Last Updated on by Samuel Franklin
Our Gloomhaven Cragheart guide recommends perks, enhancements and items for this flexibile starting character. In addition to a build template this page details alternative pathways to optimise this mercenary based on your party size or playstyle preferences.
Table of Contents:
– Cragheart Cards, Perks, Enhancements and Items Overview
– Cragheart Cards Detailed
– Cragheart Perks Detailed
– Cragheart Enhancements Detailed
– Cragheart Items Detailed
Gloomhaven Cragheart Guide Overview
This overview section summarises a build path that balances healing, durability and damage with a focus towards area of effect.
Cragheart Cards Overview
- Level 1: Remove Opposing Strike, Rock Tunnel and Forceful Storm to create your starting deck
- Level 2: Sentient Growth replaces Crushing Grasp
- Level 3: Clear The Way replaces Nature’s Lift
- Level 4: Rock Slide replaces Avalanche
- Level 5: Blunt Force (level 3 card) replaces Unstable Upheaval
- Level 6: Cataclysm replaces Earthen Clod
- Level 7: Brutal Momentum replaces Heaving Swing
- Level 8: Rocky End replaces Sentient Growth
- Level 9: Blind Destruction replaces Crater
Cragheart Perks Priority Overview
- Replace -1 with +1 (take three times)
- Remove four zeros
- Add one +2 muddle (take twice)
- Add one -2 and add two +2
- Ignore negative scenario effects
- Add one +1 immobilise (take twice)
Cragheart Enhancements Priority Overview
- Add curse to the top of Dirt Tornado (optional expensive option)
- Add +1 move to the bottom of Rumbling Advance
- Add strengthen to the bottom of Blunt Force
- Add +1 attack or wound to the top of Massive Boulder
Cragheart Items Priority Overview
- Boots of Striding
- Minor Stamina Potion
- Eagle-Eye Goggles
- Piercing Bow
- Minor Power Potion
- Leather Armour
Gloomhaven Cragheart Guide Detailed
This section discusses the specific Cragheart decision points as they are a jack of all trades that can take different personal paths. The Cragheart may also regularly swap cards in and out based on the scenario or any party member shifts over the course of the campaign. As a default I recommend the Cragheart primarily focuses on ranged area of effect damage with a splash of healing as necessary and taking cards that on face value might seem weak but provide invaluable initiative or movement as this is a weakness of the Cragheart.
Cragheart Cards Detailed
The Cragheart cards are detailed below in level order and includes discussion related to party sizes, personal playstyles and other considerations for your hand:
- Avalanche (Starting): We take Avalanche in our starting hand although it doesn’t stay for long as we will unlock better obstacle creation tools later that have better range or initiative.
- Opposing Strike (Starting): An average level 1 attack with 3 damage with a unique design of hitting enemies either side of you although this does place you at risk so most of the time is best used against a single enemy instead if taking this card.
- Backup Ammunition (Starting): The top provides an ideal setup card before we unleash our ranged attacks in a final room to effectively double our damage output. Any ranged attack consumes these charges so plan carefully though with Massive Boulder generally the best option. The bottom move also gives this card high utility until the point you want to active this and a potential enhancement option.
- Crater (Starting): Crater is a reliable top action attack that with Earth adds extra push utility for trap damage. The bottom is situational useful in the final rooms of scenarios for the potential 2 experience or when high shield enemies are giving your party trouble.
- Crushing Grasp (Starting): Another typical level 1 attack 3 option with immobilise and generating an element. The loot 1 utility is useful early on when we are looking to maximise gold gain although gets quickly replaced when we have better options but may float in and out of your deck for loot based scenarios if we lack allies with loot cards.
- Dirt Tornado (Starting): One of the best utility and movement cards we have available players need to be careful when deciding to opt for the damage/muddle or the 3 move action during a rest cycle.
- Earthen Clod (Starting): This card gives us reliable top and bottom actions to create a powerful flexible card. The long range on the top is perfect at locking down a melee enemy at the back of a room but does require our favourite Earth element while the bottom gives us a simple effective heal.
- Massive Boulder (Starting): A fantastic card with a strong move 4 when necessary and a reliable ranged attack that has some area of effect direct damage to both enemy and ally while generating our core element for us. This is a staple card for the Cragheart’s progression from level 1 to 9 and you want to prioritise using the top in a scenario which can be later enhanced with a status effect to help it stay relevant.
- Rock Tunnel (Starting): A thematic card but not particularly useful as either a top or bottom action. Destroying an adjacent obstacle is not really required in scenarios despite the experience gained and the bottom is simply not worth a loss so you won’t be taking this card at all during your journey.
- Rumbling Advance (Starting): A core Cragheart card with one of our best initiatives at 29 combined with useful top and bottom actions that generate Earth. The top heal range ensures it is useful for ourselves and allies while the bottom provides reliable movement with the bonus of damage for low health or shielded targets.
- Unstable Upheaval (Starting): Double losses are rarely good in Gloomhaven but this one is surprisingly strong for the intiative which the Cragheart is desperate for. Instead of using the top or bottom actions use the default bottom action for 2 movement at 13 initiative to setup our other attacks when we want to act before the enemy has the chance to move. Only ever play this as a default move and expect this card to stay with you for a while until you gain another card that provides similar intiative utility.
- Forceful Storm (Starting): A powerful top loss for a level 1 card that gives you an area of effect damage potential of 9 and disarm at good range. As with most area of effect cards though on average you’ll probably be only hitting 2 enemies with this even in a full party that reduces the value of the loss overall. With the weak bottom component of this card as the Cragheart isn’t a fantastic class to setup strong melee attacking turns it will be living on the sidelines for the entire game.
- Heaving Swing (Starting): Building on the Cragheart theme this is a melee focused card to push the enemy into a trap, one of your own obstacles or ruining their turn in general with the push. Later on when we have some better options to create obstacles (like level 4 Rock Slide) this becomes a staple combo where you’ll be moving into an enemy and shoving them back into an obstacle for extra damage.
- Nature’s Lift (Starting): The bottom has too many variables to be reliable and isn’t really worth the lost card even though it is effective for 5 turns. The top is definitely useful in larger party sizes and like our other low heal (Earthen Clod) is primarily for wound or poison removal and depending on your party composition you might want to hold onto this a little longer.
- Explosive Punch (Level 2): The fantasy of this top card and most players can picture this attack causing significant devastation to those around the Cragheart. Unfortunately with this card being a loss and too many variables required for this setup to work your other level 2 option is consistently better. The move 4 and good initiative is a shame to miss but only a few more levels and we will be able to solve some of those weaknesses for our slow rock themed Cragheart.
- Sentient Growth (Level 2): Offering superior consistency over the other level 2 option Sentient Growth gives us attack and healing across both bottom and top that makes it a unique card. The best situations you’ll encounter for the top is a melee ally that is staring into the eyes of two enemies that gives you the opportunity to deal damage and heal. The bottom ability allows us to perform 3 actions in a turn with move, heal and attack which is a nice quality of life although none are particularly powerful.
- Blunt Force (Level 3): The top loss provides the Cragheart with a rare single target attacksand when enhanced by our element can be a powerful single burst hit in the final room of a scenario. The real value of Blunt Force though is the relatively quick initiative of 21 and providing us with an extra move card which we are lacking. For all intents and purposes you can ignore the retaliate on this card as we should not be regularly up close with enemies and retaliate in general is a weak Gloomhaven mechanic.
- Clear The Way (Level 3): Another perfectly themed Cragheart card that has us literally throw a nearby obstacle across the map for area of effect damage. The bottom loss is generally never worth using outside of the opportunity to gain experience at the end of a scenario when it has already been won but there are some scenario moments where we might desperately need a jump.
- Kinetic Assault (Level 4): While a move and attack top card with low initiative has some benefit to the Cragheart the bottom is a lacklustre loss outside of a small number of scenarios with particular enemy types that can be countered in other ways. Competing against one of the Cragheart defining cards in Rock Slide at level 4 also means you’ll simply be never be taking this card.
- Rock Slide (Level 4): The Cragheart has been waiting for this as it allows us to start using our obstacle theme with greater ease and efficiency. The top provides elemental creation, damage on obstacle creation (with 4 range) and a point of experience. While two damage doesn’t sound like much this is direct damage that can bypass shields, the attack itself works in an area of effect and the 3 obstacles to use for other attacks. The large move is also a nice situational to have but I wouldn’t recommend giving up the powerful top for it during a rest cycle in the vast majority of situations.
- Petrify (Level 5): Petrify lacks any redeeming features for our intended Cragheart build across the top and bottom actions. The top is a poor loss action with many other classes having vastly superior instant kill enemy cards although ours can be done at 4 range. The bottom doesn’t really work for us either given the intended use of this card is to dive into enemies and immobilise them so they can’t move which is better suited to a pure tank with better initiative.
- Stone Pummel (Level 5): Stone Pummel pushes further towards a melee build and is an upgrade to Opposing Strike with it adding muddle and additional targets to the attack. The bottom also suits this playstyle by giving 12 damage over the course of 4 attacks. If you find yourself fulfilling a melee role in your party this might be one to consider given the additional utility of muddle but a ranged Cragheart has little need for this and you can instead use your level 5 option to go to previous levels and obtain the needed Blunt Force that will pay dividends into the future.
- Cataclysm (Level 6): Offering a huge top loss melee action that when empowered by Earth can be game changing damage to the final room of a scenario. Before this point the bottom move and the initiative are a perfect addition to our Cragheart’s kit to move across the scenario battlefield and position ourselves as necessary.
- Dig Pit (Level 6): The top action is lacking when you consider this is a level 6 card and while you could in theory place these down and use some of your limited push options this is a lot of setup for low damage and a stun. Mechanically the bottom is a little more interesting with a basic move and the ability to go invisible but this isn’t worth losing Cataclysm for at this level.
- Brutal Momentum (Level 7): Brutal Momentum is another card that builds on our obstacle theme or empowers our ranged attacks for extra damage. For the top you’ll need some setup to use effectively but the Cragheart has the necessary tools to do so for high direct damage or to maximise scenario traps.
- Meteor (Level 7): A solid card from a move, initiative and jump stand point which is useful for a Cragheart that likes to get into the thick of combat. The top is just an average loss though which means the other level 7 option is better unless the jump is vital to your melee brawler build.
- Lumbering Bash (Level 8): A strong melee card that combines attack and move in the top action for a flexible combination that will also generate an element. The bottom isn’t that fantastic by the time we get to level 8 though as the heal value is low but is still the better melee build option.
- Rocky End (Level 8): The top requires setup but the payoff is well worth it and allows us to strike down significant damage on a single foe when necessary. For most of a scenario though you’ll be using this for the bottom move and decent (for us) initiative though that makes it your ideal option for most Cragheart’s at level 8.
- Blind Destruction (Level 9): Your ultimate Cragheart card that gives you a long range attack and reasonable base damage while the bottom has solid movement and another source of direct damage against multiple enemies. It’s primarily the top action that gives Blind Destruction its power level though but you must be careful when using it around allies as the high damage card is equally deadly against friends.
- Pulverise (Level 9): While not the worst level 9 card available in Gloomhaven it is possibly quite close given its a double loss of mediocre actions that just require specific situations to be effective and the payoff for those is still low.
Cragheart Perks Detailed
Your first priority for perks is to clean up the -1 and add some +1 options which the Cragheart can take three times before removing zeros to ensure most attacks hit above our expectations. Follow this with the +2 muddles which adds utility when activated reducing the damage that our team takes.
At this stage you can either continue building damage with +1s or if you are tired of scenario effects you can take this now. If you do plan to use an armour with negative effects don’t forget to also grab the remove negative item effects perk.
Cragheart Enhancements Detailed
The Cragheart has one of the most broken enhancement options with Dirt Tornado able to have curse added to the top that gives you an area of effect curse that will dramatically reduce monster effectiveness throughout the scenario. Referred to as “Cursenado” by the community saving up for this provides you with a powerful area of effect option that excels in full party games where there are more enemies. This is not a cheap upgrade though so factor in how long you plan to play the Cragheart before retirement when deciding to purchase it.
Your other enhancements focus on additional movement on Rumbling Advance with a few other core movement cards (such as Backup Ammunition) also good candidates. Second to this strengthen on Blunt Force bottom is incredible given we are using this as an initiative setup card and provides a consistent damage boost. Further damage can be added directly to Massive Boulder given it is an cost efficient option for either raw attack or wound depending on the party members you have.
Cragheart Items Detailed
The Cragheart items are focused on addressing your movement weaknesses with Boots of Striding early and then augmenting that with options to buff your damage such as Minor Stamina Potion and Eagle-Eye Goggles as your core. These latter two items give you more consistent damage output while building up your foundation of perks and allow for some devastating back to back turns with planning. For a melee focused Cragheart in particular the Iron Helmet can be a viable alternative given it can significantly cut down on damage received.
After these core items your choices from the starting items are party dependant. Piercing Bow for example can be good in shielded enemy scenarios if you don’t have another suitable class to deal with them although you do have your own sources of direct damage to bypass shields already. The Minor Power Potion is similar in that the extra damage is great for an area of effect attack in each scenario but is not a must buy. The choice of armour as a Cragheart is possibly the hardest choice of all with Leather Armour, Hide Armour and even Cloak of Invisibility being perfectly viable depending on playstyle and party needs. If taking Hide Armour it should be taken only after you have the respective perk to remove negative item effects though.
For information and build guides on other Gloomhaven character options visit our Gloomhaven classes overview and the related Gloomhaven class tier list.
