I have tried this ally a couple of times. He is not as bad as he seems. If you are able to reach 4 , then you will not have any problems with enemies and you can one shot many smaller minions (in single mode). Ranged keyword is nice bonus, which can be used to vanquish some flying bats.

He is quite expensive and that is the reason why we do not see him so often. But one copy for some specific scenarios could be good choice.

I really like this ally, when you play two red heroes for 1 cost you get 2 (not interesting in red decks) and 2 (very interesting, especially in red decks).

Evrything you need to do is wait until Sauron passes his turn and then you can fell free to play this perfect guy. His 2 is very good for red decks, 6hp is enough to keep him on board for long time, even if you do not play any heal cards

A dúnadan trait is not bad, but not as good as it could be in future. For now there is interesting Ranger Cloak which is perfect for him, but you need to play a hero (recommend the Aragorn, who can use this attachment too). Other cards like A Secretive People or Legacy of the North are not usable cards for now (in my opinion).

In conclusion, for one more random minion (what is not problem for red decks) you get a perfect red quester.

When I first saw him I thought he is a bad hero than I tried him out and quickly realised he is not that bad. In this game early game is very important to take over the control on the board and Dwalin helps in that quiet nicely. You can guard with him in the first 2-3 rounds and it will be beneficial to you also. I like running Lock Shields with Dwalin so you can often guard with him twice first turn and activate his ability so early. After his ability is activated he becomes a better Gimli in solo mode. He has 3 which is not conditional and 2 and also the dwarf trait. Downside that you have to protect him after his ability is active because that 5 is quiet low although I haven't met an enemy who had base 5 . But it's easy to protect him if you are in leadership with Guard of the Citadel and Erkenbrand and I think also Gondorian Shield is a great way to keep him alive. As with heroes go you don't want to run him with Arwen there is a little bit anti-synergy between them. If no other character is wounded than Arwen has to heal Dwalin which can deactivate his ability. I think he is a great addition to a double leadership dwarf deck. My rating: 5/3

This card is quite powerful in my opinion. The ability to cheat out expensive allies for 2 resources is very good. However, it is currently held back by 3 things.

The first thing is the words "non unique", meaning, unfortunately, you can't cheat out erkenbrand, or any of the other powerful unique allies. The second is the lack of expensive non unique allies. Currently, there are 2: Warden of Annúminas and Trollshaw Scout. These are both very good, but not amazing.

Finally, this card is level 2, meaning that you must sacrifice a sphere to use it.

However, even after saying all this, i believe that the card is amazingly powerful. It's pretty good now, but with a wider card pool, it could be the centerpiece of an archetype.

The single best card in the game at the moment. Guard is the best keyword in the game. Having it natively is huge, allowing a character to Guard twice. Add block to that and that he smacks for 2 points back means he's doing 4 damage a turn and taking 2 less (also while forcing opponent attacks). Give him +1 or +2 damage with weapons and Erkenbrand becomes even more of a house, doing 6 to 8 damage a turn and taking damage away from your heroes to help with max score.

I love dropping this dork turn 1 with Gaining Strength and watch him own the board.