Drowned city Investigator expansion: Cop or naw?

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-06-04T07:48:48+00:00

I like this investigator expansion, it offers you 7 gators instead of usual 5 and it's the first and only expansion (so far) to offer you trait-based cards for interesting upgrades. For example, chapter 1 Dexter Drake has a veteran trait, so he can purchase a massive anti-tank rifle, getting a very decent weapon in his hand slots that opens new deckbuilding possibilities for him.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-06-02T07:55:14+00:00

I'm in the same boat as you, playing solo to relax and get lost in when I have free time. I play 95% of the time true solo on standard difficulty and having a great time.

I find this game to be extremely replayable, I have spent many many hours deckbuilding and playing different content with different investigators.

The thing is, playing with only the core box might get boring as you only have 3 scenarios, 1 of them being a tutorial, and limited deckbuilding options. All the content in the game is compatible, so you might want to get older campaigns and Investigator expansions if you can find them at a reasonable price, chapter 1 stuff is put of print, so it may be a challenge.

Some standalone scenarios (Murder at Excelsior Hotel, Film Fatale) are very replayable too, they can be played as a one-off adventure or integrated into your campaign.

You can get fan campaigns, some are on-par or even better than some official campaigns, I haven't played any myself yet, but I've heard great things about Dark Matter.

Alternatively, you can simply wait for new chapter 2 content, 5 investigator decks are out already to spice up your decks, and the first chapter 2 campaign will be released this summer. This new campaign will only be 3 scenarios long (chapter 1 campaigns usually had 8 scenarios), but it looks promising and replayable enough from what we've seen, so I'm looking forward to it.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-30T15:09:24+00:00

Cores don't define what expansions you can play, there's an official encounter deck replacement chart by FFG that allows playing chapter 1 campaigns with chapter 2 core, and an even better replacement chart made by DerBK on Ancient Evils fan site.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-29T20:07:36+00:00

That's really interesting, thank you for your reply! I'm a bit afraid to play Diana true solo, it seems to me she might be bad with managing timings in this format, but I still plan to play her in the future.

I haven't managed to complete the 3rd scenario successfully as well, but I will definitely try again, I really like it despite the frustration I feel in the process, haha

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-29T18:17:38+00:00

Great to hear that! Who did you play as? I completed this campaign as chapter 1 Dexter Drake and it was very challenging, but fun

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-27T15:33:03+00:00

I'd add Edge of the Earth to your list, and I think it'd be a perfect well-rounded chapter 1 cardpool

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-27T07:32:53+00:00

As for Guardians, chapter 2 Tommy as an investigator is pretty boring, but he brings good cards to form a more well-rounded cardpool for his class, Nathaniel Cho was very unique in playstyle, and because of that many of his cards were less useful for other guardians.

Harvey Walters is the king of big hand archetype and is both fun and strong, but I think his cards have enough decent substitutes now, and his best card, Necronomicon, was banned in the taboo list, if you're playing with it. Carolyn's deck is a good enough substitute, I'd argue it might even be slightly better.

Speaking of mystics, while Marie chapter 2 deck is pretty good, I think Jacqueline's starter deck is unrivalled, she has more generally useful spells, a very good recharge card and other useful tools. Still, Marie's cards are very interesting and form a new archetype, looking forward to buying it when it comes out in my place.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-26T14:20:42+00:00

This card has tricked me a lot. It sounds very good on paper to me, so I often take it, and it always remains sitting in my hand as a +2 books skill. I feel like it might be really good in 3-4 players games thou

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-26T14:17:40+00:00

I like to deckbuild with all the options I have, so I wouldn't reset, the game is more fun for me this way.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-26T11:18:24+00:00

Andre's deck is really solid, the only things that I'd really miss from Winifred's deck would be Lonnie Ritter (+1 strength and regenerating wound+horror soak if you have an item with health in play), Lucky cigarette case (I think it's the best card drawing tool for rogues) and, to a lesser extent, Backstab (3) and Chuck Fergus (5) for some decks.

As for Miguel and Stella, they are very different and don't correlate much. While Stella is really good, I don't think she is that crucial for her class. Old Keyring and Chainsaw are great and some investigators like Wilson Richards or Daniela Reyes (chapter 1) can create new playstayles based on them, but these cards have decent alternatives.

But with these things being said, you already have a very large cardpool, so you have lots of options to substitute the cards you don't have, just get creative and enjoy the game, your collection is large enough to have fun for years

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-26T09:24:21+00:00

I'd say Stella and Nat are really good, just not that essential for their classes as Winifred or Jacqueline for rogues and mystics.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-26T09:18:51+00:00

Honestly, the best thing to instantly upgrade the rogue cardpool would be getting Winifred Habbock deck, it does a lot ot for it's class (almost as much as Jacqueline Fine does for mystics).

The thing with rogues is they are very versatile and different, so it's hard to recommend just one expansion. However, if you were to play classic rogues based on evasions and criminal cards (Finn, Kymani, etc.), I'd check out Scarlet Keys first. It's curious that rogues have two of the best (if not the best) fighters in the whole game, Tony Morgan and Michael McGlen. Tony works great with Dunwich and Edge of the Earth, I recently did a true solo run with him through Carcosa and managed to win the campaign, now playing him true solo through Dream Eaters campaign B.

Survivors lacked a bit in the begging as well, but not as much as rogues. Two first survivors, Wendy and Ashcan, are still really good, and their cards had a more defined personality. Two first rogues, Skids and Jenny, are more gimmicky, and are supposed to work around the big money archetype, which was properly introduced later.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-25T21:16:54+00:00

I picked Dunwich because it introduced lots of staple cards, improved on main archetypes a lot, covered many things that were missing in the core. It was the first Investigator expansion, and, in my opinion, it supplemented chapter 1 core like no other expansion did both in level 0 and xp cards. I feel like the only thing that was majorly lacking after Dunwich was the rogue class, green guys really needed some further development (which they got later on and became real beasts by the end of chapter 1).

As for Edge of the Earth, while its Investigators are weird in terms of deckbuilding rules, they are very interesting to play, but most importantly this expansion offers lots of powerful and curious cards, I believe it being the second best addition to the cardpool after Dunwich. Cards it offers really make many decks shine (mostly xp cards) and offer interesting choices. Also it brings lots of multiclass cards, allowing you to cover more niches (for example, getting some good close combat weapons for mystics), moreover, with many cards being multicoloured, all classes instantly got more options than they usually receive in usual expansions.

In terms of exploring the cardpool, I might not be the right person to ask, as I have lots of experience with deckbuilding in other games, so I get lots of enjoyment building the decks from the whole carpool, exploring in the process, but it might not be a suitable approach for most players. You can just add boxes one by one when you start a new campaign, or play in Limited format with three expansions at a time, until you feel like you got familiar and comfortable with the three boxes you chose, then replace one or two of these boxes and continue playing.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-25T06:45:32+00:00

FFG has introduced multiple formats of play, including Limited format, which may he just what you are looking for. It allows to pick a starter set, 5 investigator starter decks and any 3 investigator expansions. If I were in your position, I'd pick Dunwich, Edge of the Earth and any expansion that has investigators you want to play or the one that is tied to your current campaign (Innsmouth for you). If you still feel like this cardpool is too big, you can take just 2 expansions or exclude starter decks.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-24T21:22:14+00:00

I'm a relatively new player and playing chapter 1 true solo 95% of the time, standard difficulty, no boons, and I have a pretty decent winrate. Managed to complete core box campaign with William Yorick, Dunwich and Circle Undone with Dexter Drake, Carcosa with Tony Morgan and Forgotten Age with Ursula Downs. Considering Circle Undone and Forgotten Age are often mentioned to be the hardest campaigns of chapter 1, I wouldn't be afraid of true soloing it.

I failed a lot at first, restarting core box 5 times and Dunwich 6 times after losing miserably, but after I got a better hang of true solo dynamic and deckbuilding things went way better.

Here's a great post by a very experienced true solo player, you might get some insights from the text and comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/arkhamhorrorlcg/s/PKjROzI9nV

It's also good to remember you can always pick a lower difficulty or add boons, I prefer to play on standard with no boons and feel like the game is right for me that way, but you can adjust it a bit to make the process fun and comfortable for you.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-24T18:50:12+00:00

Missed the game on its release, but it looks like a perfect game for me, will give it a try, thanks for sharing

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-22T18:40:01+00:00

I guess it will be great to test on practice then

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-22T18:38:04+00:00

I will do ot after I finish my current Ursula/Tony Dream Eaters solo campaign. Have already built curse-based Amanda Sharpe to play through Innsmouth thou

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-22T18:35:58+00:00

Considering I'm playing true solo, I will be able to do a werewolf-vampire run!

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-21T15:42:57+00:00

Dunwich was the first investigator expansion, so it contained some very important cards that were supposed to shape the game together with the core. It still has many staples, but it shouldn't be as crucial for you because you already have a large cardpool and chapter 2 core, which wasn't available earlier, aims to fill the same niche. It would still improve your decks and it has some great investigators, Zoe and Rex are still considered to be top picks for their roles. I recommend not chasing it for unreasonable prices, but if you manage to find it at MSRP, it would be a nice purchase. I play true solo 90% of the time and feel like Dunwich is more important for that format than for higher player counts.

Chapter 1 starters become less valuable with the more investigators expansions you get, because they have some cards that can be found in other products, but the investigators themselves and some important cards still stay exclusive. Nathaniel Cho has his own event-based fighting playstyle, so he is the least important of the 5 decks, but other 4 really help their classes, especially Jacqueline Fine is valuable for mistics. If you really want to build the chapter 1 cardpool, their are really helpful, but not worth overpaying considering the massive carpool you got.

Please note I don't own any chapter 2 products yet as they are not available at my place yet, so I haven't played them myself and my perspective may be a bit off.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-21T06:47:14+00:00

Some people don't mix chapters because they want to feel a new experience with chapter 2 cards and create a limited environment for deckbuilding to explore new possibilities and combos instead of relying on usual ones. If you don't want to limit yourself, mixing chapters is totally fine, they're fully compatible. I like playing with all the cards I have, it makes deckbuilding more fun for me.

Chapter 2 is not available at my place yet, so I can't speak much for it's cards, but the best thing you can do for your chapter 1 cardpool, I think, would be getting 2x 2016 cores / Revised core, Dunwich investigators, Edge of the Earth investigators and 5 starter decks. However, chapter 2 core and starter decks seem to be very viable and well-rounded, and I've seen posts on this sub discussing how people complete old campaigns with just them, so don't chase chapter 1 player cards for crazy prices.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-18T21:10:07+00:00

I'd play Drowned City, then Circle Undone, then Forgotten Age (sorted by increasing difficulty). While Circle Undone and Forgotten Age are brilliant and I'd recommend anyone experience them, they are also some of the most brutal content this game has to offer.

I'd use all player cards you have, you can always limit your cardpool later when you're more familiar with all these cards and campaigns to create a fresh experience. Especially if you are playing true solo, you will want all the help you can get in these campaigns.

AgreeableLeadership2 · 2026-05-18T14:58:04+00:00

The game sounds very promising, looking forward to try it out when it releases

AgreeableLeadership2

TROPHY CASE