by cnalexander
Our Overlord has started putting Secret Room cards in the Search deck, and so far I’m baffled as to what they are for. They just seem so bad. It appears that you end up fighting about 2 monsters, make a couple attributes tests, and probably end up with one treasure (replacing the treasure you lost by drawing the secret room in the first place), and the bonus for completing the room. While the bonus seemed nifty (cancelling an Overlord card), by no means did it seem worth the staggering cost in actions required to completely search the Secret Room. Descent quests have generally been desperate struggles against time where every action counts. I’m very hesitant to spend 3 actions (with movement) examining a search token; it just seems hard to fathom spending 10 actions exploring a secret room unless we are pretty cocky about having the encounter totally sewn up, in which case, who needs to ability to negate an overlord card?↧
Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition):: Strategy:: Secret Rooms seem impractical
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition):: Strategy:: Advice on hero synergy
I started a campaign with my fiance and she agreed to be the overlord. I am controlling 3 heroes. We have finished first blood(hero win), Fat Goblin(hero win, but barely) and The Cardinal's Plight(OL win, very close). We also happened to do a side quest from Lair of the Wyrm, where I luckily won the Aurium mail.
The Three Heroes I chose (before I picked up the conversion kit yesterday) are Ashrian as Spirit Speaker, Reynhart as champion, and Jain as the thief.
Builds so far
Ashrian
Leather Armor
Iron Spear http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/iron-spear/
Skills
Stone Skin http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/stoneskin/
Healing Rain http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/healing-rain/
Drain Spirit http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/drain-spirit/
1xp unused
Reynhart
Iron Battle Axe http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/iron-battleaxe/
Horn of Courage http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/horn-of-courage/
Aurium mail http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/aurium-mail/
Skills
Valor of Heroes http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/valor-of-heroes/
Glory of Battle http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/glory-of-battle/
2xp Unspent
Jain
Throwing Knives http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/throwing-knives/
Lucky Charm http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/lucky-charm/
Iron Shield http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/iron-shield/
Crossbow http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/crossbow/
Skills
Greedy http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/greedy/
Appraisal http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/appraisal/
Sneaky http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/sneaky/
1xp unspent
OK so I have been getting knocked out quite a bit, except Reynhart since receiving the Aurium mail. The spirit speaker also seems to be really lacking on healing. I heard that class was more of an offensive healer type, but it was never used by anyone in all the games where I was the overlord, so I wanted to give it a chance.
I do really like the champion build and I am considering building a small group that stays within 3 spaces of him at all times, at least that is where I am coming from with my strategy. I love the valor tokens and he can give at least one to another hero per turn.
He currently has 2 unspent xp so I was considering giving him him Stoic Resolve http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/stoic-resolve/ seems like a pretty cool ability that could allow for him to recover a fatigue, or even better ashrian to recover a fatigue if she stays adjacent to him. Then drain spirit is essentially a little more powerful(adding the heart for valor) and free with stoic resolve due to using the valor.
The spirit speaker I am having a tough time with thinking about which skill to get next. I was liking Nature's Bounty http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/natures-bounty/ but taking an entire action to rest kinda sucks just to heal herself, 4 hearts. So really I am stuck on what would be the best most efficient use of the hero synergy.
Please I will take all advice on anything related to these three classes and how they would work well together. My fiance loves knocking down heroes and since getting the Aurium mail she focuses on knocking down the thief and the spirit speaker often.
Thanks for the input
The Three Heroes I chose (before I picked up the conversion kit yesterday) are Ashrian as Spirit Speaker, Reynhart as champion, and Jain as the thief.
Builds so far
Ashrian
Leather Armor
Iron Spear http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/iron-spear/
Skills
Stone Skin http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/stoneskin/
Healing Rain http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/healing-rain/
Drain Spirit http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/drain-spirit/
1xp unused
Reynhart
Iron Battle Axe http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/iron-battleaxe/
Horn of Courage http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/horn-of-courage/
Aurium mail http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/aurium-mail/
Skills
Valor of Heroes http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/valor-of-heroes/
Glory of Battle http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/glory-of-battle/
2xp Unspent
Jain
Throwing Knives http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/throwing-knives/
Lucky Charm http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/lucky-charm/
Iron Shield http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/iron-shield/
Crossbow http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/crossbow/
Skills
Greedy http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/greedy/
Appraisal http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/appraisal/
Sneaky http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/sneaky/
1xp unspent
OK so I have been getting knocked out quite a bit, except Reynhart since receiving the Aurium mail. The spirit speaker also seems to be really lacking on healing. I heard that class was more of an offensive healer type, but it was never used by anyone in all the games where I was the overlord, so I wanted to give it a chance.
I do really like the champion build and I am considering building a small group that stays within 3 spaces of him at all times, at least that is where I am coming from with my strategy. I love the valor tokens and he can give at least one to another hero per turn.
He currently has 2 unspent xp so I was considering giving him him Stoic Resolve http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/stoic-resolve/ seems like a pretty cool ability that could allow for him to recover a fatigue, or even better ashrian to recover a fatigue if she stays adjacent to him. Then drain spirit is essentially a little more powerful(adding the heart for valor) and free with stoic resolve due to using the valor.
The spirit speaker I am having a tough time with thinking about which skill to get next. I was liking Nature's Bounty http://www.descentinthedark.com/2nd/natures-bounty/ but taking an entire action to rest kinda sucks just to heal herself, 4 hearts. So really I am stuck on what would be the best most efficient use of the hero synergy.
Please I will take all advice on anything related to these three classes and how they would work well together. My fiance loves knocking down heroes and since getting the Aurium mail she focuses on knocking down the thief and the spirit speaker often.
Thanks for the input
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition):: Strategy:: Cardinal's Plight
by hobit
Going to play Cardinal's plight with 4 heroes. No one has the ability to move through enemies.It seems like for part 2 the OL could place two shadow dragons such that the party cannot move from the entrance until one of the dragons is killed. Further, as you can't shoot through allies (I think), that means the folks in the back will be unable to do anything of use until the front row kills one of the dragons. With 2 grey dice and the Shadow ability, seems likely this could take 2-3 rounds before the back row can do anything. True?
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition):: Strategy:: Rank the Classes
by jomayo112
Hey guys,New to the game; just purchased Descent about a week ago and haven't had a whole ton of time to play but am definitely addicted!! Was curious how you guys would rank the classes in order from most powerful to least powerful. I haven't played with all of the classes yet and our basic game strategy is lacking as heroes because of lack of play; so I was curious what classes people recommend or would rank from best to worst.
So far I've found the spirit speaker to be tougher to play; seems kinda weak. Knight and Runemaster seem like good ones. The Wildlander was a joke in one of the quests we tried; but possibly we didn't play her correct. Anyways, opinions and thoughts on general strategy appreciated. Thanks
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition):: Strategy:: Strategy Guide: Spirit Speaker
by dustwhit
Welcome to a strategy guide on the Spirit Speaker class.The Spirit Speaker is widely acknowledged as a subpar Healer class and this article is not trying to change any opinions. If a hero group is composed of new players, then undoubtedly the Disciple should be chosen; it is the more streamlined, more intuitive, and (generally speaking) more efficient healer. Nevertheless, experienced players may enjoy the implicit challenge in picking up the Spirit Speaker and giving it a go. This article intends to breakdown the strengths and weakness of the class, give general strategy, suggest a few different builds, and pair them with compatible heroes.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSStrengths:
multiple target healing (Healing Rain, Drain Spirit, Tempest, Ancestor Sprits)multiple target damage (Shared Pain, Tempest, Ancestor Spirits)defensive buffs (Stone Skin, Cloud of Mist)The Spirit Speaker is best at delivering consistent, wide spread healing. This healing does not require adjacency (within 3 spaces). With Ancestor Spirits, this healing can also recover an additional HP and one fatigue. Tempest can deliver both multiple target healing AND damage at the same time – a very unique skill indeed.
Speaking of multi target damage, in the case of Drain Spirit, it does not require LOS; though initially limited to 1 damage per monster (within the target monster’s group) beyond the original target, and is clearly best suited for large numbered monster groups, and even better, those which have low health (which most 4+ monster groups do). While most OL’s chose large, 2 or 3 sized monster groups, nevertheless, many quests force them into using smaller, 4+ sized monster groups, and the SS can use this relatively inexpensive skill (or Tempest) to his advantage. In the least, it almost de facto makes an OL think against (or factor the consequences) of using a multi numbered monster group that he otherwise would – and that is its own benefit.
The Defensive buff of Stone Skin is “ok” and best used when you know a hero is about to deal with a large attack pool. Cloud of Mist is truly interesting, and particularly so with a certain hero, but more on that later. It is its own 3 space radius “Shadow” and surprisingly inexpensive when taking into account how much a fatigue hog the SS class can be. Any skill that contributes to the defense of Non Playable Characters (NPCs) is a boon in a quest book full of defending these figures.
Weaknesses:
heavy fatigue dependent skillsexpensive focused (single hero) healingno initial healing abilitytime consuming skill treedamage dependent skillsattribute test (Wisdom) dependent skillNow for what you all know. The Spirit Speaker is an almost intolerant fatigue hog; nearly every skill requires the use of fatigue, many of which are a gamble (Stone Skin, Shared Pain, Drain Spirit, Tempest). Shared Pain and Drain Spirit require damage to be dealt, Stone Skin might roll a blank (or extra shields when you don’t need them anyway or the OL rolls an X regardless), and Tempest requires a successful attribute test. It’s not very fun to blow a fatigue.
Unlike the Disciple, the Spirit Speaker must spend an action to heal, do it at a greater fatigue cost (Healing Rain) and at less effectiveness (Drain Spirit). The lack of efficient, focused healing is indeed a problem because most monster groups do not cause AoE damage (particularly if you don’t use the Conversion Kit) and tactically the OL has more advantage (drawing a card on KO; forcing an action for Stand Up) from focus firing on the weakest hero. Healing Rain, at 2 fatigues and an action, is an inefficient way to pump more health into a singular, weakened hero.
The best way to increase the effectiveness of the level 1 skills is to acquire Ancestor Spirits. Unfortunately, at level 3, you will be playing the Intro and the three Act 1 quests before you are able to put it into effect; that is outright punishing, boring, and even then, not exactly wonderful. Vigor is nice to help a class that hurts for fatigue, and a boon for the party as a whole, but at level 3, you’ve nearly spent half your game in its pursuit.
GENERAL STRATEGY1)In act 1, the crossbow is the best weapon for the Spirit Speaker. The crossbow has Pierce (to better ensure damage with certain class skills), blue/yellow die (for highest potential of surges to recover a fatigue), and can even be used to move a target adjacent to you (see Ashrian below). Otherwise, use another blue/yellow weapon, and in Act 2 use a Blue/2 Yellow weapon – the Shadow Rune is perfect with its fatigue recovery.
2)Generally speaking, I think it’s better to take several lower level subpar skills and get them immediately with their diverse uses, than to spend a lot of the campaign saving for a level 3.
3)The Ring of Power is crucial for this fatigue dependent class, and the Mana Weave can be used to recover a fatigue – though it’s not its ideal use amongst the party,
4)The Staff of Shadows becomes handier for its health and fatigue recovery, and the heroes should try to acquire it in either Act 1 or 2. It should probably be carried in the backpack of another hero than the Spirit Speaker, so as to have another means to distribute healing without taking away from the Spirit Speaker’s actions to do so. This goes for acquiring the Tivial Crystal (Act 2 shop deck) as well.
BUILDS***Depictions are shown with full skill sets, and possible Act I equipment. Act II equipment will vary.***
The Spirit Guard:
Hero: Ashrian
Order: Healing Rain/Drain Spirit>Cloud of Mist> at discretion
I’ve called this setup the “Spirit Guard” because it pairs Ashrian’s Heroic Ability (HA) and Heroic Feat (HF) with Cloud of Mist to upset an OL’s monster actions. An OL will have to choose between attacking Ashrian (or a nearby figure) at a disadvantage or moving away. Note that Ashrian’s HA is in regards to minions only. Her HF can be used to stun a group within range, irrespective of rank. The play style for this character would be to repeatedly get in the middle of monsters and be a nuisance with CoM. You inherently will provide a helpful buff to guard NPCs as well, and if paired with a Knight, will make it difficult for the OL to get to NPCs. Nature’s Bounty and Stone Skin will help with the inevitable attacks that will come in. At a health of 10, Ashrian is in a good position to weather them. It’s probably a good idea to pick up Healing Rain first so that you have a healing ability after the Intro.
The crossbow is the ideal weapon for the Spirit Speaker as mentioned above. The chainmail will guard against inevitable attacks (best given to the healer, because she’s the most likely target then the typical Warrior who tends to receive this item). The Ring of Power is a must for the SS because it helps alleviate a high fatigue using class and makes Nature’s Bounty more useful. I’ve included the Mana Weave to round things out, although I acknowledge that it’s unlikely that the SS will receive this item over another character/class. Nevertheless, it would help with needed fatigue recovery and ensuring damage.
This setup ignores a level 3 skill in favor of more immediate and diverse skills. Tempest is probably not a good idea with a character below 4 Wisdom (or the Lucky Charm). A player could forsake 2 of the level ones (probably keeping Healing Rain) in exchange for Vigor. Though if you did so, you likely would wait until after acquiring Healing Rain and Cloud of Mist, and that means you wouldn’t have this skill until the 2nd Act 2 quest, and that may or may not be worthwhile to you, in exchange for losing access to Nature’s Bounty and the two otherwise easily accessible level one skills. In my opinion, it’s not.
See alternatives below, but if using someone other than Ashrian, you won’t have the inherent Stun, and probably should substitute Nature’s Bounty with Tempest for more damage options (Avric).
The Spirit Stormer:
Hero: Elder Mok, Jonas the Kind
Order 1: Healing Rain/Drain Spirit>Tempest>Ancestor Spirits>at discretion
Order 2: Tempest>Ancestor Spirits>at discretion
This has already been discussed in the forums. I’ve called this the “Spirit Stormer” because it takes the combo of Tempest and Ancestor Spirits to create a “spirit storm” or bomb that goes off in a 3 space radius. You will need a high Wisdom character and you will want to acquire the Lucky Charm so as to feel a little more comfortable about it. You will be able to cause 2 damage to all monsters and heal each hero for one HP within the radius. As well, you will have the choice of poisoning all the monsters or giving each hero an additional HP and one fatigue recovery (which also applies to you and therefore reduces the cost, afterwards, of the skill). The additional advantage is that it also makes (at a cost of one fatigue and exhausting the card) all the level 1 skills more effective, so you might as well own them and round off your XP. You can choose to bypass a level one skill in order to acquire this one quest sooner (have it for the entire Act 2 quests and Finale).
Elder Mok has Wisdom of 4, an excellent HF, and his HA makes him the only Healer with an ability that helps with fatigue recovery – huge for the Spirit Speaker class and huge with this combo. Jonas has low health, but he can add a brown when he doesn’t attack (Tempest is not an attack, nor is Jonas’ HF) and his HF is like another “bomb” going off. An OL that moves his figures anywhere near Jonas is asking for some trouble.
Alternative Characters
Two other characters should be considered when choosing the Spirit Speaker.
Avric: His HA will help cut the edge off the weaknesses in the Spirit Speaker’s method of healing, and his HF is a great “emergency button”. With 4 Wisdom, Avric could be used as a Spirit Guard or a Spirit Stormer. His health of 12 is the highest you will find.
Aurim: A lot of the success in this game is from acquiring much loot, and Aurim’s HF will give you 2 more free searches then you would otherwise have – fantastic. One use of his HA can almost completely make up for the weaknesses in healing of the SS; just make sure he has a health potion (or if you were fortunate to draw one from his HF) at the beginning of the second encounter and all those wounds are washed away. With 5 speed he is incredibly mobile, and yes, 5 stamina sounds like music for a Spirit Speaker; if you give him the Ring of Power he now can function almost uninterrupted. But he is a great character in a mixed bag. If you make him a Spirit Guard, he has low health, and if you make him a Spirit Stormer, he only has a Wisdom of 3, so you will be exchanging some great strengths for some weakness.
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition):: Strategy:: Playing as OL for a new campaign next week. Which skill tree to approach?
by plolock
I'm thinking Saboteur. Warlord is fine and boosts monsters and what not, but I mean, monsters still tend to die, and it feels like in a long campaign, it would be more beneficial to me with making them bleed through searches (which is VERY attractive to them) and opening doors. Also, since Reinforce got a nerf in the FAQ, I feel like the Uthuk Death Trap is way more powerful, and it scales so well through the entire campaign!The least attractive is Magus by far. If not Saboteur, I'm thinking Saboteur, to slow down heroes. If not any of the 2, I'll go Warlord.
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition):: Strategy:: Overlord Upgrades & Punisher Class
by Bagdad
I would like to know how you guys usually upgrade your overlord.1-I know a lot of persons go for the "100% warlord cards", but I would like to know if there is other interesting cards and strategies.
2-Also, is the Punisher class any good. I'm starting a new campaign with the expansion and I would like to know your experiences with the Punisher class. I was looking at the "no rest for the wicked" card and I think it look really good for a 1 xp card...
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition):: Strategy:: Is there a list of which quests are easier for the heroes and which are easier for the Overlord?
by Pixelpoop
I haven't seen anything like it but I feel it would be helpful. Unless this is completely subjective...↧
Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition):: Strategy:: Poll: Ranking the monsters
by Morph Mode
There was some good discussion in Sarcasmorator's Ranking the Monsters thread so I thought I'd take it a step further and turn it into a poll. Because who doesn't love polls![poll=118911]
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition):: Strategy:: Active campaign, overlord stands no chance, need help
by Limbo89
Heroes:Nanok of the Blade - Berserker
Arvel Worldwalker - Thief
Elder Mok - Spiritspeaker
Lyssa - Necromancer
Maps played:
First Blood - Heroes won
Fat Goblin - Heroes won
Castle Daerion - Heroes won
The Cardinals Plight - Heroes won (Mok has the relic)
Interlude
Both Arvel and Nanok has lucky charm
The overlord is focusing on the Warlord cards (blood rage, blood lust)
What ususally happens is that Nanok charges forward without a care, I (necromancer) summon and send my familiar forward while hanging back and using fury of undeath, Arvel gets the search tokens, going through as many as possible to find the treasure, and Mok uses shared pain or heals with the staff.
I would say that experiance and patients is in the heroes favor, and the overlord is ready to give up. Note that our group has never played act 2, so I don't know how much that'll help.
Any advice for the overlord would be nice, cause I really want to finish a campaign
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition):: Strategy:: Anyone tried new castle daerion?
by sirslayer
Hey guys,did anyone of you try the new (errated) version of castle daerion and can give a short summary of balance ?
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition):: Strategy:: Help an Overlord out!!! (With Pictures)
So two weeks ago, we had to quit in the middle of the interlude, and are going to finish it tonight. The pictures below show the current state of the game (I think its my turn). I'm quite terrible as the overlord, so PLEASE give me some advise for this scenario.
This is a 3-hero game, as you can probably tell. Jain has the casket. I believe I have a good number of cards in my hand, and I'm playing mostly trap-focused.
Thanks for your help!
Jed
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This is a 3-hero game, as you can probably tell. Jain has the casket. I believe I have a good number of cards in my hand, and I'm playing mostly trap-focused.
Thanks for your help!
Jed
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition):: Strategy:: Hero Strategy Choices - Rush/Fight/Loot
by Jallon
So, I guess this is very Scenario- as well as Herodepended, but I'd like to have some input what to look out for when choosing your strategy.I'd generally say that there are three types of strategies:
-) Rush: You use most of your actions to end the mission as fast as possible. This is hugely luckdependend, as a few bad rolls when trying to get through a blocking monster or certain trapcards fast means that the Overlord can catch up to your group and slay all of them with overwhelming amounts of monsters (you haven't killed any of them) - or just fullfill his goal faster.
However, some characters such as the Jain/Wildlander or Syndrael/Knight seem to be well equipped to handle that gamble (if the rest of the group supports them properly, cleaning the way etc.)
-) Fight: This is the most methodical strategy. You keep the game slow, try to control the board by slaying monsters and blocking the overlord from fullfilling his goal while you slowly pile up advantages.
This seems to work decently when the Overlord has to fullfill an objective in which he has to cross the heros path.
The best Heros for such a strategy seem to be very combat oriented ones with Healing support.
The big downside of this strategy is that it drags the game out, which means that the Overlord gets a huge hand and your Heros severly wounded. Especially in first encounters this strategy seems to have the downside of the overlord getting his hands loaded with cards, while your heros get loaded with wounds.
-) Loot: This is the easiest strategy and guarantees a payoff. You move mostly as a group and then let 1-2 Heros stray away to pick up a treasure. You usually shouldn't be able to win an encounter like that, but... does it matter? In the longrun, wins are probably better than just farming money, but as you can't make sure you win, loot is a valueable strategy whenever you feel like you can't fullfill an encounters goal at the start of it.
So, at this point I'd ask you guys for lists of Scenarios/Encounters, where to use what Strategy.
And same for Heros.
So, here are some of my opinions on that topic:
(Hero) Jain/Wildlander - Rush
Her special skill allows you to cover huge distances as well as to get a snipe on a blocking monster when doing so. Her tankiness (can take up to 13HP) allows you to move a little further away from the group.
The wildlander skills allow for a variety of movement and combat avoiding to supplement all of the above said.
The longrange/less LoS needed (sees through friends) gives her reasonable combatabilities when out of position.
(Hero) Jain/Wildlander - Loot
Jain's fast movement makes her pretty good at looting as well. She can avoid combats to a certain degree and slip right through a monsters arms. However, make sure to not send her on an early sucide mission just for a treasure (unlike you may want to do for a Rush strategy).
She is also the character that can best support a hero that strays away with ranged attacks.
(Hero) Jain/Wildlander - Fight
So Jain isn't bad at fighting. And her Danger Sense ability can help you controlling a long game a little better (so the overlord can't build up too big of a hand). However, when it comes to straight up damage dealing, she is lacking the multitarget damage and she hardly profits from most of her skills, if she is bound to stay around. But she's got some safe ways to do good damage, which is probably best targeted at single, big monsters. (like shadow dragons)
(Hero) Widow/Necromancer - Rush
There is nothing particularily made for rushing with this Hero. The best part is probably that you can nuke a lot of opponents out of the way as long as you have the stamina. The Undead familiar is quite slow and basically every skill in the Necromancers book seem to only be made for making the familiar/necro a better combat team. She's still not horrible with something like 3speed or stamina, but that's about it.
(Hero) Widow/Necromancer - Fight
This character is a wellrounded combatant. The Widows ability and special ability allow her to take on monsters directly very well. The undead familiar - as well as basically all of necromancers skills grants extra damage potential. However, though this character seems to be made for combat it has some downsides when fighting. With only 10health and 4stamina, the widow soon exhausts her combat potential and the overlord can abuse that by specifically KO-ing her. Keeping the familiar with only 4to6 health and no/one brown defense die around is also quite costly. This character is probably best made for scenarios in which monsters do not respawn, which makes her nuking abilities (Army of the Undead, the double attack special ability, the high damage, low HP familiar) extremly powerful when used early.
(Hero) Widow/Necromancer - Loot
Basically the exactly same description as with the Rushing. There is little use for the widow if you just want to reach locations.
(Scenario) First Blood - Fight
Typically you want to just kill as many goblins as you can as fast as possible. Then the Overlord won't be able to fullfill his goal and the Heros have plenty of time to fullfill theirs, as well as to get all the money. As this is only a one encounter scenario the overlord does not profit from loading his hand and wounding the heros and therefore dragging out the game favors the heros.
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition):: Strategy:: Overlord Overview: The Masquerade Ball
by Morph Mode
I decided to write up an Overlord strategy guide for this quest after running through it several times in preparation for the heroes playing it in our campaign. Most of what is listed will not really be news to experienced Overlord players but hopefully there will be some nuggets of value for newer Overlords that aren't sure what open groups to pick or what approach to take. If the article is well received I will try to work on similar articles for other quests. I suppose hero players might find some value in the article as well - those meddling heroes are always lurking around causing trouble. But it matters not; it will only make the Overlord's victory all the more glorious!Much of the article is generally applicable no matter the number of heroes. If any items vary based on the number of heroes I will try to note it. I prefer playing with 4 heroes; I have found that to be the most balanced and interesting.
Constructing the Overlord Deck:
The cards you will have available will vary depending on when in Act I you are playing this quest. You should have at least 1 extra card from First Blood - hopefully you picked Web Trap because it is so darn useful. Also Dark Fortune is a must to include to allow Eliza to reroll a die from a failed knowledge check. Otherwise, mobility-limiting traps are key (pit trap, tripwire, webtraps).
Encounter 1 - Unmasking the Guests and Cultists
My open group choices: Golems (chapel) and Goblins (library). If you do not have the Conversion Kit the only monsters you will be able to use are Zombies or Fire Imps which will make the encounter tougher for the Overlord.
As a general rule keep as many Overlord cards as possible for encounter 2. You shouldn't need to play many cards in Encounter 1. In fact I would try not to play any unless using one will enable you to capture three guests since that is a magic number when playing against four heroes. If you can only capture two guests in a four hero game you only have a 1 in 3 (33%) chance that one of the guests you capture will be Theodir. But if you can capture 3 you will have a 5 in 6 chance (83%) chance of finding him. If you can capture Theodir then Eliza will not have to test Knowledge to pass any of the doors except the last one in Encounter 2, which is a huge advantage.
Encounter 1 will probably be very short; likely 2-3 turns at most. The Golems at the front are only there to clog up things and annoy the heroes by being so hard to kill. They need to block access to the hallway junction behind them at all costs and buy time for the goblins to do their thing.
After the heroes first turn the two objective tokens in the chapel will have been revealed. Any guests discovered will probably be escorted back out the entrance already. One golem will also might be defeated but probably not both. The goblins should be set up as far west in the library as possible while ensuring that two are adjacent to the two objective tokens. Start by having one goblin go straight to the door blocking the exit and open it. The next goblin takes a similar action, opening the door to the south room. The next two goblins can each check the tokens in the library and get most of the way to the exit with any guests they find. The last goblin can check one of the tokens in the junction.
You can use Eliza as a free agent in this scenario since there is no penalty for losing her. In fact if the heroes spend time fighting her that's better for you. Use her to unmask if you need to, otherwise just let her help attack and block heroes.
You will also have a chance to activate the Flesh Moulder group on your turn and you will probably have enough of those to unmask all or almost all of the remaining guests. By the end of the first turn you should have two goblins close to the exit carrying guests. The heroes will be desperate to break through, but between the golem and spare goblins and cultists you should be able to choke the hallway with your minions and make them slowly fight their way through -- just like a good Overlord should!
Keep in mind the conditions for ending the encounter - all guests leave the map or all monsters are killed. In order to inflict the maximum damage on the heroes you want to make sure the encounter ends on your turn, preferably by the last monster you activate leaving the map with the last guest. So maximize your attacks on the turn that you will end the encounter. All monsters not escorting a guest should attack if possible -- those Flesh Moulders and Goblins can actually do some decent damage and it's important to make as much damage as possible carry over to Encounter 2. Don't forget that you get to draw an Overlord card each time a monster leaves the map with a guest.
The heroes might try to extend the encounter (to try for extra search tokens) by not rescuing anyone since unrevealed tokens count as guests. (*edit* Extra heads-up here suggested by Sean) If that becomes evident make an extra effort to reveal tokens that they skip before exiting the map. Then you will need to get your monsters to the exit as quickly as possible so you can end the encounter by having no monsters in play. If they are able to fire off some parting shots at the heroes so much the better.
When Encounter 1 ends you will roll as instructed to see whether Lord Theodir was one of the guests that you captured. In a four hero game you should be able to get at least two and hopefully three guests. If Theodir was captured you are in luck because it will help Eliza get through the doors in Encounter 2 much more easily.
Encounter 2 - Chasing Eliza
My open group choices: Shadow Dragons (goblin cave) and Ogres (tomb). If you do not have the Conversion Kit you can use Ettins instead of Ogres. (*edit* Darren suggested Barghests instead of the Shadow Dragons and it's a good suggestion. The 1x2 barghests will allow you to form a better seal on the door leading into the cave if the heroes open the door before Eliza gets a turn. I liked the extra toughness and damage potential of the dragons but it's a tradeoff and I think either would work.)
There is no good way to set up the cave spiders to keep the heroes away from the door in the first turn. Space them as best you can being aware of any multi-attack or Blast abilities the heroes have. Put the master and one other directly in front of the door so they will have to at least kill one of them to get to the door. If you have carried over a Web Trap card from encounter 1 try to use it on the heroes first turn to affect as many of them as possible. Web trap is especially good at stopping thief/scout type heroes because their Might is not as high and they can usually avoid your other Awareness-based traps.
Remember that you place the open group in the goblin cave immediately if the door is opened or any figure (including Eliza) enters an empty space in there. Use the open group to block and slow down the heroes as much as possible. If they bypass the monsters in the cave consider using a Dash to get back in front of them into the hallway and continue blocking them.
At this point it becomes a race for them to catch up to Eliza and you need to use every possible method at your disposal to slow the heroes down and keep them away from her. Shove those shadow dragons in their way. Play your traps -- remember Pit Traps are best for heroes using fatigue movement and Tripwires are best for heroes using a move action. When you get the Ogres into play once the tomb is reached that will help a lot - they can block the hallway some more, use their knockback to keep throwing those heroes back down the hall away from Eliza and you even get an extra minion once the master Ogre is defeated. Eliza should never attack unless she has failed a door-opening check and can't take any other action. If you have been able to delay the heroes enough then Eliza should be able to get to the exit mostly untouched.
The first turn of Encounter 2 is the most critical -- if the heroes can get to Eliza and Stun her she might never make it out of that first room. Use your Dark Fortune immediately if she fails the knowledge check to get through the first door, otherwise she can easily be caught up to and overwhelmed. Use any and all cards at your disposal to stop the heroes if it looks like they will get to her on turn 1.
So that's about it! I hope some Overlords found something useful in what I've written and if anyone has comments, suggestions, other pointers or anything I've messed up or forgotten please leave comments below. Thanks for reading!
Your pal, the Overlord
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition):: Strategy:: OL needs help
by evilhead
Im OL, against Avric/disciple, Grisban/berserker, and Syndrael/knight. Grisban has whirlwind, counterattack, brute, and rage with the iron battle ax. Avric keeps giving him yellow die, and I'm getting torn up. Any advice at all??↧
Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition):: Strategy:: Am I doing it wrong?
by Asceric
Hey Guys, Long time player of Descent 1.0, picked up 2.0 a few months ago, and have been playing as OL in a campaign for about a month now. We just finished our second encounter in Act II, and I have to say, the heroes feel like they have no chance. Last night, after winning the first encounter (only by the skin of their teeth too), they chose to play the Ritual of Shadows. There are three heroes, Grisban the Thirsty as a Berserker, Avric Albright as a Spirit Speaker, and Widow Tarha as a Necromancer. In the upcoming pics, Grisban is the Male Villager, Avric is the female villager, and Tarha is the special token. For the Encounter, I chose a Shadow dragon, and Barghests as my open groups, placing the shadow dragon and Barghests like so. (I made this from memory, so Search token placement might not be correct.)
The Heroes Moved and made their attacks, taking out the Master Barghest.
I retaliated by moving and attacking with my Bargs, Succeeding a Wisdom Roll on Merrick, and then using Frenzy on my Shadow Dragon, throwing in a Dark Might on my second Roll to wipe the entire Party, (hitting them all with Fire Breath on both attacks.)
Drawing my 3 extra cards, and the heroes only able to each use a Stand Up action, I did the exact same thing again (minus the Frenzy).
The Rest of this Encounter went exactly like this, with me just steamrolling over the Heroes every turn, them unable to do anything about it, and me stacking my hand for Encounter 2.
So Encounter 2 starts, and as it says in the rules, I use the exact same Monster Groups, and I get to go first, so here's how I set up.
This time, using Two Frenzy's on the Dragon, I again party wiped them over and over. Making short work of this Encounter.
There was a major discussion afterward, as the Heroes felt this to be a majorly unfair and un-winnable encounter for them. The jist of it was that they felt the game was unbalanced, and that they have been fighting an up-hill battle the entire time, and they want to forfeit this one and start again to see if we get similar results.
Can anybody give any input here? They feel like we're playing the game wrong, but I can't find anything that says I can't do what I did for this encounter. I just want everyone to have a good time, but not at the expense of having to house rule something.
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition):: Strategy:: Level 3 Overlord Cards
by Morph Mode
So I'm not the most experienced Overlord player but as my campaign has rolled along I have been kind of feeling like the level 3 Overlord cards aren't worth the 3xp.Reinforce (warlord) - used to be really good but after the April faq seems just average.
Diabolic Power (magus) - Actually I like this one but the lower level magus cards you'd have to take to buy it seem kind of sub-par to me.
Uthuk Demon Trap (saboteur) - Not bad but pretty situational for a 3xp card
Blood Bargaining (punisher) - Maybe the worst of the lot. Only good when there are at least as many monsters as heroes and only when heroes need to attack instead of just racing to an objective. And even then it only lasts 1 turn.
So this campaign I've mostly been taking the lv 1 cards with a sprinkling of lv 2s. Am I nuts - are some of these awesome and I'm just not seeing it?
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition):: Strategy:: Heroes General Strategy Help Needed
by jomayo112
Alright so,We are working on our second campaign and the hero players seem to be having lots of trouble. First campaign I was a hero and the amount of frustration we were experiencing trying to win was unreal. The overlord has stomped us on 2 of the 3 act 1 quests (not including first blood), the interlude, and the first quest in act 2. At this point the hero team was so frustrated we quit the campaign. It became not fun anymore.
We started a new campaign and I became the overlord. Let me first say that playing the OL has become an incredible joy for me. It is way more fun that I anticipated and maybe my poor hero experience played into this, but it actually has made the game fun for me. I love planning the scenario with different monsters and where to set them up and building your deck. Lots of fun!
Anyways, we played through 3 scenarios (first blood, no surprise there heroes win). Heroes won the first encounter which I cant remember the name but is the one that you have to kill Splig in encounter 2 and he needs to find the prisoner guy. I made a critical flaw as OL on that one and it came down to the wire. After that the heroes played Castle Darien and I smoked them.......like they had no prayer.
Overall, it lead to a lot of discussion and arguments and came down to that people are not having fun with the game when playing the heroes and discussing whether or not this will see the table again.
So, any overall strategy advice for the heroes. They've done a good job about focusing on the goal and not just killing monsters. The biggest thing we notice is a lack of actions it seems like they have......we are playing with 3 heroes, not 4 and thinking maybe we need to add someone to the group to balance that. The other thing we seem to see a lot is that damn X on the blue die. Does any other groups have problems with this?? We were seriously thinking we need to modify this X and make it something else. Its been crazy frustrating and at 16.6 % chance, what was FFG thinking? Thats way too high for am miss, should have at least been a D8. The hero groups we have might also be an issue. Had Loric as the Necro, Avril as the Spiritspeaker, and the girl red character as a Knight in our first campaign in which we had totally gotten dominated. Adn the new campaign has the dwarf beserker guy, the archer character as the wildlander, and the speedy healer as the disciple. Any overall strategic thoughts?
1 thing I will admit, we didn't do a good job of getting search tokens in the 1st campaign and also spend our money on a lot of stupid stuff b/c we didnt really get the game entirely yet. It seems the heroes are doing a better job of that in this campaign.
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition):: Strategy:: Blast is killing me
by philxxx2xxx
Hi,i am playing the overlord in my first campaign and we just finished the first act. In the first two quest, I am confident that i could have won. Well, i did not, but it was possible. At some point the mage got a combination where he could fire of a blast attack that did around 6 dmg and stunned. After that i just got crushed in every quest. My monsters were either stunned and dead.
Is there a way to fight against stun (other that good monster placement)? What monsters are beneficial (i have the first two addons) to put an end to this?
Thanks for help in advance,
phil
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Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition):: Strategy:: OL got crushed 4 quests in a row. Back to the drawing board...
by ThraKhrom
I recently got to play my newest addition to my game gallery, Descent 2nd Ed., for the first time with 4 of my friends and basically got my a** kicked as the overlord for 4 quests in a row, winning just one single encounter by sheer luck. In the last quest I simply conceded both encounters because I was frustrated (and tired). And now I'm wondering what went wrong and whether or not to let someone else take over the OL role next time.Here's what happened in more detail:
The introductory quest was mostly a skirmish. The heroes were learning the ropes, just like me, and I didn't even try to win. Didn't get a single goblin out I think. Well no biggie.
2nd quest is masquerade ball. My first mistake was skipping the travel step. Since I only own the base game I had to choose zombies for the open group. The heroes were Tomble as a thief with sneaky, Jain as the wildlander with eagle eyes, Widow Tarha as the runemaster with exploding rune, Ashrian as a disciple with blessed strike. The group got an iron shield and a broadsword for the disciple. I chose web trap and removed a trip wire, since their group was extremely heavy on awareness and weak on might. I managed to get 1 guest out while my monsters got slaughtered. I made the mistake of foscusing the disciple too much and was very scared of that blast, so I never tried blocking any paths, thinking my guys would just get scorched. A lucky role made me win though so we enter encounter 2, me with 2 dash cards on my hand. Perfect start, I think to myself.chose barghests for the first room and shadow dragons for the second. But I overlooked that 5th spider and made my biggest mistake: I ruled that Tombles sneaky could be used to open those blasted doors (after the test of course) because I was rather sure of my victory. The players complained how impossible it seemed a the beginning and after the 1st turn. During their second turn, they managed to clear a path through my barghests Ashrian runs up right next to Lady Eliza, who stands in front of the door to the second room. Eventually I make it to the last door, succeed in the knowledge test for the last door, but have no movement left. The heroes open the door, block the 2 squares in front of me. I am stunned again by the disciple and that's it. Lady Eliza gets killed.
Okay, that was close, and I made mistakes. The heroes get a runic item and that blasted crossbow for Jain who also gets some ability I don't take note of, the others save their XP. I get the second web trap, which seemed by far the most useful card as I realize how imperative it is to stall the heroes.
Next up is the cardinal's plight. I chose cave spiders as the open group and scatter them, blocking only some diagonal paths through the obstacles. I fail to raise a zombie in my first round. I manage to stall the runemaster with my cards, but the others rush through, slaughtering my monsters, Tomble uses his special appears on the caravan tile, next to one token, searches 2 farther away tokens with his innate ability and the one he stands next to for free. I don't know if he misread sneaky or if he just fiendishly took advantage of me mistaking that ability, because I didn't pay enough attention. Anyways, the runic key ended up on the one spot on that tile where it shouldn't be (because I didn't read the proper rules for placing unique search tokens). But the dsciple, swift as ever, finds it (on their 3rd turn). Jain swoops in to kill off my recently raised zombie. In the end I get no zombie off the map. Didn't matter what I did in the 2nd encounter, with only one master zombie, you can't kill Koth. The heroes just heal him every round and the pathetic second wave doesn't help much at all, since zombies are slower than Koth (they can't use a dash to get 2 moves, right? Or can they?). Well the heroes get their second runic item, immolation and stamina for the runemaster, the disciple got a chainmail, Tomble gets the staff of light, don't even bother with their other abilities.
I wanted to mae a break there but the heroes want to push on so we move to death on the wing. I took goblins for the 1st encounter's open group, thinking, they might be best for mobility and blocking that narrow pass. Only afterwards I read, the win condition needs to be met after a hero's turn. So probably a bad choice. But I reckon I have a shot, because their might is abysmal. They kill off my monsters with ease as always, web traps don't hold them for long. And just after placing 2 boulders next to each other they make their first attempt at clearing one and immediately succeed. With just 2 boulders and 2 spiders left I concede. draw 2 cards (for the turns skipped that way) and enter encounter 2. I chose Merriods for the open group, because I just want to test new monsters. I place the red elemental directly in front of the heroes, the white one directly behind it, to at least block their path. To no avail. Both elementals die in the first round, even Belthir gets hit and I concede again.
I rolled quite an amount of X on the attack die, but then again I roll it more often than the heroes and they usually just rerolled it. I manage to roll X on every other frenzy, reroll zero shield dice just to roll a zero again and the heroes always seem to roll those 3 shields in critical moments. At any rate the 1st session was a tiring and frustrating experience for me and I'm somewhat at a loss. I realize that luck can play a crucial role in altering how the game feels and I found posts complaining about similarly frustrating experiences on either side, as the overlord or the heroes. I made some mistakes with the rules, I realize that. But I was mostly bothered by Ashrian, who constantly stuns my monsters, those blast attacks that threaten to wipe out whole groups if I dare to try and block a path outright, and that ridiculous crossbow that pushes my minions around even if it didn't do damage, which enabled some nice blast attacks from the runemaster.
What's your experience with these sort of things? Should I give the OL another try in a new campaign? Any strategy tips? Any house rules that have proven useful? Trying to knock out heroes seemed mostly pointless to me in the end. I only managed to piss off the disciple that way (with Tomble being too tanky and the others too far away plus that stun it was the natural target). It's practically a stun with some additional fatigue. Immobilizing seems a lot more useful. I could let someone else take the OL role, but I'd certainly be pissed even more if someone a) manages to be much better at it than me and b) get my a** kicked again even as a hero ^^
And isn't it naturally hardest to win the third act 1 quest as the OL since the heroes get stronger, while the OL only gets a couple of cards and is stuck with the same lame monsters from the beginning?
The players had their fun, but another debacle for me may keep the game off my table for an extended period.
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