Lola Hayes

Lola is not bad.

Rather, Lola is really freaking good.

If people are afraid of her weakness then frankly they're just not playing her well. Her stat line 3/3/3/3 is just one bump away from greatness. And she can bump it a whole whole lot. In a game this week I was running her and with 25xp she had the stat line of 5/6/6/4. With the Timeworn Brand so swinging at 8 Fight. And that wasn't that particularly hard to do. Or even in a way which runs chances of exposure: I think over the course of the scenario there were maybe 2 turns where I was exposing more than 1 asset to be lost to her weakness. Which I drew once, and lost 0 assets because of it.

The formula isn't complex. Load up on cards which provide passive bonuses. Go asset light on a couple of colors and use those for Events or Skills. Harvest the best of them from every color. Profit.

puert · 48
Even discounting her weakness, Lola has no real ability. Her appeal is her card access, but it’s not a great trade. Lola is fine in the sense that no investigator in this game is truly bad, but there always has to be a worst. Lola arguably is the worst but that doesn’t mean she can’t be fun. — StyxTBeuford · 13043
...and at 19xp, a post-Taboo Key of Ys + Dark Horse Silas has an effective stat line of 7/8/6/9, fighting with a Fire Axe at 10/8 Fight while holding a hand full of cantrip skills. And he sets up faster and more reliabily than Lola does. Lola is far from unusable, but she's pretty much outclassed at everything she does. — suika · 9497
Fine, I updated my review. I never meant to say Lola was bad, unfun, or unplayable... but I think that too many people were reading 'bad' as _bad_ instead of 'sub-optimal'. — Hylianpuffball · 29
Yea Lola is solid because she can get all those stat bump cards and go to town. But remember that takes set up, and more importantly, XP. And I mean a LOT of XP so she doesn't shine until mid campaign and that's if you somehow managed to perform well with pitiful health and sanity this whole time. — LaRoix · 1645
I agree that Lola, if properly built, may feel powerful with 25 XP, but this is faint praise. Show me an investigator who doesn't. Yes, it's true that the incredible power of certain player cards, especially XP cards, can make her effective. But she's still relatively weak compared to other investigators. Access to a broad pool of player cards (which is not nearly as flexible as it might seem, given her strict deckbuilding requirements, the need to play around Crisis of Identity, and the need to deal with the roles drawback) is a poor tradeoff for a bad statline and a missing investigator ability. — CaiusDrewart · 3193
Idle Hands

Another fun card from the Erratic Fear encounter set that is troublesome, yet fun. That extra action is a great bonus, making this a card people would almost pay to play. It's very situational how good or bad this is. If you draw it on a turn when you could really use another action and you are playing a beefy investigator like Silas or Nathaniel, it's a win. If, on the other hand, you are playing Daisy Walker or Luke and you're left saying "well, I guess I'll draw a card," that seems much more bleak. At least those two might have a Logical Reasoning in hand (as it were).

Enraptured

Both of the reviews I've read don't really touch on the one investigator who, I think, benefits the most from Enraptured: the good dreamer himself, Luke Robinson.

First of all: he's already /, so he's most likely going to be going at least part-cluever on your team with access to good boosts like Magnifying Glass/Magnifying Glass, Death • XIII, and Dr. Milan Christopher, making the on Enraptured a helpful icon instead of a dud (unless he's investigating with alone off a asset, which... why are you doing that when good investigate events like Read the Signs exist?)

Second, and much more importantly: more Gate Box charges. Hell. Yes.

supertoasty · 40
Upgrade directly to Seal of the Elder Sign for equivalent benefit but tacked on to an auto-succeed. — Difrakt · 1313
Also good with Luke if he takes Pendant of the Queen — rirze · 2
Crystal Pendulum

One thing to note is that Ritual Candles improves your odds of connecting with this card because you can choose to use Ritual Candles ability after seeing the token, giving you a little flexibility with your call.

Also Jacqueline Fine gets extra use from Crystal Pendulum because she can opportunistically select which token to keep.

FBones · 19387
It was really great n a solo expert Jacqueline Fine deck ! — AlexP · 266
Violent Commands

Another RttDL "upgraded" encounter set, Erratic Fear has some great treacheries. This one isn't too bad, as soak and healing are a thing that exist, and it is very flavorful, so it's almost fun to draw. If your is high enough, you can even carry it for a couple of turns, if you are close to the end of the scenario and not too pressed for horror. Plus you get the fun of eying up the other players and lightly stroking the card while it sits, simmering in your Threat Area.

"O no, dont worry I will just take the damage myself, Its fine, you relax..." — Zerogrim · 295
My AHTCG partner had Tommy stab Sefina 3 times during the campaign! And she keep accompanying him! — LivefromBenefitSt · 1076
Wt+ — Django · 5148
Sorry i accidently hit "post". With peter sylvestre, drawing thin and other fail to win this encounter card is a big economy boost. — Django · 5148
If only my play partner's Tommy had thought of that.... Rather than, you know, stabbing Sefina repetedly. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1076
Sefina with her 5 base health? Ouch. Remember that anyone can trigger cards in your threat area and this card allows dealling damage to anyone. So Tommy could've dealt the damage to himself or Sefina could've done that. — Django · 5148
Haha, it wasn't actually a bad call -- Sefina maybe had 1 damage while Tommy had taken a massive amount of damage due to his weapons/soak getting milled and then Light of Aforgomon showing up to ruin his day (Tommy should not go to Dunwich). I had forgotten that Sefina could have triggered it; that would have been amusing. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1076