Crucial Darkest Dungeon Tips: Master the Darkness

With Darkest Dungeon, Red Hook Studios has created a dungeon crawler that couldn’t be more merciless or atmospheric. The depths of the game world are filled with creepy enemies, monsters, challenging missions, and sheer terror. With our Darkest Dungeon Tips and Tricks, we want to make your entry into the dark adventure a little easier.

1) Always have this equipment with you

When embarking on an adventure in Darkest Dungeon, you should always carry a carefully assembled set of equipment with you. These items are essential for surviving the challenges of the game’s dark and dangerous world.

First of all, food rations are essential. We recommend that you carry at least eight to twelve servings to maintain your health. Additional food rations are especially advisable during campfire missions. While this can quickly add up, it’s advisable to speed up your progress and make surviving dungeons a little easier.

It’s also important to carry two shovels. Digging with a shovel will save you valuable health, which will come in handy in combat.

Torches are especially important in the beginning of Darkest Dungeon to dispel the darkness and keep the heroes’ stress levels low. You should always carry a sufficient number of torches, between eight and twelve. How many you end up needing depends on the size of the dungeon.

In addition, two skeleton keys should be carried to gain access to locked chests and additional loot. Herbs are especially useful in wooded areas for extracting food from corpses. Finally, holy water is a valuable commodity for avoiding unwanted trap effects.

2) Darkest Dungeon Combat Tips

• Prioritize harder enemies: Focus first on enemies that cause higher stress levels, such as the Cultist Acolyte, Bone Courtier, or Bone Defender. By eliminating or stunning these enemies, you can keep your party’s stress from rising too quickly.
• Use weak enemies tactically: Weak enemies can be used to lower stress levels in Darkest Dungeon. Keep them in the fight to optimize your party’s stress and health. Avoid killing them too early to take advantage of this.
• Avoid stress when possible: Never skip a turn, as this will cause stress that’s difficult to compensate for. Instead, use each turn to tactically reposition or buff yourself.
• Pay attention to enemy resistances: Have a look at whether your opponents are resistant to bleeds, stuns, or poisons. Adjust your play accordingly and focus on attacks or abilities that are effective against their weaknesses.
• Examine the loot: Choose the right items to best equip your characters and complement their abilities.
• Read the Weekly Report regularly to help you allocate your resources and make strategic decisions.

3) The most important things to know about missions

Start with the short missions before moving on to the longer and more difficult quests.

The shorter missions in Darkest Dungeon often require you to explore every dark corner of each room. Boss missions usually have bosses in the last room. You can use this to your tactical advantage by resting while you strengthen yourself and regenerate your stats. This way, you’ll have an easier time against the challenging enemy.

Resting during a mission is especially important to reduce stress levels and heal injuries. You’ll need the appropriate skills to do this. The importance of setting up camp in the right place becomes especially apparent on medium to long missions. You should plan to rest around the middle of the mission.

For short boss missions, it’s best to carry enough food, eight torches, food, and a skeleton key. Increase this number depending on the length of the mission. Carrying enough resources will greatly increase your chances of survival and help you overcome challenges with combat strength. Plan to carry as many items for a medium mission as you would for two short missions, and as many items for a long mission as you would for three short missions.

4) Assembling the Team

When building a team in Darkest Dungeon, there are several important aspects to consider to create an effective and balanced group. Ideally, your heroes’ abilities should complement each other and compensate for each other’s weaknesses. When building your team, it’s important to cover all tactical positions and roles to make your group as resilient as possible and to benefit from their strategic interaction.

Of course, team building is also based on your individual playstyle and preferences. Check in with the Stage Coach regularly to customize your team.

There are four positions to fill on the battlefield. The front 1-2 positions should be filled with melee fighters and tanks that can deliver strong melee attacks. Heroes like the Crusader, who also has healing abilities, are a good choice here.

In the rear positions 3-4, support and healers are needed. Group members with healing abilities such as the Vestal or support abilities as well as supportive firepower can be placed here. The Oculist is also a good healer who can also deal magic damage and draw enemies.

The Highwayman is ideal for ranged combat in Darkest Dungeon, but can also deliver powerful melee attacks with his dagger. The Plague Doctor weakens enemies and provides support for forward positions. The Oculist, Highwayman, and Plague Doctor are especially effective in positions 2-3.

5) Other Darkest Dungeon Tips

• Keep the brightness of your flashlight above 75%: High brightness reduces the chance of falling into traps and allows you to see empty rooms right away. It also keeps your party’s stress level down. Note, however, that there’s a bonus that kicks in when it’s dark to provide more valuable items, but it will gradually lead to a higher stress level if the brightness is below 50 percent.
• Hero stats affect the party: keep an eye on your heroes’ stress levels in Darkest Dungeon and consider replacing them if they get too high. High stress levels can negatively affect other team members.
• Each Hero has their own merits and suits different play styles: try out characters and upgrade only when they have proven themselves in battle and are a valuable addition to your individual team.
• Upgrades are crucial: invest in the right upgrades, whether in the city or weapons and equipment. Tailor upgrades to your team. Upgrades that save money are a wise investment, allowing you to better manage your resources and progress through the game.
• Prioritize the Stage Coach upgrade: The Stage Coach building allows you to recruit new Heroes. Be sure to adjust your recruiting as skills may change and you may benefit from this adjustment as the game progresses.

Enhance your Dungeon Adventure with PLITCH!

We hope our Darkest Dungeon tips and tricks will help you get started in the dark world of the roguelike RPGs. Want additional help? No problem, use the Darkest Dungeon cheats from PLITCH!

Stay stress-free with the appropriate code. This way you can free yourself from constantly worrying about the status value. For sufficient brightness without flares, you can use the cheat for always full light intensity.

With the one-hit kill, you can slaughter your way through the dungeons like a legend. Of course, you can also make the game experience a real challenge for your skills. With the code for no light, you’ll fight your way through the unpredictable darkness.

Want to learn more about PLITCH? Check out this blog and our YouTube channel!

Happy Gaming!