New players in Darkest Dungeon 2 will find out quickly how important rank order is. A character might not be able to heal in one position or tank in another. For this reason, the Jester is often mistakenly avoided because he is constantly shifting ranks.
The Jester is popular amount veterans of Darkest Dungeon 2 because he makes the investment worth it. No other character has the combo potential that the Jester has and he helps out with damage and utility skills that can't be matched.
Skills
- Finale
- Solo
- Razor's Wit
- Fade To Black
- Inspiring Tune
The high-risk, high-reward maneuver of going forward with Solo and then all the way back with Finale is too good to resist. The Jester gives himself buffs to speed and dodge chance to counteract the hazards. The damage with the combo is one of the most extreme bursts in the game.
When the danger is too great, Razor's Wit and Fade To Black have less damage but only move forward and back one space for the sake of safety. Finally, when the skill has been upgraded, Inspiring Tune knocks off three stress stacks from any ally.
Path
- Virtuoso
Intermezzo and Soloist paths are both intended for a bleed damage build. This is certainly a build that the Jester is capable of and the build itself moves around far less but the damage is nowhere close to what the Jester is capable of.
The drawback to Virtuoso is a 20% reduction in resist chance of damage over time effects. While this is notable, it is more than offset with more speed, maximum health, and a buff to all allies' stress resistance. The Virtuoso makes the Jester one of the best heroes in the game.
Trinkets
- Indelible Bucker's Haul
- Indelible Befuddling Sundial
The Indelible Bucker's Haul does reduce damage by 25% when players have less than 25 relics. That's annoying but it can be completely negated by holding onto some wealth. The benefit is random, positive tokens when in rank four or one, which will be almost all of the time with this build.
The Indelible Befuddling Sundial is one of the best trinkets in existence. There is a 90% chance that the heals the wearer and a 10% chance to add a stress stack. Since the Jester can already negate the stress, it's all upside.
Combat Item
- The Blood
The Blood adds duffs that increase damage and speed while guaranteeing a critical hit chance. The downside is that it puts a stress debuff on the target. With an upgraded Inspiring Tune ability, this ability can be cleared. Or the Jester can wait for three turns until the debuff expires, then undo all the damage with one move.
With a great team that is ready to move around, the Jester is truly a premier damage class. Using the best Man-At-Arms build to keep him defended on the front lines makes it so enemies can't deal much damage to him at all. By the time they do start making progress, his top-tier damage will have polished off most of the opposition.
Darkest Dungeon 2 is available now for PC.