrific...
(This slaughter will be horrific...)

The biggest threat the Prophet poses is that he can literally bring the ceiling down on your heads. As one of his actions, he will prophesize doom on 1-2 random spaces in your lineup, and at the end of the round, big chunks of the ceiling will fall on those spaces. These can be dodged, but the chunks seem to have high accuracy, so you'll need very high DDG to counter this.
The Prophet is blocked by 3 rows of pews. By destroying these pews, you can bring the Prophet closer to your melee heroes, and you get a very valuable piece of loot for each pew you destroy. The trouble is that these pews have medium-to-very-high hitpoints, and get progressively stronger the closer they are to the Prophet in space 4. While you're beating down the pews, the Prophet will still be inflicting DMG, BLT, and STRS.


Attacks & Abilities
Prognosticate = at the start of every round, targets 1-2 random spaces that will be smote (smitten? smited?) by Rubble of Ruin at the end of the turn for HUGE damage
Rubble of Ruin = the ceiling caves in on spaces marked by Prognosticate, causing HUGE damage (30+). Can be dodged, but this ability has high Accuracy. Guard works against Rubble of Ruin, so you can Guard a vulnerable hero, and the Guarding hero will suffer Rubble of Ruin instead. If you are able to, you can switch heroes so that better survivors & tanks are in the targeted positions by the end of the turn
Eye on You = slight STRSS damage, DBFF, and STN
Fulminate = medium chance to inflict BLT on all heroes, which can easily finish off a hero at Death's Door brought on by falling rocks from Rubble of Ruin!

Battle Tactics
You need a minimum of 2 ma or things for the Prophet battles:
1) At least 1 long-range damage dealer like Arbalest/Musketeer, Flagellant, or Plague Doctor. You can ust stack, stack, stack BLT or BLD on the Prophet, since those are his lowest resistances
2) You will also need a way to heal back the insane damage caused by Rubble of Ruin. This means either Vestal with +HEAL trinkets or heroes with sizable self-heals, like Flagellant, Leper, or Abomination. Flagellant is more useful because he can hit the back space where the Prophet is, whereas Leper and Abomination will have to hew their way through pews.
I've been able to consistently beat the Prophet with a setup similar to this team:
4) Arbalest/Musketeer 3) Houndmaster 2) Vestal 1) Bounty Hunter
The Bounty Hunter is build for SPD and either MRKs the Prophet at the start of a round, or starts hacking away at the pews ( ust for extra lootz at the end). The Houndmaster is built for DDG and Guards a space targeted by Prognosticate. The Vestal spams HEAL. Lastly, the Arbalest uses the MRK applied by the Bounty Hunter to take chunks off the Prophets HP. A good MRKed crit will take off 1/4 of the Prophets HP, but even if she doesn't crit, an Arbalest/Musketeer does significant damage (roughly 10% of the Prophets HP per turn on a normal MRKed hit). If you have some breathing room, the Houndmaster can also MRK or hit the Prophet with a BLD attack.

Rewards Upon Defeat

• For each slot of pews you destroyed in the battle, you will receive 1 hefty reward item worth a LOT of gold!
  
• For defeating the Prophet himself, you will get at least 1 Trinket, sometimes 2 low-level Trinkets.
  
• Lastly, if you have the Crimson Court DLC, you will receive 1 Blueprint to build Districts back in the Hamlet.

The Swine King in the Warrens

DO NOT HIT WILBUR! ust, do not. Not until the Swine King is dead.
If you are so foolish as to prioritize Wilbur (and it can be tempting, what with his MARK power), the Swing King gets a free massive attack against the hero who targeted Wilbur. This occurs each time Wilbur is targeted, regardless of how many actions the Swing King has left on his turn.

Attacks & Abilities, Swine King

• Wild Flailing = medium DMG
  
• Obliterate Body = medium to high DMG against 1 hero, DMG increased by MRK

Attacks & Abilities, Wilbur
Wilbur has the highest SPD I've ever known was possible - 20 SPD. He always acts first, and while the Swine King is alive, Wilbur will use "End This One / End These Two" to set up attacks for the Swine King.
When the Swine King dies, Wilbur will exclusively use Squeal from space 1.

• End This One / End These Two = MRKs 1-2 random heroes
  
• Squeal = only usable when Wilber in space 1, hits all 4 heroes, chance to STUN

Crushingly, there is a Steam achievement to be earned if Wilbur himself kills one of your heroes (probably with Squeal).

The Flesh in the Warrens

The tricksy thing about the Flesh is that each of its 4 incarnations will morph at the beginning of each combat round. This may necessitate a change in your tactics, since one of the flesh-stalk slots may be vulnerable to BLEED one round, then have high PROT and BLEED resistance the next round. (If you've already inflicted BLIGHT or BLEED, though, it stays with that slot even after that slot morphs.)
You should be alright with a team that can reach any slot with damaging powers, or those with good AoEs, such as Plague Doctor and Houndmaster.

Attacks & Abilities
Each of the 4 slots of the Flesh takes 1 action per round, and since they only have 1 ability each, you know exactly what to expect from a given combination.
Here is a breakdown of the Flesh, with my own naming tags:

Flesh Squirm

Sanguine Stroke = heals the entire Flesh for a medium amount (meaning about 10-20 HP, not based on the overall max HP)
VERY high SPD, so usually acts first on a turn, healing all the DMG you inflicted last turn. Very annoying, but also very vulnerable to attacks. The only defense the Flesh Squirm has is a medium DDG, so when you hit it, it is vulnerable to DMG, BLT, and BLD.

Flesh Bonemast

Bone Zephyr = high-DMG, high chance to STUN a single hero

Flesh Pigface

Maws of Life = high DMG against up to 2 heroes

Flesh Pigbutt

Undulating Invasion = medium DMG, high chance to BLT

Tactics
The two worst parts about the Flesh are its very high-damage attacks, and its ability to heal itself, sometimes for 30+ HP on a turn if you get unlucky with a high spawn of Flesh Squirms. You'll want to bring 3 things:

• a dedicated healer, like a fully-trinketed-out Vestal with Divine Comfort (mostly what you hope for is to keep your heroes off Deaths Door, and to counteract damage done by BLT)
  
• a way to remove BLT and BLD (mostly BLT), like a Plague Doctor
  
• a way to consistently deal at least 20 damage per turn, like a Bounty Hunter + Arbalest/Musketeer combo, a high-ACC Leper, or stacking on BLT or BLD with Plague Doctor, Houndmaster, or Flagellant

As far as your damage-dealing goes, I would not fully endorse the Bounty Hunter + Arbalest/Musketeer combo for once in my life, because the Flesh often has so much PROT that a MRK won't make much of a difference - and that weak Flesh Squirm you targeted with MRK can turn into a Bonemast on the next turn, umpstarting its defense. If you can lay down the MRKs with Bounty Hunter on every turn, not using Bounty Hunter for anything else, ust to set up your Arbalest/Musketeer, it might work. Remember, though, the Arbalest/Musketter cannot reliably hit space 1 on the enemy side.
Houndmasters work decently, since they can apply the BLD AoE and/or Guard a vulnerable hero with a high chance to DDG. Plague Doctors also work well, since they can hit any square with a high chance to BLT for significant damage. You might bring 2 Plague Doctors, one to apply BLT, and the other to cure BLT.

The Hag in the Weald

"Legend has it, that in the mystic land of the Hamlet, there was once a goat so cruel and so evil, that even the gods feared him. Since no prison could hold him, he was thrown alive into a crucible of molten iron. There, his demonic spirit was captured in the form of a great Hag's Cauldron." - as adapted from the introduction of The Black Cauldron, 1985 (all respective rights preserved by Disney)

Bleed is a fairly effective tactic against the Hag - she has comparatively low resistance to it, and she will take Bleed damage on each of her actions (she acts twice in a round).
Most of the time, I would say focus all your attacks on the Hag herself. She has comparatively low HP for a boss, and a few good crits should turn the tables nicely. Once the Hag is down, the battle ends. Spending your attacks on the Cauldron means the battle will take significantly longer, so your heroes will suffer more attacks and more damage.

Attacks & Abilities
Into the Pot! = randomly selects 1 hero to be boiled alive inside the Cauldron. Boiling deals low to medium damage at the end of every action (your heroes' and the Hag's). This attack can be Dodged. A Houndmaster with high DDG can protect your healer from this ability.
Meat Tenderizer = attacks all heroes, can be Dodged. Deals low to medium damage, mostly used as a way to kill heroes at Death's Door after being damaged by Into the Pot!
Season to Perfection = debuff that applies -DMG and -ACC
Taste the Stew = inflict STRSS on a hero, and HEAL the Hag for a medium amount

The Cauldron
Immune to BLT, BLD, debuffs, and STUN. (The Cauldron itself has no actions, so STUN is wasted anyway.)
While inactive, has 100 HP, 80% PROT, and immune to all effects and DOTs. While active (a hero is boiling inside), has low hit points, and can sometimes be 1-shotted by a strong hero or a crit.
Once a boiling hero reaches 0 HP / is at Death's Door, they are released from the Cauldron and placed into spot 1. See picture above.

Resistances

• High BLT resist
  
• Medium-to-Low BLD resist

Party Suggestions
Flagellants and esters with the right skill and good ACC can hit the Hag in the back with consistent BLD. The Hag doesn't have too many hitpoints, so a nice BLD DoT will wear her down while your other heroes handle the Cauldron or heal.
Houndmasters are good for their consistent BLD attacks, as well, and with their ability to Guard, they can protect a hero (ex: your healer) from being hit by Into the Pot! - and with the Houndmaster's high DDG, they might dodge Into the Pot! themselves.
Your heroes will certainly be worn down by Into the Pot! and Meat Tenderizer, so having the AoE heal of the Vestal is almost a requirement.
Aside from the Vestal, bring a backup healer ust in case the Vestal gets hit by Into the Pot! Backup healers that can save your heroes from Death's Door include: Arbalest, Blight Doctor, or Antiquarian or Occultist in a pinch. (Occultist can be a danger because there's a surprisingly high chance that he won't heal [his heal ranges from 0-high], but he can inflict BLD on a hero at Death's Door.) Heroes with a good strong self-heal are also recommended (such as Houndmaster, Leper, Abomination, or Flagellant).
A high-damage melee hero - such as Leper or Bounty Hunter - can be used to attack the Cauldron, with a decent chance of 1-shotting it and releasing the trapped hero. However, the more attacks you spend on the Cauldron, the fewer attacks you spend on the Hag. It's almost like she planned it that way...
Don't tell any of the heroes, but you might consider letting the Hag hit a sacrificial hero with Into the Pot!, and letting the Cauldron boil that hero down to Deaths Door while you focus attacks on the Hag herself. While a hero is in the Cauldron, the Hag will not target any other heroes with Into the Pot!.

The Cannon in the Weald

Ho!, boys, bring 'er up!
Light the match with glee!
Ho!, boys, line 'em up
Like on a bowling green!
Ain't no shame in runnin',
Ain't no shame at all,
For when that match a-touches 'er,
Can't do nought but fall!

I will say this now and repeatedly throughout this section:
IF THE BRIGAND MATCHMAN IS ALLOWED TO USE "FIRE IN THE HOLE", THE CANNON WILL FIRE AT THE END OF THE ROUND WITH THE "BOOOOOOOM!!", DEALING INCREDIBLY HIGH DAMAGE TO ALL HEROES!!

Abilities & Attacks
BOOOOOOOOM!! = deals INCREDIBLE DMG to all heroes at the end of a combat round, if triggered by the Brigand Matchman
Reinforcements = triggers automatically at the beginning of each round; summons a Brigand Matchman, and additional Brigands if there are more spaces left

Brigand Matchman
Fire in the Hole! = triggers the Cannons BOOOOOOM!! attack at the end of the round
The Brigand Matchman is needed for the Cannon to use its BOOOOOM!! attack; if you take out the Brigand Matchman every turn, you should have no serious problems. The Matchman needs to be your ultimate priority, even besides other Brigands that may be dealing damage to you.
The Matchman has no special defenses or abilities besides lighting the fuse to trigger BOOOOOM!!. He is vulnerable to all attacks, and can often be one-shotted by a high-DMG, long-range hero such as the Arbalest.
The Brigand Matchman has the lowest possible speed, and will always act last on every round, no matter what, so this gives you up to 4 opportunities to kill him.

Defenses
The Cannon is effectively immune to everything, including the secondary powers of MRK (such as -PROT and -DDG).
The Brigands that surround the Cannon are vulnerable to most effects, including MRK and the secondary effects of MRK. I would not advise wasting your MRK on anyone besides the Brigand Matchman or the Cannon itself, however.

Battle Tactics
The Cannon itself is basically immune to all debuffs, including BLT and BLD. It would take an absurd degree of specialization to make it vulnerable to these attacks, so you are better off focusing your damage on the Brigand Matchman, who is much more vulnerable.
The Cannon requires the Brigand Matchman enemy to fire; if you take out the Brigand Matchman, the Cannon can never use its BOOOOOM!! ability, thus saving your heroes a lot of DMG and grief. However, the Cannon will summon a Brigand Matchman for free at the start of every round - you must then keep killing a new Matchman every turn before he can act. You should have at least 2 heroes who can reach the back spot in the enemy lineup to consistently hit the Brigand Matchman.
If brigands are killed, the Cannon will also summon reinforcement Brigands for free.
It is theoretically possible to keep the Brigand Matchman Stunned with a ranged power, such as that used by the Plague Doctor or human-form Abomination. If you feel you don't have the damage - or you're ust getting unlucky with the damage - try stunning.

To actually destroy the Cannon itself, you must take its medium-to-high PROT into account. Marking it is a good idea, especially with a MARK that removes PROT, like the Bounty Hunters MARK ability. If you're fairly lucky, the Cannon will summon weaker Brigands as reinforcements, so you could ignore the regular Brigands and focus on the Cannon and the Brigand Matchman.
In all honesty, the Cannon in the Weald is one of the easiest boss fights, AS LONG AS you consistently kill or STUN the Brigand Matchman.

The Siren in the Cove

"I always wondered what became of the unfortunate little waif..." - our Ancestor

Like many bosses, the Siren has a special power to remove one of your heroes from your lineup - but unlike other bosses, the Siren instead turns the targeted hero to her own side. Luckily, these heroes tend to use their more supportive skills, rather than their combat skills. For example, if the Siren pulls over an Arbalest, the Arbalest will most often use her healing skill, rather than her powerful attack skills. However, there's still the chance of using the attack skills if the Siren is doing fine on hitpoints and buffs - or if the targeted hero simply doesn't have any HEAL or BUFF powers.

Abilities & Attacks
Song of Desire = converts 1 random (?) hero to fight on the Siren's side for 1 turn. The converted hero acts on their normal initiative (so if they haven't used their action yet this turn, they can use it against your heroes!) The converted hero takes medium STRSS each turn they are converted. This ability can be dodged or rarely resisted. The hero is returned to space 4 on your side at the END of the following turn. Song of Desire can rarely be resisted. If Song of Desire misses or is resisted, Siren can use it again on the same turn
Pressure Crash = low DMG but medium STRS to all heroes, can be dodged
Devour = AoE attack against all heroes, very slight DMG but high BLD chance
High Tide = summon 1 Pelagic reinforcement in space 1. This reinforcement will destroy corpses in space 1

The Crew in the Cove

Sing a aunty tune, me lads, and well-prepare to die!
For in the dark and wet ahead a devious crew I spy!
With gun and blade we'll rip and tear, a battle to be fought!
But look ahead and think, me lads, rather perhaps we ought
To cringe and cry and weep and wail, and cower in our boots!
But ponder for a moment, lads, the piles and piles of loots!

Defenses

• Medium STUN (gets 2 actions per round, so STUN is limited usefulness)
  
• Low BLT
  
• Medium-to-high BLD (being unholy)
  
• Low DBFF
  
• Extremely high-to-invulnerable MOVE

Attacks & Abilities
All Hands On Deck!, for free at the start of each turn. Can pull 1 of your heroes into space 1. If there is an open space on the Crews side, the Crew will summon a Puller. The Puller has its own attacks & initiative. If there is no space, there is a medium chance of pulling the targeted hero forwards
Boarding Clutch, single-target attack with a decent chance to BLD
Mutiny, attempt to pull a hero over to fight for the Crews side, if there are slots left on the Crews side. If there are no slots available on the Crews side, this attack can still apply a -DMG and -CRIT debuff. Can be automatically resisted if there are no Crew spaces left. Can be dodged.
Drink With the Dead, single-target low-to-medium STRSS attack

Puller

• High PROT when inactive, 0 PROT while active (hooking a hero with Heave To!)
  
• No-to-low DDG
  
• Low SPD

Heave To!, attacks the hero in space 1. If it hits, the attack immobilizes the hero (preventing movement), inflicts low STRSS after EACH OTHER ACTION (hero and Crew), and heals the Crew for a small amount after EACH OTHER ACTION. However, this does NOT prevent the affected hero from attacking! I have not seen this attack miss or be dodged.
When the Puller activates/hits a hero with Heave To!, it fully heals but loses its protective buff.
When the Crew dies, the Puller disappears.
Apparently, if the hero in space 1 is Virtuous, they are immune to the Heave To! ability. If you have a Virtuous hero, move them to space 1, so you can at least prevent the Crew from healing.

Battle Tactics
BLT is a very effective tactic to use, since the Crew has low resistance to it, and they will suffer BLT damage on each of their actions (2 per round). The Crew takes up 3 spaces, so you should be able to hit them with any BLT attack from any hero. The Plague Doctor Noxious Blast attack and Shieldbreaker Captivate attack deal the most BLT damage. You could also bring a Graverobber with Poison Darts, or Abomination with Beasts Bile, but the Abomination will waste part of their attack, since Beasts Bile hits 2 spaces, but there is only 1 Crew.
One of the biggest pains of the Crew is the Heave To! power and its slight heal after EACH OTHER ACTION. You can wear down the Crew with DoTs (recommended, BLT) or damage, but it may be simpler and faster to spare 1 hero per round who can 1-shot the Puller and stop the healing granted by Heave To!.

A Plague Doctor is a good choice, between her ability to inflict BLT and to heal BLD.
Another hero that can deal high DMG and hit space 1 on the Crews side is another very good choice, to take out Pullers. These include Bounty Hunter, Leper, Shieldbreaker, etc.

Rewards Upon Defeat

• 2 trinkets

The Collector

It's so hard to get a head
In this darkling roguelike game
It's so hard to get a head
It's really quite a shame
It's so hard to get a head
You might as well despair
For those who face the Yellow King
Are never quite the same

The Collector is a random hallway battle found in potentially any area, but is seemingly most common in the Ruins and the Warrens.

The ma or danger of The Collector is that it summons 3 minions. It may summon any combination of these three minions, but no more than 2 of the same kind at once (at least from what I've observed):

• Vestal Head - can heal like your Vestal's Divine Grace ability, and buff The Collector or allied Heads
  
• Man-at-Arms Head - can Guard or buff The Collector or allied Heads, has a STUN attack
  
• Highwayman Head - deals high damage with high Bleed chance, like your Highwayman's Open Vein ability

Abilities & Attacks
Show Collection, medium STRESS attack against 2 random heroes
Life Steal, medium DMG, and heals the Collector for a medium amount. If the targeted hero dodges this attack, the Collector does not heal
Collect Call, summon 3 Heads on the first use of this ability, and 1-3 Heads to replace fallen Heads on successive uses

Battle Tactics
Deal as much damage to the Collector up front as you can. If you can surprise it, stack Blight & Bleed on it, Mark it, debuff it if you can, etc. In spite of the danger that The Collectors summons pose, I would say focus all your efforts on defeating The Collector, because once it dies, all its summoned Heads die as well.

Rewards Upon Defeat
Frequently, the Collector drops a "Head of..." item, which grants powerful bonuses based on the Head item dropped. However, these Head items dramatically increase STRESS damage taken by the hero equipped with these items.
The Collector also has a medium-to-high chance of dropping rare gems worth 2,500 gold each.

The Shrieker

Kreee-reee! Ca-caw!
Hissssreeeegulp!
Kreee-reee! Ree-ree!
Caw-ca-caw-caw!

A unique mini-quest that rarely occurs as a weekly event. You will receive a warning from the Town Crier that the Shrieker is active this week, and you can choose whether to hunt it down in the Weald. You can choose to skip this quest.

Battle Tactics
The Shrieker has 3 actions per turn, with very high CRIT and insanely high DDG. The best bet is to keep your heroes healed above Death's Door, hopefully with an AoE heal from a Vestal.
High PROT will help protect some heroes from critical hits.
You will need some way to get rid of BLD, either with a Plague Doctor or Bandages provisions.
The Shrieker uses its last action on round 4 to flee, so if you can hold out that long, you will win by default (getting all related quest rewards). I read in an online guide that you should focus your attacks on the Shriekers Nest, because if you destroy it, you will get additional rewards at the end of the battle. I have ust confirmed that you can get several Puzzling Trapezohedrons / really shiny gems worth 3,500 gold each!

Rewards Upon Defeat
If you drive the Shrieker off or by some miracle kill it, you will receive 2 Trinkets, often Trinkets that you may have lost when heroes died on a quest. If you complete this quest as part of the Town Event Shriekers Prize, you will receive at least 8 trinkets that you have lost on earlier adventures.
What you DON'T get from this quest is any gold, gems, or heirlooms, so make sure you have a decent stockpile of gold to provision your next quest.

The Brigand Vvulf

A thoroughly annoying and tough side-quest that rarely (or not-so-rarely) occurs as a weekly event. You can choose whether to combat the Brigand Vvulf, or skip the quest. However, if you skip this quest, the Vvulf will DAMAGE RANDOM BUILDINGS IN THE HAMLET, meaning you will have to spend more heirlooms to repair & upgrade these buildings!!

Strategy
The layout of this side-quest is fixed, and though it says it's a "short" quest, it is very busy. There is at least 1 battle in every passageway and every room, and the difficulty of the Humans and Beasts you face scales up sharply. The room fights tend to be significantly tougher than the passageway fights, but every fight is a risk to your heroes.
The Vvulf itself should be at the "top" of the small circle that your party automatically scouts out. There is a chance to visit a side-room for another fight and potential loot.



Attacks & Abilities
Bombs Away = throws a bomb onto a random space in your lineup, triggered by Time's Up!
Time's Up! = triggers the bomb thrown into your lineup for VERY high DMG (the sort that can one-shot a hero and put them immediately at Deaths Door)
Tower Shield = summons a Brigand, and Guards an ally if one is available
Warcry = medium STRSS attack against 1-2 heroes
Get Them! = low DMG but good chance to STUN against a single hero

Bomb Bucket
You will notice a sizable bucket full of bombs behind the Vvulf. If attacked, a bomb "explodes", dealing riposte damage to your hero. If destroyed, the Vvulf cannot use his Bombs Away ability, but instead uses that action to summon another bomb bucket.

Battle Tactics
Like most other bosses, once the Vvulf is down, all his allies (including the bomb bucket) disappear, so focusing all your attacks on the Vvulf is valid.
You'll need enough healing to get your heroes to the final Vvulf fight, and in that final fight you'll want enough healing to keep your heroes off Deaths Door.
The Vvulf himself has decent resistances, though a specialized hero like Plague Doctor or Flagellant should be able to easily bypass his resistances to BLT and BLD.
MRK is a very valid strategy against the Vvulf, especially the Arbalest/Musketter MRK that applies -DDG. Though the Vvulf has medium-to-high hitpoints, a Bounty Hunter + Arbalest/Musketeer combo can bring him down fairly easy with a couple good MRKed crits.

Provisions
Bring plenty of Food, Shovels (minimum 2), and Torches. Rubble blocks ust about every passageway, Food can be used to heal outside of battle, and Torches keep your DDG high and enemy crits low (ish).
There are enough enemies that deal BLD damage to make Bandages a good investment, as well, though if you have a Plague Doctor, you can use Battlefield Medicine to heal BLD instead.

Rewards Upon Defeat

• Minor gold, gems, and heirlooms from hallway battles
  
• Vvulfs Tassel, a unique trinket that gives +DMG, +ACC vs. MRKed, and +CRIT vs. size 2. Very VERY useful against most other boss fights, especially if you use a Bounty Hunter + Arbalest/Musketeer combo
  
• Never having to suffer this weekly event again (?). Apparently Vvulf was the motivating force behind attacks on the Hamlet.

The Thing From the Stars

Twinkle, twinkle, eldritch thing,
Such a nasty doom you bring,
Eating stars and killing light,
Who can ever face your might?

As shown the first time you encounter The Thing From the Stars:

The Thing From the Stars (TFS) is only available if you have purchased The Color of Madness DLC, and only if you have enabled this DLC in your campaign. You will see a warning sign above a region map, next to the region name.

If you venture into that region during that week, you might encounter TFS in a hallway battle.

Abilities & Attacks
Transfixing Shard, STRESS damage, powerful debuff


Vorpal Strike = high DMG, high STRESS attack

Phase Gnaw = medium DMG, good chance of BLT

Paralyzing Shard = low DMG, high STRESS & Stun attack

Return to the Stars = summons a Crystalline Aberration (as seen in the Farmstead quests) at the beginning of each round

• Triggers at the beginning of each combat round & does not use up an action!
  
• Cures TFS of all negative effects, including Blight, Bleed, Mark, and debuffs
  
• Grants TFS 80% Protection

Battle Tactics
The Thing From the Stars (TFS) seems to be vulnerable to both Blight and Bleed, and takes damage from these effects on each of its actions (it acts twice per turn). However, TFS is highly resistant to Stun. When using Return to the Stars at the end of each combat round, TFS cures itself of all negative effects, so use high-SPD heroes to apply Blight & Bleed before TFS can act.

Rewards Upon Defeat
One advantage of facing TFS is that it drops at least 25 Comet Shards upon defeat, and potentially a rare Trinket and gold.
One of the heroes who survives facing TFS may develop a Positive Quirk, such as

• Prismatic Isolation, unique Quirk, +25% Debuff Resist

The Shuffling Horror

Nope.
Nope, nope, nope.

You fight the Shuffling Horror only if you sacrifice a Torch provision to the Shambler's Altar (red orb shrines), or if you foolishly wander around too long at 0 Light level.
You were warned.

The First Darkest Dungeon Quest

Kill 1 Shuffling Horror.

You may have encountered these puswads if you ever put a torch into a Shambler's Altar (red orb shrine). (Foolishly.)

Rewards Upon Defeat
As part of the rewards for completing the quest, you will receive 3 and only 3 Talismans of the Flame.

The Second Darkest Dungeon Quest

Thankfully, for this quest, the quest locations are fixed.


Make sure 3 of your 4 heroes are equipped with the Talisman of the Flame Trinket. Equip the Talisman on the 2 front-line heroes, and give the third Talisman to either a Houndmaster or Man-At-Arms (a hero that can Guard the last hero who does not have a Talisman).
I prefer Houndmasters over Man-At-Arms for this quest due to the Houndmasters high DDG, which can be improved with Trinkets such as Protective Collar and Ancestors Coat. Spam Guard on whichever hero does not have the Talisman for stacking bonuses to the Guarding hero and effective immunity to Revelation for all 4 heroes.
Stack anti-bleed and anti-blight (and PROT, if available) on your tank or front-line damage-dealer hero; stack HEAL, VIRT, or anti-DTHBLW on your healer.

For this quest, I managed to complete it after three attempts with: 4 Arbalest 3 Vestal 2 Houndmaster 1 Bounty Hunter, with 3, 2, and 1 equipped with the Talisman. I did lose the Arbalest to blight before reaching the 3rd Iron Crown, but managed to out-damage the final Templar to complete the final room. I camped a room or two before each Iron Crown room.

The Third Darkest Dungeon Quest

The quest description comments - it speaks the harsh but honest truth. You have to be very lucky to make this a short(ish) quest, and by this point, you should know that you can't count on luck alone.

Load up on Bandages, Antivenom, Food, Holy Water, Torches, Medicinal Herbs, and Laudanum (all of which you should easily be able to afford by now). You get exactly no loot for doing this quest, so your entire inventory space should be full of necessities. You will NOT need Shovels or Skeleton Keys.
It is hard to predict how and when you will take STRESS, so use Laudanum sparingly. When I attempted this quest, my Houndmaster started with 50% stress for reasons I can't explain. (He went mad.)
----
----
As you can see, the path to the quest location is fairly simple; the problem lies in fighting enemies in the hallways between each room. On the hallways that lead into the quest location (and often, other hallways around the map), you will find a Mammoth Cyst (large enemy that does heavy damage and blight) and a Polyp (tricky small enemy).

These little [expletive deleted].
Though not marked on their abilities list, they will use "Teleportation" on your entire group of heroes, which, of course, teleports you to another random room (occupied by "light" enemies) somewhere else in the Darkest Dungeon. You will have to fight to clear that room of enemies, and then track your way back towards the quest location in the center. If you are lucky (heheheh), you will end up close to a path you have already cleared. I recommend fighting your way back to the path you have already blazed towards the quest location, because 1) these hallways and rooms remain clear, and 2) if you fight the same Mammoth Cyst and Polyp that teleported you in the first place, they keep whatever damage they suffered in your first (or second, or third) battles.

The only way to avoid being teleported is to kill the Polyp before it can use any of its abilities (besides Teleportation, it has a HEAL, a STUN, and a STRESS). This takes a lot of good luck with your ranged damage-dealer such as an Arbalest or Musketeer (and Marking it helps); killing the Polyp also forces the Mammoth Cyst to use one of its two actions to Summon another Polyp. The trade-off is that this will reduce the damage you are doing to the Mammoth Cyst, meaning you will have to survive turns and turns of its high damage and blight attacks.

Camp regularly (after each teleportation fight-room, for example); that's why they give you 4 campfires. If you do use a Houndmaster, save the Dog Treats for your fight with the Cyst and Polyp that will get you access to the quest location. You automatically scout after each room, and the dungeon layout is the same anyway, so use your camping skills to HEAL, buff, and de-STRESS.
Upon entering the quest location, you will fight at least one Templar (and maybe some other enemies), which thankfully does NOT have the "Revelation" ability this time around.

An End to It All?

"In the grotesque, pulsing heart of evil, we beheld the truth of the world and the minds beyond it. We gazed long, and we weep still."

**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**

This final step in your ourney is a comparatively easy quest (or at least, significantly less frustrating than the third Darkest Dungeon quest).

STAGE 1
The boss summons copies of itself, which come in two forms: a "Perfect Replica" and "Imperfect Replica". Destroy the Imperfect Replicas a minimum of five times to complete this stage. Most of the attacks by any Replica deal Stress damage, and since this is the final quest, heroes might not get a VIRT chance; they may always end up Afflicted.
STAGE 2
The boss is protected by 3 slots of Absolute Nothingness which, while they cannot be affected by anything, also do not have any attacks or actions. The boss will move around, so having a team that can hit any block with damage is very useful. In spite of the comparatively low resistances of the boss, no BLEED, BLIGHT, or STUN abilities I tried ever affected it. Occasionally, a DEBUFF would get through.
STAGE 3
Surprisingly, the only serious "damage" the final incarnation of the Heart of Dark is its "Come to Your Maker" ability, which automatically kills one of your selected heroes. This ability is used at least twice, and possibly more. (Thankfully, I defeated the boss before it used it more than two times.)
Prepare at least two of your four party members to be sacrificed with The Heart of Darks "Come to your Maker" ability. At that stage of the fight, DMG, CRIT, and marks are probably more useful than healing, since few of the attacks do high damage.
You have all certainly gone mad by now, so stress is only a factor if it causes a Heart-Attack. Self-healing or small heals are useful for keeping your heroes alive, but you might consider risking to stay at Death's Door if you have a Martyr's Seal equipped, for the accompanying bonuses.

I think "Come to your Maker" has some disturbing theological or metaphysical implications...

Provisions

TORCHES
DO NOT EVER run around the dungeon for more than one hallway with 0 torchlight. This has a chance of spawning the eldritch thing that haunts the red-orb shrines...
Activating Torches ust before entering a room, or ust before a battle (as opposed to spending them ust whenever you run below your threshold of happy light-time-ness) seems to both help conserve them, and give an extra chance to surprise monsters waiting within the room. Try to keep the torch no less than 40% and no greater than 75% for increased loot, but still a decent chance of good effects / lesser bad effects.

FOOD
Food is used up periodically to feed your heroes as they wander around in a dungeon. I have noticed that your heroes are hungrier more often when they backtrack in halls that they have already explored. A minimum of 4 food is used per feeding (1 for each hero, unless the hero has a Quirk or Trinket that affects amount of Food eaten). Food is also used during camping - using 2 food will keep your heroes alive, but cause STRESS. Using 4 food gives some small healing and no penalties. Using 8 food heals your heroes by a significant amount, and heals 5-10 STRESS per hero.
Food can also be used to heal 2 hit points per unit, per hero, when used outside of normal feeding times & camping. You can only use a maximum of 4 Food in this way, per hero, per battle fought. (In other words, you can heal 8 hit points per hero outside of battle by using tons of food. This is the only way I have seen to heal heroes outside of battle. Because reasons.)

MEDICINAL HERBS
An extremely useful provision in almost any dungeon. In addition to using it on specific interactive items (see "Making Money" section), it can be used to clear almost any debuff, including debuffs from some camping skills.

FREE PROVISIONS

• Antiquarians give you 1 free Skeleton Key each
  
• Arbalests / Musketeers give you 1 free Bandage each
  
• Graverobbers give you 1 free Shovel each.
  
• Plague Doctors give you 1 free Antivenom each
  
• Shield Breakers give you 1 free snakey buff item (Aegis?) each

Making Money

Credit for this strategy goes out to the random internet, where I was reading up on "how to survive and make money in Darkest Dungeon". There are numerous other guides to money-making strategies on Steam and the internet.

1) Keep torchlight at about 50% (or less, if you can bear the pain). This improves the amount of loot you receive from a victorious battle or successful use of a curio.
2) Use Provisions to protect yourself from curios (see list below). This will prevent negative effects, and give your heroes extra loot or a buff.
3) Have a high Scouting chance (with Quirks, heroes such as Bounty Hunters, Grave Robbers, Houndmasters, and Highwaymen, or camping skills on these heroes). This lets you avoid fights you don't profit from, and lets you find curios, quest locations, and secret rooms.

If you want to maximize your loot, here's one idea: Clear out the dungeon & complete your main ob ectives. Bring tons of torches so you can keep the light high for +Scouting and surprise chance. DO NOT USE most interactables throughout the quest.
Once your main ob ectives are done, backtrack through the dungeon and go after all the interatables you skipped. Lower your torchlight to anywhere between 1-50%. Use torches sparingly, ust enough to keep light above 1% so it does not go Pitch Black. (If you have no torchlight at Pitch Blackness, there is a small but significant chance of summoning The Thing That Haunts the Red Orb Shrines.) You can voluntarily lower torchlight by holding SHIFT + clicking the torch icon at the top of the screen. This lowers torchlight by 25% per click.
The downsides to this strategy are that it takes a long time to backtrack, even through a small dungeon. You will also be taking more STRESS at lower light levels.
Backtracking also means a much higher chance of your heroes becoming hungry and needing to stop to eat, so bring all the food you can, and hope that you can get more. The Warrens and Weald have good sources of food from random curios.

PROVISIONS & CURIOS LIST
Use Medicinal Herbs on:

• Animal Carcass (Weald)
  
• Fish Carcass (Cove)
  
• Coral (Cove)
  
• Iron Maiden (Ruins)
  
• Alchemy Table (Ruins)
  
• Banquet Table (Warrens)
  
• Moonshine Barrel (Warrens)
  
• Dinner Cart (Warrens)

Use Holy Water on:

• Troubling Effigy (Weald)(hit-or miss for a good or bad Quirk or (de)STRESS)
  
• Pristine Fountain (Weald)
  
• Fish Idol (Cove)
  
• Eldritch Altar (Ruins)
  
• Altar of Light (Ruins)
  
• Ash Urn (Ruins) (guaranteed at least 1 gemstone)
  
• Confession Booth (Ruins)
  
• Pile of Bones (Warrens)
  
• DO NOT USE Holy Water on Skin Totems / Skin Racks (Warrens).

Use Skeleton Keys on:

• any "Locked" chest or item
  
• LOCKED Sarcophagi (Ruins)
  
• Locked Display Cabinet (Ruins)
  
• any secret room chest (guaranteed 1-3 spectacular gemstones)

Use Shovels on:

• LOCKED Sarcophagi (Ruins)(you get less loot from using a Shovel than you do if you use a Skeleton Key)
  
• Giant Clams (Cove)
  
• Barnacle-Encrusted Chests (Cove)
  
• Shallow Grave (Weald)
  
• any blockages in any area

Use Bandages on:

• Spiderwebs (Weald)
  
• Mummified Remains (Weald)
  
• Rusty Cleaverboards (Warrens)

Use Antivenom on:

• Old Trees (Weald)
  
• Brackish Tide Pools (Cove)

DO NOT USE Torches on:

• Red Orb Shrines in any area (unless you want a tough fight)
  
• Book Piles or Book Cases (causes stress & may inflict a negative Quirk)

Once you uncover which item gives you the best rewards when interacting with a given curio, that item will be highlighted with some gold coins when you bring up the curio interaction interface:

Scouting for Fun & Profit

Scouting is a % chance that your party will reveal the passageways and rooms that you have not yet explored, usually a short range out from your current position. Scouting only triggers when you are in a room (unless you find a map in a passageway curio). The base % chance is 25%, which can be raised with trinkets, quirks, camping skills, and leveling up heroes.
Scouting reveals all of the following:

• Curios
  
• Traps (which you can then disarm!)
  
• Passageway fights
  
• Secret rooms (if you are lucky)
  
• Room encounters & their type (Room Battle, Curio, Quest Location, Treasure Battle)

Heroes which have +Scouting (SCT) camping skills are:

• Bounty Hunter
  
• Graverobber
  
• Highwayman
  
• Houndmaster

A typical scouting shows you all passageways and rooms connected to your current room in a 2-room radius - meaning that you scout out 2 passageways and 2 rooms in a circle around your current position. Sometimes, scouting will only show you a 1-room radius, and maps you can rarely discover using some curios (mostly chests, scrolls, or bookshelves) can show you a huge area (such as an entire Small dungeon) or barely show you a passageway and a room.
Scouting allows you to avoid fights you don't profit from (such as simple Room Battles, marked by an angry red block), shows you quest locations, and can reveal secret rooms (marked by a yellow star symbol in a passageway). If you have a high SCT chance, make sure to bring a Skeleton Key or two to unlock the chest in a secret room for at least 1 spectacular gemstone.

Interactions - Ruins

Altar of Light

• Success w/ Holy Water = +30% damage buff until camp OR large heal & stress relief

Increased chance of success using Vestal or other religious hero?? (inc. Crusader, Leper, Abomination??)

Sarcophagus
Success w/ Shovel = little loot
Success w/ Skeleton Key = much loot

Suit of Armor
Success = +DDG and +PROT buff until camp

Iron Maiden
Success w/ Medicinal Herbs = little loot, maybe trinket

Confession Booth
Success w/ Holy Water = large stress relief

Decorative Urn
Success w/ Holy Water = several gems

Suit of Armor (Rooms only)
Success = give using hero +DMG and +PROT, or +PROT and +DDG buff

Alchemy Table
Success w/ Medicinal Herbs = gold and/or gems
Increased chance of success using Plague Doctor??

Stack of Books
Success & failure may be based partially on light level
Success = -STRS or gain +QUIRK
Failure = STRS, gain -QUIRK or sm. chance of a disease

Bookshelf
Success & failure may be based partially on light level
Success =
Failure = STRS
Misc. = journal entry

Locked Display Cabinet
Success w/ Skeleton Key = gold and/or gems and/or heirlooms

Unholy Altar
Success w/ Holy Water = remove STRS and/or -QUIRK

Interactions - Warrens

Bone Piles

• Success = +DMG buff

Moonshine Keg

• Success = +DMG, +ACC, +CRIT buff
  
• Success w/ Medicinal Herbs = +30% DMG buff

Dinner Cart

• Success w/ Medicinal Herbs = tons of food + 1 other provision

Makeshift Dining Table

• Success w/ Medicinal Herbs = extra food & provision

Sacrificial Stone
Failure = inflict high STRS

Occult Scrawlings
Failure w/ Holy Water = large +STRS

Interactions - Weald

Animal Carcass

• Success w/ Medicinal Herbs = lots of food

Old Tree

• Success w/ Blight Cure = mix of gems, consumables, or heirlooms

Pristine Fountain

• Success w/ Holy Water = heal a large amount of STRESS damage

Shallow Grave

• Success w/ Shovel = a few gemstones

Spiderwebs

• Success w/ Bandages = a few gemstones

Troubling Effigy

• Success w/ Holy Water = random positive Quirk for selected hero

Left Luggage

• Success w/ Skeleton Key = variety of items including gold, gems, provisions

Mummified Remains

• Success w/ Bandage = gold, provisions, possibly a trinket

Interactions - Cove

Fish Carcass

• Success w/ Medicinal Herbs = a few gems and food

Fish Idol

• Failure = -DDG debuff on hero
  
• Success w/ Holy Water = +DMG buff on hero

Barnacle Encrusted Chest

• Success w/ Shovel = heirlooms, gems, provisions

Coral

• Success w/ Medicinal Herbs = may reduce a lot of STRESS, or MAY remove a Negative Quirk

Ship's Figurehead

• Success = +HEAL done buff

Brackish Tide Pool

• Success w/ Antivenom = small STRSS heal

Giant Oyster
Success w/ Shovel = gold and/or gems and/or a few supplies

Bas-Relief
Failure w/ Shovel = inflict high STRS

Interactions - Courtyard

Pile of Strange Bones

• Success w/ Bandages = a few heirlooms or gems

Bottles of "Wine"

• Failure - random Negative Quirk (ex: Tippler)

Hooded Shrew

• Success w/ The Blood = a couple items & gems

Bloodflowers
Success w/ Shovel = gold, heirlooms, maybe gems

Throbbing Cocoons
Success w/ Torch = medium STRS relief

Damned Fountain
Success w/ Holy Water = medium STRS relief
Failure w/ Torch = inflict medium STRS

Forgotten Delicacies
Failure = gain a -QUIRK

Positive Afflictions (Virtures)

Stalwart, heals for a tiny amount on each attack, gives +PROT and occasionally heals STRSS
Hot to Trot, +ACC, +DMG, +CRIT on 1st round
Unerring, +DMG to ranged skills
Gifted, +HEAL received
"---" Slayer, +ACC and +CRIT vs. type

Negative Afflictions (Madnesses)

Abusive

• frequently inflicts more STRESS on allied heroes

Anemic

• -10% BLD resist

Fearful

• +2 SPD
  
• +10 DDG
  
• -10% HP
  
• -25% DMG

Flagellant

• Only uses Flagellate stress-relief

Hieromania

• Forced/almost always interacts w/ religious curios (Holy Statues, etc.)

Hopeless

• -10% HP
  
• -5 DDG
  
• -3 SPD
  
• -5 ACC
  
• -15% Resist BLT, BLD, Debuff, Disease, Move, and Trap Disarm

Hylomania

• Forced/almost always interacts with container curios (Abandoned Luggage, etc.)

Impostor Syndrome

• May PASS in combat due to feelings of inadequacy

Irrational

• frequently inflicts light STRESS on allied heroes
  
• randomly interacts with Curios
  
• randomly changes position in battle
  
• may PASS on their turn

Risktaker

• +10% DMG
  
• -10 DDG

Resolution

• Does not Drink for stress-relief

Ruminator

• -10% STRESS HEAL

Scientific
-20% HEAL received from Divine Grace & Divine Comfort (not no penalty from other healing)
Sitiomania

• Forced/almost always interacts with food curios (Banquet Tables, etc.)

Slow Reflexes

• -1 SPD

Crimson Court DLC Overview

The first thing a player should realize about Crimson Court DLC is that most of it is annoying. It is easy to find a list of all the things this DLC adds, but those things which affect your "daily life" in Darkest Dungeon (assuming you have activated all parts of the DLC), include:

• new passageway fights that give more opportunities for stress, damage, death, and contracting the Crimson Curse

• a new curio - giant Throbbing Cocoons, which when activated spawn a team of 2-4 Crimson Curse enemies. These spawn in passageways in all other dungeons. You do not need to activate them, but if you do, you have a good chance of summoning a Gatekeeper

• a new dungeon - the Courtyard. There are numerous guides on how to survive in this new dungeon, as well as combating the new bosses you face, so I will only be covering certain aspects of this new dungeon in The Courtyard, Enemies and Bosses section

• new trinkets! Specifically for fighting Crimson Curse enemies or the Curse itself, these trinkets can be dropped as rewards from battles, or as the reward for finishing a quest. You can also obtain the powerful "set trinkets" by 1) defeating the Crocodilian, 2) exchanging blood to Shrews in The Courtyard, 3) defeating a Courtyard boss, and 4) completing a Courtyard quest

The Crimson Court DLC also comes with new "Districts" you can construct in The Hamlet. The Districts DLC can be activated separately from other Crimson Court DLC. Most Districts provide useful buffs to specific heroes, so those are usually worth building. (Though if you find yourself not using a certain hero much, you might want to skip the buff, since constructing Districts can get expensive.)

The Courtyard, Enemies and Bosses

The Crimson Court is full of new and aggravating enemies - some have high DDG, some have decent PROT, most inflict STRESS, and some inflict high damage and stuns. Most of them have a chance to inflict BLEED, and the giant mosquitoes can inflict the Crimson Curse, which causes penalties to SPD, BLIGHT resist, BLEED resist, and max HIT until treated with The Blood.
The Blood has a small chance to drop from Crimson Court enemies (especially those that have hit your heroes with The Thirst power), rare drops from other battles or curios, can be obtained in batches from The Courtyard quests, and can be generated in the Hamlet thanks to the Sanguine Vintners district.
If starting a new playthrough, but do not want to face The Courtyard yet, build the Sanguine Vintner district when you have a spare Blueprint (obtained after defeating a region boss in any of the regions, including the Courtyard itself. These include the Hag, the Necromancer, the Siren, the Swine Prince, the Baron, etc.). The Sanguine Vintner gives you 2 vials of The Blood each week, which stacks, meaning that you can stockpile The Blood before facing Courtyard quests and having too many heroes afflicted with the Crimson Curse, and not having enough The Blood to go around.

The Baron

• Rooms marked in red circles are where I found keys
  
• Roomed marked in orange circles are locked doors
  
• The blue arrow shows where I entered a Fog Bank and where it teleported me to

Defeating the Baron (and maybe other ma or bosses) in the Courtyard removes the Crimson Curse from all heroes who suffer it. In addition, it may very well resurrect some heroes who have perished in the Courtyard. During my first fight with the Baron, I lost my Arbalest; when I got back to the Hamlet, however, not only was I not down a hero (29 of 30), I had somehow gained 2 extra heroes (by best guess, a Bounty Hunter and a Man-At-Arms), putting my roster at 32.

The Color of Madness - Farmstead Tips

Buffs which last "for a battle" are very useful, since battles last a long time and come in multiple waves. One buff will last many, many rounds of combat. However, once the uses of these buffs are gone, you will not be able to use them again during the current run of the Farmstead.
"For battle" buffs include:
Emboldening Vapours (Plague Doctor)

High CRIT chance will help your heroes tone down the STRSS they will receive; heroes receive -4 STRSS each time they land a CRIT. AoEs increase your chances of landing crits, since each attack in an AoE is calculated separately.
Bring along BLT powers (such as those from Plague Doctor and Abomination), and a way to resist or remove BLT, like Antivenom. BLT is a surprisingly useful tactic to use against almost every Husk unit - the only units you face that are immune to it are the crystalline entities, which usually have low HLTH and can be destroyed conventionally.

Interactables / Between-Battle Curios

• Harvest = completely HEAL the hero who interacts with it (does NOT heal STRSS)
  
• Miller's Hearth = summoned directly before you fight the Miller; allows a camp
  
• Rotted Fare = relieve STRSS on using hero
  
• Plentiful Bounty = HEAL entire party
  
• Mildred = gain Mildreds Locket trinket

The Color of Madness - Enemies

Since you face many enemies with a STLTH power, AOE attacks are extremely useful.
AoE heroes include:
Leper
Plague Doctor
Houndmaster
Shieldbreaker
HIghwayman

Farmstead's Miasma

• -10% HEAL
  
• +10% STRSS

Gleaming color = fight beasts & unholy

• Fight Cove enemies
  
• Heroes: +BLD chance, +HEAL skills
  
• Monsters: +BLD chance, +CRIT

Blazing

• Heroes: +DMG vs. MRK, +DEBUFF %
  
• Monsters = +SPD, +low PROT

Splendorous = fight unholy / Bone minions

• +VIRT
  
• +STRSS HEAL (maybe?)
  
• -monster BLT and BLD resist

Farmhand = medium HP, low DDG, high BLT resist, low SPD, low MOVE resist

• Sow the Seeds = low DMG + medium STRESS
  
• Ceaseless Labor = low DMG
  
• Can counterattack when hit, once per hit
  
• Pause from Labor = medium heal on self

Plow Horse = high HP, 15% PROT, low DDG, high SPD, high STUN resist, very high MOVE resist

• Paw the Ground = give self STLTH, move to the back
  
• Trample = low DMG to all heroes, shuffle party
  
• Bestial Scream = high STRESS
  
• Rearing Strike = medium damage, can stun & bleed

Crystalline Aberration = low HP, no DDG, negative SPD, impossible to STUN, extremely high BLD resist, cannot be debuffed, NO BLT resist

• Explosive Undoing = low DMG to all, Horror for 3 turns on all
  
• heals attacker when hit with a killing blow

Foreman = high HP, 15% PROT, no DDG, low SPD, high BLT resist
No Trespassers = medium DMG, marks target
Stir the Rabble = buff on ally of Foreman, grants +BLT chance, +BLT duration, +3 SPD, and Riposte

Scarecrow = medium HP, high DDG, medium SPD, high STUN resist, impossible to BLD, medium DEBUFF resist, starts w/ STLTH, disappears if the only enemy left??

• Flail the Crops = medium DMG, chance to apply DBFF and BLD. (Apparently you is a crops. If the Husks can't tell the difference between plants and people, no wonder they let their Farmstead get into such a state!)
  
• Haunting Revelation = low DMG, medium STRESS
  
• Roots = hit a rear space with low DMG and -SPD and -ACC debuff
  
• Shard of Growth = puts a heal-over-time ("restoration") on Scarecrow & other enemies, HEAL for a small amount each turn

Sleeper's Herald

• always has Riposte for medium damage
  
• Reality Bend, medium STRESS, debuff for
  
• can teleport group to a treasure / curio chamber

The Miller in the Farmstead

Once you fill up the progress bar in the upper-right corner of your screen, you will visit a Miller's Hearth after the battle. The Miller's Hearth allows you to take a rest, eat, and apply various buffs like you do normally when you camp. This is also an excellent time to apply provision buffs like Holy Water.


Attacks & Abilities
The Harvest = light DMG, heals the Miller and buffs him with a small amount of PROT. Also seems to heal the targeted hero of a tiny amount of STRSS??
Winter's Breath = buff (?) a Husk unit and transform them into a Frozen, which applies a big DBFF to all your heroes (such as inability to Guard), and causes that unit to guard the Miller
The Reaping = massive AoE that hits all heroes for light-to-medium damage (seems to use more often when the Miller is at low health)
The Master Beckons = summon a Husk

Battle Tactics
Thankfully, though the Miller has 2 actions per round like most bosses, he has low SPD and comparatively low BLT and DBFF resistance, so you can stack on the BLT and -SPD debuffs to impede him further.

Rewards Upon Defeat

• Quest rewards, including at least 30 Comet Shards, +Comet Shards for each number of enemies you defeated
  
• Unlock the ability to sometimes summon Shard Mercenaries, who can only fight in the Endless Harvest mode. This opens up a new tab on the Stagecoach where such Mercenaries can be hired

[[DFG]Churchill]

[Warrens]
Eldritch Altar
Success with Holy Water removes a random negative quirk

[Wheastonian]

great guide, very much appreciate it.

[Angraug]

Thank you for the comment. I've made a note of it in the first section, there. If it's true (not saying it isn't, but I don't think I ever lost a virtue before), may the Light have mercy on our souls.

[Tonic]

Referring to the first paragraph of this Guide:

Virtues are lost when a Hero reaches 200 Stress. It will not give them a heart attack and will reset their stress down to 0.

[Angraug]

There are special "Locked" sarcophagi where you can use either a Skeleton Key or a Shovel to get extra loots. If you use a shovel, you "destroy" some of the loot, so you get less than a skeleton key.
But there are just regular "sarcophagi" where you don't need a Key or Shovel.

[CiaphasCain]

Tried the key and shovel on the sarcophagos at ruins. Neither did work.

[The Seal]

This Has been a good reminder and refresher for me on how to do some things, and there was also something new as well.
I also suggest checking out the darkest dungeon wiki for more information.