Two effects, both always on
Damage that grows as health falls. Every hit a Blood-Drunk hero lands is multiplied by one plus half of the share of their health that is missing. At full health that is nothing. At half health it is +25%. The bonus is calculated on each hit from the health they have at that moment, so it rises and falls through the fight.
| Health remaining | Damage bonus |
|---|---|
| 100% | none |
| 75% | +12.5% |
| 50% | +25% |
| 25% | +37.5% |
| 15% | +42.5% |
| 10% | +45% |
Courage +0.2. The trait adds 0.2 to the combat AI’s courage value, the number that decides how long a hero keeps fighting as a fight turns bad. For scale, Brave adds 0.12 and Unbreakable Will 0.25. A Blood-Drunk hero holds their nerve almost as well as the top of the courage ladder, and without the extra enemy attention those courage traits carry.
The low-health window
The bonus only exists while the hero is hurt, and being hurt is the dangerous part. A downed hero stops acting and rolls for a lasting injury afterwards (25%, or 40% if Frail). So the trait pays best on heroes who can spend a long time at low health without dropping:
- Durable melee fighters with good armour, who lose health slowly.
- Parties whose healer keeps them in the middle of the bar. A hero held around 40–60% health gets a steady 20–30% bonus for the whole fight.
- Long fights, where there is time for the bonus to pay back the health spent reaching it.
On Deep dungeons there is an extra cost to plan for. Each wave adds more stress to any hero who finishes it below 40% health (12 instead of 6), which is exactly where a Blood-Drunk hero wants to be. Deep-Seasoned halves that.
Away from the fight
- Bounty jobs like it. Bounty postings list Blood-Drunk among their liked traits, which adds 5% to that hero’s suitability for the hunt.
- Forks. As party leader, a Blood-Drunk hero leans toward the “Lair” side room with its single named enemy (+2) and away from the known path (−1). With no other traits pulling against it, a Blood-Drunk leader takes the Lair about 89% of the time it is offered and the other side rooms about 67%, even when the party is already hurt.
- Flavour. The trait has its own quest-report lines, and on pair duty the hero speaks with the “hot” voice shared with Hot-Headed, Reckless and Insubordinate. Neither changes a result.
The hero card links Blood-Drunk to Aggression and Bravery. That link is descriptive; those attribute numbers are not changed.
Combinations
- It can never appear with Cowardly or Cool-Headed.
- Death-Defying is the natural partner. The first blow that should down them each delve leaves them at 15% health, which is a +42.5% bonus.
- Quick to Mend shortens the injuries this style will sometimes cause, and Indomitable keeps them from turning grave.
- Glass-Jawed or Frail on the same hero shortens the low-health window into a quick trip to the infirmary.
- Death-Seeker suits a hero built to take risks, but both traits pull toward danger, so the pair needs a healer who is paying attention.
Rarity and history
- Rarity: common, neutral · draw weight 100 of 6,365 · about 1 recruit in 25
- Founding draft: any card.
- In the wiki’s archive: first present in the 2.1.8 build (absent from 2.0.7).
Recruiting
The neutral label is fair. On a tough front-line damage dealer with healing behind them, Blood-Drunk is worth a premium, because the courage alone is a good trait and the damage curve is a bonus on top. On a fragile or back-line hero it rarely gets to work, and you should price it as close to blank.