Best Damage Sponge Ever

[Shade]

Hands down, the best damage sponge for MM onto, then running up and tying up support character would be Sand Man. EXP is best, he has more clicks of inv. This happened to me in a game, Sand man tied up the outwitter and two medics. Inv outwitted, knock down 2 clicks. next turn, he bops a medic, making the final medic lose her healing power. Next, inv outwitted and gets bopped for 2 more. Uh oh. He's hurting. Big gun comes in, deals him 5 damage. Oh wait, he's got super senses! Yay! My turn? Hey look. Phasing. Right back into the waiting arms of my medics and back out again in a couple turns! Go sandman..

[Spiritual_Ex]

I took this guy out in two turns yesrday with my (only slightly more expensive) Herc. Sorry I disagree, he isn't all that great. Not that he is bad mind you. But if you want a damage spong you have to go with any verison of swamp thing.

[Billy Jack]

yeah i agree with spiritual ex, swamp thing is the best damage soaker in the set.

[Shade]

Until you consider that ST can't reduce damage, you're right. SM also has plasticity. His purpose is NOT to try to kill hercules, but to tie up herculues long enough for doom to hand him his butt. Also, standing next to doom, he shares attack value, thereby those two inflicting 6-7 clicks a turn.

[allchimp]

sandman is just plain good. Starting off as a close range weapon/damage sponge and changing into a hard to hit unit for getting back to medics, there is no wrong there. He saves my butt alot

[ludd_gang]

For the points, I think Scorpion will be great in conjunction with Mastermind. One of my favs for Dr. Doom though has to be V Clayface III.

I agree that Sandman is a great sponge. His Speed is his greatest downfall, IMO, making the medic sometimes hard to reach. He's also pricey for annihilating weenies, which is his strong suit.

Sentinel Mark I is THE sponge, no doubt about it. Swamp Thing is up there too.

[Manchine]

Have to say Swamp Thing is the best Damage soaker. 11 klicks of health and Imp is jsut to nice.

This coming from a Marvel Guru. :D ;) :p

[haldir]

swamp thing can't be a damage soaker for mastermind, since impervious only kicks in when swamp thing is the "target" of an attack. Since he isn't the target (but Dr. Doom or whomever your masterminder is), he can't reduce the damage by 2 clicks nor avoid it with his impervious roll.

For damage soakers (for mastermind, as I think shade was arguing) you have to have toughness or invulnerability. Thus, sandman is by far the best, unless you want to talk about the rookie she-hulk, who has two clicks of inv (to exp sandman's three), but who then gets toughness and leap/climb (while sandy gets supersenses and phasing). Thus, they both can get away fairly easy, but she-hulk can stay in and use toughness to keep soaking up damage, while sandy has to run away after he takes 3 clicks. Though, of course she hulk can't tie up figs with plasticity, as sand can, but she is also about 20 points cheaper.

anyway, for my money exp sandman and rookie she-hulk are the two best. Though, vet white queen deserves mention, esp with Doom since he can mimic her X-men team ability...

[KaiserSelroc]

"Hands down, the best damage sponge for MM onto, then running up and tying up support character would be Sand Man. EXP is best, he has more clicks of inv. This happened to me in a game, Sand man tied up the outwitter and two medics. Inv outwitted, knock down 2 clicks. next turn, he bops a medic, making the final medic lose her healing power. Next, inv outwitted and gets bopped for 2 more. Uh oh. He's hurting. Big gun comes in, deals him 5 damage. Oh wait, he's got super senses! Yay! My turn? Hey look. Phasing. Right back into the waiting arms of my medics and back out again in a couple turns! Go sandman.."

I know that's how it's supposed to work, but it seems every time I field my rookie Sandman it goes more like this:

I get my Sandman in base contact with their outwitter (exp. Black Panther) and vetern Avalanche. He outwits my invulnerability, then does a b/c/f attack and lucks out doing 4 damage. Avalanche attacks, my senses role misses and Sandman is dead, man. Or maybe his invulnerable isn't outwited, instead Thor comes around and running shot gets me for 4, and Thor taxi's in Bullseye, who hits me for 3. I can't push to have him escape, or he'll die, which happens anyway upon my opponent's next turn. I have yet to get my Sandman to survive more than 2 turns after coming in base contact with anyone.

[Manchine]

I had no idea what MM stood for. I was just thinking someone to take the hits. Well like someone said Scorpion I think will make a great Soaker then. Sandman is a little to expensive for some MM guys.

[Ghost_Rider]

What about rookie Grundy? 48 points, six clicks of toughness, and 10 clicks of life.

Ghost

[Shade]

There's several things you have to realize about sadman..
1. His rookie and Vet versions suck balls. For upgrading to exp, for those mere 15 points or so points you get another click of inv and 2 more clicks of life.
2. You gotta be able to use him right. If you wanna use the "doom stand behind me" strategy, him attack value goes way up. If you wanna use the "tie guys up" only throw him in front of characters without mixtures of outwit and BFC. Unless, of course it's just the black panther. Go for it, you can take out his outwit in one hit. Then phase back for healing. Otherwise, just block LOS so outwit doesn't work. then if he gets hit.. phase him back. But apparently you also just have terrible luck. Can't blame that on the man! Can't blame it..

[napa]

As Ghost Rider said for the points rookie Grundy can't be beat.

[Noman]

...but can Sandman phase into a wall and stay there ?

AtB

Noman

[Dark Falcon]

why not, seems like a good idea in some cases!!

LOL

[Noman]

- for those not in the know, this stunt was pulled in a 4 player tourney game in which Dark Falcon and I were both involved, I was firing from range with Firelord and Super Skrull, while a horde of someone elses figs were attacking him "up close".

A good game.

And a very tactical Sandman.

LoL

All the Best

Noman

[chase_jyd]

I've tried using a number of different damage sponges, and so far the one that has worked the best has been E Sabretooth, for a number of reasons.
Sure he doesn't have the insanely deep dial or invulnerability, but you can use him with most of the MM figures, including Dr. Doombot.
He gives your wildcards free move, he has toughness and 7 clicks, he has an equal or better attack then most of the others, and does have toughness.
He also regenerates, so he rarely needs to run back to a medic, and can heal back up to his prime clicks even from deep in his dial.
He has battle fury, sure, but doesn't start with it, so you can get him into position easily enough.
B/C/F means he has a chance of duking it out with some of the tougher figs, or lets him have a good shot at eliminating support figs quickly. If using him with one of the Doom types, you can also safely perplex up his attack and retain a good chance of doing reasonably high damage.
More important a lot of the time, he also starts with stealth, so he can be dropped into hindering terrain and block lof to your MM figure. Even better than shunting off damage to someone is avoiding attack entirely when possible. This also makes his toughness immune to being outwitted while he's in hindering so he'll always have that little bit of help.

Sure, there's times that actually having invulnerability is better, but I'll usually save the points now and run Sabretooth around with my MM figures.

[Invis-slayer]

e-Swamp thing all the way
apart from being a damage soaker, he can actually deal damage..unlike the incredible suck of sandman who is down to 1 damage after just a few clicks


Sandman is a draft fig forever, and if i ever saw him in a constructed army i would not feel even the most remotely threatened by his puny 9 AV. You can sit him next to your doom all you want, my EE is gonna rock that little situation tho.

I used a R-Sandman to mediocre effect in a draft once tho, 200 points, with a R-Doom and i think a shield sniper was the 3rd fig in my army. Sure he soaks up some damage...but when you are fighting a R-Invis girl in a draft...you just dont have much of a chance...=([most especially when mojo is on the same team...Doom dies to MC BADLY]

[Noman]

Oh yes, I had a Rookie Invisible Girl backing up my Firelord and Super Skrull...plus 2 Sheild Medics and Yellowjacket the taxi.

...and Sandman hid in the wall...

Oh, I tried Swamp thing in the Sponge Role, but he died in close combat via BCF.

AtB

Noman

[Ghost_Rider]

I still say rookie Grundy is the best damage sponge for Mastermind. He's over 20 points cheaper than Sandman and Swamp Thing, but has six clicks of toughness and 10 clicks of life. You just can't beat that. He's not a bad brawler either.

Ghost

[Noman]

I've got to say, that sounds like a reasonable argument...

I'll try it.

AtB

Noman

[Shade]

Because, most figures are only gonna do 2 to 3 clix. By MMing that onto sandman, you get three hits of invulnerabilty (3 damage each). Sandman takes 3 clicks, ST, 9. See my point? Also, low AV doesn't matter when he's next to doom.