Team - Tactics Heroes with the Best Stat Values

Let us have another look at a Hero Team made up by the best Stat Values. In the Tactics sphere, the best Hero for Willpower is Merry, with a Stat Value of 133% because of it. For a Stat Value of 167% from his Attack value, Beorn is the second Hero in the team. For a Stat Value of 160% from his Defence, Beregond is the final member.

Just as with the Leadership Team constructed in the same way, there is no single trait shared by any two of these Heroes, so there is no obvious theme.

It is no surprise to me that Beorn and Beregond are on this team. They have amazing Stat Values, and enemies should not survive long when they are against this pair. The only possible downside I can see, however, is their conflict with attachments. Beregond's power encourages you to have weapon and armour attachments in your deck because you can put them on him cheaply. However, once you have already loaded him up with two restricted attachments, you have nothing useful left to do with the others. This is because Merry is meant to be committing his time to questing instead of fighting, and Beorn (who will be doing plenty of fighting) refuses to have attachments put on him. So you might think that you should only include a very small amount of weapon and armour attachments in your deck, which is probably more sensible, but you will have a hard time finding them because the Tactics sphere provides very little help with drawing cards. That Gondorian Shield may be really useful, but you also may never see it for the entire game!

Last of all, Merry brings his hobbit feet on the road to help with questing. I have already discussed in an earlier post about him that although his power encourages you to use him in a team with lots of other hobbits, his low threat and high Willpower (for a Tactics Hero) could make him a useful third member in any Tactics-only team. And here he is, fitting in nicely. He also keeps our starting threat just below thirty (it is twenty-eight), which is impressive considering he is standing next to two Heroes with double-figure Threat Costs.

This team won't have any trouble with enemies, but the player deck should be built with questing support in mind where possible. If that can be achieved, or if the quest being taken is combat heavy anyway, then I think this is quite a good team.

Team - Leadership Heroes with the Best Stat Values

I decided to have a look at mono-sphere Hero teams made up of the best Heroes for Stat Value. I picked the best Hero for Willpower Stat Value, the best for Attack Stat Value and the best for Defence Stat Value. So we end up with a team of three Heroes from the same sphere who should be able to perform one basic role each. But will the teams actually appear cohesive?

First we will look at the Leadership sphere. The first Hero is Sam Gamgee, who has a Stat Value of 150% because of his Willpower. Then we have Prince Imrahil, who has a Stat Value of 109% because of his attack. Finally we have Erkenbrand, who has a Stat Value of 120% because of his Defence.

We can quickly see that no single trait is shared by any two of these three Heroes, so there isn't a theme we can play on.

Erkenbrand doesn't gain or lose anything in this team because his power is self-contained. However the other two Heroes may be a different story.

Prince Imrahil can give you action advantage (acting twice in a single round) if a character leaves play. That could be due to an Ally dying while defending, but that isn't something that you want to happen every round, so he usually works best when there are either eagle or rohan allies on the table because they have many effects that discard them. Unfortunately both of those groups of allies are outside of the Leadership sphere. The only allies that could be used in this deck which automatically leave play are Gandalf and Galadriel. There is also the popular Event card, Sneak Attack, for making any Ally jump in and out of play quickly. So there are options, but Imrahil isn't boosted very well in a Leadership-only deck.

It is worth noting therefore that Imrahil could be replaced by the Leadership version of Boromir. Both of them share exactly the same stats and Stat Value for Attack. If Boromir was the second Hero in this team instead of Imrahil, all Gondor allies should have access to an Attack boost from him. This should be quite easy to achieve in a Leadership deck, since this sphere has lots of Gondor allies and a variety of ways to ensure Boromir would always have a resource token on him. That synergy would be a lot easier to make use of, I suspect.

Last of all, but definitely not least, is Sam Gamgee. The faithful hobbit has the best Stat Value out of the whole team because of his amazing questing power. He also offers the chance for action advantage as well, however that part of his card text isn't as useful in this team as it would be in an all-hobbit team. A team starting threat of twenty-nine is very average, so in most quests Sam will rarely have a chance to use his readying ability more than once or twice.

Overall, I think that the team is a bit below average. The individuals are good because we have deliberately picked good Stat Values, but there is no easy or obvious synergy here.

Team - The Top 3 Heroes for Stat Value

Now that we have finished looking at the Heroes with the top Stat Values, we can try making a team out of this list. The highest ranked Hero that earned their spot for their Attack value is Glorfindel (Spirit). The highest ranked Hero that earned their spot for their Willpower value (other than Glorfindel) is Eowyn. The highest ranked Hero that earned their spot for their Defence value is Beregond.

This team definitely appears to be stronger than the team that was put together based on high Threat Values. Each round we can spend four Willpower, four defence and three attack, and our starting threat is only twenty-four! Also, our team only shares two spheres (Spirit and Tactics) instead of three, which will make deck building easier.

If this wasn't strong enough, the powers on two of the Heroes help to make their strengths even stronger. Eowyn will allow you to boost her Willpower every round that you have a card you can afford to discard. You would think it would be harder to afford cards worth attaching to Beregond since you will only be getting one tactics resource each turn, but thanks to his power you can attack that armour or weapon to him even quicker!

If we wanted to pack more of a punch and not worry about our starting threat we could swap Glorfindel or Beregond out for Beorn. The mighty bear has been highly ranked on both the Threat Value and Stat Value lists, and can function as a good defender or attacker.

#1 Hero for Stat Value - Glorfindel (Spirit)

For the second time, the Spirit version of Glorfindel takes the top spot in a list. The greedy elf is not content to be number one for Threat Value; he is number one for Stat Value too! Glorfindel is a Spirit Hero found in the Foundations of Stone adventure pack from the Dwarrowdelf cycle expansions. His Stat Value is 240%.

It has been mentioned before that his ridiculously low Threat Cost has been given by the game designers who considered that the Forced effect in his text box would balance this out. However, as has previously been written on here, a player has solutions which they can use to ignore the Forced penalty and get away with an amazingly low starting threat with none of the consequences.

I will repeat the main answer to the Forced effect that I mentioned before; if Glorfindel is in your team, don't send him questing. His Attack strength of three is just as useful as his Willpower, so assign him the role of attacker in your game. Since he is a Spirit Hero, you won't have any trouble finding him some teammates with good Willpower that can do the questing instead.

All things considered, if you want a team with either elves or the Spirit sphere, this version of Glorfindel should be one of the first Heroes you consider.

#2 Hero for Stat Value - Eowyn

For the second time a Hero from the Core Set makes it into one of our top positions for Stat Value. In second place on the list is Eowyn. She is a Spirit Hero included in the Core Set. Her Stat Value is 178%.

The daughter of Rohan earns her place with a strong Willpower of four, which would be impressive even on a Hero with a Threat Cost of twelve, but she asks for a Threat Cost of only nine.

Her other stats are low and her power encourages you to use her Willpower and boost it even further. She is clearly a team member with one job to play; questing.

She is the only Hero currently in the game with a Willpower of four that you can commit to quests. Such a strong stat combined with a Threat Cost below ten has made her an often used character in many teams. Her strength isn't dependent on other Heroes in your team in any way, so she can be added and equally effective in a multi-sphere team or one that is purely Spirit. She deserves her high rank, and only one other Hero has overtaken her for Stat Value.

#3 Hero for Stat Value - Galadriel

The third position in our list of Heroes with the best Stat Value is possible a controversial one. It is taken by Galadriel. She is a Spirit Hero found in the Celebrimbor's Secret adventure pack in the Ring Maker cycle expansions. Her Stat Value is 178%.

This is an usual entry on the list, and a good example of the fact that my formula for determining Stat Value only takes printed values into account and ignores keywords and text powers or limits. The noble elf has an impressive four Willpower, a quality only found in one other character in the game, yet her text box states that she cannot use it for questing. What good are powerful stats if you can't use them? Well, there are two possible answers.

The first is that her action power might be able to earn her a place in a team all by itself. Getting one free round of questing out of each ally is interesting, but much more powerful is the exhaust action. Reducing threat every round, and getting a card while you do it? In a solo game that is the same as never having to raise your threat in the refresh phase and drawing two cards instead of one, for every turn!

The second answer is that Galadriel could make use of her four Willpower during a quest that requires you to use stats for tasks other than questing, defence and attack. As an example, she could be a great help with the Hide tests used in the Black Riders Saga expansion. But this has limited application.

In most quests, a solo player may want to include Galadriel in their team because of her powerful exhaust action. The only thing they have to balance, however, is the fact that they somehow need to assign three roles (quester, defender and attacker) to the two Heroes that make up the rest of their team.

#4 Hero for Stat Value - Beorn

For the second time on this blog, Beorn earns a place as a top Hero. This time he is the fourth best Hero for his Stat Value. He is a Tactics Hero from the first Hobbit Saga expansion. His Stat Value is 167%.

I have already mentioned in my post about his Threat Value how his huge Health makes him unique, but in the Stat Value list he earns his place simply for his attack value of five. Even for a Threat Cost of twelve, which is on the higher end of the scale, this is impressive.

Beorn is the last Hero we will see on the Stat Values list with such a low willpower. The final three all earned their places for their abilities at questing.

#5 Hero for Stat Value - Beregond

The fifth position for Stat Values is the citadel guardian Beregond. He is a Tactics Hero from the Heirs of Numenor deluxe expansion. His Stat Value is 160%.

As is usually the case for Heroes in the top ranks of the Stat Value list, it is obvious which of his three stats earns him the position. His defence of four for a Threat Cost of ten is excellent to suggest that he can be assigned to protect you from some of the hardest hits the enemy can throw at you.

Beregond is currently the only Hero released with a defence of four, and no other Heroes can boast more than this. His Sentinel keyword allows you to help other players out, and his power and sphere also gives you quick access to Weapon and Armour attachments that can make the best defender even better.

And he really is the best defender. This Gondorian warrior is the last defender we shall see in the count down of the top Heroes for Stat Value; all the next Heroes have earned their positions for either good Willpower stats or good Attack stats.

#6 Hero for Stat Value - Denethor

Only two Heroes from the Core Set made it into the top seven ranks for Stat Value, and the first of those that we see is Denethor. He is a Lore Hero from the Core Set. His Stat Value is 150%.

His defence of three for his Threat Cost of eight make him a very efficient defender for your team. The Lore sphere which he belongs to also has access to some good cards for cancelling shadow effects and healing your characters if they ever get hit by an enemy that is tougher than normal.

There are four other Heroes with a defence of three. It is interesting to note that two of them have good Stat Values and two do not.

The two that do are Dain Ironfoot and Erkenbrand. Dain's defence of three and Threat Cost of 11 give him a Stat value of 109%. However you are more likely to find him useful for his ongoing power than for his defending ability. Erkenbrand's defence of three and Threat Cost of 10 give him a Stat Value of 120%. His power makes it obvious that he is good for one job, defending.

The two Heroes with three defence that have a Stat Value of less than 100% are Elrond (Lore) and Gandalf (Neutral). Elrond has a Stat Value of 92% and Gandalf has a Stat Value of 86%. In both cases this is due to their highest value stat of three being not so great compared to their Threat Costs of thirteen and fourteen respectively. But obviously their Threat Costs need to be this high due to them having powerful stats across the board; they are not one-trick ponies. So here we can make an observation; Heroes which have more than one powerful stat may score badly for Stat Value.

#7 Hero for Stat Value - Sam Gamgee

Nearly half of the Heroes currently released have a Stat Value of over 100%! This indicates that although it is rare for a Hero to have overall stats that give them an above-average Threat Value (as we will see in the next post), it is quite common for a Hero to be efficient in one particular job.

I will provide a list of all Heroes with Stat Values above 100% another time. For now, we will look at the top seven Heroes, starting with Sam Gamgee. He is a Leadership Hero from the Black Riders Saga expansion. His Stat Value is 150%.

He earns this rank with his Willpower of three being amazing for a Hero that only has a Threat Cost of eight.

On this blog I will talk about character powers when relevant, but the stats are calculated using the printed values. Sam makes an obvious choice for a quester. Without his power his overall stats give him a very average Threat Value of 100%, but if you can trigger that response you can get a good quality defender or attacker out of him too.