Hero Classes

Hero Classes have several specializations that are assigned to them. Each character has different skills and can fill different roles in combat.

Arbalest


"A runaway turned soldier, the Arbalest is the definitive backline fighter. Able to rain suppressing fire down on the enemy, snipe high profile targets and apply powerfully effective first-aid, she is a rallying point, a turret, a beacon in the dark."

One of the two new Hero Classes introduced in the Fiends & Frenzy patch, along with the Man-at-Arms. The Arbalest carries a heavy crossbow which she is able to snipe high priority targets from afar. Like the Bounty Hunter, she uses the Mark Target mechanic which boosts the damage on Sniper Shot when used on an enemy who is marked. Since the Arbalest doesn't need to be the one who marked the target to deal extra damage, she works very well with the Bounty Hunter and the Occultist.

Arbalest has multiple utility skills that can be used in an advantageous situation. Such as her heal, Battlefield Bandage, which also increases the potency of other healing effects on the target. Because of this, she works especially well with classes that have a heal, like the Vestal. A major ability in her arsenal is Blindfire, which can be used in any position and increases her speed temporarily. However, the downside is that you cannot choose which enemy you will shoot, as it is random. This hero has tons of tactical use that can fit into many different compositions.

Bounty Hunter


"A brutally efficient single-target executioner and crowd control specialist. For the Bounty Hunter, planning is key - mark targets for bonus damage or look for opportunities to capitalize on a stunned foe. He can also wreak havoc on an enemy party's order using his grappling hook, flashbangs and powerful uppercut."

In-game, he is your crowd control guy. His job is to wreak havoc on your enemies formation and is able to deal a good amount of damage. He is a great support character who can serve on all fronts, due to the versatility of his skills that he can use no matter where he is placed in the party formation. As he wears only light armor, he isn't a class meant for tanking.

For the most effective use of this class, team them up with heavy hitters or people who can stun/mark targets like them. The power that is given to his damage when marked/stun targets get hit with "Collect Bounty" or "Finish Him" makes it a breeze to kill targets. Crusaders, Lepers, and Hellions can get their blades into the back row troops he reels in with his grappling hook. Meanwhile Plague Doctors, Grave Robbers and Occultists can stun and target enemies to maximize his damage potential and push/disorient pesky melee troopers away from the front to capitalize on frail ranged units in the back-line.

Crusader


"Battle-hardened and stalwart, the Crusader has held the front lines in a hundred holy wars. He either attacks foes head-on with righteous fury, or embraces a melee support role by leveraging his powerful defensive buffs & off-heals."

One of the first characters you get in-game, the crusader is one of the game's tank classes. Designed for the basic task of both taking hits and dealing high damage to the enemy. He is a front line combatant with minor support skills that can come in handy, but not be relied on. Should always be found either in the first or second row.

He has a distinct edge against undead enemies thanks to his "Smite" skill, having at the minimum a 15%+ damage against them (which can later be upgraded to a max of 40%+ damage), making him a good choice for going into the Ruins. He can stun enemies and do a bit of crowd control with his skill "Zealous Accusation". Lacks any form of ranged attacks with the exception of the lance which can only hit the furthest rows of the enemy. However, it does allow him to move one row, making his ability to reorganize after a surprised round easier. Meanwhile, his "Bulwark of Faith" will ensure that most enemy damage thrown his way does barely a scratch on him.

He is best supported with healer types like Vestals or Occultists and those who can provide much valued range attacks to deal with those he cannot reach; like Grave Robbers or Highwaymen.

At Camp Sites, his "Zealous Speech" skill both heals health and removes some stress for the group as well as having major boosts like "Zealous Vigil".

A fantastic unit in the game for dueling it out with the worst and keeping those who would die safe. While he may lack range, he more than makes up for it with accurate and strong strikes.

Grave Robber


"The Grave Robber is a versatile and nimble combatant, moving back and forth through the ranks with ease. She strikes without warning and retreats to the shadows, continuing her assault at range. If her throwing daggers and poison darts aren't getting the job done, she can return to the melee, buffed and slinging her pickaxe!"

The Grave Robber has an odd niche in the available class roster due to her versatility. Her mix of melee and range skills enable her to be a part of any line-up, and ensure that she has at least one available skill no matter where she is placed position-wise. While she doesn't deal as much damage as the Highwayman who has a similar role to her, she makes up for it by being self-dependent with access to a variety of self-buffs and high precision strikes. She can toss daggers and poison darts into the back-line, increasing her accuracy to ensure successive hits to evasive enemies. She can indirectly correct party formations with her "Lunge" and "Shadow Fade", all while contributing to the party's survival with a high critical strike and increasing her own ability to avoid damage with a Dodge buff. If you simply need direct damage to do the job, a "Pick To the Face" can be just what you need to pick off that Cultist Acolyte. To be as nimble as she needs to be, she only wears light armor which makes her a high roller on dodge chance to evade hits that would easily bring her to Death's Door.

To use her to the best of her abilities, she prefers a party line-up whose roles aren't as solidified in one position in the formation. Crusaders and Lepers are classes you'd want to avoid if you would want to use her positioning abilities to your advantage. If used in the back, she can simply toss daggers and poison darts to be a sniper towards the back-lines, and attack weakened melee units with a "Pick To The Face". If used in the front, a combination of "Lunge" and "Shadow Fade" makes her nigh untouchable with a continuous stream of dodge buffs and high critical strikes. A simple but effective synergy is to pair her up with a Highwayman in the front lines, and use "Point-Blank Shot" to bring her to the front, and then have the Grave Robber "Shadow Fade" to the back so that "Point-Blank Shot" may be used again. The high damage output paired with the utility of a dodge buff and a stun indirectly help the two stay alive in heated moments with high damage-melee units.

Hellion


"Wild, unpredictable, and utterly ruthless, the Hellion thrills to the spilling of blood! Her massive glaive affords her impressive reach in combat, while its razor sharp edge leaves lasting wounds on enemies. Certain skills leave her exhausted, however, and she may occasionally need to take a turn to recharge her adrenaline before entering the fray once again."

One with a unique moveset, Hellion is a tank class that is quite unaffected by formation shuffle and always up for delivering serious damage regardless of where she is positioned within the rank. Head-on offense with Wicked Hack, crowd control with Breakthru (despite reduced damage %), stun enemies with the Yawp, and even pick out the annoying support hostile at the furthest back slot with her melee Iron Swan. The drawback is that about half of her moves will send some of her stats debuffed for the next couple of rounds. The good news? She can buff herself up, both during combat and while camping, and equipped with trinkets of Bleeding and Critical bonuses, Hellion is pretty much your one-chop-one-kill terminatrix.

Highwayman


"A rogue, a thug and a thief, the Highwayman has honed his skills with dirk and flintlock to devastating effect. Whether at range or in a melee, he is equally effective at dispatching his foes. Be it a grapeshot area-of-effect, or single target bleed, the Highwayman's skills focus solely on dealing damage in a variety of ways."

The Highwayman's great strength is his versatility. Wherever the foe might force him to move or however many there are, he can cause them misery, and often in exactly the flavor you happen to need. From the back he can pick off foes with his Pistol Shot, and move forward with Duelist's Advance; in the middle he can shower them with Grapeshot Blast, finishing off weakened enemies and softening up others; at the front he can either force bigger enemies back with Point Blank Shot, or begin to whittle them down with Open Vein. Later on, he can use Take Aim to boost his crit causing skills to ridiculous levels, a truly lethal sniper. The price he pays for this flexibility is simply not being as hard hitting or as tank-y as other, more specialised damage dealing characters. What he offers is the fact that he can be dropped into almost any team, that could be facing almost any enemy, and you know you will be seeing a return from him.

Hound Master


"A tough and uncommonly ex-lawman, the Houndmaster and his faithful Wolfhound work in tandem to bring down their enemies and protect the innocent. Together they stalk the back ranks, bursting forth in a flurry of harrying bleeds, gnashing teeth, and stunning blows. Should the tide of battle turn, the pair can support an ailing party by protecting the weak, and rallying the stressed."

Added corresponding to the Corpse & Hound update, the houndmaster brings forth a variety of skills that can be used to support allies and wound enemies. Hound's Rush lowers the enemy protection, while also giving a self buff that deals more damage to beasts. Hound's Harry gives you the chance to make all enemies bleed, which can be very useful when dealing with multiple low health monsters and adversaries. Target Whistle makes the enemy's dodge chance go down, while also allowing the previously mentioned Hound's Rush deal extra damage to them. Cry Havoc allows you to relieve some stress from your party, while Guard Dog protects teammates while giving yourself a better chance to dodge. Lick Wounds makes a quick self heal in a pinch, and Blackjack stuns enemies so they can't attack your allies.

Jester


"Combat is a power-ballad - a slow build up, and a grand finale! On offense, the Jester leaps to and fro in a bloody cacophony, positioning himself for a glorious end in the front ranks! Alternatively, he can hang back, delivering chilling melodies and unsettling riffs that terrorize his foes, and give strength to his allies."

The Jester is a mix of support abilities and area of effect damage bleed abilities yet is a class that is highly flexible in what position he is in what role he needs to perform. While not the most useful character in all situations, he excels when used versus non-undead enemies and in conjunction with medium to low accuracy party members like the Leper and Hellion.

For front line combat he has an ability called Dirk Stab which moves the jester forward three hero slots, effectively placing him in the first slot guaranteed. being in the front allows him to use Solo, a negative accuracy debuff across the entire enemy team. This also allows him to use Heroic End, an ability that requires the Jester to be in the first or second slot and does a single target strike to the first or second slot enemy unit and has increased damage and critical hit modifier, but debuffs the Jester with negative damage accuracy and dodge for the next 3 turns.

Support style Jesters when used in the last two slots can use the Battle Ballad ability which buffs the accuracy, speed, and critical chance of your party; while in the fourth slot he gains Inspiring Tune which allows him to reduce the stress level of his party member and himself.

In the middle of the party the Jester has an area of effect damage and bleed ability called Harvest that hits both the second and third enemy positions. Harvest can be used in the second or third party slot, and the bleed debuff does one damage per turn per stack of bleed caused by Harvest. Slice Off is a single target attack that bleeds a target enemy in the second or third position for two damage per turn for three turns.

Leper


"A ruined man, a warrior, and a poet. The Leper is most effective when given a turn to focus himself before raising his massive blade. When he swings, it is all or nothing - crushing blows and massive damage or the empty whistling of a glancing blow. He is entirely self-sufficient, drawing strength from his life of trauma, and able to channel it into heals, protection, or unrelenting fury."

An incredibly heavy damage taker and giver, the Leper is an initially awkward but potentially game-winning character. All of his abilities revolve around absorbing damage and delivering brutal but inaccurate damage to the enemy with Chop and Hew. He can use his Focus ability to boost his own accuracy, but he operates much better equipped with the right trinkets and supported by classes such as the Jester and Plague Doctor, who can boost his accuracy and damage. His need to be on the front line and inability to hit the enemy's backline means he benefits greatly from the presence of classes such as the Grave Robber, the Occultist, and the Bounty Hunter, who can variously move backwards, drag vulnerable troops to the front and mark them for him to dispatch with extreme prejudice. Dropped into any party, the Leper is a frustrating and clumsy ally; properly supported in the end game, he can pulverize any foe.

Man-at-Arms


"A professional. A mercenary. Bring coin, and he will fight for you. Assaults or desperate defences, skirmishes or tunnel-fighting, he's done it all. And he'll do it again."

A new Hero Class introduced in the Fiends & Frenzy update, along with the Arbalest, the Man-at-Arms is a defensive class with a focus on survivability. He is comparable to the Crusader in terms of role, but trades offense for extra supportive abilities. He has the ability to protect a teammate with Defender, redirecting an attack targeted at a vulnerable ally towards him. He can buff an ally with either Command to give them bonus accuracy and damage vs. undead, or Bolster them to boost their dodge and speed. Additionally, he can Bellow to reduce the enemy team's dodge and speed, giving your team the upper hand in turn order, and knock back and stun an enemy with Rampart. The Man-at-Arms is also flexible in terms of position and can perform well in all but the back row.

Unlike the Crusader, Man-at-Arms is rather unimpressive on the offense, but is still capable of dealing great damage thanks to Retribution. Retribution Marks himself and activate Riposte, countering any attacks attempted at him with a powerful blow. Riposte is especially effective against an enemy with an area-of-effect attack, as he will counter those attacks too. Back-row enemies that love to abuse area-of-effect attacks are easy picking against a prepared Man-at-Arms.

In the Camp, the Man-at-Arms can provide useful buffs to his teammates. He can give extra Dodge to his entire party or a strong boost to a single character's offensive stats.

Occultist


"A lifetime of scholarly inquest into ancient and forbidden lore has opened the Occultist's mind to the powers of the void. Debilitating curses and maddeningly impossible support skills are his specialty. The void, however, is an unpredictable power, and consequently skills' effectiveness can vary dramatically, and usually come at a cost of light, or stress."

The Occultist is a support class who specialises in using powerful debuff spells on the enemy. Weak healthed, feebly hitting and occasionally backfiring he may be, but when his eldritch curses work, they work hard. With his Vulnerability Hex and Weakening Curse, he softens up enemies for your heavy hitters to take down; the fact that the Hex marks the target makes him an excellent ally of the Bounty Hunter. With Daemon's Pull and Abyssal Artillery he can hurt backline units, the former wrenching individuals to the front where your warriors can reach them. Nearer the front he can use Hands From Below, a spell that sacrifices light in order to hit two enemies with accurate stun. Finally, with his one buff spell, the infuriating Wyrd Reconstruction, he can heal one ally massively, far outstripping any other healing effect in the game - or it can do nothing, and inflict bleed in the bargain.

Worth noting is that though the Occultist has a low attack and most of his attacks have damage penalties on top, they do all have a high critical chance. Given any kind of critical boost through trinkets or effects the Occultist has a good chance of inflicting heavy damage and increasing morale, particularly with his one physical attack Sacrificial Stab, which has the significant critical chance base of 10%.

In camp, he fully lives up to his reputation of offering extremely powerful help to himself or his allies, at a significant penalty. He can heal everyone in the party at the cost of torchlight; he can hugely reduce his own stress at the cost of everybody else's; he can increase his own stress to boost an ally's damage by 20%; and he can commune with the void to heal himself and boost his speed.

All in all, the Occultist is a highly specialised character that all too often will fail a party not set up to get the most out of him. Supporting the right characters and using his dark powers carefully, he is an extremely powerful ally.

Plague Doctor


"A doctor, researcher and alchemist who prefers to hang back, eating away at her foes with stacking damage-over-time abilties like toxic clouds & plague-filled grenades. She is equally effective in a support role, blinding and confusing foes while enhancing a party's survival with damage-increasing tonics, and remedies for bleed and blight effects"

The Plague Doctor is a support class. From the flank, she can: blight the enemy backline with Plague Grenade, or the enemy frontline with her Noxious Blast; stun the enemy backline with Blinding Gas, and cure herself or allies of blight and bleed with Battlefield Medicine. From the front, she may use Incision to deal melee damage and bleed enemies. From any position, she may increase the damage of an ally using Emboldening Vapours, or shuffle the position of an enemy using Disorienting Blast.

True to medieval doctors, the Plague Doctor may use leeches during camping to heal and cure allies of poison and disease. With her Experimental Vapours, she may heal a great amount of life from an ally, with a smaller chance of success. With Preventative Medicine, she may increase hero's resistances, and with her Self-Medicate, cure, heal and distress herself.

The Plague doctor is useful when stunning strong frontline enemies, building more time for your team to wreck the enemy backline. She is also quite handy preventing you heroes from sustaining too much damage from bleed or blight, useful against cultists, swine or fungus and spiders. Coupled with an Occultist, she may remove the "side effect" of Wyrd Reconstruction, increasing the heal provided by the former. Her stun works nicely with the Bounty Hunter's Finish Him ability, increasing his damage. Since her Battlefield Medicine cures a point of life, it may save a hero from death in an extreme situation.

Vestal


"The warrior nun channels her zeal for battle into healing abilities, holy judgements and dazzling explosions of light. A strong backbone to any party, the Vestal can also hold her own on the front line with a powerful mace bash and close-quarters condemnations."

Darkest Dungeon's primary healing class, the Vestal is a versatile and initially crucial support character who fades in importance as the game goes on. Attacks such as Hand of Light and Mace Bash means she is not helpless if dragged to the front, however her specialty is hanging back and aiding her team with heals and her blinding Illumination and Dazzling Light abilities. Early on, these heals are absolutely essential to keep your combat classes up and running; they become exponentially less useful as the game goes on, as other classes become more powerful and health and armor outstrip her level gains. In the first couple of months though, your Crusaders, Hellions and Bounty Hunters will thank you for employing Vestals liberally.