Cthulhu / Squid Face class guide and strategy for Gloomhaven

Warning spoilers inside board game players! I cover all the cards, items, enhancements, and perks for the unlockable Cthulhu / squid face class and some tips on how to play.
One round dungeon clears with this class: • One round dungeon clea...
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00:00 Intro
01:36 Starting cards analysis
33:26 Starting cards selection
23:24 Starting cards and items overview
33:41 Level 2
38:15 Level 3
42:48 Level 4
48:40 Level 5
53:59 Level 6
59:07 Level 7
1:06:28 Level 8
1:15:07 Level 9
1:27:49 Final cards
1:28:06 Items (spoilers)
1:32:23 Perks
1:35:49 Enhancements
1:38:01 Outro
#gloomhaven #gloomhavendigital #boardgames

[@yaboiskittlez7943]

I've wanted this for soooooo long. Thank you! This is my favorite class

[@MandatoryQuest]

Sorry for the wait hope you like it!

[@deathknizzle]

Slowly digesting all your guides, thanks for making them all! Enjoying the content

[@MandatoryQuest]

Awesome dude thanks for watching!

[@joelheinschel8233]

Thanks for all your hard work! Your guides have been incredibly helpful!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Thanks for watching them and I’m happy they’ve helped! :)

[@XXXVerve]

Great guide. In a 4-player campaign, and we double retired last session. Brought in a fresh Cthulhu and Music Note at level 6, straight into a boss fight. Halfway through, we stumbled into the curse-disadvantage strategy and spent the last half of the mission laughing at how incompetent the enemies became. Glad to see I was on the right track, and I can't wait for level 7!

[@MandatoryQuest]

When that synergy clicks together its just so satisfying!

[@jfseguin4005]

Awesome guide! One of my favorite class along with the Saw. I'm actually playing it now on our second run of Forgotten Circles. It's always a blast to play, from level 1 to 9. It's got a kind of weird level progression, as it has better attacks early and as it levels up ( mostly after level 4-5) and replacing your card it damage output lowers ( if you don't count Baneful Hex) For enhencements, Biting Gnats is a great blank canvas. +1 attack.or wound, and +1 target transform it in a reusable Fire Orb with a range of 4! A great investment IMO

[@MandatoryQuest]

Good advice on the biting gnats enhancement. Yeah I’ve found this character more than most evolves over the levels into something else. It’s a bit more of a satisfying evolution too rather than just getting a single card and from that point on just spamming it *cough* Triangles *cough*

[@RomulusRomulus111]

Thanks a lot for your advices ! 🙏

[@MandatoryQuest]

My pleasure!

[@Daily_lotr_meme_shorts]

Awesome guide!!!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Thanks dude

[@danj3051]

Just unlocked my plagueherald in my last session. Handy video on how to play this class. He’s quite different to my tinkerer

[@kbzoncapo777]

Hey, great video and guide as always! I really love your GH videos!! Feel like you touched all points really well but I wanted to add my opinion when playing this class SPECIFICALLY with Music Note (SPOILERS LOCKED CLASS AHEAD!) since they work sooo well together and facilitates most of your stuff. Also, currently playing music note with a friend with chutulu + sun and 3 spears. If music note has one of the 2 songs that heal allies, then Spread the plague is literally a +1 for free basically. My friend just poison someone each turn and you dont care since musicnote just cancels it almost for free. Sometimes it can be a bit annoying but if healing is really needed you can opt to not poison one turn. At lvl 7 you can (and should/must) go for Baneful Hex if music note is lvl 4 or higher. Disorienting dirge is OP as hell so you dont have to curse so much yourself. You put 2-3 curses, the note puts the rest and there you go. Also it's way easier to keep the monster's deck stacked since 2 classes are adding curses regularly (if at 10, bard just switches to the disadvantage song and problem solved). Music note helps you survive and play more aggressively. My friend can go nuts sometimes and doesn't need to care with positioning since he knows my note has heals/dmg negation/cc to protect him and buff him(strengthen and blesses go really well with chutulu deck). To sum up, lots of classes go really well with the music note but i think chutulu really is one of the best companions for music note, they really synergize SO WELL that I wanted to share this contribution of ideas :)

[@MandatoryQuest]

Cthulu plus note is my favourite combo just because of Baneful hex. I still think melody and harmony is a big investment for the note though, but if it's working for you that's great but it's too risky imo in longer scenarios with your stamina.

[@alongfortheride84]

@@MandatoryQuest I agree, I often find music note burning out too quick, without even trying to burn much. I'm about to try my first plaguehearld music note combo, with sun and saw leading the charge.

[@tbone9474]

YES, finally been waiting for a guide on this one. I want to play him but unsure how to approach him in a 2 merc group

[@MandatoryQuest]

Awesome I do talk quite a bit about 2 players in this one actually too, so that’s lucky 😉

[@tbone9474]

@@MandatoryQuest thanks a lot:)

[@tbone9474]

@@MandatoryQuest fully watched the video, you've really done a great job making me feel more at ease with it's potential friendly fire issues. Doesn't take long to see how devastating he can be provided you're smart about it. But by then you've played other mercs with some depth to help with forethought

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yeah you can mitigate a lot of the friendly fire yourself, or with the help of others. With 2P it’s quite hard to juggle spread the plague because you don’t want to be healing allies every other turn, but the value is probably still there if you can manage it between you. Epidemic bottom works well as a dedicated poisoner at 2P but it does mean your gonna take hits so you’ve got to be careful.

[@joeburns9146]

Thank you!

[@MandatoryQuest]

You’re welcome hope you like it!

[@jensrudolph6846]

Hello Mandatory Quest and thank you for this guide. I currently play this charakter quite the same way. In the digital Edition i am already at lvl 9 and love the Mass Extinction. In our weekly boardgame party i am "only" lvl 7 right now, but it doesn't cut down the fun in any way. I have a nice idea for the bottom side of grim bargain. Just imagine having the Drakescale Helm. You would be stengthend and double all the damage in one of these AoE's or multi targets. With a power potion added you could easily clear some rooms. ;-)

[@MandatoryQuest]

Awesome glad you liked it! Sure that could work and might be a fun idea for a Weird Build Wednesday stream actually. Going all in on these types of things is usually the only way they are ever ‘good’ 😉

[@Luckyludog]

The bottom of virulent strain with the top of Accelerated End seems like it could work super well

[@sirhasslich536]

One meme-y use case I could come up with for Convert the Flock is combining it with Grim Bargain bottom and that helm that makes muddle useful, so you get a two highest-level lost cards combo for 24 damage. But that still seems hardly enough given the double loss and some amount of hoops needed to jump through to set it off.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Nice idea I love a good weird build, but yeah sadly too jank to be used regularly.

[@BigFrenchNose]

Awesome content! I just discovered the game recently and this is helping me a lot! Any chance you are working on the sawbones guide?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Coming soonTM ;)

[@MandatoryQuest]

Curse, poison, support, or just all in damage? What’s your favourite way to build the PH? Become a Patron for early access to videos - www.patreon.com/mandatoryquest Grab some sweet merch - www.mandatoryquest.com

[@DeuceBooty]

curse. I actually curse plus disarm or stun, because it means the curse have more time to build up.

[@gregeiselt5296]

Great content, thanks for sharing. Also one of my favorite classes in the game just because it's so thematic as you mentioned! I think the only choice I'd push back on here is taking Airborne Toxin at 7 instead of Baneful Hex followed by Spreading Scourge. Even with air on Airborne Toxin, range 2 is just too close for my liking on this squishy character, especially when you have so many ranged enemies that will end up targeting 2 with huge range. In my experience I never had much of an issue loading up the monster deck with curses through Mass Extinction, flipping curses with Spreading Scourge, and enhancing Biting Gnats with curse as well. Of course you can get really crazy with Nightmarish Affliction enhancements too as you mentioned too! Thanks again for the thoughtful work!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Fair comments I think that Airborne Toxin is probably a little unnecessary (especially at level 9) when you can get your curses through other means. I still like it as a very iron tight way of locking the enemy out though if you really want the ultimate Baneful Hex cheese with that muddle. Thanks for watching glad you liked it :)

[@JakeGameFreak]

One enhancement I've found useful is adding Curse to the top of Paralyzing Bite, although possibly too expensive now with the rebalancing in digital. I found myself frequently killing with my 3/4 attack curse cards at earlier levels and not getting the curse since enemies have to be alive to be cursed. Paralyzing Bite is only being used when I'm not able to kill an enemy. I think Nightmarish Affliction is a better card to enhance, probably Winged Congregation as well, but past that there's not much that stands out except perhaps adding an effect to Biting Gnats (which may be a card you swap out then bring back in after saving for that more expensive enhancement).

[@MandatoryQuest]

I like the wound over the curse now that the costs are cheaper, but yeah I think getting that guaranteed curse is still nice. Like you said biting gnats has great potential but is a card you generally drop later on, but perhaps with the 75% refund it's worth doing anyway.

[@VisibleNoises]

I go back at lvl 6 to take both Accelerated End/Willing Sacrifice. Neither of the lvl 6 cards do too much for you (Stinging Clouds has a better alternative at lvl 8 for Mass muddle and Black Tides is nice move and Dark but you can get it through other cards). Willing Sacrifice potentially turns all your move abilities into Move + Deal 3 true damage with infinite range/no LoS requirement for the rest of the scenario which is really good while Accelerated End of course just synergizes with poisoning everything.

[@richardebourne6332]

My son and i just had a double retirement. We play 2 mercs each, as he's only 12. We now have sun, eclipse, and just got 3 spears and squidface. At prosperity 6 we don't have quite the items or gold yet, but we did the solo scenarios to get a feel for them. I felt a bit undecided on how to play with plagueherald. Maybe starting at a lower level and learning my preferred style would have been better. 3 spears seems more forgiving and more versatile; squidface prob needs more of a crowd to come into his own.

[@maxthrust976]

I don't know why you'd want to use the bottom of Grim Bargain, but I think I know why the muddle is there. I theorize that it is there so that you can't strengthen it and make it super powered.

[@govetenko]

I personally really like using bombs for my hand slots, to really max out my burst curse early on in a mission

[@MandatoryQuest]

Good recommendation I forgot about those!

[@kyleobrien3098]

Man, I just realized how well this character can work with the Voidwarden with her remove poison/bless card.

[@Timlagor]

Maybe Grim Bargain is a Challenge Card -put in there specifically for people who want to make the game harder for themselves

[@Urankeksbaecker]

I've never had such a hard time deciding between two cards, as with Plagueherald's level 2 options. I need your guidance!

[@XXXVerve]

For me, I didn't like either of the level 5 cards, so I went back and took the other level 2. So, having used both, I don't love the top of Rot Maggots. The range is short and it always seems like my allies are in the way. However, the bottom can be useful for condition clearing, if you are facing poison and wound. I often take it for boss fights to help with support. Under the Skin is simpler, but more useful to me. A reliable ranged attack with piercing for those stubborn monsters, and move 4 on the bottom. Move 4 is always great. It's is always one of the last cards in my hand because it is both useful and flexible, which you need when you're close to a rest.

[@vindalo000]

If you play Airborne Toxin top, consume Air and have a Hawk Helm, will you target all enemies within range 3? Awesome guides btw!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Unfortunately not as hawk helm increases attack actions only, and Airborne Toxin is not an attack. Thanks glad you like the guides! :)

[@502Maximum]

Awesome guide! Related question about Spread the Plague, is it suppose to always poison the Plagueherald as well? Or is that just a bug in the digital version?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Sounds like a bug (pun intended) it should only be allies and technically you are not an ally of yourself (weird I know) as per the rules.

[@502Maximum]

Haha thanks, that's what I thought since yourself doesn't count as an ally. Since my team is still low level, I've been using soothing lullaby to help with all the extra poison. Probably not the most optimal.... But it helps against the bugs!

[@pikebraingaming9659]

I JUST ran into this playing the digital version with my wife. Was really disappointed it was happening. I was excited to make my wife sick... constantly...

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@pikebraingaming9659 The devs are aware of it so hopefully we get a big very soon

[@carldanescd]

Ta bloke. Please do some walkthroughs for the scenarios

[@Timlagor]

Accelerated End +Mass Extinction does 6 damage if you spend the Dark correctly

[@Highlaw]

Honestly I don't see the advantage of Airborne Toxin, especially over either Spreading Scourge or Baneful Hex. Having to waste a non-damage top option only to put youself in melee range next to 2 to 3 enemies, with a conditional +1 range (still close to the frontline with multitarget/hex enemy attacks, plus all the ranged enemies you've now presented yourself to), just seems too risky for the reward. On top of the fact we already have 2 move+curse bottom ability cards, which while only targeting 1 enemy at least make the risk bearable (no need to venture into deadly enemy surround nests in order to maximize your small range) plus the top ability still being available for the turn. I also think Spreading Scourge at 8 shouldn't be skipped for it, it's a huge 2 damage AoE if they are poisoned (just as good as Accelerated End for non-shields), plus all the curse/positive rolls you mentioned, and the Muddle is pretty valuable for this character, as it doubles the speed at which their deck pulls curses - a lot of damage mitigation through +1/+2/2x denial and curse damage - when applied in such vast amounts through this card you start to notice it fast. Instead, what I do to spam curses is to save money and upgrade Nightmarish Affliction, with the first one increasing it from 2 curses to either 3(100g) or 4(200g), and the second upgrade making it curse 6 times with a single usage. Over the course of 2 turns having their deck reach 8 curses is quite banal this way, and all with the safety of range.

[@mariaczaja3839]

Hi Mandatory Quest. Currently unlocked this class and i really like it. I also have some questions, maybe you can help answer them: 1.) a little offtopic but you said in (i think) your party composition video that music note+squid+sun are a good combo. Does this combo still works if the third character isnt the sun (one of our players isnt sure which character he want to play, while the other one and i would play music note & squid)? => are there special decks for the conbo or can i simply use the ones shown in your guides? 2.) about the items for the squid: assuming i dont choose „cloak of pockets“ and instead choose „cloak of phase(ing)“ which small items would you recommend? Thank you very much for your guides. They helped me a lot.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Hi! 1. Yes the core of the combo is music note + squid. The other character can be whatever really, but I prefer a frontline character to take the heat off the note and squid. You'll be drawing curses a lot but not always. 2. Can't go wrong with stamina potions of course, but you are also have a good amount of multitarget attacks so power potion isn't bad. I also quite like mana potions to ensure you get the elements on the turns you need them. Doomed compass can be fun with some of your poison spreading abilities too to line up nice bounces. Thanks for watching and glad the videos have helped :)

[@mariaczaja3839]

@@MandatoryQuest thank you very mich for your answering

[@mariaczaja3839]

One question came up: are the card decks you shown in music notes & squids guides the ones you would use for the combo? Or are there different ones?

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@mariaczaja3839 they include the combo cards I think. Main thing is to load up curses with music note level 4 and use Squid lvl 7 passive. Squid can also do some cursing too but not as efficiently and quickly as music note. Then get some curse enhancements on both characters to really go crazy with it.

[@nixquev]

I've been playing this class a bit now and there's a couple things I do different: I take under the skin and not rot maggots because I don't play solo and poisoning your allies will happen a lot at range 2. Shield-busting is also important to be able to repeat. Bonus: fixes move issues and may allow to get initiative boots instead which is nice to fix on this character. I also keep bitting gnats and enhance curse and targets on it (on tabletop this also stays for all future characters created and is a great customized power buff) it allows to simply "top-up" curses on demand. I also ignore airborne toxin because the range is too small or needs equipment or elements to use effectively. I end-up taking Spreading scourge at level 8 for all those flips and muddle will really force enemies to miss and catch your curses (which is also why you need to "top-up" with things like bitting gnats). I found that this scales really well with my party and would probably just use different enhancements if my party dished curses themselves and there was an overload of them.

[@squidpolyp2221]

Great vid! I’m a noob who literally just started playing so sorry if my question is dumb, but how do you unlock the plagueherald?

[@MandatoryQuest]

In Guildmaster it’s inflict poison on enemies, but in the campaign you have to get the personal quest Seeker of Xorn or the Perfect Poison

[@squidpolyp2221]

@@MandatoryQuest thx for the reply

[@kehnanwilde7461]

Bottom of Grim Bargain with item no. 108? Use it to fire off convert the flock. And then re-spec into a better build. Edit: For some extra fun, run: -108 -73 -43 -54 -41 -56 Big numbers go brrrr. (Yes. I know this is probably terrible)

[@brendancoakley632]

What do you think of bombs for the single target ranged curse attacks?

[@MandatoryQuest]

pretty good actually! Also works with paralysing bite in a pinch if you need it.

[@justinmaynard8305]

Just curious I know U said you didn't want to spoil it but who does this character combo really well with?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Music note

[@ry8an25oliver93]

What is the character that her is referring to as a good combo? I have all 17 mercs in gloomhaven digital but it still wasn't obvious to me

[@MandatoryQuest]

Music Note 😉

[@MrMagyar5]

My nephew and I have been debating this class's potential and we found that the poison build is, by far, his strongest damage build. Many people like the curse build, however I've found that it has 2 fundamental flaws. 1). Any additional damage from curses requires that the enemy draw those curses which, based on probability, is a low chance. 2). CC is king in Gloomhaven. Not allowing enemies to draw from the modifier deck is far more effective than allowing them to draw and hope that they draw a curse. Don't get me wrong, curses are great when you run out of CC, but poison has too many advantages over curses. Statistically speaking, with 10 curses in the deck AND if you can force the enemy to attack with disadvantage, they will still hit you over 50% of the time. That's not a great strategy. Dead enemies do no damage, and curses left in the deck aren't effective. The real hidden gem for this class is Willing Sacrifice. It works with movement granted from other classes as well. It's brutally powerful when paired with the Soothsinger and can eliminate priority targets with ease. Especially if you use the song which allows you to before each attack which would allow Willing Sacrifice to be used. We have been opening 2 doors at once with this class and crushing enemies by turn 4. One of the disappointing things that we experienced was that Baneful Hex just didn't really do much damage throughout a scenario. a 1/3 (assuming you have 10 in the deck) chance to draw a curse and take 3 damage just.. doesn't make the cut, ESPECIALLY, at high levels. There was never a time when Baneful Hex was so impactful that it blew us away. Most enemies have so much life at higher levels that 3 damage is just.. meh. I encourage you to try the poison build! It's been a lot of fun for our group. Additionally, this is something to remember.... the poison build STILL prevents damage via curse loading, it just doesn't waste potential damage for actual damage.

[@lucalavit2023]

With 10 curses and disadvantage the enemy will actually miss you 62% of the times, it's not that bad :)

[@andrewwolfgang7461]

I never understand: why do they put XP on lvl 9 cards...

[@fractalnomad2894]

Instead of black Tide at lvl 7 you can pick up that other lvl 6 card

[@dangoje2123]

Which character does he refer to as ~that little character?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Music Note :)

[@ahrenstarr6273]

***Other Class Spoiler**** Playing the Note now. Seeing Baneful Hex, the synergy is just setting off HUGE ALARMS in my head. Dirge + Hex is super powerful.

[@MandatoryQuest]

My favourite combo in the game ;)

[@jccusell]

The Spellweaver does not get a kill one enemy effect

[@MandatoryQuest]

She does although its so bad you'd easily forget it. Level 4 Spirit of Doom top if you consume dark.

[@joshualucas4931]

Where is the blinkblade review?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Very close to finished will be up in the next few days!

[@chaslyndrilling7380]

I love how bad some of this classes cards really are and its very obvious they nerfed some stuff into the ground when they reprinted it.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yeah definitely got the nerf hammer hard because of its obvious power, but I think in retrospect other characters probably deserved to be nerfed more/equally