Dungeon Twister: Prison - A Few Combo Suggestions

I promised last time that I'd talk more about Dungeon Twister - items and characters and combos.

I'm going to start with Prison, and I'm going to go item-by-item and then character-by-character to suggest combos and items for them.

Rope
The Rope is the single most useful item in the game. This includes all of the expansions. The only characters who can't benefit significantly from a rope are flying or levitating characters - in this set, that means the Wizard. I generally give the Rope to a runner - that way, they can run ahead and form a bridge for the other characters to get across an obstacle. In this set, I've found that the Naga and Banshee are the best Runners.

The Banshee is tricky to get into a good position to repel opponents into traps. Giving him (her?) a Rope makes it that much easier to find that perfect spot to stand, which is why I usually give my rope to my Banshee in standalone play.

Key
The Key is - honestly - an item I don't use very often. It's ... useful, but not as overwhelming as the Rope. There are 20 Portcullises in DT2, and only 16 Traps. But the Rope is free - the Key costs an Action to use.

Give your Key to a character who will otherwise struggle or who has no other objects easily available. But feel free to drop the Key off if you get something better.

Fireball Wand
If you can't figure out who to give this item to, then perhaps you need another glance through the rulebook. Seriously. The goal is to get this item to your Wizard. If that means handing them off to your Naga for delivery, than go for it - but send that Naga back to the Wizard. If your Wizard is dead, then give the Wand to the Colossus. That way, your opponent can't get it. If both Wizards are dead (or escaped), then leave it alone. It's not worth carrying.

Large Shield
I think the Large Shield is the weakest item in the set. It's not useful against the Banshee's repulsion or the Fireball Wand. There are no Falling Rocks squares in this set, so the Shield is less useful than it can be, as well.

That said, however, the Bow can be a nuisance if your opponent is clever with it. Give the Shield to the party member who is most vulnerable to the bow at any given time.

Telescoping Spear
The ability to attack through the Arrowslits is ... okay. But if you give this to your Telepath, you can burn off your opponent's highest combat cards at no cost to you, other than a bit of movement.

Bow
Believe it or not, I like the Bow. It's only Strength of 1, but if your Telepath is carrying it, you can improve his combat stats and force your opponent to think when choosing a defensive card. If I have the Telescoping Spear in the hands of my Telepath already, then I'll give the Bow to whichever character is closest to the Telepath, as the Spear will break soon enough.

So far, so good, right?

Here are a couple of Character combos you may have missed:

Telepath/Cleric
Place your Cleric directly behind your Telepath, and go pick fights with your opponent. Just cover their back somehow, and save at least 1 AP to heal the Telepath. You can get rid of your opponent's combat cards fairly quickly (or at least the good ones ... ), and then heal the Telepath as needed.

Wizard/Backstabber
Having trouble getting past your opponents to set up a Group Combat? Sometimes, you can't go around them. Thankfully, the Wizard can fly through them to land on the other side. Wizard + Backstabber is a 5 Strength team. That'll make even the Colossus nervous.

It also keeps the Wizard useful after the Fireball Wand is expended - in the original Base Set, I was a big fan of "I've fireballed you, and now I'm running out because I'm nearly useless for anything else."

The Naga is another good partner for the Backstabber - he's fast enough to get into a decent flanking position on a regular basis, and his ability can get him in to spots you would otherwise not be able to reach.

In more open play (including expansions), Assassin/Backstabber is an extremely brutal 6-strength instant-killing force, if you can get them into position. The Mummy/Backstabber combo is brutal, too. The fact that the Mummy's speed is decent helps a great deal - I don't suggest pairing the Backstabber with a slow-moving partner. Honestly, a Speed of Three is the bare minimum I'd pair her with.

If you can get the General into the same room as your Backstabber, then she is provides 5 Strength to a Group Combat. General + Asassin + Backstabber = 8 Strength.

Over the next year or so, I'll be going over characters and items, suggesting combos. Much as I've done here, I'll start with items, and then suggest a few character combos.