by Tim Bold
With the ROC World Championship right around the corner, I wanted to discuss a few tricks and tips for one of my favorite figures, Devil Dinosaur. This is the figure that Derek Thompson, Nick Peterson, and I designed for winning team world’s last year. There are two main characteristics that make Devil Dinosaur worthy of consideration in today’s meta, durability and having multiple attackers.
With his “Cliché Villainous Monologue” defense ability, this is one tough dino to put down. Having effectively three STOP clicks will give you plenty of opportunities to bring in his bystander friends to help out. And, of course, Devil Dino also has a STOP click on his damage power, so shutting off that defensive power (remember, no Outwitting it!) and hitting Devil Dino onto his other STOP click will just anger him. If, for example, a player thinks it is clever to bring out Nick Fury, shut off that defense and get him to the charge part of his dial they need to be careful. With a five speed Charge, two additional speed with Sidestep and Giant Reach, Devil Dino can close attack from nine squares away. If Nick didn’t boost his range, he is getting assaulted by an angry dino with Battle Fury.
With Devil Dino’s “Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction” ability, you have to make it through his bystander friends that are trying to rip you apart to try while you try and get a shot on him. That’s easier said than done since he can bring in so many solid bystanders that are legitimate threats. The versatility of these bystanders is great, from the close combat drop bears with BCF (which almost always hit for loads of damage) to the MODOKs that can blast you from range to the Homicide Crabs that are offensive tool boxes because of their Pulse Wave. There are just so many great offensive options with this piece for only 1/3 of your army build.
So, with all of these great abilities, Devil Dino brings a lot to the table. Now, unfortunately, Dino’s speed is really low, so he needs a little bit of help. Thankfully, there are some taxis that Devil Dino can add to his team to help his mobility. There are also lots of pieces that can make his bystander tokens even more effective.
Devil Dinosaur’s Friends
Mephisto
You are likely looking at the 45 point version of this figure for meta, but he gives all of those bystander tokens Probability Control. Since they are likely going to be out there attacking with limited support powers, Prob Control is HUGE! And, it doesn’t really matter if they get a contract token to lower their defense, they are out there to hit something hard and they are expendable since you can always make more bystander tokens. Also, keep in mind that Devil Dino, full point Mephisto and Chameleon add up to exactly 300 points, just saying.
Nighthawk Prime
With Pandora’s Box and the Rock of Eternity in play, those Sins grant Combat Reflexes and Energy Shield, making our bystander tokens need big numbers to hit. Unless…you have Nighthawk Prime on your side limiting stat boosts. With solid 1-Attacks on the bystanders, hitting your opponent just became a lot more manageable.
Colossals
You send out your bystander tokens and they are big enough threats that your opponent can’t overlook them. And if you have a few figures with colossal retaliation, your opponent may have to think twice before attacking them since you can send in the colossal reinforcements. You can always play a few tricks with the Atom and has two range attack by potentially knocking out some of your own bystander tokens if you want to send in a fresh wave. War Wheel is another great option because we can actually taxi Devil Dino around that board.
Turtle
Those bystander tokens don’t have great speed values, but Turtle levels that playing field. With the TK from Dino and their slow move actions not counting towards your own team’s actions, you can position easily without taking the turtle feedback. Depending on what your opponent is fielding, this can really slow them down without having much an of impact on Dino’s bystanders.
Overdrive
A taxi that can carry all three on my bystander tokens quickly across the board, I’m sold. With a great speed and a solid defense, this is the perfect taxi for Devil Dino’s bystanders. Since we are talking about competitive play, we have to include a discussion about resources. So, what resources make sense to use with Dino?
Quinjet/Round Table
As great as the Ultron Drones are for bringing in ID characters, they can be easy to KO with their meager two clicks of life. You can consider Devil Dino as a replacement for them if you want to invest a few more points since he will be significantly harder to put down. With his Indomitable, you can alternate bringing in bystander tokens or bringing in ID characters. You don’t get quite the point versatility that that the drones bring (120 vs 100), but Dino has staying power and you still get a lot of great options of characters that you can bring in.
Rock of Eternity/Pandora’s Box
With as difficult as it is to get through Devil Dino’s dial, imagine if he could heal every turn. If you assign Devil Dino the Sloth relic, he gets a +1 defense and can heal a click every turn if he doesn’t take an action. If you opponent is running a tent-pole and doesn’t have many attackers, this could make Devil Dino even more difficult to KO.
Hopefully at this point, you have tried playing Devil Dino and can see where some of these combos are coming from. Devil Dino has a lot of interesting options and it is will be fun to see if anything else comes in future sets that can further boost his strengthens. Until next time, remember to call powers and abilities by their real names.
