Advanced Mode Analysis

So, as I’m approaching fifty games played or so (mostly solo), I’ve realized just how much Advanced modes of different villains can vary in the difficulty increases. I thought it would be handy for people to have a guide that goes over the Advanced mode of each villain, a brief summary of the ways it affects their gameplay, and any types of heroes that will find Advanced particularly challenging.

I’m often using Spiff’s randomizer to decide who to play, and after doing so, my first question is: basic or advanced? I know some play basic always or advanced always, but this guide is for people like me who want some clarity on whether it’s a good idea to make the jump or not in a particular situation.

Remember, the rating here is just the increase. A “High” rating for an easier villain just means it’s significantly more difficult than the basic mode, not necessarily saying anything about a comparison to other villains.

I look forward to any comments or critiques, I’m by no means resolute on every point I make here and feedback is welcome!

**BIG thanks to flamethrower49 for providing the analysis for the last four villains that I don't own**

Baron Blade
Start Side: At the end of the villain phase, discard the top H - 2 cards of the villain deck
Flipped Side: Reduce damage dealt to Baron Blade by 1
Difficulty Increase: Moderate to High
Analysis: Advanced is definitely a big change for Blade. The terralunar impulsion is quite nearly a non-threat in the basic mode (barring some profoundly unlucky draws), but it’s got some real teeth on advanced. The flip side is much less jarring, as by the time you’ve flipped him you’re likely to not be as concerned about a -1 damage penalty.
Variability factors: Any heroes that take a long time to set up will have a rougher time on Advanced, especially with more players. DR-vulnerable heroes on the flipped side.

Citizen Dawn
Start Side: Increase damage dealt by citizens by 1
Flipped Side: Do not flip Citizen Dawn until there are H+1 or more citizens in play
Difficulty Increase: High
Analysis: As if Dawn wasn’t already nasty enough. Her starting side increase is unpleasant since Citizens tend to already hit pretty hard, but it’s the flipped side that will really make you hurt. Having to wait for 3-5 more citizens to accrue while the big bad is pummeling you and invincible is very often a death sentence.
Variability factors: Mostly depends on whether you can prevent her from flipping or not. You’re going to have a rough road if you can’t.

Grand Warlord Voss
Start Side: Reduce damage dealt by heroes by 1
Flipped Side: At the end of the villain phase, play the top card of the villain deck.
Difficulty Increase: High
Analysis: The damage reduction at the very beginning of the game can be very punishing, especially with several minions to contend with out of the gate. Reducing all hero damage dealt potentially also interferes with your ability to deal with the environment. The flip side isn’t much better, doubling Voss’ card output.
Variability factors: DR-vulnerable heroes will be next-to-useless in the early game, and may never come back from it. The flipped side is more even, but obviously randomness is a factor.

Omnitron
Start Side: Increase damage dealt by devices by 1
Flipped Side:  Reduce damage dealt to devices by 1
Difficulty Increase: Low to Moderate
Analysis: Omnitron constantly flipping means that his advanced ability can be a lot spikier than others. If the DR is up when you need to hit for 7 in a round or the damage increase side when there are a lot of drones, things can get pretty nasty. Otherwise, the modifications aren’t as bad as others.
Variability factors: Mostly luck-based. DR-vulnerable heroes don’t have it quite as bad since the DR is only there half of the time.

The Chairman
Start Side: If there are any underbosses in the villain trash, flip the Chairman’s character card
Flipped Side: X = H instead of H-2 (X is used for Chairman’s retributive damage and Thug buff)
Difficulty Increase: High
Analysis: Advanced mode means the Chairman flips fast and is even more brutal when he does. That damage buff will make every thug a nightmare, and the retributive damage punishes small amounts of damage a lot. In certain situations where you want the Chairman to flip quickly and burn through the game, the start side can be a benefit, though.
Variability factors: Not many. Makes everything worse. Heroes who can do tremendous amounts of damage in one shot will have a better time when it’s time to kill him.

The Operative
Start Side: Reduce damage to The Chairman and The Operative by 1
Flipped Side: At the end of the villain turn, The Chairman deals the hero with the highest HP H - 2 melee damage.
Difficulty Increase: Moderate
AnalysisAdvanced Operative is definitely no walk in the park, but she's not quite as dramatic a difference as her boss. In most cases, you'll want her to go down first, which will be slower because of her DR. After she does, she gives the Chairman another attack, but it's not a game-changer.
Variability factors: DR-vulnerable heroes might have an easier time picking on underbosses and thugs.

The Matriarch
Start Side: Cohort cards are indestructible
Flipped Side: Increase damage dealt to hero targets by 1
Difficulty Increase: High
Analysis: This is definitely a rough one, as the Cohort cards are normally high-priority targets on basic mode. On the flipped side, there are so many instances of damage that you’re very nearly doubling the villain damage output.
Variability factors: How quickly Huginn and Munnin show up makes a big difference. The flipped side is always bad, but could be even worse with an environment that deals significant damage.

Plague Rat
Start Side: Increase damage dealt by Plague Rat and by Infected heroes by 1.
Flipped Side: At the start of the villain turn, Plague Rat regains H x 2 HP.
Difficulty Increase: Moderate
Analysis: The start side can be a bit of a mixed blessing, it basically makes the whole fight even more of a damage fest than it already was. With the right Infected heroes you might be thanking advanced Plague Rat for some truly crazy damage numbers. The healing on the flipped side can be a significant setback if it goes on, though.
Variability factors: Mostly whether you can take advantage of the damage boost. Low-HP heroes will have a rougher go, and you really can’t let him linger on the flipped side for too long.

Spite
Start Side: At the start of the villain turn, Spite regains H + 2 HP
Flipped Side: When Spite flips to this side, he regains H x 5 HP. Reduce damage dealt to Spite by 1.
Difficulty Increase: Low to Moderate
Analysis: Let’s face it, before Spite flips, it’s already extremely difficult to get any meaningful amount of damage to stick to him. Since he can’t heal above maximum, the start side isn’t too bad. The first flipped effect is also irrelevant if you haven't been damaging him. The DR is rough mostly due to him already having 1 DR from the drug. Overall, if you're fighting Spite "correctly", it shouldn't be too much to handle.
Variability factors: DR-vulnerable heroes will have a really tough time making anything stick to Spite in monstrosity mode. Also any effects that require you to damage him are even harder to land.

Akash’bhuta
Start Side: Reduce damage dealt to villain targets by 1
Flipped Side: At the end of the villain turn, Akash’Bhuta deals 3 damage to the H - 1 non-villain targets with the highest HP
Difficulty Increase: Moderate
Analysis: This is a fairly straightforward difficulty increase, not a game-changing one. The limbs will be harder to put down, and the game will most likely last longer. The flipped side’s extra damage certainly isn’t something you look forward to, but it’s mostly manageable.
Variability factors: DR-vulnerable heroes will have trouble contributing on her start side.

Apostate
Start Side: Put Tome of the Unknowable into play at the start of the game
Flipped Side: Whenever a demon card is destroyed, play the top card of the villain deck
Difficulty Increase: Low to Moderate
Analysis: Having the Tome out from the get-go can make for a rougher start, but overall it can actually be helpful to deal with it early instead of it coming out unexpectedly. Since there’s no persistent effect on the start side, you want to keep him there / get him back there quickly.
Variability factors: Somewhat theoretical on the start side (whether you would have drawn the Tome), on the flipped side mostly whether or not you’ve been handling the demons.

The Ennead
Start Side: At the start of the villain turn, move the top card from beneath The Shrine of the Ennead into the play area
Flipped Side:  Increase damage dealt by villain targets by 1
Difficulty Increase: High
Analysis: This advanced mode is obviously a complete game-changer. In basic mode if you’re lucky or have some deck manipulation, you can keep it to just the three members. In advanced, you’re pretty much going to have to fight all nine. On top of that, once they’re all out, their damage goes up.
Variability factors: None

Gloomweaver
Start Side: Gloomweaver is immune to melee and projectile damage
Flipped Side: At the end of the villain turn, Gloomweaver deals H infernal damage to the hero target with the lowest HP
Difficulty Increase: Low
Analysis: This seems worse than it is (like a lot of Gloomweaver). The start side is punishing for particular heroes, but there are plenty of other targets in Gloomweaver’s deck for them to attack. The flipped side . . . well, I’ve never actually seen it in play, but it’s definitely an unusual amount of damage for the lowest HP hero, so it could pick off the weak. In general though, Gloomweaver can't catch a break.
Variability factors: If your heroes are heavily dependent on melee and projectile damage and you’re forced to take Gloomweaver head-on, it will be tougher. If he flips and you’re low on HP, he could snipe a few heroes.

The Dreamer
Start Side: Reduce damage dealt to projections by 1
Flipped Side:  Increase damage dealt by villain targets by 1
Difficulty Increase: Moderate to High
Analysis: This is another straightforward difficulty increase. Killing projections is everything, and she makes it harder on the start side. On the flipped side, the already-significant damage done by the projections goes up. DR stacking with Dark Hero, particularly if you draw them from the beginning, can be a major setback for the heroes.
Variability factors: DR-vulnerable heroes on the start, low-HP heroes on the flipped.

Iron Legacy
Start Side: All damage dealt by Iron Legacy is irreducible
Flipped Side: The first time Iron Legacy would be dealt damage each turn, redirect that damage to the hero target with the highest HP
Difficulty Increase: Moderate to High
Analysis: Making all of Iron Legacy’s mountains of damage irreducible feels a bit like rubbing salt in the wound. The flipped side is even more brutal, as each hero would need at least two sources of damage to even land a blow. Common practice is to leave him at 21 and nuke him down in one turn if possible.
Variability factors: If your heroes don’t have damage reduction, the start side doesn’t much matter. Being able to deal with the flipped side’s ability requires multiple sources of damage.

Kismet
Start Side: At the start of the villain turn, Kismet deals each hero with a Jinx attached 2 psychic damage
Flipped Side: Increase damage dealt by Kismet by H - 2
Difficulty Increase: Low to Moderate
Analysis: This definitely makes her Jinxes more worrisome, especially when that damage is buffed by the Talisman. Luckily, the damage doesn’t stack with multiple Jinxes. The flipped side makes her jealous beatdown more savage.
Variability factors: The start side depends a lot on where Jinxes happen to land. In a four or five player game the talisman thief will get squished more easily.

La Capitan
Start Side: At the start of the villain turn, destroy a hero ongoing or equipment card
Flipped Side: Redirect the first damage that would be dealt to La Capitan each round to the non-villain target with the highest HP
Difficulty Increase: Moderate
Analysis: Advanced mode speeds up and virtually guarantees that La Capitan will flip. Presumably (there’s a thread about this somewhere), the redirect on the flipped side takes place before the card removal, so it’s one more thing between you and actually hurting Maria.
Variability factors: How dependent your heroes are on ongoings and equipment, whether they are able to do small amounts of damage that won’t hurt your team as much.

Ambuscade
Start Side: Decrease damage dealt to villain targets by 1.
Flipped Side: All damage dealt by Ambuscade is Irreducible.
Difficulty Increase: Moderate
Analysis: That straightforward damage reduction means that the Reactive Armor Platings and Ambuscade have DR 2, which can be rough.  Sometimes you'll want him to flip so that you can kill those things easier.  Then you'll want him to flip back relatively quickly, so that he doesn't make paste out of the Argent Adept, or whoever is lowest.  Making all damage Irreducible isn't the worst.  Just don't rely on DR effects.  (Sorry, Omnitron-X.)
Variability Factors: Obviously, whether he flips or not depends on whether he draws the Cloaking Device.  Reactive Armor Plating is the other big thing.

Miss Information
Start Side: 
Increase damage dealt to Hero Targets by one.
Flipped Side: Decrease damage dealt to Miss Information by two.
Difficulty Increase: Moderate to High
Analysis: The first side isn't too bad, as Miss Information doesn't always do too much to do damage to you.  Her damaging Diversions can be nasty, especially the Diplomat, but the real threat is the environment.  This just increases the strain, making you easy to take out.  Her flip side is the real difficulty.  Not every hero is made to soldier through DR 2. 
Variability Factors: Her first side is a lot worse, as I indicated, if you're in a rough environment or she gets her damaging Diversions.  The second side is worse if you took a beating on the first side.

Mad Bomber Blade
Start Side: Put H-2 cards under him at the end of every turn.
Flipped Side: Play the top card of the villain deck at the end of every turn.
Difficulty Increase: Moderate
Analysis: This one is pretty straightforward.  It allows him to ramp up quickly and deal a ton of damage to everything.  On his flip side, his attack charges up twice as quickly, which sometimes makes his flip side actually threatening.
Variability Factors: This match depends on how many cards he trashes right away on his first side.  If you took a bunch of damage on the first side, then the second side can kill you, no matter how harmless it looks.

Cosmic Omnitron
Start Side: 
Decrease damage dealt to Devices by one.
Flipped Side: Increase damage dealt by Devices by one.
Difficulty Increase: Moderate
AnalysisThis is the same Advanced text as his regular form.  The Drones rip you apart on the second side, while you allow the components to rip you apart on the first side.  It's a lose/lose, so this usually becomes a damage race.  Keep him on the second side, and hope you have enough damage to do it.
Variability Factors: None that I can think of.  Hope he doesn't draw a huge chain of drones?

That's great analysis, very useful for someone who doesn't yet know how much harder they'll be making their game by using the Advanced rules.

Good stuff!

 

I hardly ever play advanced, so reading through these was quite interesting.

 

Occassionally, when demoing, a group will have it so easy that they want to see some proof that the game can be hard. I usually pull out The Matriarch on Advanced Mode at that point. I might take The Ennead or The Chairman on advanced, but those can be long, complicated games. I'm hesitant about Iron Legacy on advanced for two reasons: First, IL is often an all or nothing fight, so there's a bit to much risk in my mind that the heroes will end up with just the right set of cards to actually win kinda handily. Second, I kinda feel like the impact of playing against Iron Legacy is better enjoyed after playing lots of other games first.

 

[Given a bit to prepare, I might use Dawn on Advanced, but stack the starting draw of Citizens ...]

Our group always jokes that Gloomweaver's Advanced mode is Gloomweaver in a Shu costume.

Thanks! I was hoping it would be useful for that. Advanced modes can be a little intimidating, it's good to know what you're getting yourself into.

 

Oh man, I'm sure the Matriarch on Advanced is enough to open their eyes about the brutal side of this game. Even basic Matriarch is pretty intimidating the first time you play just due to the sheer number of cards coming off the deck every turn.

 

I'm afraid I don't get that reference. I will therefore change it in my mind to Gloomweaver hiding in a giant shoe, which for some reason protects him from melee and projectile attacks.

Silly unfathomable death demon from beyond the reach of human understanding, get out of that shoe.

Shu, a member of the Ennead, is immune to melée and projectile damage :).

 

D'oh! Here I was assuming it was some other pop culture reference, but it was staring me in the face. All right, take my nerd card. I don't deserve it.

 

Nerd cards are much harder to get rid of. Owning even 1 DnD book is like having 10 phoenix downs for it. 

I'd rate Voss's difficulty increase on Advanced level as High rather than Moderate. He's a lot more dangerous when he's playing 2 cards a turn than when he's only playing one. On normal Mode, I find that he tends to run out of steam, but on Advanced Mode he pretty consistently gets all his Forced Deployments and ships out.

Hmm, fair enough. It's possible I got a little too caught up on the first side effect for him. I'll give Voss a few more whirls on Advanced.

Really?

counts books

OKay, I don't think I could ever truly lose my nerd card, 110 revivals is more than enough :grin:

Loveit! I'm not a big fan of advanced, but occasionally we just need a good challenge.

 

If I may make a few suggestions?

Spite- I find that his advanced side doesn't really add much to it-effectively just a -1DR. That's it. When playing against his unflipped side, I don't even bother hitting him, instead working towards the Ultimate Combo of my heroes. Just saying that, effectively, his advanced rules for both sides amount to just -1DR. Easy.

Gloomweaver-Another easy one. Its immunity to projectile and melee damage is moot, honestly-just focus on the relics then. And the fact that I have never ever ever seen ol' GW flip means that the flipped Advanced side is a non-issue.

Chairman-I agree with your analysis of the Chairman, though there ahve been times where his unflipped Advanced side actually helps make the game easier. Works when you jsut wanna blitz the Chairman while barely staying alive against his hordes and hordes of minions.

The Ennead-For me, the biggest difficulty increase for a villain.

 

*maybe you could indicate/compare the difficulty levels of each Villain with the advanced rules? That would be a very useful reference.

 

Good work!

Good guides!  My own thoughts are in line with some others here.  I almost always play advanced, but because of that, I'm certainly no authority on how different that is from basic.

I think Advanced Voss is a fairly big spike in difficulty.  Side A is viscerally annoying and you really want to rip those guys apart, but Side B practically guarantees Forced Deployments and the ships.  It's really hard to balance.

Advanced Spite has very little increase in difficulty, once you know the fight, just like Drako said.

I love fighting Advanced Plague Rat - he was the first one to really change the nature of the game on advanced.  Adding hero damage boosts is quite interesting to me.

I think Advanced Dreamer is much worse than you're giving her credit for, especially when she gets the Dark Heroes.  The Dreamer, Voss, and Iron Legacy are the only villains I have have really been known to sometimes fight on basic.  

This is great stuff, thanks guys, exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for! Let me just quickly address the villains that have been brought up and the changes I’m making to the original post:

Spite: I think I already made it clear that the start side of Spite is basically irrelevant, as dealing damage before he flips is already mostly useless. However, does his healing from any damage you might do from Safe House not contribute to the difficulty? Maybe on Advanced that also needs to be ignored, but it seems to me that is a significant increase in difficulty. The DR is not a large factor on its own, but when combined with the other DR, it does make it harder to chew through 80 hit points. I’m changing it to Moderate for now, but I could still be talked down some more.

Voss: Okay, I definitely underestimated the flipped side on this guy. Maybe it’s because I had a few games that never made it that far, maybe it’s because the game I was obsessed with before this was Lord of the Rings card game where one extra card wouldn’t break the bank, but you guys have sold me. Up goes Voss to High.

Dreamer: I agree that Advanced Dreamer is a tough cookie, but I’m also of the opinion that basic Dreamer is surprisingly tough as well. I’m comfortable with changing it to Moderate to High because of the stacking DR and how easy it can be to get behind early.

Gloomweaver: To be honest, I was pretty much just erring on the side of caution when I had him as Low to Moderate. I thought it was possible someone would have a harder time with a really bad combination of heroes and lack of relics. Has anyone here seen Gloomweaver’s flipped side? I’m putting him on Low.

Chairman: Added a note about the possible benefits of him flipping early.

Ennead: I thought about putting High to DEAR LORD or something, but I thought I’d stay within my own made-up rules. I agree, it’s probably the biggest jump.

Operative: Added for completeness.

As to putting in additional ratings, I definitely considered it, but wasn’t sure exactly how to implement. +1 for Low, +2 for Moderate, +3 for High? So Voss / Dawn would be a 6, Baron Blade would be a 3.5, Omnitron a 2.5?

Spite's Advanced does not negate Safe House. Both effects go off when he flips to his Monstrosity side. Since they are "simultaneous" they go off in the order they entered play. Spite entered play first so he heals first. Then the Safe house damages him.

For Dawn you don't have to wait for 4 to 6 citizens to accrue since she counts as a citizen. You only need 3 to 5 citizens from her deck. I had played that wrong forever.

You already have the categories: Low, Low to Moderate, Moderate, Moderate to High, and High. Why not just do a scale from 1 to 5? Ennead would be a 6, but I digress.

Where's Bomber Blade, Cosmic Omnitron, Miss Information, and Ambuscade?

Whoops, I've definitely been playing that part of Advanced Spite wrong. That makes sense, but also makes that ability kind of pointless.

Good point on Dawn, I usually remember to play like that, but definitely forgot it while I was writing the post. Edited for clarity.

I originally thought of the ratings as emphasizing the variability of the difficulty. So, Baron Blade is a moderate increase for some heroes and a high increase for others. That was my original intention, anyway. I could change it to a 5-point scale, I'm not particularly married to the original idea.

As I said, I don't own any of the promos. If anyone wants to do a write-up, I'd be happy to include that in the original post.

You call, and I answer.

Ambuscade

Start Side: Decrease damage dealt to villain targets by 1.

Flipped Side: All damage dealt by Ambuscade is Irreducible.

Difficulty Increase: Moderate

Analysis: That straightforward damage reduction means that the Reactive Armor Platings and Ambuscade have DR 2, which can be rough.  Sometimes you'll want him to flip so that you can kill those things easier.  Then you'll want him to flip back relatively quickly, so that he doesn't make paste out of the Argent Adept, or whoever is lowest.  Making all damage Irreducible isn't the worst.  Just don't rely on DR effects.  (Sorry, Omnitron-X.)

Variability Factors: Obviously, whether he flips or not depends on whether he draws the Cloaking Device.  Reactive Armor Plating is the other big thing.

 

Miss Information

Start Side: Increase damage dealt to Hero Targets by one.

Flipped Side: Decrease damage dealt to Miss Information by two.

Difficulty Increase: Moderate to High

Analysis: The first side isn't too bad, as Miss Information doesn't always do too much to do damage to you.  Her damaging Diversions can be nasty, especially the Diplomat, but the real threat is the environment.  This just increases the strain, making you easy to take out.  Her flip side is the real difficulty.  Not every hero is made to soldier through DR 2.  

Variability Factors: Her first side is a lot worse, as I indicated, if you're in a rough environment or she gets her damaging Diversions.  The second side is worse if you took a beating on the first side.

 

Mad Bomber Blade

Start Side: Put H-2 cards under him at the end of every turn.

Flipped Side: Play the top card of the villain deck at the end of every turn.

Difficulty Increase: Moderate

Analysis: This one is pretty straightforward.  It allows him to ramp up quickly and deal a ton of damage to everything.  On his flip side, his attack charges up twice as quickly, which sometimes makes his flip side actually threatening.

Variability Factors: This match depends on how many cards he trashes right away on his first side.  If you took a bunch of damage on the first side, then the second side can kill you, no matter how harmless it looks.

 

Cosmic Omnitron 

Start Side: Decrease damage dealt to Devices by one.

Flipped Side: Increase damage dealt by Devices by one.

Difficulty Increase: Moderate

AnalysisThis is the same Advanced text as his regular form.  The Drones rip you apart on the second side, while you allow the components to rip you apart on the first side.  It's a lose/lose, so this usually becomes a damage race.  Keep him on the second side, and hope you have enough damage to do it.

Variability Factors: None that I can think of.  Hope he doesn't draw a huge chain of drones?

 

I'd personally be wary of this, because I recently played maybe my most annoying SotM game yet against normal Dawn, because every single turn, either she'd draw two ongoings, or she'd finally get enough citizens out, and the industrial complex would have a vat explosion, killing one or two of them (the first time was my fault, I softened them up, and the vat killed all of them; it took at least 4-5 turns after that for her to get enough citizens out after that). Let me put it this way: I had enough time after (2 consecutive) devastating auroras to all but completely re-build everyone's decks, and then Lightspeed Barrage x3 the first turn I could damage her pretty much took any suspense out of the game.

So Advanced Dawn with a newer group runs the risk of boring them to death instead of actually defeating the heroes :-p