That pair can (depending on how Dual Crowbars actually work, which is a question I’ll ask later today) is a very good combo itself. Use Strike to deal two damage (Dual Crowbars increases damage by 1) to one target, then deal the second damage to yourself, which you then redirect to another (or the same) target.
Mr. Fixer is really more of a support character. If you play him with the mind set that he is support I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with what he can do.
As for Mister Fixer vs. Plague Rat, as JayMann pointed out, all you really need is Jack Handle. http://greaterthangames.info/forum/index.php/topic,439.0.html
Jack Handle with just about any style is good against minion heavy enemies but best with his irreducible damage or everyone’s irreducible damage if he is already buffed enough to do damage
Good Point.
As it turns out, I was actually playing with JayMann. In the first game I used the tool box like four turns in a row trying to get the Jack Handle, but failing.
I see so many people saying Mr Fixer does ‘nothing’ and plays ‘nothing’ during the game.
I feel he is so misunderstood.
Perhaps a strategy guide is in order!
I fully agree with this. As long as you see Mr. Fixer as a support character, he is awesome. I love him so much. He is always fun and always interesting trying to figure out the right Style and Tool combo for whoever we are fighting.
The problem with the Tire Iron strategy is that its inferior to Wraith’s Stun bolt on every concieveable level, from;
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ease of getting to play; Much easier to get Stun Bolts out between Impromptu Invention and Trust fund than it is to get Tire Iron out. The only helper card that fixer has for this is Tool Box, which -though it can be used repeatedly- is not nearly as good when looking for a specific card.
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straight damage; technically both Strike + Tire Iron and Stun Bolts deal 1 damage each, but again with the ease of getting out the micro-targeting computer, its pretty easy to do 3 damage with the stun bolt, and the only way you’re getting 3 damage with Strike is by GMF + Harmony, two more specific cards that can be hard to draw (Harmony more than GMF)
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Damage Reduction: 2 damage reduced by stun bolt vs 1 damage reduced by Tire iron, another easy win for Stun Bolt. Where Matriarch is concerned, this also helps mitigate Matriarchs damage when fowls are destroyed, not just Carrion Fields.
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Spammability: Fixer can potentially use Strike twice on his turn but only by playing a 1 shot to do so. Wraith’s utility belt can, if you want, allow her to use another set of stun bolts, allowing for 2 targets to be reduced by 2 damage each, or 1 to be reduced by 4.
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Ability to do something else: Going hand in hand with 4, Utility Belt can allow a double use of stun bolts, or a stun bolt + razor ordinance/infared eyepiece/ or stealth, just to name a couple. Fixer simply doesn’t have additional power options, and is the ONLY hero who has only a single power (Strike) in his deck. And its a single bad power.
This is a lot of how I feel about Fixer in general, is that he’s just a really bad version of Wraith.
You were talking about Hoist Chain, not Tire Iron, right?
Hoist Chain:
Whenever Mr. Fixer deals damage to a target, reduce all damage dealt by that target by 1 until the start of your next turn.
You’ve pointed out one card of The Wraith’s that is better than one card of Mr. Fixer’s, but I think your point is that in general whatever Mr. Fixer can do, The Wraith can do better.
I might buy that overall The Wraith is a more powerful and versatile hero, but, if so, I think it’s close.
What, for instance, does The Wraith have that’s better than any of the following:
- Dealing irreducible damage – Alternating Tiger Claw and Driving Mantis
- Getting equipment cards from the trash – Salvage Yard
- Stopping all damage by non-hero cards – Grease Gun
- Redirecting damage from himself to non-hero targets – Tire Iron
- [quote="“arenson9"”]
[list][*]Redirecting damage from himself to non-hero targets – Tire Iron
[/quote]
What is up with the Tire Iron? Why do people keep thinking it’s something else in this thread? I think you’re talking about Driving Mantis (redirect 2 or less damage) not Tire Iron (destroy 2HP or less targets).
To play Devil’s Advocate Wraith has Combat Stance which serves a similar function (although she must take the damage but it can be any amount of damage so it’s swings and roundabouts)
Personally I do like Mr Fixer, had a good game with him against Spite just today, it worked out so that he could play Bloody Knuckles every turn and it was returned to his hand by the drugs. Gave other players a chance to set up and allowed him to get out his everyone-has-irreducible-damage stance.[/*][/list]
I believe arenson9 meant Jackhandle (is that the one?) where, when he deals damage to himself or another hero (say when infected by Plague Rat) he instead will deal that damage to all non-hero targets. No other hero has a better setup in that specific case. (In fact, with combat stance it’s worse. Deal damage to yourself while infected, deal damage to yourself again due to combat stance.)
Nitpicker’s corner: Despite what I stated, I do not mean to imply that Jackhandle only works when dealing self and allies damage. The actual card states that this “redirection” occurs whenever Mr. Fixer would deal any type of damage. The previous stated conditions are a strict subset of the conditions listed on the card, of which is the most useful and only pertenant condition to the rest of the discussion.
Yeah I was referring to hoist chain. Whoops, but I’m sure it was clear from the context what I meant…
Dealing Irreduceable Damage: Well its hardly fair to blame wraith on this one, as irreduceable damage wasnt even invented yet. But you know what, whatever. I’m not going to disqualify it on this point alone. So lets talk about dealing irreducable damage. First up, Alternating Tiger Claw. Well, basically we’re talking about extra damage here. Suppose a target has 1 armor, ATC makes fixer deal +1 damage. If it has 2 armor, ATC deals +2 damage. In other words, in order to be equal to Wraith’s Microtargeting Computer, the target needs to have at least 2 armor. To be considered better, it must have at least 3. So sure, if you want to punch Grand Warlord Voss in the face and get through his “armor of minions”, I guess ATC would be pretty good. Would also be pretty decent against Spite. Every other situation, Microtargeting computer is much better. As for Riveting Crane Style, thats actually one of my more favorite parts of Mr. Fixer, but the problem is that the more armor something has, the less chance you’ll be able to get damage through with Riveting Crane. So yes, Riveting Crane can be pretty good, but essentially is just a +X buff to hero damage vs a single target, where X is the amount of armor the target has. A weaker version of Legacy’s innate power.
Getting Equipment Cards from the Trash: Somewhat not needed for wraith since she has such an easy time getting equipment cards right out of her deck via Impromptu Invention and Trust Fund. Even if you get a lot of cards out of your trash, unless you are Expatriette, you can still only play one card per turn. This isnt as good as it initially seems to be. Impromptu Invention allows the play of an extra card, so it’s much better
Stopping Damage by Non-hero cards: Stun bolts and stun bolts? Ok, sure, you cant target all non-hero targets, but you can get 2 of them. I also cant tell you how many times I’ve relied on grease gun to stop damage, only to have a “destroy all equipment” card be played, and then the heroes are subsequently wiped out. Grease Gun can be effective, but its dangerous buisiness. Stun Bolts is much more reliable.
Redirecting Damage from himself to nonhero targets: You mentioned Tire Iron, I think you meant Driving Mantis Style. The style is okay, but you can have only 1 style in play at a time (this is one of Fixer’s greatest weaknesses, IMO, coupled with the fact that UNLIKE tool cards, style cards are destroyed when a new style enters play, rather than being bounced back to the hand). Your goal with Driving Mantis style is to be dealt exactly 2 damage a lot of the time, but on different turns. This requires a bit of luck to pull off. You basically get 2 chances every round, once on the villan turn and once on the environment turn. So a lot depends on the villan and the environment. Megalopolis hardly ever (if ever) deals heroes 2 damage. Atlantis and Insula Primalis do it fairly frequently. Many of Voss’ minions deal 2 damage, but Chairman hardly ever does. Overall I like Driving Mantis style, its handy, but in terms of damage prevention, Stealth is almost as good, plus Wraith has Suture Self to heal up if needed, where Fixer has no heal cards. The real pity with Driving Mantis Style is that if only he had another power, you could pull off a sick Embolden/Driving Mantis combo, which would be awesome… but only one power in his deck stops that from happening.
Obviously Fixer isnt comperable to the Wraith in every respect. But for everything Fixer can do, someone else can do it better. He’s not the best at anything. He’s probably not even second best at anything. Fixer has no ongoing destruction or environment control, which severely limits his ability to play the control game. His lack of damage hurts him a lot too. His power is weak, his one-shots are lackluster, his card draw is limited. The only thing he has going for him is that the powers on his tools/styles are somewhat unique, which at times can be useful. But that simply doesnt make up for his many many weaknesses.
Addendum: The jack handle/infection thing is such a corner case for such a tiny advantage that its barely even worth replying to, so I’ll just say that I think you’re reaching. You’re really reaching.
I think you’re missing a trick with Driving Mantis, heroes can damage him too and it be redirected to another target. Be it via a power like Bunker’s Grenade Launcher or through an ongoing like Fanatic’s Embolden, he can do it every turn
Well, the main thing about Salvage Yard is that it doesn’t just get his equipment back from the trash, it gets all equipment back from all hero trashes. You mention playing Grease Gun, only to later have all Equipment destroyed, that Salvage Yard now gets all equipment back (though it does take a few turns to get them back out, yes).
So, the tactic that twice easily beat Plague Rat is now simply a corner case? You may say I’m reaching, while I say that’s one of my favorite uses of Mr. Fixer.
It’s an excellent thing to have happen but it only happens with one specific villain on one specific side of their card, I agree that it’s both a good use AND a corner case.
A corner case for now I guess, but I’m not convinced that there will not be other cards in the future that will also force heroes to deal damage to targets to which you may not wish to deal damage.
I completely agree.
I also note that Mr Fixer’s Style cards say “Destroy all other Style cards in play” If there is a Ninja/Martial Artist villain in a future expansion I can see that coming back with a vengeance.
Matchstickman; sure you can I guess but only when its less than 2 damage. with Dual Crowbars and Harmony it would be pretty good to turn tiny hits into bigger hits. <2 damage per hit means usually there are no other global buffs in play, and very limited self-buffing for other team members, as the only person with a power that deals only 1 damage is Fixer himself. I suppose you might be able to combo it with Haka who has Punish the Weak out, and a few one-shot cards from Fantic or Tachyon. That’s about all you can reasonably expect without sacrificing the effectiveness of other heroes.
JayMann; not, “now”, no, but yes, Jackhandle/ Infection is absolutely a corner case, and always has been. End result; you save yourself around 2 damage per turn. This is at the expense of say, Pipe Wrench, which would be +1 damage/+1 armor. Overall, not a huge benefit. Again, Wraith can save herself 2 damage per turn easily. Yeah, Salvage Yard is a useful card, depending on your team. Moderately useful. Not omg bbq useful.
Furthermore I dont think speculating on what may or may not come in the future makes Mr. Fixer any better.
There are quiet a few cards I can think of that deal 2 damage to multiple targets. Combine this with Mr Fixer’s redirect and you’re doing 4 damage to a single target, possibly wiping them out where otherwise they would live to deal more damage next round.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he’s the best thing since sliced bread but I do think he’s better than you give him credit for.
Infection is not the only card to have this effect. Afflicted Frenzy (especially multiple copies) as well as Plague Rat’s flipside powers (increadibly useful in this case) make Jackhandle against Plague Rat increadibly useful.
Also, something about unecessary speculation or whatnot (not entirely sure how strict the “NDA” is…)