An expedition is a mission that heroes can undertake by visiting one of the various locations near the Hamlet.
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- See Full List On Darkestdungeon.gamepedia.com
- Darkest Dungeon 1
- 1Types of expedition
- 2Rewards
- 4Undertaking an expedition
- 4.1Exploration
- 4.2Fighting
- 5Ending an expedition
Types of expedition[edit | edit source]
Each of the locations outside the Hamlet will have a number of different types of missions to accomplish, with various dungeon sizes, objectives and difficulty levels. Greater mission length and difficulty make expeditions harder, but also increase the rewards for completion. Each mission's objective, difficulty and size are generated randomly, with size and especially difficulty being weighted depending on the heroes of the current roster. Regardless of the composition of the roster, there will always be at least one apprentice level mission possible, in case the player wants to recruit new heroes from the Stage Coach.
Expedition length[edit | edit source]
The Miller is the first new boss in Darkest Dungeon introduced in The Color of Madness DLC. You come across this enemy during one of the first few missions on the Farmstead. After that you can encounter him during Endless Harvest mission that takes place in the same location.
- Modded Darkest Dungeon crashing after the update? Yesterday I played some modded Darkest Dungeon all perfectly fine, however, now after the update and the game preparing for the Butcher Circus for some reason made my modded save-file crash no matter what, even removing some mods didn't seem to fix the problem.
- When I reload the game, everything seems normal and I've completed the quest. However, if I try to look at my activity log, then the game freezes and crashes again. I'm able to do everything else, including going on further quests, but everytime the quest completes the crash occurs at the same time (on the loading screen to go back to the Hamlet).
- Hello boys, I'm having from a couple of days this kind of crashes after I embark for a mission, right after the game loads for that. The problem occurred right when made my mind to go on a journey for my first boss, the old witch, in which the game crashes after the loading screen over and over, then occurred again on every boss mission since then.
There are three different possible lengths for any mission:
- Short: consisting of a handful of rooms, are the least risky, but also the less rewarding at all difficulties. Higher difficulties make for slightly bigger dungeons.
- Medium: featuring a larger dungeon with different branches, making bigger supplies of food and torches necessary for the survival of heroes. When facing medium sized missions, one unit of Firewood will be provided to allow for one camp during the expedition, giving a chance of respite from combat stress and damage and possibly to better prepare for further encounters with camping skills. Boss missions are always of medium length.
- Long: especially at higher difficulties, long expeditions will feature much larger dungeons, with extreme branching and a big number of dead ends. Bountiful amounts of food and torches are essential and those, together with the two units of Firewood provided, prevent the party from gathering much loot at the start of the quest. Careful planning for exploration and camping, as well as good stress control are mandatory to make long expeditions successful.
Mission length acts as a sort of multiplier for the difficulty level, making hard expeditions even harder with longer quests; short quests, however, do not allow any instance of camping, potentially making unfortunate encounters and events more punishing since no camping skill can be used to mitigate the negative consequences.
Difficulty[edit | edit source]
There are three different levels of difficulty an expedition can have, each corresponding to a certain hero Resolve level. Heroes that are two or more levels above the expedition level will refuse to take part in it. Heroes of any level below the expedition can participate, but low level heroes will suffer severe stress damage from partaking in it and will obviously be at a general disadvantage with the dangers thereof, and will protest to the player to warn them. Entering a dungeon will give each hero 20 stress damage for each level above his own.
- Apprentice: corresponds to Resolve level 1 and is the least challenging difficulty, with monsters being weaker and dungeons being smaller. Apprentice missions are colored green.
- Veteran: corresponds to Resolve level 3 and presents a bigger challenge; dungeons get bigger, posing for a larger consumption of supplies, enemies get stronger and a broader variety of monsters are introduced, with some of them possibly being champion monsters, harder to slay and control; additionally, many monster attacks that do not at lower difficulties gain the chance to apply status effects. Veteran missions are colored orange.
- Champion: corresponds to Resolve level 5 and is the most challenging difficulty: dungeons can be very long and intricate especially on long expeditions, monsters are of the most dangerous variety and the chance of encountering bigger monsters is a concrete threat. Enemy attacks on this difficulty are more accurate and dangerous overall. Champion missions are colored red.
A higher difficulty grants more challenge, but also more valuable rewards for money, heirlooms and trinkets rewarded, with loot found during the expedition becoming more plentiful and valuable also.
Mission objectives[edit | edit source]
Every dungeon has various tasks to take care of, each with different objectives in order to consider the expedition successful. It is never necessary to explore a dungeon completely: it can be left as soon as the objective is complete.
Possible missions for each expedition include:
- Cleanse: requiring the party to win every fight encounter in dungeon rooms. Battles along corridors do not count, and can thus be circumvented if scouted in advance and alternative paths are available. These missions allow the party to hold an empty inventory (except for provisions) and consequently do not constitute a problem for the gather of loot. Despite this, it is probable for the heroes to suffer much damage, hence a good party composition and food supply are recommended.
- Explore: the requirement of scout missions is to set foot in 90% of the dungeon rooms; this means that regardless of the dungeon size, at least one room can be foregone, with larger dungeons having a proportionally higher amount of rooms that can be avoided in case of dangerous paths. Despite being the least dangerous in theory, explore missions have larger risks if a numerous amount of battles are generated throughout corridors and rooms. Moreover, since most of the dungeon will have to be explored, the party is guaranteed to consume a high number of foodstuffs and torches. Despite the risks, it is possible to abandon dangerous battles, especially when in dead ends and circumventable passages, without compromising the mission. It is worth noting that leaving a room by abandoning a fight will still count the room as explored.
- Gather: gather missions will require the party to collect quest items from special curios distributed around the dungeon. The risks of these missions depend on the position of the items, with larger dungeons requiring more items to gather. Especially in smaller dungeons, gather quests can end up being very easy if the quest items are generated closely to each other and the player follows the right route. Due to the items being placed in the inventory, these missions don't allow the party to gather as much loot as others; as such, leaving a gather quest will prove more economically punishing if it cannot be successfully completed.
- Activate: these missions require the party to activate various special curios along the dungeon, consuming special quest items provided with the rest of the provisions at the start of the expedition. These quests constitute a similar amount of risk as gather missions, but, because the quest items are provided at the start, they allow for more plentiful loot toward the end of the quest as the items get consumed, while leaving limited room for additional items at the start.
- Boss: these special expeditions have only one simple objective: to slay the boss of the dungeon. The dungeons of boss quests are always of medium size and their difficulty is not generated randomly: by defeating all the varieties of all bosses of a dungeon, their next versions of higher difficulty will be unlocked. In order to find and undertake a boss quest, it is first necessary to accomplish enough successful expeditions in the same location to clear the path to the boss.
- Darkest Dungeon/Brigand Incursion: (WARNING, some information ahead includes mechanic spoilers. Read at your own risk) These are the only quests consisting of 'Darkest' difficulty, equal to Resolve level 6. These quests are missions that take place in the Darkest Dungeon, or during the Brigand Incursion town event. Quests of this difficulty are the deadliest in the entire game, and in addition, you will lose a hero if you attempt to retreat from them midway through.
Unlocking bosses[edit | edit source]
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To unlock a boss mission, a dungeon has to be explored and traversed several times. Each expedition completed in a certain location will advance the search for a boss, represented as a progress bar under the location's name: once the progress bar is filled, the dungeon levels up, increasing the amount and variety of quests offered each week, and unlocking a boss expedition.
- For Apprentice bosses, successful short expeditions will increase the unlocking progress by 50%, medium by 75%, long by 100%.
- For Veteran bosses, successful short expeditions will increase the unlocking progress by 33%, medium by 50%, long by 67%.
- For Champion bosses, successful short expeditions will increase the unlocking progress by 25?%, medium by 30?%, long by 40?%.
- Excess unlock progression from expeditions which unlock the boss DO appear to carry over to the next boss. (egs. at 50% progression to unlock apprentice hag, a medium mission will unlock the boss AND progress to unlocking the apprentice Brigand Pounder by 25%)
Rewards[edit | edit source]
Every expedition has a set of rewards that are given to the player if the mission is concluded successfully. Every mission has:
- A reward in gold, with an increasing amount the more difficult and long a quest is. Gold is used to finance hero management and improvements as well as provisions for future expeditions, but the loot collected during expeditions will most often surpass the amount given as a reward, hence the gold reward is not the topmost priority in choosing an expedition to undertake, unless the Hamlet verses in very poor economic conditions.
- One or more heirlooms, used to improve buildings in the Hamlet. Every location will reward a different type of heirloom, but particularly dangerous quests such as boss slay missions will sometimes reward more than one type. Additional heirlooms may be collected as loot during the expedition, but some types (such as deeds) stack in very few numbers: when explicitly in search of heirlooms, quest rewards with a large number of heirloom rewards should be prioritised.
- A trinket, able to be either sold for gold or equipped by heroes for various improvements, usually with one or more drawbacks. Trinkets, especially rare ones, are hard to come by, so this kind of reward is usually the main factor in deciding which expedition to attempt.
- Progress towards unlocking the boss of that location. The longer the expedition, the more progress is made towards unlocking the boss.
Town Events[edit | edit source]
With the inclusion of Town Events, succeeding in a Gathering or Activation mission greatly increases the chance of certain town events, depending on the region that was conquered. Additionally, Gathering and Activation yield different types of town events; Gathering missions will reduce the cost of certain areas in town, while Activation missions will increase the hero resolve gained and damage dealt in the same area.
Gathering Quests | ||
---|---|---|
Location | Town Event | Effect |
The Ruins | All Saints Day | All Abbey treatments are free for the week. |
The Warrens | Bumper Crop | All Supplies and Provisions are free for the week. |
The Weald | Caregiver's Convention | All Sanitarium treatments are free for the week. |
The Cove | Lost and Found | Free Weapon upgrade from the Blacksmith. |
Activation Quests | ||
---|---|---|
Location | Town Event | Effect |
The Ruins | Silence in the Crypts | Ruins quests gives +33% Resolve gain and 15% DMG buff for the week. |
The Warrens | Fresh Air in the Tunnels | Warrens quests gives +33% Resolve gain and 15% DMG buff for the week. |
The Weald | Sunshine in the Thicket | Weald quests gives +33% Resolve gain and 15% DMG buff for the week. |
The Cove | Gentle Tide | Cove quests gives +33% Resolve gain and 15% DMG buff for the week. |
Resolve[edit | edit source]
In addition to the rewards listed above, characters will earn resolve points for completing a quest.
Short | Medium | Long | Boss | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Apprentice | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
Veteran | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
Champion | 8 | 12 | 16 | 16 |
Undertaking an expedition[edit | edit source]
Expeditions always start from the Hamlet, where the heroes rest between missions. An expedition is formed by four heroes recruited through the Stage Coach, with various possible compositions of classes and formations. After choosing the heroes and the location to approach, provisions must be bought from the Caretaker before departing.
Exploration[edit | edit source]
During an expedition, the party will move forming a row following the formation defined before departing; outside of battles, this formation can be changed at will. While the party moves across the dungeon, the dungeon map will reflect their movements and display information. While in a room, a new room must be set as destination before the party can traverse the corridors and continue the quest.
While exploring, the party will occasionally suffer small instances of stress damage, discouraging long expeditions and superfluous movements. The Light Meter will also deplete by some units for each corridor segment and room entrance traversed, so it is recommended to keep an eye on it before entering rooms that may contain fights, in order not to cause low thresholds of light to trigger ambushes on the heroes. Passing by corridors that have already been explored will, however, deplete the light more slowly, simulating a more secure and swift advance by the heroes and allowing the player to save on torches by taking less fruitful, but more safe paths.
Scouting[edit | edit source]
As the party enters a room, there is a chance that they will scout ahead, revealing possible dangers and treasures in advance, giving the player the chance to prepare for coming battles or circumvent them if possible. Scouting can also be triggered by some curios, and the chances of scouting events occurring can be improved using appropriate trinkets or camping skills. If the room has a battle, the scouting will occur after the monsters are defeated.
Backtracking[edit | edit source]
If the party encounters a danger that the player doesn't want to face, it is possible to proceed backwards along the corridor to get back to the previously explored room. Doing this will be slower than regular movement and will cause the party to suffer additional stress; the heroes will lament this condition through their barks.
Fighting[edit | edit source]
When encountering enemies, battle will commence. At the start of the battle, the chances of either party surprising the other will be calculated, then the fastest units will start acting. Once a battle starts, the active abilities of a hero cannot be changed until it is over, however all learned abilities can be activated and deactivated at will when out of combat. Icewind dale ee weapons.
Turns[edit | edit source]
The battle is structured in turns: units act one at a time, with their priority being defined by their speed added to a random number that is newly calculated for each unit every turn. When all units with an available action have finished, the next turn begins and the priority is calculated anew.
Enemies will typically act by attacking the player with one of their abilities, while heroes have different actions at their disposal:
- Using an item from the inventory will not forfeit the turn, but only some provision items can be used in battle and each item can only be used on the active hero.
- Moving across the formation will make the hero switch place with an adjacent companion and forfeit any further action. This can sometimes be necessary, as many abilities can only be used from certain positions, and enemy move attacks or ambushes can force heroes out of their ideal position.
- Passing the turn is a last-resort action that will cause the hero to suffer stress damage (the base stress damage is 5) in addition to forfeiting any other action. In extreme situations, it is possible to be forced to do this when abilities cannot be used and movement would be detrimental. [Key Strokes ??? to do 'Force Pass']
- Using an ability is the typical action taken by heroes to inflict damage or other status effects on the enemy party in an effort to conclude the fight.
- It is also possible to retreat from combat, which, if successful, brings the party back to the previous explored section of the dungeon map and causes the party to take heavy stress damage. Fights that are not brought to an end will be re-entered if the section that contained them is approached again. Retreat can also fail, causing the hero to lose his turn and possibly be exposed to further damage by the enemy.
Ending an expedition[edit | edit source]
An expedition can be abandoned at any time when not in a battle. During battle, it is necessary to retreat from or finish the encounter before being able to leave the dungeon.
Successful missions[edit | edit source]
When the mission's objective has been fulfilled, a prompt will appear, making the player choose to either continue exploring the dungeon or immediately leave for the Hamlet. From this point onward, the mission can be left without drawbacks at any moment while not in battle. If the party does not verse in terrible conditions, it is recommended to continue exploring the dungeon in order to gather more loot and make the expedition more rewarding.
Aborting a mission[edit | edit source]
If a mission proves too risky or difficult, the party can escape with their lives, bringing with them any loot gathered so far but forfeiting any mission reward. Additionally, heroes that flee from a dungeon without completing their mission suffer stress damage that has then to be cured in the Hamlet; stress damage suffered this way will not cause the heroes to become afflicted if their stress meter happens to go above 100. Aborting a mission also increases the likelihood of acquiring negative quirks, as well as making acquiring positive quirks less likely. Diseases are assigned as normal. There is an additional penalty for aborting a mission in the Darkest Dungeon or Wolves at the Door — one hero will die to cover the others' retreat.
Failing a mission[edit | edit source]
A mission is failed when all heroes die; all collected loot is lost and, naturally, no hero will return to the Hamlet, causing the loss to The Shrieker of any trinket equipped on the heroes. If the mission objectives were completed before the death of the party, however, the quest rewards will be obtained as normal.
Debriefing[edit | edit source]
After leaving an expedition, regardless of its outcome, the debriefing screen will appear, displaying the mission rewards (greyed out in case of an unsuccessful outcome), any additional heirlooms gathered, and the amount of gold collected in the form of valuable loot, raw gold coins, and unused provisions, which are converted into trivial amounts of gold.
Following the reward screen, surviving heroes will receive Resolve experience and randomly assigned quirks, positive or negative, sometimes accompanied by diseases contracted on the way out of the dungeon. Any afflicted hero will remain so and will require treatment to get rid of the harmful status, but virtuous heroes will not maintain their condition.
See also[edit | edit source]
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This article or section may contain spoilers about the final boss. You might want to avoid reading further if you don't want to spoil the surprise for yourself!
Heart of Darkness | |
---|---|
Enemy Class | Cosmic |
Size | Unimaginable |
Actions per round | |
Stats | |
HP | 252 |
HP (Stygian/Bloodmoon) | 303 |
Dodge | 23.75% |
Protection | 0% |
Speed | 10 |
Stealth | No |
Resistances | |
Stun | 87.5% |
Blight | 47.5% |
Bleed | 47.5% |
Debuff | 67.5% |
Move | 88% |
' | Behold the heart of the world! Progenitor of life, father and mother, alpha and omega! Our creator.. and our destroyer. https://darkestdungeon.gamepedia.com/File:Narration_bad_darkest_boss_04.wav | „ |
~ The Ancestor. |
The Heart of Darkness is the final form of the final boss of the Darkest Dungeon. Classified as COSMIC, it has a terrible ability called Come Unto Your Maker, which instantly kills a hero - regardless of HP or stress. The player must select which one of your heroes dies, meaning you have to be strategic as to who should stay and who should die.
History[edit | edit source]
The Heart of Darkness is the final phase of the Ancestor fight, symbolizing the pinnacle of his ambitions, and represents the embodiment of the mystical forces that were responsible for the corruption of the Hamlet and its surroundings. In true Lovecraftian style, it is a slumbering, ethereal, and omnipresent deity manifested through your Ancestor's misdeeds, whose form became a vessel for the creature to cross over. It is the being that is revered by the cultists and priests of the Darkest Dungeon who have, under the influence of its cosmic power, become distorted entities of multiple mouths, eyes, and tentacled appendages. So terrible is its influence that the inhabitants of the Hamlet will appear momentarily disfigured in similar fashion to the Darkest Dungeon fiends after the first mission is completed.
Behavior[edit | edit source]
Come Unto Your Maker[edit | edit source]
Although it may seem that the final boss wantonly decides to make one of your party members instantly die, the skill 'Come Unto Your Maker' will always trigger on two instances if the conditions are met:
- First Time: After the boss has been downed to 2/3 of his total health (168 or 202), and your total number of party members is exactly 4.
- Second Time: After you reduce his health bar to 1/3 of its total HP (84 or 101) and your total number of party members is exactly 3.
- If you are able to cross both thresholds with one set of blows without killing the boss, it will cause him to trigger Come Unto Your Maker two consecutive times if you have a full party.
That means that after your characters inflict a blow that reduces the boss' HP under said thresholds, he will immediately deal a deathblow to one or more of your party members on his next turn[1]. It should also be noted that stunning is also not an effective prevention method.
There is only one way to stop the Heart of Darkness from using the ability, which is detailed in 'Surviving Come Unto Your Maker'.
Dissolution, Puncture, Know This[edit | edit source]
Each one of these skills inflicts a different status ailment. 'Know This', being a stress attack, will prioritize already stressed-out heroes, while the other two are based on your Heroes' resistances:
- Dissolution: Prioritizes heroes with either low Stun or low Blight resistance.
- Puncture: Prioritizes heroes with low Bleed resistance.
- Cooldown Feature: Every skill may not be used twice in a row. That means that after the first turn, the number of skills (not including insta-death) are reduced to two.
Strategy[edit | edit source]
As mentioned above, this fight will get progressively harder as you reduce the enemy's HP and therefore lose more party members. The exact amount of HP for every one hit KO are 170 and 83 HP. Although it is impossible to exactly predict the exact amount of damage your heroes deal, it should be in your best interests to make the member who is about to be sacrificed deal the last blow to optimize damage output. Beware that if the HoD reaches the HP threshold on its turn due to DoT, it will still cast 'Come Unto Your Maker'.
Another thing worth noting is if you kill the previous phase instead of letting it shift to the final form, the excess of damage dealt to that form will carry over and be dealt to the Heart of Darkness, thereby starting the fight effectively with less extra HP.
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If you are using healers or other support characters like a buffing/stress reducing Jester, it would be advisable to let them die first, while letting your main damage dealers focus on the Heart of Darkness for the second and third parts of the fight.
In essence, this is pretty much a rush-down boss-fight. You will want to deal as much damage as fast as possible, especially during the last third of the fight where you will only have 2 heroes available. Skills that benefit from marking are therefore invaluable for dealing high amounts of burst damage.
During the early portion of the third part of the fight, you may want to consider healing up/reducing the stress on afflicted heroes, as his attacks, while powerful, will not usually put your characters immediately on death's door. Due to the Heart of Darkness's relatively low Stun resistance, this would be an ideal time for stalling time and recovering.
Considering this boss's mechanics, you may make your last heroes have lower bleed than blight resistance, as his blight attack can also trigger the stun effect.
The Heart appears to restore one action by killing anyone by other skills than 'Come Unto Your Maker'. This may be a glitch.
As the battle progresses, you should become more aggressive, since this is the last mission and no retreat is possible. Moreover, the fewer characters you have, the less you will be able to keep up with the Heart of Darkness's onslaught.
If you manage to defeat the Heart of Darkness, congratulations! You will be greeted with a cinematic epilogue and have beaten the game.
Good luck and keep your guard up!
Abilities[edit | edit source]
Darkest Level | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Skill Name | Range | Rank | Target | Accuracy | Crit Chance | Damage | Effect (Target) | Effect (Self) |
Come Unto Your Maker | Ranged | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 1, 2, 3, 4.* | 223.75% | 12% | 11-23 | Instant Deathblow** | No Effect |
Know This | Melee | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 113.75% | 0% | 0 | Stress +22 (24 on Stygian) | No Effect |
Puncture | Ranged | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 113.75% | 12% | 13-16 | 150% Bleed 5 (6 on Stygian) Stress +10 (12 on Stygian) | No Effect |
Dissolution | Ranged | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 113.75% | 12% | 13-16 | 160% Stun 150% Blight 5 (6 on Stygian) Stress +10 (12 on Stygian) | No Effect |
* The player chooses the target for Come Unto Your Maker.
** Come Unto Your Maker kills a target instantly, disregarding damage and crit values.
Surviving Come Unto Your Maker[edit | edit source]
As it is used at 2/3 and 1/3 health, with careful manipulation of the boss's mechanics, it is possible to circumvent Come Unto Your Maker if you can destroy the Heart in one fell swoop before it reaches one of those HP thresholds. The best way to do this is to equip powerful +DMG and/or +CRT on someone that can hit extremely hard (Leper is ideal), whittle the Heart down to 2/3 or 1/3 health, while stacking buffs on a hard hitting character, or stack defence-reducing debuffs on the Heart, and then hit them for one massive, shattering blow.
While saving one character by surpassing the second Maker is relatively trivial, saving everyone is far, far harder. It requires absolute precision calculation, best in slot gear, and a lucky crit to have all four of your characters walk out alive, and if you fail, you will likely endure back-to-back instant deaths from pushing the Heart to low HP. The first documented instance of an 'Everybody Lives' was achieved by three Plague Doctors stacking Emboldening Vapours on a Leper, while the Leper stacked Revenge on himself, resulting in a 268% damage buff and obliterating the Heart with a fatal critical hit of 173.
The second way of achieving this incredible goal is documented in this video, done by buffing the Jester with two Plague Doctors, one Man-at-Arms and four uses of Shard Dust, resulting in a destructive 199 damage critical hit.
It is also entirely possible to embark on this quest with just 2 characters to prevent Come Unto Your Maker completely, however it would make the Ancestor fight much harder. In order to accomplish this, you're going to need your heroes to be able to heal each other and still do high enough damage to prevail, which is much harder with just 2 characters, but it is possible, such as with the Hellion and the Flagellant, using the Flagellant for healing damage and stress, while using the Hellion as the main damage output. Such a feat was demonstrated by youtuber Fourtwoflow, who also defeated the HoD with a Leper and a Crusader, two heroes who can heal themselves and inflict high damage; the task was heavily aided by the presence of virtues, which was induced by Hero's Rings and the Valiant Spirit town event (65% virtue chance, though the Crusader can reset stress to 0, should an affliction be drawn instead of a virtue). This method is, oddly enough, less luck dependant than bringing the entire 4-man party. It is also possible to beat the Heart with the Houndmaster and the Flagellant, having the former constantly guarding the latter and dodging almost all hits, while the second stage AoE attacks will still hit the Flagellant and make him use his low HP skills. Another possible 2-man party capable of defeating the Heart consists of the Crusader and the Highwayman, with the Crusader as the main healer and de-stresser and Highwayman as the main damage dealer, especially thanks to his riposte. Another method is using a Man-At-Arm together with another hero which is preferably a damage dealer who can deal damage from rank 1 or 2, both should have at least 30-40 dodge, and buy all the shard dust. By using shard dust to refresh and stack Bolster buff, both heroes can get up to 100+ dodge. Be wary though, using shard dust bulids up high amount of stress even with Bolster stress buff, and a few turns are needed to stack Bolster, so the second hero might need to have healing ability and Man-At-Arm should never join darkest dungeon quests before (in Radiant Mode).
Related Enemies[edit | edit source]
Darkest Dungeon 1
Creatures from the Darkest Dungeon[edit | edit source]
Bosses[edit | edit source]
Considering this boss's mechanics, you may make your last heroes have lower bleed than blight resistance, as his blight attack can also trigger the stun effect.
The Heart appears to restore one action by killing anyone by other skills than 'Come Unto Your Maker'. This may be a glitch.
As the battle progresses, you should become more aggressive, since this is the last mission and no retreat is possible. Moreover, the fewer characters you have, the less you will be able to keep up with the Heart of Darkness's onslaught.
If you manage to defeat the Heart of Darkness, congratulations! You will be greeted with a cinematic epilogue and have beaten the game.
Good luck and keep your guard up!
Abilities[edit | edit source]
Darkest Level | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Skill Name | Range | Rank | Target | Accuracy | Crit Chance | Damage | Effect (Target) | Effect (Self) |
Come Unto Your Maker | Ranged | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 1, 2, 3, 4.* | 223.75% | 12% | 11-23 | Instant Deathblow** | No Effect |
Know This | Melee | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 113.75% | 0% | 0 | Stress +22 (24 on Stygian) | No Effect |
Puncture | Ranged | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 113.75% | 12% | 13-16 | 150% Bleed 5 (6 on Stygian) Stress +10 (12 on Stygian) | No Effect |
Dissolution | Ranged | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 1, 2, 3, 4. | 113.75% | 12% | 13-16 | 160% Stun 150% Blight 5 (6 on Stygian) Stress +10 (12 on Stygian) | No Effect |
* The player chooses the target for Come Unto Your Maker.
** Come Unto Your Maker kills a target instantly, disregarding damage and crit values.
Surviving Come Unto Your Maker[edit | edit source]
As it is used at 2/3 and 1/3 health, with careful manipulation of the boss's mechanics, it is possible to circumvent Come Unto Your Maker if you can destroy the Heart in one fell swoop before it reaches one of those HP thresholds. The best way to do this is to equip powerful +DMG and/or +CRT on someone that can hit extremely hard (Leper is ideal), whittle the Heart down to 2/3 or 1/3 health, while stacking buffs on a hard hitting character, or stack defence-reducing debuffs on the Heart, and then hit them for one massive, shattering blow.
While saving one character by surpassing the second Maker is relatively trivial, saving everyone is far, far harder. It requires absolute precision calculation, best in slot gear, and a lucky crit to have all four of your characters walk out alive, and if you fail, you will likely endure back-to-back instant deaths from pushing the Heart to low HP. The first documented instance of an 'Everybody Lives' was achieved by three Plague Doctors stacking Emboldening Vapours on a Leper, while the Leper stacked Revenge on himself, resulting in a 268% damage buff and obliterating the Heart with a fatal critical hit of 173.
The second way of achieving this incredible goal is documented in this video, done by buffing the Jester with two Plague Doctors, one Man-at-Arms and four uses of Shard Dust, resulting in a destructive 199 damage critical hit.
It is also entirely possible to embark on this quest with just 2 characters to prevent Come Unto Your Maker completely, however it would make the Ancestor fight much harder. In order to accomplish this, you're going to need your heroes to be able to heal each other and still do high enough damage to prevail, which is much harder with just 2 characters, but it is possible, such as with the Hellion and the Flagellant, using the Flagellant for healing damage and stress, while using the Hellion as the main damage output. Such a feat was demonstrated by youtuber Fourtwoflow, who also defeated the HoD with a Leper and a Crusader, two heroes who can heal themselves and inflict high damage; the task was heavily aided by the presence of virtues, which was induced by Hero's Rings and the Valiant Spirit town event (65% virtue chance, though the Crusader can reset stress to 0, should an affliction be drawn instead of a virtue). This method is, oddly enough, less luck dependant than bringing the entire 4-man party. It is also possible to beat the Heart with the Houndmaster and the Flagellant, having the former constantly guarding the latter and dodging almost all hits, while the second stage AoE attacks will still hit the Flagellant and make him use his low HP skills. Another possible 2-man party capable of defeating the Heart consists of the Crusader and the Highwayman, with the Crusader as the main healer and de-stresser and Highwayman as the main damage dealer, especially thanks to his riposte. Another method is using a Man-At-Arm together with another hero which is preferably a damage dealer who can deal damage from rank 1 or 2, both should have at least 30-40 dodge, and buy all the shard dust. By using shard dust to refresh and stack Bolster buff, both heroes can get up to 100+ dodge. Be wary though, using shard dust bulids up high amount of stress even with Bolster stress buff, and a few turns are needed to stack Bolster, so the second hero might need to have healing ability and Man-At-Arm should never join darkest dungeon quests before (in Radiant Mode).
Related Enemies[edit | edit source]
Darkest Dungeon 1
Creatures from the Darkest Dungeon[edit | edit source]
Bosses[edit | edit source]
Gallery[edit | edit source]
Heart of Darkness using Come Unto Your Maker and Know This
Heart of Darkness using Dissolution
Heart of Darkness using Puncture
Heart of Darkness defending
Trivia[edit | edit source]
- While the name 'Heart of Darkness' is a reference to Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, the creature itself is a reference to Nssu-Ghahnb/The Heart of Ages from the Call of Cthulhu Role-Playing Game. This is supported by Nssu-Ghahnb being trapped within an alternate dimension and being responsible for spawning all the monsters in the known universe, just like the Heart of Darkness.
- Heart of Darkness seems to be restoring one action per every killed person with a skill other than 'Come Unto Your Maker'. If it does so it will use two different skills in one round and the third in the second forcing it to pass its turn, because all of its regular skills are cooling down. It is possible that this feature is a glitch, because the sound effect of passing its turn is anticlimactic and reveals that the boss has its fear reversing limits.
- It is believed by some that the monologue in the gloomy and baleful ending, which includes similar imagery to the opening cinematic and concluded by the lines 'Ruin has come to our family' implies that you, the in-game direct blood relative, will be directly responsible for the rebirth of this great and terrible evil at some point in the future. However, the earliest verses of the monologue establishes the understanding of the thing as the originator of all Earthly life; furthermore, it continues with the line 'The great family of man.' As such, any subsequent lines- including that signature quote- referring to family and lineage actually refers to Earthly life as a whole, not just your bloodline.
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