Darkest Dungeon II - The Vestal Hero Paths
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Suffer No Sin, the latest early access content update for Red Hook Studios' Darkest Dungeon II, added the Vestal to the game's roster of heroes. And as such, we now get this article on the official website highlighting the Hero Paths available to this sister of battle - Seraph, Chaplain, and Confessor.
Here's what they're all about:
The Vestal.
"A sister of battle - repudiated but unbowed!"
"Witness ye the holy radiance of the Light!"
The Seraph path provides the Vestal with a solid skill set to be a back rank support role. This hero path specializes in amplifying Consecrations. The Vestal will gain Conviction any time a Consecration activates. Using this path, Consecrations will last a total of 5 rounds, rather than the typical 3. Seraph directly affects the following skills: Consecration of Fortitude, Consecration of Light, and Mantra.
The Seraph takes a bit of setup if you want to make use of her Conviction skills, reliant as they are on her Consecrations for generation. Once they’re up and running, however, she can power repeated uses of Judgement and Mace Bash fairly quickly.
A party of mobile Heroes can potentially trigger the Turn Start effect of a Consecration multiple times in the same round, allowing the Seraph to rapidly reach maximum Conviction! Positional disruption from enemies, on the other hand, can work against the generation rate by pushing people out of Consecration before their turn comes up.
In an emergency, the Seraph can use Mantra to wipe all of her Consecrations in order to trigger a sizable, unconditional heal for the affected Heroes!
A Jester can help speed the starting process along via Encore – sacrificing his own turn in order to get both of the Seraph’s Consecrations into play in a single turn – while Ethereal Dust can clear her cooldowns and allow the placement of additional Consecrations if you can spare the actions.
"Faith is my shield; piety, my armor!"
Tank for your party! The Chaplain path allows The Vestal to focus her abilities on party defense. Chaplain is a rank-flexible role and allows you to gain Conviction when you are hit. The Vestal is able to focus the might of her Conviction to enhance both her stun and move resistance. Chaplain directly affects Hand of Light, Mantra and Sanctuary skills.
The Chaplain works best when operating from the front ranks or using Sanctuary to guard a frequently targeted rank, such as 2, so that she can absorb more hits and generate the Conviction needed to dish out return damage via Judgement or Mace Bash. The Chaplain’s version of Sanctuary forsakes the targeted Stress recovery for better Block and more Guard tokens, allowing her to intercept an additional attack per use.
Hand of Light provides additional defense for an adjacent random Hero but you can guarantee where it goes if you’re in rank 1 or 4. In addition, using the Profane Scroll trinket turns Hand of Light into a Taunt generator, drawing even more fire – and more Conviction as a result.
The Chaplain’s Mantra trades out its Consecration-targeting for Guard-targeting and Conviction use, applying unconditional heals and stress recovery to both the Vestal and any Hero currently under Guard. This works with the Guard of Heroes such as the Man-at-Arms or Bounty Hunter as well.
"Submit and be purified!"
Strike enemies down and cleanse your team with the Confessor path. Confessor is a rank-flexible role that specializes in debuffs and token removal. Under this path, The Vestal will gain Conviction on each turn start which will increase your chance to apply debuffs! This path directly affects Hand of Light, Illumination, Judgement, and Mantra skills.
Thanks to her health pool, the Confessor can work from the front or back ranks depending on what purpose you need filled within a party.
From the back ranks, Judgement can deliver a double dose of Weak and Vulnerable to a single target, while Mantra can be used to provide unconditional heals or cleanse negative tokens from Consecrated allies. She also retains access to potent support like Divine Grace and Ministrations.
From the front ranks, Hand of Light becomes an AoE that inflicts Weak while still granting her Strength to support Mace Bash for direct damage. The Confessor’s version of Illumination is able to remove any type of positive token from a monster, making it an ideal way to remove threats like an Evangelist’s CRIT. While she loses access to Divine Grace, Divine Comfort’s regen is available in Rank 2 as are all Consecrations for party or personal support.
Consider using the Smoldering Firewood trinket if you’re running the Confessor up front to give Illumination and Mace Bash some extra punch, or the Icon of Light to amp up Divine Comfort and provide stress recovery options if you have her all the way at the back.
