It’s been awhile since I covered a Tactics Hero. Excluding Tactics Aragorn, who was discussed along with his other versions in January, the last tactics Hero I focused on was Legolas back in September 2015. Needless to say, it’s been too long. Without further ado, let’s jump into Mary’s Hero of the Month: Eomer. Be sure to check out the bottom of the post for a list of decks pulled from the community!

As far as story goes, Eomer’s backstory is, to me, one of the more interesting. At an early age he and his sister, Eowyn, were orphaned after their father, Eomund, was slain by orcs and their mother, Theodwyn, died of grief not too long afterwards. Thankfully for the siblings their late mother Theodwyn was sister to Theoden, the King of Rohan, and after the passing of Theodwyn and Eomund, Theoden adopted the two children as his own. From there Eomer’s life takes a considerable turn for the better as he proves to be a stalwart man of Rohan, eventually becoming Third Marshal of the Mark. He and his Eored were capable of many feats of strength and valour, in particular their hunting and slaying of the Uruk-Hai that Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli were pursuing during The Two Towers. Eomer was an inspiration to his people and a mighty warrior of Rohan. After participating in and surviving the battles that followed after Aragorn and company arrived in Rohan, Eomer eventually became the eighteenth King of Rohan, starting a new line after his uncle, Theoden, named him his heir. After the story of the novels we learn that Eomer and Aragorn maintained a strong friendship and together helped strengthen the alliance between Gondor and Rohan.

Eomer certainly stands out as one of the more “powerful” characters in Middle Earth. His power not only comes from his physical strength but his fierce dedication to his people and his country. As are all of the Heroes showcased on this blog, Eomer’s stats and his ability prove extremely thematic and true to his character.

Despite his willpower being low for being such a persistent and determined character, Eomer has a very nice stat spread of 1/3/2 with 4 hitpoints. Though he can defend his fellow allies in a pinch he will most likely be on the offensive with his 3 attack strength. His traits, Rohan, Noble, and Warrior do provide access to other cards and effects to boost his attack even higher but nothing is quite as consistent and easy to pull off as his effect which reads:

“Response: After a character leaves play, Eomer gets +2 until the end of the round. (Limit once per round.)”

Eomer’s ability is clearly tied to the Rohan trait which, as most know, is centered around the people of the Riddermark leaving play by discarding(sacrificing?) themselves while granting useful and powerful effects as a result. As his people sacrifice themselves Eomer is rallied to action and his strength increases. These days 5 attack isn’t going to be removing enemies from the board with ease, but having a Hero with easy access to those numbers goes a long way. What can we do to improve Eomer even more and take that number above 5? Let’s find out!

The easiest, and most thematic, card to boost Eomer’s attack is Firefoot, his very own steed. Without his true companion Eomer, Firefoot only gives a tactics or Rohan hero +1 to their attack. However, should he ride into battle with Eomer, Firefoot grants an attack boost of 2 instead of 1. Better yet, should Eomer singlehandedly take down a foe then Firefoot can be exhausted to deal the excess damage to another enemy engaged with the Eomer player. This is particularly useful as the direct damage bypasses defense and can help deal with those beefier foes. Spear of the Mark is another fine option and can help elevate Eomer’s total attack to 8 when combined with Firefoot. For further shenanigans the tactics event Charge of the Rohirrim can be used to further increase not only Eomer’s attack but that of any Rohan character permitting they have a mount attachment.

Outside of pure attack strength cards their are of course other options to consider when taking advantage of Eomer, his ability, and the play style he typically requires. Horn of Gondor (though it’s current errata hinders it) and Prince Imrahil all favor the “allies leave play” deck archetype. Outside of the Rohan trait, having Eomer alongside any player running a Silvan Deck will make sure his effect is almost always online.

What I like most about Eomer is that, outside of perhaps Firefoot, there is no “Eomer Toolkit” for players to auto-include in their decks (see Galadriel and Gandalf). This gives a player building around Eomer some breathing room and creative space to create the deck they want to build, not the one the cardpool necessarily dictates them to build. If they want to go the sub-mechanic surrounding Rohan that deals with attacking the staging area, then they can work towards cards like Forth Eorlingas! and take advantage of Heroes like Dunhere in the process.

I wanted to take the time and make good use of the ever-growing RingsDB card and deck database that has helped bolster this community even further. Rather than continue to list card after card that works well with Eomer I wanted to let the community speak for itself. Below I have linked to a few different deck lists, some from more known deckbuilders and otherwise. Feel free to give these decks a look, compare them to how you have used Eomer, or use them to inspire your own creation! Until then, look out for at least one deck featuring the Third Marshal of the Mark by mid-May and let me know in the comments below what your thoughts are on Eomer!

Thanks for reading!

-The Secondhand Took