How the Dragoon made me love the Archer

[Meeky]

When I first started playing One Deck Dungeon, I found that I liked all the characters a lot. The Rogue and Paladin felt like a natural pairing, and I had a lot of fun with them. The Mage and Warrior I picked up a little more slowly, but by then I was getting a good grasp of the game. I got a chance to try out expansion characters next, and before long I felt like I had at least some basic understanding of how everyone played. There were a couple characters that felt above and beyond the others in power (looking at you, Mist and Alchemist), but overall I found every character had a place, and realized that with a little clever planning and just the slightest dose of luck you could beat virtually any challenge in the game provided you followed your order of operations properly.

That is, I felt you could do that with everyone except the Archer.

Don't get me wrong: I don't think the Archer is impossible to win with. I definitely don't think that now, at the very least. But I had tried the Archer several times, both solo and as a paired character, and no matter how I played her I felt she was lackluster. "What does she really do that others can't do better?" I'd ask. "Why should I even bother with her? She's not as tough as the Warrior, she wastes so much time to use her Heroic Feat, and overall just falls behind other characters." That was how I felt, and I continued to feel that way about her for a very long time.

Fast forward to the release of the Abyssal Depths. I experimented with the extra enemies a couple times and had fun with them. I found the characters to be interesting, though I haven't really explored the Hydromancer yet. However, I did give the Dragoon a good, long look, and I thought: "Wow, she looks pretty good. I want to give her a try." But I was debating who to pair her with.

I cannot say exactly why I picked the Archer as her partner. Honestly, the exact moment I made that decision escapes me for the most part. What I do remember was I had thought at the time that the Archer would be the weak link and would drag the Dragoon down. But I figured, hey, maybe the Dragoon will let me actually get some achievements with the Archer! That could be nice.

I did not expect to find the power combo that I did.

The Dragoon

I feel it's best to start with discussing the Dragoon. At first glance, she was everything I liked about a character. As a duo character, she has 3 yellow dice, which makes her pretty specialized. Paired with another specialist character that covers her weaknesses, 3 yellow dice lets her reliably hit strength-based challenges. It also opens up a lot of my favorite skills. She also has a single blue die, and since magic is tied for my favorite die color along with yellow, I figured she was overall weighted in a way I would enjoy.

Second, her Heroic Feat, Stalwart, is nothing short of fantastic. It starts the game off weak, as it depends on the player having dice left over to come online, but once online it's more than feasible to roll that ability every single encounter. It's really quite potent, and with some mastery of order of operations you can ensure that it's always loaded with a pair of black dice, or at least one black die and something else. But you need someone that can help her get to that point. We'll talk about that later.

Her other ability, Forked Strike, had me less enthused. I reckoned it was good for generating low dice to spend on other abilities. That isn't a bad thing, but it takes the sacrifice of a 4 die to use it. Sure, you get a total value of 5 out of the new dice, but a 2, 2, and a 1 only really feels useful once you've got some abilities that need fuel. Again, it seemed like a solid late game ability, but an absolutely weak early game ability. At least, that was my first impression.

Finally, the Dragoon has +1 extra health. That's just a nice, handy bonus, much the same as what the Warrior offers. I sure won't say no to that!

So, having assessed her, I looked at her partner...

The Archer

In comparison, the Archer offers a lot less at face value. Her Duo version has Eagle Eye, which lets her spend 2 time to roll 2 black dice and drop the lowest. It's... an okay ability. While it might look good, my past experiences had at that point make me value it very poorly. Time is a precious resource, and you can't go wasting it on *maybe* getting a decent roll. Even worse was the prospect of overshooting on my die rolls and not having needed the Eagle Eye boost in the first place. I figured I wouldn't use it much with this build.

Now, Combined Shot had me a little more intrigued. The Archer can boost an ally's yellow die by 1. That's it. Now, I know it doesn't sound like much, and I'll admit I didn't think much of it at the time, but this simple little ability would become one of the lynchpins of my build. I just figured it might let me turn one of those yellow 2's into a 3, which has a bit more use. Yeah, I thought, that's about all it will do, but maybe that's enough!

As for her stats, the Archer has 2 pink dice, 1 yellow die, and 1 blue die. When combined with the Dragoon, this meant my total starting dice pool was going to be 4/2/2, which in my eyes is a good array. It means I can reliably go after Yellow challenges and still have a chance to contend with anything pink or blue dice. I especially was interested in using those 4 dice to get an early head start vs. a good chunk of the traps. So long as I could find something yellow, I reckoned, I'd do well.

Then My Jaw Dropped

I did a simple test run against the Dragon on Veteran. Nothing fancy, but I was surprised at how easy the run felt. So, I went ahead and did another run, and... that one felt easy too. The pair was working together really, really naturally.

See, the best pairs I've ever run had been some combination of Mist + Warden, or Mist + Alchemist. Honestly, Mist is just fairly broken. It's braindead easy to just vomit a bunch of spells onto the board, then vomit them again. I'd gotten my first Fearless Gauntlet 5 mission victory with such a pair, and I didn't think I'd ever have so easy and natural a time as I did with them.

But... the Dragoon and the Archer felt like they had the makings of such a power couple.

You see, as weak as the Archer was in other pairs and solo, I found she had everything the Dragoon needed in an ally. Her Eagle Eye ability gave her impressive early game potential since it was usable on both traps and in combats. She could win early challenges, and she could win them hard. It cost a little time, but it allowed the Dragoon to power up.

More than that, one of the big downsides of Eagle Eye - the possibility of overestimating how much power you need for a fight and wasting time needlessly - was fairly muted with the Dragoon around. Remember how the Dragoon can store dice with Stalwart? Well, if you overestimate what you need with Eagle Eye, the Dragoon can put dice of her own away, and with some order of operations manipulation you can almost guarantee it's black dice she's stowing for a rainy day. Then the next encounter comes around and you have the Dragoon roll those dice, and if you overshoot she puts them back away. In short, I found I only needed to use Eagle Eye at the beginning of the dungeon, and then maybe a time or two after that. By and large, it was just the initial kindling for the Dragoon's fire, and it worked dang well in that capacity.

Combined Shot, too, turned out to be far more useful than I had originally thought it would be. See, something clicked once I picked up the Veteran ability from the Basic tree. Double Strike took one yellow die of any size and turned it into two yellow 3s. With the Dragoon's Forked Strike ability and the Archer's Combined Shot ability, I was able to pull off such weird combos as...

• 4 yellow > turn into 1/2/2 > turn the 1 into 3/3 > combined shot to make the 3 into a 4 > end with 4/2/2
  
• 4 yellow > turn into 1/2/2 > turn the 1 into 3/3 > combined shot to make the 1 into a 2 > end with 3/3/2
  
• 3 yellow > turn into a 4 > split into 1/2/2 for spending

And as I'd go into a dungeon, I'd get more and more ways to use these dice. And of course I had extra dice to convert into black dice, which I could shove at the Dragoon to save for later, or use to fuel either character's other abilities. And if I didn't use Combined Shot for anything combo-related, I could use it to turn a 5 yellow into a 6, or a 4 into a 5... you get the idea. Combined Shot was paying dividends, and with this build was super flexible.

For the Archer, I snagged Precision. It just made sense. She would focus on carrying a bunch of pink items and pink skills, and Precision could be used to turn small dice into bigger dice. And the more I used her, the more I realized the Archer was just as vital to this power couple as her companion. And I'd used to HATE the Archer!

In fact, I was enjoying the pair so much, I decided to go ahead and tackle another Fearless Gauntlet. I mean... why not, right? It'd be a good test of their endurance.

They beat the Forest of Fear Fearless Gauntlet in 5 missions.

The Gauntlet

It wasn't a road without any bumps, mind you. The Archer and the Dragoon had their first big challenge when they went up against the Poison Elemental. They'd taken on the Mud Golem with basically no danger at all; piece of cake. But the Poison Elemental, that was another story entirely.

Things started off bad. I got really unlucky early on in the adventure (a combination of really challenging encounters + bad die rolls right out the gate), and both of them had been hit with lots of poison. They'd be stuck with about 4-6 stacks of poison for almost the entirety of the dungeon run, and in Realm of Venom that's a horrible, horrible position to be in.

The two adventurers teetered on the brink of collapse multiple times, often with just 1 life point separating them from defeat. But funnily enough, the very thing that made the Archer's Eagle Eye power so disdainful to me before became a saving grace here. She could burn time on purpose. Poison only gets rolled when you explore. So, if I was on a floor where I knew I'd only reveal, say, a single room or maybe two by exploring before I had to go down to the next floor, I could purposely burn some time so as to not have to explore an extra time, thereby limiting the amount of poison endured. It meant I had to carefully balance what I used my potions on (Cure + Aid) and where I got my levels, and it meant I had to power through any and all challenges that had potions as a reward to have a chance to survive, but... it worked. Somehow, toward the end of the third level, I managed to bring the party's poison back down to manageable levels, and they were able to defeat the Poison Elemental despite their wounds.

I was able to beat the tar out of the Corrupted Tree. Not much needs be said about that adventure. Like the Mud Golem, it was just a way to get quick and easy points. That allowed my characters to take on one of the two big bosses: the Fire Giant and Indrax.

My Archer at this point had mostly developed the Healing tree, and the Dragoon had leveled up Savvy. The Fire Giant, I decided, was going to be their next target. And, surprisingly, the Archer was once again pivotal to winning this encounter.

The Fire Giant's ability to exile dice has always made him a bit of a problem enemy for me since my strategy normally revolves around staying on floors as long as possible and exploring as much as possible and getting into as many encounters as possible. The Fire Giant forces you to push ahead. No waiting; no lollygagging; hurry up before your dice burn all around you! Needless to say, he's far from the easiest enemy for me to go up against.

But the Archer is tailor-made to deal with him. She can waste Time, which means she can inherently limit the amount of time you spend on a floor, meaning she avoids having too many dice get exiled simply by not doing as much on a given floor. Her greatest weakness become her greatest strength. I'll admit that the dungeon was a little tense, but by virtue of being wasteful, the Archer was able to give me a victory that felt... well, easy. Fighting the Fire Giant was far less difficult than I had expected it to be.

As far as Indrax goes, let's just say that after the Poison Elemental and the Fire Giant he was entirely underwhelming to go up against. The power couple got a victory over him, and with just 5 runs got me a happy little achievement I hadn't gotten for the Forest of Fear before.

Why I Bothered to Write This

I feel like One Deck Dungeon, as simple as it is, is a game that somehow continues to surprise me. By now I know the mechanics in and out, or at least I think I do. There's a few things I still need to explore in detail (the Fiends, the Witch, the Slayer, Fanatic), but every time I come back to this game I find myself noticing little quirks about the gameplay, or looking at a character I didn't like before in a new light.

The Archer is a character I had given up on. I had written her off as just, well, awful. I think I just didn't understand how to use her, and who to pair her with, and etc. But now that I've used her in a duo with the Dragoon, I can't help but find her incredibly versatile.

So, really, I just wanted to write about this because I never thought I'd see a day when I'd love this character, but now I do. It was a fun journey, but I have a power couple that doesn't include Mist now, and I'm excited to try to find the next power pair.

Or... maybe I should try a few more solo characters. Either way, thank you for listening to my TED Talk!

[Palarran]

I think what you experienced is less a result of Archer being a good match for Dragoon, and more that Dragoon is an unusually strong partner for *anyone*.

For your next power duo, I'd like to suggest Aquamancer + Dragoon, currently my favorite duo that does not include Mist. Aquamancer gets 4 black dice at the start of each floor for free, which can be used to smooth out the early game in much the same way as Archer but without the time cost, while Dragoon carries the team through the rest of the game. Aquamancer also gets a free black die on every Peril; abilities that make Perils easier are rare.

Consider Warden as a drop-in replacement for Dragoon too (so maybe try Aquamancer + Warden instead); Warden has the same starting dice as Dragoon and has a heroic ability that similarly provides a steady stream of black dice. Or consider Aquamancer + Slayer, as Slayer's heroic ability also provides many black dice over the course of a game. These heroic abilities make quite a difference in success rate; between Dragoon, Warden, Slayer, and Aquamancer I have a combined total of 3 losses.

You make a good point about Archer deliberately wasting Time against the Fire Giant, but I've never had much difficulty spending Time with any other character. Fleeing encounters before re-entering, along with deliberately leaving a few boxes unfilled, is normally enough to allow me to explore only once on the third floor.

Also, consider having Dragoon specialize in Combat. Fortitude pairs nicely with Forked Strike: you can use Forked Strike on a 4+ yellow, turning it into a 1 yellow and a 2 yellow, both of which may then be rerolled with Fortitude, plus an additional 2 yellow for the other character.

[Meeky]

Originally posted by Palarran:

You make a good point about Archer deliberately wasting Time against the Fire Giant, but I've never had much difficulty spending Time with any other character. Fleeing encounters before re-entering, along with deliberately leaving a few boxes unfilled, is normally enough to allow me to explore only once on the third floor.

I wanted to quote this part in particular because while it's possible to deliberately leave boxes unfilled (which I did) and to flee encounters in order to re-enter them later, the Archer gives you even more capacity when you're set and ready to go to just get to the Fire Giant without a problem. Moreover, you get rewarded for doing so (extra dice), so it definitely feels nice.

The Archer overall is not a favorite hero of mine, though I have learned to appreciate her more now. I still love the Warden, and Mist is top tier period, though the Dragoon... yeah, she's definitely competing with Mist for top tier.

Originally posted by Palarran:

Consider Warden as a drop-in replacement for Dragoon too (so maybe try Aquamancer + Warden instead); Warden has the same starting dice as Dragoon and has a heroic ability that similarly provides a steady stream of black dice. Or consider Aquamancer + Slayer, as Slayer's heroic ability also provides many black dice over the course of a game. These heroic abilities make quite a difference in success rate; between Dragoon, Warden, Slayer, and Aquamancer I have a combined total of 3 losses.

I'm super familiar with the Warden! Easily one of my favorite characters, has really sustainable gameplay if she or the other hero partnered with her has Awareness. Bandages from Awareness + Warden's Knowledge = a really easy way to generate a constant stream of healing while also always fueling the Warden! You just have to replace items constantly. Bonus points if you're dealing with the Forest deck.

---

As an aside, I rolled some dice to randomly determine who I'd be doing my next Fearless Gauntlet run with. I got Archer and Witch. Now, *that* pair I expect to suffer terrible pain with. I beat the Dragon in a single go, but I'm not sure how they'll fair once I get to the Lich and the Yeti.

If I CAN pull off a flawless Fearless gauntlet victory with Archer + Witch, I will be VERY happy!

EDIT: OH! I forgot to quote one last part...

Originally posted by Palarran:

Also, consider having Dragoon specialize in Combat. Fortitude pairs nicely with Forked Strike: you can use Forked Strike on a 4+ yellow, turning it into a 1 yellow and a 2 yellow, both of which may then be rerolled with Fortitude, plus an additional 2 yellow for the other character.

This definitely sounds efficient! I think that's a good alternative to taking Second Strike as your basic skill. I feel like I'd do one or the other rather than both, of course; Second Strike would feel redundant with the rerolls. But that gives the potential to get something massive thanks to Fortitude.