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A Hero's Guide to Bunker

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flamethrower49
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A Hero's Guide to Bunker

Character Profile

  • Best attack: Omni-Cannon
  • Best team support: Adhesive Foam Grenade
  • Best Personal Support: Ammo Drop
  • Primary damage type: Projectile
  • Secondary damage types: Energy, Fire
  • Worst Card: Maintenance Unit
  • Nemesis: Iron Legacy

The Indestructible Bunker can offer a lot to a team fighting to defend the Multiverse.  His array of weaponry is extensive, and he has some powerful defensive options as well.  Bunker can draw a lot of cards over the course of the game, and can put the excess to use powering his various weapons to strong effect. 

Attack

Bunker’s biggest attack is his prized Omni-Cannon.  Starting the turn after you play it, it can rack up six points of damage a turn, to be redeemed whenever and as often as you feel like it.  The real beauty of the Omni-Cannon is that you can charge it up even when you are in Upgrade Mode or Recharge Mode, readying for a massive attack once the conditions are right.  The downside is the potential to lose it.  Under conditions where equipment destruction is likely, it may be reasonable to use the attack every turn.  Though this is less efficient in action economy, damage boosts may make this deal more overall damage.

Bunker has plenty of other weapons.  His Flak Cannon and Grenade Launcher are both decent default weapons.  If you have a plan for the cards (like Ammo Drop), the Gatling Gun acts like a mini-Omni-Cannon, and you don’t even need to spend an action to do it.  This means it can be fired from Recharge Mode or Upgrade Mode, making sure those don’t take you out of the fight.  Gatling Gun is superb if Bunker’s damage is buffed, but you should probably let it go if the villains have armor. 

External Combustion is Bunker’s flavor of global damage.  Bunker hardly feels that drawback, and this is a good way to attack from Upgrade Mode.  The fact that it hits all targets is most useful.

Card Draw

As you see, to get Bunker’s guns working properly, you need a massive amount of cards.  The best way to do this against most villains is to play Ammo Drop and reap the lucrative rewards as the villain’s cards die.  This effect is quite dramatic against villains with plenty of targets, but don’t forget it also works against ongoings, victims, or anything else the villain has that might get destroyed.

Initialize is a good base power.  Really!  It’s a shame that everybody is getting better versions of it, but Bunker truly needs cards en masse.  It allows him to always play a card and then draw two every turn.  You will be replacing it with other, more tempting powers very quickly.  You have to judge for yourself whether you need the damage right now, or whether you can take an opportunity to get another card to serve the monster that is Bunker’s suit.

Auxiliary Power Source is much more powerful played for three cards than it is for an extra power, but if you need to squeeze in some more damage right now, the versatility is nice.  Here’s a trick.  Destroy the Auxiliary Power Source at the beginning of your turn to use an extra power, then bring it back into play with Decommissioned Hardware.  That way, you can get your three extra cards over a couple of plays while continuing to man the Flak Cannon.

Defense

Nothing too tricky here.  Bunker’s armor is Heavy Plating, something you always want to put down.  It goes a long way towards making Bunker more Indestructible, especially in tandem with Recharge Mode.  These two cards together make Bunker highly resistant to damage.

Maintenance Unit is okay, really.  Preventing damage by proactively killing things is just preferable to healing, in most cases.  If I’m not firing a gun, I usually prefer to get more cards via Initialize or the Auxiliary Power Source.  However, I have seen Maintenance Unit used to keep Bunker alive long past his expiration date, and Bunker is very capable of prospering in such hard slogs.

Utility

Adhesive Foam Grenade’s use is simple, and extremely effective.  The environment’s effects vary, but it usually doesn’t have good news for the heroes.  Make it shut up.  Against Akash’Bhuta especially, this is a great thing to have.

I find Decommissioned Hardware underused.  It’s obviously good for getting back your stuff after it gets destroyed, but it’s also nice to use your trash as an extension of your hand.  I’ve seen many people choose to lose this card to a discard effect, but you should generally discard any of your equipment before this.  This can be any one of them!

Modes

Bunker has an enormous amount of versatility inherent in his three mode cards, but they come with some hefty restrictions.  Key to playing Bunker is understanding when to use these cards, and what they can accomplish.

Turret Mode is the most straightforward of the three.  Play it when you have a couple of powers and the cards to keep using them, and start cleaving through the opposition.  There’s no room for expansion once you have it in play, so hopefully you have time to get Ammo Drop, Gatling Gun, and/or Heavy Plating down before you start gunning.  Don’t feel like you have to do this all game – when you have to adjust to a new development or need more cards, get rid of it.

Upgrade Mode lets you get your cards down quicker, but not being able to use powers presents a considerable barrier.  I use this one the least of the Modes, since you need a lot of cards and some time to prepare, two things I usually find lacking.  One great use for it is getting ahead of card destruction.  If a villain destroys a certain number of cards with his effects, Upgrade Mode can help the heroes outpace it.  A silver lining in Upgrade Mode is that you should rarely need to destroy this card at the beginning of your turn.  Play your first card, then play your next mode, and Upgrade Mode goes away.  By switching to Turret Mode in this way, you can get two plays and two powers in one turn. 

Recharge Mode is a fine placeholder play.  If your weaponry is absent or ineffective, and you have nothing to play, spend a turn or two with this and enjoy the damage reduction.  Hopefully, you get cards you can use next round.  If you keep this around, you can draw three cards a turn by skipping your play and power phases.  Conveniently, this is the number of cards you can load into the Omni-Cannon every turn.  Recharge Mode, Heavy Plating, Omni-Cannon, and patience have won their share of games for me.

Engine of War Bunker

The Freedom Six promotional Bunker trades Initialize and one hit point for Locomotion.  This provides Bunker with some much-needed utility.  Ongoing destruction is crucial in many matchups, and Engine of War Bunker has 9 cards that provide it.  Just don’t use this guy against villains without ongoings.  (To date: Chairman, Matriarch, and the Ennead.)  The loss of Initialize can hurt, weakening Gatling Gun and Omni-Cannon slightly.  On the other hand, it makes Maintenance Unit that much more useful, and Recharge Mode offers an additional incentive when played for the normal effect.

Weaknesses

Bunker’s primary weakness is his high reliance on equipment.  Anything that offs equipment punishes him harshly, as he needs a lot of it to do what he does best.  Bunker needs time to work, and against villains that don’t give it to him, his efforts can be weak.  He also relies on a lot of projectile damage.

Bunker suffers on a utility level.  Adhesive Foam Grenade is fantastic, but he lacks a way to kill environment cards.  Engine of War Bunker covers the ongoing blind spot nicely.  Bunker doesn’t cover any other sort of team utility other than dealing and absorbing damage. 

Teamups

Bunker is another hero that benefits greatly from the help of others.  Much like Expatriette, he appreciates extra cards and damage buffs, as well as anybody who can keep his equipment intact.  Bunker is a good hero to go last in the turn order.  If he needs to kill something, he can, but if he doesn’t, he can take time to prepare.  Any hero that can help Bunker get suited up will be rewarded with a durable ally who can deal a lot of damage in a variety of ways.


Zalrus9
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Hey, nice guide there, flamethrower! Keep up the good work!


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Koey
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Great guide. Tried Bunker a few days back. Gotta try some of the stuff I haven't thought of.

Question: Turret mode allows you to use an additional power, but you cannot draw cards. So if you use Intialize do you get a card?

I am guessing "No" but a validation would be nice.

Nielzabub
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As far as I can tell, the only way to draw cards while in Turret mode is to have ammo drop out because the text on that card specifically states that you can draw a card even if a mode card says you can not. Since no such text exists on Initialize, then you would not be able to benefit from that power while in Turret Mode.


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josul0215
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Since Turret mode says you cannot draw cards, you cannot draw from initialize.

I do have to say that my problem with bunker is that alot of my players keep trying to pull off the massive combos. Getting Turret Mode, Ammo Drop, Flak Cannon, Gatling Gun, Heavy Plating, Grenade Launcher, Omni-cannon, Maintenance unit, setups. Doing so may be impressive, but I get annoyed when they don't play Flak Cannon "Because it's not a good card" when we need things like citizens or minions dead, and instead they go and try to get set up with drawing cards and complain when ongoing/equipment disruption hits the field.

lynkfox
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right seriously josul? I feel the same about Argent and Ab Zero in the hands of some types of players. Just because you can't pull off the massive combo with your opening hand doesnt mean your in a bad place. Seriously. The big combo is awesome, but using your card draw and card play bonuses on yourself (as adept) or forgoing damage (as bunker) instead of helping out your tea, is not cool. If you have something to help, help, and let your combo build up a bit slower.


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Cosmonaut Zero
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I tend to notice that more with Bunker and AZ than AA. Mostly becuase I make it very clear the The Adept is a support character and does very little on his own except make everybody else ridiculously amazing, so players who want to play a selfish game don't tend to pick him.

I had a recent game with Bunker where pretty much all he did all game was turtle up and draw cards. It didn't help that we kept getting hit with discard effects. I mean, we were Wraith, Beard Ra, and Bunker so it's not like it hurt that bad but whatever. The thing is, this totally worked out. We were only three heroes against a Spite who failed to draw his drugs quickly, so highest kept getting plinked for 2 damage, which between his self damage reduction and Stun Bolts ended up being zero damage. So he just turtled up and tanked away. It's important to know when to act, but sometimes just sitting there and being immovable can be the thing that benefits your team the most. I've seen this with Nightmist or AbZero with self heals as well. Those times when AZ just sits around and heals 6 damage every turn can win games.


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TheSoundOfTrees
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We could make a whole thread about the "combo fixation" issue often shown by players. Once you've seen a big combo, you tend to underevaluate an hero effectiveness in situations where he can't make a big combo happen.

Some think Fanatic is by herself weak because of how strong she becomes when in team with Legacy. They're "blinded" by damage bonuses, and have a hard time finding how to play her. Some think AZ is the weakest of all because of his big combos - not understanding how effective he can be even if he doesn't manage to have all his modules and things out together. One of my players finds Nightmist weak because if thinks she can't play without her redirect damage card out... And poor Mr Fixer, who is basically a guy with tons of easy to have two-cards combos, is seen as weak compared to heroes who can combo four or five cards for big damage.

 


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broccoli
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Yeah, I do have some issues with Mr. Fixer, but one thing I always like....his "max power" may not be as high as some other heroes, but it usually only takes him 3 plays to get there (style, tool, harmony).


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lynkfox
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TheSoundOfTrees wrote:

We could make a whole thread about the "combo fixation" issue often shown by players. Once you've seen a big combo, you tend to underevaluate an hero effectiveness in situations where he can't make a big combo happen.Some think Fanatic is by herself weak because of how strong she becomes when in team with Legacy. They're "blinded" by damage bonuses, and have a hard time finding how to play her. Some think AZ is the weakest of all because of his big combos - not understanding how effective he can be even if he doesn't manage to have all his modules and things out together. One of my players finds Nightmist weak because if thinks she can't play without her redirect damage card out... And poor Mr Fixer, who is basically a guy with tons of easy to have two-cards combos, is seen as weak compared to heroes who can combo four or five cards for big damage. 

 

Totaly agreed. We have a playe rin our group who starts complaining and moaning the moment the opening hand is drawn - as he usually plays Adept. Its his style in every game we play. He goes for the twinkeyest combo of powers and abilities you can manage, then is upset when he either a) can't pull it off in every situation or b) finds somone else is more powerful. Can be a real downer sometimes, but when you don't have a large selection of players and he has been with us since day one of this group (almost 10 years ago now) its hard to do much other then bear it.

 

I have a hard time not liking any hero. Serisouly, even when I play visionary and everyone else has 10 cards on the table and Ive got ... one. and Im just there for deck control, I like her. And then if I can pull off a smart Wrest the Mind and Twist the Either combo? Sweeet. But even if I can't its still enjoyable :)

 

 


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TheSoundOfTrees
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My favorite trick with Visionary is to make her the team's tank : do I have the highest HP ? Yes ? Cocoon ! Now kill these thugs/fowls, my friends, while I rebuild me a hand :) Even cooler when she has one or two Wrest the mInd on big targets.

But we were talking about Bunker : maintenance unit is not limited. So, if a tank is badly needed, try Plating + 2 maintenance units + turret mode. Add a gatling gun for damage.


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One of my group's favorite pairings ever is Bunker + Haka. This give you 2 tanks with extremely high damage potential who draw mitts of cards. The synergy between Ammo Drop and Savage Mana alone makes this a dream come true pairing. Putting these two on a team with any other hero leads to some serious hurting for the villain.

 

  • If you need someone to tank damage, either can do it as they both have damage reduction and self-healing.
  • If you need someone to put down a hurting, both have great single target and multitarget damage. (Grenade Launcher, Flakk Cannon, Gattling Gun, Mere, Taiha, Rampage, and the ultimate weapons of Savage Mana/Haka of Battle and the Omnicannon.)
  • If what you are looking for is support, Ground Pound and Adhesive Foam Grenade are both solid options.
  • Bunker can do a great job of softening up targets for Haka to really get a benefit from Punish the Weak.
  • Haka can take a bit of a beating if needed to allow Bunker some set up time if he needs to get his arsenel in play.

 

These two are amazing together, and giving them ANY support character as a teammate allows them to really destroy the villain deck.

flamethrower49
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Yes, I called out the Savage Mana/Ammo Drop combo on my Haka guide, but it does bear repeating.  I haven't noticed those two be especially good together other than that, so I'll have to try them more!