As a Hive, your gold is best spent on specific items.
Essential Small Items:
Armor & Head:
Chest/Boots:
Winning the Hive requires a specific approach to initiative and positioning. frosthaven hive guide
The Hive is a test of discipline. The party that gets distracted by the swarm of minions will slowly bleed out. The party that beelines for the Nodes, uses Stuns to suppress spawns, and keeps their cool will clear the map.
Focus fire. Watch the initiative. Burn the nest. As a Hive, your gold is best spent on specific items
This is a comprehensive, deep-dive guide to the Hive scenario in Frosthaven. This guide is designed for players who understand the basic rules but are struggling with the specific tactical puzzles, enemy behaviors, and strategic requirements of this notorious early-to-mid game scenario.
These are the fodder. They move fast and hit for moderate damage, but their real danger lies in their numbers. Armor & Head:
The most common mistake new Hive players make is treating their character as a standard damage dealer. With low base health, mediocre hand size (10 cards), and unimpressive starting attacks, the Hive’s physical body is a liability. Your true character sheet is the collection of summons on the board. Your primary resource is not hit points or stamina, but Hive Tokens—the currency of creation.
The Hive’s level 1 kit revolves around two card types: Spawning cards (e.g., Lay Eggs, Infest) that generate weak summons (Broodlings, Stingers) and Command cards (e.g., Swarm Tactics, Overwhelm) that allow multiple summons to act in concert. Unlike Gloomhaven summoners, you are not limited by a single summon’s lifespan. Your summons are expendable ammunition. A dead Broodling is not a tragedy; it is a missed opportunity to have not spawned two more in its place.