Darkest Dungeon Fire's Edge: Complete Guide

What Fire's Edge adds at Retail 27987

The Fire's Edge is the 2026 expansion for the original Darkest Dungeon. It adds the Runaway and Duelist, the Burn damage-over-time system, new trinket mechanics, town events, and three Hamlet Districts: Académie Duello, Craftworks, and Archaeological Base Camp. This is a versioned guide to the live Retail baseline, not a launch-announcement summary that stops before players can make a build decision.

The page badge names Retail build 27987, checked September 14, 2026. That release promoted the major coming_in_hot 27942 balance changes to the live game, so every current recommendation on this site now uses the Retail values rather than the earlier test note.

The Runaway: movement, Burn, and current data

The Runaway is a flexible original-game hero whose kit moves between the front and back halves of a party. Her source data lists Searing Strike, Firefly, Run and Hide, Ransack, Hearthlight, Controlled Burn, and Backdraft, along with their legal ranks, targets, and effects. Her page turns that list into practical movement, Burn, trinket, and team decisions rather than a sequel-kit disclaimer.

The important constraint is formation continuity: after Ransack, Run and Hide, or an enemy shuffle, the other three heroes still need usable actions. Use her versioned Runaway guide for the skill map, current trinkets, and editorial team shells.

The Duelist: free stance switches and Riposte

The Duelist begins in Defensive stance, retains her stance between battles, and uses free Anticipation actions to switch between Defensive and Aggressive kits while renewing Riposte. Her seven current skills include defensive repositioning, aggressive forward pressure, a Stun/Knockback option, and a full-rank finisher. That is enough data to plan a party around her movement rather than reducing her to “a DD II character.”

Her versioned Duelist guide separates skill facts from editorial build shells and keeps a Retail boundary around stance, Riposte, and trinket advice.

Burn is a timed, decaying stack

Burn deals its current stack amount at the end of the affected target's turn, then halves the stack rounded down. It stacks additively, critical hits apply 50% more Burn rounded up, and Wildfire can transfer half a dying target's Burn to adjacent enemies. These rules make turn order, corpse state, and enemy movement part of a Burn build.

The Burn mechanic guide explains the current sequence, non-standard cures and corpse behavior, Runaway skills that establish or convert stacks, and the conditions behind a Burn-control team recommendation.

Fire's Edge trinkets have a state

The expansion's new trinkets use Trigger Uses, Quest Charges, and progressive transformations. A charge count, exhausted state, or completed-quest transformation can change what the same inventory slot does. The item table already documents Runaway options including Warm Scarf, Pyro Accelerant, Charcoal Effigy, Infernal Coalstone, and the Sunstone progression path.

Use the Fire's Edge trinkets guide to compare current effects and the question each item answers. It deliberately states whether a recommendation is an effect fact or an editorial pairing.

Districts and patch-sensitive progression

Académie Duello, Craftworks, and Archaeological Base Camp are live Hamlet additions, not future roadmap ideas. Their exact costs and current benefits belong to the current District interface and source table, because progression advice can change with an economic patch. Do not use a launch-week construction order as a permanent answer.

The Districts reference lists current costs and effects, then turns them into a campaign decision: Riposte support from Académie Duello, weekly trinket depth from Craftworks, or long-term heirlooms from Archaeological Base Camp.

What Retail 27987 changed

Retail 27987 changes more than support text. It raises the Runaway and Duelist HP curves, adjusts multiple skills, revises Fire's Edge trinkets, lowers the Craftworks and Base Camp costs, and replaces Académie Duello's Riposte damage bonus with +10 Riposte ACC. It also fixes controller text, platform banners, and non-Steam Butcher's Circus issues.

The earlier coming_in_hot 27942 note remains useful only as change history. Do not use its branch label as evidence that the changes are still pending; use the official 27987 hotfix and current game data for live decisions. Xbox and Switch were scheduled to receive the update later in September, so console players should confirm the displayed build before applying a numerical recommendation.

A reliable way to use this wiki

Use data-confirmed sections for skill ranks, item effects, mechanics, and patch facts. Use editorial sections for team shells, upgrade order, and trinket pairings, where the dungeon, party, and current item state matter. Community reports can inspire a test, but should include a build, platform, version, and conditions before changing a reader-facing recommendation.

That evidence ladder gives players useful answers today without hiding uncertainty that actually affects a run.

Sources and update policy

Last reviewed: September 14, 2026, against original-game Retail build 27987. Primary release context comes from Red Hook's Fire's Edge announcement and Retail 27987 hotfix notes. Current game-data pages are cross-checked against the Fire's Edge reference. When reporting a mismatch, include the platform, channel, build, DLC state, and screenshot of the live tooltip.