Where There's a Wilson, There are 3 ways of building his deck!

Credit: Adam Doyle

Wilson was a tough nut to crack for me. I wanted to do too many things, playing with flashy 2-handed weapons and needing extra hand slots for clues. Or I would rely too heavily on Ad Hoc.
But if you're anything like me, you'll soon find out that Ad Hoc is a card with its own gravity field, and will always lie at the bottom of the deck.
So I had to learn how to find a good balance instead of trying for peak power and falling flat on my face every time I wouldn't get Ad Hoc early enough.
The result was a particularly fun-to-play series of complementary decks for Wilson so that you can play him in any situation!

• Overview

• Main Strategy

• The Containment and Collection Job (Flex deck)

• The fingerprinting Job (Cluever deck)

• The Demolition Job (Fighter deck)

• Upgrade Path

• Final Thoughts

• This is a 3-in-1 deck, coming with a Flex, Cluever, and Fighter version. Leverage Wilson's flat stat line to fill in any role your party may need.

• Use the Fire Extinguisher (3) boosted by the Wolf Mask to fight and the Fingerprint Kit supported by the Cleaning Kit (3) to gain clues.

• Use Ad Hoc to throw away Sledgehammers and Flashlight for great action compression.

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Standalone Deck

Because Ad Hoc is so important to Wilson, and it cannot be tutored, this deck packs as much as possible to mill through the deck.

• Stand Together (3) which will also be appreciated by your teammates

• Glory, though it requires you to setup your fight assets

• Daring and Overpower that replace themselves

• Backpack (2) drawing up to 3 cards

• Tetsuo Mori drawing one card if choosing to draw from the deck

• Prepared for the Worst also drawing a card

With this, you should be able to go through your whole deck during a scenario, which is ok, but it will still feel heavy when Ad Hoc is in the bottom 10 cards of your deck. However, as soon as you play it, you unlock your superpower.

• Based on your party, you can attach it either to Fingerprint Kit or to Fire Extinguisher (3), my preference being for the latter so when you are engaged with an enemy, you don't risk Attacks of Opportunity to use your Ad Hoc'd Tool.

• Fingerprint Kit can then be discarded for 2 clues, Flashlight for one, Fire Extinguisher (3) for a 2-damage attack and finally Sledgehammer for an extra 3 damage.

• You can use Tetsuo Mori to retrieve one card that you Ad Hoc'd and give it another spin.

• If you have Ad Hoc in play and you would like to get a weapon in your hand as ammo, you can use Prepared for the Worst even if you already have a weapon in play.

  • For this reason, the lvl 0 card is better than the upgraded version.

  • Speaking of which, careful when using Backpack (2) because cards attached to it cannot be used by Ad Hoc.

With straight 3s across the board, Wilson can struggle with passing tests. I would not recommend him in Expert mode, and with caution in Hard difficulty. However, this deck should be fully fine in Standard.

• Fingerprint Kit + Cleaning Kit (3) investigate at 7

• Fire Extinguisher (3) + Wolf Mask fight at 7

  • Because Wolf Mask can only give one boost per enemy (unless you fight non-engaged enemies, which you should probably not do as Wilson), we also have skill cards for bigger enemies.

  • You will notice that Vicious Blow is missing in this deck. That is extremely uncommon and is mostly because Ad Hoc helps deal with enemies that have more than 2 health.

• Take the Initiative take your defensive stats to 6. Save them for defensive checks unless it is the end of the scenario. I found Wilson to actually be rather squishy, especially if you draw both Tetsuo Mori late.

Hasty Repairs is a pain that has no other alternative than dealing with it the moment it comes. It will prevent you from accomplishing anything. If you draw it the upkeep before an enemy phase, it really sucks, and you will have no choice but to get an AoO to get rid of it.

• Don't forget that another investigator at your location can pay the cost for you in case they can't directly kill that enemy either.

Nose to the Grindstone is one of the latest addition to Wilson Richards, but I personally felt like it wasn't really worth the 3xp, especially when there is already so much experience needed to improve consistency.

Early deck (Link)

Disclaimer: Wilson Richards, in my opinion, is an investigator that can be categorised as a late bloomer, and his lvl 0 deck is rather weak and clunky.

The main changes are:

• Enchanted Blade as a backup weapon. Fighting at 5 is not great, but with the Wolf Mask and the skills, you should be able to bring some damage to the table. Remember, you're a flex, not a fully capable fighter.

• Perception to compensate for the lack of Cleaning Kit (3)'s bonus, and to bring a bit more draw.

• Vicious Blow to help with early fights, especially as your Enchanted Blade charges are limited, and you don't want to spend 2 of them on a 3-health enemy.

Late Deck (Link)

Wilson is one of the best examples of "low floor, high ceiling" investigators, especially at the end of a campaign. Get Ad Hoc early and you will:

• One-shot any enemy throwing Sledgehammer (4) at their face, dealing 8 damage in one action.

• Discard Fingerprint Kit (4) to get 6 clues in one action.

• Stick Prepared for the Worst, Pushed to the Limit and Emergency Cache (3) to the Plan .

  • Spending 1xp to get Pushed to the Limit late in the campaign will allow you to do once the loop described later in the Fighter deck.

• Emergency Cache (3) is upgraded to refill the Cleaning Kit (3) so you can use Fingerprint Kit for the whole duration of the scenario.

Standalone Deck (Link) This deck focuses more on the Fingerprint Kit + Cleaning Kit (3) combo.

The main differences with the Flex deck are:

• Ad Hoc now also throws Nautical Charts for a 2-clue investigate action.

  • Even when using Nautical Charts via Ad Hoc, you can discard a card to get the second clue.

• Magnifying Glass that you play free with your ability to help with all your investigate actions that do not benefit from Cleaning Kit (3) like the one mentioned right above.

• We leave a Sledgehammer in the deck as there always seems to be a moment when 3 fast damage helps.

• Matchbox is also free with your ability, and I found it super helpful at any location with a shroud higher than 3.

• "I'll take that!", because he can use it, and because I always appreciate it in asset-centred investigators. It will always find a target, whether it's Matchbox, or replacing an empty Cleaning Kit (3).

• Early Emergency Cache (3) to fuel the Cleaning Kit (3).

• Pushed to the Limit for the Ad Hoc loop that I will develop more in the fighter version with the Sledgehammer (4).

• Perception as the only skill available to Wilson that can properly help investigating.

Early deck (Link)

Not much changing, but you lose significant skill value due to the loss of Cleaning Kit (3).

• I prioritised Backpack (2) with In the Thick of It because Wilson needs his assets to get any job done.

• I then added Jury-Rig that attaches to the Fingerprint Kit and improves your chances of success on locations with a higher shroud.

Late deck (Link)

The upgraded Fingerprint Kit (4) loaded infinitely by the Cleaning Kit (3) brings a tremendous amount of clues, even without considering any Ad Hoc shenanigans. The rest of the changes are:

• Old Keyring (3) so you can combine it with Matchbox for 2 clues.

  • We also upgrade Magnifying Glass (1) so you can pick it back up, play an Old Keyring (3) and use both keys on a location you lowered the shroud with Matchbox, and when the Old Keyring (3) is discarded, play the Magnifying Glass (1) again.

• True Awakening for 2 card draw and something you need at that point, heal or another clue.

  • You will have ample time to play such events because Fingerprint Kit (4) exhausts and so the number of investigate actions you can take each turn is limited, giving you ample space to play other cards.

• We also upgrade the Sledgehammer (4) because why not. You can one-shot more or less any non-elite enemy at your location while doing an investigate action. That would be silly not to, though it's a luxury upgrade.

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This version has the most variance. Early Ad Hoc and you're literally S-tier fighter. Late in the scenario, and you're just proficient.

Standalone deck (Link)

This deck is all about the Sledgehammer (4) loop:

1. Attach Ad Hoc to the Fire Extinguisher (3).
2. When fighting with the Fire Extinguisher (3), discard the Sledgehammer (4) for an 8-damage action.
3. Use Pushed to the Limit to do a 6-damage attack with the Sledgehammer (4) from your discard pile. It then gets shuffled in your deck.
4. Use Prepared for the Worst during a turn with no enemy to get it back to your hand.
5. Discard it again with Ad Hoc during an attack for another 8-damage in one action.
6. Use Tetsuo Mori to get it back from the trash, straight to your hand.

This deck packs a total of 8 times the of the Sledgehammer (4) without having to ever pay for its full cost, and it works on Elite enemies!

• You can attach Ad Hoc to the Sledgehammer (4) and use it as your primary weapon, but it limits the amount of shenanigans you can do in a scenario. Still better than waiting to find the Fire Extinguisher (3) and being swarmed by enemeis before finding it. So it is often the better choice, unless your table is fine with you playing greedy.

  • The positive side of playing the Sledgehammer (4) as your primary weapon, si that you can still do the triple swing even if you draw Hasty Repairs to get rid of an enemy, so you have another chance at getting rid of it next turn.

• Note that you do not need to succeed the fight action to trigger Ad Hoc, and therefore even if you fail your Fire Extinguisher (3) attack, as long as you land that massive Sledgehammer (4) blow, you can deal with any non-elite enemy in a single action.

Other changes are:

• True Awakening for more draw, increasing your chances of finding Ad Hoc early.

• Safeguard because it's a generically great card, and every action that you gain with it is an action you can spend drawing a card, bringing you closer to Ad Hoc.

• Vicious Blow just to be an ok fighter when your Ad Hoc is bottoming your deck.

An alternative to this deck is to run the Chainsaw instead of the Fire Extinguisher (3).

• You can use Cleaning Kit (3) to keep it full of supplies for ever.

• You can add Emergency Cache (3) for infinite supplies on it.

Early deck (Link)

This is probably one of the weakest decks of the bunch. The early campaign is going to be rough for fighter Wilson, but it's also probably the deck that can peak the highest in the late campaign. So make sure the rest of your team is aware that they will have to carry for a little while.

• The only noteworthy change here is Pitchfork for another 3-damage throwable asset to feed Ad Hoc

Late deck (Link)

The core loop is the same, and we invest in consistency so you can reach your full potential as fast as possible.

• Stick to the Plan removes 3 cards from your deck.

  • Out of these, Emergency Cache (2) and Prepared for the Worst both draw a card, and Pushed to the Limit is saved for the loop.

• We pack a second True Awakening to power draw and stay alive longer.

• Backpack (2) finds our Wolf Mask earlier and increases our chances of having Fire Extinguisher (3) as our primary weapon.

• The last change is Overpower (2) to draw an additonal card.

With all these changes, the deck is significantly more reliable at making the crazy loop available.

This upgrade path is for the Flex version. Find the upgrade path for the Cluever and the Fighter versions of the deck in their respective deck links.

Disclaimer I did not use all these decks in full campaigns, and Wilson is particularly challenging early in the campaign. So use these Upgrade Paths as guidance, not gospel. As always, make your own decisions!

Link to the 0xp deck

(View at arkham-starter.com)

Link to the full xp deck

Working on these different versions of Wilson was actually really fun, and I enjoyed playing him after being somewhat down on him following the release of FHV.

It was particularly interesting to work with different combos and then having to make some trade-offs, like not having the insane Sledgehammer (4) loop to be flexy, or losing some fighting power to bring infinite charges to the Fingerprint Kit (4). This way, each deck shares a similar base, but also feels different enough, so it wasn't rebarbative to play every variant.

I hope this makes for a nice blueprint for what Wilson Richards can be as Chapter 1 of Arkham Horror is closing.

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