Weald



"Corruption has soaked the soil, sapping all good life from these groves. Let us burn out this evil. Narration_weald_cleanse.wav"

- The Narrator

The Weald is the second dungeon that can be explored. It is a sprawling forest whose rotted boughs host a hideous kind of fungi. The only roads to the Hamlet pass through the diseased wood, making it an important area to cleanse.

When the Ancestor banished The Hag to the Weald after being disgusted by her appearance, she began to use her discovery of an odd, parasitic fungus to transform the woodland into something more sinister. Now the road leading to the town is blighted with a fungal infestation that has taken over the ecosystem, hiding the hordes of zombified victims under the control of the fungus being spread by the witches that serve under the Hag.

To make matters worse. The Bandits and Brigands have made the Weald their stronghold. Sharing their ill gotten gains with the Hag and her followers in exchange for aid. Their cannons serve as their main line of defense against anyone foolish enough to go through the road as their leader Vwulf prepares for his assault on the Hamlet.

Weald Music
The music that plays during combat in the Weald is Mournweald Encounter.

Weald Strategy
The Weald can be challenging without proper preparation. Unclean Giant hits hard, Ectoplasms duplicate themselves and merge together, wild dogs spread rabies and fungi grow rampant. However, the Weald is the main source of Deeds, vital for upgrading the Blacksmith. Fungal Artillery and Crones should be dealt with first as their marks and debuffs strengthen other enemies (in addition to the Crone's stress damage). The wild dogs have high speed and causes bleeding and disease, but have low health and no PROT, making them easy to kill. Ectoplasms can present a real threat when multiplied and should be dealt with quickly. Fungal Scratchers are not a threat without their allies and should be dealt with last. Debuffs and stuns will help when dealing with Unclean Giant.

Provisions

 * Bandages are useful for interacting with Mummified Remains and Eerie Spiderwebs for extra loot, as well as for curing Bleed effects that are inflicted by the numerous Rabid Gnashers that are encountered in the area.
 * Antivenom protects heroes from Old Trees and disarms the poison traps of Left Luggage for extra loot. Furthermore, many enemies inflict Blight here. This includes the Fungal Artillery, Unclean Giant, Crone, and higher level Fungal Scratchers.
 * Extra shovels are very useful since blockages are encountered more often and can be used on Shallow Graves to provide loot.
 * Holy Water is useful if you find a Troubling Effigy, because it can potentially yield a positive quirk. It can also be used with Pristine Fountains to cure additional stress. Useful if you find a Eldritch Altar too, for the same reason, with a random chance to cure a negative quirk.
 * Medicinal Herbs can be used on Beast Carcasses to harvest food safely, and become invaluable at veteran level and above for removing Witch debuffs.

Party Composition
Bleed, debuff, and move skills are all very effective here due to low enemy resistances, with blight being much less effective due to high resistances. Plague Doctor's Battlefield Medicine is extremely useful here due to the prevalence of DOT attacks. The Unclean Giant deals a lot of damage with Treebranch Smackdown, so it is helpful to have an Occultist or Leper to lower his damage. The Hound Master can make good use of Target Whistle to deal with fungi.

The Weald has the most diverse enemy typing, with Unholy only being found in the occasional Bone Rabble and Ghoul. In apprentice level missions the most common enemy type is Eldritch, however veteran and champion missions add the Unclean Giant and Crone enemies, making Human the most common. The bosses of the Weald are also Human. Traps appear as a bed of mushrooms that deals Blight damage.

Things to watch out for

 * Crone in the front rows
 * Fungal Scratcher's damage on marked target
 * Ectoplasm's Ectoplasmic Profusion
 * Unclean Giant's Treebranch Smackdown
 * Hateful Virago in general