SDE Arcade 2.0 Solo 6 Hero Pet Parade (Imgur Album)I decided to do a 6 player solo pet parade arcade playthrough since I'm hosting a 5-6 hero playthrough in a week and figured I'd practice and get an idea of timing and what issues we might run into.
Heroes:*Dragon Blade (Admiral Fuzzybottom) - STR Blaster/AOE potion Tank - b/c so many drakes and kobolds
*Brave Mode Candy (Never Lost Cola) - STR AOE/Blaster /w Cola
*Royal Warden (Mr. Bitey) - STR/DEX Control - b/c I haven't played him in a long time and wanted to see if his Arrest Warrant Pull 6 worked as well as the Tusk Raider's or Tax Collector as well as Calico Kate's
*Deeproot Wolf Rider (Mr. Chompers) - STR/DEX mobility - b/c I was inspired by Aella's playthrough to use her

*Wandering Minstrel (Madam Hilde) - STR/DEX (def) Aura Buff Support - b/c I've never played him
*Deeproot Druid/Angry Bear (The Colonel) - WILL AOE/STR Debuff
This is not a party I would typically pick as it has a lot of the weaker heroes (at least for Arcade) and no devoted Healer.
Spawns: Kobold Warrens (T1/T2), Claw Shrine (T3/T4)
Bosses: Ser Snapjaw, Ser Sharpclaw, King Starfire
Creeps: Slimes (Plot), Fire Flower (Challenge -- ended up just using Slimes for Challenge)
Plot: Guardians (Pet Parade) - Spawn 2 creeps/hero. Heroes cannot damage spawn points unless they have at least 2 Crystals. Plot is resolved once they have 2 Crystals.
Boss Spawn: MMC 11
Playtime: ~3.5 hours including setup/teardown

The Setup! I ended up having to move the monsters to get more room for the hero equipment, but it didn't take up much more room.

The Start Point is very crowded with 6 heroes and 3 pets!

The Kobolds spawn right on top of the heroes!

Candy, Wolf Rider, and the Druid are able to clear out all the minions and loot the first treasure chest before MMC1.

The Minstrel, Warden, and Dragon Blade are able to finish off the elites and start wounding the Kobold Warren (1) by MMC2.

The Wolf Rider rides ahead and defeats Kobold Warrens (2) first, triggering the Arcade Plot Guardians! 12 Slime Creeps spawn.

The Druid and Warden defeat the Kobold Warren (1), push forward, and defeat a few Slimes.

Ser Snapjaw spawns on MMC3 with +1STR MMC bonus ready to attack the Druid, but only the Royal Warden is in range!

The Claw Shrine also spawns on MMC3.

Candy loots the second treasure chest while the Minstrel and Dragon Blade engage Ser Snapjaw. The Dragon Blade is able to lay some heavy wounds on Ser Snapjaw using Dragon Slayer, Dragon Spite, and the Minstrel's Jaunty Tune.

The Claw Shrine Kobolds and Drake Hounds attempt to make it to the Dragon Blade and inadvertently block Tile 2 from Tile 3. They attack Candy and the Wolf Rider, wounding them heavily, but they survive.

Candy and the Druid use excessive AOE to clear most of the Claw Shrine elites. The Dragon Blade wounds Ser Snapjaw, but fails to defeat him, so makes his way to Tile 3.

Unfortunately, the Dragon Blade falls on MMC 5 to Ser Snapjaw on one side and the Claw Shrine Drake Hounds on the other.

The Royal Warden defeats Ser Snapjaw in vengeance!

The Wolf Rider attacks the Claw Shrine (3) to gain Wrath while the Warden and Minstrel defeat more Slimes. The Dragon Blade uses a Princess Coin and enters play on Tile 3 by Candy.

MMC6 the monsters gain +1ARM. The Challenge spawns the Assassins as the second gang while the Drake Hounds Reinforce.

The Wolf Rider defeats Claw Shrine (3) and moves to Tile 4 to force Ser Sharpclaw to spawn on Tile 4. Candy and the Druid defeat half the Drake Hound Gang.

MMC7 Ser Sharpclaw spawns on Tile 4 while the monsters Regroup and Spawn at the final Claw Shrine (4)

The Dragon Blade fails to defeat either Assassin and the Warden and Minstrel take this time to defeat the Drake Tamer on Tile 3 and some Slimes that had invaded them, thus completing the Guardians Plot. The heroes also finally have enough excess loot to summon Admiral Fuzzybottom, Mr. Bitey, and Madam Hilde. The heroes find 2 Treasure!

MMC8 the Wolf Rider is defeated by Ser Snapjaw and the Drake Hound gang's Epic Fight.

The Assassins are unable to defeat Candy. The Drake Hound Gang Reinforces. The Challenge spawns Slime Creeps beside all active heroes.

Candy AOE's the Slimes and then engages Ser Sharpclaw. The Royal Warden finishes off the Assassins and Bursts some Drake Hound Tamers hiding behind Ser Sharpclaw. The Dragon Blade also engages Ser Shapclaw and inflicts him with Ice. The Wolf Rider respawns on Tile 3.

MMC9 has very little impact as Ser Sharpclaw is Iced and the Drake Tamer is able to salvage the only Drake Hound not in his gang. The heroes finish off Ser Sharpclaw.

The Wolf Rider attacks Claw Shrine (4), but is unable to defeat it while the Minstrel and Druid defeat most of the remaining Drake Hound Gang.

MMC10 the Claw Shrine spawns its gangs, which make short work of the Minstrel.

However, they are unable to defeat any other Heroes.

The Wolf Rider, Warden, and Dragon Blade are able to defeat the final Claw Shrine (4) and all of the Claw Shrine Elites using AOE.

King Starfire spawns instead of going into MMC11. He attacks the Dragon Blade and heavily wounds him, but is unable to defeat him.

King Starfire's first Boss Challenge is Unprepared for the Elements. It is brutal against the heroes as many are reliant on their offensive unique actions to deal wounds. Likewise, the heroes drop from 3 to 1 hero activation.

The Druid steps up as he has the strongest, ranged basic attack and deals a 7 wounds (5 attacks from 4 AP, 1 Colonel). He is able to heal some Ice and Wounds in the process. King Starfire literally returns Fire at the Druid, but is unable to defeat him with the help of Glimmerberry Juice from the Wolf Rider (-2 STR)

King Starfire summons Dark Shielding, which makes him immune to taking multiple wounds per attack (e.g. Critical Success). Candy charges forth and attacks him, dealing 3 wounds. The Minstrel darts in to attack, but is only able to deal a single wound and retreats to a safer distance. Finally, the Dragon Blade attacks with Head Chopper and uses Dragon Spite to secure the final, 12th wound to defeat King Starfire!
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Rules/Issues/Observations: 1. I used the Slime Creeps for the challenge instead of the Fire Flowers b/c I didn't feel like using unpainted minis

2. I had to double check/remember that Pets and Creeps get the MMC bonuses. It didn't matter, but I'd catch myself when doing Pet attacks.
3. I forgot Cola has the power to discard a challenge and redraw for the cost of a potion. Assume this includes boss challenge.
4. I misplayed Glimmerjuice Potion. I thought it was -2W STR for the entire monster's activation, but it's only -2W STR for a single action. Otherwise, yeah, it's a bit OP compared to other potions.
Observations: 6 Heroes and 6 PetsIs a LOT of heroes and pets to keep track of. I am less familiar with these heroes and did not efficiently use potions (which didn't matter in the end b/c of Unprepared for the Elements Boss Challenge). I found no opportunity to use a lot of unique actions. This is where each hero 'ended up'. A lot of pets had no impact on the game.
*Dragon Blade - His offense was so low he was forced to use Head Chopper most of the game. He was successful in using Dragonslayer when I was able to buff his offense with the Minstrel and the monsters didn't have a bunch of +ARM buffs. His potion was used a lot and missed a lot. I was hoping the heroes would be able to keep him supplied with the additional attacks to give the heroes without AOE the option when needed, but it didn't work out that way. He got one good AOE potion attack after using Happy Cat on Tile 4. Dragon Spite got a LOT of use and is the only reason he did as well as he did.
(Admiral Fuzzybottom) - had very little impact on the game b/c he was summoned late and his hero and the party was relatively too weak in the AOE department to consistently use his action. It is a VERY powerful support action since it only costs 1 AP and has no to hit roll. Compared to Dwarven Curse from the Hearthsworn Fighter which is 2 AP, Wave 3, Pull 3, STR vs WILL.
*Brave Mode Candy - As expected, one of my heavy hitters. Her AOE was critical to mow down Kobolds Elites and Minions at the same time. I never used her Blaster attack (b/c it wasn't needed) and her potions didn't get much use since the heroes didn't suffer many status effects.
(Never Lost Cola) - Cola granted Candy Luck which was used with 3 treasure chests. I felt I had enough Treasure by Tile 4 due to the extra Treasures I got from the Plot and Ser Sharpclaw that I didn't need to loot it in lieu of defeating King Starfire. Cola's offense is too low to consistently wound most monsters and he was only able to defeat one creep during the game.
*Royal Warden - I was originally planning to have him focus on STR and use Tax Collector, but the loot didn't work out that way. I equipped him with DEX treasure that gave him cheap 1 AP Burst 1 AOE, but it replaced his Crossbow action, so his offense was very low until end game when I swapped his cheap AOE 1B DEX to a normal AOE 1G DEX. Notably, Tax Collector doesn't really need any STR to wound Creeps and draw Loot. I used his Arrest Warrant once to get the extra offense to Pull a Kobold Drake Tamer from his gang to defeat him. He is significantly weaker than Tusk Raider and Calico Kate. Tough helped keep him healthy, but that was primarily b/c he struggled to deal enough wounds to gain Wrath.
(Mr. Bitey) - Had very little impact. The Warden had insufficient STR to take advantage of Berserk and Mr. Bitey was very expensive (3 loot) and didn't deal any wounds despite having 4R1W STR with his offensive action b/c the monsters had +1ARM and I rolled poorly.
*Deeproot Wolf Rider - I gave the Wolf Rider extra mobility so she could go take objectives early on and that worked ok. I had trouble getting enough loot to increase her offense to consistently wound. I also saved the Treasure Chests for Candy to loot with her Luck b/c I was worried about getting Boo Booties. The mobility was great. Pounce is great. No AOE is horrible at actually fighting anything in Arcade. Her increased 6 Hearts actually prevented her from dying twice, so that was nice surprise. Her Glimmerjuice is super powerful and one of her biggest contributions.
(Mr. Chompers) - had very little impact. He did help the Wolf Rider deal Fire on the initial set of Kobolds to defeat some elites b/f they could attack, but he couldn't keep up with the Wolf Rider once she got +2 Move boots. He also rolled poorly on attack despite being one of the starting pets to get +1STR for MMC3 through MMC5 b/f the monsters got +1ARM on MMC6.
*Wandering Minstrel - had very little impact. He was able to attack and deal wounds, but it'd often take his entire activation to deal 1 or 2. I tried to use him as an offense Aura Buff when fighting the mini bosses and activate first, buff, then let other heroes get 2 activations out of his buff b/f he'd reactivate, but 1B just often isn't enough to make a difference and combat moves too fast. His Slow and Knockdown debuffs potentially could've had some impact if I remembered he had them, but in most cases, he felt like a glorified pet. Even with increasing his DEX for defense, it wasn't sufficient to avoid multiple gang attacks later in the game. His potion is actually pretty powerful in Arcade since it inflicts Knockdown in a very large area without a to hit roll. Knockdown prevents the monster from performing any action until their next move command and there are a lot of MMC turns where the monsters do not Move. If you rules lawyer it so that Regroup does not count as Move, then it gets that much more powerful.
(Madam Hilde) - had virtually no impact. Her STR isn't high enough to inflict Bane on most monsters in Arcade and the Minstrel was also too weak to do it himself. Pets activating after the hero makes their debuffs less relevant to the hero's activation and the 2.0 status effect changes greatly reduces the strength of Bane in general.
*Deeproot Druid - was my other heavy hitter, ironically, due to primarily getting WILL equipment early on. His ranged AOE was critical to defeating a lot of the elites. I never shapeshifted, used Backlash, or his potion since most of my heroes were already rolling blue dice and when they rolled potions, I needed them to keep the Dragon Blade and Wolf Rider's potions in supply. Despite his only average 3B WILL, his equipment pushed him to 3B2R1G WILL (6.34 avg/16 max) 4 AP at the end of game, allowing him to get multiple critical successes against King Starfire.
(The Colonel) - is very flexible and still one of the better starting Pets. His limitation, I found, is that ranged heroes often may want to attack and then move to safety and the Colonel activates after the hero so the hero needs to keep this in mind he needs to be in range of something when the colonel commands him/her to attack.
Monsters*Kobold Warrens - Most of us have played with these guys a ton and they don't need feedback. Basically they got blown up by 3 heroe activations as expected and completely wiped out b/f they could reinforce on MMC2. With 9 hero activations b/f MMC3, when using linked spawns points where most of the monsters are already present on Tile 1 for the heroes to engage and AOE, I would be surprised if the first two spawns often last until MMC3 unless the Arcade Plot specifically prevents the heroes from destroying it.
*Claw Shrine - I really liked these guys. Despite being More Kobolds, they feel very different. The Assassins are less positionally reliant than the Priest and Ironscales for their uniques and they definitely dealt wounds to the heroes. Their Stealth had little impact since my heroes were usually within close range of them anyways. The Drake Hound Gang was wow. They can be quite deadly and if the heroes do not have sufficient AOE to pick off the Trainers, they can stack STR bonuses rather quickly. Even with AOE in my party, I failed to defeat all the trainers multiple times, resulting in wounds on the heroes. The Claw Shrine itself deserves special mention. Just having 4 wounds makes it a lot more difficult for the heroes to defeat it in a single activation and if you 'hang out' around it when it spawns, all the monsters get buffed again. I just happened to get lucky that the MMC just happened to have the monsters Regroup instead of attack in most cases.
*Ser Snapjaw - He felt like a solid mini boss. I got the Ice Sword on the Dragon Blade early so I'd prioritize using Head Chopper to keep him on Ice. If he had the benefit of monster gangs with him to use with his Aura, I think I'd have a lot more trouble.
*Ser Sharpclaw - By the time the heroes got to Ser Sharpclaw, they had a decent amount of equipment. It didn't help that the Dragon Blade was able to again Ice him and MMC 9 is Unique/Challenge, which did not allow him to do anything b/f his demise. I really like him as a hero and hope to give him another run as a mini-boss. His model is horrible to position b/c it's so big and over the base.
*King Starfire - He's definitely stronger than regular Starfire with higher offense, which ALMOST killed my heroes despite using potions and having defense on each of his activations. Given how many heroes I had per activation, even the weaker ones, and Princess Coins left, I wasn't worried about winning and more interested in how long it'd take (that seems to be the case in my matches - how fast does it take to win rather than will you win). His 4W ARM felt low after dealing with +1ARM monsters and mini bosses + Regroup and Challenges the whole match where I was already rolling to hit against 4W+ ARM on multiple turns. I think Dungeon Bosses need additional power in 5-6 Hero matches for them to be relevant. A lot does depend on the Boss Challenges, but unless they reduce the heroes to 1 activation, which is not fun, the Boss should, in general, be more resilient in 5-6 hero games so he can make use of his high offense.
Starting Game SpawnUsing a linked spawn for T1 and T2 removes the difficulty increase in a 5-6 hero match. You can increase it by using two linked spawns and doing them on Tile 1/3 and Tile 2/4 so all the monsters are spawned on turn 1 of the game.
Guardians PlotThis plot I thought needed some clarification. Pets can still wound spawn points b/c they are not heroes. The plot can only be resolved if every hero has 2 crystals. However, so many creeps are Invaders so I had to be careful to only allow heroes that didn't already have 2 crystals to be invaded else I would not be able to resolve the plot. I could still destroy the spawn points, but I wanted the Plot treasure!
Loot/EquipmentWent through almost the entire Loot deck. Only had 11 cards left. Claw Shrine has 5 elites, which if you can pick them off with AOE, can get you some loot quickly, but Drake Hounds have a lot of wounds and generally aren't worth the AP to kill for loot (I even tried and only managed to get 1 extra loot the whole game...which feels bad for 6 wounds).
I had weak starting treasure, but with Luck I was able to pick some better treasure along the way. If I had stronger/more DEX/WILL offense heroes, I think the match would've gone much faster since they'd be able to make better use of the gear I got.
I felt a lot of the Loot was wasted on the Pets this game b/c they had little impact. It would've given the heroes 1 extra treasure. It felt like it took a long time (several turns) to get enough loot to equip the heroes b/f we could have excess for pets. I put less ideal loot on heroes with the idea that they'd discard it later when they wanted to summon their pet, which worked out ok.
CreepsSlimes were a lot of fun, like the Squirrels, but less destructive. Having 16 slimes helped a lot in terms of being able to fill the board and they didn't take much time to move and they just invade. So it's like -1AP once if you want to use that equipment. Also they were good for Tax Collector and rolling hearts/modifying Wrath for the weaker heroes b/c a wound/Wrath is a wound/Wrath regardless of what you destroy.
Is 5-6 hero Pet Parade worth it?For solo? Absolutely not. More (potential) monsters at start, another mini boss, and earlier MMC bonuses were nice changes, but I didn't feel they added enough to make it worth the extra time. Controlling all the extra pets felt more like work this time around.
If you had 6 people, I'd recommend playing separate 3 hero matches at the same time if you have the supplies. I think 6 hero might help if you had a mix of experienced and new folks, but it's a really long game and I don't think the experience gets significantly better.
I'll think about this and see how we feel after we do our playthrough, but I like that it's an option and I think it's a good framework, but I think you need to find a group that WANTS to play SDE for this period of time. For me it's a bit too much to do solo (at night when I'm already tired), but it was a good exercise.