I Just got a copy of Descent as a gift and am loving it. I imagine I will want to buy an expansion or two. Is there a recommended order to buy them in or are all of them self contained. Also is there a better expansion that I should get before others.

I know that I will not be getting all of them so if there is one that I could skip I would like to do so.

You'll get lots of different answers on this. They are all self contained in that they only require the base game, but you can use more than 1 together. I am a huge fan personally of labyrinth of ruin and shadow of nerekhall.

Agree with Zaltyre, everyone will give you different opinions on what order you should buy them. So here's mine!

When I was in your shoes I decided to buy Lair of the Wyrm(LotW) and The Trollfens(TT) first. My reasoning behind it was both of those individually are cheaper than Labyrinth of Ruin(LoR) or Shadow of Nerekhall(SoN), but that's because they provide less content. These two expansions can both be used in addition to the base set, or on their own as a mini campaign consisting of 4 (i think) quests. They give you new monsters, heroes, classes, etc like LoR and SoN, the main difference being LoR and SoN each come with a new full sized campaign.

Since you're early in your Descent playing days, I'm guessing you haven't played all of the Quests/tried all of the heroes in the base campaign yet. Because of this the replayability of the base set is still very high (It doesn't fall much ). LotW or TT can both add a little extra to the base campaign while costing a bit less than the larger LoR and SoN expansions.

Again just my opinion. Some may agree, some may disagree. That's just what I'd do in your shoes.

EDIT: If you're limited to only getting one or two expansions LoR or SoN may be the better option because they'll provide more long term content variety.

They are both right download the pdf rules and pick which one has the cooler figures would be my suggestion

They are all wrong ... there is only one way to go ...

BUY IT ALL ... EVERYTHING ... NOW !!!

They are all wrong ... there is only one way to go ...

BUY IT ALL ... EVERYTHING ... NOW !!!

You mean there are other choices?!?!

But in all seriousness, I will also echo Zaltyre's recommendation. If you can only get one or two things, Shadows of Nerekhall and Labyrinth of Ruin provide the most bang for your buck. They have a bunch of new content for the base game in the form of items, heroes and monsters and awesome full campaigns to play after the base game is done. They will be the best at keeping your game balanced too in terms of hero archetype ratios, etc.

However, if money is a big factor and you don't mind proxying minis, I recommend the Conversion Kit. The CK is quite cheap and makes the base game far more flavorful and enjoyable by giving a huge infusion of heroes and monsters. These guys aren't as tuned and balanced as the newer content is, however I felt extremely restricted as OL without them in terms of tactical flexibility, especially in the absence of H&M and expansion kits. And its not only good for the OL, there are also a number of heroes from the CK that are excellent as well... possibly too good.. (looking at you heroes that end in "-ok"!!!)

No matter what you choose from expansions I suggest to buy at least one lieutenant pack, just because it gives OL more options. For example there are times when you definetly lose quest as OL but with this pack you can still achieve something (earn more tokens for further quests).

Like mentioned above, much will depend on your own taste. So look at the description of each expansion and listen to what it says to you. Each has a different setting/topic and comes with their own heroes, monsters, campaigns,...

If you want the most for your money, personally I would suggest taking LOR and SON. They provide a large new campaign, with each 4 heroes and a bunch of new monsters. The other smaller expansion only provide 2 heroes and lesser monster groups. Again it' a matter of taste.

Also you could slowly expand by purchasing the Hero and Monster Collections. They offer 4 heroes and 3 monster groups and 2 quests (no campaign).

Either way, you'll have fun expanding your Descent experience. I myself bought everything so far