Leper (Darkest Dungeon II)

Base = Upgraded =

"Making peace with adversity is the very essence of existence."

- The Academic

The Leper is one of 9 Heroes in Darkest Dungeon II.

Class Description

 * FRONT RANK
 * HIGH DMG
 * SELF-SUFFICIENT
 * DURABLE

Combat Skills
Leper will always start each run with Chop,  Purge,  Withstand,  Solemnity,  Reflection. All other skills must be unlocked through the Shrine of Reflection, after which they are permanently available for subsequent playthroughs.

Leper starts with a unique and detrimental permanent condition as it causes him to start with up to 2  at the beginning of each fight. This passive exists to reduce Leper's huge damage potential.

Leper's high HP and the ability to generate block and taunt  tokens with skills makes him a great tank for the team. Also he can heal both and stress increasing his survivability even more, at the same time Leper is able to cause large amounts of damage. However this damage requires the player to prepare the enemies with combo as these will make Leper ignore tokens. In addition to buffing the leper with and debuffing enemies with.























Unique Trinkets
🔸Each Hero has their own 3 unique Trinkets, exclusive only to them. All unique Trinkets for Heroes have Indelible rarity, Bauble cost of 70 and stack limit of 1.

Hero Paths
🔸 All Heroes Start The Game with No Hero Path. Each Hero has access to 3 unique Paths available only to them once they Invest into The Living City. Wanderer serves as the default path for every character and gives a candle reward. The following Paths are unique to the Leper.

Strategy
🔸The leper is a durable front-rank heroe capable of dealing huge amounts of damage. While also being able to receive large amounts HP damage and  stress for the team, protecting his allies. The main problem the player will see is Blind tokens. Fortunately Leper has the tools to combat this as  Reflection allows you to clear  Blind. Leper main damage abilities are able to ignore Blind if you have  Combo, this makes heroes like  Jester, Occultist ,  Man-at-Arms andRunaway good allies for Leper as they can apply combo easily.

🔸Leper biggest downside is the rank requirements. Aside from Withstand. Leper is exclusive to ranks 1 and 2. Having no offensive ability at ranks 3 and 4 nor being able to move to the front ranks on his own. If Leper is moved backwards the player will be forced to move Leper forward or use abilities of other heroes to move Leper to the front. This means enemies like Pit Figther or The Lord are a big threath to Leper since these enemies can push him back with strong Knockback  abilites.

🔸Offense:

Tempest:
Tempest is the highest damage path available to Leper, increasing Chop's damage by 33%. At the same time it increases Leper's  Debuff resistance making him less susceptible to receiving   Blind (Note: The two  Blind at Combat Start ignore this resistance). This combine with Strength on Leper and Vulnerable on enemies make the already huge base damage even bigger.

If the player wants to continue increasing the Debuff resistance, using   Reflection upgraded will increase it even more. If the player wants to increase and optimize damage, using abilities like  Revenge will give the leper a nice constant Strength  tokens and sometimes  Crit for the rest of the fight. For longer fights like Boss fights The Player may want to use  Ruin instead since it has biggest damage potential but is slower.

Despite the high Debuff resistance, Blind tokens can still be a problem, so good companions for Tempest are heroes that allow him to reduce the amount of missed attacks and also give him the setup and tokens necessary to take advantage of and further increase Leper's damage.Runaway's   Smokescreen  applies  Combo  and  Vulnerable  Giving  what he needs to not miss an attack and deliver a devastating blow. In the other hand Hearthlight  can clear enemies tokens like Dodge, helping Leper and all the team while also clearing  Blind  when upgraded. Man-at-Arms's  Command is a good skill for Leper as it removes  Blind and provides a Strength   token. And together with Undeserved Commendation it has a chance to give  Crit.    Jester and Occultist with their constant  Combo  generation can completely counter Leper's Blind   making him a great damage dealer.

Leper makes a great synergy with several trinkets such as Cruel Intent and Goading Gargoyle. Cruel Intent gives a large amount of CRIT chance in exchange for causing Blind, but since Leper is able to ignore blind, he benefits fully from the CRIT chance as long as the enemies have  Combo. Goading Gargoyle is simple since it has a chance to transform  Blind  intoStrength tokens. Increasing leper damage and also clearing Blind, saving heroes turns.

'''Note: What is written here applies to both Tempest and Leper in general. Leper's damage is not limited to only this path and The player can easily reach large amounts of damage regardless of the Path they choose.'''

Monarch
Monarch is special in that it reduces the overall effectiveness of Leper in all fights, except when facing Cosmic. These being the Cultists, Shambler and the final boss. While you are not facing Cosmic you can use utility skills such as:

Purge: Strong Knockback, Clearing corpses and can clear tokens such as  Blind  and dodge. Only downside is the rank requirements as it only can be used in rank 1 against rank 1

Intimidate: While only usable in rank 1, can target all ranks. Giving leper Taunt tokens to protect allies and apply Weak  to enemies, clearing tokens such as  Blind  and dodge in the process. It also does a small amount of damage. Giving leper the ability to finish off enemies at low health or proc Death Blow in case there are enemies out of range of other abilities.

Bash: Does a small amount of damage. But the upside is the inmobilize token. Nullifying one of Leper's biggest downside: the vulnerability to Knockback. It also inmobilize the enemy so back rank enemies can be trapped in front ranks making them less of a threat.

 Break: Does a respectable amount of damage while also ignoring and removing Block tokens. Using this ability against enemies with large amount of block tokens like Foot Soldiers or Ghouls can give the team an advantage against these enemies,

The damage penalty only affects Chop so The Player can consider replacing it with Hew for damage in combat.

When facing Cosmic, Lepers's Chop's damage,  HP and  speed will increase giving you a great advantage against Cosmic enemies. The player must maximize damage by using  Chop with the previously given tips and hints.



🔸Survivability:

Poet
Leper excels in survivability by being able to heal both HP and stress with a simple skill ( Solemnity). Stress not being bound to any restrictions. The player must take advantage of these qualities by using Intimidate to protect the team from damage. Then using Solemnity to heal all the damage.

Poet increases the effectiveness of these two skills even more by increasing healing +50%. Adding Withstand to the mix Leper is able to take large amounts of damage with  and  Block+  tokens while also have a huge increase in all of his resistances. Making him a great tank against DOTS, Knockback, Stun and Damage in general.

Poet's disadvantage is reduced damage, however this disadvantage is easily nullified with a simple Strength token or Ruin. If the player wishes, they can use Ruin or   Revenge to nullify this disadvantage while keeping all the advantages Poet grants.

Shrine of Reflection
🔸The Leper gains access to 6 abilities over 5 chapters through accessing memories in the Shrine of Reflection.

Chapter One: Shun Them Not

Chapter Two: Infection

Chapter Three: Treason

Chapter Four: The Purge

Chapter Five: A Beautiful View



Shrine Bullet Point.png Chapter One: Shun Them Not
🔸Objective: Foster The Sick 🔸Unlocks Break "A lion in the blood-soaked grass, circled by hyenas who move as a pack..."

- The Leper

"Despite the protestations of his royal advisors, he would visit with the sick and dying, providing what comfort he could."

- The Academic

"The ailing and infirm were far less repulsive to him than the venomous whispers of his scoffing entourage..."

- The Academic



Shrine Bullet Point.png Chapter Two: Infection
🔸Unlocks Revenge "A hollow clanging echoed throughout the palace."

- The Leper

"Early signs could be ignored or concealed, but soon the reality was inescapable. Whether by some affliction of lineage or by direct transmission, symptoms of incurable disease began to openly manifest themselves. Wracked with pain, he summoned doctors and aides from the farthest reaches of his lands, all of whom concluded the worst: the King was dying."

- The Academic



Shrine Bullet Point.png Chapter Three: Treason
🔸Unlocks Intimidate "With wicked plots, they forged the blade that slew them."

- The Leper

"Sedition, like any illness, spreads slowly. Rotten with a cynical opportunism born of longstanding entitlement, the scheming circle of advisors drafted mutinous plans. Though bedridden, he had long since divined their intent, and feared the disastrous results of their would-be rule. Summoning his blacksmith - and his strength - he hoisted his blade, and rose to meet the coming threat."

- The Academic



Shrine Bullet Point.png Chapter Four: The Purge
🔸Objective: Survive Their Treason 🔸Unlocks Hew "Fury and blade to excise malignance - no matter the agony!"

- The Leper

"He had shown his compassion. Now... he would show his fury!"

- The Academic

"His blade had broken, but so too the treasonous plot."

- The Academic



Shrine Bullet Point.png Chapter Five: A Beautiful View
🔸Unlocks Bash and  Ruin "Even present, sunlight throws aside the clouds to pour into the people's hearts."

- The Leper

"Satisfied that the spirit of his benevolent tenure would endure, he abdicated the throne. People gathered at windows and along the roads. Weeping, some threw petals at his feet, while others watched in reverent stoicism. As he walked beyond the city gates, he marveled at the beauty of the world, and was grateful for his many blessings."

- The Academic

Trivia

 * The Leper is one of eight Heroes returning from Darkest Dungeon, and one of the first nine Heroes to be available in the sequel.


 * The Leper's backstory is unique among the heroes in that he did nothing wrong, and feels no regret - in spite of the treason, he was loved by his people and left a lasting legacy. This is reflected in his portrait, where unlike the other heroes, he looks into the light with his head held high.


 * As his title suggests, the Leper suffers from leprosy. This disease can impair eyesight, which may explain Leper's susceptibility to Dd2 token blind.png Blind effects. Whenever the Leper is attacked, he bares his body instead of flinching like other Heroes. This suggests his lack of ability to feel pain, which is another symptom of leprosy. These traits are also similarly depicted in the first Darkest Dungeon, where the Leper does not appear to flinch from attacks and has the lowest skill accuracy out of all Heroes.


 * The Leper's default name "Baldwin", is a reference to King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. Baldwin had developed signs of the illness in childhood, and was even called "the Leper". Much like the King Baldwin in the real world, the Leper in Darkest Dungeon has extreme willpower.