Greetings HeroClix Fans!
It’s time for another HeroClix preview from the upcoming Marvel HeroClix: Superior Foes of Spider-Man set. Today’s preview gives us a pair of heroes who have been staunch allies of Spider-Man since their debut over 30 years ago, Cloak & Dagger!
As a pair of runaway teens who met on the streets of New York, Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen were captured and experimented on by the Maggia to develop new and dangerous drugs to flood the streets with. The experiments triggered latent mutant abilities in the pair that tied them together in a symbiotic-like relationship. Cloak’s body acts as an aperture to the dimension of darkness and creates a hunger for ‘light’ energy, which he absorbs from whoever he surrounds with his cloak. Dagger is a limitless reservoir for that ‘light’ energy that Cloak feeds on, and can use that energy to create and throw psionic daggers that can either drain someone’s energy or heal them. With her presence, Cloak’s hunger never consumes him and with his presence, Dagger never overloads on energy.
When Cloak & Dagger hit your gaming table, each at 35 points, you’ll see these two are built for mutual teamwork. They both share the Marvel Knights keyword, the Spider-Man Ally ‘wild card’ team ability, and a trait that complements the other in the pair.
Starting with Cloak we see his abilities to phase into the dark dimension are represented by Improved Movement that ignores elevated terrain, hindering terrain, blocking terrain, and other character bases. His trait, She Depends On Me gives him the Carry ability, but, additionally, if he carries a friendly Dagger he may carry a second character. The trait also lets him take a power action to place Dagger adjacent to him if she is within 10 squares and line of fire. Between his improved movement, traits, and his constant 10 movement value with Stealth, Cloak has incredible mobility and team placement options and may be one of the few 0 range figures without a move and attack power that can sneak up on an opponent. To keep him and whoever he carries alive, he obtains the trait Defend, with a starting defense value of 18 which transitions into Super Senses. You’ll notice he does have a damage value of 0, which is a rare thing, but he has a special power that still makes him useful offensively and the ability to hurt opposing characters through most damage reduction options. Chilling Darkness, in addition to the use of Shape Change, allows him to hit with a close attack and deal the hit character 1 penetrating damage, instead of normal damage. So far, we only have half the story. Let’s check out Dagger.
Where Cloak is the close attacking and mobility specialist of the pair, Dagger is the ranged attacking and healing expert. Her trait, He Depends On Me allows her to heal an adjacent friendly Cloak of 1 damage at the start of your turn. Moving right into offense, she has Running Shot with a range value of 4 with the ability to target 3 characters. This is very useful even though she shares the same 0 damage value as Cloak. Her special damage power, Searing Light, grants her the use of Support, but also when she hits an opposing character with a ranged attack, they are dealt 1 penetrating damage instead of normal damage.
They might have short dials and 0 damage values but at 70 points for the pair, Cloak & Dagger bring tremendous utility to your teams.
That’s all for today, HeroClix fans! Stay tuned as we continue to preview and highlight more strategies with Spider-Man’s allies and villains from the Marvel HeroClix: Superior Foes of Spider-Man! Don’t forget to look at the WizKids Info Network (WIN) to find tournaments and events near you!
Until next time, keep your friends close and your dice even closer!