I've been playing solo and going through all the scenarios in order, and now I'm up to Return to Mirkwood. I haven't tried it yet, but I've been dreading this one. I hear it is one of the hardest quests, and is even worse than Escape from Dol Guldur for a solo deck (or as some put it, "It doesn't scale well"). So before I dive into it, does anyone have any advice about it?

Quest hard and hope Attercop doesn't show up. It's a quest that doesn't scale well, but it *can* be beaten by a solo deck much more easier than Escape from Dol Goldur, IMO.

The best strategy for solo is to sprint-quest like a madman for the finish, pack lots of threat reduction, and avoid enemies whenever possible. Especially on stage three, where if you start to slow down, it's game over. And yes, it's probably easier than EfDG.

I don't believe it was ever designed with solo play in mind.

It can be beaten if you try and rush through as fast as you can and hope that Attercop doesn't appear. But this sucks as a strategy and delivers a very poor solo player experience. I'm a reasonably new player but don't believe this scenario is worth the heart ache (I'm hoping not to experience many more like it in the future). I'm also playing solo progression style and almost through Khazad Dum.

Take the player cards (there are a few good ones), and move on to KD would be my advice.

I read about someone using Denethor, to scry out the big bad things (Attercop, maybe Hill Troll, some treacheries), and tried that myself. I think he improved my deck's performance notably, although I still only bat about 33% against it solo with him. I would second going fast, and packing threat reduction. Maybe give Denethor a try as well.

1 hour ago, JolliGreenGiant said:

I read about someone using Denethor, to scry out the big bad things (Attercop, maybe Hill Troll, some treacheries), and tried that myself. I think he improved my deck's performance notably, although I still only bat about 33% against it solo with him. I would second going fast, and packing threat reduction. Maybe give Denethor a try as well.

Denethor scying can beat it very consistently. Hero line up eowyn denethor and theodred. Key playing unexpected courage on denethor asap to consistley avoid enemies. Use Hannamat to scy at turn end and then use denethor to fix the encounter deck. Works a lot better if you have 2 or 3 copies of unexpected courage for more layers of deck manipulation. The rest of the deck is devote to quest and combact support for light enemies. Northern tracker is great as always in cycle 1 and 2.

21 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

Quest hard and hope Attercop doesn't show up. It's a quest that doesn't scale well, but it *can* be beaten by a solo deck much more easier than Escape from Dol Goldur, IMO.

You'e cheering me up by saying it's easier than Escape from Dol Guldur. Hopefully you are correct.

9 hours ago, mttrchrds said:

I don't believe it was ever designed with solo play in mind.

They say that about Escape from Dol Guldur too (and I believe it), but I was able to beat it with a deck I got from Wandalf the Gizzard.

If I was smart maybe I wouldn't bother with it, but I'm trying to go through them all consecutively, and I don't like to shirk a challenge.

So I've lost my first two attempts at this, with two different decks (I had a fairly unlucky draw each time). It's hard to figure out what kind of deck to use with this, because it seems to call for all four spheres. Maybe I'll use some of the song cards.

Here's a question: I was reading the Vision of the Palantir strategy guide, and apparently I was playing it wrong. I was raising my threat by three at the end of each round, and according to the guide it should be four. I could honestly see it either way, but that big threat raise is a bear.

The guide also raised another question: It said that Thalin could kill the Mirkwood bats before they could surge. I figured as soon as the bats came out, that meant you would have to surge.

I imagine the Vision of the Palantir has the correct answers here, since obviously they've been doing this longer than I have, but I didn't figure it would hurt to ask.

Thalin's passive effect kills 1-hp enemies before they are revealed, so they never get a chance to surge. Sadly, 1-hp enemies do not exist after the early quests in the game.

Gollum's threat raise is done by Gollum, and is independent of the 1-threat raise that happens due to game rules. So 4 it is.

I'm surprised you found all four spheres crucial! Mostly Spirit with a touch of Lore should do it, although any sphere combination other than tactics/leadership and tactics/lore would probably work.

20 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

Thalin's passive effect kills 1-hp enemies before they are revealed, so they never get a chance to surge. Sadly, 1-hp enemies do not exist after the early quests in the game.

Gollum's threat raise is done by Gollum, and is independent of the 1-threat raise that happens due to game rules. So 4 it is.

Well, that's half good news.

11 hours ago, Wandalf the Gizzard said:

I'm surprised you found all four spheres crucial! Mostly Spirit with a touch of Lore should do it, although any sphere combination other than tactics/leadership and tactics/lore would probably work.

I haven't tried all four spheres, I just can see where all four would come in handy. Which would be fine if I was playing two handed, but I'm not.

I very nearly won on my third attempt with a Leadership/Spirit deck (my go to combination), but I ran out of threat one round too early. Those four threat levels per round are a bear. I could see Spirit/Lore working also. As a solo player, it's a little frustrating because it seems like I hardly ever get to use Tactics. I guess I probably could on some of the weaker scenarios.

When you get to the Heirs of Numenor and Against The Shadow, you'll find some use for mono-tactics.

Still, Eowyn/Thalin/TaGimli, the lineup used for the second deck on Beorn's Path, works as a solo deck. When you quest for five with your starting heroes, double tactics isn't terrible. If memory serves, Beorn's Path actually used that deck to beat Return to Mirkwood one-handed.

20 hours ago, dalestephenson said:

Still, Eowyn/Thalin/TaGimli, the lineup used for the second deck on Beorn's Path, works as a solo deck. When you quest for five with your starting heroes, double tactics isn't terrible. If memory serves, Beorn's Path actually used that deck to beat Return to Mirkwood one-handed.

Yeah, I'm probably underestimating Tactics. Maybe it's just my style of play, I usually see better options. I'd like to go back and spend some time with the scenarios in the Mirkwood cycle, and maybe play around with some more Tactics decks. But there are SO many scenarios ahead that I haven't played yet (includng all of the Saga expansions) that it boggles the mind. Comes from coming late to the game, I guess.

It's impressive really, that the first cycle of scenarios is so varied, that there aren't many that require a simple battle heavy "hit them over the head" type of deck. They're more nuanced than that.