Butcher's Circus

The Butcher's Circus is a location added in The Butcher's Circus DLC.

Behavior
The Butcher's Circus has drastic differences in combat from the base game, beyond the fact that you are fighting against other players instead of AI-controlled monsters; turn order has changed to be less random, and heroes are reworked to provide balance.

Turn Order
Instead of a dice roll to determine turn order, there will be a coin toss that determines which player will go first. The winner of the coin toss gets to choose which hero acts first, while the loser gains a team-wide +15 DODGE buff for the entirety of the first round. After the chosen hero acts, the play passes to the other player and they get to choose which hero acts. This continues until all remaining heroes have acted, then a new round will begin. The player who won the coin toss always acts first.

Hero Corpses
Slain heroes will leave corpses, rather than disappear from combat after being slain. This allows the player to maintain some semblance of their original party formations, and reminds them of the horror that the Circus brings.

Stress Damage
Stress is introduced into the Circus as a unique way of slaying opponents. Due to the strength of the healing abilities provided by the Vestal, Occultist, Crusader, players will need to pay special attention to the Stress mechanic in order to escalate battles. Heroes will inflict stress through critical hits, but some have specific abilities that deal stress damage. Heroes include: (WIP)


 * Crusader: Zealous Accusation
 * Occultist: Abyssal Artillery, Weakening Curse, Vulnerability Curse
 * Plague Doctor: Noxious Blast, Plague Grenade, Blinding Gas
 * Vestal: Dazzling Light
 * Houndmaster: Hounds Harry
 * Flagellant: Punish, Rain of Sorrows
 * Bounty Hunter: Caltrops
 * Jester: Solo
 * Grave robber: Panic Darts
 * Abomination: Transform

Altered Abilities
Many of the heroes' abilities have received various changes to fit the PVP nature of combat; Some of the more notable examples include the Musketeer having her abilities differ from that of the Arbalest's, making them no longer be functionally identical, as well as the Occultist's Hands from the Abyss ability being replaced with a brand new ability, Stygian Embrace. These changes are exclusive to fights within the Circus, however, and are not present in the single player campaign.

Stuns and Dazes
Stuns are still powerful in the Circus, but still grant a 50% stun resist to the target. Dazes, on the other hand, are a new status effect that work somewhat similarly. Dazing a hero will force them to act after all non-dazed heroes, effectively forcing players to choose them last in a round. If a hero is Dazed after they have already acted in a round, they will still be forced to go last in the next round.

Other Changes

 * There is no Torch meter, and as such, no abilities that would affect the light level
 * Consumable items such as Rations and Bandages cannot be used in any capacity
 * There are a multitude of new trinkets, many of which are given to the player right off the bat; however, these trinkets are exclusive to the Circus itself, and cannot be used in singleplayer.
 * All heroes have level 5 equipment and abilities, but no quirks
 * Physical damage is generally higher.
 * Heroes generally have a higher initial Deathblow resistance, usually at around 75%. However, each time a Hero survives a hit at Death's Door, this resistance is permanently lowered by 15%, stacking cumulatively.
 * Resistances to DoTs and other debuffs have been lowered. Heroes that are strong against Blight are often weak to Bleed, and vice versa.
 * Bleed and Blight do not trigger Deathblows.
 * All heroes are available as "contestants," but only one of each hero can participate.
 * DLC heroes require their respective DLC in order to be used.
 * Once either player is down to their Hero, the survivor will receive +10 ACC, +10 Deathblow resist, and +10% damage until the end of the match
 * The Butcher's Circus DLC doesn't impact the single player campaign much, but it adds two new town events that relieve the stress of heroes, if at least one circus match is played before beginning the week.

Strategy
While DoTs do not trigger Death's Door checks, they can be useful for dealing with the high PROT buffs the Crusader provides.