Absolute Zero strong strategies

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1

Hi, guys!

Does anyone have any really strong strategies with Absolute Zero (preferrably with some that work great for AZ being by himself as well)?

I have a friend who's favorite character is Absolute Zero, but he feels AZ is useless in Tactics because he has as few actions as Ra and Ambuscade but without the mobility on Ambuscade or the burst potential of Ra. 

For example games, I played a game with Tachyon, Ambuscade and Beacon vs. Legacy, Wraith and AZ.  On her first turn, Tachyon ran from one side of the map to the other and attacked AZ once.  Then she pushed the limits and KO'd AZ and Wraith.  Legacy didn't have Heroic Interception out (a foolish move as we saw here), but he did incap Tachyon for his first action.  Wraith and AZ got up, AZ disarming one trap from Ambuscade and healing and Wraith dealing one point to Beacon before Tachyon stood back up and incapped AZ again.

In the game before this AZ couldn't move far enough to even be in a fight while Bunker and Baron Blade made it in easy.  His one contribution was an attack against the Operative that missed due to her having 5 defense dice at the time.

His complaints (and suggestions for fixes) are:

1.  Impaling structure does almost nothing.  3 die attacks are ignored all the time.  (This, IMO, is not really true.  See Tachyon and Unrelenting Momentum).  Options to fix this:  Have Fueled Freeze increase their attack radius by 1 as well or increase their damage dice by at least 1.

2.  Thermal Shockwave hits allies in the AoE while also damaging AZ.  There is no reason to ever use this ability.  (Again, not true, but it does make it a very difficult ability for AZ to use).  No solution given here.

3.  Cold Snap has 4 dice and 2 miss chances.  That means on average 1 and 1/3rd die will auto-miss.  Operative and Ambuscade have stronger base powers with only one miss chance.  Options to fix this:  Make Coolant Blast his base power instead or make Cold Snap deal him one damage to attack so he gets some action economy out of it.

4.  Cryo-Inducer is useless because it takes an action and only succeeds on 5 or 6.  (Now, my friend has notoriously bad rolls and feels that healing 1, which is what he usually gets, isn't worth an action and healing zero is worth even less).  He then complains that Ambuscade gets a better effect for one action with just healing 3 straight up.

Another suggestion he had was just changing AZ's passive to "Increase damage dealt by AZ, but not his hazard spaces, by 1 for each health AZ is missing."   This is to try and emulate Ra's damage spikes but through risky behavior for AZ.

 

So, what I'm looking for are examples that aren't too super-rare of AZ being a lynch pin in a tactic due to his particular powers in play and maybe some 1 on 1 situations he won because of good use of his powers.  Thanks, all!

2

Well one item I learned from watching the tournament was that using Thermal Shockwave's attack does not count as an action taken because it's cost is Health not an action.  

3

Aye. And Omni-cannon likewise does not take an action.  Only x4 +1 Attack tokens.

4

this is correct. 

Impailing structures are also not primarily used for their attack. They change the elevation which screws with LoS and it also forces your opponents to move in a certain way to get around those structures. You gotta take full advantage of dictating their movements this way, anticipate what they have to do, and have your counter move set up. Map control is powerful if you control what the enemy does. 

Your one attack also gets very strong the more damage you take. If you don't incap AZ you're in trouble, very similar to Operarive. You either have to ignore him or totally overcommit resources to make sure he's dead. It's another aspect a good team can exploit. 

5

Absolute Zero is a more advanced character in Tactics, just like the card game.

Strengths:

1.  Attack Rolls:  every one of his attacks miss on 2&3, very few heroes have better auto-misses on attacks with range.

2.  +2 reach to every attack, meaning those ones hit up to 3 range, and his attacks have 3 dice that will hit at range 6.

3.  Thermal Shockwave:  Every 2 action hero has something that helps them make up for that limit.  This is AZ's.  5 dice, his automisses and reach +2 overcoming terrain for him make this ability sick, it also doesn't cost an action, so it chains well, esp. with. . .

4.  Coolant Blast:  Not so hot when you get dropped by a lucky attack, but when they drop you low but not KO'd, you let them have it with a 6-7 dice attack that keps your top 3 dice at 6 range.  Works awesomely following Thermal for an extra die, then followed by. . .

5.  Cryo Inducer:  not a stable heal, but can be really powerful when your dice cooperate.  At 2hp I've shockwaved, thrown a 7D Coolant Blast and healed 4 wounds to be back at full health.  That turn left me at full HP and 2 incaps (one a legacy from full HP).  When dice go bad anyone can stink, when dice go well AZ rules even more than others.

6.  Impaling Structures:  These are the strength of AZ's advanced arsenal.  Using them to force the battlefield in your favor by blocking Line of sight is really strong.  Don't like the way your enemy is using terrain, turn the tables.

7.  Sub-Zero Atmosphere, Approaching Zero and Fueled Freeze:  The reason AZ went from 2-3 powers in play.  They have uses, but aren't your key powers.  Atmosphere is worthless in some matches, insanely powerful in others.  When someone tries to use hazard spaces to pull off ridiculous chains, throw down Atmosphere and dare them to try it on you.  Approaching Zero goes a long way to solve those problems of being outmanuevered.  You can crush Bunker with an attack that lowers his move, then put structures up that block his view.  Have fun being limited to Grenades, metal man.  Fueled Freeze is awesome with structures, and situationally great with Thermal.

 

The weakness of AZ is Thermal and Structures hit your allies.  That also increases the difficulty of Zero.  While Tachyon can use structures to give an extra attack, and Baron can use them to AoE enemies just by moving most of your allies won't like them attacking them.

(Thermal with ally Baron in range of you and some enemies enemies with Sabre, Redistributor, a dodge and a +1 defense token (just in case) is a great way to crush your foes)

 

AZ is tougher to use in tournaments, since most team strategies will not reward you for going off away from your allies.

Finally, here's an odds chart I threw together from my dice rolling thread on BGG.

Healing from Cryo Inducer:

Gain 0 HP: %19.753
Gain 1 HP: %39.506
Gain 2 HP: %29.630
Gain 3 HP: %9.877
Gain 4 HP: %1.235

Dice clearing automisses for his attacks:  Shows # of dice in the attack, attacks that use that many dice, then the number clearing auto-misses and the chance of them doing so.

3d attack (Structures, Coolant Blast with full HP)
3 dice %29.630
2 dice %44.444
1 die %22.222
0 dice %3.704

4d attack (Cold Snap, Coolant+1)
4 dice %19.753
3 dice %39.506
2 dice %29.630
1 die %9.877
0 dice %1.235

5d attack (Thermal, Coolant+2)
5 dice %13.169
4 dice %32.922
3 dice %32.922
2 dice %16.461
1 die %4.115
0 dice %0.412

6d attack (Coolant+3)
6 Dice %8.779
5 Dice %26.337
4 Dice %32.922
3 Dice %21.948
2 Dice %8.230
1 Die %1.646
0 Dice %0.137

I didn't do higher than 6 dice, because so few attacks get there, if someone wants they can run the numbers really quick and I'll add them, If I end up doing Tactics guides I'll do it then.

6

There is another weakness to AZ.  When he puts up the hindering terrain it hinders for both teams movement-wise and dealing them damage if they step on them.  Ambuscade avoids this by being able to place his mines far from his character.  Some characters can get around it:  Tachyon, Bunker, Beacon.  The rest have to struggle with it unless AZ makes the ones near him not hurt allies.  And even then it still blocks key line of sight.

7

> Operative and Ambuscade have stronger base powers with only one miss chance.

 

The Operative and Ambuscade's base attacks are "better" because they also have the Melee restriction. Absolute Zero's base attack not only isn't Melee, his Focused Aperatures increase the effective range of all his targeted attacks.

8

Talked with my brother about this and we realized AZ's strengths are:

1.  Dealing with high hazard environments

2.  Dealing with people who like to stick around in nearby cover.

 

Number 1 is obvious.

Number 2 uses impaling structures.  He can either drop impaling structures to block their vision (takes a lot of structures) or he can drop them on their location and they have to move or take hazard damage. 

You definitely don't want AZ out front.  He's as squishy as Ra.  But on high-hazard, high-cover maps he can be very disruptive.  Bunker (the primary one to want to sit in one place in cover) won't want to stick around in turret mode (and if AZ has Approaching Zero, Bunker may have reduced movement for trying to stay in cover).  The big issue here is the 3 damage, but AZ can keep stacking up the impaling structures to increase how many attacks Bunker deals with each round. 

The problem with AZ using his impaling structres as walls is that it hinders both ways.   But if he uses them as disruption to get people out of cover, his walls are parallel to the direction of attack his allies wish to make and really only hinder the target.

I'll have to run some scenarios to test this functunality, but this may be what we (my brother, I, and my friend) were looking for.

9

Built a fortress of Freezitude (4 impaling structures, 3 deep) on the edge of the map (AZ, Beacon, Legacy vs. Tachyon, Proletariat, Unity).  Bots tried suiciding on it but range penalties (1-3 don't make range) and automisses (2,4) prevented this from doing much if I couldn't aim.  If I took the time to aim, Beacon blasted the bot from inside.  Tachyon couldn't do anything.  She tried a hit and run gambit but Beacon shot her, too.   Proletariat could chain people out but only if his clone survived the wall.  AZ would sometimes jump on the wall and thermal shockwave the clones while Legacy would Motivational Charge Beacon to heal everyone.

10

What's great about that strategy is it's not only a great defensive position, but it forces your opponent to assault you or face the prospect of inspiring presence plus 2xgalvanize(through bolstering team-up) plus Fortitude piling on eight assorted +1 tokens each round.

11

Exactly.  Face us and get hurt now, or wait until later when we have all the tokens.

12

I'd considered the same sort of thing myself, though I've never tried it.  It seems like it would be super effective.  I've never played in tournaments, but it seems like this could be an effective tournament strategy.  

A variant worth considering is using Bunker in place of either Legacy or Beacon.  

AZ-Bunker-Legacy isn't quite as effective at shooting through walls, but increases the token aggro to 10/round and, since at least three of those will be defense +1's, and considering bunker's extra defense die, makes the whole setup even more durable.  The biggest downside I can see, other than the somewhat diminished through-the-wall offense of Bunker vs. Beacon, which I feel is only a minor downgrade, is that without beacon bolstering AZ at the start, the wall takes longer to stack up.  I don't think this should be much of an issue either. If you're on the right map edge, you only need one layer to block LOS, and the rest is just increased punishment, which should be fine coming a bit slower, especially if your opponent has to cross the whole map.  I suppose Bunker's movement could also be an issue if he ever decided to cross the wall, but I figure if he wants to be on the other side, then it's probably time for the wall to just come down.  When his defense is well buffed, he may want to  sprint to the top and drop into turret mode, protected by Sub-Zero Atmosphere. His offense doesn't look so shabby now, does it?

My personal preference, though, would I think be AZ-Bunker-Beacon.  Now you've got 2 characters hitting them from across the wall, and the potential for 10 +1's/turn, though almost all of those will be defense +1's.  That's fine though, being nigh-impossible to hit is just as effective as, though slower than, being all charged-up with bursty damage, and Bunker will be both.  So, effectively, will Zero, since coolant blast is way more awesome if you can survive hanging out with a low health total.  You lose the healing, but the only other character that can hit you from the other side of the wall is Visionary, and she only gets three dice, and Bunker and Beacon are both super durable, plus Zero can heal himself.  

One possible problem is Blade teleporting on top of your wall, pushing you into it and then popping his disruptor.  This is actually the biggest argument argument I can see for the original list, since it allows you to stack attack tokens on Zero so once the baron lands on the wall, you can spike the damage and hopefully incapacitate him with at least one extra damage to knock him off the wall before he has a chance to use the disruptor.  Beacon and Legacy can have 5 new attack+1's on Zero by the time Blade recovers, Legacy alone can do three, which might be enough.  From what I've read on the forum, it sounds like blade is pretty popular in tournaments, so it's something to think about. Of course, Blade could always use the disruptor first to wipe your tokens, then make his assault, then teleport on top and use regression blast to bring your wall down and allow his allies to take you out in your weakened state, which, come to think of it, is probably how I would attack this strategy.  Devastating Aurora could do the same job, but only if Dawn is right after Zero.  Otherwise, the window to score actual points is kinda small.

I'd be interested in hearing what tournament players think about this.

 

Edit: originally miscounted token generation by Bunker/Beacon as 11.  Also, formatting.

13

Citizen Dawn is also a disrupter and can cause the setup some grief if she can get Citizen Truth close enough to tank the hazard damage from the Impaling Structures.  One Devastating Aurora drops the whole thing and all the tokens.

Edit: And Bunker can use Grenade Launcher to try and take out AZ.

14

Right, but as I said, her window to score points is kinda small, because Zero can start putting the wall up on his first turn (Though there will be a gap, due to no fueled freeze, but if there's at least one hex in front of you that already blocks LOS, you can stay hidden.) Zero's allies, meanwhile, (and Zero himself, for that matter) are invulerable unil they pop up, and come back at full health, so the Aurora has to be well timed, or The whole thing will be back up in no time.  I hadn't considered using Truth to get through the wall. That's clever, but it's not really necessary with aurora, since it doesn't require LOS.

 

Edit:  I suppose it could take a bit longer to rebuild, since Aurora pushes as well.  In the interim, Dawn could put a citizen in one of the hexes you vacated, effectively forcing you to rebuild on another tile, or, more likely, abandon the strategy entirely. So yeah, Dawn is probably the surest counter to this strategy.  The nice thing is, Legacy, Bunker, and Beacon are all solid characters in general, and as has been pointed out above, AZ has significant strengths as well. Post-wall, with these teams, I'd probably throw up a temporary wall to buy time to recover, then use defense tokens/Heroic Interception to give Zero some durability at low health, and have him spam Shockwave/Coolant Blast. Of course, his allies can swing too, and do good damage, but low health Zero with Shockwave, Coolant Blast, and as the situation demands either Fueled Freeze or Approaching Zero, is nuts if you can keep him alive