I’ve been playing a Tinkerer in Gloomhaven for most a year now, and I got pretty ambitious with the little guy after a while. Most GH posts seem to talk about full-hand play, but I’ve found that for the Tink, at least, there’s a lot of play in what works.
I started off with a pretty mixed build, not knowing what I was aiming for as I leveled. Around 3rd level, however, I took a look through the full ability deck and started to plan ahead. There’s one spoiler (immediately after this paragraph) below that made a difference for me, but it’s not critical to the build.
Once I had an idea for what I wanted – a crowd controller with a lot of mobility – I could start to work on my deck with that in mind. The one thing I might have done differently is my level 2 upgrade, Stamina Booster…but by level 4 I was thinking it would be a tossup between that and Tinkerer’s Tools anyway, so…yeah.
Really thought that bottom half was gonna come in a lot more handy. 
Stellar top, solid bottom – what more could a Quatryl ask for?
That Move 4, in particular, is delicious. 
The problem with this one is you really need Hook Gun to make it work. I skipped it. But I probably would have taken it over Stamina Booster.
Flamethrower + Warhammer
Super-upgradeable, with a lot of base functionality. Once I knew my item combo, this was the anchor for my build. 
This is not what you’d call the “standard” hand item for a tinkerer, but it is a hell of a combination here.
My 100% favourite thing about my Tinkerer. Although the class is normally focused on ranged action, one of the best abilities you can get is this combo of an immediately available item with a first-level melee multi-hit ability. Even the first natural upgrade – an extra hex – is, at 66g, pretty dang cheap. And then you have a 4-hex, stunning, wounding, 3 damage, 1-4xp attack action.
If you’re looking to get really silly, you can go full Modthrower, adding Curse and Bless to the top and bottom, respectively. That’s more gold than it’s worth – and you’ll be close to retirement before you can afford it, most likely – but the next player to pick it up will have a hilariously good time.
Reinvigorating Elixir
This ability is the second amazing thing about this class, even though the specific reason it’s amazing is not really on-theme.
But there’s no arguing that using the bottom ability to give a party member the equivalent of 6 old stamina potions, or 11 new ones is nothing short of spectacular. It will make one member of your party just shy of unkillable. And again, it’s level 1.
Stun Shot
It’s fast, it stuns, it’s ranged, it has Move 4 on the bottom. What do you want, jam on it?
Net Shooter
This is the first slightly “weak” core card. The the speed is good, the top is decent, the bottom is useful…but that’s all. Still, a good addition at level 1, and it never really leaves the core.
Ink Bomb
Another weak-ish core card. Move 4 is key here, but barely – the initiative is dog slow, and while the damage is ok, it’s not really the point. Also, minus 50 DKP for no extra hexes. A good movement card with side benefits.
Rounding Out Level 1
The sad part about it is, even with 15 cards to choose from, I couldn’t fill my 12-card hand with winners. The rest of my “easy adds” are below.
Decent top and bottom, I spose? 
I like two hits and I cannot lie 
I mean…looting and trapping is still fun…? 
We didn’t have much Frost at first, so the bottom wasn’t great. It’s quite good if you do. But I wasn’t a trapper. 
That bottom sounds amazing, but it’s not, not really.
Another stamina potion-type effect, another heal, and three…useful…ranged attacks. It’s not terrible. It’s just not great.
The Leftovers
Double loss is never great 
I usually rocked either the Contraption or Proximity Mine (for the 4 move, obv), but none of these make me happy even now.
Level 2: May You not Go Wrong as I Did
As I mentioned, I originally took Stamina Booster, but I would take Disorienting Flash if I had my time back. I particularly love that dangling enhancement dot on the Target line. And the bottom is a better version of the Net Shooter, which is great. DO gets right into the core cards, pushing me up to 5 core and and easy 12.
Level 3: Face Smashing Fun
If I was more hardcore about theme, this would have been tough, but…I’m not. I like hitting things in the face hard, and Crank Bow was an easy add.
Level 4: Whole Lotta Meh’in Goin’ On.
I don’t like either of these. Dangerous Contraption has a nice move, but I have enough Move 4s at this point. Micro Bots is a bad double loss that has the sole redeeming grace of a cool name. But I would take either of the lower-level cards over either of these, albeit as part of the pool of “useful, but not core” possibilities. As mentioned, in my case because of earlier decisions I ended up with Stamina Booster.
Level 5 (which is also Level 6)
One nice thing about looking ahead is you can plan for things. I knew before I hit level 5 that I wanted both level 5 cards, and I didn’t care about losing the nifty-but-not-my-style cards at level 6 to get them. I took Disintegration Beam first, because I liked the bottom even more than the top, but it doesn’t matter that much with this build – Noxious Vials is probably the better card of the two, and it knocks Volatile Concotion for a loop as far as general utility goes – although if you really wanted to go Full Ham on keeping your allies at MAXIMUM POWER, taking both and some mana pots would be amazing.
Level 7 and Beyond
I’m not this far along, but 7 is an easy call – Curative Aerosol is the only top move, and it is just a fun ability. After that, things get weird. I’m inclined to take Jet Propulsion if I get that far, but it’s a silly ability in a lot of ways, and I would be sorely tempted to grief my teammates a little with it. And then Chimeric Formula is legendary for its bottom silliness, but I cannot imagine a scenario where I’m not already retired before I get it.
Perks
We got most of our bonus perks pretty quickly, so by level 6 I had 10. I’m not 100% certain, but I believe my order was
- Remove two -1s
- Remove two -1s
- Add one Add Target
- Add one +1 Heal Self 2
- Add one +1 Wound
- Add one +3
- Add one +1 Wound
- Add 3 rolling Muddles
- Ignore Negative Scenario Effects
- Replace -2 with +0
It was pretty obvious that getting the negatives out was the all-around best option here. With a control-focused build, adding a target is the next-best thing, though now that I look at it, I probably should have added that first. Removing the -2 should have come earlier as well. And then, with downsides minimized, getting some rolling control cards in there makes sense. But even with non-optimal choices, this was a good order that gave me a lot of extra effectiveness, especially with my Eagle Eye Goggles going.
Items
Eagle Eye Goggles, as the class guide suggests, are clinch for this class. The two potions are nice, but it’s the Warhammer that really makes this build for me. There are a few other classes that like having it, but if you can get it…Highly Recommended!
So fast 
So many pockets! 
The first two are nice-to-haves. They make a huge difference in opening up the class’s playstyle, but they’re not critical most of the time. Stun Powder is obviously nice and on-theme once you have access…but Moon Earring, which I only just got, promises to really make life better. More Rocket Boots, more Goggles. More of what is already great about this kit. And with those two additions, the Cloak comes into its own.
So that’s my Tinkerer. What do you think? Would you make different calls? Do you like that Flamethrower combo as much as I do?