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- Where to find a dreaming general
- How to defeat the Dreaming General
Darkest Dungeon 2 is a game full of tough battles, few are more challenging than The Dreaming General. Deals high damage, lurks at the end of a particularly dangerous Lair, and can rendering the entire team helpless if you’re not careful.
Just getting to the Dreaming General can be difficult considering how powerful his soldiers are in the Lost Battalion. He’s not the type of boss to take down easily, so it’s important to be ready every time you challenge him. This guide will tell you everything you need to know – the rest is up to you.
Updated May 14, 2023 by Matt Arnold: With the full launch of Darkest Dungeon 2, many early access bosses have been slightly modified. We have updated this guide to reflect the current version of Dreaming General. The strategy remains the same, but there are a few key changes to combat, including the general’s HP total and moveset – be sure to check them out before you head to the Tangle again!
Where to find a dreaming general
Every time the Stagecoach travels through the Tangle, there’s a chance you’ll meet the Dreaming General. His lair, the General’s Keep, can be found in this region. Like any other Lair, you will have to fight your way through two floors of minions before the boss battle.
You’ll be partially healed between floors, but if you’re not sure you can defeat the general, you can always retreat before approaching him and try again with another run.
He guards the general’s fortress the lost battalion, one of the strongest enemy groups in the game. They’re aligned, powerful, and can even be revived by a bishop when they’re at full health. Be sure equip at least one skill that can clear corpsessuch as Graverobber’s Dead night or lepers Cleaning while crossing the Tangle. A bandit Highway robbery the skill is also useful for removing a large number of buffs used by the battalion, and the upgraded version can even steal those buffs and apply them to Highwayman.
The lost battalion – and, importantly, the dreaming general – are susceptible to burns. Having Runaway in your party will make dealing with these enemies much easier. Blight also works decently well, so if by some miracle your blight healer isn’t busy healing the wounded, it can deal extra lingering damage.
Finally – and this is key – they have multiple attacks that can hit the back rows. If you can’t get hits on the Tap Root behind the General, you will definitely lose this fight.
How to defeat the Dreaming General
The Dreaming General consists of two entities on the battlefield – the General himself, who has 185 HP, and the Tap Root, which can be attacked but never takes damage. You only have to defeat the dreaming generalhowever, you will need to attack Tap Root throughout the battle to have any chance of survival.
The dreaming general is able to act great damage and stress.. The first can be mitigated somewhat by Skills that allow you to block or dodge, but the willingness to resist and manage stress can be the difference between winning and losing this fight. Even then, expect to have some or all of your heroes experience a breakdown during the battle.
General’s Attacks, A stirring whisper and Living Dead, damage a single target and cause stress to the entire group. The Walking Dead deals with a lot more stress, but it’s always telegraphed with a named move The soil is mixed.
Tap Root
Tap Root is always in the last enemy rank. He doesn’t attack, he uses Creeping growth at the beginning of each round. This does no damage, but places Tangled Growth tokens on heroes. The first time Tap Root uses Creeping Growth (at the very beginning of a fight), it affects all heroes, while in subsequent rounds it hits two random targets.
|
Number of growth tokens |
The effect |
|---|---|
|
1 |
Nothing – Attack the Tap Root to cause the vines to retreat. |
|
2 |
Lowers the hero’s speed, causing it to take effect later in the round. |
|
3 |
The hero cannot use any skills, but must instead survive his turn Whispering darkness. Whispering darkness causes stress to all party members. |
The Tap Root attack will remove one token from an affected hero, chosen at random. Since Tap Root is behind the Dreaming General, you’ll have to use it ranged attacks beat back. In the meantime, your flash heroes should focus on defeating the Dreaming General. Heroes can’t completely get rid of Tangled Growth tokens – every party member will stuck with at least one for the duration of the fight.
The need for split your attacks between two targets combined with the dreaming general’s high HP, this can make a a long, exhausting strugglebut if you master the flow and pace of the battle, you will be able to win. Damage over time from Burn and Blight they’ll do wonders to speed up the battle, as will power and crit tokens wherever you find them.
Tank heroes like Man-At-Arms and Leper can use Taunt to absorb most of the damage from the Dreaming General’s attacks; the leper’s ability to heal itself makes him an excellent choice for this, as it will make it easier for the plague doctor to spread the damage and attack with Invigorating fumes.
When the general marks your heroes with The soil is mixed, will attack the next round with a strong attack on the listed positions. It does a lot of damage, though reduces the number of Tangled Growth tokens on targets; with some careful positioning you can use this to remove tokens at the expense of some health.
If all living party members are fully complex, the Dreaming General will play Nightmare, which deals massive damage to the entire party and removes all but one Tangled Growth token from each character. That means you will never be completely out of the fight.
One last piece of advice
Don’t expect to go into battle against a dreaming general at full strength. By the time you reach it, you’ll already have taken damage and stress, and some party members may be suffering from negative affinity. Darkest Dungeon 2 is a tough game, and sometimes all the preparation in the world won’t save you from disaster. If the Dreaming General beats you, keep trying – you’ll eventually get your revenge.