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This is Perfectwall I’ve been grinding a bit at this game and finally have a complete set (of what is offered right now) so I wanted to share my decklists and some of my strategies.
Other The Lord of the Rings Living Card Game Guides:
As I started with the lowest tier buy in (Shire Founder’s Pack) I thought some of you would find this interesting as what I’ve accomplished so far is the closest to the free to play experience possible.
“Free to Play” Strategy:
I started with the Shire Founder’s Pack includes a total of 8000VP, 2 Palantir Views, an uncommon card and some cosmetics items.
With Early Access FFI gave us The Shadow’s Reach Quests 2-5 for free (15000 VP worth of quests) which helped a ton to get started.
Each Quest has a criteria that, in Normal or higher mode, if you hit a 200 score with a Hero you get 50 VP and if you hit a score of 250 you get a Palantir View. So my goal was to gather the 40 Palantir Views you get for clearing with high scores for every hero on Quest 1-5.
While questing I first unlocked all four hero packs which gave 4 more Palantir Views and some common valor cards that I listed in the Budget Decklist section to help my questing.
By the time I was finished clearing with all of the heroes I had almost enough VP to unlock all of the common valor cards. For what I didn’t have I replayed the Quests until I finished collecting all of the common valor cards.
At that point I finally decided to use the Palantir (which I had 46 views). My strategy there was to use the Palantir until it gave me enough valor to unlock an uncommon card, unlock one, and then continue.
With the amount of what was available with the initial set of valor cards I was able to get a full collection while saving 13 Palantir Views.
With having a full collection I am able to experiment a bit more and tackle Hardmode which has more VP rewards.
Budget Decklists
Below are the budget decks I used to clear Quest 1-5 on Normal with 250+ Score with every Hero. The non-starter cards that I used are as follows:
Tom Hero Pack – 3750 VP
Legolas Hero Pack – 3750 VP
Dwalin Hero Pack – 3750 VP
Eowyn Hero Pack – 3750 VP
x1 Lembas – 375 VP
x1 Westfold Outrider – 375 VP
x2 Zigil Miner – 750 VP
x2 Galadriel’s Handmaiden – 750 VP
Decklist #1 – Gimli / Arwen / Tom
Allies
x2 Wandering Took
x2 Gandalf
x2 Imladris Caregiver
x2 Ithilien Lookout
x1 Rhovanion Outrider
x2 Veteren Axehand
x1 Westfold Outrider
x2 Galadon Archer
Attachments
x2 Self-preservation
x2 Unexpected Courage
x2 Warrior Sword
x1 Ranger Spear
x2 Dwarven Axe
Events
x2 A Watchful Peace
x1 Well Prepared
x2 Beorn’s Hospitality
x1 Lembas
x1 Feint
Decklist #2 – Aragorn / Arwen / Legolas
Allies
x2 Gandalf
x2 Imladris Caregiver
x2 Ithilien Lookout
x2 Veteren Axehand
x1 Westfold Outrider
x2 Galadon Archer
x2 Zigil Miner
x2 Guard of the Citadel
x1 Rohirrim Lancer
Attachments
x2 Self-preservation
x2 Warrior Sword
x1 Ranger Spear
x1 Gondorian Shield
Events
x2 Beorn’s Hospitality
x1 Lembas
x1 Feint
x2 Gaining Strength
x2 Sneak Attack
Decklist #3 – Dwalin / Arwen / Legolas
Allies
x2 Gandalf
x2 Imladris Caregiver
x2 Ithilien Lookout
x2 Veteren Axehand
x1 Westfold Outrider
x2 Galadon Archer
x2 Zigil Miner
x2 Guard of the Citadel
Attachments
x2 Self-preservation
x2 Warrior Sword
x1 Ranger Spear
x2 Dwarven Axe
x1 Gondorian Shield
Events
x2 Beorn’s Hospitality
x2 Lembas
x1 Feint
x2 Sneak Attack
Decklist #4 or 5 – Legolas / Arwen / Tom or Eowyn
Allies
x2 Wandering Took
x2 Gandalf
x2 Imladris Caregiver
x2 Ithilien Lookout
x2 Rhovanion Outrider
x2 Veteren Axehand
x1 Westfold Outrider
x2 Galadon Archer
Attachments
x2 Self-preservation
x2 Unexpected Courage
x2 Warrior Sword
x1 Ranger Spear
x1 Dwarven Axe
Events
x2 A Watchful Peace
x1 Well Prepared
x2 Beorn’s Hospitality
x1 Lembas
x1 Feint
Decklist #6 – Gimli / Farmir / Eowyn
Allies
x2 Galadriel’s Handmaiden
x2 Gandalf
x2 Imladris Caregiver
x2 Ithilien Lookout
x2 Rhovanion Outrider
x2 Veteren Axehand
x1 Westfold Outrider
x1 Galadon Archer
Attachments
x2 Self-preservation
x2 Unexpected Courage
x2 Warrior Sword
x1 Ranger Spear
x2 Dwarven Axe
Events
x2 A Watchful Peace
x1 Well Prepared
x2 Beorn’s Hospitality
x1 Lembas
x1 Feint
Hardmode Decklist and Strategy Guide
Below is the deck I used to clear Quest 1-5 on Hard with 250+ Score. The non-starter cards that I used are as follows:
Legolas Hero Pack – 3750 VP
x1 Westfold Outrider – 375 VP
x2 Lembas – 750 VP
x2 Zigil Miner – 750 VP
x2 Erkenbrand – 3000 VP
x1 Tom Bombadil – 3000 VP
The Erken-Gang
Aragorn / Arwen / Legolas
Allies
x2 Gandalf
x2 Imladris Caregiver
x2 Ithilien Lookout
x2 Veteren Axehand
x1 Westfold Outrider
x1 Galadon Archer
x2 Zigil Miner
x2 Guard of the Citadel
x2 Erkenbrand
x1 Tom Bombadil
Attachments
x2 Self-preservation
x2 Warrior Sword
x1 Ranger Spear
x1 Gondorian Shield
Events
x2 Beorn’s Hospitality
x2 Lembas
x1 Feint
x2 Gaining Strength
General Strategy
Mulligan for these: Zigil Miner, Warrior Sword, Guard of the Citadel, x1 Erkenbrand, Ithilien Lookout, Veteren Axehand or Gaining Strength (only if you have an Erkenbrand in hand).
Set up early. Put down allies and don’t worry about your heroes taking damage in the 1st round only and then never try to let them take damage again from direct attacks. This is a good time to play warrior swords too but mostly at the very end of the 1st turn.
Play Erkenbro. If you can get out and early Erkenbrand it is usually a cakewalk just make sure to protect him as much as he is protecting you, I often finding myself using Arwen’s heal as well as Self-Preservation on him to keep his health happy.
Use lots of Fate. Arwen is often used to charge fate when there is no pressing hazard to clear. Most of the fate rewards are super good so you should grab as many as possible (it’s a requirement for high score too so it’s a win/win). The Lore allies are also great at charging fate as well and are used often for that.
Play around Threat. Make sure to keep an eye on what the next turn threat will do to you and play around it as well as possible. Also eliminate any source of threat generation Sauron has, things can get bad too quickly if you do not.
Lower Threat with Gandalf. As he is your only source of threat reducing it is critical you use him for that. Also his 4 willpower is excellent for clearing tough hazards and charging fate.
Get Legolas and Aragorn to 3 power. I usually try to buff Legolas 1st with a Warrior Sword as his willpower is lower so you get more mileage out of him and his ranged ability than Aragorn. 3 power is a pretty critical cut off point for damage in this game when up against alot of high health/block heavy enemies.
Play Around Legolas Ping. Make sure, when you can, manipulate the health of your enemies to take advantage of that extra damage. If not I usually aim it at a high health guard that I am going to have to kill that round anyways to get anything done.
Utilize Aragorns Power. Mid-game when you are set up you should be using Aragorns Power every turn. Even using him just to charge fate is awesome conversion of 1 resource so don’t be too stingy.
Kill Creatures with Stalwart. Stalwart enemies give Sauron extra actions, which is bad for you cause you already have less resources then him, prioritize them.
Make Guarded enemies attack you. Because most of the time you cannot 1 shot guarded enemies (they usually have high health) it is better for them to attack into one of your own guards, otherwise they get to do their damage twice in the same turn which is bad for you.
Heal to get Score and/or stay alive. Make sure to use your heal events and Imladris Caregiver for to help you get the max score at the end or in emergencies if your heroes or Erkenbrand is in danger.
Clear Hazards to get Score. For some of the quests the amount of guaranteed Hazards is less than the # it requires for max score make sure every one.
Replace your allies. Lower powered, damaged or fleeting allies should be replaced if you already have your 7 spots already filled up, just make sure they are exhausted 1st.
Waste Time. Sometimes it is better during a round to do an action to see what Sauron is going to do 1st. Cards like Gaining Strength can be used like that so you’ll have more options to respond.
Loiter. Sometimes it is correct to pass turn in a location you can travel from. As long as your threat is okay it gives you another turn to heal, attach attachments, play allies and generate fate while having an easier time dealing with Saurons cards.
Run! But it is also sometimes correct just to get out of there if there is just too much to deal with or just 1 huge non-unique that is just not worth the time to clear. But for that…
Use Tom on big dudes. Tom is a pretty new addition but in hard mode there are some really annoying high health enemies that have block that he just takes out for you, and leaves around a 3 willpower body for the round.