Thanks for joining me again for another edition of Clix Bait! As always, you can share your questions or comments, or start a conversation, by following the link to the Facebook page. Whether you want to talk builds, strategy, modding, or just general super-hero topics, I welcome you to tell us what’s on your mind.

The date is set! Next week, you’re going to get a chance to see Dan versus PJ with the finalists in the budget build contest! Sunday, August 15^th, at 9pm Eastern time, the two will butt heads and show us which build is the real deal. And remember, whichever build wins, I will be putting together the build and either giving it to the designer, or auctioning it off for the charity of their choice. I’m anxious to see what happens!

I’ve also been anxious to try out my new build, and I got a chance to play against my friend Trevor. This is good and bad, as Trevor’s great, and I love hanging out with him, but he doesn’t think the way the top competitors think, and his builds are more experimental than mine, so I don’t get to learn as much as I would like. Still, any practice time is useful, and you learn something every time you play a team. Just moving the pieces around the board and seeing what your positioning will allow you to do is VERY valuable, so never pass up a chance to play against another player, and don’t feel silly for doing some opening moves and placements when another player isn’t available.

As for how the game went, it was slow. Both of us were playing new builds, and decided to shut off the timer so we could get more time in with the game and figure things out. My build is more complicated than I initially thought, and is going to require a good amount of practice time to learn my placements, especially on my map of choice. When I thought through my movements and placements, it did what I wanted it to do, but placement has always been a weak point of mine, so I’m going to need to work to overcome that with this team. Still, maybe the challenge is just what I need to improve as a player, and finally get this monkey off my back. I won the game, but with very low points, so I need to speed up my play in order to have enough time to come back if I fall behind.

And I don’t have a huge amount of time to prepare…August 21st, I’ll be making a trip to Columbus to compete in the qualifier Heroes and Games is hosting, so I need to get comfortable with my team before then. Here’s a link to the information on Facebook, in case you’d like to attend. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, Jay runs great events, so if you can get to Columbus that day, it’s worth the trip!

This week, we’re digging back into the update on the powers by color, this time focusing on the brown powers. Since I mentioned how my practice went, I suppose it’s only fair I share the build with you, although I’m usually a little hesitant to do that before I’ve had a chance to play it in an event…but the next event I have is at the end of the month, and I still have the finalist builds to share with you after they’ve had a chance to play the game, so really this is the best time to fit it in.

We’re getting close to the end! This segment is a little long this week, as there as some complicated powers on the list, so be prepared! Brown is just complicated, and requires a little attention to detail despite WizKids attempting to simplify things. So let’s get to it!

“Hypersonic Speed: POWER: Halve range, Passenger :0, this character can move through squares adjacent to or occupied by opposing characters without stopping (Still needs to break away). Move, then make an attack, then move up to your speed value minus the number of squares just moved.”

The complicated part of this power comes from the distinct steps of this power, and what each phase allows you to do, or does not allow you to do, so I’m going to break it down into each step of the power.

Step 1: First movement – When you activate this power, the character gets Passenger: 0, which overrides what you may normally have, be it from size, flight, or vehicle. Hypersonic Speed trumps that, and makes it so you cannot carry anyone. It also replaces your range value with half of your printed range value, rounding up. Then, you must roll to break away if you are adjacent to an opposing character. You have to do this, even if you wish to attack from the square you currently occupy (in which case, you would move zero squares, which is legal), and your action ends here if you fail that break away roll. You do not get to make your attack, nor do you get to attempt a break away roll to make the second portion of your move. You may pick up or drop (but not both) an object during this portion of the move.

Step 2: Attack – This is a basic attack, be it a range attack or close attack. Since it is a basic attack, you cannot make object attacks, destroy walls or objects, or use CLOSE or RANGE actions. Passive abilities, such as Steal Energy, Precision Strike, Quake, Close Combat Expert, etc… do work, however. While it is an option, this attack is not required, and does not negate the third step of the power if it is not used.

Step 3: Second movement – This second movement allows you to move your movement value minus whatever you moved in the first segment of the power. This means if you chose to move zero, you get to move your full movement. You still must break away if you are adjacent to an opposing character prior to making this move, even if the only characters you are adjacent to are characters you previously broke away from. You may pick up or drop (but not both) an object during this portion of the move. This means you could pick up an object in the first part of a Hypersonic Speed action, and then drop that same object in the second portion of the action.

Through all portions of this action, assuming you make your break away rolls, you are not required to stop your movement when moving through a square adjacent to, or occupied by, an opposing character, unless that character has something to make you stop (such as Plasticity). After breaking things down like that, you can understand why judges get a lot of questions about Hypersonic Speed…I had to verify a lot of this with the rules support group I am a part of.

“Lightning Speed (WWE): POWER: This character can move through squares adjacent to or occupied by opposing characters without stopping, and automatically breaks away, even if adjacent to a character that can use Plasticity. Move up to 3 squares, then make a close attack, then move up to 2 squares.”

On the surface, this seems like a weaker version of Hypersonic Speed for the WWE, but if you look closer, there are some more powerful aspects to the power. First, you don’t need to roll break away rolls, even versus characters with Plasticity! That’s pretty potent, even if you may not get to move as far. You still cannot use CLOSE actions with this, but you CAN use passive effects again, which is a pretty long list! It’s also important to note that this power tells you the number of squares you can move. It does not replace your speed value, so it cannot be perplexed up or down. It is a move of up to three squares, followed by a move of up to two squares. Period.

“Poison: FREE: If this character hasn’t moved or been placed this turn, deal 1 damage to all adjacent opposing characters.”

This is standard damage, so Toughness, Impervious, etc…will stop the damage. However, this is NOT an attack, so Mastermind and Super Senses can not be used to redirect or avoid the damage. Since you cannot be moved or placed prior to activating this power, you cannot use it after using Sidestep, or after a character has used Telekinesis to place this character. Also, Poison does not target, so effect that trigger when a character has been targeted will not trigger.

“Submission Hold (WWE): FREE: If this character hasn’t been moved or placed this turn, deal 1 damage to target adjacent opposing character. Both characters gain Immobile until your next turn.”

The last of the WWE powers we will be discussing, this does share some similarities with Poison, but the differences are significant. As with Poison, you cannot be moved or placed prior to activating this power, and the damage can be reduced, but not avoided or redirected. Some have questioned because of the way it was written if you could activate the power after moving or being placed to trigger the Immobile portion of the power, but this has been ruled inaccurate.

If the character has not been moved or placed, then it can deal damage to one target adjacent character, instead of all adjacent opposing characters. When that occurs, both the character with Submission Hold and the target of the power both gain Immobile. This goes beyond making it so the character cannot move…it also will not be able to be carried or placed by Telekenisis.

“Impervious: Reduce damage taken by 2. // When this character would take damage from an attack, you may roll a d6. (5) or (6) : Damage taken is reduced to 0.”

So the first part of Impervious is pretty obvious…reduce damage by two. Penetrating damage will still get through, so Psychic Blast and Exploit Weakness ignore Impervious. More importantly, penetrating damage ignores the result of the D6 roll, as this is also a reduction effect, and not an evasion effect (like Super Senses). Furthermore, Precision Strike will still do at least one damage, even if you make the roll, since Precision Strike prevents damage from being reduced below one. Just keep reminding yourself that the roll is to REDUCE the damage and not EVADE, and you’ll be on the right side of the argument.

“Perplex: FREE: Minimum range 6. Choose a target character within range and line of fire. Modify one of that character’s combat values other than damage +1 or -1 until your next turn.”

The basics of Perplex are pretty easy…you have to have range (a minimum of six) and line of fire to the target, and you raise or lower a combat value, other than damage, by one. Since lightning bolts, which give you your number of targets from range, are not technically a combat value, they cannot be perplexed.

It is also important to note the way the Rule of Three works in regards to Perplex:

“Whenever the sum of all modifiers applied to a single combat value is greater than +3 or less than -3, the sum of all modifiers is instead +3 or -3, respectively. All modifiers continue to apply to the combat value, but the sum is changed. Note that this rule does not apply to replacement values, which can change the printed combat value by more than 3 before any modifiers apply.”

So what this means first off is that all modifiers will apply to that character, so if something further modifies that value, you will consider the sum of all modifiers before determining if the Rule of Three applies. So, say a character has Energy Shield/Deflection, is occupying hindering terrain, is perplexed once positively, and has a base defense of 17. When attacked from range, that character’s defense would be 20 (17 + 2 (ES/D) +1 (hindering) +1 (Perplex) = 21, but the Rule of Three would change those bonuses to +3 instead of +4). If a character were to perplex down that character’s defense by one later, then the defense from range would STILL be 20, as the sum of the modifications is still three. The Rule of Three also combines with the rule of replace then modify, meaning that your Perplex will modify the replacement value. For example, Charge will replace a character’s Speed value with half of that printed value. Any use of Perplex will add or subtract from that replaced number, so a character using Charge with a Speed value of nine perplexed twice will be able to move up to seven squares before making its attack (9/2 = 5 (rounding up) +2 for the Perplex).

Hope you were able to hang in there for this section…it’s a bit heavier than most of the rules segments, but it’s important to understand in order to best take advantage of your abilities. Next week, we’ll move on to the black powers, and see if the new rules have done anything interesting to them. If you have any questions about anything we’ve discussed to this point, don’t hesitate to email me at clixbait@digitaledengames.com.

OK…folks are getting inside information this week! You’re going to know what I’m playing in a few weeks in Columbus, unless I blow a fuse trying to figure out my placements and go with something easier like an OMAC build that doesn’t exist right now! But seriously, I like the mobility and defensive abilities of the team, and it’s got ways to punch damage through reduction, so I feel like this is good, but a team is only as good as its pilot, and I need to work on that aspect. Jaylen Major showed me what Mandarin can do, so I just felt like exploring it further.

Link – Chris Cottrill – Science Progresses

So, given his point cost, you might think Mandarin is the primary offense on the team, but in all honesty, he’s a bit of a jack of all trades in the build thanks to the rings. He can get damage through, and is especially useful against Dooms due to his trait, but he can also do some crowd control with Energy Explosion, and Stealth-busting as well. He gives Perplex, Outwit, or Probability Control as the situation requires, and if it’s really important, all three. Flash or High Evolutionary will equip the Power Gem and give you your main damage (usually High Evolutionary), and Flash and Teen Lantern give the team mobility. Mister Oz helps with the early equip, and also has the big prob to go with Teen Lantern’s tricky prob, and High Evolutionary and Mandarin’s more standard prob. And the three theme team probs. Sage limits your opponent’s probs, Perplex, and Outwit to one per turn, putting an odds advantage in your corner when the rerolls start coming through. Molecule Man, Mandarin, and Teen Lantern will have a minimum of three Barrier markers each turn, helping to keep the team defended. Flash and Teen Lantern also allow you to reduce someone’s defense when you’re making ranged attacks, tilting the odds further in your favor.

There are a lot of shallow dials on the team, so the Barrier is VERY important, as well as positioning for probs. Positioning is actually the biggest weakness of the team, as placements have to allow for Mandarin and Teen Lantern to get their free Barriers in useful positions to work with Molecule Man’s Smoke Cloud conversions. You also, as mentioned before, need good placement for line of fire for probs, although Mister Oz has the flexibility to not be concerned about characters and terrain. Mandarin probably wants more rings, and you could make that happen if you’re willing to sacrifice the Power Gem. You could get two more rings for Mandarin, then either add a map bonus or a ring for another character. Most likely I would give Lightning to High Evolutionary to increase his damage output somewhat (while it would have to be spread between two targets, he could do two penetrating damage to one target and three to another, which is a net plus, but not as nice as being able to make a single larger hit).

I’m still getting the feel for it, but I like the potential it has. I just have to play well enough to realize that potential, and that means I need to get more practice time in – not something that I’ve been able to make room for as much as I’d like. But we’ll see…I have two weeks until Columbus, so here’s to hoping I can get things going smoothly!

I decided that this week I wanted to do something a little different. We’ve talked about customizing your miniatures, and we’ve talked about customizing your maps, but we’ve not discussed customizing your game! I know, “Don’t we customize every game by creating teams?” Well, yes, but how we customize those teams can be part of an overall crafting of scenarios and templates that typically get labeled as casual play, but can really add some interesting elements to how you and your friends experience Heroclix.

The most common way of doing this is through theme builds, of course. Many venues give a theme for the build, along with a variety of point totals, to liven up the game. And when I say theme, that doesn’t necessarily mean matching keywords. Ladies’ Night has been a fun theme, where every character on your force has to be female. Comic accurate teams have been popular, but I find harder to adjudicate, as the casts keep changing on teams, and not everyone knows when a group of characters were on the Avengers at the same time. On the other hand, while it takes longer for the host to define the theme, things like “Science Fiction Double Feature (has to have a “mad” scientist, a monster, etc…),” or “Generic Super Team (five pieces, with a strong guy, a ranged guy, a leader, etc…).”

It’s a fun way to change the script a little, but when I think of customizing your game, I like to go a bit further outside the box. Campaigns are something that can be fun, and can stretch over multiple game sessions, but they can be tricky to set up well due to making sure the events from previous games effect the games after. One way I like to do this is to have a very large theme, like 1,000 points of a named theme team, but in the actual games, you only play 400 or 500 points. Damage carries over into the following game, but you may choose to rest injured characters, allowing them to heal, while KOed characters are out for the duration of the campaign. You can do this with or without a story, but as you can imagine, a story might be difficult to craft without being very specific on the themes, so it can take some work to get a compelling plot for a campaign.

One last idea (at least for this week…I think I’m going to post this as a thread on the Facebook page) goes very well with those of you who like creating 3D maps, and that’s objective-based games. You can do this one of two ways – most obviously, set up objectives for players to achieve in order to win the game. Generally you want three to five objectives so as to not make it too easy for one player to win. The other thing you can do is to have objective items on the map that characters can acquire to give them a special in-game effect. Yeah, this is a lot like equipment, but more interesting when it is themed to the map, and since it’s something YOU created, you can make special rules on how this objective can be used, such as making it Immobile to prevent characters from TKing it.

Hopefully this can get you started on some new game ideas, and if not, as I said, I’ll be posting a thread where hopefully other folks will give us some other cool ideas. Next week I should have some new mods or paints to show, but I hope you’ve enjoyed this step away from the norm!

Equipment can be found on pretty much every team being played these days. Yeah, you’ll find a handful of builds that avoid equipment for a variety of personal or strategic reasons, but for the most part, people are OK leaving a few points open to use something to enhance their characters or team overall. We know that not all equipment is created equal, as for every Exospex there’s an Isotope E, but there are pieces of gear in between that while you may not be seeing them at the table right now doesn’t mean they don’t deserve some consideration when you’re making your build. These are the pieces of equipment that may not be right for most teams, but have a large enough niche that players might want to consider them for their teams because its going to give them something nothing else can. So this week, I have for you three pieces of equipment that deserve consideration when building your team that you may have overlooked. These are in no particular order.

The Angler: OK, you might have heard some people talk about it, but have you actually seen it hit the table? Not really, because at 10 points, there’s a LOT of great options, including the Space Gem if you’re looking for a bump to movement. But for one thing, the Space Gem gives a +2 to movement, while the Angler will replace movement. This means it could be Perplexed up to 13 (assuming you are activating Phasing/Teleport), and it also means if your movement is seven or less (like Teen Lantern), you can get a bigger boost from this than the Space Gem. More importantly, there is a placement feature with the Angler, which essentially allows for an action after the placement. If your team relies on a taxi, or if you have a powerful character that needs a move (well, place) and attack, this might be something worth considering.

Lightning: What else increases damage for just five points? You may need to select multiple targets to get the damage bump, but nothing says you need to split that damage. I know above I mentioned how High Evolutionary could do three and two damage to two targets, but he could just as easily do four damage to a single target by choosing not to split the damage. The important thing is to select multiple targets when doing your declarations of targets…you don’t have to hit all targets to trigger this, so if you just hit one target, or choose to apply your damage to one target, that just means you get a +1 damage to that target. If you have a character with multiple lightning bolts (ranged or close combat), this might be worth choosing over a map bonus.

Proxima Midnight’s Spear: Once Hawkeye phased out, this seemed to lose a lot of popularity, but there are characters who can still make this equipment useful – and I’m talking about characters we’re still seeing in the meta. The first piece that comes to mind is Danger Room Magneto. Yes, it will reduce his range, but it will also give you a little bypass to the one damage trait, or allow him to immobilize a character. Captain America from the fast forces would extend his range and have the potential of a second attack when using this (although he’s not been seen in the meta), and really, anyone with Running Shot can make use of that extra damage. It’s a little more expensive than a ring, but it gives you some flexibility, as well as some extra damage potential, so there’s a team or two that might need what it has to offer.

What do you think are overlooked gems in equipment? Feel free to let me know on the Facebook page, but in the meantime, look at these examples and consider what they may offer your team. They’re not the first things to spring to mind, but I think there’s some advantage to be had for a healthy number of teams.

Next week I plan to have the blog written prior to the showdown, but in order to include the winner, I’ll be holding off posting it until after the big game, so expect a late post. Also know that I will be sharing BOTH builds next week, so Blueprint Builds is going to be a special double-sized edition! I’m looking for some good modding or painting stuff to talk about for next week, so if you have something you want to share, feel free to email me at clixbait@digitaledengames.com. Take care, and have fun!