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80 ratings

Combat Roles

By That Wun Wabbit

Strategy insight for all heroes!

Award

Created by

That Wun Wabbit
Offline

Category: Characters, Classes, Gameplay Basics

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

25 Apr, 2016 @ 11:55am

1 May, 2016 @ 8:55pm

7,171	Unique Visitors
141	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

Intro

Terminology

Compatability Chart

Ability Chart

---Combat Skills---

Highlighted Skills Chart

Highlighted Skills Chart (Contin.)

Credits

Mission Statement

Comments

Intro

This guide contains info on all available classes, including the new Antiquarian class.

As you play the game, you will discover your own party-building preferences. My basic recommendation consists of:

one healer
one stress healer
two heavy-hitters

Terminology

Here's some things to keep in mind:

Buff: to positively enable, or improve combat stats.
Debuff: to negatively affect, or lower combat attributes.
DoT: the community has adopted the use of "Damage over Time" or DoT to describe Blight & Bleed effects.
Melee: a close, or direct physical attack, such as the Bounty Hunter's Stunning Uppercut.
Positioning: The hero to the far left of your screen is in position 4. To the far right is Position 1. "Front of the line" describes positions 1 & 2, while "back of the line" describes positions 3 & 4.
Ranged: an indirect attack, such as an arrow from the Arbalest
Riposte: an effect that lets you counter enemy attacks that deal damage

Compatability Chart

This chart will give you a quick overview of which combat positions can be filled by each hero. P stands for position. Again, P4 is on the far left, while P1 is on the far right of your roster. This chart is based on combat skills and the positions they can be used from.

Icon

Hero

Preferred Positions

Potential Roles: Attack (A) - DoT (D) - HP Heal (H) - Stress Heal (HS) - Other / Support (OS)

Abomination

P1-3

A - DoT - H - HS - OS

Antiquarian

P1-4, especially P2, if paired with Highwayman's Point Blank Shot

A - DoT - H - OS

Arbalest

P3-4

A - H - OS

Bounty Hunter

P1-3

A - DoT - OS

Crusader

P1-2

A - H - HS - OS

Grave Robber

P1-4

A - DoT - OS

Hellion

P1-3

A - DoT - H - OS

Highwayman

P1-3

A - DoT - OS

Houndmaster

P2-4

A - DoT - H - HS - OS

Jester

P1-4

A - DoT - HS - OS

Leper

P1-2 only

A - H - HS - OS

Man at Arms

P1-4*

A - OS

Occultist

P2-4

A - H - OS

Plague Doctor

P3-4

A - DoT - H - OS

Vestal

P2-4

A - H - OS

*Man at Arms has a special trinket to encourage his use in P4, but his only moves that work in P4 are for party-buffing.

Ability Chart

This chart should give you a more specific idea of what each hero is capable of.

X = Yes, No = empty cell
M = Melee Attack, R = Ranged Attack
C = Combo This just means there's bonus damage if an enemy is marked or stunned already
H = HP Heal, HS = Stress Heal, HHS = both
Cure = remove blight & bleed
BLD = Bleed, BLT = Blight
ME = Move Enemy, MS = Move Self, MSE = both

Icon

Hero

AMR

HHS, Cure

Torch

Stun

BLD /
BLT

Dodge up

Other Debuff to Enemy

Mark

Guard

Riposte

MSE

Abomination

both

HHS

BLT

MSE

Antiquarian

both

BLT

Arbalest

Bounty Hunter

both

BLD

Crusader

both

HHS

*self

Grave Robber

both

Cure

BLT

Hellion

both

H, Cure

BLD

Highwayman

both

BLD

MSE

Houndmaster

both

HHS

BLD

Jester

both

BLD

Leper

HHS

Man at Arms

both

*self

MSE

Occultist

both

down

*team

Plague Doctor

both

H, Cure

both

*Shuffle

Vestal

both

---Combat Skills---

The following aren't skillsets, rather some highlighted skills to help you decide what to use regularly in combat - and what to save for special circumstances (ex. boss battles). These suggestions are based on the frequency of each ability's use during combat, and assume you are not playing in Strict Mode.

I tend to prefer damage spread strategies, so you'll see those often in the highlighted skills section below! :)

Highlighted Skills Chart

Icon

Hero

Positions

Specialty

Highlighted

Circumstantial

Abomination

P1-3

Combat

Antiquarian

P1-4

Support

Arbalest

P3-4

Support

Bounty Hunter

P1-3

Combat

Crusader

P1-2

Combat

Grave Robber

P1-4

Combat

Hellion

P1-3

Combat

Highwayman

P1-3

Combat

Houndmaster

P2-4

Mixed

Jester

P1-4

Mixed

Leper

P1-2

Combat

Man at Arms

P1-4

Mixed

Highlighted Skills Chart (Contin.)

Icon

Hero

Positions

Specialty

Highlighted

Circumstantial

Occultist

P2-4

Support

Plague Doctor

P3-4

Mixed

Vestal

P2-4

Support

Credits

This game was gifted to me from a videogame reviewer during Darkest Dungeon's Early Access phase.

Mission Statement

Thank you for reading this guide.
Feedback is important - please rate and comment!
If you want more, go to my guides section and “follow”!
I have written dozens of --> guides on Steam games. <--
I enjoy helping people play games, but I can’t do it alone!
Encourage your friends to write guides…for games!
-Catherine

19 Comments

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That Wun Wabbit [author] 8 Jul, 2017 @ 7:05pm

whew, thank you. Much appreciated!

Pilda 8 Jul, 2017 @ 3:37am

For me, it is the most helpful guide for this game. Thank you for it.

rentier7419 26 Dec, 2016 @ 6:50am

Thx for this - helped me alot to get together the right party

That Wun Wabbit [author] 10 Nov, 2016 @ 7:58am

Alright, keep me posted. Cute profile pic btw :)

Appreciating the positivity here lately. I think there were just a lot of salty players here closer to the release date. The animosity has faded over the months.

Hedonism 10 Nov, 2016 @ 7:39am

This will take me some time to look over, but my my, I had to say that I really appreciated the amount of time you spent on this. Thank you so much for your contribution!

That Wun Wabbit [author] 6 Jul, 2016 @ 10:14pm

ah, okay! Just checking XD Thank you for sharing your advice :)

Polyester™ 6 Jul, 2016 @ 10:13pm

@Crypt Warden
Yea, the second comment was probably for your other guide on the UI, assuming it was yours.

That Wun Wabbit [author] 6 Jul, 2016 @ 10:10pm

@Polyester™ yes, Rallying Flare can increase the torch. That's why I listed it as circumstantial, as there's more a need to deal damage than increase the torch in battles.

You said: "Sometimes the Altar is a quest location and does not contain a room battle."
This statement is also true, but...what does this have to do with anything in the guide here? Did you mean to comment on my other guide? I'm confused.

Polyester™ 6 Jul, 2016 @ 8:57pm

Arbalists rallying point is capable of increasing torch.

Sometimes the Altar is a quest location and does not contain a room battle.

Just some information.

That Wun Wabbit [author] 3 May, 2016 @ 6:01pm

@Drach - 85%
I am moving onto another project. I was already surprised when the Antiquarian came out. I delayed publishing this guide until I tested that new character.
Since this is an unpaid project, I will need to move on, sadly. Criticism is still welcome though - I just won't be editing any more of this guide's contents.

I try to avoid writing guides on videogames with constant updates (read: Team Fortress & other MMOs), but it's just not something I'm privy to as an independent writer

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