There are a few tricks you should know if you’re wondering how to beat the Denial Confession boss Darkest Dungeon 2. Since this is the first boss you’re likely to encounter on your journey, it stands between you and your group making it to the mountain. It’s also badass if you’re not prepared. Breaking the shackles of denial can be a draining experience. But if you follow these tips, you can defeat Denial Confession with relative ease.
How to beat Denial Confession in Darkest Dungeon 2
Fighting Confession Denial requires more strategy than sheer muscle power. The four different Shackles of Denial have their own attacks. Perhaps more importantly, they also deny your party the ability to use a specific type of skill for a turn.
From left to right are the four fetters of denial:
- Shackle of Despair: Can inflict denial of reasonblocks stress healing skills.
- Bar of Regret: Can inflict gun refusalblocks melee abilities.
- Lightning Bolt: Can inflict denial of reachBlock ranged abilities.
- Padlock of Waste: Can inflict denial of braveryblocks healing abilities.
The most important thing to keep in mind here is that you want to use as many DoT skills as possible when facing off against this first boss.
Each shackle has different resistances, with the Padlock of Waste having the highest resistance to Burn, Bleed, and Corruption at 50%. You should equip all combat items that can inflict high DoT values on the targets to take them out quickly.
If you focus on a single shackle at a time, you win here. Which shackle you focus on depends on your team comp, but I like getting the shackle of despair out of the way first. Each lockdown can add stress to your party, and repeated meltdowns quickly deplete available HP.
Depending on my party build and their HP levels, I’ll attack the Shackles in this fight in this order:
- Despair
- waste
- regret
- lamentation
Best party compositions to beat the first boss
Below are some potential party members that you can include in the Denial Confession boss fight Darkest Dungeon 2. The list below also includes the best skills for this fight. Skills should be leveled up as much as possible or unlocked in hero shrines before this battle begins.
party composition 1
These are the four characters that you unlocked at the beginning of the game.
- plague doctor: Noxious Blast, Oz Prevention, Indiscriminate Science, Magnesium Rain, Plague Grenade
- Grave robbers: Poison Arrow, Absinthe, Pick to the Face
- highwayman: Duelist’s Advance, Pistol Shot, Point-blank Shot, Open Vein
- Man at Arms: Defender, Retribution, Hold, Strategic Retreat, Strengthen
party composition 2
This party build is one of my favorite comps covering healing, stress relief and damage output.
- vestal virgin: Services, judgment, consecration of fortitude, divine grace, divine consolation
- fool: battle ballad, inspirational melody, harvest, solo
- highwayman: Duelist’s Advance, Pistol Shot, Point-blank Shot, Open Vein
- lepers: chop, resist, celebration, reflection
If you take the Leper, make sure you stock up on milk-soaked linen so his blind doesn’t affect his attack too much.
How to beat the Denial Confession boss Darkest Dungeon 2. While it may seem like a tough fight, if your party has a mixed set of skills, capable of DoT and tank damage, you’ll take them down in no time. For more help in darkest dungeon 2, like what pets are the best or what the new tokens mean, check this out our DD2 guide library.
