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Darkest Dungeon Guide - The Ruins

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2021-11-27 16:45:25

Heroes

Basic Party Composition

4th Slot - Plague Doctor

3rd Slot - Crusader

2nd Slot - Vestal

1st Slot - Hellion

Trinkets

Hellion: Brawler's Gloves, Heaven's Hairpin

Vestal: Sacred Scroll, Tome of Holy Healing

Crusader: Holy Orders, Swordsman's Crest (2nd is optional, Necromancer's Collar/Unholy Slayer's Ring work just as well)

Plague Doctor: Blasphemous Vial, Arya Box (or Book of Sanity if you don't have the Box yet)

Movesets

Hellion: Wicked Hack, Iron Swan, If It Bleeds, Adrenaline Rush (Barbaric Yawp can work in Adrenaline Rush's place, but I don't use it because of the damage debuff)

Vestal: Judgement, Mace Bash, Divine Grace, Divine Comfort

Crusader: Holy Lance, Smite, Inspiring Cry, Zealous Accusation (Stunning Blow can be a decent alternative, I've found little difference in effectiveness)

Plague Doctor: Noxious Blast, Plague Grenade, Blinding Gas, Battlefield Medicine

Camping Skills

Hellion: Revel, Reject the Gods, Encourage, Sharpen Spear (Battle Trance also works)

Vestal: Sanctuary, Wound Care, Encourage, Chant (or Pray)

Crusader: Zealous Vigil, Zealous Speech, Encourage. Stand Tall (or Unshakeable Leader)

Plague Doctor: Encourage, Experimental Vapours, The Cure, Leeches

Supplies

Medium Missions

24 Food, 3 Shovels, 2-3 Bandages, 2-3 Skeleton Keys, 2-3 Holy Waters, 12 Torches.

Long Missions

36 Food, 4 Shovels, 3-4 Bandages, 3 Skeleton Keys, 3 Holy Waters, 20 Torches.

Note: If I didn't list an Item, don't but any of it.

Note: I didn't give any advice on short missions. That's because, assuming optimal conditions (i.e. you have medium/long missions available) you should never do short missions.

How to use them:

Eat food when a hunger activation pops up, or when camping. 2 is the minimum you can eat if you want to conserve it, while 8 will reduce some stress. (Eating 4 won't do much more than eating 2, so it's never a really good idea.) If one of your heroes is on Death's Door after a fight, always have them eat something. Try to avoid feasting at the end of a mission if you can reduce all the stress you have with camping skills, because then you can trade in your extra food for cash (albeit a small amount).

Use shovels whenever an obstacle appears. You can use a shovel on the Locked Display Cabinet or Locked Sarcophogus, but it's not as good as the Skeleton Key. Only use Shovels to interact with Curios when you're certain there are no remaining obstacles you'll have to get past.

Use bandages whenever a hero is bled for 8 points or more. There isn't anything scientific about this cutoff point, but it's the one I use. (For example, 3 points for 2 rounds is fine, but 4 points for 2 should be removed.) If a hero ever gets Crit and bled, use a bandage.

Use Skeleton Keys on Locked Display Cabinets or Locked Sarcophogi. However, always make sure you have one left for the secret room.

Use Holy Water on any Curio that you can. Altar of Light gives a damage buff, Decorative Urn gives you loot, Confession Booth gives you Stress relief, and Holy Fountain gives you Stress relief + healing. (If you want rewards, activate the Holy Fountain without a supply item, since then it has a chance to give you loot.)

Use torches to keep the light level above 75. However, always wait until it's below 75 to use one. Sometimes you will encounter a hallway battle the same time your Torch goes below 75, decreasing the Surprise chance. If you want, in these situations you can use a Torch before the Light meter dips. (Also, if you run out of torches, the Crusader's Inspiring Cry will raise the Light level.)

Note: This guide is assuming fairly late-game, wherein you've already collected all the necessary heirlooms. If you haven't, bring more Skeleton Keys and use them on Heirloom Chests.

Strategy

Battle

Your Plague Doctor should go first, if you've got proper Quirk buffs to Speed. Even if they don't, use Blinding Gas on the back line. Depending on the Stun Resist buffs given to the monsters after this, use it again or use Plague Grenade. (In general, at 95% Stun Resist you can expect her to land the stun again, but at 110% or higher go with Plague Grenade.) Alternate between Plague Grenade and Blinding Gas (as Stun Resistance permits) until the back line is dead. After that, use Noxious Blast on whichever of the front line is more dangerous/will die quicker.

Hellion should start off with an Iron Swan. This is unlikely to kill the 4th-slot enemy, but has a chance, and will usually bring them in range where a Plague Grenade will finish them off. If necessary, use If It Bleeds on the 3rd line to kill them, but your Crusader should take care of that. (Only do this if your Hellion will be able to kill or get close to killing the 3rd line, since If It Bleeds doesn't do that much damage and skeletons don't bleed.) As with Plague Doctor, after back line dies your Hellion should go after the most dangerous of the front line.

Your Crusader always starts off with Holy Lance, if he can do so. This is why he starts off in the 3rd line and the Vestal in 2nd. He should usually attack the 3rd line with it, unless the 3rd line is an enemy with lower Bleed resist (Cultist Witch, for example) and the 4th line is Unholy. After that, alternate between hitting the front line with Smite/Zealous Accusation (although the first is almost always better, unless Zealous Accusation will kill an enemy at low health). Use Inspiring Cry when the Light gets low (and you have no Torches) or when a hero gets high Stress (50+). His Cry also can heal someone for 1-2 on Death's Door, bringing them off of it.

Your Vestal starts off in the 2nd line, which is why she has Mace Bash. Use this if she takes her first turn before your Crusader. After she gets moved back, alternate between Divine Comfort and Divine Grace as the health of your party dictates. (When someone is on Death's Door, heal them, ASAP.) If your party is at full health, or close to it, you can use Judgement, but it's got low accuracy.

Camping

Your Crusader should use Zealous Vigil to prevent nighttime ambush if he's got a lot of Stress. Your Vestal can also use Sanctuary, which is better if one or more of your party has been on Death's Door at some point during the mission. (Does NOT apply to the Vestal herself.) While diseases in the Ruins are rare, they should be cured after Zealous Vigil/Sanctuary. The Hellion's Revel is amazing at reducing party-wide Stress, but applies some annoying debuffs, so try to wait until the end of the mission. The Crusader's Zealous Speech is worse for reducing Stress but might be better if you've still got some fights to go, since the applied buff is quite useful. Always try to reduce all the Stress you can, but if your party is at 0 Stress overall, pick your choice of the remaining skills for buffs. (If someone's low on HP, Wound Care with the Vestal works well.) If you have time remaining, and it's not the end of the mission, USE IT.

Useful Tips

1. Always kill Stress-dealing enemies first, as in all locations.

2. Bone Spearman are reasonably dangerous if they get some Crits. Take them out next.

3. Save one Skeleton Key for the secret room. (Although, like other supplies, you can dump it at the end of the mission in exchange for more loot.)

4. Alchemy Tables can give you some rewards or more Light. If you're above 75 the Light increase isn't useful, so examine it without a supply item. (Unless you have Medicinal Herbs, but I don't usually bring any into the Ruins, so you'd have to find them.) If you don't have the Herbs, use your Plague Doctor to interact, since she should have the best Blight resist on your team.

5. The following is a list of curios you shouldn't interact with without the correct item (if you want a 100% chance of something positive):

Bookshelf

Confession Booth (item needed: Holy Water, will reduce Stress)

Decorative Urn (item needed: Holy Water, will give loot)

Iron Maiden (Medicinal Herbs will give loot)

Locked Display Cabinet/Locked Sarcophogi (Skeleton Keys will give loot, as will Shovels, although they give less)

Sarchopogus

Stack of Books

6. Altars of Light, Holy Fountains and Suits of Armor all give your heroes buffs/heals, even without a supply item. Altars give a damage buff, Holy Fountains give Stress relief and healing or Loot, and Suits of Armor give PROT/DODGE buffs or a random choice between Ruins Adventurer/Ruins Tactician.

7. If your party gets shuffled, your Hellion should be moved into the front line, manually. Crusader can move himself up with Holy Lance, but should not occupy the first slot (your Hellion should). Vestal can function in 2nd slot if absolutely necessary, but it's better if she's in 3rd/4th. Plague Doctor is near-powerless in the front 2 slots, so move her back ASAP.

8. Your Hellion has the best combined Resistances in this party. Use her to interact with most Curios.

9. Your Hellion and Plague Doctor are tied for highest Trap Disarm chance. In general, use whichever has more Stress, unless they're in danger of a resolve check.

10. Just so you're aware, this is probably the easiest location.

Bosses

These are not the optimal strategies for dealing with the bosses found in the Ruins, they're just one I've found to work "well enough."

The Necromancer

Your base party comp should work well enough on this guy. However, make sure your Crusader starts out in the 2nd slot so he can immediately go for the Necromancer. Whenever an enemy spawns, use your Crusader to take it down. If that's not enough, follow up with Hellion/Plague Doctor. It's not imperative that the Necromancer be kept in the front two lines, but it helps out a lot. If he gets moved back (or if he summons a Bone Captain, which can happen) use your Hellion's If It Bleeds or Iron Swan, depending on where the Necromancer is. Keep in mind that the Necromancer can be bled, even if his minions cannot.

Note: Probably the easiest mini-boss in the game. They start you off with him for a reason.

The Prophet

I've actually had a death while fighting the Champion version of him, but like I said, this isn't the most optimal strategy. I haven't had enough tries, since after you beat all 3 versions, he's gone.

This requires some changing. I went with Arbalest 4th slot, Vestal 3rd, Houndmaster 2nd, and Hellion 1st. This way you don't need to destroy any of the pews to attack the Prophet. (Man at Arms also works well, since he can tank the damage from the Prophet's boulders.) You can Mark the Prophet if you want, but he attacks so often it's generally not worth it. During the fight, just wail on him with Hound's Rush/Sniper Shot/Iron Swan until he's dead. There's not a whole lot to this one, since the Stress he deals usually isn't too bad, but there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Arbalest's Battefield Bandage can work well with Vestal's healing skills, but only when someone in your party is exceptionally low.

2. If everyone is low, use the party heal. This is because the Prophet usually follows the boulders up with Fulminate a partywide Blight attack that deals 1-3 damage.

3. Because of Fulminate, bring a LOT of Antivenom. Buy all you can, if you can. (That attack is basically the reason I lost a Champion Arbalest.)

4. Trinkets are as follows:

Hellion - Brawler's Gloves/Heaven's Hairpin

Houndmaster - Unholy Slayer's Ring/Book of Sanity (another damage trinket can work if you want to play a bit riskier)

Vestal - Tome of Holy Healing/Sacred Scroll

Arbalest - Arya Box/Crescendo Box (or Ancestor's Musket Ball, Legendary Bracer or something that buffs their damage considerably)

5. You can move your party members around to spread out the boulder damage, but it highly inhibits your ability to damage the Prophet.

6. Since you won't be using Cudgel Weight, I'd suggest giving your Houndmaster Guard Dog. If you buff his Dodge chance high enough he can dodge the boulders, which is very useful.

7. Keep the Mark attacks on both your Arbalest and Houndmaster just in case. The Prophet has no PROT, so use the Arbalest's if given the choice.

8. As with all bosses, bring all the Holy Water you can, to be used during the fight itself.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=837593095

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