Top 5 Veteran Mistakes: Darkest Dungeon

Today we turn our eyes towards the veterans among us who have a strong understanding of the game, but might still make some errors that cost them perceivably small advantages.

[ShuffleFM]

Update on #3: Apparently a spent curio still prevents hunger and fight spawns, but the idea is still good to practice because of the second half of the reason which is being able to empty your inventory on the return trip. A few people have mentioned it now so I figured I'd make an update.

[S_Black]

Planning for skill swapping just leads to forgetting it

[Eloxist]

Number 6
Forgetting that houndmaster has a 1 turn guard.

[ANGST.ARGENTINA]

Crusader's stress heal is so unique. You can both save from death's door and heal the stress from the crit in one action.

[CameraHam]

There’s one rule I forget all the time but is so important for turn based games like this: it’s always better to be attacked by 3 enemies than 4 even if that means you need to absolutely pummel one guy on your first round of combat

[arniepage]

Another mistake is not using 4 crusaders to easily win the game with holy lance

[marcellocoppede]

Veteran Mistake: Looting coins over gems at the start of medium and long dungeons. Most gems stacks are higher value than coin stacks and you will find a bunch of them. Stacks of onix are pretty commun. Citrine is the only gem that the stack is worth less than coin. Also, if you have an Antiquarian this is a little different, being coins the safer middle of the road, or you can try fishing for the big ones like rubies and sapphires.

After you get the bank for a couple of weeks gold becomes a non-issue, but before that you want to get as much as possible to get your upgrades going.

[snakeorbreak]

"Even Antiquarian has some pretty strong combat prowess"
*_flashbacks to TVS soloing the final boss with 1 antiquarian_*

[christianmccall]

I've been playing this game for 2 years and I had no idea you could swap abilities mid-dungeon

[Cloud_Seeker]

"No plan survives contact with the enemy"
- It is a military proverb and most likely have no known first author.

[visidenvisidane]

Selling all your crap trinkets when you start getting the good ones. It’s helpful to have a stockpile of crappy trinkets to serve as a buffer for events like the mutant crow stealing a bunch of stuff or your heroes losing trinkets when getting drunk or gambling. If you’re unlucky, sometimes a nice trinket gets lost anyway, but at least you have some protection.

[Boomgaardian]

Do you know how many times I'll get into a fight and say "oh dang I forgot to swap my skills" then instantly forgot to change them until I get into the next fight

[arkadiuszczerepach]

Great video as always, cant wait for Top 5 Champion mistakes

[isabellesmith]

to add to your fifth point: you shouldn't over-theorise a particular strategy for a given team composition, try to think more generally. there're going to be times when a given strategy either can't be used or shouldn't be used.
not to say you shouldn't consider strategies at all, of course, otherwise marking teams just wouldn't work at all, but you also shouldn't be left floundering if you're not able to mark an enemy or your team rolls speed in the wrong order or your primary damage dealer gets stunned by the most agile jellyfish the world has ever seen.
I know I used to come up with 'great' farmstead teams that would mow through the rabble by using the same few moves every couple of turns, and then they'd get trampled by a plow horse and by the time they had recovered everyone would have +30 stress and huge blights.

I think my play drastically improved when I stopped thinking "ok I'll do this on turn 1 and this on turn 2..." and instead thought "ok so this team can do this, this and this when it needs to". gotta be flexible, y'know.

also sometimes it's just fun to use 'suboptimal' heroes for stuff. like bonk vestal or my favourite rank 2 plague doctor.

[qwlea]

Another benefit of delaying looting curios and rooms is that right before you plan to use a campfire or leave the dungeon, you can burn your torch out for the treasure bonus with practically no consequences!

[Fun-Blade]

You've done this this, too, with your analysis of Vestal's illumination skill. I've used it often, and it helps me bring vestal along as not just a healer but also a debuffer so I don't have to focus so much on bringing accuracy trinkets for other heroes. It also gives you free torchlight, which is nothing to understate. That free torchlight adds up, being able to clear stealth and nerf enemy dodge is great too.

[noahandrulis]

Note: since you can only have four slots for heroes on an expedition, a generalist(Crusader) is better than two specialists(Vestal and Jester)

[Rudirius]

Good thing I am a champion and am far beyond silly mistakes

[JamieACampbell]

Hey Shuffle, appreciate the content. To add on to your point of unnecessary looting at number three, there's another reason to leave curios until later if you know you'll have to pass through that room or hallway again later: Your light level is likely to be lower at that point (or in any case is something you're in control of, if you know you're headed there), and therefore you may be getting more/better loot on your second pass than you might the first time around, when your torchlight was higher.

[clemos]

within my first play through I used the vestal too such a high extent, so that I challenged myself to play my second go mostly without her and it really helped me discover and appreciate some of the other healing (or even dodging) skills in the game.