New Players, Tutorials, Stress, and You: Darkest Dungeon Guide 

True. 320 hours, beaten the game on Stygian - still don't know shit about the game

Using tab to switch between map and inventory got me

It's gonna feel like you're doing something wrong, because no matter how godlike or omniscient about the game you are, there's always a chance for RNG to punish you for breathing, and it's going to be more noticeable on harder difficulties. All you can do as play as best you can, and minimize the impacts of RNG, but ultimately, someone with bad luck will always lose out somewhere in the game.

@@Arkansym For sure, i try to follow all the advice and this playthrough has just been bad luck all around. rng really brutalizing me. can't get anyone de-stressed or past lvl one. very frustrating to say the least. as much as i like the game it might get uninstalled.

Helo fellow 1%!

so god damn me and ikd how to get rid of that. It even hurts me irl and I hate it so much.

Ah yes I see that I am not the only one who has reset a run because they lost 2 characters

Look dude, nothing chaps me harder at the start of a new run than having Reynauld + 1 (or both in a few cases) of the other recruits having Klepto or one of the other $ grabbing negative quirks. How am I supposed to level up skills or deal with early game afflictions from suboptimal team comps if I have not one but two (or three) chuckleheads stealing all my loot? Instead of slaving away for a bunch of in-game weeks to correct this, I'll just repeat the opening level that takes 5 minutes once or twice.

@@TheBoxGhost_tm THIS!!! I am damn near ready to uninstall due to trying to "playthrough" the crazy handicaps handed out in the first moments of gameplay. It's getting ridiculous, really.

I have had 5 unfinished run for no good reason at all lmao. Finally made it to week 7x with a save but have to take a break for losing a champion level hero. I just can't take failure

You know what, this is great for people that saw "oh dd2 is coming out I should check it out" and then they get rekt and see this pop up

Since the few most popular new player vids are REALLY old and a lot of patches/DLCs ago

I was hoping for a shitpost

@@Intestine_Ballin-ism I am one of the new players that benefitted from this guide. and I was really happy when I found out that it was new actually

This is good for people like me who had this in their backlog for freaking ever because of other games

God I remember my first time I went to the darkest dungeon... I took a level 0 party that I was going to boot anyway, managed to get through the first fight with not too much trouble (But they were pretty stressed out regardless) And then in the next room someone stressed out a party member and boom, domino effect. And I remember cackling at the thought of the enemies just being like "Bro I didn't even touch them, they walked in, I asked for identification and they all just screamed and dropped dead."

@@mr.calamity8886 They all held their chests and cartoonishly flop with their feet in the air in a 1 2 3 4 pattern.

My first party wipe was a heart attack chain early in my run. I was testing some new heroes while my main squad took a deserved week off. Poor guys never finished their first quest…

We don’t care buddy

This exact scenario happened to me tonight. Rip

Yuuup although luckily I realised I was outmatched very quickly and got the *fuuuuuck* out of dodge before anything too bad happened. I find interacting with the curious the most confusing and cryptic part of the game. Unless it’s locked or very obvious I have no idea what to put in them

0 heal bleed is a right of passage. Welcome to the game!

But town events!

@@Technotoadnotafrog Well it stops bad ones too, including bandit attack.

Bring bleed to the courtyard too, if you have it.

@@TechnotoadnotafrogAnd blight for Fracture/The Sleeper

Me: taking notes intensely

*It gets worst imo*

SAME!!!! i just started dd last night & i've been eyeing it for a while so i was Doing My Research w shuffle & so

Glad it was helpful :) The game is really overwhelming at the start like you said, and then it doesn't tell you a lot of other things that are helpful to know which makes the learning curve that much stronger

@@ShuffleFM The game's tutorial feels very awkwardly placed somewhere in the grayzone between being aimed at players with little to no experience of RPG mechanics, and those (like me) that play games because of such mechanics. I didn't feel as though it told me "the point" of what it is I'm supposed to be doing. The in game codex is so poorly designed which makes it bad, a hassle to use due to its layout, while only really providing really superficial information. Past that point though, it seems like a really well designed game, and I'm looking forward to getting past that. So your video was super duper helpful! Like just having stress and torch explained did so much to understand the game.

Nice! Glad you're enjoying it :)

Same got the game on sale and loving it so far, this tutorial helps a lot.

Good luck!

My thumbnail artist comes up with some great ideas

I feel the same. Struggle as much as you can before seeing how it's done

Part 2 will talk about building priority. If that doesn't help enough then the bloodmoon guide talks about town management if you aren't worried about potential spoilers (I don't think it has many if any spoilers). I might make another town guide anyway just to cover it if people still need it

Easiest rule I can give you though is not to upgrade districts until buildings are at least level 4. If you are starting champion then buildings need to be maxed first since they are more impactful than districts.

The only two districts that I'd reccomend you getting before the endgame(maybe even mid game) is either the cartographer camp or bank, with the camp being the more valuable one. Otherwise my rule of thumb is 2 stacks of crests per run and prioritizing deeds and art over busts. If giving up a stack of busts means you get 75% or even 50% of the others it's probably worth. Early game, go for blacksmith and guild with the occasional stress upgrade since they're cheap. Mid game prioritize Sanitarium so disease and quick costs are cheaper. With late go for stress buildings but keep an eye on districts you want.

Focus on stress casters. Either stun them or kill them asap, then slowly kill the low damage enemies and stress heal then. Also go on medium missions where camping relieves a lot of stress.

@@ShuffleFM yea I figured that out before but that would of been way better to been put in the tutorial. also I think different units get better value of sanity from certain town places correct me if im wrong.

Sure!

You'll figure it out eventually :)

Stress meter :)

It's the light meter. It increases if you use torches or certain abilities, and decreases as you walk down hallways or from enemy attacks. As it gets darker the enemy gets stronger so you want to keep it high until you understand it better.

@@ShuffleFM ​ @ShuffleFM At 7:10 what does the number do though? Is it just the amount of turns you had or is it a difficulty multiplier?

@@ShuffleFM I think when that number reaches beyond 5 you're going to be in trouble cause the chance increases for reinforcements. I don't know this for sure but it feels like it.

@@skraaaaz Yes it is just a turn counter display. Reinforcements depend on a couple things, but surprisingly not turn count. Basically if you use 2 damaging moves every other turn you won't see reinforcements. Big enemies also never get them.

@@ShuffleFM Ah yea it's just the number of rounds. It does gets more dangerous if you take longer than 5 rounds i noticed.

Yep :) The dlc is great, but it can be overwhelming for a first time. It is nice to have the extra classes either way. It goes on sale quite often if you feel like waiting

In fact, the game outright suggests you to play without the DLCs during your first run.

It's a lot at first, but if you stick with it I believe in you :)

He probably has a life unlike you