Battleworld is right around the corner, so I figured I’d do something a little different leading into my set review; I’d talk about my top 10 favorite figures from the set. Keep in mind; as of this writing, we’re still missing around 6-10 dials, so this could change after full release.

I really didn’t know how I was going to feel about Battleworld. I loved Secret Wars (2015), more so than I the typical Marvel bi-annual crossover event. It had rich ideas and a neat spin on a lot of the typical tropes and characters of the universe. The Heroclix set though, I was a bit cautious about.

When the set was announced earlier this year, I was immediately stoked to think about all the unique characters we could get, like Steve Rogers with Devil Dinosaur, or a centaur Ghost Rider (even if I honestly did NOT like Ghost Riders since it didn’t live up to my expectation). I thought about the possible reintroduction to Doom and getting a God Emperor Doom piece, or a Groot Yggdrasil. Then I bought a ton of Avengers: Infinity, and a ton of Batman: The Animated Series, and then the news came about the change to OP kits and Summer Events, and I hit a heavy fatigue. To be perfectly honest, that fatigue hasn’t really left, but some games over the last week helped a bit.

That changed, however, when the set started to show spoilers. The pieces here look really strong, and my intention here isn’t to drum up sales. I was really surprised at the power level and creativity of a lot of this set. While I don’t really have the funds right now to buy a case like I normally do, I’m actually sort of regretting it because there’s a lot here that I would love to play. Most of my LGS players have been feeling the same way as I have about the set, and I had to tell them this last week that there are a lot of surprisingly good figures here.

So rather than another team article, or a down-in-the-dumps piece like two weeks ago (although I still feel that article was necessary), I want to move to optimism and talk about my top 10 pieces from Battleworld as of today, October 1st, 2018. As I mentioned in the opening, we’re still missing some dials, so this list could change once the set is finished.

All dials can be seen on the dial and evidence page here.

10. Viv Vision – Rare – 90 Points

The biggest reason Viv is on this list is because of the Champions. I love, love, love this book, and Viv is an integral part of the team, so I was extremely excited when she was announced in the set. With Viv being released, a full Champions team can finally be fielded, even if they don’t get the theme bonus and they aren’t modern.

Love for the character aside, Viv has a surprisingly good dial. While her values are very average and actually mediocre at 90 points, she has some great reducers with two clicks of Invincible, a big Charge radius of 10, Indom, improved movement blocking terrain, and a fantastic ability to wall up if she doesn’t plan on making an attack with traited Super Senses. unlike Visions of the past, Viv has access to her both spectrums of her density powers at all times, with the option of going super-dense.

Viv also has Prob that’s even better when she’s with allies that share a keyword with her. While the 9 attacks on the end of her dial are a little disheartening, she does have Perplex on both clicks with Sidestep and Pen/Psy, so she still brings a decent threat to the team. The only non-reducer click on defense is Regeneration, which means Viv will stick around a lot longer than she seems with only 5 clicks.

9. Stick – Uncommon – 45 Points

In what world is this dial 45 points? You get three clicks of 11 attack, and two with 10, meaning he shatters the average attack values at the 50 point level with Indomitable. Sure, Stick has no move and attack or Stealth to keep him a little safe, but that Indom will absolutely make sure he can get into position and then take advantage of his high attack values. He also brings Close Combat Expert, and with that 11, he can throw everything into damage and hit for 4 damage… for 45 points, plus he has CCE the entire dial, so he can always deal 4 damage quite easily.

This isn’t even the best part about Stick though; it’s his ability to break other characters. His trait, You Failed… Again allows adjacent friendly characters another go at a melee attack if they missed their target for the turn, AND he has Empower. This guy is all about being a team player. I cannot believe this dial is just 45 points. He could easily be 60.

8. Molly Hayes – Common – 25 Points

Continuing with the “oh my god, why is this so obnoxiously cheap? Power creep is real” theme, we have Molly. Now, Molly didn’t get a bad dial last year in What If… Her dial was actually quite potent, but it’s nothing compared to this. 5 clicks fro 25 points is already a steal, but then you look at her values. 18 defense for her first three clicks, 4 damage up top that never drops below 3 (and sometimes with Close Combat Expert), and three attack values of 10 or higher. Molly’s only bad news is her lack of ability to get into the fight with no Willpower (she’s actually worse here because she CAN’T push thanks to her second trait). With only a 5 movement, it’s painful for her to engage. But that’s okay because a trait and special power help her out.

The On The Run trait gives her Stealth so she can hide until she can strike and very conditional Sidestep, and her special attack power, Here Comes Princess Powerful! gives her improved movement: destroys blocking terrain. So you can carry Molly into the fight behind a wall and then have her move through a wall to an opponent through her conditional Sidestep while picking up a heavy object because oh yeah, she has Super Strength too, and then smack them for 6 damage. Damn, she’s good.

7. Worldbreaker – Common – 100/50 Points

Personally, I think Worldbreaker is the breakout common, not Molly. At either point cost, this dude is incredible, and it’s neat to have generic Hulks. The first thing that pops up as incredible on this dial is Worldbreaker is the very first dial to have full-dial Invincible. That is a pain to deal with, and while it can be Outwitted, you’re going to pay an awful price in pain to get rid of it. Plus, he has two STOP clicks at his 100 point line! Worldbreaker also has very good values with no attack below a 10 and an average of 3 damage with Super Strength the whole way through.

Worldbreaker also has Quake to help with swarm teams and when he uses it, he generates a light object to help him with higher damage throughout the game. The improved movement is icing on the cake since he can hide in hindering to buff his defense even more. There’s so much defense on this brute of a dial that I couldn’t help but award him the best common of the set, even if Molly seems a bit better to most.

6. Maestro – Uncommon – 175/100 Points

It’s odd to see Maestro in such a low rarity, but man is this a good dial. Full-dial Steal Energy is nothing to sneeze at, and the improved movement of hindering and elevated means Maestro has no issues moving around the map. His values are very strong at 175, but they do take a little dip for 100 points since you only get 5 clicks out of him. If you play him at full, he has stellar defenses though, and his Charge breaks through blocking terrain making it virtually impossible to stop him from getting to you. He does get that for a single click on his 100 point dial, so that’s nice too. I love that at the end of his dial when he has Flurry, he also has his special attack, Still Standing? that lets him just make a free close attack. So I get to deal potentially 9 damage on my last two clicks? Okay.

The reason why Maestro is on my list is because he potentially has the best use of the Baron of Battleworld trait that gives an X-Men-like Headmaster ability of Perplex and Leadership, but they can super buff fellow Battleworld allies if they have the same keyword or super hurt other Battleworld keywords. If you run two of these guys at 100 points, you essentially have a 20 Impervious on both of them at all times, and they can remove tokens from each other. Going on offense? Swap to 13 attack. Need to surprise the enemy and get even farther for a surprise attack? Buff that Charge so you get to go 7 squares. And you still get 100 points leftover for support. All this for an uncommon.

5. Ultimate Thor – Uncommon – 125/100 Points

Those of you that remember the old Ultimate Thor from way-back-when, the dude was a beast. We’ve had to wait a long time to get a new Ult Thor, and this guy does not disappoint. The Thor Corp is Marvel’s answer to the Bombshells in their Crack the Case trait, but it’s a little weaker. That’s okay though because the pieces themselves are much stronger.

Ultimate Thor carries on his legacy of seeing through hindering terrain with big values up front, no matter which value he’s played at. He never drops below a 10 attack, has Outwit on his higher point value which is a myth on a Thor dial, has good defenses, the Police team ability, Flight, and big damage with an average of 4 his entire dial. If that wasn’t enough, he ages incredibly well, hitting two clicks of Flurry with 4 and 3 damage and Battle Fury. He also has a neat ability at his lower dial that gives him Charge and a free action that places him adjacent to another character with “Thor” in their name within 6 squares for a huge area of influence.

What I really like about Ultimate Thor is his trait, Passing the Ultimate Hammer. If this guy does go down, he doesn’t care what what equipment rules are; he just automatically passes it onto another friendly character within 6 squares. Want to really make your Mjolnir shine? Put it on this guy, run him out for utter chaos to let him take all the damage, and then just pass it onto your secondary attacker. How about Thunderstrike to get tons of Steal Energy through the game? There’s so much that can be done with him and I really dig it.

4. Captain Marvel Prime – Rare Prime – 100 Points

Back to the Bombshells, remember when we all thought Batgirl was the best vampire dial WizKids had ever made, and that they finally got it right? Yeah, she can pack up and move out because Carol is in the house! THIS is the end-all, be-all vampire dial. Charge, Plasticity, Blades with an 11 attack, 17 Impervious, 3 Exploit Weakness, and Flight already makes her a much heartier dial than Batgirl, and she comes with 6 clicks rather than 4, and she’s Indomitable. While her normal dial is absolutely focused on being a melee powerhouse with power combinations like Flurry with Blades and Precision Strike with Close Combat Expert, there isn’t a bad click here, even at 100 points.

Carol’s true power though is that she’s oh so much better when she heals. Just getting that one click of healing puts her into 11 Hypersonic, 11 Precision Strike, 18 Invincible, and 4 Probability Control. Say what?! If she heals again, raise that movement and attack. Whereas Batgirl was a great piece for 75 points, Carol just adds 25 more points on to become an outstanding piece that simply blows the previous vampire dial away. Thankfully, the Prime isn’t really a drawback since we don’t have uber pieces like Nighthawk in Modern anymore.

3. Thanos – Super Rare – 200/150 Points

I’m sure you all know by now that Thanos is my favorite villain of all time, so of course he’s going to make the cut, but for good reason. We finally get a clear-cut, super powerful Thanos dial. At 150, this dial is a bit crazy with the power combinations, but nothing makes me more happy than finally getting a Thanos with top-dial Running Shot for under 200 points, and with Probability Control! While it’s a bit of a bummer that he only has Invincible for 1 click, it’s still better than Impervious, protecting him from one-shot Pen/Psy monster attacks, and his Power Cosmic will ensure he’s safe. What I really like about this dial is the four clicks of Steal Energy, so it’s going to be tough to put Thanos down.

At 200, this dial is just a monster as Thanos gets access to Dimensional Destruction Through Battleworld, a much better version of phasing free attacks than the rare shifting focus Deadpool from last year. His stats are much better too, 12 attack, 19 Invincible, and 5 with Prob. You get a heck of a dial here, and I’m happy to see a Thanos that’s just straight up good with no gimmicks. The Avengers: Infinity dial was surprisingly good once you played him with his traits, but he was just so expensive that’s it rare he sees play. This guy is low enough at either value to make a big impact in a lot of local games. Oh yeah, and the traited Colossal Stamina helps, too.

Minor note; he does get much stronger against Battleworld pieces, but that’s a vacuum so I didn’t want to roll that into why he’s on my list.

2. Odin – Chase – 175/120 Points

Only 1 chase is on my list, and I’m sure you’re surprised it isn’t Black Panther. While T’Challa is insanely powerful, I like Odin a lot more. Dial-wise, Odin has his typical schtick; high values with Power Cosmic, but this is a much lower point cost than we’re used to seeing on the allfather, meaning I’ll play him a lot more. Seriously, he’s got 12 and 11 attack more times on his dial than 10, for just 175 points. His power combinations are pretty good, and like his attack, his damage is pretty big. One could argue the 17 defense mid-dial isn’t very good, but that’s only two clicks. That means 7 of his 10 clicks are an 18! But a lot of this is just an efficient beatstick. It’s Odin’s traits that make him breakout and make the gears turn in my head.

His first trait is Before Immortals Were Common which just stops healing, PROTECTED: Outwit, and STOP on adjacent enemies. That means when big daddy Odin Charges in, if he nails your ass, you’re taking his damage and it’s sticking. Doomsday with a dial-full of STOP? How about a dial full of NOPE. His second trait is Stop Trying to Escape Me, Mjolnir!, which gives him a once-per-game free range attack with a range of 8. That means Odin can get into position one turn, then the next Throw Mjolnir for free for 5 damage to take you down from your big defenses, and then Charge in for 5 more on your weaker clicks to shut someone down. 10 damage in a single turn without any help is huge. His last trait, Ancient Incarnation: Thor makes him just nonsense with any character named Thor, giving him free action token removal. Thankfully, Title Thor is named Thor Odinson, or these two would be the new power couple.

1. Thanos Prime – Common Prime – 175/140 Points

Yep, my top character is a common, but this dude is nuts. Remember what I said about a straight good Thanos for decent points? Yeah, this version crushes that. Before anything else, Thanos has traited Stealth which is a new trick for him and adds so much to his defenses, and he can cheat his way onto any generic theme team. Already that’s a show-stealer.

Dial-wise, Thanos has some great combos. At 175, he starts like the lower version of the Super Rare with Running Shot, Pen/Psy, Invincible, and Prob, while his 140 point dial kicks off with Sidestep and Pulse Wave with Impervious and Prob, both very good options depending on what you want him to do. The back-end of his dial is very melee-focused with Charge, Super Strength, Toughness, and Exploit Weakness, and typical to Thanos, his damage is very high while his attack values are good for the points.

Where Thanos truly shines though is his combo’d traits and how his Prob is special. His first trait, Time to Stop My Duplicates and Reveal Myself mainly gives him Infinity tokens when he KO’s a character (and gives you a way to KO your own characters if you want over time), while the second trait, One Stone Away from the Infinite does the heavy lifting. This stupid trait gives him +2 to X different combat values equal to the amount of Infinity tokens he has until your next turn. Are you serious? How is that fair at all? Off of just 1 KO, this guy gets a +2 to Perplex every single turn. Two KO’s? That’s +2 to two different values. If he makes his way up to five KO’s against something like a Swarm team, the dude is a god and you’re pretty much not going to KO him… for 175 points. How do you deal with 6 square Running Shot, 13 Pen/Psy, 20 Invincible, and 6 Probability Control?

Oh and we haven’t looked at his special Prob yet; Travel Back in Time to Try Again. When he probs an attack that would hit him into a miss, he makes a Thanos Duplicate generic that’s worth 0 points adjacent to him. What do those duplicates have? Oh, just 8 Sidestep, 11 Precision Strike, 17 Toughness, and 3 damage with PROBABILITY CONTROL for your own characters adjacent opposing attacks. Like this guy needed to be even better, and he has this power for five freaking clicks at his 175 point line. There’s just no way this guy wasn’t going to top my list.

Believe it or not, it was really tough to pick only 10 characters from the set for this list, let alone ranking them. I honestly think this is the strongest outing for Marvel sets since The Mighty Thor. While Xavier’s School was a very good set in what it did for the meta game, Thor arguably had a greater number of just good pieces that could be played by anyone and do well. Xavier’s was more about the top 10% being insanely good while the rest was so-so. This set however, is looking very good and a ton of it is playable and again shatters the preconceived point values. Power creep is very real and very much alive, my friends.

What are your thoughts on this list? Do you think something else should be here (ASIDE FROM CHASE BLACK PANTHER), or did you by any chance find a new respect for a character you weren’t planning on getting? Who are you looking forward to picking up the most? I’d love to hear about it in the comments section!

I’m aiming at publishing a full set review next week on Two Clicks From KO, but that depends on whether or not we’ll get the last dials we need. If not, you’ll see it here in two weeks before release.

See you guys next week!