It doesn't bother me as in "You should have known better!" but more I wanted to throw it out there so people would think more about it, because it bothers me when people don't even consider a lot of her cards because they cost health.
I like Zealous offense early, because it is so powerful being able to pick two targets each turn, it is a really powerful card that many players dont play because they don't think about dealing themselves damage, with Chastise, Divine Focus and Martyr, there is plenty of first turn cards that let you throw focus second turn and keep it out, I think Zealous offense in Fanatic's deck is one of the strongest cards in the game. I know you said Martyr could be used to keep it out, but you also said that if you were desperate enough to use Martyr to keep it, you probably don't have time to wait.
It sounds very much like the "any damage is bad" mentality that limits how well people play fanatic.
The problem with that is, you should be weighing the idea of purposfully taking damage to gain benefits anytime you have the cards to do it, waiting till you are desperate is too late, take sacrifices early and use Fanatic's tools to stay in the game, or go out with a bang. No one wants to incap, but you can save yourself and lose the fight, Fanatic is equipped to be the hero that takes the beating for her team, and the villain is much worse off for it.
I don't like Divine focus because of the cost, when you run out of cards you don't do much. That's fine if you see the villain is low enough that you can burn your hand and kill him, and the damage to start the villain turn can be a real lifesaver (esp with Voss and forced deployment if you have +damage or Hairtrigger out there, you can kill a nasty one before it acts. Mostly I find that only with ridiculous +damage is it worth a card. It might be worth burning your hand down if you have Prayer of Desperation, but you'd lose your turn there. I guess the main use I could find for it would be to empty your hand to one card so Prayer of desperation would get more cards out and increase your chances of getting retribution.
I say that the weakest cards are the draw cards because a card draw has no tangible benefit, and the production of 1 to 2 damage isn't game changing, they are good cards because they move through the deck, but they aren't strong cards because they don't accomplish much in the fight. The difference between strong/weak and good/bad is probably why there is confusion here, they are good cards, but they aren't strong cards, Fanatic's deck is full of strong cards, and while her draws aren't weak compared to other heroes decks, they are the weakest in Fanatics.
I understand why you don't include all kinds of alternate and situational strategies in your guide, it is long enough just getting through the basics, I was more interested in starting a discussion than complaining or critisizing, I actually think your guide is very good, one of the better ones. After my first post I got a little defensive and wasn't really responding to your guide anymore.
Maybe an advanced tactics guide for the different heroes would be good, just to show off all the really cool stuff heroes can do that isn't for most games.
Again, this is just a personal (not technical) definition of Optimal, but...
If I'm alive, with a hand of 4 or more cards, chances are that I'm going to be able to contribute more fully to any given battle than if I was incapacitated.
Fanatic's incap abilities are:
One player may play a card now.
One Hero regains 2 hp.
Select a Hero. Increase the next damage dealt by that Hero by 2.
Of those 3, the most likely useful on any given turn is #1, followed likely by #3. But, if Fanatic's incapacitated, that's all she can do.
Compare that to her other potential options, through her cards: Zealous Offense, Holy Nova's healing, ongoing/environment destruction through Consecrated Ground, to say nothing of her numerous damage options. Being incapacitated removes all of those options.
Generally speaking, I'm going to be able to contribute more to my team while alive than dead. It's more likely that my team will live, if I'm there to help them actively with multiple options each round rather than the same 3 over and over, to say nothing of acting as an additional villain target.
Fanatic is obviously meant to be a character driven on self-sacrifice--Sancrosanct Martyr, Chastise, Embolden, Divine Sacrifice and more all imply Fanatic giving up hp for the benefit of her team. That said, burning her down to nothing walks a tenuous tightrope--one villain turn could knock you out of the fight and down to those 3 incap options. But, I don't usually seek to burn her down any faster than the villains usually do, barring some really necessary utility, such as kicking off a Zealous Offense or redirecting foes that would normally target a low hp Hero. Not saying that self-damaging options don't have their place, but rather than they have to be used judiciously and that as a "main course", they're a quick way to be out of the game.
It might be worth burning your hand down if you have Prayer of Desperation, but you'd lose your turn there.
You don't consider that a good trade-off? Basically instead of playing your turn, you deal 10 damage (5 cards) to the Villain, take 4 damage and do it again. If it's done again, it would deal another 10 and maybe you can chain another Desperation. That is comparable to the damage Retribution does but without the need to be low on health (you do need a 2 card combo). And if not you can leave in hand whatever is useful, I like the "draw a card" cards to rebuild the hand. Really surprised that you vouch for dealing damage to yourself to deal damage and not to skipping turns to deal damage.
It might be worth burning your hand down if you have Prayer of Desperation, but you'd lose your turn there.
You don't consider that a good trade-off? Basically instead of playing your turn, you deal 10 damage (5 cards) to the Villain, take 4 damage and do it again. If it's done again, it would deal another 10 and maybe you can chain another Desperation. That is comparable to the damage Retribution does but without the need to be low on health (you do need a 2 card combo). And if not you can leave in hand whatever is useful, I like the "draw a card" cards to rebuild the hand. Really surprised that you vouch for dealing damage to yourself to deal damage and not to skipping turns to deal damage.
I'm not a big fan of burning your hand to do that damage. Even the original guide questioned the value at its base damage. I don't like trading damage for damage, but I do like dealing yourself damage to deal more, or to shut down the villain from dealing more than you take, the only reason to flat burn health on Fanatic is Retribution, which doesn't work well with a card that empties your hand. Now if you have a huge hand due to TLT or other causes it isn't a bad idea, otherwise I don't see 5 cards being worth 10 damage that you can't target, it just hits the highest HP Villain. If that target has any reduction Focus becomes 1 card for 1 damage. With good +damage it is worth it, but even then it is untargettable, and can't take out strategic targets.
Plus, I don't advocate burning health with Martyr just to do the damage, you do it if you need to get through reduction to get a specific bad guy, or to take advantage of already being dealt radiant damage, or to keep Zealous offense out (the main reason I use it). Even if you just have Martyr and retribution you at least get 2 damage for 1 health, taking damage to prevent damage or to tank for your teammates is smart, because you can turn damage the villain dealt you into damage to them and stay alive with Aegis. I rend to play Martyr early if there isn't a lot of destruction, just because It can be so valuable in certain circumstances.
Fanatic's strength (in my opinion) isn't her damage, but in how she aggressively shuts down non-character villain targets damage, and with End of days can clear the whole field. She can also tank with sacrifice and burst with retribution. The fact that she can do these things and deal damage make her ridiculously powerful. Even if you just use her damage she is solid, but with her whole kit going she is a goddess of the battlefield, shutting down villains, protecting her friends and bursting down the boss. If Aegis fails to keep you alive you die, but before that you can dominate the fight, then it is worth the risk, if you get Aegis and stay alive, even better.
Yes, but the added value Divine Focus has is that deals damage before the start of your next turn. Sometimes it matters, most often it doesn't. And the conversion of 1 card -> 2 damage is a base one (see Bunker) it gives use to all the cards you have in hand in one turn instead of having to wait several for them (for a lesser effect). And this doesn't retract from other things you mentioned, like keeping up Zealos Offense. As you mentioned, Desperation does have the nice side effects of digging deeper into your deck to find either Aegies or Retribution or any other good card.
There's been a Lot of times where ill just have nothing useful to play in my hand with Fanatic. Playing Divine Focus and discarding a card or two for extra damage is great. Can really fill holes between finding your strikes and censures.
See, I find that Prayer of Desperation to be much less useful than pretty much any other card in Fanatic's deck.
Fanatic is one of those characters that runs on dealing damage; eating her Play and Power phase without dealing any damage is anathama to me. If she's anywhere close to "default", Prayer of Desperation is only going to pull 2-3 cards. It's only in the rare occasion where multiple discards have been forced that Prayer of Desperation is worth playing. It's so situational as to become discard fodder for me 9 times out of 10.
Yes, it could combo well with Divine Focus, but...that's also at the expense of pretty much every other option. You'd have to either commit to using your hand to fuel Divine Focus or let DF drop in favor of other options.
It's not an amazing card, but I do play it on occaision. It's not a bad first turn play if you have a weak hand, because it's basically draw 3 cards. It's also ok if you manage to play it during somebody else's turn. It's just a tool to use to get better things.
"He robbed from the rich and he-
gave to the poor.
Stood up to the Man and he-
gave him what for.
Our love for him now,
aint hard to explain,
the hero of Canton,
the man they call "Jayne""
I'm not saying divine focus isn't ever good, but I definitely prefer other cards. Bunker as a counter example has much more card draw, and Omnicannon is ideal for bursting over DR, and you pick the target. If you could pick the target with Divine focus I'd love it, you could clear key minions instead of just hitting the highest health hero.
2-1 damage to card is a somewhat standard burst damage amount, but all the others you pick the target and deal it in one shot, with Divine Focus you spread it out (which is better for +damage, worse for -damage) and Fanatic does not have a card draw engine like Bunker, Haka or Omnitron-X. She has pertty good card draw, so there are times you could justify using the card, and there are also times where it is your best option.
Where Divine Focus is nice is against decks that her other cards don't work against. Chastise and Zealous offense, two cards I love, don't work against decks that don't deal a lot of damage from minions, or don't have them. Spite, Plague Rat, even Apostate and Miss Information, heroes that have no or few damage dealing targets Divine Focus would be much better, as you can discard those cards to focus on the main villain, who will be the highest health. That's where Divine Focus really shines. I don't use it as much because I don't play those decks as much.
Divine Focus can be amazing against Spite if he has his damage reduction drug. Zealous offense goes off and takes away his DR and the hero is free to do their full damage.
Good ideas are usually just bad ideas a stubborn person eventually fixed.
Yes, I do not consider Divine Focus worth it if it's against a DR of 1. But I see why you don't have much love for it contrasting with your endorsement of Zealous Offense. Still I tend to use Fanatic focus on the boss to wear him down (besides plays like Final Dive) while the rest deal with the minions if possible, similar to what Cowboy does but a lesser extent. It's really a no-brainer to say which one is better suited depending on the type of Villian you are facing.
edit: anyway, back to the "skip your turn to deal damage" I wonder, what are you contrasting that play to? I mean, by playing Desperation I'd assume I'm giving up 2 damage (Exorcism) + 1 card play. So I assume that I have to make up something like 4 damage to make it worth it. Cards like Brutal Censure makes sense to drop to Divine Focuse since it'll deal the damage anyway and it covers the card drawn by Desperation. Similar to her Strike card (but deal extra damage instead of heal). You can make a similar comparison to good but situational cards, like End of Days, Divine Sacrifice, Final Dive, etc. But if you are thinking of having Absolution down and having of Smite the Transgressor, of course it doesn't compare favourably.
If that is to me, I was alluding to the change in cost from cards to losing a turn, not saying it would be bad.
Since ditching the cards for Divine Focus is undone by Desperation you are dealing whatever you get from Divine Focus at the cost of two card plays and one power.
I'd rate that at about an 8 damage (not statsy, just what I'd want before calling it a win) So that would definitely be a good play if you have a six card hand with focus and desperation. It is a hard card for me, I tend to sacrifice HP over cards, and I probably play too cautiously with Divine Focus. Desperation is a card I will ditch, so if this situation arose I probably discarded Desperation instead of playing it optimally.
I'd much rather give up 2 card plays and a power than deplete my hand by four cards, esp. since I'm always hoping to get retribution and I need the discard for that.
Funny I was hoping to get discussion of Fanatic to get other people to think about playing her more riskily, and I'm finding all kinds of stuff I didn't think about. I really want to play her like 6-10 times just to test stuff out.
This is a very nice guide to a hero I'm appreciating more today than I usually have. One nit to pick though: Prayer of Desperation is not a good play if you have 4 cards in hand, as you could just have skipped your play and power phases, drawn two cards, and kept the Prayer for later use; you're just trading the Prayer for one random card, and that will seldom be worthwhile. To use the Prayer effectively, you should have at most two other cards in hand, and that can be hard to reach unless you have an ally feeding you card plays or you've run a Divine Focus since your last turn.
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
This is a very nice guide to a hero I'm appreciating more today than I usually have. One nit to pick though: Prayer of Desperation is not a good play if you have 4 cards in hand, as you could just have skipped your play and power phases, drawn two cards, and kept the Prayer for later use; you're just trading the Prayer for one random card, and that will seldom be worthwhile. To use the Prayer effectively, you should have at most two other cards in hand, and that can be hard to reach unless you have an ally feeding you card plays or you've run a Divine Focus since your last turn.
If you have 6 cards in hand, and none of them are Divine Focus, any random card is almost certainly going to be better than Prayer of Desperation.
I have to agree with Envisioner here. There are very few hands of four cards where not one is worth playing. If you happen to have one, even just throwing out something like Chastise for one round, or Sacrosanct even if you don't plan on using it (unless there is something in the game that does damage based on cards in play)
Fanatic has a ton of good cards, blowing a whole turn to draw two is something I have only done once or twice on Fanatic (when I couldn't do damage, and the cards in hand were worthless in that situation.
Prayer of desperation is best saved for times of desperation, when your hand is depleted due to discards or there really is only one card that will save the team and another hero can let you play it after your turn, just to get a bonus card isn't a great usage.
Honestly if I had a four card hand and they were all no good in that turn, and I determined I wanted new cards, I would rather hold a prayer and draw two, gaining a one card cycle is a miniscule gain, and prayer could be much more useful later.
Caveat: If you have a card draw engine rolling like TLT then by all mean throw it first turn, because you won't ever need it anyway.
Question for clarification: Are you counting the Prayer of Desperation as one of the 4 cards in hand?
yes, which is why I'm saying the play only nets you a single card swap over a draw two, both end with 6 cards in hand, you are just trading prayer for a different card.
My most fun with Fanatic ever was last night, and it involved running Divine Focus for three full rounds, skipping damage only a couple of times when reduction was in effect. Start with a nine-card hand, pitch six cards to roast Omnitron for 11, play Prayer to draw four, pitch five more to deal 6, play Prayer, draw six, pitch five more to deal 10. Magnificent.
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
This thread needs an update every year or three, right?
Something you never mentioned is that Undaunted doesn't reduce damage; it prevents damage. That's important because it means Fanatic can block small irreduccible hits, particularly the ones from Plague Rat's Infection and his flip-side, assuming you have destroyed the plague locus.
I think my first post was poorly worded.
It doesn't bother me as in "You should have known better!" but more I wanted to throw it out there so people would think more about it, because it bothers me when people don't even consider a lot of her cards because they cost health.
I like Zealous offense early, because it is so powerful being able to pick two targets each turn, it is a really powerful card that many players dont play because they don't think about dealing themselves damage, with Chastise, Divine Focus and Martyr, there is plenty of first turn cards that let you throw focus second turn and keep it out, I think Zealous offense in Fanatic's deck is one of the strongest cards in the game. I know you said Martyr could be used to keep it out, but you also said that if you were desperate enough to use Martyr to keep it, you probably don't have time to wait.
It sounds very much like the "any damage is bad" mentality that limits how well people play fanatic.
The problem with that is, you should be weighing the idea of purposfully taking damage to gain benefits anytime you have the cards to do it, waiting till you are desperate is too late, take sacrifices early and use Fanatic's tools to stay in the game, or go out with a bang. No one wants to incap, but you can save yourself and lose the fight, Fanatic is equipped to be the hero that takes the beating for her team, and the villain is much worse off for it.
I don't like Divine focus because of the cost, when you run out of cards you don't do much. That's fine if you see the villain is low enough that you can burn your hand and kill him, and the damage to start the villain turn can be a real lifesaver (esp with Voss and forced deployment if you have +damage or Hairtrigger out there, you can kill a nasty one before it acts. Mostly I find that only with ridiculous +damage is it worth a card. It might be worth burning your hand down if you have Prayer of Desperation, but you'd lose your turn there. I guess the main use I could find for it would be to empty your hand to one card so Prayer of desperation would get more cards out and increase your chances of getting retribution.
I say that the weakest cards are the draw cards because a card draw has no tangible benefit, and the production of 1 to 2 damage isn't game changing, they are good cards because they move through the deck, but they aren't strong cards because they don't accomplish much in the fight. The difference between strong/weak and good/bad is probably why there is confusion here, they are good cards, but they aren't strong cards, Fanatic's deck is full of strong cards, and while her draws aren't weak compared to other heroes decks, they are the weakest in Fanatics.
I understand why you don't include all kinds of alternate and situational strategies in your guide, it is long enough just getting through the basics, I was more interested in starting a discussion than complaining or critisizing, I actually think your guide is very good, one of the better ones. After my first post I got a little defensive and wasn't really responding to your guide anymore.
Maybe an advanced tactics guide for the different heroes would be good, just to show off all the really cool stuff heroes can do that isn't for most games.
Again, this is just a personal (not technical) definition of Optimal, but...
If I'm alive, with a hand of 4 or more cards, chances are that I'm going to be able to contribute more fully to any given battle than if I was incapacitated.
Fanatic's incap abilities are:
Of those 3, the most likely useful on any given turn is #1, followed likely by #3. But, if Fanatic's incapacitated, that's all she can do.
Compare that to her other potential options, through her cards: Zealous Offense, Holy Nova's healing, ongoing/environment destruction through Consecrated Ground, to say nothing of her numerous damage options. Being incapacitated removes all of those options.
Generally speaking, I'm going to be able to contribute more to my team while alive than dead. It's more likely that my team will live, if I'm there to help them actively with multiple options each round rather than the same 3 over and over, to say nothing of acting as an additional villain target.
Fanatic is obviously meant to be a character driven on self-sacrifice--Sancrosanct Martyr, Chastise, Embolden, Divine Sacrifice and more all imply Fanatic giving up hp for the benefit of her team. That said, burning her down to nothing walks a tenuous tightrope--one villain turn could knock you out of the fight and down to those 3 incap options. But, I don't usually seek to burn her down any faster than the villains usually do, barring some really necessary utility, such as kicking off a Zealous Offense or redirecting foes that would normally target a low hp Hero. Not saying that self-damaging options don't have their place, but rather than they have to be used judiciously and that as a "main course", they're a quick way to be out of the game.
I'm not a big fan of burning your hand to do that damage. Even the original guide questioned the value at its base damage. I don't like trading damage for damage, but I do like dealing yourself damage to deal more, or to shut down the villain from dealing more than you take, the only reason to flat burn health on Fanatic is Retribution, which doesn't work well with a card that empties your hand. Now if you have a huge hand due to TLT or other causes it isn't a bad idea, otherwise I don't see 5 cards being worth 10 damage that you can't target, it just hits the highest HP Villain. If that target has any reduction Focus becomes 1 card for 1 damage. With good +damage it is worth it, but even then it is untargettable, and can't take out strategic targets.
Plus, I don't advocate burning health with Martyr just to do the damage, you do it if you need to get through reduction to get a specific bad guy, or to take advantage of already being dealt radiant damage, or to keep Zealous offense out (the main reason I use it). Even if you just have Martyr and retribution you at least get 2 damage for 1 health, taking damage to prevent damage or to tank for your teammates is smart, because you can turn damage the villain dealt you into damage to them and stay alive with Aegis. I rend to play Martyr early if there isn't a lot of destruction, just because It can be so valuable in certain circumstances.
Fanatic's strength (in my opinion) isn't her damage, but in how she aggressively shuts down non-character villain targets damage, and with End of days can clear the whole field. She can also tank with sacrifice and burst with retribution. The fact that she can do these things and deal damage make her ridiculously powerful. Even if you just use her damage she is solid, but with her whole kit going she is a goddess of the battlefield, shutting down villains, protecting her friends and bursting down the boss. If Aegis fails to keep you alive you die, but before that you can dominate the fight, then it is worth the risk, if you get Aegis and stay alive, even better.
Yes, but the added value Divine Focus has is that deals damage before the start of your next turn. Sometimes it matters, most often it doesn't. And the conversion of 1 card -> 2 damage is a base one (see Bunker) it gives use to all the cards you have in hand in one turn instead of having to wait several for them (for a lesser effect). And this doesn't retract from other things you mentioned, like keeping up Zealos Offense. As you mentioned, Desperation does have the nice side effects of digging deeper into your deck to find either Aegies or Retribution or any other good card.
There's been a Lot of times where ill just have nothing useful to play in my hand with Fanatic. Playing Divine Focus and discarding a card or two for extra damage is great. Can really fill holes between finding your strikes and censures.
See, I find that Prayer of Desperation to be much less useful than pretty much any other card in Fanatic's deck.
Fanatic is one of those characters that runs on dealing damage; eating her Play and Power phase without dealing any damage is anathama to me. If she's anywhere close to "default", Prayer of Desperation is only going to pull 2-3 cards. It's only in the rare occasion where multiple discards have been forced that Prayer of Desperation is worth playing. It's so situational as to become discard fodder for me 9 times out of 10.
Yes, it could combo well with Divine Focus, but...that's also at the expense of pretty much every other option. You'd have to either commit to using your hand to fuel Divine Focus or let DF drop in favor of other options.
It's not an amazing card, but I do play it on occaision. It's not a bad first turn play if you have a weak hand, because it's basically draw 3 cards. It's also ok if you manage to play it during somebody else's turn. It's just a tool to use to get better things.
"He robbed from the rich and he-
gave to the poor.
Stood up to the Man and he-
gave him what for.
Our love for him now,
aint hard to explain,
the hero of Canton,
the man they call "Jayne""
I'm not saying divine focus isn't ever good, but I definitely prefer other cards. Bunker as a counter example has much more card draw, and Omnicannon is ideal for bursting over DR, and you pick the target. If you could pick the target with Divine focus I'd love it, you could clear key minions instead of just hitting the highest health hero.
2-1 damage to card is a somewhat standard burst damage amount, but all the others you pick the target and deal it in one shot, with Divine Focus you spread it out (which is better for +damage, worse for -damage) and Fanatic does not have a card draw engine like Bunker, Haka or Omnitron-X. She has pertty good card draw, so there are times you could justify using the card, and there are also times where it is your best option.
Where Divine Focus is nice is against decks that her other cards don't work against. Chastise and Zealous offense, two cards I love, don't work against decks that don't deal a lot of damage from minions, or don't have them. Spite, Plague Rat, even Apostate and Miss Information, heroes that have no or few damage dealing targets Divine Focus would be much better, as you can discard those cards to focus on the main villain, who will be the highest health. That's where Divine Focus really shines. I don't use it as much because I don't play those decks as much.
Divine Focus can be amazing against Spite if he has his damage reduction drug. Zealous offense goes off and takes away his DR and the hero is free to do their full damage.
Good ideas are usually just bad ideas a stubborn person eventually fixed.
Yes, I do not consider Divine Focus worth it if it's against a DR of 1. But I see why you don't have much love for it contrasting with your endorsement of Zealous Offense. Still I tend to use Fanatic focus on the boss to wear him down (besides plays like Final Dive) while the rest deal with the minions if possible, similar to what Cowboy does but a lesser extent. It's really a no-brainer to say which one is better suited depending on the type of Villian you are facing.
edit: anyway, back to the "skip your turn to deal damage" I wonder, what are you contrasting that play to? I mean, by playing Desperation I'd assume I'm giving up 2 damage (Exorcism) + 1 card play. So I assume that I have to make up something like 4 damage to make it worth it. Cards like Brutal Censure makes sense to drop to Divine Focuse since it'll deal the damage anyway and it covers the card drawn by Desperation. Similar to her Strike card (but deal extra damage instead of heal). You can make a similar comparison to good but situational cards, like End of Days, Divine Sacrifice, Final Dive, etc. But if you are thinking of having Absolution down and having of Smite the Transgressor, of course it doesn't compare favourably.
If that is to me, I was alluding to the change in cost from cards to losing a turn, not saying it would be bad.
Since ditching the cards for Divine Focus is undone by Desperation you are dealing whatever you get from Divine Focus at the cost of two card plays and one power.
I'd rate that at about an 8 damage (not statsy, just what I'd want before calling it a win) So that would definitely be a good play if you have a six card hand with focus and desperation. It is a hard card for me, I tend to sacrifice HP over cards, and I probably play too cautiously with Divine Focus. Desperation is a card I will ditch, so if this situation arose I probably discarded Desperation instead of playing it optimally.
I'd much rather give up 2 card plays and a power than deplete my hand by four cards, esp. since I'm always hoping to get retribution and I need the discard for that.
Funny I was hoping to get discussion of Fanatic to get other people to think about playing her more riskily, and I'm finding all kinds of stuff I didn't think about. I really want to play her like 6-10 times just to test stuff out.
This is a very nice guide to a hero I'm appreciating more today than I usually have. One nit to pick though: Prayer of Desperation is not a good play if you have 4 cards in hand, as you could just have skipped your play and power phases, drawn two cards, and kept the Prayer for later use; you're just trading the Prayer for one random card, and that will seldom be worthwhile. To use the Prayer effectively, you should have at most two other cards in hand, and that can be hard to reach unless you have an ally feeding you card plays or you've run a Divine Focus since your last turn.
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
If you have 6 cards in hand, and none of them are Divine Focus, any random card is almost certainly going to be better than Prayer of Desperation.
I have to agree with Envisioner here. There are very few hands of four cards where not one is worth playing. If you happen to have one, even just throwing out something like Chastise for one round, or Sacrosanct even if you don't plan on using it (unless there is something in the game that does damage based on cards in play)
Fanatic has a ton of good cards, blowing a whole turn to draw two is something I have only done once or twice on Fanatic (when I couldn't do damage, and the cards in hand were worthless in that situation.
Prayer of desperation is best saved for times of desperation, when your hand is depleted due to discards or there really is only one card that will save the team and another hero can let you play it after your turn, just to get a bonus card isn't a great usage.
Honestly if I had a four card hand and they were all no good in that turn, and I determined I wanted new cards, I would rather hold a prayer and draw two, gaining a one card cycle is a miniscule gain, and prayer could be much more useful later.
Caveat: If you have a card draw engine rolling like TLT then by all mean throw it first turn, because you won't ever need it anyway.
Question for clarification: Are you counting the Prayer of Desperation as one of the 4 cards in hand?
"See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart." - Mal
Unicode U+24BD gets us Ⓗ. (Thanks, Godai!)
yes, which is why I'm saying the play only nets you a single card swap over a draw two, both end with 6 cards in hand, you are just trading prayer for a different card.
My most fun with Fanatic ever was last night, and it involved running Divine Focus for three full rounds, skipping damage only a couple of times when reduction was in effect. Start with a nine-card hand, pitch six cards to roast Omnitron for 11, play Prayer to draw four, pitch five more to deal 6, play Prayer, draw six, pitch five more to deal 10. Magnificent.
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
This thread needs an update every year or three, right?
Something you never mentioned is that Undaunted doesn't reduce damage; it prevents damage. That's important because it means Fanatic can block small irreduccible hits, particularly the ones from Plague Rat's Infection and his flip-side, assuming you have destroyed the plague locus.
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