Fish Monger

The Fish Monger is a Fisherfolk enemy in Darkest Dungeon II.

Description
An aging woman who once made an honest living gutting and deboning seafood; the Sea God's blessing has melded a jellyfish to her back, replacing one of her eyes with a horrifying upgrade located in the sea creature itself. Cackling, she gnashes her teeth and sharpens her chipped knives, eager to ply her trade with or on those unfortunate souls who find themselves on the coast.

The Fish Monger is a backline unit with multiple actions per turn and powerful self-buffs. She specializes in applying stress and bleed damage.

Strategy
Fish Mongers are backline fighters, first and foremost. They have 2 actions a turn, and though their direct damage isn't great, their consistent Crit attacks make up for that, as well as applying stacks of Bleed and negative tokens to debilitate your heroes. Their most unique ability is Whetstone, allowing them to gain Crit Tokens and Dodge for self-protection. This is generally what they start fights with, before going into Flense or Debone, which with their second action, they can do both in one round, gaining the edge for their team.

They are generally weak health-wise, so bursting them down is more than possible. The dodge from Whetstone, that they will likely use early, will help protect them, but with enough firepower they tend to not last. Pulling them or pushing the other enemies is helpful, however due to the double action and having a natural back 1 attack, it can tend to fall flat compared to the other Fisherfolk getting moved. Forms of Bleed removal are effective against Fish mongers, due to that being their primary source of damage, as well as minor stress heals such as Raucous Revelry or Bolster to prevent their consistent Crit attacks and usage of Debone from getting to your heroes.

It's generally good to deal with Fish Mongers early, as their effects can be more detrimental in the long term of the fight than some other targets. They regularly spawn in the back lines, never naturally occurring in the front 2 ranks and having other units take those ranks.