Feel like everyone around you has a leg up in tactics? Experience may be the best teacher, but we want to help you shape up your strategy. Heroclix has a lot of rules, which also means a lot of loopholes, synergies, and restrictions. Knowing what those are and more tactically practical ways to exploit them can help you see the game in new ways and come up with your own variations. It’s not quite meta, but it’s still Practically Tactical!

Previous Synergy Articles:

Movement
Attack
Defense
Miscellaneous

For my last article on basic synergy, we're going to talk about something that doesn't normally get a lot of attention: Team Abilities. Please note, that some Team Abilities do the same thing as other Team Abilities, so I kind of lumped them together. If you're looking for something specific for reference CTRL + F is your friend. Otherwise, everything should be alphabetical based on the first TA that causes a specific effect. This might read a little more like a reference work than most of what I write, but it's a lot of material, and it's very often ignored.

2000 AD

At any time during the game, you may declare an opposing team or character as your target. Once the character or team is chosen, it may not be changed. All characters using the 2000 AD team ability increase their attack value by 1 when attacking the chosen team or character.

This TA increases your attack against specific opponents, so it works well with other attack powers to increase your chances of dealing damage.

Arachnos / Crossgen / Kaiju / Mystics

When a character using the "X" team ability takes damage
from an attack, the attacker is dealt 1 unavoidable damage. This damage is not
an attack.

This TA forces your opponent to take damage for damaging your characters. Sadly, most Mystics tend to be glass cannons, though this is less of a problem for Kaiju and Arachnos. The best synergy for this are damage reducers like Impervious or Invincible or STOP clicks. The idea is you want to take damage, but you want them to take as many hits as possible in killing you. Again, most Mystical characters tend to have it rough with those powers, but another good option is Regen or Support, which allows you to retroactively heal damage back, forcing your opponent to take more damage in trying to hurt you again.

Ascendent

A character using this team ability modifies its attack value by +1 when marked with one action token.

This TA increases your attack when you have an action token. Needless to say it works well with attack powers AND Willpower.

Assassins

Characters using this team ability can use Stealth. When a close combat attack by an opposing character misses this character and the attack roll is doubles, you may place an action token on this character and deal the attacker 1 damage.

This grants Stealth, so it works with abilities like Combat Reflexes and other powers that synergize with Stealth. It also has a side benefit of giving you an option to deal damage to characters when they miss you. Use Evasion powers like Super Senses or Prob Control to keep your opponent from even wanting to attack this guy. Willpower is also useful for keeping that extra action token from hurting you.

Avengers /Justice League /Brotherhood of Mutants / Top Cow

When you give a character using the "X"
team ability a move action, it does not count toward your available actions
for the turn.

These TAs work by not counting move actions against your action total. Keep in mind that's only a move action so moving through powers like Running Shot or Hypersonic Speed won't work. This power works better for swarm teams where you otherwise have more characters than your action total. Unfortunately, Justice League and Avengers characters tend to be a little bigger, so it's less useful when your team includes a 200 point Hulk and a 150 point Iron Man. Brotherhood characters not named "Magneto" tend to be smaller, and work a little better here. Additionally, any mobility powers can also help synergize here.

Avengers Initiative / Superman Ally / Ultimates

Characters using the "X" team ability treat
hindering terrain as clear terrain for movement and line of fire purposes.

Now this is a good Avengers/Justice League TA. This allows you to ignore Hindering for movement AND targeting, so it's great for ranged teams or teams that otherwise have trouble getting around the map. It has a side benefit of shutting down Stealth based teams, making the Batman TA a little obsolete for opponents. Make sure to look in to maps with plenty of Hindering, because what you find easy to deal with might still trip up your opponents.

Batman Ally / Kabuki

A character using the "X" team ability can use
Stealth.

This grants a Stealth power that's typically un-Outwittable, so it helps keep you protected. It also allows you full dial Stealth without having to take up a movement slot, so it's pretty great. Works well with anything that helps Stealth teams, like Combat Reflexes, Improved Movement: Hindering, or even powers like Poison.

Batman Enemy / Sinister Syndicate

Characters using the "X" team ability may
replace their attack value with the unmodified attack value of an adjacent
friendly character using the "X" team ability.

This is more of an ability to build a team around. The idea is you want one or two characters with this TA and a high attack, and the rest of the characters don't have to worry so much about their attack. Keep in mind that characters need to be adjacent, so it works well for powers like Carry (to keep people together), adjacency powers like Defend, Empower, or Enhancement, or just attack powers in general.

Borg

When a ship using this team ability hits an opposing ship, place 1 Assimilation token on the target.

Assimilation Tokens: When a ship would be healed, you may instead remove 1 Assimilation token for each click of damage it would be healed. When action tokens are removed from a ship, roll a d6 and on a result of 5-6, remove an Assimilation token.

Adding Assimilation Tokens doesn't do a lot in an of itself, but most of the Borg ships also have Traits and Powers that trigger off of Borg tokens. Needless to say, you need to build specifically Borg fleets to get the most out of it, and even then it's more dependent on what you're using.

BRPD / Calculator / Freedom Phalanx / Legion of Super Heroes / Minions of Doom/ Snowfall / Spider-Man

Characters using the "X" team ability are wild
cards.

Wild Card TAs are a really good way to fill an otherwise strong team. Mystics might be glass cannons in general, but Minions of Doom might open your build up to something beefier. Or hell, toss a Mystic with a couple hundred points of this.

icB003 Mary Jane Watson-Parker
Team: Spider-Man
Range: 0
Points: 5

7 6 14 .

KO KO KO KO

Pair a guy with the Fantastic Four TA with a bunch of smaller, more expendable guys to keep him healed. Just set it up so that these guys compliment whatever else you're building, and it can really open up the possibilities, especially for TAs that have very limited build options. Additionally, keep in mind that you can only copy a TA as long as someone else on your team can use it naturally. This means that Wild Cards are a little less valuable in this sense than the person they're copying, so it's better to keep the original out of harm's way unless it's necessary for something else. Also keep in mind that not EVERY TA can be copied, so it's something to double check when you're team building. Otherwise, go nuts and remember there's a lot of good combos with wildcards your opponents might not see coming.


Coalition of Ordered Government

When this character makes a ranged combat attack, after actions resolve it may move up to 3 squares as a free action if they end the move occupying hindering terrain or adjacent to blocking terrain or a wall. Uncopyable.

This power allows you to make a ranged combat attack and then move up to 3 squares provided you find cover. This is a great power for Ranged teams, and it works well for maps with a lot of Hindering, Blocking, and to a lesser extent Elevated terrain to fire from ledges. It also pairs well with Sidestep or Running Shot so you can move, attack, and then move back. Also, if all else fails, Barrier and Smoke Cloud can get you the cover you need to move behind.

Council of the Mists

A character using this team ability can use Probability Control, but only during your turn and if the reroll does not have at least one die with a 1 or 6, the reroll is ignored.

This is a very limited form of Probability Control, and would work in places where you didn't bring a lot of Probability Control.

Covenant Empire

When a character that is using the team ability is given a move action, it can use the CARRY ability but only to carry characters using the team ability. It can carry up to two characters if both also have a lower point value. Uncopyable.

Because this mostly only helps other Covenant, it really only helps taxi around members of one team. The usefulness here is that many of the Covenant (and the Halo set in general) are lower points, so being able to Carry up to 2 characters at a time helps get them around. It also helps create a meat shield around important characters It also creates situations where you can alternate who is Carrying people around so that your team can stay mobile while half your team clears or fires before being Carried.

Crime Syndicate

Characters using the Crime Syndicate team
ability can use Probability Control. When a roll is ignored because of this
team ability an action token must be placed on a friendly character on the
battlefield or the roll is not ignored. Uncopyable.

This is largely Probability Control with action tokens, which makes it less useful than ordinary Prob Control, but more useful than theme Prob. This should work with most of the things that ordinary Prob Control will, but if you're worried about the action token, remember than any character can be given the action token, not just the one using the TA. This makes it great for support characters who otherwise don't take a lot of non-free actions, or even bystanders that had nothing else to do. Overall, it's a great TA, and it's easy to see why characters like Atomica are so common in meta circles.



Crusade

All attack rolls made by characters using the Crusade team ability that result in doubles (except two 1s) cause knock back equal to the attacking character’s damage value.

The nice thing about this power is that even misses will cause knockback. It's useful if you want to reorganize your oppoenent, but still want to try to attack them. Otherwise, it's overall a little less useful than Force Blast since the power was modified a few years ago. There's not a lot to say except that you might include some Prob Control to allow you to re-roll if you aren't happy with the result.

Danger Girl / Skrull

This character can use Shape Change, but only succeeds on a
roll of 6. Using Shape Change in this way does not prevent the character
from using Shape Change through another game effect.

This is basically a bonus version of Shape Change. The nice thing is that it doesn't stop you from using regular Shape Change, but the unfortunate thing is that this version is only half as effective. It still works really well to create an additional barrier your opponent has to get through to get past in order to hit you, and works with most of the same things that ordinary Shape Change works with.

Defenders / Justice Society

Characters using the "X" team ability may
replace their defense value with the unmodified defense value of an adjacent
friendly character using the "X" team ability.

This power basically works like Defend but only between characters with the TA. This nice thing here is that it doesn't take up a defense slot, so the character granting the TA can hand it out without leaving themselves exposed. My recommendation is to pair this with a lot of the same things Defend works with, including using a high defense character to pass their defense on to others, and powers like ESD or Combat Reflexes. The trick is finding a setup that works for you. Also, keep in mind that while multiple TAs grant this ability, they don't work together, so your Defenders will only want to work with other Defenders (or wild cards), and won't want anything to do with the Justice Society.

There's more than a few combinations here, like WF 064 Green Lantern with con ex Doctor Fate. Lantern gives Fate his 20 defense, and Fate bumps that up to a 22, and he has Prob Control to make sure you miss. It gets pretty nasty pretty quickly, and it's one of the reasons why KC Green Lantern is one of the most expensive of his Chase set.

Dominion

When a ship using this team ability is knocked out, one friendly ship that shares a keyword or team ability with the KO'd ship may deal 1 penetrating damage to an opposing ship within 2 squares.

Ah....Star Trek Heroclix...even with Attack Wing, I still miss you. This is an ability I wish existed in the regular game, because it's kind of a reverse Suicide Squad or Fantastic Four TA. This allows you to kind of stack additional damage on to opponents when they kill your ships. It would pair well with Mystics characters if you could pair them, but as is, the best synergy probably comes from using smaller ships to trigger this ability more often.

Dominion Pact

When an opposing character within 4 squares is KO'd, characters using this team ability are healed 1 damage.

TAs like this are great for pressing an attack. If you're looking for synergy, the easiest thing to say is to obviously kill more opponents and take powers that let you do that. The next easier thing is to consider rotating characters around so more of your team is healing as someone KOs a piece. The last thing I'd consider is that while the power isn't as good as Willpower, don't hesitate to push characters since they could easily heal it back once their target dies.

Fantastic Four

When a character using the Fantastic Four team
ability is KO’d, each other friendly character using the Fantastic Four team
ability may be healed of 1 damage. If all remaining characters using the team
ability are KO’d as par t of the same action, this team ability can’t be used.

The number implies you should use 4 characters, but really I'd fit as many as you could get on here. It's mostly a silver lining when one of your characters dies, but just try to rotate characters around as targets to try and maximize the number of people who are healing when one of them dies. Additionally, don't be afraid to push other characters as your opponents start zeroing in on someone else to kill. At the very least, you'll heal back the cost of pushing them.

Federation

When a ship using this team ability is attacked by a ship with one or more action tokens, modify this ship's defense value by +1. Uncopyable.

Hey, a +1 defense when someone has an action token is nothing to turn your nose at. Great power to work with things like Prob Control or ESD to make your ships more difficult to hit. It also could work with Incap if you wanted to raise the difficulty for hitting you. The nicest thing here is that most ships in the Star Trek line have very modest values, so raising defense by one can make a larger difference than a standard Heroclix game.

Federation Away Team

Once per game per character, when this character occupies your starting area, you may give another character with the Federation keyword a power action and place this character within 12 squares of its current square. Uncopyable.

You need to team build very specifically for it with an extremely small group of characters, but the cool thing here is that it's basically a super TK. 12 squares? Just think about that because it basically means that Spock can Exploit Weakness with a 13 square Reach or that Kirk can use EE from 22 squares away. Make sure to use it with powers like TK to keep your other characters nearby, or to combine it with powers like Perplex to make sure your Away Team member is a force to be reckoned with when they beam out.

Federation Support Team

Once during each of your turns, you may give a character that can use this team ability a power action to use Perplex, but only to target a character with the Federation keyword. This Perplex may be used in addition to other uses of Perplex by this character.

I was just talking about Perplex! So, this is obviously just a Perplex that requires a power action. Try to work in some Leadership because if you have 2 or 3 guys trying to do this, you can hit your action limit really easily without meaning to. Additionally, this has a neat synergy with the Away Team TA, since you can give Spock like a 6 damage before you beam him out to Exploit Weakness a character from 13 squares away with improved Prob.

Founders

At the beginning of your turn, choose a single opposing character within line of fire of any one character that can use this team ability; all friendly characters using this team ability modify their attack value by +1 when attacking the chosen target this turn. Uncopyable.

This is a great power to use for firing squads, but also works about as well for close combat characters. Pairs well with most attack powers, and doesn't even require a free action.

Green Lantern Corps

When using the Carry ability, characters
using the Green Lantern Corps team ability may carry up to 8 friendly
characters.

This is an odd duck that most characters who have this TA don't really benefit from using this TA. War of Light gave us more Green Lanterns without the Wing symbol, but it really benefits putting Green Lanterns on non-Lantern teams like the Justice League. Personally, I think this power pairs well with other adjacency powers like Leadership or Defend, especially if that Leadership is on a higher point character being Carried by this guy. Otherwise, it's a really awesome TA for when you want to spend as little as possible to get a bunch of guys around.

Guardians of the Globe

When a character uses this team ability rolls doubles on the dice on a successful attack roll, the target is not knocked back. The attack deals damage normally. If the target has zero or one action token after the attack has been resolved, give the target an action token.

The ability to give someone action tokens instead of knockback is pretty nice, if a little subdued for team building purposes. I'd recommend pairing it with powers like Prob to increase the chances of it happening. It would also work well in swarm teams as you have more opportunities to out-action your opponent.

HYDRA / Pan Pacific Defense Corps / Police

When a character using the "X team ability is adjacent to a
friendly character making a ranged combat attack, modify the target’s defense
value by -1 if the target is within line of fire of this character.

This works best in swarm teams and firing squads, which Hydra and the Police both have an easy time providing. Pair it with attack powers, adjacency powers like Enhancement or Leadership, movement powers like Carry, or even just Improved Targeting: Characters to get the most benefit. It's a really easy power to synergize with, and there's plenty of staple builds for it.


Hypertime

Whenever an opposing character given an action attempts
to move from a non-adjacent square into a square that is adjacent to a
character using the Hyper time team ability, it must roll a d6. On a result
of 1-2, the opposing character cannot move to any square adjacent to the
character using this team ability that turn. Characters using this team ability
ignore them on opposing characters.

This is a fun power for characters that like to keep their distance, so it pairs well with Range powers and powers like Hypersonic Speed or Sidestep to help keep people away from you (which theoretically keeps them from attacking you). Also consider powers that help you breakaway so you can keep that distance and force them to roll against this more often. You might also consider multi-base characters as a way to control more terrain for your own team. Stand a 2x2 colossal in front of the rest of your team, and your opponents might not even be able to get within 3 squares of you.

Injustice League

Whenever a character using the Injustice League
team ability attacks an opposing character that was attacked by another
character using the Injustice League team ability this turn, the action does not
count toward your available actions for the turn.

This is better for swarm teams, as it allows you to make attacks past your action limit. Positioning doesn't really matter, but powers that benefit groups of people would help many of the same people that this TA would. Additionally, consider that characters with multiple targets can trigger the ability on multiple characters if you want to attack more than one character with the ensuing onslaught. Keep in mind the character just needs to be attacked, not dealt damage, so you don't need to do anything but target them. Also, characters with Outwit or Battle Fury would have an easier time targeting the initial character and getting around Shape Change.

Kingdom Come

Whenever an opposing character given an action attempts to move from a non-adjacent square into a square that is adjacent to a character using the Kingdom Come team ability, it must roll a d6. On a result of 1-2, the opposing character cannot move to any square adjacent to the character using this team ability that turn. Characters using this team ability ignore them on opposing characters.

While this was originally a copy of the Hypertime ability, it was since changed to basically do the exact same thing as Super Senses against ranged combat attacks. It works well with any other powers to keep you on the go, as you don't want people to get adjacent, which ironically means that it went from being a copy of Hypertime to synergizing with Hypertime. It also works with regular Super Senses and powers that work with Super Senses, as long as they still work at range.

Klingon Empire

When an opposing ship KO's a ship using this team ability, other ships using this team ability modify their attacks values by +1 until the end of your next turn. Uncopyable.


This is another good swarm team power, and works off the idea that if one of your characters dies, everyone else gets an attack bonus, which can really help turn things around if you're apparently losing characters.

Locust Horde

This character can use Phasing/Teleport. When it does, after actions resolve you may knock back one adjacent opposing character 1 square. Uncopyable.

This would be a good power for giving someone the Carry ability, but otherwise it's fairly straightforward. It's odd to me that they gave this TA to someone who also has Leap/Climb first click, but at the very least you can...use a close combat attack on a character with a higher elevation? Huh...well, the power works well with Perplex at least to help you get the most out of your movement. It would also work with powers like Carry if you're getting creative. You could even combine it with Outwit to take away an opponent's wing symbol or damage reducers right before you knock them off a cliff or in to a wall.

Mage Spawn

At the beginning of the game, choose a friendly character with the highest point value to be this team's master. If a character using this team ability is within 4 squares of its master when the master would be given a move action, then the character using this team ability may be given a move action as a free action.

This is a really cool ability, and feels almost like an improved version of the JLA/Brotherhood/Avengers TA. It's limited by the people who can use it, but it basically allows you to move your entire team by moving just one. The key thing to note is the Master needs to be given a move action, so this won't synergize with powers like Running Shot or Charge except to say that it'll let the minions make a movement before they use a power like that. Otherwise, it works well with movement powers, and you'll want to give the Master Plasticity, Leap/Climb, or Phasing/Teleport to keep them on the go.

Masters of Evil

When a character using the Masters of Evil team
ability has two action tokens on it, it may still be given a non-free action. If
you do, deal it one unavoidable damage after the action resolves. At the end
of your turn, do not remove action tokens from a character that used this
team ability this turn.

This is basically Colossal Stamina, so it works with a lot of the same things. Make sure to use powers like Perplex or Prob to make sure the extra action isn't wasted, or combine it with healing powers like Support or Regen in order to keep your characters healthy. It also kind of synergizes with Leadership that you can use Leadership to reduce the amount of times you need to use this TA. Willpower also makes the power less painful even if it doesn't help with this TA itself.

Morlocks

See the Additional Team Ability section.

Whenever a character using this team ability makes a close combat attack, modify its attack value by +1 for each other character using this team ability adjacent to both this character and the target. * (0 if the character possesses the Morlocks team symbol)

This is a great power for close combat teams, and would work well with other adjacency powers like Empower or Leadership. Morlocks don't get as much representation as Police or HYDRA, but they have surprising utility in places. Check out this guy



He doesn't look like a lot, but you can choose Charge and Super Strength, and with the Morlock TA, you can get this guy to use Charge and hit for 4 damage with a 12 attack fairly easily with just multiples of this guy. Keep in mind though, that you'd need to use the Morlock ATA in that guy's case, which is identical to the standard Morlock TA.

Outsiders

Give a character using the Outsiders team ability a free
action to choose a character (including itself) within 10 squares and line of
fire. Until the beginning of your nex turn, the chosen character’s combat
values can’t be modified. Uncopyable.

This is a very nice power to keep handy for several reasons. The first is that it kind of counters powers like Perplex, ESD, and Combat Reflexes by eliminating the bonuses they grant. Additionally, it can be used to prevent a stat from going down, such as the -2 to attack associated with Move and Attack.



I mentioned her in a previous synergy article, but I wanted to point out that between her trait and her Move and Attack granted by transporter, she can accumulate a -2 to attack and a -1 to defense for using Hypersonic Speed. With the Outsiders TA, she can ignore both of those things at the cost of also losing the +2 to defense against ranged attacks from ESD. Outsiders doesn't sound like a lot until you really get in to all the things it stops, so keep an eye out here because this power has a lot of synergy with all kinds of things like Duo Attack or even the Working Together ability.


Phoenix Concord

Once per turn when a power or ability of a character using this team ability or an adjacent friendly character would be countered, roll a d6; on a result of a 5-6, the power or ability is not countered.

This is basically a limited form of Outwit protection, so while it doesn't directly synergize with a lot of powers, it can help keep them from getting taken out. It also works well with Outwit since keeping your Outwit protected allows you to Outwit something else instead of needing to reserve it to keep your Outwit free. Since it grants the limited protection to adjacent characters as well, it also works well to draw attention to this guy. Because it's an adjacency power, it works well with other adjacency powers.

Power Cosmic / Quintessence

Characters using the Quintessence team ability can
use Willpower and their powers cannot be countered. Uncopyable.

This is a great power to toss on to a brick. Having Willpower AND Outwit protection is a great thing, and while it doesn't directly synergize with a lot, it's almost a staple for One Man Armies or Tentpole characters, who can drop effectiveness if they lose their powers. I don't feel like I need to sell this power a lot, but it synergizes well with basically anything that keeps your character a threat.

Romulan Star Empire

Before the beginning of the first turn, choose a keyword possessed by an opposing ship for all friendly ships with this team ability; damage dealth by ships using this team ability to ships with the chosen keyword can't be reduced to less than 1. Uncopyable.

Star Trek gets more odd powers, but I like this one. There aren't a lot of high damage reducers in Star Trek, but there's also a lot less ways to get around them. This gives Romulans, especially low point swarm Romulans, a chance to take out some more heavily armored ships, so it works well with other attack powers, as well as cheaper swarm builds.

Serpent Society

See the Additional Team Ability section.

Characters using this team ability can use Phasing/Teleport. *(0 if the character possesses the Serpent Society team symbol)

This is another TA that's also an ATA, so it's a little wonky. Using Phasing/Teleport isn't so bad though, so pair with with Carry or anything else that pairs well with move actions.


SHIELD / United Nations Space Command

Adjacent friendly characters modify their range values by +1.
Give this character a power action and choose an adjacent friendly character.
The chosen character modifies its damage value by +1 while adjacent to this
character and making ranged combat attacks this turn.

This is great for firing squads because it allows your characters to shoot a little farther. It's also good to pair cheap Shield characters with better ranged attackers so you can increase the damage dealt. Pairs well with Penetrating/Psychic Blast, Enhancement, or similar powers. It also works with Running Shot if you get creative with your movement options, the simplest way being to Carry the Shield guy.

Street Fighter

Give this character a power action to move up to 3 squares and then make a close combat attack. Uncopyable.

Why didn't we get more of this??? Gah...my sorrow aside, this is a cool power that allows you to move 3 squares and make a close attack. As such, it works well with other powers that work off of attacks, like Precision Strike (which didn't exist when this TA did) or Steal Energy. It also works with other newer powers, like using Sidestep and Empower to move in to position to help this guy make the attack.

Suicide Squad

When a friendly character adjacent to a character
using the Suicide Squad team ability is KO’d, roll a d6 and subtract 2 from the
result, minimum result 1. After the action is resolved, if this character is not
KO’d, you may heal it of damage equal to the result.

While you need to keep your characters adjacent, this is like an improved version of the Fantastic Four TA, with the added benefit that Wizkids will actually print characters who have it! Jabs aside, keep in mind that the character dying doesn't need this TA, they just need to be next to them. So feel free to keep your Suicide Squad behind an actual Suicide Squad of bystanders or other low cost figures (possibly with Mystics!). It also works to try and spread the damage around between characters, and to not let pushing damage bother you so much. Lastly, it works with other powers that require adjacency, especially ones like Mastermind, where you can force someone to die for you, and then heal from the death. Great TA all around that screams synergy.

Superman Enemy

When two friendly characters that can use the
Superman Enemy team ability are adjacent to each other, the character
with the higher point value may be given a free action to immediately use
Outwit. That character can use Outwit until the beginning of your next
turn, if it cannot use Outwit already and continues to use this ability. If the
two characters have the same point value, their controller chooses which is
treated as the higher point character this turn.

So basically, this allows you to give a bunch of guys Outwit. Obviously, this requires a little team building to make sure 2 or more of these guys are together at any given time. Additionally, it works with other adjacency powers, and especially works with Carry to help keep those characters together. You might also consider things like Improved Targeting: Characters to help you compensate for some of them getting in the way sometimes.

Teen Titans / X-Men

When two friendly characters that can use the "X" team
ability are adjacent to each other, give one of them a power action and roll
a d6. Heal the other character of 1 damage. If the result was 1-4, deal the
character given the power action 1 unavoidable damage.

This ability gives you some healing options, and allows your team to kind of work together to keep themselves fresh. It takes a bit of time, so it's mostly useful in a pinch, but works well with other adjacency powers, especially Leadership to help offset the action tokens given for the transfer. Keep in mind also that this power can be re-rolled, so Prob Control can keep the user a little healthy while they're absorbing the other guy's damage. It can also work with other things like Carry, and it's bound to be more useful now that we can look at our own character's dials.

Templars

When this character has one or more action tokens at the beginning of your turn, as a free action they can modify the attack or defense value of an adjacent friendly character by +1 until your next turn.

This power works well with Willpower since it requires you to have at least one action token. It also works well with other adjacency powers and some attack powers on the other character.

Ultimate X-Men

Once per game per character, a character using
the Ultimate X-Men team ability may choose one opposing character or
all characters possessing a single chosen team ability; this choice can be
made only once per game even if the character has used another team
ability. When this character attacks a chosen character, modify the chosen
character’s defense value by -1.

This is a really cool TA that helps you land shots, so it works better with attack powers and other powers that help you land shots. It really helps with about any build, though I'd still probably favor larger armies to smaller ones as smaller characters tend to need the boost a little more.

Underworld

When a character using the Underworld team ability is
given a move action, it can use the Carry ability, but can only carry characters
using the Underworld team ability; it can carry two friendly characters, if both
also have a lower point value.

This is a great taxi ability, and works well with the typically low point members of Gotham's underworld. Works well with movement powers and Improved Movement specifically.

Vox Populi

When a character using this team ability is marked with an action token and makes an attack, any attack roll of doubles (other than a critical miss) is considered a hit.

This is a really neat power that benefits mostly characters who have a hard time landing shots. It pairs well with Probability Control, to increase either the chance you'll roll doubles to hit or just hit legitimately. It also pairs with Willpower since you need to have an action token before this effect will start triggering.

Watchmen

The combat values of characters using the Watchmen team
ability can’t be modified by opposing characters.

This mostly just prevents opponents from modifying your stats, so it pairs well with most anything offensively or defensively. It works especially well with powers that either make it easier to hit or easier for your opponents to miss, so Perplex, ESD, and Combat Reflexes are all good powers here. It also works with Outwit since protecting your powers AND your stats helps protect you from getting messed with, and helps keep your characters how you want them.


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I avoided talking about ATAs this time around, which might end up being a mini-series in itself. I also avoided any specific examples of unique powers, but there's a lot of them. For example, powers like Mxyzptlk 's Trait would work as well or even better than a standard Prob with TAs like Skrulls, X-Men, or Hypertime. You have to keep a look out for combinations like that on your own, but I hope this list ends up being a helpful reference to people looking to fit TAs in to their synergy.

Good article; it's obvious a lot of work went into this!

I would recommend in any discussion about Power Cosmic / Quintessence what it does provide protection from countering to and what it doesn't. Players often automatically assume that PC/Q figures can't be Outwitted at all, which is of course not true.

If nothing else, pointing out that it is not complete immunity from countering might save the inevitable five minutes in a game when the inexperienced player argues, "You can't use Outwit on me, I have Power Cosmic!"

It's also good to keep all possible TAs in mind for effects such as the Thunderbolts/Legion Lost ATAs or even one of the effects later on Pandora's Box that lets you pick any DC TA. Don't forget about Watchmen!

Very well done, and much needed!

I think it would have helped if the article quoted the wording of each TA. I've used the Locust Horde TA in the past, but I can't remember the details of it at all, for example, so discussing its merits can be awkward.

That said, I wouldn't mention the FF TA without commenting on the only real way to make it work: pushing bystanders using the TA to activate the healing. This means loading up with Alicia Masters (and/or Mary Janes).

Nice article. You should also mention how free movement team abilities like Brotherhood and Avengers work very well with most damage powers. Getting the PC, Outwit, Perplex, Enhancement, or Empower where you need it without costing an action is invaluable. Rookie Black Panther and Destiny were staples for this reason from the onset.

I wish you would have provided links to the actual language of the TA instead of a brief summary. I never remember the "Other" category team abilities since I use them so infrequently and an easy reference would be nice.

Those kinds of debates do come up quite often. I've had more than a few just about the difference between countering something and saying you can't use something.

We'll get to ATAs another time, but yes, I was hoping this would be a good reference for things like that. It was getting really long, and then I realized that ATAs would be much longer, so we'll have to do that later (and probably break it up).

I was originally thinking about it, but the article got really long even without it, so I mostly designed this with the intention that you already picked someone with a specific TA, and you wanted advice on building with it.

I hadn't even considered pushing POGs for FF TA abuse. That's a pretty nifty trick! You could even do something similar with Suicide Squad, and you don't need any specific one, so you could use Pog generators like Rick Jones or Ant-Man.

Nice article! I was amazed to see how many TAs there are when you toss in all the non-Big Two material. "Avengers and Friends" TA will benefit greatly from the new dial design. In my years of play, I've seen this used most for flocks of Mockingbirds and positioning for Destiny's PC.

Odd wording aside, CSA is a wonderful TA -- useful, not overpowered, and with a reasonable cost associated with a very real benefit. It is worth making the point (which came up in a game just yesterday) that the use does not cost an action from your action total, it just grants a token to some other schlub on the team. Hello, Pog Poggington!

Pushing pogs to move zero and KO themselves next to a Squad member is a fabulous source of healing.

So after a couple people requested it, I rethought the TA definitions, and decided that if this is going to be written as a reference material, it might as well be a reference material. They originally told the writers to try and write about 650 words, and this comes in a little under 10x that now, so maybe I'll take a couple months off. A lot of these TAs don't even have a centralized database, so maybe it's for the best. So below each TA is a definition of what the TA does in italics and then my opinions on what works well with it. I hope that helps.

Love this tactic pied piper on a rogues team is one of my current favourites,

Great article as usual. Very helpful info and easy to follow!

When did they remove the beginning of turn limitation from Outsiders?

Also, I didn't realize they changed Ultimate X-Men, as it used to be identical to 2000AD.

I guess it happens when there hasn't been Team Abilities included in PACs for a while, Wizkids.