I'm not sure whether I like this new version of Aragorn. Do I like the ability? Yes - the natural ability to deal with location-lock is obviously a powerful one. The problem though is that in order to use his ability, you are going to have to forego questing with him, which is counter-productive when you are trying to deal with location lock in the first place, or find some readying effect so that he can do both. As he is in the spirit sphere that shouldn't be too hard to do but most of the time, you'd probably prefer to use his 3 attack or reserve him for defence, particularly as your starting threat is likely to be high as he contributes 12 just on his own. This version also having Sentinel is great to see again but it gives you another reason to not use his ability if other players are relying on him to defend for them.

Another benefit of his ability is that you can wait until after staging to clear any potential high threat, single quest point locations that are revealed from the encounter deck (yes I'm looking at you, Brown Lands), but the problem here is that there are only 10 different locations in the entire game with just 1 quest point (11 if you include the Mountain Roots in Solo) and his ability is limited to once per round. Furthermore, nearly half of those would not be impacted unless you have some way of boosting his as they have a higher than his unmodified . Again, this shouldn't be too hard to remedy given there's plenty of options in sphere, but until you do, he effectively is just contributing 4 to questing, something you could quite easily do with Aragorn with a Celebrían's Stone and still have him ready to do everything that this new version can do. I might add that with this powerful artifact attached, Aragorn gains a icon and so would give you access to a powerful ally that renders this ability almost useless, which has also existed since the core set. I am of course talking about our trusty Northern Tracker, which adds 1 progress to every location in the staging area every time it quests. Admittedly, it is one of the more costly allies at 4 resources, but within the sphere resources are easy to come by and there are other ways of getting it in to play for less cost (i.e. A Very Good Tale or Timely Aid) that don't require you to have found Celebrían's Stone to play allies off-sphere.

So why would you choose to use Aragorn over his counterpart or any of his other versions for that matter? Firstly, you might just be bored of playing cards from the core set, however, if that's the case, I doubt this version of Aragorn would excite you as it is essentially the same basic hero as the version from the core set and you are almost guaranteed to want to use Unexpected Courage with him. No, I think the main reason you might want to use Sparagorn is if you have a number of different types of location, some that punish you for travelling to them and some that punish you for clearing them. In these circumstances, you are more likely to want to clear individual locations out of the staging area as opposed to using your Northern Tracker to clear them all. I can also see him working in a secrecy 'Strider' deck as he would then be questing for 4 and would always have the option to use his ability to clear out locations, which he would be much more effective at. He would also have in-sphere access to a host of threat reduction to keep him in secrecy and below enemy engagement costs and a number of readying effects in Unexpected Courage, Miruvor, Defiant Challenge, Desperate Defense etc.

Overall, I'm not hugely excited about this version of the King of Gondor but I can see some situational uses for his ability and he does belong to the most powerful sphere IMO. I think he would be best used within a secrecy questing/support deck chipping in with a bit of defence using Sentinel, whilst another player takes on the majority of combat.

I think Aragorn is an underrated hero. I know he doesn't get a lot of use because he's not a very splashable hero (and because he's named Aragorn), but if you use him to the best of his abilities (and yes, you do have to build around him), then he can be really nice - he essentially allows you to quest twice (I know his isn't impressive as is, but if you're building around him it's going to be pretty high!). At his best, he'll be able to use his ability with around 5 to get rid of 5-ish from the staging area and put some progress on a location (which then will be promptly explored with Rhovanion Outrider and Northern Tracker). Then he can ready with Unexpected Courage and quest again for 5 . If he's got another Unexpected Courage, he can defend or attack after that. So he might not be as easily usable as the other three iterations of Aragorn, but I still think he's fun to play with.

A very powerful and underrated version of Aragorn.

Versatility

With a stat-line that can do any job, being in the sphere of Unexpected Courage helps him a lot. Choosing what to do with him in the first few turns is critical for all versions of Aragorn. With his ability you can wait until after the encounter deck reveal to determine what to do. Did you reveal an enemy you need to fight? He's still ready! Did you reveal a location? You can use his ability to add his willpower to questing anyway.

But it gets better: did you keep him in reserve for combat, but find yourself just short of willpower to clear the active location or to put progress on the quest? There are situations where this gamble can cost you the game. Think of locations such as Lightless Grotto, Ancient Guardroom, Ithilien Road or Quests such as Breaking of the Fellowship 1b, or the quests from the Harad cycle. Aragorn can give you that final boost.

Or if maybe you want to build your board state and not advance the quest, but still keep clearing locations. You can underquest and if you get a low threat enemy or treachery, you don't accidentally advance. Aragorn ability to control your questing power is unmatched and you need to play with him to really appreciate.

And there are more creative ways to use his ability. Any location that triggers on "when this location is explored" can be timed by using his ability to place progress. In one instance I used it to explore a location with Elf-stone on it to put Jubayr into play after my current copy in play was just defeated in order to block another enemy.

Questing power

Aragorn is one of very few heroes that can quest twice using Unexpected Courage. He can quest AND use his ability to use his willpower again. This let's him get double effectiveness from willpower boosts. Add the fact that he can put progress on the location and he's also questing for future turns. In 3 or 4 player games, being able to explore locations in the staging area is very powerful and having a hero capable of such feats from turn 1 is great. Add Rhovanion Outrider or Northern Tracker and you're in great shape.

Tools

Being Aragorn, there are a lot of useful attachments specifically for him. Ring of Barahir is in sphere and a great addition if you are also playing with lore. You'll want more artifacts on him then and Mithril Shirt and Stone of Elostirion are both amazing on him and because they are guarded by locations, they play into his strengths. Even better, they discard non-locations from the encounter deck so the rest of the deck is more likely to hand you more locations. This also lets you lean into The One Ring and Well Preserved. Sword that was Broken is the best Aragorn attachment and can be played with Reforged** provided you have means to discard it from your hand with cards like Arwen Undómiel or Éowyn. Thorongil gives you access to tactics Aragorn abilities to help your spirit deck deal with enemies but lore Aragorn and his threat reduction can come in clutch as well.

Downsides

Aragorn flexibility at the start is great, but you'll also need it due to his high starting threat.

His other weakness is that his ability requires targetable locations in the staging area. In 3 or 4 player games this shouldn't be a problem but in solo play you'll want to keep a location in the staging area or use cards like A Watchful Peace, Shadow of the Past or The Hidden Way to be sure. This, along with the other tools we mentioned, means he'll want to take a sizable chunk of your deckspace for support.

** Apparently Reforged got errata in the repackaging. But I 100% believe Sword that was Broken should be an 'item' and usable with this card for obvious reasons.