Shambler (Darkest Dungeon II)

The Shambler is a Cosmic enemy miniboss in Darkest Dungeon II.

Description
The Shambler may be encountered in two ways. Firstly, a Shambler may be summoned at the Shambler's Altar in the Academic's Study. Secondly, in later regions the Shambler has a small chance of replacing any road battle when the Flame level is 30 or less. Shamblers can appear multiple times over the course of an Expedition.

The Shambler is a force to be reckoned with, giving players pause to play the game at low light levels for risk of encountering him. Yet while he is a risky fight to take, he does offer a slew of special and powerful Trinkets which can only be given as a reward for fighting him. He will also increase The Flame by +25 and give the player 2 Mastery Points. This makes him a good target to aim for should the player feel up to the challenge and be looking for some powerful buffs to their team.

Skills
The Shambler himself is not a massive threat to the player. His largest risk to teams himself is in his ability to shuffle the players team comp. His next largest threat comes in the form of his cleave DOT application, having both an attacks that deals bleed and one that deals blight.

The true real threat that the Shambler presents in his ability to constantly spawn in fresh Tentacles. All of his moves will summon Tentacles should the player have killed any during the fight. He will continue to spawn new tentacles so long as he is alive and there is less than two tentacles on the field.

Shambler Tentacle
The Shambler Tentacle are the more deadly aspect of fighting a Shambler. They are summoned on the Shamblers first action and re-spawned every time they are killed on the Shamblers next attack. While initially they are of little threat, they buff themselves with each subsequent attack becoming more and more deadly the longer they are left alive. Shambler Tentacles also have an ability to heal themselves upon hitting a target with combo applied.

Strategy

 * Both the Shambler and its tentacles generate copious amounts of Block and  Block+ tokens, making them difficult to kill with regular attacks. However, just like in the first game, they both are fairly susceptible to damage over time—typically one or two hits of a DoT skill is enough to guarantee a tentacle's death, provided the tentacle doesn't heal itself.
 * Just like in the first game, Ripostes are fairly effective against the Shambler because of its party-wide attacks.
 * Unlike in the first game, it is possible to increase the Flame level while fighting the Shambler in Darkest Dungeon II. Using a few Glimmers of Hope during the encounter can greatly improve the party's chances of success.

Rewards
Defeating the Shambler will reward Mastery Points along with one of its unique trinkets:

Additionally, the Shambler's Eye may be dropped if an Occultist is in the party.