Divine Focus can be amazing against Spite if he has his damage reduction drug. Zealous offense goes off and takes away his DR and the hero is free to do their full damage.
Yes, I do not consider Divine Focus worth it if it's against a DR of 1. But I see why you don't have much love for it contrasting with your endorsement of Zealous Offense. Still I tend to use Fanatic focus on the boss to wear him down (besides plays like Final Dive) while the rest deal with the minions if possible, similar to what Cowboy does but a lesser extent. It's really a no-brainer to say which one is better suited depending on the type of Villian you are facing.
edit: anyway, back to the "skip your turn to deal damage" I wonder, what are you contrasting that play to? I mean, by playing Desperation I'd assume I'm giving up 2 damage (Exorcism) + 1 card play. So I assume that I have to make up something like 4 damage to make it worth it. Cards like Brutal Censure makes sense to drop to Divine Focuse since it'll deal the damage anyway and it covers the card drawn by Desperation. Similar to her Strike card (but deal extra damage instead of heal). You can make a similar comparison to good but situational cards, like End of Days, Divine Sacrifice, Final Dive, etc. But if you are thinking of having Absolution down and having of Smite the Transgressor, of course it doesn't compare favourably.
back to the "skip your turn to deal damage"
If that is to me, I was alluding to the change in cost from cards to losing a turn, not saying it would be bad.
Since ditching the cards for Divine Focus is undone by Desperation you are dealing whatever you get from Divine Focus at the cost of two card plays and one power.
I'd rate that at about an 8 damage (not statsy, just what I'd want before calling it a win) So that would definitely be a good play if you have a six card hand with focus and desperation. It is a hard card for me, I tend to sacrifice HP over cards, and I probably play too cautiously with Divine Focus. Desperation is a card I will ditch, so if this situation arose I probably discarded Desperation instead of playing it optimally.
I'd much rather give up 2 card plays and a power than deplete my hand by four cards, esp. since I'm always hoping to get retribution and I need the discard for that.
Funny I was hoping to get discussion of Fanatic to get other people to think about playing her more riskily, and I'm finding all kinds of stuff I didn't think about. I really want to play her like 6-10 times just to test stuff out.
This is a very nice guide to a hero I'm appreciating more today than I usually have. One nit to pick though: Prayer of Desperation is not a good play if you have 4 cards in hand, as you could just have skipped your play and power phases, drawn two cards, and kept the Prayer for later use; you're just trading the Prayer for one random card, and that will seldom be worthwhile. To use the Prayer effectively, you should have at most two other cards in hand, and that can be hard to reach unless you have an ally feeding you card plays or you've run a Divine Focus since your last turn.
If you have 6 cards in hand, and none of them are Divine Focus, any random card is almost certainly going to be better than Prayer of Desperation.
I have to agree with Envisioner here. There are very few hands of four cards where not one is worth playing. If you happen to have one, even just throwing out something like Chastise for one round, or Sacrosanct even if you don't plan on using it (unless there is something in the game that does damage based on cards in play)
Fanatic has a ton of good cards, blowing a whole turn to draw two is something I have only done once or twice on Fanatic (when I couldn't do damage, and the cards in hand were worthless in that situation.
Prayer of desperation is best saved for times of desperation, when your hand is depleted due to discards or there really is only one card that will save the team and another hero can let you play it after your turn, just to get a bonus card isn't a great usage.
Honestly if I had a four card hand and they were all no good in that turn, and I determined I wanted new cards, I would rather hold a prayer and draw two, gaining a one card cycle is a miniscule gain, and prayer could be much more useful later.
Caveat: If you have a card draw engine rolling like TLT then by all mean throw it first turn, because you won't ever need it anyway.
Question for clarification: Are you counting the Prayer of Desperation as one of the 4 cards in hand?
yes, which is why I'm saying the play only nets you a single card swap over a draw two, both end with 6 cards in hand, you are just trading prayer for a different card.
My most fun with Fanatic ever was last night, and it involved running Divine Focus for three full rounds, skipping damage only a couple of times when reduction was in effect. Start with a nine-card hand, pitch six cards to roast Omnitron for 11, play Prayer to draw four, pitch five more to deal 6, play Prayer, draw six, pitch five more to deal 10. Magnificent.
This thread needs an update every year or three, right?
Something you never mentioned is that Undaunted doesn’t reduce damage; it prevents damage. That’s important because it means Fanatic can block small irreduccible hits, particularly the ones from Plague Rat’s Infection and his flip-side, assuming you have destroyed the plague locus.