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
Analysis: Advanced 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
Analysis: This 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?