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Darkest Dungeon 2has several bosses, including Lair Bosses, Confessional Bosses, and Mini Bosses. These Bosses have unique mechanics for the player to learn. Mini-Bosses, while not as oppressive as the other bosses in the game, can still ruin your run if not handled appropriately.
Related:Darkest Dungeon 2: How To Beat The Dreaming GeneralOne such boss, The Deacon, is the quintessential Glass Cannon with the highest Bleed numbers in the game and a skill that can do up to 25 damage (without critical hits). For all the answers on how to counter this Bleed stacking machine, see our guide below.
Where To Find The Deacon
The Deacon is a mini-boss found inOblivion’s Rampartencounter. You may also see him inOblivion’s Ingressencounter.
Other mini-bosses like The Antiquarian can be encountered during emergency repair encounters, however, it is currently unknown if The Deacon can appear in these roadside fights.
Minions That Appear With The Deacon
The Deacon most often spawns with supportive Cultist units such as Cherubs, Altars, and Heralds. These supportive units (except for the Cherub) very rarely do damage. Instead, they remove negative status effects and buff The Deacon. They will alsoWorshipThe Deacon, which willallow him to do an empowered attack called Exaltation.
Related:Darkest Dungeon 2: Best Trinket Items
Fighting The Deacon
The Deacon is a 2 Rank wide mini-boss from The Cultist Faction. While The Deacon appeared in the firstDarkest Dungeongame, he has been heavily buffed in the sequel. He does a ton of damage, especially to Rank 1 and 2 heroes. However, he is a glass cannon.
Attacks & Abilities
The Deacon has five abilities, one which is cast automatically at the beginning of combat (The Flesh Warps) and one special ability (Exultation).
Flesh From Bone
Single Target Melee
Weight of Worlds
+2 Stress Blind or Immobilize
Party Wide
Sundering Steel
+2 Stress Removes Block
Exultation
+10 Bleed +5 Stress All Cultists +1 Dodge
The Flesh Warps
Take 50% less damage Ranged OR Melee
All Cultist Units
Strategies To Defeat The Deacon
The Deacon will be most vulnerable before his minions begin providing him with Block, Dodge, and Regen tokens.Heroes that can do a lot of damage in round one will be very successful.In addition, his mediocre Resistance makes stacking DoTs on him effective (especiallyBurn Tokens).
The decision of whether to focus on the Deacon or his followers first depends largely on your party’s strengths. If you can dish out 60 - 100 single-target damage in 2 rounds or fewer, then you can ignore the minions. However, if you aren’t confident in your ability to do that, then killing the minions to prevent Worship from stacking is the better choice.
Finally, because Stress is such a big problem when fighting The Deacon, focus one party member on Stress Reducing actions.
Related:Darkest Dungeon 2: Tips & Tricks For Beginners
Best Items Against The Deacon
Items that reduce stress, buff max HP, or cure Bleeding are the best choices when facing The Deacon.
Combat Items
For Combat Items,Laudanum, Clotting Powder, and Bandagesare all solid choices. If you don’t have these on hand, there are otherpowerful Combat Itemsthat you might have instead.
Inn Items thatincrease maximum HPare a spectacular way to increase your team’s survivability and counter The Deacon’s ability to cleanse Block Tokens. Examples include Stale Bread, Slime Mold, Flapjacks, or Apples and Cheese. This isn’t an exhaustive list of Inn Items that might be useful, so consider visiting ourBest Inn Itemsarticle for more information.
