Man, good duo figures are hard to come by. Numbers 10-8 were either Super Rares or part of a $100 collectors’ set. The next three? All chase figures. And it gets no easier from here:
#4 is actually the Big Three:
Avengers Prime (Chaos War 060)
At a staggering 400 points, this duo trio figure is by far the priciest on the list. That buys you a LOT of damage potential, much of it through Duo Attack. After an opening salvo with Running Shot thanks to the Iron Man-themed Speed SP, one best uses the same power to Perplex the trio’s damage +1 to then deal out a possible 11 CLICKS in the followup Duo Attack.
Duo Attack is almost always a better play than using any of AVP’s regular powers if targets are available on the opening clicks of the 400-point dial. For the 300-pointer, it’s less of a slam dunk. For example on click 2 (or 5 on the full dial), do you opt for a single shot for 4 penetrating damage, or roll the duo dice to land a possible 7 that might get reduced? Do you Flurry for 8 or Duo for 4, hopefully KOing the target to follow up with a weaker ranged shot?
This dial has a lot of mostly wasted points on myriad abilities that can’t be used in combination, sometimes not even through the “Trio Attack” trait. And with such high cost, they’re gonna get swarmed heavily, especially since they have many of the usual peanut duo mobility issues (at least they fly, though). Nevertheless, their sheer power is enough to make them one of the best duo figs in Heroclixin’s estimation.
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#3 are the stars of New Avengers: The Reunion:
Hawkeye and Mockingbird (Chaos War 054)
Another star-crossed couple — literally, this time, as Mockingbird was once kidnapped for years by Skrulls — ranks high on the list of great duo figures. Why, especially with them having the same no-TK-no-taxi boot speed peanut base issues as so many others?
Transporter Move and Attack. This ability gives them a bit more flexibility than most for moving past enemies on the way to their real destination. The sky-high 12 AV also helps their cause in attacking.
Sharpshooter. Similarly, this gives them cleaner lines of fire for potential Duo Attacks.
Most of all, though, they’ve got a Duo-ready SP that allows ’em to replace ranged Duo Attacks with Smoke Cloud, Incapacitate or Energy Explosion. So Hawkeye can take a leading shot with Mockingbird following with Smoke Cloud to hide them from counterfire. Or they can opt to Incap a Mystic target and then Energy Explode a cluster elsewhere for much more cumulative damage than the usual -1 damage 2nd duo attack would net.
These birds’ weakness is that they have zero armor, so they will take any and all damage that gets past Super Senses. And although they start with Stealth, the peanut base prevents them from ever getting fully hidden into hindering terrain with a single move (since the “back” end of said figures must travel through the square the front end moved through — and hitting hindering terrain immediately stops movement). But with their offensive prowess and excellent Duo ability, they take the #3 spot among the top Duos of Heroclixin’.
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#2 are the stars of The Dark Knight Rises:
Batman and Catwoman (The Brave and the Bold 100)
Their AV is weaker than most others’ on the list. They’re peanut based and thus impossible to taxi or TK. They’ve got no armor, little range and a fairly hefty price point for all that weakness. Why are they the #2 Duo of Heroclixin’?
It’s all about the SP “Double Pounce.”
- It’s Leap/Climb. That circumvents any problems getting the big peanut base fully hidden to use their Batman Ally TA.
- It’s a free Duo Attack after using Leap/Climb. It’s better than Charge or Running Shot.
With Outwit to soften the target up and Willpower + Combat Reflexes to help press the attack or survive counterattacks, BatCat makes up for its weaknesses in a big way. And this is without even mentioning the ability at the start of the game to steal one of the enemy’s special objects. Batman and Catwoman earn this near-top spot of the list handily.
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Tomorrow: The number one duo figure in Heroclixin’s Top Ten and a bonus duo-related list.