Darkest Dungeon 2 is difficult, especially for those new to roguelike games. If you hope to survive, you’ll need to learn how to heal.
Darkest Dungeon 2 is a challenging strategy game where players must navigate a treacherous fantasy world, and one of the most important ways you’ll stay alive is by healing. However, it’s not as easy as just popping a health potion, as is the case in many other fantasy games. This guide will explain everything you need to know about the healing mechanics in the game.
How to Heal in Darkest Dungeon 2
These are the five main ways to heal your characters in Darkest Dungeon 2:
- Using combat healing abilities from healing heroes like the Plague Doctor.
- Using combat items like Bandages or Burn Salves.
- Using Inn items, like the Stitching Kit, to heal at the Inn.
- Visiting a Field Hospital while traveling in your caravan. Field Hospitals are designated with a cross icon and cost currency to use.
- Your party will also receive a passive heal over time as you journey in your caravan.
Using Combat Heals in Darkest Dungeon 2
Certain Heroes in Darkest Dungeon 2 can heal other party members while in combat. These heroes include the Occultist, Plague Doctor, Vestal, and Flagellant. These skills typically have parameters you’ll need to fulfill to use the skill.
For example, to use the Plague Doctor’s Battlefield Medicine ability, the targeted Hero needs under 50% HP or has a negative debuff applied to them. View the text when you scroll over the skill in your bar to see what the heal skill’s restrictions are.
Players can also equip a combat healing item into their 6th skill slot, then use it while in battle. Using a Combat Healing item will not use up the Hero’s turn, so you’ll be able to utilize another ability after using the heal.
Healing at the Inn
In Darkest Dungeon 2, healing items can be obtained at The Inn or other vendors throughout the game world. While most Inn items remove debuffs, items like the Stitching Kit actively heal your Heroes. To use a healing item, click and drag it over the Hero you want to restore while visiting an Inn.
Why Can’t I Heal in Darkest Dungeon 2?
There are three main reasons you can’t heal while in battle. The first issue may be that you don’t meet the proper parameters to employ the heal. For example, some characters require Heros to be under 35% health before being healed — so if your characters are well-healed, you won’t be able to use the skill.
Secondly, your Hero may not be in position to use the skill. All abilities in the game have positions your character will need to be in to use, designated by the yellow dots when you select a skill. If you’re not in the right spot, you can use the move icon to re-position your healing character.
The last reason you may not be able to heal is that the enemy applied a healing debuff on your character that prevents it from using healing abilities. To see this, scroll over the blue debuffs under each character to see if healing is disabled.
Often, it’s smart or even essential to keep your support healers in the back so that they can use their healing abilities.
Keep Your Health High to Stay Alive
Unfortunately, there is no way to heal with items while on the road, but your characters will auto-heal as you get closer to the next Inn. This is less useful as you get closer to each chapter’s boss, as time between battles will decrease significantly.
The best way to stay alive via healing is to make sure that all your characters are at the highest amount of health towards the end of each enemy encounter. This will ensure a higher health pool for your entire party as you travel and can hopefully restore all of your party’s health before the next battle.
For more guides like this one, see our Darkest Dungeon 2 section.
