The Seasoned Hunter: The White Lion (L1) - An Eye for Success (Patreon)

What's new Pussycat? 

The Hunt:

The L1 White Lion (here after referred to as just the White Lion) is like most   early game monsters in that it has only 3 hunt events before it is encountered, 2 monster specific ones and 1 basic.  Additionally the White Lion tends to move towards the survivors, at most will move 1 space away, and will often ambush. Meaning that the average White Lion hunt is between 1 and 4 event cards.  

However, the White Lion specific events quite often have a minimal effect and then generate a random hunt event; which means that the number of basic hunt events can be a lot higher than you'd expect. This creates a large amount of chaos when approaching the White Lion.  

Notable Hunt cards include the following:

Scratching Grounds - Always investigate as gaining a Lion Claw resource is worth a lot more than 1 event damage to the arms.

White Lion Cub - Always kill the cub, additional basic resources are worth the 30% risk of an Enraged lion attacking

Marked Territory - If you are having trouble gaining Ammonia hunting the Lion with 3+ Understanding survivors is an option. However it is more likely that you will gain Ammonia via the Gorm + AI Manipulation.

Targeting and Behaviour:

Actively the White Lion tends to target the closest threat, initially in the facing and then the flanks.  It rarely targets survivors in the blind spot and it is especially savage towards survivors who are knocked down. Avoid being knocked down at the start of the White Lion's turn if you can.

The White Lion has only 3 Advanced cards in its deck. These can be avoided/mitigated via the Rawhide Headband.  To do this your last survivor (wearing full Rawhide + Monster Grease) each turn should Rawhide Headband, and then position themselves as the target.  The most notable Advanced AI Cards are as follows:

Bloodthirsty/Enraged - There is not much you can do about a White Lion that hits either of these because you need mood control to dispose of them reliably.  If these are drawn then you will need to consider how well you can handle the extra attacks/damage. If you have a lot of evasion then you'll be fine, if not you need to step up and bring a higher level of offense to the White Lion.

Ground Fighting - Alway take a Reach 2 Melee (King's Spear), Ranged Weapon (Bone Darts, Cat Gut Bow) or Founding Stones to the showdown. If you do not do this then Ground Fighting will cause you massive problems unless you have very high evasion.  This card happens more than you'd expect because of the Prowling Lion Hunt Event.

Smart Cat - Against the L1 White Lion this card is normally a self wound + scout for the AI Deck.  The worst possible situation is the White Lion drops Bloodthirsty + Enraged into play, but most of the time this card does almost nothing except tell you what the White Lion's AI deck contains before it archives itself.

Lick Wounds - This card is the single best card to have in the White Lion's AI deck. If you are set up to be able to tank/crit farm the White Lion then this card is absolutely your friend.  The aim with Lick Wounds is to let the White Lion completely heal up with this card by not attacking it at all and then the White Lion will discard this card and start fighting again.

This means you have a bunch of fresh wounds you can deal to the White Lion, which means more chances to generate resources from critical hits.  

In theory Lick Wounds in the White Lion's deck means you can 100% reliably draw the entire WL Monster Resource deck. You just need to be patient, tank correctly and not remove Lick Wounds as a wound.  It's easier to do this than it is to crit farm the Screaming Antelope because of how reliable Lick Wounds and you have Tall Grass to protect your tank further.  

Strategy and Tactics:

Outside of Lick Wound farming the strategies and tactic for the White Lion are identical to the P-Lion (Prologue White Lion).  You should avoid having survivors directly in front of the White Lion when you attack and your tank should always move last because this will allow them to Rawhide Headband the White Lion, reduce the potential damage it can deal, and end up in the best position to be targeted by the monster.  

You should try and avoid being knocked down at the start of the White Lion's turn (encourage) and anyone who might be targeted by the White Lion should stick in the Tall Grass.

Bleeding can be a concern as some White Lions deal out a surprising amount of Bleed Tokens, so bringing bandages can be advisable. 

Generally the best way to tackle the White Lions is to stack Full Rawhide onto one character who will tank.  Survivors with Full Rawhide + Luck Charm + Lion Beast Katar/Greater Gaxe + Bandages/Fecal Salve/Cat's Eye Circlet are the best all round 'anti-White Lion' hunters you can build.

Weapons:

The White Lion has no specific weapon based weaknesses outside of the usual weakness to ranged weapons that all monsters in KD: Monster share.  Weapons with Deadly are great as the White Lion because 10/23 hit locations generate resources or permanent survivor bonuses on critical wounds.  Critical wounds also tend to cancel the White Lion's more annoying reactions.

This is a monster designed to be beaten with Bone Swords, so you can use pretty much whatever you want.  However as it has 8 toughness it can be a little rough to attack with Founding Stones and Bone Daggers unless you have extra strength on your survivor.

Resources:

The most desirable resources are as follows :-

• 3+ Lion Claws
• 1+ Eye of Cat
• 1 Golden Whiskers
• 1+ Sinew
• 2+ Great Cat Bones
• Shimmering Mane
• Lion Tail (with Slenderman Expansion)

Crafting Goals:

• 1+ Cat's Eye Circlet
• 1 Whisker Harp (For nemesis encounters)
• 1-2 Lion Beast Katar
• 1 King's Spear
• 1+ Zanbato
• 1 Trash Crown (Dung Beetle Knight; Calcify a Zanbato and fail the process)
• 1 Cat Gut Bow + Claw Head Arrow

Note: The White Lion Armor is very bad for the costs involved and should be used by players who have had a lot of success and are seeking a challenge.

The Lion Skin Cloak becomes more valuable if you have the Lion Knight or Dung Beetle Knight expansions available.  

Once you have what you want from the above shopping list the White Lion becomes more or less worthless to hunt regardless of the level you pick. However I will write a bit about the L2 and L3 White Lions in the future.