There are few things worse than trying to get someone’s attention or tell them something only to have them ignore you. Being ignored is no fun; nobody likes it when they feel they’ve got something important going on and the other party just pretends like it’s not even happening.

In Clix, Pulse Wave is that hurtful other party. And today, we’re going to take a quick look at the competitive king of Attack powers and just how badly it can hurt you…all by ignoring you.

Wave Upon Wave…of Text

As per usual, let’s start by taking a look at the power itself:

PULSE WAVE: Give this character a ranged combat action even if it is adjacent to an opposing character; the area of effect for this attack is half the character’s range value. Draw lines of fire to all other characters within the area of effect, including at least one opposing character; these lines of fire ignore all game effects except for walls, blocking and elevated terrain. Game effects possessed or used by characters with a line of fire drawn to them are ignored until the action has been resolved. If a line of fire is drawn to more than 1 character, this character’s damage value becomes 1 and is locked. Each character hit is dealt damage.

Growing up, Pulse Wave had one goal: to be the longest and wordiest power in the 2014 Powers & Abilities Card. Unfortunately, Telekinesis shattered its childhood dreams, but it can be content with a close second.

Like most powers, Pulse Wave consists of a triggering action and the resulting effect.

“Give this character a ranged combat action even if it is adjacent to an opposing character…”

In the case of Pulse Wave, the trigger is a Ranged Combat Action. The first thing this should call to mind is Running Shot. Running Shot and Pulse Wave go together like peanut butter and a somewhat tricky to use but very effective jelly.

Unique to Pulse Wave is that it can be used even when adjacent to an opponent. There are situations where the best thing that you can do will be to Running Shot into adjacency and then unleash your Pulse Wave. On the other hand, always remember that basing an opposing figure that can use Pulse Wave is almost always a bad idea.

Up until this point, Pulse Wave has followed the template for Ranged Actions with only this one wrinkle. Once we get to the effects, however…everything goes out the window. Let’s take this one bit at a time.

“…the area of effect for this attack is half the character’s range value.”

Ok…simple enough. When I use Pulse Wave, I cut my character’s range in half. 8 range? Now 4 range. That’s the end of the power, right? No problem at all. Oh…hang on…there’s more.

“Draw lines of fire to all other characters within the area of effect, including at least one opposing character; these lines of fire ignore all game effects except for walls, blocking and elevated terrain.”

Ok, so here we get into the special targeting inherent to Pulse Wave. And here is where it’s helpful to picture the attack physically. Pulse Wave is intended to represent an outward explosion of energy from the user. (You savvy online gamer types will immediately recognize this as a PBAOE).

With Pulse Wave, the target is not a figure; it is a “circle” around your character that has a radius of half your range. That 8 range character will now be targeting every character within 4 squares.

Yes. Every. Including your buddy who got a little too close or the Probability Control piece you’re carrying. The only things that blocks the line of fire in this circle are blocking terrain/walls and elevated terrain. Any other terrain or characters will be ignored for the purposes of drawing your lines of fire.

This means that Pulse Wave is one of the only ways to damage multiple figures without needing multiple targets on your dial. (It’s also one of the very, very few ways to intentionally damage a friendly character.)

Up to this point, there is a lot going on, but none of it is really groundbreaking. The next phrase, however, is what makes Pulse Wave so highly prized on competitive teams.

“Game effects possessed or used by characters with a line of fire drawn to them are ignored until the action has been resolved.”

The importance of this line cannot be overstated. Pulse Wave simply ignores every power or ability in the game that does not specifically say “This power cannot be ignored.” This is huge.

Let’s say your opponent is playing WOL038 Dex-Starr possessed by WOL062p Ion. Not only is your opponent a player with excellent taste in figures, but he or she has now given you the unenviable task of trying to get through rolls for Shape Change, Super Senses, and Impervious to even have a hope of landing damage.

In this case, your options are

Attack your opponent and hope to get through three rolls in addition to your own attack roll. (Not good) Use either Precision Strike, Battle Fury, or Penetrating/Psychic Blast to get through one of these three lines of defense. (Still not very good) Use Pulse Wave and send Dex-Starr back to Ysmault. (So, so good)

In addition to losing the effect of powers, targeted figures will be left using their unmodified defense value against your attack. Pulse Wave is a much safer bet than to hit than many other attacks for this reason (in addition to another we’ll cover in the next section).

At the end of this article, we’ll look deeper at some of the other things that Pulse Wave can bypass.

At this point, you’re thinking that Pulse Wave is unquestionably the best Attack Power in the game. And you’re right, but there is a caveat.

“If a line of fire is drawn to more than 1 character, this character’s damage value becomes 1 and is locked. Each character hit is dealt damage.”

This is why Pulse Wave is most commonly seen at the highest levels of play. In short, it is tricky to use! Doing 1 damage to multiple figures is often (but not always) far less useful than applying full damage to your primary target. It can be difficult to position yourself in such a way that you aren’t targeting any of your own figures and are only targeting the figure that you want to hit on your opponent’s force. Pulse Wave also doesn’t let you benefit from powers such as Enhancement, as your adjacent figure will not appreciate the wave of energy directed its way.

This aspect of Pulse Wave is why you rarely see it used without Running Shot. The ability to get yourself into an advantageous position before using the power is vital to using it successfully. If used properly, however, Pulse Wave can affect your game in a way that no other power can.

Do the Wave: Advanced Pulse Waving

Here’s a fun list of additional things that Pulse Wave ignores like a 13 year old sitting through a lecture.

Mystics Damage or similar effects such as Kaiju TA (In fact, it’s the only way to reliably get around Mystics!)

Stealth or similar effects that block line of fire (Hand ATA, etc.)

Any stop clicks that don’t specifically say they cannot be ignored

Opponents hit by Pulse Wave cannot use their Probability Control on the attack

Opponents with modified values from Perplex or other effects do not receive those benefits during a Pulse Wave attack (unless the source of the effect is outside the area of the attack!)

Any values or powers granted by an Entity, Relic or Resource

Any special powers that would damage you for attacking (the Cull Obsidian trait from several Guardians of the Galaxy figures comes to mind)

Hit characters can’t use Mastermind to shove off part of the damage; they’re stuck with it

There aren’t very many powers that combine with Pulse Wave due to the nature of its targeting. However, Energy Explosion does combine with Pulse Wave, and can be used to deal huge amounts of damage to the opponent’s force if you’re skillful in setting up the area of the attack. The trick is to remember that anyone hit by the initial Pulse Wave won’t be subject to the Energy Explosion damage, but anyone next to them will take the normal splash damage from Energy Explosion! (Big thanks to Alex for reminding me to put this in here after I’d written it up and forgot to drop it in!)

Pulse Wave also combines beautifully with Force Blast’s passive effect. Because the hit characters’ powers are ignored until actions resolve, they cannot ignore knockback due to Charge or Combat Reflexes. In addition, if they are pushed into a wall or off a building, they’ll have no way to reduce the damage thanks to having no powers to work with. There were at least a couple ROC winning teams that took advantage of this easily overlooked power combination.

Weak Pulse: Limitations of Pulse Wave and Playing Against It

Pulse Wave is absolutely a power to be wary of when you see it across the table. It is not, however, an instant victory. Far from it, the power is (to debated degrees) balanced by its relatively finicky targeting and its ability to damage friendly characters. Both of these have to be carefully considered when using or playing against Pulse Wave.

The single best way to combat an opponent relying on primary attacking through Pulse Wave is to give them few or no ways to attack only one of your figures with it. If your opponent opts not to use Pulse Wave, they’ll more than likely be making a plain attack against your defense. If they choose to use it anyway, you’ve taken one damage per figure, which is more than manageable coming from their primary attack.

If Pulse Wave will negate powers you rely on, such as Stealth or heavy damage reducers, it can be an excellent target for Outwit, as can their Running Shot if they can’t reach you without it. Also keep in mind the opponent’s shortened range when using the power. It’s possible to out-range a Pulse Wave figure long enough to knock them past those truly dangerous clicks.

Finally, there are figures that provide some protection against Pulse Wave.

IIM001b Silver Centurion has largely disappeared from high-level competitive play, but Player 2-colored Tony Stark still has a traited immunity to Penetrating/Psychic Blast, Poison, and Pulse Wave and makes an excellent anchor for any team.

SMWW030 Ulysses‘ trait allows him to ignore Pulse Wave and makes him unable to be targeted by Penetrating/Psychic Blast. Combined with 3 opening clicks of Impervious and Hypersonic Speed, he can be very tricky to take down.

SMWW041 Superman Blue is not only immune to Pulse Wave, but grants this bonus to adjacent friendly figures as well. Given that he can serve as a capable attacker at 125 points or at 50 points, he’s probably your best modern option for simply out-ignoring Pulse Wave. I fully expect to see this 50 point dial make at least some appearances at a competitive level due to this alone.

Waving Goodbye

As always, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy, and I look forward to getting back to something resembling a “schedule” of getting my posts up. Feel free to comment with your own favorite uses of Pulse Wave!