Absolute Zero is a very tough character to use, but he is far from underpowered. He has plenty of Modules so he can almost always have back up, plus he has ways to get them from the deck so it’s even better. As soon as he gets rolling though he’ll be beating the baddies in no time at all. Play against a villian who doesn’t destroy equipment so often in a environment that also doesn’t and get some good practice and learn his deck then losing equipment cards won’t cause so much grief.
Christopher has made a post about advice on Absolute Zero in someone’s topic but sadly I couldn’t find it or else I would of posted the link as well.
Edit: Scratch that, it was a post about Fanatic. Though I think the Absolute Zero advice may be in one of the podcast, can’t recall which one.
The 30 from Ra came from an actual game I played against Plague Rat. He has a lot of Ongoing cards, so at the time he had 6 out, and everyone was buffed for +4 damage. (Or at least, Ra was.) So, 1 + 4 for each ongoing card is 30, and that is a pretty weak usage from my experience. Only against Plague Rat, though.
As for Haka, I guess I never considered him to be a defensive hero… I guess I’ll have to look into that a bit more.
Absolute Zero is a badass, especially if you have someone like Legacy to boost damage. As long as you don’t lose your two modules, you’re basically untouchable. Twist the Ether doesn’t hurt either.
He’s complicated, yes, but his payoff is great.
… Actually, I think I’ll just make a topic on people’s favorite and least favorite heroes, and why everyone’s least favorites aren’t as bad as they think. (mine included, of course.)
Huh, interesting. I read Drawn to the Flame as a total, not separate instances of damage… I might have to revise my opinion on that. But if you’re right then it’s not 30 damage in a single shot, it’s (1+x) damage inflicted on each target (ongoing cards) times, subject to any reductions your targets might have (e.g. Biometric Plasma Vat would reduce each instance of damage by 1, not the total)
That is correct. It’s the same thing with Fanatic’s Exorcism, Visionary’s Brain Burn, Haka’s Savage Mana (!!!) and Pterodactyl thief, which means they change in relative effectiveness to the X powers depending on how many buffs are around. 3 Obsidian Fields? The 1-per-card powers are absurdly strong. Twisted Back Alleys and 2 Genebound Guards? Probably stick to the X damage powers if you want anything to come of it.
The cards were always intended to deal damage all in one hit, so things like Drawn to the Flame in the second edition are using the variable “x” so they will no long get buffed a lot of times.
“Back during the core set Indianapoiis demoes (back in November) Chris stated that, as long as you were consistant, you could treat the “for each” cards as multiple instances of damage (each one buffed or debuffed as necessary), or add them all up and deal a single instance of damage (only buffed or debuffed one time), so long as you treated all “for each” cards the same thoughout the game. He also stated that he was going simplify this in the future, and it appears in most cases he is replacing most of the “for each” cards with text that utilizes algebra to come up with a single instance of damage.”
The wording in the original deck isn’t very clear, “Ra deals each non-hero target 1 fire damage for each villain ongoing card in play”
However, In the Enhanced Edition, The Card says “Ra deals each non-hero target X fire damage, where X = the number of villain ongoing cards in play.”
And I furt---- gets axed by Christopher for revealing too much.
Okay, so I was at that Indianapolis Demo (if you are talking about the time I think you are talking about) because I was the one to ask him that question. At the time, he said you can go either way, so long as you consistantly always go one way or the other way. (I going to assume he means per game, for various reasons). He then stated after that that he planned on fixing this situation so it was always consistant. He has released proofs of the enhanced edition and thus has decided to go one way, not the other. This is the only reason now that everyone else now states only one way is allowed (because, soon, it will be true to most everyone).
But the same applies to just about everyone who takes on Citizen Dawn since she wipes out the entire Hero play field. The only real disadvantage Absolute Zero has is that he can’t use his Innate power right from the start, but with the amount of Modules and Module realignments in the deck then you should always have at least one of them in your hand. Not to mention all characters have at least three cards they need to start functioning to the best of their ability, sure they can do stuff straight from the gate and of course games could end before than but it isn’t purely Zero’s fault. Also just having one module will give him the ability to do somethings, he would be capable of healing one damage and that’s not really bad at all.
Still going with Citizen Dawn he is still really useful, he is the only hero that can heal from the damage of one of the villian cards (Citizen Winter) while others just become immune. Also Citizen Summer and Hammer both will cause him to do damage back to any other villian, while I believe most of the others would strike the one doing the damage. So “underpowered” isn’t really a correct word for him, complicated is something that would fit better. Just because someone doesn’t fit a playstyle you like doesn’t make him underpowered after all.
His default power, when both of his Modules are destroyed (which many villains and environments can do quite easily with only one card) is not only ineffective, but actively harms him. This doesn’t make him a bad character, or a poorly designed one, but that does make him underpowered. If you strip every other character of their bells and whistles, they at least have the potential to do something helpful. Absolute Zero does not. Even if you shoot the Wraith’s Utility Belt and all of her sharp and 'sploshiony goodies fall out, she can still at least soak some damage. Haka has the potential to crunch a Genebound something-or-the-other for some damage. Bunker can draw a card. Zero merely makes his cold colder or burns at any temperature above frozen tundra. Thematically? Tragic and interesting, providing a potential for conflict, character development, and team dynamics with the other members of the Freedom Five. Mechanically? It isn’t very fun.
But if it gets destroyed you’ll still be able to play a card on the same turn you have the option to use a power and nine times out of ten if you are going to be facing someone that destroys equipment cards then you should of prepared for it and already had back up Modules in your hand. So he’ll either be able to heal himself or even deal one damage to himself and a enemy.
I sometimes forget not everyone uses this as much as we do. Many heroes will never need to take advantage of this, but for AZ it’s fundamental to who he is - and the reason he can succeed, in my opinion. It helps to have Visionary helping out (and Argent Adept and NightMist, when they can), but I’ve found he can usually do some really good stuff by just sitting out for a bit.
Unless he has Subzero Atmosphere in his opening hand and you’re playing Dawn… 8)
At Origins, a fan of the game was talking to Christopher, telling him how he didn’t think AZ could ever work, so Christopher offered to show him what AZ could do. Christopher, arenson9, and the fan sat down for a game with Christopher playing AZ. I don’t remember all the details (I was running a demo at the time), but I remember on his first turn, Christopher just drew two cards. They ended up losing, but the fan agreed that AZ did a great deal more than he’d ever seen him do (AZ was the last hero in play), and he had a better understanding of what was possible with AZ.
Maybe you just need to stop by the >G booth at a con and have Christopher play AZ for you.
