It's a bit disappointing that their abilities don't work with their ally versions. It would have been nice if the wording was "ready another hero or Gimli/Legolas" rather than just ready a hero.

I found them (new Legolas and new Gimli) quite disappointing :/

The Dwarven Shield is kinda weird since the abilities point in different directions... you either make a good defense thanks to the +1def, but then you don't gain any resources, or take damage and gain resources,but then the extra defense was kinda irrelevant...

i'm on the fence about Mirkwood Long-knife. on the one hand, similar willpower-boosting attachments are costed 2:1, so in that sense, it's an extra attack on top of extra questing, but it requires extra readying effects (granted, it's in the sphere of Unexpected Courage)

my hesitation is the fact that it's restricted and how it's horribly costed for similar attack-boosting abilities. i really like it for traditional Silvan decks with Celeborn, Naith Guide, Unexpected Courage, and/or Light of Valinor to get the most out of his pretty decent all-around stats

but i don't like it that much for Legolas + Gimli (which seems to be what it was designed for). say we have a deck with Spirit Legolas, Leadership Gimli, and you put two Mirkwood Long-knives on Legolas, you're paying 4 resources + 1 resource every time he quests to get 3 extra questing power out of Legolas.

alternatively, you could simply give Legolas a Rivendell Blade for a lot cheaper, spend less on allies to quest for more. and in fact, i don't know that i much like the new Legolas/Gimli combo because you pretty much have to quest with Legolas to make Gimli's ability trigger for Legolas, have to quest with Legolas for his ability at all, which means you're discarding a card and spending a resource every turn or probably not doing it at all (or just readying with Gimli's ability for someone who isn't Legolas)

that said, i'll certainly try them out before i make a final judgement, and i have a feeling there will be more cards that are intended to work on the combo

plus Lore seems like a good fit with the extra card draw for Legolas and healing for Dwarven Shield + Gimli, so maybe there's more than just more Spirit/Leadership cards for them.

also, with the inclusion of Spirit Legolas, that means we have two Spirit heroes with 3 attack and ranged. through in a Spirit Beregond, and you have quite a different style of deck for Spirit whose heroes can attack/defend but can't really quest all that well.

Mirkwood Longknives seems okay. The thing is that it's spirit, so sure, if you happen to be running Tactics than Rivendell Blades might serve you better. But if not... Mirkwood Longknives seem a good replacement.

Don't forget about Fair and Perilous, which adds the Willpower of a Silvan or Noldor character to their attack, which makes Mirkwood Longknives hit even harder. I hate to say it but... On Spirit Glorfindel these things are pretty boss. Quest for 5, attack for 5, and if you drop a Fair and Perilous than Glorfindel hits for 10.

Glorfindel is noldor pretty sure the long knives are silvan hero only (main reason that they are so meh to me)

Glorfindel would need an elf friend to use the knives. The reason it works well with the new legolas is that gimli helps legolas double task. He could help a different silvan hero double task and use the wp and the atk bonus.

Putting Long-knife and Wingfoot on Haldir would be pretty reasonable, although not amazing for the cost. I think it might be best used in conjunction with the weapon based tactics events.

Can't say I look at the new heroes and think "wow!"...but any heroes with in-built readying of other heroes have potential in the right deck. I look forward to seeing what people come up with.

d'oh, that's not as good then. Might be worth it to Elf friend him though. Throw in a Silvan tracker or two just for funzies =D.

Three hunters finally playable?

Ive never got it to work well with the existing hero versions, but these two plus core set Aragorn could work well...all three heroes having built-in action advantage has to be a reasonable foundation for a thematic deck.

These new heroes are pretty cool but I don't think they work that well with the older versions...

The new Gimli doesn't work well with Tactics Legolas because tactics Legolas shouldn't be exhausted before the combat phase (unless you had Hands Upon the Bow or Quick Strike) as he is pretty much only used to attack....unless you slap 2 of those new attachments on him and put him to 3 willpower...

I would much rather a Rivendell Blade and Dagger of Westernesse/Bow of the Galadhrim on him instead however putting him anywhere from 4 to 5 attack with the -2 to enemy defense as well rather than just putting him on 5 base attack (also FAR cheaper to play the two tactics attachments).

Similarly the new Legolas doesn't really work well with the old Gimli as all it really allows you to do is quest and then attack/defend with him when really you want to defend and then attack with him..... this ability is good when used on any hero and the +1 willpower is such an insignificant bonus especially compared to the +1 attack that Gimli provides with his ability (with readying you can utilize that +1 attack multiple times during a combat phase however the +1 willpower can only be utilized the once during the quest phase unless there are hide tests etc etc..).

Although simple I like how powerful the readying effects can be (as opposed to to the +1 will or attack) and that you can have multiple in built readying effects from the start of a game before playing a single card.

There are plenty of cheap readying attachments nowadays which are arguably better than these abilities but by having these abilities inbuilt you can combine them with readying attachments for several actions a turn with these heroes. Legolas's ability is a fair bit better than Gimli's to me because all you have to do is discard a card which for many decks can be beneficial instead of a cost (Elven Light, Galdor ally AND hero, Lords of the Eldar, Glorfindel, Decks trying to empty their actual deck to allow for infinite recursion of a single card: https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/228800-how-to-infinitely-recur-any-event-in-the-game/etc etc) whereas using a resource to trigger Gimli's ability is always a "cost" as there are not really any "triggers" or effects that occur when you spend resources.

I also really like the Dwarven Shield and think that it is an amazing card for dwarves in general not just Gimli whereas the Long Knife is very meh. Silvan hero only means its only good on Legolas, Haldir and Argalad, Celeborn sort of, and its only good on Haldir with readying (And pales in comparison to the to alternatives you could put on him). We have so few Silvan heroes to begin with that I wish this could be attached to Silvan characters as well or alternatively Noldor heroes as well. Silvan and hero is just so restrictive and lately so many cards (ESPECIALLY elven ones) are so much more inclusive (Dunedain OR Ranger on Steed of the North, character on War Rainment, Ranger OR Scout on many new cards) that this is somewhat disappointing.

Thinking in solo, these two with Leadership Aragorn might be good. For resources you have Steward, and for card draw you have Elven-light which works great with Legolas, and of course you have Unlikely Friendship that does both. Plus with 2 leadership heroes and Steward it'll be very easy to play Sword that was Broken, so that deck might be pretty good.

REALLY wishing I still had my copy of Alt Art Aragorn now...

Wow! How you knew it would be released 2 heroes syncronized? And Gimli and Legolas exactly? A lot of people was right finally. I would never have thought it...

When did Legolas become Noldor?

Congrats to the posters who called the heroes as Legolas and Gimli before the names were announced!

Congrats to the posters who called the heroes as Legolas and Gimli before the names were announced!

What did they win?

Dwarven Shield and Day's Rising on the new Gimli ensure that he'll get a resource for defending no matter what. Put Heir of Mardil on him as well, and he'll also ready.

I think Legolas' ability to buff Gimli's attack works well with tactics Gimli, since it allows him to quest for three and still be ready for combat. It allows him to quest for four and still be ready for combat if Gimli's in a deck with TaTheoden, the readying effects for both new heroes aren't confined to heroes you control. More problematic is Legolas' need to quest to use his readying given his 1 wp, since competition is tough for LoV. I do like the new knives, though. And since competition is tough for LoV, there's no shortage of strong wp/combat heroes you might want to ready with Legolas ability.

Gimli's attack buff doesn't work well for TaLegolas because he won't quest, as noted above. But again there's no particular shortage of strong wp/attack heroes that would benefit. Leadership Gimli would work especially well in a dwarf deck with Thorin, taking advantage of his high wp/attack. With Thorin's resource generation, the cost won't be too high.

When did Legolas become Noldor?

Long after Eowyn.

I definitely like the new Gimli; as Dalestephenson pointed out, he'll be useful any time you have a hero you want to ready during the combat phase -- a fairly common thing. I'm not sold on the new Legolas though. He combos well with LeGimli, but who else might you use him with? Haldir, I guess, when your threat is low?

I just don't want to commit my 1 wp 3 atk ranged character to the quest if I don't have a sure way of readying him.

New Gimli - means you can quest with Legolas. I know that isn't the best with the older version, but a few WP buffs can fix that. HE also means you can defend with another hero first, then defend with Gimli, just to have the other defensive hero standing again for another attack. Erkenbrand? Beregond? Also, if legolas uses hands upon the bow, quick strike or a great yew bow to attack first, gimli can stand him up.

New shield - This means a dwarf can take one hit and take an undefended (if necessary) and make money off the undefended. I'm surprised I haven't seen much about a Gloin deck coming back here. Two resources for one damage?

New Knife - The long knife is a weird one because it has the WP that only 2 cost attachments have had so far. The 1 attack and the fact that it is a weapon opens a few windows for spirit to get weapons without having to dip into tactics if they don't want to. Find a simple way for Legolas or haldir to double task and it gets much better. As said before, Fair and Perilous is probably one of the best ways to use this.

Dang spirit has been my favourite deck so far but I really like Legolas from tactics.. is there a huge problem with me going straight from the core to Sands of Harad to get these two new heroes?

So given what we know (3 Aragorns, 2 each Legolas & Gimli) and all the cards available, what would be the best solo 3 Hunters deck?

I'd go with the new Legolas and Gimli with Core Aragorn. You have massive resource acceleration with Steward, easier access to Sword that was Broken, all your heroes can do everything and for card draw you have Elven-light which combos amazingly with Legolas.

Dang spirit has been my favourite deck so far but I really like Legolas from tactics.. is there a huge problem with me going straight from the core to Sands of Harad to get these two new heroes?

Nope, play how you want.

I would choose Loreagorn myself. That way you also have easy access to a Lore's card draw ability to fuel Legolas. For solo play, I bet you could build a nice doomed deck out of it, especially considering we are about to get more doomed cards too!

I would choose Loreagorn myself. That way you also have easy access to a Lore's card draw ability to fuel Legolas. For solo play, I bet you could build a nice doomed deck out of it, especially considering we are about to get more doomed cards too!

Second for Loreagorn...Gives you access to the card draw to help fuel Legolas, healing to keep the Dwarven Shield trick going, and Master of the Forge to get all of them tricked out with attachments....+ The art on that version is my favorite.