Joe Diamond | Solo for Brethren of Ash

Joe Diamond | Solo for Brethren of Ash

A true solo flex build for Joe Diamond tackling Brethren of Ash on Easy or Standard. This is a 0 XP starting deck with a suggested upgrade path.

Overview

• Fighting: M1911 is your primary weapon. Machete is your back up when you run out of ammo. Between these two weapons and a pair of Vicious Blow skills, most enemies in Brethren of Ash will be pretty easy for you.

• Investigating: Magnifying Glass gives you a nice boost to your stats and when upgraded will give some nice flexibility with bringing them back to your hand if needed. Deduction doubles up your clue haul which is only a few locations in Brethren of Ash. Scene of the Crime can help if you're having trouble with a spot.

• Flexing: Police Dog is a great solo flex ally. Usually you'll be investigating or attacking one or twice a round, so this is a nice boost to either. Establish Motive actually does a great job of offering flex with it's and card draw into your other cards.

• Cards for Days: This deck has an insane amount of card draw, you will regularly see 2 or 3 cards in a turn. As a result, we lean heavily on skills because they're cheap and fast for giving us a boost. Because we have so many cards, we can also specialize our events with less doubles, so we can choose a few niche events and only take 1, because we're not as concerned with consistency.

Make sure to mulligan hard for a weapon as that'll be your limiting factor for coming online if an enemy jumps you early.

Suggested Upgrade Path

• 2x M1911 → 2x M1911 •• will let you hit harder and safer. A few bad retaliates can really ruin a solo run.

• 2x Police Dog → 2x Police Dog • the upgraded Police Dog means more powerful flex for tougher tests when you need to pass them.

• 2x Vicious Blow → 2x Vicious Blow •• more damage when you need it.

• 2x Magnifying Glass → 2x Magnifying Glass • the cheaper cost is nice but being able to pull them back into your hand can allow for a few shenanigans if you find yourself with two hand slots free.

• 2x Counterattack • is great for a bit more survival when you can't quite finish off an enemy. You can look at getting rid of Restrained or Resilience when you take this.

• Studious ••• — a luxury pick if you have extra XP left over.

Final Thoughts

Joe Diamond is one of the most natural true solo investigators in Chapter 2. His 4/4 stat line means he can do everything. With all of the cards he draws you will be pretty well equipped for any scenario which is what you need in a true solo situation.