LF The Hermit Tarot Tips and Tricks

[V-Rabb [StD]]

I've ground my way to Lunar Druid on Bjorn - and I've managed to make my way to the Mite in Act 2 through an act of God.

Taking 3x damage in Lycan Form is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ brutal in Act 1 - does anyone have tips/suggestions on how to proceed?

[Helsgarde]

Literally just did this one. This one felt really brutal compared to 8 tarot other cards that I've done so far, not sure why the downside for Lycan had to be 3x damage considering you already do half damage in elf form. Definitely felt a little too RNG dependent, but I don't have much experience with Bjorn because of how much I hate his gameplay loop during early game.

Surviving act 1 it felt like you really need actual healing ASAP. Took me 3 tries to get through it. I managed it with a couple of those cards that heal 10 on use (20 if upgraded) on his 2nd class. Upgrade basic attacks for additional healing/spirit/bleeding. Although, Spirit and balm feel a little too slow for how fast damage is coming in. Boar leg is really useful, troll claws, etc.

Actually beating the run I got the crystal item from the druid boss (steady healing, strength, balm), one of the cards that lets you shapeshift on demand to avoid getting one shotted (upgraded to cost 0), and getting a heal/balm card (was healing me for 78hp and 8 balm) from the court mage. Notably, I didn't get the prophecy item/boost which probably would have also helped. Most of my damage came from the talent card that bleeds on hit until I managed to get a decent amount of strength.

Card draw is really important as well in order to make sure you can always shapeshift on demand in either direction. Base 4 card draw is not enough to ensure you are not left in lycan form in a bad situation. Even 5 is pushing it if you get a bad set of cards not letting you use up all your energy. There was a talent card that gives you 1/2 card draw for 1/2 hp per turn, potion that gives +2 card draw useful for final fights, etc.

Hope that helps, good luck.

[Tozobi]

I've done all of Persival's cards, and the first two for Vanadis, but I am also stuck on this one. The updates to Bjorn make him fun to play in normal runs, unlike how tedious he was at launch. But this particular Tarot is just dubious design, I'm sorry to say. He is already RNG reliant, the idea of getting triple damage on werewolf form AND half damage on normal form makes it entirely unmanageable, unless you are really lucky with both RNG and drops. Even the Emperor card which was the only other tedious card out of the lot was not nearly as bad. It just prevented you from overplanning with random discards, but at least you could build around it with default cards without relying on RNG - e.g knight with "draw 1" upgrades on as many cards as possible.
Furthest I've done with Hermit is Sigismund where I lucked out on the block +1 STR armour on damage + the dwarf head trophy that drains strength. This is too overtuned and needs rebalancing.
I love the base game, and most of the Tarots were fun, as they added new things, and forced you to think in new ways to beat runs. But his one? Unless you get RNJesus to the rescue, you have zero chance. And I have even brute forced 2-3 Persival runs while ignoring prophecies.

The advice on the previous post is perfectly valid, but we're talking about stars aligning to get the required cards, or even potions from merchants.

[thefollowingcharacters]

Have you done all the challenges with him? They seem like they would help a lot.

[Azure-Ghost]

Don't forget about beast cards (there are way to few of those though, and the one that copies itself on play is sort of a trap), they get returned to your hand whenever you enter beast mode, so they can be useful to get enough energy usage to leave the mode quickly again.

[Tozobi]

Well, I did complete it eventually, and it was quite easy. But the only reason it was easy was luck of the draw. I quite literally got every piece of equipment and the total elimination card early on, and steamrolled everything. But i still think it should be rebalanced. RNG is standard fare for card battlers, but adding punitive measures to the most RNG reliant character is a bit off. Perhaps if the final trinket reward for the prophecy would show up earlier, it would be a different story altogether, as it does indeed eliminate the problem.

Thing is, you get it on the very last map shortly before the final boss fight.