STRENGTHS:
An excellent 18 Impervious defense and 11 attack
value with 5 damage are Adam's big assets to start.
Charge and Quake? ...not so much, but it's not
terrible.
Better is Hypersonic and Super Strength on click #2,
but it doesn't last long, and by click 4 he's
Charging and Quaking again. One would hope he's
close enough to the fray for this not to matter so
much...or better yet, that he's still in base
contact to put his "Power of Aton" power into play,
granting him the use of either Exploit Weakness or
Flurry in a turn. He's still sporting either an 18
or 17 Invulnerability defense and 3 or 4 damage on
these clicks, too.
The late-dial sees Flurry and his first Toughness
clicks. He also gains the self-Perplex power "Wisdom
of Zehuti" to pump his AV back to 10 or his damage
for near-certain KO of a weakened target (or his
range (!) to 5 for a shocking surprise, so long as
he isn't on one of his many Battle Fury clicks).
Finally, his last two slots end much as he starts:
Charge, Quake, Impervious and Battle Fury, though
with much lower (but not terrible) numbers.
All these overlapping power combos, while not the
most efficient, do add up to Black Adam's biggest
strength:
he has a way to put the hurt on both single big figs
or on a lot of little ones. And he can do so on
every click, so he's more pushable by far than, say,
Vet Icons Superman.
WEAKNESSES:
Unlike the Black Adam of old, this caped version
starts with Charge, Quake and Battle Fury instead of
the coveted combo of Hypersonic Speed and Super
Strength. That's not good. It may take Adam too long
to get into the fight without a TKer(especially with
no more soaring in Heroclix), and then he'd have to
sacrifice the feats he needs to work in the
300-point tournament environment. A simple push
gives him
HSS+SStrength on his 2nd click with no stat penalty
(including a preservation of his 18 Impervious), but
this big fig has then sacrificed a precious click of
life. There are ways around this problem (see
CARDS), but it IS a problem that holds Adam back.
CARDS?
FORTITUDE is a must for tentpoles like Black Adam if
at all possible. If you can't fit the points, use
PROTECTED and do whatever it takes to remind
yourself to use it (I lost my first game with Black
Adam due to a rare non-use of Protected that would
have saved him from a game-ending strike). His
clicks of Battle Fury might get some small
situational use from either INDOMITABLE (to boost
his defense against Incap) or the little-used
REVENGE (boost his attack after fellows have been
KO'd).
If you lack TK on the team and need Adam to get to
HSS fast, use the TELEPHONE BOOTH special object to
push him (it's a free action) as soon as you're
ready to attack. DON'T do it until you're ready to
make your move, though, and try to make sure the
Booth isn't in easy sniping range. If you win it,
try the KINETIC ACCELERATOR to potentially boost his
Charge speed so you don't have to waste a click of
life to get in the fray.
IN SUM:
The old Adam was a monster of efficiency but doesn't
hold up as well since Support no longer grants the
2nd wind it once nearly guaranteed him. At over 100
points more, this Adam is far less efficient and
thus somewhat less deadly due to not being able to
field much, if any backup in 300 point games. With a
lot of ways to deal 3-8 clicks per turn, he's far,
FAR from bad. But he's still overshadowed by
Superman figures in his weight class, especially Vet
Icons Superman and the new KC Chase Superman.
RATING: 4 of 5. Not quite ready to tentpole
300-point builds but fine in anything bigger.
Attack: Wisdom of
Zehuti – Black adam can use perplex, but can only
modify his own values
Damage: Power of
Atom: Black Adam can use Exploit Weakness and flurry
Speed: I really hate it when figs start with
charge…I mean really…he is 254 points…would it kill
them to make him have more HSS…KC Shazam started
with 5 clicks of HSS, why not him
Attack: Monstrous like it should be, but
should probably be a bit higher
Defense: No complaints here, hard to heal
but oh well….late game you will be lucky to hit past
that imperv
Damage: High, should be higher, and battle
fury really doesn’t hurt (4 range is negligible)
The Good: Big attack
Can do big
damage
If he is
adjacent PoA can be devastating
Can perplex
himself for a bit
The Bad: I hate quake…almost never use it,
and you will probably never use it
Attack should be
higher
MORE HSS
That first click
just puts him in harms way, you might wanna push
past
Feats: Protected, Fortitude, Shellhead all
come to mind
Overall: Well, we do have a bruiser of a
piece here, just like black adam should be. The
problem is is that you won’t get the consistent 5’s
and 4’s damage wise that you did with the old one.
This guy has a much better attack, but starts with
charge. That means unless you have TK, you are
going to need to put him in harms way to have him be
of any use. Fortitude I would say is a must,
because the last thing you need is to have your
damage reducers taken away. He is pretty much
unusable in a 300 point game, but in higher games he
gets the support he needs. IF he had more HSS, he
would be better. He is hard to take down with those
defense numbers, but I just do not feel comfortable
fielding this boy.
Constructed/Unrestricted: 2.5 / 5
Sealed/Draft: 3 / 5
Overall: 2.5 / 5
“Heroclix….they’re
cool, addictive, and available….the things
practically sell themselves.”
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