We have had a contest recently to determine the top unique ally and Arwen took the crown. In that spirit I am curious what you guys think is the top non-unique ally. I don't want to do a whole bracket system. Just give me your top five IN ORDER. No ties are allowed. I will tally the votes and report the results.

Here are my top 5:

5.Erebor Hammersmith

4.Imladris Stargazer

3.Derndingle Warrior

2.Warden of Healing

1.Northern Tracker

Only played Dwarf decks really, starting the AtS cycle now.

So:

5.Longbeard Map-Maker

4. Imladris Stargazer

3. Erebor Hammersmith

2. Veteran Axehand

1. Erebor Recordkeeper

5. Warden of healing - universal healer, very good in combination with Elrond

4. Eagles of Misty mountains - basic ally in eagle deck and very good, if I use on my heroes Support of the eagles

3. Ranger of Cardolan - if I have problem with new enemies,he can me help for only one resource token, and it is good universal neutral ally with high stats if I pay full price

2. Derndingle warrior - awesome defender, best in combination with Ent draught and Wellingall preservers

1.Northern Tracker - super, when I have a many locations in stagging area

5. Booming Ent;

4. Derndingle Warrior;

3. Wandering Ent;

2. Wellinghall Preserver;

1. Harbor Master.

5. Wandering Ent

4. Honour Guard

3. Galadriel's Handmaiden

2. Naith Guide

1. Warden of Healing

5. Erebor Hammersmith - Excellent for his statline alone, especially in a Dain deck, and such a great ability that people would include him even with much worse stats.

4. Wellinghall Preserver - 3 willpower for 3 cost is enough in itself, but also boasts near indestructibility to both treachery and archery damage.

3. Warden of Healing - Powerful in solo, but more so in multiplayer. even without Elrond.

2. Zigil Miner - Providing Spirit with one of their very few options for card draw, and allowing entire deck archtypes to be build around him.

1. Northern Tracker - The most powerful ally from day 1, to such an extent that the developers have been constantly releasing encounter cards specifically to counter him. In 3-4 player he can cause many attempts to fail just by not appearing early enough.

1: Wandering Ent - A big tree with a cool 'stash

2: Booming Ent - A big tree with built in miracle grow

3: Wellinghall Preserver - A big tree rocking a cool beard that helps other big trees

4: Derndingle Warrior - A big tree with a funny sounding name

5: Honor Guard - An awesome dude that helps out the big bear, hero Beorn

Honorable Mention: Ent of Fangorn (Objective Ally) - A big tree with eerily similar Ultraman eyes and nose.

5. Ethir Swordsman - Because Outlands needs to be on here somewhere, and he's by far the most splashable.

1. Northern Tracker - Mas location control for days!

5. Booming Ent;

4. Derndingle Warrior;

3. Wandering Ent;

2. Wellinghall Preserver;

1. Harbor Master.

I'd love to break Harbor Master - how do you do that?

5. Warden of Healing - The staple healing card. Sometimes I don't include them in my lore decks, and I almost always regret it.

4. Dunedain Hunter - These guys are amazing, especially in Mablung, Dunedain, or Trap decks. 0 cost, and often engaging the enemy can be beneficial to you, especially if there are annoying when revealed effects.

3. Westfold Horse-Breeder. 1 cost ally (or 0 with Theoden) that gives you a tutor effect and synergizes with Rohan cards? 3x in every spirit deck with Rohan or mounts. The perfect target for Ride to Ruin.

2. Booming Ent - I think the Boomers are the strongest non-Treebeard ent. They can usually give you one defense, then they start attacking for 3-6+. Combo well with Derndingle Warriors.

1. Northern Tracker - for reasons already discussed.

I'd love to break Harbor Master - how do you do that?

Theodred, Gloin and Bifur as heroes (+2 def guaranteed, +3 and more if Gloin gets damaged). Plenty of resource-adding effects in the deck, like the Steward of Gondor or Envoy of Pelargir.

5. Ethir Swordsman - On it's own a good deal with 2 willpower for 2 cost. The fact that they can buff each other up makes these guys my go to option (after Arwen) for questpower in Spirit. Only downside is the one hitpoint, but not all quests punish that.

4. Defender of Rammas - Playing without a good defending hero? This guy is for you! I prefer him over Winged Guardian, because he, as the honorable soldier of Gondor he is, doesn't want to be paid every time he has to do a bit of work and profits from some useful Gondor actions. The lack of sentinel prohibits a higher seeding.

3. Errand-Rider - My perferred solution for resource distribution in 3 sphere decks and multiplayer. Can also take 1 damage without dying (I hate you archery!)

2. Erebor Hammersmith - This stats! This effect! For 2 cost! No matter at what aspect of the card you look at it's just great and I can't remeber an other 2 cost ally with so many stats (6 in total)

1. Warden of Healing - It can only be this one for me. It's literally in every lore deck I ever made since I got this guy (I tend to damage my heroes and alies quite frequently, but always want them to stay alive and well). He is just the best healer in the game for me and is completly absurd with Elrond (who I use quite often ​). Obvious downside is the 1 hit Point, but i can just damage a hero (if I have a choice) and heal him back up .

After reading the thread before writing, not voting for Northern Tracker feels odd, but as I mostly play solo or with a friend/two-handed, he never seemed to be that good as, location control usually isn't a Problem for me/us.

Also Erebor Battle Master (THE combat ally for a dwarf deck) was close to place 5/4, but in the end to much of a niche Card.

In no particular order:

5. - Galadriel's Handmaiden - one of my favorite Spirit allies, and pretty much all the 2 cost Silvan allies are pretty good.

4. - Westfold Outrider - one of my go-to 2 cost Tactics allies, his stats are good as well as his ability. Also, amazing art.

3. - Northern Tracker - Nuff' said.

2. - Veteran of Osgiliath - So good in a Leadership Boromir deck it's insane.

1. - Envoy of Pelargir - In the Gondor deck she is amazing value, but even outisde of it she has resource fixing and she's neutral. One of my favorite allies ever.

Errand-rider
Derndingle Warrior

Westfold Outrider

Westfold Horse-breeder
Wandering Ent

5. Escort from Edoras

4. West Road Traveller

3. Derndingle Warrior

2. Warden of Healing

1. Norther Tracker

5. Dunedain Hunter - I giggle to myself a little whenever I play one of these. More and more enemies have nasty When Revealed effects that the Hunter totally sidesteps. Huzzah.

5. Hunter of Lamedon
4. Knights of the Swan
3. Ethir Swordsman
2. Warrior of Lossarnach
1. Anfalas Herdsman

I'd love to break Harbor Master - how do you do that?

Theodred, Gloin and Bifur as heroes (+2 def guaranteed, +3 and more if Gloin gets damaged). Plenty of resource-adding effects in the deck, like the Steward of Gondor or Envoy of Pelargir.

Bifur doesn't work because his effect doesn't count as adding heroes. It seems like a lot of work to get a guy who's only about as good as Defender of the Rammas.

I'd love to break Harbor Master - how do you do that?

Theodred, Gloin and Bifur as heroes (+2 def guaranteed, +3 and more if Gloin gets damaged). Plenty of resource-adding effects in the deck, like the Steward of Gondor or Envoy of Pelargir.

Bifur doesn't work because his effect doesn't count as adding heroes. It seems like a lot of work to get a guy who's only about as good as Defender of the Rammas.

Bifur does work because he reads "pay 1 to add 1", and Harbor Master triggers off resource being added. I can even pay 1 resource from Bifur himself to add him that resource back, and Harbor Master still gets his +1 def. Well, Defender of Rammas cannot bear the Burning Brand. Also, the deck is fluent enough with resource and draw to boast a formidable ally army real fast.

100. Beorning Beekeeper

99. Keen-eyed Took

98. Mirkwood Pioneer

97. Warden of Annuminas

96. Ravenhill Scout

100. Beorning Beekeeper

99. Keen-eyed Took

98. Mirkwood Pioneer

97. Warden of Annuminas

96. Ravenhill Scout

100. Beorning Beekeeper

99. Keen-eyed Took

98. Mirkwood Pioneer

97. Warden of Annuminas

96. Ravenhill Scout

The Beorning trait is in serious need of some love.

@Kjeld - I'd put Isengard Messenger on that list over Keen-eyed Took.

But, unlike Keen-eyed Took, Isengard Messenger is actually useful.

@Kjeld - I'd put Isengard Messenger on that list over Keen-eyed Took.

Or Orthanc Guard... The really interesting thing about this poll is that, when I looked through the list of non-unique allies, there really are very few that I would label outright duds. They almost all have a role to play, at least in a particular sort of deck (see the comments about Harbor Master above). Isengard Messenger can be a killer first-turn card in a Grima deck. For 1 resource first turn, you can easily get a 3-wp ally. And at 2 hit points, he'll probably last another couple of turns and give you 2 consistently. In Lore sphere, that's a great deal. Most of the cards that people have put in their "top" (depends on how you count!) five list are there because of versatility -- they can be splashed into any deck with a matching sphere. However, almost any non-unique ally can be very useful in the right deck (like the Westfold horse-breeder), and some can reach super-power status like Erebor Battlemaster or Silvan Tracker. It would be interesting to run this poll again with different categories for "top": best versatility, most OP potential, best niche use, etc.

In no particular order:

1. Errand Rider: Makes it into all of my Leadership decks. Especially great in tri-sphere, useful in all decks for making sure resources are on the right hero, or for occasional resource sharing with other players.
2. Warden of Healing: Makes it into all of my Lore decks. Best healing in the game.
3. Derndingle Warrior: Could have put more Ents on this list but decided to pick him since he's the best non-unique.
4. Ithilien Tracker: Great for nightmare. He can usually negate 3-4 threat a turn, which is the equivalent of the best questing allies.
5. Vassal of the Windlord: Mostly for old times sake. Was the best tactics ally for a long time and three ranged attack for one resource can still come in handy.