Most Broken Cards in the Game

[135forte]

im pretty partial to premier leon. no one wants handguns so you cant really keep him from his weapons.
and if there are silver ghost or standard sidearms in the game he doesnt even need ammo to hit high damage.
the relative low costs of handguns also means he doesnt really need the bigger ammo cards either

Agreed that he can be great, but Enhanced Lickers and Regenerators can mess him up.

[Evincar2001]

Agreed that he can be great, but Enhanced Lickers and Regenerators can mess him up.

That and Pistol Leon is also pretty pool dependent. He's very fun to play as long as there's at least one decent cheap pistol, but he's far from broken. He needs something like Deadly Aim or Desperate Escape to give him the reach to beat some of the better characters who actually ARE broken, and even then it's a struggle to beat their inherent advantage(s).

Fun as hell to play? Absolutely. But broken? Not even remotely close.

[dolphinsays]

That and Pistol Leon is also pretty pool dependent. He's very fun to play as long as there's at least one decent cheap pistol, but he's far from broken. He needs something like Deadly Aim or Desperate Escape to give him the reach to beat some of the better characters who actually ARE broken, and even then it's a struggle to beat their inherent advantage(s).

Fun as hell to play? Absolutely. But broken? Not even remotely close.

yes but leon has the advantage of the fact that there will always be handguns in the game.
everyone depends on a few select cards to become super rigged but they are all subject to randomization.
no matter what leon will always have access to handguns.
and no one is gonna fight him over them.
i mean you can buy ambitions and flamethrowers just so your opponent cant have them
but are you really gonna buy up all the handguns just so leon cant have them?

[Evincar2001]

yes but leon has the advantage of the fact that there will always be handguns in the game.
everyone depends on a few select cards to become super rigged but they are all subject to randomization.
no matter what leon will always have access to handguns.
and no one is gonna fight him over them.
i mean you can buy ambitions and flamethrowers just so your opponent cant have them
but are you really gonna buy up all the handguns just so leon cant have them?

No, of course I wouldn't buy them, but the base Handgun is so bad that it doesn't even help Leon that much. They're better with his Level 2 ability I guess, but even then, it's not insane. Just solid. The only one I'd be worried about is the Burst-Fire, but people WILL buy that gun, regardless of whether or not Leon is in the game.

Mercenaries may change this, but the new Custom isn't any different from the old Handgun, except that you can trash it for value. Overall that's great, but it doesn't help Leon in the same way that a 0/10 Silver Ghost or Standard Sidearm would.

[dolphinsays]

No, of course I wouldn't buy them, but the base Handgun is so bad that it doesn't even help Leon that much. They're better with his Level 2 ability I guess, but even then, it's not insane. Just solid. The only one I'd be worried about is the Burst-Fire, but people WILL buy that gun, regardless of whether or not Leon is in the game.

Mercenaries may change this, but the new Custom isn't any different from the old Handgun, except that you can trash it for value. Overall that's great, but it doesn't help Leon in the same way that a 0/10 Silver Ghost or Standard Sidearm would.

yeah but see standard sidearms and silver ghosts make it so leon is broken as hell.
but even without them leon has a shot at getting the burst fire and a solid game plan with the regular handguns.
handgun leon literally can never be useless.
whereas say alliance claire is broken when gathering forces and red herbs are in play
but so-so when their not

[Evincar2001]

yeah but see standard sidearms and silver ghosts make it so leon is broken as hell.
but even without them leon has a shot at getting the burst fire and a solid game plan with the regular handguns.
handgun leon literally can never be useless.
whereas say alliance claire is broken when gathering forces and red herbs are in play
but so-so when their not

Again, I'm not saying these cards don't make Leon good. They just don't make him broken. There's a distinct difference between those two terms. Cheap, reliable, reusable pistols are Leon's gameplan, I agree to this wholeheartedly. When this plan works, it works very well for him, and he becomes one of the best aggressive characters in the game. But even this plan doesn't compare to the card advantage insanity that is brought on by monster characters like Billy (Regrowth every turn), Luis (deck stacking), Outbreak Ada (drawing a million cards), Alliance Hunk (same), and maybe even a few others (Alliance Leon for stacking, Premiere Ada for card selection, etc.).

My point is: Leon's very good at what he does, but his strategy doesn't really give him a lot of depth or flexibility, so therefore, he can't really be considered "broken." Much like Alliance Claire, as you pointed out, with Gathering Forces. The characters I named really don't need an insane pool to be good; they can have a sick build with just about any pool, and it'll likely still be better than his deck. He can still run into obvious weaknesses they won't have, i.e. additional explores. Pistols aren't really very good for that.

[135forte]

No, of course I wouldn't buy them, but the base Handgun is so bad that it doesn't even help Leon that much. They're better with his Level 2 ability I guess, but even then, it's not insane. Just solid. The only one I'd be worried about is the Burst-Fire, but people WILL buy that gun, regardless of whether or not Leon is in the game.

Mercenaries may change this, but the new Custom isn't any different from the old Handgun, except that you can trash it for value. Overall that's great, but it doesn't help Leon in the same way that a 0/10 Silver Ghost or Standard Sidearm would.

Unless I'm mistaken, he can still double tap the Custom Standard for 40 damage/20 ammo since it trashes ant the end of the turn.

[Evincar2001]

Unless I'm mistaken, he can still double tap the Custom Standard for 40 damage/20 ammo since it trashes ant the end of the turn.

Sure, that's a thing. I forgot about the extra 10 damage, so that gives it the edge. The Handgun Technique skill is insane for Leon as well, and that's only coming from seeing the Lv.2.

[The Archivist]

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

The "engine" characters especially can do crazy things with any number of different actions these days, so they always do well, not to mention that they'll get additional skills now! I play a lot of combo decks in Magic, so I gravitate toward these characters when I'm dealt them and tend to do well with them. Even in a thinned out combo deck, Lonewolf can juice damage pretty high. I usually only need to buy one, but it's mostly a combo target and the damage bonus feels downright dirty. Somehow I always end up in games with Premiere Leon and Lonewolf... SICK. I Have This is just a convenient gold sink that never has a downside and then becomes bonkers mid-game. Flamethrower is obviously a beast in partner mode, but I'm largely OK with it since other players will buy it as well.

[dolphinsays]

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