At the start of the first turn where only a single enemy is alive, the penalty clock starts. Remember however, that stalling fights for too long triggers stall penalties. Make sure it's the least threatening enemy, then just stun/debuff it as much as you can while judiciously spamming heals. Once there's just one enemy left, you can stall the fight and heal as much as possible. They might do more damage in the long run, but against a standard, size one enemy, it's very possible to just kill them before they get an action, and direct single target damage is better for this job.ДЄfter the alpha strike comes the stalling. Never use DOTs or AOE over direct damage, at least on the first turn. Said priority enemies are always the stress-casters who hide out in the back this is why backline damage is orders of magnitudes better than frontline damage. The alpha strike Use strong single-target moves and focus down one priority enemy at a time, without stopping to heal/recover until most things are dead (unless someone gets sent to Death's Door). But there are ways to quickly improve your gameplay.Д¬ombat tips- remember the 2 basic stages of a fight the alpha strike and the stalling. Even experienced players (we're talking about the best of the best, people who have completed torchless and/or no-death campaigns and the like) have some trouble in the early weeks since the heroes come with random skills, quirks and you have no good trinkets to your name. It's pretty normal to struggle through your first dungeons especially as a new player.

Darkest dungeon guide