The Desperate Drifter

"C'mere, boy. We got work to do."

With "Ashcan" Pete (and the goodest of boys, Duke), it isn't a question of "can I do this," but rather, "how much will it cost me?"

This is a generalist build: we jump between fighting and investigating as needed, all while keeping a full grip of whatever skill cards are most needed to support ourselves and our friends. It prioritizes flexibility and power over efficiency. Not even the mighty Duke can churn out as much damage per turn as a well-tuned guardian, nor will we scoop up as many clues as your favourite seeker. However, we can meaningfully help out with either effort, switch at a moment's notice, and take on the big tests better than anyone else.

Tested on a 4 player blind run of The Circle Undone, standard bag/hard effects. I had a ton of fun piloting this, and I think there's some real power here.

(Note: at time of writing, I'm missing most of TFA except the deluxe, and don't own Dream-Eaters.)

Mechanics: what does the deck do?

• We leverage Yaotl for big boosts (especially on our Desperate skills) and to fill our discard with Innate skills
• We recur those Innate skills with True Survivor, so we always have what we need
• Notably, we use Resourceful to loop True Survivor, and (later) Will to Survive
• When the Eldritch slime hits the fan, we continuously recur Will to Survive to handle anything
• We fund everything with a lightning-fast "fail forward" economy powered by Take Heart, Drawing Thin and Grisly Totem
• Plus, we're fairly tanky with a couple of healthy allies (2/3, 2/2) and Inspiring Presence to heal them

Upgrade path: how do we get there?

(See this decklist for what the complete "core" upgrade package looks like.)

Note: I upgraded out of Improvised Weapon/Fire Axe quickly; those could probably be replaced with something else.

Getting started (8XP, 8XP total)

• 2x Peter Sylvestre -> 2x Yaotl
• 2x Improvised Weapon -> 2x True Survivor

This is where it all starts! Note Yaotl's errata: you can use his second ability once per phase (not turn). Abuse that ability early on to make sure True Survivor has 3+ targets, then cool it from there. You can also use it to dig for an Innate skill/ card you really need (grabbing it with True Survivor, or possibly Resourceful).

Combo online (13XP, 21XP total)

• 1x Live and Learn-> 1x Will to Survive
• 2x Fire Axe -> 2x Drawing Thin
• 1x Live and Learn -> 1x Will to Survive
• 1x Eureka! -> 1x Quick Thinking

I think Will to Survive is powerful enough that it's worth stretching your economy to prioritize the first copy, and once you have 2x Drawing Thin, you'll be in a good place to pay for them consistently. (See piloting tips below.) It might be worth starting out with 2x Quick Thinking, but it gets so much better with Will To Survive online.

Improving efficiency (10XP, 31XP total)

• 2x Grisly Totem -> 2x Grisly Totem
• 2x Newspaper -> 2x Newspaper

These upgrades aren't as crucial as the core engine, but give an extra oomph to your economy and investigating. Note that the upgraded Grisly Totem does exactly what you want it to with Take Heart: you get your bonus, and return Take Heart to your hand. Bonus points when you have Drawing Thin out (Cthulhu willing, x2): I've turned a single action into two cards and six resources, while holding on to Take Heart (!!).

If using this list for a standalone, I would try keeping one level zero Newspaper in to stay under 29XP (note the totals above also assume 1XP to swap Eureka! for Quick Thinking).

Just desserts (any remaining XP)

At this point it's up to you. Some personal recommendations:

• 1x Manual Dexterity -> 1x Survival Instinct
  • Both are Innate skills, but this one can save your bacon in a final showdown
• 1x (skill of your choice) -> 1x Stroke of Luck
  • Also Innate, so feel free to commit it to crucial checks as a backup and recur it if you didn't need to activate its effect

Piloting: how do we play it?

In Arkham, I find it's often easy to lose sight of strategy ("what is our overall plan for winning this campaign/scenario?") in favour of tactics ("how can I make the most of our current situation?"). Maximizing what's in your hand/in play this turn can lead to some seemingly efficient turns, but can set you behind in the long run--such as your guardian burning their last two bullets to take out a threatening, but ultimately unimportant enemy a turn before the boss fight starts.

Having a strong grasp on each is important; I've separated my tips into two sections below.

Strategy: what's the game plan?

Our general goals are:

1. Fight/investigate as needed early on
2. Set up for a series of explosive combo turns mid- to late-game
3. Throughout, support fellow investigators through strategic commits

I think there are two key decision points where you should be acutely aware of these goals: when taking your mulligan, and when returning cards via True Survivor. Both of these will really shape what you'll be able to do over the course of a scenario.

Mulligan

Priorities:

• Mulligan aggressively for our key assets:
  • Highest to lowest priority: Yaotl roughly on par with Drawing Thin, followed by Grisly Totem
• True Survivor/Will to Survive are powerful, but won't shine until the mid-/late-game; generally pitch for now
  • Remember: if they end up in our discard (via Yaotl), we can still pick them up with Resourceful
• I would consider keeping a Eureka! in hand: with one good Duke investigate, it will give you better card selection than just mulliganing it back

True Survivor recursion

• Almost always bring back at least 1x Resourceful (if not 2) to keep the chain going
• Early in a scenario (especially while at low XP), recur Take Heart for economy and/or Eureka! to dig for your important pieces
• When it's time to combo off, Quick Thinking and Inspiring Presence are your key enablers
  • The former gives you extra actions, and the latter will let you use them efficiently (by readying Duke)
• Guts/Manual Dexterity are great for playing "defence:" Guts for Mythos protection, Manual Dexterity to keep evading a big bad
  • And remember, these can go to your fellow investigators, especially if they're having a rough time

Tactics: show me the synergies

• Getting the most out of a single Desperate card

  • The big idea here is that you can activate Pete's ability in the window between ST.1 and ST.2 (see Skill Test Timing). Since this happens before committed skill cards are discarded (in ST.8), you can ready an ally while still ensuring a committed card of your choice ends up on top of your discard.
  • Let's say you're at 3 remaining sanity with Reckless Assault and something irrelevant in hand, and you want to unleash the hound.
    1. Start by attacking with Duke, then use Pete's ability to ready him (discarding your irrelevant card) in the window between ST.1 and ST.2.
    2. Commit Reckless Assault--you're now at 8 without anything else
    3. Whether or not you succeed, after the skill test both Duke and Yaotl are ready with Reckless Assault on top of your discard
    4. So attack with Duke again, this time activating Yaotl to get your +4 !
    5. And if you leave your discard undisturbed, you can activate Yaotl again next turn for another +4
  • If you are too sane to use your Desperate skills, you can still get value of out them by discarding them to ready Duke, then using Yaotl to get +4
  • And of course, this works the same with Desperate Search

• PSA: Yaotl has errata! You can discard your top card once per phase, not turn

  • Use him aggressively at the start of a scenario until you have 3+ Innate cards in your discard (for True Survivor, of course), then slow down
  • Once your deck is close to empty, you can also use this ability to try to discard your weaknesses without drawing them

• Will to Survive combos

  • With 2x Drawing Thin out, you can usually set up a test to guarantee two "free" Drawing Thin activations--giving you the four resources you need to play Will to Survive again!
    • Desperate skills (and possibly Yaotl) make this trivial, since you can get to 8 base skill without much effort
  • Guaranteed safe failures
    • This is more important than it may seem: often /// tokens or scenario effects highly punish failing tests
    • "Look what I found!" is probably the best way to use this effect; remember you can use Drawing Thin to help adjust the difficulty to the perfect failure zone
    • Alternatively, take a monster Take Heart + Drawing Thin action without risk
  • Guaranteed skill card triggers
    • Keep committing Quick Thinking to gain actions, and buy them back with True Survivor
    • Inspiring Presence will keep your allies healthy and let you take lots of efficient Duke actions
    • Plus, your Resourceful is certain to start the loop all over again
  • The more actions you can take, the better
    • Quick Thinking is one way to do this yourself; in multiplayer, ask your guardian to pack a Police Badge

• Abusing Take Heart

  • This has great synergy with True Survivor from the start, and is an important driver of your economy early in the campaign
  • With Grisly Totem, it just gets better: you get to activate Take Heart and bring it back to your hand!
  • Remeber: you can also commit this to your friends! It makes for great insurance when they're about to take a beating (hello, Rotting Remains...)

• Don't forget that Pete's ability allows you to ready any of your assets

  • Duke/Yaotl are the obvious choices, but Drawing Thin is a possibility
  • Unfortunately I don't think this works with Grisly Totem; you don't have a window within ST.2 to ready it, and it is in to committing a card (I definitely misplayed this)

• Go crazy! Put the first two horror on yourself to enable those Desperate skills, then start offloading it to Duke

• Remember that the game can dish out direct ally damage/horror: depends on the campaign, but be very cautious about exposing Duke to that risk. You can't do much without him! (Yaotl, however, is much more replaceable.)

• Think carefully about when you want to flip with Yaotl

  • Cards committed to skill tests are discarded in ST.8, so they will cover anything you flip with Yaotl during the skill test

Alternate paths

Some miscellaneous comments on other directions you could take this deck. Try something else out and let me know how it goes!

• You could go deeper on the Desperate theme with St. Hubert's Key... but I think it's a trap.

  • I'm not convinced Say Your Prayers/Run For Your Life are worth it in the first place
    • Those are primarily defensive stats: Ashcan's 4 is already resilient, and we have tools to set up for the occasional big evade (Will to Survive/Manual Dexterity/Survival Instinct)
    • Again, due to their defensive nature, I think these cards will often be dead in your hand: with Desperate Search/Reckless Assault, there's often at least some proactive action you can take
    • Plus, you can't recur these with True Survivor. The fewer Innate cards you run, the less powerful that engine becomes
  • You miss out on the great Grisly Totem + Take Heart econ package
  • Eats up some of our valuable out-of-class cards: Inspiring Presence + Quick Thinking are already very important to the deck
  • Expensive to play (compared to Grisly Totem)
  • You can't recur St. Hubert's Key with Resourceful: this is minor, but annoying
  • All in all, I think there are quickly diminishing returns to investing in Yaotl. We certainly get good use out of him, but the rest of the Survivor engine is just more powerful overall.

• Magnifying Glass: the "always-on" boost seems good (especially since hand slots aren't a concern), but there are significant drawbacks

  • Like above, it costs us precious out-of-class slots we need for our skills
  • Magnifying Glass is certainly more consistent than Newspaper (0), but the extra efficiency we get from Newspaper (2) is huge
    • As mentioned in the intro: Pete is very flexible, but not always super efficient. We don't need consistency from Magnifying Glass (we've got that covered), we want extra efficiency.
  • Note Newspaper (2) will also trigger from "Look What I Found!"
  • Finally, in any scenario that has you gather and use clues for actions (rather than hoarding them), Newspaper is miles better in this deck, allowing us to consistently test at 6 for two clues without any effort

• Lucky! instead of Live and Learn

  • It's possible that Lucky! is too good to pass up on, but Live and Learn has a few unique uses in this deck
  • Lucky!'s biggest advantage is the "draw Rotting Remains + " scenario (where it actually protects you, unlike Like and Learn). This build doesn't care too much about that: put two horror on Ashcan, the rest on Duke, and heal Duke later.
  • One of Live and Learn's biggest pros is that since we already want to fail, it gives us action compression
    • For example, investigate at a four shroud location. Oh, I failed? That's fine; I was committing Take Heart anyways, but now I'll try again for real (with a free +2)!
    • Sadly, if you Drawing Thin the first test, it will also affect the retry from Live and Learn
    • I ended up cutting this for Will to Survive, but I could see the two playing nicely together
  • The icon is especially relevant with Grisly Totem (converts to Unexpected Courage when needed)
  • The cheaper cost is nice, but not a huge factor
  • Duke leverages it really well (don't need to ready him to try again)

• Scrapper as late-game upgrade

  • I didn't get a chance to try this myself, but it seems like a good "release valve" if you have Drawing Thin online but can't find Will To Survive

Conclusion

Woof! I hope this has given you some ideas on how to make the most of one of the best survivors, Duke Ashcan. If you try this out, or it inspires your own creation, let me know in the comments!