Здобуток. Рука

Предмет. Інструмент.

Cost: 2.

Нейтральний

Застосовність (3 запаси).

Витратьте 1 запас: Дослідження. У ващої локації -2 до мороку в цьому дослідженні.

Kip Ayers
Базовий набір #87.
Ліхтарик

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)
  • If you reduce shroud to 0, investigating this location will be successful even if you reveal a -8 token, because negative values are treated as 0, so your skill test result will match the test difficulty of 0. You can still fail if you reveal an auto-fail token though. (See Modifiers)
Last updated

Reviews

One of the best cards in the game on Expert. Flashlight is consistently very useful, so much so that I run it in the majority of my level 0 Expert decks.

The power of Flashlight lies in the fact that it can reduce test difficulty to 0, if it targets a 1 or 2 shroud location. That means every token except the autofail will succeed. Even the -8 is no threat! So Flashlight essentially equals three guaranteed clues from low-shroud locations. That's very strong.

The average token in the Expert chaos bag is usually somewhere between a -3 and -4, which means directly investigating a 2-shroud location with an Intellect value of less than 5 tends to go very poorly. Yes, you could just let the party's Seeker handle the low-shroud locations; but it's extremely useful for the non-Seekers to chip in with a few clues. The team can advance the Act deck far faster if the Seeker gets some help. Flashlight is one of the most reliable ways to provide that.

Flashlight does face competition from other cards that can help low-Intellect characters pick up clues, cards like Scene of the Crime or "Look what I found!". But it can get more clues than any one of these events, albeit at the cost of more actions.

In a pinch, of course, Flashlight can also be used on a 3+ shroud location to boost your odds of success. There its benefit is much less dramatic; and on Expert it's generally best to either a) cheat out clues from high-shroud locations or b) let the Seeker handle them. But sometimes you've got to improvise, and if you urgently need to crack a high-shroud location, Flashlight can certainly help.

A further benefit of Flashlight is that it stays in play when its charges are exhausted. This makes it useful fodder to protect your essential assets from the likes of Crypt Chill, Pushed into the Beyond, Corrosion, etc.

Three more synergies should be mentioned. First, Flashlight turns Double or Nothing into a de facto Deduction (if used on a low-shroud location), which is a very nice play. Second, Flashlight works very well in conjunction with "Look what I found!". Investigate a 3 or 4 shroud location with Flashlight and it is guaranteed that you will either succeed, or you will fail by 2 or less and be able to play "Look what I found!". Third, if your Seeker friend is running Arcane Insight, you can combine it with Flashlight to near-automatically crack 3-4 shroud locations, too.

So under what circumstances should a level 0 Expert deck not run Flashlight? The first is if you can't afford to give up a hand slot. This isn't often the case with level 0 decks, but maybe if you were really excited to run Baseball Bat, Flashlight would not work. Of course, XP increases the value of hand slots, and adding powerful two-handed assets like Lightning Gun may necessitate dropping Flashlight down the road.

Seekers can also often skip Flashlight. If you can investigate with a base Intellect of 6+ (as all Seeker builds should aim to do), and your class provides plenty of efficient ways to boost yourself further, Flashlight's ability to auto-succeed on 1-2 shroud locations ceases to be that significant. Flashlight still isn't terrible, as +2 to three investigate tests is a decent return, but it's no longer a game-changer. Seekers can generally find more efficient investigation boosts from their own class, and leave Flashlight to their teammates.

CaiusDrewart · 3094
It’s a also a great combo with deduction 2 and double or nothing at the same time. — Django · 5044
why should a 0 shroud location give an auto-success if you investigate in it? — lotus405 · 1
@lotus405 In the Modifiers section of the rules, it says that after all modifiers are added up on a skill test, any negative total is treated as zero, and you win a skill test on a tie. — Mogan · 1

TL:DR Grab Flashlight if your is low or mediocre, it's outright amazing solo but looses it's luster progressively with player count, it picks up again on hard and expert as a means to cheat low difficulty locations.

The ubiquitous Flashlight is at this point a legacy card, its one of the more decent cards in the core set, but it is a little specific.

When a difficulty test is (0) it's automatically passed regardless of what token you reveal (except if you get ), this means that a Flashlight outright wrecks easy locations, this is a good means for 1, 2 and 3 characters to help in the clue game. It has combo potential with some skills, netting you guaranteed hits with Double or Nothing, Deduction, Resourceful and so on.

In higher difficulty this ability to cheat some locations is even better, those -5's and -6's really don't impact you when everything but succeeds.

.

Flashlight isn't a must have though, when player count grows and the clues start getting placed in bulk Flashlight just doesn't cut it anymore. A solo character who is bad at clues might be able to finish 2 easy locations with just 1 flashlight, and cheat the hard locations with other tricks, in 3-player it'd only get you through one location! Of course if the full team is doing their thing then beating one location isn't terrible rate, but specialization is the name of the game in multiplayer and a fighter spending 4 actions, 2 resources and the card slot to beat a 1 or 2 difficulty location isn't the best use of his time at all.

That said, Flashlight isn't bad for flex characters in multiplayer, dudes like Roland Banks who can pretty even-handedly do clues and combat, Wendy Adams until she gets Lockpicks, Sefina Rousseau as a means to conserve Rite of Seeking charges.

It's a fine card, but it's definitely better on higher difficulties and lower player counts (ideally: Solo).

Tsuruki23 · 2515

Roland is a man who works alone,

and when hes searching a dark room,

or walking his dog out in the park,

when the light begins to change,

trying to see can be a pain

its hard to see things when its dark

Light up the dark, Light up the dark

Hes sure there's something useful somewhere fairly near

Light up the dark, Light up the daaa-ark

He uses his flashlight to find out what is over there!

StartWithTheName · 67855
Up the Irons!!! mhuahahahaha — Heyenzzz · 6900

Writing one serious review:

Solid card, should be a 2 of in any investigator's deck unless you're a dedicated these-hands-are-for-shotguns-only fighter, or Agnes who can't investigate her way out of a paper bag (and who's spells don't work with this action). Even when not being used to cheese the rules it can bring even terribly shrouded locations into acceptable investigation reach which is pretty nifty.

the FAQ bump says everything you need to know about playing this in higher difficulties. For 2r + 1action you get 3 clues off of 1 or 2 shroud locations, with the single token being the only exception. The value of this would be good if it was almost twice as costly on expert, where -4 is the average you're going to pull from the bag. This saves you actions and cards that you will need bumping tests elsewhere.

So stock up on batteries guys.

Difrakt · 1278
I think Pete might also be someone who doesn't really need these - Duke is likely to do all your investigating, and his ability doesn't stack with the Flashlight. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
And yet on Expert, where the Expected Value of the token modifier is -4, Duke himself does not quite cut it. On Expert, Flashlight is still a great choice for Pete! — Darthcaboose · 280
I am not sure why you say not use with Agnes? As I read it reducing Shroud would make it equally effective with all and combined with right of seeking very effective? — Stebb · 2
Yep, running Flashlight is a good idea for 2-intellect investigators like Agnes and Zoey. — CaiusDrewart · 3094
@Stebb Rite of Seeking can't be combined with flashlight — SerpentofSet · 1

There is a lot of writing on how good flashlight is at what it does, but I think it is critical to understand why flashlight is so good in a 'meta' sense to really start to understand Arkham as a game.

As one of my friends put it, "Someone who isn't normally expected to get clues successfully getting 2-3 clues is the difference between winning and losing a scenario in multiplayer"

Arkham, at its core, all about efficiently getting through the act deck, and while there are combat or movement focused acts, the overwhelming majority of scenarios are advanced primarily through investigation: you are, after all, an investigator.

So while a strong, two handed gun, or a deck with every card focused for tackling enemies and threats, is going to be very good at clearing those threats you face out fast, you need to ask yourself why you are removing threats. In general, killing enemies is done specifically to allow you to safely go get more clues. So if your just... not assisting with clues at all, it doesn't matter that you kill enemies twice as fast. Who cares that you killed a 3 health enemy in 1 action instead of 2 because you got rid of your .45 really early in a campaign, if you are going to spend every turn sharpening your sword and polishing your gun rather than using that action to actually help win the scenario?

This doesn't mean every deck needs flashlight: Mystic, Seekers, and arguably Rogues don't really need it usually. Survivors have other tools but often want Flashlight as well. But I see so many guardians falling for the trap option of being 'pure combat' and trying to take that entire dimension of the game on alone, and abandoning all else, and that is a huge mistake.

So Flashlight teaches us this: Your deck needs plans for things to do that actually help your team win the scenario, rather than just endlessly handling threats. Yes, even in 4 player multiplayer. Yes, even if you are Mark.

Killing enemies super efficiently isn't the same as cluvering really efficiently. A seeker, mystic, or rogue just nomming up clues faster than normal is helping the entire team get through the scenario faster, reducing the amoung of encounters everyone faces, and freeing up others to explore other easier locations, regain resources, or explore because they are 'overkilling' a location and gathering faster than normal.

But a fighter like Guardians or Survivors killing the maybe the small handful of 3 health enemies they face early on in a campaign doesn't help anyone else. It just helps that fighter, because no one else really cares how fast the enemy dies, just that it isn't attacking them while they seek out clues. Outside of bosses (who, again, you spend a minority of your time fighting so being a bit less efficient at that early is totally ok), doing lots of damage very fast only helps the team if you can, after efficiently killing something, go on to do other helpful things! So have tools to do other helpful things!

Those tools don't have to be Flashlight, and eventually you may need to leave it behind to get tools to deal with escalating threats, but you need to do more than slap two Evidence! or Look what I found into your deck and calling it a day even once you leave Flashlight behind. Almost every investigator has good options for replacing it, even if it as simple as getting a 'resources for stat boost' card that can boost your investigates.

dezzmont · 207
Hard disagree. Your role in a team depends on team composition, but in general specialization at higher player counts as a guardian is more effective than trying to also be able to flex investigate. You can contribute to clues, but your contribution should stop at Evidence! or Grete (3) rather than to keep a Flashlight and use a 1h weapon, or god forbid getting Keen Eye. If there isn't a threat on the board, fill your hand to get more commits, get more resources to play that Extra Ammunition, or play some Soothing Melodies to support your team. Trying to investigate by boosting Int on a Guardian is generally a poor use of actions and resources. — suika · 9370
And course it matters how fast the enemy dies. It means that, if you miss (because you inevitably will), you have another swing at it instead of having your Seeker waste their turn with a monster on them. It means that on a bad mythos and three enemies spawn, you can kill two with vicious blows while the rogue engages and evades the last one. It means that you have spare actions to follow your team around instead of lagging behind because it took you three actions to kill a monster. It means that if a monster spawns on your teamate 2 locations away, you can move x2 and kill it in a single round. This is why two-handed weapons are generally favored. — suika · 9370
Hawkeye is trash, and most guardians will either run Flashlight or some cross class stuff. — dezzmont · 207
Accidently hit enter: However, spending your entire game just building up ammo and drawing smashing blows makes you a huge dead weight in most scenarios. It is FAR PREFERABLE for you to invest time and resources into ending the scenario sooner than prepping for it to go longer. Yes, if you use a .45 or enchanted blade for scenario 2 you are gunna sometimes have to toss in an extra attack, or the seeker or rogue will have to use their combat tool to finish something off because you missed once in maybe 16 or, if your really struggling, one in 8 attacks. However, a seeker losing 1/8th an action in exchange for not having to spend TURNS going to a low shroud location to clear that out as well. By all means, don't feel obligated to stick to Timeworn Brand if the scenarios start tossing high HP at you, and for the love of god don't get hawkeye, but strongly consider skill boosts like Lucky! or Live and Learn on Tommy or Yorick, or using flashlight for the first few scenarios on Mark (who is, in fact, top tier specifically BECAUSE of his investigative power weirdly enough). People who are ONLY "Hitters" tend to be consistently be dead weight, and the difference between a good and bad guardian is being able to find the opening to snipe 3 clues to save a Seeker a 4 move tax. — dezzmont · 207
This difference only increases with XP. "Wasting" an action or two drawing cards when there's no enemies around doesn't cost you the game. On the other hand, enemies spawning on your teammates while you're split up from them and unable to get to them in time because you want to investigate another location can waste their entire turn, and considering how a typical seeker approximately 2x-3x as effective as getting clues as a guardian will be with, that will make a far greater difference. Arkham is a game of risk mitigation. The downside of the risk of having a monster spawn that you can't deal with far outweighs the downside of wasting a few actions when no enemies are around. — suika · 9370
It's not that you can't investigate or get clues as a guardian. Flashlight at 0xp is fine, and if needed you can use Evidence for its icons, Grete (3) is also a great card. However, that doesn't change the overall point that specialization as a guardian is more effective in the majority of 3-4 player teams, simply because of the power differential between 1h and 2h weapons. — suika · 9370
and the inability to effectively add action compression for investigate actions as a guardian. — suika · 9370
I had mainly played with 4 players on normal and in my experience every player should take some tools to get clues. With 4 players there are man 8 clues/ 2 shroud locations in every scenario and seekers are surpringly bad at getting more than one clue/action. So I think on lower difficulties it's always fine to help your seeker. — Tharzax · 1
I lean towards Suika on this one. I think the review dismisses way too easily the importance of enemy and encounter mitigation in multiplayer. First off, 2-3 clues is very rarely the difference between winning and losing in multiplayer because the doom clock is looser in higher counts, your Seeker/Cluever can spend the time getting the clues as long as they have an open path to do so. The challenge in high counts isn't action efficiency, it's encounter survival. As a fighter, you care very much about spending time "sharpening your weapons" because you don't want a potential draw of 4 enemies in a single round to end one of your investigators. The goal is momentum, not steamrolling. — StyxTBeuford · 12972
I mean even just looking at it from an efficiency standpoint, a Flashlight is at best 3 clues for 4 actions assuming all those actions succeed (which in fairness they typically do). Very good in solo where most locations only have one clue, and obviously for low in gators especially who don't investigate so well with Mag Glass. But 3 clues is at best 3/4 of a location's worth of clues in 4 player, or a full location in 3 player, with many locations being double that number of clues. — StyxTBeuford · 12972
I also agree with Suika here. I have played many 4-player campaigns with friends, and after all this time the best resolution was making highly specialized cluever-fighter pairs, where cluever was able to consistently investigate at least 4 clues per turn (not counting movement) and fighter was able to deal (also consistently) 6+ damage per turn. In my opinion, ideally, there is no place for any clue cards for fighters in multi. — error · 34