Or, Everything You Wanted to Know About Delving But Were Afraid to Ask
If you’ve had trouble with one or more of the Masters in Kinfire Delve, this article will give you some tips and tricks on how best to use each of the six Seekers against the three Masters. Be warned, there will be spoilers…
Know Thyself
First, it helps to understand the tools at your disposal. Each Seeker has 20 cards dedicated to them, including their character and lantern, which leaves them with 18 cards in their skill deck. Just as in Kinfire Chronicles, each Seeker has a ranking of the three skill colors (red, blue, and green), determining what they’re best and worst at dealing with.
What this translates to in your skill deck is that the color your Seeker is best at occurs most often, and the color your Seeker is worst at occurs least often. Your character’s best color appears on 12 of your 18 cards (including white, but not accounting for boosts). Your second best color appears on 10 of your 18 cards, and your worst color appears on 8 of your 18 cards.
This can be important to remember as you play, and the Seekers’ have their colors ranked below, from strongest to weakest:
Asha: Green / Blue / Red
Feyn: Blue / Green / Red
Khor: Red / Green / Blue
Naz: Red / Blue / Green
Roland: Blue / Red / Green
Valora: Green / Red / Blue
Additionally, every Seeker has several tools available to them in their skill deck. Each Seeker can count on at least one of the following in their deck:
- A “refresh” card that can be used either to charge your lantern or to discard an exhausted card.
- A “card draw” card that lets you draw additional cards.
- A “protection” card that lets you ignore the penalty of failing a challenge.
- A “discard” card that lets you discard a challenge without completing it.
- A “bounce” card that can return to your hand after you play it.
- A “progress” card that lets you add extra progress or move it around.
- A “big hit” card that can generate more than 4 progress at once.
- A “don’t roll” card that lets you avoid rolling the dice on your turn (well, except for Feyn, but he gets re-rolls).
Of course, the quality of each of these varies by Seeker. Asha, for instance, is way better at discarding challenges, so her discard options are more numerous and better than the other Seekers’ discard options, while Roland is quite weak in discard and his ability to discard challenges is fairly limited. The Seekers’ specialties are listed below:
Asha: Discard
Feyn: Card Draw
Khor: Protection
Naz: Progress
Roland: Big Hit
Valora: Don’t Roll
Okay, so now that you understand the broad strokes of the tools at your disposal, let’s talk about each of the three Well Masters and their Wells.
Know Thy Enemy
Each of the Masters has a Well deck of 57 cards, 4 gauntlets, and 3 possible Master cards. In addition, they each have an exhausted deck of 6 cards. Here, I’m going to focus on the Well deck and how it interacts with the Master’s special ability on their Master card – you’re on your own for the final battle and exhausted decks, but those are easy enough to look at and see what you’re dealing with.
Vainglory
Vainglory is the first and easiest of the Well Masters. I designed her to ease players into the game system, but that doesn’t mean that she’s a pushover by any means. Her ability to increase the difficulty of any challenge with more than one copy in play isn’t as nasty as Scorn’s or Callous’, but if you aren’t careful, it can still bury you. The broad mechanical theme of her Well is dangerous beauty. Many things in her Well appear innocent, but are deadly.
Let’s look a bit at her Well deck. Its basic make-up is as follows:
Challenges: 18 Red, 18 Green, 16 Blue
Events: 5
Vainglory’s not the most cerebral of the Well Masters, so her Well is lacking a bit in blue challenges. Not a huge deal, but Seekers who specialize in blue may find things just a touch harder. Her events are largely all helpful for the Seekers, with Vainglory’s Feast and The Night Garden allowing you to heal from damage or exhaustion, and The Grand Ball allowing you to break up a particularly nasty setup. Be careful using her events though, as attaching cards to Vainglory can come back to bite you hard in the final battle (2 of her 3 forms punish you for attached cards).
Combats: 27
Obstacles: 7
Puzzles: 8
Traps: 10
Prioritizing Challenges
There’s not a lot of bold text to watch out for in this Well, so determining which challenges to go after first is often simple enough. Great Stags and Hunting Cats should take priority when you see them, as they can cause a lot of damage to you in short order. The Orchestra, Guardian Beast, and Noble make it dangerous for challenges of certain colors to enter play, so keep an eye on them as well.
Helpful Cards
Unicorns (of which there are 2 in the deck) can be harvested for some much-needed healing.
Lantern charges can be found on Crystal Caves, Jeweled Spires, and Filigree Clock.
Cards to Beware
Be wary of Deadly Rose when you see it, try to deal with it when there are no other combats in play, as the risk is often not worth it otherwise.
I would also steer clear of the Cup of Fools. It lives up to its name with a 50/50 chance to reduce you instantly to 1 health. I recommend using a don’t roll card against it, otherwise avoid it.
Finally, among the puzzles is the single most dangerous card in the Well – The Beast’s Riddle. If you fail this challenge, you will be killed instantly. Use protection or progress cards to defeat it.
“Gotcha” Cards
Bubbles is Vainglory’s most treasured pet, and while the easy delving from defeating it can be nice, just be aware that you may pay for it in the final battle.
Also, read Watching Glass veeeerryy carefully before you complete it. The “reward” isn’t what you might think it is. Might be worth using a discard card to get rid of it if you can.
High Risk, High Reward
One of the themes of Vainglory’s Well is gambling. There are a number of challenges that offer you fantastic rewards at great risk.
The Faded Way offers some big potential rewards, but there’s a 50/50 chance of gaining an exhausted card when you attempt it unless you’re using a don’t roll card, so keep that in mind.
The Dreamer’s Seat also offers great risk and reward. Complete it in a single attempt, and all cards attached to Vainglory are discarded, but if you fail it, you attach all challenges currently on the board (including the Dreamer’s Seat) to Vainglory.
Lastly, there’s an intriguing jackpot in the form of The 3 Fountains. If you complete one of them when all 3 copies are in play (remembering that they’ll all be a difficulty 13 then), then you get to delve down a whopping 27 cards (3 tripled, then tripled again)! Of course, the odds of all 3 copies coming out at once are ridiculously low, but it’s nice to dream.
Scorn
Scorn is the second of the Masters, and it’s a bit up in the air if he or Callous are the more difficult Master to defeat. Scorn’s ability poisons your ability to not play a card on your turn, giving you a 50/50 chance to become exhausted if you try it. In keeping with Scorn’s self-appointed task as Warden of his Well, the broad mechanical theme of his Well is restriction, with many challenges limiting your options and taking away your abilities.
Let’s look a bit at his Well deck. Its basic make-up is as follows:
Challenges: 18 Red, 16 Green, 18 Blue
Events: 5
Scorn is a straightforward being, and his Well has fewer green challenges than any other color, so Seekers skilled in green may find his Well to be a little bit tougher. There are two events for breaking up problems – Into the Sewers can reset the board if you get into a bad state, while The Revolution can handle a particularly nasty block of combats for you, but at the cost of half your health. Should you be lucky enough to find The Master Key, hang onto it until the right moment, but remember that it’s useless in the final battle.
Combats: 26
Obstacles: 10
Puzzles: 8
Traps: 8
Prioritizing Challenges
There are a number of challenges with bold text to get rid of immediately if you see them in Scorn’s Well. First and foremost is The Soul Mask. While it’s in play, every card you draw and decide to keep will deal 1 damage to you. The Watchtowers are also a high priority, given that they increase the difficulty of all other challenges by +2, and Ziva help you if more than one of them comes out at the same time. Scorn’s Shadow should also be a high priority target, as it prevents you from delving downwards while in play, effectively slowing your progress to a crawl (although, if you have 2 of the 3 pieces of the instant win condition, it might be helpful…)
Helpful Cards
First on the list of helpful cards are The Broken Crown, the Shattered Sceptre, and the Vacant Throne. If you can complete all three of these challenges without failing any of them, you immediately win the game. Of course, you aren’t guaranteed to see all three of them by any means.
The Throne Room and The Courtroom offer you chances to heal and rest up, and shouldn’t be squandered. Scorn’s Vault can either get rid of an exhausted card or delve down 5 cards as well.
Finally, The Obelisks each offer you a lantern charge, and you’ll want to get rid of them anyway, since it’s game over if all 3 are ever in play at once.
Cards to Beware
In addition to the cards you should prioritize, there are a few cards to fear in Scorn’s Well. The Living Bastille can wipe you out entirely if you commit to facing it at the wrong time, and the Trial of the Heart can cause you to discard your entire hand, so tread cautiously with it. Harmony’s Plaza can wreck you if there combats in play, and The Pale Cathedral turns Empty Priests from nuisances into real threats. Finally, there are 4 “restriction” cards that strip away your choices and abilities that you’ll want to beware – The Oubliette, The Pillory, Icy Shackles, and The Parliament. Do not let these cards pile up on you, or you’ll regret it.
“Gotcha” Cards
There are two real gotcha cards in Scorn’s Well. One of them, the Ancient Lock, can only be defeated with the Master Key. If you don’t have the key, it will clog up the play area until you can find a way to discard it. The other is much more serious. The Headsman causes you either to gain an exhausted card or lose 4 health when it enters play. Be cautious about allowing your resources to dwindle down too far in Scorn’s Well, or your journey could come to an abrupt end.
Precision
Finally, there are a number of cards that must be defeated with “exact change”, as adding too much progress to them will cause them to attach to Scorn or even fail. Bound Prisoners attach to Scorn if “overloaded”, and since there are 7 of them, this could mean a real time bomb for the final battle. The Scales of Justice can be even worse, since you fail the challenge and reset all progress on it if you overload it. Don’t roll cards are excellent for these challenges, as well as anything that lets you manipulate progress, such as Naz’s Seeker ability.
Callous
As the third Master, Callous is a narcissistic being searching for a cure to a lethal disease he has contracted. This is represented by his Master ability, which starts him out with 10 progress tokens on his card, and as he progresses towards a cure, tokens are removed. If he ever runs out of tokens, he is restored to full power and lashes out at the world of Atios in a fit of rage. Callous has a brilliant mind, and the mechanical theme of his Well deck reflects that, with various elements that interact in surprising and deadly ways. If one of Callous’ nasty “combos” come together, you can find yourself in dire straits really fast.
Let’s look a bit at his Well deck. Its basic make-up is as follows:
Challenges: 17 Red, 17 Green, 18 Blue, 1 Black
Events: 4
Callous specializes slightly in blue challenges, but 1 of what would normally be 5 events is replaced with a special black challenge (we’ll talk about it later). Among the 4 challenges, 2 of them are useful for discarding challenges, and can even let you refresh your hand without exhausting if the challenge you discard is a Husk. The Healing Pool does what it says in the title, though it will cost you 2 precious progress from Callous. Finally, Immortality’s End is a way to add more progress to Callous and even adds a rare alternate victory condition to the game once played, but you’ll need plenty of luck to pull it off.
Combats: 26
Obstacles: 8
Puzzles: 10
Traps: 9
Prioritizing Challenges
There’s a lot of bold text in this Well, which can make it hard to decide what challenges to prioritize, and the Guardian can even take the decision out of your hands while it’s in play. However, there are a few challenges that you should always get rid of as soon as possible, and Closing Gateway is first among them. While it’s in play, if you gain an exhausted card, you immediately lose the game, and that’s just a matter of time. There are two copies in the deck, and if you haven’t seen them both, you also should be careful about running your hand too low, since it can pop in at just the wrong moment and destroy you. Other priorities include Observer, Laboratory, Failed Experiment, Mental Parasite, and Hypnotic Eye. All of these challenges have bold text that can set up potentially lethal situations for you.
Helpful Cards
There are a number of potentially useful challenges. The Extraction Room and The Gravesite can both add progress to Callous, though both are risky in their own ways.
The Meditation Room offers you a rare opportunity for healing, though it too can punish you if you aren’t careful.
Callous’ Cipher , Sapience Test, and Planetarium all offer you reasonably substantial rewards with not much risk, so be sure to take advantage of them.
Finally, your lantern can be charged by Cryptic Device and The Lifeform.
Cards to Beware
There are not many cards in Callous’ Well that are particularly awful by themselves. The threats here tend to come from combinations of cards. That said, watch out for Crystal Brutes – they hit hard and can force you to discard your entire hand. The Triplets can turn from a nuisance into a nightmare if more than one of them enters play at once. The Gigant requires a lot of effort to defeat and may not be worth it, and finally, the Library is a ticking time bomb that will net you two exhausted cards when completed, so it’s very worth using a discard effect on.
“Gotcha” Cards
There are two main gotchas in Callous’ Well. The first is the Anomaly, the black challenge I mentioned earlier. You can’t do anything to it directly and it can clog up one of your board spaces for a long time, though if Naz or Valora are playing, they can handle it fairly easily. The other big gotcha are the 4 Resonant Stones in the Well deck. It can be tempting to think of them as useful cards since they lower difficulties, but be really careful about leaving them in play, because suffering penalties more than once can end you in an instant.
The Cure
The main unusual mechanic in this Well is of course Callous’ progress towards a cure. Both Husk (of which there are 9) and Hungry Chest (which has 3 copies) will remove progress from Callous. Run out, and that’s game. Worse, once they enter play, you can’t stop them from doing their thing. So, you’re at the whims of fate then? Well, not entirely. With this situation, the fewer challenges that enter play over the course of the game, the fewer opportunities there are for Callous to lose progress. This means focusing on bigger delving rewards can naturally reduce your risk of losing this way. You should also take advantage of opportunities to add progress to Callous, and be wary of any optional situation that could cost you progress from him. And remember, once you make it to the final battle, you leave any remaining progress on Callous, so whatever you can conserve acts as a head start in the final battle!
Some Final Advice
Remember, although there are dice in Delve, it is ultimately up to you how much you rely on them. Take bigger risks when failure costs you little, but stack the deck in your favor when failing would mean disaster. The dice will fairly reliable give you 1 or 2 extra progress, but that’s not guaranteed, and although an extra 3 or 4 progress from them is possible, it’s rare and you shouldn’t count on it unless you have no other choice.
Boosting is the core decision of the game when you really break things down. You get less out of using a card to boost than you do out of using it as an action in most cases, but boosting allows you to suffer fewer penalties for failing challenges. Balancing boosting with conserving your cards is the key skill you should master.
Lastly, you need to learn what challenges to prioritize, and which ones to leave until later or even avoid entirely. Carefully choosing your battles can save you more resources than just about anything else in the game.
Written by: Kevin Wilson