#3 Ally for Cost Value - Vassal of the Windlord

Vassal of the Wondlord took first position in our list for Stat Value and now takes the third position in our list for Cost Value. This Tactics Ally is found in the Dead Marshes adventure pack from the Mirkwood Cycle expansions. His Cost Value is 200%.

As we have already seen in the previous post from the Stat Value list, this eagle earns high places in lists because three attack for a cost of only one resource is amazing value. The catch is that after attacking, the eagle does what so many powerful characters do; it runs away. Before ever playing LOTR LCG you may have thought that the weak, non-unique allies would be the ones constantly running away, but using it to balance powerful cards is now a well-established mechanic in this game.

This is one of those entries that doesn't highlight the ally in the best way; his entry at the top of the Stat Value list better describes the role of Vassal of the Windlord than an entry on the Cost Value list does. He has earned his place here because of low cost, not because of flexible stats.

#5 Ally for Cost Value - Treebeard

The fifth Ally in our list of allies with a great Cost Value is Treebeard. This neutral Ally is found in the Antlered Crown adventure pack from the Ring Maker cycle. His Cost Value is 175%.

Treebeard is the most well-known Ent character from Lord of the Rings, and appears in the trilogy as a leader of the tree herders. Like all Ents, he enters play exhausted because he is not willing to be hasty and get involved too quickly. But from the next round onwards, you find that your four resources have been well spent! He has average Willpower and very good attack and defence values.

So he would be considered good value for money anyway, but if you have any other Ent allies in your deck then the resources he collects effectively mean you get money off for playing them!

Last but not least, even if Treebeard is the only Ent in your deck, he can still be really useful. Like Gandalf, the fact that he is a neutral card makes him useful in multi-sphere decks. Also, every other round you can use his resources to get some action advantage; need a good push on questing but not sure if you will have enough defenders if another enemy appears? Treebeard can quest, and then (assuming you didn't do it in the previous round) spend his resources to ready himself when you know you need an extra defender or attacker later on.

#6 Ally for Cost Value - Booming Ent

The sixth best Ally for Cost Value is the ferocious tree herder, the Booming Ent. This tactics Ally is found in the Antlered Crown adventure pack from the Ring Maker expansion cycle. His Cost Value is 175%.

I do like the mechanic used for Ents that states they enter play exhausted. That, combined with the inability to have restricted attachments, gives a great feeling that these beings are big and powerful, but never hasty to enter the battle. This particular Ent is apparently a loud one, who gets stronger (and presumably louder) when any of his Ent friends have been wounded.

This Ally should cost, according to the formula, three and a half resources. Getting him for only two, with the balance of needing to wait one round before he actually does anything, seems like a good deal. Two attack (minimum) and two defence makes him useful in the combat phase of each round, as we would expect from the Tactics sphere.

He should be useful in any quest that involves combat, unless perhaps the quest is one which plunges you straight in the deep end and requires ally aid from the very first round.

#1 Ally for Stat Value - Vassal of the Windlord

Which Ally has leapt to the top of our Ally Stat Value list? It is the Vassal of the Windlord! This Tactics Ally is found in the Dead Marshes adventure pack from the Mirkwood cycle expansions. His Stat Value is 600%.

This eagle earns his place by providing three Attack for a Resource Cost of only one. Admittedly, the eagle will leave play after he is used in an attack, but just like the Silvan Refugee and Winged Guardian, this cheap card could give you a much needed boost at the start of a game while you are still building up more stable allies.

The fact that this card is so cheap seems to be characteristic of Allies that made the top places on this list. The measure of Stat Value for Allies seems to reward cards for having low costs more than for having high stats. The top four items in this list have only cost either one or two resources each.

It is also interesting to note that the Tactics sphere dominates the top of this list. Out of the top five Allies for Stat Value, three of them have been from Tactics. The sphere that focusses so heavily on combat also appears to provide some of the best Allies that do one job and do it well. By contrast, it itsn't too surprising that Leadership and Lore Allies didn't get a single look into the top spots.

6th Worst for Threat Value - Elrohir

You may not be surprised to hear that the next worst Hero for Threat Value is Elladan's brother, Elrohir. This elf is a Leadership Hero found in the Redhorn Gate adventure pack from the Khazad-Dum expansion cycle. His Threat Value is 90%.

Just like his brother, he appears to be a less than average Hero until his sibling enables one of his stats to boot from one to three. In this case, however, it is Defence instead of Attack that gets this boost. Just like Elladan, this effect raises his Threat Value to 110%.

As already mentioned, it only seems using one of these brothers if you use both of them. On the good side, they don't necessarily need to be controlled by the same player, they just need to both be in play. But the death of a Hero or some other nasty effect that takes characters out of play could be your downfall.

#5 Ally for Stat Value - Saruman

For the first post in our series looking at the Stat Value of Allies currently available, the treacherous wizard Saruman enters the list in 5th place. He is a Neutral Ally found in the Voice of Isengard expansion from the Ring Maker cycle. His Stat Value is 333%.

By comparison to Hero Stat Values, this is extremely high, and we still have four other Allies to go that are even better! The calculation for Ally Stat Values is different for Hero Stat Values (see the tab at the top of the page), but follows the same principle. As we look at the best and worst Allies with this figure, we shall see that Allies vary a lot more than Heroes; it is much rarer for an Ally to have a straight forward value of 100%.

But let's look at Saruman in a bit more detail. The reason for his high Stat Value is in plain sight; a portion of his Resource Cost has clearly been replaced by the Doomed keyword in his text box. You might wonder if his low cost is also due to the fact that he leaves play at the end of the round, too. He shares this mechanic with the Ally versions of Gandalf, but Saruman is placed higher than his Istari brethren in the Stat Value list because his stats are less balanced. His Attack value of five for such a low cost earns him this position.

#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.

9th Worst for Threat Value - Theoden

The ninth worst Hero for their Threat Value is the King of Rohan, Theoden. He is a tactics Hero found in the Morgul Value adventure pack in the Against The Shadow cycle expansions. His Threat Value is 92%.

This is a case where a character quickly redeems themselves from this "worst" list by use of their printed text, which the Threat Value calculation does not take into account. Theoden's text box states that every Hero with a printed tactics icon gets one added to their Willpower. This power applies to Theoden himself, which means that in practice his Willpower is three instead of two. If the calculation for Threat Value is done with this changed, his Threat Value rises to become 100%!

So despite being the 9th worst Hero for Threat Value due to his printed stats, we can say that the good old king is quite average (value) once you get to know him a little. By all means, include him in your team of Rohan or tactics Heroes.

#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.

#1 for Threat Value - Glorfindel (Spirit)

The top spot for our list of Heroes with an above-average Threat Value is taken by the Spirit version of Glorfindel. He is a Spirit Hero from the Foundations of Stone adventure pack in the Dwarrowdelf cycle expansions. His Threat Value is 240%.

Both his Willpower and Attack values of three are remarkable for the Threat Cost of only five. But of course the designers of LOTR LCG have carefully tried to balance these figures with his Forced effect that raises your threat when Glorfindel exhausts to commit to quests. Shall we step beyond my calculations that only take printed numbers into account and look at whether this elf really is such good value for your money?

From his stats, his Predicted Threat Cost is twelve. His Threat Cost is only five, but each time he exhausts to quest he raises your threat by one, so lets pretend that each time he commits to a quest it is like his Threat Cost is increased by one. If his Forced effect is triggered seven times in a game then his Threat Cost is effectively raised to twelve.

So you see that whether Glorfindel really is good value depends on how often you send him questing. If you sent him six times or less within a game then he was good value. If you sent him exactly seven then he was average value. If you sent him eight or more times then he was bad value and maybe you should have considered using a different Hero.

There are two thoughts that make all of this irrelevant, however.

The first is the Spirit card that allows this elf to quest without exhuasting. Attach that to Glorfindel before he has committed to seven quests and you are sorted. This only depends on being able to draw that card.

The second thought is both more obvious and a more certain; don't send him questing! He is a Spirit Hero with three attack and Spirit Heroes are usually weak at attacking! Put him in a team of all-Spirit Heroes as your designated attacker and you have yourself one efficient elf.

After this brief list of three Heroes with the best Threat Values, we will next turn to Heroes with some of the worst Threat Values.

#2 for Threat Value - Beorn

The number two spot for Threat Value is taken by Beorn. He is a Tactics Hero from the first Hobbit Saga expansion. His Threat Value is 133%.

It doesn't take a genius to see that he earns this rank for two big reasons; his Attack and his Health. Beorn is the only Hero in the game to boast five attack, and no other Hero has anything higher than this. Beorn is also the only Hero in the game with ten health, and again no other Hero can top this. Even with zero willpower and only one defence, the sum of his stats is still amazing.

Of course the game designers have balanced the power of this bear by stopping you putting any attachments on him and making him immune to any effects from your player cards. I think that the most important result of this is that you cannot heal Beorn. With the Sentinel keyword, and the ability to defend without exhausting, mean you will use him offer to defend on behalf of anyone without worry. But the one defence means that that will usually become wounds on Beorn that you will never be able to get rid of. But even when he is close to the brink of death, you still have the Hero with the most powerful printed attack at your side.

With his unique stats and bizarre mix of keywords and card text, Beorn may not make the top spot for Threat Value but he definitely makes the top spot for the most unique and interesting Hero released in the game so far!

#3 for Threat Value - Bifur

There are currently only three released Heroes in LOTR LCG which have a Threat Value higher than 100%. Most of the Hero cards (currently 42) have a Threat Value of exactly 100%, so it is very rare for a Hero to shine in this area.

The Hero card in third place in this category is Bifur. He is a Lore Hero found in the Khazad-dum deluxe expansion. His Threat Value is 114%.

He rises into the top three not because any of his stats are high but because they are quite consistent for a Hero with a low Threat Cost of only seven.

The choice he gives you to use him as an equally good quester or defender are what nudge him into this rank. The stats of two other Heroes with a Threat Cost of seven, Eleanor and Fatty, only give you a single real option for what job their stats will serve. It is worth noting that Frodo (Spirit) also gives you two willpower and two defence for a Threat Cost of only seven, but he has one less Health than Bifur than puts his Threat Value at the perfect average of 100%.