The Baron is dead on a pile of cocoons, the Viscount is rotting next to his former prey, and now, you are ready to face the final boss of Darkest Dungeon’s Crimson Court DLC - The Countess. As with the other bosses in the DLC, tracking the Countess is part of the battle. Remember, the dungeon is fixed. You can leave at any time and return with a fresh-faced band of heroes.
Once you reach the Countess, however, you will realize that she is no slouch, and her status as an “End Of DLC” Boss is well earned. As with all bosses in Darkest Dungeon, you need to come prepared. The Countess has a lot of tricks up her sleeve and an unprepared party will quickly end up dead.
The Countess’ Statistics and Resistances
The Countess - Thirsty
|
Health |
Dodge |
Protection |
Speed |
Stun |
Blight |
Bleed |
Debuff |
Move |
Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
400 |
25 |
30% |
4 |
140% |
110% |
90% |
120% |
220% |
3 |
The Countess - Flushed
|
Health |
Dodge |
Protection |
Speed |
Stun |
Blight |
Bleed |
Debuff |
Move |
Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
400 |
10% |
1 |
145% |
110% |
90% |
120% |
220% |
1 |
The Countess - Bloodthirsty
|
Health |
Dodge |
Protection |
Speed |
Stun |
Blight |
Bleed |
Debuff |
Move |
Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
400 |
30 |
40% |
8 |
165% |
120% |
80% |
140% |
220% |
4 |
The Countess is a beefy noble with a strikingly high HP value of 400. She has the best Dodge🃏 of all the bosses in the DLC and has a seriously impressive Protection stat. All of her resistances are fairly hi⛎gh, but there is a slight chink when it comes to Bleed, which has been a recurring vulnerability.
As you can see, she also has multiple phases that change up her stat line. These numbers alone should be enough to concern you, but worry not, she is very much killable, and unlike her tricky underlings, she won’t be hiding or healing 🐎(much).
How The Countess Kills You
Thirsty
How the Countess kills you varies wildly based on what phase she is in. The Countess cycles between three phases or forms, with each form bringing a different set of attacks. In her base form, Thirsty, she is quite the threat. She has several f🌃airly pote🍷nt attacks that will start chunking your heroes if left unanswered.
She also acts three times per turn, allowing her to do some serious damage if she decides to focus. She is more than capable of piling on Stress damage too, so beware of potential heart at🍬tacks if the fight goes on for too long.
Her most dangerous attacks in this form are Love Letter and Sway With Me. Love Letter injects a character with a parasitic egg. This attack damages the Countess on caꦬst, but the damage your hero will take is substantially more 🐟concerning.
Every time that character attacks, they will take a small amount of damage with a die being rolled to determine whether or not the egg will hatch. If it hatches, then they take a massive chunk of damage and get debuffed. What’s more, the Countess gains a stacking Protection buff, making her even harder to kill.
Sway With Me deals light damage, but applies a nasty debuff that causes your entire party to shuffle every turn for the next three turns. This can quickly put you on the backfoot, and if you don’t have a party who can act in multiple formations, you are going to struggle.
Flushed
Her flushed state is her weakest form, reducing her move-pool substantially and knocking her down to just one action. The Countess has no way of inflicting damage in this form, so she isn’t going to kill you here.
She does cure all Bleed and Blight, however, forcing you to reapply it. Her only skill, Momentary Overexertion, buffs her stats a little bit. She will eventually trigger Metamorphosis, however, and this is when things start going downhill.
Bloodlust
This is her most powerful form, and everything about her gets dialed to dizzying heights. Once again, she cures herself of all Bleed and Blight, so you will need to reapply it if you are going down 🤪that route. All of her attacks are more damaging, and she can🍌 target the whole team.
She gets whopping four actions per turn, so she can murder someone if she wants to. She can also stun two characters per turn, drastically limiting your offensive options if you are caught out. She can even heal in this form, which adds insult to injury.
She can’t sustain this form forever, thankfully, and after a few rounds, sheꦿ will use Courtship Renewed to revert to he⭕r Thirsty state.
How To Kill The Countess
Killing the Countess is going to be a bit of a pain. She has plenty of HP, she cures Blight and Bleed regularly, she punishes you if you attack, and her Protection stat can grow to be monstrous. If you play your cards wrong, she can gain 75 percent Protection, making most damage dealers worthless. She isn’t immor♏tal, however, and there are a few things you can do to take he𒅌r down.
Firstly, she is weak to Bleed in all of her forms. Sure, she can cure it, considering she can act up to four times per turn (based on form), you can deal some serious damage before she gets around to fixing herself up. This damage also ignores her Protection, which is going to be a pain throughout. Don’t bother with Blight, Bleed is the way to go.
Secondly, she is vulnerable to Stun, but only when she is in Flushed form. When she moves into her Flushed state, she gains a debuff that lowers her Stun resistance substantially. Because this form only has one action, she is not going to shake off the Stun the turn you apply it, allowing you to delay her Bloodlust transformation.
If you are lucky, you can get a couple of stuns off back-to-back, and this will give you time to heal and time to inflict plenty of damage. She will eventually transform, however, so be prepared.
Dealing with her Bloodlust form is going to take a lot of Dodge. Thankfully, none of the Countess’ attacks are particularly accurate, allowing you to168澳洲幸运5开奖网: bring some trinkets or characters 🤡who can play into this. If you can Dodge her attacks, then you don’t need to worry about her ludicrously high damage output.
A few other things to bear in mind when fighting the Countess:
- If she infects a character with an egg, it will only deal damage and hatch if you attack. The best-case scenario is she infects a healer or support piece. The egg will never hatch, so that character is more or less safe to do what they want to do.
- In a situation where the egg has infected a damage character, you need to weigh up your options. If the egg hatches at the wrong time, it could kill you. Make sure you are healed up.
- If the Countess has your party shuffling every turn, you want characters who can act in multiple positions. This even means taking unusual skills on characters who really shouldn’t be dealing damage. For example, if you take a Vestal, bringing along Mace Bash is not a bad idea.
- You also want characters who can move and attack at the same time. The Shieldbreaker is excellent at doing this as she can move in every direction with ease, giving you plenty of formation manipulation.
- Speaking of the Shieldbreaker, she is perfect for punching through the Countess’ Protection. This can be applied to any character with a piercing attack. Land one of these attacks, and that 75 percent Protection stat isn’t going to do anything. Combine that with a Bleed character, and you can really start to do some work.
- Camping before the fight can be hugely beneficial. For example, the Shieldbreaker can apply a Protection piercing buff to your whole party. Very useful.
Ideal Party
Flagellant
The MVP of the Crimson Court. He can inflict Bleed like no other, he has some powerful attacks like Exsanguinate which work wonders since the Countess takes up four slots, and if he gets shuffled, he is more than capable of getting back into the fight. He can also self-heal, making him hard to kill. Finally, he has a few Death’s Door tricks that boost her𒀰 survivability even further.
You could swap him out for a Hellion who h🐼as some recovery abilities and deals high physical damage.
Hellion
The Hellion is a great pick for the second slot f𓃲or all thꩲe reasons she is a good pick for the first slot. She hits hard, she can keep herself healthy, and she can bleed.
You could swap her for a Shieldbreaker as well, who will pierce the Countess’ defenses with ease. She is also very mobile. Taking a second Shieldbreaker can go a long way too, as you can start d🤡oing the mobility dance by using Pierce repeatedly.
Man-At-Arms
The Man-At-Arms can do a lot of work in this fight. Using Bolster on turn one will buff your party's Dodge, and then he can spend the rest of his days defending one of his allies. He’s a tough support piece who can be the deciding factor between victory and defeat. He can also land his stun when the Countess is Flushed, giving you more time to deal damage.
A Hound Master is a fine alternative. He can heal, he can protect your characters, and he has plenty of Dodge. The Plague Doctor could also work as she can heal any status ailments you migh🎃t have, buff your damage dealers, and even land a sneaky stun.
Vestal
The Vestal can keep your team alive, and that’s really what you need. Burning through all that health can take a while, and the Vestal can delay your defeat long enough to scrape out a victory. She can also stun, which is handy, and her group AOE heal can be used in any position.
A second Man-at-Arms is also a great choice. Doubling up on Bolster can skyrocket your party's Dodge stat, and then you can use them both to protect your front-line characters. The Hound Master can be taken too, and you can similarly u𒆙se him to protect your front-li✃ne.
