Everyone loves a rogue, and the Mindthief fills that role beautifully. It’s one of the most popular classes because of its ability to control the flow of the game silently and can do some severe damage when necessary. Check out the guide below to find out how you can master this mischievous menace.
Feeling dazed and confused? The Mindthief may have you under his control! If you want to tap into this character’s abilities, check out our Mindthief guide.
Mindthief Overview
With so many abilities at its disposal, the Mindthief can force enemies to do what it wants. It’s a great character in any group—the Mindthief moves around the dungeon, damaging enemies, looting, and causing trouble.
The Mindthief is a quick, sneaky class with low hit points and decent stamina. They can attack at a melee distance or from a distance with disastrous effects. Slowing the enemies down so the party can take them down one by one is where the Mindthief shines.
Mindthief Cards Overview
The Mindthief has a card pool of 29 cards to choose from throughout its journey. With a starting hand of ten cards at level 1, you don’t have to worry too much about running out. The Mindthief has plenty of cards that allow it to loot and gain XP, which makes it easier to level up.
The Mindthief’s cards boost allies and disable enemies to control any situation. Many movement abilities let the Mindthief move around the room as it pleases.
Starting Cards
Into the Night has a low initiative score of 14, which almost guarantees that this card will be first. The bottom effect is INVISIBLE, which is always helpful. Combined with the effects of other cards, this effect can have great value. The top effect is to loot one.
Gnawing Horde has good and bad effects together. The top effect isn’t beneficial, summoning a weak rat swarm with one movement, two damage, and six hit points. The bottom effect gives four movements, which the Mindthief needs.
The Mind’s Weakness may be the best card in the Mindthief’s entire pool. The top effect does one damage but adds two damage on a melee attack, while the bottom effect does one damage and inflicts WOUND on an enemy.
Submissive Affliction has a medium initiative score of 48, which isn’t where you want it. The top effect deals two damage and adds one damage for every negative condition on the target. The bottom effect can be beneficial in many situations, forcing an enemy within five range to attack an adjacent enemy for two damage.
When combined with others, Scurry is a handy card to sneak around and deal significant damage, especially with high-level cards. The top effect is three movements and one damage. The bottom effect is to loot two.
Perverse Edge has one of the lowest initiative scores at 8. The top effect deals three damage and adds two extra damage and an XP for each negative condition on the target. The bottom effect makes this card fantastic. It deals one damage with a range of two. It also has STUN, generates ice mana, and grants an XP.
Empathetic Assault is another card with a low initiative score of 11. The top effect deals four damage with a range of five, generating ice mana and two XP. The bottom lets you move two and heal two points on yourself. It’s not practical because you should avoid taking damage as a Mindthief.
Frigid Apparition fits the Mindthief perfectly because of how much ice mana it generates. The top effect deals three damage and STUNS enemies at the cost of one ice mana, while the bottom effect lets you move four and STUN an adjacent enemy. And both effects grant you one XP, though the bottom is a loss.
Feedback Loop has a significant bottom effect, letting you move four and JUMP. If you return to your starting block, it MUDDLES enemies. This effect is highly beneficial. The top effect deals one damage and grants you one Shield.
Fearsome Blade’s top effect is quite handy. It deals two damage and Pushes enemies back three spaces. The bottom effect is also helpful sometimes, allowing four movements and dealing two damage. It also grants you two XP.
Withering Claw has a high initiative score of 77, but it’s not high enough to be fantastic. The top effect deals one damage, adds MUDDLE and POISON, and grants one XP. The bottom effect inflicts IMMOBILIZE and lets you move three spaces.
Possession is up next without much hope of making it into your deck. It only has support effects that seem redundant. The top effect is a loss and lets an adjacent ally deal six damage and grants you two XP. The bottom effect allows one ally to move four within a range of three.
Parasitic Influence is a slightly underwhelming card with a situational effect. The top effect deals one damage grants one XP, and heals two of your hit points. The bottom effect lets you move one enemy within four spaces one move. Your character’s goal is to avoid damage, so the healing ability isn’t usually valuable for you.
Level 2
Wretched Creature is a poor choice overall. The top effect is a summon with only four hit points, which is less helpful. The bottom effect lets you move three spaces and applies CURSE to an adjacent enemy at the cost of dark mana.
Hostile Takeover is much more appealing with nine initiative points. It deals two damage with a range of four, IMMOBILIZES, and grants ice mana. The bottom effect turns one enemy into an ally for one round and grants two XP.
Hostile Takeover is the clear choice between the two cards with significantly more practical effects. You can use it in combination with other cards to deal severe damage. You can replace empathetic Assault with Hostile Takeover.
Level 3
Brain Leech has a low initiative score of 16. The top loss effect deals four damage with a range of four and heals you for four. It generates dark mana and grants you two XP. The bottom effect deals one damage but has the STRENGTHEN Self ability.
Silent Scream is slightly more complicated to use. The top effect deals two damage, heals two points within a range of two, and grants you one XP. The bottom effect lets you move three, PUSH two, and if you spend ice mana, you gain an additional PUSH and one XP.
Brain Leech seems to be the obvious choice, but this one is entirely up to you and depends on your play style. You can either drop Submissive Affliction or Fearsome Blade.
Level 4
Pilfer has a beneficial bottom effect that deals two damage, moves three spaces, and then deals another two damage. The top effect lets you loot one plus one more for each adjacent enemy, which is risky. You also need to be able to loot at least one token first.
Cranium Overload has a fantastic top effect with a minuscule initiative score of 5. The top effect lets you kill one regular enemy within a range of four. This card is pretty overpowered later in the game because of this effect. The effect also deals an additional two damage to the enemies adjacent to that enemy and grants you one XP for each. The bottom effect lets you move five.
Cranium Overload wins this round and will replace Gnawing Horde. Gnawing Horde was there to give you an extra move effect, but Cranium Overload has a better move effect.
Level 5
Mass Hysteria is another card with a low initiative score. The top effect deals one damage at a range of four and can target up to four enemies. It also applies MUDDLE and generates ice mana and one XP. The bottom effect allows you to have two augments active simultaneously. Overall, it’s a pretty good card to have.
Frozen Mind has a high initiative score of 81. It deals two damage and grants one XP. Additionally, by using one ice mana, you can apply STUN. The bottom effect forces an enemy within a range of five to move two spaces, which is a situational effect.
Mass Hysteria is the better choice at this level. In most cases, Frozen Mind’s bottom effect isn’t as good as PUSHING an enemy. You’ll want to replace Submissive Affliction with Mass Hysteria at this point.
Level 6
Dark Frenzy‘s top effect deals two damage being able to do another two if you use ice mana and another two on top of that for dark mana. Each mana sacrifice gains you one additional XP as well. The bottom effect is also handy, letting you move three spaces, deal three damage at a range of three, and generate ice mana.
Corrupting Embrace has pretty good effects as well. The top effect deals one damage, adds POISON, and then deals another damage with MUDDLE. Combined with other cards, the damage can pile up and become relatively high in certain situations. It’s a significant effect without being a loss. The bottom effect lets you move four spaces with JUMP. It also POISONS each enemy that was moved with dark mana.
Dark Frenzy is going to be your next pick. Its effects and low initiative score give it an edge over Corrupting Embrace. You can replace Hostile Takeover with Dark Frenzy, which has a better bottom effect.
Level 7
Psychic Projection is one of the lowest-value cards available to you in the game. Its top effect heals you for five points and grants you one Shield, but it STUNS you. To STUN yourself as a Mindthief doesn’t go very well. The bottom effect is OK, letting your ranged attacks gain the effects of your augments, but it isn’t worth keeping the card.
Vicious Blood is a highly situational card with no practical effects unless you can play the right cards. The top effect deals two damage, grants one XP, and grants you two Retaliate when you attack. The bottom effect is average and lets you move two spaces and deal two damage.
Neither Vicious Blood nor Psychic Projection is good enough to replace any of your current cards. You can return to the card you didn’t choose at level 6, Corrupting Embrace. You can take this card and replace Feedback Loop, as we no longer need the JUMP ability.
Level 8
Shared Nightmare is an excellent card with an initiative score of 7 and high damage possibility. The top effect deals three damage to two targets at a range of four, which is decent. Using dark mana makes this ability even better. It adds POISON and CURSE and grants you ice mana and one XP. The bottom effect grants you five movements, and using ice mana gives you one Shield and one XP.
Domination‘s top effect allows an ally to attack and deal four damage in addition to using all of your augments and granting you one XP. The bottom effect is similar and slightly better than Hostile Takeover’s bottom effect.
Shared Nightmare is the card of choice at this level over Domination, and you have a choice of replacements. Mass Hysteria, Silent Scream, or Scurry. Each has specific uses, but at this point, you can replace any of them with Shared Nightmare.
Level 9
Many as One would be better as a lower-level card because of its top effect. It’s also a dual-loss card. The top effect allows you to summon the Rat King. He has nine hit points, but his attack is based on his health, which will go down too quickly to be helpful. The bottom effect allows allies within a range of two to increase their attack for each of them within range.
Phantasmal Killer‘s top effect lets you instantly kill a regular enemy when you attack by using dark mana. It also grants you one XP. The bottom effect lets you move two spaces, loot once, apply INVISIBLE, and gain dark mana.
This time, you should replace Into the Night, which was one of your most valuable cards until now. Phantasmal Killer has the same effects and more, so it’s a good trade.
Mindthief Perks
As a Mindthief, you’ll want to choose perks that complement your play style. They may change according to the way you play, but the perks you should aim for first are:
- Remove two -1 cards (take this twice)
- Replace one -2 card with one +0 card
- Add one +2 Ice card (take this twice)
After you have these, you can choose from any of the rest to enhance your game. The remaining perks are:
- Replace two +1 cards with two +2 cards
- Remove four +0 cards
- Add one Disarm and one Muddle card
- Add three Muddle cards
- Add two rolling +1 cards (take twice)
- Ignore negative scenario effects
- Add three Pull 1 cards
- Add two Immobilize cards
- Add one Stun card
Mindthief Enhancements
Enhancements improve the effects of your cards, though they cost money if you want to buy them.
- Perverse Edge bottom effect: +1 Range
- Frigid Apprirition top effect: +1 Damage
- Frigid Apparition top effect: Wound
Mindthief Items
Items can help your character and boost your strengths as you crawl through scenarios. They can be bought in town or found throughout quests.
- Cloak of Invisibility
- Minor Stamina Potion
- Boots of Striding
Final Thoughts
The Mindthief is a sneaky character that deals some extra damage. It focuses on its crowd control abilities to control the game’s flow. It can wreak havoc on enemies without being hit. Using abilities like STUN, WOUND, POISON, and MUDDLE, the Mindthief disables enemies and effectively speeds up their inevitable death.
References:
https://imgur.com/gallery/2PuUo
https://gameslikefinder.com/article/gloomhaven-spellweaver-guide/