The concept behind Darkest Dungeon 2 is to wear down heroes and their health bars until nothing is left. This is often a gradual process, slowly ebbing away health before the hero finally falls in combat. Because of this, healing is usually capped and limited.
An item that heals suddenly becomes all the more powerful in Darkest Dungeon 2. If the game can no longer wear players down until their doom, then victory becomes so much more likely. The items on this list aren't just the best healing combat items and Inn items, they are some of the best items in the entire game.
This is not a list that contains all healing items. There are specific combat and Inn items called "Restorative" items and those are the ones listed here. Also, all Restorative items target only one hero so keep that in mind.
10 Invigorating Intoxicant
- +25% Death's Door resistance (3 turns)
- +6 Speed on Death's Door
- +10% Crit on Death's Door
Players should feel they are lucky to even get on Death's Door instead of dying outright. If they do manage to get there, the only goal should be to heal and get out of a precarious situation. The Invigorating Intoxicant is actually worse than nothing because it speeds up the hero's turn. If they have any damage over time effects, this merely hastens their demise. This game is better than its predecessor in many ways but stay away from items like this.
9 Wax Inoculant
- 33% disease resistance (until next Inn)
Diseases are awful and players should make a point to avoid them. But a 33% resistance improvement for only a single hero and only a single segment is a terrible return on investment. With so many fantastic Inn items to buy, some of which cure diseases, it's tough to justify regularly buying Wan Inoculant.
8 Restorative Herbs
- +10% traveling heal (until next Inn)
- +20% healing received from skills (until next Inn)
There is a reason that the two Restorative Inn items are in the bottom three. Lasting for a short segment is highly situational. Restorative Herbs are better than nothing but the cost offset is not nearly good enough.
Players using a decent healer will not need to count on the stagecoach's traveling heal. If they're using the best Vestal build, they may not even need the traveling heal at all.
7 Adrenalic Tonic
- Heal 50%
- +1 Stress
Adding a stress stack can be rough but the tradeoff of a 50% heal can help out in tight spots. Some heroes, like the best Man-At-Arms build, can trivialize stress, making the downside on the Adrenalic Tonic negligible. A 50% is a colossal healing amount, especially when compared to most healing skills that support heroes have.
6 Medicinal Herbs
- Removes Blight, Bleed, or Burn
Simple but effective, clearing a damage-over-time effect stops the slow death that the game relies on. Support heroes can often clear these so gamers might not see the importance of Medicinal Herbs. But consider that the best Plague Doctor build can deal damage and debuffs to enemies instead of wasting a turn to clear a small tick of damage. This item allows the gamer to stay on the offense.
5 Stimulant
- Add Strength
- +5 Speed (3 turns)
Extra damage delivered more quickly is a tough combo to beat. This is most useful on heroes that can apply combos and then capitalize on their own tokens. Going faster means they won't have to wait until the end of the round to detonate the combo token.
Unlocking and choosing hero paths is one way to gain power. But combat items, though limited in use, can shine brightest in the darkest moments. When players need damage quickly, Stimulant provides it.
4 Smelling Salts
- Remove Stun or Daze
- Add Dodge
Stuns are about as bad as debuffs get. Missing a turn with a hero shifts the advantage squarely into the enemy's favor. Plus, a squad that has built up its Affinity will have a natural flow and turn order. Getting stunned or dazed ruins this. Removing these debuffs and adding Dodge takes a negative and turns it into a positive.
3 Healing Salve
- Heal 33%
Some raw healing without any drawbacks is hard to decline. Not many hits will take away over 33% of a hero's health, so the Healing Salve keeps the heroes ahead of the curve, undoing any progress the monsters might have been making. 33% might feel small, but this can be a perk on some heroes, such as an ideal Hellion build, that rewards heroes for staying below a certain health threshold.
2
1 Triage Kit
- Heal 75%
When somebody has a meltdown, lands on Death's Door, or finds themselves just one smack away from death, players will beg to have a Triage Kit ready to go. This can undo almost all of the damage provided by a meltdown. If the damage was accrued gradually, it resets the entire decline process. If this is used as the result of burst damage, this makes it so the big cooldown never happened.
Darkest Dungeon 2 is available now for PC.