The internet is lacking Core 2026 starter decks that work up to 4 players with no adjustments right now, so I wanted to fill this gap.

At a 4 player count and limited to Core 2026 only, cards will be scarce and you are forced to "team build" rather than deckbuild. If someone modifies their cards, there's a high chance that it is also someone else's good card. You can't really name each individual deck as anything in this limitation, so let's think of them together as a team. This is a "No Joe" team, with all his Guardian cards going to Daniela Reyes and all his Seeker cards going to Trish Scarborough. Dexter Drake and Isabelle Barnes do have to share with each other, as well as with those other two members.

Pre-Built Team for 4P Core 2026 : This series is about a set of 4 Core 2026 investigator decks built together, taking every advantage of the cards donated from that known one missing Core investigator stated in the team name. They are automatically compatible with 2P or 3P games as well, as long as that one investigator stays missing.

NEWS : I'm now maintaining a one-stop destination of strictly beginner-friendly starter decks over at https://arkham-starter.com/starter, and even pre-built starter teams for 2, 3, or 4 players at https://arkham-starter.com/team. (That's why the site was named that in the first place.) Special thanks to all starter deck authors' contributions for making it possible!

Members

Since this works only as a team, the guide is the same for everyone. The decks are in their 0 XP state with upgrade cards prepared in the Side Deck, which makes sure you are not colliding with anyone even in the upgrades.

• Daniela Reyes* : arkhamdb.com | arkham.build
  • Enemy : Great. Clue : A bit.
• Trish Scarborough* : arkhamdb.com | arkham.build
  • Enemy : A bit. Clue : Great.
• Dexter Drake : arkhamdb.com | arkham.build
  • Enemy : Great (after scenario 2). Clue : Good.
• Isabelle Barnes : arkhamdb.com | arkham.build
  • Enemy : Good (after scenario 2). Clue : Good.

* = Obtained all cards from the missing member Joe Diamond and can use them to their heart's content.

Stop! Have you played the pre-con yet?

Read this if you are a newcomer. Out of the box, the game comes with 5 playable decks, where each deck has 1 copy of every non-neutral card it can use. This is the most unopinionated, flexible way the game could make sure they work in 2, 3, or 4 player teams no matter who's picked, with no one taking each other's cards. (Even if this game went up to 5 players, that would still work.)

Obviously the performance is not ideal, and you will see cards that don't fit with what the investigator is good at, or even cards waiting for future non-Core products to fulfill their purpose, but you are forced to use them now! But performance isn't the purpose of these decks. I highly recommend that you play through Brethren of Ash at least once using the pre-con :

• Getting to know the investigators. Core Set investigators can use 2 classes, and they form a circular chain of classes. A very optimized deck might automatically lean into the primary class, and that removes the "wonders" that you could have stumbled onto. You won't know how far they can flex if you start with a deck that's too consistent.
• Table talk. Since there's only 1 copy of each class card in each deck, if your friend has overlapping class access with you, then when they see you play something, they learn as well and might get their own copy of that card soon. When a card doesn't work with your investigator, teamwork happens. You will come up with many more interesting, scrappy combos than an optimized team would.
• There's always a way out. If you play with the pre-con, you will surely be pushed toward certain less-than-ideal solutions throughout Brethren of Ash, which I think will get you hooked on the game.

That is, I wanted to make sure you know this pre-built team isn't intended to replace your first-time experience. Rather, this should be one example of an adjustment you can make. Double up copies of cards you agree with, keep one-ofs of cards you think are situational or want to share, and cut cards you don't like. That's deckbuilding / team building. Have fun!

The No Joe Team

Since Core 2026 investigators form a ring of classes, when Joe Diamond is gone, the nutrients go to Daniela Reyes and Trish Scarborough.

Let's get this out of the way first. This team is problematic and contains several card gymnastics! It goes like this :

• To utilize their 4~5 from the start, Dexter Drake and Isabelle Barnes both want 2x Cosmic Flame + 2x Second Sight.
• Daniela Reyes is good with Meat Cleaver because she gets to 3 or fewer sanity easily, but that also robs Isabelle Barnes of her scenario 1 attack option if Dexter Drake also takes every Cosmic Flame. Now Isabelle might end up with nothing but 2x Broken Bottle.
• Trish Scarborough, with her free evade, very much wants 2x Sticky Fingers. However, as this is a no-Joe team with the Seeker allies given to Trish, I'd like Dexter Drake to have Olivier Bishop so he can solve the economy issue with Thieves' Kit. Now Dexter also wants Sticky Fingers, ideally 2 copies.

This is one way to solve this dilemma : The Lv. dupe technique.

• Daniela Reyes will start with 2x Meat Cleaver. But Isabelle Barnes will quickly get 2x Meat Cleaver (3) for her first 6 XP. (Now your team has 4x Meat Cleaver total.)
• Cosmic Flame will be shared 1x each between Dexter Drake and Isabelle Barnes, because Dexter can use his first 5 XP to get Cosmic Flame (5) while still keeping the Lv. 0 one too. Now Isabelle Barnes can keep her 1x Cosmic Flame going forward without worrying about fewer copies on Dexter. (Now your team has 3x Cosmic Flame total.)
• Sticky Fingers will be shared 1x each between Trish Scarborough and Dexter Drake. They soon both get 1x Sticky Fingers (2) while not removing the Lv. 0 one to ensure resource consistency. (Now your team has 4x Sticky Fingers total.)

Daniela Reyes

She gets the full set of M1911, Machete, and Meat Cleaver. With 2x Right Tool for the Job too, surely you can find a 2-damage weapon as well as Daniela's Wrench. She has only a few Survivor cards, because Isabelle Barnes loses the flexibility of her Mystic access due to Dexter Drake existing, and she needs many Survivor cards to function. You can keep patching up damage on Bodyguard with Bandages.

Trish Scarborough

Trish took Dorothy Simmons and Laboratory Assistant, and gave up Olivier Bishop for Dexter so he can get his to 4. Prestidigitation can play with a few things, but it's a placeholder for the Sticky Fingers (2) gymnastics mentioned earlier. She gets 1x Lucky Cigarette Case so Dexter can have another. Stack up Dorothy Simmons + Magnifying Glass + Fingerprint Kit and get that fat over-success. Breaking and Entering will likely get a huge over-success too.

Dexter Drake

This is a rather Rogue-ish Dexter that starts with just 1x Cosmic Flame because otherwise Isabelle Barnes would be too pitiful. It's intended to quickly fill the void with Cosmic Flame (5) alongside it. With Olivier Bishop, you have the option to work with Thieves' Kit and Sticky Fingers, draw from Manual Dexterity, and pay a bit to evade with Silver Tongue. An empty Thieves' Kit is a good target to exchange with Hand-Crank Flashlight using the ability, then replay it, work, and farm more resources. Anyway, the first scenario is definitely more investigation-leaning with 2x Thieves' Kit + 2x Second Sight. You also have Jim Culver, as Charisma is waiting in the upgrade and is better here than with Isabelle Barnes, who has almost no spells. Will of the Cosmos can put its doom on stuff Dexter is going to use up, as well as on an in-play Premonition.

Isabelle Barnes

Lucky Charm is a combo with Aleksey Saburov, so you can continue doing it and heal out. The space in this deck is filled with all the neutral skills in the game as well as both Survivor skills. In the first scenario, Isabelle can only deal 2 damage with that 1x Cosmic Flame gift from Dexter, 2x Broken Bottle, or her signature Isabelle's Twin .45s, which is rough. Investigating should be done with Perception + "Look what I found!" + Timely Intervention and perhaps replay with Hunter's Instinct. Remember that Daniela Reyes taking a hit is an extra attack, and you using Lucky Charm to let Daniela take more hits is therefore indirectly an attack.

Upgrades

Daniela Reyes

Add Charisma right away so you can keep Logan Hastings in play while rotating 2x Bodyguard (2), removing the need for Resilience, which will be gone. The rest are straightforward weapon improvements.

Trish Scarborough

Another Day, Another Dollar is going to improve your first-round setup by a lot. The Lv. dupe technique of Sticky Fingers (2) comes in to double up this card and allows her to play more of the expensive Fingerprint Kit. Through the Cracks (2) is still not as good as Breaking and Entering, but at least it has a somewhat flexible icon. And Out of Sight (3) can help your low-agility friend get an unlikely evade or pass treacheries.

Dexter Drake

The first 5 XP from your first scenario should be Cosmic Flame (5), no doubt, so he has 1x Lv. 0 and 1x Lv. 5. "For my next trick..." can ensure you get that better copy at the right time. With the built-in +2 , it will be the best way to draw on Lucky Cigarette Case. Same as Trish, Sticky Fingers (2) makes the deck's economy more consistent. But Dexter will need the help of Olivier Bishop or Soul Link to evade. Dexter can also after using the Fast play of Sticky Fingers (2). Charisma allows Olivier Bishop + Jim Culver, which I think is worth the setup cost, but you need to be aggressively working with both Thieves' Kit and Sticky Fingers to earn the resources. Augur of Elokoss adds up to 8 with Jim Culver.

Isabelle Barnes

Get out of jail with your first 6 XP, and you will be much more reliable in dealing 2 damage, as well as keeping that 1x Cosmic Flame. Old Compass (2) comes before Fearless (2) due to not having the full set of 2x Cosmic Flame + 2x Second Sight to commit with. Old Compass (2) can work with "Look what I found!". Both copies of Perception are kept too. You can perform a combo with Old Compass (2) like this : On the first try with -1 shroud, you try to fail by 2 (with Timely Intervention to adjust if you happen to fail by 3 instead of 2). Then on the retry test with -2 shroud, you commit Perception trying to win. Suddenly you get 3 clues and a card draw!