Hero Paths in Darkest Dungeon II: Stats and Tips

Alchemist is almost guaranteed to poison enemies, including ones that are hard-to-reach. Her biggest drawback is low HP, so rank 4 is the best position for her. Having some tank in the party to taunt enemies will also negate that problem.

Surgeon is great at positions 2-3. Her only melee skill now will one-shot weakest enemies or leave them to bleed. With 33% healing buff, she is the most reliable healer in the game.

Physician is a new path with enhanced buffing and controlling skills.

Deadeye is a reliable range damage dealer. Her chances to Critical hit a Combo mark are almost guaranteed (90%). The downsides are easy to deal with - you just don't use melee skills and when pulled to position 1, use Pirouette which is a ranged skill.

Nightsworn is a huge damage dealing path. To get most of her, "Dancing" party is recommended to use (to use Lunge more often). But even without it, you can switch from position 4 to 2 and back again without disrupting most of the team.

Venomdrop path of Grave Robber implies a player to combine her Moving and Poisoning skills. You'll have to try hard to get most of her path benefits.

Sharpshot Highwayman is flexible and easy-to-use range damage dealer. He is great at positions 2-3-4, but even starting from position 1 isn't a bad choice because of Point Blank Shot damage.

Rogue is a little trickier path, because the most beneficial Point Blank Shot skill moves him to rank 2. Having Jester to move him back would be great, otherwise consider to use Duelist's Advance on the next turn.

Yellowhand shines at controlling and bleeding enemies.

Before the latest patch, Bulwark was the strongest path in DD2. Now it's nerfed and renamed to Vanguard. Current Bulwark is better at handling shields - both for damage and defense.

Sergeant is currently the weakest path. His resistance buffs are usually redundant or bad-targeted. With damage decreased, his role is to use Bolster and Defender most of the time.

You got lucky if you met Ravager on the Crossroad - undoubtedly the strongest path in DD2. Her already strong attacks now kill most of the enemies in a single swing. Make sure to buy all the move-resistant poultices to let her stay at position 1.

While Berserker is excellent at bleeding enemies, raw damage skills aren't forbidden with the path. She is flexible and can do the variety of actions depending on priority.

Her new third path called Carcass is meant for taunting enemies and tanking the incoming damage. It seems that she likes pain like Flagellant, but lack of the damage against the strongest bosses (Act 2 Final Boss) may be a cause of failure.

The best part about Survivor is that she has no downsides, and 3 tokens at the start of each battle make her self-sustainable. Her healing skills are situational, because usually your party doesn't bleed. But with the new Jester path, you can now control when and whom to heal.

Arsonist is consistent at setting enemies on fire, but new Orphan path may outshine her with a proper trinket equipped (Lantern).

Virtuoso is good at what you expect Jester to do. His high speed allows him to outrun most of the enemies, and higher Health makes him more durable to incoming damage.

Soloist a purely offensive path in which the Jester actively does damage instead of cheering up the others. His Solo and Finale skills are the best way to quickly dispatch enemies. The low health drawback is negated by farming Dodge tokens.

Intermezzo is the latest added path that improves several supportive skills. Ally bleed drawback isn't huge and could be negated by increased bleed resistance or having Runaway in a party.

Templest replicates the role Leper played in DD1 - dealing huge damage and using only one skill to do that. Debuff resistance is especially useful because it prevents blindness.

Poet is an impenetrable wall to absorb all the damage because of Solemnity restoring full health. The worst scenario that could happen to Leper is to end up at position 4, but with Poet, that's not the case.

Monarch is a path that encourages a player to use more Leper skills. His Purge and Intimidate skills got buffs, but for dealing damage, you can still use Hew or Break Shield.

Occultist is a versatile and interesting class. Abyssal Artillery and Shining Starts are high-priority skills for Warlock. Ritualist works better at cursing foes and healing allies. Aspirant at the front is a decent close-combat fighter.