With the recent clarification of Gimli's ability, it's clear that Gimli's main strength lies in attacking, possibly more so than any other hero thus far. In addition to attacking he's also amazing at defense, through the use of his ability as well as his amazingly high 4 might and 4 spirit, which helps negate a lot of damage and fear. Gimli is someone it's best to build your team around, since his role is so clearly combat-oriented. With that in mind, I've come up with some potential "best builds" in terms of roles and equipment:

Guardian/Striker:

Essential role cards: Ready Defense (Guardian), On the Hunt (Hunter)

Optional Role Cards: Guarded Strike (Guardian), Master Tactician (Captain)

Starting Equipment: Sword, Banner, Travel Garb

The idea with this is to be able to prepare lots of cards using the upgraded travel garb, and fight as often as possible in order to strike and guard as often as possible. The banner gives inspiration for guarding and Guarded Strike gives inspiration for striking. I put it as optional because there's a lot of other good options for 7 exp cards in the Hunter pool, especially if you want a certain modifier, like lethal. Master Tactician really helps preparing and scouting for successful attacks, although it works just as well on another team member. On the Hunt is the best card to have for attacking, since it will give an inspiration every turn you or someone nearby attacks, and can always be discarded for 2 hits when really needed. Ready Defense is the best card for defense, and its 7-exp cost seals the deal. The upgraded banner also provides cleave and extra hits, not to mention the upgraded sword providing an extra card on the attack. This combo, along with the inspiration gained, makes it far better than the axe in this build. They also upgrade sooner, and the maximum damage is only slightly lower (11 hits versus 13 hits).

Recommended teammates: Any team member would benefit from Gimli's abilities to deal with combat, to guard, and to manipulate the deck (master tactician). An ideal teammate would also be able to support Gimli by providing inspiration (Elena or musician role), movement (pathfinder role), or scouting (Aragorn). Team members that benefit from Gimli include those that are more frail than he is (everyone) because he can guard for them, and team members who can also dish out the damage, so they can benefit from On the Hunt.

Build #2: Pathfinder/Burglar

Essential role cards: Honed Instinct (Pathfinder), Unstoppable (Pathfinder), Quick Thinking (Burglar)

Optional Role Cards: Master Tactician (Captain)

Starting Equipment: Sword, Banner, Travel Garb

This is a variant on the first role, to be used when Gimli's teammate is a guardian/hunter. The starting equipment is the same, only now it provides inspiration when Gimli hides using the burglar cards. The burglar role is very good at economizing inspiration through the use of Self-Sufficient (burglar) and the hidden mechanics. In addition to that, the Pathfinder role is good at generating inspiration through Trailblazer (Pathfinder). Pathfinder also helps Gimli do more combat by not wasting time on moving. It's also an essential role for making certain missions a lot easier. Honed Instinct has a dual purpose for allowing huge sprints in those big map quests, and giving him a hide card. Quick Thinking allows more preparation in addition to having another sprint card, plus the other ability. A very good, flexible card to have. Unstoppable is more of a late game card that can help you net max damage when it's needed, or you use it to sprint 2, but that's secondary. Master Tactician as noted before, has amazing utility.

Recommended teammates: Guardian role is pretty much mandatory here, in order to take full advantage of the banner. With that in mind, Aragorn and Elena stand out since they come with other benefits for being nearby.

more builds to come...

I really think we need a good thread on builds for every hero, and preferably a few different options.

Some of it depends upon how many are in your party and what you are running on them. I suspect that the same build may work on two different heroes. You might have to cover more bases with diverse roles if you're running a simple two hero campaign. For example, on the Gimli build above, I really liking it on Aragorn. I'm also finding that most heroes will want to focus on two different roles that often synergize well. There's the added dimension that from journey to journey, the deck doesn't change that much. And when it comes to gameplay from turn-to-turn, the new card you bought just might not come up for you to prepare in the new mission.

On 5/25/2019 at 11:53 PM, Vergilius said:

I really think we need a good thread on builds for every hero, and preferably a few different options.

Some of it depends upon how many are in your party and what you are running on them. I suspect that the same build may work on two different heroes. You might have to cover more bases with diverse roles if you're running a simple two hero campaign. For example, on the Gimli build above, I really liking it on Aragorn. I'm also finding that most heroes will want to focus on two different roles that often synergize well. There's the added dimension that from journey to journey, the deck doesn't change that much. And when it comes to gameplay from turn-to-turn, the new card you bought just might not come up for you to prepare in the new mission.

I agree with everything you just said. Actually I play mainly solo, with 2 characters since I don't feel like managing three, and juggling 2 different roles is pretty much the norm for 2-players. And yeah, this build might actually be better on Aragorn! If you don't have Aragorn, this would be a nice alternative. As for not drawing the cards you need, I have several potential solutions to that:

1) switch roles depending on what's needed for the mission. For example, if you're investigating an Inn, you *probably* don't need strike cards, so you can switch your hunter to an alternate role. Or, if you're "racing to the brandywine" you might want to take pathfinder. The basic role cards are 3, including one that is auto-prepared, so that alters the deck quite a bit.

2) Master Tactician card. But, there's still the issue of drawing it...

3) wanderer's wish (upgraded travel garb): Allows you to scout a lot when exploring. Even the level 2 one helps a lot.

4) trinkets that let you scout or prepare extra cards: eg. tome, pipe

Also I'm going to be posting another Gimli build, one centered on the Pathfinder role, with the same equipment. The equipment does overlap with Aragorn's ideal equipment... I'll add a section on suitable partners, then. These Gimli builds will work better with anyone but Aragorn (exception for Aragorn with a staff or some other different build).

I haven't used Gimli yet. It seems odd that he doesn't start with an axe. Shouldn't he start with an axe? Legolas starts with a bow, and Aragorn starts with a sword.

@Vince79 Gimli defaults to an axe, but you don't have to start any hero with the default equipment. The app lets you change what equipment a character gets.

As I think through character development and role selection, I'm amazed and how it has a small impact, but doesn't override other aspects of the gameplay.

1. You have 15 cards in your deck. Everyone will have the same 6 basic cards and a single weakness card. The character cards have a huge impact on how a character players, and most of them are good to the point that you want to ready them. Beyond that, you start with 3 role cards, with the first card readied. These provide flavor, but since they also contribute 2 successes, you face tough choices on whether you ready them or save them for your checks. Early in the game, it very much feels like playing your character, and your roll is secondary.

2. As a secondary consideration to deck-building are the choices you make between success/fate/blank cards. You need successes to win the game. Sometimes that really good role card has to go back into your deck.

The two things I find I miss the most when I'm without them:

1. Aragorn's passive bonus to Scout. It may not feel like that extra card draw is worth much on paper, but in practice, it always seems to make a huge difference. It doesn't matter who is in the party and what roles they pick, if they're drawing an additional card regularly, the deck manipulation is huge. And while he won't hit as hard as Gimli, if you manage inspiration well, he does well enough. He's also got one fewer blanks than other characters, and more fate symbols, so if you manage inspiration well (or manage Basic-6, A Time in Need), he can end up hitting pretty hard and solving interactions at critical junctures. He's also extremely flexible. Because he naturally wants to be near other characters, Captain/Musician can augment their abilties. But almost any role is good on him.

2. Legolas' Bow. The ability to attack and kill without provoking retaliation is huge. The default Hunter is pretty good. Hunter-1 provides an inspiration when you ready it. It is worth cycling early because you'll have a better chance of setting up your deck for success in later turns. And if you can luck into drawing it again and again, you'll stack the inspiration you need to succeed. I've been mixing in Pathfinder, where movement helps him set up range attacks, and where several good cards exist. I could see Burglar's access to hide helping him either with attack or those critical moments where you are attacked.

Because I haven't seen it explained clearly anywhere... How does multiclassing work, exactly? If you've played a couple missions with Gimli as Guardian, for example, and he becomes a Hunter instead for the next mission, what happens? I'm assuming he gets the Hunter #1-3 cards and loses the Guardian #1-3 cards, but then he keeps the Guardian cards he's spent his XP on?

49 minutes ago, SpiderMana said:

Because I haven't seen it explained clearly anywhere... How does multiclassing work, exactly? If you've played a couple missions with Gimli as Guardian, for example, and he becomes a Hunter instead for the next mission, what happens? I'm assuming he gets the Hunter #1-3 cards and loses the Guardian #1-3 cards, but then he keeps the Guardian cards he's spent his XP on?

You are correct.

10 minutes ago, barabelsftw said:

You are correct.

Thanks. Are you able to spend your XP on either class, then? Or is XP specific to the class it's earned with?

1 minute ago, SpiderMana said:

Thanks. Are you able to spend your XP on either class, then? Or is XP specific to the class it's earned with?

XP is specific to the class you earned it with.

19 hours ago, Vergilius said:

The two things I find I miss the most when I'm without them:

1. Aragorn's passive bonus to Scout. It may not feel like that extra card draw is worth much on paper, but in practice, it always seems to make a huge difference. It doesn't matter who is in the party and what roles they pick, if they're drawing an additional card regularly, the deck manipulation is huge. And while he won't hit as hard as Gimli, if you manage inspiration well, he does well enough. He's also got one fewer blanks than other characters, and more fate symbols, so if you manage inspiration well (or manage Basic-6, A Time in Need), he can end up hitting pretty hard and solving interactions at critical junctures. He's also extremely flexible. Because he naturally wants to be near other characters, Captain/Musician can augment their abilties. But almost any role is good on him.

2. Legolas' Bow. The ability to attack and kill without provoking retaliation is huge. The default Hunter is pretty good. Hunter-1 provides an inspiration when you ready it. It is worth cycling early because you'll have a better chance of setting up your deck for success in later turns. And if you can luck into drawing it again and again, you'll stack the inspiration you need to succeed. I've been mixing in Pathfinder, where movement helps him set up range attacks, and where several good cards exist. I could see Burglar's access to hide helping him either with attack or those critical moments where you are attacked.

I do miss the scout bonus, but it's offset by the fact that Gimli not only reveals an extra card every time he attacks, but he can also place one of those cards on top for the next test (be it negation or through interacting with a token). I also really like how Gimli has 4 spirit. There's a lot of darkness tests throughout the course of this campaign, and even negate tests are commonly either might, agility, or spirit (Gimli with the travel garb is amazing at 2/3 of those, and still ok at the other). Aragorn is really good, too for the reasons you mentioned. I don't think one is better than the other, they're just different.

Legolas is so good at dispatching enemies without taking hits it can make things seem too easy at times. But on the other hand, Legolas gets overwhelmed much more easily than Gimli, because he's not doing so well on 2/3 of those negate tests, or on darkness tests, and he ends up taking a beating if he gets swarmed. Thus, I like to pair Legolas up with a guardian, or give him lots of hide cards. I don't necessarily miss him if I don't use him either. One option is Beravor, who is a decent character on her own right and can use the bow decently well, along with her other tricks. Another option is letting the enemies come to you. If I'm Gimli (quite tough), or the guardian role, or hidden, sometimes I just play out my interactions and wait for the enemies to come to me, so as to not waste my actions moving around to kill them.

Good observations.

I apparently don't have enough time to try everything out as much as you have. Seems like you've got a lot of ideas on how to mix/match roles/weapons/characters to keep the game interesting.

Beavor has been awesome. That's another jack-of-all trades character who can pair with a lot of different roles and even weapons while maintaining effectiveness.