We’ve been mostly dormant over the summer (THANKS, BURGLARS) but Heroclixin’ still lives. And now there’s new rules to digest. Here’s a glance at what’s better, what’s worse: (plus EDITs from errata not even a week later — or stuff I overlooked the first time)

SPEED POWERS

FLURRY: No change. EDIT: Actually, it gets a minor nerf with it not working with object attacks.

LEAP/CLIMB: Boosted to work with any close attack, not just CLOSE

PHASING/TELEPORT: No change.

EARTHBOUND/NEUTRALIZED: Boosted. No longer removes non-standard size symbols.

CHARGE: No change.

MIND CONTROL: Boosted to grant move + attack for hit targets and not suffer “feedback” damage. Nerfed to no longer use most of target’s powers and is now vulnerable to critical misses.

PLASTICITY:  No change… sort of. PAC FINALLY reflects changes made with the 2015 size chart.

FORCE BLAST: It targets now. Unsure if that’s a boost or not.

SIDESTEP: No change.

HYPERSONIC SPEED: Nerfed as hell to not work with objects or carry passengers, and requires breakaway after the attack. Got a mild boost to work against Plasticity and move through characters and passive +2 breakaway.

STEALTH:  No change, but mildly nerfed by only heavy objects providing cover.

RUNNING SHOT: No change.

ATTACK POWERS

BLADES/CLAWS/FANGS: Boosted to minimum result of -1 printed damage.

ENERGY EXPLOSION: Nerfed to no longer combo with RANGE or deal “arrow damage”. Boosted to always deal 2 to all targets and pretty much get around Mastermind.

PULSE WAVE: Boosted to ignore DV boosts fromoutside the wave.

QUAKE: Boosted to deal normal damage to single target. Nerfed to no longer auto-knockback 2 squares.

SUPER STRENGTH: Boosted to deal auto-knockback in melee and increased range on thrown heavy objects. Nerfed in that object attacks don’t combo with most melee powers.

INCAPACITATE: Boosted by timing change on damage to double-tokened targets to avoid Mystics damage. Nerf: It’s now vulnerable to critical misses.

PENETRATING/PSYCHIC BLAST: No change.

SMOKE CLOUD: Boosted; only enemies get the -1 AV and the cloud can’t be lost ahead of its normal duration.

PRECISION STRIKE: Nerfed as hell to only work with solo target, ineffective vs. Mastermind and evasions merely get -1 to rolls instead of zero chance.

POISON: Boosted to work in Action phase but nerfed to not work after moving/placing.

STEAL ENERGY:  No change.

TELEKINESIS: Nerfed to only place within 6 rather than 8 squares. Boosted to allow object attack even when based, to place single-based giants/colossals, and to TK yourself!

DEFENSE POWERS

SUPER SENSES: No change, but P STRIKE changes makes it useful again. Nerf: Cannot evade critical hits

TOUGHNESS: No change.

DEFEND: Nerfed. DV chains impossible due to sharing of printed values only.

COMBAT REFLEXES: Nerfed. No longer protects from knock back damage if you end up on the power after a hit

ENERGY SHIELD/DEFLECTION: No change.

BARRIER: Boosted; barriers can’t be lost ahead of normal duration

MASTERMIND: Boosted to make fodder — which includes common keywords now — actual targets rather than just damage sponges. Nerfed to only work on attacks.

WILLPOWER: No change.

INVINCIBLE: Boosted to reduce damage by 2 — even penetrating damage — and cap damage taken at 3. Nerfed to do worse against 5 damage.

IMPERVIOUS: No change.

REGENERATION: Boosted to heal half d6 roll. Nerfed to maximum heal of 3 instead of 4, and -1 to any heal result if from a STOP click.

INVULNERABILITY: No change.

DAMAGE POWERS

RANGED COMBAT EXPERT: No change.

BATTLE FURY: No change.

SUPPORT: Boosted to minimum heal of 2 instead of 1 and modifications work on both medic and patient. Nerf: -1 to any heal result if from a STOP click.

EXPLOIT WEAKNESS:  No change.

ENHANCEMENT: No change.

PROBABILITY CONTROL: Nerfed to only work attacks and breakaways.

SHAPE CHANGE:  No change.

CLOSE COMBAT EXPERT:  No change.

EMPOWER: No change.

PERPLEX: Boosted to retain modifiers when target’s damaged/healed.

OUTWIT: Boosted to preemptively deny powers. Nerfed to not counter abilities anymore.

LEADERSHIP: Boosted to drop tokens off adjacent fellow keywords and allow automatic +1 action. Nerfed to only allow ONE extra action.

And some other PAC stuff:

IMPROVED TARGETING: DESTROY BLOCKING: Nerfed to only wreck one bit of blocking at a time.

IMPROVED MOVEMENT: CHARACTERS: Nerfed to not ignore characters but only automatically break away. Minor change but could be a corner case.

SWIM: Boosted to grant +1 DV against range when in water.

WILD CARDS: Nerfed to only pick one TA per turn

———

TEAM ABILITIES also got revamped, though only on the WizKids Rules Forum (licensing likely restricts the company from printing them on the physical sheets anymore).

Boosted

AVENGERS / JUSTICE LEAGUE: +1 speed on MOVE action.

BROTHERHOOD OF MUTANTS / INJUSTICE LEAGUE: Removes token on attack rolls of 10-12

UNDERWORLD: No longer restricted to MOVE action and works with shared keyword instead of TA.

Nerfed

AVENGERS / JUSTICE LEAGUE: No longer “free move”

BATMAN ENEMY / DEFENDERS / JUSTICE SOCIETY / SINISTER SYNDICATE: Only shares printed values, no chaining.

MYSTICS: Deals penetrating, not unavoidable, and only after resolutions instead of immediately. Also uncopyable.

OUTSIDERS: 6 range instead of 10

SUPERMAN ENEMY: One fig MUST be lower points

UNDERWORLD: No longer works with shared TA

Gone(?) There were some no-shows on the list of TAs. One hopes they’re among the “Past Rules” stuff and not gone completely from play…

CRIME SYNDICATE

FANTASTIC FOUR

MORLOCKS

SERPENT SOCIETY

SKRULLS

ULTIMATE X-MEN

WATCHMEN

Exciting times!