Flying, Jumping, and Difficult Terrain — Monster vs Player Rules in Gloomhaven

Movement in Gloomhaven isn’t just “walk up to things and hit them.” Certain abilities and terrain types interact with movement in unique ways that can matter strategically, especially when monsters are involved or when you’re trying to thread the needle through a tricky obstacle course. In this guide we’ll break down how flying, jumping, and difficult terrain affect movement for both players and monsters.

Flying — What It Means and Who Has It

Flying is a special trait that appears on some monster stat cards. A figure with the Flying trait:

• Ignores all figures and terrain tiles during movement, including obstacles.
• Is not hindered by difficult terrain.
• Can move freely over traps, difficult terrain, obstacles, and other figures.
• Must still end movement in an unoccupied hex.
• Can ignore these effects even on forced movement like pushes/pulls.

Example (Flying)

If a flying monster has a Move 3, it can move in a straight line over obstacles and traps as if none of those things were there — it just looks for the shortest path to where it wants to stop. Only the end hex needs to be empty of figures.

That means flying monsters don’t get “stuck” behind obstacles like non-flying creatures do — which can make them much harder to position against in tight corridors.

Jumping — When and How It Works

Jumping is a movement modifier on certain cards (player or monster) that lets a figure move ignoring figures and terrain for most of the move — but it has one important caveat:

• A jump moves over obstacles, figures, and difficult terrain as if they weren’t there.
• However, the last hex you land on from a jump must obey normal movement rules. This includes:
  • paying movement cost for difficult terrain
  • triggering traps or other hazards if you actually land on them
    (They don’t trigger on the hexes you fly over.)

Example (Jumping)

If you jump 4 hexes and the final hex is difficult terrain, that last hex cost still counts as if you were walking into it normally — meaning you must have enough movement to enter it.

Jumping does not let you decide mid-move which squares to ignore — you decide to jump at the start of the move and it applies to the whole movement ability.

Difficult Terrain — Not as Bad as You Think (But Still Costly)

Difficult terrain is normal terrain that costs extra movement to enter:

• Entering difficult terrain costs 2 movement points instead of 1 — unless a special movement rule applies.

What counts as difficult terrain?

Common examples include:

• Water hexes
• Rubble
• Cracks
• Other scenario-specified terrain types

These slow movement because you need two movement points to step into the hex.

Monster Movement & Difficult Terrain

Monsters treat difficult terrain a little differently than players:

• A monster’s pathfinding aims to use the least total movement to reach an attack position.
• They do not avoid difficult terrain simply because it’s difficult terrain — unlike hazardous hexes like traps, difficult terrain does not count as “negative” terrain for monsters.
• That means if a monster can take the shortest path through difficult terrain, it will — even if there was a longer path that avoided it.

Example (Monster & Difficult Terrain)

A monster that needs to go 2 hexes to reach its focus might walk straight through a difficult hex (counting it as two movement points) if that path overall is shorter than a long route around it.

Forced Movement & Terrain

Forced movement effects like Push or Pull interact with terrain based on the type of movement being applied:

• Forced movement ignores difficult terrain costs — you don’t pay extra movement to be pushed or pulled into or through it.
• For players, this matters because traps or hazardous terrain can be triggered when forced onto them, whereas the cost to enter difficult terrain doesn’t matter for forced movement.

Quick Table Rules

• Flying figures completely ignore terrain and figures when moving — as long as they can end on an empty hex.
• Jump ignores terrain and figures during movement, but the last hex must obey normal rules (including difficult terrain costs or trap triggers).
• Difficult terrain always costs extra to enter normally — but doesn’t block movement.
• Monsters don’t prefer avoiding difficult terrain unless it makes their total movement longer than another path.
• Forced movement doesn’t pay terrain costs — it just moves characters where they’re pushed or pulled.

Common Confusions

• “Flying monsters shouldn’t trigger traps” — correct: traps and hazards are ignored while flying.
• “Jump avoids difficult hex costs” — not quite — it ignores terrain during movement but still must land by normal rules.
• “Monsters avoid difficult terrain like traps” — no: only hazardous terrain and traps count as negative for monsters; difficult terrain does not.
• If there is contiguous difficult terrian I only incur the penalty to move into the difficult “area” - no: you pay extra movement for each difficult terrian hex you enter.

Why it Matters

Understanding these rules:

• Helps you move smarter through complex terrain
• Lets you plan positioning against monsters that might fly or jump
• Makes forced movement effects (push/pull) more strategic
• Reduces rules confusion during tense combat rounds