Last Updated on by Samuel Franklin
Darkest Dungeon Best Backer Trinkets To Use
With the Darkest Dungeon best backer trinkets (Kickstarter trinkets) players will have a consistent and easy source of useful trinkets to help progress through the difficult challenges that you will face in this dark turn based roguelike adventure. Introduced alongside backer heroes these trinkets were introduced as a reward for players that supported the original game Kickstarter in 2014. Like normal trinkets that players can buy from the Nomad Wagon or find rarely while adventuring backer trinkets provide characters with various stat modifiers and can equip two unique trinkets. As a result they can be a powerful way to boost your character damage or utility that ultimately improve your consistency in dungeon expeditions.
These backer trinkets are special though as they can be acquired without spending your Darkest Dungeon gold or even adventuring into a dungeon to begin with that make them a great choice while farming up the core trinkets. The trade off for this ease of access though is that you are limited to only owning one of each backer trinket at any time although if lost can be acquired again. Despite this they are a great option to use initially on a new playthrough, on new characters that have recently joined your Hamlet from the Stage Coach or to fill character inventory slots you can’t fill with other trinket options. Given the power of some of these trinkets it can even remove the need for players to farm curio for rare trinkets if players wish.
While there is some debate in the community on using these (and the similarly designed backer heroes) as it impacts the intended mechanics of Darkest Dungeon players will need to make this decision for themselves. Personally I would recommend not using these for a first playthrough initially and once you are experienced with trinkets acquired through gameplay you can decide for yourself to use them or not as they will make the useful trinket acquisition grind significantly easier. Note that backer trinkets do not deactivate achievements during a game playthrough if used. In this guide to the best Darkest Dungeon backer trinkets we detail how to claim them in game (step by step) and which ones are best to claim for your playthrough.
How To Claim Backer Trinkets in Darkest Dungeon
Claiming backer trinkets is a simple process and can be done regardless of how far your playthrough has progressed and difficultly level although they only work on PC and not console versions of Darkest Dungeon. In order to activate a backer trinket complete the following steps:
- Enter your Darkest Dungeon game and open your trinket inventory using the chest in the bottom right hand side of the Hamlet screen.
- With your trinket inventory open press the ‘Enter’ key which will bring up a Trinket Name text field.
- Within this text field enter the name of the backer trinket you wish to obtain. These are not case sensitive so can be entered with or without capitalisation but will need correct punctuation (such as ‘).
- If the backer trinket name is correct players will receive a ‘Trinket Found!’ message.
- The trinket will now appear within your inventory.
- Note that they can only be sold for 1 gold so players cannot use this as a way to make money in Darkest Dungeons (although it does allow you to easily sell other trinkets you obtain for gold while using the backer options). If players already own the trinket or the name was entered incorrectly you will receive an ‘Invalid Trinket’ message instead.
Darkest Dungeon Best Backer Trinkets
The list below includes the best backer trinkets listed in alphabetical order based on the stats they provide to your characters. While there are many good backer trinkets this list is reserved for the best that have a broad range of uses and aren’t easily beaten by other backer or normal trinkets. Combining these with other mechanics like the best Darkest Dungeon quirks, equipment and skills can allow players to easily customise powerful heroes for particular purposes.
With this table below you’ll know the name of the trinket (in order to enter it into the claim screen noted above), the stats of the trinket and a brief description of what makes it powerful or specific use cases. Note that the Darkest Dungeon wiki does have a list of all 200+ backer trinkets for those that want to see all of the available options.
| Trinket Name | Trinket Stats | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Agnus Dei | +18% DMG +3% CRT +3% CRT -10% Bleed Resist on First Round -13% Healing Skills if Torch below 26 |
A strong damage trinket that also provides some critical bonus with limited downsides that only come into play during the first round or at low torch levels. |
| Avalon | +6 SPD +6% CRT -6% PROT on First Round -10% Disease Resist if in position 1 -10% Blight Resist if in position 1 |
Ideal for a hero not in position one that benefits from speed and critical chance and is unlikely to get hit in the first round due to the reduction in protection. For example a utility character with debuffs or stuns that you want to be able to use early. |
| Beloved’s Ring | +5 ACC +10% DMG +4 SPD -10% Bleed Resist -10% Blight Resist -10% Disease Resist |
Trading some core resistances for accuracy, damage and speed this is a nice all around ring themed trinket. While it doesn’t reach the overpowered levels of the other best backer trinkets on this list it is simple effective for so many situations. |
| Bernie the Rock | -15% Stress +50% DMG when starving at Death’s Door |
A flat reduction to stress that offers little down side given the combination of starving and at Death’s Door. This is an effective early game backer trinket when stress management is harder but can be easily replaced later with other trinkets. |
| Bloodbrine | +30% Healing Skills if in position 4 +50% Food consumed while Camping -10% MAX HP |
Ideal for a healing character that constantly stands in position 4 of our party given the buff to healing skills with little downside. |
| Boots of much kicking | +10% DMG +4% CRT +6% PROT -10% Move Resist while Camping -10% Trap Disarm while Camping -16% Resolve XP while Camping |
Perfect for damage focused characters players can boost damage, critical and protection with practically no downside. |
| Brutal Hairpin | +15% DMG -10% Bleed Resist while Camping |
Another damage focused trinket that provides a solid boost while having a downside that simply doesn’t matter to your Darkest Dungeon progress. |
| Corwyn’s Cape | +3% CRT Ranged Skills +8% DMG Ranged Skills +4 ACC Ranged Skills +50% DMG when starving at Death’s Door |
Ideal for the ranged damager dealer that offers a trio of damage boosting stats in critical, damage (ranged only) and accuracy (ranged only). As a result this is best reserved for heroes that only use ranged attack skills. |
| Crest of the 1100 | +25% Virtue Chance -15% Stress |
A simple trinket that provides a reduction to stress and additional chance to trigger virtue for situations where your party lacks stress reduction options and you want some additional safety. |
| Da powar | +5 ACC +10% DMG +5 ACC -10% Trap Disarm while Camping -10% Trap Disarm while Camping -10% Trap Disarm while Camping |
Like many other backer trinkets on this page you have accuracy and damage on this trinket with a negative that doesn’t matter in Darkest Dungeon mechanics. |
| Goliath Killer | +6 ACC if in position 1 +13% DMG if in position 1 +5% CRT if in position 1 -10% Trap Disarm if in position 4 -8% Chance Monsters Surprised if in position 4 -13% Healing Skills if in position 4 |
Designed for characters that stand in position 1 and won’t find themselves in position 4 players can gain these benefits with little risk of the negatives being a factor. |
| Handy Haversack | +10% DMG Ranged Skills +13% Healing Skills after First Round +3% Scouting Chance -13% Heals Received on First Round -10% DMG Melee Skills |
A ranged focused trinket that is ideal for a character that deals both damage and occasional healing but won’t ever use melee skills. |
| Hound Crest | +4 SPD +10% DMG +5 ACC -4% CRT while Camping -4% CRT while Camping -4% CRT while Camping |
For many characters the trio of speed, damage and accuracy is perfect with the loss of critical while camping not a negative that needs to be considered. |
| Le Roi en Jaune | +24% Resolve XP -15% Stress -8% Chance Monsters Surprised if in position 4 -8% Virtue Chance if Torch below 26 -5 ACC vs Eldritch |
Serving as a great way to improve the level up speed of your heroes through the resolve experience boost this trinket also has reduced stress for easier management. The negatives can sometimes be a factor though if the hero is placed in position 4, you are adventuring in the Weald or Cove or let the torch value fall low. |
| Moonleaf’s Torture | +15% Move Resist if in position 1 +15% DMG Melee Skills -10% Bleed Resist +10% Stress if in position 4 |
When your team composition relies heavily on maintaining a particular character in position 1 this trinket helps them stay there through move resistance while also providing a solid melee damage boost. |
| Ravenous Lion’s Ring | +15% DMG Melee Skills +6% CRT Melee Skills +50% Food consumed +50% DMG when starving |
A melee focused backer trinket with a potent damage and critical increase for your melee characters although you do need to bring a small amount of extra food that is worth the trade off. |
| Starbreaker | +4 SPD +4 SPD +4 SPD -13% Healing Skills on First Round -13% Healing Skills on First Round -13% Healing Skills on First Round |
When you have a hero that you want consistently to go first in a round the massive 12 speed boost total helps significantly achieve that with the only negative being weaker healing skills on the first round which won’t even matter on a character that does not have healing skills. |
