Point Cost: 70
Team Affiliation: Batman Ally
Combat Abilities: none
Keywords: Gotham City, Justice League Elite, League of Assassins, Martial Artist, Teen
Batgirl is one of the better options for a mid-range attacker. She has good ATK values throughout her dial, good defensive powers in Super Senses and Combat Reflexes, and a nice deep dial packed into only 70 points. As you know, I am a fan of 7-click dials for this point range. She has the standard powers and values for the typical Martial Artist, but packed in a Stealthy Batman Ally piece. Let’s start with her obvious strengths: Leap/Climb + Batman Ally means great mobility, and able to jump from one battle to another. Add to that a high ATK value for her first 5 clicks and Flurry and she can be a very good attacker if need be. Her 6 range might not be great, but attacking from hindering at range is beneficial for a Stealthed attacker. Defensively, although her values might not be as high as some of the current Martial Artists, she has Super Senses and Shapechange on the same click for 2 clicks, which makes her an excellent tie-up piece as she will avoid 50% of attacks directed at her. Having 2 clicks of Charge is probably not as useful as it means you will be pushing off her Leap/Climb/Flurry click, which is where you want to be. After she gets into battle, you won’t be needing Charge as you will already be in close combat, where she excels.
One thing of note on the design of this figure is when she takes a good hit. Most threats are usually dealt with by dealing 3 damage to it, but in this case, it just makes her more of a threat. Her “sweet spot” is a brutal one. Batgirl regains Flurry, but now with a 12 ATK and Exploit Weakness and Willpower, which allows her versatility as you can choose to push with Flurry attacks at 13 ATK value or to Exploit Weakness twice in a row and dealing 4 penetrating damge. Ouch! Her defense does not decrease either as Combat Reflexes takes over Super Senses, which makes her almost as tough to hit. Since she will most likely be in Stealth, the likely way to deal with her is to get up close and personal. In the back-end of her dial, Batgirl turns into a supporting piece as her ATK value drops to 8, but gains Outwit and can still Leap/Climb away to safety.
The main weakness with Batgirl is damage output. Sure she has Flurry with good ATK values, but with only 2 DMG throughout her entire dial, Batgirl will be hard-pressed to damage the bricks or the tentpoles. She has to take good hit to be able to deal with those types of threats, but a good player will know to try and deal with her in one fell swoop rather than deal with Exploit Weakness or Outwit. It is because of this that I don’t think Batgirl can be a primary attacker. Maybe some Perolex can help out, but for the most part, you should be using her as a secondary attacker or tie-up piece. As a tie-up piece, she excels as her defensive powers flow well and will keep her alive. Then, once she does get hit, she can turn into a great secondary attacker. This ability is what separates Batgirl from other similar pieces. She can turn into a potent attacker after getting damaged,.
Batgirl’s keywords are great as she is best used in Gotham City and Martial Artist teams, but can be great additions to Teen themes as well. The League of Assassins ATA can be very beneficial to Batgirl. She already has perma-Stealth, and add to that the LoA ATA, she will become nigh un-targetable from range. Overall, Batiglr is a solid piece, with a nice deep dial for her point cost and powers that flow with her changing roles in a given game.
