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The third Mountain Boss inDarkest Dungeon 2, fought at the end of an Obsession run, is the Focused Fault. Unlike the bosses you’ll have fought up to this point, Focused Fault has multiple phases. Clearing the enemy side of the screen is only the first step to overcoming this ocular opponent!
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This guide provides an overview of the Focused Fault’s attack pattern, as well as tips and strategies for taking it down. Whether you need help clearing away the Cloistered Eyes at the beginning of the battle or withstanding the Fault’s devastating Limerence attack, we’ll help you every step of the way.
Phase One: The Cloistered Eyes
When you first arrive at the Mountain during an Obsession run, you’ll be greeted byfour Clusters of Eyes.These enemies appear weak on the surface, but they hide a number of dangerous qualities. The faster you can defeat them, the easier a time you’ll have when the true boss arrives.
Like other Mountain Bosses, you’re able to only battle the Focused Fault if your Stagecoach has a Trophy from a Lair Boss equipped. It’s also worth noting that you’ll have to fighttwo groups of Cultists on the approach to the Mountain, rather than just one. Be ready!
When a Cluster of Eyes' HP reaches zero, it downgrades to a Bifurcated Eye, which in turn downgrades to a Cloistered Eye. Cloistered Eyes leave corpses behind when killed, and can be resurrected -be sure to have a means of clearing corpsesto prevent this!
Since you need to get through all three forms of each Cluster, theyeffectively have 26 HP each.However, any damage in excess of the current form’s HP is negated when the Eye downgrades. For example, if a Bifurcated Eye has four HP, and you hit it for eight, the resulting Cloistered Eye will have its full starting total of six HP; the extra four that was dealt to the Bifurcated Eye are effectively wasted.
Blight, Burn, and Bleed, however,stay on an Eye after it changes form.This makes these effects the best way of dealing with the Clusters, especially if you may afflict multiple Eyes at once!
If they’re allowed to attack enough, the Eyes will grow back to their larger forms, forcing you to beat them down again. Try to attack Eyes that haven’t yet acted in the current round to prevent this!
Seen Tokens
The Cloistered Eyes (regardless of their current form) have weak attacks that deal damage in the single digits. However, they apply Seen tokens to their targets. A Hero that has been Seen will gain Stress at the start of their turn, and there isno way to remove a Seen tokenonce it’s applied. This means you can expect Meltdowns as the fight wears on. Bring theFlagellantfor this fight - if you can force multiple Toxic Meltdowns, you can passively put stacks of Blight on the Focused Fault during the second phase!
The Eyes will focus on a single Hero each round, so if you can destroy them all before the fourth round you’ll have at least one Hero who hasn’t been Seen. That’s very important for the second phase of the fight (see below).
Related:Darkest Dungeon 2: Complete Man-At-Arms Class Guide
Phase Two - Focused Fault
When all four Cloistered Eyes are destroyed, the Focused Fault will appear. This enormous boss has 250 HP (or more if the Loathing reached its maximum during your run), so be ready for a long fight. It opens each round withBehold, placing debuffs on a single Hero. After that, it dedicates every action to casting Limerence, a high-damage attack.
The Focused Fault’s weakness is thatit can only affect Heroes who have not been Seen.If one or more Heroes made it out of the first phase without having any Seen tokens placed upon them, they’ll becompletely safe from the Focused Faultuntil all the other Heroes are dead.
Do everything you can tokeep Seen Heroes away from Death’s Doorwhile relentlessly attacking the Focused Fault. As usual, damage-over-time effects are clutch - though it should be noted that the Fault hashigh Resistances, so don’t expect your Bleed, Burn, or Blight effects to take hold every time.
Trinkets that punish enemies for attacking a Hero, or Skills that offer Riposte, are great choices against the Focused Fault since it will be attacking most or all of your Heroes with every action.
The Focused Fault will continue to use Limerence until there are no Seen Heroes left alive. At that point, it will spend its next few actionsplacing Seen tokens on any remaining Heroesbefore resuming its assault. Hopefully, if the fight reaches that point the boss will almost be dead. Keep attacking and finish the monster before it finishes you!
