jmmeye3 · 620
Special shout out to Matt88 for his deck https://arkhamdb.com/decklist/view/8935/where-is-my-rifle-1.0, which inspired this deck and is very similar. Be sure to check out his version.
This William Yorick deck is 100% dedicated to combat and therefore must be team up with at least one character that can investigate.
The basic strategy of the deck is to use Baseball Bat to fight with 6 combat strength and +1 damage. This is effective since most enemies have 4 or less fight. (Expert mode requires more help, see below). Baseball Bat, Knife and firearms are better with William than any other character, since he can bring them back after they are lost. In general, the bat is played first and the other weapons are used to retrieve the broken bat. The Backpack and Prepared for the Worst help to get weapons out quickly and keep a supply in your hand to use when the bat breaks. Live and Learn, Lucky! and Oops! are included because they are more reliable than skill cards and less expensive than Physical Training. However, the true stars of the deck are the recurring Guard Dog and Cherished Keepsake. Recurring damage and horror soaks make William the most resilient of all fighters.
Some notable exclusions:
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Machete: With any other combat character, machete is better than Baseball Bat. But William's power lessens the harm of the bat breaking, and the extra +1 combat strength that the bat gives, along with Machete's too-often neglected drawback (especially problematic in multiplayer games when enemies can swarm) give the edge to Baseball Bat for William, in my opinion. Why not use Bandolier and include both? This is certainly an option, as piloted by Matt88 (see link above), but I don't think it is worth the body slot, cards and resources. Resources are especially scarce with William, since he spends his resources to replay assets from the discard pile.
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Survival Knife: This does work well with William's Guard Dog and Cherished Keepsake recursion (you have to have a place to put the damage and horror in order to counterattack with the survival knife), but similar to Machete, I think Baseball Bat is better and that Survival Knife does not justify including Bandolier.
- Beat Cop: On easy and normal mode, the additional damage from the dog is better than the passive +1 combat strength of the level 0 Beat Cop. On expert mode, the cop should be used instead because you need every point of strength you can get to succeed against the ridiculous chaos token pool. At all difficulties, the level 2 Beat Cop is worth consideration when upgrading.
Speaking of upgrades, my first choice is Old Hunting Rifle, which can be used in the same way as Baseball Bat but is more predictable and powerful. It goes in to replace the .45 Automatic, since the Knife and Baseball Bat are better and cheaper ways to bring back the rifle.