The Sprawl in Darkest Dungeon 2 is an incinerated village, burning both the inhabitants and knowledge. In this Darkest Dungeon 2 Sprawl Guide, you will learn how to combat the enemies and prepare for this region!
Enemies In The Sprawl
The enemies in The Sprawl utilize many tokens in the form of strengthening themselves or weakening your party. Enemies generally deal burn damage over time, but some enemies can apply bleed as well. The main mechanic of this region is that some enemies can “Ignite” after being in combat or from an ally ability. When ignited, the enemy will heal a portion of their health and gain access to powerful attacks. The Ignite effects will be bolded in each enemy’s paragraph. Because of Ignite, the general strategy for most enemies is to rush to kill them as quickly as possible.
Flayer:
Flayers are low-health flexible enemies that spawn with a dodge token and are most dangerous in the back ranks. When in the back two ranks, a Flayer has access to the attack “Advance Lunge.” This attack deals small damage, but moves the Flayer forward while giving it a dodge and riposte token. This makes the Flayer less desirable to attack due to the riposte counterattack and chance to dodge. By becoming harder to attack, the Flayer might live longer and be able to ignite. If possible, try to kill a Flayer in the back ranks before they can use this attack. When Ignited, “Advance Lunge” will attempt to apply a burn in addition to its normal effects. The Flayer also gains access to the attacks “Blade Tornado” and “Burning Skewer” when in the front two ranks. “Blade Tornado” does medium damage to the front two ranks, attempting to apply a burn and blind token while giving the Flayer a dodge token. “Burning Skewer” does high damage, inflicts stress damage, attempts to apply a burn and bleed, and gives the Flayer a riposte token.
Whipper:
Whippers are another low-health flexible enemy that are good at displacing your party. Using “Whip Trip” a Whipper can move one of your heroes forward and lock them in that rank. Its attack “Fiery Haze” can apply a blind token as well, possibly nullifying damage. When Ignited, its attacks will attempt to apply a burn and it gains access to “Infernal Taskmaster,” its most dangerous attack. This will hit all heroes on your team, do low damage, inflict stress damage, and attempt to apply both a burn and a debuff that lowers burn resistance. If other ignited enemies are present, then the burns can easily stack and become extremely damaging. However, if it’s the last enemy then a whipper isn’t very threatening making it a lower priority threat in most fights.
Pit Fighter:
Pit Fighters are high health enemies that take up two ranks in an enemy formation. They act twice a turn and have two attacks, “Pummel” and “Jawbreaker.” “Pummel” only deals medium damage to a single target. “Jawbreaker” deals high damage and has a chance to move the target backwards and daze them. These attacks alone aren’t incredibly strong, but Pit Fighters also have the ability “Accelerant.” This ability gives the Pit Fighter a buff which is its main gimmick, where every attack a Pit Fighter does increases its speed by one and causes its attacks to deal one extra burn damage over time. Since Pit Fighters act twice a turn, they can scale and become extremely fast and apply heavy damage over time with burns. It does take a little while to get to that point, but the quicker you can take them down the better.
Shaman:
Shamans are a low health support unit that are normally in the back ranks. Utilizing its “Eyes Closed” ability it is able to put blind tokens on your heroes and deal stress damage. It also has access to “Burning Beads” which does moderate damage and also inflicts stress damage. This enemy is mostly an annoyance, and it isn’t very threatening. When Ignited, a Shaman gains access to “Blazing Aegis” which heals itself and an ally. It also guards the targeted ally for two attacks and gives itself two dodge tokens. Burning beads will also attempt to apply a burn when a Shaman Ignites. Since “Blazing Aegis” is such a great defensive skill, it’s best to not have a Shaman Ignite when other enemies are present. If you don’t think you can finish most enemies before a Shaman Ignites, it’s best to focus a Shaman down.
Sacrificial:
A Sacrifical is a suicide unit that starts with two block tokens in the back ranks of an enemy formation. Its main gimmick is that it will use “The Flame Spreads” each turn when not in the first rank. This will move the Sacrificial forward one rank and nothing else. However, when in the front rank the Sacrificial will use “A New Sun” which kills itself. This attack deals heavy damage to your entire party and causes stress damage. It also has a chance to stun and burn. This is an absolutely devastating attack that you should never be hit by. Never pull a sacrificial, and if possible push it towards the back ranks. Luckily it is of no danger until it gets to the front rank, so Sacrificials are easy to deal with. If a Sacrificial gets close to the front, focus it with everything you have. As a small note since this happened to me once, if you have the option to shuffle the enemy formation at a Resistance Encounter in The Sprawl, don’t do it. There is a possibility that a Sacrificial will be shuffled to the front rank, which is horrifying. A Sacrificial cannot Ignite.
Immolatist:
An Immolatist is an extremely dangerous fast back rank unit with deathblow resistance. Immolatists have both support and damage capabilities. Starting with its attacks, “Fire Flay” does moderate damage to a single target and inflicts stress damage with a chance to burn. “Flaming Lasso” deals low damage to the back two ranks of your party, inflicts stress damage, and attempts to apply a blind and burn. These attacks are pretty dangerous due to the stress and burn, with “Flaming Lasso” being particularly annoying due to the blind. As for the support moves, “Funeral Pyre” targets an enemy corpse and destroys it. By doing so the Immolatist heals itself and its allies while giving them all a strength token. This can be extremely dangerous if there are other enemies alive, but it has the restriction of needing an enemy corpse. Due to this I don’t see an Immolatist healing allies often, and it’s at most two which isn’t horrible. However, the other support ability “The Fire Rises” is extremely dangerous. This ability targets an enemy and gives it a dodge token, a strength token, and Ignites it if possible. The fact that an Immolatist can use this on turn one and Ignite an enemy can quickly turn a fight into a struggle. I always try to focus on Immolatists first unless there is a Shaman. The supportive capabilities of both a Shaman and an Immolatist are extremely dangerous when paired together, so I usually focus on the easier to kill Shaman first. An Immolatist cannot Ignite.
Her Ladyship:
Her Ladyship is essentially an Immolatist with more health and stronger attacks. Hey Ladyship still uses “Funeral Pyre” and “The Fire Rises” exactly like an Immolatist. However, “Fire Flay” is replaced with “Fire Flense” and “Flaming Lasso” is replaced with “Chains of Agony.” These abilities do the exact same thing but with extra damage and stress. Her Ladyship also has a unique attack called “Combustion” which can only target a single unit that has combo and burn. This ability does an extreme amount of damage, and the burn on the target is cured after the damage. I very rarely see this ability used, but it’s still something to look out for.
Preparing For The Sprawl
Due to the high amounts of burns and stress, combat items and trinkets to counter these are very useful. Damage boosting combat trinkets and items are also incredibly useful since most battles in The Sprawl are a damage race. For this reason I also like upgrading damaging skills to end battles quicker. I like to be stingy with my relics at the inn since there is a greater chance of Field Hospitals and Hoarders appearing. Field Hospitals can be run-saving if heroes on your party have crippling quirks that you want to get rid of. There are also more Resistance Encounters, less Academic’s Caches and no Oases or Creature Dens. To learn more about these locations, check out our Darkest Dungeon 2 Location Guide!
The most important takeaway from this guide would be to target high priority targets and focus on damage! The immense threat from Ignite makes it so enemies can become deadly if left alone. Efficiency is key here! The Librarian lair boss is also a damage race, and a guide for that will be for later along with the other lair bosses. I hope your runs can improve from this Darkest Dungeon 2 Sprawl Guide, and good luck challenging The Sprawl!
