I've been playing some randomized games lately, and Fanatic keeps coming up. I would like to use Zealous Offense more often, but as far as I can tell, the only dependable way to get it out is to have Absolution out first, since you have to deal 3HP damage the very round you play it, or it just goes away.
Any other tips/tricks for being able to play Zealous Offense that *DON'T* depend on other heroes (a) buffing Fanatic's damage (e.g., Legacy); or (b) giving her double/out-of-turn power activations?
Sac Martyr, Embolden, and Divine Fury could also help keep it out the first turn.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
As you said Absolution is probably the easiest way...
Sacrosanct Martyr will work as well (remember that the self damage counts).
You can also use self damage from Chastise, Divine Focus, or Embolden.
If you play as PW Fanatic her base power gives you three damage from the start.
Crush your enemies, drive them before you, and laminate their women! - Guise, Prime Wardens #31
Yeah, that makes it tricky, but thematic. If you accept the premise that the card represents her being able to mount enough offense to keep enemies at bay, then it only makes sense to have it out when you can do that damage.
My advice is to get her an out-of-turn card play to put it in.
BurningStickman7 on Steam.
My first novel: "Brothers of the Curled Isles"
The C-Team Podcast
I'll often set it up with Chastise, as that leaves you with 1 more damage to deal to keep it around. Sacrosanct Martyr is the best way to ensure it stays around, since in a pinch you can hit yourself for the needed damage.
In a pinch I've set it up with Divine Focus, only using the discard at the start of my next turn then letting it be destroyed.
I agree the tricky thing with the normal Fanatic is that she has lots of different useful cards without quite enough big damage or card draw to ensure you can keep out zealous offense. The alternate versions have a way easier time. If you are going to make a specific effort to use it under sub optimal settings, that means you need to accept that Fanatic thrives on getting damaged. I think she is pretty easy to play ok but difficult to play optimally. In deed you should often be aiming for Fanatic to be the lowest hp. It seems risky but one way or another you should get the Aegis in the nick-of-time or if not you often get an early play of her big blast card for massive damage right before incap. Most villians are basically toast if they take either a 25+ damage shot from fanatic or if they waste damage on Fanatic just to have her bounce back again (and maybe again) at 10.
My favorite is also to start with chastise since it is fun to have chastise go away to instantly be replaced with zealous offense. I most recently used this for an easy victory against Chairman keeping those nasty gunmen where I could see them until Haka could put them in his sack.