I introduced Exorcise because I was thinking of this as a discussion about whether or not there is any value in using Sacrosanct Martyr at all.
From the perspective of the best WAY to use Sacrosanct Martyr I agree that it’s generally not until the DR2 level that it’s worth it to funnel other radiant attacks through Sacrosanct Martyr. Even then you probably don’t want to do it if you have buffs to your attacks unless you really need to get the amount of damage up.
In some extreme cases, however, it may be worth Fanatic taking the extra damage in order to take out a target in the current turn.
Damage Reduction Exorcise Sacrosanct Martyr
Funnel through Sacrosanct Martyr
Some DR can’t be avoided, like the advanced powers on some villains (or one side of them, at any rate). The only other way around that is irreducible damage, but I believe only Mr. Fixer can provide that at present.
I think his initial point still stands, though. No villain has an advanced mode that reduces damage by two. It’s likely that at least part of the DR would involve a Twisting Back Alleys or a Gene-Bound Guard. Dealing so much damage to yourself just seems rather shortsighted in most circumstances.
And her advanced mode doesn’t bring them out faster or at the beginning of the game. Advanced mode or no, they’re just two cards vastly more powerful than they thematically deserve in the least fun deck in the game. I would say the group lost before the game even started, Sacrosanct Martyr or no, if they chose to fight The Matriarch on Hard Mode.
I was more referring to the fact that no villain has the base Advanced Mode of “Reduce damage dealt to villain targets by 2.” But I understand your point with her Advanced Mode’s Indestructible Cohorts, which is essentially a delayed version of “Reduce damage dealt to villain targets by 2.” My apologies for the confusion and my oversight!
The last game I played with Fanatic, I got the Aegis when I was at 2 HP and was killed before I could deploy it.
The 3rd last game I played with Fanatic, the thief stole it (Chairman) before it could be useful.
Truth be told, I’ve never had the Aegis go off in any of my games with Fanatic. Either I’m healthy, or the game ends before I draw it.
If you have the Aegis in hand and you’re facing anybody who can blow up your stuff, then you keep it in hand until you are likely/sure to die next turn. Then you play it. You want to give the baddies minimal time to destroy your Aegis before you get a chance to use it, so that usually means holding out until you’re at very low hp. If you somehow survive the turn, and your Aegis is still up, then you play Divine Sacrifice if you have one and make sure you get to use your Aegis.
I don’t think anyone’s arguing that Sacrosanct Martyr is going to be a power you’re going to want to use every turn, but there are definitely points where something with DR desperately needs to be destroyed NOW (and isn’t under 4) and Fanatic’s other stuff isn’t going to cut it. Huginn/Muninn are a great example. So is Citizen Truth, or one of Voss’s flagships with DR from an environment card, or advanced Omnitron with several components, or Chairman’s Informant with two Crooked Cops. I think this combination of cards is a very important part of Fanatic’s repertoire, especially given that her base power really craps out against targets with DR, but it’s really a trick for specific circumstances, not for everyday use.
Honestly, I think I played in a game with a playtester friend where a certain villain had something like DR:5 on something that had to die RIGHT NOW… Fanatic wouldn’t have helped much on that. Thank god we had ATC Fixer on the field.
In principle I agree with you, but in practice it just doesnt come up much.
Huginn/Muninn I play on advanced mode, so you can’t kill them anyway.
Citizen Truth: Needs to die, but only needs to die urgently if you have other bad citizens out, Hammer and Summer perhaps. And with a base of only 1 DR and the only other DR in Dawn’s deck coming from Anvil, usually he’s not above what Fanatic can deal with the rest of her cards. But yes, possibly something to use SS martyr on.
Voss’ Flagships can hurt, but Fanatic has a lot of options. First she can just hit them, as can the rest of the team. If there is DR from an environment card, get rid of the environment card. If you cant, play End of Days. If you can’t, Chastise it. If you can’t, play Zealous Offense. If you can’t, see if your team can deal enough to it to take it without SS martyr. If they can’t… then maybe play SS martyr.
The above is also how I feel about most of Omnitrons stuff, including the card from Omnitron’s deck that is most likely to be Martyr’d… Electropulse explosive.
Informant doesn’t benefit from 2 crooked cops, as Informant is not an underboss. Maybe you meant the Broker. In that case if anyone can deal it 1 damage it is vulnerable to Final Dive. Otherwise, take out the Crooked cops.
Im not sure what you could be referring to with something that had DR5 and needed to die right now. I can only say that if the Villain was AB, which I’m guessing it was… then Fanatic is probably THE strongest hero against that villain.
Everyone makes some excellent points here. But people seem to be forgetting that your options are limited by your card draws. If you don’t have Chastise in hand, you can’t use it to stop that target from dealing damage. If you didn’t draw End of Days, then you can’t reset the playing field. If the cards described in the OP are the ones that you’ve drawn so far, then, if it’s going to be as bad or worse should you choose to do nothing, you may as well gamble with Fanatic’s life in an extreme DR situation. Sure, there may be a better card in her deck for the situation. But, if it is something that nasty, how many rounds can you afford to wait?
Well, you have to have those cards in play for it to work. But sure, I guess. If it’s your (and your team’s) only real option. (One of) Awp’s points is that that will be really, really rare.
Not really that rare… you don’t need to have all of those cards out in order for Sacrosanct Martyr to be usefull against DR. Just throwing one of Fanatic’s low-damage radiant attacks at herself and powering Sacrosanct Martyr allows her to deal out more damage to a guy with DR than she’d do by targetting them with the one-shot and using her base power against them.
