Gloomhaven: Spellweaver 101

Welcome to the start of my series on Gloomhaven's Orchid Spellweaver. Each of the stories in the series will cover my recommendations, tips & tricks for playing the Spellweaver effectively & enjoyably from lvl 1 to lvl 9.

Starting Deck:

These are the 11 cards that you can choose from as a Lvl 1 Spellweaver. Your first task is to select 8 of them. Reviving Ether, Mana Bolt, Fire Orbs & Impaling Eruption are a no-brainer in my opinion - I can't imagine playing a lvl 1 Spellweaver without these four cards. Maybe a support/healing Spellweaver or a melee build could justify not choosing those four cards, but any ranged specialist/Area of Effect Spellweaver needs that core of starting cards. Reviving Ether is a staple of every Spellweaver build and the 7 Initiative offered by Mana Bolt is very necessary for this class.

What about the remaining 4 cards? These are more open for debate, but I like to finish off my starting deck with Flame Strike, Frost Armor, Aid from the Ether & Ride with the Wind. These cards make my Spellweaver better at what I want her to focus on - Ranged Combat, Movement and occasional healing/looting.

Card Management:

This is arguably the most important skill for the Spellweaver. It will vary a bit from one scenario to the next, but in general I aim for something like:

Rounds 1–4: Use Burn ability of Fire Orbs, move around a bunch and throw in some of my minor discard attacks (mana bolt, flame strike, top half of frost armor).

Rounds 5–7: Short Rest, accept whatever the random burn draw is unless it's Reviving Ether. Sacrifice 1hp to redraw if you pull out Reviving Ether on the first draw. Then I use the Burn ability on Impaling Eruption, move around some more and use two more minor discard attacks (whatever you have left between mana bolt, flame strike & the top half of frost armor).

Rounds 8–9: Short Rest, same plan as last time we short rested. Then I use the Burn on the bottom half of Frost Armor, move around some more and use one or two discard attacks (hopefully Mana Bolt & Flame Strike if they haven't been discarded yet on random card draws).

Round 10: Short rest or Long rest (depending on the situation and what three cards I have left in my deck). Use the bottom half, (hopefully the burn ability of Ride the Wind), of whatever card you have left. Then finish the turn with the top half of Reviving Ether. Hopefully this gets you back up to 7 active cards at the end of your turn, depending on unlucky draws it might put you back at 6 active cards & 1 discarded card.

Rounds 11–13: Same plan as turns 1–4, you just have 7 cards for 3 rounds instead of 8 cards for 4 rounds.

Rounds 14–15: Short Rest. Same plan as turns 5–7, but we have 5 cards for 2 rounds instead of 6 cards for 3 rounds.

Round 16: Go out with a bang! You've got 3 cards left and you can burn whatever you want! Hopefully that's enough to loot & conquer, or at least put a companion in a situation to finish it off.

If for some reason, you really need to delay exhausting, then play two discard actions. Then Long Rest on Turn 17. And use your last two cards on Turn 18 to do whatever still needs done. Most scenarios don't last anything close to 18 Rounds.

Gear:

You probably won't accrue too many items before you reach Lvl 2. But its good to go ahead and identify those lvl 1 items that you'll want to pursue. There are three items that I think are crucial to Lvl 1/Lvl 2 Spellweavers:

1. Eagle Eye Goggles (30gp) - Useful in every scenario, and rechargeable after each Long Rest.

2. Piercing Bow (30gp) - If no one in your party has piercing abilities/gear then this is a must. Someone needs to be able to cut through those monsters that are well-shielded.

3. Boots of Striding (20gp) - The spellweaver is not the most mobile class (despite her need to move around frequently). The boots are a must.

Those are all my tips & recommendations for a Lvl 1 Spellweaver. Perks & Enhancements will be covered in the later additions to this series. We will also look at card additions per each lvl up and gear recommendations as you progress through the campaign. I'll do my best to avoid spoilers as we go, though some smaller spoilers will likely be unavoidable. Good luck!