This quest is so hard because it has an even spread of 12 enemies, locations, and treacheries. With that in mind I understand this will be a low win% but I'm trying for at least 1 in 3.

Best I can come up with playing 2 players is an Aragorn, Mablung, Hama monosphere engage and lock deck and a monosphere low threat lore deck to draw cards and pray for a first turn forest snare or lots of chump blockers.

I find this to be by far the hardest of the three lost realm quests but others say Weather Hills which I figured out quickly. Are my draws unlucky? I feel like there really is no secret for how brutal this quest is. Just gotta get lucky

This quest is very hard, though I don't really see how you figure the precise encounter deck breakdown determines that as opposed to just the nature of the cards in it.

This is one of my favoret quests, though I enjoy the hard ones. I've played it at least 20 times and have around a 80% win rate, although I generally play solo. The key I've found is to have a solid defender character for the boss Wraith (try to avoid chumping) and some solid questing power off the start. In solo, some hero line ups I've had the most sucess with have been:

Tactics Boromir, Galadriel/Glorfindel, Eowyn

Glorfindel, Galadriel, Treebeard

Theoden, Eowyn, Beregond

I played one game of Glaurung's Sylvan elves list against it to test the swarm stratagy and just crushed the quest, though it was boaring to play for me.

Hope that helps!

This is an interesting one, a lot of people say this is a hard quest. I have played it a lot and never lost it once. I honestly don't see what people find so difficult. I find both Intruders in Chetwood and The Weather hills to be harder than this one. What, specifically, are you having problems with? Are you decking out? Theating out? Unable to quest? Unable to fight?

I can give better advice if I know where you are having trouble.

All of the above. I beat it once out of maybe 12-15 tries and got really really lucky. Usually it's over by turn 2-3. I play 2 players exclusively and I can't make 2 decks that can handle it. I either get landlocked or swarmed no matter what I try to do. If I try to cancel treacheries and get rid of locations then enemies and the setup engaged enemies waste me. If I make one of the decks tactics heavy I don't have the will to out quest the encounters.

Ok, well I will give you some general tips for 2 player games that I think certainly apply to this quest.

1. Use Ranged. Ranged is very, very good. You need to be able to support your ally. You don't need much, one hero with the trait is enough so that you can destroy one enemy quickly. Might I humbly suggest:
2. Haldir of Lorien. This guy is a beast, a beasty beast. I could probably write an entire page on how good Haldir is so trust me, He's good. Blue/Green deck with Haldir as one of your heros. Learn to love this. Personally I use Glorfindel (S), Galadriel, Haldir because you have solid quest power, ranged, and a starting threat of 23, which is amazing because you want the other players deck to be engaging everything. Eowyn is a solid choice, so is the new Merry.
3. For the other deck, Aragorn (T) is what you want. Put in any other two heros you like, but include Aragorn. Why? Because -1 defense and his pull ability. Aragorn and Haldir can tag team to kill one of the Wraiths the first turn, then Aragorn can pull the second Wraith away from the S/L player and execute the same maunver the next turn.

4. In your tactics deck, Bow of the Galadrhim. 3 copies. Accept no substitute. Haldir with one copy of Bow of the Galadrhim attached attacks for 5, with anything engaged with Aragorn, and Aragorn reduces their defense by 1. Which means Haldir with 1 copy of Bow of the Galadrhim can 1-shot most enemies in this quest before they can attack. With 2 he can kill anything except for the boss before they can attack. Incidentally, Noiseless Movement is a helpful card with Haldir and Aragorn, so that you can be sure to avoid engaging with Haldir, allowing him to use his combat action.

so, combat should be more or less taken care of at that point. You just have to quest. Naturally Asfaloth will help you a lot if you include Glorfindel, and after that it's a matter of willpower, which your spirit/lore deck should have covered. If you use any leadership, a Faramir will be helpful (he always is). I can provide specific deck lists if you're interested, but hopefully this post will be enough to show you the path to victory. Good luck!

Very solid advice. Couldn't agree more re Haldir, the guy is an absolute beast and even rivals Legolas as the best attacking hero in the game. With my decks I have 3 wins and 3 losses against this quest so have not played it a whole ton but definitely don't have as much trouble with it as I do with certain other quests. Honestly I think I struggled with Wastes of Eriador more because of the whole night mechanic and consistent threat gains on stage 1. I definitely got lucky the first time I played Deadmen's Dike and won but have since gone back to it and managed another two wins only losing three games in the process. https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/104951-two-handed-decks/?p=1727695

These are the decks if you want to have a geez.

I'm gonna try your strategy next time I play. I just got 3 wins in a row and believe it or not I went back to basics. The one two punch of spirit and tactics. Hardcore questing with Eowyn, Glorfindel, and Galadriel (and her ring so I can play Asfaloth) for the blue deck. and Aragorn, Mablung, and Hama in the red lock deck. It's basically the same deck I used for the first Lost Realm quest with a few slightly different side board cards like Power of Orthanc for the conditions . I think my brain went into leadership and lore secrecy mode for The Weather Hills so much I was overthinking it. With some serious questing power and a few lucky first rounds like getting 'dark sorceries' and 'unnatural fogs' for your setup and first round cards it gives you a good head start. I'll take that doomed over early staging threat any day.

Keeping Hama cycling Thickets, keeping a couple chumps or beefy defenders for the round Thaurdir comes out and keeping willpower high will win this quest. Seems like that Eowyn crutch I try to stay away from is exactly what the doctor ordered in this case.

Most of the quests with two players seem to be doable either with a spirit tactics powerhouse combo or a leadership and lore tricks and secrecy based combo depending on how hot you want to run your threat out of the gate and how important willpower is for the particular quest. There are exceptions though the occasional oddball that demands a good amount of deck building specifically for it. Just something I noticed playing 2 players or 2 handed over the years.