Darkest Dungeon 2 has landed on the Epic Game Store in Early Access, and the infamously difficult rogue-like hasn’t gotten any easier in its new form. You’ll still collect a band of intrepid explorers as you fight against impossible odds — slowly succumbing (or rarely succeeding) against nightmarish creatures of the night.
As far as rogue-likes go, Darkest Dungeon 1 is infamously difficult. Impossibly difficult. Beating that game is a madman’s badge of honor, and Darkest Dungeon 2 doesn’t hold your hand either. If you want to overcome the very first chapter, we’re going to lay out 5 important tips you absolutely need to know. And the first one is all about Stress Management.
Darkest Dungeon 2 twists the formula, sending your party of heroes outside the estate and on a long road trip. You’ll have to survive on the road, building relationships (both positive and negative) with your heroes as they try to keep their sanity. Inns are few and far between, and the roads are rife with strange creatures.
#1. Manage Stress With The Plague Doctor
Stress is back. In Darkest Dungeon 2, Stress goes from 1-to-10 — at 10, your character will have a meltdown, and can acquire new negative quirks as a result. Surviving a meltdown drops you back down to 4-5 stress, and the cycle continues again. Managing stress is one of the most important skills in the game, and the only way to keep your heroes alive for long.
There are two classes that can help you manage stress; the Plague Doctor and the Man-At-Arms. The Plague Doctor’s Ounce of Prevention will lower stress by 1 each time it is used for the entire party. That makes it almost essential for any run (so far). The Man-At-Arms has Bolster, which is a support buff that only has a 50% chance of lowering stress by 1. It’s a good back-up in a pinch, but the Plague Doctor is what you’ll want.
#2: Upgrade Ounce of Prevention
Ounce of Prevention isn’t a top-tier ability until you upgrade it with Hope. After upgrading it, you’ll gain the -1 Stress bonus. Get Ounce of Prevention for your Plague Doctor and upgrade as soon as possible. You’ll be thanking yourself for a way to seriously control your Stress Levels. Just stay in fights longer with enemies (don’t kill them) to use Ounce of Prevention more often and lower your overall stress to prevent meltdowns.
#3: Keep Your Stress Less Than 4 And Torch More Than 40
Now that you have an effective way to control stress, you’ll also want to watch your torches. Stress and your Torch percentage are linked — the darker you let your torches become, the more stress will accrue while exploring or battling. Make sure to spend money to keep your torches above 40 and use Ounce of Prevention to keep your party’s stress below 4. If you do that, your party will be more positive and help each other out. Positive relationships lead to more assists and auto-counters in combat.
- NOTE: Your party heals passively as you travel in the coach. Prioritize stress over health. You’ll heal while travelling.
And really, just having a basic party of Plague Doctor, Grave Robber, Highwayman and Man-at-Arms is enough to overcome Chapter 1 if you keep these basics in mind. Upgrade the Plague Doctor, manage your stress / torch, and your party can basically overcome any challenge. But let’s go into a few other things you might not know.
#4: You Can Save And Quit At Any Time
Runs can be stressful in Darkest Dungeon 2. You can save, exit, and return later to resume your run. All you have to do is exit a run. There’s an option on the main menu to resume your run — you’ll begin at the start of whatever turn you took.
#5: There Are More Hero Classes To Unlock
You’ll start with four hero classes (Plague Doctor, Grave Robber, Highwayman and Man-at-Arms) but there are more to unlock. You can also unlock the following heroes:
- Runaway
- Jester
- Leper
- Occultist
- Hellion
To unlock more classes, you need to earn a special resource called Hope. Hope is earned by performing well on a journey — by completing certain goals, like having 40%+ Torch, or earning 3 Assist Encounters. Just completing a journey will earn you some Hope, which you can spend.
Discarding items you don’t want will also earn you Hope. Hope is a powerful resource, so use it wisely.
And that’s it! Right now, Darkest Dungeon 2 is much easier than the original — but this is only the first region of the game. Like any rogue-like, it will get exponentially harder the further we go into the game. And who knows how much more difficult Darkest Dungeon 2 will become.
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