Mark

Mark is a unique status effect. No character or monster can resist it (it still can miss), but it does nothing on its own. However, there are many hero and enemy skills that will deal extra damage to any character bearing a Mark.

Making use of marking
Usually, it's better to straight up attack the enemy, as marking by itself does nothing and you have to wait until next turn to take advantage of it. Mark works well against a high health enemy that takes a few turns to kill, like Large monsters and some bosses. For marking to be used effectively, it is recommended to have a few Heroes in the party who have synergies with marking. Some popular combos are fast Occultist and Bounty Hunter, Occultist and Arbalest, Arbalest and marking Hound Master. Hound Master's mark also comes with a PROT debuff, which makes it very useful even in the party without synergies. Best use of marking comes from The Marking Party: Arbalest, Occultist, Hound Master, Bounty Hunter. Self-marking abilities usually come with added benefits such as activating riposte or increasing PROT. Some monsters (such as the mushroom types in Weald) have moves that deal extra damage vs Marked enemies and thus will prioritize attacking your marked heroes, but monsters without mark-related attacks will attack normally and will not prioritize marked heroes any more than they normally would.

Because the turn duration of debuffs tick down by 1 at the start of the afflicted character's turn, it can be more difficult to make use of Mark vs some boss-type creatures with 2-3 actions per round, as the Mark will expire relatively faster than normal. For example, if at the start of Round 1 you were to mark a boss that has 3 actions per round, then by the start of Round 2 the mark will have expired.

Lowering Defenses
While marking itself does nothing unless certain skills are used, marking abilities can still be quite useful if not simply for the debuffs they come paired with. Some enemies such as Pelagic Guardian and Ghoul have high PROT, while others such as Rabid Gnasher and Webber have high DODGE. As Mark abilities reduce either of these (Dodge or PROT), a well-placed Mark on an annoyingly beefy or evasive enemy can turn what was once a difficult fight into an easy target.

List of enemies with Mark abilities

 * Cultist Acolyte's Stressful Incantation (Veteran and Champion levels only).


 * Webber's Web.
 * Collector's Life Steal (unknown proc chance)
 * Swine Drummer's Drums of Debilitation.
 * Large Carrion Eater's Weaken Prey.
 * Fungal Artillery's Mark Prey.
 * Wilbur's End This One/End These Two.

List of enemies utilising marks

 * Cultist Brawler's Rend for The Old God (+50% Damage).
 * Webber's Bite (+100% Damage).
 * Spitter's Spit/Bite (+100% Damage).
 * Bone Arbalist's Quarrel (+25% for Apprentice, +50% for Veteran and Champion levels)
 * Carrion Eater's Munch (+100% Damage).
 * Large Carrion Eater's Tentacle Devour (+100% Damage).
 * Swine Prince's Obliterate Body/Obliterate Masses (+100% Damage).
 * Fungal Scratcher's Rend The Marked (+50% Damage).

Dealing with being marked
Being marked when facing an enemy which can utilize mark is a real danger. Increased (often doubled) damage is not the biggest threat, the focused attacks on a single party member is. The simplest solution is to dispatch marking enemies before they have a chance to apply it. Other solutions include:
 * Guarding with hero skills.
 * Removing Mark with the Arbalest's Rallying Flare.
 * Moving marked members in the back ranks where they can't be reached.
 * Buffing a marked party member's resistances, protection or healing to counteract damage.
 * Killing enemies that deal additional damage to marked targets.
 * Transferring Mark with the Flagellant's Suffer.
 * Granting Mark immunity with the Shieldbreaker's camping skill, Sandstorm.