Heroes (Darkest Dungeon II)
There are currently 14 playable characters, or Heroes, in Darkest Dungeon II. Each hero belongs to a unique character class with their own stats, skills, paths, and class-specific items.
Overview
Every expedition in Darkest Dungeon II begins at The Crossroads, where the player must assemble a party of four heroes to journey to The Mountain. One hero, the Bounty Hunter, cannot be recruited at the Crossroads but may be available for hire at the Inn. (The Bounty Hunter also has a number of other unique mechanics that do not apply to other heroes—consult his page for more information.) Aside from hiring the Bounty Hunter, or a hero dying, there is currently no way to swap heroes during the middle of an expedition.
Unlocking and Upgrading
Only four heroes are available at the beginning of the game: the Man-at-Arms, the Highwayman, the Grave Robber, and the Plague Doctor. More heroes may be unlocked by spending 
Candles of Hope in The Living City. The Living City is also the primary way to upgrade heroes in between expeditions—additional upgrades increase heroes' stats and unlock their paths and unique items.
Stats
Each hero has number of different stats—
HP, 
Speed, and various resistances. Their base stats may be upgraded by spending candles in The Living City. A large number of other factors may affect their stats in game, including quirks, disease, equipment, and temporary buffs or debuffs.
Table of Base Stats
| Hero | Base | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |
 Bounty Hunter | 48 | 3 | 30% | 30% | 30% | 40% | 40% | 30% | 40% | 75% |
 Crusader | 40 | 2 | 30% | 10% | 30% | 30% | 40% | 30% | 20% | 60% |
 Duelist | 28 | 6 | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 10% | 40% | 20% | 60% |
 Flagellant | 50 | 3 | 20% | 50% | 10% | 75% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 75% |
 Grave Robber | 29 | 5 | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 20% | 30% | 60% |
 Hellion | 35 | 4 | 30% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 60% |
 Highwayman | 35 | 5 | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 60% |
 Jester | 29 | 4 | 20% | 20% | 20% | 30% | 20% | 20% | 30% | 60% |
 Leper | 44 | 2 | 10% | 10% | 20% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 20% | 60% |
 Man-at-Arms | 42 | 2 | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 60% |
 Occultist | 31 | 5 | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 20% | 30% | 60% |
 Plague Doctor | 28 | 4 | 30% | 40% | 30% | 40% | 10% | 20% | 20% | 60% |
 Runaway | 33 | 4 | 20% | 20% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 30% | 20% | 60% |
 Vestal | 41 | 2 | 20% | 20% | 30% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 60% |
Table of Upgraded Stats
| Hero | Upgraded | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | | | | | | |
| Bounty Hunter | 48 | 3 | 30% | 30% | 30% | 40% | 40% | 30% | 40% | 75% |
| Crusader | 40 | 2 | 40% | 10% | 40% | 30% | 40% | 30% | 20% | 75% |
| Duelist | 28 | 6 | 40% | 40% | 40% | 30% | 10% | 40% | 20% | 75% |
| Flagellant | 50 | 3 | 20% | 50% | 10% | 75% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 90% |
| Grave Robber | 29 | 7 | 30% | 40% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 20% | 30% | 75% |
| Hellion | 39 | 4 | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 80% |
| Highwayman | 35 | 5 | 40% | 30% | 30% | 40% | 40% | 30% | 20% | 75% |
| Jester | 29 | 5 | 20% | 20% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 20% | 40% | 75% |
| Leper | 52 | 2 | 10% | 10% | 20% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 20% | 75% |
| Man-at-Arms | 46 | 2 | 30% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 50% | 30% | 20% | 75% |
| Occultist | 31 | 5 | 30% | 30% | 40% | 40% | 20% | 20% | 40% | 75% |
| Plague Doctor | 28 | 4 | 30% | 50% | 40% | 50% | 10% | 20% | 20% | 75% |
| Runaway | 33 | 5 | 20% | 20% | 50% | 30% | 20% | 30% | 20% | 75% |
| Vestal | 41 | 2 | 20% | 20% | 30% | 20% | 30% | 30% | 30% | 75% |
Paths
Each hero has four paths, class specialisations that affect their stats and skills, often improving some at the expense of others and greatly affecting the hero's performance in combat. Each hero starts with a default path, Wanderer, which grants extra Candles of Hope upon the reaching the second Inn but has few, if any, other effects. More paths may be unlocked at The Living City. Heroes' paths may be chosen when assembling a party at The Crossroads and may be changed during an expedition while at an Inn.
Skills
Each hero starts with five Abilities, or Skills. Six additional skills may be unlocked by visiting the Shrine of Reflection: each chapter at the Shrine of Reflection reveals an aspect of the hero's backstory while unlocking one to two additional skills, up to a total of eleven skills. During an expedition, heroes can upgrade each skill once by spending Mastery Points.
Equipment
Each Hero may equip up to two Trinkets and one Combat Item. Items may only be equipped while outside of combat.
Quirks and Diseases
Quirks and diseases are various attributes that a hero may develop during an expedition. Quirks may be positive or negative, while diseases are predominantly negative. There are a large number of ways that quirks and diseases may be acquired, from combat to random node interactions. Both quirks and diseases may be managed at the Field Hospital.
Stress
As heroes traverse the world of Darkest Dungeon II, they will accumulate increasing amounts of 
Stress. High amounts of can impact a hero's relationships with other heroes and greatly hamper their effectiveness in combat. There are many abilities and items that mitigate or reduce stress, and effectively managing stress is vital to the success of the expedition.
Relationships
Over the course of the expedition, many interactions can cause heroes to build or lose 
Affinity with one another. Sufficiently high or low can cause heroes to form positive or negative Relationships. Relationships have a variety of effects on heroes' performance in combat—positive relationships allowing allies to inspire each other in combat, versus negative relationships causing heroes to actively sabotage, or even attack, one another. As with stress, heroes' relationships have a huge impact on the success or failure of an expedition.
Goals
At the beginning of each expedition, each hero is given a specific Goal to be fulfilled during the expedition, such as landing a killing blows on certain Enemies, visiting specific Locations, triggering encounters, or using certain Combat Items. Completing a hero's goal will award Candles of Hope, or, once the Altar of Hope is fully upgraded, class trinkets or signature inn items.
Death
When heroes reach 0 in combat, they enter a state called Death's Door. While on Death's Door, each further instance of damage can be fatal. Death in Darkest Dungeon II is permanent—the same hero class will not be encountered again until the The Crossroads at the beginning of the next expedition, at which point a new hero with different quirks will be generated.
Should a hero die during an expedition, another randomly-selected hero from the current character pool will replace them upon arriving at the next Inn. If all unlocked hero classes have been exhausted, then no new hero will show up to replace them.
Persistence (Memories)
Initially, all heroes are randomly generated at The Crossroads at the beginning of each expedition. However, Candles of Hope may be spent in The Timeless Wood to apply Memories to heroes, allowing them to persist across multiple expeditions.
List of Hero Classes
| view | |
|---|---|
| Heroes | Plague Doctor  Grave Robber Highwayman Man-at-Arms Hellion Runaway Jester Leper Occultist Vestal Flagellant Bounty Hunter
|
| DLC |  Duelist Crusader
|