I don't use Backstab (except against Boss adventures) nor do I use Smoke Bomb/Sinister Opportunity. It's too janky unless you've got a Summoner making Dark for you. Thieves' Knack is MUCH better than you give it credit. With Quick Hands (and Duelist Advance later), you get to do 2/3+3 damage later in the round with NO situational baggage and use your fast initiative to do situational damage and get away or turtle up with your Invisibility Cloak. You can also tank whatever's left if you have to. Moreover, you can always use these 2 attack combos to apply stun powder, poison, or use AoE weapons (Battle Axe or Long Spear) to do cleanup work. I get Duelist's Advance and then skip the level 5 card and go back to get Hidden Daggers for reusable invisibility and the situational multi-target ranged burn.
Great guide! Been playing scoundrel for some time now and I must admit Thief's Knack gets used alot. Backstab is great for initiative and move distance. Rarely use it as a damage card. With a hand of just 9, lost cards are a royal PITA. Visage of the Inevitable paired with Smoke Bomb (pull) is a brutal combo. And 100% agree on the rolling modifiers advise! Also "The Flea-bitten Shawl" has saved my fragile ass so many times now.
I feel the need to contest your assertion that Thief’s Knack is a bad card because it forces you to stand still. The scoundrel starts with the card Quick Hands which is a Move 2, Attack 2, top action. This easily allows the rogue to often move into range and then make an attack 2, then an attack 3 with Thief’s Knack. In fact in most scenarios this is my opening move since you often start very close to an enemy. At level 3 you build into Dualist’s Advance which is a Move 3, Attack 3, top action. Combine that with Thief’s Knack and movement boots and the fact that you can remove all negatives from the scoundrel’s attack deck and at level 5-6 I am often pumping out Move 6, and 8-9 damage with these cards. I don’t think Thief’s Knack ever leaves my deck even at level 9 due to its ability to combo so powerfully with the top move/attack cards. Combine all of that with the fact that it has an upgrade slot which means you can upgrade it with disarm for an insanely low cost since it’s only a level 1 card. Once you do so it becomes even more insane by allowing you to damage an enemy and and ensuring that enemy cannot damage you in return. This card is literally a staple of my entire scoundrel play style and is often retrieved with its corresponding top move/attack cards with my stamina potions. In fact I would go so far as to say that the only card more powerful in the scoundrel’s entire deck is Long Con and that doesn’t come until level 9.
The ONLY use case for Thief's Knack is when paired with Dualist's Advance or Quick Hands. You probably only take one of those, not both. That means if you lose Dualist's Advance to a short rest, Thief's Knack is now totally worthless. If you need to move a long way in a previous turn, so you have to pair Dualist's Advance with a bottom move card, then Thief's Knack is now worthless. And even when you can pair it with Dualist's Advance, what is the payoff? An attack that is ONE more than our standard adjacency attacks at level 1: not a big payoff. And the initiative is lousy too. And there's nothing else you can do with the card, since the top effect is so situational as to be worthless. I suppose if you want to drop all that gold on a disarm enhancement, that makes it better, but there's far better uses for that ridiculous amount of gold. I don't even take Thief's Knack at level 1, much less any higher level.
Another great use of thief's knack at early level is something like this: 1) go last with any movement card + single out top to deal 5 damage to an enemy standing next to an ally 2) Go first with flanking strike and thief's knack to deal 5 damage + 3 damage. Total of 13 damage across 2 turns. Then your ally will get their turn and will move up to start fighting the other enemies and taking their aggro. 13 damage in two turns is an insane amount of damage to deal at level 1 using 0 loss cards, and should really help you and your team.
@@mnorth1351 Pretty much nonsense, but you do you. Sometimes... surprise, surprise... targets come to you. So Knack can be used to damage a melee opponent (stun powder?) and attack at range (Swift Bow or any of the dagger cards). Being able to do two attacks in a round using Tops & Bottoms. And you're short-resting? Often enough that losing DA is a problem? Duelist's Advance is a card I protect during short rests but maybe you should long rest more so you can choose. It's easy to outpace your party and exhaust waiting for them if you short-rest too often. Lastly, how is your low-level party dealing with traps? Running through them? Not everyone can jump/fly and curious gear isn't a sure find, is it?
@@PrometheanConsulting My party deals with traps by pushing or pulling enemies into them probably 40-50% of the time (or forcing enemies to walk through them, by making obstacles : Cragheart), And then jumping or just walking through them the rest of the time. There are so few times when traps are really in the way that it's not something worth planning around. As for long resting, My party rarely long rests, usually only when we've cleared a room and need a rest at that time. Otherwise, you can't afford to long rest in the middle of combat, and if everyone else is ready to go when a room is cleared, you don't want to fall too far behind.
Thanks much appreciated! I’m putting out guides every week and I’ll move that one up the list so look for it next week. If you haven’t already please subscribe so you are notified when I publish content!
Ive been using the Flurry of Blades move 4+ advantage and I have the horned helm (+1 attack when moving 4 or more hexes) then using one of her many beefy attacks when next to an ally... and throwing the battle ax on there if theres 2 people around... haha #KillerCombo. Solid video keep it up 🤘😁
If you put strengthen on the top of smoke bomb, then it's a bad idea to try to get advantage on a bottom attack the same turn. You will get advantage attack two rounds in a row but you will also use up you double damage right away on a small attack, instead of getting double damage on you big attack next turn. Btw. I really liked using the top of Smoke bomb with with the top of Gruesome Advantage next round. For this advantage on Gruesome Advantage is crucial. Both of the bottom actions are very useful so no need to use the combo in the first room ... use it on the boss in the last room.
Awesome guide man, really helped me out a lot! Specially with the "look awesome cards" that arent really that good. I am literally half-way through my mission for the retirement and I am really considering to start another scoundrel after that. It is so FUN to play imo (my group plays in high difficulties so we usually talk a bit about waht we plan to do on our turn/s so it helps me a lot to plan accordingly). Only one opinion regarding smoke bomb + backstab/sinister op: for boss, the 2 loss from backstab and smoke bomb are really worth it unless you have 3+ allies adjacent and have dark element. I usually burn those two in those situations since it is a bit hard sometimes to have so much allies adjacent. I mean sinister op is still areally good card cause it isnt a loss. Thanks!
Make sure to have Single Out bottom played in your active area, then play Smoke Bomb. The turn after Smoke Bomb play Sinister Opportunity. If 4 of your allies are adjacent to the target(don't forget that summons and npc's count) that's 11 base damage, +2 from Single Out =13, x2 for Smoke Bomb and pull a 2x Crit atk modifier, 52 dmg. If you were already in position you could also potentially play Thief's Knack bottom for even more dmg(5+), but seems like over kill lol. Not an easy combo to pull off but it can be done! It gets a lot easier when you add in an item or two. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@sortehuse Super late response, but if you can manage to have to allies standing next to the enemy, you could use two summoner small items to increase the ally count to 4, which should get you 2(4) + 3 = 11 base damage. Adding Single out and poison, it goes up to 14, which goes to 28 with Smoke, and 56 with a crit. As a worst case scenario, you could pull 2(2) +3 + * 2 (smoke) = 14 dmg with not much effort, using only your two summon items. Add 4 damage per adjacent ally, 4 damage for Single out, and 2 damage if poisoned, and this is without pulling a crit. It can be done
The example you used for explaining why rolling modifiers are bad with advantage is incorrect. You said that if you draw a normal +1 and a rolling modifier with advantage you would continue to draw and, if you roll into a miss, the miss takes precedence. This is not the case. As per page 20 of the rulebook (2nd printing), "If one rolling modifier card was drawn, its effect is added to the other card played." So, in your example, you would apply the +1 modifier and the first rolling modifier you drew, nothing more. The only case in which you draw more than two cards with advantage is if both are rolling modifiers. Your overall point about rolling modifiers being bad if you often get advantage is correct, but for a different reason. If you have no rolling modifiers or curses in your deck and attack with advantage you can never miss, but if you do have rolling modifiers then drawing a rolling modifier and a miss results in a miss.
1. I do really enjoy your videos for the most part but to be honest I find the periodic interruptions asking me to like and subscribe annoying enough that I have nearly done the opposite out of irritation. Anyone who's watched a minute drop of youtube content knows how to like and subscribe....enough already. As far as the scoundrel build 2 things. I think hidden daggers is underrated especially when using the starting characters. You don't do a lot of high damage to multiple targets and this card really helps. Once you get to the point where the tinker can return a burned card and you can use this card twice it's awesome. This is the card I use for that big attack after using smoke cloud and it has always insured the death of the 2 most problematic or high value targets at the time. Also, bottom attacks for the Scoundrel are like gold and everytime I take out thief's knack I end up regretting it.
@@neuralnetgames6540 I picked Gruesome Advantages at level 4, if I didn’t have it yet I would pick it now - otherwise I would pick the level 5 card I didn’t pick at level 5.
Well, I really don't think rolling modifiers make you miss more. What a roll modifier does is make you draw another card (the one after it), and it can be a miss, sure, but if the rolling modifier wasn't there in the first place, you would have drawn a miss anyway. It would have been there, in the same draw order, you would just have drawn one less card to get to it.
That's not true for the instances he was stating in the video. With advantage, RMs just add up both cards. With regular advantage you would never miss (provided there's a single miss in the deck), whereas with RM you could. The point there is if you're gonna do your single use high damage combos you better guarantee it's not gonna miss.
I hate the rules for advantage and disadvantage. If it's my advantage shouldn't I get to pick?? being forced to choose +1 over 3 status effects and calling it my "advantage" is ridiculous. And vice versa if an enemy is attacking me with disadvantage
Dude, a single suggestion to like and subscribe your video, at the end after people have presumably found enough value in it to watch through all of the Contant is tactful. I found your repeated pleas (at least four times?) tube I can subscribe your video blocking attack and frankly obnoxious. It makes me want to seek a different channel that is not constantly in my face about liking and subscribing. I like most people do not mind when a video has a sponsorship section, or concludes the video with a suggestion to like or subscribe so that the viewer can be notified about future content. However, including less throughout the video when it is a non sequitur with the procimate content, and excessively repetitive, produces exactly the opposite feeling - that there is no way I would watch a channel with such excessive self promotion and would instead of dislike it and seek an alternative. You are creating content for a viewer base that will presumably watch your videos regularly. They do not need to be reminded multiple times each video to like and subscribe. If I was your subscriber and repeated please like this were in every video, then I would quickly find myself unsubscribing. As it is, I am giving you this feedback in the hope that helps you produce better content in the future, and will look for guides that use production styles better stylized to my tastes. I’m not trying to knock your contact because you have good information in here, but I wanted to give you feedback from the perspective of a viewer who stumbled across this video while looking for guidance about this class. These are both aviation related channels, but check out MentourPilot and 74Gear for examples of videos that include self promotion and even sponsorship segments but do not form a major distraction from the content of the videos. Hope this helps
Come and watch me play Magic The Gathering: Arena!! The BEST decks to beat the meta!! ruclips.net/channel/UCXFLYWi1sEIbgSb-kYvssJg
I don't use Backstab (except against Boss adventures) nor do I use Smoke Bomb/Sinister Opportunity. It's too janky unless you've got a Summoner making Dark for you.
Thieves' Knack is MUCH better than you give it credit. With Quick Hands (and Duelist Advance later), you get to do 2/3+3 damage later in the round with NO situational baggage and use your fast initiative to do situational damage and get away or turtle up with your Invisibility Cloak. You can also tank whatever's left if you have to. Moreover, you can always use these 2 attack combos to apply stun powder, poison, or use AoE weapons (Battle Axe or Long Spear) to do cleanup work.
I get Duelist's Advance and then skip the level 5 card and go back to get Hidden Daggers for reusable invisibility and the situational multi-target ranged burn.
Great guide!
Been playing scoundrel for some time now and I must admit Thief's Knack gets used alot.
Backstab is great for initiative and move distance. Rarely use it as a damage card. With a hand of just 9, lost cards are a royal PITA.
Visage of the Inevitable paired with Smoke Bomb (pull) is a brutal combo.
And 100% agree on the rolling modifiers advise!
Also "The Flea-bitten Shawl" has saved my fragile ass so many times now.
Thanks for the in depth tutorial!
Glad I can be of help and thanks so much for watching and commenting!!
I feel the need to contest your assertion that Thief’s Knack is a bad card because it forces you to stand still. The scoundrel starts with the card Quick Hands which is a Move 2, Attack 2, top action. This easily allows the rogue to often move into range and then make an attack 2, then an attack 3 with Thief’s Knack. In fact in most scenarios this is my opening move since you often start very close to an enemy. At level 3 you build into Dualist’s Advance which is a Move 3, Attack 3, top action. Combine that with Thief’s Knack and movement boots and the fact that you can remove all negatives from the scoundrel’s attack deck and at level 5-6 I am often pumping out Move 6, and 8-9 damage with these cards. I don’t think Thief’s Knack ever leaves my deck even at level 9 due to its ability to combo so powerfully with the top move/attack cards. Combine all of that with the fact that it has an upgrade slot which means you can upgrade it with disarm for an insanely low cost since it’s only a level 1 card. Once you do so it becomes even more insane by allowing you to damage an enemy and and ensuring that enemy cannot damage you in return. This card is literally a staple of my entire scoundrel play style and is often retrieved with its corresponding top move/attack cards with my stamina potions. In fact I would go so far as to say that the only card more powerful in the scoundrel’s entire deck is Long Con and that doesn’t come until level 9.
The ONLY use case for Thief's Knack is when paired with Dualist's Advance or Quick Hands. You probably only take one of those, not both. That means if you lose Dualist's Advance to a short rest, Thief's Knack is now totally worthless. If you need to move a long way in a previous turn, so you have to pair Dualist's Advance with a bottom move card, then Thief's Knack is now worthless. And even when you can pair it with Dualist's Advance, what is the payoff? An attack that is ONE more than our standard adjacency attacks at level 1: not a big payoff. And the initiative is lousy too. And there's nothing else you can do with the card, since the top effect is so situational as to be worthless. I suppose if you want to drop all that gold on a disarm enhancement, that makes it better, but there's far better uses for that ridiculous amount of gold. I don't even take Thief's Knack at level 1, much less any higher level.
Another great use of thief's knack at early level is something like this: 1) go last with any movement card + single out top to deal 5 damage to an enemy standing next to an ally 2) Go first with flanking strike and thief's knack to deal 5 damage + 3 damage. Total of 13 damage across 2 turns. Then your ally will get their turn and will move up to start fighting the other enemies and taking their aggro. 13 damage in two turns is an insane amount of damage to deal at level 1 using 0 loss cards, and should really help you and your team.
@@mnorth1351 Pretty much nonsense, but you do you. Sometimes... surprise, surprise... targets come to you. So Knack can be used to damage a melee opponent (stun powder?) and attack at range (Swift Bow or any of the dagger cards). Being able to do two attacks in a round using Tops & Bottoms.
And you're short-resting? Often enough that losing DA is a problem? Duelist's Advance is a card I protect during short rests but maybe you should long rest more so you can choose. It's easy to outpace your party and exhaust waiting for them if you short-rest too often.
Lastly, how is your low-level party dealing with traps? Running through them? Not everyone can jump/fly and curious gear isn't a sure find, is it?
@@PrometheanConsulting My party deals with traps by pushing or pulling enemies into them probably 40-50% of the time (or forcing enemies to walk through them, by making obstacles : Cragheart), And then jumping or just walking through them the rest of the time. There are so few times when traps are really in the way that it's not something worth planning around.
As for long resting, My party rarely long rests, usually only when we've cleared a room and need a rest at that time. Otherwise, you can't afford to long rest in the middle of combat, and if everyone else is ready to go when a room is cleared, you don't want to fall too far behind.
thanks for the guide! i skipped the middle part after lvl 3 so I don't get spoiled :D
Thanks so much for this guide! ☺️ Can’t see what else you put out!
Thank you so much! Brute Guide coming out shortly!
That’s exactly what our party needs!! Thanks again, can’t wait and Happy New Year!
Awesome! Happy New Year to you as well!
Great guide! Can’t wait for an Nightshroud/eclipse guide
Thanks much appreciated! I’m putting out guides every week and I’ll move that one up the list so look for it next week. If you haven’t already please subscribe so you are notified when I publish content!
@@neuralnetgames6540 wow, thanks! Already done and done
Ive been using the Flurry of Blades move 4+ advantage and I have the horned helm (+1 attack when moving 4 or more hexes) then using one of her many beefy attacks when next to an ally... and throwing the battle ax on there if theres 2 people around... haha #KillerCombo. Solid video keep it up 🤘😁
Awesome, I love it! Thanks so much for watching, I really appreciate it!
"Positioning with [random Gloomhaven character] is key" :D :D
If you put strengthen on the top of smoke bomb, then it's a bad idea to try to get advantage on a bottom attack the same turn. You will get advantage attack two rounds in a row but you will also use up you double damage right away on a small attack, instead of getting double damage on you big attack next turn.
Btw. I really liked using the top of Smoke bomb with with the top of Gruesome Advantage next round. For this advantage on Gruesome Advantage is crucial. Both of the bottom actions are very useful so no need to use the combo in the first room ... use it on the boss in the last room.
Fair point but sometimes it makes sense! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Awesome guide man, really helped me out a lot! Specially with the "look awesome cards" that arent really that good. I am literally half-way through my mission for the retirement and I am really considering to start another scoundrel after that. It is so FUN to play imo (my group plays in high difficulties so we usually talk a bit about waht we plan to do on our turn/s so it helps me a lot to plan accordingly).
Only one opinion regarding smoke bomb + backstab/sinister op: for boss, the 2 loss from backstab and smoke bomb are really worth it unless you have 3+ allies adjacent and have dark element. I usually burn those two in those situations since it is a bit hard sometimes to have so much allies adjacent. I mean sinister op is still areally good card cause it isnt a loss.
Thanks!
Thanks for watching and have fun with the Scoundrel, grab all the loot lol
A bit late but loving it ! Lvl 3 inc
Thanks for watching!
A great guide. U have my like and a new sub.
Welcome aboard!
ok, I'll admit i subscribed at 10:09 hahahahahha
lol yes! somebody found it funny, mission accomplished! Thanks for the nice comment!
The Rolling modifiers rule is the only we house rule. RAW are... Weird
Yeah, some things here and there are odd. Frosthaven is adressing plenty of those issues, though!
So how do you get 50 damage at level 1 without items?
Make sure to have Single Out bottom played in your active area, then play Smoke Bomb. The turn after Smoke Bomb play Sinister Opportunity. If 4 of your allies are adjacent to the target(don't forget that summons and npc's count) that's 11 base damage, +2 from Single Out =13, x2 for Smoke Bomb and pull a 2x Crit atk modifier, 52 dmg. If you were already in position you could also potentially play Thief's Knack bottom for even more dmg(5+), but seems like over kill lol. Not an easy combo to pull off but it can be done! It gets a lot easier when you add in an item or two. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@neuralnetgames6540 "Not an easy combo to pull off but it can be done" ... I'm not sure I believe that.
@@sortehuse Super late response, but if you can manage to have to allies standing next to the enemy, you could use two summoner small items to increase the ally count to 4, which should get you 2(4) + 3 = 11 base damage. Adding Single out and poison, it goes up to 14, which goes to 28 with Smoke, and 56 with a crit.
As a worst case scenario, you could pull 2(2) +3 + * 2 (smoke) = 14 dmg with not much effort, using only your two summon items. Add 4 damage per adjacent ally, 4 damage for Single out, and 2 damage if poisoned, and this is without pulling a crit. It can be done
The example you used for explaining why rolling modifiers are bad with advantage is incorrect.
You said that if you draw a normal +1 and a rolling modifier with advantage you would continue to draw and, if you roll into a miss, the miss takes precedence.
This is not the case. As per page 20 of the rulebook (2nd printing), "If one rolling modifier card was drawn, its effect is added to the other card played." So, in your example, you would apply the +1 modifier and the first rolling modifier you drew, nothing more.
The only case in which you draw more than two cards with advantage is if both are rolling modifiers.
Your overall point about rolling modifiers being bad if you often get advantage is correct, but for a different reason. If you have no rolling modifiers or curses in your deck and attack with advantage you can never miss, but if you do have rolling modifiers then drawing a rolling modifier and a miss results in a miss.
Yep both cards have to be rolling when on advantage. Thanks for watching and commenting!
1. I do really enjoy your videos for the most part but to be honest I find the periodic interruptions asking me to like and subscribe annoying enough that I have nearly done the opposite out of irritation. Anyone who's watched a minute drop of youtube content knows how to like and subscribe....enough already.
As far as the scoundrel build 2 things. I think hidden daggers is underrated especially when using the starting characters. You don't do a lot of high damage to multiple targets and this card really helps. Once you get to the point where the tinker can return a burned card and you can use this card twice it's awesome. This is the card I use for that big attack after using smoke cloud and it has always insured the death of the 2 most problematic or high value targets at the time. Also, bottom attacks for the Scoundrel are like gold and everytime I take out thief's knack I end up regretting it.
I didn't like the level 7 cards. I would take one of the lower level cards over both of them,
What would you take?
@@neuralnetgames6540 I picked Gruesome Advantages at level 4, if I didn’t have it yet I would pick it now - otherwise I would pick the level 5 card I didn’t pick at level 5.
@@neuralnetgames6540 Can i take 2 cards from lvl 7 if i don`t take any cards from lvl 8 ?
Well, I really don't think rolling modifiers make you miss more. What a roll modifier does is make you draw another card (the one after it), and it can be a miss, sure, but if the rolling modifier wasn't there in the first place, you would have drawn a miss anyway. It would have been there, in the same draw order, you would just have drawn one less card to get to it.
That's not true for the instances he was stating in the video. With advantage, RMs just add up both cards. With regular advantage you would never miss (provided there's a single miss in the deck), whereas with RM you could. The point there is if you're gonna do your single use high damage combos you better guarantee it's not gonna miss.
It forces more reshuffles by making more draws putting the miss back in your deck.
I hate the rules for advantage and disadvantage. If it's my advantage shouldn't I get to pick?? being forced to choose +1 over 3 status effects and calling it my "advantage" is ridiculous. And vice versa if an enemy is attacking me with disadvantage
That's why house rules exist! Never let Rules as written get in the way of your table's enjoyment
Dude, a single suggestion to like and subscribe your video, at the end after people have presumably found enough value in it to watch through all of the Contant is tactful.
I found your repeated pleas (at least four times?) tube I can subscribe your video blocking attack and frankly obnoxious. It makes me want to seek a different channel that is not constantly in my face about liking and subscribing.
I like most people do not mind when a video has a sponsorship section, or concludes the video with a suggestion to like or subscribe so that the viewer can be notified about future content. However, including less throughout the video when it is a non sequitur with the procimate content, and excessively repetitive, produces exactly the opposite feeling - that there is no way I would watch a channel with such excessive self promotion and would instead of dislike it and seek an alternative.
You are creating content for a viewer base that will presumably watch your videos regularly. They do not need to be reminded multiple times each video to like and subscribe. If I was your subscriber and repeated please like this were in every video, then I would quickly find myself unsubscribing. As it is, I am giving you this feedback in the hope that helps you produce better content in the future, and will look for guides that use production styles better stylized to my tastes.
I’m not trying to knock your contact because you have good information in here, but I wanted to give you feedback from the perspective of a viewer who stumbled across this video while looking for guidance about this class.
These are both aviation related channels, but check out MentourPilot and 74Gear for examples of videos that include self promotion and even sponsorship segments but do not form a major distraction from the content of the videos.
Hope this helps
Id appreciate a bit more thorough explanation.. ur going a bit fast.. but otherwise great!