Darkest Dungeon 2 allows you to equip Combat Items which are much like the consumables you could use in the first game. The only difference now is that Combat Items offer a lot more bonuses and effects during enemy encounters.
There are a profuse amount of Combat Items that are split between various categories in DD2. You will only be using some of them in your expedition, making it all the more important to know which are the best Combat Items to equip in Darkest Dungeon 2.
The Combat Items mentioned below are not in any specific order. This is because enemy encounters in DD2 are pretty situational. The Combat Item best suited for you relies on what enemies you are facing, your heroes, their quirks and stats, and such.
Regardless, most of the Combat Items mentioned below can make the best of a bad situation.
Bandages (Woven – 1 Target)
Similar to the first game, you are going to face several enemies in Darkest Dungeon 2 that can inflict Bleed on your heroes. Hence, having Bandages to remove that negative token becomes important.
Bandages remove Bleed from one of your heroes while also healing for 10 percent. Do note that Bandages only heal your heroes if they are bleeding.
While the 10-percent heal is fairly insignificant compared to most other Combat Healing Items in DD2, you do not actually need to have a “Worktable Loom” just for producing Bandages. They are pretty common to find in the game for quick bleed removal and healing.
Stimulants (Restorative – 1 Target)
Stimulants are some of the most common Combat Items you can randomly find in Darkest Dungeon 2. They are also incredibly powerful, which makes it all the more important to have a “Chirurgeon’s Mixing Kit” on your Stagecoach for a chance to produce them yourself.
Stimulants give 1x Strength token and +5 Speed for three turns to one of your heroes. Give this to your best damage-dealing hero early in a round to make them do 50 percent more damage for their next attack. The additional Speed boost will further allow your hero a good chance to get an early turn in the next round.
Save your Stimulants for fights where you have to finish off a powerful enemy as quickly as possible. This is one Combat Item that you will find useful throughout the game.
War Horn (Party)
War Horn is a rare Combat Item that you can only get randomly in Darkest Dungeon 2. If you are lucky enough to obtain one, save it for a boss fight because it gives 2x Strength tokens to all heroes in your party.
Hence, all four of your heroes will do 50 percent more damage for their next two attacks which can prove incredibly powerful. You can potentially wipe out all of the enemy party with just this Combat Item alone.
Scrap Grenade (Trap – Enemy Party)
If you have a bleed-inflicting party such as Hellion and Highwayman, you can use Scrap Grenade to do additional bleed damage at the start of the fight.
Scrap Grenade inflicts Bleed to the entire enemy party where all enemies take three Bleed damage for three turns in Darkest Dungeon 2.
You can then follow up with attack skills that do bonus damage against bleeding targets or add further Bleed tokens for a massive Bleed build-up for the fight.
You can produce a Scrap Grenade with a “Trapmaker’s Kit” on your Stagecoach. You can also get a Spiked Ball that has the same effect as Scrap Grenade except that it does five Bleed damage to a single target.
Laudanum (Concoction – 1 Target)
Laudanum is easily one of the best and most useful Combat Items to combat Stress in Darkest Dungeon 2. This Concoction removes 1x Horror token and 1x Stress bar from one of your heroes.
While there are Combat Items that remove far more Stress bars in comparison, removing Horror tokens is important in the mid-late game sections of DD2 when you are facing Cosmic enemies.
Remember that in Darkest Dungeon 2, maxing out your Stress points has a higher chance of a Meltdown where your hero loses almost all of their health points. Hence, having Laudanum remove Horror can prove to be a lifesaver in high-stake situations.
You should definitely consider adding “Alembic and Retort” to your Stagecoach in the latter stages of the game to produce Laudanums.
Otherwordly Fragment (1 Target)
Otherwordly Fragment is yet another Combat Item that can only be found randomly with a higher chance of obtaining from high-level boss fights.
Its rarity is why you can consider Otherwordly Fragment as one of the best Combat Items in Darkest Dungeon 2. It inflicts both Blight and Burn to an enemy target to deal a total of 10 damage (5 each) for three turns.
Apply this Combat Item to an enemy with a large health pool and then follow up with either your Plague Doctor or Runaway for additional Blight or Burn damage.
Triage Kit (Restorative – 1 Target)
Triage Kit is a Combat Item that heals for the most amount of points in the game. You can potentially bring one of your heroes back to full health in Darkest Dungeon 2.
It heals for 75 percent which can be further increased with Pygmy Pliskin, one of the best Pets in Darkest Dungeon 2.
The best thing about the Triage Kit item is that it has no conditions to meet. In DD2, most healing abilities require your heroes to be below a certain threshold. For example, you can only heal your hero if their health is below 30 percent.
Since Triage Kit has no such prerequisites, you can use it on any of your heroes at any point in a fight.
Do note that its downgraded version is called the Healing Salve which heals for 33 percent instead. You can produce either of them with the “Chirurgeon’s Mixing Kit” in Darkest Dungeon 2.
Thunderclap Grenade (Contraption – Enemy Party)
There are a few Combat Items that can stun an enemy in Darkest Dungeon 2. The Thunderclap Grenade goes a step beyond by stunning the entire enemy party if the dice roll is in your favor.
Thunderclap Grenade shuffles the enemy party with a 25 percent chance to stun them.
It goes without saying how powerful this Combat Item can be in the game. In fact, upgrading your Stagecoach with a “Tinker’s Bench” is mostly because of producing items like the Thunderclap Grenade and the Pyrotechnic Dazzler.
Shuffling enemies can make a great impact. With luck, this could make the enemies’ front lines shift to the back, making their back-end fighters more exposed to your main heroes.
Pyrotechnic Dazzler (Contraption – 1 Target)
If you are looking for a Combat Item to both incapacitate and weaken an enemy alongside a chance to stun them as well, look no further than the Pyrotechnic Dazzler in Darkest Dungeon 2.
This particular Combat Item has gone through a major overhaul since its early access period. Suffice to say, it is not even more powerful.
The Pyrotechnic Dazzler now adds two random negative tokens to an enemy from the following pool: Blind, Daze, Stun, Vulnerable, and -4 Speed for three turns.
Do note that you cannot have both a Daze and Stun token at the same time. Stun will always take priority over Daze.
With a stacking capacity of two, you can single out an enemy target and leave them helpless for several rounds.
Pyrotechnic Dazzler is one of the main reasons to have a “Tinker’s Bench” on your Stagecoach.
Invigorating Intoxicant (Restorative – 1 Target)
Death is almost certain in Darkest Dungeon 2 but having Invigorating Intoxicant gives you a chance to escape Death, at least for a few turns.
Found randomly as well as produced by “Chirurgeon’s Mixing Kit” on your Stagecoach, Invigorating Intoxicant gives one of your heroes three massive buffs for three turns.
You gain 25 percent resistance to Death Blow, and +6 Speed and +10 Crit while on Death’s Door. This gives your hero a chance to do some extra damage while resisting death.
Just make sure to save this Combat Item for the worst possible situation where your healers are unable to save your dying heroes.
