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If you’re able to make it all the way to the end of the Confession of Cowardice inDarkest Dungeon 2- a feat in itself - you’ll be faced with the game’s final boss, the Body of Work. This towering titan has to be defeated in three phases, and many of its tactics are callbacks to earlier battles.
Related:Darkest Dungeon 2: Vestal Class Guide
A single strategy won’t be enough to take down the Body of Work. Your team needs to be able to work together, adapt, and overcome any obstacle to surmount this challenge. This guide has everything you need to know to banish the Spreading Stain once and for all!
Phase One - Intestines
When the battle against the Body of Work begins, you’ll be faced with its monstrous intestines. The stomach has 175 HP, and its primary strategy is toreduce your Heroes' Blight Resistanceand exploit this new weakness. Bringing Trinkets or Skills that can bolster your Blight Resistance will blunt - but not negate - the damage you take during this phase.
The Intestines will start off by castingGastric Juices, which causes two spaces to inflict Blight on the Hero standing on them at the start of the Hero’s turn. The boss will then attempt to useTrammelto immobilize Heroes, keeping them on the poisonous spaces to build up as much Blight as possible.
Eventually, it will end the cycle withCatabolize, which removes the Gastric Juice tokens and inflicts Horror on the affected Heroes; it also causes the targets totake all of their remaining Blight damage at oncebefore removing Blight and starting the cycle over again.
Try to defeat the Intestines as quickly as possible; the more turns your Heroes take, the more Blight damage they’ll receive. Use buffs and high-damage attacks to wear down the boss’s Health bar. It’s worth noting that the Intestines have100 Blight Resistance. you’re able to still inflict Blight if you use Combo attacks or reduce its Resistance with combat items, but it’s generally better to focus on Burn or Bleed for this phase.
Phase Two - Chest
The Body of Works' chest and arms are reminiscent of the previous Mountain Boss, theRavenous Reach. At 200 HP, the chest is more durable than the previous phase, but has average Resistances, so you’ll have more options when fighting it. Like the Reach, the Body of Work willplace Contempt tokens on Heroes, preparing to attack them with powerful strikes likeHammerandHaymaker.Both attacks deal heavy damage; the firstknocks a Hero to the rear of the formation, while the secondinflicts Stress.
The chest also casts Trammel occasionally, which can disrupt a movement-focused party.
Powerful punches are dangerous enough, butCovetous Glancecan put you in a dangerous position. It not only inflicts Stress on the targeted Hero, but it alsosteals all of their positive (gold) tokens.If you set up a Hero with lots of buffs, they can be stolen and used against you! Plan for this bydebuffing the boss rather than enhancing your own Heroes, or by using skills likeHighway Robberyto take the stolen tokens back.
This phase is when you’re most likely to see some Meltdowns from your Heroes. If a Hero is about to max out on Stress, consider letting them boil over here so that you’re able to heal them before proceeding to the final battle.
Related:Darkest Dungeon 2: Flagellant Class Guide
Phase Three - Throne
Atop the shoulders of the Body of Work is a throne occupied by the Cultists' dark god, the Lord of the Iron Crown. With a jaw-dropping 999 HP and some fearsome Resistances, you’d be forgiven for having some hesitation the first time you encounter Darkest Dungeon 2’s ultimate enemy! This fight ismuch more of a slow burnthan the previous two phases, so don’t worry too much about trying to rush the boss down.
The Throne is always in the middle two ranks fo the enemy formation, usually flanked by two Proclaimers. The Proclaimers look and fight like upgraded Cherubim, providing buffs to the Throne and to one another while building up Worship tokens. If a full round passes with one of the Proclaimers dead, the Throne will summon a new one to replace it.
Focus on killing whichever Proclaimer has more Worship tokens to prevent them from going off and healing the Throne!
Try tokill both Proclaimersat around the same time, before they can be resurrected. When there are no Proclaimers present, the Body of Work will castFace Your Failure, forcing you to choose a Hero. The Throne will summon a Specter in the form of an enemy from that Hero’s backstory. While the Specters' forms are different, they all have 30 HP, two attacks per round, and willexclusively attack the Hero that spawned themuntil they’re killed.
Specters deal about eight damage per attack, which isn’t much but can add up quickly. Do everything you can to protect fragile Heroes, using Guard or Block tokens to reduce the damage they take.
A Specter canonly be damaged by their related Hero; other Heroes are free to attack the Specter, but the damage dealt is always reduced to zero. The Specter’s nemesis should therefore always focus on the Specter, while the rest of the team buffs them or attacks the Throne.
When a Specter is defeated, the triumphant Hero immediately uses a special attack calledExultation, which recovers both HP and Stress whiledealing 200 damage to the Throne.At that point, the Throne will summon a new pair of Proclaimers and start the cycle over.
A Hero can only ever be targeted by Face Your Failure once, so every new Specter must be spawned from a Hero who has yet to defeat one. Quickly summoning and defeating Specters is the fastest way to reduce the Throne’s HP, but it won’t be enough to fully defeat the Body of Work; after all, four Specters only adds up to 800 damage. The other 199 is up to the party.
Any Hero who isn’t fighting a Specter, healing, or buffing should focus their attacks on the Throne - especially if they can inflict Burn, Bleed, or Blight. If youconsistently deal damage while you’re working your way through the Specters, you can potentially deal enough damage to bring down the Body of Work by the time the third Specter falls. Be sure to keep an eye on your supply of combat items and limited-use Skills likeDeathlessorBattlefield Medicine.
If you’ve gotten this far, you’ve already proven that you’ve got a powerful build and that you know how to use it - you’ll see the ending cinematic before you know it!
