how useful is THE KEY?

[sierralegend]

In some battles, I like to use THE KEY in my team...

But I notice that almost all of you never mention how useful he is. So can you give me the reason why you dont mention him at all?

Did you found him useless?
Or do you think he is useful?
what s the best 300 pts team to be build around him?
Full of thanks.

Spidey Your

[Spock]

I think he's pretty useful. I have at least one team with him on it in the review section.

I think I use him as more of a support character, though.

[Shadowcloak]

If you surround him with some support he gets really useful. hook him up with guys like clayface,grod, and solomon grundy and look out.. that mind control is an asset.

[Veggiehater]

The Key is pretty good, especially when you are playing pure DC. Against Marvel his 8 range isn't quite as intimidating. Since most people here play Marvel or resort to Bat-pimping, plus the fact that The Key isn't that popular a character to begin with you don't really hear much of him.

Doesn't mean he isn't any good, not too many people talk about the Super Skrull, but that doesn't stop him from being majorly kick @$$! :)

VH

[Shadowcloak]

try him in a mixed scenario with blk.cat (e) Harley Quinn Catwoman/White Queen.. those two together are nasty WQ and Key!! not pretty

[theZehrung]

To some people, the Key is useful...to another, not so useful. As you can see, I have seen one person uses his strategy to eliminate the Key and goes on winning the game. He uses two characters - one to render him useless and another one needs to be pushed (yes, there is a necessary to sacrifice to lose one click) and then pounds him out by inflicting 3 clicks of damage and The Key is eliminated! So it has to depends on how well the person's strategy plan to put the Key out of the game.

[drop19]

I've had bad luck with him for the most part. With his multitude of useful powers my friends usually try to take care of him pretty quickly, and after a couple clicks he loses most of his ability. If super-senses get shut down he's a sitting duck.

That said, I'm curious to try him again after reading this thread....

[Grinner]

It all depends on your play style.

For me he's quite useful. But I'm the only person in our group who regularly uses Mind Control. And Super Senses, for that matter. Our playgroup tends toward heavy hitters. Some of them have tried using the Key and had bad luck with them.

Of course, one of our players has permanently sworn off of mind controllers. He had 2 or 3 mind controllers on his team one week and rolled 3 consecutive critical misses with them. I believe he only managed one successful mind control the entire game.

[Ramplate]

He stood pretty close up against Superman and Hulk in one of my games for quite a while. They found it hard to touch himfor a few rounds while he made one of them throw and engine block at the other.

[Penworthy]

Used Key for my mind control in a tourney two weeks ago and won. He's great in DC, but overall White Queen has him beat. However, he's a pot load cheaper than Darkseid, has lots more range and attack than Mad Hatter and carries MC longer than the ape monkey who is just a flash in the pan.:rolleyes: He can't compete with the xplosion stuff, but in straight DC he does okay. Don't give up on him, but don't use him as your staple game after game either.

[Marshal Law]

IMO The Key is rock solid, I'd put him in the top 3 Uniques in the set at least. Mind Control, Supersenses, Outwit, Incapacitate, range 8, attack factor of 10 for 89 points is rock solid. His point cost is just low enough he doesn't have to stand in as the core figure (possibly even in a 200 point game), which is fortunate given he is a bit too squishy for the role.

As part of a Mind Control squad (with Moondragon - who can both Mind Control and taxi other Mind Controllers - and E White Queen - who I'd disagree outclasses the Key) he stands tall. As a utility figure in a mid-sized game (300-500) that Mind Control plus Outwit/Incapacitate is just about unmatched for the points in being able to lock down any single figure or disrupt an opponent's squad. If he had Perplex or Probability Control, you wouldn't be calling him The Key, you'd be calling him Tool Box.

His defense is a bit low, but oddly combined with Super Senses it gives you a figure that can avoid being hit a fair bit but still be healed easily, while surviving enough punishment to live long enough for the chance. IMO he's one of the few DC figures that can actually swing over to the Marvel genre and hold his own.

[BAKID]

Every time I've played The Key, he's always died really quickly. He has a shallow dial, and his AV drops like a rock. With his super senses outwitted, he's easy to hit, and even 2 clicks of damage will mostly ruin his usefullness. I've had much more sucess with Grodd. He lasts longer, his vet version can be pushed without fear for the first click, and when he loses mc he gets psychic blast quickly after that.

My advice would never make him your primary threat. Use him for backup, to outwit and MC after you send in your first strike. He seems to work best in 300 point games, as a secondary hitter. I would definitely try him out, but he dies way to easily for my tastes when I use him.