Lords of Waterdeep

Introduction

This assumes basic knowledge of the game and how it plays, mechanically. The purpose of this document is not to be a tutorial, but a guide to help you make better decisions to win more games, by providing a better understanding of the game, so you’re thinking about the right things at the right times.

Overview

The goal of the game is to score more points than your opponents by the end of the game. This doesn’t mean get the highest possible points with a flashy combo, or complete the most or biggest quests. If a play hurts your opponent(s), and creates a greater relative advantage for you, that’s better than getting more points for yourself while letting your opponent(s) keep up.

This framing of priorities: “How can I end up ahead of my opponents?,” as opposed to “How can I gain the most points with this action?,” is important to keep in mind throughout the game. Your efficiency doesn’t matter so much as your relative efficiency, and it will vary over the course of the game.

This means creating advantages for yourself, and then exploiting those advantages as much as possible. Which, again, is distinct from creating situations where you stand to gain many points. A low scoring game is fine, so long as your score is highest.

Scoring more than your opponents also doesn’t necessarily mean maximizing the difference between your scores. If there’s a safe play that lands you a little bit ahead of your opponents, and a risky play that leaves a possibility that they’ll score higher than you, the safe play is the one to make, even if it feels bad.

The bulk of your points will generally come from completing quests, but you’re also awarded points for having gold and adventurers, and you might receive bonuses from plot quests, and buying and using buildings. Some deals are better than others, and your job as a player is to set up the systems that will benefit you the most.

e.g. If you have Study in the Librarium (which allows you to draw and play an Intrigue card whenever you take an action to play an Intrigue card), and Place a Sleeper Agent in Skullport (gain 2 points whenever you play an Intrigue card), you can basically abandon completing quests, because each action you take to play an Intrigue card nets you 4 points, on top of the benefits of 2 Intrigue cards. Given that normal actions net about 2 points, not counting how they advance you to completing quests, every chance you get to take Intrigue actions is basically the right play. I’ve personally gotten 400+ points in multiple games with that combo.

e.g.2 If you have Impersonate Tax Collector (gain the owner benefit when using buildings that you own), and Bolster Griffon Cavalry (take an extra fighter from the supply whenever you take fighters with an action), and own Citadel of the Bloody Hand (take 4 fighters, and place a fighter on 2 different action spaces – owner: 2 fighters), you get 7 fighters for taking the action, worth 7 points at end game, and can get 4 more if you take the fighters that you placed. Even if you don’t use them to complete quests, that’s a good deal.

It’s also worth emphasizing that your score only matters at the end of the game. Getting out ahead early actually hurts your chances of winning, because it generally means you favored scoring points over setting up advantages in the early game.

Here are some graphs from some games I played on iOS, showing score vs. action number:

The source data is included in these links, because it’s formatted with the data from each round on a separate line. The important takeaway is that I take more actions in the later rounds, prioritizing Waterdeep Harbor, after I’ve set up my advantages all game, when they’ll have the strongest effect.

Looking at the graphs themselves, it’s common to see a staircase shape, where a player takes resources for a few turns (the flat tread), and then completes a quest for points (the rise). Game 2’s Papa GC illustrates this particularly well. Naive play (take a high scoring quest, get the stuff to complete it, repeat) looks like this, with long treads, usually with an early lead.

Stronger play, where one establishes an early advantage, instead of early points, starts out more flat, and then has shorter treads later in the game, because of better efficiency of actions, and things like funneling the reward from one quest into the requirement for another.

Start of the Game - Establishing Your Advantage

At the start of the game, you have the identity of your masked lord, 2 quests, some amount of gold depending on your seating position, and 2 Intrigue cards.

Your opponents all have roughly the same stuff, and the same number of agents to place each round as you do.

Early on, each player should be trying to figure out what advantages they can develop. Advantages come in one of three major varieties:

Initiative Being able to take the action you want. Plot Perks Being able to benefit as a result of completing Plot Quests. Economy Being able to benefit from the state of supply and demand.

I think of these as being in ascending order of importance.

Intrigue cards are a type of advantage that’s difficult to qualify and quantify, so I didn’t include them in the list. They can vary a great deal in power, to the point where they can be game breaking, or of little consequence. They can’t really be relied upon because they’re essentially random, one-off effects, and that holds true for your opponents as well, so I don’t factor their effect in much in my strategy, unless I have a way to draw a ton of them, in which case the effect is sort of amortized, and can be thought of in aggregate. Their explicit effect aside, playing them at the right times can do a lot to increase your initiative advantage.

Initiative The gross form of this is just holding the starting player token, and being able to place your agent first in the round. Since placing an agent on a space prevents other players from using that same action, the benefit is twofold. It’s minor in the grand scheme of the game though, because the first starting player action only happens once per round, up to 8 times. Add to that, the game’s first starting player in the first round is the strongest Initiative advantage in the game (the first round first player gets to pick from a set of 4 new quests or 3 new buildings – Getting a strong plot quest, or building The Yawning Portal can set you up for the whole game), so it’s easy not to put too much weight on initiative in general. It is, however, more important as you increase the player count. Being blocked out of the first action you want isn’t a huge deal. Being blocked out of the first 3 actions you want can be devastating. Certain Intrigue cards (Bribe Agent and Doppelganger), Recover the Magister’s Orb and Delver’s Folly, all create opportunities for players to occupy the same action spaces, which is a powerful effect (more powerful than just being the first to take the action, because it’s a safe spot to add bonus resources, and can be left as a low priority), and shouldn’t be wasted. Being able to take multiple actions close together or in a row is a very strong effect, because it allows you to plan for a set of gains that can set you up in a better position, or give you a point lead. It also allows you to place a resource on an action, and immediately take it. There are opportunities to set this up by taking actions in Waterdeep Harbor, and the use of certain Intrigue cards, and quests that allow you to return agents to your pool (Research Chronomancy, Defend the Yawning Portal). Waterdeep Harbor timing is the only thing you can count on and can apply to your play regularly, though. If you’re the last player in the round, and you take the first position in Waterdeep Harbor, you more or less guarantee yourself 2 turns in a row later in the round, when you place your last agent, and reassign your agent from the harbor. Likewise, if you assign an agent to Waterdeep Harbor, and it comes back around to your turn without another player playing in the harbor. It’s a good idea to keep some Intrigue cards in your hand so you’re always ready to take advantage of these opportunities. If you take the last position in the harbor, when it’s time to reassign that agent and no one’s taken starting player, it’s pretty much always a good idea.

Plot Perks Plot quests usually give you a benefit when you take actions, with a few exceptions (Defend the Tower of Luck acts at the start of the round, Recruit Lieutenant just gives you another agent, and some give bonuses when completing quests). Plot quests are an investment. You complete them with the expectation of recovering your losses (i.e. the opportunity cost of completing other quests – they’re not as point efficient as other quests), and eventually turning a profit. Generally, this means prioritizing completing them early, and getting their benefit as many times as possible (ones that give you bonuses for completing quests can be completed later, when you’re doing the bulk of your quest completion). It’s important to recognize when it’s a good idea to complete a plot quest, and when it’s not going to pay out. e.g. Fix the Champion’s Games allows you to take 2 extra fighters when you assign an agent to the Field of Triumph, at the cost of 1 corruption per use. It costs 3 fighters and 2 gold to complete. I very rarely end up completing this quest, because the condition where it’s useful, a low supply of fighters, is exactly the condition that makes it difficult to use. A low supply of fighters increases competition over the Field of Triumph. Adding the fact that it costs corruption to get the effect, and it’s just kind of a lousy value, and I only end up completing it for points, if I have a Warfare lord bonus and extra fighters at the end of the game. Contrast Fix the Champion’s Games with Bolster Griffon Cavalry, which gives you an extra fighter whenever you take a fighter with an action. With Fix the Champion’s Games, you can generally only use the effect once per round, and need to use it at least 2 times to recoup the cost of playing it, plus whatever the corruption costs you. With Bolster Griffon Cavalry, you can use it on every building that supplies fighters, and when you use Intrigue cards that provide them (including ones that let you steal them from other players, like Inevitable Betrayal and Call for Assistance). When playing with both expansions, you start with 4 buildings that can provide fighters, and 4 places to play Intrigue cards, making it pretty easy to recoup the cost. Also, the condition where it’s useful (a low supply of fighters), means that you’ll be trying to take fighters often already, and other players are incentivized to buy buildings that provide fighters and increase the utility of your plot quest. Bolster Griffon Cavalry is one of the best plot quests in the game. Where possible, you want to select plot quests that complement each other, paving the paths that you’ll be taking already, rather than broadening the kinds of actions you’ll have to take. Compounding your benefits for taking a certain action allows you to be more efficient. e.g. Completing Sanctify a Desecrated Temple is great if you get bonuses for Piety quests, which you’ll be taking a lot of, but a waste of time if you’re only taking Skullduggery and Arcana quests. e.g.2 Place a Sleeper Agent in Skullport can provide a ton of points, but only if you’ve got a way to draw and play a lot of Intrigue cards. If you’re doing a lot of Arcana quests, which tend to give Intrigue cards as rewards, or there are a lot of buildings available that allow you to play Intrigue cards, it’s a much better value than normal. e.g.3 Bolster Griffon Cavalry pairs pretty well with Fence Goods for Duke of Darkness (gain 2 gold whenever you take a rogue), because any lord takes a lot of these resources, and there are a number of buildings that provide you with both (Slaver’s Market, Hall of Mirrors, The Skulkway, Smuggler’s Dock, Hall of Sleeping Kings, The Lost Cavern, The Hell Hound’s Muzzle, etc.). Most of the time, your lord bonuses will dictate which plot quests will be the most useful to you, but you have to play what you’ve got. If you see that Bolster Griffon Cavalry and Fence Goods for Duke of Darkness combo, with a Builder’s Hall full of those buildings, it can make the most sense to forget about your lord bonuses and do a bunch of Warfare, Skullduggery and Commerce quests. Your lord bonuses give you your starting advantages, but they can be outweighed. It’s a waste to take a lot of Piety quests if there are no buildings or plot quests that provide you with more clerics.

Economy You want to think of the game as a system, where there’s finite supply, and varied demand. Unlike some other worker placement games, in Lords of Waterdeep, resources don’t accumulate (with the exception of with certain buildings like The Golden Horn and Caravan Court). This means that accumulating a lot of a resource requires frequent actions to take it, and play is less opportunistic than a game like Agricola, and more about deliberate market manipulation. Supply Supply is resource specific. There may be a high supply of gold, and a low supply of rogues. Basically, the more actions that are available that provide a given resource, the higher the supply of that resource is. If you want to quantify it, you can just count what’s available to take. In the base game, rogues come from The Grinning Lion Tavern, and you can get 2 of them. If the action can be taken once per round, or 8 times per game, there’s a max of 16 rogues for everyone, barring new buildings, quest rewards and Intrigue effects. If someone purchases a building like Shadowdusk Hold, using the building gets the player 4 rogues, puts 2 on the board, and gives the owner 2 rogues, so it increases the rogue supply by 6-8 per round it’s in play (6 if the owner uses it and doesn’t get the owner benefit). Smart use of initiative will influence the size of your cut of the supply, but simply increasing supply will generally have a larger effect on your ability to score points. Rather than fighting tooth and nail over being starting player to take 2 rogues off of The Grinning Lion Tavern, you can just build a building that supplies more rogues, so the competition over them isn’t as rough, and you don’t have to prioritize taking them as much, empowering you to be a nuisance with your early actions, taking other resources that are in short supply. Better still, you can complete plot quests that provide you bonus resources without making them available to the other players. The supply is still finite, but you’re guaranteed a larger cut of it. Cards that let you build and destroy buildings are incredibly powerful, because they allow you to manipulate supply. If you have a lord that gets Skullduggery bonuses, you want more rogues in the supply, so you have an advantage over players who don’t get Skullduggery bonuses. Likewise with Warfare (fighters), Arcana (wizards), Piety (clerics), and Commerce (gold). Examining the building offer at the start of the game will give you an idea of what kinds of resources will be in high supply, so you can prioritize what quests to take by ease of completion. Whenever you take a quest, you should always be asking yourself if you’ll have the actions to complete it. A quest you’d get a bonus for that just stays in your hand doesn’t do much to help you win. Before deciding to increase the supply of a resource you need, make sure that you’re the one that benefits the most from it. Again, focusing on your advantage, rather than just getting more points. e.g. If you get a lord bonus for Skullduggery quests, but you have an opponent who’s completed Install a Spy in Castle Waterdeep, chances are they also have a lord bonus for Skullduggery quests, but they get 6 points for them, instead of your 4. In a case like that, it’s better that nobody have access to a lot of rogues, and you focus on your other quest type. The other player is invested already, but you can switch tacks. That said, if they seem like they’re gathering gold to buy a building that supplies rogues, better you own it than them, so buy it first, or block them out of Builder’s Hall buying a different building that gives you a greater advantage. Or let it be built, and destroy it with Demolish or Real Estate Deal. Demand Demand is dictated by quests, and fluctuates over time, as the quests in players’ hands change, and priorities shift (i.e. A player prioritizing a plot quest spikes the demand for its requirements, even if their hand never changes). Quests that are in the Cliffwatch Inn offer can also influence demand before they make it into player hands. The same goes for lord bonuses that will influence future quest selection. A lot of making good decisions in the game comes down to reading the situation with regards to demand, and figuring out how to place your agents to obstruct your opponents, while still furthering your progress on your own goals. e.g. It’s no good to just keep taking fighters to keep your opponent from taking them, unless you can use them for your own quests. In general, you want to prioritize taking resources that are in high demand. There’s normal competition for all of these resources, and more if you have demand that matches your opponents. i.e. If you have a Skullduggery bonus, but it looks like 2 of your opponents do as well, but you also have an Arcana bonus, it generally makes more sense to let your opponents fight over rogues and Skullduggery quests, and take the less contested Arcana/wizards. Because Demand is dictated by quests, it can be influenced by taking quests, and flushing the quest offer at Cliffwatch Inn. It’s easy to overlook, but if you take all of the Skullduggery quests you see, you naturally decrease your competition for rogues by essentially monopolizing the demand for it. If you can then increase the supply of rogues, you establish a very strong advantage for yourself. At the same time, if you can’t increase the supply of rogues, no one else has incentive to, and your huge demand is a liability.

Masked Lords Generally, it’s going to be very obvious what quests people are favoring taking, and consequently what masked lord they have. Furthermore, I don’t think it’s worth trying to conceal it, if it means passing up on a quest that you need. If someone is spending actions taking quests that you get a bonus for and they don’t, they’re really just hurting themselves. Neither of you get an advantage on it, and it’s a wash. Meanwhile, you can take actions that play to your advantages, and you get ahead. That said, if you focus on plot quests early on, it can help to keep your identity more ambiguous for longer. Incidentally, the fact that it’s not a big advantage to know a player’s identity is why I think the Open Lord Intrigue card is unbalanced garbage, and should be removed from the game if you’re playing with a physical set.

Obstruction Early game is also a great time for obstruction. If someone has a very strong plot quest, like Study in the Librarium, which costs 5 wizards, 2 rogues and 5 gold, prioritize taking actions that can provide wizards (e.g. Skull Island, and Hall of Mirrors, or Blackstaff Tower, if you need wizards), and keeping buildings that provide wizards out of play. Play mandatory quests on that player that cost wizards to complete. etc. The longer you can delay their completion, the less they’ll be able to use the advantage. When doing these kinds of actions, think about reducing their number of plot quest uses, rather than just getting in the way as much as possible. If someone is trying to complete Defend the Tower of Luck (receive a free adventurer of any color at the start of a round), if you can’t prevent them from completing the quest for the whole round, it’s better to stop trying to obstruct, and just take your normal best action. Also, while you don’t want to take quests just to deny a player a lord bonus (usually 4 points), you absolutely want to take quests that deny a player a strong combo. e.g. If your opponent has Study in the Librarium, do not, under any circumstances, let them take Place a Sleeper Agent in Skullport.

Waterdeep Harbor A lot of players seem to crowd Waterdeep Harbor early game, just on principle, so they can play Intrigue cards and be able to reassign that worker later. I generally don’t recommend this early game, because you risk not being able to complete your plot quests quickly. If you’re going for Study in the Librarium, then by all means, play Sponsor Apprentices (take 2 wizards and place 1 on an action space), but not before taking two wizards from Skull Island (because it keeps other players from taking it, while you’ll still have Sponsor Apprentices in your hand), and don’t waste your time on something like Recruitment Drive (take 2 fighters and place 1 on 2 different action spaces). Focus on having the right resources at the right time. Playing in Waterdeep Harbor has an intrinsic penalty in that you give up priority on other actions, leaving you with the dregs when you get to reassign your agent, and free actions your opponents can take. It’s better to keep your Intrigue cards for times you can get a big advantage by playing them. e.g. If you’re the last player in the round, taking the first spot in Waterdeep Harbor means you’ll be able to take two actions in a row later, which can be a great opportunity for purchasing and then immediately using a high demand building, or using actions that allow you to place resources on other actions, which you’ll be able to immediately scoop up, or clearing the quest offer, and taking multiple good quests. Every time you take a quest, you risk drawing a great quest that your opponents can take, so when you can play multiple actions in a row is the safest time to take them. Waterdeep Harbor is also great late in the game where you want as many actions as possible so you can push back completing quests.

Buildings When you purchase buildings, it’s generally going to be with the aim of making other players use it, so you can take the owner reward. If you own the Jesters’ Court (take all rogues from the space, and refill 2 rogues at start of round), you want to take rogues off of the Grinning Lion Tavern (take 2 rogues), so other players are forced to use your building to get rogues, and you end up with 3, instead of the 2 you’d get normally. The owner bonus can also serve as a disincentive for other players to use it, while increasing the supply of resources you need. Either way, owning buildings is good, provided you buy ones that increase the supply in such a way that increases your relative advantage over the other players. Don’t buy them just to have them. Better nobody has rogues than other players have access to rogues that benefit them more than you. Nothing really affects supply like the Undermountain buildings that allow you to place resources on the board (Citadel of the Bloody Hand, Shadowdusk Hold, The Librarium, Room of Wisdom, High Duke’s Tomb). If you see any of these built, it’s worth taking quests that use their corresponding resources, just because they’ll be so easy to complete. These buildings are especially powerful if you have plot quests that give you bonuses for taking resources (Bolster Griffon Cavalry, Fence Goods for Duke of Darkness, Explore Ahghairon’s Tower, Produce a Miracle for the Masses, Bribe the Shipwrights, respectively).

Don’t even think about completing quests that are only worth points at end game until the final rounds of the game. You can complete a quest every time you take an action, and you’ll have plenty of those near the end to empty your hand of quests and rack up points. The early game is strictly about developing your advantages. Later in the game, you’ll have a better picture of what’s possible, and the most efficient way to complete your quests, e.g. by using a quest reward to meet the requirements for another quest, and will have all of your plot quest perks in place.

Spend your early game time taking plot quests, completing them, and taking quests that will be easy to complete given the state of supply, factoring in buildings in play, buildings available to buy, what your opponents’ quests require, and everyone’s plot quests.

Mandatory Quests Early game is a great time to play mandatory quests on other players, and it’s a crappy time to have them played on you. That said, don’t bother completing them until you’ve gathered the resources you need and you’re ready to complete a plot quest (or some other quest that gives you resources you need for plot quests). You may end up drawing Intrigue cards that let you get rid of them without wasting your resources (Foist Responsibility, Change of Plans, Open Lord), or another player may play Change of Plans. Having mandatory quests may also deter people from piling more of them onto you, opting to get another player instead. This applies throughout the game. There’s no rush to complete them.

Putting It All Together

My early actions are generally spent taking quests and Intrigue cards (i.e. Hall of the Voice, Cliffwatch Inn 2). There isn’t much that will enhance your efficiency taking quests, so it’s a good thing to do early on, before you have any plot quest perks. It also lets you influence demand, and have a fuller picture of how you’ll want to spend your actions later in the game.

Bonuses For Taking Quests There are Undermountain plot quests that give you bonuses for taking quests of a particular type (Recover the Flame of the North, Ally with the Xanathar’s Guild, Sponsor Bounty Hunters, Sanctify a Desecrated Temple, Establish Wizard Academy). There’s also Bribe the Shipwrights, which gives you a rogue when you take gold with an action (Cliffwatch Inn 2, Hall of the Voice), Shelter Zhentarim Agents, which gives you an Intrigue card when you take corruption (Hall of the Voice), and Study in the Librarium, which lets you draw and play an extra Intrigue card (Entry Well). That’s it, unless someone builds a building that lets you take a quest.

For quest selection, I prioritize good plot quests > quests that allow me to return corruption > quests that let me turn abundant resources into short supply resources > quests for points.

Knowing that you’ll be able to return corruption buys you a lot of freedom, and it’s worth spending actions to get these into your hand early, because quests can’t be taken away, and it keeps it out of the hands of your opponents, denying them that freedom, and making taking corruption a risky proposition for them.

A lot of players will rush quests that give a lot of points, like the 40 point Undermountain quests. I personally don’t like them much. They’re only marginally more point efficient per action than other quests, and are all or nothing. You can be blocked from completing them with very pointed Intrigue attacks, mandatory quests, or action blocks. They also make poor use of your lord bonuses, and other things that give you bonuses for completing quests (e.g. Seize Citadel of the Bloody Hand, and Quell Mercenary Uprising). Having a greater number of lower point quests is more flexible, both in terms of being able to complete some of them if you unexpectedly lose some resources, and how you can benefit from plot quests.

If all of the actions to take quests from the quest offer are occupied, and the last action revealed a strong plot quest, like Seize Citadel of the Bloody Hand, take starting player. If someone else gets starting player first, flush the quest offer (Cliffwatch Inn 3). You want to deny your opponents strong plot quests as much as possible.

If there aren’t any quests I particularly want, I’ll build buildings, or take resources as efficiently as possible (usually the Skullport buildings), to make progress on completing plot quests.

It’s worth noting that I prioritize taking good quests over building buildings.

e.g. If I’m Brianne Byndraeth (bonus for Arcana and Skullduggery quests), and there’s a building that’s perfect for my needs, like New Olamn (take 2 rogues and 1 wizard), it’s more important that it’s built in general than I be the builder and get the owner benefit. The effect on the economy is the big thing. If I monopolize the demand for those resources by snatching every Skullduggery and Arcana quest I see, while they spend time gathering gold and building, it doesn’t matter much that the owner gets a free rogue or wizard if they can’t use them effectively.

Midgame - Exploiting Your Advantage

I wouldn’t assign a concrete round number to signal the start of the midgame so much as, you get there when you’ve completed your early game plot quests, and the sooner you get there, the better.

In the midgame, you’re generally going to be focused on gathering resources in the most efficient way possible, and continuing to get quests that suit your advantages. If you have Bolster Griffon Cavalry, take fighters as much as your opponents will allow. If you have Fence Goods for Duke of Darkness (whenever you take rogues with an action, gain 2 gold), take rogues over and over. Lord bonuses are nice, but if you have a ton of some resource that you got very efficiently, take quests that use them, regardless of your lord bonuses. The plot quests that you do early are an investment, and you want them to yield the largest returns possible.

Obstruction in the mid game is generally not that effective, because players can still complete plot quests that allow them to change their tack, and they’ll be sitting on piles of resources that make mandatory quests just a minor annoyance. Don’t bother with mandatory quests at this point if you’re not delaying an opponent’s plot quest. Save them for late game when you can stop players from completing high scoring quests.

Late game - Wrapping Up

I consider the late game to start around round 6, and it’s around this point where you want to start completing quests for points, because you’re running out of actions. At this point, you want to start plotting a course through your quests, figuring out what you can realistically complete, and the right order to do it in, using quest rewards to enable you to complete other quests. If you have high point quests, you want to get those done fairly early, before round 8, because you don’t want to be blocked with mandatory quests, other Intrigue cards that steal your resources, or just not being able to take the resources you need off the board.

At this point in the game, opponent intentions are more clear, their stockpiles of resources are generally smaller as they’re completing quests, and it’s possible again to take clear actions that you know will be effective obstruction, and it’s a good time to play mandatory quests, because it buys you more actions to complete quests, and will mess with your opponents’ calculations completing their last quests.

Late game is a good time to prioritize Waterdeep Harbor, because there are a greater number of valuable actions after players have been purchasing buildings all game, obstruction is more effective, and you’re more likely to get bonuses to your Intrigue actions from plot quests.

Also at this point, it’s generally too late to justify doing plot quests, because you won’t have enough time to collect your returns on them. I’d make exceptions for Seize Citadel of the Bloody Hand, and quests that give bonus points for completing quests of certain types, which give their benefit whenever you complete a quest, which you’ll be doing the bulk of at the end of the game.

Miscellaneous

Corruption If you’re playing with the Skullport expansion, corruption adds an interesting dynamic to the game. I believe it was designed with the intention that if you’re the only one taking any, you’ll win, and if you’re the only one not taking any, you’ll win. Basically, actions that give you corruption will also give you extra resources, and you’ll suffer some penalty at the end of the game for any corruption you still have. The more corruption that players have collectively taken, the higher the penalty is. In the early game, I take all the corruption that I can. I think it’s generally well worth any late game risk to get extra resources that allow me to complete plot quests as early as possible. The more that I take, the bigger the penalty is, and the less appealing corruption will look to other players. Planning from the beginning of the game, and prioritizing taking quests that allow me to return corruption compounds that effect. The fewer quests in circulation that allow you to return corruption, the more risky it gets, and the more of those quests I have, the safer my position, and the worse the position of all of my opponents. What you don’t want is to be in the late game, and needing to take your first few corruption to keep up on points, without a stockpile of return corruption quests. I don’t return corruption until I absolutely have to. I generally try to do it as my last actions in round 8, because I don’t want the corruption available in the pool. If a player is supposed to take corruption from the supply, and the supply is empty, they take a 10 point penalty. The extra resources that come with corruption will often be the little edge a player needs to complete a very high scoring quest, and simply holding corruption can obstruct other players. Also, if you manage to get the Protect Converts to Eilistraee plot quest (once on your turn, whenever you return corruption, you can return another corruption), you can return crazy amounts of corruption in a short amount of time. I’ve gone from like 17 to 0 corruption in a couple of rounds with it, by stockpiling Repent, Bribe the Watch and Scapegoat Intrigue cards. Just be careful when the track is completely empty, because other players may play Expose Corruption, which will hit you with a 10 point penalty. If I suspect it as a possibility, I’ll return some corruption earlier. That said, I think the risk of Expose Corruption, Doppelganger and Honorable Example (Intrigue cards that benefit a player having less corruption than you) are small enough that it’s not worth trying to keep your corruption lower than your opponents. I also like to take a lot of quests very early, and then use Corrupting Influence and other things that let me place corruption on the board to block spaces that let you take quests.

Intrigue Cards As a general rule, I don’t play the Undermountain expansion Intrigue cards that give me some points for giving resources to other players (Friendly Loan, Allied Faiths, etc.) except at the very end of the game, when it’s too late for them to use them for anything. If someone buys Trobriand’s Graveyard (draw 2 Intrigue cards, and discard 2 Intrigue cards), those are the first cards I’ll discard. Naturally, don’t give resources to players that can benefit from them a great deal, unless, possibly, if they’re way behind on points, and are not in a good position with plot quests and buildings. In the same way that you want the right resources at the right time, you want to look for opportunities to take resources from players so they don’t have the right resources at the right time. This applies to mandatory quests as well. It’s better to give a player a mandatory quest that requires fighters and rogues than one that requires clerics and wizards, if they have clerics and wizards in their inventory already, and no fighters and rogues. It forces them to take actions that are out of their way to clear the quest. Likewise, you want to give mandatory quests to players that require resources that are difficult for them to get. Pay attention to their completed plot quests, and the supply on the board.

Open Lord The Open Lord Intrigue card allows you to reveal your lord’s identity, and then you’re completely immune to attack Intrigue cards and mandatory quests. I play mostly 2 player games, and Open Lord is completely broken in 2 player games. To the point that it’s almost a viable strategy to just draw as many Intrigue cards as possible until you or your opponent gets it, and then the player who didn’t get it can forfeit. That said, if another player does draw Open Lord, you need a strategy to deal with it. Personally, I abandon Intrigue cards altogether, since such a large percentage of them will be duds. I won’t take Deal with the Black Viper, and I’ll take the Cliffwatch Inn space that gives me gold instead of the one that gives me an Intrigue card. If you keep taking them, so you can attack the other players in the game who aren’t the Open Lord, playing them is basically just fighting amongst yourselves and is just playing for second place. Actually winning with an Open Lord in the game almost necessitates a coordinated effort to crap on them by the other players. As a result of not being able to play a lot of Intrigue cards, the Open Lord player will generally be taking the Waterdeep Harbor spots a lot more often, so I’ll still take Study in the Librarium and Place a Sleeper Agent in Skullport, if only as a defensive measure. I will also try to fill the Waterdeep Harbor spots with corruption, with Corrupting Influence, Defame Rival Business, and Delver’s Folly. Throwing corruption around is one of the only ways you can mess with a player who has Open Lord, so I prioritize those, and taking quests that return or remove corruption, so my opponent doesn’t have access to them. You can also try to use your knowledge of their lord’s identity, but it really doesn’t help very much in practice besides knowing where to throw corruption, and what buildings not to buy.

Notes on Lords

Most of the lords in the game are pretty straightforward. They get bonuses on 2 types of quests, and you grab those quests, and try to get as many of those bonuses as you can. Focus on buildings that increase supply of resources those quests tend to need, and press the advantages of those quest types (e.g. If you get bonuses on Arcana quests, which tend to yield Intrigue cards, buy buildings that let you play more of them).

Larissa Neathal Larissa gets 6 points for every building that she controls at the end of the game, up to 9 times (54 points). Getting a full bonus for her isn’t that hard in a low player count game. Because you know that you’ll be getting a lot of buildings, The Stone House (gain a gold for each building in play) is a very good purchase. You’ll want to look for quests that give you bonuses for getting buildings (Infiltrate Builder’s Hall, Defame Rival Business, Impersonate Tax Collector), and try to get a building early that gives the owner gold when it’s used, to sustain repeat buying. You’ll want to also take lots of Intrigue cards, so you can get ones like Forge Deed, Demolish, Architectural Innovation, Rapid Expansion and Real Estate Deal. Taking starting player is a big deal, because other players will want to use the Builder’s Hall, and it can only be used 8 times per game under normal conditions. The fact that it also gives you an Intrigue card helps. If you see Recover the Magister’s Orb, prioritize taking it, as it will take the pressure off for rushing the Builder’s Hall. Also prioritize taking quests that give you free buildings (Threaten the Builders’ Guilds, Swindle the Builder’s Guilds, Placate the Walking Statue, Lure Artisans of Mirabar). Otherwise, take quests that your buildings make easier to complete. The Undermountain expansion’s 40 point quests are particularly good for Larissa, because she doesn’t get any bonus for completing a higher number of quests.

Sangalor and Halaster Blackcloak Sangalor gets 4 point bonuses from controlling Skullport expansion buildings, and for completing Skullport quests. Halaster is the same thing, but for Undermountain stuff. Each quest type has 12 base quests, and 6 per expansion, for a total of 24. Most lords get a bonus for 2 types, for 48 possible quest bonuses. Halaster and Sangalor get bonuses for only 30 (6 * 5 types). There are 12 Skullport buildings, and 12 Undermountain ones, so they’re both stuck with a total of 42 possible bonuses, with 12 of those stuck in the builder’s hall, which has 8 potential uses per game under normal circumstances, regardless of player count, and can only be cycled through purchases. Add to that, everyone’s got an interest in corruption reduction, regardless of quest type, adding competition on the Skullport quests, and the Undermountain quests being some of the most appealing in the game, in terms of point yield and plot quest effect (Seriously, look at the Undermountain plot quests. They’re all crazy strong). And the fact that Halaster’s quests don’t synergize well. “Establish Wizard Academy” gives you a free wizard whenever you take an Arcana quest, which is great if you’re focused on Arcana, but crap if you’re focused on Undermountain. One of each type of Undermountain quest is like that, which is 1/6th of Halaster’s possible bonuses. Another sixth is 40 point quests, which have such a small bonus relative to the quest’s value and cost it might as well be nothing. The end result is that I don’t feel good about my odds when playing someone of equivalent skill if I draw either of those lords. There’s nothing too special about playing these. If you get Sangalor, take a ton of corruption, because you get bonuses on the quests to return it.

The Xanathar The Xanathar gets 4 bonus points for any corruption he has at the end of the game. This doesn’t nullify the penalty for having corruption. The Xanathar is probably my least favorite lord to draw. You’re at the mercy of luck, by and large. Cards that remove corruption from the game (Release the Hounds, Improve Prison Security, Promenade of the Dark Maiden) remove potential bonus points for you, and there’s very little you can do about it. A lot of people with the Xanathar aim to be the only person with corruption so they can get a lot of the bonus points with a low penalty. In my experience, this doesn’t work. Again, corruption was designed to make it so that if you’re the only person who takes any, you win. Good players won’t let you do it under normal conditions, and there’s nothing special in the case where you’re the Xanathar. The approach I generally take is to be especially aggressive with taking corruption, and taking every quest I see that allows me to return it. I also look for Defame Rival Business, Delver’s Folly, and Corrupting Influence, which allows me to leave corruption all over the board, to drive the corruption of my opponents up. At the end of the game, I only drop my corruption down enough to match the level of my opponent with the least corruption. So everyone takes penalties, and only you get a benefit. I’ll hoard Expose Corruption Intrigue cards, and try to get just under my lowest corruption opponent, and drive everyone’s corruption up at the end of the game. If Promenade of the Dark Maiden comes into play, and you can’t do anything to get rid of it (i.e. with a Demolish Intrigue card), don’t avoid it and hope that people won’t use it and you’ll keep the corruption penalty low. It won’t work. Just use the building aggressively, and abandon your bonus. The Xanathar has the benefit that he’s not tied to any particular quest type, so just take quests that are easy to complete with the buildings available and plot quests you can get. Also take the 40 point Undermountain quests, since you don’t get a bonus for quest count.

Danilo Thann, Trobriand Danilo gets 3 points for every non-mandatory quest he completes. Trobriand gets 5 points for every quest he completes worth at least 10 points. I play both of these lords roughly the same. With both, I take a lot of low point quests (with Trobriand, ones that are worth at least 10 points), and avoid big point quests, like the Undermountain 40 pointers. Both of them benefit greatly from plot quests that give bonuses for completing quests, and Seize Citadel of the Bloody Hand. Citadel is amazing for anyone, but especially good for these two lords. Also, Diplomatic Mission to Suzail. To a lesser extent, plot quests that give resources for taking quests (e.g. The Undermountain quests: Ally with the Xanathar’s Guild, Recover the Flame of the North, etc.) are great for these two. Look to purchase buildings that allow you to take more quests, too. Danilo is probably my favorite lord to draw, because using him is fairly mindless, and it’s nice to get bonuses for your plot quests. In a typical 2 player game, you can expect to get 12-14 quests done, and maybe 12 with your lord bonus. The 12 points you miss with Danilo are easily made up by the fact that you’re not restricted by type, and can get more small quests done and are free to combo plot quests however you want.

Irusyl Eraneth Irusyl gets a 6 point bonus for each quest of one type she’s completed at the end of the game. It’s difficult to plan early on to get a ton of one type of quest. Fair odds you’ll be flushing the quest offer a lot, so be extra diligent about taking openings at Waterdeep Harbor that will get you 2 actions in a row later (i.e. Take the first spot in the harbor when you’re the last player whenever possible). Emphasize the Undermountain plot quests that give you bonuses for taking a quest of 1 type, and the plot quests that give you 2 bonus points for completing quests of one type. You can use the latter to compound the fact that you’re doing one type of quest a lot, or to give yourself an out to diversify. Don’t just look at your starting plot quests and try to shoehorn that type of quest. Make sure you evaluate what’s going to be in high supply. You don’t want to focus on Warfare quests when there aren’t a lot of fighters on the board.

Notable Quests

These quests are always useful, regardless of your lord. Do not pass them up.

Seize Citadel of the Bloody Hand If you can take this quest, drop everything else and take and complete it. It amplifies your ability to complete quests that require wizards and clerics immensely, and makes dealing with mandatory quests trivial. This combos really well with Diplomatic Mission to Suzail. If you complete this quest early, it’s not uncommon to complete 20+ quests in a game, and if you get lord bonuses for them, you’ll get a ton of bonus points. Focus more on quests that are in the low to mid range, in terms of points, and focus a lot on quests that provide resources. A quest like Train Bladesingers lets you turn a profit on wizards, for example. This quest doesn’t help much on huge quests like the 40 point Undermountain quests, so I wouldn’t really prioritize taking those. You’ll make it up and more in lord bonuses. When you choose your refund, generally pick clerics or wizards, as they’re generally more valuable and more scarce. Look to buy buildings that provide a lot of fighters and rogues, as you’ll chew through these very quickly, and take quests that let you turn other resources into more fighters and rogues. Also look for buildings that provide gold. As you burn through quests, it’s easy to run out, even if they only have modest gold requirements. Since this quest gives you a bonus whenever you complete quests, it’s still a good deal to complete if you draw it later in the game, if you’re backloading your quest completion (like you generally should), but it’s still best to complete it as early as possible, because it helps for mandatory quests in addition to non-mandatory ones.

Study in the Librarium This quest is undeniably powerful, if a bit unpredictable, and its value decreases with the number of players, as you’ll have fewer opportunities to use Waterdeep Harbor. Since you’ll draw the occasional Information Broker, it’s really easy to just play Intrigue cards indefinitely. If you get it, make sure to take every opportunity to play Intrigue cards, and build buildings that allow you to play them. Look for Place a Sleeper Agent in Skullport. Take starting player a lot, and take the first position in Waterdeep Harbor to maximize your odds of getting more agents in the harbor. You can be more aggressive with taking corruption when you have Study in the Librarium, because you’ll be drawing Repent, Bribe the Watch and Scapegoat Intrigue cards. If you do draw these, save them for later in the game, in case you draw Protect Converts to Eilistraee. It’s worth noting that this only applies when you take actions that allow you to play Intrigue cards, and not to completing quests that let you play Intrigue cards (Deal with the Black Viper, Prison Break).

Protect Converts to Eilistraee If you take a lot of quests that let you return corruption, you can basically take corruption with impunity with this quest. Make sure you space out your corruption returns (e.g. If you play Repent and return 2 corruption, don’t complete a quest that returns corruption that same turn, and don’t play a second return corruption Intrigue card if you have the ability to do so), so you get the bonus as much as possible. Take your time completing this quest, since you’ll mostly be using its effect at the end of the game. This combos really well with Shelter Zhentarim Agents, buildings that give corruption, and buildings that allow you to return corruption. If you get Shelter Zhentarim Agents, you can stress return corruption quests less, because you’ll be drawing a lot of Intrigue cards that let you return corruption. The fact that this quest exists is enough to keep me from returning any corruption in the early game with things like Scapegoat, Repent, and Bribe the Watch. I always stockpile these until late game, or if I need an emergency return to protect myself from Expose Corruption when the corruption track is empty. If someone else draws the quest, then I’ll use these more liberally, if there’s a good Intrigue timing opportunity, and I’ll keep my corruption lower in general, to protect from things like Doppelganger, and Expose Corruption.

Impersonate Tax Collector The effect of this card is strong enough that I’ll buy buildings I normally wouldn’t, just to get the benefit. Getting buildings with owner benefits that give you gold will let you feedback your buildings into more buildings. Look for quests that give you free buildings, and the Obtain Builder’s Plans plot quest, which will let you use the buildings in the Builder’s Hall and take the owner benefit. Also look for Recover the Magister’s Orb, as people will tend to try to block you out of your own buildings if you have Impersonate Tax Collector, and it will let you build even if other players are building. Because you get so many resources from your buildings, I deemphasize taking return corruption quests if I get this one, since you’ll usually get more per action than you will by taking corruption.