With the 1.0 release of Darkest Dungeon 2 coming May 8, Red Hook Studios has revealed the final character to appear at launch, Flagellant. This mean and nasty man is in much worse shape than he was when he appeared in the original Darkest Dungeon, bringing a high-risk play style focused on Blight.

Flagellant showed up in the first Darkest Dungeon through the Crimson Court DLC! Enjoy that skin.

Like the Flagellant that appeared in Darkest Dungeon 1, the Flagellant works best when he is at "death's door" (a dying state that a character reaches with zero HP). He can consume health to fuel his attacks or tank damage that other characters would have taken to reach "death's door" faster.

If you're trying to cut "toxic" people out of your life, you're playing the wrong game; like the "Rapturous" state in Darkest Dungeon 1, it's not necessarily a bad thing, and according to Red Hook, Frageland 's "custom stress reactions are less impactful than meltdowns, reducing health to a threshold where those abilities can be used immediately while refreshing cooldowns."

The poison thing even extends to his kit - Flagellant has always been creepy, but now he is practically a walking corpse for all the punishment he has endured. Through sheer strength of will, Flagellant survives death side by side with death. He experiences a sense of eternal, never-ending death," Red Hook explains. As his body begins to rot, his blood and organs become septic, and his powers begin to reflect their toxic, necrotic archetype."

As a change from Darkest Dungeon 1, Flagellant is now all about Blight and damage over time with many of his abilities:

New boss spoilers and images below.

Flagellant also promises us a new enemy. Having cheated death many times, he is now being pursued by Death itself, armed with a scythe astride a pale horse. The encounter with this mini-boss has a chance of occurring each time you win a battle with Flagellant in your party. Her skills are specifically designed to circumvent the Flagellant's considerable deathblow resistance," Red Hook told us. 'The uncertainty of her appearance and her deadly combat ability make Death a real threat to any expedition. Surviving her attacks will allow players to obtain a special item, the Death's Head flower.

Flagellant will also feature a playable backstory fleshed out like the other characters and will appear in Darkest Dungeon 2 when the game exits Early Access on May 8. Until then, please visit the Darcest Dungeon 2 hub (opens in a new tab) for prior Early Access coverage.