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There were SO many other feats that were great but couldn’t quite make it to the top 10. Here are some of Heroclixin’s other favorites:

10. Camouflage (Sinister and Secret Invasion):  This 8-pointer was nicely balanced by preventing range attacks but not all line of fire while next to blocking terrain, giving Outwitters a shot at nixing the Shape Change prerequisite. It’s at the bottom of my list because it often restricted mobility on many maps.

9. Loner [Secret Invasion]: 5 points to boost DV on a non-themed character? Sure! The prevalence of themed teams and keywords made this a tough play most of the time, though.

[tie] Rip It Up [Fantastic Forces]: 20 points is a LOT to pay not to ever be able to use heavy objects. But it also ensures a Super Strength team never runs OUT of objects, so it sort of balances out in the end.

8. Opportunist [Crisis]: This might be Heroclixin’s favorite feat for just filling out points. But for the sacrifice of a few early-game actions, this 10-point card can really pay off later by turning near-misses into solid hits. I like that it modifies the die roll, not the attack value, circumventing the Rule of Three.

7. Alias [Secret Invasion]: 3 little points, small enough to fit on any force, that can get your big guy out of an attack of opportunity. It’s a bit too one-size-fits-all for Heroclixin’s taste, but it’s just right for its disposable nature.

 

6. Inside Information [Mutations + Monsters]: Spend 4 points, get a +2 AV boost against your own keywords. Great little feat that’s almost always worth running.

5. Unstoppable [Fantastic Forces and Justice League]: A nice inexpensive feat that helps ground-pounding bricks a lot — but not TOO much, like the similar but overpowered Swingline did. Ignoring  hindering terrain is fine, and it’s finely balanced by the wall-busting ability only working during move actions.

4. Outsmart [Mutations + Monsters]: It’s not as Outwit-proof as Fortitude, but Heroclixin’ prefers less point-and-click strategies anyway. This 10-point feat has the dual benefit of being way cheaper and helping allies not get countered, too. Don’t get to use this as often as I’d like.

 

3. Not So Special [Brave and the Bold]: The last great feat in Heroclixin’s opinion, this 3-point card is a no-brainer for standard-powered pieces. It’s lost a few steps because there practically ARE no standard-powered pieces any more.

2. Submerged [Icons]: Swimmers have needed all the help they can get. This 5 points to stay unseen in water is among the best help the marine set could pay.

1. Takedown [Mutations + Monsters]: This fan-made feat might be the best feat card ever made, working perfectly in flavor with its prerequisite powers Incapacitate and Plasticity. Priced perfectly at 6 points. It’s perfect!

 

 

 

 

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The two very best feats.

#2

jlF003

20 points. Expensive, but such a simple way to make our whole team better as needed every round. There’s probably no better use of 20 points on a team with, of course, the prerequisite Perlexer and allied beneficiaries.

 

 

# 1

aaF002

5 points. The inexpensive price is what vaults this one to the top of the feat heap. It suddenly makes a HOST of Leap/Climbers and Close Combat Experts highly viable move-and-attack pieces, opening up tons more positioning options than before. But it’s also quite balanced since its two-square reach really isn’t that overwhelming. It’s the perfect example of a great feat card and it’s a real pity that more weren’t this fun and awesome.

 

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 The very worst feats.

 

#2

DCCDBoosterCards.indd

9 points. Even when Soaring was a thing, this feat was useless. +2 movement for move actions really was not a big deal without the ability to carry. Breaking away from other soaring characters came into play about the same number of times more than one character occupied soaring status: almost never. And the cost? At least seven points too many.

 

 #1

mmF002

12 points. Couldn’t have been much worse if they’d just written “only this one Colossus character and that one Wolverine figure can use this feat, once, EVER.” I mean, have you ever seen so many arbitrary conditions to use a power?

  1. Same team symbol required. This kind of makes sense, but cuts out so many combinations.
  2. First must have Super Strength. OK, that’s fine.
  3. Second must have Toughness. Sure, that’s fair. Need to be able to survive the impact. But…
  4. …not Invulnerability. Not Impervious. ONLY Toughness. Here’s where it gets stupid. And we’re not done.
  5. Can’t have more than 3 damage, either. Which is ridiculous, because…
  6. …It costs both a power action. Ugh. So you’re burning up two actions for one light attack! Really?!
  7. Hit or miss, it’s a one-time-use feat…
  8. THAT COSTS 12 POINTS.

Feats are supposed to increase a character’s flexibility. This one is the definition of INflexible. That’s why it’s the worst feat WizKids ever attempted.

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Tomorrow, a bonus: Heroclixin’s favorite F.U.N. feats!

 

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Feats were even more game-warping than Resources, as will become clear as we look back at the top five of the Top Ten feats ever:

#5

muF102 awF003

8 points for the other feat that broke the game. It’s perfectly costed and perfectly balanced but probably should have been one of the game’s few “unique” feats like Loner or Saboteur: one per force. As it was, entire teams would be outfitted with this ultimate “get out of jailhouse damage free” tactic, necessitating the rule change of no more than 10% of a force build being feats.

4

lgF001 awF007

10 points. A simple way to make weenies a legit threat on the board. This feat used to be required to make Energy Explosion any damn good, and Poison still gets a lot of mileage from it. A bit annoying because of the total lack of prereqs.

 #3

lgF003

10 points per character. Point for point, for a long time this was possibly the best 20 (or more) points one could spend in HC. If you had the Oracle (Legacy) figure, so much the better.

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WizKids used to just throw away money on these stinkers that no one wanted to even pull, let alone play, like the #5 worst feat:

aaF103

5 points. I don’t like disposable feats in general; paying points for a one-time effect seems unwise. But if the effect is more or less guaranteed, then it’s not so bad.

This one is so bad.

It requires getting hit to work. It requires taking DAMAGE from that hit to work. It requires the hit being close combat to work. And all of this has to happen to a character of 60 points or more, so no putting it on a fig one might not mind risking the points to use this feat.

We’re not done with the drawbacks. It requires a high die roll of 9 or higher to work. All to deal just 1 damage (or maybe 2 if it’s a crit). Better hope the target doesn’t have Toughness.

Succeed or fail, it’s costing you 5 points. There’s just no reason to ever field this weak attempt at payback. Can you believe this was a TOURNAMENT PRIZE?

#4

MV_DoFP_Cards.indd

2 points per character. Gets on the list partly for teasing me every time I thought I’d found a cheap feat to fill out those last few leftover points on a team. Then I’d be cruelly reminded that it’s 2 points per character. So on the average force, you’re paying 6 to 10 points for a feat that only works once.

  • …When you’ve already lost your bigger pieces.
  • …Then you give up the feat’s 6-10 points to the opponent, too, after its single use..

“Revenge” is what you’ll seek against the dude who MADE this feat and put it in a collector set, of all things. But it wouldn’t be the last:

#3

2099F001

10 points. So it’s like using Support, except you remove action tokens — and clicks of life! No thanks. No thanks at ALL.

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Tomorrow: The very best of the feats…and the worst of all.

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Feats have pretty much gone the way of the dodo outside of Golden Age games. As we look at the best, it becomes clear why WizKids scaled them back.

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#8 

avF001 lgF007

10 points. For a long time it was the only way to make Incapacitate a relevant power, due to Incap’s high cost for such little effect. This feat brought it into the limelight. Now, Stunning Blow is even better, allowing it to tack on regular damage on top of the penetrating variety available against pushed targets.

#7

muF100

5 points per character. This feat broke the game for a while there. Allowing a strong attacker nonstop actions round after round is beyond powerful.

#6.

lgF008

20 points. What blocked line of fire? So frustrating to play against, so good to use. WizKids tried to redo this concept in a more balanced fashion with 2009’s same-cost Elite Sniper back when feats were still legal in Restricted (the Modern Age of the day) but no one uses that card anymore if this one’s available.

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Feats as bad as #8 probably contributed to the mechanic’s demise:

muF002

6 points. So ineffective — it has a penalty of -1 AV, can’t affect foes with Charge, Multibases, and now, Combat Reflexes — and for what? To get enemies a few squares away, only for them to just base you again? You’d have better odds at just making a breakaway roll. Overcosted by half at least.

 #7

mmF007

15 points. It’s a great idea: Take a cheap shot at a foe (with an AV bonus!) to rile them up into doing something rash. Two problems, though. 1) It was easy for opponents to get around the Taunt effect by taking every other action possible, thus eliminating the feat’s ability to REALLY manipulate his actions. 2) The card’s too dang expensive to not have a guaranteed effect. Bleh.

#6

ioF007

20 points. This feat would’ve been great if it allowed the wildcard to still actually be a wildcard so that fellow wildcards could use the Siphoned TA. But to actually LOSE abilities while gaining more should cost a LOT LESS than 20 points.

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Tomorrow: Some of the very best and worst of the feats.

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Once upon a time in HeroClix, long before the game-warping reality of Relics and Special Powers and Resources, there were Feats.

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They’ve pretty much gone the way of the dodo — the last one released was the print & play Frog Legs way back in fall 2010. So Heroclixin’ is quite confident that this Top Ten list should be its definitive one on the subject.

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Heroclixin’ really tried to avoid ties this time, to the degree that great feats including Nova Blast and Nanobots got shoved off the list. But two 12-point feats refused to be ignored for the #10 spot:

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12 points. Because Regen still hasn’t been fixed and paints a bull’s eye on any piece that bears it, this feat is money on anyone with more than a click of the power.

(tie) Contingency Plan 

jlF007 

12 points. Another feat that made us take notice of a power — in this case, Leadership — that was just so much junk before. Its time is a bit past, now, but it’s still one of the best feats ever made.

#9. Fortitude

avF003

25 points. One sure way to deal with the threats of Outwit and Exploit Weakness turning your man of steel into such a dude of kleenex. One didn’t run a tentpole team without it in Golden Age — at least, not before the age of the Resource dial.

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Not all feats were good. Some were awful wastes of points. Here’s the #10 worst feat ever:

Large Object

lgF005

3 points per 100. The effect — trading object damage for attack bonus — was a good idea. It was the stupid cost scaling that makes it fail. Losing the damage output was enough. It would have topped the list had it been worded in non-optional language.

9. Tactics

svF005

20 points. I can’t think of this feat without hearing the Rurouni Kenshin closing credits song in the same name in my head. The card’s not absolutely terrible — it does gives Leadership another boost — but the cost is way high at 20 points. There are way better feats to use on the power.

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Tomorrow: More of the best and busts of the feats.

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So a few weeks (or more) ago I mourned the exit of the Nextwave squad from Modern Age and thrilled at the possibilities for the team in Golden Age, tricked out with Feats and BFCs and Resources and ATA. Little did I realize I’d run the team that very next day.

Monica Rambeau 139 + Not So Special 3
The Captain 124 + Alias 3
Aaron Stack 106 + Inside Information 4 + Infinity Gauntlet (Soul, Power, Space) 25
Elsa Bloodstone 73 + Monster Hunter 3
Tabitha Smith 58 + Armor Piercing 10
+ Warbound (Nextwave) 25
+ Nextwave ATA 25
=598 points. I opted not to use Debris, Extraordinary Day or Overconfidence against my opponent’s mostly X-squad of Professor X (Giant-Size X-Men), Wolverine (Giant-Size X-Men), Cable (Giant-Size X-Men), Storm (10th Anniversary 010) and Spider-Man 2099 (Amazing Spider-Man) with the full Utility Belt. I got map choice and we used the Time Zones on the Dawn of Time map.

My opponent is a notorious turtler, so I advanced with caution.

KEY MOMENTS

Opponent, seeing how I’d finally poised my attackers for a first-strike Charge on Storm, moved her well out of range. But in doing so he’d killed his ability to attack back — or even Outwit — from her square with Prof. X. That gave The Captain a Charge opportunity on Cable.

Which failed.

In fact, Cap pretty much just did this the rest of the game.

In fact, Cap pretty much just did this the rest of the game.

Similarly, Monica missed her shot on the retreated Prof. X — one that, had I remembered she was wearing the +1 AV Not So Special feat, may NOT have missed. The leader of Nextwave didn’t do much else this game but die.

monicaSHOT

I also completely forgot that once the Prof. left his starting area, HE SHOULD NOT HAVE CONTINUED SHOOTING ME. Big mental fail on m part.

The Nextwave squad eventually got Cable, mostly thanks to Elsa. (This may have been the first time I’ve ever triggered the Nextwave ATA on a Nextwave team.) But the Belted Spidey 2099 was killing said team, making victims of Monica and then Elsa.

Yes, Elsa. VICTIM.

Yes, Elsa. VICTIM.

 

Fortunately, Aaron Stack had slowly built up to the Gauntlet’s special powers. And now, with combinations of Perplex, RCE, Poison and Hypersonic Speed, he began to wear down the opposition. (Or, at least, he keep Tabby from dying right off.)

ZOMG

In the end, it took a careful combo of Poison and judicious attacks to damage Spidey 2099 just so to avoid him landing on his Power Cosmic stop click with fewer than two tokens on him. Then, with a couple more attacks, Aaron took him down for the victory.

aaronstack6

Leader Monica was difficult to use right. I really needed her to attack more, but early on I made her a taxi, using Warbound to stay mobile. Same went for The Captain, who carted around Aaron. But that made Aaron push with two tokens much of the time, preventing him from leveraging his fight skills or even the early TK he offers via the Gauntlet. I also found that Tabby was left behind and thus unable to bring the explodo for far too much of the match.

In the future, I’ll probably use Warbound to push Monica ASAP, so she can properly contribute to a fight. Captain will try to remain as free of tokens for a long as possible — he doesn’t push well — and Aaron will TK either Elsa or Tabby into their effective range.

This is a team I carry around in my travel box constantly, lately, always ready for a pickup game of 600 points.

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Secret_Avengers_05_pencil

The highlighted figures below retired to Golden Age on July 1, a Monday. I played this team on June 29, a Saturday, for

One.

Last.

Mission.

Steve Rogers (Captain America) 99
Sharon Carter (Chaos War) 45
Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43
Valkyrie (Fear Itself) 130
Black Widow (Captain America 006) 85
War Machine (Iron Man 3) 220
Moon Knight (Amazing Spider-Man) 109
Beast (Giant-Size X-Men) 95
Nova (Galactic Guardians) 125

While there are the Avengers Movie/Fear Itself versions of Black Widow and the Fast Forces release of Beast to keep those characters Modern, Steve Rogers as commander of SHIELD is highly unlikely to ever be remade. So the Secret Avengers, in its one truly great incarnation (on paper, at least — the actual team-up in the comic never lived up to its promise thanks to the virtual non-involvement of Nova before his being taken out) will never again grace a Modern Age game.

So how’d it do in its swan song?

MISSION: To beat Mark’s Adam Warlock (Galactic Guardians 032), Quasar (Captain America), Jor-El (Man of Steel 005), Cyborg (Teen Titans 025), Hawkeye (Chaos War), Alfred Pennyworth (Batman), Gizmo and Bruce Wayne (Batman 202a) x 3 on my choice of the Iron Man 3 docks map in a 1000-point, 5-action Modern Age event requiring at least one figure due for retirement July 1.

Key moment: Ant-Man and friends took early Energy Explosion damage from Cyborg, who got TK’d a bunch to get an object-enabled shot.
War Machine and friends took Cyborg down next. Then Valkyrie, warping to Cyborg’s last known spot, pushed to Charge-Flurry Hawkeye to immediate death for an extra margin of victory. Only lost Ant-Man in the end, despite two badly timed consecutive crit misses on my part.

BY PIECE:

Steve Rogers (Captain America) 99

CommanderRogers

True to his trait’s name, he was “The Focal Point” more than ever in these last few games. Giving fellow Avengers the SHIELD TA helped plenty. When I originally played Rogers, well before the TA’s more recent upgrades, his 7 range was a liability against further-reaching foes. But with the average range value dropping to about 6, he’s working out a lot better. More than a couple of Leadership roll successes kept certain teammates active.

Sharon Carter (Chaos War) 45

sharoncarter00
Naturally, her “Secret Avengers” trait granting Stealth to Avengers is a key point on this team. But she’s also great for her printed SHIELD TA and 2nd-click Perplex, too. SO much better than the original Sharon in Mutations & Monsters.

Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43

irredeemable ant-man
O’Grady’s lack of speed hurts his effectiveness as a good tie-up piece, but his unusual anti-Outwit/Perplex power can come in handy. Better still is his Tiny Size, which enables him to take a power action to use SHIELD and then hitch a ride with a Running Shot pal to boost said pal’s damage. His short dial is a boon to the following teammate as well…

Valkyrie (Fear Itself) 130

valkyrie
This team has needed a dedicated melee piece and, in her, gets one. So after she’s done clustering with cheaper allies to use her Leadership early on in the game, she either Charges in to Flurry or, more hopefully, warps in the spot of a fallen friend or foe to gain access to more targets. ‘Course, this can just as often lead her to her own early death. But the more fire on her, the less on the dangerous shooters of the team.

Black Widow (Captain America 006) 85

black-widow-jg-jones
Best used as Rogers’ left hand with his Leadership to take off her tokens. SHIELD helps extend her modest range, too. With traited, unOutwittable Stealth, she’s the one teammate who need not depend on Sharon Carter for cover. A single push gets her to Penetrating Psychic Blast if needed.

War Machine (Hammer of Thor) 137
Nova Prime (Galactic Guardians) 150

war-machineNovaPrimeIAmAnAvenger
 These two serves as leadoff or cleanup hitters alike on the team I played back in mid-June. War Machine’s long range proved key for a clutch TTPC, and both are my preferred choices to represent the characters.

War Machine (Iron Man 3) 220
Nova (Annihilators) 125
 This Modern Age pair worked differently, with Nova being more pure support through his Worldmind Surge SP granting Perplex to like-keyworded friends. It especially benefited his fellow Soldier, War Machine, who got a generally can’t-miss 13 AV.

Moon Knight (Amazing Spider-Man) 109

MoonKnight
He was a HUGE boon with his Perplex. Especially good in crowded environs thanks to his short range. The Full Moon trait makes him a bit of a wild card, as one never quite knows if he’ll be a quietly high-priced support piece or a dangerous threat they won’t see coming.

…even though he wears all white.

Beast (Giant-Size X-Men) 95

beast
Thanks to the Outwit nerf forcing him to get closer to the action, Beast is now a new melee threat and tie-up piece. At worst, he’ll draw fire away from the real offensive threats on the team before going down. And with his late-dial CCE, he WILL draw fire if he’s basing a foe with his natural 11 AV.

The difference couldn’t be greater in this truer incarnation of the Secret Avengers build than the initial one cobbled together in 2010 when the title was first released. And I couldn’t be gladder about it — a comic-accurate F.U.N. team!

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Last month’s Top Ten looked at the powers and abilities themselves. But now we’re looking at former loser pieces that actually might see a little use, and a few that were okay but now are much better, and maybe one or two that go from pretty good to top tier.

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 Stranger (Galactic Guardians 043)

His only real weakness before was a low AV for his over-200 price. Now, with RCE/CCE, that’s handled. Also, he has access to the new pink powers of Sidestep, Precision Strike, Invincible, or Empower enabling him to, respectively, get a tad of free movement either before or after attack, , make his attacks stick, minimize the penetrating damage foes throw at him, or boost teammates in melee.

He’s only #4 because he was already quite good and the change still won’t propel him to top tier.

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Nomad (Captain America 016)

Before, his Energy Explosion was a total waste. Now he’s dealing the 3 damage AND the splash damage. Later, he picks up Close Combat Expert to help his punching, and Incap grants still more options. All of a sudden this former loser appears to have quite a bit more going for him than just Running Shot and Willpower — enough to make him the #3 Most Improved despite just 4 range and no keywords.

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Ken (Street Fighter 021)

Every single click has an improved power. On click #1 alone he can use the improved Force Blast to pushback with a fireball. Or SP Quake to clear crowds and move for free. Or pump his AV +1 or 2 in close against a single target. Then there’s RCE on the alternating clicks.

Ryu (020) is the same, but Ken gets the #2 slot for being 10 points cheaper and having the additional Quake power.

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Maul (Batman 024)

He made the Worst of 2012 list, deservedly so. But with the change to Close Combat Expert, his one crippling weakness, a terrible late-dial AV, is GONE. So push him with abandon, happily boosting his AV to double digits as he smashes with objects (thus keeping his damage value at 4 or higher). Sure, opponents might try to counter the SP, but they’d also be leaving his defense alone and shrinking him from giant size to boot. This piece is definitely the one that goes from zero to hero in a big way.

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I’m sure there’s some I forgot or overlooked, especially since I used my own “Worst of” lists as my starting point before expanding to pieces like Ryu and Ken who weren’t bad before but just had their whole dials upgrade. What are YOUR picks for Most Improved?

 

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Last month’s Top Ten looked at the powers and abilities themselves. But now we’re looking at former loser pieces that actually might see a little use, and a few that were okay but now are much better, and maybe one or two that go from pretty good to top tier.

Numbers seven through five:

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Element Lad (Arkham Asylum 037)

One of the more powerful Legionnaires in the comics, Element Lad’s HeroClix representation is based on his WEAKEST version from the comics, with a dial to match. Fortunately, the 2013 rules give him a little boost.

Double Incap is fine, now that that power’s been given some teeth. Barrier is also fine. But his 4 range on his SP — two LESS than his printed 6 — is NOT FINE. Still, in a game where Smoke Cloud has new meaning, it’s nice to be able to disperse it for free. Legion Lost ATA can get around the lame 9-or-lower AV if you’re playing a Legion-only team.

Element Lad has gone from that one Legion piece you’d probably leave off even from an “Every Single Legionnaire In HeroClix” team to one to consider. Enough to get to #7.

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Iron Man (Chaos War Fast Forces 001)

Actually, the non-flying Iron Man only rates as improved on his Alter Ego dial. Tony Stark (Chaos War) can switch to a click with anti-Stealth, Force Blast and Ranged Combat Expert — AND you can move him 3 squares free upon transformation. If you pair him with any Avenger-keyword piece over 41 points, you can keep him from being one-shot (due to the SP “stop” click) and Regen back to that fantastic AE starting line.

He’d be higher on the list if not dependent on the Stark figure, whose singular contribution of Outwit is much less useful in the modern game. Still enough to rate #6.

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Mandarin (Avengers 061)

Before, his Outwit was something of a liability, wasting his 12 range. Now he’s in a small club of figs that can counter from that far out. Too bad he must push to use his full roster of SP-granted powers: Energy Explosion, Incapacitate, Mind Control, Barrier, Force Blast, Quake, Smoke Cloud, and Telekinesis, most of which improved. Fortunately, he can use either Barrier or Mind Control to make that push worth doing.

Still not really a winning figure but definitely better. It’s #5 on the list.

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 Let’s wrap this up: Numbers four, three and two forthcoming.

 

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Last month’s Top Ten looked at the powers and abilities themselves. But now we’re looking at former loser pieces that actually might see a little use, and a few that were okay but now are much better, and maybe one or two that go from pretty good to top tier.

Grey Gargoyle (Secret Invasion)

Hobbled with a barely usable power set (thanks, Masters of Evil TA and the crap AVs that go with you all too often), this 2008 piece, had I been doing a Worst Of list back then, would have made the top 3 easily. It’s a little better now.

The new minimum 4 range on Barrier makes his SP version that only works in hindering usable at last. Combined with his new ability to set objects down with Super Strength, he might actually be able to make a useful shield sometime. His full dial of Incap also means he might be able to keep a target locked down perpetually (since the MoE TA allows him to act without stopping).

Of course, that horrible AV means using Incap is still a total waste most of the time, so Barrier for up to 4 straight turns is probably the better move.

Finally, the Fear Itself figure Mokk might make this piece see some use due to the former’s “Revert” trait. But unless you just HAVE to get the Masters of Evil TA, you’d probably just be better off sticking with Mokk’s far superior stats.

GG here is at the bottom of the list because while he’s much improved, he’s still one of the worst figs in the game.

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 Songbird (Hammer of Thor 037)

She starts with Running Shot + Force Blast for knockback ability and double-target Incap. But it’s her mid-dial RCE with decent damage that moves her up from mediocre to…well…less mediocre. Use with the Thunderbolts ATA for best results, I think. She’s #9.

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Ocean Master (DC 75th Anniversary 027)

With the range for his only-in-the-water Prob Control shriveling like a jellyfish on a hot beach, one wonders how Orm here got any better. Well, it means he’s more likely to use the REST of his powers, maybe — namely his Force Blast and Mind Control. Not exactly a winner — his range is still just 3, after all, one LESS than the minimal 4 for MC — but he’s more useful and much less the one-trick pony. #8 on the “Got Better” list.

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Numbers seven through five tomorrow.