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 closer look and cover our ears as we try to avoid the Sonic Scream of the Banshee!

Click "Full Story" below as we analyze this popular figure and Exploit his 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.

Today we focus on a figure that has been very popular since its release. From countless local tournament wins, to multiple ROC victories, and an ROC World Championship, this figure has been a constant on so many teams. Let's look below at what makes Banshee so great:



Things that tell me I need to be careful:

- 14 Square Threat Range
- Penetrating / Psychic Blast
- Super Senses
- "Echolocation"
- "It's Going to Get a Little Loud"
- "Sonic Scream"

Exploiting Banshee's Weaknesses

Similar to SR Nick Fury, Banshee can ignore Hindering and Elevation for LoF purposes. So our best way to combat this is via blocking terrain or meat shields. Banshee has a couple good keywords to build around and in Modern Age play he can gain a Lantern Corps keyword, making him a good candidate to be on a Theme Team. Map choice may not be as easy, especially if you choose to forgo Theme yourself. Providing you get the chance, pick a map with some blocking but not so much that it hurts your own strategy. Be careful as he could run up his full movement and have your side of the map cover by his "Loud" trait and hide behind blocking at the same time. However, blocking has the added benefit of hindering Banshee's ability to use the 14 square threat range so he isn't attacking you and using the trait at the same time. Running Shot with high movement and range has always been a killer. Add in Telekinesis and he can cover almost the entire map if it is open enough. Blocking will help limit this danger. Barrier again gets a special mention here due to the ability to add blocking to almost any map!

Outwit is going to be huge against Banshee. Every single one of his powers can be outwitted which makes him less of a threat. This is very important for "Sonic Scream", Running Shot, Psychic Blast, and Super Senses. Sure some other powers can be outwitted (or even his flight) but these are the main issues. Pack a few outwits or someone that grants multiple uses and you are doing a good job in shutting down Banshee.

Precision Strike will also be good here. He only has Super Senses so packing this power is a smart choice. What's difficult to predict is if he is Possessed by a Lantern Entity. If he is, most likely the power picked will be a Damage Reducer to bolster the defense. Precision Strike grants you at least 1 damage, unless he is able to get Invincible.

Staying outside his 14 threat range can be tough, but even tougher is staying outside a 12 square threat range. Reason being is the "It's Going to Get a Little Loud". This power requires him to be within 6 squares and doesn't apply to only him. We see by reading this that all opposing characters within 6 squares of him cannot use Invincible, Impervious, or Invulnerability and replaces it with Toughness. They also cannot use Super Senses! He is able to take away every good damage reducer / avoid-er in the game if you get too close. I'm not going to tell you to avoid using these powers because that's just dumb. They will be good to use in countless situations. Rather, we need to keep our distance just as before. Banshee can dish out an extra damage if he is taking away your powers via this trait so this is the most important thing. Using that Blocking like before is good but so is blocking LoF with other, less important characters. If you can get it to work without a major risk to your team, try to get rid of him with a good Alpha Strike but remember he is only 1/3 of your opponent's build in a standard game and he can heal via X-Men TA. Getting him with 6 damage as fast as you can will help turn the tide in your favor. As always, over extending can be detrimental if not done properly but if you can set up outside his threat range and then run in and KO him in one turn, that is going to be your best aggressive play. If you like to play on the edge of out of control, throw in some Telekinesis to get the first strike and see if the other team can deal with what you brought to the table. Not always the best move but can put your opponent behind the 8-Ball early.

Sonic Scream is what is going to throw a wrench into our plans if we aren't careful. This allows him to ignore and destroy the blocking terrain we may be hiding behind with a Pulse Wave attack. The good thing is this is at the cost of a Double Power Action so it will take some setting up. If we keep our team mobile enough, we can make sure the likelihood of Sonic Scream going off is very low.

Energy Shield Deflection / Defend / Perplex are going to be 3 good powers against Banshee. His high Attack Value of 11 top dial is the highest it gets on the dial and he is most deadly on his first click. The more powers we can use to increase our defense is very beneficial. Standard defense values are around 18 these days. Banshee only needs a 7 to hit, 58% chance to do so. If we can increase that 18 to a 19 with perplex, or a 20 using ESD, or even 21 with both, he now has 41.6%, 27.8%, and 16.6% chances respectively to hit. Those aren't very high initially. You can bet Banshee will have a Probability Control on his team to help out or even a Possession stat boost to increase that attack. But the more we do on our end, the easier it is to make the opponent waste stat boosts on attack strength rather than damage value. This is the key to longevity and surviving your match. Defend is a unique one that can really help out your team, especially with any meat shields you are using. This can make even the smallest figure difficult to deal with. If you used a figure like Captain Marvel Prime, you will get an 18 defense and automatic +1 as well (as long as they don't have the Kree keyword). I don't like mentioning specific figures to counter but this one gets a special mention due to a soft spot in my heart for it but also because it shows a great way to use defend to your advantage.

On the other side of that we have Combat Reflexes. Couple this in a tie up figure and Banshee won't be able to get away easily. This is nice if you want to play aggressively and keep Banshee from getting in range of the rest of your team. The increase in defense will be harder for him to hit and if you place yourself correctly, the rest of his team won't have a good shot on you. Swarms can also be good for similar reasons but also limits the figures he is able to target. You zerg rush him with a bunch of Ant Bystanders or SHEILD Grunts and he will need to take some time to get away from them or get rid of them, protecting you from further attacks for the foreseeable future.

Special note to PD TA. Because of this TA, he can help his ranged friendlies hit you by reducing your defense by 1 so just be careful about how the opponent sets up Banshee in relation to the other figures and don't be caught off guard by that -1 to your defense.

So, what are we doing to Banshee?

- Map with blocking terrain to help mitigate the threat range and his improved targeting.

- Using other characters to block line of fire to keep our important pieces safer.

- Outwit to take away any of his powers, especially the Running Shot and Psychic Blast.

- Precision Strike will bypass his Super Senses only defense and will allow us to clip his wings quickly.

- Keeping distance until you can make a good, hard strike on him will be essential for controlling the game.

- Defense Modifiers are good against his high Attack, providing you with extra turns to deal with him.

- Swarms can make it difficult for him and the rest of his team to maneuver and take shots at your main attacker.


How do these tactics help or hinder us against the rest of his team or other teams during the same tournament?

- Map choice is huge, as stated multiple times in my previous articles. Blocking can hamper many teams, yours included. Just be careful and really look at the teams you face and determine what their weakest map would be.

- Other teams usually can't ignore characters for line of fire either. But just like map choice, meat shielding is reserved for teams you face that require using this tactic.

- Outwit is huge against so many figures so please do yourself a favor and use at least 1 on your teams, you won't regret it!

- Precision Strike is another one. I recently went to a tournament that I couldn't hit a few of their figures because I had no Precision Strike or Outwit and he had nothing but Super Sense figures left that kept avoiding my attacks. This power is good against damage reducers too so pack it in!

- Keeping your distance is always good. You want to plan and maneuver around the map to get the first strike as often as possible. It is no different playing against a Banshee team or a Superman team. Keep your distance until the opportunity presents itself.

- Defense modifiers have been important as of late, especially defend. With Nighthawk Prime being able to shut off positive modifiers or Outsiders TA doing the same thing, using Defend will help increase the stats artificially. Even when you don't face either of these types of figures, you will see an immediate benefit to modifying the defense as much as possible.

- Swarms can be picked apart by figures with multiple targets or multiple attackers. Sometimes swarms can work and sometimes they don't. Just look at what you want to do and how that relates to the scene of players you will be facing.

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

honestly. I need help using him properly, not beating him. The issue is he's one of the few characters I have who is actually good enough to make this list. Since I'm the rookie at my venue though, everyone else long ago memorized his clix and as such while they all know how to beat him, I not sure I know how to get the most out of him. But I have to agree that all of this extremely effective. another way to defeat him is to use him. I know that sounds kind of stupid but really he takes away the other versions SS. So if you can RS in and get a decent follow up attack (preferably close since he'll have ESD by this point. You can do a knock him out with one turn.

Great article. I love the extra information here. While he's certainly not Nick Fury or Superman, he's definitely a guy you want to get off the board as quickly as possible. I'd also add that he's a good taxi. Grab an Earthbound character and he can drag a firing squad to shoot on alternating turns with him. Use a Tiny character, and he can grab two. But these are all great ways to take him down, leaving the rest of the team largely immobile.

The thing about Banshee is he's less of a one-man army and more of an enabler. Because he shuts down defensive powers without Outwit, he can go through Power Cosmic or similar things. Up front he deals penetrating damage, and if he gets within six squares that allows him to ignore practically everything short of Shape Change and ESD, and 4 penetrating damage is a lot for even heavy hitters when they can't reduce or ignore it. My advice would be to work your way in, and if you can't hit someone with his 12 square swing (for his trait), draw them in by waiting until you can. He's squishy, but try to play a map with elevated to keep him out of line of fire. Earthbound characters can't run up it easily, and most characters can't shoot around it. Also, try to coordinate his attack to attacks from other characters. If my Invincible has been reduced to Toughness, I don't want to take 4 damage from Banshee, but I especially don't want to take another 7 from a rampaging Hulk with an Ultra-Heavy. And if you have him as part of a firing squad, he can lower their defense for you too.

For me, the first things I look at are fixing his weaknesses:

(1) No willpower.
(2) No damage reducers (not a big deal).
(3) "Only" an 11 attack.

And, much like every other character, he can be fixed by a resource. Give him the Book of the Skull. Then, he can get a willpower hammer, which increases his attack value, and gives him a damage reducer (if only toughness). All his problems solved. Plus, if the opponent tries to use blocking terrain (as mentioned in the article), well just give someone else Kuurth's hammer and watch them destroy it all just by moving.

Then, everything else is just typical strategy issues. Use TK or not? How many other attackers can you fit on the team (as many as possible is good because he eliminates so many defenses that you want to take advantage of that), etc.

Do TW Superman for the next article.

I am a new player and posts like this are super-helpful. Thanks!

You're welcome! I'm glad I could be of some help. I feel this article missed most of the player base due to the fact Banshee is seen a lot and are tired of seeing it pop up, even if it is in an article. Most seasoned players know what to do against Banshee these days but I couldn't pass on this one as it would help newer players, which I guess is you!

Maybe...I have some other things already lined up but will take a stab at it if the need arises!

I can't wait to see what you do next. Zombie Team Base or even something like Red Tornado would be fun to read down the road.

I think more on the new nighthawk prime and balls of fury would be interesting. My venue is like no one there is serious but me so I find it hard to pin what is "meta" but I think I heard those are and me and a friend have the nick fury... But it's your article, im just saying if you weren't already going to anytime soon those are possible ideas maybe. And honestly, I hate all mention of banshee... cuz I sold mine like a retard when I was newer and broke, I wanted more deadlock boosters instead for stupid uncommon deadpool, whom I ordered after 14 deadpool packs and not even a zombie, cable, superior Spiderman... I hate my life again

Oh snap, you did a nick fury one already, sorry, hadn't seen it. gtg read it though