Hey guys. My group has faced against Gloomweaver multiple times and have NEVER had any trouble with him. We have faced him with all different size groups and each one has been able to survive no problem. The difficulty does not matter or our hero selection. He has also never flipped against us. Just wondering if my group is really lucky with his deck playing cards or is this the same for everyone.
Gloomweaver is a difficulty level 2 unless you let him flip, when he becomes difficulty level 4.
I've had the same experience where Gloomweaver is really easy... Except that one time where his relics were the top three cards of his deck. So he can be tough, but only if his deck is really stacked against you.
This thread has some suggested rules to make him much tougher: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/878230/how-difficult-do-you-find-gloomweaver
Though you also might just try starting with all zombies in the trash and H random cultists in play.
When I get around to it, I'm going to make an extra oversized card for Gloomweaver that uses most of those additional rules. We played using the added rules and just barely beat him with only one (barely) surviving hero on Normal mode. Definitely made it a more enjoyable challenge.
Then I'm going to have to try those rules at some point. But wait, with th current rules, does he really become a level 4 villain when he flips? I'm tempted to just let him flip one game just to see if I can beat him.
If you want to try him on the flip side, why not just do the setup, then immediately flip him. Or, if you are wanting to see his flip side with the relics in play, put them into play after the setup, then flip him. Although, one of the worst things about his flip side is that he regains (H) * 10 HP, basically having him start from the beginning all over, with the heroes likely worn out. It just seems it can take a while to get his three relics in play, and then you have to deal with the damage and such you'll be taking with the other relics waiting for that third to actually come out.
It's such a shame that whether or not the relics come into play is pretty much pure luck. I wish he had some mechanism that would help him get them out, while giving the players ways to prevent it. Because right now, it's basically a question of luck if you're facing a difficulty 2 (at most) or 4 (supposedly, never happened to me) villain, which is a bit silly.
That's true. My only concern from that approach would be the massive hits we'd take at the beginning of the game, and how difficult it would be to deal with setting up our heroes while dealing with the zombies and the boosts from the relics.
Then again, maybe I'll do it just to prove I can. I'll see how this "mega-advanced" GloomWeaver does.
I've had him flip once while attempting to run through all of the villains on advanced with random team setups. When my team turned out to be almost exclusively melee and projectile (and on advanced he is immune to both), we decided to try and destroy him through his relics. Unfortunately, after one popped up and took a hefty amount of damage, the other two just kind of appeared and he flipped a little too quickly and rained down pain and agony on the heroes.
I wouldn't say he's insanity incarnate on his flip side (I leave that to Apostate), but he does his fair share of damage (one of the few times I remember seeing H all by its lonesome). It's simply the threat of his flip if you are going the Relic route that can be imposing, but so long as the team can destroy just one relic, it'll pretty much never happen.
Another house rule rule I heard off somewhere,
"At end of villain turn, if there are 3 cultists in play, destroy them. Search villain deck/trash for a Relic and put it in play. Reshuffle villain deck"
Switch "End of villain turn" with "Start of villain turn" according to your tastes.
Tommy, that line was present during playtesting, but (obviously) cut from the final version. I was sad about it, but I think it was for space reasons (AKA, the best reason they have to axe something). Unfortunately, that particular line did serve Gloomweaver well. Vast Following was also a more brutal card back then, making the constant appearance of the Relics and/or Cultists much more likely.
Those documents also had the pins with fewer hit points, but with the rider that only that hero could hurt them, which was something I really loved. That meant they often could stick around for a while. I think that was removed when people complained too much about it.
Another suggestion : maybe have the relics being indestuctible if there are Pins in play ? Or the contrary : relics are undestructible unless a pin is in play...
I don't think he's a 2 right now if you don't flip him. He's definitely a 1. I have lost games to all the 2s and both the 1s.
The harshest plays I've seen him do are a turn one Strength From the Grave or a Chosen Disciple. Those are heavy hitters. But he's a cakewalk after they're taken care of.
The other day we had our first defeat of Gloomy via relic destruction - prior to this we've always managed to kick his arse by disposing of all his hitpoints. He's never managed to beat us. Nor has Apostate, or Baron Blade. I don't think Spite has either, actually, but I'm not 100% on that. At the weekend we fought everyone and defeated them all except the Matriarch, who beat us (Mystical Defenses didn't help - we were in Atlantis…so that took out the zillions of Fowl she had out…which caused both her and the two Carrion Fields to zap us…). After we'd finished beating everyone else we had another go at her…but she beat us again. Dammit :P.
Relic has yet to have a game lost according to the statistics. - including 6 Advance games, and 3 of them Relic Wins.%r%rHowever, note, Baron Blade had until just rencetly a 45% win lost (he's down to 35% now, but still) - and i just watched an -old- interview with Chris (a google+ hangout interview with damsels something) where he was like 'we just lost to Baron Blade. AMAZING'
Someday Gloomweaver will get awin. ... someday.... :P
As long as that someday isn't a game against me, i'll be happy. I'm confused as to how he had a dramatic power loss though... Playtesting days he had some trouble about him, now he seems like such a major pushover. I actually suggested playing a game against him where all heroes just eachother, but no one wanted to go that route to cause his victory.
For me, lynkfox, it was today :) He completely eradicated a Wraith/Nighmist/Ra/Argent Adept team. It was a big surprise, and a pleasant one. I was using my own houserule (see the other thread), but as there was only two Pins in the whole game, it was not the deal breaker. For once, he was a real source of despair for the poor heroes, I plan on a rematch soon - will the new heroes save their friends before Gloomweaver can eat their souls ? You'll know by reading "Crushing Despair, part 2" next month !
What does this mean?
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i was thinking about his Relics, and ment Gloomweaver....
This is what makes a great villain deck. Gloom-ily (pun!), Gloomweaver hasn't done any of that awesome stuff yet.
I had a loss to Gloomweaver just this weekend, he played 3 Vast Followings from his deck in a single turn and followed up with the only relic still in his deck, the other 2 having been pulled out of his trash by the Vast Followings... we did not go down without a fight though.
I think the bugger just got lucky ;)
We totally kicked his arse yesterday - my two characters were Ra and Expatriette, and my partner had Legacy (he really likes Legacy...) and Tempest. In turn one, Ra got out Flame Barrier (fire damage when stuff hits him) and Expatriette got out Hairtrigger Reflexes (automatic damage whenever a non-hero target enters play). Gloomweaver played a couple of those cultists who deal H-2 infernal and H-2 fire damage to everyone at the end of the turn (can't remember the name) and have 6hp. Legacy has Inspiring Presence (+1 damage to all heroes) out and has Galvanised (another +1 damage to heroes) everyone. Cultist enters play - Expatriette automatically shoots for three damage. End of turn, cultist attacks everyone. Attacks Ra first - Ra has Flesh of the Sun God out so is immune to the fire damage. Second hit is infernal - Ra takes the damage and his Flame Barrier goes off, dealing four damage (or possibly five - can't remember if he had his Staff out at that point) to the cultist, more than enough to kill him. Cultist comes back as a zombie, which is immediately blown to bits by Expatriette's Hairtrigger Reflexes :D.
By the end (which didn't take long to reach >:)), Gloomy had managed to get out one relic - his most useless one, given the circumstance, as it was the Pouch of Bones which buffs zombies. Ra took out Gloomy's last 13hp with a Flame Spike, Blazing Tornado, and Pyre (buffed by his Staff and by Legacy) but we let Tempest have his turn after that just to see if he could take out the last 22hp of the relic in one turn. Couldn't quite manage it so Expatriette blasted it to bits with her Tactical Shotgun (again, buffed by Legacy and also by Hollow Points) :D.
I did lose 3 games to him last night. Played with solo with 3 heroes. First was Gloomweaver 76 vs Argent Adept 0,Bunker 0, Expat 0 in Realm of Discord. 1 relic in trash, 1 out. Env card which only let us do one play or action screwed us up. All heroes killed by explosive bubbles in same round.
Gloomweaver 80 vs. Tempest 0, Bunker 0, Expat 0 in Realm of Discord 1 relic in trash, 2 out.
Gloomweaver 79 vs. Fanatic 0,Legacy 0, Visionary 0 in Tomb of Anubis 1 relic in trash, 2 out. Had about 10 env out and Visionary had to discard after draw because of 2 pins.decided to play end of days. Card that brings out Anubis was the second card.
Perhaps others using these combos will have similar experience? Alot of pins came out and that cultist that brings out zombies is tough. I find Realm of Discord to be one of the tougher environments.
Yeah, the Chosen Disciple can be annoying. Personally, though, I find the Realm of Discord to be one of the easier environments, since most distortions don't tend to be out that long, seeing how they're destroyed the moment the next distortion shows up. The Bubbles aren't too bad because they only do two damage and only have 5hp, so they're not too hard to get rid of. The Ethereal Bonds can be annoying, though. Last night we were fighting La Capitan in the Realm of Discord and it was all the crew and stuff that destroyed us - the environment didn't really have a huge effect (though Positive Energy Field was the first card to be played and stayed in for over half the game, I'd say - all the other distortions must've been clustered at the bottom of the deck - the Negative Energy Field was the second distortion to finally show up, and that wasn't till a couple of rounds from the end of the game).
We've never lost to Gloomweaver yet, though we have lost to the other "easy villain", Baron Blade - Devious Disruption tends to be the bane of our lives when it comes to his deck. We even had our first ever Moonfall a couple of weeks ago, when he basically played every horrible card in his deck - Hasten Dom chaining into Hasten Doom, "Consider the Price of Victory!" coming out at one point, both Devious Disruptions forcing us to destroy most of our stuff…oh yeah, and his first two cards in the game were the other two MDPs. He probably did some other stuff that was horrible too :P.
I Have played a mod for Gloomweaver that really made him nasty, by adding a second character (ala the Operative) to his deck.
Here's the one I added:
10hp
Voodoo Priest
When Voodoo priest is reduced to 0hp flip his card. When this card is flipped restore to full health.
At the end of the villain turn shuffle the trash and reveal cards until a voodoo pin is revealed, put it into play. If no Pins are revealed play the top card of the villain deck.
Flip Side
10hp
Zombie Master
When Zombie Master is reduced to 0hp flip his card. When this card is flipped restore to full health.
At the end of the villain turn shuffle the trash and reveal cards until a Zombie or Strength of the grave is revealed, put it into play. If no cards are put into play by this effect deal each hero target (H) damage.
Strength of the grave is indestructible.
Basically it adds card play to Gloomy to start the game (getting a pin in the trash is big) then it becomes about managing the cards you are getting hit with. If the Pins get to be too much, you flip him to the Aombie side, where Zombies coming into play are very manageable, until you get swarmed and Strength of grave comes out, then flip him back.
It has made every game against Gloomy really tough, without making it ridiculously hard. He also flips a lot more, You may want to add that the added guy is removed from the game if Gloomy flips, like maybe he is the vessel that Gloomweaver uses to come back to full power, and is consumed or taken over by Gloomy.
With this card he flips more and is nasty to beat even if he doesn't flip. Of course the one game Adept blew up three instruments to kill relics and so it wasn't bad at all, but that's adept, and he's sick.
I think Gloomweaver is a perfect candidate for a promo villain card like Bomber Baron or Cosmitron
I agree, I tried to make one that focused on cultists on the front, then would kill them immediately on the back, it never worked well though.