HeroClix Top 13 Abilities

When it comes to building a tournament team

13) Blades /Claws /Fangs – The ability to deal 6 clicks of damage should never be overlooked. Marvel and DC both offer cheap figures with this ability. Outwit can ruin this at times, but luckily enough for the figures who have this – they also have stealth as well.

12) Mind Control – Controlling your opponents figure is never a horrible option in any game! Before the rules changed regarding this ability, it was incredible. Not only did you control the figure, but they received an action token to boot! Well, they reworded this ability once again and calmed it down. Either way you choose to use it (new or old rules), it’s very strong!

11) Impervious – Not only does this ability reduce damage dealt by two clicks, but you have the chance to avoid being hit altogether. The only setback of this ability is – they usually place this on a low defensive number. So, you’ll find yourself needing a 5 or 6 quite often to avoid taking damage. Another soft spot of this ability – outwit. Because it is found on low numbers, outwit opens your character with impervious to just about any figure on the board with decent attack values. Stay away from outwit and this ability is a game winner (if you hit your dice rolls).

10) Telekinesis – The ability to throw objects or figures around the board within a 10 space area. You’ll almost always see this ability on tournament teams. The combo of Jean Grey and Firelord is almost broken, but we only have to worry about this for another month! TK allows you to move your heavy hitters across the board and into action several turns earlier then a team without this ability! And the ability to toss a medic across the board for quick support is a nice addition too!

9) Psychic Blast – The ability to ignore all defensive abilities when you deal damage with a ranged attack. Most of the big hitters you’ll face today have fancy defensive abilities such as toughness, impervious and invulnerability. With psychic blast, you deal your damage and laugh. This is the best attack ability heroclix offers in my opinion. Just remember, this only ignores abilities that reduce damage, it does not work against super senses, energy deflection and mastermind.

8) Perplex – Increase or decrease a combat value by 1. A valuable asset on just about any team you ever play. Increase your range, attack value, speed, damage, and defense (although increasing your defense would be pointless). If your team has a 10 range figure and you want to fight another 10 range figure, place your figure 11 spaces away. Next turn, you can perplex your range to 11, attack your opponent and he can do nothing but take the abuse! Perplex can be sneaky and very valuable!

7) Willpower – This character does not take push damage. A little bit of purple on a figures defensive number can create a lot of havoc for opponents. The reason Batman is so strong lies simply in the fact that he has willpower. Move into position the first turn then attack the next without pushing or attack / move two turns in a row - it’s an incredible ability. You will see a lot of Green Lanterns from Unleashed being played nowadays simply because of his high damage, decent attack values and willpower!!

6) Support – In almost every close game you ever play, the medic can decide who wins. Figures with low defensive numbers and high damage / attack values work hand-in-hand with medics. Take Firelord for instance, he is an offensive beast when the game begins, but after 3 or 4 clicks of damage, he is relatively weak and extremely vulnerable. When joined with a medic, you are only required to make low rolls on your attack in order to heal this figure. A nice 4, 5 or 6 roll for the support puts Firelord right back into his strongest clicks. Only one catch with this ability – and I see a lot of people break this rule! You cannot perplex or change a medic’s attack value (or the defensive value of the figure they are attempted to heal). You must use the stats that are printed on the base of both figures involved in the support attempt.

5) Energy Deflection – Increase this figures defense by 2 against ranged attacks. With so many figures being produced who rely upon ranged combat tactics, this ability is GOLDEN! Figures such as Magneto, Deathbird and Bullseye can rush into battle against any figure and rely on such a high defensive number, they are practically impossible to hit. If you use this ability, consider placing your figure in hindering terrain. This will add another +1 modifier to the defensive value. In other words – Deathbird could be a 20 defense when standing in hindering terrain. That’s extremely hard to hit for 80% of Marvels figures!

4) Hypersonic Speed – Run, shoot and then run away. That’s the whole plan behind using a figure with HSS. Unleashed provided DC with a nice array of hypersonic figures and now (hopefully) it’s going to be Marvels chance to do the same with “Ultimates”. Hypersonic is a broken ability. It gives your figure the chance to run into battle, do some damage and then run away before anyone even realized what’s happened. Nightcrawler is Marvels only figure with this ability thus far, that’s the main reason you see him selling for over 75 dollars. Amazo and Flash where DC’s Hypersonic speed options, and before Unleashed was released, Amazo was possibly the best heroclix figure produced. The sheer speed of these figures puts them on a different level then everyone else when it comes to battling.

3) Outwit – Counter a power on a target opposing figure. What is there to not like about this ability? Impervious is a joke, Hypersonic is a joke; every power is a joke when you have outwit on your team. Every power other then stealth that is… You see, if a figure with stealth is standing in blocking terrain or your line of sight to them passes through hindering terrain, you cannot outwit them. This why is I have the next # as….

2) Stealth – Possibly the best ability in the game. The only way for a person to see and/or shoot a figure that is stealthed is to go base-to-base with them. Most figures who have stealth want you to get base-to-base with them,, as you’ll see many of them have Blades/Claws/Fangs. A figure with Stealth cannot be outwitted (when line of sight to them passes through hindering terrain). Some of the best overall figures in the game have stealth and range or stealth and outwit – these figures include (but are not limited to) Psylocke, Black Panther, Shi, Deathstroke, Nightwing.

And the #1 ability you should look for when building a tournament team….

1) Ranged Combat Expert – Make a ranged combat attack against a single target, increase this figures damage value by 2. There are MANY figures in the DC and Marvel universe who offer RCE, some of them combine this ability with high attack values and some of them don’t. The best figures in the game (as of today) have 8+ range, 10+ attack and RCE. A list of some of these figures – Firelord, Bullseye, Deathbird, Deadshot, Magog, Superman, and on and on and on… All of these figures will see tournament play and there is a HUGE reason for this. They have RCE and are capable of dealing large amounts of damage. This wins game and can never be overlooked when building a serious team!