Horror Bores Her - Agnes Baker

Introduction

Daisy Walker and Agnes Baker are an unlikely duo, but despite the party's lopsided health and sanity, they can swiftly rip through locations and monsters alike and live to tell the tale. Agnes is a horror-taking, damage-dealing diva, with a few other tricks to keep things moving along.

Required Sets: Revised Core Set

Daisy's Deck.

Strengths

Agnes's Ability. This is what makes Agnes a killing machine, and to use it effectively, you must be able to take horror when you choose to. Forbidden Knowledge is the best way to do this, but Ward of Protection and the occasional Shrivelling get this done too. Fearless keeps you from actually going insane.

Laughing through Treachery Cards. Because many encounter cards test , they often glance off of her without really having an effect. Holy Rosary makes them matter even less. Something too scary? Ward of Protection. Drawn to the Flame hardly has a downside when you have this mental fortitude.

Weaknesses

Character Cards. Agnes's worst quality is her weakness, Dark Memory. It basically makes you lose a turn and can make you take some serious horror if you can't get it out. Always try and have a few resources laying around in case you draw it. Secondly, Heirloom of Hyperborea kinda sucks. Holy Rosary is a better accessory, so it's almost always better to commit to tests.

Staying Alive. Her somewhat low health and the fact that she deals horror to herself means that scenarios are gonna get dicey. With care, she can stay alive, but expect to get low. Leather Coat is critical.

Gameplay

Opening Hand and Turn One. Holy Rosary is top priority, especially once you add more cards that test . As the designated dispatcher of monsters, you will want either Baseball Bat or Shrivelling. Forbidden Knowledge is the most consistent way to trigger your ability when you want to, so keep that. Arcane Initiate is sometimes good early, depending on the scenario. More on that later. I would lead with Holy Rosary and Baseball Bat and then get to killing stuff.

Taking horror. Forbidden Knowledge is the best card to do this consistently in every phase. You can kill enemies before they attack even if you already used it during your turn! Ward of Protection can give your horror in Mythos phase if you need it, but you should save this for Ancient Evils if you can. Shrivelling can hit you during the investigator phase, along with opportunity attacks. Remember that if the horror you're taking can't damage a monster, put it on Arcane Initiate or Holy Rosary.

Killing stuff efficiently. Try to only use Baseball Bat and Shrivelling on things that have at least two health left. Shrivelling has four charges and Baseball Bat has an expected 4 uses before you have to discard it, so neither of them should be used on a little Swarm of Rats. Use your ability to finish off things with 1 health left or to do work on monsters, when possible.

Doom management. You do not want Arcane Initiate to make the agenda advance early, so I recommend playing it on the turn before the agenda would advance so it has no effect, or not playing it. You can also try and get it killed before the agenda would advance, but I find this annoying to coordinate. Also, it isn't as good until you add in some more spells.

Getting some clues. "Look what I found!" and Drawn to the Flame are fantastic for getting clues quick from locations that can't be investigated or Daisy is far away from, especially if there are no baddies to kill.

What is Out

Arcane Studies. You need your resources for more important things. Plus, you don't really need and your is already pretty good.

Blinding Light. While this is not played commonly, I wanted to take the time to say that the base Blinding Light is not worth it, but Blinding Light absolutely is. 1 damage is just not good enough.

Scrying. You will not want to use your valuable actions on this. Again, the upgrade fixes this issue.

Upgrades

(View at arkham-starter.com)

Adds. Blinding Light is the best way to add to Agnes's damage output and give her some extra combat options. Scrying is quite nice for preparing you for future turns and controlling your fate. Do not use this card on investigator decks, only the mythos deck! Lucky! and Emergency Cache are great to make sure your hand is staying full all the time.

Cuts. Agnes only runs so many skills because the core set doesn't have very many options for deck building. Guts and Overpower are worse than her other cards, so out they come.

My Upgraded Deck.

Why not add these cards?

Grotesque Statue. This is a staple of cards, why on earth isn't it here? While it is so nice to have, when Agnes is in charge of killing any scary monster, there really isn't room for anything other than Baseball Bat, which takes both hands. I tested Grotesque Statue for a while and it never worked smoothly because you must have a weapon. Very sad, I know.

Bulletproof Vest. This is not here because Leather Coat is. That card will keep you alive well enough. No need to spend experience.

Book of Shadows. This is not action efficient, it costs way too many resources, and you don't need an extra arcane slot. Pass.

Rite of Seeking. Honestly, this card is really good. If I was playing with any other investigator, I would add this, but I found that it costs a lot of resources to get out and my arcane slots are usually too busy Scrying and Shrivelling.

Conclusion

All things considered, these two were a fun little duo to mess around with. Give them a shot, they might surprise you. Have fun taking horror!