Starting at 27 Threat and gaining 10 and failing to quest by 4. was not a good start. Failed the first game. Barely won the second. Felt like I did something wrong the second game but cannot put my finger on it.

Bohemond said:

This is why anime is bad .

It finally occurred to me that you can Forest Snare the Watcher (as long as you are able to engage him for a turn), however this only slightly helps the situation…you still have to kill him once he's snared.

Just beat the quest using my Descendant/Gandalf Strategy. I think that the DF5 is about right. There are NO surge cards in the entire deck and Questing/Threat management isn't really a problem except for "Disturbed Waters" (Doomed 5). The tentacles ARE nasty and I actually did more damage to myself this game trying to get rid of a Thrashing Tentacle - three straight tentacle card draws! - than the quest did to me directly. The other thing is, if you are playing solo you are only revealing at most one enemy per turn (remember, no surges) and so having no tentacles in play isn't that big a deal.

So in conclusion, it's a fun quest, but not particularly difficult. Managing threat isn't that difficult and there are fairly easy and direct strategies for dealing with The Watcher or The Doors of Durin. Some great player cards in this expansion too.

Sure is easy. Every quest lower then 6 or 7 most of the time walk in the park.

But one think i notice about new cycle: solo game now is more easy then 2 player game. RHG is very good example. So maybe WIW also more difficult with more players????

This one is a ***** for solo players, but at the same time is very entertaining. Number 5 does not mean anything (just like 3 for seventh level).

You really need to play tactics sphere so you get access to feint, quick strike and most importantly, hail of stones. Other notable combos that may help you are sneak attack + descendant and sneak attack + gandalf. If you do not play Tactic, you must have Frodo or 5 hit points heroes or otherwise you will be defeated in a couple of turns.

Quest has 2 major areas you need to cover. Firstly, there are a lot of tentacles that you don't want to see engaged with you. The real nightmare is the tentacle that deals 4 undefended damage. Tactic sphere comes very handy here, as well as 5 hit points heroes or Frodo. Then you have tentacles that kill you when you attack them , so direct damage is really helpful here, or once again Frodo. However, if you use Frodo too much, cards with doomed 5 become an issue.

The second area that must be covered, is to have a plan for an endgame. When Watcher comes into staging area, it is true that for solo player, usually there are no tentacles in play at that point, so watcher can be engaged. However, with 7 defense and 9 hit points (and regenerate 2), it is very hard to take it down in a fair fight. The best weapon you can think of is either one big hail of stones or multiple gandalfs / descendants. Both tactics play very well, assuming you have needed cards. And I believe, a lot of decks will not have them. You can't keep Watcher in staging area too long because it kills 1 character every turn.

I think we're coming from the same place. Since I have been stubbornly playing a tactics/eagles deck all this time this one feels easy, but another way to look at it is that, coincidentally, I finally have the right deck. Also, if you are not a tactics player remember that Lore can handle the end game quite well. This quest most directly compares to Carrock except that you want to be set up to finish either the Doors or the Watcher in a single turn

Regarding the DL, they are always deck and player number dependant. I still think that this one might be easier solo.

Shadows of the Past is a colorless card that potentially lets you end stage two in a single turn.