There is one use, and really one use for Houd. As Apocalypses horseman, so you can use his "you appear more worthy" power and force your opponent to use Hound.

Yes, Rachel is watered down for nearly half her dial due to Earthbound/Neutralized, but many are missing the fact that she has an 8 range and no Battle Fury. She's designed to start out soft and progressively get a little better when damaged (ex: Maelstrom). You could easily spend just as many points-- or more-- for much worse: Brother Blood or Hypertime Rookie Superman; both of which could barely crack Toughness from range, and are completely useless at the end of their dials.

I'm wondering why Hound is thought to be so bad. Yes, in modern games, her attack values are poor. But if you look at last 6 clixs, are they really that much worse than her Phoenix counterpart? One less clix, one less target, one less super senses and less psychic blast, but she gets mind control, more TK, running shot and one click of 12 attack. Wouldn't that be about 80 points worth for what is basically a Supernova piece? And the front 4 clicks of incap, TK and CCE, even with earthbound, is got to be worth 40 points. So, yes she's over costed, maybe. But incap and TK and mind control make her pretty good in the correct hands. I do think that she should have 2 starting lines and 2 costs (maybe I can talk my location at allow a house rule for it), but I don't think she's as bad as people claim.

I was making like a Sentinel team to play against my cousin's X-Men and remembered this figure. Didn't remember the cost though.

Maybe one day in a 100000000000 point game I'll find a way to push her to click 5 and give her stealth but until then I'll stick with Sentinel Troopers