Heroclixin' ...it's all about F.U.N.

No. 1

Ghost Rider [ASM 046]

Usually, a Heroclix figure has one or more weaknesses built into it. It’s just a fact of design; with limited materials, one can only get limited results.

For instance, there’s a position out there that humans’ difficulty in childbirth is an argument for evolution and against God’s creation because He would have made it easier while the messiness of evolution from being four-footed animals to bipeds accounts for the imperfect delivery method. But this position doesn’t consider that the bipedal woman’s delivery canal must, by necessity, fight against gravity for all nine months of the gestation period. Otherwise, accidental premature birth would be a danger every time a pregnant woman squatted to do, well, anything.

The point is that  even a perfect God has to design within the limits of matter.

And moreover, not everything is designed to DO everything. Character accuracy factors a lot in adding weaknesses to HeroClix dials. Hence, the lack of damage reduction for Question or Cerise or Brother Voodoo are appropriate. Some figs lack range, or moving attack ability. Some are just too much of a team and so lack the action advantage that swarms can leverage.

But sometimes, even within the limits of design, you still get that one nigh-perfect figure. And in 2013, Ghost Rider is that figure.

Unlike so much of the Top Ten, he is:

• well-armored with Invulnerability and 18 DV
• Well-priced as a tentpole at 145 points, leaving ample room for a secondary fighter or supporter or both
• Armed with lots of mobile attack options with good AV
• Able to get in attacks and damage every turn via a) Indomitable, b) his Living Hellfire Chain SP and/or Poison and c) the Heroes For Hire ATA, if so equipped
• bearing the Mystics TA to deter a lot of attacks
• Able to taxi his help as a Transporter.

This is a piece with no weakness. No blind spot. Nothing that requires a relic or resource to truly cover. And it’s deservedly the top piece of last year.

No. 2

Question [WizKids D-008]

A recurring theme in Heroclixin’s 2013 Top Ten is flexibility: The best figs are those able to adjust to the needs of the matchup or the turn or the action. No figure this year does so better than Question. At the minor cost of some power showing on his dial that he’s not even using, he gets to use any OTHER power he has on his card, via his “Past Lives” trait. So most of the time, on click #1, he’s ditching Smoke Cloud for:

• Stealth, for safety until he Charges later with ease thanks to Improved Movement: Hindering/Elevated, 0r
• Plasticity, to keep an opponent locked down and dealing with his Combat Reflexes+Mystics TA deterrent, or
• Incap, to deal with the enemy’s actions, or
• Super Senses, to dodge attacks, or
• Shape Change, to prevent attacks in the first place, or
• Toughness, if damage is coming from, say Poison, or
• Flurry, to combo with his opening Charge and 3+ damage [thanks, SP Perplex] or
• Close Combat Expert, for maximum melee ability in base

On top of all that, his SP Perplex grants him double use of the power on different targets and forces enemies to burn a power action to use their OWN Perplex in turn. At just 100 points, he’s not taking up much of your team at all.

With his only weaknesses being a lack of range and armor, the Question has an answer for most any situation he faces, any time, and it’s why he’s almost Heroclixin’s top figure of the year.

Honorable Mention:

Arwen [Fellowship of the Ring], with her lonnnng dial and 18 Defend and Plasticity+Carry SP and lots of Exploit Weakness and Reflexes, is a solid figure even without the defining Epic Action trait, “I Call On The Loudwater!” that allows her to freely and repeatedly damage whole teams sometimes from her own starting area. She’d be a Top Ten figure — perhaps THE top figure — if not for her falling outside multiple stipulations for making Heroclixin’s list.

For the most part, none of these Honorable Mentions have been listed in any real sort of order; one called out on the No. 9 post is no better than the rest. Except for this one: Deadshot [Arkham Origins 016]. With a sky-high AV and excellent damage and Stealth and Sharpshooter and RCE and the ability to score bonus points and anti-Stealth and self-Prob and Indom and double target EE and even more, he almost feels like a steal at 150 points. But, of course, 150 is NOT a steal, especially for a wild card who’ll need some good TAs to draw on. Still…darn good fig that’s darn near Top Ten material.

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Finally, next time: The top banana.

No. 3

Cerise [WATX 023b]

60 points buys you a figure that is:

• A superb support for ranged allies thanks to Police TA and Enhancement. But she needn’t be only thus, because she’s…
• An attacker with 11 AV and Running Shot and Penetrating/Psychic Blast and, sometimes, Energy Shield/Deflection, thanks to her trait giving her her choice between it, Empower and Blades/Claws/Fangs. With only 5 range, though, she’s not going be a main sniper and will get based soon. But fear not. She’s also…
• A great tie-up character due to Combat Reflexes and, sometimes, Blades/Claws/Fangs (i.e., when she no longer has need of ES/D). And on those turns when she isn’t free to act due to pushing or tokens, she’s…
• A good support for melee fighters thanks to, sometimes, her Empower.
• She’s also a decent taxi amidst all these roles.

60 points is a pittance to pay for all this. More than almost any figure in the game, inclusion of Cerise on a team makes the rest of the team better AND she’s very capable on her own. No. 3 HeroClix of 2013.

Honorable Mention:

Batman [Batman Classic TV 001] gets a nod because he starts with Outwit and Perplex, two of the key “pit crew” abilities, Precision Strike, a trait making most of his doubles rolls into critical hits, and, most especially, his defense power “A Batman Tool For Every Occasion” giving him use of a defense power based on the color of an attacker’s standard power. THAT’S NUTS. So if he’s targeted by, say, Mandarin [Avengers 061] on click #2, who has use of Energy Explosion, Incapacitate, Mind Control, Willpower, Outwit, Barrier, Force Blast, Quake, Smoke Cloud, and Telekinesis, Batman can get:

• Toughness, to soften the blow
• Barrier, to build walls on his next turn
• Willpower, to push freely next turn
• Regeneration, to heal next turn if he’s hurt
• Combat Reflexes, for better melee defenses next turn
• Invulnerability, to REALLY soften the Mandarin’s blow

Because this is a defense power and he’s a rare Batman without Stealth, it’s vulnerable to Outwit, keeping him well off the list. But like many an Honorable Mention, he’s just a relic or resource away from being strong.

Deathstroke [AO 020] is the beefiest version of the character yet at 195 points. That high cost coupled with a fairly short range holds him down off the Top Ten and relegates him to also-ran status as he’s a tad outmatched in his own weight class — especially being a big wild card that needs a helpful team ability to leech from but only has about 100 points to get it. Despite all that, this is a monster of a figure that can win some games even as a tentpole with careful team construction and play.

No. 4

Brother Voodoo [ASM 017b]

One of the earlier Prime figures, BV shows why they’re not allowed in multiples. The brother brings a lot to the table. First, there’s his free Mind Control as long as he has a single action token, allowing him to move his whole speed — with ease thanks to Phasing/Teleport — and use the power. He doesn’t take feedback damage and both he AND his target get +1 AV for the MC action. With him packing Probability Control top-dial as well, he’s not likely to miss his shot(s) at screwing with your team.

He lacks Willpower but doesn’t really need it, as he can use his free MC  next turn without gaining a 2nd token. Bro. V can literally use Mind Control every. Single. Turn.

Basing him seems like a decent counter, then; force him to only attack the single target. But that’s risky because he has a Special Power giving him use of Poison and Smoke Cloud, the latter for free when he’s based. And as mentioned before, he has Phasing/Teleport, so basing him is a temporary maneuver, anyhow.

Hitting him is a problem, too, what with his Super Senses+PC duo up top and a Stealth+Perplex+Combat Reflexes combo down his dial.

On top of everything else, he’s a candidate for ATAs for Howling Commandos, SHIELD and above all Heroes For Hire (which, post-Watch List, doesn’t really do all that much for him, admittedly — and that’s why he was left otherwise untouched after his inclusion on said list).

Mind Control is about all he does, though, so it’s hard to rank him higher on the Top Ten, even with his late-life Exploit Weakness. But there’s no question that he deserves this No. 4 slot in Heroclixin’s estimation.

Honorable Mention

Spiral [WATX] might have topped this year’s candidates pre-Watch List for being able to deliver the queen of all alpha strike tactics on top of being a solid figure besides. But even before the announcement that her “Dimensional Portal” trait would receive errata consigning it into oblivion as anything other than a slow evac move, many a Spiral found herself stranded on the far end of the map away from all the action, basically unable to use the formidable non-trait portion of her dial. Or she would eventually get into the fight but already a click down and lacking any armor to withstand any hits. Now that the temptation to use her portals is gone, she’s only one of the better balanced figs in the game — starting with Phasing, Pulse Wave and Prob with a latter-half shift to Charge+Flurry+Reflexes+Shape Change.

Hope Summers [WATX 040] is a total weenie, stats-wise, and utterly dependent on other figures to be strong, so she doesn’t rate true Top Ten status. But when one considers she’s not limited to friendly characters or standard powers to use with her Attack SP, it becomes apparent there’s no limit to what she can accomplish.

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Next: Another chick.

No. 5

Silver Centurion [Invincible Iron Man 001b]

So there’s this trait called “Pulse Bolt Torpedo” that’s essentially the opposite of the pre-Watch List Spiral/teambase alpha strike rushdown. Where those teams could attack during round 1 or 2 and there was nothing the enemy could do about it, with this new ability Silver C. can get a nice big attack in the mid-game and there’s precious little the enemy can do about it.

• The Torpedo can’t be detonated early.
• It can’t be avoided forever, as it moves as a free action.
• It ignores characters for movement.
• Its stats can be modified by modifying Silver Centurion’s.

So the Torpedo is there to stay, dictating the pace of the game and ruining enemy positioning strats until S.C.’s gone. That’s when one runs into the other reason S.C. is the No. 5 HeroClix of 2013. For just over half your team build, he’s a good cracking piece with strong stats, strong armor and a trait of immunity to the “EZ-P” powers: Penetrating/Psychic Blast, Poison and Pulse Wave. With his Impervious, top-dial Shape Change (and Stealth just a single push away), dealing with S.C. before his Torpedo deals with you is no simple task.
Honorable Mention

Kid Flash [Teen Titans 039] is soft and lacks the long-term stats to be considered a Top Ten figure. But he remains the one surefire character able to get the alpha strike every time due to his SP allowing him to get placed, attack, and then get re-placed within LOF of the target he just tried to sock.

Gambit [WATX 031] didn’t make the Top Ten proper because he lacks the moving attack and/or Willpower a piece at his 118 cost ought to have to start. Add to that his conditional Stealth ability, and he deservedly slides off the list. But the sheer damage output he can deal with a light object can’t be overlooked or understated. In the hands of a skilled player who can get around his built-in weaknesses, Gumbo can steal a lot of points.

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Next: A Watch Lister who stayed a top piece any dang way.

Heroclixin’ usually takes a break for the weekend. But not this time. Straight on ’til morning!

No. 6

Dracula [Amazing Spider-Man 016]
Dracula [Fear Itself 028]

These literal monster tentpoles are sort of a tie and sort of the same piece, just each with a slight difference in play style and focus.

The older Drac is a Stealthed Charging brick of the first order, one that, thanks to the “wild dial” mechanic, gets markedly better with traited Steal Energy from his starting click. But the lord of the vampires makes the list with his late dial SP granting him free action Regen AND a free choice of Combat Reflexes or ES/Deflection even if he heals off the power. A modest Regen roll puts him on solid Flurry+BCF clicks, which facilitates the possibility of him Stealing Energy all the way to his top click.

A trait to get Mind Control against foes he’s hit or Monsters and Animals is just gravy on this steak.

The newer Dracula adds 6 points of cost for an opening SP of Stealth+Charge+Flurry. So he’s a bit more vulnerable to Outwit (but not really, with Stealth) than his brother but far more aggressive with his Steal Energy trait to potentially reach his peak power in half the time.

The trade-off for his extreme aggro ability is that his late dial is FAR less survivable than the ASM Drac’s. But then, almost EVERY character’s late dial is less survivable than ASM Drac’s.

These vampire kings share the same throne: the No. 6 position on Heroclixin’s Top Ten of 2013.

Honorable Mentions:

Absorbing Man [IIM 103] is about as unkillable a figure as exists in the game, what with his ability to shrug off damage 85% of the time. He’s really high-cost for not a lot of fighting prowess, so he fails to make the true Top Ten. But even a little luck should make him work for you.

Scarlet Witch [AvX] No more…whatever. For the cost of a double power action, she’s got an 85% chance of totally getting rid of a team ability you don’t like facing. Beyond that game-changer, the latest Wanda is a solid attacker, Perplexer, Probber and healer — all with a DV power that FORCES an initial hit to be rerolled. She’s a little pricey and a little soft, even with Stealth and Mystics to deter initial hits. But she’s one to look at as a key piece this year.

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Next: It’s prime time again.

No. 7

Batman [Gotham City 001]

As Batman figs go, this one is fairly standard, stats- and powers-wise: Running Shot. 11 AV. Toughness. Perplex. What makes it the No. 7 HeroClix of the year is the trait, Utility Belt:

UTILITY BELT: At the beginning of the game, choose a standard attack or damage power that Batman does not possess somewhere on his dial; Batman can use that power this game.

So, no picking Perplex or Prob Control or Outwit. That only leaves a bunch of options to address threats and opportunities based on the force he’s facing:

• Blades/Claws/Fangs for a 66% shot at higher melee damage
• Energy Explosion, which works well with his two arrows
• Pulse Wave, great for dealing with Mystics and armor and, well, ANYTHING
• Quake, if he foresees a need to hit a bunch of foes up close
• Super Strength, if he foresees a need to hit one foe up close really hard — or to be able to set down his own portable hindering terrain
• Incapacitate, which, while available to him, is a bit of a waste as we’ll see
• Penetrating/Psychic Blast, for dealing with armor, but with his lowish damage, perhaps…
• …Precision Strike is the better anti-armor choice as it also deals with the Masterminds and Super Sensing targets he might face
• Smoke Cloud for if he wants to blunt the AV of the enemy for his team’s sake — not to mention the cover it gives a Bat Ally like himself
• Poison, if he sees some soft-skinned melee attackers/tieups in his future
• Steal Energy for that second wind against the melee fighters who’ll get to him in his Stealthed position
• Battle Fury for that corner case of a match where he’s dealing with anti-Stealth Mind Control or a team full of Stealthed Shape Changers
• Exploit Weakness when a punchout with armored foes looks inevitable

Or he can choose based on his own team’s build to best support it:

• Telekinesis for his team’s mobility
• Ranged Combat Expert for extra firepower once in position
• Support to fill a combat medic role
• Enhancement for his team’s firepower
• Shape Change to add some added protection other than Bat-Stealth
• Close Combat Expert to shore up that low damage
• Empower to shore up allies’ punching power
• Leadership for the benefit of a swarm team

As if that sort of flexibility weren’t enough, he also has a SP granting Incapacitate — which is why it shouldn’t ever be chosen via Utility Belt — that can be used for free when he’s got no tokens. That won’t be often, as he’s got Indom and at 115 points he’s not likely to be idle. But it’s a nice option for him to potentially dump two tokens on a foe in a single turn by using the free Incap then doing a regular Incap action later in the turn.

As we harped on a bit, his damage is a bit low, starting and staying at just 2, and this along with his price keeps him on the lower end of the Top Ten. But with so many ways to work around it, this dark knight detective is truly ready for anything and rates as Heroclixin’s No. 7 clix of 2013.

Next to all that…

…how does Omen [Teen Titans 053] manage to tie?

By cheating.

Omen’s SPs don’t care about line of fire. So she can not only Mind Control you from behind a wall of meat shields (whom she can Mastermind damage to), but she can knock down a stat -2 before or after or instead of. (So there’s that corner case where the normally stealthy Bats might actually want Battle Fury to stop her from taking control of his head.)

She’s a wild card and Incap piece and, if you don’t mind adding 2 whole  points, she can use the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. ATA to get a quasi-phasing movement ability going.

Once the enemy actually claws its way in close to her and manages to get her to mid-dial, she’s got Willpower and Steal Energy to maybe heal a bit (although with only 1 damage, it’s iffy whether she can hit hard enough to do so). Probably more important to the team during her late dial is her Prob Control.

Like Batman, her low damage output for the cost keeps her from rising closer to the top. But Omen has the potential to warp a game well beyond what anyone can prepare for, earning a share of the No. 7 spot on Heroclixin’s Top Ten of 2013.

Honorable Mention

Bat-Mite [WizKids D-010], even with his ability to place his Idol and give it a free attack made more risky post-Watch List, is still worth the 65 points. 1) He’s a 10-range Stealthed PC and Outwitter. 2) He can cut off attacks against him or his Idol just by trying to shoot ’em with Incap. 3) His successful Super Senses gets him out of adjacency for free. Paired with the right Idol (i.e., one that can take getting an inopportune click of unavoidable hurt), the little pest is still quite viable.

Cyclops [Avengers Vs. X-Men] can Outwit through walls, then shoot you through them. He can shoot you when you base him. He can shoot others while based. And you can’t dodge the damage or shirk the damage or nullify the damage. He’s got better Leadership than most. If he weren’t so soft and expensive for his short dial[s], he’d have maybe blasted his way onto the Top Ten proper. As it is, look for him to blast his way through AvX in Q1 2014.

No. 8

Shatterstar [WATX 010]

A late addition to the Watch List this past autumn, ‘Star got a deserved look and erratum. His trait, “X-Portal,” allows him to teleport anywhere on the map, once per game, and bring a cheaper friend along. While his 73-point cost ostensibly serves as a limit to abuse, the reality of Vehicles and pilots allow him to essentially cart MUCH more than his points for either a next-turn attack or an instant evac.

Even without the trait, Shatterstar is a prim0 piece. He bears the Charge+Flurry+Blades combo with 17 Combat Reflexes DV, making him one of the game’s very best in melee combat.

With his ability to change the positioning game with a single move and to survive and thrive in close combat, Shatterstar ranks No. 8 in 2013’s Top Ten.

Honorable Mention:

Alyosha Kraven [ASM] singlehandedly makes Animal teams relevant. He’s only relegated to HM status because he’s essentially relegated to Animal teams to be more than just an above average 2nd attacker, extra pog character Gulyadkin notwithstanding.

Fantomex [WATX 042] is another fig that brings an extra “piece” on the team for free. The Frenchman doesn’t quite rate the list because he’s so many fragile points and very dependent on range, which is a rather short 5.

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Next: An harbinger of dark nights to come?

No. 9 [tie]

Justice League [Teen Titans T002r]
Trinity of Sin [WizKids D-T001e]
Shi’ar Imperial Guard team base [WATX T005e]

Prior to the Watch List changes, these team bases were the nigh-unbeatable monsters of HeroClix; they simply couldn’t lose unless a team was built to beat them because they could deal more damage output than anything else in the game within 3 turns of game start.

Now they’re actually reasonable to face. And still quite good. Each, at their 200- to 300-build levels, still get two actions via Working Together, and each still has high damage. Each can still nearly double their effective team build total by mid-game via the Solo Adventure mechanic. And each bears an opening-click Asset Dial ability that’s worth never rolling from. Combined, these three still represent the best team bases of the lot.

The three are tied because each has a minor weakness that keeps it from standing above the other two.

• Justice League has the longest effective range of 10 with Sharpshooter, immunity to Outwit, Shape Change and Super Senses, team abilities granting Stealth and anti-Stealth, and the highest AV of all. BUT…the immunity to Outwit only works when the whole team’s on the base and is lost when Solo Adventure is used.
• Trinity of Sin has Quintessence, double-hurting Mystics, Mind Control, Poison, Outwit and Probability Control. A Solo Adventure only costs them the double Mystics damage-dealing and gains them the abilities of the removed member to nerf the enemies’ use of Outwit, Perplex or Prob, respectively. But TrinSin’s weakness is very thin armor in the form of just two clicks of Toughness and nothing else.
• Shi’ar Imerial Guard boasts the ability to alpha strike from almost anywhere on the map and deal out Flurry damage. It also has the  Power Cosmic TA, loses nothing with Solo Adventures and has the longest dial of the three. But its starting AV is also the lowest.

Each of these pieces is strong enough to handle almost any team it faces, even after losing much of their old power, and so share the No. 9 slot among the 10 best clix 2013 had to offer.

Honorable Mention

War Machine [IIM 029b], like the team bases, is a tentpole designed not to be utterly outactioned. First, it’s got its “Alpha Strike” SP that grants two actions for the price of two tokens — easy enough to swallow thanks to Indomitable. Better still is WM’s trait “Retaliatory Strike,” that allows a free action ranged shot when foes take shots at him in between his turns. So in effect, WM’s still getting about the same number of actions as 2 or 3 foes — and as many attacks/actions as the team bases at the same cost get. The piece suffers, though, from lacking their sheer amount of extras — the TAs, the extra life, etc.

New Mutants [WATX T004] also lacks the firepower of the big team bases, with only one action and not starting on a good Asset ability. But it’s better built for the Solo Adventure ability than most, and the power to force action tokens on foes with each KO can swing games its way.

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Next: Another x-citing entry!