Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion Imp – Overview & Strategy Guide

Hi there and welcome to another article of the “Overview & Strategy” series, in which I will speak about all the monsters in the game.

We are almost at the end of the series, with only 3 types of monsters left.

Today’s topic is dedicated to one of the most annoying enemies and that is the one and only Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion Imp.
A swarming type of monster that could give you some headaches thanks to its broad variety of abilities and specials.

There are 2 different types of Imp and I’ll write about them both: Blood Imp and Black Imp.

There will be spoilers ahead, so if you arrived at this page by mistake I’d suggest you stop reading right now.

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Blood Imp

The Blood Imp can be found in the second half of your campaign, and from there it will be a fairly common encounter.
Similarly to other monsters in the game, the Blood Imp is a swarm enemy typer that spawns in groups of 3 – 4 elements, depending on the number of players.

If this monster was a character and you wanted to place a role tag on its head, it would have taken the role of an offensive buffer and debuffer, thanks to the high utility of its ability cards deck.
I’ll cover this statement in the two following sections.

Where you can find this monster? Scenario: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.

Blood Imp Stat Cards

The Blood Imp stats are quite below average compared to the other enemies, but don’t let these numbers fool you.
This little bloody bas***d is a real pain if you can’t kill it quickly. Its innate muddle forces you to attack with disadvantage and the high base movement makes you a very easy target to reach.

The fact that this is a swarming type of monster adds another layer of difficulty when dealing with them.

On the other hand, the Blood Imp has very low hit points and if you draw some good deck modifiers it shouldn’t be too difficult to kill it.
The health statistic being this low is surely related to the need of balancing the enemy, otherwise too strong.

Blood Imp Ability Cards

Average Initiative value: 38.

First thing to notice: this Imp is damn fast. All its cards but 1 are below 50, and this is bad. Really bad.

And what’s worse is the fact that its fastest ability card is also one of the most annoying! Let’s have a deeper look at all of them starting with the less threatening.

Calculated Strike and Nothing Special are just 2 average cards, nothing too crazy here.

Cripple and Dark Charme are quite annoying as they’re multi-target ranged attacks that inflict poison and curse. Very strong cards if given to swarming types of enemies.

Restoration is a ranged healing ability that they always draw when they’re this close to death. I don’t know how they do it!

Tip the Sealers lets them earn Advantage while inflicting you Disadvantage. Buff and debuff in a single card, chapeau!

And finally, the most hated card of the whole deck, Phase Out. This card is really the MVP when it comes to stalling the turn, giving the monster an amazing Shield 5 that will likely stop all your attacks.

Strategy against Blood Imp

• Strike first (if you can) and strike hard! You have to try to kill them quickly before they draw those ability cards that will lower your chance of success.
• Inflicting negative statuses, such as poison or wound helps you to kill them faster.
• They have a very low hit points value so strike them with aoe attacks when possible and finish them off from distance.

Black Imp

The other Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion Imp is called Black Imp. It’s basically the scarier version of the Blood Imp with whom shares the ability cards deck.

This version of the Imp is much slower, but it has a couple of Specials very strong, especially given the fact that it’s a swarming enemy: innate poison and disadvantage.

Where you can find this monster? Scenario: 15, 16, 24.

Black Imp Stat Cards

Compared to the Blood Imp and the other monsters in the game, these stats are a bit of a joke.
The Hit Points value is very low and the base movement is the lowest in the whole game, as well as the attack, kind of average.

So what makes this enemy so powerful and annoying?
First of all the well-rounded ability cards deck, with a mix of ranged attacks, buffs, debuffs, shield and healing abilities. And as a secondary reason, the innate poison and the disadvantage.

Adding poison to a swarming enemy is just too strong. And that’s just the beginning as the ability cards will add other negative statuses and debuffs on top of the monster’s innate ones.

Black Imp Ability Cards

Average Initiative value: 38.

I’ve already explained this ability cards deck in the Blood Imp section, so I won’t bother you with a similar explanation of the same thing.

Something to notice here is that their innate poison status gives them +1 to all their attacks, making all these abilities much more powerful.

Strategy against Black Imp

• Try to fight them one at a time preferably at close range, to give their many ranged attacks the disadvantage malus.
• Inflicting negative statuses, such as poison or wound helps you to kill them faster.
• They have a very low hit points value so strike them with aoe attacks when possible and finish them off from distance.
• Use their low speed to your advantage by staying out of sight when you can and use the hit and run tactic. Watch out for your cards though.

This is the end of today’s monster review.
We talked about Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion Imp enemy, a very deadly and dangerous monster that will make you consider wanting to leave the game.

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in:

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion Review
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion Classes – Overview & Rank
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion – Monsters Overview