Brother Xavier

The soak ally. He soaks for you, he soaks for others. The willpower doesn't hurt, but he's honestly too expensive for that and the ally slot without charisma too valuable. You should try Police Badge and Bandolier before playing xavier for the +1

If you want to aggressively keep the map free from enemies, you should look for allies in the local police station.

As a defensive card in a slot important for the offensive, he is probably preferred over Beat Cop(2) only by Diana Stanley and Carolyn Fern, who likely do not want the +1.

Mataza · 19
The real reason you play him is the 2 damage on kill. Some Guardians have good enough economy to play him reliably (Zoey and Tommy especially), while others will take him on high difficulties just for the testless damage. — StyxTBeuford · 13050
Beat Cops do testless damage better. They're cheaper, buff a relevant stat, and don't need to die. I ran both in a hard campaign — Mataza · 19
Yeah was gonna say, you would often take both I think. — StyxTBeuford · 13050
After using upgraded beat cop calling in favors for Xavier? — Django · 5163
Hatchet Man

Hatchet Man is useful in two scenarios not listed here: you have Delilah O’Rourke, or your fellow investigators include Rita Young. Card might as well say “for 0 actions, your pal does plus one damage.” Not essential, but in a combat heavy scenario this can help. You could also boost your sneak attack. Perhaps the greatest beneficiary would be Winifred , who already has the dexterity to evade things and loves adding skill cards to tests. And only a daredevil would have the guts to lather up an O’Bannion.

MrGoldbee · 1492
End of turn, not end of phase. This only works with Rita if she actually Versatile’d in the card to her deck. — StyxTBeuford · 13050
Someone else can commit it to Rita's evasion attempt and it will get its trigger. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
TheNameWasTaken is right! — MrGoldbee · 1492
Oh yeah that’s fair. — StyxTBeuford · 13050
Rise to the Occasion

This is like doping but it's legal.

For this skill card, is the minimum. And all it asks of you is to be utterly screwed, which is like the core mechanic of the game. If you are really out of your element, it gives you

Say, a guardian friend is about to Teamwork all his possessions away, drench himself in ketchup and throw himself at the abominable monstrosities to buy your team one or 2 more turns. Now you're a low combat survivor with a Shotgun. Enter this card. You're at least 5 over the next fight test. 2 above the enemies fight value from rise of the occasion and 3 more from the shotgun itself(Well in theory. Who plays teamwork and shotgun?)

Either way, if you played Arkham and lost a scenario or three, you'll know what it's like when the situation goes totally out of control. Last clue location got Obscuring Fog; Vast Expanse threatens to drive you insane; one enemy too many spawned and needs to be exhausted with evasion; when the situation goes tits up, you just have Rise to the Occasion.

Mataza · 19
yeah, this card is really good! just looking at it, it seems like why would you be doing a test that you're not good at, but it actually happens all the time! — Zinjanthropus · 230
I honestly am not a fan of this card most of the time, but it’s super valuable with Calvin. This count base value, and all of Calvin’s base values are 0, so this can often be 5 pips (any 3 or higher difficulty test). So 5 plus your modified skill value (eg damage or horror and other boosts). — StyxTBeuford · 13050
Warning Shot

If you don’t actually need to defeat enemies as a guardian, this opens up a lot of opportunities. Roland and boxing gloves Nathaniel only benefit from the first foe they beat a round. Zoey, Mark, and other people with access to this card but don’t have evidence in their hand...this is a testless, room wide evade. Sending someone to an empty room is the equivalent to a defeat if the enemy isn’t a hunter. Unfortunately, unless you can recover events, you only get two attempts at this on your deck... but for Zoey, it means you can farm the same enemies for engagement, getting paid each time.

If you have a particularly rough enemy you can’t defeat in two attacks, but have a nearby investigator who hasn’t attacked...Send them over.

MrGoldbee · 1492
It’s also great in FA to get rid of some non hunter vengeance vipers — Django · 5163
It's MVP in TFA. — MrGoldbee · 1492
Colt Vest Pocket

Typical combo card. If this doesn't make you want to build a Rube Goldberg machine to extract the maximum value out of it, this is probably not meant for you.

On a less judgy note, I would guess you want an investigator with 4 or 5 to make this funny complicated Not-.45 Automatic/Not-.32 Colt work. That would suggest Tony, Leo or Zoey. Possibly Dexter just for his ability to get it out with the text on the front of his card. Either way, I know you can increase your number of actions per turn to 5 or more, but I don't know of a way to get access to cards like Will to Survive along with Cold Vest Pocket. Sadly, I prefer my cards to be humorless and efficient.

Mataza · 19
Dexter... Leo do Luca... Ace in the Hole... Haste... Pay Day...Quick Thinking. You could combo this to huge effect. That'd be great fun. — acotgreave · 887
As far as Will to Survive is concerned, you could actually run CVP in Wendy with Fight or Flight or Trial by Fire. She can definitely get a few extra actions and Sleight of Hand, as well. It probably wouldn't be a good deck, but it is an option. — Zinjanthropus · 230
This card is just waiting for a card that let's you switch ammo between weapons. — nungunungu · 4
You can with very little effort get all 5 shots in as Tony. The real problem isnt actions, it’s finding enough targets to where you can actually get all 5 shots. It’s a great multiplayer emergency weapon for Tony. — StyxTBeuford · 13050
Maybe it would combo with Eat Lead. You could compensate a little bit for the unimpressive +1 combat that it gives you by fishing for a good token. — Zinjanthropus · 230
Ooh, you could bring this out fast with Joey the Rat Vigil! The 3xp version could even discard it before it discards itself! — Zinjanthropus · 230