Custom Modifications

Custom Modifications

Time for another round of, "Which Cards Work with This!" This list is up to date based on the most recent update to ArkhamDB (as of 10/11/22).

For Counterbalance, you want to look at Upgrade cards that can be attached to appropriate firearms. That list currently consists of:

Running Counterbalance seems like it's going to need a good amount of both XP and Resources. Jury-Rig is the only 0-XP or 0-Cost option, and if you're running Well-Maintained, you're probably planning on playing all of your upgrades again, which is only going to multiply the cost.

For Event cards that either place or spend Ammo, the list consists of:

The good news is that these are all Supply and Tactic effects, so Stick to the Plan will work with all of them. The bad news is that these are all events that rely on already having a gun out, so they may not be what you need at any given moment. And if you're already throwing cards (and even potentially XP) on reloads, 3 XP for a couple more bullets might be overkill.

How playable are all of these? Honestly, I have no idea. I suspect the build needs enough moving pieces that it's rather unwieldy right now. Still, it will be interesting to see if an investigator can pull all of the components together.

Ruduen · 1010

Agent Fletcher

Agent Fletcher

Maybe I'm missing something, but this weakness has to be one of the EASIEST weaknesses to deal with in the game. 1hp? for a rogue? There are dozens of ways to deal with this card for one action if your solo some where you can ding this with a fast action. If you have a fighter, this card may as well read: Revelation - skip this draw.

I know there were rumblings a while ago about power creep, but this card COUPLED with her VERY strong signature card seems like there is some weight behind that claim.

Please comment on this if I'm missing something that makes this weakness not a joke, because I really want to like this investigator but it seems like they are overtuned.

EDIT: Reverse taboo? While Kymani Jones is evading Agent Fletcher, reduce their agility value to 0. Atleast this way she cant instantly discard the Agent with a base +2 to the test.

, · 565
Maybe I'm missing something from your review, but this dude has 3 hitpoints? Even, if you are dealing with him with Kymani's ability (which I wouldn't atempt to do), it would be 2 evade actions, one 5 vs. 3, then 5 vs. 6. — Susumu · 371
Agent Fletcher should probably be compared to Daniela Reyes' Mob Goons (Hunter, 3/3/1 damage always direct, cannot be cancelled), Nathaniel Cho's Tommy Malloy (Hunter, 2/3/3, all damage done to Tommy reduced to 1), Trish' Shadow Agents (Hunter, 3/3/5, discard if evaded) and Rita Young's Hoods (Alert, hunter, 3/3/3, attack if evaded). Norman Wither's novella weakness the Vengeful Hound too (2/2/3, if enaged cannot draw/reveal cards via player card effects). All of these share the same theme: medium sized emies who are Preying on their investigator while somehow weakening them. None of these enemies are really that bad. The Alert 3/3/3 Fletcher is about mid-pack I'd say - reduing Kymanis' intellect to 0 often translates to -2 to their evade/evade kill test - and making a few events (such as Breaking and Entering) less useful. Fletcher has Alert, mind you, so the Kymanis might want to over-commit a bit to avoid damage and wasted actions. The easiest way to deal with Fletcher, however, is to ask your local monster killer to bash his head in with an over-sized hammer. Works like a charm. — olahren · 3470
Breaking and entering is not affected by agent fletcher ability because it's an investigation action and not an evade action. The automatic evade is just an additional effect — Tharzax · 1
This is definitely a weak weakness, however in this case I'm not too troubled since Kymani's signature asset is similarly pretty lackluster. There's any number of tools I would rather have in Kymani's hands than the Grappling Hook, relegating it to a commit 9 times out of 10. So an enemy you can KO with 2 evades that you start at a +2 advantage, but who bites back if you miss either, seems a fair enough hit to tempo. As a rather novel and niche side-note, due to the "Coterie" trait, Fletcher is also targetable by a specific power-up treachery in The Scarlet Keys campaign, which can make him a tad more of a concern. — HanoverFist · 739

Binder's Jar

Binder's Jar

This card seems really good, the only drawback is that it takes the coveted mystic accessory slot.

First up: It's dead cheap. Cost 2 is very reasonable for the resource starved class and for the effects it's a bargain. 2xp for 2 copies helps as well, even if it's Unique. Since it's level 1 you can even take it in off-class Mystics, which might be very interesting in something like a Guardian who isn't using the accessory slot as much and will have no problem defeating enemies.

The first effect is why you are buying this card, getting rid of Acolytes, Wizards of the Order and the like out of the discard pile for the scenario and getting yourself more Arcane slots for the privilege is great. Is it worth using over Holy Rosary or St. Hubert's Key? Hard to say, I'm keen to play around with this one though.

fiatluxia · 66

Lifeline

Lifeline

I was really looking for new cards using exile mechanic and I'm not disappointed with this one. It's cheap, fast, just one XP, so great value there and can be returned to deck with Déjà Vu for free for next scenario.

Just fail all skill tests, get value out of them (for example using "Look what I found!", Oops!, don't care about fails when Drawing Thin used) and still have 3 more actions (assuming all actions required skill tests).

It can be played for another investigator without location restriction which sounds a bit broken and can be life saving if someone failed miserably skill tests when fighting Elite enemy.

Lifeline can be even more beneficial for Stella Clark - in the most extreme scenario, she's failing 3 skill tests, then fails extra action's skill test coming from her signature ability to finally get 4 extra actions from Lifeline.

The only thing you have to care about when playing this card is to make sure your actions require skill tests and the fail effects are not too harsh.

Investigator_X · 7
Great catch in the third paragraph. In such a situation, it can be easily worth exciling for X=1, if that makes the difference between killing the boss, before the last agenda advances, or not. — Susumu · 371
Skill tests are not the same as actions. Let's say you play Vamp(3) and fail the four skills, for one action... — joster · 40

Clean Sneak

Clean Sneak

I'd say for it to be worth 4XP you need to trigger about at least 2 effects, more likely 3.

So how can you achieve this ?

  • Evade every one with a 5 investigator (Finn even if he can't take it, Winifred, Kymani...) .
  • Investigate with Trish's ability.
  • Pay and throw a Cunning Distraction with Preston !
  • Just play with other investigators that can evade and maybe synchronize your Clean Sneak copies.

Just be sure to have one extra action to move out of the location after you played this card unless a guardian is coming to kill them. (Blur is pretty usefull for that but Rogues don't lack more actions in general...)

EDIT : Overall this is a pretty bad card I would say.
If we compare this card to Cryptic Research, we can see the difference between Rogues and Seekers in the game :p For the same cost and xp, Cryptic Research already does 3 effects (three times "draw 1 card" to allow the comparison with Clean Sneak), to anyone and you don't need to evade 2-3 enemies beforehand ! You pay for the versatility of effect of course but you need to work much harder for an overall lesser result sadly... :/

captainfire · 258
I think this is third card Finn hates — elkeinkrad · 497
It's really strange, that they made this level 4, gating the two investigators, who might consider it at least: Finn and Rita. — Susumu · 371
All the more, since it is imho overpriced for it's effect at 4 XP. — Susumu · 371
Oh crap in my memory Finn was 0-4 not 0-3, my bad ;) I would also agree that this card is not amazing, especially if you compare with Cryptic Research is Seekers... I'll edit my review to talk about it ^^ — captainfire · 258
Compared to "Cryptic Research", it's not even that more flexible. Unlike the seeker card, it can't draw you three cards, just one, because you have to choose DIFFERENT options for each enemy. (Which also means, it maxes out at 4 enemies, not that this matters much. Game should be normally pretty much over with 5 enemies at your location, regardless of what you can pull off with the resources, you get from them.) — Susumu · 371
Even just compare to Dynamite Blast (0). lol. Way fewer hoops to jump through and actually helps you deal with the fact that you floated 2+ enemies. It's 100% comparable, but this card is pretty wack. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Meant to say that it's NOT 100% comparable — Zinjanthropus · 229
Also what the hell even is a "clean sneak?" — Zinjanthropus · 229
Too bad, we'll likely never see a "Return to" box again. This is a classic example of an underdeveloped card, that might get a fixed version in such a product. 1 or 2 XP cheaper, 1 or 2 resources more expensive, which doesn't matter as much in the investigators, that want it, as they would likely stich it in a Chuck or Crafty deck anyway. — Susumu · 371
This card may have been worth 4xp, as a TSK specific tech card, of it counted versus #concealed mini cards at your location, and you could use up 2 of the 4 triggers to pop 2 concealed minis, plus gain resources and draw a replacement card. That's pretty sweet, of you ask me, I might pay 4xp for that in TSK campaign. — Quantallar · 8
Another way, I've thought of remaking this card, is 4Xp same, ONLY change is to delete the must choose 1 different option per enemy. Allow me to use it as a mini dynamite for 2 dam per enemy exhausted at location, or versatile draw 3-4, or gain 6-8 resources of you can get 3-4 exhausted enemies in one location, that seems fair, big set up, big potential payoff. — Quantallar · 8