My Mark Harrigan (for 4+ years) Guide, Expert Difficulty

[This is an old version, the current version can be found here.]

Mark Harrigan is a very powerful Guardian on Expert where you want a four above the target. I've been playing him for years now and so I'd like to think I've learned what works on him and what doesn't. With support Vincent Lee and a dedicated Seeker , this deck is strong as any.

As a compliment to the designers, Guardians have a much better card pool and the card pool generally is much more balanced than it once was (4 Seeker parties get old after a while.) As an insult to the designers, make Tempt Fate cost 1 experience, please, for the love of Mary, there's no justifiable reason every investigator shouldn't run two copies.

General Advice. On Expert, do not build Arkham Horror decks for what they will be when they have experience. Theory crafting is fun, but all Arkham Horror campaigns are designed to reward success immediately which will spiral into more success and so on. I could make a deck that evolves into something more powerful, but it is unrealistic when rubber hits the road on Expert. Your only consideration, and I mean only, should be making the most powerful experience 0 deck you can make. Scenario one is by far the most important. This is one reason .45 Thompson is better than Runic Axe. Your deck will not be meaningfully different after the first and second scenario and those first three scenarios will determine your success in the campaign.

Why Not X?

• Four Investigators. Every investigator count, from one, to two, to three, to four, plays so differently, so I wouldn't use this list for anything but inspiration if you are in a smaller party. Safeguard, Breach the Door, Map the Area, Motivational Speech all go down in value for each investigator you are missing from the legal maximum of four.
• Tactics. Just because you can run Tactics, doesn't mean you should fill your deck with passable ones. Making Preparations is good in certain groups of four (and no less than four) but these groups are more particular than you might think, so just consider how those turns are actually going to play out before you take it. Kicking the Hornet's Nest is just not what you want to be doing in Arkham, ultimately you are going to be spending actions and resources to deal with what it draws and the math doesn't work out favorably most of the time. On top of all that, the card is just dead in your hand when you are already having trouble with enemies and it commits for the right symbols, but not enough of them.
• Hallowed Mirror. I play with a group with Vincent Lee, if your group has virtually no sources of healing, you should throw a copy in. Cut a copy of Motivational Speech.
• In the Thick of It. This is generally an overplayed permanent, but there is literally no investigator in the game of Arkham who suffers more from mental and physical trauma than Mark. It would be awesome to go into scenario one with an upgraded .45 Thompson that you can draw off Prepared for the Worst, but you're just in such a worse spot no matter how you divide up the trauma. Avoid being defeated in scenarios at all costs and don't take this.

But I Don't Own X! What Could I Add?

• Perception. In a four investigator game, anyone could add Perception. Nowhere on the card does it say you can't commit it to allies' tests, it's always good.
• Beat Cop. Does his duty. It's perfectly fine to run em' even if you have two copies of Grete. You can pitch the cop using his fast ability when you want to play the better ally, who may die for that last clue, freeing you up to play the cop, and you can of course just assign lethal damage to either. You'll get more use out of your Motivational Speech.
• Emergency Cache. Thompsons are pricey and the deck in general has no trouble spending resources. You may want to swap them out when you upgrade into the fancier one but you're in no rush.
• Whatever You Want! Don't try and find analogous, subpar cards, just run what you find effective. You know the parties you play with better than I do.

.45 Thompson. It's not here to match Mark Harrigan's card art but that's a fun bonus. It's among the most effective 0 exp Expert difficulty weapons. It's comically expensive, but gives you 5 ammo, the needed +1 damage, and the +2 (bringing you to a passive 7 ) makes it so that you can safely attack 3 enemies and, with Grete Wagner (or a Daring, Overpower, The Home Front, or Vicious Blow,) those pesky 4 enemies. As a side note, the upgraded version is beyond incredible. It's underrated because Arkham players overvalue splash-y turns and undervalue efficiency. It's perhaps competing with shotguns which work great on Mark but they're overall not really Expert weapons because of how negative the bag's average actually ends up being.

Grete Wagner. There is not really a story here, you were going to take a +1 ally and Grete is the best one at 0 exp. That being said, she is especially great with Mark because you can draw a card off her trigger.

Safeguard. With 4 investigators, this translates into a free action most turns, even if it misses now and again, it's incredible.

Breach the Door & Map the Area. Mark Harrigan being able to breach with a base 5 and the ability to get a +2 with his innate ability, maybe a +1 from Grete Wagner, Breach the Door offers so much value to the team on a 2 location. You'll end up reducing the shroud by at least 3 most of the time and have a good shot of getting to the magic number 0 where only a will fail, in which case you can start grabbing clues. Map the Area might seem funny on Mark with his low , but he'll use it early on when the Seekers are busy, take a damage for the +2, which is an excuse to draw a card.

Evidence! Straight out of the Core Set, this card is still great. It doesn't take an action, doesn't test a skill, only costs 1, and on top of all that, commits for . Scene of the Crime is the comparable card, but doesn't commit to tests as well and requires your precious time in a way that Evidence! does not.

Glory. They're printing Preposterous Sketches in Guardian now?

Motivational Speech. With only two allies you'll be using it on other investigators a lot and it's a great use of your cards and time. It's notable that the Parley aspect allows you to throw Grete Wagner down with an engaged enemy.

Practice Makes Perfect. The dream is to hit The Home Front and that's just absurdly powerful, but it works great with Overpower and Vicious Blow. (If the upgraded Overpower wasn't good enough, this encourages upgrading it earlier.)

Prepared for the Worst. Any fighty Guardian that doesn't take multiple interchangeable weapons takes this. Once you can Stick to the Plan, you'll cut one copy of this because you only want one in a game.

Stand Together. Everyone is awestricken by how good the upgraded version is but this one's really good too. It's not just that you're getting one more resource than Emergency Cache, it's that it splits it up over two investigators so each is more likely to be able to make use of what they're given.

Tempt Fate. I don't want to talk about it.

Daring & Overpower. Two fairly similar cards, both great for fairly obvious reasons. They're best on high enemies but you should just use them when you can.

The Home Front & Vicious Blow. Great for dealing with 3 hit point enemies or 2 hit point enemies before you have your .45 Thompson or after its out of ammo. The Home Front is a Vicious Blow with an extra that heals the investigator most desperate for heals, what's not to love?

Shell Shock. A shockingly nightmarish weakness that can easily defeat you out of nowhere. All the more reason to play with Vincent Lee.

Standalone Mode. I would take a single additional Random Basic Weakness in order to get 19 experience, which will get you to step four of the following list. If you have a gut feeling (or foreknowledge) that you're going to be up against stacks and stacks of hit points, you can take two or three additional but that's, more often than not, more trouble than it's worth.

Experience.

1. Upgrade both copies of .45 Thompson (3 exp each.)
2. Take Stick to the Plan (6 exp.) [You will typically choose Prepared for the Worst, Breach the Door, and lastly Map the Area until you get Custom Ammunition.]
3. Grab one copy of Ace of Swords (1 exp,) cut one copy of Prepared for the Worst.
4. Upgrade both copies of Stand Together (3 exp each.)
5. Grab one copy of Custom Ammunition (3 exp), cut one copy of Motivational Speech.
6. Upgrade both copies of Overpower (2 exp each.)
7. Upgrade both copies of Vicious Blow (2 exp each.)
8. Upgrade both copies of Evidence! (1 exp each.)
9. Grab two copies of Extra Ammunition (1 exp each), cut the remaining copy of Motivational Speech and one copy of Map the Area.
10. Grab two copies of Ever Vigilant (4 exp each,) cut the remaining copy of Map the Area and one copy of Tempt Fate.
11. Grab a copy of Backpack (2 exp,) cut the remaining copy of Tempt Fate.
12. Upgrade the remaining copy of Prepared for the Worst (2 exp.)
13. Upgrade both copies of Grete Wagner (3 exp each.)
14. Upgrade both copies of Safeguard (2 exp each.)
15. Grab one copy of Key of Ys (10 exp,) cut one copy of Daring.
16. Grab a second copy of Backpack (2 exp,) cut the remaining copy of Daring.
17. Grab an additional copy of Key of Ys (10 exp,) cut one copy of the upgraded Evidence!