Hi all,

In the spirit of reading @Any2Cards' thread "Can you have fun if you are not winning?" I wanted to ask the question: What tactics could I use (as OL) to defeat this hero?

I generally play the OL in all of my games and when I play with my close friends and cousins, this is usually the hardest group I face off against. I always attempt to keep the game friendly and play as close to the rules as possible, back-tracking to fix missed dmg or healing for both sides. Luckily, win or lose, I'm always having fun cause we're playing my favorite board game.

Some setup info:
OL:

Plot Deck: Tristayne's Unstable Forces

• Wild Energy
• Explosive Fall

Exp Cards:

• Saboteur: Explosive Rune
• Universal: Dark Resilience

Heroes :

• Tatiyana: Stalker
• Ispher: Apothecary
• Nanok: Monk (Warrior, this is a custom class of mine being play tested)
• Leroic: Runemaster

After the intro, the heroes got very lucky with the shopping phase and pooled their money to buy the mage the Rune Plate. Now, to combo well with the Rune Plate, the mage bought Inscribe Rune skill. An obviously great move to keep that armor maxed out. So now, if we're all correct here, the mage is rolling 1 gray & black for defense. This has proven to be quite the challenge in defeating him.

We're currently on the 2nd quest for Act 1 in the LoR campaign and we're in Fury of the Tempest (FotT), E2. I have since then started pulling monsters with high piercing (still waiting to pull the Deep Elf) to counter act this high AC of the mage. For act 1 of FotT, my open group consisted of Hybrid Sentinels. The 'pray on the weak' skill has been good to counter act Leroic's hero ability but still, high rolls on the AC.

I'm not very good with card combos or seeing the fine details of my actions. I kinda just usually pick randomly, hence the Plot Deck. So I guess my real question is this: with many more cards to choose from for OL cards, what would probably be the next best moves for either purchasing OL cards or plot deck cards?

Also, can anyone point me in the right direction of a threat that helps OL's fine-tune their skills against example groups (if one exists)?

Thanks everyone!

When you talk about the desire of "defeating" Leroic, I assume that you want to knock him out/down?

Is there a reason you have this need? In other words, is it specifically required as an OL goal within the quest/encounter you are playing? The reason I ask this is because I play with a bunch of folks who rarely are OL, but do play it once in a while. Since they are also longtime players of Descent First Edition, they are always so focused on "killing" heroes, when often, it actually doesn't achieve them much.

There are so many quests/encounters where actually knocking heroes out is a waste of time, as it doesn't advance your goals as OL - or at least, those goals could be achieved in a more efficient manner rather than focusing on knocking out heroes.

So, again, I would ask why are you focused specifically on defeating Leroic?

When you talk about the desire of "defeating" Leroic, I assume that you want to knock him out/down?

Is there a reason you have this need? In other words, is it specifically required as an OL goal within the quest/encounter you are playing? The reason I ask this is because I play with a bunch of folks who rarely are OL, but do play it once in a while. Since they are also longtime players of Descent First Edition, they are always so focused on "killing" heroes, when often, it actually doesn't achieve them much.

There are so many quests/encounters where actually knocking heroes out is a waste of time, as it doesn't advance your goals as OL - or at least, those goals could be achieved in a more efficient manner rather than focusing on knocking out heroes.

So, again, I would ask why are you focused specifically on defeating Leroic?

I second this. Although Leoric/Rune master can be a very strong character, especially when he wears the Rune Plate (extra health because of his 5 Knowledge, black die because of Rune), there's often no need to defeat him. What you need is to figure out the party's tactics and defeat them.

If they are using Leoric as a Tank, rumbling around the board shooting blasts left and right, then you may need to inflcit fatigue on him, to keep him from using his skills and gaining move points from fatigue. Enough fatigue gained, could also translate into damage.

I agree- the best way to neutralize a runemaster is to keep him fatigued up to his stamina. You could also minimize his effectiveness with cards that force might tests, like Web Trap- additionally, poison is your friend when it comes to Leoric (again because of the might test- and you don't roll defense against it.) If he's not cleansed, I've seen him take more than 7 damage from a single instance of poison.

I can't say this enough: Web Trap

This article contains some suggestions about fatigue draining -

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4826

When you talk about the desire of "defeating" Leroic, I assume that you want to knock him out/down?

...

So, again, I would ask why are you focused specifically on defeating Leroic?

Primarily, the only reason I would even want to attempt to KO him is for the threat token. Generally though, I ignore Leroic as much as possible due to his sudden jacked AC. The only times I've attacked him during the 1st and 2nd quests was from either pincer attacks (arachyura) or hybrid sentinels (as explained in the first thread). I primarily focus on the objective for the encounter and harass the heroes as needed or block as I can. My brother, cousins and such are so used to 1st edition that they get caught up in killing all the monsters and usually ignoring the encounter objective for 2-4 turns.

I can't say this enough: Web Trap

I have certainly considering getting this as another Saboteur card.

I'll also look over the thread for fatigue draining. The other suggestion for hitting him (often) with poison is a good idea but could be hard, with the use of monsters, at least. Thanks for some of the help and suggestions, really appreciate it.

So in this vain, I am looking at this new overlord deck... Shadowmancer. Looks like it is made to frustrate the mage. *grins* New toys are fun. And if they are maxed on fatigue, then it's fresh blood for you.

There are also the indirect tactics. Infactor, if you can tolerate the risk that goes with it, lets you hurt him without being the direct cause by monsters, therefore bypassing dice to stop damage. Either by allot of misses or uses of surge by monsters (or both. those are my favorite lv one cards) and outbreak or in late game uses dark host, sicking your hero's best hitter to do him in. Infactor is star player. But understand, depending on how the OL deck is stacked will determinant if it even gets off the ground.

IF you can pull it off, it is very effective.

But I agree with the above comments. Killing the heroes is not most of the objectives in quests. If killing them is not your strength, or defiance is too much of a plus for them, then you need to look at other ways to do them in. Make speed your thing. Slow down those heroes (yes WEB TRAP is the thing! And always will be) so you can buy more time.

Or conditions as the thing. Most healers can only heal one condition a turn or only one off of a single hero. Stack them so that they have to choose. It's effective, though very resource consuming. I like this tactic for epics.

I agree- the best way to neutralize a runemaster is to keep him fatigued up to his stamina. You could also minimize his effectiveness with cards that force might tests, like Web Trap- additionally, poison is your friend when it comes to Leoric (again because of the might test- and you don't roll defense against it.) If he's not cleansed, I've seen him take more than 7 damage from a single instance of poison.

Poison works well against Leoric, but only if you inflict damage that penetrates the rune plate's defence or if you use another way of inflicting it.

Most monsters that inflict poison have it as part of their attack which means if Leoric rolls more shields than the OL has hearts, your poison fails.

I've found a murder of Barghests (sp?) to be a very effective way of keeping Leoric clammed up.

So in this vain, I am looking at this new overlord deck... Shadowmancer. Looks like it is made to frustrate the mage. *grins* New toys are fun. And if they are maxed on fatigue, then it's fresh blood for you.

There are also the indirect tactics. Infactor, if you can tolerate the risk that goes with it, lets you hurt him without being the direct cause by monsters, therefore bypassing dice to stop damage. Either by allot of misses or uses of surge by monsters (or both. those are my favorite lv one cards) and outbreak or in late game uses dark host, sicking your hero's best hitter to do him in. Infactor is star player. But understand, depending on how the OL deck is stacked will determinant if it even gets off the ground.

IF you can pull it off, it is very effective.

But I agree with the above comments. Killing the heroes is not most of the objectives in quests. If killing them is not your strength, or defiance is too much of a plus for them, then you need to look at other ways to do them in. Make speed your thing. Slow down those heroes (yes WEB TRAP is the thing! And always will be) so you can buy more time.

Or conditions as the thing. Most healers can only heal one condition a turn or only one off of a single hero. Stack them so that they have to choose. It's effective, though very resource consuming. I like this tactic for epics.

I would have picked stuff from the Shadowmancer expansion but I didn't include SoN items into the main game yet as the cards are not sleeved.

I have reviewed the infector class and I really like the airbone card as it's quiet good against Leoric's current (and probably permanent) state. So being able to infect him while adding DEF is a nice bonus. I had a feeling I should have gone Infector but thought it was more heavily based on poisons/disease and got confused with Bol'Goreth's plot deck.

I agree- the best way to neutralize a runemaster is to keep him fatigued up to his stamina. You could also minimize his effectiveness with cards that force might tests, like Web Trap- additionally, poison is your friend when it comes to Leoric (again because of the might test- and you don't roll defense against it.) If he's not cleansed, I've seen him take more than 7 damage from a single instance of poison.

Poison works well against Leoric, but only if you inflict damage that penetrates the rune plate's defence or if you use another way of inflicting it.

Most monsters that inflict poison have it as part of their attack which means if Leoric rolls more shields than the OL has hearts, your poison fails.

I've found a murder of Barghests (sp?) to be a very effective way of keeping Leoric clammed up.

Ah yes, I've forgotten about the howl and such. I'll certainly be looking at the monsters actions as well, to this fact. See, this is what I was talking about with not being able to combo well, from time to time, lol.

My biggest problem is that I'm not highly competitive (more cooperative) but get stuck playing the OL because I know the rules the best.

So in this vain, I am looking at this new overlord deck... Shadowmancer. Looks like it is made to frustrate the mage. *grins* New toys are fun. And if they are maxed on fatigue, then it's fresh blood for you.

There are also the indirect tactics. Infactor, if you can tolerate the risk that goes with it, lets you hurt him without being the direct cause by monsters, therefore bypassing dice to stop damage. Either by allot of misses or uses of surge by monsters (or both. those are my favorite lv one cards) and outbreak or in late game uses dark host, sicking your hero's best hitter to do him in. Infactor is star player. But understand, depending on how the OL deck is stacked will determinant if it even gets off the ground.

IF you can pull it off, it is very effective.

But I agree with the above comments. Killing the heroes is not most of the objectives in quests. If killing them is not your strength, or defiance is too much of a plus for them, then you need to look at other ways to do them in. Make speed your thing. Slow down those heroes (yes WEB TRAP is the thing! And always will be) so you can buy more time.

Or conditions as the thing. Most healers can only heal one condition a turn or only one off of a single hero. Stack them so that they have to choose. It's effective, though very resource consuming. I like this tactic for epics.

I would have picked stuff from the Shadowmancer expansion but I didn't include SoN items into the main game yet as the cards are not sleeved.

I have reviewed the infector class and I really like the airbone card as it's quiet good against Leoric's current (and probably permanent) state. So being able to infect him while adding DEF is a nice bonus. I had a feeling I should have gone Infector but thought it was more heavily based on poisons/disease and got confused with Bol'Goreth's plot deck.

I agree- the best way to neutralize a runemaster is to keep him fatigued up to his stamina. You could also minimize his effectiveness with cards that force might tests, like Web Trap- additionally, poison is your friend when it comes to Leoric (again because of the might test- and you don't roll defense against it.) If he's not cleansed, I've seen him take more than 7 damage from a single instance of poison.

Poison works well against Leoric, but only if you inflict damage that penetrates the rune plate's defence or if you use another way of inflicting it.

Most monsters that inflict poison have it as part of their attack which means if Leoric rolls more shields than the OL has hearts, your poison fails.

I've found a murder of Barghests (sp?) to be a very effective way of keeping Leoric clammed up.

Ah yes, I've forgotten about the howl and such. I'll certainly be looking at the monsters actions as well, to this fact. See, this is what I was talking about with not being able to combo well, from time to time, lol.

My biggest problem is that I'm not highly competitive (more cooperative) but get stuck playing the OL because I know the rules the best.

He'll get far more vulnerable in act 2.

So in this vain, I am looking at this new overlord deck... Shadowmancer. Looks like it is made to frustrate the mage. *grins* New toys are fun. And if they are maxed on fatigue, then it's fresh blood for you.

There are also the indirect tactics. Infactor, if you can tolerate the risk that goes with it, lets you hurt him without being the direct cause by monsters, therefore bypassing dice to stop damage. Either by allot of misses or uses of surge by monsters (or both. those are my favorite lv one cards) and outbreak or in late game uses dark host, sicking your hero's best hitter to do him in. Infactor is star player. But understand, depending on how the OL deck is stacked will determinant if it even gets off the ground.

IF you can pull it off, it is very effective.

But I agree with the above comments. Killing the heroes is not most of the objectives in quests. If killing them is not your strength, or defiance is too much of a plus for them, then you need to look at other ways to do them in. Make speed your thing. Slow down those heroes (yes WEB TRAP is the thing! And always will be) so you can buy more time.

Or conditions as the thing. Most healers can only heal one condition a turn or only one off of a single hero. Stack them so that they have to choose. It's effective, though very resource consuming. I like this tactic for epics.

I would have picked stuff from the Shadowmancer expansion but I didn't include SoN items into the main game yet as the cards are not sleeved.

I have reviewed the infector class and I really like the airbone card as it's quiet good against Leoric's current (and probably permanent) state. So being able to infect him while adding DEF is a nice bonus. I had a feeling I should have gone Infector but thought it was more heavily based on poisons/disease and got confused with Bol'Goreth's plot deck.

Only one card replies on poison, so I would not worry about it.