Diamonds in the Rough is an exploration of characters that otherwise have fallen through the cracks into obscurity. These characters aren’t “meta” worthy, but they have some redeeming features, that I would like to bring some focus to.

Man-Killer is what I consider to be the single greatest tie-up piece in the game, as it levels the field against every strong character, turning even Superdoom into a 7 attack wimp, let’s take a look. Man-Killer comes in at 95 points, taking almost a third of your point total in a 300 point game. She sports six clicks of life, with reducers on each click. Her stats though are a little underwhelming. Though she starts with an 11 attack and 17 defense, it consistently falls throughout her dial until reaching a measly 7 attack, and 15 defense. This is compounded on by the fact her move and attack, and attack power is limited to 3 of her six clicks. Man-Killer is also left without willpower, as with most characters that sport the Masters of Evil team ability, but as a up-close brawler, it is cause for some concern. All of this comes together to create a mediocre tie-up piece with a single redeeming factor, Her trait.

NO MAN IS BETTER THAN ME!: When Man-Killer is the only target of an attack and the attacking character has a higher attack or damage value than Man-Killer, that character replaces those higher combat values with Man-Killer’s printed values and those values are locked for the attack.

Suddenly, the 8 attack, 16 defense on the back-half of Man-Killer’s dial makes her incredibly tricky to hit while she ties you up with plasticity. Even the strongest character is hitting on an 8, and that’s only if you haven’t found a way to boost Man-Killer’s defense with a perplex, or a relic that gives her Energy Shield or Combat Reflexes. On-top of that, it limits the damage dealt to her to 2, with her toughness, reducing it to 1 without penetrating damage or an outwit. Suddenly this fairly weak character has become a flytrap for your opponents most dangerous piece, forcing them to endlessly swing at this tank of a woman, while you tear them apart.

Though the trait is the reason to play Man-Killer, on her first three clicks she offers up some seriously threatening flexibility with her special damage ability.

PYM GAUNTLET OR RAZOR DISKS: At the beginning of your turn, choose one to last until your next turn: Man-Killer can use Close Combat Expert and has “giant damage symbol” -or- Man-Killer can use Ranged Combat Expert with a range value of 5.

Honestly, I’ve never successfully used the Razor Disk part of the special, as I almost always prefer to make her giant, and have her charge with an object, or surprise a character 2 spaces away with a giant reach close combat expert. Regardless, the choice between the two offers Man-Killer extended options for dispatching enemies.

This isn’t going to last though,with her lack of willpower and base 17 defense, she’s not going to stay on her top click. Unlike most characters, you just have to learn to be okay with this, as she is useful on every single one of her clicks. Her first three, which feature the excellent reducers Invincible and Invulnerable, are mainly used to get her into the thick of battle, allowing her to survive big hits, and keep on swinging until she gets down to her second half, where she becomes a debilitating barnacle, clinging for life to your opponents. Man-Killer is best when she’s in the thick of things, pushing herself to control the battlefield, wearing down enemies at first, and switching to aggressively controlling the battlefield afterwards.

Flaws: Her trait only applies if she is the sole target of the attack. So any character with more than one bolt is going to be able to get around her weakness. Another weakness is if a character has a lower damage value, and also Blades/Claws/Fangs. The replacement caused by her trait only occurs when the character has a higher value, since the B/C/F roll locks the value, it can potentially get around the trait. Finally, when she gets to her tie-up clicks on the back half of her dial, two potentially issues show their face. The first being her low attack, which stops her from doing much to the characters she is tying up. The second is the one click of charge, where she loses plasticity. Due to her trait usually characters will be dealing her 1 damage at most, forcing her onto the less impressive charge click, and giving the opponent a better chance of getting away. The last weakness is penetrating damage, and pulse wave (like every other character), both of which tear through her low defenses. Penetrating damage does trigger the attack and damage lowering, limiting the effect it can have, but with 6 clicks of life, even dealing 2 is a lot.

Fixes: There are two big things that help Man-Killer. The first obvious item to include is the Red Lantern Ring, or the Red Power Battery. The Red Lantern Ring makes the tie up clicks at the end of the dial even more effective, slowly weakening whoever she has decided to capture with penetrating poison. If you chose to use the battery, the Decoy or the Stop Sign would be good choices for either survivability or more reliable control. Another option would be the Hulk Buster Torso, which grants her Invulnerability, and doesn’t require a roll to pick up. While invulnerability doesn’t fix any of her major flaws, if you’re aware of what the opposing force can do, it will shut down attacks made against her on the back half of her dial, when the opposing characters damage is locked at 2. If you were looking for an Entity to possess her, look no further than Eclipso, who grants better reducers on almost every click, a better defense and prob on her last two clicks, which, in the best case scenario, forces trapped opponents to roll a 9 twice to hit, and then requires them to either have penetrating damage or B/C/F to even hurt her.

These weaknesses aren’t impossible to deal with at all, instead it’s just going to dictate the way we choose to play Man-Killer. She functions better when she’s away from all her allies, controlling the battlefield. She is going to be the character you want to throw into the fray, while your allies back her up from a distance. She’s going to go against the way you usually play the game; forget about positioning, forget about counting range. See which characters can get through your trait, and either avoid them, or smash them until they can’t. The first time you tie up TW Superman and are forced to explain to the player who, seconds before laughed as you pushed Man-Killer to move beside Superman, that his 12 attack, which had been boosted to an 13 with his leadership special power, and his 5 damage, boosted with an ultra heavy to 8, are actually 8 and 2 respectively will make playing this fantastic character worth it.