This guide will focus on an area of effect damage role for the spellweaver. She fits nicely here in parties of 3-4, where more enemies results in more raw damage. You will soften the baddies up so your friends can finish them off. This guide will focus on an area of effect damage role for the spellweaver. She fits nicely here in parties of 3-4, where more enemies results in more raw damage. You will soften the baddies up so your friends can finish them off. We will also explore some elemental support and healing support options if your party is in need.
Fire Orbs
Start out with your flame of glory. The top gives you 9 total damage spread across 3 enemies. Because the only condition is they must be in range 3, you can reliably find 3 useful targets to hit. This is a onesie half, which isn’t as bad for you as for other classes. The fire is decent value at the start, but we can always find good use for it. The bottom half is a moderate Move 3 that you are fine using until your big attack.
Impaling Eruption
Another onesie AOE attack with an element. This is more situational than Fire Orbs, because the baddies have to be bunched up. Isaac clarified this card in the FAQ — your arrow can take whatever route it wants to your target (still max 4 hex path). Early on, this will be stronger than Fire Orbs because you have more potential with clustered enemies and it has a better bottom half. However, its relative value will fade because you will get other clustering attacks and fire becomes better than leaf for you. If the craghart (I mean your party) wants the leaf elementals, this becomes more valuable. The bottom Move 4 is excellent while you wait for the right time.
Reviving Ether
Of all the cards for all the starting classes, this is the most essential. Every decent spellweaver bases its approach on this card. I can’t say enough about Reviving Ether. Without Reviving Ether, you couldn’t do much AOE, or much else for that matter. We’ll get specific uses later. The Move 4 Jump is awesome. Don’t get too dependent; you won’t have your leap for the 2nd half of the scenario.
Freezing Nova
This card doesn’t get much love but has a situationally valuable combo. Jump in the middle of the crowd with Reviving Ether’s bottom half and late initiative. You want to go after all the monsters. Freeze them. Short rest, go early with mana bolt and run away after freezing them again. It is risky and takes some work, but it can spit out a lot of damage for a repeatable level 1 card. The bottom heal is situational: crummy for a onesie but helpful in a pinch.
Mana Bolt
Another key card you will keep for a while. The initiative is fine now and great later. Early, you can use either the top or bottom. Later, you’ll mostly want this for the initiative to pair with an attack. We’ll get into enhancements later, but this card is a solid early game option.
Frost Armor
The top is identical to mana bolt. Not bad, not great. You don’t get many elements early, so you’ll only need one of these cards for their top ability. The bottom half isn’t as good as it seems because you can’t time it for the big hit and small indirect damage triggers the conditions. This isn’t a card we want to include because it clashes with mana bolt and doesn’t offer much on its own.
Flame Strike
Bottom ranged attacks are always great. You do lose the XP with version 2. I don’t think I’ve ever used the top half of this even though it’s decent. With fire available you can mow down a shield enemy. The bottom attack takes the cake. This card is another reason I don’t mind some “bad” initiative. Let them get close and pounce. Range 2 is a real limiter on this card and prevents us from keeping it too long.
Ride The Wind
Also known as: How To Lose Friends and Infuriate Scoundrels. First, the top. Top loots are much better than bottom loots because you want to use them while moving. This card will give you value as you wait to fly. The onesie bottom lets you take chests as well as any starting class. I’m going to drop this sooner than others because it doesn’t fit into our AOE build. I won’t blame you if you keep it longer, though your friends might.
Crackling Air
This card is confusing, many get it wrong. When you play the card, you may consume wind to set the attack bonus to 2. The FAQ recommends stacking a second token to indicate the trigger. The attack bonus then applies to the next 4 attacks (targets). For instance, you play this card and consume wind. The next turn, your Fire Orbs hits 3 enemies for 3+2=5 attack each leaving you with one remaining +2 charge on Crackling Air. The mistake people make is applying it to attack *actions*, and only taking 1 charge away from a multitarget attack like Fire Orbs.
This card will net you 4 or 8 damage if you use all the charges. It’s less than your other onesie attacks, doesn’t let you draw from your deck, and wants to use rather than create an element. If you have a reliable source of wind twice per scenario, I’d include it. Most starting spellweavers don’t outside of Ride the Wind, and we won’t. Why not Ride the Wind? Either want that chest after killing the baddies, at the same time and don’t have time for a 2-round setup.
For the bottom half, Move 3 is better than a potential retaliate as you’re hoping not to get hit in the first place. The community tends to frown on retaliate because it’s not reliable. The monster might not attack, might not attack you, might deal you direct damage, or might go before you. Still, this card doesn’t become worse because of the rider.
Hardened Spikes
Speaking of retaliate… A onesie that gives retaliate instead of an attack, no thanks. The bottom half isn’t bad but doesn’t make up for the weak top. At level 1, your only reliable snow is from Frost Armor, and that card makes Hardened Spikes obsolete.
Aid from the Ether
Everyone like some healing. You can use it until you call your Mystic Ally from the deeps.
Summons are nice, but they die and get left behind easily. This card helps with both those issues and makes it the best starting level 1 summons. The range attack helps to keep it alive. If it’s left behind, you can call it back later. Remember when you play Reviving Ether, you can recall this card to your hand as if it were lost even if the mystic is still alive.
Timing
With Reviving Ether, you have get a second life. 8 cards on your first life, and 7 on your 2nd. That lets you play onesies more often than others. Here is a suggested timing structure
OSSS_OSS_OS_ESSS_OSS_OS_O
Key: O = Onesie S = Standard _ = Rest (short or long) E = Reviving Ether
For instance, you play a onesie card your first turn, play repeatable cards for your next 3, then take a rest. You don’t have to memorize the sequence, it follows a pattern. Count the cards in your hand + discard. If they are even, you can play a onesie. If odd, don’t.
This will give you 1 Reviving Ether turn, 6 other onesie turns (3 before Ether, 3 after), 12 repeatable actions, and 6 rests. You will last 19 rounds, not including rests. This is rather conservative. If you want a faster pace, you can play more onesies, or play them sooner. Adapt to the specific challenge in front of you.
Because we want to use 3 onesies (plus Reviving Ether) and will lose some to resting, we want to bring 4-5 such cards along for the ride.
For more details, browse my timing guide guide.
Level 1
Try each card at least once. Gloomhaven is a great game for experimenting and doesn’t kill you or your character for a mistake. Try each card at least once. Gloomhaven is a great game for experimenting and doesn’t kill you or your character for a mistake.
Core cards: Reviving Ether, Fire Orbs, Impaling Eruption. This is the heart of your AOE engine.
Strong supplements: Mana Bolt, Flame Strike. Mana Bolt will give you strong initiative for your blasts or use the element for a follow-up hit. Flame Strike will be some damage for a second attack.
Additional onesies: Ride the Wind, Aid from the Ether. These aren’t your core, but they are the best at what they do for now.
Final card: You could go with a onesie, but I like Freezing Nova. Its combo will some damage against all the enemies in the first room. It’s less valuable after Reviving Ether is gone, so you might take a long rest to give it the axe.
Left out: Crackling Air was the toughest cut. While Ride the Wind can give us air, I don’t like playing onesie cards on consecutive turns. Frost Armor and Hardened Spikes could make us a poor tank, but we want to be a great blaster.
Level 2
Flashing Burst
This isn’t a bad card at all. Decent initiative, solid single-target attack with an element for Mana Bolt, and a good move. This would be a nice card if the other didn’t fit our style much better.
Icy Blast
It has downsides. Low attack value, poor initiative, double onesie, marginal bottom half. If you’re not blasting, you’re using it for a Move 2 with bad initiative. But, the chill gives us our 3rd AOE attack and fills our ideal onesie structure. Throw down Icy Blast, Fire Orbs, Impaling Eruption twice apiece. Icy Blast is a great scenario opener because you will have a bunch of enemies, they tend to bunch up, and you aren’t hurt much by the poor initiative or bottom half.
To add Icy Blast, lose one of Ride the Wind, Aid from the Ether, and Freezing Nova. They are all different, which one wasn’t effective for you? I’ll toss out Aid from the Ether here because I struggle with summons and enjoy pairing Freezing Nova with Icy Blast.
Level 3
Cold Fire
As we built our strategy around Reviving Ether, we will build our tactics around Cold Fire. This card to its fullest potential gives us wet dreams. We will be happy with 2 targets and 1 activated element…for now. Whether you start a room with Flashing Burst or Icy Blast, this is a great follow-up. 6 damage or 2 stunned targets are both excellent values for a repeatable card. It’s got poor initiative, so you like to pair it with something better. The bottom loot 2 is nice for end-of-scenario cleanup.
Elemental Aid
This would be nice if Cold Fire weren’t your other option. For parties suffering damage, I’d consider this over the two Level 4 options. A repeatable Heal 5 is much better than Freezing Nova’s onesie heal 4. With a good initiative pair, shield 2 at infinite range is excellent for a surrounded ally.
We will take Cold Fire and lose Freezing Nova. It’s a repeatable AOE replacement that doesn’t put us in the line of fire and is also greedy for ice.
Level 4
Spirit of Doom
Ehh. I would take Elemental Aid over this any day. An execute is nice, but not for a double onesie with setup issues. The big heal can be quite powerful on a tank. But without something to trigger sun, it won’t be that much an improvement over Elemental Aid. If you’re really desperate for healing in a pinch, you’ve still got Icy Blast.
Forked Beam
Solid. Our deck has fairly bad initiative, so a 20 here is welcome. 4 damage isn’t great, but it’s better than any other repeater sans Icy Blast. Hopefully your modifier deck is decent by now, so that 4 damage could be 5 or 6. A move 4 with good initiative lets us set up early and shoot. Take this unless your party really needs the healing from Elemental Aid.
We will drop Flame Strike here and be left with 3 solid repeaters.
Level 5
Chromatic Explosion
Oohh la la. Bad initiative, a mediocre top half, and a modest move 2 don’t stop me. We aren’t killing anyone right away. We can let them get into position. The wildcard element will let us consistently trigger both Cold Fire effects.
Engulfed in Flames
4 single-target damage plus an element is nice. I’d rather have a double-element setup for Cold Fire for a good burst AOE on the tough rooms. The bottom half is a waste: you don’t want to be smacked around 5 times in half a scenario.
We’re greedy for Chromatic Explosion. I’ll drop Ride the Wind here, but you could keep it for Impaling Eruption.
Level 6
Living Torch
Both options are pretty strong for an AOE build. By that point you have enough health that you can get close for a bit and use Frozen Night. Living Torch is a nice repeater. I love Burning Avatar as a concept but it doesn’t work out well in practice. You’re going to want to play your summons twice per scenario, something like first room and last room. In the first room, BA is going to fight for attention with a (strengthened) Mana Bolt bottom and Chromatic Explosion bottom.
Frozen Night
The top here isn’t bad. I’d put it between Fire Orbs and Impaling Eruption, and much closer to Fire Orbs. Frozen Night has much more upside, but even hitting 3 enemies will require setup, meaning you might not be able to use it with a mana bolt bottom. The bottom half goes from decent to amazing depending on your darkness generation. It’s unfortunate you have both abilities on one card. You’re not much of a melee fighter, and the top half gives you the desire where the bottom half gives you the ability. Still, this card could be your best onesie attack that you’ll get to play twice per scenario.
Your choice will come down to what card you want to replace, and what your prior choices have been including enhancements.
Level 7
Twin Restoration
Twin Restoration is a trap card. It would be OP for anyone else but not SW. Because you can already recover lost cards (but not this one), you’re essentially losing this card twice to regain two other lost cards once. You also don’t want to short rest with this in your deck, because if you draw this card, it’s gone for good. The only reason I’d use it is if there’s one particular lost card that I really want to play 3 times. Without enhancements, there isn’t.
Stone Fists
Stone Fists is also better in theory than in practice. I usually don’t know a turn in advance that I want to play this card, so it’s difficult to set the leaf up. This is a bit of a dead level for you. I’d go with either Stone Fists or your other level 6 card.
Level 8
Zephyr Wings
Zephyr Wings is a flat upgrade to Ride the Wind. If you want some extra gold for the costly enhancement, this card can help you get that. Your friends might wonder why you aren’t helping them instead.
Cold Front
Cold Front has a decent top and a great bottom. In a 4p game, the top could net 15 attack (+ modifiers) and the bottom nets 9 attack + maybe heal 10 self. It also pairs with your capstone.
Level 9
Black Hole
Hmm. A couple insta-kills aren’t bad. They are limited to normal enemies and this AOE takes some sizzle from Cold Fire. But if you can insta-kill 4 baddies/scenario, you’re going to have a much easier time. The bottom half I guess helps you trigger the top half with a stamina potion or short rest. Or helps with traps.
Inferno
Yes, please. Consider: cold front is protecting you from 3 attacks, plus your invisibility cloak. You wander ahead of the group and light the room on fire. Then you short rest and do it again. Stamina potion and do it again. You’re safe and sound, your allies are cleaning up their mess, and you’re laying waste to the room. With the fire modifiers in your deck and attacking with advantage, you’re consistently hitting them for 5+. This is what a capstone card should be. Be a team player and stay away from Zephyr Wings. But now is your time to burn, and you’re going to make the room hot as a furnace.
Initial Strategy
Let’s talk about burst damage. Gloomhaven throws you an immediate headache with a tough first room. Your other challenge will be sustainability: not exhausting too soon. If you can burst and sustain, you’re in great shape.
How do we handle the big first room? At level 5, we have a solution. Fire Orbs or Icy Blast on top with Chromatic Explosion on bottom. Solid damage late the first turn with a ice + fire setup. Then, Cold Fire on top with Mana Bolt on bottom. More solid damage and stun them before they see what’s coming. Forked Beam + Impaling Eruption gives you nice movement, initiative, another AOE blast. (Use the Forked Beam top if the battle is going well, Impaling Eruption otherwise.) Move outta there with Reviving Ether.
The beauty of being a spellweaver is you can repeat this “conservative” approach the whole game and still sustain 19 non-rest turns.
Items
Goggles are your best item.
Grab piercing bow and minor power potion and you can take down your share of shielded baddies. Once you’ve lost your -1 modifiers, you can reliably hit for at least +0 with advantage. You can then one-shot any shielded dudes with up to 4 hp.
The invisibility cloak can help you get out of a pinch from Freezing Nova gone awry, so grab it if you want to utilize that card.
Enhancements
You have several excellent options to improve your cards. Here are a few possibilities: make your deck your own. Keep in mind that you can only have a number of enhancements equal to the prosperity level, so you may regret multiple cheap options once you gain more gold.
Fire Orbs, +1 damage (100 gold) or +1 target (100 gold). This is a card you want in your deck for a while. Either enhancement gives you about +3 damage twice per scenario. You’d want a party of 4 to justify the +1 target, otherwise it loses some reliability.
Impaling Eruption, +1 range (60 gold). A poor man’s Fire Orbs upgrade. Less reliable but cheaper. Fine enough for early game, but Fire Orbs is better at higher levels because fire is better than earth and the damage is more reliable.
Reviving Ether, wildcard element (150 gold). A better chromatic explosion that’s just available for the first half of the scenario. If you take this, I would consider Elemental Aid rather than Forked Beam so that you can make good use of all your elements once you get to level 5. This is also an excellent choice if your allies could make good use of elements.
Mana Bolt, Strengthen (50 gold). The best bang for your buck. Because strengthen lasts until the end of your next turn, it gives you advantage for 2 rounds of AOE attacks. And you thought the goggles were special. One downside is you’re not going to want to use this card to heal allies any more. Another is that you won’t be strengthened for your big initial AOE attack if you play this in round 2. That’s what you’ve got your goggles for, right? Get ready to live with advantage.
Flame Strike, +1 range on bottom (30 gold). Excellent early game but tapers off quickly as you want to replace this card. Mana Bolt, Cold Fire, and Forked Beam are your repeaters for your build. Enhance your strengths.
Icy Blast, +1 attack (125 gold). I’d like this more than the next spellweaver so it’s a pass at a late game price point.
Cold Fire, +1 AOE (116 gold). Let’s look at some math here. If you could attack 1 enemy, you now have 6 hex options for your 2nd. If you could have attacked 2, you have 4 hexes to choose from for your 3rd target. If you could have attacked 3, 3 different hexes could make it 4. By the time I can afford this, I can reliably play Cold Fire fully charged. I can’t trust that the enemies will be in position, and this gives me more options for a loaded 3 damage stun attack. Compared to +1 target on Fire Orbs (3 damage, 2x/scenario), a 3 damge + stun breaks even if it can proc once per scenario. And with a repeatable card, this is likely to trigger more often.
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