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Darkest Dungeon 2: What mean icons, tokens, abbreviations? Darkest Dungeon 2 guide, tips
On this page of the Darkest Dungeon 2 guide, we explain what each token and icon that appears on expeditions means, as well as the basic terms and abbreviations found in the game.
Last update: Friday, May 19, 2023
This page explains the meaning behind the different icons, symbols, and tokens that appear during combat, expeditions and random encounters in Darkest Dungeon 2.
In Darkest Dungeon 2, symbols are used in many situations, for example, in skill descriptions. Becoming familiar with them is key to understanding their meaning. Below, we provide a convenient list of all the symbols and their description. Most of the symbols (but not all) can be found in the Glossary in the game menu. Tokens - these are small icons that appear next to the heroes. They indicate their current status, buffs, debuffs and status effects, such as Blight. Knowing these will help you succeed.
Tokens
Icon | Name | Description |
 | Critical | The next attack will be a critical hit that ignores 20% of resistance |
 | Riposte | A hero using Riposte counterattacks several times when attacked (passively). They still take damage (unless they dodge) and the counterattack has basic attack properties. The hero will even counterattack attacks directed at multiple heroes, but not curses. |
 | Dodge | 50% dodge chance |
 | Dodge | 75% dodge chance |
 | Block | -50% damage from next attack |
 | Block | -75% damage from next attack |
 | Guard | Heroes can guard others or ask others to guard them (if they have such an ability). As a result, every attack targeting the guarded hero will be redirected to the guardian. |
 | Strength | 50% damage to next attack |
 | Speed | Increases initiative during the next turn |
 | Daze | During the next turn, the hero with this icon will move after all the other characters |
 | Stun | The hero's next turn is skipped |
 | Blind | -50% Accuracy |
 | Weak | -50% to Damage |
 | Vulnerable | 50% more damage taken |
 | Marked for Death | 30% damage from Bullseye Barrett's attacks |
 | Taunt | Forces you to attack the indicated target. Useful to distract enemies from your allies if you cast it on yourself. |
 | Immobilize | Prevents movement, including being moved by abilities used by both allies and enemies |
 | Winded | -33% damage. You lose 3 points per each winded token. Speed |
 | Combo | Activates bonus skill effects when targeted. Many heroes have abilities that apply additional effects to enemies affected by the Combo token. |
 | Controlled Burn | Places a Flame token in the indicated spot at the start of their turn |
 | Stealth | Keeps you from being targeted by most skills |
 | Unchecked Power | Makes certain skills more powerful. 33% chance for each flame token |
 | Corpulent | Allows you to use a special skill. You should eliminate or weaken enemies that have this token. |
 | Fodder | Can be eaten by other plague eaters. This means that some enemies can devour their allies. This buff isn't very balanced, as your opponents lose very little health from being eaten. |
 | Benediction | Allows you to use several powerful abilities. You should eliminate or weaken enemies that have this token. |
 | Worship | The worship of indescribable cosmic powers |
 | Order | The enemy is preparing to use a powerful skill |
 | Burn | Deals damage over time (DOT) from Burning. |
 | Bleed | Deals damage over time (DOT) from Bleeding. |
 | Blight | Deals damage over time (DOT) from being Blighted |
 | Disease | Disease is an effect that afflicts the hero until they are healed in the Hospital. Some enemies can inflict Diseases with their attacks. You can suffer from multiple diseases at the same time. |
 | Horror | Increases Stress accumulation (DOT) for the indicated number of turns; can be healed with items or hero abilities. Sometimes this icon simply indicates Stress increase / decrease, not the DOT effect |
 | Death's Door | When the hero loses all of their health, they will be one step away from their grave. They receive the Weak token and each following hit (including DOT) may be fatal. Additionally: -3 Speed. The token will disappear once the hero is healed. |
 | Hunger | Encountered during certain boss fights; causes the hero to move to the right every turn, and once they reach the 4th spot, they will attempt to eat, if food is available (otherwise, they will be penalised). |
Icons
 | Relics | It's the main in-game currency and can be used to purchase most inn and combat items. It's also frequently used during Encounters. |
 | Mastery | Mastery Points allow you to improve the skills of your heroes. You receive a mastery point for every battle you win. |
 | Baubles | Additional currency. It can only be used to purchase Trinkets. |
 | Inn items | These are inn items that can buff you, improve relationships, or heal allies |
 | Reward - food | Food counts as an Inn item. |
 | Combat Item | There's a chance to obtain combat items, which can be assigned to heroes, then used during battle |
 | Various loot | A chance to obtain a number of random item types. |
 | Trinkets | This icon indicates that you are guaranteed to find equipment Trinkets |
 | Stagecoach upgrades | This icon indicates that you can obtain Stagecoach upgrades |
 | Relicts (basic currency) | You gain or lose the indicated amount of the base currency, Relicts. |
 | Flame | Adds or removes one Light level from the Stagecoach |
 | Quirks - various | The hero will be given a random quirk: either a positive or negative one. The hero might also become afflicted with a disease. |
 | Combat | Choosing to fight when you encounter an optional enemy. The door icon allows you to escape. |
 | 1 Vulnerable | You will occasionally see these icons when you initiate combat against optional opponents. They indicate that the side with the marker will have the given buff / debuff. |
 | Stress | Stress can increase or decrease during combat and Encounters. You can heal heroes using skills or Inn items while resting. |
 | Life | This icon indicates Life: when it's orange, you will be healed, when it's blue, you will lose some HP. |
Abbreviations and terminology
Below are some commonly used abbreviations and terms that appear in Darkest Dungeon 2.
- HP - health points
- DOT - damage over time (damage per turn); this refers to effects such as Bleeding.
- Journey - it's a "single run" until you withdraw or die (not counting, of course, completing the level).
- Expedition - it's a single stagecoach journey until a new Inn is encountered.
- Gates of Death - a situation when the hero's Health level drops to 0. The next hit might prove fatal, even in the case of DOT (such as Bleed or Blight).
- Deathblow - when the hero has the Death's Door status, they might die. This hit is called a Deathblow - you'll encounter this term in descriptions of items that increase protection against the Deathblow.
- Turn vs round - a turn is a move performed by a single opponent. A round is the next stage during which the heroes and enemies make their moves.
- Quirk - quirks are hero traits that modify their behaviour, which can affect their and their allies' Stress or add and subtract modifiers and attributes (such as Health / Speed). You can preview them on the hero's page.
- The Inn - a safe point at the end of each route. Here you can relax, improve your skills, regenerate Life, Stress and Relationships, make small purchases and upgrade the Stagecoach.
- Stress - this is the second modifier outside of Life. It is located below the health bar. It fills up when the enemy makes critical attacks and inflicts curses and it also increases when teammates have negative relationships. Once it fills ups, Relationships will deteriorate, and the hero will lose most of their Life; the Stress level then drops slightly. The Hero may then also receive a negative Quirk. You can read more about this on the Relationships, Stress page.
- Relationships - you can view a hero's relationships on their page. All heroes have relationships with each other. An extreme change in the relationship (filling the bar) causes Emotions: negative ones will cause issues during combat (preventing the use of skills and causing debuffs), while positive ones can heal, provide buffs during battle, result in additional attacks, etc. Manage relationships when making choices and when using Inn items.
- Profile level - the profile level is visible in the game menu: it's the digit in a yellow diamond. It's based on the Hope points earned during each Journey, regardless of their level of success. The better you do, the more points you get.
- Loathing - doom is a world modifier that grows with each Journey. Between levels 3 and 5, it begins to have a negative effect on your chances during battle, and a positive effect on monsters. To reduce it, win fights (random combat encounters on the road don't count).
- Flame - the flame visible on the stagecoach has a numerical value. Each time it decreases by 20 points (from 100 to 0) its level decrease will affect the modifiers for the party or monsters - the darker, the worse. If it goes out completely, you could be attacked by the Cultists. The Flame decreases throughout the journey, you can increase it during Assistance encounters by choosing the option to add to the Flame.