Hello all,

My friend and I started playing Arkham Horror recently and we are really enjoying it. We played through The Gathering a couple times to get a feel for the game and decide on which investigators we like.

We decided to start The Dunwich Legacy with 2 of our favorites. Myself as Daisy and him as Zoey. We finished the two prologues and the Miskatonic Museum and are enjoying it(very different then the core campaign) and are about to play Curse of the Rugarou.

I guess what I am asking is if our decks have any glaring weaknesses or traps we should be avoiding or any ways we can synergize better.

I have a core set but he has most the cards so we have plenty to pick from.

Here are our decks, thanks in advance.

https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/9535/daisy-plays-with-zoey-1.0

https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/9536/zoey-versus-doom-5.0

On ‎2‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 6:42 PM, SkylarkR6 said:

Hello all,

My friend and I started playing Arkham Horror recently and we are really enjoying it. We played through The Gathering a couple times to get a feel for the game and decide on which investigators we like.

We decided to start The Dunwich Legacy with 2 of our favorites. Myself as Daisy and him as Zoey. We finished the two prologues and the Miskatonic Museum and are enjoying it(very different then the core campaign) and are about to play Curse of the Rugarou.

I guess what I am asking is if our decks have any glaring weaknesses or traps we should be avoiding or any ways we can synergize better.

I have a core set but he has most the cards so we have plenty to pick from.

Here are our decks, thanks in advance.

https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/9535/daisy-plays-with-zoey-1.0 

https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/9536/zoey-versus-doom-5.0 

Daisy looks about spot on. I've played Dunwich with her and this is close enough to what I ran. You're through Miskatonic Museum and you didn't pick up The Necronomicon? Wise, but man is it fun with her: free Tome action: gain 2 resources. Remember that Higher Education can only be used if you have 5 cards in hand. The number of times I've forgotten that...

Pathfinder is one of the best cards for, well I was going to say Seekers, but actually it's fantastic for anyone who can take it. You can have and use 2 in the same turn. I see you (or Zoey) have The Forgotten Age, I'll recommend The Chthonian Stone. The ability to say, "Buzz off," to any token that may otherwise plague you, is extremely nice. (Somehow, it will appear to raise the number of times you draw the Auto-Fail token, though.)

I will say that I've never really used healing assets like Painkillers, because they take 2 actions (1 to get them out, another to use them) plus resources. There may be times I do, but my inclination is to do everything in my power to avoid the type of damage up front. That said, my approach isn't always pragmatic, so take what you will from it. Medical Texts is the exception, as it works with Daisy's free Tome action.

I'm not as familiar with Zoey. I played as Leo recently (https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/7692/29xp-leo-anderson-arkham-nights-2018-1.0), and enough of that should carry over, but someone else would be better suited to filling you in on her. Charisma & Leo De Luca were fantastic choices. I would drop a Shortcut for a second Leo De Luca.

Because she's not using a Body slot, I'd recommend Bandolier, or the new upgraded Bandolier from Return to Dunwich. Then doubling up on both Survival Knife & the .45 Automatic or upgraded .45 Automatic or jumping straight to the Lightning Gun. Machete is my favorite weapon in the game, but is pretty "Meh" when you have multiple enemies on you.

Most of my other advice on Guardians is in the description of the Leo deck I linked above. It justifies why the chosen cards are in the deck. It's a very high Stamina/Sanity absorption deck, along with high damage output.

About the only thing I feel like Zoey is truly missing is Vicious Blow. It's pretty much a staple for any fighty Guardian.

I'll also run at least one Dynamite Blast, always - the ability to get out from under swarms of enemies is a great escape hatch. I typically play with 4 player groups though, where that can happen a lot more often.

10 minutes ago, Duciris said:

The ability to say, "Buzz off," to any token that may otherwise plague you, is extremely nice. (Somehow, it will appear to raise the number of times you draw the Auto-Fail token, though.)

You've reduced the number of tokens in the bag overall, so, yes, it literally does raise the number of times you draw the Auto-Fail.

The Daisy deck looks very good, there's nothing obvious I'd change about it although I'm not a huge fan of Blinding Light.

The Zoey deck looks good, but I'd swap the First Aids for Smoking Pipes for the increased action efficiency. I also don't think On The Hunt is particularly good. Personally I'd have gone for a couple of Emergency Caches instead. While Zoey isn't starved for resources thanks to her ability, weapons, Rite of Seeking and allies are all expensive - to simply take advantage of Charisma will take at least 8 resources with the current allies.

Hemispheric map also seems like an odd upgrade choice to me, given that it competes with her signature Cross for the accessory slot. I think I would have upgraded an Overpower into a Vicious Blow level 2 or saved up to get a higher level weapon (e.g. Lightning Gun/M1918 BAR/Flamethrower/Timeworn Brand).

I like them. I could do a ton of things differently, but its your deck/call and they seem serviceable.

Zoey is eventually going to need a higher attack value to consistently damage enemies later in the game. That needs to be looked at.

3 hours ago, Buhallin said:

About the only thing I feel like Zoey is truly missing is Vicious Blow. It's pretty much a staple for any fighty Guardian.

i ran neither Beat cop nor viscious blow in my Leo deck in the FA campaign and it was awesome. Never missed any of those cards

Thank you very much everyone for your advice and feedback. Knowing others reasoning definitely helps get a better perspective. I am thinking of dropping painkillers as I never seem to really use then, and possibly blinding light as well as I commit it far more often then cast it. Pathfinder would definitely be fun.

We actually did pick up the Necronomicon but Zoey took it. He seems to need more resources(spot on with rite of seeking and Leo/Beat cops) then I do and the bonus to investigate gets Zoey to an average base.

Also I wasn't sure how it would work since I have the other version. Is there a conflict at all?

8 hours ago, Duciris said:

I will say that I've never really used healing assets like Painkillers, because they take 2 actions (1 to get them out, another to use them) plus resources. There may be times I do, but my inclination is to do everything in my power to avoid the type of damage up front. That said, my approach isn't always pragmatic, so take what you will from it. Medical Texts is the exception, as it works with Daisy's free Tome action.

Since Carolyn Fern is my favourite character, I have a lot of thoughts about healing. I can talk at length about it but the short version is: Healing that takes up one action per health/sanity is bad. Healing that involves a skill test is strictly bad. Healing that costs more than 1 resource per point healed is bad. Otherwise, healing is, with a few exceptions, strictly worse than soak, and it should be, because it is retroactive and works on direct damage/horror - in general, it seems like a design goal is that healing should always be a bad option, but sometimes it is your only option. That said:

Firstly, Painkillers is a fast triggered ability to use (as is Smoking Pipe). This makes it one of the only good level 0 healing assets. It's a core item for Carolyn, a strong option for anyone using Peter Sylvestre, a good choice for anyone using the Doomed allies, and a decent choice for anyone with lots more sanity than health.

Secondly, Daisy having an extra tome action doesn't make Medical Texts worth using. It's tied to a test that you could well fail, and if you fail you deal extra damage - and if you need healing enough to spend 2 resources and an action and a deck slot for something that takes up actions that could be Old Book of Lore or Encyclopedia, it's because you need it, which means that taking more damage is unacceptable. A general maxim for this game is not to take unnecessary tests, because you risk wasting your time, or worse, falling afoul of symbol chaos token effects. Medical texts bad. (Incidentally this is why I don't think much of Carolyn Fern's normal signature asset).

(Logical Reasoning is an example of a good healing card in Seeker - it heals 2 horror for one card and one action, works on other people, has a secondary usage (getting rid of cards like Frozen in Fear), and has dual matching icons so that even if you don't need the healing, you can toss it into a Rotting Remains test or a Shrivelling attack or something. Second Wind and Emergency Aid are good health healing cards, both in Guardian - mainly for Mark Harrigan, where 2 health healed is 2 copies of Unexpected Courage, but also potentially useful for others.)

3 hours ago, SkylarkR6 said:

Also I wasn't sure how it would work since I have the other version. Is there a conflict at all?

The Necronomicon is not unique, so there's no conflict to be had.

7 hours ago, rsdockery said:

The Necronomicon is not unique, so there's no conflict to be had.

Until Daisy gets sick of reading Latin, remembers she has an English version and tosses the Olaus Wormius translation away in disgust...

In my Daisy + Skids playthrough of Dunwich I loved having the "good" Necronomicon and an Encyclopaedia on Daisy and having the choice each turn of either getting a +2 bonus now or stockpiling resources to use later.

19 hours ago, Assussanni said:

I also don't think On The Hunt is particularly good.

Really? I think it's an incredible card. You avoid nasty treacheries, give the Guardian something to do on turns when they might otherwise be twiddling their thumbs, and override the spawn location. Given the number of treacheries that can often deal horror, just avoiding the chance of those is big. The spawn location can be absolutely huge - any scenario with cultists, which typically spawn somewhere else and make you chase them, it's great. Even if it's just dealing with a Hunter that spawns somewhere else and makes you move to it to avoid taking the initial hit, it's a huge win.

I can see it not being a favorite choice for everyone, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone say it was an objectively bad card. What makes you think that?

16 hours ago, Raahk said:

i ran neither Beat cop nor viscious blow in my Leo deck in the FA campaign and it was awesome. Never missed any of those cards

There were no times when an odd-health enemy scored extra hits, or you didn't have the action to finish something off? Or wanted to avoid the risk of a retaliate? Or just needed the extra fight boost from the Beat Cop? I can't count the number of times either of these has saved damage or avoided wasted actions.

9 hours ago, Buhallin said:

I can see it not being a favorite choice for everyone, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone say it was an objectively bad card. What makes you think that?

Oh, I’m not saying it’s objectively bad. It definitely has its uses, and with Evidence! or Scene of the Crime it becomes a nice way for a combat specialised guardian to assist with clue gathering. I can certainly see Roland liking it for the interaction with his ability, 5 sanity, and penchant for acquiring mental trauma through Cover Up. Yorick as well if he finds himself short of an item he desperately desires.

However, I’m not entirely sold on it as an encounter manipulating tool. Yes, there are some very nasty treachery cards out there but in most cases I’d rather see a treachery than an enemy and have my three actions to do something else rather than fight. There are very few occasions when I ever feel like I’m twiddling my thumbs! Guardians also tend to have decent willpower, which is typically tested on the encounter cards that cause horror.

And then there’s the fact that it can miss completely, the only enemy can be the card you would have drawn anyway or you can snag something that you are ill-prepared to deal with.

On the other hand, if you are tooled up and can fish a Victory enemy from the deck on the final turn then it has become a better version of Delve Too Deep, a card that I don’t think anyone would say is bad!

In conclusion, I don’t think it’s a bad card but neither do I think it’s incredible. I found it too unreliable for my tastes and was left underwhelmed when I used it in a Roland deck (admittedly I had quite high expectations for it). I would also be very hesitant to include it in any deck I made for a blind play through when I don’t know what enemies are lurking in the encounter deck waiting to surprise me.

Finally, I’ve only ever played on Standard difficulty and almost always play either solo or with two players, so I really can’t comment at all on its usefulness (or otherwise) outside of this. I also have one Core Set and none of The Forgotten Age, so no Evidence! or Scene of the Crime shenanigans for me!

9 hours ago, Buhallin said:

There were no times when an odd-health enemy scored extra hits, or you didn't have the action to finish something off? Or wanted to avoid the risk of a retaliate? Or just needed the extra fight boost from the Beat Cop? I can't count the number of times either of these has saved damage or avoided wasted actions.

I have guard dog and survival knife in my deck. Survival knife is only needed when i don't find one copy of my flamethrowers. Guard dog serves the same purpose as beat cop for dealing one damage (albeit taking an attack of opportunity also costing one less resource) and flamethrower is such a strong weapon it almost ones hots everything. Since the flamethrower grants +4 attack, there is almost no need for an extra boost. 2 hired muscles also grant extra power in case it is needed (without even spending an action or a resource!). I am a bit surprised as well that the deck runs so smoothly in our 4-player FA campaign