Cardinal

The Cardinal is a Cosmic/Cultist enemy in Darkest Dungeon II.

Description
Cardinals are one of the highest ranking members of the Cultist faction, spreading the seeds of fear amongst all they come across. They are a fearsome opponent for the player, wielding multiple attacks that cleave the entire roster of heroes. They also can cause mass disruption with their ability to shuffle, as well as high stress and DOT damage to single targets. As with the Deacon and the Exemplar, these mighty foes can be worshipped by their lesser allies. This can remove damage and DOTs applied to them, while also giving them a fearsome attack on the form of their Exultation ability.

Combat Skills
The Cardinal uses mostly full party cleaves that deal little damage (with the exception of Exultation), while inflicting negative tokens such as and also inflicting. They also have the ability to shuffle the players team and apply each of the DOT types to a single hero.

Strategy
The Cardinal's attacks deal little damage on their own, making him unlikely to outright kill heroes unless assisted by allies. His threat comes from his debuffs, stress, and shuffles.

As with all enemies that deal mostly cleave attacks, heroes with Riposte abilities (such as the Highwayman and the Man at Arms), pose a large threat to The Cardinal as they will almost always trigger a riposte. He is also quite susceptible to abilities that cause Daze or Stun, having one of the lower resistances in the game.

The Cardinals ability to shuffle the team is his largest direct threat, causing chaos when it lands on a team unable to deal with this. Having ways to counter this are huge. This can be done with a team that can easily move itself, using abilities that immobilize or using the Dreaming Generals trophy, or by using blind/dodge to avoid the attack landing. It also pays to have a method of removing or at least handling the DOTs applied by his Hollow Vessel attack. Due to the fact it applies all 3 types of DOT it can be hard to buff your heroes enough to avoid them all, but even buffing against one or two types can be handy. Using taunt to force his use of this ability into a single target you can focus healing on, either through abilities like Battlefield Medicine or through the use of items like anti-venom or bandages can be helpful. Using items like neutralizing or ablative powders can also help in causing stress reduction while resisting the DOTs too.

Removing the enemies that spawn with the Cardinal will remove his ability to be worshiped and use his largest attack Exaltation. So focusing on his allies first can tend to be a beneficial method of handling him.

Trivia

 * When using Exultation, a mitre-like symbol will briefly appear above the Cardinal's head.