Darkest Dungeon

• Healing in this game is designed to not be able to keep up with the damage you'll be taking. The best form of healing is to prevent damage. That's not to say healing isn't useful, it super is, but if you're in the first round of combat and there's four enemies on the board, you will almost always end up healthier if you use your healers to attack and stun enemies rather than to heal. Also be careful not to be seduced by the big numbers that come from AoE attacks. If you're facing two enemies, dealing 15 damage and killing one enemy is better than dealing 20 damage spread over 2 enemies, and then getting attacked by both of them.

• If you stick an enemy with Blight or Bleed damage, they will take the damage at the beginning of their turn, so if an enemy is taking 4 hp/turn from bleeding, and the enemy has 4 hp left, you can ignore that enemy because it will die before it can attack you. This rule might not apply if there is an enemy healer that might act before the bleeding foe dies, but there are very very few enemies in the game that can heal.

• Weapon upgrades are more important than armor upgrades, because better weapons increase your speed and accuracy. Speed is the most powerful stat in the game.

• You don't need to upgrade both the Abbey and the Bar right away, they both do the same thing.

• It bears repeating: if one of your nerds goes mad or picks up a nasty quirk (-SPD, -HP, maybe -dodge are what I consider especially bad) and you haven't already upgraded them significantly, fire their asses or get them killed on a suicide run for loot. You're not there to be nice and keep them all alive, you're there to be efficient. That's the biggest mental hurdle for most players to get past

• If one of your guys goes bonkers mid dungeon but your others are still okay, that's not a sign to retreat. Remember, these fuckers, especially as you're starting out, are expendable, and as long as one person makes it out, you get to keep allll the money

• First things first as far as upgrades, get the stage coach to bringing 4 people a week, and maybe upgrade your capacity once so you can have a good spread of A and B listers

• In the Tavern and Abbey, try to get the Bar and Cloister respectively to two slots first, 'cos those are the cheapest stress relief options out of the gate

• Far as the guild and blacksmith go, I like unlocking skills on anyone I'm taking into the dungeon, but I don't upgrade anyone's skills or weapons/armor until they're at resolve 2 (or resolve 1 with really good quirks, like a Leper with Fated or something)

• On medium sojourns, consider camping earlier than your instinctive half-way; a lot of camp buffs are really good, even stuff as trivial as Scouting bonuses

• burn the books, eat the purple, douse the torch, hail xom