Some rules I had reviewed when trying out Hank for the 1st time, collected for your reference :

• Engaged enemies attacks in order of your choosing. Each attack "dealt" damage / horror, then you have to go through assign then apply, then you continue to the next enemy's attack. Hank's full heal ability can be triggered in the apply step inside each attack. This allow you to intentionally take smaller enemy attacks first such that you goes to the brim (4/4) before taking the biggest hit the last to go way past 5/5, then perform full heal.
• When using Hank's ability to tank for others, you must place damage / horror tokens on Hank Samson card and not any other soak assets he has. The "dealt" occurs to other investigator, when they are going through their assign step (which they can assign to their own soaks as normal), the ability additionally allow using Hank Samson card as if he is their own soak asset. "You" in Hank's ability does not allow using any other assets Hank controls, "you" only works that way in response to taking / being dealt step, this is already the assign step.
• The Ally clause allow Hank to take hits for treacheries/ability that specifically said to deal damage/horror to Ally asset. (Worded like on Beat Cop (2), Field Agent, ...) But if it said deal "direct" damage/horror to Ally then you can't. (Like TCU Spoiler.) Hank's ability work in assign step and direct damage/horror rule said it "cannot be assigned or re-assigned elsewhere".

• Enemy Phase
• Dealing Damage/Horror
• Interpreting "You" When Taking or Being Dealt Damage
• Direct Damage/Horror

Obviously Warden Hank is a good. 6 will let you kill everything. But I'd like to comment about what else can he do.

So, I just need to get sure this is correct.

Let's say you run a Dark Horse build. The Resolute - Warden form works against this kind of build since you don't want to have resources to get your +1/+1/+1/+1 at any time unless you find a way to burn your resources earnt by blood (Dig Deep and Scrapper are a thing).

So, let's say you decide to go into your Resolute - Assistant form. While your Dark Horse bonus is activated, you are at a pretty 4/4/5/5 and when you suffer Horror you draw cards. This statline is so so neat and you can flex with this. Later on the campaign of course you will get Charisma + Jessica Hyde + Peter Sylvestre and you will sit in a nice and comfy 5/4/6/6 while both are in play.

If I'm correct, in later stages on a campaign Hank will be basically inmortal and he will be able to do as he pleases with the game, since Mythos cards aren't a thing for him anymore, you will be able to success at hitting things consistently with Fire Axe, and you can add clue getting to your team using Mariner's Compass.

Oh, wait, you can trigger this item's up to three times? Then God have mercy, forget what I said about Warden Hank not working with Dark Horse. Let's say you end your turn with 0 resources. In case Warden Hank suffers damage before your turn starts or via Spirit of Humanity, you get 2 resources thanks to his and you also get your upkeep resource. You will be able to investigate with Mariner's Compass with your lame base 1 . If you use this 2 resources + the upkeep resource, you get a +3 and, on top of that, your Dark Horse bonus. Warden Hank can investigate at 5 getting 2 clues once per round as long as he has suffered damage before the investigation check.

Maybe I'm too overhyped about this, because there are way easier options to get clues with low survivors not involving janky combos (for example, using Old Keyring in 2 shroud locations while leaving big clue getters doing their job in harder locations). What I'm trying to say is that Hank using the Dark Horse engine looks fun and consistent. Depending on the scenario, a Dark Horse build should let you get in either Resolute form and you can still get the best of both worlds. Assistant Hank will better in scenarios where you need to get more clues, still kicking any enemy in the butt when needed while tanking damage/horror for other investigators. Warden Hank will be more consistent in scenarios where there are more enemies because of better values and ocassionaly, if you have your setup ready, as a reward of doing your job tanking damage, you can get 2 clues.

Can Assistant Hank exist without Dark Horse? We know Warden Hank will always have a place as an aggresive tank because of having the biggest printed yet in an AH investigator, but a 3/3/4/4 statline, while looking pretty needs some work. Unless you are a investigator, you lower difficulties with some cards like Gumption or Old Keyring, you are just lucky or you live and learn from your mistakes. He will be consistent because of this , allowing him to draw many cards during the game.

Hank is good. You can build him to suit a ton of groups. Obviously he will have a better time dealing with enemies while tanking stuff, but he can flex if the group and/or the scenarios require it because of his overlooked Assitant Resolute form.

Sure, flavour-wise he isn't as neat as the other investigators of his expansion, but the other investigators are just so neat in this regard, Hank Samson doesn't care, he will just survive everything.

-This is an excerpt from my 'All for One' series of decks. If you'd like to see similar descriptions for other investigators, just search them up under my username.-

Some might think Hank a simple farmhand. I'm here to say he's anything but! First thing is his unprecedented 5 combat in a Survivor, a class with limited weaponry options that gains a lot from having a headstart in the fist department. His basic ability to take teammate damage is pretty unimpressive, until you factor in that Hank the tank actually gets a total whopping 10 health and sanity, which he can stretch even further since excess damage doesn't carry over to his bonded cards. Those bonded cards more than make up for his lacklustre starting ability; granting him even more impressive stats, aaand a much deserved reward for doing what he does best: taking a beating! While his Warden form is what you'll be wanting majority of the time to smash beasties better, you have some added flexibility with his Assistant card if you know there's not much fighting, or you need to soak up some extra horror.

Up until that point Hank reaches his "final form", his ability doesn't generate as much value as your average investigator, and you'll never be that excited to see his elder sign. The impact Hank has in the first half of a scenario is going to very much depend on what cards he's drawn, and with his limited cardpool, options for weapons are somewhat lacking when compared to other fighters. Another Hemlock investigator with a nasty weakness, Hank's search for Pa has potential to really sideline your gameplan. Burst damage or horror healing are welcome options to have on standby before you realize Pa's gone missin' again! Also, for some reason the designers decided to give big Hank a big ol' deck, so consistency is not his strong suit.

Some archetypes that work well for this template:

• The Farmhand - Take a lickin' and keep on tickin'! Hank can naturally take more abuse than the average investigator, so make sure you're taking cards that let you profit from that damage, transfer it, or reward more haphazard play. You should always be fixin' for your next fight, and you're not trying to get hurt, but it should feel good when you do! He excels even further in teams where he can bodyguard one or more investigators, allowing them to focus entirely on their book-lurnin'. Just make sure you bring enough soak and healing to compensate for the extra whoopin's you'll be takin'!

• The Warden - You have 5 fist, and you're gonna have 6(or more!) by the time that boss shows his ugly mug, so use it! Bonus combat points are okay, but what you really want are cards that increase your damage output (hint: many spirit cards can do this). This burst damage not only allows you to bring down big bads in the 3ish turn window you have to utilize your resolute advantages, but it's a great way to counter your weakness if it spawns an unnaturally beefy elusive enemy.

• The Assistant - A good assistant should always be able to keep themselves busy. You'll still likely be sheltering friends and picking away at monsters, but you should also have a good tool belt of support cards, skill boosts to cover your teams weak-spots, and enough soak / healing to sustain you past the finish line.

• Survivor Flex - Whether playing solo or with others, the survivor class has an excellent selection of cards to easily allow a dumdum like Hank to grab clues off of 1, 2, and even 3 shroud locations. Shroud reduction, "fail by x", and even cards that reward failure are great supplements that allow Hank to pick up some extra clues, when he's not busy shaking down cultists for Pa's whereabouts.

• Uniquely effective and staple cards for Hank: Pitchfork, Sledgehammer, Cherished Keepsake, Leather Coat, Sparrow Mask, Improvised Weapon, Pushed to the Limit, Wrong Place, Right Time, "Let me handle this!", Long Shot, Stunning Blow, basic neutral skills, Bandages, Baseball Bat, Dark Horse, Fire Axe, Flashlight, Madame Labranche, Matchbox, Mysterious Raven, Old Keyring, Peter Sylvestre, Schoffner's Catalogue, Talisman of Protection, "Look what I found!", Calling in Favors, Emergency Cache, Live and Learn, Lucky!, Perseverance, "Not without a fight!", "desperate" trait skills, Resourceful, Take Heart, Inquiring Mind, Quick Thinking, "I'm outta here!", Ward of Protection, "Get behind me!", "Get over here!", Clean Them Out, Counterpunch, Glory, Heroic Rescue, Monster Slayer, One-Two Punch, Stand Together