These are some of the most dark, nefarious and deadly creatures you can meet in Gloomhaven world. You will not encounter them during your initial travels, and before your adventures bring your company to them you should be reasonably seasoned player. But this is a great game and a full of surprises – just when you thought you saw everything, you will be suddenly attacked and might be overrun by (my own code-name) The Dark Creatures.
Other articled in the world of Gloomhaven: Strategy guides: - Brute - Spellweaver - Doomstalker - Tinkerer – Soothsinger Most often errors and overlooked rules Monsters analysis & strategies – Earth, Flame and Frost demons – Night, Sun and Wind demons – Inox – The Undead – Drakes – Vermlings
I am talking here about The Black Imp, The Deep Terror and The Harrower Infester. Each of those classes has their unique abilities and skills, each can surprises you and they are very deadly – especially when hunting in a pack. Some of the tactics I discussed in my previous articles will be still useful here, but a new approaches will also be needed. Aside from discussing each of those separately, I will mention and link some of the scenarios where we had to deal with those adversaries (spoilers possible)!
So without further delay, let us see what we can expect from them!
Black Imp
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Initiative | |
| => minimum | 05 |
| => maximum | 76 |
| => average | ~38 (very fast!) |
| => varation | From 05 to 76 = 71 (large) |
| Damage (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 1-3 Elite: 2-4 |
| Hit points (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 3-12 Elite: 4-17 |
| Weapon type | Range |
| Specials | Attacker gains Disadvantage, Poison, Curse, Muddle |
Evaluation:
On the first glance a small enemy which might seems as an insignificant. On the other hand, pretty versatile monster, with ability to Poison, Curse or Muddle you, plus Strengthen or Heal his allies. And reasonably quickly – from Level 3 – you get Disadvantage whenever you attack it!
It is fast, with average initiative of 38, but can be as fast as 5 or as slow as 76. Imp – having the range attack – will hide behind the melee attackers and will start damage you and spread de-buffs on you from far away. And be not mistaken – it will not be 1 or 2 of them – you may expect much more!
How to deal with them:
- If possible, attack when you are Strengthen, so that your condition will nullify Imps Disadvantage.
- As it is a no-shield monster, put all usual de-buff on it to speed up its demise – like Poison or Wound. Immobilize will not work on it as it is range.
- You will face 3-5 monsters at a time and they will not have few points – average HP is 7 for Regular and 10 HP for Elite ones. As a range ones, they will not close on you. Taking all of this into account, it is advisable to use multi-hex range attacks. Should have much more impact on Imps!
Deep Terror
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Initiative | |
| => minimum | 54 |
| => maximum | 96 |
| => average | ~71 (very, very slow) |
| => varation | From 54 to 96 = 42 (small) |
| Damage (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 2-5 Elite: 3-6 |
| Hit points (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 3-9 Elite: 5-15 |
| Weapon type | Range |
| Specials | Retaliate, Wound, Poison, Curse, Immobilize |
Evaluation:
This is a static, non-moving alive artillery platform, with whole array of range attacks, which can do all the nasty things to you like: Wound, Poison, Curse, Immobilize. Come close to it for attack and you risk Retaliate plus some nasty de-buffs. If you are really unlucky, you may gape in wonder when new Deep Terror is being summoned next to one of your characters! Yeah, that one is tough.
How to deal with them:
- Please observe its initiative – this is probably one of the slowest enemies you are bound to encounter, with maximum initiative of 54 and 71 as average. So you should be able to act before it no matter what.
- When approaching for melee attack, decrease chance of being hit by using specific path – please see card with initiative 60. You can get safely within 2 hexes of this monster. Each small trick counts!
- It has such a vast array of powerful, long-range attacks accompanied with negative effects that I really suggest using – even a lost cards – with Stun or Disarm. It is definitely worth it.
- I would also not hesitate to use an instant kill abilities, for example Scoundrel card Visage of the Inevitable. Pity that one works only for normal enemies but it is a non-lost card.
- In general, kill it quickly – even if your are disrupted by the melee enemies, screening Deep Terror. Get through them to it!
Harrower Infester
| Characteristic | Value |
|---|---|
| Initiative | |
| => minimum | 02 |
| => maximum | 38 |
| => average | ~19 (super fast) |
| => varation | From 02 to 38 = 36 (small) |
| Damage (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: -4 Elite: 3-5 |
| Hit points (lvl1-lvl7) | Regular: 6-17 Elite: 12-36 |
| Weapon type | Melee |
| Specials | Retaliate, Disarm, Immobilize, Poison |
Evaluation:
I left Infester for the dessert. And what dessert it is! Another crazy-fast enemy, with lowest initiative of 2 (two!) and average of 19. Never ever I have seen such a speed. It has pretty nasty Retaliate, can significantly heal himself, has very decent number of HPs, uses Dark to make its attack even more formidable. Did I mention it can Poison, Immobilize or Disarm you? And with such initiative you may really not have time to react to it.
Now, you may think – this is powerful enemy, fast, strong attacks and a lot of hit points. For sure we do not get more than one in a room, accompanied by weaker enemies? Oh, how wrong you will be, just have a look below…
How to deal with them:
- Similar suggestion as with Deep Terror but ten times more critical – Stun or Disarm as soon as possible! Could be tricky with his very fast initiative.
- It is melee creature so this could work into your advantage – Immobilize it and use range attacks to deal damage.
- Focus one by one, kill and move to next. Speed up its demise by Wound or Poison – whatever which will help you quickly deal with it.
- Again, instant kills – even the lost ones – could be a life save here. The longer those enemies are on board, the more damage and negative effects they can cause. And they do it rapidly!
Summary
I think that after demons, the Black Creatures are some of the most problematic enemies to deal with. They usually act in packs and can be very nasty – in #29 Sanctuary of Gloom we had to repeal the Black Imp attack, in #32 Decrepit Wood all those creatures were on us and for long I thought it to be the most difficult scenarios we played. Until we encountered #95 Payment Due. Gosh, if you ever have a chance to set-up this scenario and run it with your group you will understand what I mean by the “one of the most problematic monsters”.
In the end, I am sure you will overcome even the toughest enemies. That is just the matter of time, experience and preparation. Good luck!
The Boardgames Chronicle 
the damn harvesters, still difficult to belive we survived that room with 4 imps and 4 harvesters at lvl very hard (monster lvl maxed at 7)- nice shortcut 😉
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Yes, that was a very nice shortcut – sometimes the shortest paths can be the most dangerous…
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