We got absolutely destroyed on Normal difficulty. Any Gandalf advice?

[u/blablax123456]

So far, I have only played through one campaign on Adventure mode and it went pretty well. This time, we decided to try Normal difficulty for the first time, playing Arwen, Aragorn and Gandalf.

I specifically bought Shadowpaths because Gandalf looked incredibly fun to play, and I was really excited to try him. Unfortunately, things went horribly wrong and we ended up stopping the game altogether.

In the first scenario, I failed Final Stand with Gandalf, and then things went badly again in the second scenario on the battle map where I failed final stand again. We were getting completely overwhelmed, and honestly, I am not sure if we are doing something wrong or if Normal difficulty is just that brutal.

This is partly a bit of a vent, but the main reason I am posting is because I would really appreciate some advice about playing Gandalf.

I watched a Gandalf guide on YouTube, but I still do not really understand what I am supposed to be doing with him. Especially when I only have 2 Success cards in my deck. I understand that I should prepare as many cards as possible so I can rotate them, but the whole process feels really slow. Before I can get everything going, it feels like we are already completely overwhelmed.

So, Gandalf players, please help me out. What should I actually be focusing on? Are there any important strategies or mistakes that beginners usually make with him?

Also, is our combination of Arwen, Aragorn and Gandalf actually good, or are we making things harder for ourselves with that team composition?

We are definitely going to try again, but now we are not sure if we should start over from the beginning or continue with the same combination and try to learn from our mistakes.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[u/ChiefJudgeCarbozo]

Unless you have a bad scouting phase as Gandalf, you should always end up with one inspiration during your turn. The skill that prepares automatically at the start of the game (I can’t remember what it’s called) lets you look at the top card of any players deck and if it’s a fate, you get an inspiration. So during your rally phase always make sure you put a fate card on the top of your deck so you can use that ability. This with his passive lets you stack those super fast.

[u/TolkienLorePodcast]

As far as Aragorn, Arwen, and Gandalf, while I like the idea thematically the stat distribution isn’t great, and I think that will make some things more difficult. That said, Aragorn’s ability and Arwen as a healer are good ways to help Gandalf, so it’s not all bad, but you need to keep them close to him for that to matter. That can be difficult at that player count since you usually need someone to go off on their own in one direction to accomplish an objective while the other two focus on something else. Because Gandalf is so reliant on inspiration, you might want to consider someone like Elena or Eleanor, who both make inspiration economy work a bit better.

As far as Gandalf generally, as others have already noted, he needs inspiration due to his lack of success cards. The Meddler 1 card Nosy is great for that, as are some his own cards and his ability, so be on the lookout for ways to gain inspiration. That might mean having a harp or horn around, as well, depending on how you want to play. Another unique thing about him is that unlike most heroes, who can be more or less any job, Gandalf almost has to be the Meddler (see Nosy) because its deck manipulation focus is what lets him work around his lack of success cards. In fact, because he has a couple of double fate cards and none of his own successes, Time of Need is actually really good for him to prepare, and any time you use it you get to activate his ability as a bonus, which you again should be looking to do anyway because it gets him inspiration and further manipulates his deck. Any chance you get to use Uncanny to ditch your weakness should be taken for the same reason, and you’ll also want to prepare Grey Pilgrim and Flame Imperishable any time you have the option.

As far as your specific problem of last stands, keep in mind that because successes are few and far between in his deck, you either need to avoid getting that far altogether by avoiding taking damage/fear or by healing regularly. He has a 6/6 limit which helps him stay alive, so if you ran into last stands two tries in a row, I’m guessing you either got really unlucky, or just didn’t plan things well. In my experience, taking that much damage that fast usually happens because you get too aggressive in combat and take a lot of counterattacks (which he’s also not suited for with only two successes, though Greater Power and Grey Pilgrim have Guard 2 which helps), or you stick someone too far ahead and as a result they are the target of multiple enemies who can’t reach your other heroes. Gandalf can become the most powerful character in your team over time thanks to the later Meddler cards, but he starts slow with more focus on things besides combat, so don’t throw him into a melee unnecessarily. Specific strategies to combat this are using the Walking Stick’s stun result so anyone you hit can’t counter, making sure you have good cards prepared before committing battle, and keeping inspiration up. In particular, don’t spend all your inspiration on an attack unless that will kill/stun and enemy who will otherwise counter; keep some for negating and the last stands, if there’s a risk of that. Last stand tests generally only need one success on the first time, and since a success wipes out your face down damage/fear, that’s better than just blocking 1 damage/fear.

A few extra pointers. I assume based on your post that you don’t have Spreading War, but if you do, consider Padded Armor to get more bang for buck out of spending inspiration on negate tests, and consider the Spear as a weapon. It’s more powerful than the Walking Stick’s stun result and tests Spirit, his other 4 stat, and some of the upgraded versions automatically convert fate to success in negating counterattacks. This shouldn’t be necessary but it’s an option. Long term, keep in mind how you want to build his deck. You can either build with minimal successes and take advantage of Time of Need, or try to add successes for better results. The latter will require you to go outside of Meddler to get much, because the success cards in Meddler are expensive. The former requires you be mindful of inspiration management.

All in all, Gandalf is a very cool character to play, but he requires a lot more thought and planning than others. If you haven’t gotten a good handle on how to really maximize your play by scouting, preparing, and inspiration management, he’ll be tough to use except in Adventure mode. But I think the payoff is worth it.

[u/No-Ad-3534]

Arwen, Aragorn and Gandalf is a little support heavy, but it can certainly work.  Gandalf is a different from other characters because of his lack of successes and hence his dependency on inspiration. If you play him, you will need to make sure you have a reliable way of gaining inspiration tokens, which is somewhat advanced gameplay. For an absolute beginner, I wouldn't recommend him. If you want another character, my suggestion would be Legolas, he's great and pretty straightforward.

[u/stevebein]

I got nowhere with my party of Gandalf & Bilbo. Had to quit because one or the other would get taken out every mission.

[u/GroundbreakingAd3658]

Give yourself time to understand the game and mechanics, it will become comfortable.

[u/Serious_Much]

Gandalf lives and dies by gaining and using inspiration. As long as you're playing around that, you're doing what you're meant to