When it comes to gross enemies in Darkest Dungeon 2, the Harvest Child is one of the worst. A mutated mass of flesh and “food”, it’s the Lair Boss for the Foetor, waiting at the Harvest House for its next meal. If you find yourself struggling to put this twisted feast to an end, follow these tips to beat the Harvest Child.
How to Defeat the Harvest Child in Darkest Dungeon 2
If the Foetor is the last region before you hit the Mountain and you still don’t have a Trophy, you’ll need to defeat the Harvest Child. If you have a chance to prepare, you’ll want to stock up on Blight and Bleed resistance, healing and anything that can inflict Burn. Some useful Combat Items are:
- Bandage
- Antivenom
- Pustule Salve
- Mineral-Rich Spring Water
- Neutralizing Powders
- Clotting Powders
- Medicinal Herbs
- Incendiary Cocktail
Pustule Salve cures both Blight and Bleed, along with a slight heal, making it a great item for this battle if you have it. Incendiary Cocktail inflicts five Burn on a single target for three turns, which is great if you don’t have the Runaway or are on a path that doesn’t include Burn for the Vestal. Having someone with the Pyromania quirk is actually good for this particular case.
Before you leave the inn to head to the Foetor, you should buff your party with food, like Flapjacks or Tinned Delicacies for HP as well as resistance buffs. Along with food, other good Inn Items to use are:
- Clotting Poultice
- Impermeable Poultice
- Blasphemous Idol
If you have a Runaway on your team, use some items that can boost her Burn chance as well. Double check all equipped Trinkets are the best for this fight, either boosting damage or resistances. If you have the Clenching Claws Trinket, equip it on your position one Hero before heading into the Harvest House.
Burn the Harvest
Once you make it to facing off against the Harvest Child, you need to keep your highest HP Heroes in the first two positions. The Harvest Child has two hunks of suspicious meat with it that cast two Aroma skills. These skills give your party Harvest Hunger, with the token appearing as a fork and knife.
On an afflicted character’s turn, they will move up a position. If they end up in the first position, will have to take a bit of the meat. Eating the meat will result in a -15% max health debuff that cannot be resisted, along with +1 Stress. So you really need to keep your beefiest party members up front. If you have your first position character equipped with Clenching Claws, you’ll only have to worry about them losing max health.
In terms of attacking the Harvest Child, you should focus on Burn and Bleed skills as it only has 10 Resistance against those. Blight will be hard to get stacked for this battle. The Harvest Child will also move around the field with each skill it uses. Stack up DoT as fast as possible while avoiding a gross meal will quickly end the battle.
If you’re lacking in either Burn or Bleed skills, you can try Stunning it then piling on the damage instead of having to focus on healing, etc.
Best Party Compositions to Beat the Harvest Child
There are a number of really good Heroes you can use in this fight, especially the Runaway and the Jester. They can hit almost all ranks, and inflict DoT that the Harvest Child is weak against.
Harvest Child Fight Party Composition 1
This party is all about stacking DoT damage with a tank in the front.
- Rank 4 – Vestal: Consecration of Fortitude, Consecration of Light, Ministrations, Mantra, Divine Comfort
- Rank 3 – Jester: Slice Off, Inspiring Tune, Harvest
- Rank 2 – Runaway: Searing Strike, Controlled Burn, Cauterize, Backdraft
- Rank 1 – Man-at-Arms: Crush, Hold the Line, Retribution, Stand Fast
Harvest Child Fight Party Composition 2
Utilizing two tankier Heroes, this team still deals a large amount of DoT but focuses more on the mix of ranged and melee attacks.
- Rank 4 – Vestal: Judgement, Consecration of Fortitude, Ministrations, Divine Comfort, Bash
- Rank 3 – Jester: Harvest, Inspiring Tune, Battle Ballad, Fade to Black, Razor’s Wit
- Rank 2 – Highwayman: Duelist’s Advance, Point Blank Shot, Open Vein, Grapeshot Blast, Double Cross
- Rank 1 – Leper: Chop, Withstand, Solemnity, Intimidate, Bash
Those are some of the best team compositions to use when facing off against the Harvest Child. This Lair Boss seems to be one of the easier ones, having a wider range of DoT weaknesses and being able to be stunned. Its Harvest Hunger is also easier to work around by Immobilizing your first position Hero so only they can be effected.
Harvest Child Rewards
Once defeated, you’ll obtain one of the two versions of the Harvest Child Trophy:
- The Bumper Crop: +25 Inventory Spaces
- The Harvest’s Bounty: +50% Max Health and -50% Deathblow Resistance
Along with the Trophy you can also receive:
- Kitchen Knives Trinket
- Ghastly Gruel Trinket
- Curing Cuppa Trinket
- Galvanising Goblet Trinket
- 1 Random Trinket
- 1 Mastery
- -2 Loathing
- +15 Flame
- Relics and Baubles
- 1 Random Combat Item
- 1 Random Inn Item
- 1 Random Stagecoach Item
There’s all you can potentially earn by bringing the reign of the Harvest Child to an end, as well as how to defeat it. For more Lair Boss walkthroughs, how to clear corpses, and other fantastic assistance, check out our Darkest Dungeon 2 guides. Hold the side of meat.
