[Detailed Guide] Flex Lola is A-tier in '26

the formatting looks better on arkham.build

The Case for Lola

• In AHTCG, there are 2 things that make a weak investigator.
  • Those with bad statlines will have a weak scenario 1.
  • Those with bad cardpools will fall off later into the campaign.
  • And those with both (looking at you Calvin) will struggle early on while not hitting particularly high highs even with a good injection of XP.
• Lola's 'obvious weakness' is her statline. Her cardpool is not a problem. Her cardpool is out of this world. Lola with 40XP will out-perform most of the roster. And then She just keeps scaling. Having access to Underworld Market, Stick to the Plan, and Studious give's her really high XP ROI as well as late campaign consistency despite the inflated decksize.
• Well. Perhaps quite surprisingly, Lola's early campaign is genuine incredible. Her statline is bad but that just doesn't matter. One of the balancing levers on Lola is that she only gets 0-3 in every class. In scenario 1 that's just all classes everything. At this point in the cardpool, there are 35 great to broken support or testless output cards for Lola to pick from.
• So Lola is uniquely an investigator with a great scenario 1 despite a weak statline, and a cardpool that quickly scales her to immense heights. It's hard to argue against putting this resume anywhere below A tier.
• (We are playing ∥ front and vanilla back. All of this is hinged on ∥ front's existence allowing Lola to actually use most of her cardpool).

What are we Doing Today

• Disclaimer: No, we are not doing Transfiguration here. Personally I only find Transfiguration cool when its built around some specific cross cardpool-ability combo, which we are not doing. You could play it in this deck as a very efficient stat boost and erase our minutely inconvenient front text. I think it's more fun to stay as Lola.
• Early on, we are built around spells e.g. Read the Signs, Spectral Razor, good stuff assets in and like Magnifying Glass and Enchanted Blade, and a host of support cards, filling the role of a supportive flex.
• We then pivot from into , picking up an early Underworld Market and transitioning into a Dirty Fighting-based 'normal' flex.
• Eventually we'll have the whole big money package and be invincible.
  • A short explainer on the big money rogue archetype for unfamiliar readers:
  • Essentially, we'll be mythos immune thanks to Well Connected giving a Promise of Power every turn.
  • We'll have 6-7s in our all out stats that can be further boosted by the likes of Dirty Fighting,
  • And we'll have 6 actions every turn to either dig in the bag for a clue or punch for 2 damage.
• A fun thing we are doing is with the combination of The Red Clock (2) and The Raven Quill we can stop the clock for an extra action every turn.
• When we are shelling out big time for expensive (exceptional) assets like the Clock, Fan and Quill, it sure is awesome that Whitton Greene (0/2) can search all of them while giving us relevant stat bumps (she's great)!
• The list featured on this page is what the deck might look like heading into Sc4. It's one scenario before we pick up The Black Fan and the rest of the big money stuff. This is about when Lola really hits her stride. (The The Raven Quill is fully upgraded with Energy Sap and Supernatural Record, just not represented here as we only put 1 real XP into it).

The Base Decklist

• Here is the base list we will building from (arkhamDB | arkham.build). It run's some greedier options like the Refine, and some slightly less optimal Sc1 cards as we are only going to buy a single Adaptable to save 1XP.

• Here is an alternative version that goes for maximum productivity in Sc1 (arkhamDB | arkham.build). It'll will be missing out on a few Refine triggers as well as having to buy a second copy of Adaptable later on to properly pivot. All-in-all falling about 3-5XP behind as a cost to a slightly improved early campaign.

• There are a few other incredible Lv0 cards that did not even make the cut. I've tried playing all 10 neutral skills, as well as powerful testless events like Drawn to the Flame and Explosive Ward. Their effectiveness really varies based on the scenario. If the scenario is short with a lot of fighting, I would cut the Magnifying Glasses for more events, as she'll have less downtime to just dig around in the bag.

• With the help of Magnifying Glass and Whitton Greene, we can dig in the bag at low shroud locations.

• Enchanted Blade let us beat down some rats and cultists. Only playing 1 as Whitton can pull it out.

• We have the spells as well as Gang Up for some great compression and testing at higher numbers.

• And a whole host of draw, resource, skill and healing support we are ready to give out teammates.

Upgrade Path

• The upgrades will be batched by scenario, assuming we get about 7XP from the scenario itself, and then 5 from our XP permanents and Delve Too Deeps.

• Refine and The Raven Quill free pips go into Energy Sap and Supernatural Record. They're not represented here since I find that they mess up the XP total in a confusing way.

• < Base: arkhamDB | arkham.build >

• Base (In the Thick of It) Charon's Obol (2XP | 2XP)

• Base (In the Thick of It) Gang Up (1XP | 3XP)

  • This is just an incredibly over-rate card. And we need it to fulfil the 7 quota.

• < Sc1: arkhamDB | arkham.build >

• Sc1 Divination (1) (1XP | 4XP)

  • Getting this we can start farming the 1XP on The Raven Quill. We only play one as eventually we will get Supernatural Record on The Raven Quill to tutor it (The Raven Quill can even tutor from discard so 1 is completely sufficient).
  • A question worth addressing is why Divination (1) as the charge receiver. The other obvious contenders are the 3 Archaic Glyphs (only cards will work due ∥ Lola's play restriction).
  • I've tried playing with Archaic Glyphs (Markings of Isis) (3). It has a very cool synergy with ∥ Lola as the specific wording of 'put [...] into play' bypasses the class play restriction. However I just found it to be rather underwhelming and triggered it shockingly few times throughout the scenario.
  • Archaic Glyphs (Prophecy Foretold) (3) is on theme with a Dirty Fighter but it's just obviously redundant when we're already playing pumps. It is 1 clue sometimes when the stars align while Divination (1) is just 1 clue every 2 rounds.
  • Archaic Glyphs (Guiding Stones) (3) is.. a card. Together with Higher Education (3) a deck built around Guiding Stones is probably objectively the strongest thing Lola can be doing. I don't find that very interesting and also it scales weirdly from absolutely worthless to gamebreaking going from 1 up to 4 players. Without Higher Education (3), Guiding Stones is only mildly improved clue output over Divination (1). The point of big money flex is to have a decently sized number (6-8) and dig in the bag 5+ times. It doesn't really synergise with what Guiding Stones wants to do. (Or at least until Well Connected is online which is both late into the campaign and also late into each scenario).
  • Also, translating the Glyphs is a huge pain. It's a very harsh quest compared to most other researched cards. It's especially rough for flex Lola compared to a cluever as she is playing a lot of cards without icons. It is a very big hit to scenario 1 power.

• Sc1 Underworld Market (6XP | 10XP)

  • This buy truthfully doesn't give us a lot of power (compared to picking up a lot of goodstuff cards like At a Crossroads or Cheat the System) but it let's us fulfil Lola's 7/7/7 restriction smoothly while transitioning from to .

• Sc1 (UWM) Dirty Fighting (2XP | 12XP)

  • Let's us use the best-statted gun in the .25 Automatic. Right now we are very dependent on Wolf Mask. Dirty Fighting effectively turns 1 charge of Wolf Mask into multiple as we can use it to pass the evade check and get +2 for the turn.

• Sc1 Gang Up (1XP | 13XP)

  • Pick up another copy of the most blatantly broken thing Lola does.

• Sc1 (UWM) 2 × .25 Automatic

• Sc1 (UWM) Knuckleduster

  • Don't play this. It's here because we can't afford an Adaptable on the second one later on.

• Sc1 (UWM) 2 × Embezzled Treasure

  • Do this if you can but don't sweat it as we're not going into big money anytime soon.

• Sc1 (UWM) 2 × "I'll take that!"

• Sc1 (UWM) 2 × .45 Thompson

  • Probably don't play this. It's to fill 2 quotas for her deckbuilding.

• Sc1 CUT Enchanted Blade

• Sc1 CUT Overpower

• < Sc2: arkhamDB | arkham.build >

• Sc2 Adaptable (1XP | 14XP)

• Sc2 2 × Cheat the System (2XP | 16XP)

  • These work with our 3 colours of permanents (that's why we have Shrewd Analysis). It's very broken.

• Sc2 2 × At a Crossroads (2XP |18XP)

  • Dilemmas ignore ∥ Lola's play restriction. This is not a real card.

• Sc2 Delilah O'Rourke + Charisma (6XP | 24XP)

  • Delilah O'Rourke gives us a bump in both our fighting stats and has a great ability.

• Sc2 (Adaptable) Lonnie Ritter

  • A backup bump. We are not playing an asset with her for 'infinite soak' because 2/3 is plenty, we do not want to make room for 2 Trench Coats and we're not finding them consistently. Further we'd rather have Delilah so sometimes we'll just let Lonnie die to replace her.

• Sc2 (Adaptable; UWM) Knuckleduster

  • We can play these now with a boost.

• Sc2 CUT 2 × Read the Signs

• Sc2 CUT 2 × Spectral Razor

  • The spells are still good, especially Spectral Razor, but we don't really want to be in anymore. Our deck also got more expensive so we'd rather keep the skills than these.

• Sc2 CUT (UWM) .25 Automatic

• < Sc3: arkhamDB | arkham.build >

• Sc3 Geas (4XP | 28XP)

  • Going from 4 to 5 in our stats (with a relevant ally out) is a big bump. We can comfortably dig in the bag for investigates or fight without having drawn Wolf Mask now.

• Sc3 The Red Clock (2) (4XP| 32XP)

  • For those unfamiliar, The Raven Quill is one of the methods available to 'stop' The Red Clock (2). By removing a charge from it every turn to keep it on 2 charges constantly, it will tick over to 3 at the start of the turn and be stuck on the extra action mode.
  • Lola only gets The Red Clock (2) and not the Lv5 version, so she would be missing out on 1 action each turn. This, genuinely does not matter. 6XP is an insane ask and even if Lola had access to The Red Clock (5) she would not be picking it up until well into 70+XP.

• Sc3 1 × The Raven Quill (1XP | 33XP)

  • We are marking 1 pip on The Raven Quill while also adding in the second copy.
  • By this point ideally we already have all 6 pips marked: refine in Sc1, refine + in Sc2, refine + in Sc3 for 5 total; plus the 1XP we just spent.
  • If not, we want it fully upgraded so just put in any spare XP if possible.
  • Whitton Greene is able to search both The Red Clock (2) and The Raven Quill, and the Quill will then search Blur (1). This is a big reason why we are comfortable committing so much XP to a 3 card combo dependent on an exceptional asset. We can put it together very reliably.

• Sc3 Hiking Boots (1XP | 34XP)

  • Much worse movement compression than Pathfinder but the bump and 1XP discount edges out.

• Sc3 (Adaptable) 2 × Guts

  • Putting the defensive skill back in now that we have Geas. Guts also gets better with higher base stats since now we're actually going to pass consistently with +2.

• Sc3 CUT Perception

  • Cutting the proactive skills as we now have Geas. We do not need these to dig in the bag anymore.

• Sc3 CUT Deduction

  • Could consider playing this over Guts still and committing it before drawing Geas or to teammates' tests. I think Guts is just more flexible and at this point Lola is fit to wander off on her own as a true flex so taking a non-neutral proactive skill is just more variance than it's worth.

• < Sc4: arkhamDB | arkham.build >

• Sc4 The Black Fan (6XP | 40XP)

  • Here come the final big money pieces.
  • Try to do the full 20 Embezzled Treasure in Sc4 so the big money stuff get's a good headstart heading into Sc5 (let your team know you'll need their help with this).

• Sc4 Unscrupulous Loan (3XP | 43XP)

  • Our only card for Cheat the System.

• Sc4 2 × Whitton Greene (2) (4XP | 47XP)

  • Now that we have our full suite of expensive relics she will help us find them. We probably won't have enough XP to upgrade both together so either bump 1 of them up to Sc3 or down to Sc5.

• Sc4 (Adaptable) 2 × Well Connected

• Sc4 CUT 2 × Magnifying Glass

  • We no longer have the hand slots to hold these, and we just got another bump from The Black Fan.

• Sc4 CUT 2 × Guts

  • Yes, we added them last scenario just to cut them now. That's because Well Connected does a similar job and between Guts and Manual Dexterity, Manual Dexterity can serve as as proactive card to turn on Dirty Fighting early game before getting set up.

• < Sc5: arkhamDB | arkham.build >

• Sc5 Pathfinder (2XP | 49XP)

• Sc5 Haste (2XP |51XP)

  • This would be considered the last 'output' upgrade.
  • A question to ask is why does this come so late. Ostensibly it's an action like The Red Clock (2) or The Black Fan except more straightforward.
  • In my experience Haste get's a lot easier to use when we already have extra actions. At 3 actions baseline Haste is much more inflexible to trigger.

• Sc5 Stick to the Plan (6XP | 57XP)

• Sc5 (SttP) Sweeping Kick (1XP | 58XP)

  • This card is genuinely incredible. With Dirty Fighting it's basically a 4 damage event. With the cheaper resource cost there's a real argument to take this over Gang Up early on. I still prefer Gang Up since it doesn't require you to already have Dirty Fighting and a weapon out for full value. There are also enemies here and there that can't be tripped so Gang Up covers our natural weakness.

• Sc5 (Adaptable; SttP) Emergency Cache

• Sc5 (Adaptable; SttP) Shortcut

• Sc5 (Adaptable; SttP) [Alternative] Teamwork

  • Lola can do a lot of funky stuff with teamwork. Especially if there's a teammate that makes a lot of money with no outlet (on my run she played alongside a Carolyn Fern), she can take some of it to turn The Black Fan on faster.

• Sc5 CUT 2 × Delve Too Deep

  • Yeah playing these for 5 scenarios is really greedy. But we really need the XP.

• Sc5 CUT Safeguard

  • Finally trading this in for a Pathfinder. At this point Lola would like to go off alone to clear part of the map by herself.

• Sc5 CUT 2 × Manual Dexterity

• < Sc6+: arkhamDB | arkham.build >

• Sc6 and Beyond; Still many things we can upgrade, just take these as how the game feels:

  • (SttP) Emergency Cache (2)
  • 2nd Delilah O'Rourke
  • (UWM) Switchblade (2) (from Knuckleduster)
  • (UWM) 2nd Dirty Fighting
  • Studious
  • These are honestly really good. Depending on her fighting obligations on the team I would get them before Delilah O'Rourke or the UWM upgrades.
  • (UWM) Pickpocketing (2)
  • Perhaps surprising that these are so low. Could have Adaptable'd a Pickpocketing in at some point too but honestly I found myself never buying Pickpocketing from market. The 3 resource is a big ask when every dollar means getting The Black Fan online that much faster. The fast on Pickpocketing (2) and other fast cards like .25 Automatic and Hidden Pocket etc. don't have the same 'pay for 'em only when they're needed' upside since Lola is only half the time so we need to play around that.
  • Mostly, we are not fighting that often or treating evading as an engine with something like a String Along.
  • Well Connected (3)

Lola really is A tier (kinda)

• At this point of the legacy cardpool, Lola genuinely has enough tools to be a powerful investigator at all points in a campaign (and her ∥ front is godsend that elevated her from being mostly a narrow gimmick).
• She can perform to the level of the best, but with many caveats: Lola asks for alot more from the context around her to make her shine.
• Firstly, her role on the team is rather niche. She starts off as a very team-oriented flex, with the ability to bring some output but a big focus on supporting by handing out economy and skills.
• Later, she becomes a very high output flex that wouldn't mind playing away from the main deathball, while packing basically no team utility. At this point, she really wants her team to feed her resources (like every big money rogue) to get the big money hoarder synergies online ASAP.
• The team very much will have to be built around capitalising on her evolving strengths.
• She also would much prefer a high XP campaign.
• Under the right circumstances (circumstances the players can manufacture), Lola will hang with the best. But she's not like a 5 cluever that one can bring into a blind play with a haphazard team composition and just do the thing.