The Shambler is an extremely dangerous boss that can appear in Darkest Dungeon 2. Incautious heroes can find themselves faced with this horror from beyond space and time in an Academic's Study, or it can appear if the Flame gets too low. In either event, you can never plan for the Shambler - you can only do your best when it attacks.
Despite its tremendous power, the Shambler can be defeated. This guide has all the information on Darkest Dungeon 2's most difficult boss, and you can use it to increase your chances of survival.
The Shambler Overview
The Shambler is slow, so you'll probably get to attack first in most combat rounds. That's about the only advantage you can expect from this fight.
The Shambler is resistant, but not immune to damage-over-time effects. Keep your Burn, Bleed, and Blight-inflicting Skills coming and stack up these critical conditions when you can. This creature wants you to be too focused on damage control to fight it aggressively, so try to hit it hard and wear it down fast.
The Shambler Attacks
|
Attack |
Effect |
|---|---|
|
Obdurous Advancement |
|
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Stentorious Lament |
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Undulating Withdrawal |
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As you can see, Shambler's attacks affect the entire party. Resistance to Bleed, Blight, and forced movement are all useful, but since you don't know when the Shambler will show up, this is hard to plan for. If you can, find ways to use your Skills to keep damaging the Shambler while dealing with the curveballs it throws.
For example, if your party is shuffled by Stentorious Lament, try to use Skills that move heroes and attack at the same time. Combat items such as Bandages can be used to remove the persistent effects without wasting a turn, freeing up your Plague Doctor to toss bombs and continuously apply Blight to the foe.
Try to buff your heroes where you can. Strength is a useful token in this fight since it can either enhance the damage dealt to the Shambler or negate the Weakness tokens inflicted by the Tentacles.
The Shambler Tentacles
The Shambler is assisted by two Shambler Tentacles, which appear after the beast takes its first turn. The boss will always summon more Tentacles if there are fewer than two, so attacking the Tentacles is an exercise in futility.
The best strategy for dealing with the Tentacles is to wear them down with Burn, Bleed, and Blight while you're focusing on the Shambler, then finish them off when they reach Death's Door. They'll be back the next round, but clearing them temporarily can save you some damage over the course of the fight.
|
Tentacle Attack |
Effect |
|---|---|
|
Clapperclaw |
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Wriggling Feast |
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The Tentacles are made all the more of a damage sink by their ability to give themselves a stack of Block every turn. This is another reason to try and wear them down with persistent damage - it ignores Block. If you have a Highwayman with upgraded Highway Robbery, you can steal the Block Tokens for yourself, mitigating some of the damage he takes.
Those very first words you see when you start up Darkest Dungeon 2 remind you that the game is about making the best of a bad situation. That's never more true than when you're fighting the Shambler. Trust the lineup you've built and get your licks in wherever you can, and you can come out on top. Good luck!