Antiquarian Guide: Darkest Dungeon

[@Ironsuaba]

One weird strategy using Antiquarian: she seems to be extremely alluring to Siren's Song of Desire, so I always take her to this boss battle so she can be controlled instead of an actually dangerous character, heal herself and chill

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Yeah I do that strategy as well.

[@fitzviandraduivenab2790]

That's because the Siren prioritizes low debuff resist characters to charm

[@firelordeliteast6750]

@@fitzviandraduivenab2790 Or... and this is just theory... Antiquarian's a flaming lesbian with a thing for monster girls and nobody knows but everyone knows.

[@talos1033]

Just started playing this game and recently found your videos. They’re super helpful for learning the classes. Been using the antiquarian alongside riposte classes and laugh when I see the results screen. Here comes the money!

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

The money is great especially in the early game since there is not a large pile of loot for completing the dungeon or doing it. Also, I am glad my videos can help!

[@JuanLopez-tn4my]

4 antiquarian party is meta and here is why: You use surprise items to make your every dungeon as balance as they could posibly get and dodge items to make this build work. then when you inevitably surprise the enemy just use "get down" in the first turn and if you made your daily sacrifice to satan correctly luck should be on your side and make your party untouchable. 200+ IQ meta

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

There you go. GG!

[@zombieboss5178]

I like quad Leper better.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

ROT SQUAD ASSEMBLE!

[@zombieboss5178]

@Magni56 Lol, I used quad crusader in the Weald to fight the 12 pounder, and won without taking a boom!

[@tomsilberberg1978]

Cash Rules Everything Around Me; C.R.E.A.M - Get the Money. Dolla Dolla Bill Y'All

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Dolla Dolla Bill Y'all indeed

[@shanefowlstone]

Tom Silberberg The Antiquarian ain’t nothin to fuck wit’

[@potawatadingdong]

One of my favorite groups I call "300" or "the shield wall" is Antiquarian, vestal, highwayman, man-at-arms. Basically it relies on MaA guarding Vestal then Antiquarian forcing guard on Highwayman while both ripostes are active. It gives the satisfying result of the enemy being punished for every attack they make on your party.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Riposte is definitely a great way to annihilate enemies quickly while reducing the effects of stress and other dot abilities.

[@bleflar9183]

Antiquarian is my favourite class Whenever i go to a low level dungeon i ALWAYS bring her.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

She is really great since she can basically bring in champion level gold in the early game. It is a huge help to have that much gold early on.

[@rob5541]

Same

[@linoo9404]

I had the brilliant idea of bringing 3 abominations and an antiquarian. With no light. And no trinkets. They didn't have a good time

[@flowti]

I sometimes use a 60% prot-built (Barristans head 25%, the antiquarian only item 25% and 10% quirk). It's not super strong, but it is quite fun, seeing that othewise squishy antiquarian tank those hits like a boss

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

With that level of protection her hp is more like 45 to 50 hp then which is pretty darn good.

[@htlchtlc]

The heal is made to get people off death’s door and prevent DOT on them

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

I know, but I guess I am more fond of healing and curing like the plague doctor. Then again, it would be the same ability, thus that would be boring and not unique for the antiquarian.

[@N3t0L1n]

that candle trinket heals +50% so if u bandage skill on campfire, it suposed to improve healing A LOT.

[@htlchtlc]

Não sou Patriota Mas cara, 15% de cura base (habilidade de cura de acampamento) x 1,5 (vela) = 22,5% de cura É pouca vida a mais

[@BlizzardAcolyte]

Will defend Invigorating Vapours spam, that's basically what I do with her in Dodge parties until the foes are down to one, then Flashpowder the straggler to death. I find I only use Get Down! in early-game when I'm too poor to be unlocking stuff on recruits, as it's usually more efficient for her to use all of her other skills, depending on the party. One trinket not mentioned but that absolutely deserves a shoutout is the Fleet Forin: with Speed being king in this game, having that +SPE buff, even without any +SPE Quirks, is a massive help, and the +debuff Skill chance is awesome in conjunction with Flashpowder. It allows your ANTI, of all people, to set the pace for the rest of the party, no matter what role she's fulfilling in combat. No lie though, every trinket of hers, minus the Bloodcourse Medallion, works great on her...and God help your opposition once she gets her hands on the Smoking Skull.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

The dodge increase is indeed on her best abilities. Also, thank you for your trinket recommendations!

[@turntapeover5749]

Antiquarian is this weird class that I love because of its weirdness. She's definitely a class you have to work around in a party comp. You can "drag" an Antiquarian along, OR you can actually make her viable with party members with Riposte, or a Graverobber to set up blight on her target. And if you really REALLY buff her healing output (im talking trinkets, quirks etc) and by buffing incoming healing received on target (trinkets..or Arbalest/Musketeer heal which increase healing received) she can dish out decent single target heal. Also worth mentioning, while her healing ability is not great, if you bring a Flagellant or an Occultist (which healing abilities have a chance to inflict bleed) you can preemptively use the Antiquarian's heal as a buff to further reduce the chances to trigger the bleed effect. Not her most impressive synergy, but hey, she's the only one who can do that. But why heal when you can avoid damage altogether with what I call the "Mirage Antiquarian" by abusing both the accuracy debuff on her destealth ability and her party wide dodge buff in between Protect Me. And since she requires some time to set up, she's actually gonna get more useful defensively with battles that tend to drag-on as the dodge buff stacks up to 3 times (per Antiquarian in your party...cuz they stack with each other too). One comp I like with her is 2 Highwayman (simply because it has a better accuracy/more dmg than Man-at-arm so less missed and more powerful riposte) and 2 Antiquarians and deploy the Protect Me/Mirage strat as you basically dont get touched and Riposte pretty much 100% of incoming attacks.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

I agree with those two mindsets of bringing her along or using her in a riposte strategy. It really depends on how I am feeling if I do it or not. Thank you for your comment!

[@ZxMoonLightxZ]

The 90% of times you are -1 on the squad but in those 10% where she crits 9 or 10 heals you are like "Well i don't know What to do with you" Good video!

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Thank you!

[@sebastiangibson9671]

I mean the bonus is if she dies you won’t even feel it!

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

I believe I got the game once everything was patched and finalized, therefore some of the things I theorize in here may have been done without my knowledge. The antiquarian is so close to being one of the strongest characters, but falls a little short for combat purposes. However... MAD MONEY!

[@htlchtlc]

HiDdeN SQuiDZ Gaming Her heal was worse, her blight was worse, her trinkets were better (candle increased max hp by 25%) , her flashpowder was useless before stealth was added, so she was mostly buffed since release

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Oof and she still isn't that great. I guess they figured money is life and she certainly can bring in the money.

[@htlchtlc]

HiDdeN SQuiDZ Gaming Yup, money is the backbone of the end game economy, so I think it’s worth the low damage/ bad heal

[@matesajben5274]

Protect me has a use limit now but 3 shouldn't be a big problem in a short fight, but it prevents you to stack the prot buff on someone.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

@@matesajben5274 Protect me is very strong and would be almost broken without a battle use limit. But I agree, in a normal fight 2 should be enough depending on the enemies.

[@shutdown117]

I didn’t care for her but the background sold me on her because I love the RP of her as a dungeons and dragons player. She’s a really cool character idea.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

She definitely has a great interactive back story other characters don't have.

[@laurenzreichelt4911]

I tried to ignore it but somehow this video was super hard for me to listen to because you say „antiquarium“ instead of „antiquarian“ xD

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Thank you for pointing it out, since it allows me a chance to correct myself in future videos. I used to say curio funny as well until someone said something.

[@zombieboss5178]

But saying things funny makes you unique, you can't take that away, or everyone would be just like you!

[@metro2673]

I think they should have given her an alright heal. That way she could be a secondary healer to go with occultist.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

I think a better heal would have been nice as well.

[@sebastiangibson9671]

With candle of life you can sorta use her like that but yeah she should only be secondary not main

[@Klaital1]

My favorite trinkets for antiquarian are candle of life and ancestor's map, carapace idol is a honorable mention if I don't yet have one of the other two.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

A solid 25% protection is so strong for no drawbacks.

[@gumbogumbo4256]

I use double healers and Antiquarian + Highwayman. Another fun one is a dodge build with Man at arms, cultist, antiq and Highwayman.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

The Antiquarian and riposte strategy is really strong and can make a dodge go all the quicker.

[@c.a.1506]

I remember the first time I used the antiquarian, she almost died and I considered her useless. Then I watched someone's LP and saw their mad stacks of gold and I quickly changed my tune. Thank you for this video, because I had no clue that she could have additional tactical usage in battle! (I basically just made tank heroes guard her whenever combat would start and then spam the +5 dodge vapors)

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

The money is definitely great for earlier dungeons where her lack of damage and her dodge really make her better. The more money early on, I would argue is more valuable than lots of money later. You get way more money later from the trinkets, quest finish, and loot naturally that an antiquarian isn't exactly needed.

[@cesargeney5268]

I did a party of 2 antiquarians and to HM to run in the weald in hard and champion difficulty. The first one was medium hard, the second was short champion. All of them were champions and man that was fun. Even the collector showed up and he was gone. The healt was an issue so i took a lot of food with me in the 2 ocassions. They gave me good money and a scare for poor Dismas. But you can dodge I tell you that

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Interesting. I know some people really live by the antiquarian strategy with the highwayman and I can see why it is beneficial.

[@alycelamberts2505]

I run a team with the antiquarian, highway man, man at arm's, and grave robber. The trinkets ( accepte for the antiquarian,I use all dodge and speed on her) must exploit the dodge and damage/criticals. If I dedicate the antiquarian to dodge and use the riposte skills of the h-man and MaA and have the grave robber cycle between stealth and a lunge, then oh wow. The MaA really helps with his buffs and damage from riposte, paired with an antiquarians dodge buff he becomes something else entirely(rarely taking a hit, but if someone is going to be hit it should be the MaA) The highway man and grave robber benefit from the MaA ability to increase dodge ( once), accuracy and critical hits. This team also benefits from the movement caused by having a highway man and a grave robber paired. The antiquarian keeps you off deaths door enough to justify the pour healing skills. Items are required to manage bleed and blight especially in the CoM. This team is my bread and butter. Do you have any notable dodge centric teams? FYI when this team is full swing on dodge no one is below 90 dodge.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

First off, the Antiquarian paired with either the Highwayman or MAA is a great combo for sure. I personally don't have a dodge comp but I have made parties where one individual is really buffed such as a grave robber with about 70 to 80 dodge. Not to say they don't work or are not effective, I just like my quick strike and control people more. I have also got my jesters to around 90 to 100 dodge for bosses or mark people.

[@erykczajkowski8226]

- I find levelled up Antiquarian surprisingly strong (level 0 is very weak though!). And she has excellent unique trinkets - the Candle of Life you mentioned, but second one (which you surprisingly don't mention!) is Fleet Florin. It gives +4 (!!!) speed and +20% debuff chance, which makes her faster than almost ALL enemies. So you are able to cast the Vapours first (each round!) and suddenly your whole party has +dodge, stacking up each round. Don't understand why you didn't appreciate it. Dodge is the strongest property of all. And the effects are really visible. You don't get hit, don't get stressed. I didn't even need to protect her. I just wouldn't take her to Warrens - too many hard hitting enemies targeting back rows. - With Candle her heal is pretty decent, I agree that cure blight/bleed would be desirable, but it would be OP. Maybe like 33% chance to cure would be balanced? - Her blight is enough to finish off enemies or soften high prot ones. Very useful! - I agree that the debuff is a bit disappointing. I think it should last 3 rounds instead of 2, but other increases that you proposed seem OP again. - I never use the Stab though - I prefer high accuracy of the blight attack. - Also Get down I find pretty useless, as it's much better to give slightly lower dodge buff, but to the whole team (blight chance is irrelevant, speed also especially with the Florin equipped).

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

She can be strong and thank you for your thoughts and experiences. The dodge mechanic is her main ability/best attribute, so increasing it on her/party is good. I personally do not do many high dodge strategies anymore which is why I may have glossed over that. Thank you for making the point for it again!

[@RayVitoles]

Her party dodge buff is actually really strong,but i think her heal needs rework ..I never used it.Yes her flashgrenade is bad,but it is sth you can use against tanky heavy hitters that do tons of dmg.Also after the 3rd turn of party dodge buff,you cant raise buff higher so i usually use either grenade or blight skill to finish off some1.Her blight should go to 5/turn.Her heal should treat blight/bleed and give high disease resistance(for the fight) with no hp recovery..It is still weak,as it should be,but it can be situationally good,and it serves the purpose of saving money(no sickness=no medical ward money wasted+ u save money from not buying bandages and antivenoms).

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

I agree with most of those changes. I understand she can get massive money, but she just feels like a liability outside of riposte strategies.

[@fmcra]

She is my favourite plus the occultist in the last missions

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Interesting choices for the last Dungeon!

[@defaultv.7959]

1:00 So *that's* why I havent seen one of those in forever... huh...

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Correct. It is an odd mechanic but you have to use her on curios.

[@LiezAllLiez]

19:53 That trinket combined with another trinket that increases healing by another 50% and Hypocratic quirk (locked in) makes my antiquarian heal something like 6 health... whoop dee fucking do. A random vestal with similar gearing heals 7-9 across the whole party and 12-15 to a single target. The antiquarian really cant be used for much apart from stacking dodge. Thats what shes actually good at... and maybe, and i do mean MAYBE, bringing someone up from deaths door (assuming the target doesnt have a DoT on em which will bring them back to deaths door instantly... fortunately the deaths door debuff doesnt stack anymore like it did in the earlier iterations of the game). I did run a (relatively) safe composition of 2 antiquarians, an occultist and a highwayman through the cove. The dodge stacking ended up with most of my party sitting at 70-ish dodge (note that their gear and resolve were at level 4). The same setup at champion level (i hate that term... its just a dungeon level 5) might actually be unhittable after 2 rounds of dodge stacking. Will have to check. Ive seen a few vids on youtube of people putting 4 antiquarians in a group and rolling with it. Beats me how they manage to keep them alive, as while they are dodging most hits, all it takes is a single crit and one of them girls makes the dodge chain break (they stop dodging and start healing, leading to follow up hits and death). Would never attempt it myself.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Yeah the heals are pretty much meant to just get you off of deaths door.

[@philipjorgensen2628]

Let's go over the specifics. At resolve level 6, the Antiquarian has a base dodge of 30. With level 5 armor, she gains an additional 30 dodge. With her unique crystalline trinket, she gains 30 dodge if you bring at least 1 shard dust, and a 15 from the Ancestor's coat, totalling to 45 possible. With a fully level Antiquarian with just these buffs, she can have 105 total dodge. Hit chance is equal to Accuracy - Dodge, meaning that with these specifics, an enemy with an attack that has 105 accuracy should theoretically have a 0% chance to hit. However, I don't know if you noticed, but I said JUST these buffs, because believe me, we aren't done yet. With the Luminous, Corvid's grace, and evasive perks, you can get a further 16 dodge (5+5+6). But that's not all, for the daredevil perk gives 15 ADDITIONAL DODGE if under 25% HP, bringing the total to [31 EXTRA DODGE]. BUT WE'RE NOT DONE YET! WE ARE NEVER DONE! With a stacked GET DOWN you can get 75 EXTRA DODGE Why not stack antiquarians for protect me and invigorating vapors you ask? Well, despite what you may think, we actually need 3 houndmasters! This is because in the cove, USING DOG TREATS ON THE OYSTER CURIO GIVES A +25 DODGE UNTIL CAMP! If you get lucky with 6 OYSTERS, you can gain +150 DODGE UNTIL CAMP. Making the grand total for possible dodge buff from skills and teammates 225 EXTRA DODGE IF WE ADD UP ALL OF THESE BUFFS, THE EQUATION IS 105 + 31 + 225, TOTALLING UP TO 361 DODGE. But there is more. THERE IS MORE. The vigorous virtue buffs dodge by 10%. 361 * 0.1 = 36.1, with darkest dungeon rounding down usually, we can assume this is a 36+ DODGE BUFF. 361 + 36 = 397 TOTAL DODGE. FROM HERE, WE CAN DOMINATE THE UNIVERSE AND MAKE EVERYBODY BOW DOWN BEFORE US, COMMITTING MASS ATROCITIES AND GENOCIDE ALONG THE WAY. DEATH! DEATH! DEATH!

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

The dodge can get to really dumb levels thats for sure!

[@jonathanrussell8998]

The big change I wanted for Anti was to have Fortifying Vapors hit the whole party like Invigorating Vapors does. It would be something different than worse battlefield medicine then. Battlefield medicine still has reason to be used over it because of cure, and other heals are still stronger. But hitting the whole party, now suddenly that resist buff is actually appealing. Fun fact, when I first tried the Anti I thought Invigorating Vapors would suck. Then I realized it hit the whole party and loved it. And that made me think Fortifying Vapors would also hit all and loved that idea, and was disappointed it didn't.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

I agree. That change would have created another potential healer and made her more useful as well.

[@cwp24]

There’s a mod that does that actually and I think that makes more sense as the heal is so small, might as well give it to the party.

[@iliketrousers.9658]

Oh cool, just gonna leave a comment here to help the channel grow, love ya m8

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Thank you very much!

[@VikingLord2000]

I use Antiquarian in the early game just to get that cash flow going, but now that I have 200 K gold all the time that makes her usefulness voided.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

She is certainly a cash grab character and that cannot be underestimated in pinches, but overall she is a tough class to use reliably.

[@xandermichels8336]

i wish they made it so that her blight dodge heal and flash hit every enemy/ ally and then rebalance the numbers of the abilities around that, i feel that would make her more useful while not making it overbearing

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

I would agree. She was so close to being really good, even possibly overpowering, but I think she came out a little weak.

[@kogasoldier9379]

I like to run her with highwayman so I can use her protect me to buff highwayman and make it more likely for enemies to attack him so he can reposte. It's a good synergy.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Absolutely!

[@YaBoyYeti]

My quad Antiquarians with speed and dodge items in a medium to long dungeon = MONEY I tried it in every difficulty. Even if I had to abort a run, I was able to escape with a boatload of goodies. Granted, a few of them die on the way, but if at least one survives she'll bring that stuff straight to my bank, literally. And who cares if they die or get mad? Hrhrhr

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Antiquarians are definitely a money making machine. They are super beneficial in the first 10 weeks and you are right, early game deaths aren't bad unless you play on Stygian.

[@jackyha9445]

Was trying a dodge strat for the antiquarian, 87 dodge, still gets hit, I know it's not 100% dodge but at like 90% chance to fucking dodge; what is this xcom? I was doing a tally across 6 long champion runs, it averaged to about 6/10 she would dodge, 4/10 she'd get hit. I guess I need a bigger sample size but come on. All the balance changes red hook did kinda just forced the players to some set about of builds and can't have fun and venture out and try their own things

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

RNG can be nasty. I bought the game when all the patches were in place already, and some things are definitely less viable than others. I haven't gotten too deep into the main community on steam or reddit, but I know some people only swear by highwayman and hellions.

[@mezawockee5050]

Having 87 dodge, doesn't mean you have 87% chance of dodging. The formula is ACC - Dodge = chance to hit. Meaning if the mob has 115 ACC (not sure about monster accuray stat limit tbh), they still have 28% chance to hit, which is low but still close to 1/3 chance.

[@einherjar8147]

Every time I watch one of your videos, I mean to ask... The background music is from Everyday Shooter, right?

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

I am not familiar, but my friend did the music for me. Here is the link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6qsk6V6fsirp5I

[@larrydotson2625]

The argument you make for her flash powder seems to apply to all of her skills. They're all under powered, the only thing the have going for them is that she can use them from any position. Any single skill she has could receive a substantial buff and she still would struggle as a character over all. I'm no out right saying she sucks but she seems to need a lot of help.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

I would agree she needs help. I think they made her lack luster is because you can haul in money with her.

[@alexandrelambrou6625]

I used a lot in my darkest campaign to farm money, but i regret using her in early stygian cause the collector appeared to me at least 3 times in bad situations lol. But yeah she can be very useful, if you don't underestimate the dungeon

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Absolutely agree as she is the early game king!

[@matesajben5274]

12:09 how do those party composition's work? Can you use her as a replacement for a vestal? I tried a similar party comp in the early game(no healer just an antiquarian) and quickly got party wiped...

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

For the early game, it is harder to get away with 0 strong heals. This party composition can break the mold at higher levels due to the quicker speed and the higher damage to the stress damage dealers (holy lance and riposte). The hellion can stun the first two rows effectively thus taking 0 strong hits in the first turn. With the lowest armor and skills this strategy is way more risky and not reliable.

[@hyperarmour1608]

Why do you pronounce it with an M at the end of the name?

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

Yes. I get better and I'm not sure why I started it that way.

[@theAnalogManifesto]

I knew it! Riposte is broken.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

It gets pretty strong for sure.

[@celebrim1]

I can see complaining that her abilities aren't balanced with each other in an interesting way, but then you started going on about how every skill should be comparable to a good skill on another class. The whole point of her is she's close to useless as a tactical character and you aren't supposed to ever take her for her tactical utility. She the only character that has strategic value, so you'd run her even if she was weaker.

[@HiDdeNSQuiDZGaming]

I know she's there for the money but I think a few of her abilities could just be slightly better. This is obviously my personal opinion, but I don't like the idea that the character is only good for money and almost nothing else.