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.

At first glance, Blackout seems pretty expensive at 70 points for 5 clicks of life, and it’s going to be hard to convince you otherwise with just a quick glance at his values and powers. He has a low to average attack value that varies between 9 and 10, average defense, and a good 6 range. On his first 3 clicks he has a strong 3 damage and Penetrating/ Psychic Blast making him potentially dangerous from range, and on his last 2 clicks he has Perplex, but loses the Psychic Blast. On his first and last clicks he sports 12 movement Phasing, and in the middle an average 8 movement with Stealth. What we’re looking at here is a decent, if overpriced taxi piece, who can Phase and carry a piece into the fold, before becoming a threatening, if immobile, attacker. Blackout’s specialty comes out in his trait,

DARKFORCE DIMENSION CONNECTION: Blackout can use Barrier and Smoke Cloud. He may also activate either as a free action to instead place 1 marker. Opposing characters occupying any of his Smoke Cloud markers modify their attack values by -2 instead of -1.

This trait allows Blackout to place 2 Barriers (like using the Wall construct) and 2 Smoke Cloud markers each turn for free. Now this taxi can not only carry 10 spaces through any terrain, but almost insure that the person he’s carrying won’t be attacked next turn. Even carrying someone into the thick of things allows him to block off a space, and neuter any attackers by placing a Smoke Cloud under them and lowering their attack by -2, potentially creating a 3 difference by forcing them to draw line of fire through Hindering giving your characters a bonus to defense. Blackout’s biggest strength is just his ability to completely reduce the effectiveness of an entire team. It takes some practice combining Barrier and Smoke Cloud, to achieve the greatest effect, whether it’s using Barrier to lock down one enemy, while using Smoke Cloud to create hindering terrain to activate Stealth on your ally, or using your Barrier to block Blackout, while using his Smoke Cloud to create Hindering terrain to stop a non-flying Running Shot piece from getting close, without stopping in the Smoke Cloud and suffering the -2 attack. Now -2 attack is incredible. It’s basically giving any friendly character targeted by an opponent in one of the markers Energy Shield/Deflection or Combat Reflexes.

Offensively, Blackout can hold his own. With 6 range and a damage value that never falls lower than 2, and when they do, he has Perplex to insure he can get through reducers. What makes Blackout such a useful piece for your team is just how many roles he can fit into for your team. A 10 range Phasing/Teleport taxi, a decent secondary attacker that can blast through reducers, and the insane combination of free Barrier and Smoke Cloud (even if it’s limited to 1 marker). There’s never a turn that Blackout can’t do something useful for you. Even his defense is solid, with 17s and 16s with Toughness on each click except his last, and Stealth in the middle of his dial to give him huge amount of protection with his free Smoke Cloud.

Flaws: Blackout’s biggest weakness is his lack of Willpower and his very short dial. He only has 5 clicks of life, and because his dial is just so pushable due to his ability to put out useful contributions on any of his clicks. Luckily, Blackout’s trait allows him to have some effectiveness even when he spends his turn passing. Even throwing out a single space of Barrier can potentially foil a character smacking around your team for a turn. For 70 points you’re investing a lot in those five clicks of life, and although his defense isn’t awful, it isn’t promising either. A character that can ignore hindering terrain for targeting can really reduce Blackout’s defensive output, getting through his Stealth. That’s really his biggest issue, his vulnerability. You only have to deal 6 damage to get rid of him, 5 if you can get through his Toughness, and this is made even easier after he pushes. He does get around this somewhat by not losing effectiveness on any of his clicks, allowing him to thrive if he isn’t killed after taking a hit, but it’s still a lot of points shoved into a very breakable vase of a figure.

Fixes: Blackout’s biggest fix is getting Willpower. Blackout is a work horse of a figure, and on every turn he can put out useful powers to assist your team, or threaten your opponents. Forcing him to push really lowers his value and stops him from being an effective taxi or smoke machine. Giving him Willpower allows him to be so much more effective, allowing him to really change the battlefield. He’s a control piece, and in Heroclix there aren’t a ton of control pieces that don’t feature Probability Control or Outwit. Now, a control/taxi hybrid is only as good as the piece it’s assisting. Blackout has the benefit of being able to offer protection to whoever he’s taxi-ing around, so giving him a glass cannon to protect is viable. Blackout has the ability to maneuver a character with limited mobility into a position where it can threaten the opponent, and then also keep them alive at the same time with the combination free action Barrier/Smoke Cloud. If you’re looking for a resource to back up Blackout, look no further than the Green Battery to provide him Willpower. Give him the Crossbow to give him more threat as a ranged attacker or give him the Stop Sign to give him even more control with Outwit and Plasticity. If you’re looking to get away from resources, pairing him up with Black Briar Thorn gives Black Briar’s poison ability a hindering square to activate in, allowing you to pick away with penetrating poison and free action Smoke Cloud.

Keywords: Blackout has two named keywords and zero generic keywords, limiting the teams he can be on. Thankfully those two keywords are some of the best giving you tons of options to build with him. His first (and my favourite) keyword is Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts were missing a support/taxi, with the last (and basically only) good support character being Mercy from the Deadpool fast forces. Blackout is almost a required piece to play on a Thunderbolts team because of this, and there are a ton of fantastic options to play with him (two of which have graced this very blog). Punisher and Man-Killer offer two fantastic options to bring in with Blackout, Punisher sits in the back while Blackout and the character he carries brings the fight to the enemy, and then brings the pain afterwards; Man-Killer is a fantastic character to pair with Blackout as he can carry her in to tie-up a big piece, and then drop his Smoke Cloud to make an 8 to hit her into a 10. Other fantastic options for Thunderbolts are Elektra who is a close combat monster but needs the support of Blackout to get into the fray, and Paladin, who offers a strong mixture of ranged and close combat, putting the hurt on from any distance. Blackout is only as good as the people he’s playing with, but there are so many strong Thunderbolt choices that he really shines with the right allies.

His other keyword is Masters of Evil. If figures that had that keyword where compared to figures with the Thunderbolts keyword with a venn diagram, it would basically be a circle. The standouts in Masters of Evil that don’t have the Thunderbolts keyword are Wonder Man, who offers a surprisingly offensive dial for 65 points, going as far as to start with a 4 damage, Swordsman, who can rip apart anyone near him, but struggles getting that close, and any member of the Wrecking Crew. The big issue with the Masters of Evil is that a majority of them are close combat oriented, filling similar roles, they also have average to poor defensive values, though this issue is reduced with Blackout’s Smoke Cloud. If you’re playing a Masters of Evil team, you’re going to need another ranged attacker to back up Blackout and whoever he’s carrying. The best options come in Moonstone, who can threaten anyone with a Running Shot, Pulse Wave with the ability to move through blocking terrain, and Yellow Jacket who isn’t as strong a ranged attacker, but has some useful support abilities, and is a Wild Card. These pieces suffer from having the Flying symbol, because Blackout cannot carry them, limiting his options, but he can still be an effective support, and can help insure they survive until they get the chance to attack.

Final Thoughts: Blackout shines because of all the options he brings to the table. He’s always going to have something for you to do on your turn, whether it be carry someone into the fray, protect your team with Barrier and/or Smoke Cloud, or take pot shots at the opposing team with surprisingly decent offensive values and powers. He’s held back by the small amount of clicks in his dial, and his lack of Willpower, but if you decide to play him, he’ll be the workhorse of your team. Very few figures have the insane amount of variability that’s provided for his investment. He can even shut down Nick Fury if you play it right, by placing his Smoke Cloud underneath Nick, and then blocking the line of sight to him with his free Barrier, Nick has to suffer a -2 to attack, reducing his effectiveness by a ton. There’s no way Blackout will let you down, and there’s no character that offers both free action Smoke Cloud and free action Barrier. I hope this has convinced you, because he’s incredibly overlooked, and needs to see more play.