Players worldwide have been battling heroes to become the worst who takes it all! The Disney game Villainous is riveting and challenging; each villain poses a unique mission and victory conditions. Since there are many villains to choose from, one wonders, ‘How do you win in Villainous?’
To win at Villainous, you must complete your villain’s objective before other players can achieve theirs. Some villains are easier to win with, as they are easier to learn, and their objective is more straightforward, but each villain has its strengths and unique opportunities to win the game.
Before you dive into this tactical game, we have a guide on how to win Villainous based on each character by highlighting tips and strategies that are exclusive to them. Since no two characters are alike since characters’ Fate Decks, Allies, and gaming conditions affect how you play differently.
Guide On How To Win Villainous
A Disney villain is wicked, powerful, and guided by their own rules, which we can expect from an evil mastermind. The villain’s agendas allow for their strategic upper hand or their downfall, so the approaches to win are not one-size-fits-all.
Disney introduced a couple of expansion packs since the Villainous debut in 2016, so we have devised strategies for winning Villainous for each of the 21 evil characters. Depending on your experience with Villainous, some characters will be easier to figure out than others, so we’ve divided the guide by the difficulty level.
Beginner Level Villainous Villains
Starting any strategy game can be daunting, but it is worth the effort, especially if you’re stepping into the role of a Villainous genius. Starting with characters with more direct objectives is the best to learn the game, but it could also be a strategy to win.
How To Win With Cruella De Vil
If many puppy tokens appear in one area, you can predict where the following puppy tokens will occur, so use your predictions to plan where to place Horace and Jasper to collect puppy tokens.
Try to keep Horace, Jasper, and the Roadster card in separate locations to maximize your Realm use. It would be great if you also tried to get all puppies onto your board as quickly as possible before collection. Cruella will lose Power if she attempts to discover and catch puppies simultaneously.
How To Win With Scar
Scar, a power-hungry character, must accumulate a unique Succession pile of heroes to win. Making other players pick up Fate cards, known as fating, is a top Scar strategy to prevent your opponents from obtaining their objectives and limiting their opportunity of fating you.
It is helpful to spend hyenas, even though you need them to defeat Mufasa, Scar’s deck is easy to sift through, and some cards help him collect hyenas, so you don’t need to be too attached to them! Kill Mufasa as quickly as possible, followed by Simba, and you should ideally only use one Hungry Hyena for every Vanquish.
How To Win With Prince John
Opponents will fate Prince John a lot, so the strategy is maneuvering around the Fate cards and building power reserves. The best plan is to weigh your cost and gain when you have a turn; watch out for spending too much on allies.
Sir Hiss is best to play at Friar Tuck’s Church, and Greed is the most helpful condition card. Know when to ignore heroes, so if they don’t take Power, they shouldn’t cause concern. Place your allies where they can be used most, such as Wolf Archers at Friar Tucks Church, to attack adjacent locations to create mobility.
How To Win With The Queen of Hearts
Keep track of how many ‘Take A Shot’ cards you’ve pulled and keep one aside until needed, but it is better not to have all three. We advise you never to return cards from already activated wickets as it costs too much Power.
It is best to quickly change Card Guards into Wickets; however, don’t be shy to sacrifice a few to eliminate Alice. You need 12 power to win the game, so stock up cards to create a reserve, especially when wickets get removed. Try to stay under the radar and have other players think you are still far from winning.
How To Win With Maleficent
The Raven is Maleficent’s most vital card, so be sure to protect it at all costs, which you can accomplish by using Green Fire in conjunction with it. Place Green Fire cards between the Forbidden Mountains and Briar Rose’s Cottage for the best protection.
Some other tips include staying undercover to hide that you’re close to winning by waiting until you have two curses before playing it in one turn. Gathering curses at one location and moving them over as needed is a possible strategy. Removing heroes should be a priority so they can’t take over and ruin your game.
Intermediate Level Villainous Villains
If you have more experience playing Villainous, it would be fun to challenge yourself and try out characters with more complex schemes. The role of an intermediate-level Disney villain poses a world of satisfying gameplay through their multi-step mischievous adventures.
How To Win With Jafar
The first step you should take as Jafar is to persistently search for the Scarab Pendant and Magic lamp cards to unlock The Cave of Wonders and get the ball rolling on Jafar’s complicated mission. Try to discard cards as much as possible until you’ve obtained these two cards.
Vanquishing heroes is a priority as they prevent you from getting the lamp, and annihilating The Carpet is one of the winning conditions. Hypnotizing heroes prevents them from being able to overtake you again. The best order of action is to defeat ‘The Carpet’ before you hypnotize the Genie.
How To Win With Pete
Pete’s best locations to play are Podunk Landing and Frontier Town for gaining Power and playing your cards. Three of the heroes that end up in your Realm are top priorities to rid of, especially Mickey Mouse, as you won’t be able to win without defeating him because he prevents Pete from completing objectives. The other two main characters to defeat are Oswald The Lucky Rabbit and Donald Duck.
Collecting Power is vital to winning the game, especially at the beginning, because you must spend a lot to reach the objective. Air Strike cards are best to use to rid of Mickey Mouse. Keep tabs on your goals when playing Pete to stay familiar because sometimes you can complete two objectives.
How To Win With Captain Hook
If the cards are unnecessary, you should discard them because you need to sift through your deck as quickly as possible. Once you find Peter Pan, Obsession and Worthy Opponent cards become almost obsolete, so discard them to refresh your hand. Use the Never Land map as soon as you receive it.
Being fated is a good thing as Captain Hook, so having a poker face and pretending you’re close to winning will get other players to fate you. A great tip is to use the move hero ability in conjunction with the Cannon card to defeat Peter Pan in the same turn as moving him.
How To Win With Yzma
Always keep a poker face when playing Yzma, you don’t want your opponents to know what you know, or they’ll fate you and lose Kuzco in the mix! Kronk is your best friend when it comes to defeating heroes, as he does not get discarded after you use him, and even if you lose him, the Right-Hand Man card will recover him.
Memory is your key to winning the game with Yzma, so remember your Fate decks at much as possible so you can control your outcomes.
How To Win With Lady Tremaine
Discarding cards often helps Lady Tremaine flip through her deck to find her required cards. The Vicious Practical Jokes card is vital to helping you win, as they can stop Fate cards, so never discard them.
The Music Room is the best place to place heroes, and The Ballroom is best to activate Wedding Bells if you don’t have There’s Still A Chance for their locations. Defend yourself against Jaq, as he causes the most trouble.
How To Win With Lotso
Original Factory Setting is a critical card to keep hold of to reduce hero strength and control Buzz Lightyear but bear in mind that it won’t help if you play it too early. Start by searching for the Welcome to Sunnyside and activate the Big Baby card to get what you need from the Fate deck quickly. You will want to keep Rex out of the Caterpillar Room, but you can use Stretch if he does end up there.
How To Win With Madam Mim
If versions of Merlin cards get taken from the Dueling ground, and you have the matching Mim cards in your hand, you can play the Mim cards to new locations, which maneuvers Merlin cards closer to prepare for his defeat.
Your best card is I’ll Make the Rules which you can use to find the correct Mim cards. Wizard’s Duel helps you defeat Merlin cards, and be sure to use Madam Mim’s Cottage and The Swamp locations primarily.
How To Win With Syndrome
To begin, you should play and defeat heroes to get rid of them and upgrade your Omnidroids up to V.10. Once you’ve beaten a few heroes, you want to discard through your deck to find the Items cards you need. You should keep Major Modifications until you have two of them before playing one. Not A Sidekick is a valuable tool to get through your deck.
Advanced Level Villainous Villains
Winning with one of these big-league villains will give you all the Villainous bragging rights! Although their objectives are complex, and their fate cards seem unforgiving, their evil shall prevail and offer you an enticing edge-of-your-seat game.
How To Win With Mother Gothel
Mother Gothel should work on her 10 Trust and keep Rapunzel away from Corona. The Crown card is integral to gaining Power, so keep looking for it!
Discard cards that don’t gain Trust or control Rapunzel, and the best card for gaining Trust and game speed is the Hair Brush. If you lose the Crown and Hair Brush, use What Once Was Mine to get them back.
How To Win With Hades
Always find and play Titans at every opportunity; you don’t need to concern yourself with the order too much. Discarding cards quickly will get you to your goal sooner, and you only need to hold onto Chariot and Panic cards. Your most used locations should be Mount Olympus and The Underworld to gain items and allies.
How To Win With Ursula
The green Binding Contract is the best tool to defeat King Triton, so keep this card when you find it. Discarding cards often is key to getting to the cards Ursula needs.
You can summon King Triton by playing the Trident card at Eric’s Ship and then bind a contract to him to obtain Ursula’s goal. You can leave binding contracts open to get more Power when you draw a Cauldron. You can also protect items from Ariel by using a locked location.
How To Win With Ratigan
It would be best to flip through Ratigan’s deck quickly by discarding cards often. The best action is to play Fidget’s List, Gears, and Tools cards as soon as possible, and it would be best to use Uniforms, Marvelous Tape, and Extravagants early in the game.
Keeping extra allies in your Realm will help you finish quickly. Another option is to defeat The Robot Queen at Buckingham Palace using Marvelous Trap.
How To Win With Dr. Facilier
By discarding cards, Dr. Facilier should get to his Talisman and Rule New Orleans cards as soon as possible. Friends On The Other Side is a significant effect to use to gain Power, but be careful not to get too many, or it will spam your game.
Getting rid of Masked Spirits is an utmost priority, as this card turns on you and will be the card your opponents want to use against you. Try playing your Talisman card later in the game to protect it from heroes.
How To Win With Evil Queen
Your first action should be to unlock The Dwarf’s Cottage and find and play Snow before defeating her with Take A Bite. Playing Old Hags Cackle costs nothing, so it’s good to play these without holding on to them.
Discard everything you don’t need so you can get your ingredients. Don’t overuse your Take A Bite cards on Dwarfs; you only have 5 of them, and you need one for Snow White. It would help if you multitasked your goals to get through the game at a quicker pace.
How To Win With Horned King
Show Me the Black Cauldron is the easiest way to finish The Horned King’s first goal, but you can achieve this with an Ally or We Got You Now. You can simultaneously play Ancient Soldiers into your Realm to obtain your objectives quickly.
Gaining Power throughout the game is vital, especially to play Cauldron Born, and you should use your cards when you can. You’ll discard most of your cards to find what you need, but Only Moments Away From Victory is worth using.
Final Thoughts
Reaching your objective first is the way to win Villainous, and some characters are easier to play because their goals are more straightforward. Choosing villains with more complex objectives can up the fun of this strategic game, and although advanced-level characters are complex, winning with one is delightful.
References:
https://disney-villainous.fandom.com/wiki/Disney_Villainous_Wiki
https://hobbylark.com/board-games/how-to-beat-disney-villainous
https://www.thegamer.com/disney-villainous-scar-hades-maleficent/
https://hobbylark.com/board-games/how-to-beat-disney-villainous
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2042272/tips-and-tricks-when-playing-game
https://gamerant.com/disney-villainous-tier-list-villain-best-hard/