No. 1

Nick Fury [Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD 056]

Heroclixin’ calls this the “easy mode” figure of the meta game right now. Here’s why:

• A titanic 9 range.
• That sees through hindering.
• And over buildings.
• And characters.
• That works with his better-than-Outwit SP to deny use of powers or abilities.
• And his Probability Control from the same SP to force rerolls of your dice.
• From the safety of Stealth [in addition to the aforementioned seeing through all that other stuff]
• Also with Shape Change. TRAITED.
• Which also gives him +1 attack and damage — PENETRATING — against the highest cost enemy.

His only weaknesses are that walls/blocking terrain cut off his view and he has a short 6-click dial for his 120 points. But with his ability to make much of any outdoor map a total killbox and lacking so much as a single bad click and being able to singlehandedly take on any of the other figures on this Top Ten series…he’s Heroclixin’s No. 1 HeroClix of 2015.

OK, we’re taking a short breather before our next Top Ten list: The most awful figures of 2015.

This Top Ten was super-difficult to pick. There were so many good choices. Here are Heroclixin’s honorable mentions for best figures of 2015.

Koriand’r [WizKids D15-003] has one huge weakness: Lack of Running Shot on top. While her combo of Outsiders and Move And Attack serves to mostly mitigate the matter, the fact that she can’t use the latter when based can shut her down pretty well at the worst times. Add to that her complete lack of armor and you see how she JUST misses top status. Especially in a year in which…

…Wonder Woman [ 033] also missed the cut. She’s a durable, high-damage Mystic brick resistant to most forms of Outwit and Prob Control, the banes of many a tentpole. If she were just a little cheaper than her 200 points, she’d have been a near-lock for the Ten. But there was also her rival child of Zeus, Apollo who shares the same price point and resistance but offers a ranged attack component.

Juston Seyfert — Despite making showings in both HeroClix Worlds and Realms Open Championship finals, he didn’t rate on Heroclixin’s Top Ten because he requires a very specific set of teammate to work at all. But to the degree that he makes any Robot rock the house means he’s got to be mentioned here.

Jewel — In the early days of HeroClix, the Rookie Infinity Challenge Black Panther was THE source of free-moving, cheap Outwit. And though the black damage power has lost some of its former bite, it’s still great to have for as low as 25 points.

Thor [Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD 050] — She got very close to carving her spot among the immortal 10 with her power to electrify rooftops. Her low 17 DV for her points cost her.

Superman Blue — Granting immunity to Pulse Wave is an ability that will get SuperBlue onto many meta builds in 2016. But he’s so short-lived at 50 points and lacks the Willpower punch at 125 to rate top status.

Clark Kent — At a light 55 points, he offers Prob, then Outwit, then his SuperPog. His trouble is that he’s got to get far too close to the action to really levy his anti-power action trait.

Rick Jones — Endless pog minions and TK and long range help him make bitches of many a team. He’s possibly the most honorable of these mentions, despite his soft skin and some outright wasted points with 2 damage and THREE targets top dial.

Gluttony — A Mystic who only takes 1 damage at a time, he’s unkillable but also so immobile for his price that he really can’t gobble his way onto the list proper.

30-point Ultron Drones — All dangerous, these make great filler. But their real honorable mention status is that they’re even better at using ID cards — and that dependence ran them afoul of our “Can’t require resources/relics/whatnot to be top-tier” rule

Green Arrow [Trinity War 208] — May be the game’s best pure shooter. Though Hawkeye [Avengers Age of Ultron 009] could be the game’s OTHER best shooter. But GA lacks the Willpower and Sharpshooter ability he needs to truly leverage his extreme versatility while Hawk’s defense is rather poor. Both are soft.

The rest of the OMAs: A number of characters had solid figs that can perform solo against 300-point swarms. Some, like Black Adam [Trinity War] and Ultron (Future) [Age of Ultron 052a] weren’t good on their defense numbers, others had soft spots (see Hulk [Avengers Assemble 064] and King Thor), mobility issues (Iron Man [Avengers Assemble 062] and Ultron (Phalanx) [Age of Ultron 055], or wasted points (the SHIELD TA on Hulk [Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD 052] at full strength) . And either a vulnerability to Outwit or a lack of stop clicks were enough to immediately disqualify a OMA in a year when Outwit resistance or KO insurance was in good supply. Of the other also-rans, Superdoom [Superman/Wonder Woman 059], Superman [Superman/Wonder Woman 065], and Superman [Trinity War 050] each had a good chance of making Heroclixin’s Top Ten. TW Supes’ ability to auto-heal almost made up for his Outwittability and lack of stop clicks, but that and the fact that at 250, he wasn’t quite a true OMA kept him from the slot. Red Son Superman has two of the very best stop clicks in the game coupled with Regen, and Superdoom adds a strong layer of Outwit resistance to make his case. The former lacks that resistance, though, and the latter has a troubling lack of opening move+attack followed by a lot of range-killing Battle Fury. And so they couldn’t quite unseat Hulk 008 from his No. 6 slot representing the One Man Armies of the year.

No. 2

Mr. Mxyzptlk [Superman/Wonder Woman 060]

So Mr. M has a trait where he can roll a die and store the result on his card to replace a later die roll just about any time, anywhere. The ability to take the random away from die rolls is unbelievably strong. There’s simply no bad result.

• 1-2: Swapping an opponent’s die for one of these numbers will almost always turn a hit to a miss. Possibly a critical one. And it’ll blunt a Blade roll.
• 3: Good for cursing enemy d6 rolls or getting that must-heal-SOMETHING Regen on your part
• 4: Need that breakaway or Regen? This’ll do. A 4 also helps nudge those attack rolls to success.
• 5-6: Guarantee that Leadership, that BCF damage, that Support/Regen, that must-land Super Senses/Shape Change.

He needs no line of fire or range to use this trait.

Mr. Mxy also stays on the move with his Quintessence TA and Phasing/Teleport SP with the ability to use that free when he’s got two tokens. That is, if you don’t just have him carried by larger characters. On every other click, he can Pulse Wave that only tokens hit characters of his choice or make a character within 3 squares any size.

But all that is just gravy. Mr. Mxyzptlk’s ability to screw with the dice makes it difficult to lose a game when running him. That’s why, despite his lack of real offensive skills, he’s Heroclixin’s clear choice for No. 2 clix of 2015.

Before we announce our not-so-surprising No. 1 selection, we’ll share Heroclixin’s Honorable Mentions: Figs that flirted with making the Top Ten but fell just short.

No. 3

Felix Faust [WizKids D-027]

Back in summer, Heroclixin’ did a Top Ten list of figures too good for the character, and Felix here topped the list. After all, he’s like having 25 Rookie Black  Panther Jewel [Age of Ultron] pieces able to swarm and Outwit a ton of powers each turn. Let’s look at how his d20 results break down opposing squads:

• Seek The Books of Magic: Only being able to do ranged actions effectively counters all movement and about 3/4 of the Powers and Abilities Card.
• Green Bell of Uthool: Only being able to do move actions effectively eliminates attack opportunities and counters about 3/4 of the Powers and Abilities Card.
• Wheel of Nyorlath: Only being able to do close combat actions effectively counters all movement and about 3/4 of the Powers and Abilities Card.
• Red Jar of Claythos: Not being able to remove action tokens effectively means losing a turn.
• Project Thaumaton: Only being able to do free actions effectively counters all movement and about 3/5 of the Powers and Abilities Card.
• Mystical Trap: Pity the foe with a Mystical character on her force. This freezes that character and one of its allies in place.
• Red: Warp all teams back to starting areas. RESET THE BOARD
• Orange: Energy Dampener tokens go on every enemy, preventing power actions. Combined with any of the named d20 powers above, this can be devastating.
• Yellow: As a ranged combat action, Felix can hit anyone on the board. SEVERAL anyones, in fact. No LOF needed.
• Lime: All allies can carry, and can take move actions after being carried. RESET THE BOARD….AGAIN
• Green: All allies can move freely through hindering. This is the only actual bad result.
• Cyan: Felix can use Barrier that forces breakaway for ranged tie-up.
• Blue: All characters are locked at 3 speed, effectively rendering movement impractical.
• Purple: All pals get Willpower.
• Pink: Hey! you get to reroll a die each turn.
• Brown: Enemy mods or replacements are banned except for halving. Bye-bye Defend, RCE, CCE, BCF and a number of TAs.
• Black: Felix gets Outwit and allies with Outwit can counter TAs.
• Grey: you can go over the action total this turn by stealing the enemy’s actions when you do.

Finally, while there’s only a 1 in 18 chance of any single result, there’s a “wild card” result allowing one to choose a power. And there’s a strong probability of landing on SOMEthing that will completely destroy the opponent’s tempo. Tempo is the key to this game.

Leaving aside all that, Felix is also a Psychic Blasting Mystic with Willpower and Perplex. Not bad with his 7 range and Improved Targeting: Characters, Hindering.

The only reason this character is only No. 3 on the list is that his dial is very short for his 80-point price and he lacks the moving attack skills or survivability to endure the attacks enemies will concentrate on him at earliest chance. This wasn’t an issue for him pre-errata, when he could affect the entire field from the back row of his starting area, but now his strongest effects only have a 7-square range. He needs his IT:Character ability to maintain some semblance of safety.

No. 4

Batman [Trinity War 051]

Here’s another Heroclixin’ griped a little about mid-year. Boasting stellar stats for 150 points, Bats’ ability to pick the attack or damage power he best needs puts him over the top, what with his already available Outwit, Perplex and, sometimes, Probability Control.

• Need a taxi for other teammates? Use Telekinesis.
• Need to attack that Mystic? Select Pulse Wave or Incapacitate.
• Need to get around Senses? Precision Strike.
• Need an extra medic? Support.
• Double-tokened (because he’s Indomitable) and based? Poison.

And so on and so forth. Plain and simply, this Batman is the best fig one can field at his price tag and that’s why he’s Heroclixin’s No. 4 pick on the Top Ten of 2015.

No. 5

Nighthawk [Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD 59b]

Outsiders, with its ability to shut off modifications, is one of the more potent team abilities, so it was wisely not allowed to be copied.

Nighthawk here is just like a team full of wild cards using Outsiders. Except not needing line of fire. Or range. Or even an action.

Perplex. Close Combat Expert. Ranged Combat Expert. Energy Shield/Deflection. Combat Reflexes. Empower. Enhancement. Super Strength. SHIELD TA. All useless unless he’s next to you. And with ESD and Shape Change that improves with adjacent allies, he’s going to be difficult to get next to.

His only weakness is that his Outwit means you’ll be tempted to bring him closer to the action, where he could become vulnerable. But at just 65 points, he’s not a great percentage of your team. One can afford to risk his neck or hold him safe in the backfield without ruining one’s game. And that makes Primehawk here the No. 5 figure of 2015.

No. 6

Hulk [Avengers: Age of Ultron 008]

He sort of stands in for the One Man Army figure, one that can actually stand an even chance of defeating a 300-point force with multiple attackers, something that used to be fairly improbable. See, the trouble with OMAs is that if this ultra-tentpole:

• Faces Outwit or penetrating damage, and
• Misses more than one attack…
• …or both

…then the OMA loses. Badly.

WizKids has been designing its tentpoles with abilities mitigating these factors lately. And Hulk here is the best of the lot, boasting:

• Ultra-high attack value. 13 AV is unlikely to miss
• Excellent defenses. 19 DV is the best deterrent against multiple attacks. That, and…
• an Outwit deterrent in “Enormous Green Monster” that makes him stronger down the line.
• Stop clicks. In a game where even an 11-click dial can be depleted in a turn or two, these are great insurance. Hulk’s are even better because they coincide with Regeneration and clear his action tokens.

Hulk really stands apart from others in this class, though, with his Anger token mechanic that allows him to build them up to either easily heal from damage taken, or to maintain his offense [via Colossal Stamina] when double-tokened. Not to mention his trait that forces hit opponents into the devil’s choice of taking extra damage or building up Anger tokens that will be a problem later.

To illustrate: Hulk’s defense is Outwitted. +1 Anger token. He’s hit for 7. +1 Anger token, and he stops after taking just 6 while clearing off his action tokens. He has Invincible now, so he WON’T take mass damage from a follow-up strike — and in a 300-point game, there will only be a cleanup hitter available to attack. Now Hulk has at least 2 Anger tokens to GUARANTEE he Regens at least one click.

If Hulk has a weakness, it’s that he’s a Giant, which makes him an easy target. But as noted above, he can survive those shots better than most and his size makes him a better melee attacker anyway — and attacking is what Hulk does best.

There were a number of other candidates tussling for this spot. But some weren’t true OMAs — for example, Trinity War Superman 050 has ample room for at least one supporter — and for others Hulk, at least on paper, tends to win the one-on-one matches as well.

Because he’s the strongest there is. Heroclixin’s No. 6 figure of 2015.

No. 7

Atomica [Crime Syndicate Fast Forces 008]

Earlier in 2015, this character would have placed much higher on Heroclixin’s Top Ten list because she was a super-cheap, super-CHEATIN’ cog in a high-defense-lending machine. But the new size and equipment rules put the kibosh on all that. We’re not even going to go through it.

She’s still rating an appearance here because: She’s a svelte 25 points of easily carried Plasticity [though her Tiny Size means she only causes -1 to breakaway rolls instead of the usual -2] and Crime Syndicate TA. Perma-probability Control is clutch, especially with Atomica generally being free to take the required action token to use  the CSA team ability. She also sports Precision Strike and 3 range for use in a pinch. And 19 DV keeps her generally safe from attack.

Unless you’re building a themed team — and given her trait, you shouldn’t be putting her on those — there’s no reason not to invest these few points into all this use. Indeed, it’s her ultra-low cost that gets her higher on the Top Ten than the ones we looked at earlier.

No. 8

—tie— Hat [Superman/Wonder Woman 015] and General Lane [Superman/Wonder Woman 028] 

The first tie of this year’s 2015 list, both are inexpensive figs that bring much, much more to the table than their points suggest. First, let’s look at the common Hat and his

On paper, he’s got tons and tons of powers to draw from. But in reality, he’s only got these:

single-arrow Energy Explosion
Incapacitate
Telekinesis
2 damage Penetrating/Psychic Blast
2 damage Pulse Wave
Blades/Claws/Fangs
Smoke Cloud
Poison
Super Strength
Quake
Steal Energy

Battle Fury
Probability Control
Leadership? No
Shape Change
Support? No
Ranged Combat Expert? No
Close Combat Expert ? No
Perplex
Enhancement
Exploit Weakness? No
Outwit

If he had Willpower, he’d be higher on the list.

Gen. Lane may actually outdo Hat by being 5 points cheaper and offering a dial-ful of Police team ability, Enhancement and Leadership, along with this little trait:

So he basically gives Outwit to any pal. He also Leaderships any fellow Solider, though that and the fact that he loses Willpower on his fourth and final click is enough to force him to share the No. 8 slot.

No. 9

Ant-Man [Age of Ultron 003]

At 50 points, he brings a lot to the table. First, he’s a Tiny Size source of Perplex and thus easily mobilized by being taxiable by anyone. Not that he truly NEEDS to be carted with his Special Power “Temporary Pym Particles” that bundles in Sidestep+Charge+Stealth. He’s also got Improved Movement: Characters and Hindering. Oh, and there’s the same SP’s ability for him to make an adjacent standard pal either Tiny or Giant for a round, which could swing the match at the right moment. He rocks Precision Strike to ensure his 1 damage will always be felt.

The reason he crawls onto the list, though, is the fact that he can use his “Morph: Many Identities” trait to swap out for any of EIGHT other Pyms to get just the power set you need, whether it’s greater damage or better armor or Outwit or Exploit Weakness. And many of those figs also call in extra aid in the form of Ant bystanders.

He’s a bit of a sleeper. But it’s Heroclixin’s stance that Ant-Man is one of 2015’s best figures.

Next: It wouldn’t be a Heroclixin’ Top Ten without a tie.