A Hero's Guide to Mr. Fixer

Character Profile

  • Best Attack: Charge
  • Best Team Support: Grease Gun
  • Best Personal Support: Dual Crowbars
  • Primary Damage Type: Melee
  • Secondary Damage Types: Projectile, Any
  • Worst Card: Tire Iron
  • Nemeses: The Chairman and the Operative

The martial-artist mechanic Mr. Fixer strives towards personal perfection.  The undisputed king of irreducible damage Strikes with a variety of damage tricks.  Allowing other heroes to get in on his irreducible damage is incredibly potent.  Salvage Yard and Grease Gun supply some powerful team support for this unique, flavorful character.

To Strike!

Mr. Fixer has only one power, and that is Strike.  Unimpressive at first glance, Mr. Fixer’s game is focused on applying all sorts of modifiers and enhancements to this single power, and using it as often as he can.  Given the right boost, Mr. Fixer can overcome many of the problems villains and environments present.

Mr. Fixer has Overdrive and Charge that can let him attack more than once in the same turn.  Charge is the more damaging of the two, but Overdrive has stronger utility in strange circumstances.  It can be reused by Salvage Yard, and allows you two more attacks if played out of turn.  If you get another power from somewhere, like the Rod of Anubis, you can play Overdrive, use the Rod, then Strike twice.

Before using these, make sure that your attacks are enhanced by something.  Don’t just play them to play something.  Getting out both a tool and a style allows you to use these cards to their full potential.  If you don’t have a relevant style or tool in play or in hand, you would do better to pass on your weak power and draw two cards rather than play one of these.

Harmony is a very desirable boost, once Fixer has a tool and a style.  Never leave home without it.  Bloody Knuckles, on the other hand, is difficult to negotiate.  It is sometimes a useful tool to overcome damage reduction or to deal enough damage to take down multiple things with Jack Handle or Dual Crowbars.  The villain and environment can make you pay for it, so I generally avoid it.  It’s a great thing to lose to card destruction, especially if the villain has yet to damage you.  Definitely take the opportunity to play it if damage has been blocked by something.

Tools of the Trade

My favorite tool is probably the Dual Crowbars.  It provides a much-desired boost to his damage, and lets it affect another target.  Of note here is that target-specific damage increases affect the second target.  If Fixer strikes the Operative, his damage is increased because she is his nemesis, and then he deals the same total damage to his second target. (All of the possible implications of this rule are currently up for debate. If we get an official ruling, I will update this.)

Jack Handle is the tool of choice for crowds, but be careful when there is something you don’t want to kill.  The damage is weaker than the Crowbars, but the Jack Handle enjoys the same target-specific damage boost.  Of further note is that Jack Handle and Dual Crowbars trigger whenever he deals damage.  This includes things that make Mr. Fixer attack himself.  With his iron discipline and a long stick, he can somehow overcome an Infection, and lash out at all of his foes an extra time.  When self-damage comes up, as against Plague Rat, this is a powerful trick to have in your arsenal.

Hoist Chain features offensive damage reduction.  I find this most useful against frequent attacks, especially if you can plan for them – the Matriarch, the Operative, Carrion Fields, the member of the Ennead with the fewest hit points.  Unlike the above tools, this can only affect one target at a time.  This is great with Charge or Overdrive, even alone.  You can reduce a target’s damage twice, or apply it to two different targets.  Alternating Tiger Claw is great with this as an easy way to break damage reduction to apply the effect, since the damage will never be high.

The handy Pipe Wrench is a mix between offense and defense.  Other heroes usually have to play two different cards to get this effect.  This is good when you need added defense.  It’s especially desirable in the fights where you only care about attacking one target, since you won’t be able to use Dual Crowbars or Jack Handle with it.

Tire Iron gives Fixer a theoretical +2 damage, but only in very specific circumstances.  It can only affect one thing at a time, and the relative rarity of the triggering circumstance means you won’t use Overdrive or Charge to good effect with it – which means, in turn, that you’ll want to swap the Tire Iron out pretty soon.  It does change your damage type to projectile, if you really need that, but things that are melee immune are not cards you will kill in one hit.  I say this is a waste of a play.

Style Network

Grease Monkey Fist is the most straightforward of Mr. Fixer’s styles.  Damage boosts are always helpful, and this is a much more useful method of changing Fixer’s damage type than Tire Iron.  You can’t go wrong with this one.

Alternating Tiger Claw is less straightforward.  Irreducible damage amounts to a variable damage boost.  Depending on the situation, that variable can be a big number.  This card is tempered by Fixer’s generally low damage, but being able to guarantee damage in bleak circumstances is excellent.  Obviously, the power of this depends on how often the villain deploys damage reduction.  Pair it with tools that boost your damage.

Riveting Crane lets everybody get in on the irreducible party.  Mr. Fixer has to overcome their damage reduction first.  Other heroes or Bloody Knuckles are useful here.  Then, the other heroes can unload freely.  This is particularly effective against villains who can reduce damage by two or more.  Against villains who reduce damage by one, this provides a target-specific boost similar to Legacy’s Galvanize.  As with Alternating Tiger Claw, pair this with anything that boosts your damage.

Fixer’s last stance is Driving Mantis.  This provides some clean defense, and a little bit of offense.  The damage limit for the redirection is a little low, but this combines well with Pipe Wrench to ignore attacks of one damage, and redirect attacks of two or three damage.  Don’t forget to remove the -1 modifier from Pipe Wrench after he directs the attack away from himself.  Canny players use this with multi-targeted attacks from other heroes.  For instance, Expatriette’s Assault Rifle deals three targets two damage each.  If this hits Fixer, he can essentially let Expatriette attack one target twice.  If you’re relying on this style, do not play Bloody Knuckles.

Use Meditation to get any of these.  I tend to prefer Grease Monkey Fist, fetching Riveting Crane if I see a particularly good application for it.  Meditation can get cards from your trash too, which is good.  It may be worth searching your deck for a card, even if you have it in hand, in order to make it ever-so-slightly more likely you draw into some non-style card you want, like Grease Gun or Harmony. 

Back at the Shop

Fixer rounds out his deck with some nice cards.  Tool Box is his go-to card draw.  It’s reusable, which is great, and it makes very good destroy bait if the heroes have to lose some equipment.

Grease Gun stops damage.  Super good.  This differs from Haka’s Ground Pound by saying that non-hero targets can’t deal damage.  Therefore, damaging cards that aren’t targets, like Checmical Explosions or Rivers of Lava, still deal their damage.  That has gotten in my way at very inconvenient times, but the card still rocks.

Salvage Yard is a team utility vehicle.  While it’s obviously nice for heroes after an equipment wipe, this is a big boon for heroes who actively destroy their equipment, like Unity or Expatriette.  This is best for equipment-heavy heroes who need a lot of cards in hand.  Bunker or Nightmist on a team with Fixer should take every chance to discard extra equipment, knowing that Fixer can put them all back in one fell swoop.  Try to have an Overdrive in your trash before you play this.  Having a Grease Gun there wouldn’t hurt either.

Weaknesses

Mr. Fixer’s chief weakness is his relatively low damage output.  He is a character strictly about manipulating damage, but he doesn’t necessarily do a lot of it.  Strike deals one point of damage to one target.  He can boost this up by three between various ongoings and equipment, manipulating the number of targets as well.  If he wants to take advantage of his utility tricks however, like Driving Mantis or Hoist Chain, his damage and targeting potential take a hit.  Damage reduction is a painful barrier for Hoist Chain and Riveting Crane. 

This issue causes him to be a slow starter, as he tries to find a setup that allows him to actually start dealing damage before his field control can be helpful.  Once you do find the right setup, his damage flexibility is very rewarding. 

Another problem holding Mr. Fixer back is a lack of ongoing or environment destruction.  While he is sometimes well-positioned to overcome the challenges these cards present, there are times these cards represent problems he cannot fix.

Teamups

Mr. Fixer loves damage boosts.  They can make him hit like a truck even without relying on Grease Monkey Fist and company.  Once he has found the right approach, extra power uses or plays of Overdrive allow him to Strike all over the place to amazing effect.

His main team options are Riveting Crane and Salvage Yard.  Heroes specializing in a lot of hits, like Chrono-Ranger and Fanatic, appreciate Riveting Crane.  Salvage Yard is nice for many, but it has the most to offer Bunker and Nightmist.

Nice guide.

This.  This is particularly good advice.  I played my first Fixer game like I'd play any other hero; where all equipment is good equipment.  I was much less frustrated in my second game where I knew some of his potential and could work towards specific tool/style combinations.  I find I take a turn out to draw 2 with Fixer more than any other character.

I generally find that I double-draw most often on Unity because she chews through cards like Mr Chomps chews through HP. I do find myself double-drawing on Fixer and Expat quite a bit as well. Either they have what they need or they don't, and if they don't you want to get to it as fast as possible.

Generally, I find that people have a tendency to undervalue the double draw option. They seem to think that it's a waste of a turn or a dead turn. I just think it lets me get to the stuff I need faster.

I find sometimes when playing regular Tachyon, double drawing is also useful since she can play more cards with her Goggles and Pushing the Limit all she really need is more cards. Especially with DR is around, you might want to let your allies take out that target first since she has low damage similar to Fixer at the start of the game.

Very good guide as always, Flamethrower! :D There is a lot here I wasn't able to cover in my own guide, so maybe between the two of us, we were able to cover most, if not all, ground for Mr. Fixer. Stellar guide!

Great guide. Did you mean to write dueling instead of dual a couple of times?

I just love the idea of someone challenging him to a duel with Crowbars.  It would be fun.

Fixed.

I noticed that but forgot to comment on it. I thought maybe the crowbars were duelling each other, and that's why Mr Fixer is holding them above his head like that - he's trying to keep them from whacking each other ;).

wiki

About Tire Iron : even if it's not always useful, keeping one in hand can be really useful to "finish" a target, especially one with a good DR when it is low on Hps. Players tend to neglect this card, and it sure is not your main Tool, but playing it can be very effective to finish a dangerous target. A favorite tool against the Periapt of Woe, for instance.

It is important to remember that played tools are not lost, but go back to your hand if you play another - a player should always begin his turn by asking himself if a tool in his hand can be used right now for big effect.

Bloody Knuckles : use it ! Not at any time, but don't be afraid to take damage when it can be useful - like when combined with Tire Iron against a powerful DR target :) It is a dangerous card, but it can boost Mr Fixer in big ways. I consider Mr Fixer to be a "self sacrife" hero like Fanatic or Nightmist...

When you can't draw the tools/styles needed, discuss with your team members how you can manage to end as the primary target for the villain/environment. Sometimes, doing a little damage to a friend can make you the highest HP target and save a more useful member from a high damage attack - you feel less useless ;)

Great guide, Flamethrower , as always ! ( Drakossozh, I like yours too, by the way!)

A couple of clarifications I wanted on some of Mr. Fixer's cards:

1.  Grease Monkey Fist + Tire Iron.  Do you get to choose the damage type or is it always projectile?  Does it depend on card play order?

2.  To confirm what I'm pretty sure of...Riveting Crane and Tire Iron don't work if the target reduces Fixer's damage to zero, but Hoist Chain does.  Right?  What about Jack Handle?  Say Voss has out a Gene-Bound Guard - if you Charge at him, you would deal 2 damage reduced to 1, but instead you deal 1 damage to everything, which is reduced again to 0?  Or does it count based on the outgoing damage, then apply all reduction separately?

3.  Driving Mantis triggers only the first time Fixer takes 1-2 damage, correct?  So if he takes 3, then 2, then 1, it triggers on the 2 but not on the 1, and ignored the 3 completely?

As a note on teamups, I just wanted to briefly mention the possibility of using Grease Monkey Fist to Strike Absolute Zero for cold or fire damage, when the result will be more effective than having Fixer deal the damage directly (eg with Dual Crowbars and only one useful target, or when Zero has both an Isothermic Transducer and a Coolant Blast, not to mention the HP to spare). 

Oh, and one more question:

4.  Does Jack Handle make it impossible for Fixer to deal damage to a hero target, or does it let him damage all non-hero targets PLUS one hero if he wishes?  (If the latter was true, I'd imagine it would also let him hit a non-hero target twice, wouldn't it?  I can't remember the exact wording.)

I think it would be best if we kept the comments in this thread about the actual guide. Most of the comments seem like general questions about how Mr. Fixer's card interact. I would suggest making a new thread for those, and keep the comment about teamups here.

I was thinking more "put all questions about Mr. Fixer into one easy to find 'how to play Mr. Fixer' thread."

While I understand your thinking, the consensus around here for a while has been that all comments in a strategy guide should be about the strategy guide only.

I was not part of this "consensus".  Should it not be reconsidered in light of my input?

How much discussion does the strategy guide itself require?  Probably not much, if it's only a one-page thread after this much time.  On the other hand, how many miscellaneous Fixer discussions are sprawled across the entire forum?  There really ought to be a compilation of all information by topic.  While I can see an argument for using a wiki (I've heard there is one) or something like that for such compilations, 1) I've found wiki software is less than user-friendly, and 2) the info is already right here on this forum, so wouldn't it be better to organize and cross-link it here, rather than copying it to somewhere else?

Do not take this the wrong way, but no. Your input is not special. It is not worth more than anyone else's. 

Quite frankly, no. If a community has settled on one way of doing things, and instead of asking if you can do something else, you simply do whatever you want anyways, your opinion shouldn't matter in the slightest. Even if if we would consider it, you have an incredible knack for only caring about your ideas and thoughts, and you cannot even comprehend another viewpoint. You have already come to a conclusion that you were right, without even considering any other possibilites.  This is not a thread about Mr. Fixer, this is a thread about flamethrower49's guide to how you can play Mr Fixer. Any discussiojn about what he wrote would be great, anything else doesn't belong. I for one would not want to read a thread that is supposed to be about one person's strategy when it is filled with specific rule clarifications about the character's deck. The fact that you simply do what you want and say your opinion is more important is incredible.

As it has already been pointed out to you by the mods, everything works a lot better in separate threads with very clear titles (which you seem to ignore anyways). It is incredibly easy to search for a rule when it has a clear title. as wll as a short reponse. Then you know the answer is right there without having to dig through many responses. But of course, your opinion on how to setup this established community is the only one that matters, right?

I encourage everyone else on this forum to not respond to any of these questions here. Thank you!

I will point out there are answers to at least one of those questions contained in a place that houses "a compilation of all information by topic", it's called Spiff's FAQ

{Edit: Thanks, folks. Ninja'd me very nicely. Can't complain about that. :slightly_smiling_face: }

Envisioner, we've already had this conversation: When there is a rules question, it should go into a new thread - or, if there is an existing thread on that question/topic, it can go in that existing thread.

Corollary: When there is a thread about a specific topic (e.g., a guide to a hero), discussion in that thread is for that topic (e.g., the guide).

The search on the site works, and it works even better when we use subjects for the threads that are clearly what the thread is about. Also, it works better when the threads are focused, as a thread with many topics will end up coming back with all the searches…

Most people don't want to try to dig through a long thread to find the one point they are specifically looking for. Experience has shown that, when the threads are long, folks end up just posting their own thread (again) anyway.

Mind you, that's going to happen no matter what, but we want to try to reduce the instances as much as we can.

I didn't say it was.  I just said it hadn't been included in the calculation.  Perhaps if you polled the forum, the "consensus" might have been 25% in favor, 24% against, and 51% not caring…I could be the swing vote.

I read Spiff's FAQ like three days ago, and still I have these questions.

That's precisely what I thought I was doing.  This distinction between "a thread about Mr. Fixer" and "this particular thread about Mr. Fixer, which should only contain discussions of itself" makes no sense to me.

The search on the site works

I've already pointed out why this is untrue.

Most people don't want to try to dig through a long thread to find the one point they are specifically looking for.

Yes, and I don't want to dig through a long list of short threads for the same reason.  I agree that with very precise thread titling, it might be more efficient to find the answers - but that would require a FAR more effective set of heuristics in the search engine.  Earlier tonight, I typed in "pillars hercules take down" in order to find out about the interaction between those cards, and I did eventually find a thread where their relationship was described - but only very tangentially, not in the OP or the last post or anything, and it wasn't the first result on the search page, even though I had exactly the card names I was looking for!  Frankly, what you have right now is a jungle, and the behavior on my part which you're complaining about, while perhaps not optimal, is almost unquestionably a step in the right direction.

Experience has shown that, when the threads are long, folks end up just posting their own thread (again) anyway.Mind you, that's going to happen no matter what, but we want to try to reduce the instances as much as we can.

So, how are you reducing the instances of people posting their own thread by telling them to post their own thread?  Obviously I'm missing some critical component of the system of Logic you're using here.