The return of Primes had some great showings as all four from The Mighty Thor are very strong. The Uncommon Prime is perhaps the hardest to deal with of the bunch, but requires a good team to really pilot well.

Skurge is an incredibly unique piece, and I’m not saying that because he’s a Prime. I say that because the mechanic that he uses is really fun and actually somewhat tough to deal with. It seems like a lot of people took interest with Skurge, but nothing has really been done with him yet.

While this is a really terrific Prime, he probably won’t see competitive play, so it’s important to stress that this build is centered more around something you can take to your LGS and probably do some work with. The build I’m using today also has some expensive pieces, although they aren’t too bad for their cost-to-rarity ratio. That’s not to say that these pieces are absolutely necessary to run with Skurge. Believe me, there are a lot of different paths you can take with this guy as there’s so many things you can do to abuse him, so don’t worry if you can’t assemble this exact team.

Let’s look over Skurge before we analyze the build I have for you today.

Skurge is 125 points and has 7 clicks of health which isn’t terrible, but it’s a little on the expensive side, especially for a Prime as they usually have a deep dial for their points. He fills your primary damage-dealer role on a team, although he could function as a secondary attacker if you build for it. He’s got 7 range with two targets, has no team ability, and comes with a single trait.

Skurge’s dial is a little confusing without his trait or special powers as it’s not really that great; sub-par values until the end of his dial, low movement with only Sidestep at the beginning, Willpower on almost his entire dial, and mediocre damage values. He’s definitely a piece that thrives on the rest of his kit. Let’s review his trait first.

I WILL STAY BEHIND AND THE LAST LAUGH WILL BE MINE: FREE: Once per game, generate a Last Laugh marker in the square Skurge occupies. As long as Skurge occupies the square with the Last Laugh marker, he modifies defense +2, takes a maximum of 1 damage from attacks, and can’t be moved or placed by opposing characters.

This is the entire point of Skurge; to find a comfortable space on the map and bunker down as it gives him a 20 defense on top-dial and hits a low of 18, and also says that he takes a maximum of 1 damage from attacks. The real kicker here is that he can’t be moved or placed by opposing characters, meaning Knockback and Telekinesis won’t have any effect on him, so he’s a real bear to get off of that Last Laugh marker.

There is a counter to him though; Mind Control. Because Mind Control makes Skurge friendly to the opponent’s force, they can easily move him from his Last Laugh square and then literally shred him apart in one or two actions. This is absolutely something you need to either plan against or build to counter so that one piece doesn’t just ruin your day. Pulse Wave also counters this pretty hard because the trait can be ignored. Then again, Pulse Wave has always been the great equalizer. While I don’t feel it’s fair to list that as a counter to him, he does stay in one space so it’s much easier for any Pulse Wave piece to get to him, so it shouldn’t be overlooked.

Next up, we have his special defense power which appears on just his last click.

WHEN YOU ARE NEXT IN ASGARD, LAUGH SKURGE’S LAST LAUGH TOGETHER: STOP. FREE: Deal Skurge 1 unavoidable damage and heal a friendly character 3 clicks.

The main aspect here is the STOP portion. This makes Skurge very tough to put down if he has any kind of healing available to him, and protects him from someone just hitting him with said Pulse Wave and knocking him out. What I really like about this power is that most pieces on their last click limp around until they’re finally put out of their misery. Skurge says “screw that noise” and sacrifices his own life to giving one of your characters a fighting chance. If you build properly, this could be a very good option. Then again, you are giving up his 125 points, so it’s risky.

Lastly, let’s review his special damage power, present on every click but his last.

‘TIS SKURGE’S LAST LAUGH: Close Combat Expert, Ranged Combat Expert.

Short, sweet, and to the point; Skurge has both Combat Expert powers which really helps his rather low attack and damage values for a Prime that’s over 100 points. As long as you aren’t facing a Nighthawk Prime or Title Deadpool, this makes Skurge a very deadly opponent from anywhere within his area of aggression. If you’re within 7 squares, your potentially getting hit for at least 4 damage and there’s not much you can do to retaliate on him as he’ll just take 1 damage. I like the dual-options this power gives and makes a sub-par dial actually pretty darn good.

Skurge also has some pretty good Keywords thanks to the new Thor set with Asgardian, Brute, and Warrior, which makes it pretty easy to build a theme team around him.

We’re almost to the team build, but first I want to analyze Skurge briefly so that we can easily see what his strengths and weaknesses are.

Positive: Takes only 1 damage from attacks. Both Combat Experts means high damage. STOP click. Willpower. Ages very well. Good Keywords. Can save a friendly character.

Negatives: Weakness to Mind Control and Poison. Can be completely avoided. Especially vulnerable to Pulse Wave. Damage power can easily be countered, reducing stats to poor levels. Prime.

There’s a decent chunk of negative aspects to Skurge, but I think he’s worth playing. If your opponent doesn’t come prepared with certain abilities or strategies, it’s going to be a very long battle to try and topple this guy.

With this information and the breakdown of his dial, what do we need in order to succeed? Map choice is going to be a big deal for Skurge as blocking and elevated terrain will completely ruin his day. We want something that’s wide open so he can really punish opponents, so a theme team is in his best interest. Mobility isn’t really a factor because Skurge sits still. If you need someone to get him to the ideal spot early, a taxi would be fine. Number boosting would probably help him the most so that he can hit hard. Outwit is also a good ability to bring so that we can take out defense powers, or Mind Control/Poison/Pulse Wave in case they show up.

The build for today is the same as most of my team builds; 300 Modern with no Resources. While something like the Teleporter or Supreme Intelligence could help Skurge, I don’t think they really add that much value to him. If you really want to play a resource around him, I would opt for Supreme Intelligence for more powers like Stealth against heavy ranged teams, Perplex, and Probablity Control.

300 Point Modern Skurge Build – No Resources

Initially, I wanted to run the Bloodaxe on Skurge to give him Battle Fury so he couldn’t be Mind Controlled, however, it also prevents him from making ranged attacks so that had to be thrown out as we don’t want to completely gimp him into melee-only. Instead, I went with an Outwit piece, and there’s simply nothing better than the brand new, not-even-added-to-the-units-section Ape Batman pog. Sidestep, Super Strength, Combat Reflexes, and Outwit make this an insane use of 15 points, and the fact that he’s a bystander means he doesn’t break our theme. I would plan to start seeing this show up on a ton of teams.

I knew that I wanted some form of Perplex or Probability Control for Skurge, and I initially went with Enchantress as she can move people closer to Skurge or even into his line of fire, but then I remembered Chase Loki. While she doesn’t look too exciting on her top click (although she’s a miserable piece to deal with if she’s in Stealth), she can turn to click #9 which gives us a Chaos War Scarlet Witch to back Skurge. With Loki sitting next to him, we get Perplex, Probability Control, and Mind Control with 6 range thanks to her Spear. If they happen to attack Loki rather than Skurge, she turns into an amazing secondary attacker with 12 attack and 3 damage, along with the same Perplex/Prob damage power. Still, Enchantress is a good alternative here.

I figured a secondary attacker would work really well, so I opted for the Chase Valkyrie on her 30 point click. This piece is just stupid for the points with Charge, Blades with a single reroll built-in, Exploit Weakness, and Mystics. She’s also another good piece to sit next to him in case of Pulse Wave so that they can’t get a single target off on you. The best bet is to keep her behind Skurge and wait for your opponents to step into her Charge range, Perplex up her movement with Loki, and then smack them for a big chunk of penetrating damage. The only complaint I have is that her sword isn’t going to help us if she drops it, unless Skurge is still on his top click and has access to Sidestep and she’s close by. It’s certainly not worth risking a lot of damage for.

A Medic is a very good option for Skurge and Jane Foster is not only one of the best Medics in the game, but also has our Keyword for theme. She can also heal people adjacent to opposing characters, so we don’t care if the enemy team bum-rushes Skurge. It’s also worth noting that our really cheap Valkyrie with only two clicks can end up giving us a pretty amazing attacker with the Uncommon Thor if she happens to go down adjacent to Jane, but you might not want to sacrifice the healing too early.

For our last 20 points, I figured a retaliator was a really good option because your opponent is going to have to hit Skurge if they want a chance at defeating him, or they’ll choose to go after his support. Either way, you win with this mechanic. The Frost Giant is nice because he locks opponents down with an action token at the end of your turn. If someone manages to hit Skurge and they’re in his range, bring your giant out to lock them down so Skurge gets two shots at them. Or you can use this to get Valkyrie into position to potentially one-shot someone. The giant doesn’t do as much damage as Surtur, nor does he have the control that Ymir brings, but he’s still a very good option.

I’ll admit this is a bid of an odd take on a Skurge build as you’re pretty much putting all your eggs into the “I only take 1 damage” basket, but if it succeeds, it’s going to be a really hard team to actually deal with. It’s really good at turtling up and can dish a lot of damage. If theme isn’t something you want to use, there’s probably some really interesting things you can do with him with pieces like Fitz who will get him into position quickly and brings H.E.N.R.Y. to boost his damage for all attacks. There’s a lot of things to explore with Skurge, so don’t worry too much about matching this team piece for piece as it’s just one idea.

What are your thoughts on this strategy for Skurge? Does it feel well-rounded or too stuck on one thing? Are there pieces I missed that would have really helped, or did you not even think about something that I included? Either way, I hope this was helpful to you, and I love to hear your response below in the comments section.

That puts another week into the books. Join me next week, same time, same place, and Tuesdays on my personal site. Whatever you do, just remember that the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!