Ever face a figure or team you can't seem to take down? Then this is the series for you. We take a deeper look into those problematic pieces and Exploit their Weaknesses! In this edition, we take a look at the alien turned hero who could have started the Boy Scouts all on his own!

Click "Full Story" below as we analyze this awesome figure and Exploit its Weaknesses.

Thanks for joining me in another installment of Exploiting Weaknesses! As with the other articles' precursors, Pulse Wave will not be discussed as it is almost always effective. If it isn't effective, I will point out why.

Here is the dial for reference.





Things that tell me I need to "Be Prepared":

- HSS w/ 7+ Range
- Constant Move and Attack powers
- High Stats
- Long Dial
- Ability to heal self
- Close and Range friendly dial
- Plethora of Damage Reducers
- "Inspiring Hero"
- Flight/Indomitable

Exploiting Superman's Weaknesses

Notice anything about these 3 Supermen? It seems in the past few sets all the 200+ point Supermen look like this. There are a couple exceptions but focus on these 3. I've seen them pop up in tournaments and have great success. Part of that is due to that 19 Defense up top, part of it is his threat range, and part of it is the long dial. Because these 3 are so similar, I will address them all here and the only differences between the 3 will be the special powers.

I will address everything that is the same on these guys first:

- All have HSS w/ at least a 7 range
- All have Move and Attack powers down the dial
- All have relatively high stats
- All have a 9+ click dial
- All have full-ish dial of damage reducers
- All have Flight/Indomitable
- All have a dial that is good at range and close up

But seeing all of this makes me think, "Where do I start?" There is so much going on it is hard to start in just one place. The first 2, 3, 5 clicks of life (depending on which one you are looking at) feature the HSS/Super Strength combo with 12 attack and 5 damage. So if you are unfortunate to be within 12 or 13 squares, you will be hit for 8 damage using an Ultra Heavy Object. Even if you are outside of that hovering in the 16-17 square range you can still get shot for 5 which isn't that great for us either. Beyond staying outside his threat range, having a way to get your defense up higher to deal with the 12 attack up front like ESD, Combat Reflexes, or Perplex. Sometimes having Probability Control can help as there is always a chance your opponent can miss and that chance increases every time he has to roll. Outwit the movement power to get rid of most of his threat. He can still shoot from 7-8 out but that is easier to deal with. Put some blocking between you and TW/SMWW Supes to waste their movement or better yet, use a figure with Plasticity so they have to stop mid-movement if they aren't careful. If you look at all 3, you see each one goes from HSS to Running Shot to Charge. That is a lot of move and attacking powers and he combos powers very well on these. His HSS has Super Strength, his RS has Incap or Psychic Blast, and Charge also has Super Strength. This means they will always be able to add some extra damage to their attacks. Again, outwit and placing yourself out of range can be the key. Stealth will not work except against Red Son Supes due to the Superman Ally TA so really hiding behind some elevated or blocking when he is in Ranged Attacker mode is just as good.

The good stats throughout the dial are also tough to deal with some times. 5s, 4s, and 3s riddle his dial in a very predictable, descending order when it comes to damage and that is before we add in the damage modifiers. We see 12s, 11s, 10s, and 9s for attacks in almost the same predictable way. Same goes for 19s, 18s, and 17s for defenses, giving us a tough time unless we are also rocking 12 attack values. Outsiders is not as useful here since he has high printed stats. We need to use Imperv or Invincible to help stunt the damage output, ESD/CR to increase our defense enough to make it at least a little tougher, and using Perplex as a positive modifier for us or negative for Supes. He also can't get around Shape Change or Super Senses so that could be a good combo to keep you safe as well. When he is on his range clicks, using a meat shield can be a good option as none of them have IT. On the offensive side of things, we will need to use that Perplex to get our attacks high enough or get into a situation where Range Combat Expert or Close Combat Expert can be used to help give us a shot at hitting.

Their long dial of 9-11 clicks of health with an equal amount of damage reducers/avoiders/ignorers is a bear to deal with. Invincible leads to Impervious which leads to Invulnerability and some cases tappers off into Super Senses. We can deal with the later 3 using Penetrating Psychic Blast or Exploit Weakness and Precision Strike as those get through the defensive powers nicely. Invincible can be dealt with using Outwit, which also works with the other defenses, or popping them for specific amounts of damage. TW Supes has it on just 1 click so hitting him for 2+ damage will get him off that power. The other 2 have it for 2 clicks so we will need to hit them for 4+ damage to get them off Invincible. There are some other creative ways to have them use different reducers, such as the now golden age Banshee SR, and can be a good figure to build a team around since getting around reducers is very important in any game.

Lastly but certainly not the least, they all have Flight and Indomitable. This gets them from A to B fairly easily and 2/3 of the turns they take. My favorite power to help against these things should be evident as it was mentioned in the above paragraphs: outwit. You can turn off Flight so they can't use IM or you can outwit Indom so they don't have Willpower. Many people forget you can do this so hopefully this gives you a cool little tidbit of info to help you out. For the Flight, you can also get yourself on an indoor map with lots of walls or blocking as they can't fly over the top. You can also use any Barrier you brought to keep them away as well, keeping to the same indoor map choice of course.

One special note for BVS Supes, he has 2 move and attack powers, then nothing, then 2 more, then nothing. If you can finagle your damage to hit onto those nothing clicks, he will be a sitting duck. Just be careful if you are outdoors because that is the click that has his healing power (more on that below).

Here are some more specific things to look out for:

- BVS/TW Superman can heal for free

BVS Supes only has this power on 3 clicks but allows him to heal 1 damage at the beginning of your turn if he is in clear, outdoor terrain. TW Supes can also heal for 1 but only if he was damaged from an opposing attack since his last turn. We can combat these pretty easily. BVS we can make sure we get that indoor map or if on an outdoor map using Smoke Cloud to keep his space unlear. TW we can deal with by damaging him past these clicks (2-5 so a little difficult) or damage him using non-attacks like penetrating poison. You could just outwit either power to make sure he doesn't heal.

- TW Superman has "Inspiring Hero"

This allows him to use Leadership and if successful, modify the Attack and Defense of a friendly character by +1. Well, because figures are always friendly to themselves, he can boost himself to a nice 13/20 stat line on the top click. Chances are you won't get close enough to outwit this power but if you can, then do it! Outsiders can also help out and can be used from further away, like that nice 25 point Nightwing (a favorite of mine). You could even use a Probability Control to reroll the Leadership but I feel that is better served elsewhere (unless you have an absurd amount and can waste one).

- BVS Superman ignores Blocking for movement

So that indoor map with blocking we are trying to utilize, ya...it doesn't do so much against this guy. We can still use that indoor map so he doesn't heal on those few clicks he can, but the blocking will not be as effective. One thing you can do but is hard to plan for and use successfully is planting figures with Plasticity behind walls and as meat shields for your team so he will have to stop as he comes into contact with those figures after breaking a wall. Using meat shields in general will help against his range attacks and hiding behind walls during those clicks can actually be useful too. But really, this will be useful on about 3 clicks.

- SMWW Superman has 2 stop clicks

They are not a true Stop click as it can be ignored. It also only activates after he takes damage from an attack. So to help us out, Pulse Wave ignores it, penetrating poison or outwit defense then poison is a non-attack, or multiple attacks such as duo/multi-attack or flurry. Once revealed, you can outwit it and then follow up attack as well but that does require multiple attackers to be available.

So, what are we doing to Clarky?

- Keep your distance and put some terrain between you and him
- Increase your stats on offense and defense to help with his high combat values
- Everything is outwitable so go to town
- Penetrating damage will take care of almost all of their dials
- Get indoors with lots of blocking to slow them down
- Have some surprise powers like Smoke Cloud, Barrier, and Plasticity on hand
- Prob Control can help your odds at surviving his big attacks, even if you have a low chance in the first place
- Multiple attacks or attackers to get off problem clicks, such as STOP clicks on Red Son Supes

That's all I have this time! Until next time, always look for the chinks in the armor and Exploit your opponent's Weaknesses!

It's been my experience to swarm Supes, if possible. Exploit is a great option for when you get up close and personal. last Supes I played got beat down pretty badly by a TMNT turtle team w/pizza van...

Yeah, swarm teams are kinda nuts. My Foot Clan took out TW Supes with ease.

When WF was first released, I always made sure to designate a tank to draw Supes forward and absorb the damage. Depending on the set (if they have an attacker like him), I'll follow the same strategy. KC Superman was VERY popular at my venue... It seems everyone had him but me! /sigh

Superman sucks big time!

Where was this article during Icons? :P

Lol...I wasn't playing then!

Honorable mention to the new KC superman, 200 points packs a bunch in that dial. For 300 I'd be inclined to take him and some KC friends who can help me out while he's going to town KO people. The only downside to that shoes is his lack of HSS at the start.. but really we can counter that with his wonderful stats otherwise and almost immunity to outwit.

JLTW SR Superman is my go to.

1. that Leadership - which adds to his own stats also - is fantastic.

2. his healing doesn't depend on inside/outside or terrain

3. the ability to use/share Batman Family and Superman Ally TAs with others (often, but not always, the SR JLTW Batman and Wondie) are great.

and I wish he weren't 250 points - as that leaves very little for a 300 point build, but them's the breaks.

I don't own the KC chase, so can't really opine on him. Nor the Red Son. But JLTW is my first pick over all other current Supes (BvS is ok).

Isn't JLSG still Modern Age?

i played that tw superman possesed by ophidian with the orange lantern battery with the decoy and scissors for the wizkids open... got toally nuked by the balls of fury, lol if id had the parallax entity id have used the sinestro corps battery... although i dont think quintessence stops that balls of fury though

no but he would have been -2 on his attack rolls to hit you ...

My go-to Supes is:



Played Red Son once, won easily, felt bad and traded him.


This Supes looks really great for his points, but I've yet to field him.

And here is ol' C-note, who used to terrorize me for, oh, I dunno, bout a year or so!!!



Back in those days he ruled something fierce.....till Icon.

Yes, JLSG Supes is still legal. However, for his points he is a little to short, and to my honest opinion, squishy, to be viable. So far, from what I have played of all the figures out of JLSG the only one as a viable option is Darkseid (And damn if he isn't a beast..), and even then, you have to play him at 300 pts as a One Man Army in most tournaments....local venues try to keep me from using him. as one of my favorite pieces, it is difficult. But the Batman out of that set is quite a utility piece, if expensive, and Wonder Woman is a passable First Attacker as well. Beware of that Cyborg though....it has a range upping capability, and only needs Range to get those tokens, not Range and Line of Fire. Sorry, JLSG has been a nasty item for me to have for a while now.

Taking down a figure like this can be annoying. As Pupule mentions, Plasticity is helpful. Even more helpful is a tie-up figure with Platicity, as this forces Superman to be stationary to deal with the tie-up, or risk wasting an action trying to break away for HSS. Puts him in a bad spot, you see.


Wha? That's not cool. I mean, he's good, but he's not so powerful or game-breaking that he should be disallowed or shunned from play. That's silly talk.