Daisy solo, is The Devourer Below even possible?

By Hennessy, in Arkham Horror: The Card Game

My deck: http://arkhamdb.com/deck/view/3415

I play solo with one investigator only, I have two core sets. Difficulty standard.

Midnight Masks - it is not even remotely possible to do all 6, at least with Daisy. So you get to The Devourer Below after midnight.

The Devourer Below - you start with 3 cards in hand only. I usually get discarded something essential like Dr. Martin or Scrying of course. Also if I understand correctly, you first get the Weakness cards into play and than you discard 2 cards for "after midnight", right?

With Daisy crippled already from beginning and 2 points on agenda already, I am basically stuck down by the first monster that appears when agenda advances to 2a. The Woods are not even connected with each other until they are all turned up, so you have to walk always through the Main Path.

Is this seriously somehow playable with Daisy on solo? Or I am really doing something wrong? (Not even trying to think about the Hard or Nightmare version). It is really ridiculous.

You need to resign before midnight rolls around in Midnight Masks. This helps you avoid starting with a small hand in Devourer Below.

You can dip out of Midnight Masks prior to finding all 6, and thus start Devourer Below before midnight. Midnight only happens if you advance the doom counter the whole way through on Masks. The drawback is that you will get at least one doom counter (or as many as 3) to start Devourer if you don't have all 6.

Stil without a ****load of weapons or other cards that deal damage noone can win scenario 3 :/

Stil without a ****load of weapons or other cards that deal damage noone can win scenario 3 :/

Sure you can. You don't need to fight all the bad guys on the forest path...

I do think solo Daisy has more trouble than the rest in terms of options for handling the eventual cultist group on the main path. Two great cards for that situation are dynamite blast and cunning distraction (assuming you didn't absolutely ace scenario 2 and there's more than just a single cultist to get by). Daisy is the only investigator without access to one of those cards. For Daisy's best chance I suspect you really need to do well in scenario 2 (she can grab clues like no other, so you will at least get a steady selection of cultists spawning), relying a lot on the various secondary options for adding them to the victory pile. Go for four at a minimum, I think having to deal with three cultists in scenario 3 is asking too much of her. In scenario 3, try to grab 5 clues before advancing the first act (or have a reliable means of gaining clues once in the final location). Then once you spawn your cultist group, do your best to, perhaps, blinding light or mind over matter or hyperawareness-pump through the (hopefully) two that appear. Alternatively, you know which cultists will appear before you even start Scenario 3, so you can prepare to suitably equip yourself for their secondary removal options. Once you're in the final area, you have a final enemy to deal with, but once dealt with (or perhaps you can just tank AoO hurt) if you have your two clues already, you're looking okay-ish to complete the two skill checks required for the victory (especially so if you can buff Will/Agi, or have an unused Mind Over Matter). Simple! Or rather, yes, it's absolutely hard for her, especially with a starter deck.

Ok I made few more tries so these are my points:

  • I definitelly miss the option to get away from Midnight Masks before midnight, thank for noting. With full hand in Devourer Below, game is playable (still not win-able for me).
  • Despite the fact, that I love puzzle-thinking in Midnight Mask of how to get all the clues on the map + as many Cultists as possible, I did not managed to get over 3. 4 is doable with some luck which I did not had, 5 or 6 is according to me undoable without some miracles. Biggest issues in term of play are Wizard accolytes, which you just have to kill with cards and actions you need elsewhere, than Masked Hunter (usually I spent full Shrivelling and some boosts on him - that means I basically do not have any attacks left for Wolf-men). Map has in total max 12 clues, usually only 11. You need 10 to summon all Cultists, doctor eats 2 more etc. Despite the fact that I almost always pick up all clues quickly, it is really tough to get all cultists summoned on map.
  • In Devourer Below, there is only 3-4 clues on map before you can advance to Act 2a (and in 66% it is only 3). Which means have nothing left after Act 1a. This also makes more issues, as cards like Dr. Martin are useless in this game. Also the encounter deck is shuffled 2 or 3 times, so Scrying is nerfed as hell. You desperately need a Disc for advancement to Ritual Site, otherwise it is usually game over. To get through 3 Cultists on Main Path, you need to Parley + Mind Over Matter Evade Wolf-Man + Move to Ritual Site. Next turn Parley second one in case you have health to survive the run and attack from the remained Cultist. This results in situation, when I stand on Ritual Site, summoned monster killed by Disc, Wolf Men stucked on Main Path, and I need to get 2 clues from there and use them to close the ritual (again ffs, agility or will test :-/) and I have more than often only last doom left for this. Plus to top that, almost half of encounter cards you can draw there will finish the game for you (usually any monster + half of the treacheries).
  • I really have a feeling that this is punishing to Daisy to much. Only stat she dominates is Lore, she does not have any significant amount of clues there, almost every test in the scenario is not Lore including half of investigating, you do not have any option how to get down the group of cultist on Main Path... I mean, really?

Actually not true with the 12 max clues. The least amount of clues in the map is 13 and the most is 15. Depending on the resolution in "The Gathering" and which Downtown location is pulled. Remember that Northside can give you 2 extra clues.

You are correct that there are 3-4 clues in the second map, this makes it impossible to get the 5 clues.

I proxied the upcoming 'shortcut' event on my last solo with Daisy. Really helped her out in scenario 3.

Stil without a ****load of weapons or other cards that deal damage noone can win scenario 3 :/

Sure you can. You don't need to fight all the bad guys on the forest path...

Could still be tricky, having to evade a bunch of them or get wailed on pretty badly. We managed it, but only because we forgot that engaged enemies follow you when you move. (We are gonna replay act 3 on sunday)

Stil without a ****load of weapons or other cards that deal damage noone can win scenario 3 :/

Sure you can. You don't need to fight all the bad guys on the forest path...

But you need to fight ONE bad guy that is worse than all those others ...

I proxied the upcoming 'shortcut' event on my last solo with Daisy. Really helped her out in scenario 3.

Link new cards plz if you talk about them.

http://arkhamdb.com/card/02022

Aaaaah, that one is indeed good for scenario 3 :D

Edited by ForAiur

Stil without a ****load of weapons or other cards that deal damage noone can win scenario 3 :/

Sure you can. You don't need to fight all the bad guys on the forest path...

But you need to fight ONE bad guy that is worse than all those others ...

If you finish the act deck in time, you don't need to fight a bad guy at all, just hoover up clues and add them to the act which should be easy as daisy.

Stil without a ****load of weapons or other cards that deal damage noone can win scenario 3 :/

Sure you can. You don't need to fight all the bad guys on the forest path...

Could still be tricky, having to evade a bunch of them or get wailed on pretty badly. We managed it, but only because we forgot that engaged enemies follow you when you move. (We are gonna replay act 3 on sunday)

You don't even have to evade them if you're Skids or Wendy. Among your many movement options, one Cat Burglar will let you escape from all of them!

Out of curiosity, have you tried playing the Rougarou sidequest? I'm wondering if extra experience/one of the reward cards could makes a difference for solo play with daisy.

Edited by VermillionDe

Stil without a ****load of weapons or other cards that deal damage noone can win scenario 3 :/

Sure you can. You don't need to fight all the bad guys on the forest path...

Could still be tricky, having to evade a bunch of them or get wailed on pretty badly. We managed it, but only because we forgot that engaged enemies follow you when you move. (We are gonna replay act 3 on sunday)

You don't even have to evade them if you're Skids or Wendy. Among your many movement options, one Cat Burglar will let you escape from all of them!

Thanks! Now ofcourse you'll still have to draw it...

Vermillion De, actually yes, there is a reward in the Curse that might help Daisy, however i wont spoil what it is or how to get it.

Btw. played that scenario yesterday for the first time and it is AMAZING