Darkest Dungeon Flagellant Revealed as Game’s 12th Character

The Flagellant is making his return in the full release of Darkest Dungeon 2, though he’s undergone some… changes. Crawling back from Death’s Door, the Flagellant is now a Blighted man, with his repeated flail wounds turned caustic. Now his appearance bears more resemblance to the shambling corpses fought in-game versus the potential party members.

Not only has The Flagellant come back to the apocalyptic world, but he’s brought a new mini-boss with him. Here’s all we know from an exclusive PC Gamer announcement. 

A significant shift in kit from the original Darkest Dungeon has taken place for the Flagellant. Originally specializing in Bleed DoT attacks, his physical changes have seeped into his attacks. Utilizing the Blight overtaking his body, the Flagellant can now inflict it upon enemies.

• Punish: A brutal flail strike to damage and blight an opponent.
• Fester: Destroys a corpse on the battlefield, blighting those around it.
• Deathless: The Flagellant sacrifices of his own body to restore another Hero’s health.
• Endure: Relieves a party member of stress at the cost of his own mind.
• Lash’s Gift: Strikes himself with his flail, raising his own health while buffing an ally’s strength and defenses.
• Acid Rain: Pummels his opponents with a virulent downpour, dealing damage and blight in equal measure.
• More! MORE!: The Flagellant covets pain, using it to heal himself after drawing enemy attacks.
• Suffer: Relieves a party member of their Blight, Bleed, and Burn by taking it upon himself.
• Sepsis: Inflicts tremendous Blight while recovering from the brink of death.
• Undying: Injures himself to provide regeneration for another.
• Necrosis: Strikes down all Blight-infected foes while his own flesh knits back together.

Image via Red Hook Studios.

As in Darkest Dungeon, the Flagellant excels when he is at Death’s Door. His masochistic nature shines through with sacrifices to his health to heal or cure other party members. With high Final Blow resistance, the Flagellant can stay at Death’s Door to have access to all his abilities, allowing him to deal massive Blighted damage to enemies. 

Along with his high-risk abilities comes a special stress mechanic. Similar to Rapturous in Darkest Dungeon, the Flagellant goes Toxic instead of having a Meltdown. With less impact than a traditional stress response, Toxic brings him to a level where he can utilize all his abilities in addition to resetting all ability cooldowns. How this impacts the sanity of his companions is yet to be seen. 

While the Flagellant sounds like a high-risk heavy hitter with definite workarounds to keep him in the fight, he’s not the only one who wandered into the apocalypse. Death, tired of the Flagellant sitting at Death’s Door but never joining her, has taken it upon herself to claim him.

After every successful battle with the Flagellant in the party there is a chance she could strike. While she has abilities to counter the Flagellant and his Death’s Door strategies, defeating her gains you the Death’s Head flower item.

Keep an eye out for the Flagellant at the full release of Darkest Dungeon 2 on May 8 for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. 

Featured image via Red Hook Studios.