Speaking of that magic trick , the Markusing characters have a kind of snowballing synergy going on OccultistBounty Hunter works really well two Bounty Hunters are solid , because really , the Bounty Hunter is just amazingly versatile , the same for the Houndmaster probably the weakest of that set is the Arbalist , not necessarily because there ' s something wrong with her but because the other Mark heroes are so incredibly good . The more of them you have , the more options you have , because of their amazing array of skills , and when the time comes to slap the shit out of some big gribbly they can do that with no problem at all . They ' re a little flimsy HPwise , but they ' re reasonably dodgy and have goodtodecent speed except for the Arbalist , again . They ' re good on their own , but they really shine in unison it ' s like the Power of Friendship , but with coordinated beatdowns . Four great tastes that taste great together . Tastes like victory . Marks are great . They ' re awesome . Only skills with specific dmg vs Marked tags take advantage of it , but those skills universally get incredible damage increases . 25 %, 50 %, 60 %, 90 %.. The Occultist is fast , and his Vulnerability Hex applies a Mark to the target and makes it easier to hit . His healing abilities are both selfevident and occasionally frustrating , and he also has a generous array of crowdcontrol and directdamage skills to choose from as suits your fancy . However , he can ' t exploit a Mark himself . His damage isn ' t too good generally , but can be nice against Eldritch nasties . He has an array of camping skills , but one of the neat ones is Dark Strength for the price of 15 stress to himself and 2 camping points he can give an ally a 20 % buff to damage done . Damage boosts all seem to stack and feed upon themselves the more damage effects you have , the more effect each one has . Killing the enemy is the best defence . Health and Dodge and Protection are nice to have , but it ' s better to not be hit at all . He also has a debuff , Weakening Curse , that reduces enemy damage done . It starts at 30 %, lasts for several turns , and stacks if you ' re willing to sacrifice the use of your Occultist ' s other abilities by repeatedly applying Curses , you can essentially neuter the highdamage monster of your choice . . The Arbalist is slow her Sniper ' s Mark applies a Mark and makes the enemy even easier to hit than the Occultist ' s mark , but she is slow , and nearly always acts late in the order her other abilities vary . Her Battlefield Bandage is a solid healing ability , providing some healing and a healing recieved buff that makes the Occultist ' s heal much more reliable . She has some move and debuff abilities , and a randomshot skill that buffs her speed and is best not used with any corpses on the field , but her best use is usually inflicting serious amounts of damage on the backrankers the Bounty Hunter has more raw damage output , but he can ' t reach those slots as easily . The Arbalist ' s Sniper Shot gets a 50 % damage boost from Marks alone , and she can give herself a Highwayman style damage boost with a camping skill above and beyond that . That ' s not counting any trinkets or quirks she can hit very hard if the conditions are right . Some enemies use Marks as well there aren ' t many , but they ' re very nasty . The Arbalist ' s Rallying Flare removes any and all Stuns and Marks from all of your characters . . The Houndmaster you know his Whistle applies a Mark and a 20 % Protection debuff this does nothing against ' normal ' enemies , but against a ' hard ' target with damage reduction it can be great . Remember that the skills that exploit Marks have damage ranging from Good to Oh Wow Whistle increases the damage a big , tough nasty takes , and the Mark increases it further . When combined with focused attacks , this is what I meant when I mentioned the Amazing Disappearing Bone Commander . Speaking of attacks , Hound ' s Rush gets 15 % more damage against Beasts and 60 % more damage against Marked targets a Marked Beast won ' t last long . He has a great set of support abilities to choose from , but the one I really like is Blackjack , a solid stun that can be applied just about wherever you want it . He ' s amazingly versatile , and can do just about anything he has a selfheal that combos really well with the Arbalist ' s Bandage and the Occultist ' s heal . He used to be a little crap originally his Mark was a special snowflake affair that only applied to him and other Houndmasters , but that was changed fast . and speaking of stuns . The Bounty Hunter ' s Mark For Death used to be pretty crap as well Sniper ' s Mark and Mark For Death originally only applied a Mark , AFAIK , so using them was Objectively Suboptimal . Now it applies a Mark and a 10 % Protection debuff however , not only is this not as awesome as the Houndmaster ' s 20 %, the Bounty Hunter has much better damage , gets more benefit from Marks , and has really neat support abilities , so actually using his Mark is generally unnecessary . It ' s a good skill , on anyone else it ' d be solid , but he has so many fantastic skills that are just so much better . Let ' s start with Collect Bounty 15 % more damage against Humans , and 90 % more against Marked targets . He hits pretty well to start with , so I think you can see where I ' m coming from when I say that using his Mark , instead of having someone else Mark for him , is wasteful . Also remember that some enemies have mixed types Swine are generally both Human and Beast , so they get double jeopardy from the Houndmaster and Bounty Hunter . Flat out 15 % more damage , even before we get into quirks and trinkets and whatever horrifying set of buffs you manage to collect here and there in the dungeon . I ' d hate to think what a Bounty Hunter with both Beast Slayer and Human Slayer rings could do in the Warrens . He can pull things closer , he can push them away and stun them he can shuffle them in the party order and stun them and even more fun , his Finish Him , while somewhat inaccurate , does 25 % more damage against Stunned enemies . That ' s not that hot , really , except that Finish Him reaches into the third row sometimes it ' s perfectly viable even without a Stun to exploit , simply because it does solid damage to an enemy that generally isn ' t equipped to survive it . And then there ' s Hook And Slice , a decent bleed that ' s just generally not worth the effort with all those other options . His camping skills are about the same as his fighting skills so many great options , but which one you want really depends on what you ' re doing with the skills of the other party members . . Then there ' s some other guys , who can ' t deliver a Mark themselves but can join in on kicking the Hell out of something that someone else markedThe Grave Robber and Highwayman have Thrown Dagger and Pistol Shot , respectively , which are both solid attacks that become 25 % more fun when the victim has a Mark . Pretty good , but not as glorious as the others .