[STRATEGIES] Frosthaven – Deathwalker strategy guide

I have just finished my adventure with Deathwalker. This was first character in Frosthaven which I managed to bring from the very beginning, Level 1 up to the last, 9th one. I played with her twenty-seven scenarios (including twice solo) – definitely above average for my usual time with any character in Gloomhaven / Frosthaven – but I simply had too much fun with it. In below article I would like to share my experiences, observation and recommendations for playing that interesting class.

By no means this is the only or always optimal way to lead your Deathwalker via progression. It is what worked for me, gave me fun and turned this character into incredible killing machine, dealing tons of damage not even being scratched by enemies. Enjoy!

CLASS

That character is a major damage dealer among the starting classes of the Frosthaven, with medium complexity of its mechanics and fairly heavy emphasis on the Dark Element. You can compare it to kind of assassin archetype, similar to the Scoundrel from base Gloomhaven. She is manipulator of dead spirits who uses death as fuel for their abilities – and they are many. The Deathwalker’s unique mechanic are their Shadow tokens – representing the abovementioned souls of dead. That aspect needs some additional explanation.

Shadows can be placed in any hex inside rooms, but they cannot end in hex with another Shadow. Still, otherwise for this exception they are free to move to any other space. It is possible to have up to five Shadows at once – if you need to place next one, you must pick an existing Shadow and remove it first. What is very important, Shadows are considered adjacent to their own occupied hex – which is great for all those attack abilities requiring them.

Deathwalker does not need to move to reach its enemies – usually shadows do the job. Thus, she is immune to retaliate and not afraid of penetrating new rooms. But if needed, she can use teleport – for herself or team – between shadows – greatly increasing its mobility.

---

---

STATISTICS

• Health – a pretty low value – at start only 6 HPs which might not be enough to survive a decent, single enemy hit; only on higher levels you can take occasional beating, but usually you should be away from your enemies – which, taking into account your Shadows, should not be a problem.
• Stamina – very nice with 11 cards – so you have enough space to use “lost” cards – and one of your base ones you will probably be playing pretty often in the first round; still, if you add stamina potions, your survivability will be even better.
• Move – evaluating that aspect might be a bit tricky; if you look at cards – there is decent number of Move 3 or Move 4 ones in Deathwalker hand; so average, not so fantastic. But if you add two non-lost cards with teleport next to Shadows and one lost-one which enables this for your teammates – than it can get really fantastic. For Deathwalker it is not important how much she can move, but how quickly her Shadows can travel.
• Initiative – Deathwalker can be relatively quick (initiative of 11, 14, 16 or 18) or very slow (like initiative of 86, 88 or 96). Still in order to better control being first in turn some additional equipment will be needed.
• Loot – an extremely poor ability in this area; my starting deck – and all later combinations – had zero Loot abilities on cards. The only option was always end of turn Loot. Considering specifics of my retirement goal and how you create items in Frosthaven, that was not a huge problem.
• Experience – I was able to relatively quickly amass large amount of experience; however, for this you very often need Dark Element (especially for ranged build). At the end of scenario, you can also burn couple of high-experience lost cards.

EQUIPMENT

You are your company main damage dealer, so you require special equipment for that. Especially, you need to be able to control initiative order (yes, Boots of Speed!) and make sure your heavy hits land successfully (Spyglass, Muscle Potion to gain advantage). With time, you can turn your character into a true killing machine:

My personal order of priority:

1. Boots of Speed – acquired as starting item; needed to control order in turn.
2. Stamina Potion – the sooner you get it, the bigger impact (allows only for retrieving of discarded Level 1 cards).
3. Muscle Potion – two turns of advantage on some of your multi-target or single-target high damage attacks? Oh yes, I take it!
4. Spyglass – some more Advantage will not hurt; you do not need helmets as you will not be fighting in first line.
5. Power Potion – you have couple of multi-target great cards; use it with them.
6. Soothing Scepter – pretty useful Regenerate, as you can use it couple of times in the scenario; helps your teammates to get rid of poison or wound, sometimes healing a bit too.
7. Minor Healing Potion – some additional HPs will be useful, especially in cases where you do not have a classical healer in the team; also, good to get rid of wound or poison.
8. Flea-Bitten Shawl – was pretty useful couple of times in crowded, packed environments.
9. Soul Urn – once you hit Level 5 and are eligible for Solo Scenario – make sure you get it. Additional shadow and Darkness might not sound like super great fun, but they make a difference in many circumstances.

CARDS

We are getting now to the “meat” of my build. In essence, there are two approaches – ranged and melee paths. After analyzing all the cards, I went for ranged one, although I am not sure if attacking from Shadow counts as ranged attack 🙂

Basic cards (level 1 choices)

It is easier to comment – on Level 1 – what I left behind rather than what I have chosen. First, I do not like very situational cards, and top of Shadow Step definitely is such (and follows Melee, not Range build). I am not healer; I am damage dealer – so Rest in Shade is out. Strength of the Abyss was not so bad, but pales in comparison with other cards and has worst possible initiative.

Also, pay special attention to Call to the Abyss card. This is most important one in your deck and for many games it will stay as such. It allows you to create shadows – immediately, or in more regular but constant way. Similar to this is Eclipse, but while it places three Shadows immediately, it is a lost card.

I should probably tackle it in the Strategies section but let me bring this immediately here as this is such a fundamental choice and mechanic which you need to understand as this will drive all your actions. You need shadows – yes, you have couple of range attack cards which especially with Dark Element, deal decent damage and give Experience. But long term you need constant flow of new shadows – many high-level cards will consume them for some great effects.

At the beginning I was struggling; I was using the top of Call to the Abyss which I believe is 80%-90% the way you should choose. However, I was killing enemies so slowly that my team was really suffering. When I got proficient with character, wow, it started to be marvelous. Especially in adventures with many small creatures you can get maximum, five shadows, already in the first room!

However, there were scenario where there was simply no time to gradually build-up Shadows. Small room, crowded, full of high hitpoints enemies who quickly close on your team. In such circumstances you needed means to act immediately, be it with Eclipse or bottom of Call to the Abyss in order to start hitting monsters. That this that 10%-20% of adventure where you might follow slightly different path in usage of those cards.

Cards available during level-ups

The cards which I have chosen are on the left, the ones which I discarded – on the right.

• Level 2 – Without hesitation I took Deepening Despair over Restless Spirits; reason: the former is simply fantastic – particularly good initiative (one of your best), attack 4 which is no-lost and does not remove shadow; creates the Darkness; is range attack (so follows my build). The bottom was for long time undervalued by our group but at least three large, long scenarios we won SOLELY due to this teleportation ability. Restless Spirits is a melee card, not according to my build. Plus, it has a shadow loss top and bottom which might quickly drain your supply of those precious elements.
  
  I replace and remove from the deck: Sunless Apparition (without regret, I am not summons fan and have another teleport card – Forceful Spirits).

• Level 3 – I took Dead Bolt over Ritual Sacrifice; that fantastic card will stay in your hand till the end of the game; possibility to attack at range four plus experience and curse while using Dark Element is great; but moving all Shadows 3 hexes is simply superb. Remember – you do not have to move much; your Shadows have to! Ritual Sacrifice is much closer to melee build where it would definitely shine. Still, not what I was planning to do with my character.
  
  I replace and remove from the deck: Wave of Anguish (with slight hesitation, but I have another good, multi target card still – Lingering Rot)

• Level 4 – I took Pulled Across over Fleeting Dusk; honestly, none of those cards – in comparison with what we shall see on next levels or what we already have – shines. Bane is nice, Invisibility looks great but in real play that was oftentimes first card I was discarding after initial long rest. Still, this is marginally better than Fleeting Dusk.
  
  I replace and remove from the deck: Call of Doom

• Level 5 – I took Dominate over Medium; while Level 4 choices were at best mediocre, the Level 5 are simply marvelous! Dominate is superb in the range build – that Disarm, so rare in Frosthaven; plus, strength of attack usually kills enemy and Call to the Abyss allows you to retrieve the shadow. Medium has great melee attack plus can permanently resolve your Shadow move problems. Definite choice to the other build.
  
  I replace and remove from the deck: Fluid Night (upgrade)

• Level 6 – I took Vengeful Storm over The Night Takes Shape; I have a feeling that we either are getting superb card choices or not so much for Deathwalker; The Night Takes Shape is a summon (top) or melee attack (bottom) so is no go for me. Vengeful Storm is marginally better, with good initiative, bottom which can save your team in crowded, desperate situation and top which at this level is at most average but still better than summon.
  
  I replace and remove from the deck: Anger of the Dead (pretty similar bottoms)

• Level 7 – I took Hungry Grasp over Proliferation of the Abyss card; her I had no hesitation at all – Hungry Grasp was such a great and fun card to play; top allows you to have two Attack 3, Pull 2 actions – which when combined with traps of our Trapper was a wonderful combination; playing bottom and getting 5 Blesses and 15 heal points to your team just before the final room made our life so much easier. The card is so good that I did not even consider Proliferation of the Abyss for too long.
  
  I replace and leave for special occasions:  Eclipse (still leaving as potential choice over Call to the Abyss in shorter scenarios)

• Level 8 – I took Lashing Tendrils over Frozen in Fear; each choice here will be great – both cards are pretty powerful and deal assured damage; in the end I have chosen Lashing Tendrils as it causes 5 points of true damage (with Dark Element) plus allows to move two shadows; Frozen in Fear is slightly more situational with need to have enemies with Immobilize but can be equally powerful; if you choose it you will also make a good choice.
  
  I replace and remove from the deck: Black Barrage (not strong enough for this level of character)

• Level 9 – I took Black Lance over When Your Time Comes. The pinnacle of Deathwalker build; actually, both cards are great sources of damage, with Black Lance more vs. single target and When Your Time Comes more against pack of enemies. Bottom of Black Lance is a non-lost great ability, and while this is definitely more a melee build, I like it slightly better than the other option. But truly, whatever you choose here, that will be great decision.
  
  I replace from the deck: Dark Fog (or sometimes Lingering Rot, depending on scenario specifics).

With that in hand I felt comfortable facing any type of enemy!

PERKS

Deathwalker perks are simply insane – you can remove each and every single negative condition from deck (except Null) plus add tons of great abilities like Curse or Disarm; let us have a look at my priorities:

• Remove two -1 cards – to enhance your battle-card deck; always an excellent choice!
• Replace
  • one -2 card with one +0 card
  • one -1 card with one +1 card
  • one 0 card with one +1 Curse card
    
    To further remove negative conditions and start spamming some curses!
    
• Add one rolling Disarm and one rolling Muddle – that disarm is so rare in Frosthaven that when you have possibility, you should take it!
• Add One +2 Dark Element card – another powerful addition, which not only makes your punches heavier but adds that so important Dark Element.

After those you are free to continue with whatever you find as appealing. I managed to unlock all Perks in the process – due to Masteries, Ticks and also form initial bonus based on previous retirements.

STRATEGIES / COMBOS

During the game I worked out multiple combos which proved to be a pretty decent strategy for Deathwalker. Some of the generic and specific ideas below:

• First and foremost, already described Call to the Abyss vs Eclipse play – so simply, how would you like to generate your shadows. I will not repeat myself here, but it is decision for you to make.
• Late card (like Dead Bolt – 88 or Eclipse – 86) followed by quick card (like Deepening Despair – 11, possibly with Shoes of Speed); this is great tactic for every damage dealer – worked well for Scoundrel too – be late in Turn 1, attack as the last and then be super quick in following Turn 2, to finish enemy off before he can act.

And many more…

SUMMARY

I have to say that it took me some time before I learned fully how to manage that character. It requires understanding of the Shadow mechanics and skill in creating decent number of them as soon as possible without too much exhaustion. But then, once you start to level up, the fun starts.

Rarely any character I played in Frosthaven / Gloomhaven had such exponential power growth – at level nine it become unstoppable killing machine, able to teleport himself and team across largest maps, always hiding in shadows and striking hard almost every turn. We will miss you, Deathwalker!