The Fighter of Dark and Darker is the standard hero — capable of wielding many weapons, plate armor, and a hefty shield between yourself and anyone that wants to cause you mortal danger. While many look at the Fighter as a catch-all, generic shield-wielding adventurer, there is a massive skill ceiling for this class. The depth of the Fighter means there’s a massive difference between a skilled warrior with an intelligent build, and someone who lets the game make the decisions for them. Here’s a guide for what we’ve found to be the best Fighter build in Dark and Darker.
Related: Dark and Darker Tier List – The best classes in Dark and Darker
Note: This guide is up to date for alpha playtest 4.
The Best Fighter perks in Dark and Darker
While we wax poetic at length about every Fighter perk in Dark and Darker elsewhere, the concept is relatively straightforward. You want to maximize how quickly, and how hard, you can hit something else while keeping your shield in play. For this, we recommend the following four perks, in order:
- Swift
- Swift removes 20% of your movement penalty from armor. As you’ll be donning armor typically as soon as its found in a dungeon, that movement penalty can stack quickly, making you easy prey for Rogues and Wizards alike. This won’t entirely mitigate the movement penalty, but absolutely makes it far more manageable.
- Shield Expert
- Shield Expert gives an additional 10% movement speed while you’re holding your shield up with right-click. Keep your shield up while your opponent is swinging, but try to strafe past the shield to offer an opportunity to land your own blows. This becomes the crux of combat with a Fighter, where the shield is a failsafe if your strafing happens to fail.
- Counter Attack
- If an enemy hits your shield, the Counter Attack perk increases both your movement speed and attack speed for three seconds. This is enough time to counter strafe, and land your own hits, with the possibility of a full combo depending on the equipped weaponry. Along with Shield Expert, this perk turns the Fighter into a frightening class.
- Combo Attack
- Every time you successfully land damage against an enemy, your attack power by 10% increases for 3 seconds. If you can manage to land full combos with Counter Attack, Combo Attack can eliminate most enemies foolish enough to try to stand toe-to-toe against the Fighter. They’ll never know what hit them.
Best Fighter gear
For a Fighter, the Heater Shield is simply the best-in-slot shield. It’s large enough to reliably block piercing weapons such as spears, while not so large that it blocks your view. Find the biggest armor possible, especially once Swift is slotted, and take any one-handed weapon aside the Falchion — its odd horizontal swings leave you far too open to be cut down.
Once you’re down to deciding on gear based on offered stats, try to focus on Strength and Agility. Strength offers an increase in both attack power and health pool, turning the Fighter a bit tankier. Agility, conversely, increases movement and attack speed, which will allow your perks to proc far more often.
Best Fighter Skills
The Fighter has six skills to chose from, but most are niche selections that require a change in playstyle. Two skills reign supreme for the Fighter: Second Wind and Victory Strike, and shifting off of these means a fundamental shift in how the Fighter is approached.
- Second Wind
- Second Wind allows the Fighter to heal 50% of their HP, once per dungeon run. This is a monumental ability that isn’t matched by any other character, although the Cleric ostensibly comes close with their self-heal. Be warned it’s a heal-over-time, though — this isn’t the clutch you can count on in the middle of a fierce melee.
- Victory Strike
- Victory Strike offers an additional 20% damage for your next attack — if it kills an enemy, you instantly heal for a total of 5% total health. This ability can be used every 22 seconds, meaning it’s a very reliable means of keeping your health topped-off if someone, or something, manages to land a hit.
