Plague Doctor (Darkest Dungeon II)

Plague Doctor
Base Stats
MAX HP	31	SPD	4
Resistances
Bleed	40%	Stun	20%
Blight	30%	Move	20%
Burn	30%	Debuff	30%
Disease	30%	Death Blow	75%
Movement
1 forwards, 1 backwards

“

What is a physician if not a student of decay?

„

The Plague Doctor is a Hero in Darkest Dungeon II.

Class Description

• Back Rank
• Blight
• Blinds
• Healer

Combat Skills

Note: The Plague Doctor will always start each run equipped with Noxious Blast, Blinding Gas, Incision, Battlefield Medicine, and Ounce of Prevention. All other skills must be unlocked through the Shrine of Reflection before they may be equipped.

Noxious Blast
	Rank	Target	DMG	CRIT	Self	Target
			2-3	5%	None	4
	Ranged		Mastery
			3-4	5%	None	Ignores 30% RES when Target 6

Blinding Gas
	Rank	Target	DMG	CRIT	Self	Target
			-	-	None
	Ranged		Mastery
	Cooldown: 1 Turn		-	-	None	(33%)

Incision
	Rank	Target	DMG	CRIT	Self	Target
			3-6	10%	None	3
	Melee		Mastery
			4-7	15%	None	Ignores 30% RES when Target 4

Battlefield Medicine
	Rank	Target	Heal	Self	Target
			HP < 50%: Heal 20%	None	Remove
	Heal		Mastery
Limit: 3 Uses			HP < 50%: Heal 25%	Remove	Remove

Ounce of Prevention
	Rank	Target	Self	Target
			None	+10% RES +15% RES
	Buff		Mastery
	Cooldown: 3 Turns Mastery: 2 Turns		None	Stress 5+: -1 +15% RES +30% RES

Plague Grenade
	Rank	Target	DMG	CRIT	Self	Target
			1-2	5%	None	3
	Ranged		Mastery
			2-3	5%	None	4

Emboldening Vapours
	Rank	Target	Self	Target
			None
	Buff		Mastery
	Cooldown: 1 Turn Mastery: None		None

Disorienting Blast
	Rank	Target	DMG	CRIT	Self	Target
			-	-	None	Shuffle (25%)
	Ranged		Mastery
			-	-	None	Shuffle when Target (25%)

Indiscriminate Science
	Rank	Target	Heal	Self	Target
			Requires Target HP < 50% 10% Healed per Positive Token	None	Heal 10% Remove All Positive Tokens
	Heal		Mastery
	Cooldown: 1 Turn		Requires Target HP < 50% 10% Healed per Positive Token 10% Healed per Negative Token	None	Heal 10% Remove All Positive Tokens Remove All Negative Tokens

Cause of Death
	Rank	Target	DMG	CRIT	Self	Target
			Variable	-	None	Ignores Deals 75% of reamining on Target as DMG Removes
	Melee		Mastery
	Cooldown: 2 Turns		Variable	-	None	Ignores Deals 100% of remaining on Target as DMG Removes

Magnesium Rain
	Rank	Target	DMG	CRIT	Self	Target
			-	-	None	2 Clear Corpse
	Ranged		Mastery
	Cooldown: 1 Turn		-	-	None	3 Clear Corpse

Act-Out Attack
	Rank	Target	DMG	CRIT	Self	Target
			3-6	5%	None	2
	Melee		Mastery
			-	-	None	None
Notes:	Has a chance to occur in response to a hero getting attacked, or as a team-up attack when a hero makes an attack. Requires the two heroes to have a positive Relationship with each other. Affected by and consumes tokens like a regular attack.

Strategy

Overview
Characteristics	Strengths	Weaknesses	Roles
	Can Attack Any Rank High DOTs, Access to All DOT Types DOT, Negative Token Removal Strong Heals Resistance Buffs Shuffle Effect Ignore Resistances (Bleed, Blight) Can Clear Corpse	Low HP Lack of Defense Ineffective on Front Ranks Healing removes all Positive Tokens from Allies Low Physical Damage for some skills Reliance on DOTs	Healer (HP, DOT Removal, Stress), Supporter (Buffs, Apply Positive Tokens, Negative Token Removal), Damage Dealer (Physical,Bleed, Blight, Burn)
Tokens	Apply	Remove	Ignore
	Allies: Enemy:	Self and Allies: All Positive and Negative Tokens	Enemy:
Resistances	Strong (40% or higher)	Average (30%)	Weak (20% or lower)
	Bleed	None	Stun, Move
Buffs	Self		Group
	Remove Resistances:Bleed, Blight, Burn, Disease		Remove Resistances:Bleed, Blight, Burn, Disease
Debuffs	Enemy
	None
Recommended Ranks	(access to all support, healing skills, and most offensive skills; Incision and Cause of Death usable on Rank 3)
Discouraged Ranks	(prone to damage; no access to various offensive, support, and healing skills: Plague Grenade, Ounce of Prevention, Battlefield Medicine, etc.)

The Plague Doctor is a reliable healer and supporter, capable of applying penalties to multiple enemies. Despite her role as a healer, the Plague Doctor can deal a surprisingly massive amount of damage, provided that she is paired with Heroes that can inflict DOTs. Due to her lack of defensive skills and low HP, the Plague Doctor is best placed on the back Ranks, where she can utilize most of her skills and avoid harm from the dangerous front Ranks.

- Offense: The Plague Doctor deals damage mainly through high amounts of DOT. While being somewhat reliant on DOT, she is among the few Heroes who can apply all DOT effects, and as such, can flexibly choose the most optimal effects against certain targets.

• On the back Ranks, the Plague Doctor can use Noxious Blast and Plague Grenade, which inflict solid Blight damage, to wear down the front-Rank and back-Rank targets with low Blight Resistance. In the Foetor region where high Blight Resistance is common, she can switch to a more supporting role and instead use Incision, a very reliable attack with average physical damage and high Bleed.

• 

  A huge amount of DOT on the Dreaming General

  

  Cause of Death's gigantic damage output

  Cause of Death is the Plague Doctor's most lethal skill, which turns most of the DOT accumulated on a target into instant physical damage. To make the most out of the skill, the Plague Doctor can be paired with heroes capable of applying DOT effects. TheRunaway's Firestarter complements the Plague Doctor's high DOT by adding a Burn effect to her skills (especially Magnesium Rain which hits all targets). Firestarter can also be combined with theOccultist's Anamnesis to apply Burn and a decent amount of Bleed on the entire enemy team. TheOccultist's Malediction also goes very well with Cause of Death as it forces targets to receive DOT effects whenever they are hit by a skill or an item. In addition, there are various items that can inflict DOT (Bear Trap, Caltrops, etc.) or reduce targets' Resistances (Toxic Ichor), making them more prone to DOT. Cause of Death can decimate even the toughest enemies and bosses alike, as long as the Heroes' team can stack as much DOT on them as possible.

- Survivability: Apart from Ounce of Prevention, which helps the Plague Doctor and her allies withstand DOT attacks; the Plague Doctor does not have any skill to apply defensive Tokens on herself, such as Dodge or Block. Therefore, care should be taken when the Plague Doctor ends up in the front Ranks, where she is exposed to dangerous attacks from the front. In such cases, consider moving her to the back or have her protected by more durable allies (Man-at-Arms orLeper).

- Support: The Plague Doctor is one of the very few characters with the ability to heal allies and maintain team survival. Thus, she is considered a staple in various team set-ups, especially for inexperienced players. Besides healing, the Plague Doctor can be a fairly reliable supporter thanks to her Blind and Strength Tokens.

• 

  Healing is an essential part of survival

  Battlefield Medicine can be used to heal allies that are on low HP, Death's Door or are suffering from severe DOT effects. This skill, however, will not be reliable for drawn-out battles, especially boss battles, due to its limited use (3 for each battle). Compared to Battlefield Medicine, Indiscriminate Science does not have a limit on use and offers a much greater healing potential at the expense of losing helpful Tokens. To get a solid heal, the skill should be used on heroes that hold or can apply a large number of Positive Tokens on themselves. For example, theHighwayman and the Graverobber can gain up to 4 Positive Tokens by using Take Aim (upgraded) and Absinthe, respectively, which results in a massive heal of 50% HP. The upgraded version of Indiscriminate Science additionally consumes Negative Tokens for an even greater heal. If upgraded, it can be very useful against Cherubs or any enemy that focuses on debuffing their targets with harmful Tokens.

• Ounce of Prevention is an essential part of the Plague Doctor's skillset because of the team-wide Stress heal it provides. As Stress is a very common and serious threat against any team, Ounce of Prevention should be prioritized for upgrade in the early game. The DOT-Resistance Buffs provided by the skill can be very helpful against DOT users, such as Pillager Hatchetman.

• The Plague Doctor can leave Blind Tokens on two back-Rank enemies at the same time via Blinding Gas to help reduce damage intake for her team or apply Strength Tokens on allies with considerable damage output (Highwayman,Leper, etc.) via Emboldening Vapours. Disorienting Blast can displace a back-Rank target, bring it to a more vulnerable position, and Daze it so that other Heroes can gain the upper hand. Blinding Gas andDisorienting Blast can be upgraded and combined to apply Stun effects.

• Using Magnesium Rain, the Plague Doctor can quickly clear corpses, allowing her team to quickly deal with out-of-reach threats.

Shrine of Reflection

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

Chapter One: The Good Student

• Unlocks Emboldening Vapours

“	The jeers, the whispers... they pushed me deep into my studies.	„
	~ The Plague Doctor

“	Brilliant and bold, her unconventional theories created nothing short of a scandal in her fourth year. The mocking whispers and scornful glares of her peers and professors had an ironically invigorated effect upon her 'extracurricular experiments.' The mysteries of the human body - of life and death itself - hovered just above her scalpel's reach... If only she could acquire a corpse of sufficient freshness.	„
	~ The Academic

Chapter Two: Head of the Class

• Objective: Disprove The Professor
  • Unlocks Plague Grenade

“	I was the smartest, but wisdom was not on the syllabus.	„
	~ The Plague Doctor

“	Her professor was a relic, hacking and wheezing his way through a hopelessly conventional curriculum!	„
	~ The Academic

“	She delighted in the combative debate, and, behind her bookish glasses, reveled in their outrage and confusion.	„
	~ The Academic

Chapter Three: Extra Credit

• Unlocks Indiscriminate Science

“	Ostracized, I had to prove myself, no matter the cost.	„
	~ The Plague Doctor

“	By the second semester, her research was at a critical point. And regular supply raids of the University laboratories had become necessary. During one such expedition, she stumbled upon her professor, awkwardly slumped over his podium, a bloody kerchief on the floor. Here, then, was her ideal cadaver, her long-awaited opportunity. And she would not waste it.	„
	~ The Academic

Chapter Four: Failing Grade

• Objective: Stabilize The Patient
  • Unlocks Cause of Death

“	I could not say if it was madness, revenge, or naked ambition.	„
	~ The Plague Doctor

“	Success! Vindication. The human machine, restored to action!	„
	~ The Academic

“	The shrieking was horrible, but the silence that followed... was even worse.	„
	~ The Academic

Chapter Five: Do No Harm

• Unlocks Disorienting Blast and Magnesium Rain

“	Those screams will never leave me.	„
	~ The Plague Doctor

“	Disposal of the body was a procedural affair, a carboy of acid would dissolve the thing, and no evidence would remain. In the weeks that followed, however, she found herself unable to focus, instead sitting motionless at her desk, paralyzed by the ceaseless wailing that reverberated in her mind.	„
	~ The Academic

Trivia

• The Plague Doctor is one of eight Heroes returning from Darkest Dungeon, and one of the first nine Heroes to be available in the sequel.
• The Plague Doctor is the only class able to apply all 3 status effects (Bleed, Blight, and Burn) by themselves.
• The Plague Doctor's comic in Darkest Dungeon and her memories in Darkest Dungeon II reveal that she used to be a university student in pursuit of fobbidden knowledge and ended up dismembering her professor's cadaver, then assembled his body to reanimate him. Her backstory somewhat resembles that of Victor Frankenstein from the popular Gothic-style novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelly. Similar to the Plague Doctor, Victor is also a gifted university student who is obssessed with understanding the nature of life and death. He eventually discovers a technique that allows him to revive dead matters; then attempts to craft a hideous, towering Creature from various body parts.