Darkest Dungeon 2 Pets Guide: All Pets and Their Buffs

Everyone loves pets in their games and Darkest Dungeon 2 players are no different. The Redemption Road update to its Early Access Experimental version on the Epic Game Store added pets, and they do more for you than look cute. Let’s go over all the pets you can currently get in Darkest Dungeon 2, how you can get pets, and which pet buffs are available.

How to Get Pets in Darkest Dungeon 2

There are 10 different pets that are available to unlock at the Altar of Hope with Candles of Hope. When at the Altar, navigate to the Intrepid Coast section and look for “Companionship” to unlock pets.

Once you’ve unlocked Companionship, pets can be purchased at the Provisioner at the first inn for one Relic each. The Provisioner will only have three of the pets you have unlocked available. You do not automatically receive newly unlocked pets in your inventory like you would unlocked trinkets.

Each pet has it’s own unique abilities and buffs that they give to the party. The first six unlockable pets give buffs based off of items equipped to the Stagecoach, while the last four pets give direct combat effects.

You equip your pet via the Wainright screen at the inn and can only equip one pet at a time, and cannot change pets during an expedition. To name your pet, go to any character page and there will be a pet tab next to the goals tab.

• Orphan Wolf Cub: 5 Candles of Hope to Unlock
  • 10% Positive Relationship Chance
  • 5% Stress Resistance per Luxury Gear item equipped
• Pygmy Pliskin: 10 Candles of Hope to Unlock
  • +10% Healing from skills per Medical Gear item equipped
  • Random Hero after each location: Heal 10%
• Unnatural Owlet: 15 Candles of Hope to Unlock
  • +5% Debuff Chance per Tinker’s Gear equipped
  • Increased chance of producing items from Stagecoach Items
• Reanimated Rabbit: 20 Candles of Hope to Unlock
  • +1 Speed Per Food Gear item equipped
  • +1 Max Health per 4 Food items in inventory
• Mucilaginous Slime: 30 Candles of Hope to Unlock
  • +5% Debuff Resistance per Road Gear item equipped
  • Increased change of looting items from road debris
• Shrieker Chick: 40 Candles of Hope to Unlock 
  • +2% Crit per Scouting Gear item equipped
  • +2 quantity of looted Baubles
• Larval Carrion Eater: 50 Candles of Hope to Unlock 
  • Gain on Killing Blow: Corpse: Heal 30%, Block, Crit
• Hatchling Crocodilian: 60 Candles of Hope to Unlock 
  • When Moving: +3% Damage (1 Battle). -1 Speed (1 Battle) (20%)
• Crimson Tick: 70 Candles of Hope to Unlock 
  • Gain on Killing Blow: Chance to Produce The Blood (5%)
• Shambler’s Spawn: 85 Candles of Hope to Unlock
  • Stained: Unlocks the potential of Cultist Trinkets
  • +200% Cultist Encounters location scouting
  • -100% Location and Route scouting

Screenshot by GameSkinny

Stagecoach Gear Changes

As you can see from the pet buffs, some items have the Gear tag such as Luxury Gear or Tinker’s Gear. These are for Stagecoach items and the pet’s buff goes into effect based on these items being equipped to the Stagecoach. Here are which Stagecoach items belong to which tag.

• Luxury Gear: Collector’s Chandelier, Worktable Loom, Windchime, Tea Service, Trinket Organizer, Merchants Guild Seal, Strongbox, Spacious Strongbox
• Food Gear: Food Barrels, Ice Box, Pot and Still, Stew Pot, and Griddle
• Tinker’s Gear: Explosives Magazine, Blueprint Tubes, Assay Gear, Tinker’s Bench, Trapmaker’s Kit
• Medical Gear: Medicine Chest, Bottle Case, Compress Kit, Mortar and Pestle, Medical Equipment, Alembic and Retort, Chirurgeons Table, and Chirurgeon’s Mixing Kit
• Road Gear:  Leaf Suspension, Iron Brazier, Iron Banded Wheels, Steel Plating, Carriage Lamps, Wagon Jack
• Scouting Gear: Crows Nest, Shrine Map, Hoarder Signal Decoder, Tracker’s Map, Telescope, Academic’s Map, and Chirurgeon’s Directory

With the combo of pets and item specific buffs, you will want to create specific Stagecoach builds to maximize the pet effects. These can greatly impact your runs and party survival rates. Stay tuned for more news, guides, and features as we get closer to the 1.0 launch of Darkest Dungeon 2.