Welcome back everyone to this follow-up on my two favorite characters from Batman: The Animated Series. Rather than our typical Team Build, I’m going to be dissecting Man-Bat in a very interesting way as he seems very familiar.

If you missed last week’s article on Clix Fix, I talked about the other character who is tied for my favorite character from this amazing show; Clayface. Today I’m back with the second half with Man-Bat. I can never truly decide which of these two I like more since they were both so awesome to little kid me back in the 90’s.

Before we jump into the team build and analysis of the character, I mentioned that this will be done a little differently. Man-Bat is awfully familiar to a character that was the bane of many players existence back when the old dial-style was still around. If this isn’t ringing any bells, I’m talking about Nightcrawler from Web of Spider-Man, or as he’s more commonly referred to: Bencrawler. Because these two are so similar, I’ll be comparing Man-Bat to him to see which of these two is the better option for their similar effects.

As for the team build today, I’ll be sticking with 300 Modern. I mentioned on Clix Fix that the only resources that are legal in Modern anymore are the Punisher Van (which isn’t all that viable) and the insanely good Blackbird, so I don’t have as much of an issue opening the floodgates to everything Modern being on the table. I probably won’t use the Blackbird in builds much though since it really needs an X-Men team to be at it’s best.

So, let’s take a look at Man-Bat and Bencrawler’s dials side-by-side. That’s a great way to start out and then we can compare them and discuss what’s different.

Off the bat, the big differences between these two is that Man-Bat is 11 points cheaper, has Flight, and Indomitable, and that really sets him apart from Nightcrawler. They both have team abilities, and I would say Nightcrawler wins in this department since it’s going to be fairly difficult for Man-Bat to take advantage of swapping attack values, however it will be very helpful once he gets hit into his lower click numbers.

Both characters have 6 clicks of health, but Man-Bat has 7 different powers on his dial as opposed to Nightcrawler’s 5. Keywords-wise, Nightcrawler wins just by having the now-insanely powerful X-Men Keyword, but Manbat has more viable Keywords like Animal, Monster, and Scientist, all of which have been very strong for quite some time. It’s much harder to build a Named Theme Team with him though as he only sports Arkham Asylum, and we know how badly the Batman Rogues get slightly different named Keywords. Numbers-wise, Man-Bat clearly has the advantage as we know power creep is a very real thing; there’s enough evidence in just the cost difference.

The real differences come from Traits and Powers, so let’s take a look at what both characters have to offer. Nightcrawler is the only one with a trait:

EXTRA-DIMENSIONAL TELEPORTATION: Nightcrawler ignores the effects of terrain and characters on movement.

Very hefty, and does a nice job of offsetting Man-Bat’s Flight, and it’s actually quite a bit better. As we all know, ignoring is better than an improvement, so Nightcrawler never needs to breakaway whereas Man-Bat does. Man-Bat might be able to fly over anything he wants outdoors, but on an indoor map, he still has to obey walls and blocking terrain.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these two both have a special movement and special defense; seems pretty intentional. Let’s compare movement powers first.

Man-Bat

STRIKE FROM ABOVE: Hypersonic Speed, Stealth. When Man-Bat uses Hypersonic Speed, if the attack total is 2 or higher than the target’s defense value, after resolutions you may place a hit character of the same size or smaller in any square Man-Bat moved through after the attack. If the character is placed in a square of lower elevation than the square it was in, deal that character 2 damage.

Nightcrawler

TELEPORTATION EVACUATION: Nightcrawler can use Hypersonic Speed, Stealth and the Carry Ability. When Nightcrawler uses Hypersonic Speed, a target hit by a close combat attack may be placed adjacent to Nightcrawler after the power action resolves.

Both grant Hypersonic Speed and Stealth, so again identical. The big difference between these two comes later in this power though, and that’s how they ‘snatch’ their targets. Man-Bat succeeds in stealing someone if he can hit for 2 higher than their defense value, whereas Nightcrawler just has to hit. Man-Bat can also only pull characters of the same size or smaller while Nightcrawler can pick anyone he hits. Those two make Nightcrawler strictly better in the stealing characters department (as does the 14 speed that ignores ALL terrain), but there are two factors that actually give Man-Bat an advantage.

Notice that Man-Bat’s ability doesn’t say he has to hit with a close attack. His power just cares if he hits in general, meaning if you can give him a range value with something like a Sniper Rifle in Golden Age games, or even Scarface in Modern Age games (like I talked about two weeks ago during the Joker builds), Man-Bat can actually steal people away from range and even further than Nightcrawler can. The other difference is that Man-Bat has the ability to ‘drop’ them from elevation and deal 2 damage after he’s already dealt damage.

So in the special ‘snatch’ movement power, Nightcrawler wins on ease of operations and pulling his trick off, but Man-Bat wins in tech and ability to make the hit hurt more.

Now let’s look at their special defense power to see which of these two is easier to keep alive.

Man-Bat

ECHOLOCATION: Super Senses, Toughness. When Man-Bat uses Super Senses, increase his result by the number of action tokens on the attacker.

Nightcrawler

BAMF!: Nightcrawler can use Super Senses. Whenever he uses Super Senses to evade an attack, you may immediately move him up to half of his speed value.

Once again, both powers grant the same thing; Super Senses (this is becoming more and more of a reskin), but Man-Bat gets the advantage of some Toughness in there to reduce Poison and support characters from taking him down. Both characters also have a unique effect with their Super Senses; Man-Bat has a better chance at evading characters who have acted in previous turns while Nightcrawler gets some fantastic evasion via free movement (which he can ignore everything on the board).

I love that Man-Bat gets a reducer, but the ability to blink away after succeeding at Super Senses makes Nighcrawler the better pick here. Plus, he’s got a 19 defense rather than a 17, making him harder to hit in general.

Finally, let’s look at the power/values of each character. For movement, Man-Bat is slightly slower, but he keeps his ‘snatch’ power for one click longer, and the Indomitable means he’ll be able to use it a lot more often than Nightcrawler will. Nightcrawler also delves into a more protective mode dropping into Stealth while Man-Bat becomes more aggressive with Charge. I like Man-Bat a little better here because of the Indomitable and more chances to use his movement power.

For attack, Man-Bat clearly has the advantage. Higher attack values that actually get better as he takes damage, and three clicks of Blades as opposed to Nightcrawlers’ single click of Blades at the end of his dial, which he probably won’t see.

Defensively, they both have their special Super Senses for three clicks, but Nightcrawlers’ values are so much better. Plus, he keeps Super Senses his entire dial whereas Man-Bat switches to Combat Reflexes for his melee portion of his dial. Since his values are so low, it doesn’t really help him, sans click 4. Nightcrawler gets the win here.

Damage-wise, both bring Shape Change to make them really annoying, but Nightcrawler gets it for 2 clicks rather than Man-Bat’s 1. However, once he loses those Shape Change clicks, he basically does no damage with vanilla 2’s and a final 1. Meanwhile Man-Bat has 3 damage on his first three clicks and 2 on his last three clicks. What I really like here is that Man-Bat ditches the defense and goes for Battle Fury to protect himself from Mind Control and Incapacitate, but more importantly, allows him to ignore Shape Change. While the two clicks of Shape Change is nice, Man-Bat is clearly the victor here.

These two are so similar that it’s a pretty open and shut case that WizKids decided to resurrect Bencrawler to see how he would fair in today’s environment. I have to say, I think Man-Bat is actually the better piece. Sure, he’s easier to hit, but there’s more tech and more damage that Man-Bat can cause. The simple fact that range can be used with Man-Bat means he has more options with his whole mechanic, and while he can’t pull bigger characters like Kurt can, chances are that’s not who you’re wanting to pull to your team anyway; it’s going to be their primary attacker.

Now that the comparison is done, let’s get back to our normal team build stuff, shall we?

Tools for Success

More than anything, Man-Bat needs number boosting. That 10 attack isn’t doing us any favors if our team is going to rely on pulling opponents into our killbox. Since Man-Bat needs to have a total value 2 higher than his targets defense, we really need to boost his attack to at least a 12, and since he’ll be flying all over the map, having lines of fire for Probability Control are going to be difficult.

Outwit can be very strong with Man-Bat as well; countering powers like Combat Reflexes, Shape Change (for when he’s not on his first click), Super Senses, and Probability Control will help immensely in having our plan work.

TK seems to be a great investment as well; throwing Man-Bat out gives him a lot more reach so he can return his payload safely to your team. Remember, with just 11 movement you have to be able to get back to the rest of your team or at least within their reach.

Action economy is going to be a big deal as well for the rest of our team. If we’re TK’ing Man-Bat, and then using Hypersonic Speed to grab someone, we only have one action left, so Leadership and Flurry will be good to pair with him so we can make the most of bringing someone back.

Finally, equipment will be huge for Man-Bat. Something like Scarface will give him a minimum range value to pull people further out, or the Blood Axe can grant him Steal Energy to stay alive (and Battle Fury to ignore Shape Change once he’s off top click).

Like all our builds, this will be 300 points, Modern Age.

300 Point Modern Man-Bat Build

BTAS057 Man-Bat | 75 Points

BTAS061 Zatana | 75 Points

BTAS040e Batman | 60 Points

TMT013b Red Leader | 50 Points

AIG025p Groot | 20 Points

BTASS003 Venom Harness | 7 Points

TMTS007 Dueling Sword | 3 Points

XXSXID Rusty, Chamber, Synch | 9 Points Total (3 each)

Sideline: XXS014 Rusty, XXS041 Chamber, XXS011 Synch

Build Total: 299 Points

I covered just about every portion of the Tools for Success in this build, or at least as many as I could with only 300 points.

First up was Perplex, and there’s frankly no better character for Perplex in the game than Red Leader. This dude offers up +3 to a character (+2 from a power action, +1 for regular Perplex), and while that does eat into our action economy, I fused some tech into the build to offset that. When you absolutely need to make sure Man-Bat will hit, use that +2 Perplex onto attack. If you’re more about the run-and-gun aspect, you can always use it to increase his damage too if you aren’t too worried about pulling them in. Red Leader also has Outwit to counter defense powers once your target is dropped.

Next up was maneuverability via TK, and honestly I just had to go with Zatana. Basically the reborn version of Chaos War Scarlet Witch, Zatana does it all; TK, Pen/Psy, Perplex, and Prob. There’s so much here and even though she’s a hefty 75 points for a support piece, she easily provides everything we need in one package. Zatana also inspired a big portion of the rest of the build and the ‘follow-up’ damage thanks to her Bats. Those little guys are incredible as they have Sidestep and Enhancement, making your ranged attacks pull some huge numbers, all for free. They can also serve as minor tie-up pieces once you drop someone by your team.

Follow-up attacker went to the new rare Batman at his lower point value, and while his numbers aren’t that great, he does bring another Perplex (for a total of 4), and he has so many options thanks to his Batarang. If you pull in a squish target that melee will destroy, he has Flurry and your team has plenty of Perplex to make his attacks sting. If you need range, his Batarang can be used as FREE and as POWER, giving him essentially ranged Flurry within 4 squares. With the Bats and his own Perplex alone to offset the -1 damage from the Batarang, he’s hitting for 4 damage on each toss. Either way, Batman is exceptional for the points (at both levels). Lastly, at his 60 point line he pairs well with Zatana’s Justice League Unlimited trait in that she can potentially pull tokens from him if she rolls a 6.

Action economy was another big deal, so I picked pretty much the best Leadership piece in the game with Groot. Not only does this big boy give us +1 to actions, he can pull tokens from Man-bat for the shared Monster keyword, and he can make Walking Woods that sit in our killbox and wait for our prey to drop. Even if you don’t want Batman to take an actual action, you can use his Batarang for the free attack and basically get 5 attacks out of two actions. Needless to say, you should be able to blow up anyone with that much firepower. Yes, I realize that a Leslie Evans pog will hurt Man-Bat, but if you really need to, just hit him first with Man-Bat. Chances are he won’t ever get in range to actually use it.

For equipment, I went with a double-up so you can pick your poison. The Venom Harness can give Man-Bat +1 to all stats and Battle Fury so that no matter what click he’s on, he’ll ignore Shape Change. That gives him 12 movement, 11 attack, and 4 damage by himself before Perplexing, so you can save your POWER Perplex on Red Leader for more efficiency. If he takes 1 unavoidable damage at the end of the turn, he just goes to a better attack value, so we’re all good there. The Dueling Sword is more of a risky play as they can counter the bonus by sticking their pieces together, but if you’re dealing with a team that spreads out, it can basically automatically give Man-Bat the pull with a nice +2 to attack. What’s fantastic about including this equipment is even if Man-Bat isn’t willing to pick it up and wants the Venom, you can give the Dueling Sword to Batman so that his Flurry will be at a 12 attack once someone is pulled in. And since we won’t be winning map roll with no theme, Batman can start in hindering 5 squares out, which is where you can start the Dueling Sword, equipping it turn 1 without TK!

With only 10 points remaining, ID cards seemed the best route to go.

Rusty gives us some Pen/Psy, and with the Bats and all the Perplex, that’s going to be a big shot. He also applies flames which will ping for 1 penetrating damage on the next turn. At 40 points, anyone but Groot can call him in.

Chamber gives us yet another Pen/Psy piece, but he also brings Enhancement for Batman to hit harder with his Batarangs, or Poison to get some free damage off. This call-in is about leverage and options, so you can pick based on your target what the best use of him is.

Synch was picked for his ability to ‘borrow’ powers, and he has a lot to choose from. Pen/Psy from Zatana, Flurry from Batman, Enhancement from a Bat; he can adapt to whatever we need him to do.

I realize that ID cards go against our action-economy of this team since it requires at least 2 actions to pull someone in, but the idea is to give you options on what you can do and how you apply damage. It’s meant to provide any tool you need to KO any character in one turn. The great part is that ID cards can always be switched out to match what you like better. Want some healing for Man-Bat? Go with Wolverine for the burst healing. You won’t get the Flurry, but he’s still amazing. Don’t need the POWER Perplex on Red Leader? Drop him and add Prime Xavier on an ID card.

I played a variation of this team a few weeks ago and it was brutal in how well it performed. While you are relying quite heavily on Man-Bat staying alive and pulling off his shtick, you can pretty much shred anyone unlucky enough to get caught.

What are your thoughts on this team? Would you play someone else with Man-Bat, or would you possibly diversify the team more so that you aren’t relying so heavily on his ability to pull people in? Would you rather play Scarface to get an even better ‘sphere’ of offense instead of the two equipment I picked? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments section!

As always, thanks for reading everyone. I hope you enjoyed this rather different team build and analysis. I can’t wait to see if Man-Bat makes a competitive splash like Bencrawler did so long ago.

Take care and remember, the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!