Denethor · RingsDB

Reviews

I really like Lore Denethor. He's my favorite core set hero and I still use a lot today. he is mainly overshadowed by Leadership Denethor, who works in most decks. In solo, becomes even more powerful, is a very good defender, and has access to a burning brand. Denethor is very underrated and I highly recommend him.

5/31/17

Wandalf the Gizzard 2485

In the Lore he is described as a great Ruler, as a steward could be, wise and just. He studied the law of Gondor but also had access to a Palantir !! By using it he got a lot of info about the enemy such as Saruman and Saurun but with the side efect to get older as more he used it . That is how the scrying efect is so Thematic with him ! Exceellent work! — Mercyful 1 8/1/20

It took me a while to understood how great Denethor really is. His and are useless, but as defender, he shines. His ability is game changing mainly in solo play and with Unexpected Courage and Henamarth Riversong combo, he actually gives you control of Encounter deck, which is the strongest ability, you can have in this game. Forget Eleanor, when Denethor is on the table, no treachery card even reach the game. Very good artwork. Verdict: 5/5.

4/8/18

matrosh 552

Pro Tip: The moving of the encounter card to the bottom of the deck is optional. The usual approach is to use the optional component on scary cards and surge cards. But not all surge cards are equal, some only fire conditionally. For conditional surges (ex. If X then do Y. If X failed to do anything then this card gains surge), only put the card on thr v — Nystrum 42 11/29/21

Got cut off there … the bottom of the deck if it actually surges. If it fails to surge then moving it to the bottom of the deck means it will reappear sooner than if it was simply discarded. The sooner it is seen again, the sooner it might cause pain (because the conditional surge might fire next time). — Nystrum 42 11/29/21

I’ll explain that better/clearer. Barring something like Unexpected Courage, Denethor can only avoid 1 encounter card per round. In the case of Denethor scrying a conditional surge that will surge, the card itself will do nothing but the card after will appear regardless. In that situation, avoiding the conditional surge card won’t help the board state, it will actually cause the conditional surge card to reappear sooner (since the cards at the bottom of the encounter deck will be reached before the discarded cards). — Nystrum 42 11/29/21

Denethor > Eleanor, it is true. But since his ability is an action (rather than a response), he can’t do anything about terrible encounter cards revealed during setup. Eleanor can use her response for treachery cards revealed during setup. — Nystrum 42 12/11/21

With unexpected Courage, magic ribg, heir of Mardil , leahter boots, grey warander contract and with a palantir he coild be the new saruman, that explore the encounter deck severamente times per round and draw some card extra!!! Go hold crazy denethor — serpico 264 4/26/24

When playing Progression style, Denethor is always in our hero pool (wielding A Burning Brand as soon as it unlocks in quest five) at least until Elrond shows up near the end of the second cycle. (After that Beravor and Elrond+Vilya tend to get picked first.) Matrosh already noted that stacking Unexpected Courage on Denethor is great (I agree), but something to consider is not to only bury scary cards. Instead, let Henamarth Riversong (activated after you've used all your Denethor actions for the round) cover your early game spying needs while Denethor studies the enemy's long term plans! Have Denethor bury every card that isn't a victory or critical quest card (and leave each buried one face up since it's now a known card unless the deck gets shuffled) until you eventually know every remaining encounter card and can strategically pick which ones come when. Obviously you don't want to do this on quests where the encounter deck can reshuffle itself early or unexpectedly, and you also don't want to do it when you or your team are using something like Mariner's Compass.

Overall, Denethor is top notch when you only have the Core set. Once you get past the first few cycles and unlock more choices, he's still a viable choice depending on your deck build.

5/30/24

DunYoss 54