Im pretty new to this...

when looking at older pieces.. EG Con artist

they have one click with nothing special

then on the second click ... a power (perplex)

Im assuming that I have to push them to get to that part of the dial ??

pretty much.

or use the phone booth special object (if you're using the con artist, i'm guessing you playing Golden Age..)

Con artist: 12 point filler, a cheap perplex, and mastermind fodder for darkseid

What does the phone booth object do ?

free action to give 1 damage to a figure

Any character that can swap or create special objects-- to create a Phone Booth-- works great with AC characters.

Going the feat route, Darkness Within is another way to both enhance a friendly attacker and push past the starting click.

Or play a figure with the Crime Syndicate TA and you get a free probability control.