Apologies if I am misunderstanding, but are you implying that he can soak more damage than his remaining hit points in order to sacrifice himself and protect the Aristo next to him?
Sorry, so this is a change from before? So if Musashi does 8 damage to Gata, it isn't reduced to 2 before Maximus takes it? And if Maximus has 1 left he can take it all, but die?
My understanding is that... Currently: 8 damage is being dealt to Gata, but this is reduced to 2 as that is her currently remaining Health and any excess damage is lost. Maximus can then choose to take 0, 1 or 2 damage on himself instead (but not more damage than he has Health remaining). Post-FAQ: 8 damage is being dealt to Gata and Maximus can take up to 8 of that damage on himself, regardless of his remaining Health, with the remainder being dealt to Gata. At least, I *think* that's right.
@-V- Are we going to have this in a more official format? It would be easier to settle arguments in tournaments
-I hope Gata's got something to pray. Miyamoto is weilding his katana to perform his famous Ken No Sen and... -Wait! Here it is, Maximus!! He's displaced to save our dear kitty! -Amazing, Final Boss! He's blocked Miyamoto's killing blow and kept Gata alive! Oh baby, what a playyy! -Yeah, but I'm afraid he's visiting Infirmary right now. Serious wounds. Short answer: yes.
Ok. That's definitely going to change how I use Max, then... Sent from my CUBOT CHEETAH 2 using Tapatalk
For sure, currently he is best off leaving all his adjacent allies on 1 health and then absorbing damage as it trickles in. This forces opponents to contend with his substantial Defence by attacking him directly or displacing him to make sure there's at least two clear hexes between him and the real target. This gave his defensive skill some serious importance and emphasised his ability to protect low health/defence aristos in particular. Post-FAQ there will be far less incentive to attack Max directly and players will instead aim for quality attacks against adjacent targets rather than quantity. This isn't necessarily bad as it may make people overcommit tactics for extra dice, get a massive amount of hits and then you just let the two HP target die anyway, effectively relegating the spent tactics to unnecessary overkill. Respawning with Max is seriously bad due to his low speed and with this change he'll be accumulating damage much more quickly. Definitely unfortunate. I like him as the stoic character that just absorbs tons of damage. His attack and switches aren't exactly inspiring. Personally, I'd rather the change was just that he couldn't absorb damage from poison counters or even non-attack sources at all. This would eliminate part of the Gata problem and give Lunah more of a niche by allowing her to pick off low health targets from under his defences.
Actually, I think our point is that this importance has diminished under the new FAQ. I'm still processing how and when I'd use Max, given that he's got far less durability, now. He's been in my top three choices for the last few matches, but has now fallen to the bottom, about equal with 8-Ball... Sent from my CUBOT CHEETAH 2 using Tapatalk
It might leave him weak, but it's for the best. Having to spend a minimum of 5 attacks to kill a Gata/Laxmee adjacent to him is pretty vile.
Currently you can attack Maximus directly instead, or displace him a couple of times first, but I do get your point. If he was changed so that he only absorbs damage from non-attack sources then it would make Lunah a solid counter-pick (in addition to Hexxer) that would punish a Max player for leaving low health Aristos around. The Valkyrie's Cry tactic could also still be used to punish a Max player who tries to leave adjacent allies on low health. Pretty much this, although apparently some people really like 8-Ball!
I like the changes, makes him less "gamy" while still strong. Having your models fall to a single wound so you can "trickle" wounds through to Max was abusive.
Great. Max is perma benched then. That change 100% destroys him. He’s borderline useless without it as he is slow, can’t reach anything and have effectively zero damage output. He’s not even hard to kill when you pick the correct counters.
Nothing is hard to do in this game, if you pick the right counter... You can still select him as last character and surprise your opponent. He maybe will not be your first choice but is still a damn tank!
