Tryhard Demigod

Hercules vs Expert Hela Playthrough

Forget about fun combos or theme, Hercules is doing everything he can to clear his labors!

Clearing Labors

This deck tries to clear Herc's labors as efficiently as possible so he can power up his events. Since it's completely random which labor we get first, aggression is a very proactive way to tackle them because this aspect has the most versatility across the 3 labors.

• Defeat the Hydra: This is the most difficult labor for the other aspects to tackle because we have to deal attack damage. That means even if Hercules is the one dealing damage like with Jarnbjorn or Strength in Diversity, the Hydra minion won't take damage because that is not considered attack damage. Limitless Stamina is an auto-include as a basic card, but aggression cards like Savage Strike, Spoiling for a Fight, and Toe to Toe are efficient ways to deal easy damage to the minion. The amount of cards can be interchangeable depending on the scenario you're facing, but I prefer 2x Savage Strike, 1x Spoiling for a Fight, and 3x Toe to Toe (because Toe to Toe also aides in clearing another labor).

• Embody Pathos: Thank goodness this side scheme gains assault! Limitless Stamina is once again the best to take care of this scheme, using Herc's ATK stat to remove threat. Between the readies from Son of Zeus and Spoiling for a Fight, and the thwarting from Wisdom of Athena, this is the easiest labor to clear especially if the side scheme doesn't have as much pressure (like a crisis, acceleration, or amplify in a situation where that icon is least impactful).

• Protect Humanity: This labor is best cleared in protection since Herc can draw attacks with cards like Taunt or Ready for a Fight, but aggression is arguably the second best at Protecting Humanity because of Toe to Toe which can force the villain to attack you. We don't want to wait 3 rounds for the villain to attack once per round because if Herc spends too much time with no labors, he has no resources to handle the actual scenario so we want to accelerate this labor by drawing attacks.

Rough Start

With no labors in play, Herc is up for a very rough start, very reminiscent of Tony Stark Iron Man from the core set. If we have Limitless Staminas and strong events, I would consider drawing a labor with our alter-ego ability on turn 1. If we only have allies/resource generators, I would most likely stay in alter-ego for the handsize and just build out. Hopefully the scenario we are facing has enough breathing room to allow us a turn in alter-ego, or we're playing multiplayer so the other players can cover for us.

Tryhard Ally Lineup

Herc needs all the help we can get so it's a no brainer to call all the strongest allies for help. The deck is still predominantly filled with events since allies can't help Herc with any of his labors.

• Gambit: A top tier ally who can manipulate the encounter deck for a round (in true solo) and allow us to flip down safely to grab a new labor.

• Grant Ward: An amazing ally for 4 handsize 1 THW heroes because he's 0 cost and can thwart for 2!

• Nick Fury: Best ally in the game, 2 THW for Herc, enough said.

• Professor X: 3 THW?! Although this doesn't work on Embody Pathos because allies cannot remove threat from it, Professor X helps big time in managing main scheme threat and clearing side schemes. The confuse also helps us flip down to grab a new labor.

• Psylocke: Another reason why Herc is going aggression - Psylocke in certain situations can even be better than Professor X, providing 2 confuses across 2 turns. Being able to flip down is very important for Herc because it's the only way to put a new labor into play.

3 Gifts is not Invincible

When Hercules is fully built out (with 3 gifts) he's very powerful. Unfortunately his strength is mostly from the power of his events that ramp up (Wisdom of Athena and The Gift of Battle become super efficient and Son of Zeus gives multiple effects) but his actual gift upgrades are lackluster (altogether they give him +4 HP, piercing, retaliate 1, and steady). Comparing this to Iron Man's suit (on-demand ready, on-demand 4 damage per turn, on-damage mass thwart removal, +8 HP, and a handsize of 7), Herc's built out board is much less reliable than Tony's because it's dependent on drawing into the correct events. With the Wisdom of Athenas at the bottom of the deck, I still found myself struggling with threat even with all 3 gifts. Hercules only has a handsize of 4, so if he draws into 2x Lion of Olympus and some double resources, he won't be able to unleash for full damage that turn. Because of this, it's important to not get into a big hole during the buildout phase because it can be too difficult to get out of if Herc does not draw the right events even with 3 gifts in play.