23 February 2022 Patch

The following patch was deployed on 23 February 2022 for Darkest Dungeon II.

## Darkest Dungeon II: Beasts & Burdens Update

### Creature Den

* The Creature Den is teeming with fan-favorites from Darkest Dungeon! Rabid Gnashers, Webbers, Spitters, and Carrion Eaters are eager to welcome players into their home.
* The Creature Den is a new location that can appear in any region (excluding Mountain and Valley).
* Players will face a random group of beasts in two waves. With no rest between the waves, it is a challenging encounter that should be planned for.

Defeating these den-izens will award players with one of several special animal part loot items.  The item must be delivered to the Inn where a grateful Innkeeper and Provisioner will confer substantial benefits to the party. A victory at the Den will also lower Loathing.

### Hero Paths

* Heroes now arrive at the Crossroads with a fleeting memory of their chosen Path.
* Some paths are available for all heroes: Wanderers appear as a default and confer no special bonuses. Apprentices have 1 of their skills already mastered. Rarest of all, Masters will have every skill upgraded already.
* Additionally, there are two paths per class that are unique to that hero type. The Plague Doctor, for example, may arrive as a Surgeon, boasting increased health and specializing in melee, bleeding and healing. Or, she may appear as an Alchemist with dramatically increased resistances, and wildly powerful blight bonuses.

### The Oasis

* New location: The Oasis!
* The Oasis allows you to select one hero and greatly reduce their stress.
* Alternatively, sometimes you will have the option to loot mineral-infused spring water, which is a potent Combat Item for reducing stress and healing some HP.

### New Monsters

* The Pillagers have added two new units to their ranks! The Pillager Firemouth steps up to reinforce the Antiquarian, bringing searing damage over time to the battlefield.
* The Pillager Mongrel guards its masters and provides high-speed bleed damage.
* The Swine proliferate unchecked in their filthy warrens. The Swine Skiver makes a slathering return, with a quiver full of rusted metal skewers!

### Academic View

* Although already functional in-game prior to this update, the Academic View (formerly known as the Token View) has been polished and enhanced to facilitate the inspection of heroes and monsters alike during combat encounters.
* Holding ALT while moused-over a hero or enemy will focus the camera on that actor, and bring up a summary of all statuses, tokens, & resistances. Alternatively, you can click MIDDLE MOUSE BUTTON to toggle the view on and off.
* Monster skills will appear here as well, provided the player has witnessed them in combat first.
* Pay close attention to the monster skill info as it can provide clues as to how to defeat them. For example, the skill info will help you learn in which positions the monster is most (or least) deadly.

### Travelogue Update

* When arriving at the Inn, players will be greeted by an updated travelogue that captures the important events of the previous region with more clarity and flavour including boss kills, Meltdowns, Quirks, and Replacement Heroes.
* Below the arrival heading, the rewards for having delivered any animal parts are similarly spelled out.
* Work on the travelogue will be ongoing throughout development.

In addition to the above, there have been numerous quality of life and balance changes including an upgraded Encounter choice view, quirk revisions, more specific Inn and Stagecoach  item tooltips, adjustment to hero Combo skills, revised Hero Shrine combats, and more.

Detailed Patch Notes Below:

### NEW MONSTERS ADDED

* Pillagers
* Mongrel
* Firemouth

### Creature Den

* Rabid Gnasher
* Carrion Eater
* Carrion Devourer
* Spitter
* Webber
* New Champion: Gander

### COMBO CHANGES & HERO ADJUSTMENTS

A number of Hero skills have been adjusted to allow earlier access to Combo effects.  This includes making both the application of Combo Tokens and the resultant Combo effects available to the base version of many Skills.

### Grave Robber

* Pick to the Face: now has +50% CRIT if the target has Combo
* Thrown Dagger: now has +50% CRIT if the target has Combo
* Poison Dart: now has +50% CRIT if the target has Combo

### Hellion

* Wicked Hack: now deals +50% DMG if the target has Combo
* Wicked Hack+: now deals +50% DMG if the target has Combo
* Wicked Hack+: no longer reduces Heals Received by Target
* If It Bleeds: now ignores 30% Bleed RES if the target has Combo
* Bleed Out: now ignores 30% Bleed RES if the target has Combo

### Highwayman

* Pistol Shot: now applies Daze if the target has Combo
* Pistol Shot+: now applies Stun if the target has Combo
* Grapeshot Blast+: no longer has a Combo effect
* Grapeshot Blast+: DMG slightly increased
* Open Vein: now deals greater Bleed on Combo
* Open Vein+: now deals greater Bleed on Combo
* Tracking Shot: no longer prevents Dodge Tokens from being gained
* Tracking Shot: now applies Combo

### Jester

* Razor's Wit: now applies Combo
* Razor's Wit: no longer grants Dodge
* Harvest: now has a 25% chance to apply Combo
* Play Out+: now clears Combo from the target
* Solo: now applies Combo

### Leper

* Chop: now ignores Blind Tokens if the target has Combo
* Hew: now ignores Blind Tokens if the target has Combo

### Man-at-Arms

* Crush: now has a 10% self heal if the target has Combo
* Crush+: now has a 20% self heal if the target has Combo
* Crush+: no longer grants Block if the target has Combo
* Fixed an issue with Hold the Line+ not correctly consuming Combo Tokens when Stunning

### Occultist

* Weakening Curse: Weak Tokens reduced to 1
* Weakening Curse: now applies Combo
* Abyssal Artillery: now has a 25% chance of Combo
* Abyssal Artillery+: chance of applying Combo raised to 33%
* Binding Shadow: now grants Unchecked Power if the target has Combo
* Binding Shadow: no longer has a 50% chance to grant Unchecked Power on use
* Binding Shadow+: CRIT chance improved

### Plague Doctor

* Ounce of Prevention: no longer heals Stress
* Ounce of Prevention: Bleed/Blight/Burn RES raised to 15%
* Ounce of Prevention+: no longer heals Stress
* Ounce of Prevention+: Bleed/Blight/Burn RES raised to 25%
* Blinding Gas: now has a 25% chance to apply Combo

### Runaway

* Searing Strike: deals greater Burn on Combo
* Searing Strike+: deals greater Burn on Combo
* Searing Strike+: no longer applies Burn to a random adjacent target on Combo
* Ransack: now applies Burn to a random adjacent target on Combo
* Ransack+: Pull increased to 2
* Dragonfly: now has a 25% chance to apply Combo per target
* Dragonfly+: now has a 33% chance to apply Combo per target
* Smokescreen: Blind Tokens reduced to 1
* Smokescreen: now applies Combo

### GAMEPLAY CHANGES

* Block Token stack limit raised to 3
* Block+ Token stack limit raised to 3
* Monsters now share the same temporary post-Stun resistance buff that Heroes have

### Gaunts & Ghouls

* Ghoul now generates Block Tokens instead of Dodge

### Fanatics

* Librarian's "Flash Fire" skill renamed to "Burnout"
* Pit Fighter's "Accelerant" is now only used once per fight but will continue to automatically build up to the same level of Buffs, reducing his perceived number of actions per round without changing his mechanics

### Lost Battalion

* Quirks related to the Lost Battalion now apply correctly when fighting the Dreaming General
* Drummer's "Order: Defensive Formation" adjusted slightly so that only the targeted Foot Soldier will have Taunt Tokens at the time of use

### Pillagers

* Added mashes containing new Mongrel and Firemouth monsters
* Fixed an issue with a Hard Antiquarian mash sometimes spawning in lieu of a Normal difficulty fight inappropriately

### Shambler

* Clapperclaws will now prioritize Combo marked targets when applicable

### HERO SHRINE COMBATS

* Grave Robber Chapter 2 and Jester Chapter 2 were revised based on user feedback to provide a less frustrating and more intuitive experience.

### QUIRKS

* Braggart: Added 10% chance of gaining a Taunt token hitting an enemy.
* Thanatophobia: Added take 10 stress on team member death.
* Dancer’s Balance: Changed completely - when moved by enemy 15% chance of gaining 2 dodge plus tokens.
* Dare-Devil: Added 50% chance 1 stress healed when missed by an enemy.
* New quirk: Hypochondriac: 5% chance when hero is hit to contract a random disease.
* New disease: The Oozes: 15% chance per turn of contracting blight in combat.
* New disease: Botulism: -15% max hp, 5% chance of blind or daze per round start.

### GAMEPLAY MISC:

* Inn Items and SC Items now have much more descriptive tooltips to explain what they do.
* Negative relationships will no longer “hate block” Inn item use. This was not communicated well and we’ve removed it for the time being to reduce frustration.
* Random initiative roll was changed from a d8 to d6 to give greater credence to speed scores
* Affinity thresholds for forming relationships was 6, now is 7.
* Positive relationship durability was 4, now 5.
* Increased Provisioner (Inn store) item stock significantly to provide more strategic shopping opportunities.
* Increased loot for high difficulty road combats
* Scouting related Stagecoach items and trophies (e.g. The Unabridged Edition) fixed.
* Inns now heal 1 stress per hero automatically
* Tracker’s Map SC Upgrade reinstated. It scouts for Creature Dens and Oases.

### UI IMPROVEMENTS

* Story view improvements
* “Distance to Mountain” display added
* Academic ‘ALT’ combat view improvements
* Improved Travelogue in the Inn