Circles class guide and strategy for Gloomhaven

[@olaeldarhoston-tvinnereim1201]

Thank you for your videos, they are all so watchable and re-watchable! Really enjoying your style of talking us through, please don't change and hoping you keep it up into the Frosthaven "era"!

[@horig]

Me: Circles is so fun to play! I have a wide variety of summons, and if I calculate correctly I can curse, poison and damage multiple enemies in a room. Stone Golem: Initiative 8 Retaliate 3 Range 3

[@MandatoryQuest]

Every summoners worst nightmare!

[@user-sr9qe2zl9w]

I just discovered the level 9 Sun + Circles party, and it’s amazing. The summons never die.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Sun is such a team player :)

[@codyvandal2860]

Works really well with Lightning Bolt too

[@MarcelPogorzelski]

I ran the three range summons from first three rounds. That means I had technically a 6 card character. Interplanar Mastery enabled that. It's not just 1 extra card. It can be 3-4 extra rounds. It allows you to lose Unending Dominance on first long rest since it's a useless card until you need it. The jump 6 and fast initiative is important since Summoner should tank for his summons. It's an amazing card for the summon playstyle

[@freyeik]

Your guides are the best. Doin great work man gave you a thumbs up and shared it to all my nerd freinds

[@MandatoryQuest]

Your too kind thank you so much 😊

[@boris2581]

With my friend we play the summoner with Sun and QM and this combo makes summons shines like crazy. Sun gets the focus and therefore protect all summons and QM using sharpening kit enhance all summons attack. With this team, summoner does an insane amount of damage

[@MandatoryQuest]

Nice that’s a good party comp! They added three spears and circles at the same time in digital so I too have been enjoying some sharpening kit action.

[@ThanePL]

Good tutorial. Interesting character. Not my style - prefer Scoundrel type of builds - but after watching this vid I find Circles interesting enough to try it out. Thanks!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Which summon is your favourite? #teamthornshooter Become a Patron for early access to videos - www.patreon.com/mandatoryquest Grab some sweet merch - www.mandatoryquest.com

[@benseasly4139]

NAIL SPHERES

[@piarew8841]

Void Puppy forever

[@xethnyrrow]

Brony is best.

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@benseasly4139 .............

[@jorisgarcia6927]

Purple feline on the thumbnail!

[@vohbovohborian28]

I think Interplanar Mastery is a sort of upgrade to Earthen Steed, in that it gives you a slightly better bottom with a top you can play if things really go to the wire. If it were swapped and was at level 8, it would probably get taken, but then you'd have a really nasty choice to make at level 9.

[@anthonyc4951]

Thanks for another great video! After watching your gameplay with this character I am definitely going to give it a try in GH Digital. I also like the Thorn Shooter especially after the enhancements to it.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Gotta love some poison ☠️

[@MrAssChapman]

The summon items are quite nice because they have a completely different cost basis than your normal summons. Consuming a small item is a fraction of the cost of burning a card.

[@Linnir]

Thanks for this video. Very much appreciate your point of view 😀. I have a level 7 summoner. I have a mix of ranged summons and attacks. I found too many summons clogs up the board and restricts party movement. Can become annoying. So I’ve restricted my summons to the void eater and thorn shooter. They are great for just the poison and curse effects. Melee summons are now abandoned as die too quickly. I do use the living bomb situationally. For the other cards I have extra turns for my summons and my own ranged attacks. My current cards are wild animation, unending dominance, black fire, volatile flame, grasping the void, divided mind, strength in numbers, inexorable momentum and negative energy. At level 9 I will lose black fire and volatile flame for otherworldly rage and horned majesty.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Nice yeah I agree with the melee summons being too squishy at least until you get the Unicorn. Thorn shooter is the real MVP. You can get rid of living bomb earlier if you can find a way to make fire element for black fire. Glad you liked the video 😀

[@Linnir]

@@MandatoryQuest thanks again. We do house rule the summons though, I control all their actions, not just the card allowable turns. As ranged support this character is amazing.

[@d.t.5670]

Great guide. Haven't played Circles yet myself, but this really helps me understand the tactical considerations of my teammate who currently is running Circles, and how I fit in. [Angry Face spoilers below] . . . . . . . Shout out to the Doomstalker's Giant Toad as a really powerful synergistic ally for the Summoner. The potential for big extra movements to facilitate extra stuns has been tremendous, and we're only a few scenarios in with this party comp. I can't wait till I unlock the cobra in a few more sessions. Apropos, I'd love to hear your take on the Doomstalker given the sheer number of directions one can go with the class!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Angry face has just landed in digital so it will be next in line with Cthulhu for a full guide :)

[@Timlagor]

You repeatedly said "cannot be underestimated" about Unending Dominance. You meant "cannot be *over*estimated". I'm shocked to discover there's a Unicorn on that card!

[@mbra8228]

super useful!

[@jorisgarcia6927]

Thanks man! The character levels really fast, compiling on your lateness... ;)

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yeah I expect a lot got her to level 9 after only a few days! 😂

[@tykk86]

Forged Ferocity's bottom can actually be pretty good when enhanced with bless. By targeting you and every summoned ally, you can easily stack your deck full of blesses. Expensive, yes, but not as much of a problem in Guildmaster.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Bless tends to fall off in usefulness a little bit though when your summon base attacks aren't particularly high at lower levels. If you have the cash though and are high level in Guildmaster sure go nuts :)

[@tykk86]

@@MandatoryQuest Yep, bless on the summoner's deck is usually the same as a +2, but still, extra damage is extra damage. :D

[@markusjagering7449]

Leathery Wings bottom could be combined with another summon action at the top so that those summons have advantage on their first action. And in Frosthaven it's good for the first turn in a party where most players use their first turn for "suiting up" not moving at all.

[@dbmsolardesignworkorders194]

Interplaner mastery isn't great, but I think you are missing the main point - to keep massing summons or other huge effect cards. Doesn't matter if it "only gives you 1 card up" because you are trading 1 card for 2 massively useful cards. Especially the impactful combos that are situational, it gives you flexibility with when to utilize those abilities. So really, you go from only getting to do a wombo combo 1-2 times a scenario to 2-3. That can be huge is certain scenarios.

[@ZBSBACANLOLER]

Great! Still waiting three spears!

[@MandatoryQuest]

It’s coming very soon!

[@DimmerswitchDan]

@@MandatoryQuest can't wait! 3spears has quickly become my favorite class!

[@kellinwinslow1988]

Combining this character with the Doomstalker and the Beast Tyrant,maybe even the secret character in the board game which is stupid they didn't put it in the digital version,and you have a summoning death machine. Being able to buff or control the Beast Masters bear and the Doomstalkers snake along with your own is insane. Use Strength in Numbers with with everything out will then be 4 maybe 5. Upgrading some of the summons a bit with these characters and you can really control the board. Toss in a Sunkeeper as a tank or a Sawbones to keep things going and you can do some very interesting things.

[@dylanhoward4978]

I'm thinking if you have something like two minis around, you can base your build around the bottom of strength in numbers and try to use Nail Spheres + Wolves + items to get the damage on that up and stam potions to repeat that as an attack 6 or 7 as often as possible. And then you almost want them to all be left behind so they can just power your own attack forever.

[@izus4811]

Me: I heckin love the Summone- *Living Spirit target all range 5* An item i like on summoner is Ring of Haste. When you got both your Thorn Shooter and Void Beast out being able to drop bottom action of Divided Mind into Horned Majesty. That's 7 attacks in one round with their innate attacks and a top action control attack.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yeah those target alls.....Sun demons have a habit of doing that too! Yeah Rings in general are great on characters who have must play passives, or lengthy combo setups typically. It really helps you to shortcut those turns and get right to it.

[@aranami85]

I love the flame summon bit mine seams to have plot armor because the game always flips poorly against him so he doesnt get his death bomb. He just kills stuff

[@savedroknapp1926]

Great guide! Thanks a lot, man :)

[@MandatoryQuest]

No problem thanks for watching :)

[@phasingout]

Only just new to summoner. Probably bad ideas but just thinking out loud. Im looking into the possibility of amplifying the use of attack modifiers. Having summoners that use your attack mods seems like a good way to get more out of mods. Possibly building around thorns and 2 wolves. With a bunch of range attacks to keep the mod cards flipping. From memory i recall some decent effect modifiers. I could be wrong. The other option is to play healer support. Keep the front line alive while picking up gold so the team doesnt have too. Lastly doubling the effect of enchancements on wolvesx2. Considering just splashing out on the wolves to see if i can turn them into a power house. High movement and damage. Then reviving them for a 2nd round. We'll see how it plays out

[@MandatoryQuest]

With a few pieces around you to help you’ll have more success. If your playing solo and have say a Sun or another front liner protecting your summons it certainly frees you up to be a bit more creative. I would still worry about those wolves running into retaliate 3/4 at higher levels though. If you want to flip modifiers it’s really better to just go wide with summons and have as many as possible including the summon items. The Summoners attacks she has herself aren’t too bad, but then your just playing a pretty bog standard damage dealer + a few summons. At early levels you do still use a lot of your attacks though like black fire untill you get better control summon cards. The problem this character suffers is it’s so dependent on factors outside of your control. How good you will perform can often come down to what enemies your facing, what they are doing and when, and the general scenario layout with traps and terrain. After all this too sometimes your just a bad enemy flip away from losing your whole squad. I think you’ll maybe have a bit more damage consistency with less summons and more attacks yourself, but you’ll amplify any bad luck you might get by losing your wolves early in a longer scenario I’d say.

[@xethnyrrow]

Another great guide. I think this is the typical build a lot of people gravitate toward because ranged summons are the safest bet. I will say that if not playing on harder difficulties then the melee summons are quite a bit stronger, especially the Lava Golem early on.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yeah if you play on lower difficulty you can make melee summons work much easier and can get better damage output. Golem is amazing it’s just a shame it’s so all in, so a lot of the time it probably doesn’t pay to use it.

[@Tw0shedz08]

As someone who’s group just unlocked the Summoner at Prosperity 4 in our game, we all hate this class. The player stuck with her is now racing to retire

[@MandatoryQuest]

That was the same in my group on my first physical playthrough. My friend really didn't like it, and I didn't like watching him play it either. Digital has given me a better appreciation for it though. Now it doesn't take as long moving all the summons around yourself and doing the admin. Still an underwhelming class imo.

[@joelheinschel8233]

Another great video MQ! I have found them very helpful in my game play. Have you considered making the longer versions of the class guides for the Brute, Spellweaver, and Mindthief? I have been struggling with the Mindthief and Spellweaver in particular.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Nice glad you’ve found them useful! Yes I think once I’ve done at least one for each character I will probably revisit some of the earlier ones

[@belicose9]

A really great video here explaining my favorite class in the game. Well done sir! I do very much disagree with your take on Endless Spikes. Three separate bodies for a single action is a great return on investment. If you reclaim the card later that is SIX total bodies! Sure, they may not last long but that is a truck load of mitigated damage. Pair these summons with the cursing Void Eater and you’ll be surprised by the durability of your spiky boys.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Thank you glad you liked it! :) I think the problem with the spikes is they do little to progress the scenario. It feels very weak to use a card to mitigate damage for a single round when instead you could use something aggressive instead. This is also true of some other cards from different characters that ultimately achieve the same effect. Why not just play wolves instead? that gives you 4 bodies that actually attack and you don't have to waste a level up choice. They also don't pressure enemies with dangerous non attack abilities like cultists, or play very well with AoE or multi target attack enemies as they could die immediately. Perhaps this is just my experience playing only on increased difficulty, but outside of a pure survive X rounds type scenario they have never been worth it for me.

[@belicose9]

@@MandatoryQuest I can understand that take and I surely think that the build you highlighted here is excellent. I just played the Summoner as a more of a tanking class using walls of summons to soak up damage for my allies. It’s difficult to discuss without spoiling other classes, but when you compare Endless Spikes to class cards that say add multiple rounds of shield or completely negate damage a few times I think that the Spikes come out as more effective. And I agree about the wolves. I ran both Spikes and Wolves plenty of times and watched as the enemy forces pointlessly slapped at a wall of replaceable bodies while my ally heroes slaughtered them. I’m not arguing that Endless Spikes is the best summoner card but it has it’s place. I could go on mate, trust me I love chatting about this stuff, but I’ll save you the trouble and stop here. Mostly I just want you to take away that I really enjoyed this video on my favorite class and I appreciate the upload. Keep at it!

[@alancollins5714]

@@MandatoryQuest Endless Spikes with the bottom of Strength in Numbers would get me an attack 7 range 7 on 97 initiative after I had played some other summons earlier and an ally would have a summon too. Then play Earthen Steed with Forged Ferocity to give the nail spheres shield 2.

[@gutlesswarrior]

​@@alancollins5714how many mercs in your party? I've been wanting to try this with forged forocity enhanced with bless, but I'm worried I'll clog the board - we've got a full group

[@bobspalding2477]

I like the playstyle for this character, but feel like with even just 2 summons out, you will exhaust in no time.

[@moranthang9482]

Ok one Question. I played the Spellweaver with the Skelton Ring and the Fire....Spirit and liked it. So the Summoner would be the next logic Step for me. BUT: I had the feeling that the AI would sometimes just kick my Summons in a place where the would 100% get the next attack or send them into traps. Was that just bad luck or the game actively mobbing me?

[@erl7466]

i’m having a really difficult time finding a use for the summoner. one or two summons maybe are useful with a single ally, otherwise they’re just choking the battleground and then lagging behind to be useless later. non summons cards are middling at best. later levels get better maybe, but why even bring her when you can bring the doom hunter, or one of the other better summons characters. still working on it.

[@maxmustermann-zx9yq]

reject modern medicine, embrace "healing sprite", sponsored by Coca Cola I guess

[@DarkAngelFreVer]

I have found that 1 active summon is already more than enough in a 4-player campaign. With such a high amount of players, most rooms are so cramped that even one summon, (mostly) acting according to monster rules, is such a pain in the butt to move and plan around, or to use efficiently. The summon restricts either the players or vice versa. As much as I'd like to give Circles a try, I think this class will never see play in our group; it would frustrate the other players to no end...

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yep your describing some of the reasons this class fell short for a lot of people. It’s frustrating relying on summons to not either walk into certain death or get stuck behind allies. I’ve had fun with it playing solo so you can plan more, but in a multiplayer situation you can often feel a bit useless.

[@Slightly_Mad1335]

The builds in the game are highly dependent on the difficulty level, the number of players and the composition of the party. And some also on the level of the characters and the availability of some items. For example, Strength in Numbers is a key card for a 3-4 player build after 20+ completed missions, due to the availability of 4-6 summons only from items and the ability to play it 4 times in a row due to the combination of Major Stamina Potion, Minor Stamina Potion and Pendant of Dark Pacts. And then even more often due to rest. + Volatile Bomb in hand items. Summons is required not to die in order to deal 7-8 damage on average for 9+ rounds, up to 11-13 dmg only from items and self summons. And that's just from the bottom of one card! In this case, Endless Spikes is great if the player wants to maximize damage for high difficulty of the game. The second option for Endless Spikes is a curse build paired with Cthulhu with a Baneful Hex build. The poor bastards attack without damage and take 2 retaliate dmg and suffer 3.

[@Kentchangar]

Can you get Unending Dominance Back with Interplanar Mastery? Maybe for a "I'm lazy I'll only spam as many summons as possible" build?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Nope as unending dominance is a unrecoverable loss. Any card with the additional icon of an X symbol on a deck can never be recovered to stop infinite turn combos.

[@nixquev]

Do you still think Conjured aid is that good ? I find that since it usually focuses on enemies, it's heal is wasted because he ends-up out of range for healing.

[@MandatoryQuest]

I’ve still found it to be useful but you need to be very careful with positioning for sure. I could see it being dropped if you have other sources of healing, but I do really like it in scenarios with a lot of poison and wound.

[@DemonicTaco666]

Interplanar Mastery would allow you to ignore exhaustion right? Seems valuable as a level 9 if you keep repeating your burn recovery cards and letting your summons do all the fighting for any time you just need to stall out a victory.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Both of those cards have the cannot recover symbol meaning when they are burned for the first time they are permanently lost for the rest of the scenario. Its to prevent the looping unfortunately.

[@jaskamakynen7766]

I think at level 8 staff of visions is a shout over otherworldly rage. Its better init and I already have multiple controlcards and often youre in front so a 5dmg smack to face doesnt hurt. When having all eggs on the basket of allies doing the damage its a pain if ole of them dies in a stupid spot

[@jacobjett5783]

This was an interesting guide. Something I'd toy with as a house rule to "fix" summons (assuming enough folks believe they need fixing--clearly there is a scaling issue going on as the game progresses) is an across the board +1 move to the base move characteristic of every summon and adding additional health to those on higher level/prosperity cards: perhaps +1 health to summons on level/prosperity 3 & 4 cards, +2 health for 5 & 6, +3 health for 7 & 8, and +4 health for 9. I'm betting the designers don't consider summons not scaling with the rest of the game a bug to be ironed out though based on what I've seen of summons for FH.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Making the essential ones non burn is a big boost in FH I think. Melee summons always get a raw deal, but ranged summons are actually pretty decent if you can keep them safe. I like the idea of scaling them up a bit, but you have to be careful as you want people to pick the new ones at higher levels. I'm not convinced FH has completely fixed the problem but it's looking better. I would also like the new no focus free move 1 rule changed to just give the summon its full move value. I don't think that's particularly broken, it's simple, and thematically makes sense.

[@jacobjett5783]

@@MandatoryQuest Agree. Scaling up would also be a huge buff to 2P (which ideally wants to aim for a 3 Spears/Eclipse duo [for reasons]). Scaled up summons could be used to tarpit some of the enemies on the board in 2P. Tarpitting isn't really a (viable) strategy in GH. but it is in similar games (and in RL combat).

[@charlylee7795]

Quick question, is a character unlock permenant or do i have to unlock them for every single campaign ?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Every single campaign. Each campaign is considered its own save with its own progress.

[@pemcodegame4918]

Intervening Apparitions: summons can get cursed

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yep they do, however this card bottom is very weak unless against cursing enemies like imps or living spirits. Both of those enemies are a nightmare for summons to deal with anyway even with this card so its kind of like a double downer.

[@pjenner79]

What are your thoughts on endless spikes and strength in numbers combo?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Well considering endless spikes is a meme card its pretty meh. Sure you get one maybe two goodish turns, but unless you have more summons out an attack 3 range 3 is very average. I have never found nail spheres able to survive much more than 1 attack so the retaliate is mostly irrelevant on them too.

[@pjenner79]

@@MandatoryQuest yeah I was considering a strength in numbers nuke build with all the various ways to getting it back in hand.. I figured with the spitter and wolves at the level it would be semi viable at a range 6 attack 6.. but I just don’t know yet if that makes up for their lacking. Idk just something I’m thinking about when I get eventually play her

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@pjenner79 The real nuke combo is to pair it with another summoner because it doesn't just count your own summons 😉

[@pjenner79]

@@MandatoryQuest oh yeah it’s all summons… oh wow and cool! Ty for all the info and guidance

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@pjenner79 no worries

[@vexfc]

How do you wands in guildmaster mode? I have finished almost all travel missions

[@MandatoryQuest]

They only appear in job mission chests in guildmaster im afraid

[@youngo2416]

unending dominance + lvl 9 interplanar mastery... doesnt it mean u can recover each card back with the other and have inifite loop ? and thus u wont ever tire ?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Both cards have the permanent loss symbol so can never be recovered unfortunately. Cards that recover other cards tend to have that symbol to stop loops. Reviving Ether on the Spellweaver has the same symbol too.

[@youngo2416]

@@MandatoryQuest oh thanks for the clarification.

[@williamfaughnan6298]

Great guide, as usual, but I have one important question: how in the world did you amass 4064 gold!!??

[@MandatoryQuest]

I’ve sunk hundreds if not thousands of hours into that particular save so I’ve amassed quite a fortune :)

[@williamfaughnan6298]

@@MandatoryQuest in all my campaigns I basically spend every dime I get because I just can't help myself, and the gods know the great oak needs my assistance constantly lol

[@jerrodhoerner]

How much time do you have in this game? how do you have so much gold?!

[@MandatoryQuest]

I have 1100 hours total according to steam. Not all played on that save but I would say most of it has been.

[@carldanescd]

in - ex - or- able

[@pemcodegame4918]

Seems like it would be too easy to exhaust. 9 starting cards - 5 burn summons => only 4 cards left. Which is only 2+1+1 = 4 turns then you're exhausted.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Your are not wrong, but you also have Unending Dominance bottom to keep you going a little longer. The trick is to not over extend with summons and stick to using 1 or 2 at a time.