Donner's Tactics Strategy Guides #4: Baron Blade

Baron Blade

                An evil genius who has the right answer for any particular situation.

                Builds:  Controller, DPS, Tank

                Best Power Cards:  Fission Blaster, Devious Disruptor

                Worst Power Card:  Kinetic Redistributor

                Strengths:  Dealing with any one particular problem. 

                Weaknesses:  Abilities that are strong in one direction tend to be weak in most others.   Close-ranged attacks leave him vulnerable to enemy retaliation.

                Works well against:  Anyone.  Especially good against Bunker and Legacy.

                Weak against:  Whoever he’s not focused on countering.

                Controller Build:

                                Displacing Teleporter

                                Regression Burst, Devious Disruptor or Maniacal Gloating

                DPS Build:

                                Fission Blaster

                                Sabre Battlesuit

                Tank Build:

                                Sabre Battlesuit

                                Kinetic Redistributor

                Commentary:

                Baron Blade often runs into two extremes.  Either he does amazingly well, or he does amazingly horribly.  Many of his abilities are situational.  And in those situations, they can be VERY powerful.  But if they are used at the wrong time, in the wrong place, they can fail spectacularly and leave Baron Blade open for attack.  It is usually best to keep the Sabre Battlesuit on Baron Blade at all times to help him tank enemy attacks.

                Tricks:

                Displacing Teleporter to the center of a group of enemies, then use Regression Burst.  Make sure to save up Attack + 1 tokens for the high priority targets (Legacy, Citizen Dawn, etc.)

                Swap into a Fission Blaster for a +1 Attack token, move to 6 hexes from an enemy, aim, and let loose for 7 dice with a high chance of all being 6’s.  Very good against tanky targets.

                When fighting Wraith with Slip Into Shadows, use Sabre Battlesuit and Fission Blaster.  Hit her with Slash and Burn, then Sprint away from her and Fission Blaster her.  Or start with a Fission Blaster, then move into melee with a boosted Slash and Burn.

                Don’t underestimate the power of Maniacal Gloating.  No attack roll is required, and it gives the enemy -1 Attack and -1 Defense when they get back up.  Just remember that you have to be adjacent to the target to use it.  The Baron knows that gloating isn't as impressive if your victim hasn't fallen at your feet.

                Team up with Legacy to make extremely strong Fission Blaster attacks.  Galvanize, Inspiring Presence, and a power swap can net Baron Blade 4 Attack + 1 tokens for a 10 die Fission blast.

                Choose Baron Blade if you plan on building up a ton of tokens on your team.  The only other real counter to token build-up is Citizen Dawn, and her counter can actually be beneficial to your team (Devestating Aurora).

                Use Kinetic Redistributor to turn your own allies' attacks into a radius 2 Area attack.  Just make sure to have a dodge and maybe some defense + 1 tokens saved up to improve your odds of blocking successfully.  This works okay with Legacy's Motivational Charge and works especially well with allied attacks that are already Area-attacks.  See Absolute Zero, Bunker, and Ra. (Thanks again, Phantaskippy!)  Note that this attack loses all the riders that the original attack may have had.  That means it isn't so great with Ambuscade's Custom Hand Cannon, Tachyon's Hypersonic Asssault, etc.  With enough tokens you could redistribute a strong Omni-Cannon strike.  But remember that using Kinetic Redistributor may cause the enemy to target your allies instead of you.

                PowerHound_2000 had this great observation about Baron Blade:

                I could be wrong but I believe Baron Blade is the only character with two one-shots in Regression Burst and Devious Disrupter.  Using these either of these cards does mean that on your next turn that you will be unlikely to take advantage of his Convertizing Gauntlet.   So it's best to put those two cards down when you are ready to make those attacks and not before, ideally.

                Countering Tips:

                Avoid building up large numbers of tokens.  Baron Blade will only use them against you.

                If Baron Blade has already used Devious Disruptor, you may want to save him for your last incapacitation so you can keep building up tokens.

                Most of Baron Blade’s attacks are melee.  Attack him from range and from in cover.

                If Baron Blade puts himself in the middle of your team, focus him down or move away.  Be careful of him standing back up with a Devious Disruptor or Regression Burst.

Edit:  Added more notes of fun for Baron Blade, including some ideas transplanted from Phantaskippy's Absolute Zero comments.