Farmstead

“Some blazing malevolence from beyond the stars has crashed upon the Miller’s farm. Lands that have, in past years, yielded rich harvests are now sown with a new and terrifying seed—an unrelenting crystalline consumption that inches outward from the mill with each passing season.”

Some hateful shard of alien origin has streaked through the night sky, crashing into the old Miller’s farm on the outskirts of the Hamlet! Those unfortunate enough to witness the Comet’s arrival have been blinded by what they can only describe as a shifting, ephemeral hue of damnably abrasive intensity. There has been no word from the farm in a fortnight, save for the unearthly groaning that echoes from the ruin of the mill…

Ever since the Comet stuck the Old Windmill, the Farmstead and it’s surrounding acres of land are several altered by the otherworldly corruption. As if natural flow of time has been distorted beyond recognition; once fertile fields are a lifeless wasteland were only crystallized wheat and mutated pumpkins can grow and the acres are littered with fossilized remains of people, farm animals and petrified crops, as if they have aged uncountable years in blink of eye. Even stars above Farmstead are not right, none of the recognizable constellations can be seen in the night sky and the Northern Star is in the wrong position, as if these night skies are not from this time and place.

Behavior

The Farmstead is a new area that is introduced in the Color of Madness DLC. It is unique in the fact that it eschews exploration for pure combat - When you enter, you are pitted against a constant stream of monsters, new ones coming in to take the place of the old. The first two missions act as a tutorial to the main draw of the place - An Endless mode, where you are pitted against wave after wave of monsters until you are defeated or you flee.

The Farmstead differs from the other areas of the game in a multitude of ways.

Enemy corpses, if ignored, become large crystal formations. If these are left alive, they explode for notable HP and Stress damage.
The torch does not fade over time, instead taking a multitude of different variants seen nowhere else in the game.
There is no negative consequence to fleeing from the battle, other than losing out on the level's bonuses.
In the endless mode, death is temporary. If a character dies, they become lost in time and space, only to eventually reappear after a week or two - This is functionally identical to the way adventurers can go missing after participating in Stress Relief.

Heroes will travel through multitude of dimensions, past, present, or future, with specific ennemies from each region, even the last one. Each fight will bring an alternation between our current dimension, The Farmstead's Miasma, and the other ones.

The Farmstead's Miasma - with Farmstead specific monster:
- Hero Party Effects: -10% Healing Received and +10% Stress.
Green dimension (Haunting):
- Hero Party Effects: +15% Blight Skill Chance and +10% Stress.
- Monster Effects: +15% Blight Skill Chance and +10 Dodge.
Red Dimension (Gleaming):
- Hero Party Effects: +15% Bleed Skill Chance and +15% Healing Skills.
- Monster Effects: +15% Bleed Skill Chance and +5% CRT.
Blue Dimension (Blazing):
- Hero Party Effects: +20% DMG vs Marked and +20% Debuff Skill Chance.
- Monster Effects: +3 SPD and +10% PROT.
Yellow Dimension
- Hero Party Effects: ?
- Monster Effects: ?

Strategy

Provisions

There is no need to bring Torches, Shovels and Keys here. Like any Darkest Dungeon's quest, bring every Food, Bandage, Antivenom, Medicinal Herbs, Holy Water and Laudanum you can. It's better to be prepared. Even if you have The Crimson Court (DLC), you will not see any ennemies from there. In that case, don't bring heroes with Crimson Curse, and you will not need any The Blood.

Party Composition

The endless run is a matter of endurance, this is why you need to keep you in safe way, in physical health, and mostly, psychological health.

Firstly, you'll need a good healer. Classically, a good Vestal will do the job, with Tome of Holy Healing and Salacious Diary trinkets for example, and perhaps Hippocratic quirk. Even if the Occultist can do enormous amount of heal, his skill is too random.
Secondly, you'll need heroes with stress heal skills. For example, the Jester with Inspiring Tune and the Flagellant with Endure have an incredible synergy. With the Dirge For The Devoured for the first one and the Aria Box for the second one, you can climb easily to -30 stress per turn.

As spelled above, any corpses left will become Crystalline Aberration in the next turn. Even if you can heal a bit yourself by destroying them, you should remove them quickly. The best way would be to use Bleed skills (blight can be useful, but as you will encounter Farmstead monsters half of the time, with blight resistance, it is not advised either). Thus, this will allow you to quickly remove the corpse, more, it's an excellent way to temporize ennemies in order to heal yourself. Nevertheless, keep in mind that if you meet Ruins monsters in that way, it will be a real hell. Thereby, balance your strengths.

It's important to have the well choosen camping skills. Since fights last very long, combat buff are welcome. Also, as you can quickly contract diseases (especially against Warrens and Cove monsters), skills which can remove them (like Snuff Box with Grave Robber) are perfect. Furthermore, as you can overstack Death Door recovery, skills which remove them are welcome. You will not need scouting or ambush skills.

Global Workaround

As you know, The Farmstead works in waves: you'll need to fight a specific amount of monster in order to spawn the Sleeper's Dream and end the fight. When you kill a monster, 2 turn later the next one(s) approach. It will be trigger at first kill, if you kill another ones after this one, next turn or not, they will all come in the same time. Again and again. This is why you shouldn't rush kill, it's better to move forward with 2 per 2 kills in order to temporize the fight. In priority, you should kill the stress dealer, basic ennemies at last. Stack bleed/blight and heal yourself as you can. When you are near the quota, you can rush kill. When you're here and there is a place left, keep in mind that every ennemies here will disappear. Thus, it's not important to fight, unless you are in real danger. Buff you up and heal yourself until Sleeper's Dream comes.

You will fill the dipstick at the top right of the screen, after the last wave, when it's almost full, you will encounter a Boss. The 2 first time, it will be successively The Miller, then The Sleeper. Afterwards, it will be an alternation between the Thing From The Stars, the Shambler, the Shrieker, or the Collector.

Keep an eye on which dimension you are, as well as on the area where you fall, depending on the conditions, act accordingly.

List of Farmstead Monsters

view The Estate
Hub	Hamlet
Dungeons	Old Road Ruins Warrens Weald Cove Darkest Dungeon
DLC Locations	Courtyard Farmstead Butcher's Circus