No. 8

Controller [War of Light 010]

Starting with Invulnerability and shifting to Invincible, this generic is unusually well-armored for such. Too bad it’s unremarkable in nearly every other manner.

Controller’s worth is all about racking up Sun Eater tokens to blow up in someone’s face. But with

• no moving attack powers
• no Willpower
• and AV under 10 for most of the seven-click dial

it’s going to take forever to land enough successful hits for damage to gain the EIGHT tokens needed. Not unless you run two or more.

But who really wants to double up on this sort of mediocrity for more than 90 points each?

This controller’s busted.

No. 7

Darkhawk [Guardians of the Galaxy 008b]

At first, he looks OK. A flying, Charging 10 AV wild card, maybe a little soft and short-lived at six clicks and 90 points with only Toughness to armor him. Then you look at his trait that can heal him from even his last click all the way back up to click #2 and you see where the points went.

And were wasted.

“BODY SWITCH IN NULL SPACE: Give Darkhawk a free action. When you do, he modifies his defense value by -2 and can use Shape Change, but can’t use any other powers or abilities until your next turn. At the beginning of your next turn, heal him to click #2.”

Suddenly, a fig that, on its last click, had a 17 DV from range and could wild card a TA to help its defensive capabilities is now just 13 DV with Shape Change. He can’t copy team abilities anymore, he can’t fly away anymore, he can’t Perplex his DV. He can’t even get taxied away by a fellow flier, because even though he can’t use his Flight ability, he still has the Wing symbol and thus can’t be carried.

He’s GOING TO BE KILLED before he heals.

Sure, there are going to be some corner cases where this trait will be golden. Defend helps. As does Barrier. Or TK. But for the most part, it’s just bloating his cost from a likely zone of 70 or lower and making him bad.

________

Next: Pieces with crippling weaknesses.

No. 10

Superior Spider-Man [Deadpool 060]

With Improved Movement Charge, Super Strength, Outwit and damage that can’t be reduced below 1, this figure doesn’t seem to belong on the worst list, even here as the best of the worst.

But he does. Oh, how he does, for a lot of reasons.

1. He’s more than half your standard team. At 160 points, he’s got to be able to handle the heavy lifting. But as the intro made plain, he’s capable enough here. Or would be, if he weren’t…
2. …so dependent on his Spider-Bots. Attaching a Mark 1 bot boosts his Super Senses rolls, and attaching a Mark 2 model beefs his Outwit range to 8. But A) it takes a power action to attach either — actions he ought to be using for attacks — and B) that’s 10-20 MORE points you risk when fielding him, because…
3. ...his only defense is a dialful of Super Senses. And there’s this little pink attack power that combos with every single method of attacking and ignores SSenses completely. Precision Strike EATS HIS SOUL.

Those Spider-Bots aren’t so hot, either. Both have neat abilities that only work when three or more can swarm a foe. Their 4 Speed and 0 range means that will never happen — not when each is easily destroyed thanks to having just 15 DV. Sure, you could attach two and carry a third via Tiny Size. But the attached ones don’t count toward those three and they can’t DEtach once on. Anyway, it’ll take three turns of sitting around burning power actions to do it, leaving OttoSpidey a sitting duck for that PStrike attack that’s totally coming his way, what with some 250 characters possessing the power.

At 120 points, he’d be fine, I think. But as he is?

NOT Superior.

No. 9

Cheetah [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 017a] and [Legion of Doom Fast Forces 003]

So the main set one’s got this trait that grants +1 to all her stats when she picks a foe to hate. Which would be great if her starting AV, DV and damage weren’t an anemic 9, 16 and 1, respectively.

This also puts the player in a bind. Do you select an opposing character she can kill easily, but then lose the bonuses, or is it better to choose an enemy who’ll be around long enough to make use of the +1s?

Does it matter? Even with the buffs, she’s a decidedly mediocre 5-click fig, even for just 50 points.

Then Heroclixin’ looked at her version in the Fast Forces that released at the same time for the same number of points and wondered why we left her off the list: She has similar stats (pre-boost, mind you) and lack of even the Charge that the other Cheetah at least has. And she loses a click of life because she’s got to make room for the terrible Injustice League team ability.

BAD KITTIES.

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More tomorrow.

In the modern game of HeroClix, there are no terrible dials anymore, really. Not the way there used to be.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t a few stinkers made. For the next few days, Heroclixin will look at the bottom of the barrel and make its picks for the least playable figs of 2014.  Let’s start with one that came out so late in 2013 that no one learned how horribad it was until 2014.

Faceless Void [DOTA 2 Starter Set 103]

Would you spend 125 points for

• a non-Indomitable 6-click dial
• with just 2 damage Charge to start with
• and just 1 damage on the subsequent Flurry clicks
• despite an Incap-like trait that only works 1/6 of the time
• with only Super Senses for a defense
• (except for one random click in the middle with NO defense power)?

The answer is “NO.” If his once-per-game Epic Action actually dealt pushing damage when it piles two tokens on all enemies within 4 squares, maybe he’d be worth running regardless of his many deficiencies. But it doesn’t, so all he does is buy maybe an extra turn to not be KO’d by the enemy.

No wonder he wanna hide his face

Most of the actual worst of 2014 really aren’t nearly this terrible, and each can find a place on a team. But they make the list for a reason. Get your anti-nausea meds, ’cause it’s gonna churn your stomach.

(Whoops, though I’d scheduled this for Friday morning, not Saturday. Fixed!)

Entities (War of Light 060-068)
Heroclixin’ thought changing the “Entity” keyword was the right fix, along maybe with making them resources. But WizKids’ solution was way better: Allow entities to only share their respective corps’ keyword with the character they’re put on. Because the only abusive element of entities, truly, was their ability to make teams min/maxxed by them into themed teams and get massive bonuses to map roll and whatnot. (This also curbs some other corner case nonsense such as Black Hand being able to turn any old fig into a Monster-keyworded minion for Mole Man or Black Talon to Mind Control into multiple actions per turn.)

Bill, Agent of A.I.M. (Deadpool 102)

Heroclixin thought his effect should be either A) be restricted to both Bill’s and his beneficiary’s range values or B) made a once-per-game effect. But again, WizKids’ remedy was better: It requires adjacency with Bill and the line of fire is more carefully defined as unblocked. Heroclixin’ approves.

Iron Pharaoh (IIM #051)
Heroclixin’ has long had its opinion on how Iron Pharaoh should be balanced: Limit Iron Pharaoh to one action with locked damage value. He can Outwit, he can shoot, but he can’t do both. WizKids went a little further by saying IP can either move the Falcon OR he can draw lines of fire through it. This is every bit as good a fix — one that could force him out of the starting area and show he needn’t ALWAYS be the figure of choice for super-turtles but can be a solid fighter in the fray. 😉

Bizarro (Superman and the Legion Of Super-Heroes 039)
We said he shouldn’t be healed or each token should yield 25 points. WizKids’s solution was to halve his maximum life and make him healable only by Support. Heroclixin’ is somewhat on the fence with regard to this change, only because 200 points seems the right high point level for the Superman clone. But Bizarro remains a low-risk character to wade into a fight. He’s just no longer a virtually NO-risk character.

Proxima Midnight (Guardians Of The Galaxy 050)

Heroclixin’ still thinks her Tracer tokens could be a problem. But as potentially game-breaking mechanics go, hers is small potatoes compare with the ones above her in this list. We’ll learn to live with it.

STILL NEEDING A VISIT TO THE WATCH LIST

Science Police Officer [SLOSH 004]: That anti-free action special power needs to be a once per round effect. No other figures in the game can stack up quite as much free damage as a horde of these can across such a wide area.

Time was, we’d be lucky to even GET 10 maps in a year, much less be able to make a list of the 10 best. Look at 2006, for instance, when all players got were these, maybe: 

• Collateral Damage’s Junkyard
• Sinister’s Prison
• Danger Room’s Institute Grounds and Training Complex
• Days of Future Past’s School Ruins
• Supernova’s Deep Space

Just six maps TOTAL.

But this year alone has seen more than 40 maps enter circulation. 

So what are the best of the year? Here, in no particular order, is Heroclixin’s opinion.

The Kyln [Guardians of the Galaxy starter set]

This indoor map is a long range shooter’s dream on one half of it. The other half is walled-up to give non-ranged pieces some cover. It’s a good, neutral battlefield for most teams.

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Ryut [War of Light]

Though Heroclixin’ isn’t generally a fan of maps that screw over one or more types of teams as thoroughly as this one does non-flying/non-Phasing, L/C etc. and Stealthers, this field’s towering peaks of elevation make it an exceptional battlefield nonetheless. It also serves as a check to 6×3 colossals.

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Helicarrier [Captain America: The Winter Soldier starter set]

Though it’s sort of just another variation on the old helicarrier theme, this map succeeds due to the relatively narrow portion of elevated terrain in the center. Because they don’t have to traverse a wide field of open space, non-ranged pieces get a fair degree of cover from snipers while still allowing said shooters a fair degree of board control. 

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Flooded Wakanda [Avengers Vs. X-Men]

HeroClix had needed another mostly water map that wasn’t Fear Itself’s punishing Pacific Ocean. Though the map’s not great fun for regular boot speed characters lacking taxi help, the presence of walls on each of the land islands give them layers of cover from stationary shooters.

The Mall [Deadpool]

About 90 percent a square-for-square remix of the old Mall map from the earliest days of HeroClix, this map offers just enough cover for melee and just enough openness for shooters to get both into the action.

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Thunderbolts Sub [Deadpool Fast Forces]

Usually heavily walled-up maps like this one end up choking all the action in a narrow hallway, and this one’s no exception. What makes it interesting are the special rules that cause the edges of the map to start flooding with water upon misses from range attacks.

___

Black Mercy [War of Light]

Hindering terrain-heavy maps can be terribly unfun for teams not ready for them, especially when there’s not much blocking terrain for cover against Stealthy shooters. But the Black Mercy map at least offers decent chunks of the brown squares. It’s really getting played for its special rules making Mind Control and Incap attacks easier to land. Thankfully, designers made sure starting areas did NOT include these squares.

___

Ranx [War of Light Sinestro Corps War Scenario Pack]

There have been maps full of blocking terrain and walls before, but this one functions best because it doesn’t choke the action to one specific hall or room.

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Hall of Doom [Legion of Doom Fast Forces]

This is a rare map that has just about everything: indoor and outdoor terrain, water, walls, elevated and hindering terrain and squares of blocking. It’s not quite the PERFECT map that has everything, but it’s one of the very best in the game overall for just plain tactical fun.

___

[tie] Keystone City and Central City [The Flash]

Though each looks like a mere street bracketed by elevated terrain a la Web of Spider-Man’s simplistic “The Bridge,” these maps are a world better. Multiple elevations on the edges help to cut down long lines of fire while the street remains an open lane for support pieces. Water terrain is safely located on the lowest level, functioning as a hidey hole of last — or first— resort. Best of all, two copies of these maps can be placed end-to-end for an extra-sized battlefield.

____________

Tomorrow, we’ll take a break from the looks back at 2014 to comment on the latest Watch List changes. Then, next week, Heroclixin begins tallying the sins of the game: The Top Ten WORST Clix of the year.

The Watch List of late 2014 is resolved! And so now Heroclixin’ can finally make its official Top Ten list (albeit one with a lot of ties, so…more than 10 actually).

1. Kyle Rayner [War of Light 107]. Combines the strength of a tentpole with needed survivability and leaves just enough room for help.
2. Zoom [The Flash 053b]. If he can get that crucial first hit, there’s nothing like him.
3. [tie] Captain Marvel [Guardians of the Galaxy 007b] and Banshee [Deadpool 051]. Both are well worth the price for the package.
4. [tie] Super Skrull [Guardians of the Galaxy 062] and Engineer [The Flash 060]. The swissblades. He’s a little better but lacks the build flexibility of her bargain cost.
5. [tie] STAR Labs Technician [The Flash 007] and Weasel [Deadpool 020]. She’s for all teams, he’s for shooting ones. Both are top tier.
6. Proxima Midnight [Guardians of the Galaxy 050]. Untouched by the Watch List and without peer. 
7. Butcher [War of Light 066]. The best of the entities as a piece.
8. [tie] Despotellis [War of Light 099] and Destiny [Days of Future Past 011]
9. Superboy [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 046]
10. Bizarro [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 039]. The Watch List kicked the reverse Superman clone in the face and he still clings to a Top Ten slot because he can take 11 damage from a tri-plexed Zombie Galactus for 5 straight turns and still not be KO’d.

I often like to take a look back at Heroclixin’s Top Ten lists but end up having to crawl through a half-dozen or more posts to do so. This is an attempt to put them in one spot. In alphabetical order by name:

1. Banshee [Deadpool 051]
2. Bizarro [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 039]
3. Butcher [War of Light 066] 
4. Captain Marvel [Guardians of the Galaxy 007b]
5. Despotellis [War of Light 099]
6. Destiny [Days of Future Past 011]
7. Engineer [The Flash 060] 
8. Kyle Rayner [War of Light 107]
9. Proxima Midnight [Guardians of the Galaxy 050]
10. Solomon Grundy [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 049]
11. Spectre [War of Light 050a] (at 200 points)
12. STAR Labs Technician [The Flash 007]
13. Superboy [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 046]
14. Super Skrull [Guardians of the Galaxy 062] 
15. Tiamat [Deadpool 057]
16. Weasel [Deadpool 020]
17. Zoom [The Flash 053b]

Yeah, that’s way more than a Top Ten, even accounting for some intended ties. But we await the final results of the Watch List before Heroclixin’s definitive Top Ten of 2014 can be determined.

In the meantime, watch this URL for a brief new feature: the Top Ten maps of 2014. Then we’ll go dumpster-diving to find the 10 WORST ‘Clix of the past year.

EDIT: And O.M.G. The Watch List results come out while I’m at work and RIGHT AFTER I set this article. :/  So instead of the above coming features, look for the true part final tomorrow!

There’s a final category of figure that made certain ones candidates for top HeroClix of the year: The Undying.

Time was, you just had to hit a HeroClix fig once fairly hard to turn it into so much dead weight on a team — and then once more to make it just dead.

But more and more we’re seeing “Stop” clicks that ignore the total damage you just laid on a fig. A key example is Kyle Rayner [War of Light 107].

Starting with 11AV 4 damage Running Shot EE with Perplex got him an initial look for consideration as a tentpole, but his soft Super Senses click knocked him out. Who wants to pay 180 for a piece that’s not even scary until it gets hit to a stop click?

Well, when that stop click is just #3 of seven, granting 19 DV Impervious that even Pulse Wave can’t get around, and he can’t be tied up thanks to another SP granting him Duo Attack with get-out-of-jail-free placement before each shot, and Outwit and Quintessence TA? Actually a lot of players just might, especially given that he has the Construct ability to fit on a Nurse to give himself Regeneration (or Decoy, or Energy Shield/Deflection, or any number of offensive options).

——

Even more potent than stop clicks are figures that heal and heal and heal again. Prime among them is Zoom [The Flash 053b], who flirted with a mention among the middleweights in Part 3 but lost out because of his modest 17 DV Super Senses as his only defense. Not so good at his 120 cost. Plus there’s the fact that he doesn’t get good at the fight until he gets a Speed Token.

But if he gets just one. Just. One — which isn’t that difficult with 13 Hypersonic Speed and 11 AV — then he can suddenly use Flurry+BCF during a later HSS attack. Or he can save it for mid-dial, when Speed Tokens really pay dividends for him. There, his Toughness+Regeneration Defense SP gets a 1-3 bonus to the latter’s rolls based on the Speed he’s amassed. And as he continues to hit, his damage SP’s Steal Energy heals him up while adding still MORE Speed.

——

And then there’s pieces that don’t even KO properly. Solomon Grundy [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 049], already a pain in the seat of your pants (pants he wants, too, apparently) with his Indom and full dial of either Outwit or +1 damage Battle Fury, also free-heals when he’s in water or printed hindering terrain. He’s got a full complement of the best armor on the PAC along with a Regen SP. THEN he’s got the ability to self-revive at least 3 clicks via Resurrection Tokens instead of being KO’d, making him in effect an 11-click dial AT LEAST. With Flurry scattered through his dial, he’s got some opportunities to hit and make more Resurrection tokens. At 200 points, he was too immobile to make the list in any other category. But his sheer length of life and ability to self-heal in three different ways get him here.

And then there’s Bizarro [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 039] who, no matter how much damage an attack deals him, will only ever lose a single click of life. His dial is utterly random both in stats and powers, so he can’t mount a true offense without outside help. But his sheer stamina is unmatched even by the others in this category of The Undying.

Say this happens in single turn: a foe successfully single-target Pulse Waves for 4, then a second follows with 3 Exploit Weakness, then a 3rd with 2 damage PPB.

• Kyle Rayner ends up KO’d after the third attack.
• Zoom is KO’d by the first TWO.
• Grundy would be KO’d by all three hits and is forced to use his Resurrection Tokens to rebirth. He’s buried on click #6 of an 8-click dial.

But Bizarro? He only takes 3 damage where the rest took NINE.

In a timed game, Bizarro never dies. So he’s on the Watch List and is, of all the top candidates for Heroclixin’s top ten list, the one most liable to change and either drop or advance in his tentative position on the list.

And that’s why there’s no top ten of 2014 yet. There’s only a collection of nominees that we’ll sum up tomorrow.

Cornerstones aren’t tentpoles, exactly. They’re pieces that lack the sheer output to be a tentpole but can nevertheless approximate what a big bruiser brings to the fight. More importantly, these figs do a fair bit to aid other figures on the team, bringing up the effectiveness of the whole force. Here’s what Heroclixin’ liked in this category.

Superboy [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 046]

At 175 points, he’s a solid if unremarkable tentpole with 8-range 11AV Running Shot 2-target Energy Explosion and 18 DV Invincible. What pulls him from good to nearly great is his trait granting Leadership to him and Willpower to cheaper adjacent allies — which works excellently with his top-dial Enhancement or his later Empower. He’s like a battery of actions for the rest of the team. The Boy of Steel also has a 100-point level that functions similarly for a team of swarming fighters. And don’t forget: he’s a wildcard in addition to bringing Superman Ally TA to the force. Truly a figure that deserves to be built around.

Captain Marvel [Guardians of the Galaxy 007b]

Another cornerstone fig. He’s a bit soft with only Defend and Super Senses via an uncounterable SP to guard him, but he’s not a front line fig anyway. He’s going to be right behind, loaning his 18 DV AND boosting adjacent non-Kree teammates +1 DV in addition. He’s also a fine fighter in his own right with 11 AV Running Shot Penetrating/Psychic Blast that bans hit foes from shooting back for a turn, too. And he’s just 82 points? This fellow is bound for a lot of top-flight teams and heartily carves a place on Heroclixin’s top spots.

Then there’s this continuing trend of pieces that can choose powers that don’t appear on their dials, one that started back with the Infinity Gauntlet resource and The Stranger [Galactic Guardians 043]. Heroclixin’ calls these “pick-a-power” clix Swissblades and two in particular broke the trend wide open:

Super Skrull [Guardians of the Galaxy 062] weighs a lot at 170 points. But his trait to gain one each of any Speed, Attack, Defense or Damage power on the PAC can make him completely worth it, especially given his other advantages as a Marvel Zombie to gain allies or self-revive upon respective KOs. He does have a significant drawback in that he runs a 33% chance of self-damage for getting an extra power, and the chance of injury rises exponentially for each extra one. But it’s only one click at a time on an 8-click dial. It’s probably worth the risk just to get needed damage reduction on his otherwise unarmored dial.

Engineer [The Flash 060] can select any Speed, Attack or Damage power at no risk. Her very light armor of Toughness then Super Senses is really her only drawback. At 175 points she can be run as a modest tentpole with decent starting stats (10, 11, 18, 3) that can be molded by a myriad of power selections. She really makes the list, though, for her 90 price that still starts with double-digit AV and leaves so much more room for pals to help.

Both of these Swissblade figs are weak against free-action silver bullets such as White Witch or the Green Lantern power battery, so they wouldn’t top the top ten. But mark Heroclixin’s words: One or both of these are going to leave its mark in high-level competition in 2015.

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Heroclixin’ wraps up its look at the most playable figs of the year next time with a final category.

Supporting figs are good and all, and high-point bruisers look neat, but high-level Clix is all about this weight class of moderate-priced pieces able to put the fear of KO into opponents twice the price. Here are Heroclixin’s nominees for 2014’s best:

Banshee [Deadpool 051]: He renders worthless most of the game’s defensive powers (Super Senses, Impervious, Invincible, Invulnerability) just by being a little close — without resorting to Pulse Wave — AND penalizes the characters using those powers with extra damage. He doesn’t care about Stealth OR elevated terrain and, sometimes, even blocking terrain. If he weren’t so completely soft-skinned, he’d be well within the top 10 for sure.

Proxima Midnight [Guardians of the Galaxy 050] is also soft, lacking even the Super Senses that Banshee relies on. She loses 3 range and one of her 3 targets whenever she hits an opponent from range (and as a Sharpshooter, she’s always hitting from range as long as she can). So what’s she even DOING here? It’s all about her Tracer token traits: All she need do is hit once with her Running Shot+11AV P/PB, and she could KO the target without making another attack the rest of the game, given average dice luck. KOing her could hurt as bad as NOT doing so, thanks to the Cull Obsidian trait that triggers damage to the attacker equal to whatever just killed her.

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HONORABLE MENTION

As mentioned in the series intro, Bullseye [Deadpool 036]: is one of the deadliest shooters in the game. He’s also at least 10 points more expensive than the above two candidates for 2014’s top ten.

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As good as these figs are, they’re more like specialized secondary fighters than ones to build a team around — it’s why they’re so few. Next installment will focus on team cornerstones and something Heroclixin’ has coined as “swissblades.”