Darkest Dungeon Guide - The Warrens

Complete guide for the Warrens, late-game. Assuming optimal set-up, will get you through the Warrens upwards of 95% of the time without any stress, diseases, afflictions, or deaths.

Heroes

Basic Party Composition

4th Slot - Plague Doctor
3rd Slot - Vestal
2nd Slot - Houndmaster
1st Slot- Hellion

Trinkets

Hellion: Brawler's Gloves, Heaven's Hairpin
Houndmaster: Cudgel Weight, Book of Sanity
Vestal: Sacred Scroll, Tome of Holy Healing
Plague Doctor: Blashpemous Vial, Arya Box (or Book of Sanity if you don't have Arya Box)

Movesets

Hellion: Iron Swan, If It Bleeds, Wicked Hack, Adrenaline Rush (Barbaric Yawp can be a suitable substitute for Adrenaline Rush, but the damage debuff the Yawp carries is quite annoying and in the Warrens your Hellion might get bled/blighted, so the cure of Adrenaline Rush is handy)
Houndmaster: Blackjack, Hound's Rush, Lick Wounds, Whistle
Vestal: Divine Grace, Divine Comfort, Judgement, Mace Bash, (last one is optional; if you want you can go with Hand of Light or something, but neither is strictly necessary)
Plague Doctor: Blinding Gas, Noxious Blast, Plague Grenade, Battlefield Medicine

Camping Skills

Hellion: Encourage, Revel, Reject the Gods, Sharpen Spear (Battle Trance also works)
Houndmaster: Encourage, Hound's Watch, Therapy Dog, Man's Best Friend
Vestal: Sanctuary, Wound Care, Encourage, Chant (or Pray, no one else is religious in this party comp so take your pick)
Plague Doctor: Encourage, Leeches, The Cure, Experimental Vapours

Supplies

Medium Missions

3 Shovels, 1-2 Antivenoms, 3 Bandages, 2-3 Medicinal Herbs, 1 Skeleton Key, 12 Torches, 12-24 Food (depending on whether you want to rely on finding a curio that gives Food, there are a lot in the Warrens)

Long Missions

24-36 Food (again, depending), 4 Shovels, 2-3 Antivenom, 4 Bandages, 3 Medicinal Herbs, 1 Skeleton Key, 20 Torches

Note: If I didn't list a Provision item, don't buy any.
Note: You'll also get 2 Dog Treats because of the Houndmaster.
Note: I didn't give any advice on short missions. That's because, assuming optimal conditions (i.e. you have medium/long missions available), you should never do short missions.

How to use them:
Eat Food whenever a hunger activation pops up. Always try to save some for Camping, at the end of the mission (although, if you need to eat your last food to avoid starving, do so). 2 is the minimum amount you can eat (in Camping) while 12 will reduce some Stress. In general, it's best to camp at the end of the mission so you can reduce your Stress to 0 and then leave without gaining more. This means that, if you can reduce all your Stress with camping skills, you should only eat 2 Food, since the HP bonuses provided by 4 and 12 are useless when you've finished a mission.

Use Shovels whenever an obstalce pops up, and that's about it. Antivenom and Bandages go to heroes as they need them, although you should use the Plague Doctor to cure them if a hero is hit with both or if they're stacked particularly high. In general, your heroes will get bled for 4d3 (4 damage for 3 rounds) or 3d3 (3 damage for 3 rounds). It's not worth it to get rid of 3d2 (since any hero you can apply a bandage to will already have taken one turn of Bleed damage) but it is worth getting rid of 4d2. Any hero that gets Crit and then bled/blighted should be cured/bandaged.

Use the Skeleton Key when you find the secret room. Don't dump it until you have. If you reach the end of the mission without findin the secret room, go ahead and dump it. (Note: This guide is assuming you have all heirlooms. If you don't just bring more Skeleton Keys, and hold on to them longer.)

Medicinal Herbs can be used to activate a number of curios, as follows:

Dinner Cart: Food and Loot
Makeshift Dining Table: Food and Loot
Moonshine Barrel: +30% Damage until Camp (apply to Hellion)

Use Torches to keep yourself at full Light, since this is a Radiant Light party comp. Usually wait until the Light meter goes below 75 before popping another Torch, since it's wasteful to do otherwise. Your Light decreases by 6 with every step you take through a hallway, and by 1 each step if you've already been through the hallway. However, there are some situations where you know you will find a hallway fight in the same step that your Light goes below 75. This decreases the Surprise chance and increases it for your party. If you want, and especially near the end of the mission when you know you'll have enough Torches, you can use a Torch before the fight starts to keep yourself above 75. This is slightly wasteful, since you'll be using a Torch to gain <25 Light, but if you know you'll have enough Torches to last the mission you'll be fine.

Note: This party comp has no way to increase the Light level on its own save for the Vestal's Dazzling Light. This is usually why I go with that for her 4th move instead of Mace Bash.

Strategy

Battle

Use your Plague Doctor to stun the back two enemies. If you have the right Quirks she should be able to go before those enemies do, but either way, go for the stun. Those monsters will gain random buffs to Stun Resistance (although it's usually 40% or 80% buff). In general, monsters with 95% or less total Stun Resistance are worth a shot, but anything beyond that go for Plague Grenade. However, Plague Grenade is less effective here due to the fact that most Warrens monsters have higher Blight resist than the Ruins. Still go for it, especially if you have Blasphemous Vial, but it's not as much a guarantee. (Also, sometimes a Swinetaur will spawn in the back line, and the Plague Doctor is unlikely to land even one stun on it. It's still worth trying if there's another enemy in the back to be stunned, but if it's only the Swinetaur, target the front line first and let your Houndmaster deal with it.)

Use your Houndmaster to stun one of the front-line monsters. If they all have base stun resistance, the only monster that might resist is the Swinetaur. At Champion level your Houndmaster should have 164% Stun chance with Blackjack + 40% with Cudgel Weight. I'm not sure exactly how the math works here, but it's still generally worth it to try when the Swinetaur's only got 120% Resist. When their Resistance gets buffed, don't bother trying. If there are no enemies you can stun, go for Hound's Rush (if the back line is still alive) or Whistle (if you're fighting a Swinetaur). When the buffs to Stun Resistance are removed, go for the stun again.

Use your Vestal to heal as your party needs it. The monsters here do deal a fair amount of damage, especially the Swinetaurs, so she'll be occupied often. Keep in mind that the Swine Slayers can apply a debuff to Heals Received, so check for that if someone's just been hit by a Butcher Cut. If everyone's at full or close to it, use Judgement, which hits more often than you might think. (Kill the back line if you can deal enough damage, since it's unlikely your Hellion will one-shot either the 3rd or 4th lines.)

Use your Hellion to kill the back two monsters ASAP. Her Iron Swan is good for damage, and If It Bleeds can be useful to pair with a stunned monster, but the Bleed isn't a guarantee to land. Keep going until they're dead, after which you can attack the front line with Wicked Hack. Take out whichever will die quicker and/or is most dangerous. Adrenaline Rush can cure Blight/Bleed, so that is an option in necessary.

Camping

Your Houndmaster should prevent a nighttime ambush with Hound's Watch. Vestal's Sanctuary also works, and costs just as much Respite, so use that if any of your people (except for the Vestal herself) have hit Death's Door and need Stress relieved. At the end of the mission Sanctuary will likely be better, but if no one's hit Death's Door it's really up to you. If you're not done with the mission yet (although you should always wait until the end if you can before camping), Hound's Watch can provide decent bonuses to Suprises.

Your first priority (after preventing ambush) will be to cure Diseases. Leeches on your Plague Doctor can cure any of your other party members, and The Cure does so on the Plague Doctor herself for only 1 Respite. Diseases are most likely to occur in the Warrens as compared to other locations, so keep an eye on your party as they progress through the mission. (Note: These two moves will cure all Diseases on the target hero, so that's another reason to wait.) You can cure at most 2 separately diseased members of your party on long missions and 1 on medium missions along, with once or twice for your Plague Doctor.

Hellion's Revel is amazing for Stress reduction, but carries an annoying debuff if you still have fights to do. If you want you can use Medicinal Herbs to remove it, but at the end of the mission it won't matter. Aside from that, Encourages should get the job done, but the Houndmaster's Therapy Dog is good if you've still got fights to go. If you've still got Respite after reducing all Stress and curing all Diseases (that you can), go ahead and buffs whomever with whatever, since at the end of the mission they (the buffs) shouldn't matter anyway.

Useful Tips

1. Kill all Stress-dealing enemies first, as with all locations.
2. Swine Heavers are generally more dangerous than Swine Drummers or Cultist Witches, since they can give Diseases. Carrion Eaters also can (although it's less likely), so I usually kill them before the Drummers.
3. Unlike in the Ruins, there are no Curios outside of Heirloom Chests to use Skeleton Keys on (and if you're trying to get max Loot and don't care about Heirlooms, like this guide, those should be interacted with without a supply item). Save your Key for the secret room, but like I said, at the end of the mission you can dump it and other cheap supply items in exchange for loot.
4. Bone Altars will grant a Damage, Accuracy and Crit bonus to the hero that interacts with it. Use your Hellion.
5. The following is a list of Curios you shouldn't interact with without the correct item (if you want a 100% chance of something positive):

Eldritch Altar (item needed: Holy Water, will purge Negative Quirk)
Occult Scrawlings (will not guarantee a positive effect no matter what)
Pile of Bones (Holy Water, will give Loot)
Pile of Scrolls (Torch, will purge Negative Quirk)
Sacrificial Stone (same as Occult Scrawlings)
Stack of Books (again, no item will work, and neither will interaction without one)

6. I didn't list the Curios you can activate with Medicinal Herbs; those can be found in the Supplies section.
7. The Rack of Blades will give you a strictly positive effect if you interact blind, but a Bandage will guarantee Loot.
8. Any Curios I didn't list should be interact with without a supply item. (Except for the Shambler's Altar, but don't activate that, unless your party is designed to hunt Shamblers. This one isn't.)
9. Your Hellion and Houndmaster are tied for best Resistances in this party (to Blight/Bleed). Use whichever has more HP to interact with Curios you're activating blind.
10. Your Houndmaster has the highest Trap Disarm chance in this party. Always use him, unless he's about to die or something.
11. In general, Swine Slayers should be stunned before Meathookers, but that one's more or less up to you.

Bosses

Note: These are not optimal strategies, they're just ones that I've found to work "well enough."

The Swine Prince(/King/God)

This guy generally appears in missions with a square-shaped room layout. He'll always be in one of the two farthest corners, but if you get a single scout it'll probably be enough.

Party Comp

4th Slot - Arbalest
3rd Slot - Vestal
2nd Slot - Houndmaster (not sure if absolute best choice)
1st Slot- Leper

Trinkets

Arbalest: Ancestor's Musket Ball, Arya Box
Vestal: Sacred Scroll, Tome of Holy Healing
Houndmaster: Book of Sanity, Beast Slayer's Ring (just something to buff the damage of Hound's Rush)
Leper: Brawler's Gloves, Focus Ring

Movesets

Arbalest: Blindfire, Sniper's Mark, Sniper Shot, Rallying Flare
Vestal: Divine Grace, Divine Comfort, Judgement, Mace Bash (or Dazzling Light, whatever)
Houndmaster: Hound's Rush, Lick Wounds, Whistle, Blackjack (not very useful for boss itself, can go with Guard Dog if you want)
Leper: Intimidate, Chop, Withstand, Solemnity

Strategy

Always use your Arbalest to get rid of the Mark via Rallying Flare. This will deprive the boss of its primary synergy, and the Prince will be forced to use a weaker attack if he's got no one marked. Your Arbalest should always go before him, so you can keep this up. Other than that, heal with your Vestal as necessary. Mark the Prince if you want, but he's got no PROT and little DODGE, so you don't absolutely have to. Your Leper should just wail away at him, although if you want yo get in an Intimidate or two to debuff his damage you can.

The Flesh

This one's a hard one. I've had at least two people die to its Champion form, and as such this probably isn't the best strategy.

Note: Party composition, Trinket selection and Movesets are mostly the same as the standard Warrens party comp discussed earlier in this guide. The only changes are:

1. Like all bosses, camp before the fight to get some buffs applied.
2. Equip Hound's Harry on your Houndmaster instead of Whistle.
3. Also, you might want to give him something to buff his damage and/or Bleed chance instead of Cudgel Weight.

Strategy

Vestal should heal as needed. Houndmaster should spam Hound's Harry. When stacked, the Flesh takes insane Bleed damage, so it's highly effective. Your Hellion should use any combination of her standard damaging moves to hit the Heart of the Flesh. This is because the Heart carries much less PROT that the other parts. Also, its position is most likely shifting often, so watch for that. The Plague Doctor's Plague Grenade, when stacked, can also do high DOT, and the Flesh has less Blight resist than you might expect. However, the Flesh can do high Blight and Bleed damage to your party, so if necessary use Battefield Medicine. If you plan on using a single-target attack, always target the Heart, since it's the only part of the boss with 0 PROT.

Note: When you bring the boss's total HP down to 0, all of its parts will die.
Note: As with all bosses, remember to bring Holy Water for the Flesh (with the Swine God it's almost useless since he relies so much on pure damage).

[flamingbricks]

@Panfilo I wait until the end just to get rid of the most Stress possible. On long missions it's not absolutely necessary as the extra inventory slot can be quite valuable, but generally I try to finish each mission with 0 Stress, then worry about loot. Also, I have at least a couple Warrens Explorer quirks locked in on my main party, which I'd recommend to anyone still in the early-game stages (if they've the funds).

[Panfilo]

You mentioned early on to wait until the very end to camp, and I woudln't reccomend this. First you have to lug that log the entire mission, denying you inventory space that could be more money or heirlooms. Second, camp skills that increase scouting chance are better in the Warrens than any other reigion, because of the 'grid' like layout.