The Leader of the crew, the owner of LexCorp and one of the smartest men in the DC Universe, Lex Luthor is an interesting model that is pretty decently balanced in his 2nd edition incarnation. Someone who was very underpowered in 1st edition due to being severely overcosted, he has been given a major point reduction as well as a buff and is now a choice to consider.
Offensive
Lex isn't really a direct offence model, so he has nothing to help his attack (and at strength 5+ attack 3, he doesn't want to be attacking anyway). Kryptonite is a trait that would potentially greatly increase his chances, but as there are currently no Kryptonians in the game it is irrelevant.
He does however pack a couple of debuff traits that can catch an opponent off guard, and even provide him with a great counter to Magic and Mind Control through Intimidate. This lets him completely shut down SC being spent (and thus Magic and Mind Control being used among other things) and at 8" range is fairly reliable to get off. He also had Goad, which he can use to pull models out of position and get them off objectives, all for 1SC and a failed willpower roll (and he can shut down rerolls to willpower through Intimidation).
Defensive
Lex is pretty squishy for a leader of his cost, not having anything over Falcone or Maroni in his statline, and lacking Protect Me! as a defensive ability is noticeable. However he does have Energy Field which gives him an extra 5+ save against shooting and can work wonders in protecting him against sniper fire especially. He does still very much want Bodyguard models though to keep him safe, and as such The Tailor from the Ventriloquist set is a great take with him.
Overall
Lex as a support piece is pretty much his primary role, and he has a suite of traits to play around with in supporting his own crew and denying his opponent's. The always great combo of Mastermind, Grand Strategist and Exhaustive Planner lets him pretty easily dominate the pre-game phase (and only gets worse in Society with things like Ra's or Captain Cold added), while Lord of Business adds $500 extra to the crew's funding pool, which is very helpful with the expensive Heavy Trooper, equipment or even taking ranged free agents like Deadshot. Leadership is a nice bonus against things like Hypnotise or Joker Gas Canisters, but can't be fully relied upon with lower willpower henchmen due to the natively low chance of success. His other major trait that affects his crew is Absolute Power, which lets him take henchmen with the Cop trait (those being in Brave and the Bold, which I have covered the standard, eternal and DKR box options previously) thus opening a lot of list options for him, but also doubles the range of his Inspire, giving him an 8" bubble instead of the normal 4" and lets his crew spread out a bit more and benefit from his buffs.
Scientific is both a positive and negative on Lex, because he does have somewhat of a use for it with his various control abilities and Inspire. However, it means he gives up 7VP on casualty, which is a big thing (but not as big as the 8VP he used to give up with Invaluable)
Adaptable should be mentioned here instead of above, just because it boosts his various abilities a lot. A buff that he was given with his 2nd edition update, it primarily lets him become defence 4 and thus harder to kill (although the attack bump can be good in the Warsuit).
Lex also has the "option" of taking his Warsuit as an upgrade card. This upgrade is amazing, and for what it does to Lex (that is, make him a flying tank and decent melee threat) it is almost always worth taking. It gives him the same trio of traits as his henchmen (namely Cybernetic, Medium Armour and Reinforced Gloves) but also Fly, which is a great speed boost to an otherwise slow leader (and can help him get out of bad situations) and Unstoppable, which combined with the 2+ strength of the Warsuit and Reinforced Gloves turns Lex into a decent henchman beater, pretty reliably being able to KO lower defence/endurance enemies. The 5 endurance the Warsuit has is pretty tough to crack as well between the Medium Armour and Lex's native Energy Field, giving an extra layer of defence against the traditional answer to most Armour (that being high RoF ranged attacks).
The LexCorp Troopers are all effective, if expensive, henchmen that are great ways to add some tanky(ish) bodies to an Organised Crime crew. They all have the same statline and come down to smaller changes between them to affect cost, but they are all worthwhile for different reasons.
Offensive
All 3 have attack 3, strength 4+ and Reinforced Gloves, which is pretty great for henchmen even at their cost. They all have different tools to put them into different roles, however, and only one will use the Reinforced Gloves often.
LexCorp Trooper 1 is the one who will be using his Gloves above all else, as he brings Close Combat Master for rerolls to hit and can punch above his weight pretty effectively. It gives him a degree of consistency to his offence that helps a lot in any crew
LexCorp Trooper 2 is the second melee model of the lot, and has an Electric Blade to play with instead of his fists. This blade is pretty much a straight upgrade for him, wounding on 3s from Mechanical, doing blood/stun damage and having built-in Unstoppable in the form of Crushing (so each attack needs 2 blocks to remove). Doing better damage, and more reliably, there is never any reason to use his Reinforced Gloves unless the incredibly unlikely happens and his blade is stolen. It also has the benefit of crit:Stun from Electric (and some bonuses vs Bot models)
LexCorp Trooper 3 is the only one that costs funding, but this is because of the gun he has. His Hand Cannon is a single shot short ranged Beam weapon, which may not seem that huge but it is triple blood damage and 3 ammo for $300, which is great value, and it has built in Push. This lets him force models out of position simply by hitting, and the ability to do it at range with penalties to Ping against it is fantastic.
Defensive
Defence 3, endurance 4 is not good, that much is obvious. However, they all benefit from Cybernetic and Medium Armour, meaning they have +1 to block rolls, they are at a -2 penalty to be wounded, and can reroll their recovery rolls if KO. They have the tools to stay on the table if needed, but a dedicated effort will easily take them out of action. If you're looking to face these guys, chipping them down with ranged attacks will work very well (only need to hit to start stacking stun, and 4 or less on 2d6 is unlikely even with a reroll). Otherwise simply overwhelming them with weight of attacks can be successful, because with most "combat" models doing double damage you can fish for 6s fairly easily anyway.
Overall
The only thing still worth noting is LexCorp Trooper 2 having Follow Me! which helps speed up the traditionally slow OC, and in Lex crews helps the movement 2 henchmen greatly.
Their willpower of 5 is notable, but at their cost it is expected more than anything.
Offensive
Getting a bump in his attack and strength stats compared to the regular troopers (attack 3 to 4, strength 4+ to 3+) he is better at punching things than they are (excepting the rerolls to hit on LexCorp Trooper 1) but where he really shines is his shooting. The Laser Cannon weapon is a pretty amazing ranged attack, and can really mess up all manner of targets pretty reliably. Doing double blood at medium range, it also has RoF4 and 3 ammo to let it shoot consistently and often, while Beam sets it to 2+ to wound and -2 to Ping, meaning what he hits will most likely do damage. The other thing of note on it is Assault:2 which gives it a degree of mobility, and lets him get stuck in far quicker while still shooting.
Defensive
Same as the others, but with some slight differences to reflect the size change. Large gives him a penalty to Ping, his defence is a very low 2, but his endurance goes up to 6. Overall it means he is significantly harder to kill against melee models, but against guns he will still be very easily shot at (he's basically as good as a Bulletproof Vest before equipment)
Overall
Willpower 5 for his cost is on the lower end, but comparable to most other big hitters like Damian and big Borgon, and as a gun piece with fairly low stats he doesn't need to max out attack all the time. At movement 2 with Large he is about average in terms of movement, but with equipment (mentioned below) he becomes very quick and dangerous.
Having Invaluable as a trait offsets his huge role in the crew, and means he nets an opponent an extra VP when he dies. This means he will need to play smart and safe, but he can do a ton of work.
Equipment Options
As many Leaders do, Lex doesn't only add funding to his crew but he also adds new equipment options, adjusting how his crew may play. Jump-Pack as a piece of equipment is expensive at $400, but with Lex adding $500 this is offset a bit, and giving one or two of the LexCorp Troopers the Fly trait is a huge bonus in speed and can be a great help in general. It can only be taken on models that have the Cybernetic trait, so only the LexCorp models, but it is great on them anyway.
Most of your equipment in this crew is going on the Heavy Trooper, just because he is absolutely insane with a few things. Silencers are always really good to counter Acrobat, and Magazine keeps him shooting for 4 turns (but is also still good on Trooper 3). Jump-Pack helps his movement in huge ways, letting him pretty much reach anything with his guns at will, while Kevlar Vest or Bulletproof Vest keep him a lot safer when he is taking damage, stacking with his Medium Armour to make him a real pain to deal with.
Strategies
With Lex giving 2 extra Strategy Points, the crew has a lot to play around with. It largely just depends on playstyle, but I also want to mention the OC specific strategy Payday. At the cheap cost of 1 poitn, in effect it gives an extended Assassin:1 to henchmen in the crew, with an extra VP granted for making Leaders, Free Agents or Sidekicks casualties. In a crew like LexCorp where you not only have an abundance of Strategy Points but also henchmen that are big hitters like the Heavy Trooper, you can pretty well rely on it paying off. I would almost always take this unless the opponent only has a single Leader on the table and just henchmen, and against Teams especially this is guaranteed to be taken because it is a big gain for its low cost.
Great ideas for the heavy trooper! Thanks
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