Farmstead

One of the loading screens for the Farmstead

“	Some blazing malevolence from beyond the stars has crashed upon the Miller’s farm. Lands that have, in past years, yielded rich harvests are now sown with a new and terrifying seed—an unrelenting crystalline consumption that inches outward from the mill with each passing season.	„
	~ Red Hook Studios

The Farmstead is a location introduced the The Color of Madness DLC. Uniquely amongst locations, the Farmstead is focused almost entirely on combat with no exploration whatsoever.

Overview

A Farmstead expedition consists of combat encounters (or waves) with rooms in between. Combat functions slightly differently in the Farmstead; notably, new enemies will respawn to replace dead enemies, up to a limit of around ten enemies per wave. Once this number of enemies has been killed, a Sleeper's Dream will spawn, which will teleport the party to the next room. Each room will contain a curio which may heal the party or reward shards or other loot.

Many different kinds of enemies can appear: the first wave will always consist of Husk enemies from the Farmstead, but later rooms may "teleport" the party to any of the four main dungeons (Ruins, Weald, Cove, Warrens) as well as the Darkest Dungeon, where they will encounter enemies from that area.

Waves are organised into wave groups. Most wave groups consists of two to three waves followed by a boss encounter. At the top right of the screen, a meter shows the current wave, wave group, and number of enemies killed. Notably, limited-use skills only refresh their uses after a wave group, not a wave, meaning that the party cannot rely on skills like Bolster for every single wave. The only exception is the Abomination's Transform, which is refreshed every wave.

There are three expeditions to the Farmstead. The first two, at Apprentice- and Veteran-level, respectively, are a tutorial to the Farmstead's mechanics:

• The Apprentice-level mission ends after a single wave with no boss encounter. This wave is slightly longer, ending after around twenty kills instead of ten.
• The Veteran-level mission consists of a single wave group, ending with a boss battle with The Miller.

Completing the first two missions unlocks the Champion-level Endless Harvest, a repeatable expedition in which the party fights endless waves of enemies until they are defeated or flee. The Endless Harvest starts with the following wave groups:

• The first wave group has no boss.
• The second wave group ends with a boss battle against The Miller.
• The third group ends with a boss battle against Fracture / The Sleeper.
• Subsequent groups will end with an encounter with a random boss, chosen from the section below.

No Firewood will be given. However, the party may camp at the Miller's Hearth curio when it appears.

Many normal mechanics do not exist in the Farmstead, including:

• Scouting
• Traps, Hunger Obstacles, etc..., anything related to Corridors
• Night-Time Ambush or Shieldbreaker Nightmares
• With one major exception, content from The Crimson Court DLC will not appear:
  • Notably, The Blood cannot be found in the Farmstead, so it is not advised to bring cursed heroes on long expeditions.
  • Strangely, the Crocodilian may appear as a boss even if The Crimson Court DLC is not installed.

Combat

Combat in the Farmstead differs from the other areas of the game:

• Killing an enemy will cause new enemies to spawn two rounds later. Enemies will spawn in all available slots.
• An enemy corpse will become a Crystalline Aberration at the end of the round. If the Crystalline Aberration is survives until the end of the next round, it will explode, dealing HP and stress damage.
• Skills with per-battle use limits are only refreshed at the end of a wave group, with the exception of the Abomination's Transform, which gets refreshed every wave.
• The torch does not fade over time but instead has a variety of different effects.
• In the Endless Harvest, death is temporary. If a character suffers a deathblow in combat, they do not die permanently but instead become "Lost in Time and Space" and will reappear in the Hamlet after a week or two - this is functionally identical to how adventurers can go missing after participating in Stress Relief activities.
  • Note that characters can still die in the Apprentice- and Veteran-level Farmstead missions.
  • Losing all characters due to a party wipe will cause all trinkets and inventory items to be lost as well. Trinkets may be recovered from The Shrieker, but inventory items are lost forever.
  • Heroes that die will lose their Prismatic Quirks. These quirks will be added back to the Thing from the Stars' quirk pool.
• There are no negative consequences to fleeing, aside from losing out on the loot for completing the wave group.

Lighting Effects

The Light Meter is replaced with various lighting effects, as show below. When fighting against a wave of enemies from the Farmstead, the lighting will always be Farmstead Miasma. Otherwise the light effect will be randomly selected at the beginning of a wave.

For the purposes of trinkets and quirks, the Light Meter is considered to be 100.

Lighting Effects
Lighting Name	Hero Effects	Monster Effects
Farmstead Miasma	-10% Healing Received +10% Stress	None
Blazing	+20% DMG vs Marked +20% Debuff Skill Chance	+3 SPD +10% PROT
Haunting	+15% Blight Skill Chance +10% Stress	+15% Blight Skill Chance +10 DODGE
Gleaming	+15% Bleed Skill Chance +15% Healing Skills	+15% Bleed Skill Chance +5% CRT
Splendorous	+5% Virtue Chance +20% Stress Skills	-10% Bleed Resist -10% Blight Resist

Reflections

Each Endless Harvest expedition also has an Endgame Condition, also known as a "Reflection", that is determined at the beginning of each expedition. The endgame condition activates after 200 kills and increases combat difficulty in different ways. These effects are added to any other lighting conditions that are already present.

Reflections
Reflection Name	Hero Effects	Monster Effects
Unbearable Reflection	+33% Stress -33% Stress Skills	+4 SPD
Reflection of Decay	-50% Healing	+15% PROT +25% Stun Resist +25% Debuff Resist
Sanguine Reflection	-8% Deathblow Resist	+7.5% CRT +3 SPD
Reflection Obscura	-20% Stress -20% Healing	+10% PROT +25% DMG

List of Farmstead Enemies

Enemies found within the Farmstead
Enemy	HP	DODGE	PROT	SPD	Type	Resistances	Abilities
Farmhand	12	8	0%	2	Husk Human	Stun - 20% Blight - 50% Bleed - 20% Debuff - 20% Move - 10%	Ceaseless Labor Sow the Seeds Pause From Labor
Foreman	26	0	15%	3	Husk Human	Stun - 20% Blight - 50% Bleed - 20% Debuff - 20% Move - 20%	Stir the Rabble No Trespassers Many Hands
Scarecrow	12	15	0%	6	Husk	Stun - 60% Blight - 25% Bleed - 200% Debuff - 40% Move - 10%	Haunting Revelation Flail the Crops
Plow Horse	20	5	15%	7	Husk Beast	Stun - 50% Blight - 20% Bleed - 20% Debuff - 40% Move - 60%	Trample Rearing Strike Paw the Ground Bestial Scream
Crystalline Aberration	5	0	0%	-4	Husk	Stun - 200% Blight - 0% Bleed - 100% Debuff - 200% Move - 0%	Unstable Resonance Explosive Undoing
Sleeper's Herald	11	20	45%	3	Husk	Stun - 140% Blight - 140% Bleed - 140% Debuff - 100% Move - 60%	Reality Bend Passive:
Sleeper's Dream					Husk	Stun - Blight - Bleed - Debuff - Move -	Beyond Space and Time
Miller	181	6	20%	6	Poor Soul	Stun - 115% Blight - 80% Bleed - 240% Debuff - 80% Move - 90%	The Harvest The Reaping Winter's Breath The Master Beckons Immortal Beloved
Frozen Farmhand	35	0	35%	3	Husk Human	Stun - 90% Blight - 40% Bleed - 90% Debuff - 40% Move - 40%	Hollow Keening Passive:
Fracture	115	20	0%	6	Husk	Stun - 140% Blight - 120% Bleed - 240% Debuff - 90% Move - 140%	Seeds of Despair Vile Focusing Befouling Tint Ceaseless Expansion Blooming Chaos
Focus Point					Husk	Stun - Blight - Bleed - Debuff - Move -	None
Unfinished Aberration					Husk	Stun - Blight - Bleed - Debuff - Move -	None
Finished Aberration					Husk	Stun - Blight - Bleed - Debuff - Move -	Eternal Blossom: Traumatic Aberration: Pestilential Aberration: Temporal Aberration: Unstable Aberration: Adamantite Aberration: None, guards Fracture
The Sleeper					Husk	Stun - Blight - Bleed - Debuff - Move -	The Sleeper Awakens The Sleeper Stirs

Bosses

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Random Bosses Pool
Enemy	HP	DODGE	PROT	SPD	Type	Resistances	Abilities
Thing From The Stars	106	5	0%	2	Eldritch	Stun - 85% Blight - 40% Bleed - 33% Debuff - 40% Move - 25%	Phase Gnaw Return to the Stars Vorpal Strike Paralysing Shard Weakening Shard Transfixing Shard
Shambler	77	0%	33%	0	Eldritch	Stun - 100% Blight - 40% Bleed - 40% Debuff - 40% Move - 50%	Obdurous Advancement Undulating Withdrawal Stentorious Lament
Shambler Tentacle	8	17.5%	0%	10	Eldritch	Stun - 50% Blight - 40% Bleed - 40% Debuff - 40% Move - 40%	Clapperclaw
The Collector	70	0%	0%	5	Human Eldritch	Stun - 50% Blight - 20% Bleed - 20% Debuff - 20% Move - 25%	Show Collection Collect Call Life Steal
Collected Highwayman	16	7.5%	0%	3	Eldritch	Stun - 25% Blight - 40% Bleed - 40% Debuff - 15% Move - 10%	Headhunt
Collected Man-at-Arms	16	7.5%	0%	7	Eldritch	Stun - 25% Blight - 40% Bleed - 40% Debuff - 15% Move - 10%	Head Games Head Knocker
Collected Vestal	16	7.5%	0%	5	Eldritch	Stun - 25% Blight - 40% Bleed - 40% Debuff - 15% Move - 10%	Headstrong Headache Head Rush
Prophet	105	5%	0%	0	Unholy	Stun - 100% Blight - 0% Bleed - 0% Debuff - 20% Move - 300%	Calamitous Prognostication Rubble of Ruin Eye on You Fulminate
Small Pew	25	0%	0%	0	Carpentry	Stun - 200% Blight - 200% Bleed - 200% Debuff - 200% Move - 300%	None
Medium Pew	40	0%	0%	0	Carpentry	Stun - 200% Blight - 200% Bleed - 200% Debuff - 200% Move - 300%	None
Large Pew	55	0%	0%	0	Carpentry	Stun - 200% Blight - 200% Bleed - 200% Debuff - 200% Move - 300%	None
Swine Prince	132	0%	0%	0	Beast	Stun - 100% Blight - 0% Bleed - 0% Debuff - 20% Move - 100%	Obliterate Body Obliterate Masses Enraged Destruction Wild Flailing
Wilbur	17	15%	0%	20	Beast	Stun - 50% Blight - 0% Bleed - 0% Debuff - 0% Move - 0%	Bit 'o Squeal End This One End These Two Squeal
Brigand Vvulf	160	25%	0%	4	HUMAN	Stun - 100% Blight - 75% Bleed - 75% Debuff - 60% Move - 300%	Bombs Away Time's Up! Get Them! Tower Shield Warcry
Barrel O' Bombs	25	0%	0%	0	CARPENTRY	Stun - 200% Blight - 200% Bleed - 200% Debuff - 200% Move - 300%	None, but always has Riposte active.
Shrieker	75	40%	0%	7	ELDRITCH BEAST	Stun - 55% Blight - 200% Bleed - 55% Debuff - 30% Move - 55%	Peck Caw Call the Murder Regurgitate Shrieking Flight
Shrieker's Nest	60	0%	0%	0	THATCHERY	Stun - 200% Blight - 200% Bleed - 200% Debuff - 200% Move - 20%	None
Crocodilian	118	10	10	7	BLOODSUCKER	Stun - 50% Blight - 80% Bleed - 50% Debuff - 75% Move - 35%	Swarming Corruption Teeth Rake Submerge Lurking Fear Apex Predator
Bulrush	100	200	80%	0	VEGETATION	Stun - 215% Blight - 200% Bleed - 200% Debuff - 200% Move - 200%	None.
Cattail	100	200	80%	0	VEGETATION	Stun - 215% Blight - 200% Bleed - 200% Debuff - 200% Move - 200%	None.

Curios

Location		Curio	Item	Chance	Result	Description
Farmstead	Curio Room	Corrupted Harvest Take up the axe. Blow off some steam.		100.0%	Reduce Stress: -60 (Party)
		Fresh Harvest Tantalizing provisions to renew a body.		100.0%	Heal 90% of MAX HP
		Gleaming Shards Glittering crystals spill onto the ground.		100.0%	Comet Shards x5 to 15
		Miller's Hearth The fireplace is slowly coming apart but looks functional.		100.0%	Camp
		Plentiful Bounty Tantalizing provisions to renew our energies.		100.0%	Heal 65% of MAX HP (Party)
		Rotted Fare Take up the hatchet. Blow off some steam.		100.0%	Reduce Stress: -100
		Stockpile Useful supplies for this harrowing journey.		100.0%	Food x6-12 + Any Supplies + Trinket	Opens a hidden compartment!
				66.7%	Laudanum/Medicinal Herbs/Food
				33.3%	Nothing
		Mildred This anguished creature does not seem hostile, yet.		100.0%	Trinket: Mildred's Locket (First encounter only) Any Trinket/Shards (Subsequent encounters)

Strategy

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Party composition depends on the overall goal of the expedition. If the goal is merely to kill The Sleeper to farm Memories, then many easily accessible compositions will work. However, surviving beyond 1000 kills will require more planning.

It is not recommended to bring heroes that depend on limited-use skills, most notably the Flagellant.

On longer expeditions, the most useful provisions are Food, which is required for Camping at the Miller's Hearth, and Skeleton Keys, which can be used to get more supplies from the Stockpile. Most other combat items are useful. There is no need to bring Torches or Shovels.

Short Expeditions

Essentially any party that can deal with health and stress, and deal a decent amount of damage can work. A commonly used beginner party is Vestal / Jester / Shieldbreaker / Shieldbreaker, though this has many weaknesses and is not recommended for long expeditions.

Long Expeditions

By far the most demonstrably successful party compositions are Antiquarian/Man-at-Arms parties that heavily boost DODGE. The following have survived tens of thousands of kills in the Endless Harvest:

• ThickVeinySausage's team: Antiquarian / Houndmaster / Occultist / Man-at-Arms
• TheRealMe's "Immortal Plague Doctor" team: Plague Doctor / Antiquarian / Crusader / Man-at-Arms

See the linked pages for more information about tactics and trinket choices.