We talked a lot a few posts back about the changes as we learned of them. Now we’re looking at all the powers and abilities to see what’s better and what’s worse in HeroClix 3.0.
UPDATE: The full Comprehensive Rules finally got released. And yes, a few more changes were revealed.
It’s a lot, so let’s get into it.
SPEED POWERS
FLURRY: BUFFED. Benefits from new general rule allowing multiple targets in melee.
F.U.N. or nah? We said a few posts ago that getting to split the damage of both attacks to, for example, clear out a swarm of pogs, could be great F.U.N. OK with this change.
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LEAP/CLIMB: NERFED. Lost little-used ability to attack different elevation and has no more +2 breakaway bonus. But it also gets a slight BUFF by effectively ignoring Plasticity (normal breakaway roll, Improved Movement: Movethrough) and comboing with other movement powers such as Sidestep, if applicable.
F.U.N. or nah? This is overall positive in our book … when combined with other Speed and movement powers. But on its own, L/C continues to be one of the more useless PAC powers in existence, probably leading to its benching. Our F.U.N. Fix for it: Make it also do the old Vault feat, something like this: “After this character makes a close attack, place it in any square adjacent to the target.”
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PHASING/TELEPORT: No inherent change, but BUFFED as one of a number of powers resistant to Plasticity. Just having Phasing means easier breakaway from Plasticity, even if you’re not activating it.
F.U.N. or nah? Phasing was already perfect.
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EARTHBOUND/NEUTRALIZED: Mildly BUFFED by loss of pushing damage…but not really a boost at all because it’s supposed to be a drawback.
F.U.N. or nah? Ehhh, we would have left this power as the one remaining method of doing “pushing damage” … something like “deal this character 1 unavoidable damage when it gets a 2nd action token.”
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CHARGE: BUFFED by a few new power combos and multi-targets in melee. NERFED by loss of knockback immunity.
F.U.N. or nah? I’m perfectly happy with Charge figs being able to be knocked back, especially with the loss of knockback damage. And it is super duper F.U.N. to get more options for the power as well.
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MIND CONTROL: BUFFED by minimum range increase from 4 to 6. Also, a BUNCH of new powers are available for the controlled character: Quake, Incap, Exploit Weakness, Blades/Claws/Fangs, Penetrating/Psychic Blast, RCE, CCE, Leap/Climb
F.U.N. or nah? I’ve been a fan of the 2017 Mind Control from the start, and this only makes it better.
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PLASTICITY: NERFED. No longer stops Improved Movement: Movethrough at all, whereas before it could stop all but bigger characters. Also doesn’t stack anymore or prevent auto-breakaway.
F.U.N. or nah? Honestly, Plasticity was a little too powerful until now. It was fine when the likes of Hypersonic Speed needed a hard counter besides Outwit, but it did too much to everything else and could really muck up the works with all the weird calculations when you had multiple Plasticity against, say, Leap/Climb.
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FORCE BLAST: BUFFED by new minimum range of 6 instead of adjacency. But NERFED by loss of knockback damage.
F.U.N. or nah? I never thought I’d say this, but I’m looking forward to using Force Blast! It’s still highly situational — possibly more than ever with knockback damage going away (we still think falling damage should have been a thing) — but with far fewer figs immune to knockback now, this power is a great defensive skill. Shove that melee fig three squares back! Knock the enemy shooter out of its range!
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SIDESTEP: No change, but combos with the new Leap/Climb and the hindering change for a mild BUFF.
F.U.N. or nah? Will be nice, as a judge, to no longer have to field player questions about how Sidestep out of hindering terrain works.
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HYPERSONIC SPEED: BUFFED by a host of new power combos (Quake, Incap, Exploit Weakness, Blades/Claws/Fangs, Penetrating/Psychic Blast are all options plus passive powers RCE/CCE) but NERFED with loss of +2 Breakaway bonus (though it can still break from Plasticity on a normal 4-6 roll).
F.U.N. or nah? Once the king of offense powers, Hypersonic’s crown has tarnished over the years. But here comes the polish with these new combos. With that tradeoff, I’m OK with HSS losing its enhanced breakaway skills, making tie-up figs its main hard counter — a far cry from the old days of HeroClix where a HSS fig could take a lead and just run away for a whole game. Gonna be F.U.N.
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STEALTH: NERFED by hindering change because boot speed enemies no longer get slowed by the green terrain and adjacent foes can still draw line of fire. UPDATE: Also harder to use without heavy objects.
F.U.N. or nah? Once upon a time, Stealth was practically impenetrable defense. Now it’s MUCH more in scale with its cheap price — but at what cost? I’m OK with it because I have bad reflections of how it used to be.
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RUNNING SHOT: Mildly BUFFED by a few new combos and expansions of powers.
F.U.N. or nah? This is a good change for what has always been one of the best powers.
ATTACK POWERS
BLADES/CLAWS/FANGS: BUFFED by being triggered by any close attack, so it combos with Close Combat Expert, Hypersonic Speed, and other single-target attacks, even FREE ones.
F.U.N. or nah? It was always a nice balance for BCF to be tied to a CLOSE action, but probably an unnecessary one. We’re here for it.
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ENERGY EXPLOSION: BUFFED by new combos with Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Precision Strike.
F.U.N. or nah? This one makes us nervous. The 2017 change to Energy Explosion struck the perfect balance between the power’s modest cost and its effectiveness. Making it penetrating damage seems a bit much. We’ll be watching.
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PULSE WAVE: Heavily NERFED to only dealing 1 damage ever. But we think it needs clarification. Here’s why:
Outgoing 2017 version:
PULSE WAVE — RANGE: Halve range, [Improved Targeting: Characters, Adjacent]. Other characters within range can’t use powers or abilities (for this action). Make a range attack targeting all other characters, at least one of which must be opposing, within range and line of fire using their printed defense values. If more than one character is targeted, each hit character is dealt 1 damage instead of normal damage.
Upcoming 2021 version:
PULSE WAVE — RANGE: Halve range, [Improved Targeting: Characters, Adjacent]. Other characters within range can’t use powers or abilities (for this action). Make a range attack targeting all other characters within range and line of fire, including at least 1 opposing character, using printed defense values for each targeted character. If 1+ characters were targeted, each hit character is dealt 1 damage instead.
“Instead” … of WHAT? What is that word even DOING there if there’s no other condition where the power would do anything else “instead”? Just make it this:
PULSE WAVE — RANGE: Halve range, [Improved Targeting: Characters, Adjacent]. Other characters within range can’t use powers or abilities (for this action). Make a range attack targeting all other characters within range and line of fire, including at least 1 opposing character, using printed defense values for each targeted character. Each hit character is dealt 1 damage instead of normal damage.
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QUAKE: BUFFED by new combos with Exploit Weakness, Hypersonic Speed (and while being Mind Controlled) due to it no longer being a CLOSE action and its ability to knock back more foes (thanks to Charge and Combat Reflexes changes) and the passive KNOCKBACK keyphrase effectively allowing single-target Quake (sort of). NERFED by loss of knockback damage. (ISSUE: As written, knockback works with range attacks.)
F.U.N. or nah? As with Energy Explosion, the multi-penetrating damage is troubling. But not nearly as much. Here for it.
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SUPER STRENGTH: NERFED by loss of both knockback damage and heavy object damage. Mildly BUFFED by being the only figs able to attack with heavy objects and the changes to Charge and Combat Reflexes. UPDATE: Heavy objects no longer hinder line of fire, so even the ability to reposition them to aid against enemy shooters is lost. I originally missed text on the PAC that indicates heavies still hinder LOF. My thanks to reader James who reminded me that this info was still incorrect in this post!
F.U.N. or nah? It’s definitely a shift toward the power being more a utility power than an attacking one. And with the change to heavies, this power indeed has gone from being one of the best to becoming what high-level player PJ Bolin calls the worst standard power in HeroClix. I hate this change.
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INCAPACITATE: Heavily NERFED by loss of damage ability. Mildly BUFFED by new combo with HSS, Mind Control (on the controlled fig).
F.U.N. or nah? Heroclixin’ is split on this. Taylor thinks the power is more accurate than ever now, while I have long thought Incap was more like InCRAP. But the new combos might actually make it more generally useful rather than just that situational way to get around Mystics.
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PENETRATING/PSYCHIC BLAST: BUFFED by new combos with EE, HSS and MC.
F.U.N. or nah? It’s always been good. Only gets better.
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SMOKE CLOUD: NERFED by hindering change. BUFFED with minimum range boost.
F.U.N. or nah? Long a pretty situational power unless it was a FREE version, it’s worse than ever now that it can’t hinder figures’ movement. I hoped it might retain some of its control factor with an increase to the attack penalty for enemies, but no.
That said, the range boost will make it more useful for other things. UPDATE: And with the change to heavy objects, it’s become the only way to get hindering terrain not dependent on the map choice. Not really a buff, but it’s become a little bit more important now.
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PRECISION STRIKE: BEEFED by loss of single target restriction.
F.U.N. or nah? It doesn’t really make sense that one ought to be able to precisely strike multiple targets (unless you’re Cyclops like in the image), especially since this combines with decidedly IMprecise attacks like Quake or Energy Explosion. But at least it still doesn’t completely nullify Super Senses or Mastermind like it did when introduced in 2013, so we’ll take this compromise version.
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POISON: No change.
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STEAL ENERGY: No change.
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TELEKINESIS: NERFED. Lost both attack options, now only for moving objects and allies.
F.U.N. or nah? Even though it was almost never worth using for object attacks, I STILL want it to be Darth Vader TK. Loss of heavy-object-hindering-LOF makes it even less useful.
DEFENSE POWERS
SUPER SENSES: NERFED by Precision Strike being usable with multiple targets again.
F.U.N. or nah? This isn’t the backbreaker to the power that 2013 P.Strike was. And with certain effects expanding Senses’ potential effectiveness (looking at you, Wonder Woman TA and equipment), this is maybe a needed counter.
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TOUGHNESS: NERFED by Precision Strike and Penetrating/Psychic Blast’s multi-targeting potential.
F.U.N. or nah? This armor power is more situational than ever now. But still better to have than to not have.
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DEFEND: No change.
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COMBAT REFLEXES: NERFED by loss of knockback immunity.
F.U.N. or nah? With the loss of knockback damage, this was no longer needed, so I’m glad it’s gone.
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ENERGY SHIELD/DEFLECTION: No change.
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BARRIER: BUFFED by loss of pushing, boost to minimum range and new ability to generate on water, hindering terrain.
F.U.N. or nah? Man, Heroclixin’ lobbied for the Barrier-on-all-terrain change years ago before we decided it maybe needed the counter of, say, Smoke Cloud to prevent it. But it’s been a long time coming.
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MASTERMIND: No change.
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WILLPOWER: BUFFED by potential to never stop costed actions.
F.U.N. or nah? I haven’t been excited to see purple in the defense slot … ever. But now I am.
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INVINCIBLE: NERFED by loss of 3 damage cap.
F.U.N. or nah? With the loss of Perplexed damage, this might not be a killer, as it’ll be a lot harder to rack up much more than 5 damage anyway. F.U.N.
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IMPERVIOUS: NERFED by the new multi-targeting potential of Exploit Weakness and Precision Strike as well as Penetrating/Psychic Blast’s new availability to all range attacks.
F.U.N. or nah? I suppose since there are fewer massive solo damage attacks likely to happen, smaller ping damage needs to have some effect. So … both, maybe?
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REGENERATION: BUFFED by loss of pushing damage.
F.U.N. or nah? Man, we always hated the fact that Regen ever had the potential to self-kill. The 2017 rules made that at least an impossibility. Now, with the absence of pushing, Regen is better than ever — you ALWAYS heal from it (unless you’re on a STOP click).
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INVULNERABILITY: NERFED by the new multi-targeting potential of Exploit Weakness and Precision Strike as well as Penetrating/Psychic Blast’s new availability to all range attacks.
F.U.N. or nah? See Impervious
DAMAGE POWERS
RANGED COMBAT EXPERT: BUFFED by becoming a passive effect against characters and terrain/objects rather than a dedicated POWER action.
F.U.N. or nah? We’ve long liked the flexible stat boosts, but we did not like that it didn’t combo with, well, anything. Now it gives powers such as Running Shot or Penetrating/Psychic Blast or Hypersonic Speed a boost, works with multi-targets, and basically becomes so much easier to use, making it Friendly to new players AND Useful to all, and it’s Nerdcore to boot.
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BATTLE FURY: BUFFED by new immunity to anything similar to Incap.
F.U.N. or nah? Actually pretty unchanged.
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SUPPORT: No change.
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EXPLOIT WEAKNESS: BUFFED by new combos with HSS and Quake and more.
F.U.N. or nah? I used to appreciate the choice of Flurry -OR- EW, but I will not miss having to answer the question of whether the two are compatible. They are; you can use both.
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ENHANCEMENT: BUFFED by change to Perplex and combos with Range Destroy actions.
F.U.N. or nah? I grew tired of reminding players that the power didn’t work on shooting walls and stuff. Never made sense why not. Glad for this change.
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PROBABILITY CONTROL: No change.
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SHAPE CHANGE: No change.
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CLOSE COMBAT EXPERT: BUFFED, becoming a passive effect against characters and terrain/objects rather than a dedicated POWER action.
F.U.N. or nah? We’ve long liked the flexible CCE stat boosts, but we did not like that it didn’t combo with, well, anything. Now it gives powers such as Charge or Object Attack or Hypersonic Speed a boost, works with multi-targets, and basically becomes so much easier to use, making it Friendly to new players AND Useful to all, and it’s Nerdcore to boot.
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EMPOWER: BUFFED by change to Perplex and combos with Close Destroy actions.
F.U.N. or nah? I grew tired of reminding players that the power didn’t work on punching walls and stuff. Never made sense why not. Many hands make light work (of demolishing walls).
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PERPLEX: NERFED. Lost effect on damage.
F.U.N. or nah? I talked about this before, but to restate: When I started playing HeroClix nearly 16 years ago, the very name and nature of this power bugged me. How in the world does one confuse an ally to hit harder? Isn’t “perplexing” something you’d do to an enemy?
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OUTWIT: BUFFED by change in Stealth to be targetable by adjacent characters.
F.U.N. or nah? This is the No. 1 dumb rule I am glad I won’t have to explain to new players anymore. Though I could rationalize the reason, it was always a reach as to why Stealth was so doggone impenetrable.
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LEADERSHIP: No change.
F.U.N. or nah? Perhaps more essential than ever, with Empower and Enhancement pieces needing to get into position to boost damage unlike Perplexers who could park in a good LOF spot to affect the battlefield.
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And some other PAC stuff:
INHERENT ABILITIES
CARRY: BUFFED. No penalty, carry vehicles and fliers
F.U.N. or nah? I always liked the fact that Running Shooters or Chargers had to decide whether to carry or to go their full halved speed. But this game is so littered with other tough decisions that I now welcome one less.
Carrying fliers, though? NOT A FAN. The only time a flier gets carried is either by a vehicle or a Green Lantern or if they’re unconscious. I’m sure I’m in the minority in hating this new-old rule return.
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DESTROY ACTIONS: BUFFED with Empower, Enhancement, and the Combat Experts.
F.U.N. or nah? Yes, please. While I could always justify the reasons for other powers not being compatible with Destroy Actions, this is better.
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OBJECT ACTIONS: NERFED by loss of heavy damage.
F.U.N. or nah? Not crazy about this. Super Strength has long had problems being the great power it should be, and this only deepens those problems.
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GREAT SIZE: BUFFED with 66% chance of acting when double tokened.
F.U.N. or nah? Uhhhh … wow. This stands some chance of being, on balance, better than Colossal Stamina ever was. I particularly like how it gives giants, long one of my favorite game mechanics, a new edge to make up for the fact that they’re so often targets.
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INDOMITABLE: Completely gone with the no more pushing change. Heavily BUFFS every previous non-Indom figure. Slightly NERFS every formerly Indom figure.
F.U.N. or nah? Initially we were skeptical. But the cost of a few figures losing their special-ness compared to the vast majority becoming viable for perhaps the first time ever excites us. And it’s not like the Indom figs got any worse, actually. Only high-point tentpoles will feel this negatively.
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IMPROVED MOVEMENT: HINDERING: Gone with change to hindering.
F.U.N. or nah? The more I think about this, the more I absolutely LOVE IT.
No longer having to go the long way around a patch of hindering, or breaking a wall only to have to dead stop in the debris, being able to hide in Stealth and Charge full speed from the spot … It’s got me feeling like Rock Lee after he got to take the weights off.
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IMPROVED MOVEMENT: MOVE THROUGH: BUFFED after Plasticity nerf.
F.U.N. or nah? We’re neutral on this change. Not much is different.
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SWIM: BUFFED with no vulnerability to range beyond 4 squares when in water. Slightly NERFED by water terrain no longer affecting movement.
F.U.N. or nah? Given that dolphin symbol characters usually don’t have range, this is definitely a boon to them.
TEAM ABILITIES
One got revamped. Others, affected by the new ruleset.
BUFFED
AVENGERS / JUSTICE LEAGUE / UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS: No speed penalty for passengers means taxis have a net +1 speed on MOVE actions.
GREEN LANTERN / UNDERWORLD: Can now also carry fliers; No speed penalty for any number of passengers.
COSMIC ENERGY / POWER COSMIC / QUINTESSENCE / Q CONTINUUM: All get Willpower’s ability to remove own token.
OUTSIDERS: With the Combat Experts working more broadly, this TA’s effect gains more relevance.
S.H.I.E.L.D.: With the easy Perplex-to-damage move gone, this TA’s POWER effect gains more relevance.
MASTERS OF EVIL: Works like close combat version of Hydra/PD; a boon to this melee-heavy team
NERFED
MASTERS OF EVIL: Lost Colossal Stamina. Range fighters don’t benefit and are likely hurt due to adjacency requirement.
ULTIMATES / AVENGERS INITIATIVE / SUPERMAN ALLY: The movement through hindering part is gone.
BATMAN ALLY / ROMULAN STAR EMPIRE / KABUKI: Stealth is non-functional against adjacent foes, assuming LOF is not otherwise blocked.
NEW
WONDER WOMAN: Like Skrulls but for Super Senses instead of Shape Change.
THEMED TEAMS
BUFF
- No difference between generic and named teams anymore. Both get all theme team bonuses.
- Theme prob no longer gives tokens and you don’t need the keyword anymore, just be on the team (a la bystanders or figs such as Prez).
- No minimum number of characters.
NERF
- Theme prob is max of 3, not 5.
- Initiative bonus is effectively limited to rule of three. So if your opponent has 7 themed characters and you only have 2, his roll is maxxed out at +3 (I think. I am still a little confused how this works when it’s theme vs. theme).
Unfortunately, none of this gives my “BIG BRIGHT YELLOW BOOTS” themed team any of the bonuses.
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Finally: A number of Additional Team Abilities are affected, too. But that’s way too much to include in this article. Just figure them out for yourselves.
Or maybe I’ll do a future article on it. ATAs are for F.U.N. Golden Age games, after all … and we’re all about F.U.N.
