Character Review: Nightcrawler

    

Kurt Wagner, better known by the name he adopted as a circus performer: The Incredible Nightcrawler! is one of the most iconic and beloved mutants of the X-Men franchise. Let's see how his arrival affects the Uncanny X-Men.

With 6 health (down to 5 on his injured side) and defenses of 4 physical and 3 against energy and mystic, he's pretty close to the average stat line for his threat level, especially sitting on a 35mm base with a medium movement.

Teleporting Strike, with its 5 dice physical at R3, seems about as average and unassuming as it gets, but the Ha-HA! trigger is what, in my opinion, turns a regular attack into a great one. If Nightcrawler attacks his target outside of R2, it will automatically give it the stun condition. This is especially good against models who generate more than 1 power per turn like Ebony Maw or Dr Strange, Sorcerer Supreme.

Brimstone Blitz is a very unique spender for many reasons. With R2 and 5 dice physical for only 1 power, it scales with the number of times Nightcrawler was placed this turn. This can scale up surprisingly fast either with his own superpowers (which we'll go to soon) or things like the X-Men Gold leadership. The attack also has a Flurry trigger on Hit and Crit, which lets him make another attack action against the same target. This means he can do his spender again, provided he pays the cost for it, giving him a very inexpensive way to scale attacks if he hits the trigger and has the power for it. If he doesn't, it can still let him do a builder against the same model.

BAMF! is Kurt's first superpower. Very much like Magik's Limbo Step, it's a strong superpower that gives him a solid and flexible movement option by paying only what he needs to move around. It lets him place in range to get attacks or out of the action after his turn if he needs to.

Puff of Smoke is another superpower that lets Nightcrawler move around the board. For 0 power, after damage is dealt (and this does not require you to deal damage, it refers to the timing in the attack sequence) you can place within R2 of the target of your attack. This can give you a surprising amount of mobility by attacking different models just to get around the board. 

Unglaublich Acrobatics complements his defensive stat line by giving him the ability to add 2 dice against physical and energy attacks in addition to his dodge, which helps him become more survivable in the long run.

Finally, Invisible in Shadow allows Nightcrawler to have a functional version of Stealth when he's near terrain size 2 or greater. Thanks to his inherent mobility, this should be relevant surprisingly often if kept in mind. As a world-famous acrobat, he also gets Wallcrawler which lets him move freely around terrain.

Overall, Nightcrawler is a very solid character with a lot going for him. His mobility is his biggest asset as it lets him always be relevant and make attacks as often as he wants. Brimstone Blitz, especially combined with Puff of Smoke and BAMF! can go up to an impressive amount of dice thrown at a very inexpensive cost. The guaranteed stun on his builder also makes him surprisingly threatening and annoying as it's fairly easy for him to set it up.

Thanks for taking the time to read this piece and as always, don't forget to have fun!