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Sentroid

#8

Sentry & Void (Chaos War 057), the prize chase of the set, was one of the first pieces that unaided, on round 2 from his own starting area, could threaten the opponent still sitting in their starting area. Here’s how:

He has 11 range, 10 Hypersonic Speed and Multi-Attack, enabling him to move 20 squares and shoot with an effective 6 range. Or, thanks to Penetrating/Psychic Blast, he can move 10 with one action then sit and fire for 5 clicks on the second. And with Power Cosmic, he can do even worse damage the very next turn.

This isn’t even taking into account his ability swap out into either Void (Chaos War 045) or Sentry (Chaos War 035) who, when KO’d, instead come back as Sentry and Void (Chaos War 057) on his Regen click anyway. From there he can use Multi-Attack to try Regen twice and it all starts over again.

None of those are the truly torrid thing about Sentroid, though.

It’s his Avengers keyword.

They’re Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. That last being the operative word: HEROES. But when Sentry and the Void merged, in the comics? He was such a complete villain that none less than LOKI had to fight on the side of the Avengers to stop him from destroying the world.

“Avengers” is the LAST keyword Sentroid deserves, and yet he has it. What the hell?

Enchantress (Justice League 016) presents a similar problem. Her 250-point dial has a heaping pile of keywords: Suicide Squad, Justice League, Shadowpact. But the character that dial represents isn’t a member of any of those teams. Indeed, as her trait indicates, she’s actively an enemy of the Justice League in particular.

With extra-range and guaranteed damage on both Quake and Poison, this witch is a terror on the field to anyone she can reach. Her only weakness is an inability to safely push and being a groundpounder for the cost. Hitting her doesn’t help; she’s an Impervious Mystic and solid damage just lands her on Hypersonic Speed with Invuln. and Willpower — so much for that no-pushing weakness — and a long run of Probability Control.

Again. Justice League keyword. WHY?

Inexplicably getting the highly versatile keywords of their chief enemies kicks both these villainous beasticks from being ultra-strong to Torrid.

 

Next time: Another pair who are a pain.

 

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torrid def

#10 “Pick a power” pieces

One of HeroClix’s slogans used to be “It’s all on the dial.” That hasn’t really been true since the introduction of feats back in 2005 and especially with Special Powers’ debut in ’07, But in this year of power leap, we got some characters that aren’t even constrained by what actually does appears on their respective dials!

  • Stranger (Galactic Guardians 043): This big fella not only can grow from normal to giant to colossal size each turn, but for much of his dial he gains a SP granting him use of any one power on the PAC. Wanna Outwit that SP? Hope you built in one of the very few tactics that can do it regardless of the Power Cosmic TA.
  • Xavin (Galactic Guardians 022): goes a little further in that he isn’t even constrained by the click he’s on if he’s on either his first or last click: you can literally turn the dial to any click you want. It’s not quite any power, but with his rainbow dial he basically has access to 14 different powers when on clicks #1 and #6.
  • At year’s end, Vixen (Streets of Gotham 028) got the ability to gain access to every standard-colored power showing on every Animal keyworded character on the battlefield, friend or foe, for the low price of a 1-in-6 chance of self-damage. On the right team or against the right opposition, she can potentially “have” every single power on the PAC — except Smoke Cloud — on one click.

As torrid as these characters and the power leap in design they represent seem to be, they really aren’t that bad by themselves. Stranger’s stats are pretty modest for his 213 price and he’s got to push to get to that crazy power. Vixen has to be built around to compensate for her average numbers and inborn abilities. And Xavin is most frequently used as pure support. But there’s another figure which does that better…

#9

Scarlet Witch (Chaos War Fast Forces 006)

The most expensive non-blind pull, nonexclusive HeroClix figure of all time is this one, one of Heroclixin’s most wanted remakes. She certainly raised the ante on design for both the character and her sheer utility as the ultimate support piece. Of the old TOPPS formula of team-building, she supplies three of the five in one 75-point Mystic package. At her more economical 50-point price, she also can supply a bit of offensive threat with Penetrating Psychic Blast or defense with Barrier.

She’s so good that she finds a spot on teams everywhere. People bought multiples of the Fast Forces she came in, basically threw away the other four or five pieces and held onto Scarlet Witch.

Torrid, yes. But NOTHING compared to what’s later on the list.

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“Let me explain … no, it’s too much. Let me sum up.”
— Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

It’s a new year, when I usually rank the top ten most playable HeroClix of the past year.

But 2012 was a strange year for the game. With more pieces released than ever before, not only are there just TOO MANY to properly review, but the term “playable” has become something of a gross understatement.

Longtime readers may recall a little article I did back in Feb. 2012: the top game-changers of 2012, looking at a bunch of lower-profile pieces that wouldn’t be game-winners the way the Top Ten proper were, but still bent or broke the normal rules of the game.

Well, 2012 was littered with even worse rule-breakers. And this lot actually threatened to take a lot of the F.U.N. out of HeroClix.

So this year’s Top Ten is going to look at

  • how those pieces break the game a bit
  • how the designers should’ve reined them in, in Heroclixin’s opinion
  • how to deal with them if you see them on the other end of the table, and
  • how to have some F.U.N. with them anyway.

After this series, we’ll look at the 10 Worst of the year, then Heroclixin’s 10 favorites of the year. Hopefully, we’ll be done in time for a normal Top Ten list based around a power, ability, theme or team.

In the meantime, Happy New Year!

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Been a while, as I’ve been away on holiday. Time to continue Heroclixin’s photographic record of Super-Strong figs that can hold objects, again:

 

Hawk (Streets of Gotham Fast Forces 003) securely holds his token with his cape. “No hands, little brother!” The brawny Ghost of Batman (Streets of Gotham 051), also use his cape, though with far less competence. (That’s what happens when you use drugs as a crutch to get your Super Strength, kids! Batman (Streets of Gotham 013) of the invisible battlesuit granting Super Strength barely grips the token with his right forearm. The robotic WildCAT Spartan Warrior Spirit (Streets of Gotham 036) can balance the token in his arms as shown, or one can tuck it under his right armpit from the front.

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Next week, Heroclixin’ begins its annual look back at the best, worst and whatever of the previous year. But with the staggering amount of HeroClix we saw in 2012, that’s gonna be a daunting task. Stick around and see what’s what.

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And now, number 1:

DonBlake

Donald Blake (Chaos War 010)

The Modern Age king of modern medicine, the mortal form of Thor is Heroclixin’s top medic. With his 11 AV, he’s not likely to miss many Support rolls, and a full dial of the power makes him pretty pushable.

He’s not very long-lived at four clicks and a max 16 DV, but he’s got his Alter Egos to lengthen his contribution to the fight. As needed, he can swap into one of the followingToughness-armored Thors:

  • a Running Shooter with the power to cut off long ranges via his Blizzard SP;
  • a Charging Weakness Exploiter with Willpower, or
  • a Flurrying, Close Combating Expert

Only 33 points, Blake truly affects each and every game he sees. He’s the #1 medic of Heroclixin’.

But he’s only the Modern Age medic of choice. He’s tied with the Golden Age queen:

ghostwidow

Ghost Widow (City of Villains 002)

With Flight, Poison, 18DV, Phasing, 6 range and Mystics TA-by-another-name, the Widow is a highly versatile medic that’s hard to KO with later Super Senses and Regen. At 54 points, she’s a LOT more expensive than Don Blake and her single-digit AV makes her less efficient as a medic. But with so many other things going for her, she manages to claw out a tie with Blake as the top medic in Heroclixin’!

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Number 4

Gow-3-armoured-kantus

Kantus (Gears of War 008)

Comics aren’t the only inspiration for healers. This video game character shows that. But why’s he make the list?

  • A dial-ful of Support.
  • Leap/Climb to get in position…or the Locust Horde TA to do the same and get a foe OUT of position, potentially.
  • Starting Perplex to aid the team before medicine is required.
  • A bit of top-dial Toughness and late-dial Super Senses to weather attacks.
  • And a Grenade (or two) to toss.

At 70 points, he’s too expensive to consider for a higher spot. But that’s a lot of advantages to ignore. A medic of unparalleled versatility, this screaming priest ranks as the fourth best medic in Heroclixin.’

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Number 3

Elixir

Elixir (Giant-Size X-Men 025)

The golden boy has the ability to auto-heal other adjacent pals when he succeeds on a Support roll. Good thing he has a great double-digit AV for his early Support rolls (and never lower than 9).

A solid run of early Toughness makes him a tougher KO than some. He also can help himself with both X-Men TA and Regeneration. He’s Stealthy on the Regen clicks, too, so most foes will have to come to him. That’s a potential problem because he’s got Poison then as well — he can’t be based lightly!

Elixir, at 51 points, is somewhat heftily priced to be such a pure medic. But there’s almost no character in the game better at being pure medic. Definitely got the golden touch!

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Number 2

leonard-bones-mccoy

Dr. Leonard McCoy (Star Trek Away Team 002a)

With Stealth, 11AV, a full dial of Support and nearly as much Willpower, “Bones” is, quite simply, one of the best medics in HeroClix. If he’d only started with Willpower on click 1 instead of two, or dropped that needless Incapacitate to lower his cost from 50 to something under 40, he’d have taken the top spot. But that, and his narrow-focused Federation Support Team TA, will be deadweight in too many games, as will his 0 damage.

But as he’d likely say, “Dammit, I’m a doctor, not a tentpole!”

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Who’ll be number one? Check it out next time!

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Number 6

Alfred01

(tie) Alfred Pennyworth (Batman 031)
Alfred Pennyworth (Batman Fast Forces 005)

Yep, the Wayne family’s faithful butler claims a spot twice. The main set’s Alfred brings Perplex and solid 9 AV to the table with perma-Willpower through Indomitable. Better still is the fact that it works from 4 range AND heals extra clicks on tokened patients! The downside is that you have to push to get to the Support clicks and that’s a perilous thing for a 4-click dial costing more than 40 points. Batman Ally helps him hide, at least.

Conversely, the other Alfred is just 25 points for those 4 clicks and gets the Support (and Stealth) to start off, boosting his patients’ DV like the first #9 on the Top Ten. But he only ties with the above Alfred because he doesn’t start with Willpower and he loses Stealth when he DOES get it.

Despite their drawbacks, both versions of the old Bat-butler are great medics that richly deserve this #6 slot on the best-medic list.

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And we’re not done with doctors associated with the Waynes yet…

Number 5

hushwayne

Bruce Wayne (Batman 037b)

The first Prime figure to appear on the Top Tens, this Bruce Wayne imposter is the real deal when it comes to combat medicine for one big reason: old-school Support. When he hits a heal roll, he heals up to 6.

That alone would get him on the list despite his highest-of-list 95 cost. His ability to use Bat-stealth (so long as he’s not teamed with any Bat Allies), use Outwit, Shape Change, ignore Stealth and copy team abilities gives him a ton of utility apart from Support.

The fact that he is so much of a team and a solid fighter is a drawback for the purposes of this list, and so he can’t really be rated any higher on a Top medics list. But Hush-in-disguise is good enough to crack the top 5 with ease.

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Number 8

pippin

Guard of the Citadel (Lord of the Rings 20 )

Peregrin Took here climbs to #8 with Leap/Climb for that mobility that a good combat medic could use — and at a far better speed value than the #10 member of the list at less than half the cost at 29 points.

For the actual healing, his 8AV would seem to be too low, though. But he’s got a Special Power that first gives him Defend, enabling him to share his 16 DV with his potentially higher-defensed patient for an easier heal, AND it boosts his own AV +1 when healing, something that’s normally not allowed by Support.

A couple of clicks of Support and this SP make him pushable, and the latter half of his dial stays useful with Enhancement. Don’t let the small size fool ya; this hobbit stands tall.

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Number 7

AtomBN

The Atom (Blackest Night 005)

At 65 points, Professor Palmer seems too expensive to be a medic specialist — especially since you have to push off his best AV, damage and DV (at range, anyhow) to get Support via SP.

But it’s that SP that makes it all worth the push:

“INDIGO COMPASSION : The Atom can use Support. When he does, his attack value becomes 12.”
Coupled with 19 DV Willpower, it makes this Indigo Tribe member one of the game’s premier healers, easily. Shape Change helps him survive some attacks, and later he gets Outwit. So despite a bunch of near-dealbreakers, The Atom packs a nuclear punch in the Support stakes.

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Next will be another tie featuring a fella who often wears ties.

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Ugh. I had the update just about finished and then WordPress ate it. So no update today. I may call this week a wash and pick up on Monday with numbers eight and seven. The good news is that I’d written up to half of number six, so I should be able to get ahead a little.

Good thing, too. The holidays are coming and it’ll be time for Heroclixin’s Top Ten lists for 2012! I better get started now!