DC HeroClix Arkham Origins: Black Mask and Black Mask Thug!

Greetings HeroClix Fans!

We continue our previews from the DC HeroClix: Batman – Arkham Origins set with two characters with villainous vocations, Black Mask Thug and Black Mask! Let’s start with the minion!

Black Mask Thug at 40 points and 5 clicks is quite the henchman for his cost. He starts his dial with a single click of Running Shot with an 8 movement. Add to that a 5 range single target with Energy Explosion and 2 damage, someone is going to get stung. He also has the minion power False Facer which states when a friendly character named Black Mask is within 8 squares, Black Mask Thug cab use Shape Change. This is a great starting click for this character, we’ll unmask why in the second part of this article.

On Black Mask Thug’s second click he no longer has Running Shot, but he does gain Enhancement. This shows that these guys can go to work as a team even without a good dental plan. On click 3 he loses Energy Explosion but retains Enhancement, which means this minion has been to a corporate team training retreat.

Black Mask Thug on click 4 and 5 replaces Enhancement with Ranged Combat Expert. His attack value drops to an 8, but pair him with another coworker with the Batman Enemy team ability and you can use the +2 for damage instead of attack. On his last click we can see working for a villain can be a bad idea as the health plan is dropped and he loses his minion power False Facer.

Up next in our review we go up the corporate ladder to the top, Black Mask.

As the leader of an underworld shadowy criminal empire, Black Mask needs the stats to match. He starts his 2 top clicks with Stealth, Combat Reflexes, Outwit, and the special attack power Vast Fortune which has you give Black Mask a power action and all adjacent friendly characters that have the Assassin keyword or share a keyword with him may immediately be given a move action as a free action which shows that a real leader leads from behind.

On clicks 3 through 5 Black mask gains Energy Explosion and Mastermind. The Mastermind is for making sure that when things aren’t going his way, he has employees to blame. On click 4 Black Mask swaps Outwit with Perplex. With a 6 range and single target his Energy Explosion is going to force your opponent to pull some TPS reports.

For his last 2 clicks, Black Mask has Stealth, Poison, Perplex, and the special power Determined to Break You that allows Black Mask to use Toughness and Willpower.

For a fun 300 point team use Black Mask with 5 Black Mask Thugs. You can use his special power Vast Fortune to get his henchmen in place to make a Running Shot/Energy Explosion attack, and hopefully push some of them their next turn for some real damage output with Energy Explosion and Enhancement. Bring Black Mask up next to them to make use of his Outwit and Batman Enemy team ability.

That’s the end of this preview, but stay tuned for another DC HeroClix: Batman – Arkham Origins preview as we look at a villain that doesn’t joke around!

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