I am seeking clarification or consensus on the composure assets (eg combat training, etc). Should they be treated like the other talents, such as Scrapper, but only become active/played when horror is assigned? Or is it a one-use card that gives you a skill buff for one test, but then gets discarded after the skill test similar to other assets that take damage/horror?

Thanks!

I don't know if you've gotten an answer in the last month, so here goes:

The composure talents are assets, just like the talents from the core set (physical training, hyperawareness, etc); they don't have the "permanent" keyword like Scrapper/Keen Eye etc, and start the game shuffled into your deck, not in play.

Once played, the composure assets have one sanity and a "Forced" ability that requires you to assign horror to them before you assign it to your investigator. As long as you don't take horror, the asset remains in play and you can activate its free ability whenever you wish, paying its cost each time. Once you assign the asset horror, and it successfully gets dealt, the asset has taken horror equal to its sanity and is discarded, just like an ally or any asset with sanity.

Hopefully that helps. Feel free to ask again if you're still confused!

SG Prometheus is correct about composures in general.

The trick to Composures is to make sure you have allies to soak the horror so none of it is dealt to you. They can be really useful actually in the right decks (since they are also fast). But you basically only want to use them in decks with expendable allies so that you can keep them in play. The downside compared with the 3 xp talents is that they are not permanent so they do not start in play. But they can help with gaps that your 3 xp class specific talent may not help with.

Good sources to deal horror instead of yourself for each faction:

Seeker - Art Student, Research Librarian, Lab Assistant

Mystic - Arcane Initiate or David Renfield (to clear their doom before the Agenda advances) or even Olive McBride

Rogue - Henry Wan or Gregory Gry (once you've used them enough)

Survivor - Peter! (Since Peter heals horror of from himself, he is the ideal ally to take when bringing composures), or Labranche if needed because she is cheap-ish.

Guardian - Something Worth Fighting For! Tetsuo Mori or Brother Xavier

You can even take Elder Sign Amulets for a neutral option, though xp is required.

That makes more sense. Thanks for the help!