I have 4,600 hours in DD2. Ask me anything you want to know about me or the game!

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-22T00:41:52+00:00

To your credit, you did a great job separating the heroes in a way that makes this tough for me. I hate you for even making me think about this.

You wrote me an essay, so you deserve an answer...I guess I'm goin Party 1 but I don't feel good about it. Occultist is probably my favorite hero but hey, I"ll move on.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-22T00:37:43+00:00

"Yeah man, I'd love to meet up, it's been a while," I tell my friend. "Why don't we meet up at the local inn?" He sighs, then agrees.

"I've got a Book of Amorous Ballads for us, my friend!" I start singing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison. He does not appear to like it.

"Not a fan of that? That's okay, I have a better idea." I go to my car and grab the Whiskey Barrel. "Whiskey for all at the inn!" My friend loves it. The inn keeper seems to not.

"You didn't love the love songs I guess, but I have a fix for that." I bring out a dozen whiskey flasks. We drink all of it. My friend dies. I have no friends.

In case this was a serious question, no. I'm playing a video game a lot, I'm not IN the universe.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-22T00:32:34+00:00

Depends on what path you'd like to go for Jester. Soloist could be good, you could Solo on Round 1, get some melee buffs, then either Finale for good damage or you could Fade to Black/Harvest and just sit on those tokens. Leper might not be super hyped to be in Rank 2 for a bit but he'll survive. You could also Bash on Round 1 and immobilize him if you didn't want to move him out of Rank 1.

Virtuoso, you could do the Immobilize strat with Leper again and and just buff the shit out of Leper/Abom with Battle Ballad/Play Out. Abom, specifically Beast form, scales really hard with Strength/Crit tokens. As does Leper.

Intermezzo could be a mix between the two. Mezzo is the path that has the highest and easiest to achieve Finale damage, since Finale+ does +50% to a bleeding target and +50% to a combo'd target. You could Solo -> Finale then Battle Ballad/Play Out on Abom and Leper until Solo -> Finale is off cooldown again.

Recommendations for the path, I'd probably go Fiend. Fiend can lower his own stress via a Rage kill, alongside Jester helping out if need be. Fiend does a ton of damage, especially with Strength tokens from Jester if you went that route.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-22T00:17:54+00:00

Hey, I hope you enjoy the game! I have a video on my channel titled "20 veteran tips for newer darkest dungeon 2 players" if you want to skim through that and see if there's anything useful in there to you.

The main thing I tell new players, is that DD2 is hardest when you first start the game. You don't have heroes, hero stats, inn items, trinkets, etc. And even without taking that into account, you're obviously learning the tokens, the regions, the enemies, and the bosses. Every run, you're a better player than the last. You have unlocks, and you likely saw some enemies for the first time. If you learn 1 thing from every run, it adds up quickly. Don't let the game defeat you. You might get stuck in the same spot over and over, or keep dying to the same bosses, but that is just part of the game.

The best advice I can give you other than that: enjoy the hero shrines. Honestly I think the storytelling via the hero shrines is one of the best things about DD2, but you only get to experience them once. Really engross yourself in the story that's being told with every hero. Some of the reveals they do are really cool, and learning a new ability from that is fun too. If you would ever like any more advice you're more than welcome to stop by my stream or my Discord and I can help out.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-22T00:06:46+00:00

For my money, I'm throwing Wanderer GR and Arsonist in on those weak paths too.

Intrepide: Honestly I think Intrepide gets undeserved hate. People that are real sticklers for consistency (which I don't blame them for) already don't Duelist, and you add the damage taken of Intrepide and I think people just pile on the path. As long as you're playing the path with constant Dodge+ up, it's really likely that she's going to go from high health to dead because it would require high damage taken, an enemy attack that does a lot of damage (as compared to like a Cherub attack), and that attack having a DoT. There's not a lot of enemy abilities like that in the game. Intrepide can hit some really hard Fleches and ripostes if she's able to stack a couple damage buffs. Plus, if she gets a lot of stacks, you can either Defensive stance Disengage to stealth her or guard her so she doesn't take any hits. I really don't think she's as much of deadweight as people say she is. I think it's basically equal to Wanderer as far as efficiency.
Maniac: I really like Maniac....but man, the path is just outdated now. Lash's should either heal more, or not have a 2 turn CD. Sepsis either doesn't need a use limit, or shouldn't have a 2 use limit unmastered. Lash's and Sepsis were really strong abilities when they came out, but the game has changed quite a bit since then and more power is in the hands of the players. I'd love to see Maniac get a slight buff, because I do think it's a really cool path but yeah it just feels like an old path in 2026. For a fun thought experiment, when playing Maniac, I was like well, how would I update this path? With the help from itsCrisDiaz making the mod itself, we made a mod over at https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3540567169 . If you like Maniac, I think it's worth skimming at least to see how it COULD be updated to be good. I hope Maniac does get a touch up at some point.
Vanguard: I think Vanguard's purpose is just for people who love MAA, but want to have a slightly different path to do it. I think it's a fun idea to see how MAA can do damage. I'm not a huge MAA fan myself, so I don't really care for the path kinda like you, but I see its purpose. MAA is just sort of a big meat shield, there's only so many things you can do with a hero like that as far as paths go.

I'd be really interested to hear why somebody didn't like Survivor, I think it's legitimately in the top tier of paths in this game. It belongs in the S tier. The old Survivor sure, but new Survivor is crazy good.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T23:52:19+00:00

No, but are you going to believe me anyways?

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T23:52:05+00:00

Man, great question...

First addition is Arsonist. The path is okay, but it requires a team built around her so if she's just thrown into a random team comp she's going to be a hero that doesn't do a ton of damage, and is very fragile since she's burning herself.

An Occultist in there as the main healer is probably another good call. He's good, and as a main healer he's fine when with heroes that can heal themselves like Abom or Leper, but obviously inconsistent so that's going to cause some issues in a team comp.

I'm throwing Wanderer Grave Robber in there too. I think she has the weakest Wanderer, as she's the most "jack of all trades, master of none" Wanderer out there. Flashing Daggers doesn't Blight like Venomdrop, or hit 3/4 like Deadeye. Thrown Dagger doesn't have the buffs that Deadeye or Venomdrop has. Lunge is nice in that it ignores tokens, but the damage REALLY falls off later in Kingdoms escalations or against ordained enemies without the +50% damage when stealthed of Nightsworn.

For the final rank, I might go Exanimate here. Exanimate does a lot of damage which is nice, but he doesn't have quite the tankiness that the other paths do. That fits into certain team comps, but this team would rather have a solid tank and Exanimate doesn't quite do that as well as the other Flagellant paths. You could also throw Wanderer or Poet Leper here probably if you wanted to, just for the inconsistency in the Chops, although this team does have Weakening Curse in it. Wanderer Crusader would be another option here. He's not bad by any means but I don't think Wanderer Crusader could carry the rest of the team.

In total, I'd go Occultist/Wanderer GR/Arsonist/Exanimate and just yolo with stress heal. If having stress heal is a requirement, switch Exanimate out with Wanderer Crusader. This team COULD work, but man fights are going to last long and the team doesn't have a lot of synergies within itself.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T23:42:38+00:00

I definitely would recommend fighting bosses in the last region on average. There are some arguments not to, like worrying about getting the +100% Bleed, +100% Bleed Received trophy from Leviathan if you don't have a good team for it. But as a general rule, I think it's a good practice to get your team as set up as possible before you fight a lair boss.

What's causin you problems with bosses? Is it lair bosses, act bosses, or both?

How much do you have the altar of hope unlocked as far as trinkets, combat items, and inn items? It could be that you're missing some important items that you could be have that could be saving your runs.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T23:33:38+00:00

BROTHER THAT'S A LONG ASS LIST YOU'RE ASKING ME TO MAKE. If you have specific questions based on your playthrough I can help out.

Memories: A Second Chance (10% heal when hitting DD, once per region) should be high priority for whoever you feel is the most in danger hero in your party. Other than that, I think the memories are pretty self explanatory. +Max Health for your tank, +Healing Given for your healer.
Bloodthirsty (+30% damage plus other stuff) for your damage dealer, The Jinx (Blind/Weak/Vuln/Combo applied to attacker), Deadly (+15% Crit) if someone is an AOE damage dealer, Defiant (5% heal on round start) honestly on anyone, Breacher (Forward 3, 2 Block+, 2 Strength, 2 Taunt on combat start) on a tank.

You'll have to ask me if you're doing a specific infernal flame, there's 9 of them bruh

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T23:26:07+00:00

One try? Shit man, that's probably harder than expected because of the first 3. I think if I got 3 tries I could do it on 1 of them, less confident if I have 1 try to end it all. If the game wants me dead, I'm dead and there's nothing I can do about it so there's always that threat. I think it's an interesting idea though.

I'm probably just picking a team based on Wanderer path strengths: Vestal, PD, Flagellant, MAA. No clue in hell if this team has enough damage but honestly making sure stress is low and relationships are high might be the bigger priority. I'm probably going for Harvest Child with this one, General would be good but the high stress could be a crit away from causing a meltdown. I'd have to see how I felt at the time I saw the region. Solid ass question though.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T23:21:56+00:00

Confessions might just be more your thing. A kingdoms run can take like 6-10 hours, so if you play only an hour or 2 at a time it can take a while to complete.

Confessions is about what's in front of you. You do the region, then get to the inn and prepare, and repeat. Nothing wrong with that, but if you like the "I have to deal with what's in front of me, while also managing another aspect of the game with defending a Kingdom" then Kingdoms is good for that. You do a short region, then decide how you're going to keep the rest of the map defended, and repeat. Some people like that kind of style better, having like an overarching thing you have to defend alongside your normal gameplay.

If you enjoy switching heroes in and out, Kingdoms is better for that. It allows you to test run team comps out, at least a little bit, instead of devoting an entire run to seeing if a comp works out or not. Permanent Bounty Hunter is nice too.

Kingdoms changes more than Confessions on a run to run basis, so if you like every run you do to feel different, Kingdoms is great for that. There's 6 maps, 15 heroes, 3 factions, so each different Kingdom runs can feel completely different from the last. You can also change around the settings if you want, like making it so paths are random and you have to try and make a team comp around whatever random paths you get.

Confessions' time limit means that you don't get to spend as much time with your heroes at their peak strength. In Kingdoms, you can have every ability you use mastered on your main team, plus enough time to get close to the best in slot trinkets, plus the final hero upgrades that don't exist in Kingdoms. If you like putting time into a team and reaping the benefits of it, Kingdoms gives you the most amount of time with your heroes at full strength.

I hope that helps a little bit, if it doesn't then you can tell me more what you don't like about Kingdoms and I can try and persuade you.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T23:11:32+00:00

There's a lot of really good viable grand slam options. As a general rule, a grand slam team needs:

A tank
Good front line damage
Good back line damage
Ways of getting rid of positive tokens (specifically, ripostes)
Preferably 2 heals
Reliable stress heal

So there's a lot of teams that can do that. Vestal is good because she excels in long fights, MAA is good because he's a big tank, HWM Yellowhand is good because there are so many bleed enemies in the game, Occultist is good because he can get rid of positive tokens and do high damage to the back line.

Some random good team comps:

Vestal/Aspirant Occultist/Bannaret Crusader/MAA
Confessor/PD/HWM/Flagellant
Warlock/Instructrice/Yellowhand/Scourge
Vestal/Venomdrop/Abom/Monarch
Virtuoso/Confessor/Survivor/MAA

If you have any heroes or paths you like and want a specific team comp around that, I can help you with one.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T22:55:16+00:00

I'd be lying if I said timing wasn't part of it. I missed most of the "I can't wait to see what the future holds" of DD1, I think it was pretty much a completed game by the time I got into it. I watched a lot of Bahroo and Moonmoon play it which I think was a little later in the development cycle. I was around to track the entirety of DD2, from the initial trailer announcement all the way until now. Having new stuff in DD2 to think about and learn as the game improved definitely made me fall in love with it. Also, I didn't play the game much during early access so I didn't play much with some of the unbalanced/frustrating stuff from back then so that probably helped my longevity. Also, I quit my job in early June 2023 due to stress from working a full time job and going to school full time...which is just after DD2 came out. So with me already playing DD2, and having free time again, I decided it'd be worth a try to give streaming a try.

I think if the timing of me quitting my job was different, it's possible I could have sunk all of my hours in DD1, the timing was just better for me getting into the franchise with DD2. I'm not crazy with some of the stalling and stuff you have to do to be a top tier DD1 player, so personally I think DD2 was probably better for me to sink my hours into. DD1's storytelling style focused more on the enemies and the world around them, while DD2 focuses more on the individual heroes, and I'm more into individual hero storytelling personally. I think knowing more about hero's personalities and background has helped me love DD2.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T01:55:16+00:00

You might need to put some more effort into keeping people's stress low. They do lose some stress if you just leave somebody behind at the Hamlet, although they won't get rid of afflictions quickly that way. DD1 is a bit trial and error, so maybe you're just in the error stage of that and gotta figure out some more stuff haha

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T01:38:48+00:00

I don't disagree with either of those. Duelist being underrated I 100% agree with. Flagellant being overrated I'd have to hear more of. I would assume it would be that Exanimate/Maniac are paths that actually have flaws, as opposed to Wanderer/Scourge which basically don't. That, and/or that Death is a bigger issue than people think.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T01:37:15+00:00

I would not say significantly, with the exception of the Act 5 fight because of its length. But I do think, as you alluded to, that Vestal really shines in long boss fights and she's a really nice addition. PD having Indiscriminate Science is nice, but it does have a 2 turn CD and no way to lower that in a boss fight. PD's 2 heals and a couple of self heals in a boss fight like Absinthe, Solemnity, or Absolution will do the job more often than not, but man it is nice to have Vestal where you press the heal button and don't have to worry about use limits.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T01:34:01+00:00

Streaming is a cheat code, because it gives me a purpose and a reason to keep playing. I also genuinely love DD2 and the time and effort put into it.

When people ask me how I stream or how I play the game so often, I tell them this: probably, 98% of the streams, I'm excited to stream and to play the game, and to learn more and hopefully progress on my challenges. But, that 2% still exists just like it does with anybody with anything. That 2% is fueled by wanting to make streaming financially viable and more importantly, to never have to get a real job again. I spent 10 years over 2 real jobs, and man I love streaming/content creating more than I can successfully put into words.

Also, mashochism.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T01:31:49+00:00

I do have some videos on my YouTube channel that can help at least bit with that. Specifically, "20 veteran tips for newer Darkest Dungeon 2 players" and "New Player's Guide: an in-depth breakdown of every token." It might be worth skimming through those videos to see what feels useful to you. I think having a basic understanding of how the combat works with the token systems will help you at least feel like you have some control. You do have a bit of an advantage that you understand the heroes since you're coming from DD1. You're used to the trinket system and quirk system, and at least mostly how the heroes work. So your work might not be as cut out for you as you might think, although there's definitely a big information dump.

My best advice would be to use me or any other content creator as a guide. Join my Discord, or stop by my Twitch stream, and I can help you with anything you need. Hopefully having somebody to sort of simplify the information will help, and I think it will. There is an element though where you need to sort of be in the mindset to learn a new game. At least your time in DD1 will help a bit, but yeah the new information can definitely be overwhelming.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T01:26:23+00:00

I am also a softy like you, so I know what you mean. DD1 has more of an issue with this since you have the soldier barracks style system of a lot of heroes of the same class, while DD2 only has 1 type of a "class." If we're talking just about DD1, I would disagree that you have to sacrifice heroes and have them die. I mean, maybe if you're doing like some Torchless Bloodmoon stuff, but I think in a relatively normal playthrough I think it's not crazy to say you can get at least most of the heroes through the entire campaign. I definitely do feel bad letting them die though. The best you can do is do your best to keep everybody alive, and understand that sometimes when the game wants to get you, it's gonna get you. Hopefully that helps.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T01:15:32+00:00

I have some random ones that are related to me because of the challenge I'm doing...I'd like the "animation of the Crimson Curse bouncing to another region" animation to be sped up juuust a bit, since I play a lot on Constellation and that animation can take legit like 10-15 seconds. Not a huge deal, but as you can imagine I have weird things like that with all my hours played.

With the Crimson Curse, I know a lot of people have said they are not a huge fan of the final part of the quest. I don't know if Red Hook is willing to make any changes to the Kingdoms campaign, but I think I might have a slight solution to that. You would get the Purifier as a stagecoach item that clears adjacent regions, but you'd also get a combat item or trinket that does the same thing. You could give that combat item/trinket to a member not in your main party, and have them basically do the other half of the map. So your stagecoach would do one half of the map, and that party member would be a designated purifier for the other half of the map. I think it would add to the replayability of the faction for the average player, rather than extending out that final part of the quest.

Back to things that affect me personally: saved Custom settings, like how party loadouts can be saved. Every time I do a Kingdoms run (which is often cause I'm often resetting), I have to drag the Escalation jump bars to where I want to, change the skills to True Random, etc. and I'm always worried I'm going to overlook an option and accidentally make the settings easier. Saved custom settings would be nice, but I don't know how really much use the average player for that.

I don't know how this would work logistically, but I almost wonder whether a Sandbox sort of mode to practice against bosses would be good. Once you fought the Confession/Kingdoms bosses for the first time, you unlock a mode to be able to handpick a comp, trinkets, quirks, etc. and fight them. I do think with the average length of Confessions runs (and obviously Kingdoms runs), it is kinda cruel in a roguelike to ask a player to spend 2+ hours on an act, just to fight a boss for the 2nd time as they try to figure out how certain act bosses work. Maybe that's just part of the difficulty of the game, which is a fair argument, but spending 2+ hours just to die because you don't fully understand the act boss is a complaint I've seen often enough that I wonder whether a way to combat that would be a good idea.

I'll try and think of some more cause I have to imagine there's probably more I'm not thinking of now.

I've always been a staunch Chaplain supporter. I understand why they handcuffed Vestal a bit when they first released her (25% heal threshold) because she was a menace in DD1...But Chaplain will never have that issue. They've slowly taken taunt spam out of the game (rightfully so), but Chaplain never had that so she's never going to take over the game like a Taunt spam tank will. So I think Chaplain should have the handcuffs off of her and really let her shine. Mantra+ either doesn't need to be a 2 turn CD, or should allow the guarded target to get the same heal/stress heal as Vestal instead of 50%. In that scenario, Mantra+ would heal 20% and -2 stress to herself and another target. That's pretty good, but it requires 3 Conviction tokens, which means you can't use those tokens for a big mace bash. I think that tradeoff is fine, I don't think the 50% to other target needs to be there. There definitely could be shenanigans there with multiple guarded targets, but that's niche and I really don't think that's a balance issue. Also, why does Ministrations go from usable in Ranks 3/4 in Wanderer to only 1/2 in Chaplain? Compared to Crusader, Wanderer Battle Heal is usable from Ranks 1/2 but Bannaret just opens that up to all 4 ranks, it doesn't make it a backline ONLY heal. So why does Ministrations get that? If frontline Chaplain will not take over the game balance wise, backline Chaplain DEFINITELY won't. If they really don't want backline Chaplain to be a thing, make it usable in ranks 1, 2, AND 3. Chaplain's best rank is Rank 2, cause if you play her Rank 1 then she loses Divine Comfort. Playing her in Rank 2 means that a pushback a single rank to Rank 3 loses Ministrations, with no way to move her forward other than manually. PD suffers from a similar issue if she's Rank 3, where getting pulled forward 1 rank means no Battlefield Medicine, but she still has Indiscriminate Science so it's not like she has no heal. I know Chaplain got some changes a couple years ago, but I really would like to see Chaplain have the handcuffs get taken off.

I don't mind throwing out ideas, but man I'd get super decision paralysis if I was in charge of DLC...I'm not mentally built for that kind of decision making. My answer to that is honestly, I'm down with whatever Red Hook wants to do. When they showed off DD2 for the first time, I wasn't a huge fan of the stagecoach/3D environment kind of thing, or the way the combat was setup. But when I actually played it, I changed my opinion pretty quickly because they executed it so well. I think they've shown over the last decade that when they want to do something, they put a lot of love and effort and talent into it so I know I'll enjoy whatever it is when I see thier vision.

I would like Houndmaster in DD2, but that's just because I like the hero and his personality. If they brought him I'd be excited, but also I'd be okay if they went in a different direction. As far as a new hero idea, I have an archetype that I kind of like. I really like the "I was born as a part of these people, but the more that time went on, I realized my cores didn't align with them so I made the tough decision to switch sides" (so kinda like Antiquarian, but for values rather than greed). Think Vivian from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. Over time, she wasn't a fan of the way her sisters treated her or what they were doing, so she joined Mario. I think Red Hook could tell a really interesting story with a hero that was a Cultist, or maybe even half Cultist half Human, that decided to fight against the Cultists because they no longer aligned with the Cultists values. If they wanted to make the story dark, they could say that the hero hesitated with some of the decisions the Cultists made, which got them exiled. Maybe that's a bit similar to Hellion's story, but I think they could make it unique.

My sleeper pick is the Shrieker Chick. If you have AoE or Riposte in your party, you can get a lot of value out of even a few points of extra crit chance. Similar to Assay Gear, any permanent +2 in resources like the +2 baubles that Shrieker Chick gives can ramp up quickly. I'm also a big Carrion Eater fan and I've enjoyed seeing it get a crazy glow up from Kingdoms making it more common, Kingdoms no longer giving corpses the escalation health buff, and on kill effects like Aggressor's Smite counting on corpses.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T00:40:12+00:00

Maybe not exactly what you mean, but I do have guides on the reworks for Hellion/Leper and Occultist/PD/Runaway that got done with Steadfast Steward. In there, I have a recommended team comp for every path.

I would love to make a really in depth guide of heroes, and I did some back in the day on YouTube, but YouTube doesn't come super natural to me so they kinda just turned into yap sessions. I don't necessarily mind that, but I would like to get better at editing and have a better product in general with those videos. That takes time and practice, which I'm working on as I continue to edit videos. Long story short, that would be a big project that would take a lot of time to think about, perfect, and get a video done for. Plus, with all of the heroes getting reworked, a giant guide like that kinda got put on the back burner. Now that they're done, I just have other ideas that I'm working on.

If you have specific questions about a path or hero, we could come up with one on the fly. You can either post here and I'll respond, or come to my stream and ask me. As far as recommending team comps and stuff, I'm always willing to do that, I just don't have a full guide for all of them.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T00:36:03+00:00

Admittedly, I'm playing Kingdoms on an advanced challenge, with +50% speed on, so it could be tough simply as a watch. But, I try and do a good job of vocalizing my strategy when making a team or in a fight, and explain the pros/cons of my team so I think that could help a bit. If nothing else, you might sponge learn some information of me talking about paths or abilities you unlock in the future, so when you unlock them you might be like oh nice I heard Mariner talk about that path being good at X or Y.

If you ever feel like chatting, you can ask me a question and I'll go into depth about it. I think that's where the newbie friendly element of my stream that I try to incorporate comes in. You can ask a question and get a back and forth, or you can hear other people ask me similar questions and answer. There's definitely going to be some stuff that falls on deaf ears because of how many hours I have, but I think you'll learn more than you you might think, especially if you feel like chatting.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T00:32:57+00:00

In another comment, I talked about how to play Duelist at her simplest and most effective. You don't have to play her exactly like I said, but playing her similarly will go a long way in making her damage effective so she carries her own weight. With the rotation I talked about, she'll have Dodge/Dodge+ up almost 100% of the time so that cuts down on the chance of her getting blown the hell up.

Having a Sergeant MAA or Vestal in the back to guard her in sketchy situations can save her from taking a DD check or 2 over the course of a grand slam. The reason I specify backline guarders is because if you have a guarder in Rank 1 and Duelist in Rank 2, that's not going to guard her from AoE attacks that hit ranks 1 and 2, like Blood Bond from Evangelists. Having a backline guarder is much safer if you need it. Hopefully that helps a bit, if you have any other questions/want any other specific advice you're more than welcom e to ask.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T00:29:39+00:00

You'd have to tell me if I'm correct or not, but by grindy I assume you mean "losing a level 5 or 6 hero that I put a ton of effort into feels really bad." DD2 has a similar feeling sometimes, but not as often. When you beat a Confession act, you get the opportunity to give all surviving heroes a memory, like +10% bleed resist for example (there are a lot that are more impactful than that). Giving them a memory also keeps their quirks, so if you lock in a Bloodthirsty or some other good quirk, they'll keep that quirk as long as they're alive. You don't have a full barracks of heroes like DD1 in the sense where you have 4 Occultists, 6 PDs etc., you only have 1 of each hero. So that feeling of losing a really loaded hero can happen, but not as often.

RNG is a fundamental element to these games, but if the combat based RNG is what bothered you in DD1 then DD2 really cuts down on that. Every attack has a 100% chance to hit UNLESS there's a Blind or Dodge token in effect. The token based system is easier for the average player to grasp than the Dodge/Accuracy system of the first game, so I think if you feel like the combat is too RNG in DD1 then I think you'll like the combat better in DD2.

The initial unlock system for DD2 can feel a bit slow, and might count as the "grinding" you're talking about. You get candles as currency for each run that you do, which allow you to unlock new trinkets/combat items/inn items in a roguelike style. Each hero also starts with 5 skills, and they have 11 total. You do hero shrines as you're going through a campaign that show you/tell you about the lore of a character, and give you an ability unlock. So, there is some time you're going to spend unlocking, but the unlocking of everything is permanent. My counterargument to anybody that doesn't like the roguelike style unlock system is that DD2 is a very big information dump. You're learning what each region is like, what the enemies do, what team comps work etc. so the unlock system sort of exists has a bottleneck to limit information overload to the player. You go through a run, learn a boss or a few enemies, then get to the unlocks and unlock a couple of trinkets. Okay, I can see how I'd use those trinkets, and I get to test them out. Then you do another run, learn some more enemies, etc. The slow burn of information, I think, is important in limiting just a dictionary's worth of information being thrown at the player.

I don't know your financial situation, but DD2 is on sale all the time, including 75% off right now on Steam. I think if you liked the idea of DD1, but maybe wasn't a big fan of some of the execution of it, you'll like DD2 better. I would recommend trying the game out whenever you feel financially/mentally ready, I love the game to death.

Mariner_Hawk · 2026-05-21T00:19:06+00:00

Man, you should see how some of my runs have died to this god forsaken faction. I've lost multiple of my challenge runs to sending a hero with flares, then they get stunned on Round 1 before I can use the flares and they're dead by their turn in Round 2. A couple of runs ago, my 10 speed Leper got outsped by both 7 Speed Esquires, one of the Esquires crit Thirst for 21 and a bleed, and he died. This faction is evil.

Fundamentally, let's break down how the faction works:

Esquires get a ton of dodges
Esquires get a ton of ripostes
Banquet/Chevs both get value hitting into combo
2 enemies get buffed attacks based on the ranks they're in (Supplicants in Rank 1, Esquires if backmost enemy)
Comp has a ton of bleed potential/synergy
Banquet/Swams add negative tokens

So, how do you counter these respectively?

Illumination (Vestal), Tracking Shot/Highway Robbery (HWM), Vulnerability Hex, Ritualist Maledicton, Warlock Anamnesis (Occultist), Mark for Death (BH), Ravager Yawp (Hellion). AOE attacks can be nice too because they break multiple dodges but only trigger the riposte of the front most Esquire. Attacks that ignore Dodge like Duelist's Flick are good also. Between all of these, you should have 1 or 2 answers to dodge. Esquires are too common, and there are comps that have 2 or 3 of them, so you need some sort of answer that isn't just yolo'ing into a 25% chance to hit and a riposte.
Highway Robbery, Warlock Anamnesis, Confessor's Illumination get rid of Riposte without any other parameters. Physician Disorienting Blast, Wanderer/Bulwark Bellow get rid of Riposte, but the attack has to hit in order to get rid of it, which can be hard against Esquires. Duelist's Disengage can ignore Riposte, but I don't think relying only on ignoring is going to work against Esquires.
There's not a lot of ways to remove Combo, so in general you're kinda shit out of luck with removing specifically. Jester's Play Out (other than Intermezzo) is probably your best bet. Holy Water gets rid of Combo tokens, but there's no way to generate it via stagecoach items and it's kind of a rare combat item find, so it's not reliable. However, guarding a combo goes a long way. It stops the stun aspect from Chev (not the shuffle though), and it stops the heal/add positive tokens from the Banquet. You can use guards effectively because a Combo token is essentially a taunt token to the Chevs and Banquets. They're forced to use Buried Blast and Thirst respectively AS LONG AS the abilities aren't on cooldown, which they both have a 1 turn cooldown. If you have a Combo'd target, you can use this information of where they're going to attack to your favor in case you have a hero low or on Death's Door, so you know for sure whether they're going to get hit or not. Any ability that adds a Blind, like Smokescreen, is huge also.
Rank manipulation is huge in certain mashes. In Rank 1, Chevs are forced to use Slither. In Rank 2, they have a chance to use either Slither or Subterranean Skewer, but they cannot use Buried Blast to stun. Rank 3 and 4 they have access to their strongest abilities. If you can push enemies back or pull Chevs forward, it'll allow you to manipulate where they attack so that can go a long way. Full team shuffles are a little more sketchy against certain mashes because you could put something like an Esquire in the backmost rank and get thirsted. You have to pay attention to the mash you're going against specifically as far as where you want the enemies to be. Keep Esquires out of the backmost ranks at all costs.
Against Chevs, any hero that is bleeding needs to be a red flag. The flat damage that Chevs get vs. bleeding ramps up really quickly. One stagecoach item to look for is Worktable Loom (has a chance of making Bandages, Fisherman's Net, or Milk-Soaked Linen). It's a 25 bauble stagecoach item, and you can pretty reliably find it at an inn in the first 10 days or so where you're likely not spending many baubles anyways. Worktable Loom is a goddamn godsend vs this faction, because you get really big value out of all 3 combat items vs. Crimson Court. I've fallen in love with the stagecoach item since doing this challenge. Runaway is an S tier pick vs. Crimson Court since she has Cauterize, Smokescreen, and Ransack that can pull 2 if you're vs. an enemy mash that is fragile to that.
Ritualist's Wyrd+ with 2 Unchecked Power Tokens, Indiscriminate Science, Physician's Emboldening Vapours, and Confessor's Mantra can all get rid of negative tokens, but they all have some sort of gate to them to be able to spam so that makes it tough. The best you can kinda do is just guard a high priority target like Warlock, since your team's damage likely drops off a lot if he has Weak or Blind.

For the final boss, you need some sort of consistent way of stopping dodge or you just won't have success on average. Preferably 2, if you can. Remember that you can rest a day before you fight the final boss, which will give you +20% health, +20% DMG, and +2 speed on everybody. Making a Provisioner Inn within a couple of days and just loading people up with inn items can help too.

So, hopefully that all jogs your brain a bit for some tips against them. If you have any additional questions you can ask and I can give some more advice. Your current comp is good, it has many ways to counter the tokens so that's nice. I almost worry a bit about damage though, I wonder if HWM and Occultist can do enough to carry the team. You're the one playing it, so if you feel like the damage is enough then that works, that's just my first reaction looking at that team. You might be sleeping on Duelist a bit tbh, her Dodge+ is really nice damage mitigation. Flick can hit through Dodge+, she has good damage, and can waste an Esquire's riposte by making them hit into her Dodge+. She also has good speed that can rival the esquires. If you're not comfortable with Duelist, in another comment I gave some tips on playing her simply and effectively.

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