Most Broken Cards in the Game

[Evincar2001]

Alright, here's my two cents. Here's my typical game play context:

1) Single character or partner story mode with drafted skills
2) Total of four abilities/skills per character, with mode dependent or terrible abilities (i.e. Premiere Chris) replaced with skills
3) Custom randomizer
4) All special weapons (except burst-fire and survival knife) in a face down pile; 100 gold for an unknown top card

Within this context, notably problematic cards like Great Ambition (I only use it in partner mode) or Gatling Gun (such small chance to get it) are not an issue. I also don't have a problem with the Flamethrower since there are largely better arguments for going small than big in inventory size. So what is still consistently on the brink of absurdity? Mostly characters.

1) Characters: Leon (Outbreak); Ada (Outbreak); Leon (Alliance); Leon (Premier); Wesker (Premiere); Luis Sera (Nightmare); Chris (Mercenaries - making a prediction here)
2) Actions: Lonewolf; I Have This...
3) Weapons: Flamethrower (Partner Mode)
4) Skills: TBA

Is Leon (Outbreak) really all that broken? He actually seems like the weakest of the 4 Leons to me, having played them all many times. What is it that breaks him?

[ShakeZoola]

and with the new handgun technique skill premiere leon just lost his biggest weakness

Provided you manage to randomly pick it!

[The Archivist]

Is Leon (Outbreak) really all that broken? He actually seems like the weakest of the 4 Leons to me, having played them all many times. What is it that breaks him?

He interacts pretty strongly with a looped Lonewolf, Gathering forces, or +card action, but in my experience, it's mostly the consistency he can provide by jump-starting something powerful regardless of what's in your hand. Even with an empty discard pile, you can just buy what you want and get it back immediately. He also benefits from big inventory strategies but doesn't actually need a big inventory to function. What can I say? He's just been really good to me every time.

[Evincar2001]

He interacts pretty strongly with a looped Lonewolf, Gathering forces, or +card action, but in my experience, it's mostly the consistency he can provide by jump-starting something powerful regardless of what's in your hand. Even with an empty discard pile, you can just buy what you want and get it back immediately. He also benefits from big inventory strategies but doesn't actually need a big inventory to function. What can I say? He's just been really good to me every time.

I've had some great games with him as well, looping the likes of Reload and (as you mentioned) Lonewolf, but broken is stretching it. I won't argue that he's good, but he does have some disadvantages that keep him from the top of the heap, mainly a nigh-useless Lv1 ability (yes, I know it has some very occasional uses, but it can actually hurt more than help at times as well, so it's getting shafted for the sake of argument) and the fact that he only has 70 health, meaning he can get one-shotted by a non-Saddler boss. His Lv2 requiring 7 dec also isn't irrelevent, as it puts him on par with Outbreak Ada who's just vastly superior in every way, and Billy can do what he does with a lower dec count and better health, not to mention the whole part where he gets to skip discarding. I'm actually surprised you don't have Billy in your list, either. He's pretty absurd.

[The Archivist]

I've had some great games with him as well, looping the likes of Reload and (as you mentioned) Lonewolf, but broken is stretching it. I won't argue that he's good, but he does have some disadvantages that keep him from the top of the heap, mainly a nigh-useless Lv1 ability (yes, I know it has some very occasional uses, but it can actually hurt more than help at times as well, so it's getting shafted for the sake of argument) and the fact that he only has 70 health, meaning he can get one-shotted by a non-Saddler boss. His Lv2 requiring 7 dec also isn't irrelevent, as it puts him on par with Outbreak Ada who's just vastly superior in every way, and Billy can do what he does with a lower dec count and better health, not to mention the whole part where he gets to skip discarding. I'm actually surprised you don't have Billy in your list, either. He's pretty absurd.

Billy is strong, no doubt about it, but I think there are more (and better) ways now than ever to go with a mean and lean deck over big inventory strategies. I don't draft resource piles either, so more often than not I end up with piles that encourage something other than big inventory, in which case Billy is alright but not necessarily bonkers. Obviously if you've got the right setup, Billy is nuts.

Leon (Outbreak) is definitely not as good as Ada and usually plays second fiddle to the other Leons. I won't dispute that. His health is low and his level two ability is expensive, true. But he's a decent combo card and as a longtime Magic player, I associate combo engines with insane plays. I may be overrating him because of that, but whatever. Every time I've had Leon, I've done something absurd. He's a little slower and a little weaker perhaps, but he finishes like a wrecking ball. Skills and the new basics let you ramp him faster as well.

I also believe that the skills may do some crazy things to character balance, depending on how you play. A character with two blank abilities that are replaced with skills (i.e. Excella, who would get four skills) could very well be on par or better than some of the best characters in any given game. This may not actually be true in practice (and some people may not allocate skills this way), but the potential for a more level playing field to counteract some of the perceived "broken-ness" of the elite characters is pretty exciting.

[Evilbear]

stun rod - 30costing, 0 ammo requirement, 10 dmg, +1 explore....
3 stun rod + deadly aim will give you like 60 dmg + 3 explore.... combine with some character abilities or skill cards can get you >90 dmg quite easily...

[soundwave187]

my friends are complaining about the giant killing lvl 1 card is too OP and has been banned. i don't personally think so, but its not my game.

[Heverton Ribeiro]

****ty is a player facing an "MA-077 Chicken" to attain being that when the maximum level of decorations hehehe

[Demicrusaius]

Most of the skills do have an overpowered element to them, because of the way you can pick them to compliment character skills based on available resources. This isn't terrible though, because everyone does have options here.

I can't stand cards like Toe-toToe, High Value Targets and Lonewolf anymore because I build huge decks and I'm tired of counting them! These cards need a maximum cap you can't exceed. Or at the very least, don't give you additional actions! One game I played four Toe-t-toe's on one turn!

Tear Gas is also pretty overpowered. I built a deck yesterday where I got a Gatling Gun (definitely overpowered), trashed every single gun except a few pistols, and kept using Raccoon City Police Department to get the Gatling Gun back in my hand (Or Reload if it was in my discards) then top it off with Tear Gas (Discard until you find a gun and add ten damage for each discarded card) to add crazy damage to the Gatling gun.

I do enjoy finding these power house combos, but I had over 100 more decoration than the losing player and neither of us had a good time. Though, I did use the Rocket Launcher on a Venomous Snake. That was pretty amusing.

[Demicrusaius]

Last night takes the cake! My buddy used four Flamethrowers to win and I finally said "Ok, you're getting cheap and stale, let's do a game without flamethrowers" So, then we did character draft and he gets Billy Coen. *rolls eyes*

So, he starts with a flamethrower and my character starts with a gun requiring 50 ammo (IE: Impossible to use in the first couple of turns, because you'll only get 40 ammo).

So, flamethrower isn't useful to him at first because of his small deck, so he fills it with Raccoon City Police departments so that he can add to his discard pile while looking for the flamethrower. Of course, once he gets to level two, Billy's ability let's him put ANY card from the discard pile into HIS HAND. This is insane to me; It isn't even an expensive ability. Absolutely broken. He gets a guaranteed 50 damage (10 cards or more being in discard pile) without having to spend ANY ammo. That's just one card. If he actually gets an ammo and a gun or has a decent deck, he's going hunting for 220 sometimes. (IE: You can beat anything-No fun for anyone)

I just sit and watch him count up Tear Gas discards, then count his discard deck, all to go hunting for a tiny zombie. (We were also playing Majini Rock, so the mansion kept adding extra cards to our decks)

Then my turn comes and it's a quick buy, just a handgun, then it's over. Worst game ever. I'm not normally a sore loser either, but he just dominated ridiculously quickly and I had nothing to keep him down except to give him my ammo x10's which, of course, makes him stronger by adding fuel to his flamethrower.

I was so bored and frustrated and his turns took forever.

It made me really frustrated at the company that made this game because I know it was play tested, but the errors and stuff that snuck through is astounding. The very idea that ANY gun could do 5 times the discard pile (for free) PLUS be paired with an ability that essentially let's you sleep with it, is absurd and horribly game breaking. It even seems like it was designed that way on purpose, which makes me wonder if they ever played "the weekender" or just tested with speed games.

We actually had quite a fight about it because he refuses to think the card is OP. I think the card should read "Does 10 damage for every five cards in your discard" or maybe it should be linked to your inventory instead because of the multitude of things that let you "discard until..."

Well, it's too late now and this rant is in full swing. I hate the idea of changing card functions with house rules, but I guess I have to, but my buddy is actually all butt-hurt, refusing to see why last night was no fun. I'm the kind of winner that, if I dominate, I don't have fun. I'd rather lose in a close game than dominate.

I want to just toss Josh Stone and Billy Coen into a volcano. And I wouldn't miss the flamethrower if it went in there too.
I know it will NEVER happen, but it would mean a lot if this company cared enough to reprint some of their mistakes.

If this were a video game, it would have been patched by now.

TLDR: Summary in Bold