by Emanuel Class

Welcome, Monsterheads! In this Insider, we’ll go over the changes in this year’s Dynamic Update for Monsterpocalypse. There are some exciting adjustments ahead, so let’s dig in.

Why a Dynamic Update: The dynamic update serves as a tool to make balance adjustments, correct toxic-play patterns that have emerged, and fix old wording issues. This year, we wanted to bring some of the least-played models up to the current level of the game, bring down some of the model’s power levels that were a bit over the top, and create a more dynamic tabletop experience.

Let’s begin with buildings. We felt that for the health of the game we would diversify the “junk” options: “junk” buildings are those you want to put on your opponent’s side of the board during the building draft. Since the introduction of the Media Company, this role has been relegated to mostly just the Media Company, along with a few less optimal outliers. With these changes, we hope to not only mix up the “junk” options available to players but also to correct some of the negative play experiences attached to them.

[Note: you can click through pages on previews to see elites or hyper forms]

Buildings

Media Company – Many players experienced headaches with this building as they would get deep into factoring out a turn only to realize they could not actually complete that play pattern because the Media’s Static would tax their dice along the way. To remove this negative play experience, we have reversed the polarity for Static. Now, instead of taxing your Action Dice economy, it gifts your opponent a Power Die. This keeps the Media Company in the spirit of being a “junk” building to throw on your opponent’s side, but it is no longer the oppressive dice tax it was previously.

Imperial State Building – The Imperial State Building did not need much change while in the dynamic update, so the first change was a simple one. Action: City Planning now performs a City Planning action instead of the previously stated “Urban Renewal” in the text of City Planning. The second change for this building was a vital necessity. Previously, if you went first, you were able to use City Planning to steal your opponent’s Imperial State Building, leaving them at the mercy of an opponent who now had both Imperial State Buildings. We added a rule called Historic Landmark to this model to prevent it from being the target of City Planning Actions while it is unsecured. We believe this will create fewer binary choices for players during the building draft and the first turns of the game.

Corporate Headquarters – Our change to Corporate Headquarters was a simple one: we added the rule Ivory Tower to its card. Ivory Tower gives -1 DEF to units adjacent to the Corporate HQ to a minimum of 1. This opens up new lines for this building to be used as “junk” and also allows for players using abduct or fighting-heavy lists to tangle with some of the hardest units to crack.

Cathedral – This beautiful building did not see much play as it did before, so we decided to spice things up a bit with a new rule called Devotion. This new rule makes the Cathedral need four adjacent units in order to be secured. This is a fun “junk option” that can make securing your doubles trickier than before. With multiple spots on the map where you may want to place a cathedral, having a couple in your list is not a bad idea.

That’s all for the building changes. Next up: units. Each of these changes was made to correct previous issues with the design of the model or to help better define its role in the game.

Units

Carnidon – This unit received some of the most controversial changes after heavy playtesting. The Grunt and the Elite both gained All Terrain to help overcome their SPD 4 deficiency. The Grunt gained Flank to match the Elite, and the Elite gained 1 Boost Die on its brawl to solidify it as a mighty attacker.

Raptix – The Raptix units gained the Action: Hop, allowing them to be highly mobile anti-air attackers. This also gives them more effectiveness as a screening unit for your monsters. Where they really see new life is with the Terrasaur monsters. A unit with Hop is exactly what Terra Khan needed to help activate Feeding Frenzy. Pteradax loves it when a unit can Hop into Tow range, and Tyrranix can have them zooming all over the map by adding Hit & Run to their kit.

Brontox – The Brontox only saw a minor tweak, but it makes a big difference. Its Nesting ability dropped the text that says “the placed model cannot advance this turn.” With this change, the Faction unit that the Brontox brings into play with Nesting can move out and be useful.

Scrapper – The Scrapper saw some minor buffs while in this packet. With +1 RNG and +1 SPD, the Scrapper’s threat range is much farther. We also changed Quick Fire to Dual Attack, as most all rules of this type will gain this new ability wording eventually.

Warder – The Warder got two upgrades to how Action: Shield Guard works. Shield Guard no longer costs an Action Die and can now trigger off brawl attacks in addition to blast attacks. This makes the Warder, pound-for-pound, one of the best “tanky” units in the game, ideal for securing any Power Base.

Draken Mystic – This unit saw some marked improvements from its last version. It lost Action: Empower but, in its place, it gained Power Sink. This now gives the Protectors access to a Power Sink unit. We increased the blast attack to have 2 Boost Dice, and that’s not all—Intensify now boosts all attacks, not just brawl and blast attacks, making these little drakens great companions for any monster.

S-Type Shinobi – The core troops of the Shadow Sun Syndicate got a little bump with +1 speed. Not much else needed here.

Robo Brontox – The Robo Brontox got a few small bumps. As discussed earlier, Intensify now also boosts all types of attacks. Feedback was also changed to only trigger off enemy monsters.

Uber Jet – The Uber Jet dropped down to cost 1. That is all.

Shinobot Elite – The Robo ninja of Ubercorp did see a change but only on the elite. The elite Shinobot gained a new rule called “Signal Matrix – Immediately after this model performs an action, each allied Faction grunt with the same named Action ability can perform the action without spending Action Dice.”

LTA Gunship – This flying nightmare gained two additional RNG on its blast attack, bringing it up to range 5. It also swapped Quick Fire for Dual Attack.

Monsters

Now let’s talk about the monster changes. There are two monsters that are getting brought down a touch: The first is a relatively new monster to the scene, Hurricanius. She came out of the gate a little too strong, so we wanted to bring her down a bit from the lofty clouds she was living in. The second monster to be brought into line has seen more than his share of table time—Armodax received some nudges downward in power. Both of these monsters are still among the best monsters in the game; they are now just a little less oppressive.

Hurricanius – This Elemental Champion received changes on both sides of her card. In Alpha, she gained Flight, which helps prevent her from stepping into a hazard to trigger her super-powered Hyper. She dropped down to Def 8 in Alpha, lost the Strafe trigger on her blast attack, and lost 1 Boost Die on her Power Attack stat. In Hyper her change was simple. Unrelenting Storm now gains +1 Boost Die for each attack it hits with during the turn. This avoids players tossing minimal dice at an attack that they know won’t hit just to net an extra blue die on an important power attack. We believe this change will help the rule operate as intended.

Armodax – In Alpha, Armodax only had one change: he no longer has Resilience in Alpha. While still being a big, armored turtle, we felt this change would allow for more player agency while playing against Armodax. In Hyper, Armodax flips his defensive tech. He loses Armored but keeps Resilience. That’s not all. We removed Unearthly Rage from his Hyper form. With as long as Armodax is on the table, Unearthly Rage shut down the unit-to-unit game for too long. We did give him a way to stay a consistent power generator in Hyper by adding Power Gorge to his power attack in Hyper.

Rastaban – This Monster received two changes, both to its Hyper. With one added rule in Hyper, Rastaban goes from being maligned as one of the worst monsters in the game to being the new go-to Protectors monster. We added Swift Strike, allowing him to make a brawl or blast attack in addition to any other attacks he makes that turn. In order to keep this from being overwhelming power generation, we removed the Power Gorge trigger from the blast attack.

Defender X – We wanted to make Defender X the poster child for G.U.A.R.D. tech in this dynamic update. The first change to Defender X was an update on the wording for Safeguard. Now Safeguard grants you two additional Power Dice during your Power Up Phase if you are securing at least one building. Defender X also now has Action: Troubleshoot on both sides of his card, allowing you to reroll a missed attack roll. We also added a new rule to Defender X: Command Matrix. This ability allows for allied models to also use Action: Troubleshoot while Defender X is in Alpha. His Alpha and Hyper health flipped, too. Now Defender X has 5 health in Alpha and 6 in Hyper, allowing him to get into Hyper faster and stay there longer. Additionally, Defender X picks up Resilience in Hyper, making him that much harder to finish off.

Nova ESR – Nova ESR received some significant upgrades to her kit. In Alpha, she trades her old Action: Sprint for Action: Rocket Boost. She also gained a Boost Die on her brawl and blast attacks as well. The cherry on top for her Alpha is that we upped the range on her guns to RNG 4. In Hyper, she gained 1 Boost Die on her brawl attack and gained the Reposition ability, allowing her to jet away if she is hit with an attack.

Dynastavus – This queen bee gets some new life with quite a few boosts. We raised her SPD to 7, making her one of the fastest Destroyers around. She also picked up a boost on her brawl and blast attacks, and we changed her sole defensive tech to matter more. (Hard to Kill reads, “When this model is hit by an attack while it has 2 or more health and it would be destroyed, before the attack resolves, it becomes 1 health instead.”) In Hyper, she keeps with the stat increases, going to SPD 7 and gaining an extra boost on her brawl and blast attacks. Finally, she also traded Lightning Attack for Swift Strike, giving her a little more versatility in Hyper.

Deimos-9 – First up, we decided to change Deimos-9’s health split; this will allow it to gain more time in Hyper and allow us to adjust its Alpha a bit more. Alpha Deimos-9 gains a new rule called Integrate, which gives it the ability to use the actions of buildings within two spaces of it. Deimos-9 also gains Direct Power in Alpha, letting the player use it to power up directly from a power zone. In Hyper, Deimos-9 only has one change, trading Lightning Attack for Swift Strike.

Komkor 001 – Komkor 001 received some serious upgrades. First, Komkor 001 gained +1 health to its Alpha form, bringing this rock-’em sock-’em robot to 12 health overall. Komkor also received the same Safeguard upgrade as Defender X. Additionally, it traded Focused Will for Lead from the Front, driving home Komkor’s commandant-style strategy. To cap off the Alpha changes, this Destroyer bot gained the brawl trigger Wrath. This ability allows Komkor to immediately make a stomp, ram, or swat power attack after the brawl attack is resolved. In Hyper, Komkor sheds Focused Will, Explosion and Precision Strike in exchange for Perfect Plan and Prescience, allowing Komkor to reroll dice on its attacks and pass that ability along to Faction units. We also gave you a reason to want to search for super strikes. The rockets built into Komkor’s shoulders to represent their blast attack gain Collateral Damage and Thrash, making this one of the most lethal setup guns in the game. How’s that for a one-two punch.

Zor Voltis – This monster did not see any major changes in this packet. Given how new Zor Voltis is, we don’t want to change him in this Dynamic Update. Yet with the new change to Dual Attack, we needed to update the wording on Coordinated Attacks to reflect the new wording on Dual Attack. Zor Voltis now lets C-Type Shinobi shoot twice. With Cargo and other in faction buffs coming from things like Zor Magna, there are some new lines of play available to the Shadow Sun Syndicate that previously did not exist.

Xaxor – I saved one of my favorites for last. In Alpha, Xaxor lost Hit and Run on his gun but upgraded that blast attack to Sweeping Strike. (Nothing says “gravity sword railgun arms” like Sweeping Strike.) We also added an extra boost onto Xaxor’s power attack stat. in Hyper, Xaxor gains a lot of new tech. We carried over Kinetic Distortions in Hyper to let him keep his key unit-buffing ability. We also let him hold onto Energy Cycle to make good use of its ultimate weapon ability. And better still, we added Tag to his blast and brawl attacks in Hyper. Xaxor is now highly mobile, highly lethal, and ready to see the table time he deserves.

An updated card pack will be available in the Privateer Press Online Store next month. Sign up for our mailing list to be the first to know when it’s ready to order.

And that’s it until our next dynamic update in 2023. We hope you’re as excited as we are to get these new changes on the table. Be sure to tag us and let us know how your updated games go!