Darkest Dungeon 2: How to Remove Corpses

Think you’ve seen the last of an enemy once you’ve slain them in Darkest Dungeon 2? Think again. Upon death, enemies drop Corpses, taking up the same space they did while alive. A tactical difficulty, this can cause your battle plan to go out the window. Here’s how to remove corpses so you can finish your combat quickly and efficiently.

How to Remove Corpses in Darkest Dungeon 2

There are a few different ways to remove corpses:

• Hero Skills
• Combat Items
• Attack them

Hero Skills to Remove Corpses

There are a variety of different Hero Skills that can be utilized to remove corpses from the field. Out of the 12 total characters currently available, five of them have corpse clearing skills.

• Flagellant: Fester
• Graverobber: Dead of Night
• Leper: Purge
• Occultist: Daemon’s Pull
• Plague Doctor: Magnesium Rain

Combat Items to Remove Corpses

The only Combat Item that can remove corpses from the field is Pouch of Lye. It’ll stack up to four in a Combat Item slot, and clears all corpses. It can be purchased at The Provisioner, The Hoarder and The Field Hospital.

You’ll also potentially get a Pouch of Lye if you have Alembic and Retort equipped to your Stagecoach. Otherwise it may be randomly awarded after a battle, at the Academic’s or Swine’s Cache, or found in road debris.

Attack the Corpses

Corpses have a health bar just like their living counterparts, though typically with much less health. Once you deplete the bar, the corpse will disappear. This is particularly inefficient unless the corpse is in the way of a multi-rank or AoE attack. You want to spend your turns healing or attacking the living enemies, not corpses.

If none of the above work for you, then you’ll have to wait out the timer until the corpse disappears, typically three rounds. This can cause the combat to go a lot longer and your party to take more damage, but sometimes you have no other option.

Hero Corpses

Unfortunately, in the world of Darkest Dungeon, death happens and you lose a party member. Just like enemies, a gravestone signifying where the hero once stood will appear. I’ve found that this is a great distraction for enemies that still attack it, allowing your team a slight reprieve. Just like enemy corpses, Hero corpses will disappear after a set time or when their health bar is fully drained.

Luckily, even if the gravestone disappears, as long as one party member remains at the end of a victorious battle, you’ll receive Hero Remains. This a new deliverable that rewards four Candles of Hope when you reach the inn.

Can You Permanently Turn Off Corpses?

In the original Darkest Dungeon, corpses were introduced some time after the full release of the main game. They provided more difficulty for those wanting it, but there was an option in the settings for those that preferred corpse-less battles.

That can’t be said for DD2, where corpses are part of the game, and there is no setting to get rid of them. Fans have been clamoring for an option to turn them off like in the first game, but so far no confirmation from Red Hood Studios has been made if that will occur. It may not be a feature of the sequel, but I do appreciate the benefits of Hero Remains after battle.

That’s all you need to know on how to clear corpses in Darkest Dungeon 2. If you need more assistance in game, check out our variety of guides.