I've yet to find a consistent way of beating this quest. One that I consider to be one of, if not the, hardest quest in the game.

These are the things I know are needed: extremely high willpower, strong starting position, Thror's Map/Key, and some way of dealing with enemies.

What's a good way to beat this quest?

Easy mode

What deck are you using? I found the quest to be much more forgiving with lower player counts. Any general power deck (Vilya, Outlands, Caldara, Ents) should be able to manage it.

I will be interested on hearing (reading ) how to beat this quest with 4 players in one table and also in a 12 players game.

In a solo mode is doable with a strong deck (Vilya for example) and playing Firyal asap.

Agree with Seastan for solo. It is not that much a challenge in solo. It is hard, but far from being the hardest in the game.

About 4 players you need to pay much attention to the Dol Guldur locations. If you have thor's map it is great. Enjoy the few times where you don't have a specific Dol Guldur locations to heal/low the threat. When you have to choose locations always take the one who gain +2 threat for each event under it, and you put events played during the quest phase. Only one will work (there is only one card to put) and 2 threat is not much payed to avoid a nausty treachery. The healing one is not that bad since the best healing card, warden of healing, still work good under it. I try to get rid of the 2 others.

You need to be able to quest and fight well. You have to take power decks (at least some). If you can't put counter on the quest every turn you are not going to win! Take the threat 1 augmentation because his effect is very good. When you have to choose the stage 3 the boss is not that important, my advice is to look at effect on counter. If you can't win the quest take the one who raise up Dol Guldur, it is not very important. If you plan to win take the one with the best benefit for you right now.

At 12 players try to do that 3 times, one for each table. And help the weakest (or the unlucky one) with the effects you can afford to give: the one threat, the objective ally you gain. Let aside each turn, if able, the quest who raise Dol Guldur. At 12 players his effect don't really matter.

This way I win my 2 latest 12 players epic mode with Dol Guldur.

Thanks all! I'm surprised the general consensus is that solo is easier than multiplayer, given how important it is to make progress on the main quest. I suppose it's because you need all three tables to be doing well. It'd be interesting to see what an optimized trio of fellowships would look like for this quest.

6 hours ago, Seastan said:

What deck are you using? I found the quest to be much more forgiving with lower player counts. Any general power deck (Vilya, Outlands, Caldara, Ents) should be able to manage it.

I've tried Dwarf swarm, lore/spirit control/power questing, and secrecy swarm (not ideal, I know). Unfortunately I don't have access to the cards needed to build those power decks. Would Ents really be viable? They make for a rather slow deck, something that is deadly in Attack on Dol Guldur.

9 hours ago, Yepesnopes said:

I will be interested on hearing (reading ) how to beat this quest with 4 players in one table and also in a 12 players game.

In a solo mode is doable with a strong deck (Vilya for example) and playing Firyal asap.

This was the fellowship we used: http://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/4216

Our goal was to be able to beat it consistently without relying too much on traditional power decks. We did use 1 outlands deck, but the others aren't obviously overpowered. However, since they are built specifically to combo with each other and to counter this quest, they end up being really effective. We ended up winning easily, getting control of both objectives and giving away our end of round bonus to another group every turn.

3 hours ago, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

I've tried Dwarf swarm, lore/spirit control/power questing, and secrecy swarm (not ideal, I know). Unfortunately I don't have access to the cards needed to build those power decks. Would Ents really be viable? They make for a rather slow deck, something that is deadly in Attack on Dol Guldur.

It might help to know your card pool in order to recommend a deck/strategy. A slow deck mainly impacts you ability to grab the objectives. Getting control of the Power of Lorien is somewhat unrealistic in solo, but the Host of Lorien is certainly attainable. That said, neither objective is necessary if your deck is strong enough.

I own two cores (but proxy a third for extra copies of one-ofs), the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle, Khazad-dum, and the Dwarrowdelf cycle (except for Shadow and Flame, so no Vilya).

Last night I decided to go for it and guess what! I smoked it on my first try! Here is the pair of decks I used. http://ringsdb.com/fellowship/view/4784/assault-on-dol-guldur

I easily got the Host of Lorien with progress to spare. One thing that helped was that I was able to kill both Marauders on turn one by ditching a progress for each and earning it back with Legolas. Dain got his Sentinel keyword on turn one, but I was never able to give him a Burning Brand. Dungeon Door was quite easy to ignore with Warden of Healing as my only source of healing (they never showed up, though).

On the stage threes, I kept my hands to a minimum so that I could cycle back and forth between Tower of Sorcery and any other stage three with little trouble. I managed to make five progress each time I wasn't at the Tower (when I was, I only ever had one card in my hand, so I focused on getting ready for the next stage). Song of Earendil and Elfhelm kept me under the Lieutenants engagement costs. The City Strength was going down fast, even with the random forced effect every round sometimes boosting it by three. Soon it was under five and the Lieutenants starting attacking from the staging area. The encounter deck had reshuffled by this point and it kept spitting out treacheries, so I almost stalled out under the pressure of extra attacks since I was revealing no cards with Siege. But then a Host of Dol Guldur popped out and bit the dust, and next round I swung for the fences with all the attack I had (taking a massive threat spike) and killed the Sorcerer of Dol Guldur for the win.

Final Score: fourteen completed rounds, one dead hero (7), twelve damage on heroes, and five victory points. Any thoughts? feel free to critique the decks and thank you everyone for the tips.