We are back once again with a Gloomhaven Tier List, which is a fantastic video game inspired by the famous board game of the same name. And our article will revolve around the title’s classes, giving you an overview so you can know which classes are the best and which are the worst.
Players must have complete information regarding all these classes to enjoy the game, and in Gloomhaven, there are over 20 classes in total. However, not all of them are available for players to play with from the beginning. Only 6 classes are available initially, and players are restricted to choosing from these only. The rest are locked in the beginning but can be unlocked later in the game. For beginners, it gets quite confusing to choose from the available classes.
Key Points
- There are a total of 22 classes in the game.
- Our ranking has been based on the class’s capacity to withstand damage, provide healing and shielding capability.
- The top tiers include classes like Berserker and Quartermaster.
- Among the lower tiers, you will see classes like Demolitionist and Tinkerer.
Summary
The table below explains the entire article in a nutshell.
| S Rank | A Rank | B Rank | C Rank | D Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berserker | Spellweaver | Red Guard | Brute | Demolitionist |
| Quartermaster | Doomstalker | Beast Tyrant | Voidwarden | |
| Music Note | Aesther Diviner | Sawbones | Mind Thief | |
| Scoundrel | Hatchet | Elementalist | ||
| Sunkeeper | Summoner | Nightshroud | ||
| Tinkerer |
Keep reading the article to the end to learn more.
S Tier
S Tier.In the S tier, you will be able to find the most effective and best classes in the game. These classes are the strongest of all and can make players win important battles.
Berserker
The first class on the S tier is the Berseker. It is not as game-breaking as the other two S classes. In other words, it is just slightly game-breaking and is an awesome class to play with. The Berserker does huge damage, and with a couple of items, you can turn in multi-target damage and easily swing for upwards of 100 damage. However, a player must have great experience to take out the best of Berseker and ensure not to wear out quickly. With it, players can easily defeat powerful enemies without getting hurt.
| HP | 10 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 2 |
Quartermaster
The Quartermaster is another S-tier character. It is one of the game’s versatile classes that is almost invulnerable. Playing with the Quartermaster class is great fun and can play many functions in a squad.
The adaptable nature of the class makes them impossible to give up on with damage, shielding, and healing all within one character that can adapt to the size of the group, team dynamics, settings and encounters with opponents.
| HP | 10 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 1 |
Music Note
The Music Note is the most game-breaking class. They will make every scenario easy by doing just a couple of things. One, they will throw out curses like some evil mage and play a card called Disorienting Birge, which will disadvantage all enemies. It means that you are going to throw 10 curses into their deck, which means a third of the enemy’s modifier deck is going to be cursed, and then they will have a disadvantage as they will have to pull two cards every time.
They are placed in the S tier because they can rip off bosses and are capable of dealing them great damage, thus making them one of the best classes in the game.
| HP | 8 |
| Damage | 1 |
| Attack | 2 |
A Tier
A Tier.The next category after the S tier is the A tier. It includes characters better than B, C, and D tier classes. However, they cannot compete with S-tier classes. Let’s find out which characters we find in the A tier.
Spellweaver
Spellweaver is an A-tier class. One of their major abilities is the Reviving ether. With Reviving ether, you can get back all your lost card, making it one of the best characters in the game’s early stages. Moreover, the Spellweaver can also use impaling eruption and fire obs, not once but twice, which is its major strength. Each of those can easily do great damage. It can wreck anything. But one gripe against it is shielded enemies, as it has a tough time with shielded enemies.
In addition, Inferno at level nine is one of the best cards in the game, and even at mid-levels, it has got some really good stuff. Moreover, this class can also provide healing if there is a need. Spellweaver can also summon a living torch summoning a burning avatar, with a range of three. You could have that card back three times if you threw in twin restoration at level 7. Mind that range is king for summons. If a summon has range, it can do really good things. Lastly, to ensure you use this class to its full potential, knowing about the different elements and understanding magic is important.
| HP | 6 |
| Damage | 3 |
| Attack | 2 |
Plagueherald
The next character on our list is Plagueherald. It is an awesome class, and it can do a ton of damage to multiple targets. One of the strongest parts of the plagueherald game is hitting multiple targets, and not only does it hit multiple targets, but there are also a lot of effects where the enemies are going to suffer damage. You can even crush a group of fire demons with Plagueherald. They have good hand size and a bunch of persistent effects, so you can play a card and fly for the entire game, which is super cool.
Lastly, you can also poison enemies and do a bunch of different stuff with persistent effects, and having a hand size of 11 allows you to do some of those things without reducing your turns by too much. Having a Plagueherald in your team will improve everybody, which is why it is a solid A-tier character.
| HP | 10 |
| Damage | 1 |
| Attack | 2 |
DoomStalker
Doomstalker is another A-tier character in the game. It is a long-range damage dealer and can output good damage at a very long range, which is all this class has. Furthermore, it has a summon build potential, but it doesn’t work out well, so you will mostly use your doom, shoot from a long distance, and do some good damage.
It also has a fast initiative, and he has got a couple of good late initiatives. Also, he’s pretty limited when it comes to movement. But he can output much damage, so we have placed him in the A tier.
| HP | 8 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 3 |
Aesther Diviner
The next class on the A tier is Aesther Diviner. It is a good class with great effectiveness, and the character has many good things. The first thing is rifts. Rifts are good, meaning you can use them to teleport, and they are quite powerful. The more rifts you put out, the better things get.
Aesther Diviner is a really powerful control class. It has also got some cool stuff like Regenerate. Also, it takes a lot of thought to play, as this is a complicated class. However, Aesther Diviner is not super situational. It is just complex, because of which we have placed it in this tier.
| HP | 6 |
| Damage | 1 |
| Attack | 2 |
Scoundrel
Scoundrel is the next class on the A tier of the Gloomhaven tier list. It is a pain playing with the Scoundrel, even though they are really good. This class has one drawback: we have placed him in the A tier instead of the A tier. If you like ninjas, you will love this character. You can hit your target and escape before your opponent makes a move.
As far as hitting targets is concerned, it has great single-target damage, and you can do some crazy combos and get upwards into the 40/50 damage range. Single targets will not be a problem around when you have a scoundrel. One drawback which brings it down to this tier is that it exhausts early quite a bit, making it less effective. Experienced players may find the Scoundrel good, but newbies might find it frustrating.
| HP | 8 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 2 |
Sunkeeper
Sunkeeper is the last class on the A tier. The sunkeeper is a very good character, and it is an absolute tank. The class can output good damage, and its damage absorption ability is superb. If your team is in a difficult situation and surrounded by monsters attacking them, the Sunkeeper will absorb that damage and save the entire team.
It also has a card like Defensive Stance, where you will always shield one. Pair that with a little armour and some defensive stuff, and you will be good to go. In short, it is not a game-breaking class, but it is powerful. Sunkeeper’s movement is its only drawback. Because of its movement, which is not impressive at all, we have placed it in the A tier.
| HP | 10 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 2 |
B Tier
B Tier.The third category on our list is the B tier. You will find above-average classes in the B tier. Simply put, these classes are better than C and D tier classes but weaker than S and A tier classes. Let’s dig deeper and discover which of Gloomhaven’s classes are in the B tier.
Red Guard
The first class on the B tier is Red Guard. The Red Guard is a pretty good class and is a solid B-tier. It is quite tanky and better than the Brute at tanking. We can say it is a good tank, but it has a drawback: it cannot do enough damage and doesn’t hit enough targets.
Besides, Red Guard has a good initiative to use its shields, tank up properly, and not be useless. The sand devil is a pretty decent card that it has got. Its utility is not super powerful, but thematically, it is cool.
| HP | 10 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 2 |
Beast Tyrant
Beast Tyrant is the next character on the B tier. It is an awesome attacking class. With such a good class, you can deal consistent attacks on your enemies, giving you an edge over them.
However, it does have a few problems with scalability at really high levels, but early on, it is an absolute beast. Moreover, Beast Tyrant is not good with its abilities in large groups. It will be more effective if the size of the party is small. Because of its poor scalability, we have placed it in the category.
| HP | 10 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 2 |
Cragheart
Cragheart, the third class on this tier, is the most fun starting class of the game. It is on the B tier because even though it is quite powerful, you have to be careful with this character, as it can hurt its allies, bringing it down to this tier. It has a ton of utility, good hand size, and can do good tanking. Also, it has got decent hit points, but it struggles a bit in single-target damage.
Crageheart can hit a lot of monsters but struggles against enemies with a shield, which is a weak point. Also, scaling-wise, it is not so great. To say the Cragheart is the jack of all trades and master of none won’t be wrong. It is because you can use it for tanking, but when dealing with damage, you will be disappointed.
| HP | 8 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 1 |
Sawbones
Sawbones is the next class in our tier list and is a B class for several reasons. It always has to be adjacent to get good things done, so it requires a lot of timing and coordination between your team and without perfect information, it makes it tough.
On the other hand, considering its positive aspects, it has Med packs, which are pretty good because they give some longevity to the other players. After all, you play them instead of one of your cards, and so that does help a bit overall. Crowd controlling is another ability of Sawbones, and it is also good at dealing damage using its stuns, making it a decent damage dealer class.
| HP | 8 |
| Damage | 1 |
| Attack | 2 |
Hatchet
The Hatchet, a ranged damage dealer, is the next on the B tier. Hatchet is in the B tier for a few reasons. One of them is the main card it relies on, The Favorite. It is kind of a pain to deal with. It has got to go and pick it up all the time, and a couple of cards help with that.
Still, as you go through the levels, the scaling of The Favorite isn’t that great. If you don’t go and pick it up, it is essentially a loss for three damage, which is terrible, especially considering you have to spend a turn to play it and then use another turn. So you have to get it all the time, and positioning-wise, it can make it quite a pain. If the Hatchet weren’t so heavily reliant on The Favorite, it would be a better class. Also, it doesn’t have good initiative; movement-wise, it is not impressive either.
| HP | 8 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 2 |
Summoner
Summoner is the last B-tier class. If you don’t like managing many things, Summoner will not be the right class for you, and it can take a lot of time to get used to it. The major ability of the Summoner is to summon associates and destroy giant enemies. To increase its efficiency in battles, it uses different elements which add to its powers.
One of the reasons it has been placed in the B tier is because it hits its stride later on, especially at level 9, when you can do some serious damage. And so it’s more a class for the theory crafter. It is not a super fun class, and it takes a good amount of time to master the Summoner.
| HP | 6 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 2 |
C Tier
C Tier.The c tier is the third category on our list, which includes classes with two average effectiveness. Please keep reading to know more about them. These classes are neither good nor bad. Gloomhaven has some classes which are quite average and are placed in the C tier. Keep reading to know more about them.
Brute
Brute, the first C-tier class, is a solid starting character but has some flaws. It doesn’t do anything particularly well. It can output some multi-target damage, although it is better later on. Also, the Brute does have some issues with scaling.
It is not that bad about its damage absorption and the damage it deals to opponents. However, other classes in the game outperform the Brute in terms of damage dealing and absorption. The Brute is considered a decent tank, but it doesn’t quite do enough damage and hit enough targets. Its initiative is pretty mediocre, and it is not as great. The Brute could be put in the B tier, depending on the scenario. But for now, we will place him in the C tier.
| HP | 10 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 2 |
VoidWarden
VoidWarden is another C-category class. It is a pretty interesting and strong class but it must be in the C tier. It is because it does not do much damage, and the damage it does, is also situational. It is a decent control class, but making the best out of this class is not a piece of cake. Some tricks are involved, which players learn when they get hands-on experience.
Lastly, some disadvantages are associated with the Voidwarden: one is its initiative, which is not impressive. Besides, its attacks are also quite weak, making it a less than optimal class.
| HP | 8 |
| Damage | 1 |
| Attack | 2 |
Mind Thief
Mindthief is another character. It is a solid B-tier class. In the beginning, it is pretty overpowered. So if this is your first go at it, you can take it, and Mindthief will do well. It’s got a card called mind’s weakness which is an augment that adds plus two to all melee attacks. However, the problem is, later on, it will peter on and not nearly as good. Also, it won’t last you through what you need to, and some of the later cards for Mind Thief are not good.
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Besides, it does better in 2 players versus 4 player games just because the fewer monsters make it easier for it as it does not hit many targets. Also, it does have a great initiative. It has a good mix of high and low initiative, and we love it because it makes your decision simpler without perfect information. Talking about scaling, Mindthief has got a couple of cards. The first one is a psychic projection which is not a very good card. The second is mass hysteria, where you can have two active augments. It sounds good, but it will reduce your life, so it’s not nearly as good as it sounds.
| HP | 6 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 2 |
Elementalist
The Elementalist is an awesome class, even though it is ranked quite lowly here, and that is basically for one reason. It is extremely difficult to play. The Elementalist is by far the hardest character to play, and unless you are experienced and have a nicely tuned team, it will be frail use.
Besides, it is situational and requires so much planning. The best way to play the Elementalist is with someone who generates elements, and you play two characters yourself so that you have perfect information and can go absolute beast mode.
| HP | 6 |
| Damage | 1 |
| Attack | 2 |
Nightshroud
The Nightshroud is an extremely powerful class. It is fun to play with but can be a pain to play with because it goes invisible a lot. Nightshroud is a bit of a lone wolf, not a character who will help anyone else.
Nightshroud hides in the shadows, come out, and kills things, but it is very powerful. However, we don’t think it is game-breaking, though, and thus, we have placed it in the C tier. It has a few cards like Spirit of the Night and Swallowed by fear. These are two of the most powerful cards. Besides, the Nighshroud has some problems with moving until it reaches level six. So before that, you will have to be careful about how you move and that you don’t fall behind in that sort of stuff.
| HP | 8 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 2 |
Tinkerer
Tinkerer is the last class on the C tier. In the early game, it is an awesome class; late game, it is terrible. Although Tinkerer is quite versatile, it has some problems. It does not scale well, and its cards are just middle of the road, and you can get into some shenanigans with Chimeric Formula.
Besides that, it is not a great late-game class as it has a lot of timing issues. You will find the Tinkerer quite effective if your party size is large. However, if your party size is small, you won’t find it effective.
| HP | 8 |
| Damage | 1 |
| Attack | 2 |
D Tier
D Tier.D tier is the last category on this Gloomhaven tier list. It is the category where you find the worst-performing characters or classes. In Gloomhaven, there is just one class which we believe should lie in the D tier. Let’s get into the details of it.
Demolitionist
The only D-tier class in Gloomhaven is the Demolitionist. It doesn’t do anything well and is super situational. The Demolitionist often requires objectives or obstacles to do a decent amount of damage. The Demolitionist is not a tank, although it becomes much better at level five when you get Mech Suit. But it can’t do enough damage and is too situational to get that damage done.
Besides, speaking of its modifier deck, it is quite narrow. It cannot hit many targets, which adds to its weakness. Also, it does not have many healing alternatives. Because of all these reasons, the Demolitionist belongs to the bottom-most tier, the D tier.
| HP | 8 |
| Damage | 2 |
| Attack | 2 |
Comparison Table
| Classes | Tier | HP | Damage | Attack |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berserker | S | 10 | 2 | 2 |
| Quartermaster | S | 10 | 2 | 1 |
| Music Note | S | 8 | 1 | 2 |
| Spellweaver | A | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| Plagueherald | A | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| Doomstalker | A | 8 | 2 | 3 |
| Aesther Diviner | A | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| Scoundrel | A | 8 | 2 | 2 |
| Sunkeeper | A | 10 | 2 | 2 |
| Red Guard | B | 10 | 2 | 2 |
| Beast Tyrant | B | 10 | 2 | 2 |
| Cragheart | B | 8 | 2 | 1 |
| Sawbones | B | 8 | 1 | 1 |
| Hatchet | B | 8 | 2 | 2 |
| Summoner | B | 6 | 2 | 2 |
| Brute | C | 10 | 2 | 2 |
| Voidwarden | C | 8 | 1 | 2 |
| Mind Thief | C | 6 | 2 | 2 |
| Elementalist | C | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| Nightshroud | C | 8 | 2 | 2 |
| Tinkerer | C | 8 | 1 | 2 |
| Demolitionist | D | 8 | 2 | 2 |
Patch Notes V.27958
The V.27958 update offers the following changes
- Fixed an issue with MusicNote, Sun and Brute: Mobilize Measure + Supportive Chant + Immovable Phalanx giving infinite move/attack combo.
- Fixed an issue with Voidwarden: Lull into Oblivion getting passed immunity on bosses.
- Fixed an issue with Cragheart: Clear the Way – being unable to move obstacles on tiles with other props.
- Fixed an issue with Cragheart: Heaving Swing and Pulverize.
- Fixed an issue with AngryFace: removing Rain of Arrows (and other abilities with multiple active bonuses) in multiplayer.
Verdict
In the discussion above, we tried our best to give you a detailed overview of all 22 classes in Gloomhaven. We hope you enjoyed reading the article. We would appreciate it if you want to give us feedback or suggestions.
Now that you know which classes are the best and worst, it is time to grab your controller and start playing this amazing game.