Things are not going to go according to plan, but occasionally I find them really worth it.

To survive, you need to be prepared, though. It's just mathematically a better idea to fight an apprentice shambler with level 2 heroes than fight a champion one with level 6 heroes.ĮDIT: also a level 2 houndmaster with a cudgel trinket for stunning equipped has an 85% chance to stun an apprentice shambler while a similarly equipped level 5-6 houndmaster only has a 60% chance to stun a champion shambler. I personally have found torchless runs to be far more profitable than other runs, bringing home waaay more money and heirlooms than usual. so your blight does 15 damage at level 2 compared to 18 at level 5 BUT WAIT the shambler only has 77 hp in apprentice dungeons. Mark the Altar on your map, save a torch to sacrifice, and ideally rest shortly beforehand so you can have good health/stress levels and benefit from camping buffs. at level 5 plague grenade does 6 blight for 3 turns. Edit: I usually hit the shambler at the end of a successful run, provided the party is in good health and has a good supply of bandages/antidotes. that is not DOUBLE the damage, but the shambler in champion dungeons has DOUBLE the health. at level 2 a houndmaster does 5-8 damage, at level 5 they do 7-13. So apprentice is 77 hp compared to 162 and 2% crit on it's attacks compared to 7%.Īlso just look at hero damage. you might do less damage but the big difference is that the shambler and it's tentacles that spawn have much much lower hp and crit chance on their attacks compared to their champion counterparts. about 4-6 times, even though I'm 85+ weeks into the game, I think it's pretty good, the trinkets of lower rarity are as common as a stack of 1,5k gold, you can find some in pretty much every encounter.I've always fought them in apprentice dungeons. It depends on the players, I, personally, play 'black as pitch' for few reasons:ġ) The challenge it's much more entertaining for me,even if sometimes unfair things happen (Like a two crit Howls from Ghoul), it's a testament to your own grit and resolve for when situation seems hopeless and impossible to overcome, it's very satisfying to recover from something like that and continue.Ģ) The music and atmosphere the track that plays in a corridor and empty rooms when your light is 0 is my favourite one, it adds tension to the game, immerses you into the atmosphere better.ģ) The loot Even though there's so much of it in 'black as pitch' runs that in Long missions I always throw 1 firewood away, cause I have no need for it, plus it also takes up a space in inventory, it's still worth it, cause very often you can replace stacks of 1,5k gold with stacks of rubies, sapphiers, onyxies and emeralds, since they're easier to come by in 'black as pitch'.Īs for trinkets, I happened to find ancestral trinkets in things like eerie spiderweb, iron maidens and etc.

Darkest dungeon can't run from shambler