The fennek are a reclusive race. To see one participate in the Arena is shocking. To see one rise to become Arena Champion is almost unfathomable. Yet there are rumors that the fennek secretly run the Arena, searching for Heroes worthy of defending the far-flung roots of the Deeproot Tree. Indeed, those rare few Heroes who have defeated the reigning Arena Champion have all gone on to achieve legendary deeds in service of the Deeproot. Perhaps there is truth to the rumors after all?
Stats
- Type: Fennek Hero
- Crystal Affinity: Citrine, Emerald
- Abilities: Surefoot
- Unique Actions: Destruction, Queen of the Hill, Captain Capture
- Potions: Cure Cordial
- Movement Points: 6
- Action Points: 3
- Stregth: 2B 1R (Melee : 2)
- Armor: 2R (Defense)
- Willpower: 2B
- Dexterity: 3B
- Hearts: 5
- Potion Quantity: 1
Gameplay
Stats:
The Arena Champion has high offense of 2B 1R STR with melee range 2 and above average defense for 2R ARM. She has Surefoot, which increases her mobility on certain tiles by avoiding negative tile effects.
Abilities:
Destruction allows the Champion to blast high defense foes by increasing her offense to 2B 1R 1G STR (4.5 avg/11 max) and inflicts Massive Damage. Note: that her melee range is decreased to 1 when using this offensive action. The only tradeoff is the high 3 AP cost. With Critical Success in SDE 2.0, it is not uncommon for this action to deal a total of 3 wounds against Elites.
Queen of the Hill is currently accepted as a misprint on the card as it does not include an attack icon despite using the offensive action icon. There is currently no official errata re: this ability. Your play group will need to decide whether to treat it as a Melee, Wave: 1, Push: 2 offensive action, which makes the Arena Champion very powerful as she would then have access to high offense single target attacks, AOE, and have a high statline, or support Wave: 1 Push: 2, which gives it the benefit of not needing to roll to hit, but then it won't deal wounds. Regardless, Wave: 1 Push: 2 allows her to break free from being surrounded and in Explore can allow her to Push monsters into negative tile effects she can avoid.
Captain Capture allows the Champion to perform an Interact basic action and then Retreat/be Pushed 5 squares away from the target she Interacted with. Captain Capture allows her to increase her mobility in certain situations to engage or retreat. In most cases she can use this to open Chests and then reposition. In Arcade, she may use Interact with Plot elements. Combined with Surefoot, this can allow her to perform limited hit and run tactics by moving to engage, attacking monsters, using Captain Capture, and then Retreat back to safety or out of the monster's range.
Potion:
Cure Cordial is a support potion that provides Wave: 1 Heal: 1. As a support potion, multiple heroes can use it during the Hero activation if they are able to replenish it after use. Its Wave: 1 effect can allow well positioned heroes to gain a lot of value from Cure Cordial. It is not as powerful as emergency potions which may be used during the Consul's turn since it can only be used during the Hero's activation and only by Heroes that activate that turn so relies on the Heroes staying positioned close enough to benefit from the Wave: 1 effect.
Strategy:
The Arena Champion is a high mobility Blaster, Control, Healer melee STR hero. She should use Destruction against high defense targets and Queen of the Hill to Control monsters. Captain Capture has situational benefit to give her additional movement after an Interact action. Cure Cordial should be kept in supply to heal the party as needed.
Equipment/Buffs:
The Arena Champion uses STR to increase her offense and ARM to increase her defense. She will typically never need DEX or WILL. Consider giving her equipment that give her access to AOE unless your playgroup decides Queen of the Hill is an offensive action. Consider giving her increased potion capacity to get more flexibility with Cure Cordial. She can be built as a Tank, but since her Control action Pushes instead of Pulls, it can make it more difficult for her to Tank or support her allies by grouping monsters for AOE. Consider giving her an additional action point to make her less vulnerable to Knockdown or Poison.
Limitations:
The Arena Champion lacks AOE, but is otherwise a very solid, strong hero with few weaknesses. She is excellent target to Knockdown and Poison as this can help reduce her mobility or prevent her from using Destruction. Captain Capture only allows her to retreat after the Interact action so placing treasure chests in areas where she cannot make the most use of Captain Capture can help tame her mobility. Cure Cordial only Heals 1 and only during the Hero turn so she can still be focused during the Consul turn unless she increases her defense.
Party:
The Arena Champion can fill the STR Blaster/Heal role in most parties. She is reliant on her party to provide AOE and ranged attacks.