The Leper is an interesting class in Darkest Dungeon. While he initially appears to be an offensive beast on the battlefield, closer analysis reveals a great propensity for tanking. He's a frontline fighter with something of an all-or-nothing approach to dealing damage. While the game has a tendency to punish players for any mistake, it's difficult to make them with the Leper once they know his kit inside-out.

Learning how best to use the Leper in Darkest Dungeon's difficult campaign would be a great boon to any player. He's a self-sufficient warrior who needs very little setup to be effective but can shine brightly when supported by suitable teammates.

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Combat Skills

Darkest Dungeon Leper hitting for 86 damage with a critical hit

While the Leper has some skills that can be used in any rank, he is primarily a frontline fighter. His first two basic skills are Chop and Hew. The former simply deals full damage to a single enemy in the front ranks of their party, while the latter splits the Leper's damage among the first two enemy ranks instead. His next skill is Purge, a useful skill that deals less damage but has a strong Knockback attached. It's great for clearing corpses on the battlefield and shuffling the enemy party so the Leper can take care of squishier foes first. All Lepers start with Chop, while the other three known skills are chosen at random.

The Leper's only other offensive skill is Intimidate. This can only be used at the very first rank and is the Leper's only skill that can target the back ranks of the enemy party. It's a debuff that deals slight damage while significantly reducing the target's damage output and speed. It also dispels Stealth, which is useful against the incredibly annoying enemies that utilize that feature. Notably, this skill also Marks the user, setting him up to be a tank for the next four rounds.

The rest of the Leper's skillset is made up of three self-target skills, all of which are potent. Revenge is the star of the show, buffing the Leper's accuracy, damage and crit rate at the cost of some evasion and some extra damage taken. This makes it a risky skill, but it's fantastic when the user is high on HP and eager to dish out the pain.

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Luckily, the Leper has Withstand and Solemnity, which can assuage some of Revenge's downsides. Withstand increases his protection and provides a great boost to status resistance for the rest of the battle, and Solemnity is a self-targeting decently powerful heal that also takes care of some stress. Players will want to pick buffing moves based on where they are taking the Leper -- dungeons heavy on status ailments like the Cove are easier with boons like Withstand.

Camping Skills

Darkest Dungeon Leper camping alongside a jester, bounty hunter and vestal

Unlike the Crusader, the Leper has quite the range of Camping Skills and is quite versatile in that aspect. The first is Let the Mask Down, which is a very strong stress heal for the Leper using it, but will cause stress to his companions. The reverse of this skill is Quarantine, which heals all companions for either 15 or 20 stress -- a very powerful group heal -- at the price of the Leper suffering 20 percent health damage. This skill is best used when he can heal himself with Solemnity in the next battle.

Bloody Shroud might be a good skill to take instead of Withstand. It provides a 25 percent resistance to all the same status ailments and lasts for four battles. This is great for freeing up his skill slots to be more adaptively offensive and still provides those crucial resistances. Reflection, on the other hand, is a more offensive self-buff that gives the Leper extra accuracy and crit rate for four battles instead. This is fantastic for offensive builds, as accuracy can be an issue for Lepers. It even comes with its own stress reduction as a bonus.

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Equipment & Trinkets

Darkest Dungeon Leper receiving a virtue

As with all Darkest Dungeon characters, the Leper's weapon and armor are predefined by the game and are just upgrades that the player pours money into in return for static stat boosts. Players may want to focus on investing in the Leper's weapon. Not only does his damage increase significantly, but his weapon upgrades come with critical hit rate boosts and speed increases. Of course, Lepers who are intended to be tankier should absolutely not ignore his armor upgrades, as 20 dodge and 63 base HP is a great boon.

Trinkets for the Leper can be chosen based on what will improve his damage. Anything that increases accuracy will make him more reliable in battle, and critical hit rate boosts are great for the same reason -- a Leper's critical hits can be monumental. This is exemplified in his Uncommon unique trinket Fortunate Armlet, which improves both of these stats at a cost of increased stress gain.

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Redemption Armlet is another unique trinket that provides a great 15 percent damage boost as long as he stays in the first rank of the party, which is his natural position anyway. Of course, with such an emphasis on positioning, players may want to seek trinkets that boost his resistance against being Moved, as none of his unique trinkets provide that.

The Leper's Crystalline trinket (a new type added in the Color of Madness DLC) Petrified Amulet is very powerful. It grants a large boost to max HP and a very big boost to accuracy, but only if the party has a Bandage in their inventory. This trinket's tradeoff is a slight weakness to Bleeding, but since parties will be taking Bandages with them anyway, that shouldn't be too much of a detriment.

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Combat Strategies

Darkest Dungeon party made up of four Lepers

Putting the Leper in the first rank to make use of Intimidate and Purge is crucial if the player wants to have those skills equipped. Otherwise, he can make do with the second rank behind another frontliner, such as the Hellion. Setting him up with a variety of offensive and supportive moves is the best way to go, enabling him to be self-sufficient while still devastating the horrific enemies encountered in-game. Hew might make a better choice than Chop for quests that don't involve bosses, as the Leper will often be able to kill two birds with one stone thanks to his high damage output.

As far as teammates go, pick those that can make the Leper more reliable at felling enemies. A perfect example of this would be a Jester with the Battle Ballad skill. This will improve the Leper's accuracy and crit rate, something sorely needed to make him the best combatant he can be. Other great teammates include attackers who work great in the back ranks, such as the Highwayman and the Arbalest. Teammates to avoid would be those that use their skills to leap around the ranks, such as the Shieldbreaker.

The Leper can work well in basically any dungeon in the game thanks to his reliance on pure damage rather than status ailments. Compounding this is his natural resistance against such blights. He is a versatile warrior who can thrive with most parties and makes for an attractive leader to build a team around.

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