Character Guide: Harsk

[jolyonb]

Time to do another character. This time, I'm going to split the guide over a few posts, instead of having one long unwieldy post. As always, please feel free to post suggestions, and I'll add them to the guide.

 

General Notes

Harsk is the ranger of the party, and wins all of the team player awards. He tends not to shower himself in glory, and likes being left alone for the most part. His most important ability is to snipe in on other character's combats, and will often end up dumping almost his whole hand to do so. His personal explore rate tends to be somewhat low, because he's already used most of his hand helping everybody else. You'll probably find that by the time it gets to his turn, his hand will be empty. And that's perfectly OK. When only one location is unclosed and you have the time, you'll often plonk him down in a closed location, just so he can help somebody else out against the villain.

 

Because Harsk can only help when he's at a different location to the combat in question, he'll tend to be alone on the map. To make the most of his contributions to the party, make sure that he actually has a party: give him at least a couple of other characters for company. As he can't help himself with his best power, he tends not to do so well going it alone.

Edited December 3, 2016 by jolyonb

[jolyonb]

Skills

 

Str: d6

Dex: d8 (Ranged +3)

Con: d12 (Fortitude +2)

Int: d6

Wis: d6 (Perception +2, Survival +2)

Cha: d4

 

Harsk is a ranged weapon user. d8+3, while not able to get to 12, has an average of 7.5, which beats out Meri's 6.5 on a raw d12, and the spread is smaller, meaning that you can be more confident of making most checks. So, start out by bumping Dex 4 notches to help with those combat checks. Afterwards, I like bumping wisdom so that your perception and survival skills get a bit of a boost. If you decide to give Harsk the Divine skill, it will help out there too.

Edited December 3, 2016 by jolyonb

[jolyonb]

Powers

Hand Size: Starts at 5, up to 6. Worth getting to 6 at some point.

 

Proficiency with weapons and light armor. Nothing to select here.

 

Scout ahead and Reconnaissance. You start with the Scout Ahead power, which is a bit of an anemic scouting power. Because it's a free scout at the end of every turn, you will find that items like the spy glass are of decreased value. But, given that it's a free power, you might as well use it. Every now and then it can be worthwhile though, particularly if you can isolate a villain. Alas, that's pretty rare. Given that Harsk will typically have at most ten turns in a party of 3, or less in larger parties, you'll actually see rather few cards in a given round from this power. Don't expect anything amazing.

 

Reconnaissance I've found to be less useful than Scout Ahead. Knowing the bottom card of a deck is often not particularly helpful. Furthermore, once you know the bottom card, you can't make use of the power again. The only real benefit I've found from knowing the bottom card is to see if the henchman/villain is on the bottom, so that I should actively seek a way to get the deck shuffled. In my opinion, Reconnaissance looks better on paper than in reality, and the power feat is better spent elsewhere.

 

Sniper's Shot. This is Harsk's bread and butter, and well worth bumping twice. 1d4+2 is a guaranteed +3 on a combat, which will often make the difference between making the check or failing it. Those little bumps are significantly better than just a lone 1d4. Better yet, the power is a recharge ability. That means that you'll cycle through Harsk's deck reasonably quickly, which is also a good thing. It's perfectly ok to recharge Harsk's hand down to nothing, or maybe just a single weapon. Note that a Sniper's Shot is often better than playing a blessing. Adding single dice can yield less than 1d4+2, so this ability really adds some stability to rolls (and doesn't even cost a blessing discard!).

 

You get three power feats before receiving roles. I strongly recommend bumping Sniper's Shot twice and hand size once. As for the order? You choose. You won't go wrong.

 

Note that none of Harsk's powers actually help him be better in combat. He's much better off helping other characters be better than he is in taking glory for himself.

 

Roles

Sniper

Sniper's shot can go up to +4.

 

Survivalist: If your hand is empty on your turn, draw something. Don't take this until you've maxed out hand size, obviously. And even then, I'm on the fence on this one. Actually emptying Harsk's hand is nontrivial, and often you'll have a card you want to keep around anyway. Besides, exploring with an empty hand is almost always risk-free, as you've got no cards to discard if you fail a check! (Some villains/henchmen will hurt the party if you've got other characters present, but why would Harsk have such company? Also, some will hurt your deck, but there's not many that do so.) I'd tend to avoid this one. You have better feats to take.

 

Reload: This one is debatable, and should be compared directly to an extra sniper's shot feat. On the one hand, it typically adds 1d4 instead of a flat +1, but this does come at the extra cost of using up a second card. Note that you always have the ability to discard instead of recharge, so if you're in a position where you can burn a few cards (like on villain battles), you can discard them anyway. The other time reload will help you is on your own battles, where you can discard a ranged weapon to get an extra bonus. However, most weapons that allow you to do this are bows, which tend to be inferior to crossbows in damage. So, to take full advantage of Reload, you will typically be using inferior weapons (note that the L5 Venomous Heavy Crossbow +2 is an exception, but this is presently the best ranged weapon in the game). Whether or not to take Reload vs the extra sniper's shot is up to you.

 

Miraculous Dexterity: Why is Harsk using a blessing on a dexterity check? Harsk is never going to be particularly flush with blessings, especially on his turn. This seems to be a particularly weak power for him.

 

Tracker

Perimeter Search: Ok, kind of nice. No more choosing whether you want to see the top card or the bottom card. However, note that often, you'll already know the bottom card, so you'll actually only make use of this power to see maybe two or three cards per adventure. This seems to be too low-value to me, particularly since you spent two feats to get here. If you do splurge on this power, then make sure to move Harsk around a lot so that you see the bottom card of as many decks as you can.

 

Sniper's shot can go up to +3.

 

Enemy Lore: Giant: 1d8 against giants? This will be useful on AD3 and AD4, but for most adventures, this will be mostly wasted. Besides, Harsk isn't supposed to be doing a lot of fighting, just a lot of helping others fight. I tend to avoid.

 

Animal Trick: This one is nice. Fill all ally slots with animals for recharging explores. Because Harsk powers through his deck so quickly, you'll get a lot of use out of this one.

 

Miraculous Wisdom: Even worse than Miraculous Dexterity. Avoid!

 

Both

Hand size bump to 7. Well worthwhile. That's another 1d4+X each round!

 

Nature's Gift: Gain Divine +1 skill. Note: this lets you cast spells without having to banish them, allowing Harsk to make use of cure spells! Sign me up! Make sure to take a card feat for it though, preferably in advance. Harsk is already a team player, and being able to heal makes him even more valuable. Note that Harsk will tend to not discard too many cards, so he should be able to heal other characters. It might be worth splurging a blessing so he can actually recharge the healing spell. He'll see it again pretty soon. Note that even if you don't take Nature's Gift, having a one-shot cure spell available is pretty useful.

 

Verdict

Either role is ok. Recommended powers are Nature's Gift, Animal Trick, Reload, Hand Size bump, and more Sniper's Shot bumps, in whatever order you like.

Edited December 5, 2016 by jolyonb

[jolyonb]

Cards List

 

Weapons: 5 (+1)

Spells: 0 (+2)

Armors: 1 (+1)

Items: 3 (+2)

Allies: 1 (+3)

Blessings: 5 (+1)

 

Your picks for extra cards here depend on your play style. Most of them are going to be recharged on sniper's shot anyway.

Weapons: I tend to feel Harsk has enough weapons already.

Spells: If you plan to take Nature's Gift, make sure to give Harsk a spell. Even without that power feat, taking a spell is quite worthwhile.

Armors: I tend to avoid taking extra armors. You want to be offensive, not defensive. Losing a battle usually isn't a really bad thing, and armors are mostly useless if you're always winning.

Items: Harsk is in the unique position where his hand will never become clogged with useless items. I like bumping this so that he can carry and use situational items (e.g., for autoclosing locations). Note that Harsk can donate items to another character, and get them back later, so even if he's not the one doing the closing, he can still have just the tool for the job.

Allies: More explores, particularly if you have Animal Trick.

Blessings: Take that one extra blessing. You can always use more blessings.

 

Suggested priorities are that blessing, an ally or two, then your pick of allies/items/spell(s).

Edited December 5, 2016 by jolyonb

[jolyonb]

Inventory

 

Weapons: You want ranged weapons. Note that crossbows tend to be better than short/longbows, as they add 1d8 instead of strength (only 1d6), or 1d10 for a heavy crossbow. Weapons that give a bonus on discard should be favored if you choose Sniper and Reload.

 

Below are my choice of ranged weapons by level. This isn't a complete list of ranged weapons; I've left off any I think aren't as good as these. However, make sure that all your weapons are magical before you get picky! I've included the dice that each weapon adds, for comparison (but not including the base dex or ranged bonus). When a strength dice is added, I've included 1d6.

 

B: Light Crossbow (1d8)

B: Heavy Crossbow (1d10)

B: Shock Longbow +1 (1d8+1, discard for +1d6)

B: Returning Throwing Axe +1 (1d8+1, recharge for +1d6)

C: Deathbane Light Crossbow +1 (1d8+1, +1d8 against undead)

 

Start out by making sure all your weapons are crossbows, then aim for these lower three magical weapons. They're sufficiently good that I'm still using them in AD5.

 

L1: Dagger +1 (1d4+1, recharge for +1d4)

L2: Light Crossbow +1 (1d8+1)

 

The Dagger +1 can give you 2d4+1 with a recharge, which is better than the Shock Longbow, so worth keeping an eye out for, particularly if you're just upgrading off non-magical weapons. The Light Crossbow +1 is actually inferior to the other options here, but you might find it before other weapons, and it's great to pass on to other characters who don't have weapon proficiency.

 

L3: Venomous Dagger +2 (1d4+2, recharge for +1d12)

L3: Venomous Shortbow +1 (1d6+1, discard for +1d12)

L3: Black Arrow Longbow (1d6+2, +1d8 vs giants)

 

Three more solid ranged weapons that I consider upgrades from previous levels. Be careful when you're fighting undead with poison weapons though, as they're immune to those extra dice!

 

L5: Acidic Sling +3 (1d6+3, +3d4 on discard)

L5: Venomous Heavy Crossbow +2 (1d10+2, discard for +1d12)

 

L4 has a paucity of good ranged weapons, alas, but L5 makes up for it. If you have Reload, the Acidic Sling is well worth taking. The Venomous Heavy Crossbow is presently the best ranged weapon in the game. If you have Reload, then the +1d4+2 from discarding it for a friend is like a second sniper's shot.

 

 

Armor: No heavy proficiency, and most weapons will be two-handed, so skip shields. I tend towards armors that give you a bonus to something else.

B/L1: Elven Chain Shirt

L1: Agile Chain

L1: Shadow Chain

L1: Shield of Fire Resistance (fire damage is pretty common, even if you succeed every check, and if you're using a crossbow/sling that's one-handed...)

L2: Blackcloth Armor

L2: Hunter's Chain

L2 Loot: Snakeskin Tunic

L3: Shield of Force Resistance (enchanters, boo!)

L3: Steel Ibis Lamellar (My armor of choice)

L4: Lesser Bolstering Armor

 

Spells:

If you've taken a spell slot, you'll typically want a cure card in here. I tend to put in the biggest cure I can find (Major or Mass being really good; note that Mass requires another character to be present to use though!) If you haven't taken Nature's Gift, then the big spells (which are harder to obtain) will just be banished, so stick with B or L1 spells that you can pick back out of the box at the end of the adventure.

 

Items: Because you can recharge items easily, I tend to look for situational items. Scout Ahead makes items like spyglasses less useful, so give such items to other characters.

B: Amulet of Fortitude

B: Boots of Elvenkind

B: Masterwork Tools (until adventure level 5, where everything gets too hard for the tools to overcome)

C: Crown of Charisma

L2: Chime of unlocking

L3: Pole (in that utility role...)

 

Note that the L3 Belt of Incredible Dexterity is not worth it, in my opinion. +1 on dex checks is too lousy a bonus for a card slot.

 

Allies: If you took Animal Trick, stick to animals. Otherwise, stick to allies that explore, and help in other ways. You shouldn't need a healing ally.

B: Archer

B: Crow

C: Saber-Toothed Tiger

L2: Rogue Ape (note - not an animal)

L3: Black Arrow Ranger (better than L5 Elven Sharpshooter)

L3: Monkey

L3: Evangelist (a solid choice for almost any character)

L4: Bear

L4: Lizard

L5: Elven Sharpshooter

L5: Velociraptor

 

Blessings:

This one is really up to you. I find Harsk tends not to use blessings on himself, so I like to give him utility blessings like Erastil, Gorum, Gozreh, Norgorber and the "two-in-one" blessings like Milani.

Edited December 5, 2016 by jolyonb

[jolyonb]

Locations

Harsk tends to have a reasonable chance at closing locations involving Perception, Survival, and Fortitude, and after a few bumps, some dex-based locations too. Because his skill bonuses are not in dex though (which is only a d8 after all), he tends not to be great at closing locations based on skill rolls. His best skill, Constitution, is only needed to close two specific locations, Deeper Dungeons and Festering Maze of Sloth, and otherwise comes up so rarely that it's not really worth bumping. However, he can often have just the right card to auto-close a location by churning through his deck fast enough to get to it.

 

Note that the Shadow Clock (only used in one adventure that I know of) is the ideal location for Harsk, as you recharge and reset your hand at the start of every turn (thanks aksFourpaws!).

 

Other

There's not much more to say about Harsk. Recognize that he takes a support role, and trick him out to do that as best as he can. He'll always be a welcome addition to any party. Even Local Heroes and Here Comes The Flood are ok if you have the Crown of Charisma, and he's fine at animal-based ally rolls.

 

One last point (thanks aksFourpaws): Harsk's Scout Ahead ability meshes quite well with Seelah's Crusade ability. Never send a wanted boon to the bottom of the deck again! Make sure to put Harsk immediately before Seelah for best effect.

 

If you're planning to play Harsk solo (why???), check out Longshot11's post below.

Edited December 5, 2016 by jolyonb

[aksFourpaws]

Having played through the whole Adventure Path, in the Tabletop Version, with Harsk in my Team this was an interesting read. Which make me feel I have to add a few points, that are admittetly a bit special case:

 

1. Scout ahead was for me more of a nice Teamwork- Ability for a free one. (I am looking at you Seelah)

 

2. From Hook Mountain Massacre on you will be fighting Giants on every Step of the journey. with a short break during Sins of the Savior. The extra d8 from Enemy Lore will save you a lot of blessings. So don't discard it just for the small amount of scaling.

 

3. Shock Longbow is the earliest magic Ranged Weapon to give ranged + d8 + 1. Its not easy to get but well worth the trouble. An Attakroll of 2d8 +4 will bring you far into the Game before Combat Difficulty catches up to you. Except for Deathbane Crossbow but that one is in higher Demand.

 

4. Unfortuneately Sniper Shot becomes a bit unreliable in the Later Missions when Characters get forced into the Same Locations, but it is still to good to not invest into.

 

 

The Shadowclock is used to rare in the Campaign to talk about it to long. If you encounter that Location just park Harsk there and enjoy your free Hand Refill at the Start of his Turn.

[Longshot11]

Actually, I think it was a lot more 'wieldy' when things were gathered in a single post - now there's too much chaff from all the headers and bottoms of the multiple posts.

 

I'd offer a dissenting opinion on the usefulness of the Reload power: you have either made it it this far by discarding bows for extra dice (in which case, Reload may very occasionally save your life, but is not going to otherwise change your game), or - if you're like me- you've bet on Crossbows (which can't be discarded for extra dice on *your* check, but give you better dice on your own combat). The thing is, when assisting other heroes, you'll always want to go with Sniper Shot first (as it's much more powerful at this point), and for me the first card recharged for Sniper Shot is always a redundant weapon. If you have TWO extra weapons in your hand - you can recharge one for Sniper Shot and discard the other for its own assistance power, but that's usually an overkill, except for Boss battles (and if you're about to fight the Boss - you probably don't care if you're recharging or discarding the second weapon).

You *can* decide that with Reload it's time to ditch the Xbows in favor of Bows which you'll recharge for extra dice -but here's the thing: with small number of player, you're unlikely to offer so much combat assistance that you're going to recycle back to the recharged weapon; with many players - you *may* cycle to the recharged weapon, but again - that's unlikely to change your game, especially if you've made it thus far without Reload - in the unlikely case that you need extra dice on your combat so much, your friends will be able to pick up the slack with Blessings (remember - these are Blessings they've saved because they didn't have to throw them on their own combat checks, thanks to *your* Sniper Shot!)

In addition to all of the above, Axes are still your best weapon choice as they already rechare for extra dice, even without Reload. Bottom line - eschew Reload, and bump Sniper Shot as high as dwarvenly possible.

 

In addition to all the other excellent advice by jolyonb, I'd offer a few more tips for solo play:

- Sniper Shot is useless. Just deal with it and move on, you're not doing solo Harsk because you want your life easy. Instead, pick up Reconnaisance and learn to rely on your scouting capabilities (we'll come back to that shortly); often, Scout Ahead will also be useless to you - you won't have the comfort of sending another better-prepared hero to deal with the top card of a location, so you're encountering it no matter what

- get Crown of Charisma: you're automatically offsetting your greatest weakness. Both Throne Room and Prison locations come up often (I haven't check the stats how often in solo play though) - and both of those would otherwise either require you to throw blessings or chase the villain within to close them. Also, you get the opportunity to auto-defeat one of the 3 villains in 5-4; if you happen to meet him in the 'one card per check' location - you'll want to marry that Crown. Worst case scenario, the Crown will give you extra explore by acquiring a Diplomacy ally (not that you'll need extra explores). If you don't get lucky in finding/acquiring it - just play any AD3+ scenario that let's you banish a card, banish any item, don't pick up any other items (you may simply forfeit) and voila - you get to pick up the Crown to fill your deck

- as late as AD3 - pick up a Spell feat, then make them 2 at your convenience. Spells are the only way to get yourself extra assistance on hard check besides the single Blessing you're allowed to play. At this stage, you'll be banishing them, but that's not all bad - you basically get to 'shop' AD0- AD1 spells at your leisure (as long as you pay attention not to acquire any crap spell during the scenario). By far the best you can get is Greater Aid that add +2d6 to *any* check! If you're not using Treasures - Find Traps, Speed, Aid, Swipe, even Cure, are good choices.

- for the above reasons, keep the Emerald Codex in 4-3

- in 3-5 get Nature's Gift: you can now recharge your spells and not worry getting stuck with crap Force Missile. Also, you get a decent shot at closing Desecrated Tomb and Shrine of Lamashtu

- on Roles: the only Reason to pick up Sniper is if you won't to play blessing on your combat without worry about discarding them; it's no *small* reason, mind you, but at this point you should have access to healing if you feel you need it. I'd go with Tracker, for the following reasons:

- Enemy Lore - Giant: Giants may not come up that often post-AD4, but when they do - that extra d8 may make all the difference

- Miraculous Wisdom: while you're probably know to save your blessings for important combat (henchmen and villains), a lot of banes have a way to sneak unexpected Wisdom checks on you (F- you, Harpies!); in these cases, it may be good to recharge a blessing that you know is still 'banked' on the bottom of your deck for the final throw-down with the villain

- Animal Trick: you're not gonna need extra explores, and you probably need allies that can help you with tough checks (which are mostly human allies). Still, Crow, Monkey, Dog even have their uses, so that's one reason to consider this power. The other is - you probably want a combat-support ally for your check VS the villain, and -unless you luck into the non-Animal Rogue Ape- it doesn't get better than Bear. But if that Bear (or Velociraptor*) shows up in your starting hand - you'll want to throw them away for explore, recycle them on the bottom of your deck and keep them there for the final battle. The same applies if you get a Toad, but you want to keep it for later to retrieve a spell from your discard (Harsk is unreliable at recharges)

- *Velociraptor is my favourite ally in RotR, but due to the way the app is implemented (they don't allow you to skip your "free" explore) - you'll need to know where the villain is, have *another* card on top of it, then as start of turn - encounter that card and *then* explore the Villain with the Velociraptor. This seems tricky, but now we come to one of the strongest aces in HArsk's sleeve, imho:

- Perimiter Search, and "Scout'em & Augury'em": That second (first?) Spell slot? Make it an Augury. Augury is awesome on its own, but combined with Harsk's scouting power - it gets to a whole new level. Usually , it'll save you at least one battle you don't need, but the great thing is - while you're Agury'ing that stupid Shining Child to the bottom of the deck - you have a pretty good chance to stumble across the Villain/Henchman of the location, and now they're at your mercy. If there are no more dangerous banes in the location - throw the Henchman/Villain on the bottom and go boon-hunting. If not - put them on top, prepare your hand at your leisure, and be done for good with that location (and maybe the scenario). If you put the Villain on the bottom (or on top, if you caught him with another weakling monster) - you can now arrange your gam eto sic you Velosiraptor on him/her! (it goes without saying, this strategy is greatly enhanced by the Quill of Revelation, or at least a Magic Spyglass - if you play a normal game, keep one of those items; if you play with Permadeath - KEEP ONE OF THOSE ITEMS! It will probably save your life in 6-5, literally (though, if it's properly implemented, Medusa Mask will also suffice - it's also a good contingency if you stumble upon any villain unprepared!)

 

Well, I think that's about it, off the top of my head

[aznxknight]

Again, point of view: legendary mode and 6 characters. 

 

I personally think Harsk can perform just well on his own AND be able to help others too.

 

I find that with the release of AD5 he got a bigger support buff than other characters.

 

Venomous Heavy Crossbow +2 is a BEAST. I understand that it won't work against monsters immunity to poison, which is just about every undead in the game, but for every other monster it should guarantee a win. If you heavily invest in Sniper's shot all the way to +4, and get reload you will have to settle with a hand size of 6, which is not all entirely bad. Yes you do have to use 2 cards but none of these cards get discarded at all, they just get recharged. With all that stated, you can add to any other character's combat as much 8-14 on their roll( 2d4 +6 using true sniper shot + discarding crossbow which will be recharged). That's pretty good imo considering none of them are blessings, which usually get discarded anyway, and you can further use those blessings for exploring.

 

Now that i got support out of the way, what about solo? He should already have a +7 check when using a ranged weapon. Revealing the VHC+2 puts him to +9. If the monster you're fighting is immune to poison you will not be able to discard it BUT you can still use it by revealing it (thank god!). But for everything else, your're looking at a 1D8 + 1D10 + 1D12 +9 for a total of 12-39, with an average roll of 25.5. Adding a few checks from other items like Evangelist and Ebon Thorn gives him as much as 15 minimum roll, not too shabby. Solo is definitely not his problem here especially when his support is just as great. Besides where else are you going to put his points in? 

 

I tend to get the feats that benefits me in the long run. I reevaluated miraculous wisdom a bit, based on longshot's post, to have some use, there are many things out there that require wisdom check, but seeing as i usually just play in a 6 character party i'll just let my other guys do the blessing work for me. It's somewhat a bit of a gamble to want to win with his own 1D6 wisdom + 1D12 from feat on some wisdom checks so you end up using altogether 2 or more blessings in the long run, making this feat not all that useful. Still just an opinion. I mean if a harpy did show up i'll suffer the consequences, especially because it's a 6 character party. The whole team usually gets messed up with their location anyway so what is 1 more (harsk) going to matter? And once again, harpies don't show up all the time so this feat isn't as useful to me as opposed to maybe playing sniper shot every other combat.

 

I leave the rest of the stuff up to your preference, like blessings, items, and ally choice. 

Final point and this has to do with spells, but it also applies to every character without arcane or divine trait. I personally find you don't need Nature's Gift unless you really want to keep said spell and it's not easily gotten from the "box".  If you play your cards well and not intentionally get spells from exploring, you can grab any spell you like after the scenario ends, albeit most of them probably tend to be divine traits though. I like to think Nature's gift instead as a way to recharge said spell for later use. Problem is his wisdom stat is rather low so in the end it's going to end up in the discard pile anyway.

It's like 1 and done and with the feat you keep it.

But without the feat it's still 1 and done and play it well you still get it back at the end and you have an extra power point into something else.

Edited December 4, 2016 by aznxknight

[jolyonb]

Hey folks,

 

Thanks for the feedback. I've read it all and pondered it, and updated some aspects of the guide to reflect your suggestions. In particular:

 

* Nice catch on the Shadow Clock and Seelah

* I agree on the Shock Longbow being a great weapon for a large chunk of the game. I've completely rewritten the Weapons section to focus on what weapons you should keep an eye out for.

* It may be a little more unwieldy to read, Longshot11, but it's a hell of a lot easier for me to update with multiple posts!

* I've expanded the discussion of Reload. You've convinced me that the choice between Reload and that last Sniper's Shot is a lot closer than I had appreciated. However, if you have a hand full of Venomous Heavy Crossbows, then Reload starts looking more appealing again.

* I've updated the discussion of spells a little to point out that you don't actually need Nature's Gift to take advantage of spells.

 

Also, permit me to gripe: the lack of consistency between weapons of the same type across different cards is really quite annoying!

[Edannan]

I've mostly played with Harsk on my primary team of 4, and I find that he's quite capable of holding his own in a fight, and is incredibly useful when others need a little bit of a boost.

 

My build is - +1 Armor, +1 Item, +3 Allies, +1 Blessing. Sniper, Seven card hand size, Reload, Miraculous Dexterity

 

Pretty much exactly what you recommend above for weaponry, though haven't gotten the sling or the venomous crossbow yet. (Deathbade, Black Arrow, Giantbane Dagger, Venomous dagger and shortbow)

 

For armor, I've got both the Catskin leather and the Snakeskin tunic. Items are Belt of Incredible Dex, Healing Poultice, Masterwork Tools, and a Revelation Quill. Three Black Arrow Rangers (Who'll be updated to the elven archers when I run across them) and Shalelu.

 

Between the Archers, his own weapons, and the occasional blessing for himself, he rarely if ever has any trouble at all killing anything that moves (Obviously 5.4 bosses on Heroic and Legendary after buffs get tougher, but...).

 

I'm not sure why there's the impression that he's more of a burden than a help, honestly.

 

I do have to ask... how is someone using Ebon Thorne with him? It specifies Melee combat check, and he uses Ranged. Is there a bug that allows him to benefit from it?

[jolyonb]

@Edannan, I'm not sure aobut the Ebon Thorne; that seemed like a mistake to me. I haven't found the Catskin Leather in treasure chests yet Note that the black arrow rangers are superior to the elven archers - don't go replacing them!

Edited December 13, 2016 by jolyonb

[aksFourpaws]

 

Also, permit me to gripe: the lack of consistency between weapons of the same type across different cards is really quite annoying!

 

Especially Shock Longbow got a lot of diskussions when the Tabletop Version came out.

 

From reading last years discussion of the Card again, this is a case of simplification making the situation more complicated.

 

Appearently the Bows using Strength where planned as Composite Bows, but that got dropped for space and readability reasons.

 

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qt5a?Shock-Longbow-1s-second-power#2

 

I can't remember a similar Situation for other Weapons like Crossbows though.

[Edannan]

@Edannan, I'm not sure aobut the Ebon Thorne; that seemed like a mistake to me. I haven't found the Catskin Leather in treasure chests yet Note that the black arrow rangers are superior to the elven archers - don't go replacing them!

 

Good call on the rangers vs elves. I didn't read closely enough. They are strictly superior, assuming you don't need the magic trait (And let's face it... you almost always have a magic ranged weapon to use).

[aznxknight]

You're right, gotta be honest though. I have the armor on Harsk but i hardly drew it. I probably only used it once and it somehow worked. After reading it again, this may have been a beneficial bug for me. I will have to take it out in favor of something else, especially Leopard Leather once AD6 is out. 

Before AD5 came out I had sketchy thoughts about making Harsk. I tried to plan my way with which paths/skills/powers to take and it turns out whatever i needed was not enough to make him a powerhouse he could be now. Plus the weapons aren't very favorable, especially the bows. It may seem nice but rolling a die equal to strength instead of just straight up dex and weapon damage meant that Harsk is not the best bow user here. So at that point I decided to not make Harsk and just wait until AD5 and see what's going on in there. I don't have the physical game let alone know what sites i can research to see what is coming up next so I'm pretty much placing my faith in the new content. And it did not disappoint me. 

 

EDIT: catskin leather is AD4, not 6, Leopard Leather is AD6 and is a reveal, not recharge. 

Edited December 17, 2016 by aznxknight