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The best Darkest Dungeon 2 teams can make a difference, as four good characters can form a cohesive unit that support and reinforce each other. By building the a strong team and using them to focus on certain strategies, you can create a group that can tackle everything Darkest Dungeon 2 can throw at you.
The key thing is to have options and be aware of what you need. Certain characters might be a little less viable than others depending on location - if you're fighting fiery enemies from lava caverns for example, the Runaway's burning powers won't be quite so special.
Of course, if you want to know how to use these heroes as effectively as possible, as well as a wider sweep of things that will help, check out my Darkest Dungeon 2 tips page to find out all the best ways to suffer.
Darkest Dungeon 2 best team and character choices
The best Darkest Dungeon 2 team I've found is one that basically covers every base and plays more defensively than aggressively, giving you a robust longevity to survive right to the end. One or two characters are actually focused on damage, while the others support them and prevent the various horrible afflictions that can bring the team down. If there are better teams than this one, I haven't found them:
- Front rank: Leper
- Middle-right: Man-at-Arms
- Middle-left: Jester
- Back rank: Plague Doctor
Each of these characters has a specific role to play within the group, but also has enough versatility in their move pool and skills to serve outside of their main skillset. I'll go through them all below, as well as potential replacement classes if you don't like the versions the game has provided you.
Darkest Dungeon 2 Leper
- Pros: Massive melee damage, self-healing, very durable
Cons: Useless if moved out of front ranks, low accuracy
Replacement option: Hellion, Runaway
The Leper was known for being an overpowered class in the original Darkest Dungeon, and little has changed. They have a lot of health, abilities that self-heal both HP and stress levels, and their melee attacks do ridiculously high damage to the front two rows of enemies - maybe more than any other class.
The Darkest Dungeon 2 leper strategy is simple: everybody else keeps the Leper alive and functional while he mows down the opposition with huge sword strikes. The only downside is that the Leper's abilities can lower his accuracy, but his Reflection skill can lift that debuff, and by equipping items that also fix this to all your characters, you can keep him powerful. His brawny health also means he can withstand a lot of punishment, so you don't need to worry about him too much.
Darkest Dungeon 2 Man-at-Arms
- Pros: Excellent tank, can defend others, abilities ensure he can get back to the front ranks if moved
- Cons: Poor self-healing power, requires regular support when tanking
- Replacement option: Leper, potentially, although nobody else can do what the Man-at-Arms does
The Man-at-Arms strategy in Darkest Dungeons 2 is to get beaten up. He has a great deal of health, and his Defender skill is a vital one that allows him to take another character's damage for several turns - as well as boosting his own defence at the same time. Trigger that on any ally who's about to go down, then use your healing classes to keep him alive and well. His Crush skill can do decent damage to the front three rows, and he has multiple skills to take him back to the frontline if he should get pushed out-of-place.
Darkest Dungeon 2 Jester
- Pros: Manoeuvrability, Stress Heal, Bleeds enemies
- Cons: Attacks force him to keep shuffling about, lacks serious offensive power
- Replacement option: Occultist, Grave Robber, Highwayman
The Jester is probably the class you can most get away with swapping around, except for one thing: the ability to heal Stress is a massive advantage. Considering how badly things tend to go after a character suffers a Meltdown, being able to prevent that is a huge boost that changes the way the game is played.
With the Jester in your team, you want to keep them in the back two rows, focused on Bleeding and attacking enemies, not to mention playing soothing music to anyone who start to look too twitchy. If the Man-At-Arms or the Leper gets forced backwards where they can't help, the Jester can dive back while inflicting damage on enemies at the same time, forcing the front-rank fighters forward again.
Darkest Dungeon 2 Plague Doctor
Plague Doctor
- Pros: Healing, status cures, status afflictions, ranged attacks
- Cons: Low health, poor front row fighter, does damage over time rather than quickly
- Replacement option: Occultist, but not really - the Plague Doctor's too good to swap out
The Plague Doctor is your main support class, healing your team of both damage and afflictions, while lobbing toxic explosives at the enemy that Blight and Blind them. They're extremely versatility and something for almost every situation. Big enemy? Blight them and watch their health drain. Opposition have healers? Throw poison at the back two ranks. Being attacked at range by artillery-focused foes? Trigger Blinding Gas to cripple their accuracy. Allies struggling to keep their blood inside them? Battlefield Medicine will pick them up.
The Plague Doctor's main priority is keeping their team alive, and inflicting various status effects on bigger enemies to wear them down and tax their Deathblow Resistance saves. You'll never do huge damage in one go, but by stacking Blight effects you can end up doing over a dozen damage to an enemy every turn.
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