The gameplay cycle of Darkest Dungeon 2 is broken up quite nicely by sporadic inn visits that function as rest-stops on your journey to the Mountain. The inn serves a few important purposes, such as letting you buy items, upgrade your skills, and deck your coach out with cool features.
What we're looking at today, however, are Inn Items. These are consumables that can only be applied whilst staying at an inn, though they can be acquired from many different sources - from battles to caches and even bought right at the inn itself. Some of them are better than others, however.
Updated on June 11, 2023, by Matt Arnold: We've spruced up this list with brand-new images and corrections to make it fully accurate for the launch version of Darkest Dungeon 2. Check it out below!
10 Blasphemous Idol
This high-level item is quite situational, and since it's hard to really guarantee that it brings you any positive outcomes whatsoever it can be tricky to recommend - but it's certainly no bad thing on its own.
The Blasphemous Idol will give its user one of the three following benefits until the next Inn, chosen at random:
- +3 Speed
- A five percent chance to gain a Strength token at the start of each round.
- A five percent chance to gain a Crit token at the start of each round.
The fact that it isn't exactly reliable or dependable make this an inn item that's just very lucky to come across, rather than an instant buy at the Hoarder or Provisioner.
9 Steak & Spuds
It's always worthwhile to feed your Heroes at each Inn, as doing so gives them a bonus to their maximum HP in the next Region. Steak & Spuds make for a hearty but expensive meal, making the Hero more durable while also buffing their Move and Disease Resistance.
This hearty portion does have the slight drawback of reducing the Speed of the lucky Hero who gets to eat it, so it's best given to frontline tanks like the Leper or Man-At-Arms. It's also useful for vulnerable back-row Heroes to help them stay put.
8 Wild Tea
It only takes a few battles with a Plague Doctor who simply won't stop moving around your party to gain an immortal hatred for certain negative Quirks. These can be purged in exchange for money at hospitals, but the ability to do so at an Inn for the low price of some tea is also very tempting.
The value of this item's effect is offset by the small chance to also purge a Hero's positive Quirk. This would be a very unfortunate outcome in a game that loves to dole out misfortune, but it's worth the risk - especially with how awful some of the negative Quirks can be.
7 Candles & Chocolate
You really can't go wrong with some fancy chocolates, shared together over candlelight. This item is really good for improving the blossoming relationship between two Heroes, or healing the animosity between them if things have already turned sour.
Affinity is very important in this game and ensuring that your heroes are all friends (or lovers) is a great way to steamroll through encounters - they will heal each other, avenge each other, and protect each other with impunity. This also prevents the debilitating effects of negative relationships, such as locking you into sub-optimal builds. Give them Candles and Chocolates and let love bloom. Oh, and heal some Stress away, too.
6 My Time In The Desert
Stealth is very handy for certain heroes and this inn item will grant them a chance to spawn a Stealth token at the start of every single turn. This is great for fragile heroes like the Plague Doctor or heroes with rather risky combat strategies like the Occultist.
Many of the Grave Robber's Skills are enhanced while she has Stealth, so My Time In The Desert can save her a turn of setup when it triggers!
Making it so that enemies simply cannot target your party members is a surefire way to keep them alive longer, but remember that this means your other party members will take more attacks. Make sure you have enough healing to go around!
5 Ceremonial Drum
Speaking of taking hits, many party compositions will feature tanky front-liners designed to soak up damage and protect their allies. The Man at Arms and the Leper are great examples of this type of combatant, while the Hellion excels at dealing damage from the front line.
What these Heroes hate is being moved around and knocked back to the back ranks. The Ceremonial Drum will help assuage that, improving their Resistance to movement skills that would otherwise mess up their combat rotations.
4 Armor Repair Kit
In a similar vein, the Armor Repair Kit is a very potent item - when it actually fires. This inn item gives its target a chance to spawn Block+ tokens at the start of every combat turn until the coach reaches the next Inn along the way.
Block+ is a really great token that blocks three quarters of the next attack directed at the Hero. This is both great for tanks who want to soak up as many attacks as possible, and for the more fragile characters who can be taken out in just a few strikes.
3 Roast Pig
Nobody would blame you for feeling a little peckish as you peruse the inn items in this game, they sound very delicious. Roast Pig is obviously a very grand dish as it's enough to feed the entire party.
The Roast Pig, unlike other food, can be eaten in addition to another meal for each Hero, letting you stack bonuses sky-high!
The party-wide heal is very nice, but it's the Stress heal and the positive affinity gain (without the chance of negative affinity) that really make this item shine. In my books, this meal is a must-buy and is useable in almost any situation - having bonuses on three different axes makes it a true top-tier item.
2 Poetry
Some people really cannot stand the sound of Poetry, or simply cannot understand its appeal. This is demonstrably not true for the cast of Darkest Dungeon 2. Poetry significantly reduces the Stress of two Heroes while also giving them a slight Affinity boost.
Thanks to its extra Stress effect, Poetry is strictly better than Whiskey as a cheap trust-builder. If your Heroes don't need to relieve Stress, you can save the scroll for the next Inn to get the full value of its effects.
1 Whiskey Barrel
While hearty meals are nice, it seems that DD2's cast loves a party more than anything. This entire barrel of whiskey is one of the most useful inn items in the game and provides a great atmosphere for affinity improvements. This is exactly what you want to build up intraparty trust or heal some divides.
While there is a low chance of negative affinity changes (it is a big barrel of alcohol, after all), the not-insignificant Stress heal is also a great point in the Whiskey Barrel's favor. As long as there's some stress emanating through the party, the Whiskey Barrel will be appreciated.