martes, 12 de abril de 2016

MUMG: Analysis Gambit

Hello everybody.
Time now for the only mutant able to irritate Wolverine up to unexpected limits, Gambit. With Level 7 he is on the second step of the mutants beside Cyclops and Colossus, but not the same in Power because with a value of 6 he is at the same level as the worst characters, what ironically is a plus for him because alongside Deadpool they are the only ones able to take profit of Scott's Leadership/4, but this Power can be even 5 if Remy enters into the critical area of his Endurance bar. The most remarkable of him is his duality, so he can be on a team of mutant heroes or villains ones.
In terms of Mobility he keeps in line with his leader Cyclops with the typical values of 4/7 (10, 17.5 cm).

On the Defensive aspect he has some medium values for: Physical Defense (16+1), letting at one side the exceptional case of Colossus and his value 20, although as soon as he remains on the safe area of his Endurance bar this value is increased up to 18 (20 if it is improved defensively); Energy Defense (17), only behind the 18 value of Black Panther, Nova and Rocket Racoon; and Mental (16). Where he is really weak is against Supernatural (13) attacks and not only because it is the worst value known until the date, also because is the only defense that can't be improved. Although great part of his defensive potential is not related with this numbers, but on his ability to remain in Stealth, which makes him imperceptible for the enemy for distance higher than 8'' (20 cm). But especially, once per game Remy can play with the destiny and Cheat Death to ignore all the damage (therefore effects) caused by a single attack, this can be useful for ignoring an attack that has dealt him quite damage, has made him to enter into a delicate area of his Endurance bar in a critical moment of the game, or maybe the most common use, to avoid the attack that would end with him.

Completing his defensive skills, his Agility 10 guarantees him 67% chances in rolls of this attribute for reducing damage received by Spray, Explosive and/or Expansive attacks, in addition to avoid all the damage and the knock down effect produced for being in the middle of a throw, to all this it must the taken into account his Acrobat condition for repeating this kind of rolls. In terms of endurance, Gambit is not one of the toughest mainly because with 12 wounds he is at the same level as Cyclops among others, and only above Rocker Racoon (10) and Black Widow (9); at the moment he leaves this comfort area the firstly affected is his Physical Defense coming back to its original value of 17, and in last instance his Attack is reduced to 5, the same as his Power. With Stamina 7 he has the same probabilities as Logan for not getting KO or recovering from it with a 33% chances, as long as his Willpower 9 guarantees him 56% of chances in rolls of this kind.

NOTA 1: Despite of his Stealth, he can be affected by areas of effect coming from attacks done against another objective.

In offensive tasks, without putting aside all the damage he can deal, his attacks are more focused in forcing the rival to lose/waste POW mainly because of his Kinetic Control, which lets him to change the Nature of his attacks to Energy, that means that attacking again and again the same target swapping between Physical and Energy attacks can force the rival to spend much POW if he/she wants to keep improving his/her defenses. His Attack value (6) is in the middle of the bests and the worst ones, more close to the last ones because at the moment he is at the limit of his strengths it decreases to 5. Looking more in details his attacks and ordered by raged distance:
  • 52 Pickup (2): If Remy can be seen by his enemy (Stealth) that means he/she will also be in range for that attack (normally). More than the 2 damages each card can deal, the really danger of this attack is on its alternative Overload, that Explosive/3 (8.5 cm) can be used for attacking an scenery element (having into account their Defense 13 and the +1 to ranged impacts for being Masksmanship, Remy has 67% chances of succeeding only with 2 dices and Attack 6, 56% when it is reduced to 5) and taking advantage of its area of effect to affect everybody behind it, being able to Overload each new secondary impact (although with limitations because of his Strength 1, as it will be seen now). If his Kinetic Control is being used it is important to declare the change to Energy even before attacking the object, so it is interesting to see who is being affected by the Explosive before deciding with Nature is used. It is not a crazy idea to attack enemies without the extra dice for Overloading it (either for using the alternative Overload or for not paying 1 more POW) thanks to the +1 to impact with ranged attacks (Marksmanship), which can be even better if the attack is against KO or Knocked Down enemies, and having good throwers on the team such as Colossus and Rogue (both of them with Strength 4) it is easy to knock down enemies by throwing.
  • All in (3): Gambit's unique attack, with a potential damage of 2 wounds to each one of the affected models, but with the inconvenience that Spray attacks have against Acrobat characters. Its main usage is affecting more than once enemy at the same time, in addition to make useless the covering bonus for being Penetrative, although it is still needed to see the affected characters. Maybe it is more useful for making the affected ones to spend POW for improving themselves because it must be declared even before Remy decides if he wants to Overload each hit roll. It means this attack is perfect for using it at the beginning of the round for leaving the enemies with less POW for the rest of it.
  • Bo Strike (2): Gambit's close combat attack is the most versatile of all of them. Although it is true its normal damages is just 1 wound, when Overloading and rolling three dices the chances of obtaining a critical hit are higher, and with this attack that means to force the enemy to lose 2 POW per impact (Stun/2). When using the alternative Overload, the damage of this attack will become 3 damages, although with only 2 dices and Attack 6 (or 5) it can be difficult; just for having an idea of this, against Defense 14 he only has 56% chances (or 44%) of succeed, so it can be interesting using it against knocked down enemies. In case of beginning in touch with the enemy, repeating this attack can force the enemy to lose up to 4 POW counters.

NOTA 2: Marksmanship is still applied for the second targets of an attack (Explosive, Pierce...).

For the same reason as Cyclops (Strength 1), Gambit is not a good candidate for throwing characters/objects.

Lastly, in therms of Support/Control what Gambit offers is linked to his offensive aspect for the already mentioned: forcing the enemy to spend POW defending himself/herself changing the nature of the attack thanks to his Kinetic Control, and making them to lose POW also for the Stun/2 of his Bo Strike, although it can be more difficult to achieve because he will only have two dices for that.

Summarizing, the strong point of Remy is his versatility attacking due to his attacks are either for dealing damage and controlling the POW of the rival forcing him to use them (or at least thinking about it) thanks to his Kinetic Control, swapping the nature of them.

Although neither his defenses can be considered good nor endures many hits, not being visible at more than 8'' (20 cm) thanks to be Stealth will let him to arrive to attack distance in a perfect condition, and he always has the ace in the hole of Cheat Death and totally ignore an attack that has damaged him. That means it is interesting to keep always 1 POW, at least if he can be attacked in a critical moment.

Regarding the use of POW, while he is not in the red area of his Endurance bar he will have up to 6 counters, 7 if he begins his activation within 4'' (10 cm) from Cyclops thanks to his Leadership/4. Being totally offensive, as he remains in distance he can abuse from his 52 Pickup in different ways, and having into account his +1 to impact for being Marksmanship:

  • Up to 3 times without Overloading for a potential damage of 6 wounds. That would leave him out of POW for anything else (hiding, defensive improvement, Cheat Death), with with Colossus close it can be fixed.
  • Depending on the quantity of affected enemies, a single card can be thrown against them, or even better against an scenery element and Overload each one of the following impacts produced by its area of effect (Explosive).

In close combat he should Overload every attack if he wants to take advantage of the possible effects with his Bo Strike attack, which means he will do this attack up to 2 times. In both cases he would run out of POW for anything else, and once again with Colossus near it would be fixed:

  • Normal Overload: With three dices the chances of obtaining a critical hit are higher, which means again a potential damage of 6 wounds.
  • Alternative Overload: Although the damage is much lower, the really painful in this case are the 2/4 POW counter the rival can lose (in addition with the ones used for improving his/her defense).

Lastly, in the round he uses his All in attack he will need 3 POW and 1 more for each affected enemy if that hit wants to be Overloaded. As all the area of effect attacks, it is interesting using them when the attack can affect more than once enemy, which means spending at least 5 POW. Again, it would leave him with 1 POW for the rest of tasks. In general terms, looking at the low endurance of Remy the most wise would be attacking only once and keep POW for other tasks.

As usual, Gambit not only releases all his potential when he is in good conditions increasing his Physical Defense to 17, he also can generate up to 7 POW if he begins his activation within 4'' (10 cm) from Cyclops. At least in the middle area of this bar the only bonus he loses is that +1 to the Physical Defense (so it comes back to its original value of 16), but on the delicate area his Power and Attack are both decreased to 5.

Greetings and we keep reading in La Biblioteca de Alfred and Reino de Juegos.

2 comentarios:

  1. Hi, loving these articles, really helps think about the strengths and weaknesses of each character.

    I just want to point out though, I think you have got confused with the Bo Strike effects.

    You state that you can either overload to gain an extra dice, and use those three dice to hopefully gain a crit, adding +2 damage to the attack.
    Or using the alternative overload to roll two dice, but cause stun/2.

    It is actually the other way round on the card, it should be that using overload for the extra dice grants 3 dice to get a crit: Stun/2.
    Or, by alternative overload, you only roll 2 dice, but can cause 3 (1 base + 2 from overload) damage.

    Keep up the good work though :)

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  2. Thank you Robert. I'm glad u like it. I was concerned if it wasn't understandable due to English is not our main language, but with comments like your I can see it is.

    I have changed that, as u said, it was swapped... thanks for ur feedback :D

    ResponderEliminar