Path of Need is a cool card, but hampered by the facts that it's limit one per deck, and that active locations usually only stick around for one round. If you can work around those, this card will change your game. You can fish it out of your deck with Gather Information, Heed the Dream, or Word of Command, and recur it with Tome of Atanatar. It's especially useful in quests like Dread Realm and Three Trials that give you a couple stages to find it, and then slam you with a big boss fight and a location that can't be explored until you meet a certain condition.

Long time reader, first time reviewer. This card inspired me to write a review for it, because it has completely saved the day for me a number of times and they have created such memorable game experiences that I'm at the point that I want to put this in every deck I make that has access to Leadership.

Other reviewers have already mentioned some of the game-breaking moments this card can provide (like Helm's Deep), but what I think makes it so special is it allows you to do everything in combat with the best cards on the table. Swamped by attackers? Have your Sentinel uber-defender stop them. Every. Single. Attack. Then, follow up with your Ranged killer destroying every single one of them. Then, any hero with an action that requires exhausting to complete? Go for it. You're not needed for anything else right now. Clean slate for next round? Yes please? Lastly, it can go on ANY location in play. Not just the active location. So you can decide in advance where you want to make your almighty stand. Play it onto the next location you're going to travel to so you can get the immediate combat benefits. Quest lightly for a round (unexhausted) to keep that Path of Need location in play if you like, or clear it and go into the next combat phase all completely ready.

So, so good!

Path of Need might be my favourite attachment in the game, if not player card in general too. It's pricey but there are ways around that like Vilya, Bartering, or any slew of the resource-generating cards within the Leadership sphere to help pay for it.

This card is a solid card that can change your game and save the day when things are at its darkest. I used it in my solo Treebeard/Elrond/Gandalf deck that I took through the Sagas and it was the MVP for me. I combined it with the deck-scrying of Henmarth Riversong to know just how much to quest to break even and keep the active location in play, and then I had had three of the strongest heroes in the game able to defend and attack at will without exhausting. One of the most memorable battles involved Treebeard using his 3 Defense and 8 attack to defend with burning brand and then utterly destroy a horde of 7 Haradrim in Journey to the Crossroads. And another, and perhaps the strongest use of the card is using PoN in Helm's Deep where you quest hard to keep the locations in play, and again, having the strongest heroes in the game be able to fight without exhausting in that brutal quest was amazing.

With the addition of Reforged this card has new life breathed into it and I highly recommend it to everyone to try at least once. In an Elrond Vilya deck this card definitely has a forever spot locked in.

This card has saved me countless times when I have been swarmed by hordes of enemies, and every time, I have destroyed them all and been able to achive victory when otherwise I would have been toast. The power of this is unreal, in solo or multiplayer. Not having to exhaust to quest is nice, but where this really shines is in the combat phase. Your sentinel/buffed up defender can defend the board, and then you can declare each of your heroes as attackers against each enemy. Really, the bad guys don't stand a chance. This card is absolutely unreal, and completely lifesaving. The fact that it is limit one per deck is a great sorrow, but because it has no victory points, you can use it multiple times with cards like Second Breakfast or Reforged. And even if you only use it once, it should save your butt.

Yes, there is the obvious drawback of having to keep the active location in play. This means, if you want to get full strength out of Path of Need for a round, you will not be able to put progress on the current quest by questing that round. That's ok, though, because it's the enemies I want to destroy. Scrying is critical to make sure you don't over-quest and lose Path of Need, but even if you don't have Henamarth Riversong or Firyal (or something like that) you can just quest enough to break even, because again, the really power of this card lies in what it brings to combat. Generally, unless you are playing something like Helms Deep or are on a stage where you don't need to get progress, you will only keep this for a round and a half. Usually what I end up doing is playing it during the planning phase, questing even or questing just enough to not cross the active location, wiping out all engaged enemies, then using it for one more quest phase after that, in which I can mass up progress (and inevitably cross the active location). And this is always lifesaving.

Overall, path of need is a thematic powerhouse, and the fact that it is limit one per deck makes it even more thematic (similar to cards like Black Arrow, The Red Arrow, or Justice Shall Be Done) If you have leadership in your deck, consider putting this card in. It's expensive, but it might just save your life when you're swarmed with enemies and trying desperately to squeeze out a win.