Power Word

Taking the FAQs above into account I tried the following out.

It is extremely effective to multi-Power-Word one hunter enemy, preferring a hunter enemy preying on me like Guardian of the Crystallizer or Bianca "Die Katz".

With "Thrice Spoken" and "Tongue Twister" you can have a ...

  • ... Charging Warrior -> "Go [1].", "Go [2].", "Go. [3]", "Betray [1].", "Betray [2].", "Betray [3]." -> Runs into a location and deals up to 3x1 damage to enemies with an an equal or lower fight value. "Killing 3 Swarm of Rats at 3 connected locations is crazy ... same is killing a 3 health enemy 3 locations away!"
  • ... Charging Evader -> "Go [1].", "Go [2].", "Go. [3]", "Distract [1].", "Distract [2].", "Distract [3]." Runs into a location and evades up to 3 enemies (maybe including itself) with an an equal or lower evade value. "Make Rita Young look like a sloth!"
  • ... (untabooed) an Ambulance -> "Go [1].", "Go [2].", "Go. [3]", "Mercy [1].", "Mercy [2].", "Mercy. [3]" Runs into a location and heals up to 3 allies for health and/or horror. "Make Bianca "Die Katz" a charging Lay-on-Hands-Paladina who heals 6 health for 1 action at a location 3 steps away!"
  • ... Charging Cluever -> "Go [1].", "Go [2].", "Go. [3]", "Confess [1].", "Confess [2].", "Confess. [3]" Runs into a location and discovers up to 3 clues if its health is equal to or higher than its location's shroud. "Get an On the Trail (3) once per turn!"

In all cases you can also change the resolution order to or skip any of the commands: eg. "Go [1].", "2nd Command [1].", "Go [2].", "2nd Command [2].", "Go [3].", "2nd Command [3]."

You go to the power-worded enemy and send it to it's target doing whatever you want. When the enemy is at least 2 locations away, exhausing or evading it is not necessary. If it is aloof from e.g. Existential Riddle you can even ignore this part because aloof enemies don't exhaust.

Your power-worded enemy becomes a freeking multi-functional boomerang.

You can support this playstype by taking cards like Word of Command and Lucid Dreaming to get the copies out of your deck very fast.

thrice spoken can command each OTHER enemy with power word — Adny · 1
Oh thx, you are right. I will edit my review the next days. — GrueneLupenAufheben · 138
Hallowed Mirror

Justice for Vincent! The mirror should absolutely be takeable by him. This card is very good but the fact that, of the two dedicated healers in the investigator list, Carolyn and Vincent, only Carolyn can take this card, seems like a pretty significant design oversight. If on Gray's Anatomy, "The card itself does not heal damage/horror..." but is takeable by Carolyn and Vincent, this card should be too. The card itself does not heal damage/horror, but it directly leads to a way to do so.

acquavaa · 4
vincent can absolutely take this — Adny · 1
Someone should tell the deckbuilder tool that, because it doesn't show up under eligible cards. — acquavaa · 4
I am not an expert and I could understand if I am wrong, but Hallowed Mirror does not have "healing" on it, so it cannot be taken. It's silly, and I think rules as intended would have it be something Vincent could take, but I think rules as written would say that bonded cards do not count towards being able to include something in a deck. — DjMiniboss · 44
FAQ under Empty Vessel. But apparently, it has been reverted, so never mind — Adny · 1
Ancestral Knowledge

Not every Investigator with access to level 3 Seeker is going to go hard on skills, though if you were already running 6-8, there is very low opportunity cost to this, because you can add some more flexibility cards while not changing your chances of drawing them. The downside is the interaction with Practiced Makes Perfect, meaning you're more likely to whiff on your first time through the deck (which, you're Seeker probably, so its fine). But My favourite interaction is the wording on the lightning bolt. "Draw 1 attached skills". Not "add to your hand". So this card, can, for Harvey Walters, guarantee draw 1 additional card for 5 turns in the game for when you don't already trigger it from a Eureka or Perception, or your Vault of Knowledge investigate trigger. At this stage in the game post Hemlock Vale, there are certainly enough skills, especially one's that cantrip already, that Harvey can just take a toolkit of skills, taking a Guts, Perception, Manuel Dex, or maybe Plan of Action, Eureka, Deduction, Survey the Area. Amanda loves this card, but I would posit that this card is also absolutely fantastic for any Harvey build and I would prefer it to Studious for the same XP.

Edit: lol Harvey ability has to draw from a deck, so nevermind that point. But still, getting cantrips reliably in hand to trigger is almost the same result.

Good spot! Although it is worth mentioning that it is double the XP cost of Studious, because this card is Exceptional. — snacc · 1002
Harvey's ability reads "draws 1 or more cards from their deck", so that interaction doesn't work — aurchen · 11
@snacc, i was referring to the getting of 2x Studious. @Aurchen ah you're absolutely right! its shocking how often i can miss a word or two even on cards i see all the time. That's unfortunate and throws my entire review off. Ah well. Still good just to get those cantrips. — Rolandironfist · 37
Elaborate Distraction

Is this better than Cunning Distraction? Well, lets see. It's 2 resources cheaper, though still not cheap for survivor. And it has variability, you can evade or ping it for damage. AND you target all adjacent locations as well. For the measly extra cost of an additional action.

The value of this card really goes up in 3 and 4 players when you simply have more spawns, and also swarm enemies. Preston of course likes testless stuff and can pay any resource cost. If Rita can pay the cost in actions and resources, it generally syergises with what she wants to do. She (and Preston) can also store it under Bewitching. 1 of the actions spent can be viewed as either doing testless damage or a move she would probably have used anyway. This way, there was no test. I think you do need to be hitting 2-3 minimum for this to be worth the squeeze. At lower player counts, one hopes enemies aren't getting that out of control. But at higher player counts, 1 players turn, can really save the entire team a heap of trouble.

Beguile

If you are playing Alessandra and wondering which enemies are the best targets for Beguile:

Pretty much the first non-elite enemy spawns on the map is the best one. However, there are still few things to consider:

  • I wouldn't put Beguile on an enemy like Wizard of the Order, you want to keep your target on the board as long as possible. Extra doom every turn isn't feasible.

  • An enemy with an evade value <= 2 is preferable, with Fine Clothes you can always use an action to "auto" evade itself (barring tentacles of course). Using this action once every turn can boost your engine considerably with Pickpocketing, and you'll drown in cards and resources if you put down two of them. You can make it even sillier with Lucky Cigarette Case.

  • Beguiled Hunters can be more beneficial than the stationary ones. If you can spare some health/sanity, you can tank an attack in the enemy phase to lure them to your location, then parley-investigate your location in the next turn (which can again, benefit from Fine Clothes). Therefore, enemies with single health or horror damage are more advantageous.

  • Aloof enemies usually want to be addressed, but an enemy like Whippoorwill can be used like any other hunter enemy. Just move out of the location yourself, then investigate to avoid -1 to skills penalty.

Aesyn · 572
Guys, I need help! If I use it to evade a Retaliated enemy, will the enemy launch an attack on investigator if the verification fails? — Lynfield · 1
Retaliate only triggers off failed fight actions, not evades, so no. However, an alert enemy will attack you if the evade test fails. — Eike · 1
Oh, sorry, not Retaliate, but Alert. I got it mixed up) In this case, will there be an enemy attack? — Lynfield · 1