What Happened to Biv is a travesty. Such a cool character sits pitifully at the bottom of the barrel, when compared to his cohorts.

Anybody have any suggestions on fixes for the big guy?

My friends and I have taken to giving him a wild power token (+?) each activation, yet, he still seems to lag behind.

Maybe I am biased, but he happens to be my favorite character, and also the suckiest...

Whats the poor lug gotta do to get a little respect around here?

The Stat-Line

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Assuming a build is:

----(up to 4 extra points = 14 -->)--

What we did, and it really worked wonders, is we simply changed his core ability cost from 2 down to 1. Just note that all of these observations were based on our own observations while campaign playing.

... also note we try for minimal-fixing whenever possible. The less we have to remember, the better.

• Core fix: adjust ability cost of Up Close and Personal from 2 strain down to 1 strain.
  • He only have 4 endurance total. And if you're playing with all the expansions (even without subversive tactics) it's really easy to strain down Biv and prevent him from utilizing the ability
  • Even without imperial interference, though, Biv isn't fast and he has other strain-cost options. It doesn't take long until Biv isn't able to do what makes him Biv: murderize individual targets
    • Worth noting, this does solidify Biv as murder-machine and not much else. Which is good since it makes him unique in that sense.
  • So if you put it down to 1 strain, he can do it a lot more often. And at that point the tactical decision becomes "Do I want to jump into the open and get gunned down" instead of "can I even afford it"
  • Additionally, if he's able to pop Up Close and Personal more frequently, it ripples out and fixes almost all of his upgrade cards instantly.
• His base gun needed a minor tweak, it's pretty worthless. Can't remember off hand what we did. ^^;
• Final Stand: we did something ...
  • It's been a while since we've played Biv. And as is this just wasn't worth a 4xp deplete.
  • Here's what I remember of it
    • We did keep it as a deplete (because Final stand kinda NECESSITATES a deplete for it to make thematic sense)
    • I'll get back to you when I talk with the others and remember what we did. lol

But yeah, that core fix to UC&P had a huge impact on the rest of his kit. We really didn't need to fix much else.

...

Related note (same set), the same goes for Saska.

• We adjusted her gadget token ability to be more similar to HotE's egghead girl (1 freebie per activation, strain for the extra). Immediate huge impact
• Her core gadget ability of +1 surge was changed to "any time while attacking" instead of "while declaring"
• and then the malfunction/grenades were changed to "yellow die, you and target spaces suffer damage indicated"

The we didn't have to adjust the rest of her abilities after these above changes. She's honestly one of our favorite heroes now due to it.

The minimal fix for Biv and Saska: Play app campaigns.

8 minutes ago, a1bert said:

The minimal fix for Biv and Saska: Play app campaigns.

Easy opponents are a luxury that Biv cant afford. He has to focus on not getting gunned down while trying to take down the boss.

17 hours ago, thinkbomb said:

Core fix: adjust ability cost of Up Close and Personal from 2 strain down to 1 strain.

My issue with this is that two strain is a pretty consistent cost for additional attacks. I think a better fix for UC&P is just to add two MP to prior to the melee attack. Maybe the ability to convert surges into damage for the melee as well. Closing the distance to the target is his biggest problem given how he’s intended to play, and without Crushing Blow the yellow die on the melee is just there to help recover strain.

I think that and improving Shake It Off (maybe recover one strain per surge or a harmful condition) is all he really needs to become viable.

I like you fixes for Saska though. I’ve only played her in the app, but I didn’t see a need to fix how the gadgets are handed out in that environment. I can see where it might be different in a regular campaign though.

On 4/12/2019 at 6:44 AM, Uninvited Guest said:

My issue with this is that two strain is a pretty consistent cost for additional attacks. I think a better fix for UC&P is just to add two MP to prior to the melee attack. Maybe the ability to convert surges into damage for the melee as well. Closing the distance to the target is his biggest problem given how he’s intended to play, and without Crushing Blow the yellow die on the melee is just there to help recover strain.

I think that and improving Shake It Off (maybe recover one strain per surge or a harmful condition) is all he really needs to become viable.

I like you fixes for Saska though. I’ve only played her in the app, but I didn’t see a need to fix how the gadgets are handed out in that environment. I can see where it might be different in a regular campaign though.

That's a good approach on his fixes. We'll give that a shot next time

I love Biv, I almost always pair him with Fenn and two others. I have head-cannon that he and Fenn are friends. I normally tank out Biv and use him to protect other figures and use up close and personal on targets of opportunity. He does end up wounded more often than anyone else in my team, but it helps the team as a whole. Yes, he needs a better starting weapon, but everyone's starting weapon stinks.

13 hours ago, Rikalonius said:

Yes, he needs a better starting weapon, but everyone's starting weapon stinks. 

I wouldn’t say everyone’s but close to it. I don’t think there is a worse combination of starting ability+starting weapon than Biv, though. Other than strain-recovery he can’t spend any surge during those two attacks. At best, that just makes him boring (edit: to be clear, this is mostly during intro/early missions of full campaigns).

19 hours ago, Rikalonius said:

but everyone's starting weapon stinks.

Exception to the rule - murne's pushy pistol. Don't think we've ever sold that one due to the utility (even as just a sidearm)

2 hours ago, thinkbomb said:

Exception to the rule - murne's pushy pistol. Don't think we've ever sold that one due to the utility (even as just a sidearm)

And Shyla's Starting Weapon is pretty good too. (Not full campaign good, but still pretty good)