Greetings HeroClix Fans!

Among the changes to the HeroClix 2013 Core Rulebook and Powers and Abilities Card are 4 brand new standard powers to add variety to your HeroClix dials. Today’s article will look at the new powers for the Speed and Attack slots.

SIDESTEP

At first glance, this new standard speed power might not seem too flashy, simply giving your character an extra 2 movement. But 2 extra movement as a free action is pretty significant.

Sidestep can be used every turn, even if your character already has 2 action tokens. Over the course of 3 turns, that’s 6 extra squares of movement, and the ability to move and clear on the same turn is not to be underestimated.

It can be used before or after another action. Need to get closer to someone before using Close Combat Expert? Use Sidestep first. Need to duck behind a wall after using Penetrating/ Psychic Blast? Use Sidestep after your ranged combat action.

The speed value is locked, so that 2 movement is the same whether you’re moving out of hindering, using the Carry ability, been Perplex’ed down, etc. Of course, the downside is that this means the speed value of 2 can’t be increased during the action, either, but that’s a more than fair price to pay.

Remember, though, that if your “Sidestepper” is adjacent to an opposing character, you still have to roll for break away normally. But if you do need to break away, you can always use Sidestep to try first, and if that fails, use a move action to try again. When you’re breaking away, it’s important to check your powers for those that might activate while you’re using Sidestep. Leap/Climb and Phasing/Teleport are both powers that require a move action, so they would not help you when trying to break away with Sidestep. Improved Movement (Characters), on the other hand, activates whenever the character moves, so it would be useful when using Sidestep.

As you can see, what make this new power so potent is that it goes well with everything. (Just like bacon.)

PRECISION STRIKE

Speaking of new powers that work well with everything, let’s take a look at the new attack power, Precision Strike.

Damage reducing powers have always had a way to get through them with Penetrating/Psychic Blast, and later, Exploit Weakness. But unless you were packing Outwit or Pulse Wave, there were still very few ways to neutralize damage that didn’t have an easy workaround. Super Senses could still evade an attack, and Mastermind could transfer the damage to a different character.

With Precision Strike, your character’s attacks can’t be evaded (Sorry, Super Senses), the damage dealt can’t be transferred (Mama Mia, Mastermind), and there’s even a touch of the old Armor Piercing feat in there, since the damage can’t be reduced below 1 either! Remember, though, that there are also powers that ignore damage rather than reducing it (come back here Tuesday to learn about one in particular), so those powers can still operate at full effect against Precision Strike.

Since Precision Strike doesn’t require its own action to activate, instead triggering “when this character makes an attack,” it works with every power that include an attack. That makes it an extremely versatile power and one of the best tools to use if you need a way to deal some almost-guaranteed damage. So, just like bacon and Sidestep, Precision Strike makes everything better.

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We hope you enjoyed this glimpse at some of the exciting new powers coming this year, and stay tuned as we continue to preview the HeroClix 2013 Core Rulebook and Powers and Abilities Card. Coming up, we’ll have previews of characters that use these new powers, demonstrating just some of the interesting new combinations that can happen. Until then, keep your clix off their K.O.’s!

SIDESTEP

PRECISION STRIKE

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