Except for the rare direct horror effects, soak is equivalent to healing in most cases (exceptions: Carolyn & Agnes). Most classes have excellent options for horror soak at 0xp, either as allies or accessory slots. Even if the slot was previously contested, Relic Hunter and Charisma frees it right up at the 3xp cost.
Guardians have Something Worth Fighting For and Hallowed Mirror as the premier options, and spending 3xp to draw a card is probably not the best idea for such an XP hungry faction. Survivors have Cherished Keepsake and Peter Sylvestre. Seekers have their pick of disposable allies and Logical Reasoning. Mystics have the same, along with Rosaries, Keys, Fearless, and Deny Existence.
Rogues need horror soak or healing the most, and have the least options for it. There's Lonnie Ritter and Gregory Gry, both of which are only semi-disposable. Moment of Respite edges Lonnie out at 1 more draw for 1 less resource, and while Lonnie can soak damage as well, Rogues usually has that covered with Leather Coat and good . Greg covers 1 less horror, and though he can breakeven his own cost eventually, using him as a horror soak means that he usually won't live long enough to do so. Rogues also love their accessories, precluding something like an Elder Sign Amulet, and drinking their problems away takes quite a few more actions.
So for Rogues, Moment of Respite is the best horror heal/soak they have without going out of faction. In a pinch, they can even Double it!. Though it's still far from an auto-include: taking horror doesn't lose you the game unless you take too much horror. But if you've taken a trauma or two, or are about to face down the Rougarou, keep Moment of Respite in mind.
For 3 bucks & 3XP tho?
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MrGoldbee
· 1520
Yeah this is horrifically expensive horror heal. I’ve not taken this card even in the most sanity lacking rogues.
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StyxTBeuford
· 13083
Try a single copy on Winifred and parallel Skids, who have no other good solution to horror, cycles rapidly, have no problems with economy, and a relatively XP-lite core. Other than that, it works decently on Preston and Finn if they aren't taking BMOC for some reason (mostly because some other investigator is using it).
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suika
· 9556
I was considering this, but in the end did not take it on Winifred either, even when I got her to 5 mental traumata. In the end, I took two copies of "Liquid Courage" (1). It was not really fun to play her that way and we lost the campaign, but I stayed sane until the end. I hard mulliganed every game for either LC, an ally or the "Gold Pocket Watch", because I knew, every mythos phase can likely be my last otherwise. I did not have "You handle this one", and this was probably my biggest mistake with her.
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Susumu
· 385
Yeah to be fully honest, I think even Rogues have better means of handling encounters and horror than this card, and I wouldn’t even include liquid courage in that discussion. Wini has great draw and has a tendency to play up her willpower more than other low will gators (since she likes to commit 2 cards anyway). Preston is a fair shout for this card but even there I think you have plenty of good options in Survivor that work more effectively for less XP, like Devil’s Luck.
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StyxTBeuford
· 13083
Forgot to clarify- Wini’s high draw means she can play all of her allies more readily, so she always has soak. I find Charisma to be a better investment for mitigating sanity.
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StyxTBeuford
· 13083
Her high draw still can be still not enough, if she doesn't find an Ally early. In "Rougarou" I draw a willpower treachery (Ripples on the Surface) in first and second mythos phase, 6 horror, game over for me, no chance to get any kind of soak before. I still waited a few more traumata (probably to many) until I bought into LC. I guess, I could instead have invested into 6 or 8 allies too, to reliably draw one into the starting hand. But paying 5 for a Leo, just to dodge a "Rotting Remains" seems also too expensive for me.
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Susumu
· 385
Wini’s stats, if you build her lean enough and with enough skills, are more like 3/5/5/7 since you can realistically commit 2 to every single test. Between LCC and a few cantrip skills, she should chew through her deck early enough that either one of sanity or willpower shouldn’t be a problem. Charisma is my go to when all else fails, and it is my main method of dealing with Tony’s low will and sanity. Of all the Rogues, Tony struggles the most with his sanity since his card access and fight focus make him more vulnerable.
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StyxTBeuford
· 13083
Limited* card access, though worth noting Seeker Tony gets Logical Reasoning and Survivor gets Devil’s Luck as well.
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StyxTBeuford
· 13083
I got through my deck most games, except Rougarou of course. I probably had not enought wilds (and only 4 will-pips: 2x LCC and 2x Crystalliser) to relyably get will to 3, though. This was my final deck: https://arkhamdb.com/deck/view/1122501 I wanted to try out a Trick/Taktic-deck with Chuck, and this excludes pretty much will-pips. He is much better for Sefina in my experience, but I also enjoyed playing Sef more than Wini.
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Susumu
· 385
Well not quite, "Watch this" also had a Willpower-pip. But this would have been weird to put on a will-test for WIni. And of course, "Liquit Courage, once I got it, but that was of course not for committing. :)
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Susumu
· 385
Winifred getting to 3 will after committing cards is still not a good place to be when testing vs DC 3/4 treacheries, and downright terrible on Hard/Expert unless you have Sure Gamble in hand. Tony's mostly fine without MoR since he almost always runs Lonnie Ritter, Pipe + Jacket + Lonnie is usually all the soak he needs, enough that MoR is a luxury upgrade for him.
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suika
· 9556
If you're considering 2x LC (1) + Charisma just to play a soak ally...just get 2x MoR. It's only 1 xp more, and much more action/card/resource efficient.
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suika
· 9556
I dont think Liquid Courage is worthwhile, but Charisma definitely is. You dont get Charisma just for the soak- Rogue allies are some of the best in the game. Naturally leaning into them is easy, and they come with soak conveniently.
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StyxTBeuford
· 13083
I sure didn't have enough soak with her. I started with Lonnie, who was just to expensive, in particular, because Ididn't need her fist in my weaponless build and I draw "The Tower" as my RBW. I hardly ever played her, and soon exchanged her to get one, then 2 Chucks as my only ally. LC was never something, I was planning for. Just, what I used, when I started each game with 3 remaining sanity. And it worked quite well for me. Sure, I needed an additional equipment round just to heal a bit, but that was OK in 4 players, as the others could cover me in the meantime, and I had the rest of the game to contribute. Better, then inevitably die in first or second mythos phase. I stil got my 5th mentl trauma afterwards, but that was near the end of "City of Archives", when we already were in last act. Rather funny situation: I earlier cleared a 2 VP location ad was about to die due to the horroro from second reshuffle of the deck. We had to draw more cards, than I had remaining in the deck to progress the act, so I went back to this location, because there was an option to reshuffle the discard into the deck. Well, of course I draw "Rotting Remains", while I was there, so all I gained was loosing us the XP again, I previously unlocked. I sure made some mistakes in my build, and there were severa unfortunate draws as well, yet I think, LC (1) was not the worst idea I had, at least not in a 4 player game. In solo, I probably would have opt out for MoR instead. But I agree with suika: pushing Wini up to 3 on willpower-tests seems not great to me, at least not spending preciouse wilds. If I had my second LCC and my second CoD in hand: sure I did this. It might at least save me one or two horrors, and draw me a card.
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Susumu
· 385
Another reason, why I considered LC (1): I kind of hoped, that I might get rid of "The Tower" with it. Well, that worked out maybe once. My hand was always so big, that I had to get lucky on this.
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Susumu
· 385
Yep, rogue allies are great for loads of stuff. Taking horror for you isn't exactly one of their strengths though. You really don't want to soak more than 1 horror on Leo de Luca or Lola or Chuck unless you're about to be defeated. As for the two allies who can repeatedly take horror for you, see the review above this hilariously long comment chain.
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suika
· 9556
I think, there are more: "Treasure Hunter" and "Priest of Two Faiths" are pobably the most likely usable as pure "brain shield". However, if I do such a low sanity rogue investigator again, I'm most inclined to try Tony with the Lonnie, Pipe and Jacket combo you suggested, also because I thin
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Susumu
· 385
(accidentally posted) ... also, because I want to try out some rogue weapons for once, and I suppose, most other rogues with low to average fight stats arn't that great with them.
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Susumu
· 385
I would also agree that it's not really (usually) worth committing up to 3 willpower in Wini. You just get the one draw, so it's a good way to burn through all of your wild icons, which could be used for actually productive stuff. Exception would be if you're running pre-taboo All In or possibly Pickpocketing (2), because you never run out of cards, that way. I have considered MoR, but it never quite makes the cut. I usually don't find that I get defeated before winning scenarios, though. There are only so many wp tests. Charisma highly recommended to get a little extra sanity buffer.
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Zinjanthropus
· 233
