The Sluice

"Tread carefully and quickly. This is swine country."

- The Academic

The Sluice is one of the routes that can be traveled in Darkest Dungeon II. It is shorter than the other regions with a more limited selection of encounters, and is unmapped. Players will have to navigate mostly blind, with the only clues to future encounters coming at forks in the road. The Sluice does not count as one of the three regions that must be traversed to reach the Mountain, and it provides an extra bonus to the score when ending a run. The Sluice does not carry any region modifiers or quests. It is essentially a difficult but short 'bonus' region that grants an opportunity for extra rewards, at the risk of difficult enemy encounters with little to no chance for re-supply.

Encounters

 * The Inn
 * Academic's Study
 * Shrine of Reflection
 * The Warrens (encounter with Swine)
 * Creature Den
 * Swine's Cache
 * Oblivion's Ingress (encounter with Cultists)

Enemies
The main enemy faction in The Sluice is the Swine.


 * Swine Brute
 * Swine Skulker
 * Swine Skiver
 * Wilbur

Strategy

 * Enemies in this region are highly resistant to Blight.
 * This region is the most limited in terms of enemies. You will mostly face Swine Skulkers, sometimes accompanied by Swine Brutes (Wilbur) and rarely by Swine Skiver.
 * Enemies in this region have no corpse synergy, unless you stumble on a Creature Den. Corpse clearing is therefore much less important than in Sprawl or Foetor.
 * Giving move resist to (or Guarding) your R3-4 heroes will prevent the Skulkers' Ragged Hook from pulling them, while using taunts at R1-2 will mitigate damage from Pigsticker.
 * Focusing Brutes (Wilbur) over Skulkers is generally better because each of the Brutes' turns can be devastating whereas Skulkers have much lower impact, especially if they decide to use their stealth ability.
 * As with all size-2 enemies, blinds are particularly useful vs Brutes.
 * Swine Skiver is very dangerous and should always be killed on sight.
 * Skulkers are capable of stealth, so make sure to bring abilities that can destealth.

Narrator Quotes

 * When selecting The Sluice as the next route at an Inn:
 * "Unmapped, unexplored. A risky proposition."
 * Upon arrival in The Sluice:
 * "Tread carefully and quickly. This is swine country."