Hard mode guide for Night of the Zealot

This is going to be my solo guide for the Night of the Zealot campaign in hard mode. I played every scenario at least 3 times with the same build, and i can tell that it behaves consistently. Can't write a guide without telling about obstacles, so... Spoilers ahead, of course!

The Gathering

Strong focus on gathering clues. I play through the Act deck before the Scene deck reaches stage 2b. Starting hand: every card that helps finding clues is welcome, also one of the eco cards (Lone Wolf and Emergency Cache).

Card selection:

Guts - against Rotting Remains and Frozen in Fear

Flashlight, Newspaper, "Look what I found!", Perception - get clues!

Lone Wolf, Emergency Cache - economy.

Think on Your Feet, Bait and Switch, Sneak Attack - against weak enemies

Baseball Bat, Backstab, Rise to the Occasion - against strong enemies

Wendy's Amulet, Lucky! - jokers

Strategy Act 1a: Investigate the 2 clues quickly, but do not advance the Act yet. There is plenty of time to do other things. You don't need the bat on the board until Act 2b. Claim cards and resources until the first enemy spawns in the Mythos phase. This should be the point to advance the Act to 2a, as every enemy is discarded. If the Scene advances to 1b, i would strongly recommend to lose 1 random card instead of taking 2 horror.

Act 2a: Go into the two locations and search them for clues. If enemies spawn at your location while clues are still there, either kill them with Sneak Attack or evade them. If enemies spawn after you collected all clues, just evade and move away. It should not take long to get what you need. Play the Baseball Bat as soon as you got all 4 clues. End your turn in the Hallway after you have cleared Attic and Cellar.

Act 3a: In the best case you still have proper health and sanity left, the Basey feels good in your hands and you have a Backstab to the ready. At the start of your turn, advance the Act - the Ghoul Priest emerges. Usually, i commit most of my cards to the Backstab test. (Remember, Wendy's Agility is measured against the priest's Attack value, so Rise to the Occasion can not be committed here.) The second action, a slash with the bat, with some support (Rise to the Occasion) finishes this scenario. If things get too tight, it is no shame to flee the house!

This scenario can and should be finished with roundabout 6 xp:

2 xp for defeating the Ghoul Priest
2 xp for 2 locations
2 xp for gaining insight into Arkham's mystery

I always decide to let Lita burn down the house, because she's such a strong ally and i want bad girls around me.

Your house was burned down
Lita joins the party
Wendy has 1 mental trauma

The Midnight Masks

Card selection:

Upgrade: 2x Aquinnah(3) - she's my best friend! A strong defender against all kind of horrors.

Guts - against On Wings of Darkness and for entering the Graveyard

Bait and Switch - to evade Hunting Nightgaunts

Leather Coat, Rabbit's Foot, Lone Wolf - as a counter to Crypt Chill The Midnight Masks

Strategy for Act 1a: Mulligan for starting economy, Aquinnah or Think on Your Feet. With Aquinnah on my starting hand, my first turn is 1) investigate, 2) move to Easttown and 3) play Aquinnah. Try as often as you can to end turns on locations with clues on them and no victory points. It is likely that many locations become locked or obscured. Don't waste your skills on these parts, always take to the road, always be one location ahead of pesky hunters and clear locations with victory points. As soon as you have 2 of them - deliver them and find out about the whereabouts of the next cultist.

Some thoughts: When an Acolyte spawns, put it into the location you are going to move next to. With Aquinnah at your side, you can move there and ignore that Acolythe - he/she is killed "on the fly".

If you run into trouble finding Aquinnah, try out the Southside, perhaps Ma's opened.

When the Agenda is shortly before flipping to 1b, put the Baseball Bat into your hands. Or wound the Masked Hunter with Backstab and let Aquinnah finish him off.

Dispatch the Wizard of the Order quickly, should he spawn early or mid-game.

Don't enter the Graveyard without necessity, it is a dead end which only costs precious time. If Herman Collins is revealed during your search, visit him later as the last person, only seconds before the clock strikes Midnight with Agenda 2b.

Your goal should be to interrogate 2 or more cultists, so the following scenario becomes a lot easier.

This scenario can and should be finished with roundabout 5 xp:

2 xp for interrogating the Masked Hunter
1 xp for interrogating another cultist
2 xp for 2 cleared locations

Yeesh, Wendy is now prepared for the final battle!

It is before Midnight
4 cultists fled

Card selection:

Upgrade: 1x Scrapper(3) - obligatory inclusion to beat the boss.

2x Adaptable(1) - because i want to drop all cards linked with clues for now.

Elusive - emergency out during setup or during the final fight.

Liquid Courage - just as a substitute, in case the Quiet Glade is not in play.

Guts, Rise to the Occasion - against Agenda 2b before all other harmful treacheries.

Bait and Switch - to evade hunters of all sorts.

Lita Chantler - as living shield before the final fight, gets replaced with Aquinnah(3) as soon as the boss spawns.

Perception - just for the bad luck when you get stuck in The Twisting Paths

The Devourer Below

Strategy: Mulligan for starting economy and Think on Your Feet. The Agenda 1a most likely already has 2 counters on it. So the beginning is the most risky part of this scenario: finding the Quiet Glade. In turn 1 do the following: 1) enter Arkham Woods. If it is Unhallowed Grounds, do not commit any cards and take 1 damage and 1 horror. 2) go back to the Main Path 3) enter another unexplored Arkham Woods. Were you lucky and found the Quiet Glade yet? Great! Go there and prepare yourself for the final battle. If you did not find the Quiet Glade, turn 2 looks like: 3) enter the Main Path 4) enter an unexplored Arkham Woods. 5) if you have Think on Your Feet, go to the Main Path.

It is very helpful to rest in the Quiet Glade. You can heal once every turn. The rest of your turns will be monotonous: gather cards and play assets like Lone Wolf, Lita Chantler, Baseball Bat and Leather Coat. Keep Aquinnah(3) on your hand for the time being, you will need her in the final fight. If it is before Agenda 2b, you should even overdraw for Guts and/or Rise to the Occasion. After Agenda 3a, keep your hand filled and click for resources. There will be events, most often spawns, which will throw you back with the plan, but you should be able to buy yourself time (Bait and Switch, Elusive) or kill the beast right away. When Umôrdhoth finally spawns, you ideally have none or nearly no damage and horror, the Baseball Bat in play and Aquinnah(3) next to you. Wait for Umôrdhoth to come to your location - when he enters and attacks, his damage is reflected by Aquinnah. Wendy only bears 3 horror. In Wendy's turn, even with Frozen in Fear or Dissonant Voices active, only two succesfull attacks with the bat (boosted with Scrapper) are sufficient to kill the monster! Umôrdhoth is down to 3 health by then and his next attack will be the nail to his own coffin - thank you so much, Forgotten Daughter!!!

This scenario can and should be finished with roundabout 10 xp:

• 10 xp for driving Umôrdhoth back into his dimension

Wendy is the heroine of the day! And... yes, Ashcan would have been soooo much more effective, because his signature card can let Aquinnah trigger twice each turn. Cut it! It is obvious that i want Wendy's deeds be known in the Arkham region!

• Wendy suffered 3 mental and 2 physical traumata during the campaign
• Wendy won the campaign!

Sidenote: If things go bad from the start - i mean, really, really bad - do not hesitate to change the plan for survival accordingly. Frantically search for Lita Chantler in your deck and wait for the first opportunity to feed her to Umôrdhoth!