Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs
186 questions players ask about Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-06.
Character Setup and Progression
- How many ability cards can I upgrade to level 2 in a scenario?
- Can I pick different upgraded cards each scenario, or are upgrades locked in?
- Can I skip upgrades and play only level 1 cards even when level 2 cards are available?
- Which level 2 card can a level 1 card be upgraded to?
- Is my character level the same as the scenario level?
- What do the crown icons on character and ability cards mean?
- Which characters can I choose at the start of the campaign?
Items
- How many items can I bring into a scenario?
- Which items can I equip, and from which scenario cards?
- Can an item that has neither a Spent nor a Lost icon be used repeatedly?
- Do I have to declare an item before rolling the attack modifier?
- Does an item that says 'attack' apply to one attack or to every attack in the action?
- Can I use items after I have played both of my cards?
- Do items carry over between scenarios?
- Can I equip both items printed on the same scenario card?
Scenario Setup and Goals
- What counts as a skipped scenario for unlocking its items?
- When a scenario says to survive a number of rounds after an event, does the round of the event count?
- Does an attack on the bell have to deal damage to count?
- If the last monster dies before a monster due to spawn next round appears, is the scenario won?
- What is the goal of Scenario 8?
- Does Scenario 17 require ending the turn in hex A in the same turn the last monster dies?
- What happens when I lose a scenario?
- Can a hex with a printed object on the map be featureless?
- Does a monster start hex with a white border count as terrain?
- Can a figure move into or through a partial hex on a scenario map?
- Do several numbers printed on a map hex mean several monsters stand there?
Card Selection and Initiative
- Do I choose my initiative card before the monster actions are rolled, and can I use either card?
- Do cards sitting in my active area count toward the two cards I play each round?
- Must I play both selected cards, or can I use just one?
- Who goes first when my initiative ties with a monster?
- Is the monster die rolled once per monster or once per monster type?
- What happens to a monster that spawns mid-scenario: when does it act?
- How do elite monsters act in initiative order?
Elements
- Can both heroes and monsters consume the same element?
- How many times can an element be consumed in a round?
- What does consuming an element actually do to the card?
- Can two infusions of the same element be available at once?
- Can one ability consume two copies of an element for a bigger effect?
- Can I consume an element and then choose not to use its effect?
- Will a monster consume an element it gains nothing from?
- When does an element on a rolled monster action become available?
- Can I consume an element with Duskhaze Gem before a monster uses it?
- When can an element shown on a card in my hand be used?
- Can I still use a played card's A-side element after the card flips?
- Can I use the B-side element of a card in the same turn I played its A side?
- Can I recover a discarded card mid-turn to regain its A-side element?
- Can a wild element count as any of the six elements?
- If an effect shows several elements in one cost, must I consume all of them?
- How long does an element created by using an item stay available?
Movement, Terrain and Range
- Do monsters pay extra movement for difficult terrain?
- Does Jump let me skip counting obstacle or terrain hexes as movement?
- Can a figure that jumps or flies end its move on an obstacle or hazard?
- Can two figures end movement in the same hex?
- Can I move through an objective such as the bell?
- Can a figure leave a hex and re-enter the same hex during one move?
- Is there a movement penalty for moving while adjacent to an enemy?
- Can I walk through a monster's original start hex after it moves away?
- Do line of sight, walls or doors block ranged attacks or range?
Attacks and Modifiers
- Does a ranged attack against an adjacent enemy have disadvantage?
- Is an attack without a range icon ever a ranged attack, even if it reaches distant targets?
- Is range 1 the same as targeting an adjacent figure?
- How does advantage or disadvantage work with the modifier tracking cube now?
- Do advantage and disadvantage cancel out, and can they stack?
- If I have disadvantage and the first modifier is a minus, do I still roll the second?
- Does Strengthen guarantee a positive attack modifier?
- Does the attack modifier cube move once per attack, including enemy attacks and multiple targets?
- In what order are poison, the modifier and shield applied to an attack?
- Do attack effects like Poison or Muddle still apply when the attack does zero damage?
- Does a condition added by an attack affect that same attack?
- When does a heal attached to an attack happen relative to Retaliate?
- Can I choose the order of attacks on a multi-target ability, and the targets?
- How does a jump-through attack like Trample resolve?
- How does Pierce work against Shield?
- When must I choose whether to apply an optional attack effect?
- Where does the attack modifier cube start, and what happens after the last row?
- Where can an area of effect be placed?
- Does an item's Pierce or Poison apply to every target of a multi-target attack?
Conditions
- How long does a condition last depending on when it was gained?
- Can a figure gain a condition it already has?
- Does Poison add +1 to attacks against the poisoned figure, and how is it removed?
- When does Wound deal damage, and can Shield stop it?
- What does Heal do to Wound and Poison?
- Can a disarmed figure still retaliate?
- Can an immobilized figure be pushed or pulled?
- What if I run out of condition tokens?
- How long does Invisible last, and when do starting-invisible monsters lose it?
Shield, Retaliate and Damage
- When does a Shield from a card I play become active?
- Does Shield reduce hazard, suffer-damage or Retaliate damage?
- Do multiple shield bonuses stack?
- Does an item that gives Shield during an enemy attack cover a monster action with two attacks?
- Does Retaliate count as an attack, and can it trigger on a null modifier?
- Does Retaliate trigger when an enemy merely moves into range?
- Does Retaliate still hit if my attack pushes me out of its range?
- Does Retaliate hit a monster I control when it attacks?
- Does a figure still retaliate if the attack kills or exhausts it?
- How long does a persistent Retaliate, such as Lumbering Bash or Gnawing Horde, stay active?
- If I dismiss my Retaliate card to negate damage, does it still retaliate?
- Does negating damage with cards cover the entire hit?
- Can I lose a card from my hand to negate damage when my discard pile is empty?
- Can I negate Wound damage at the start of my turn with cards?
- Can I discard the cards I have already selected for the round to negate damage?
- Does a card that negates the next source of damage work against hazard and retaliate damage?
Active Bonuses and Card Flow
- Can I dismiss a persistent card and then use it to negate damage?
- Can I remove a persistent bonus from my active area at any time?
- Where does a persistent card go when its bonus ends?
- How long do round and persistent bonuses last?
- Does an attack or move on a card with a persistent bonus repeat each turn?
- Which half of a card must I play to get its persistent bonus?
- Can the round bonus on one half of a card and the persistent bonus on the other both be active?
- In what order do the abilities on a multi-ability card resolve?
- When does a played card move to the discard, lost pile or hand?
- If I use a card for its basic Attack 2 or Move 2, is it lost or kept?
- Is there a limit on cards in my active area?
- How does a persistent bonus that triggers once work, such as Thief's Knack?
- Does an 'enemy enters a hex within range' effect trigger if the enemy starts inside the range?
- What does the exclamation mark on an ability mean?
Push, Pull and Control
- Is push or pull mandatory, and does the target need to move in a straight line?
- Does a push need the target to be adjacent to the pusher?
- What happens if I push an enemy into a hazard or an obstacle?
- Do push and pull ignore difficult terrain?
- Does a pushed or controlled figure count as entering a new hex?
- Which modifier table and bonuses apply when I control a monster's attack?
- Can I make a flying monster I control walk through a hazard?
- In what order do controlled enemies act when I control two?
Monster Behavior
- Can a monster attack from a hex that is occupied by another figure?
- Will a monster pick an attack hex that is a hazard, or walk through a hazard?
- Will a monster step on a hazard that deals no damage, such as Poison-only terrain?
- Can monsters move through other monsters?
- Does a monster move if its movement cannot get it closer to its attack hex?
- Who chooses between equally good monster moves or hexes?
- How far does a monster move to reach attack range?
- Does a ranged monster move away from an adjacent character?
- What does a monster do if it has no valid target or cannot find an attack hex?
- What do monsters do when my character is invisible?
- Does a disarmed monster, or one with no attack, still move toward me?
- Does an elite take two turns a round, and does Wound hit it twice?
- Can a monster's ranged Strengthen target itself?
- What does a Gloomtoad do on its initiative 24 action?
- Does the Gloomtoad's ranged attack always muddle?
- How does a monster action like Attack, Move, Attack resolve in one turn?
- Does the Sewer Rat's Poison apply to all its attacks or only the second?
- Does a monster's rolled Shield or Retaliate protect it before its turn?
- Who does a monster's Heal target?
- How do monsters choose targets for positive conditions like Strengthen?
- Do a monster's abilities share a range or trigger?
- How is a monster's Poison removed?
Resting and Exhaustion
- Can I rest if I have only two cards between my hand and discard pile?
- Do all cards flip to their A side when I rest?
- Is a long rest a full turn, and when does it happen?
- Can I use items between the steps of a long rest?
- Does a long rest refresh items with the lost icon?
- When exactly am I exhausted from running out of cards?
- Do persistent cards in my active area count toward the two cards I need to rest?
- What is the maximum number of turns I get in a scenario?
- What happens if I cannot pay any card cost to negate damage?
Specific Cards and Items
- How does Rocky End count obstacles for its bonus?
- Does Rocky End target two enemies, and how does Sharpened Pencil change it?
- Where can Dirt Tornado's area be placed, and can it hit me or allies?
- How does Freezing Nova's top attack choose targets?
- How long does Freezing Nova stay active?
- Can Chromatic Explosion's wild element power its own attack?
- Does consuming ice during an attack stop Crackling Air's +2 bonus?
- Does Crackling Sun's Retaliate need Sun paid every round?
- Does Smoke Bomb's +1 apply to every attack while invisible?
- Does Watch It Burn's Poison and Wound apply to its own Attack 3?
- How long does Toxic Bolt's persistent ignore-loss effect last?
- Can Robin's Feather Arrows be used on an area or Target X attack?
- Does Skewer's area change when wind is or is not consumed?
- Why does Cragheart's Avalanche show range 1 for its push?
- Does Shield apply to Cragheart's Rock Slide?
- Do Brute Force's push and Muddle apply to every enemy it attacks?
- When does Twin Beams' active Attack 3 trigger?
- Does Mind's Weakness give its extra attack every round it stays active?
- Where does Unstoppable Charge's Muddle apply?
- Does Tanglevine Whip's Immobilize hit every target of an area attack?
- Can Ember Nettle be used after a ranged enemy attack?
- Does Rosethorn Knife's Pierce last the whole turn or one attack?
- Can Drop of Clean Water be used more than once in a turn?
- Does Drop of Stamina Potion return a discarded card to my hand?
- Can I recover a card I played earlier in the same turn?
- Which part of Parasitic Influence is the lingering one?
- What is the top icon in the leftmost column of Arena Sorcerer?
- Can Domination move one enemy and attack with another?
- Am I forced to take a controlled monster's attack against me?