Affinity System | Darkest Dungeon 2 Wiki

What is Affinity in Darkest Dungeon 2?

Each hero pair has an AFFINITY value which describes how positive or negative they feel towards one another. If the affinity bar fills, the two heroes will enter a RELATIONSHIP. RELATIONSHIPS between heroes will make or break your expedition.

When the journey begins, all heroes have a neutral AFFINITY with one another. As the rigors of the road mount, heroes will gain or lose affinity. To view AFFINITIES , open any hero's HERO SHEET [C] and look at the relationships tab. You'll see an AFFINITY BAR for each other hero in the party, which shows how this hero feels about them.

When the AFFINITY bar between two heroes becomes fully positive or fully negative, this will immediately trigger a new RELATIONSHIP between them. Relationships dramatically affect hero stats and actions that the heroes may perform. VIRTUOUS RELATIONSHIPS make heroes fight and work together better, whereas AFFLICTED RELATIONSHIPS can cause no end of problems to a party.

Relationship Statuses in Darkest Dungeon 2

• Unfriendly
• Envious
• Hateful
• Resentful
• Suspicious
• Tumultuous
• Amorous
• Hopeful
• Inseparable
• Respectful

Does Affinity Change?

Heroes often have vastly different opinions about how a given ENCOUNTER should be resolved. When you choose a hero's response, any heroes that agree with the acting hero will have their mutual affinity increased. (GOLD glow) Any heroes that disagree strongly with the acting hero will have their mutual affinity decreased.

How do I Identify the Relationship?

Open the Hero Sheet and select the Relationships tab at the top-left. All heroes start with a Netural Relationship towards one another, and as the game progresses, your actions will determine their affnity. GOLD pips indicate positive affinity. BLUE pips are negative.

What Affects the Affinity?

The Affinity System is a sensitive feature that players will need to keep an eye on if they want the flow of the game to be less punishing or against their favour. In Darkest Dungeon 2, players will now be traveling on the road via the Stagecoach where they will be choosing which path to take until reaching the last point of the expedition (which usually is the Inn, where the team rests and prepare for the next expedition).

• Affinity is mainly affected when the team is traveling, during the early stages of your playthrough, you will have no control on how each team member will react. They will always voice out their feeling and opinions toward each other, complaining about things, and if they are in a good mood, they'll even compliment each other or even give words of encouragement.
• However, as you progress the game and increase your player level to unlock more items that are randomly rewarded, you can use Stagecoach Upgrades and Inn Items that can help in contributing towards a good relationship towards one another.
• When it comes to building towards a Negative Affinity, it's not always rainbows and butterflies for the team, they will complain about random things like about feeling annoyed that they are stuck in a stagecoach, or feel anxious about their surroundings, and even more.
• When it comes to combat, this is also another imporant factor on how Affinity can go up or down. Your actions in battle will determine if it will contribute towards a positive or negative affinity. The Affinity System feels like a hit or miss when you are either gaining a positive or negative relationship, but it is important to check each hero's quirks since it can determine or even give you clues on how you should react towards one another. One hero could be jealous, and say if the Plague Doctor chooses to support another team member, the other might react in a negative way. So always choose wisely, assist a team member who is obviously in need and maintain a balance on how everyone fights.
• When it comes to exploration, you will come across various encouters or stop-overs such as Assistance Encounters, Cultists Encounters, and Academic Stduies. If you stop by these encounters, you can choose what action should be done and it will affect one, two, or even three heroes affinty towards the other, depending on your choice. A hero's portait will glow blue if it will contribute to a negative affinity, while a positive affinity will have the hero's portrait glow in gold.

Does Stress Affect Affinity?

Yes, Stress is one of the Affinity's biggest enemy in Darkest Dungeon 2, and it is up to you to manage the stress level of the team, to keep it at a low level, and to avoid reaching the max cap of Level 10, causing the hero to have a Meltdown. What is a Meltdown? A Meltdown triggers when the Stress Level always reaches level 10, and this damages the hero's HP and contributes a large amount of negative affinity towards the other members of the team, potentially destroying any existing positive relationship status or adds more blue nodes that forms a negative relationship status.

In order to keep stress levels at bay, you will need to have at least one or two members of the team to have a Skill that can help in reducing stress. Skills such as the Man at Arms' Bolster skill, and even the Jester's Inspiring Tune are one of the few skills that can reduce stress. Another way to reduce the team's stress level is by equipping and using Combat Items when you are traveling on the road, as well as consuming Inn Items when the team is resting at the Inn. These consumable items are rewarded through winning battle encounters, obtained after interacting with encounters, and can be purchased from various merchants.

Combat and Affinity

Relationships are tested throughout the game. They are sorted into different levels are affected during combat and could affect combat itself. Depending on the Heroes' personality, one player's critical hits or defeats on another enemy, may negatively impact relationship. Characters now have the ability to feel envious and an impacted relationship during combat could affect its success when a character steps into to block another characters potential successful hits or even healing. These actions in turn may also affect other relationships between different characters. Positive relationships, on the other hand will yield positive results such as healing each other during combat. INN ITEMS can change affinity between heroes and build positive relationships.