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 a guy with nearly unlimited power accessible at the snap of a finger!

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, in case you couldn't tell from the intro picture.



Things that tell me I may need to worship a new diety:

- Power Cosmic
- High Stats
- Reducers full dial
- Mad Titan Trait
- Dimensional Destruction

Exploiting The Mad Titan's Weaknesses

With everything going on these days in the comic world, Thanos seems to be popular for one reason or another. Seems like a good of a time as any to focus in on the newest addition to the line of Thanos in this game. His point cost certainly doesn't reach the 4 figure mark like his colossal counterpart but he plays just as dominantly at a budget price of 200 points. Let's dive right in shall we?

The dial on its own really stands out. He averages a 9, 11, 18, 4 with a 22.2 points per click. It doesn't seem like it's that bad but when he starts with a 9, 12, 19, 5 things might start off a little rough. We can overcome some of these raw stats with our usual boosters like ESD/CR on defense or some perplex to boost our stats or reduce his. Hindering/Obscuring terrain will give us a nice +1 and even certain maps can give us a +2 to our defense. Stealth, blocking, elevated, and meat shields are all great ways to stay safe from his stats since he can't shoot through any of them. He can move through them and may be able to get a shot off but more on that later. For the most part, boosting our stats or lowering his will be best.

He also has a bunch of reducers on his entire dial to keep him on the map for much longer than we would like. Invincible for 4 clicks will be tough to crack since he will take a maximum of 3 damage meaning he will have it available to him again. Being Power Cosmic means we aren't outwitting him and the Invincible also means we aren't using penetrating damage to hurt him deeper. Our can't use power pieces are going to be the only way to get rid of Invincible. We can use a flurry of attacks via the actual power or by swarm to knock him off it too. Once we get him down to Invulnerability or Toughness we will have a much easier time. Penetrating damage from Psy Blast, Exploit Weakness, and even Incap will all be useful late game. I also like to think a couple niche tactics can help here. Pulse Wave can get through just about everything and Thanos is no exception. The Enchanted Crowbar object can also reduce Thanos to basically the non-gauntlet version of himself and make things much easier.

His Mad Titan trait shows of his prowess on the battlefield. Firstly, he gets Colossal Stamina so turn after turn he can attack or retreat. You can't stop his madness! Fortunately, he will be taking some damage to do it but if he is able to dish out 5 damage attacks over and over again, we're gonna have a bad time. With the onset of the new set, there will be a plethora of Battleworld keyworded figures. This trait gives him a +1 attack and damage when targeting one of these figures. So his ridiculously good stats turn much better when we use these nice, new figures. Treat it similarly as when we were dealing with his normal stats. Or, if you want, just don't play any Battleworld pieces (like that'll happen!).

Lastly, his movement power Dimensional Destruction is a game changer. We have had similar powers before but this one is much better. It grants Phasing/Teleport (makes sense for Thanos) but then his user can then roll 2d6 and so long as he moved less than the result, he can make an attack. This is pretty rough for us since he could potentially move all 9 squares and then shoot us from 8 squares away. That movement is phasing too so no blocking or elevated will stop his movement. But, if we use those pieces of terrain, even barrier, to block lines of fire, it won't matter if he can move through them because he won't be able to attack us after movement. The hardest part to account for is a taxi. He has 100 points to work with in getting a taxi. Let's take Kite Man as an example. Here we have a Thanos at 215 points basically. Kite Man can move 9 squares carrying Thanos so the same amount of Thanos' move value. So now we have an opponent who can Phase 0 or 1 square (yes, 0 movement has been ruled as still having moved and also to have used the power), he will automatically succeed when he rolls his 2d6. This gives him the ability to make an attack using a FREE action. Thanos, after having rolled a successfully higher number than the spaces he moved, can now be carried 9 squares and placed in the 10th square and then activate a FREE action to attack. That is a nice 20 square reach we need to deal with. And for the most part, we can't do anything. Hiding is the best bet or taking out the taxi which can prove very difficult since it only takes 1 turn to move him into position and then we are behind the 8-ball.

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

Oh geez--took me a second to get your point on the Kite Man thing but yeah, that's another LE Doc Ock situation. Wish they'd errata those to be At No Cost (i.e. immediately after the triggering action), instead of throwing loopholes all over the place. :-/

i like that you said hiding is your best bet! lol that thanos is amazing. you should do one on thanos prime! i see him as just as big a threat.

Im confused on this point. How is Thanos able to use phasing/teleport after being carried by kite man? he only gets that free action after rolling, and he only gets to roll after using phasing/teleport, which he cant use after being carried.

So the power on Thanos reads: Phasing/Teleport. When Thanos uses it, after resolutions roll 2d6. If the result is greater than the amount moved, this turn he has "FREE: Make an attack."

• Thanos can use Phasing/Teleport to move for any amount less than or equal to his speed value, then roll 2d6.
• 0 or 1 square(s) is less than Thanos' speed value.
• The minimum amount of a 2d6 roll is 2
• Thanos will always roll greater than 1 or 0, thus triggering his "if the result is greater."
• Thanos' "if the result is greater" gives him a FREE that he can activate at any time that turn--including after being carried.

So Thanos 'ports for 0 or 1, rolls, succeeds, THEN gets carried, THEN activates his Free. Takes the chance out of it, and enables you to do shenanigans with Overdrive or etc.

If Thanos' power read "If the result is greater than the amount moved, he may make an attack at no cost," he'd have to make the attack immediately after using Phasing/Teleport. Buuuuut it doesn't. -_-;;

It's exactly the same issue as the 2016 LE Doc Ock, who had to take a POWER to remove his Tentacle Pair tokens, but could then use Flurry as FREE at any time during the turn, which is why he became Meta.

But using Phasing/Teleport, even to move 0 squares, still requires a MOVE action, doesn't it? So he can't use Phasing/Teleport after being carried, which means he can't activate the FREE action.

Unless I'm missing something, which is quite possible.

EDIT: forgot that you could be carried AFTER making a move, which makes sense. And also means that I didn't read Bobcat's post as closely as I should have.

Ah gotcha. Thanks mate. The doc le i got cuz it was just a free action so it was used post carrying. I didnt realize the ability wasnt immediate. That makes this figure way stronger.

So......basically we just hope Thanos rolls critical misses all the time?

That's just......wrong. 😞 Looks like they may have to errata him so he has to attack IMMEDIATELY after his Teleport, or perhaps make it a single action that has to resolve completely so a taxi cannot interrupt it?

he's 200pts. while he's very potent, i doubt ppl will roll with him. no errata needed. if he was 150 with that same dial and traits, then yeah. as is, he's too rich for the current state of clix. especially with no seeing through stealth.

We'll have to see, he's solid on his own, but a big part if why Doc Ock was so good is that he was low points and left a lot of room for support and other attackers in addition the damage he could do. I don't think it will replace Uni-Mind or GK, but might see some level of competitive play.

If you've whittled him down to click 6 then you're in good shape, or at least have a fighting chance. But keep in mind he'll change to close combat tactics to make use of the Steal Energy + Colossal Stamina combo. Stealth will still be valuable as he won't be able to Outwit you, but just be ready for him to get in your face and keep up the pressure.

I didn't realise the hidden power of tthis beast, thank you for the article. This thanos reminds me a bit the old 267 points one but trades penetrating damage and outwit for move/attack

Agreed--he's way better in Sealed than he is in Constructed, what with his Mad Titan trait. Also agreed that I was a bit too hyperbolic in dropping the E-word (errata); I'm just bummed to see the same wording issue that made LE Ock so annoying rear its head again.