As the title says; regardless of the hero, is there a case where Strider would not be the best choice? (Well, except another player want to use Strider, too...)

Well Leaf Brooch with the right hero and events can be quite worthwile in my opinion since it will make many events free (Timely Aid with a Leadership hero for one). To the Sea, To the Sea could be quite good with Erestor, Lord of Morthond for Hirluin (fixing Outlands draw weakness), Nenya if you use Galadriel.

Also depending on how Guarded attachments work with this contract some of them might be quite useful.

Strider is clearly the best for general use. However as it was pointed out in the post above, there could be cases (hero choice/deck building) where other attachment can step in.

Strider gives you a permanent free questing action (like light of valinor for silvan and noldor) and a conditional +2w very handy for early game.

The contract itself has a built in readying action. If you can overcome the loss of +2w in early game, then you can slot a different starting attachment. Any hero with built in readyng ability (for example le aragorn, Sam, kahliel, ta boromir, etc) or no need to ready more than 1 per turn (galadriel) would do with different starting attachment. And many other heroes might work in decks built with a different starting attachment in mind.

Still strider is for sure among the very top picks and the best general use choice.

And yes, leaf broach with great game changing events can be a very nice choice.

Galadriel is the one where I think Strider is clearly not optimum -- she can't commit to the quest at all, so the only benefit is the +2 willpower that she can't use until she gets Nenya.

When playing Gandalf, I think I would prefer give him his pipe which is really necessary to play cards with him.

@dalestephenson --> if someone asked me which hero I would use with the contract, I would never answer Galadriel. She seems to be a very bad choice for me, because she can't quest/defend/attack. Unless you can pull out some big allies in the very first turns, I don't see how you can win.

39 minutes ago, Miceldars said:

if someone asked me which hero I would use with the contract, I would never answer Galadriel. She seems to be a very bad choice for me, because she can't quest/defend/attack. Unless you can pull out some big allies in the very first turns, I don't see how you can win.

If you choose her ring as the starting attachment she can "commit to the quest" as long as you are able to play at least one ally (which you should be able to do quite easily with the extra resources from the contract). Then you can use her action as needed to keep threat contained and draw card as needed (especially when you get her Mirror out with a Silver Harp) basically eliminating the other small drawback from the contract. You can then build the usual Silvan shenanigans around her or go for some big allies to better use her "allies do not exhaust to quest the first turn" ability.

She might not be the optimal choice for this contract, but it's still a good one in my opinion.

41 minutes ago, Miceldars said:

@dalestephenson --> if someone asked me which hero I would use with the contract, I would never answer Galadriel. She seems to be a very bad choice for me, because she can't quest/defend/attack. Unless you can pull out some big allies in the very first turns, I don't see how you can win.

I'm actually very much looking forward to using her with Grey Wanderer! Pull out Nenya, and you just need one ally in your opening hand to start making a solid dent in questing. You'll be able to pay for such an ally with the contract's resource granting, plus you can get full value from the hero ready from the get-go (draw+lower threat, and Nenya's willpower contribution).

(Doubly so in multiplayer.)

If you are planning on gaining two more heroes, strider loses its effect... eventually.

Light of valinor on an elf hero would not

6 hours ago, Miceldars said:

When playing Gandalf, I think I would prefer give him his pipe which is really necessary to play cards with him.

The contract allows to play one card without a match, so this is kind of replacement for not (yet) having the pipe. Would still prefer Strider.

Oh yes, I forgot that part. So strider would be better, indeed.

IMO:

So far, Leaf Brooch could be a better choice (if the hero has a built in readying, like Kahliel).

Well, at least one other card to consider.

Only if you play a lot of events that match your hero's sphere

Not nececcary a lot. Just enaugh to compensate the action lost and the temporarily 2willpower boost.

Yea, I'm surprised how few of my rough draft "Gray Wanderer" decks use Strider. Part of the issue is that a lot of GW decks are gonna want to spam quality allies (Timely Aid, A Very Good Tale, etc.) and this will pretty quickly undo the "less than 5 characters"part of Strider. The "less than 3 heroes" part is still nice, but you're only getting half the card at that point.

I've been finding, unexpectedly, that my GW deck drafts are instead using cards like Lord of Morthond, Leaf Brooch, Wizard's Pipe, and even Song of (Other Sphere), in cases where you want to have innate access to two spheres right off the bat (three counting the once-per-turn out of sphere card).

Still, it is true strider is one of best options. The 2w boost would most often not survive 3rd planning phase (and often the 2nd) but still an be invaluable in turn 1. And free quest img action plus the contract means 2 actions in combat phase since turn 1 which in many quests is vital.

But the alternatives are so many

Think of tactic eowyn with golden shield. 4 wp out of the gate, 5 defense plus 10 attack if needed. All of this in turn 1. Not the optimal hero choice for this contract but still playable against a number of quests, I estimate. I will definitely try it...