After the solo campaign with Jenny ground to a halt after Essex County Express I'm thinking about repeating the experience but (as the title suggests) which investigator is best for playing through Dunwich Legacy.

I would say Roland. However, I do think Wendy, Pete, and Jim can probably solo through.

For solo I feel like you have to look for investigators who can do it all - I'd definitely agree with Roland and Pete. Not sure about Wendy - without ever really being able to fight, she's going to run into a lot of walls. Also, Jim... could work, but personally I don't like Mystics solo because they need spells to really shine. If your Rites of Seeking happen to bury themselves, things could get ugly fast.

Agnes, is really good solo, yes if rite of seeking buries itself you might be in trouble, but Agnes also has drawn to the flame and look what I found, not to mention lucky. IMO her and Roland and Pete are the three best solo investigators.

Yeah, I've definitely had my Rites of Seeking buried in multiplayer (the other investigator, like me, had a generalist build) and it got ugly fast. In solo you pretty much just lose Essex County Express right away.

You might not want to hear this, but when I read the title I immediately thought Skids, because of pretty much the same reasons as Jenny. He can take Lone Wolf, and Hot Streak to help with income generation, and can spend resources for extra actions.


If you wanted someone not a rogue, I'd probably say Roland.

Hmmm, I think I'll probably go with Roland (and get him a Elder Sign Amulet ASAP to deal with his somewhat low starting horror) or, failing that Skids or Pete (although I never even considered doing a Pete deck, I think I've always had doubts about how to make it work).

Roland can also take advantage of the cheap Seeker allies like Laboratory Assistant and Art Student for horror soaking purposes. Both of the aforementioned allies provide a small but useful benefit when you play them and can absorb two horror. With two copies of each Roland can stay surprisingly sane, and you can spend your experience on more proactive cards.

I agree. Roland is probably the easiest to Solo with as long as you add cards to help his low sanity.

Basically, to solo well, you need someone capable of getting clues and fighting monsters well.

I have solo-ed well with Agnes, but she's tough as you need to be sure to have both offensive spell cards and also cards to assist getting clues. If she does though, she really can do well. Having 5 Willpower used for her fight (or also for investigation if you are playing Dunwich), is just great. She's a high risk kind of player.

Marie Lambeau (promo investigator) is a bit less risky as she has a stat of 4 in both Willpower and Investigation so she only needs to get spell cards to help her use that Willpower to attack since her investigation is already pretty good. Plus, her ability can let her get through cards faster (as long as used strategically; I try to add a Doom to a card that will eventually get discarded so it won't advance the Agenda prematurely)

As a side note, after playing Skids, I noticed that he struggled much more than Roland when fighting, even when using the same weapon as Roland. That single extra point in Combat stat really helps. I found myself having to boost Skids with cards from my hand (skill cards, etc) much more for that reason.

(I have not played most Dunwich characters yet so I am mostly just discussing the base game investigators).

Any one can be solo-ed with, but without a good and quick way to get those clues and dispose of monsters, it will be a tough game. You may even wish to play on the easy setting if you have a character that is not consistent at both unless you really want the challenge. (After going through the game once or twice, I actually enjoy the challenge of trying to have such characters struggle through on standard mode, but it can be a real struggle at times!)

One way to help a character that may be weak in one of those areas is to add lots of cards that help make up for it, such as cards that can be used to get clues directly (or boost the number you get while investigating). And, assets that increase the investigation skill are great for solo players as clues are usually needed. Sometimes, I even included 2 of such a card in my deck to increase the chances of getting it since it's that important (and if I get a second copy, I can either use it to help a skill check or I can use the current asset to take damage and/or sanity and then put out the new one)

And, if you are playing with a character that relies on spells, you need to include cards that help you get through your deck faster. It helps any character, but is critical to spell casters.

I consider jenny to be the best solo investigator, as she has all the money you need and with "hard knocks" and "streetwise", you can spend the money on combat and investigation. Switchblade 2 is also one of the best weapons in game, doing 2 damage if you spend enough ressources on "hand knocks". Best out of faction cards (in my opninion) are 2x "preposterous sketches" and 2x "laboratory assistent", to accelerate card draw and get your key assets out.

Jenny's one of the few places I also think Prepared for the Worst is really worth it. Being able to dig for her .45s is a very big deal.

On 5/19/2017 at 6:35 PM, xuzuthor said:

As a side note, after playing Skids, I noticed that he struggled much more than Roland when fighting, even when using the same weapon as Roland. That single extra point in Combat stat really helps. I found myself having to boost Skids with cards from my hand (skill cards, etc) much more for that reason.

I recently attempted a solo of the core campaigns with Skips and saw the same thing. I feel like, although he has the fighting resources like Roland, his Rogue cards really want him to evade and exhaust enemies. It's not a bad tactic, but when he's the only guy and you get a few bad draws on the encounter deck, you start to loose actions just because of the number of enemies that could be on the board.

Duke

he does it all: he fights, he investigates, and when things get tough, he's already got a meat/mind shield named Pete to soak up damage.

I'd consider using Rex to solo with. His innate ability to gain 2 clues while investigating can help free up actions for combat. He can pack a Fire Axe and Mind over Matter to help with combat at first, and then upgrade into the new Strange Solution weapon. Expose Weakness and I've Got a Plan can really help him deal damage when needed. Further seeker gets Shortcut and Pathfinder for free mobility, so he gains even more action advantage.

I might have gotten incredibly lucky but I just went through a solo campaign using the upgrades as the mythos packs came out using Skids. Using machete, the rogue events like sneak Attack and backstab, the guardians dynamite blast and the +1 damage skill card I was able to eliminate most baddies. After the core campaign I continued with the same deck and trauma into dunwich. I finally lost after this most recent mythos pack. Perception and flashlight help with clues and leo is a must for the extra action. Admittedly I was on my toes most of the time but it forced me to be clever with the rules of the game and it was tons of fun.

Ol' Ashcan Pete & Duke are getting it done for me.

Let me ask y'all this - during solo games on NotZ - do you just flee to keep your house and get Lita? Or do you fight it out?

I usually fight, killing the Priest gives you 2 xp and the security of not having to fight him at a more inopportune time later.

Yeah, I've always tried to kill him. I don't like when Roland gets the trauma, but that priest gives me the creeps when he pops out of the deck in other scenarios.

My first time playing, I didn't and then I had a bad go at The Midnight Masks and those two alone made the second act of the last scenario a cluster. So unless I don't think I can survive the fight, I try to kill him.

I like to kill 'im and follow that up with keeping the house up, for the bonus xp. If I'm a fighting-style investigator, I don't need Lita for her buffs. If I'm not, I don't need her either then!

On 6/20/2017 at 0:00 PM, zooeyglass said:

I like to kill 'im and follow that up with keeping the house up, for the bonus xp. If I'm a fighting-style investigator, I don't need Lita for her buffs. If I'm not, I don't need her either then!

Also, the additional clues on your home can be nifty in the Midnight Masks. It's low shroud.

Now that Path To Carcosa has come out is Skids still the best solo investigator (I'm ruling out Roland since I started a campaign with him already).

Daisy is no fighter, yet my solo run of Dunwich with her was my only successful one so far. And that included Rougarou, which she also beat. So I'm partial to her these days.

Skids is gonna be a lot more powerful when those upgraded .45 cards are released.