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Darkest Dungeon II
- Thread starter Space Satan
- Start date
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Sarathiour
Cipher
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- Jun 7, 2020
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No crusader no buy
Larianshill
Arbiter
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2021
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- 2,098
Okay, Vestal is in. Thank you. Now Crusader, please.
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https://www.darkestdungeon.com/news/darkest-dungeon-ii-hero-paths-the-vestal/
Darkest Dungeon II - Hero Paths: The Vestal
The Vestal.
"A sister of battle - repudiated but unbowed!"
"Witness ye the holy radiance of the Light!"
The Seraph path provides the Vestal with a solid skill set to be a back rank support role. This hero path specializes in amplifying Consecrations. The Vestal will gain Conviction any time a Consecration activates. Using this path, Consecrations will last a total of 5 rounds, rather than the typical 3. Seraph directly affects the following skills: Consecration of Fortitude, Consecration of Light, and Mantra.
The Seraph takes a bit of setup if you want to make use of her Conviction skills, reliant as they are on her Consecrations for generation. Once they’re up and running, however, she can power repeated uses of Judgement and Mace Bash fairly quickly.
A party of mobile Heroes can potentially trigger the Turn Start effect of a Consecration multiple times in the same round, allowing the Seraph to rapidly reach maximum Conviction! Positional disruption from enemies, on the other hand, can work against the generation rate by pushing people out of Consecration before their turn comes up.
In an emergency, the Seraph can use Mantra to wipe all of her Consecrations in order to trigger a sizable, unconditional heal for the affected Heroes!
A Jester can help speed the starting process along via Encore – sacrificing his own turn in order to get both of the Seraph’s Consecrations into play in a single turn – while Ethereal Dust can clear her cooldowns and allow the placement of additional Consecrations if you can spare the actions.
"Faith is my shield; piety, my armor!"
Tank for your party! The Chaplain path allows The Vestal to focus her abilities on party defense. Chaplain is a rank-flexible role and allows you to gain Conviction when you are hit. The Vestal is able to focus the might of her Conviction to enhance both her stun and move resistance. Chaplain directly affects Hand of Light, Mantra and Sanctuary skills.
The Chaplain works best when operating from the front ranks or using Sanctuary to guard a frequently targeted rank, such as 2, so that she can absorb more hits and generate the Conviction needed to dish out return damage via Judgement or Mace Bash. The Chaplain’s version of Sanctuary forsakes the targeted Stress recovery for better Block and more Guard tokens, allowing her to intercept an additional attack per use.
Hand of Light provides additional defense for an adjacent random Hero but you can guarantee where it goes if you’re in rank 1 or 4. In addition, using the Profane Scroll trinket turns Hand of Light into a Taunt generator, drawing even more fire – and more Conviction as a result.
The Chaplain’s Mantra trades out its Consecration-targeting for Guard-targeting and Conviction use, applying unconditional heals and stress recovery to both the Vestal and any Hero currently under Guard. This works with the Guard of Heroes such as the Man-at-Arms or Bounty Hunter as well.
"Submit and be purified!"
Strike enemies down and cleanse your team with the Confessor path. Confessor is a rank-flexible role that specializes in debuffs and token removal. Under this path, The Vestal will gain Conviction on each turn start which will increase your chance to apply debuffs! This path directly affects Hand of Light, Illumination, Judgement, and Mantra skills.
Thanks to her health pool, the Confessor can work from the front or back ranks depending on what purpose you need filled within a party.
From the back ranks, Judgement can deliver a double dose of Weak and Vulnerable to a single target, while Mantra can be used to provide unconditional heals or cleanse negative tokens from Consecrated allies. She also retains access to potent support like Divine Grace and Ministrations.
From the front ranks, Hand of Light becomes an AoE that inflicts Weak while still granting her Strength to support Mace Bash for direct damage. The Confessor’s version of Illumination is able to remove any type of positive token from a monster, making it an ideal way to remove threats like an Evangelist’s CRIT. While she loses access to Divine Grace, Divine Comfort’s regen is available in Rank 2 as are all Consecrations for party or personal support.
Consider using the Smoldering Firewood trinket if you’re running the Confessor up front to give Illumination and Mace Bash some extra punch, or the Icon of Light to amp up Divine Comfort and provide stress recovery options if you have her all the way at the back.
Community Impression
When put to a vote, Twitter and Discord were clear on the path they preferred - Seraph! It was a close call between the other 2 hero paths. On Twitter, Seraph took the lead with 45.2% of the votes, Confessor had 28.8% and Chaplain came in a close 3rd with 25.9% of the votes. On Discord, Seraph was preferred with 157 votes, Chaplain came in second with 74 votes and Confessor netted 59 votes total. There was also a strong showing for the Wanderer path in Discord, with this write-in ballot option getting 56 votes overall.
"I really like the chaplain path for it makes the best out of her large HP amount while being able to deal powerful stike. with this path she becomes no healer for none is needed. but love what you did with all of her hero paths, amazing work and cant wait to see more heroes :D "- @Rykmar1
"I love the seraph path, though I think Chaplain would grow on me if perhaps there was a way to get taunt on her. Having to sanctuary a taunted ally to make use of her on-hit generation is rather tough to use". - @PatrickRoot6
"i actually like the wanderer's path/no path the best. but if i had to pick one of the 3 paths, i would say the confessor because the judgement move gives a damage debuff and damage taken debuff. but seriously, i really like the wanderer the most." - @KaimeraHusky
"chaplain is my fav path because i think it creates a playstyle centered around guarding the rest of the team
maa and bh can protect the team, but typically they have more combat-focused roles to fill. chaplain vestal feels like your main mission is to tank all the heat for your team and THEN you start dishing out damage" - Tranquil
"Seraph, as strong as it is, demands consecration usage hard in order to get Conviction.
Chaplain is very defensive and relies on getting hit for Conviction, which is inconsistent.
Confessor is fun with its debuffs.
Wanderer, however, is my most favorite due to its versatility and consistent Conviction. " - Arsalan
"Chaplain is a lot of fun because it gives us a support oriented tank. She can buff, guard, and heal while providing utility through illumination. It's only major flaw is the lack of damage output because you may want to save your conviction stacks for the passive buffs. A really fun option that changes up Junia's style though." - ShuffleFM
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read the Hero Path blogs. If you would like to be more involved with discussions on hero paths come over to our Discord server! We would love to hear your thoughts on The Vestal’s paths, what trinkets you use, and any suggestions you may have.
To join our Discord server follow the link below:
https://discord.gg/darkestdungeon
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Yeah, presence of a middle-aged fat woman with danger hair brings so much confidence*. I mean, how computer games were even made before such amazing people started to make them? In the very old, bad days we had slightly obese, sometimes young men with often poor hygiene. Now, it is a great new era!
High expectations for this game
*Not that i would be confident about this game anyway. First part was good to play for a couple of hours for the atmosphere and visual style. Gameplay was mediocre at best but since it sold extremely well there is no point to change it.
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
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- 29,853
Dude, that's likely a dude.
Turn_BASED
Educated
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- Jul 2, 2022
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- 258
Shaggy and Velman
High expectations for this game
Who the hell cares what he/she is. Xir looks like the best developer ever!
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- Jan 28, 2011
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Larianshill
Arbiter
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- Feb 16, 2021
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That's nice (or terrible, I'm not reading this shit). But no crusader, no buy.
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2017
- Messages
- 999
No crusader, no buy. With crusader, no buy as well. Fuck red hook.
bandersnatch
Dumbfuck!
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2020
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- 124
I still like the art style of this game. It was pretty unique at the time. Now it's been copied by many. 
Cat Headed Eagle
Learned
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- Jan 21, 2023
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- 3,769
Don't worry, they copied it tooI still like the art style of this game. It was pretty unique at the time. Now it's been copied by many.
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- Jan 28, 2011
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- 99,621
https://www.vg247.com/darkest-dungeon-2-devs-early-access-final-release
Darkest Dungeon 2 devs on navigating the early access Redemption Road trip – and what final release looks like
Their time in early access is almost over. It's almost time for Darkest Dungeon fans to experience a bit of hope.
Roughly a week ago, an eldritch phenomena descended upon San Francisco in a hail of rain and wind. Escaping these otherworldly forces as they threw trees, chairs, and Web3 developers all over the place, I escaped into Hotel G where I found greater horrors waiting for me…
It was game design director Tyler Sigman and creative director Chris Bourassa from Red Hook Studios – the perilous pair were lurking in the darkness, armed with Darkest Dungeon 2 on a laptop, ready to pounce. Resigned to my fate, I sat down and spent my last sane 30 minutes asking them about their time in early access on the Epic Game Store, and some of the ways Darkest Dungeon 2 differs from the original. If you are reading this, I am already gone.
Check out the early access trailer here!
As of writing, Darkest Dungeon 2 has roughly six weeks left in early access before it is let loose on a world unprepared for its horrors. The game, in development for four-ish years, exploded into its beta phase with fervour – selling 100,000 copies initially, and going onto sell just over 300,000 early access copies as of our interview, according to Sigman. The team has gone dark and put its heads down in preparation for the full release, following a process of almost continuous process of development, feedback gathering, and reworking.
“A lot of early access is completing content, but in this game we haven't been afraid to go back and take a second look at systems that maybe weren't lining the way we wanted them to,” says Bourassa. “We're really happy with where it’s at now.”
Ever since the game launched in Early Access in 2021, the team has both chiselled away at new content whilst folding in feedback in three major areas: the relationship system, overall progression, and richness with the game’s traversal mechanic.
The progression system was initially received as 'boring' before the Altar of Hope was added. The relationship system – while initially presenting an elaborate aspect of rapport between your party – was confusing players. When characters fell in love, it could result in negative effects from inter-party jealousy and other complicated lovey-dovey stuff. While the team dug it at the time, “it wasn’t gamey enough” according to Bourassa. Following this feedback, the team rebuilt the system several times, over nine months, to create the system that's in place today.
According to the pair, the passionate install base of early access players gave them plenty of criticism to work with, resulting in tweaks and changes the studio is happy with today. Of course, some things got cut. Gone for now, but nowhere near forgotten.
“We wanted to re-approach our roadmap a little bit after launch, just because some of the things we just weren't happy with, while some of the features weren’t performing to our standards. So we had some neat ideas for additional things that may make a re-appearance later on.”
What strangeness will you encoutner on launch and beyond?
These include, but are not limited to, an underground region where every fight would be against a giant enemy, flipping the typical battle system on its head in a unique way. “So, we had a huge four-slot enemy there, so every fight would be a massive drawn-out slug fest,” teases Bourassa. “We kind-of thought that would be a neat twist on the combat and there are lots of implications to that – if there’s only one target you’re able to really set-up and execute combos.”
Then there are characters. Funky, awful hags, crones, gargoyles, and other horrific monsters. None of these have been thrown out the window. Instead, they could very well come back as post-launch content injections. As Sigman notes, they all go in the hopper for potential post-1.0 content. Nothing is left on the cold, dank, cutting room floor of this dungeon.
There are plenty of ideas that have fallen into this pot of potential post-launch curiosity, thanks largely to the wider scope made available with the game taking the player away from the manor of the first game, and into the wider world of Darkest Dungeon.
“That was something that was exciting to us,” says Sigman. “At the beginning of Darkest Dungeon 2's development, the idea of this being a journey made sure we got very creative”. He points to the Colour of Madness DLC from Darkest Dungeon as an example of the stuido's prior creativity within the boundaries of the original, but acknowledges that Darkest Dungeon 2 allowed them to reach to different, darker places.
Sigman elaborates: “There is a freedom that comes from saying what would the world look like? And it's fun to imagine entire regions. It opens the gates for things that maybe just wouldn't fit within the confines of Darkest Dungeon 1”.
This scope goes further than the places you visit. If Darkest Dungeon 2 has become anything over its time in early access, it’s more expansive in all areas. Take the character backstories; no longer are your Highwayman just a tool to be disposed of. He is a genuine character, with a narrative journey the player can connect with throughout their travels – an aspect of the game both Sigman and Bourassa are particularly proud of.
Best friends, through the worst of times.
But in spite of all these differences, despite the wider scope, and despite the change in direction from a delve into the manor to a righteous road trip, Darkest Dungeon 2 remains a challenge to the typical power fantasy found in other games.
Sigman explains: “This is not a game about getting wealth and resources. When you're on a road trip and it's kind-of a ride-or-die mission as these expeditions in Darkest Dungeon 2 are, wealth has no real value. So you're working with, really, whatever you can pick up alongside the road”.
But, there is a tinge of hope there. You always need something to cling to on those long, cold, nights whilst the wind is howling past your caravan, right? Following the often hopeless tone found in Darkest Dungeon, and the horrid real-life events that have taken place alongside the development on Darkest Dungeon 2, the team believes everything in their game builds up to a more aspirational experience.
Bourassa concludes: “For us and where we live in the world, we have enjoyed – for a long period of time – a relative sense of progress and safety. I think that lets you play around with your entertainment, you can kind of be darker because you yourself don't feel personally on the hook and that is a fun space to play in. But I think, for this game, we just felt like it would be a great challenge for us as creatives to embrace the other side of the coin and something a little bit more hopeful.”
You can see for yourself whether the folks at Red Hook Studios managed to pull this off when Darkest Dungeon 2 version 1.0 launches on 8 May 2023.
Mud'
Scholar
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2018
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- 233
>This scope goes further than the places you visit. If Darkest Dungeon 2 has become anything over its time in early access, it’s more expansive in all areas. Take the character backstories; no longer are your Highwayman just a tool to be disposed of. He is a genuine character, with a narrative journey the player can connect with throughout their travels – an aspect of the game both Sigman and Bourassa are particularly proud of.
But I liked how the first game felt like an AD&D game, throwing characters at real dungeon crawls to see how deep you can go to retrieve all the riches possible and go back into town to count your wealth and new shit you just got and that no matter what you did, you never could lose (just in very, veery specifc stuff) while here,
I dont know, this game just doesn't hold my interest like DD1 did, something about it feels off but still the art style and narrator is just good enough that i will give it a chance when it comes out.
But I liked how the first game felt like an AD&D game, throwing characters at real dungeon crawls to see how deep you can go to retrieve all the riches possible and go back into town to count your wealth and new shit you just got and that no matter what you did, you never could lose (just in very, veery specifc stuff) while here,
I dont know, this game just doesn't hold my interest like DD1 did, something about it feels off but still the art style and narrator is just good enough that i will give it a chance when it comes out.
Reinhardt
Arcane
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2015
- Messages
- 31,987
dumbfucks... it's opposite - instead of your own character you are forced to play theirs.
I had forgotten about this game, and it looks like I am not the only one.
Epic Games graveyard?
Epic Games graveyard?
Wunderbar
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2015
- Messages
- 8,825
EGS is not to blame here tbh. The game is just not good, and it would've failed on Steam too.
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2015
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- 5,954
DD2 or even just DD or just roguelike in general are not evergreen streaming games. During major patch release, you can see variety streamers playing it (including famous ones with thousands of viewers). They are not kind of game being streamed every day for a long time. Only on release, major patch, and expansion. Twitch view is not a good matrix for this tbh.
1451
Seeker
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2011
- Messages
- 1,382
So I played the newest update.
Game's performance seems a little bit better, still looks weird to me how it can eat 4gb of vram.
They got rid of the pre journey shenanigans with the anal candles but you still collect them for some reason.
Overall the game is in a slightly less terrible state than it was before but it's still terrible.
Feels like the team lacks vision, they change so many things from patch to patch, it feels like they threw lots of ideas in a bag and then they randomly pulled some of them out and decided to implement them.
Game's performance seems a little bit better, still looks weird to me how it can eat 4gb of vram.
They got rid of the pre journey shenanigans with the anal candles but you still collect them for some reason.
Overall the game is in a slightly less terrible state than it was before but it's still terrible.
Feels like the team lacks vision, they change so many things from patch to patch, it feels like they threw lots of ideas in a bag and then they randomly pulled some of them out and decided to implement them.
Cat Headed Eagle
Learned
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2023
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- 3,769
The first game was the same. They kept "balancing" things for a single player game, which is a red flag, but then they released the multiplayer dlc and everything made sense as to why they were changing so much stuff.
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