Pick 6: Fun Gloomhaven Items

Hello! This blog does still exist! Our group is still enthusiastically playing Gloomhaven and of course there are lots of other games to talk about, but I thought it would be fun to get back into the blog by reviving Pick 6. And while there are lots of lists of the most powerful items in GH that let you crush, kill, and destroy, this is going to be a list of items that are fun to play. They are definitely still useful, but more importantly, they’re just fun.

Note that there will be spoilers for higher prosperity level items, as well as items that are found in chests. Let’s get to it!

#6 – Cloak of Pockets

So I said I wasn’t going to talk about the popular, universally-used, ultra powerful items but…I had to put the old CoP on here. I’ve used it on every character so far, because it’s just soooooo good. In fact I just started a new character and haven’t bought armor for her yet, and I’m trying to pick something else, but I don’t know if I can do it, the Cloak of Pockets is just the best. Giving up your armor slot to gain two small items slots technically means you’ve only gained one slot, but the small items slots are so versatile, powerful, and useful that gaining two of them is a huge advantage and makes giving up the armor slot negligible. There are so many good small items, some of which have minor/major versions meaning you can carry both, that the Cloak of Pockets will always be fun, no matter which character you’re playing.

#5 – Drakescale Armor

The Drakescale Armor is found in a chest, and if you’re wearing it you’re immune to wound and poison. This is so great if you’re a front-line fighter type, you can wade in and not worry about those nasty lingering damage effects. It’s so nice when you’re told “you take 3 damage and poison” and you can reply “no poison, I’m immune”. And the extra benefit of being immune to poison, besides all the extra damage you’ll avoid, is that you can heal yourself whenever you want and not have to worry about wasting a heal just to remove poison. Of course in some scenarios it won’t help because the monsters don’t wound or poison (but you can always switch out your equipment before the scenario starts once you’ve seen who you’re fighting). But when you get to just laugh at all those imps, drakes, and oozes as they try to wound or poison you it’s pretty fun.

#4 – Volatile Bomb

Up next is the Volatile Bomb, an item that lets you turn a single hex attack into a three hex AOE. It’s fun anytime you can line up three targets into an AOE, but when you can do it with a single-hex attack it’s even better. I had a character with an attack that was attack 3, range 3, pierce 3, and I used the Volatile Bomb to take out three Living Spirits with it. It was pretty satisfying to announce “I got all three of these” when we were picking cards for the round, since that character is not exactly known as a big damage dealer. Other players in my group have used it too, and while you’re not always going to make a huge splash with it, it’s pretty fun when you do.

#3 – Giant Remote Spider

I mean, how fun is it to have an extra loot 1 that you can throw out anytime you want on your turn? Pretty dang fun! To be able to loot without sacrificing a move or an attack is so great. And let’s face it, there are few things more fun in Gloomhaven than scooping up a bunch of gold with a loot action. It’s a spendy item, but obviously will pay for itself, and is a lot of fun to use.

#2 – Boots of Speed

Oh man, if not for the item I have at #1, this would be the epitome of the kind of items I’m talking about: not actually crazy powerful, or useful all the time, but when you get to use it to avoid something nasty it is a really great feeling. The Boots of Speed let you move up or down 10 spots in the initiative order after you’ve seen what everyone, including the monsters, is doing. This can really save your bacon sometime, when that monster is going to stun you, kill your summon, eat your element, etc., before you get to go. Slide in right before that monster and do what you gotta do. I mentioned in my class guide what a great item this is for the Circles character, but other classes can certainly benefit from and have fun with it as well.

#1 – Doomed Compass

I love this item. It’s not a super powerful, cheeseball of an item that’s going to let you crush everything in your way, but it’s really versatile and really fun. It lets you move an enemy within range 5 up to 2 spaces on your turn. There are two main uses for this: moving a monster into your AOE, and moving a monster over a trap or two. When I first bought this item I was playing Triangles, and it was pretty darn handy in combination with his level 7 AOE card. Most AOE attacks are pretty potent, so moving one more monster into it is always going to be good. And of course moving a monster over 1 or 2 traps, possible killing it, is great fun. Especially if you have a party member or summon that can’t avoid traps and would have had to spring it themselves.

Thanks for reading about these fun Gloomhaven items! One last tidbit I will add is that some of these items have even better versions that can be unlocked. They’re super expensive but really, really good…

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted, but I’m going to try to post more soon. I’ve retired another character so I have a new guide to write up, and the character I’m currently playing probably will be retired fairly soon as well, so there’s another guide in the near future. Thanks for reading and commenting!