FROSTHAVEN - Banner Spear Guide (How to play, cards, builds, perks)

[@MrKevo1237]

These class overviews really are the best out there for Frosthaven. Thank you for putting all of the work into this content.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Thank you for your very kind words. 🙂 You're very welcome!

[@greenhaven-podcast]

So say we all!!!

[@jakatalbot]

Just starting to play, this video is a huge help. I had my own opinions, but with only scenario 0 under our belts getting advice from someone who has played extensively is so appreciated. I feel more confident about my level 1 build now, and the tips on how to play this class is great.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Very glad to have helped! Good luck with your campaign!!

[@sam3353]

This was fantastic! You nailed it. Earned a sub with your frosthaven stuff for sure!

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Much appreciated :)

[@MegaKmad]

Great video! I am joining a group of friends that played Gloomhaven together for their Frosthaven run. Since I didnt play Gloomhaven with them I am at a disadvantage for sure but your descriptions of how these cards are played is helping me get up to speed. Thank you!

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Always love hearing when I'm helping someone out! Good luck in your adventures in Frosthaven! :D

[@RyanFinley]

Really great, complete walkthrough of the class. We played our first scenario last week, and I chose my character last and we needed some kind of tank, so I went with Banner Spear. It's quite an interesting mix of summons and AOEs!

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Definitely one of the more interesting classes, glad you enjoyed the video!

[@kerriepalmer1153]

I wasn't really loving playing banner spear but after watching this I'm going to give it another shot. Thanks for the video!

[@RageBadgerGaming]

So very welcome!

[@clementcroquet3911]

I was skeptical first when I read about this class but you did a great job describing what makes the class interesting. I'll give it a try now, for sure!

[@RageBadgerGaming]

May your spears land true!

[@sykassler8491]

Just wanting to give a big thank you for all of your videos. You've helped us with our decisions about starting characters, and out of all of the videos I've watched, your videos have been the most helpful. Thank you!

[@RageBadgerGaming]

You're so very welcome! I try my best :)

[@sykassler8491]

@@RageBadgerGaming It is very much appreciated! I'm so glad that I found you. I'm sharing with my frost haven and gloom haven pals as we navigate this next journey. Our game starts tomorrow! I am playing the Drifter.

[@sierastuart1346]

Playing with the boneshaper and the flag that heals is a godsend for them.

[@jaylegleiter6669]

Just played the first scenario last night and the Banner of Hope absolutely saved our asses

[@darthhorst9118]

Thank you for the great guide. I play the Banner Spear and am about to reach level 2. I'm considering taking Meatgrinder, but which card would be best to omit? This question also arises for level 3 and all subsequent levels. Do you have a favorite set up to level 9? Which (two) cards from the level 1 set should definitely be included? And which ones can be excluded? At all costs is a must, of course, but which cards should gradually disappear from the hand?

[@zipcc]

Thanks for this, my group just got Frosthaven delivered and we start tomorrow. So excited.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR CAMPAIGN!

[@kevinerskine3299]

Love these videos. Watching them all before I start.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Glad you're enjoying them so much!

[@crowsmack]

This guide is amazing! Thank you!

[@jrousselle7828]

Thank you for posting this--an excellent summary.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

You're very berry welcome!

[@catherinenyxsera]

I like how your role descriptions follow 4e. :)

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Best edition.

[@lucassanto8764]

Very good vídeo, thanks! I'm playing this class and your guide gave me some ideas xD

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Always happy to be of assistance!

[@shuttlecrossing7084]

Explosive Epicenter has a weird position in the card pool. Its bottom action practically screams "this is the level 1 card that you build the class around" like with Deathwalker's Call to the Abyss, Fist's One with the Mountain, Snowflake's Gathering Force, or Boneshaper's three Skeleton Summon cards. But for some reason, Epicenter is... level 5. I've played the class twice now and the second time, not having it felt like I wasn't even playing the same class. It felt slow, cumbersome, and kinda frustrating - and once I leveled up and got Epicenter, I felt like I was once again playing the class 'normally'.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Yeah I've tried it out but I think you could have dropped the level.

[@finniussynklar4385]

Might save this series to watch for later since I like to try out the class myself a bit before I checkout guides, but thank you so much for fueling the frosthaven hype train. So excited for my copy to arrive hopefully in a month or two~!

[@RageBadgerGaming]

It's so close now! Thank you!

[@sebsavic7763]

32:20 cuteness alert

[@LurkinPT]

For Boldening Blow, isn’t it a full aoe of 4 damage to all enemies in red hexes, but only 1 of those targets is disarmed? Based on other cards that is how I would read that.

[@benc5231]

I really like these guide videos. Thank you for producing these! I am watching these a lot, more than it is probably healthy.^^ Are you going to feature the other starting classes as well? I would really appreciate it! Thanks again for being awesome!

[@RageBadgerGaming]

I am going to be doing the Boneshaper soon! Then moving to locked classes! I'm glad you love the guides! They're a bit of effort to pull together so it's good to know they're appreciated!

[@danielhendricks7604]

I'm really struggling with Boldening Blow being single target. I feel like the text should be "attack 4, disarm" and then in the circle "target one enemy in the red hexes". This would match the formatting of the second portion "bless" and then in the circle "target all allies in the blue hexes". That the attack 4 is outside the circle and the disarm is inside it is definitely causing my brain grief. However, the older version of the card (assuming online sources are accurate) has "Attack 3 / Disarm / Target one enemy in the depicted area" and seems to be in line with your analysis of what the card does. I just REALLY hate the disarm being inside the bubble on that new design. :D

[@RageBadgerGaming]

lol, I get that. Still, just Attack 4, then attack modifier. Disarm, target only one enemy in the formation. I do get that it's confusing because of the visual and modifier text. So I don't fault you there lol

[@garethp2633]

Hi, firstly I love the video so please do not take this as criticism. You’re great!! But on Boldening Blow, you are misinterpreting the card I believe. It is attack 4 to all red hexes. In addition you disarm ONE of the targets. So the disarm is not hitting them all, but the attack itself is. Really enjoying the video, starting my campaign next week and can’t wait!

[@garethp2633]

I saw your other reply on this matter. It’s difficult because you are correct that it is too powerful otherwise. I just think that ‘read as written’, it’s attack them all. Has there been any official confirmation of this? I don’t want to cheat by mistake!

[@RageBadgerGaming]

@@garethp2633 I'm a playtester. Lol. Seriously though: officially it is attack 4 on only one enemy.

[@dwarf74]

@@garethp2633 This is addressed in the official FAQ

[@ericmatteau9954]

I feel I'm not playing my Banner Spear to her full potential. Thank you for the guide. I'm sure it'll help a lot! 😊

[@richardboulanger3393]

Some great ideas in here! Thanks!

[@mendicant1981]

Hope you’re still playing, enjoying and making guides. Absolutely love checking your guides whenever i retire and pick a new class. Not sure if i like this class, although i had to retire the crab to play it! 😢

[@iantaylor2331]

I Iove your guides. How feasible is a throw and drag a banner strategy/support? I get frustrated with the contingent hex arrangements although the reinforcement is helpful. Generally I have found frost is more difficult and you don’t really want to be tanking hits. Yet the hex arrangements all want you or someone else perilously in the thick of it. I am finding the ranged damage more reliable and safe at present. Obviously happy to use the disarm when it crops up and so but those opportunities are rare without bossing my friends around. Just curious as to other’s thoughts. I think this is a cool class.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

I've not struggled that much with formation requirements but I do think that dragging a banner and playing support is a very viable strategy if you wanted to go that route

[@WolfmanXD]

Starting frosthaven this weekend. 3 player game. Banner spear (me), bone shaper, deathwalker. Can't wait. Love the leader style flavor of the banner spear.

[@charlienoble7862]

Re: Combined Effort card granting banner movement. I thought if an ally with "-" couldnt be granted movement? It had to have Movement 0 which could then have modifiers added to it. Im assuming we can because it says "Move 2" instead of "+2 movement"? Granted I only just finished Sen 1 and am still trying to learn.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Granting movement +2 to a summoned ally with no movement woul not move that ally. Granting move 2 WOULD move it.

[@fdsadat]

I had the same question, but the Banner Spear board says it can grant movement to spears. I think it is different than pushing and pulling.. I think banners cannot be force moved.

[@Oncomingstorm777]

Thanks for the guide. I think it might be helpful to include which cards you would typically drop at each level for the new ones. Any recommendations on those?

[@RageBadgerGaming]

The 'starting hands' are just rough base hands. You still should use the full set of cards, it becomes even muddier at higher levels. As a standard, shouldn't "drop" cards in most cases.

[@ryushi17]

Our banner spear picked up a random item very early on that gives +1 target to incendiary throw. Wounds for everything and I’m a blinkblade sand in the hourglass gets a lot of value from this.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

That's a WONDERFUL pairing. Good use for incendiary throw!

[@joshuamarcus5810]

Nice! Really appreciate it, going to be helping my fiancé figure out the Bannerspear to go with my Boneshaper and the breakdown makes that a lot easier to plan.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Boneshaper is next! Hope they both help!

[@govetenko]

This was helpful, thanks

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Always glad to be of assistance! :)

[@jeremynoel2545]

The single best use out of the top action of Resolved courage is to use it on a bunch of archers or enemies that will use ranged attacks on their next turn. Happened to me i hit 2 algox archers with it and they were forced to hit me with disatvantage. Pretty awesome.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

I managed to get that with a decrepit skeleton behind me and popped that plus the shield 2 self from deflecting maneuver and 3 attack 3s feels like nothing. It's amaaaaazing.

[@lapulperiamtg]

@@RageBadgerGaming wait, is it still ranged attack if it's performed at range 1?

[@RageBadgerGaming]

@@lapulperiamtg yes, immobilizing ranged enemies and being in melee range is one way of giving them disadvantage

[@roboraygun]

LOL thank you for making that nod to the "power bottom" thing. In all the vids I watch I keep having to go "I'm an adult, I'm an adult, why is my humor so childish" so i'm glad im not the only one. Been watching your Gloomhaven vids for a while now and now Frosthaven videos as we just started our Frosthaven campaign! We always find you have the most easy to understand vids and are our "goto" vids when we need clarification or need to understand something! Also your Mercenary vids always help me in deciding what Mercenary to play next. Thanks for all you do! Also quick question: So I noticed that the Driving Inspiration card now has Advantage on the newest update. Just curious if this raises the card more often for any of the three build types?

[@ShadowbladeZZ]

Do the banners count as allies for formation stuffs?

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Yes, they do.

[@RyanFinley]

Still love this guide, but one thing I noticed is at least one perk is different vs what you have in here. It's the perk that gives you (in the video) +0 attack and +1 for each ally adjacent to the target. In reality it's a +1 attack and the bonus for each adjacent ally. And the fact that it replaces +0s in the deck I think makes it much stronger.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

100% I had the old sheet here opps

[@revmorton]

Such an excellent guide. I really like how you encourage to have a fluid deck and not just to stick to stock 10 cards. It makes for more creative gameplay. I love your sense of of humour too! We play a party of three (blink blade, Bone shaper, Bannerspear). Bannerspear has been MVP using defensive build. The Bannerspear and Bone shaper have so much synergy due to his summons enabling lots of formations. We play on +2 difficulty and have found it challenging but not impossible. I'm struggling to utilise "deflective maneuver". Feels like it COULD be situationally awesome, but i've been screwed by archers as well. Any tips?

[@RageBadgerGaming]

The bottom or the top? The bottom is pretty rough to set up as you have to be in position that you know the archers will attack you, hope they don't draw a sub 20 Init or pair it with an early init, and then be in range that your top attack will land. Don't get me wrong: it's not THAT hard but sometimes it's been easier to use the top. Set up javelin or head of the hammer and do Attack with advantage and give all enemies disadvantage goes so far. Esp with a boneshaper that can drop curses.

[@RyanFinley]

Bolstering Shout level 6 card is fantastic in the right party too. I'm currently playing with a blinkblade, snowflake (gives out air!) and trap (where that pull can be really, really useful.)

[@fdsadat]

Head of the Hammer is now a MOVE 4 that creates Wind and also muddles adjacentes... I think this is a very good botton with a strong Boss attack on the top

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Oh 100%. I was meaning to update this but kinda missed it. I'm a fan of it obviously lol

[@adastra3147]

Hello we played like 3 scenarios and we are playing at +2 difficulty (we are GH hardcore veterans) and we still dodge damage by losing cards A LOT what are we missing? We are Bannerspear, Boneshaper, Drifter

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Well +2 difficulty is probably the reason. Bring as much hard crowd control as possible. It'll be mostly your BS though. How's +2 been?

[@amc6354]

Just got my fristhaven and watching all your vids ! Great stuff . Quick question though I don’t get why unbreakable wall sheild happens before initiative ?

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Just once you put the shield into play, it's always on, regardless of future initiatives.

[@amc6354]

@@RageBadgerGaming got it , thanks :)

[@Chappykinz]

Do you have any advice on when to tackle the solo scenario with this character? I am level 5 and am getting annihilated in it with the formation cards as my main upgrades.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

So I deliberately (for my own fun) ducked out of testing those and we haven't had a level 5 Banner Spear so I can't really weigh in on this yet BUT I WILL check it out eventually! Just did the Trap solo scenario! Working on others!

[@isaiasnascimento3133]

Boldening Blow does not seems to do like you've said. It should attack 4 all enemies on the red hexs and disarm one of them. At least that's how I see it... 🤔

[@RageBadgerGaming]

It definitely does an attack 4 and disarm only one one target in the area, attack 4 on the whole area would be better than almost all the cards ahead of it in future levels too.

[@isaiasnascimento3133]

@@RageBadgerGaming seeing that way i have to agree... really well thought

[@Minimonster_Z]

You have what cards you like to add to the deck when you level but am I missing the part for what cards you remove in their place?

[@RageBadgerGaming]

100% honesty, I never play with static hands. I encourage you to constantly use your whole pool of cards. I try to point out when a card deprecates a lower level card because sometimes they're just straight up replacements but some cards like Pincer Maneuver and Set For Charge are usable at levels 1-9 and others get replaced handily.

[@JonRinzRaccotterz]

Can you grant Banners Move actions?

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Yes! You also can control where they move when you grant the actions!

[@Minimonster_Z]

@@RageBadgerGaming Where does it say you can choose thier movement? My team thinks they have to move as a creature using the AI

[@RageBadgerGaming]

@@Minimonster_Z Page 33! Grant: Allows a figure to grant an ability to any figure. The commanded figure then performs that ability. If the commanded figure is a character summon or scenario ally, the commanding figure decides how the ability is performed

[@mineraldo]

What's the cat's name?

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Velvet!

[@mineraldo]

Have I seen wrong, or there are two cats? Loved the video, btw!

[@RageBadgerGaming]

@@mineraldo there's 4? Two black cats! The other is Spartacus!

[@jeff1710]

This seems out of date with respect to the box version - "driving inspiration" has advantage as an added effect, which you don't show. I haven't looked through all the cards but I noticed that one is off.

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Yeah there's two cards off, the bottom of Head of the Hammer is different too. I probably will update a small thing about them later. I wasn't allowed to use live copies and was going to edit the video later but I forgot YT doesn't like re-uploads. I'll probably just put a thing in discord later this month.

[@ragnar3434]

Im pretty confident I've left the message Try Thrust Bottom in one of the Souls games. Anyway cool video

[@RageBadgerGaming]

lmao Try-Thrust. How did that not cross my mind? Glad you enjoyed it!

[@woj_kal]

Comment

[@andreaswogerer1136]

Spoiler, Spoiler, Spoiler

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Spoiler, Spoiler, Spoiler

[@Jutsuss]

I get that some ppl might want the help in how to play, but IMO it just takes away a part of the game. Players should figure out their own strategies and styles how to play the different characters. just saying :)

[@RageBadgerGaming]

Some do prefer that! That's perfectly acceptable!