While reading over my SotM cards and heroes I was trying to determine who could possibly deal the maximum amount of damage to a single target in the entire game and specifically how much. Obviously, it'd be Haka. I also tried to figure out the exact set of circumstances enable him do so. It would involve Savage Mana, also obviously, and here's what else:
Heroes:
Haka - with Savage Mana out (And nothing else)
Legacy - with Galvanize and Inspiring Presence out
Unity - with every single bot captured by Savage Mana
Visionary - with all Decoy Projections captured
Argent Adept - who is incapped and is increasing all Melee damage by one with incap ability.
Villian:
The Matriarch - every single target captured by Savage Mana (20)
Location:
The Final Wasteland - every single target (Excluding Sand Worm) captured by Savage Mana (11)
The Matriarch has 20 targets in her deck that Haka can feesibly kill, the Final Wasteland has 11 (Not including the Sand Worm since that can't really be killed since it just goes away end turn), Haka can kill Visionary's 3 decoy projections and Unity's 14 bots for another 17. 48 targets under Savage Mana. Now if he were to somehow get every single card in his deck into his hand (Other than Savage Mana) and used Haka of Battle and discarded every single card = +38 damage used in combo with Savage Mana for 48(2) + 38 + 3 = 137 total damage (I think). Just something I thought I'd post. Perhaps a little thought provoking exercise. Did I do that math correctly? Keep in mind, I was a bit bored, but excited at the same time and just thought I'd try this little experiment out. Feel free to let me know what you think.
True that would be a lot of damage, but I know one better that only requires three cards. Absolute Zero with Isothermic Transducer, Ra with Imbue Fire (Visionary with Twist works aswell), and Fixed Point from Time Cataclysm. As Absolute Zero is able to go into the negatives at this point he can hit himself infinitly with fire damage and not die. Thus he can deal infinite damage to anybody he desires.
Oh yeah! XD That combo is so absolutely broken, it's hilarious. Hadn't thought of that one. I was just trying to figure out the most damage a single hero could do legitimately. These little thought excercises are fun. :3
So would that mean that by the time that AZ actually unleashes that attack that he'd effectively be a walking skeleton, having dealt himself damage into oblivion, but is still kept alive due to that fixed point? XD
One other thing about your Haka post, instead of having Argent Incapped to increase melee by one, he could instead give him a plus 3. All you'll need is Polyorphic Flare, the Harp, Bell, Alactritous (did I butcher that spelling?) Subdominant, Syncopated Onslaught and Inspiring Supertonic.
First play the Flare to use a power, go ahead and use Volcalize to activate the Perform on the Onslaught to get a +1 buff.
Next use the Harp to allow the perform of Supertonic again, to allow Legacy to use a power. Then the accompany of the Subdominant to use a power and destroy it. Use the Bell to activate the perform of Onslaught to give Haka a +1 again.
Also Visionary has 2 copies of Twist the Ether she can toss on Haka for an additional +1 each.
The Deathworm leaves at the start of the turn, so Haka could munch on that aswell.
Yeah that's exactly how he would be. But guess what? he can hit himself infinitely more than just once with the Imbued Fire. Team him up with 4 people that have one-shots that deal damage and even use additional powers and he can unleash it a lot… Heck just on his turn playing HoarFire can do it 3 times, than Thermal Shockwave for another 2.
Where is that infinite damage coming from, though? I assume it's that he's using Thermodynamics on himself, then using the Transducer to do the damage to himself, then to himself, then to himself, then to himself, then to himself, etc., etc., etc. until he hits whatever amount of damage it is he feels like hitting to get the job done, then getting some other card effect (Inspiring Supertonic comes to mind) to let him use Thermal Shockwave? (He could also wait and use TS on his next turn but that risks Fixed Point getting nuked while he's still in the negatives.)
Considering all the damage he has done than him being in the negatives when Fixed Point leaves play would result in the enemy being in the negactives as well, thus the game has been won!
Infinite damage wouldn't just come from his base power, as Imbued Fire makes all heroes deal fire, so anyone could hit him for fire to have himself hit himself again, and again. The only villians it would be a good idea to do it against is The Dreamer, Ambuscade while in cloaking device, Chairman Pre-flip, Miss Information Pre-flip, and Baron Blade pre-flip. Well kind of on Baron Blade, as if he already has 15 cards in the trash and is in the 20 health, it would be a good idea to dispatch of him.
Punish the Weak works equally well as a Haka of Battle discard though. I can also wring a +4 out of AA: Use two Silver Shadows with two Alacritous Subdominants and a Polyphoric Flare to play four powers on your turn, all of which could let you use the performs of either Inspiring Supertonic or Syncopated Onslaught. Also, Unity can use Hasty Augmentation to use Savage Mana's power, for a total of 142 damage :D
What about villain damage? End of days versus Akash'Bhuta when she has all her limbs out (however many that is), the By Any Means bounty (target receives +1 damage from everything), three Obsidian Fields, both copies of Twist the Ether…any other ways to buff villain damage? I suppose someone like the Adept could have use Syncopated Onslaught on her a few times or something, if he knew End of Days had been/was about about to be played. Plus you need to make sure the Mountainous Carapaces are destroyed first, to remove her soak ASAP so she does herself max damage from everything else being destroyed. A few weeks ago we did this but the only damage buff on Akash'Bhuta was By Any Means, and she didn't have all her limbs out. And that led to a total of 103 damage :D.
Even though Adept has a better use as already pointed out, I wanted to mention that Savage Mana is Haka's only source of non-melee damage, dealing toxic instead.
I see your three cards and raise you… two cards. Fixed Point, and Fanatic's Wrathful Retribution. She can hit herself down to negative whatever you want, and deal it all out +30 in one go.
For bonus points, she can then heal herself using Final Dive on some poor target with negative HP, causing herself negative projectile damage… if that works =)
That's not actually an infinite combo; you need to deal infinite damage to Fanatic in order to deal infinite damage with her.
Also, a thought just occured to me: Hakas of Battle stack. There's not an actual upper limit on the amount of damage Haka can deal in a single blow, only practical ones.