From Panel to Play: Abomination

Abomination is ready to contend with the Hulk and prove that he is the strongest one there is!

Emil Blonsky was a spy at the U.S. Air Force Base where Dr. Bruce Banner was conducting his experiments with gamma radiation when he was accidently bombarded with that radiation, turning him into Abomination. Unlike Hulk, Abomination can’t just shift between his human and superhuman forms. Without that capability, Abomination’s terrifying strength and appearance are always on display, and he is treated like a dangerous monster. That difference with Hulk, more than anything, drives Abomination’s hate towards him. While Emil still possesses his mind as Abomination, his lack of scruples and options push him to act like a monster as well.

As one of the few individuals capable of counterbalancing the strength of the Hulk, any mastermind would do well to recruit Abomination. Abomination leaps for the opportunity to prove his strength against any challenger—especially if that challenger is Hulk, so he’s ended up working as muscle for many other villains. Abomination doesn’t have to rely on his strength and endurance alone to win a fight, though. He can also emit incredibly toxic gamma radiation to disable and destroy his enemies.

Abomination’s Threat Value of 5 shows he’s not supposed to be the equal of the Hulk, but his durability and strength get close. His 7-die Strike with a size-unrestricted Push is exceptional among 5-threat characters. With solid defensive stats, 7 stamina on healthy and injured sides of his card, and damage reduction of 1 from Gamma Mutated Hide, he’s also got exceptional durability among 5 threats. If he can get into position to use it, he can trade blows with any character in the game.

Where Abomination struggles a little is needing to spend actions to move around if he doesn’t have the power to use Gamma Bomb, and it’s hard for him to proactively generate enough power to do everything he wants with his Strike only generating 1 power per attack. Luckily, he can use his medium move and 65mm base to quickly move to where enemy characters want to be so that he doesn’t have a lack of targets for his massive attacks. He also generates extra power when he is damaged due to Gamma Mutated Hide. If he can force the enemy to engage with him by pushing in aggressively enough, he won’t have a power problem. If he’s just 1 power away from using Gamma Bomb at an enemy at Range 3, he can use Hurl Debris to get it. When it does come time to Gamma Bomb, the 8-die attack and wild Throw trigger hit very hard.

With his power, Abomination can use I’m the Strongest There Is! to threaten enemy characters with almost every terrain feature on most tables. Radiation Zone is an ability that can be absolutely wild. With the Abomination’s 65mm base and Range 2, the area of effect is quite large. The first application of Poison with it is impressive, with the reduction of 1 power in addition to the condition. The second application, on another turn, is lethal. Two damage that isn’t reduced by defenses must be respected, or the opponent’s squad could all end up Dazed and KO’d.

Gamma Burst represents Abomination’s radiation at its most extreme. In combination with Radiation Zone to get Poison onto enemy characters, Abomination can reliably clear off an objective. More than that, a medium Push is quite a lot of movement, and Gamma Burst could put multiple enemy characters in much worse positions. A well-timed Gamma Burst has the potential to put a player playing Abomination in a very advantaged position.

Abomination often serves as the brawn to pair with the brains of another villain, and there’s no larger brain than M.O.D.O.K.’s! You Will Do As I Say, Monster literally throws the enormous Abomination at any problem that needs to be handled. Abomination suffering 1 damage from the collision is a small price to pay to get to grips with his enemies. Abomination and M.O.D.O.K. Scientist Supreme (CP145) share the Criminal Syndicate and Hydra Affiliations, giving those affiliations a potent combination to base a squad around.

CP162 contains both Abomination and the Wrecking Crew, and both characters are great options for adding muscle to the Criminal Syndicate Affiliation. In Hydra, Abomination has a strong synergy with Baron Strucker (CP76) and his leadership, Hydra High Council. Abomination healing when he causes an enemy character to gain Poison boosts up his survivability even more. Also, Baron Strucker can cause a cluster of enemy characters to gain Poison using his Deathsport Virus superpower without hurting Abomination due to his immunity. Then Abomination can follow up with Radiation Zone to damage all the enemy characters that gained Poison. Further, Abomination is a very durable character, and durable characters are affected more by special conditions since they stick around for longer before Dazing or KOing. Moving any special conditions Abomination gains to enemy characters using Hydra High Council then removes that vulnerability.

Abomination is a great addition to any squad that needs a durable character to reliably activate. With high defenses and Gamma Mutated Hide, Abomination isn’t usually an appealing target for an opponent to go after. That means he can often wait to activate since there isn’t much risk of him losing his activation during a round due to being Dazed or KO’d, freeing up other characters to activate first so that they don’t lose their activation that round. Having a stable character like Abomination means the whole team is more likely to take all their actions each round.

That’s all we have for today! Check back later for another From Panel to Play, the series where we give you your first look at how your favorite characters transition to the tabletop in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. Pre-order these characters and more at your local game store or through the webstore today!

Until next time, Atomic Mass Games, signing off!