Darkest Dungeon 2: How to Beat the Harvest Child Boss

To defeat the boss effectively, it is recommended to employ a strategy that involves pushing back the boss and utilizing Smoke Bombs to blind the meats, especially the large one that attacks your frontline. This can be achieved by assigning a hero with a speed stat of 8 or higher. By doing so, you can effectively prevent the meat from applying blind and hunger effects, this will prevent you from losing entire turns. Additionally, it is crucial for your team to possess versatile damage capabilities. In other words, your heroes should be able to target and attack the boss at any rank because the boss will be constantly moving during the battle.

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on defeating the Harvest Child boss in Darkest Dungeon 2. The Harvest Child stands out as a size 2 enemy, flanked by two sentient meat minions. While the Harvest Child's eerie presence may appear daunting, the true challenge lies in deciphering and effectively countering its unique mechanic known as Harvest Hunger. In this guide, we will delve into the intricacies of the Harvest Child boss fight, providing you with valuable tips and strategies to emerge victorious.

Where is the Harvest Child?

We can find the Harvest Child inside the Harvest house lair in the Foetor region, so prevent using attacks with Blight effect because enemies in this region are highly resistant to Blight.

Understanding the Harvest Child Boss Fight Mechanics

To effectively conquer the Harvest Child boss in Darkest Dungeon ll, it is crucial to grasp the mechanics of the encounter. The Harvest Child has high resistance to blight but is vulnerable to other damage-over-time effects, bleed and burn. This enemy spawns in the back row, with two meats in the front. While the Harvest Child itself has two actions per round and moderate death blow resistance, the crux of the battle lies in dealing with the accompanying meats. These putrid and fetid minions possess their own abilities, including inflicting the dreaded Harvest Hunger tokens depending on the position of your heroes, we recommend you to focus tour Smoke bombs on the larger meat called “Putrid Meat” that attacks your frontline with his Mouthwatering Aroma.

What is Harvest Hunger?

The Harvest Hunger mechanic in the fight against the Harvest Child boss is a central aspect of the battle. When a hero is hit with Harvest Hunger, their insatiable appetite forces them to move forward one rank on their next turn. This movement is not resistible, except with immobilization.

• If the movement puts the hero in rank one, they are then forced to eat the meat. This essentially passes their turn but allows them to deal damage to one of the meats, heal one stress, and gain a permanent non-resistible debuff of -15 Max HP for the remainder of the combat
• It's important to note that if a hero uses the Feed the Hunger skill while other heroes have the Harvest Hunger token, those heroes will gain stress. The debuff caused by Harvest Hunger only lasts for one turn and will disappear on the hero's next turn, whether they actually ate the meat or not.

How does the Harvest Hunger mechanic impact the fight?

The impact of the Harvest Hunger mechanic is twofold in the fight. Firstly, it disrupts the general team alignment, necessitating a somewhat mobile team with rank recovery movement abilities. Heroes may be forced to change their positions, affecting their intended roles and strategies.

Secondly, the Harvest Hunger mechanic causes heroes to lose a turn every round if they are hit with it. This can significantly impact the team's overall damage output and ability to control the battle. It's crucial to manage the Harvest Hunger mechanic effectively to minimize its negative impact on the fight.

What strategies can be employed to counteract the Harvest Hunger and its effects?

Build a mobile team: Since the Harvest Hunger mechanic forces heroes to move forward, having a team with rank recovery movement abilities is beneficial. Heroes who can easily reposition themselves, such as the Highwayman with the "Point Blank Shot" or the Man-at-Arms with "Retribution" can help maintain a flexible formation.

Utilize immobilization: Immobilizing your rank 1 hero who has the Harvest Hunger token can prevent your rank 2 hero from moving forward and being forced to eat the meat. Skills like the Man-at-Arms "Hold the Line" or the Leper's "Bash" can provide temporary immobilization to control movement.

Use combat items: Certain combat items can help counteract the effects of Harvest Hunger. Holy water can remove the Harvest Hunger debuff, providing relief to affected heroes. Smoke bombs, a common item available even on a new profile, can blind the meat minions, reducing their accuracy and chances of applying Harvest Hunger.

Should the focus be on defeating the Harvest Child or the accompanying meat minions?

In the fight against the Harvest Child boss, it is generally more effective to focus your damage on defeating the Harvest Child itself rather than the accompanying meat minions. While the putrid meat minions apply Harvest Hunger you should not forget to control them to mitigate the hunger.

Recommended Heroes and skills to fight Harvest Child

1. Hellion

2. Man-at-Arms

3. Highwayman

4. Oculttist

5. Runaway

Final Thoughts

To defeat the harvest child in DD2 you must use all your damage on him and push him back while you must keep in mind that most of the success of this fight is in the management of tokens applying blindness in the meats with the smoke bombs this gives the fight a luck factor so you should expect the RNG (Random Number Generator) to be on your side so that the meats miss their attacks.