Spellweaver FULL class guide and strategy for Gloomhaven

[@kazukomatsu7197]

Probably unintended, but in the current version on steam, Crackling Air applies it’s last charge to all of the targets of a multi-target action. E.g. round 1 you use crackling air, round 2 you use fire orbs and consume 3 charges of crackling air, round 3 you use impaling eruption and consume the last charge of crackling air applying the damage bonus to all four attacks. Meaning, if you consume wind, crackling can add +2 to 7 attacks for a total of 14 damage in the aforementioned scenario, and even more when you get/enhance cards with more targets. That’s more than the damage of fire orbs or imapaling eruption. I like to use a mana potion or the Brute’s leaping cleave to make wind for this on round 1.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Definitely a bug if that's happening!

[@Mirsset]

Great guide, although I would probably recommend taking Chromatic Explosion (for bottom effect) for newer players.

[@MandatoryQuest]

I think that's fair its much more forgiving, although with the reduced enhancement costs I do think you can enhance those elements a bit easier/quicker now.

[@Bridgeface]

NICE , i was only thinking the other day that the guides for the hidden characters are great and in depth and the ones for starters are less so. Glad you are going back to revisit the starters like this , very nice for new players too i would guess

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yeah definitely! When digital first came out we only had the starters to play with and really and I was still finding my style on YT. The guides kept getting longer and more in-depth and people seemed to really like them, so it makes sense I go back and give these early ones the full treatment :)

[@mikelarsen210]

Great work with this class guide! i want to mention a strategy we use where we use a bless enhanced "hardened spikes" on turn 1 with our living torch summon adjacent. standing next to the beast tyrant and his bear, and other player pretty much gulps the available blessings. Mid to late game we can "reving eather" and do it again before the last room.. netting our character 4 blessings per run and with great oak blessing on top its a real good time on all our advantage attacks. I does require you to run mostly all other non burn cards for it to work smoothly.

[@jorisgarcia6927]

Great you are revisiting the guides !

[@MandatoryQuest]

More revised starter ones to come :)

[@corybuffaloe5713]

In digital, you can add +1 attack and +1 target to Forked Beams for 155 total gold. It basically becomes a non-loss Fire Orbs, and you can just spam ridiculous damage. You can get rid of orbs and put Chromatic Explosion or something in that slot, to make up for the lost fire.

[@Markusthurmanius]

When I played oozing Grove in the physical game I had a level 9 spellweaver with inferno. Honestly I've never felt more powerful than that in gloomhaven.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Inferno was almost made for that scenario, so good!

[@elemen_ts13]

Yeah. I tried combing right and beat Oozing Grove in like 2-3 rounds

[@xethnyrrow]

Yes, updated guide! Very nice. One thing I miss is seeing the final card selection, "for the table top players" that your other guides have. I'm surprised with the heavy choices for fire generation cards and not grabbing Chromatic Explosion not only at level 5 but at all. Particularly because you cycle out its counter part, Engulfed in Flames, later on. Ironically that heavy fire generation favors keeping Flame Strike in your hand longer because its wound it very good. I think a lot of players will have a bit of a challenge getting ice generated reliably for Cold Fire with this build which is the typical way to play the Spellweaver. Having the bottom of Chromatic Explosion available makes things a lot more manageable, especially for people who are seeking the advice of this guide.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Really you need items (or enhancements) for making ice with these selections for sure. Although I'm not sold on Icy Blast as its a bit weak IMO it could be picked over flashing burst if you aren't worrying about Living Torch top down the line. The perks can help too which is why I go for the Ice +2's first, but they are more opportunistic generation. I do agree that Chromatic is the most straight forward newbie friendly option (and I recommended it before) and still a safe pick, but with the lowering of enhancement costs I think Ice on Reiving Ether bottom early is in reach. Grabbing Chromatic over Twin Restoration would be a good idea, but by then you might be all sorted it depends on the pace of your progress. Flame Strike's most limiting factor is the range 2 which forces a move a lot. I do love wound but it doesn't give you XP and without fire its pretty awful, so if you can keep it going alongside cold fire then sure its still good. I actually uploaded the video and then realised I hadn't done the starting/final card overview. I'll remember to add it back in to the next one 👍

[@xethnyrrow]

@@MandatoryQuest Yeah I think the difference here is if you're playing on a harder difficulty. You touch on this some times here and there on some thing but I thought it needs special attention for new players. I think Icy Blast is stronger the lower the difficulty setting.

[@plan9tek]

thanks for all the hints and tips and explanations.

[@rickw1686]

Thanks for this my man it was helpful starting out!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Awesome man glad you found it useful.

[@burntdabruski]

Does this mean we can start waiting for an updated mindthief guide??? I'd be interested. I like the build you did, but a more general build would be nice too.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yep its on its way :)

[@Popikawaii]

Forked beam - what you're overlooking is enchanting. That's 3 targets with disarm at range 3 - insane.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Very true, but probably outside usual player means unless you play her later in the campaign or are an absolute loot fiend!

[@antonioreinoso921]

Really well thought guide, thanks for the effort

[@MandatoryQuest]

Thank you glad you found it useful 🙂

[@MandatoryQuest]

Going back and giving some love to the starters with full guides like my others. Hope you all enjoy them! GH tools and resources spreadsheet bit.ly/3me4u6p Become a Patron for early access to videos - www.patreon.com/mandatoryquest Grab some sweet merch - www.mandatoryquest.com

[@jacobjett5783]

This has been brilliant. I hope you'll do the brute, scoundrel, and tinkerer too. I'm also hoping you might do some comparing vis-a-vis the new meta the Frosthaven starting characters are establishing (in comparison to these three there seems to be a lot of power creep). In particular I'm interested in your thoughts on Tinkerer's summons (which are burns) vs Frosthaven summons (which are discards). I'm also interested in how the Brute's cards could be revised (e.g., if they do a 2nd ed to better align the starting characters in Gloomhaven to those in Frosthaven, power wise) to bring him up to at least being an average character. Brute dors seem underwhelming across the board.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Brute can get actually very good with Skirmishing Manoeuvre and some item shenanigans. He can be busted with the right supporting cast, but its just unlikely you get that together in the Campaign. Next on my list to revisit is the Mindthief, but I'm also considering the other starters but I'll have to re-watch them and see what needs expanding on.

[@user-sr9qe2zl9w]

I’ve really come to appreciate the top of Living Torch recently. I used to always immediately use the summon, but she has such a problem with shields, the top is worth fueling with light.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yeah its a very good attack for a character who usually has to burn a card for that kind of damage.

[@SonesBen]

Re: Icy Blast: In addition to the issues you mention, I'm also wary of taking double-burn cards. Both the top and the bottom action are burn actions, and that's a hard sell for me.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Spellweaver might be the only class that double burns are "O.K" on, but yes I generally stay well away from double burns unless one half is a crazy good passive or something.

[@LadyDath]

I played the table top Spellweaver to level 8. She is quite good, but from my experience I see things slightly differently. She is a damage dealer, every top action (except reviving ether) should be an attack. She is ranged, if you are in melee, you aren't really paying attention. As such tanking and a non-ranged retaliation is just not what you should be doing. To maximize longevity, you shouldn't use more than 1 burn card per hand cycle. The exception is toward the end of a scenario and you know things can end quickly, going nova and just blasting everything back to back is a very valid strategy. Adding +1 range to impaling eruption and +1 damage to fire orbs makes them suitable for play all the way to level 9. At range 5 impaling can easily make that card a 3 damage target 4 and fire orbs becomes damage 4 target 3. I would frequently start round 1 of a scenario by playing both fire orbs and impaling eruption. Since impaling eruption is hard to maximize, you pick your best card based on the targeting options. Spellweaver generally isn't a kill them all on in shot type of character for the most part. Even inferno is fairly low target damage when dealing with high level adversaries. Her job is to weaken for her party mates or polish off the enemies already damaged. At this she is very good.

[@MandatoryQuest]

I don't think we see things differently, in fact a lot of that aligns very much with my guide unless you prefer a few burn heavy options. I always try to discuss every card and what role it could play for different builds. I don't think I ever suggested melee was the preferred way to play, but just that it could be an option for a wacky build. Inferno is an uncapped target version of Fire Orbs or Impaling Eruption with no positioning requirements, and it doesn't even burn. Sure it wont 1 shot a room, but neither would Fire Orbs or Impaling Eruption, but with a Warhammer and a stamina potion you can easily secure playing it twice back to back. It's a very strong ability that isn't hard to combo off with items or friendly buffs, and because its a non-burn you don't even need to really maximise value with it.

[@maxmustermann-zx9yq]

Spirit of Doom has Sideboard Potential against Golems like in the arcane Tower Side quest, of course any other insta kill could take that job

[@chrisperry5804]

Great guide

[@MandatoryQuest]

Thanks glad you liked it!

[@pontusvongeijer1240]

I like actually spirit of doom. First time I play it as a full heal, second time I either play it as a full heal or a kill action. Light is easy to get access too, and at higher levels cheomatic explosion can solve everyones mana issues at will.

[@brunoquarantani2687]

A friend of mine just play with this guy, he’s more versatile than he’d look at a first glance

[@MandatoryQuest]

She has some nice tricks for sure

[@brunoquarantani2687]

I sometimes forget it’s actually a female character, guess I associate my friend with her somehow😅

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@brunoquarantani2687 Hey the Spellweaver can be anything you want! :)

[@whodis3560]

Hey man thanks for your video! I recently started playing with some friends and had a discussion about reviving ether, which I require some help with. My impression is that after using reviving ether the card is lost and the only way to get it back is after the scenario is over. However, my friend said that the card is permanently gone with no way of getting it back on that character. Who is right here? Edit: we are playing the tabletop version of the game.

[@tbone9474]

Early she's like a D&D wizard, very limited but quickly becomes massively OP....like a D&D wizard

[@MandatoryQuest]

Her character arc is so weird its like a steady line until 9 then becomes a hockey stick.

[@tbone9474]

@@MandatoryQuest inferno is when she becomes op. I mean nothing else come close to that spell

[@amansparekh]

Which of the starting characters are better at +2 diff?

[@maxmustermann-zx9yq]

Are you claiming my tank-spellweaver with double summon pretending to be a 3 merc team is not a viable build?

[@GazeboPelt]

The warhammer explicitly says melee attacks for the stun effect. Does it inadvertently apply to inferno or any of the other ranged cards?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yep only works for melee and as Inferno doesn't specify a range or use the range symbol anywhere it is technically melee. Kind of weird to bash someone round the head with a hammer while torching the room but it works. There are a couple of other cards on different characters with this weird melee/range technicality, but not many. I cant think of any others off the top of my head that are ranged styled but technically melee, but there is definitely none as good as Inferno though.

[@nikopteros1659]

I have a question, obviously I wanna start doing cold fires sooner than later with my spellweaver but say i don't have much support/healing in my party so I pick Elemental Aid to make up for it, at this point i picked Flashing burst for lvl2 since I feel it makes your hand more consistent. my perks have it so I've gotten rid of some -1's and I got both "add 1 Ice+2 card on your deck" but don't have any enhancements on my cards. should I pick cold fire at lvl4 or should i go with forked beam and wait until i have more ways of preparing a full cold fire?

[@MandatoryQuest]

I think even just one or two good uses of Cold Fire with the Stun is probably worth it. You might consider picking up a mana potion and dropping another small item in the interim too. Don't forget you also have frost armour bottom as a pretty viable option to get Ice before Reiving Either too. Forked beam is a decent way to try and flip your +2 Ice modifiers though. If your first enhancement is strengthen on the bottom of mana bolt, then that will also help you flip those +2 Ices as well by flipping 4 cards off forked beam essentially.

[@nikopteros1659]

​ @MandatoryQuest Gotcha, cold fire it is, and yeah, I already bought a mana potion beacuse i've got a cragheart partner who struggles with "earth" still so if i don't use it for me i use it for him. so, if I pick cold fire should i then go with the regular order you recommended? as in, forked beam at lvl5 engulfed in flames at lvl 6 so on and so fourth or should i skip forked beam and pick it up at lvl7?

[@Tojofallz]

Lets goooooooo!

[@MandatoryQuest]

:)

[@rigdigwus]

no love for ride the wind :( im level 7 now and this card secured me SO MUCH loot and last turn chests. since reviving either is the only other move with jump, i find ride the wind extremely valuable. i came across so many scenarios that have traps right in front of the last door when reviving either was already used up

[@MandatoryQuest]

I do still like it in the odd scenario for sure for the reasons you say. The bad thing with Digital is you cant see the map layout beforehand so often its too late to swap it in. I feel like I moan about that a lot :D

[@rigdigwus]

@@MandatoryQuest oh very true. I play it completely blind on digital so I yeah, if you see the map layout beforehand it is a lot easier to decide which cards to take

[@tracywaid755]

I'm sorry, I know this has been asked and answered a million times on the forums but I'm still a little unsure. Impaling Eruption's path can trace up to 4 hexes to an enemy up to range 4 away, right? Why is it only 4 hexes if the path can be drawn any way you want? I understand that if you could make the path with unlimited hexes, it would effectively be attack 3 on all enemies within 4 range, and it would be way too strong, but I have yet to find a concrete reason on why it's limited to 4 targets (4 hexes).

[@MandatoryQuest]

For exactly the reason you say, otherwise it would be very easy to target a whole room if you stood in the middle of it and it would be over powered. It's an area of effect attack without having a rigid defined area of effect making it more flexible. Think of it thematically like forked or chain lighting style effects from other games. The real target is the one enemy at range 4, but because its a horizontal beam of energy that shoots out anybody also in its path gets hit. You can't bend the energy too much because it would lose its power and potency.

[@tracywaid755]

@@MandatoryQuest Right, the base damage on this level one loss probably shouldn't potentially be 30+.

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@tracywaid755 no you have to wait untill level 9 for that 😉

[@danhayes2456]

No final level 9 starting hand timestap?! How. dare. you. Also, where do you land on final rankings for: Warhammer Ancient Drill, and Bloody Axe For both Spellweaver and your rad melee Cragheart build that I am itching to try?! Which is the highest priority of the 3?

[@MandatoryQuest]

I missed it on this one sorry! I I think it's fair to rank them Ancient Drill > Bloody Axe > Warhammer if damage is your aim. Warhammer above Bloody Axe if you want to play safer/slower or have no other control in your party. I would say that Crag should probably disregard Axe though as they can't repeat Unstable Upheaval.

[@justincburns]

Came out a week too late! I just retired Spellweaver for the first time. I do the thought behind her play style, but I have to say, she is my least favorite of the starters.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Interesting she's your least favourite starter as at least she has big splashy effects early. Mine is the Scoundrel as its just a bit boring, and then frustrating when you cant get the flanking bonuses.

[@thearchivist250]

Why not two summons at once?

[@MandatoryQuest]

You will be burning too many cards to quick meaning you will have to Revving Ether sooner, and take a lot of rests. Its not un-doable I just wouldn't recommend it as you could exhaust very early and then the summons die with you anyways.

[@thearchivist250]

@@MandatoryQuest 100% true and fair, I just like having two summons on the board. The trick I've been doing is on my Reviving Ether turn is killing off the summons to immediately put them in the burn pile for recall. I also think the top of living torch is so strong, one may not want to summon burning avatar. Also, my current build has almost no burn cards top, so it's easier to stomach the two bottom burns. This game is great. So many ways to play.

[@ShaneChristianC]

Doing the brute?

[@MandatoryQuest]

Probably, but I need to re-watch my old guide and see what needs to be expanded on.

[@finneogan]

There are a couple of things I disagree about here, and in addition I have a strong recommendation for the future (which is the present, as I'm one year late ;) You spend a disproportionate amount of time laying out arguments why you don't recommend certain cards when they are so blatantly awful (or clearly the worse pick under all circumstances) that a simple "don't take this" with a short summary of why would be better. Mind you, I'm not talking about edge cases here where nuances can be important, or close shaves between two picks - you seem to spend the most time on the worst cards or clearest choices, for whatever reason. Some sloppy reasoning about the initiative: you talk about 91 as if that was somehow mediocre when it is actually one of the best initiatives to have, practically guaranteeing you go last for once in a deck that has enough fast ones anyway. When you talk about "other sources of ice" you don't mention the most prevalent and easy to get source, which is the +2 ice perk. True, you cannot force it, but it is a valuable source regardless, and often better to use opportunistically than to elaborately plan ahead with a mediocre card the round before. I would also, like others, suggest to take the two ice perks before the usual -1 to +1 to get access to ice earlier. Throughout this guide you're downplaying the synergy with other characters when it comes to elements, as if you could play this or any character solo. I think you should mention the classes that might provide or benefit from specific elements, at least the starting ones. Party setup becomes extremely important when choosing Chromatic Explosion, of course: If there is one or even two others that hunger for elements, the card becomes invaluable. And finally, you are very much overstating the case for Aid of the Ether, in my opinion. I strongly suggest that this is just a (good) sideboard card at least in the campaign, because the little critter is not much use when you have to move a lot, and fast, to reach the objective. With move 2, the ally stays behind, doing nothing, no matter its dearly bought enhanced range. The most questionable part of this guide for me was when you, having enhanced both range and movement of Aid of the Ether, see Living Torch as not enough of an upgrade - instead of pondering whether to enhance the by now completely obsolete card twice was perhaps a bit of a waste. The obvious sideboard pairing seems to be Ride the Wind - which is absolutely essential in some scenarios and very useful in others, but least so in the slow ones where Aid of the Ether shines.

[@MsKeylas]

but considering that inferno has innitiative of 19 . wouldn't be possible to just run in the room, just to be inside. blast everyone, and then let pary members go right after you to clean/sweep/continue pummeling injured enemies? And that way you also won't hurt neither your allies or your summon. Like you summon or any party member finishes last enemy. and THEN you run into next room and bombard everyone. I think that actually was intended use of this card

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yes of course, but the downside of a little damage is so low that the card begs to be chained together multiple times. Its the looping with stamina potions and other high prosperity items that make it crazy. The intended use was just to give the character a fun thematic powerful ultimate ability I would think. None of the level 9's IMO in GH were designed with players using them for a long time in mind due to retirements, which is why many are so over powered or potentially game breaking.

[@MsKeylas]

@@MandatoryQuest good point. and wasnt expecting to actually receiving an answer. also 2 games ago switched from cragheart to spellweaver with already clear understanding on what is what and and pretty succesfull in having most stamina in party even with using regular double burn on first turn with orbs and summon. we are at level 2 and have 1 perk from battle goals un from level up and took 1 replace -1 with plus 1 and add fie +2

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@MsKeylas Spellweaver perks are pretty damm good at getting you +1 or better once you get them going especially with advantage.

[@MsKeylas]

@@MandatoryQuest yeah,especially considering that me and tinkerer nabbed the goggles in our party