Darkest Dungeon: The Crimson Court DLC adds a whole new mechanic to suck the blood out of your beleaguered heroes — the Crimson Curse. Here, we’ll breakdown everything you need to know about this status effect, and how to cure it.

There are multiple ways to stop the endless nightmare of the Crimson Curse, but not all of them will be available to you right away. It takes time and effort, and for the majority of The Crimson Court, you’ll just have to deal with it.

But the Crimson Curse isn’t all bad. There are reasons you might not want to cure the terrible disease. Here’s everything you need to know, starting with the most important part — the cures.

More Darkest Dungeon: The Crimson Court guides on The Escapist:

• Darkest Dungeon: Crimson Court – How To Get Courtyard Invitations
• Darkest Dungeon: Crimson Court – Courtyard Location Survivor Guide | Tips

How To Cure The Crimson Curse | Affliction Breakdown

The Crimson Curse is both a blessing and a curse, and if you’re well-stocked on blood, can provide plenty of bonuses to your team. Before getting that far, there are two permanent cures for the Crimson Curse, and a few ways to stave off the nasty side-effects.

The Crimson Curse is contracted randomly when encountering Bloodsucker enemies. These enemies appear in The Courtyard, and after completing the first mission, will spread to other dungeons and spawn more regularly as the infestation level increases.[/I]

Beware The Fanatic: It’s also worth noting that if you enter a dungeon at Medium Infection with 2+ heroes afflicted with the Crimson Curse, a wandering boss called The Fanatic will spawn. This difficult human adversary fights tirelessly to kill all Bloodsuckers.

When infected, the Crimson Curse causes slow degeneration; starting at passive, going to craving, then wasting, then death. Blood will cure these status ailments — but beware, feeding an infected hero blood in craving status immediately gives blood lust. When in blood lust or wasting modes, the infected hero will refuse to move, cause stress damage, and attack allies randomly.

Full Cures

There are two ways to cure the Crimson Curse. Neither are “permanent” — party members can still contract the disease when exploring and fighting Bloodsuckers.

• #1. Defeat Courtyard Bosses: Anyone in your party that’s present when a Courtyard boss is killed will lose the Crimson Curse.
• #2. Complete the “A Bewitching Predator” Quest: Finishing this final quest will remove the Crimson Curse from all currently afflicted heroes — and all future instances of the curse can be removed at the Sanitarium.

Those are the only ways to completely remove the curse, but you can also slow the effects through a number of means — drinking blood or carrying trinkets.

Drinking Blood To Slow The Curse

The Blood is a new item in The Crimson Court, and it’s your primary resource for slowing the depilating effects of the Crimson Curse. The Crimson Curse causes heroes to crave blood, and a lack of blood while dungeon crawling drains a hero, eventually leading to death.

• How To Get Blood: Blood is dropped by enemies from The Courtyard only — only Bloodsuckers and DLC enemies drop The Blood.

The Sanguine Vintners District, a new structure in your HQ town, will produce two vials of blood per week.

There are also multiple new trinkets that will help deal with the Crimson Curse.

• Ancestor’s Vintage: Delays Crimson Curse craving. Always dropped by the Fanatic boss after his first defeat.
• Mantra of Fasting: +33% MAX HP if Wasting, +6 SPD if Wasting.
• Rat Carcass: Immune to death by the Crimson Curse.

That’s just a few of the trinkets that will make life easier.