Loathing

“	"The loathing whispers...."	„
	~ The Academic

The in-game Loathing meter. Currently the party is at Loathing level 1.

Loathing is a value that represents the evil that is gradually taking over the world of Darkest Dungeon II.

While traveling, the party may accumulate levels of Loathing, each of which progressively increases the difficulty of the expedition. Care must be taken to keep Loathing at a manageable level as higher levels of Loathing, especially the final level, inflict severe penalties on the party.

Mechanics

The primary source of Loathing is travel. Roads with Oblivion Tears increase Loathing by one level when traversed; various nodes also increase Loathing as a secondary effect.

Level	Effects
The Loathing Abates	No Effects
The Loathing Whispers	+10% Flame Drain +20% Enemy Advantage Chance (Battle Start)
The Loathing Festers	+25% Flame Drain +25% Enemy Advantage Chance (Battle Start)
The Loathing Howls	+40% Flame Drain +33% Enemy Advantage Chance (Battle Start)
The Loathing Consumes	“ The Mountain shudders... „ Reaching the maximum level of Loathing immediately triggers a number of negative effects: +10% Confession Boss Health -10 Flame The party suffers the following effects, depending on the Confession: Denial: +2 Resentment: -1 Obsession: Random Negative Quirk Ambition: -1 Armor, -1 Wheel Cowardice: -25% Resolute Chance (until next inn) Then the Loathing level is reset back to 0.

The Doom Candle

Main article: Flame#The Doom Candle

The Doom Candle is an Infernal Flame that reduces the maximum Loathing level by 1, while increasing Loathing by 1 after it is reset.

Managing Loathing

The primary means of reducing Loathing is combat. Loathing decreases by one level each time the party successfully completes a battle at a node (e.g., Resistance Encounter, Oblivion's Ingress, Creature Den), including boss encounters (e.g. Lair bosses and mini-bosses like the Shambler and the Chirurgeon). Note that all enemies must be engaged and killed—simply arriving and avoiding combat, or retreating before killing the Lair boss, will not reduce Loathing.

Trivia

• Prior to the Void Between Us update, Loathing was generated by the "Doomsayer" and "Shattered Will" quirks.
• In the game files, Loathing is referred as "Doom".