“Daring to be Mediocre: The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen Marked for Death”

Dear Readers,


Today we are going to cover a character that, in my humble opinion, is not suitable for Web Warriors.

Normally, I try to find the good in all characters of MCP, and, for the most part, I have found the roster to be capable and fun with its character selection. However, not all characters are competitive and today we dive into a character that I hear about a lot: Daredevil, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Daredevil is meant to be taken as a quick bruiser character who is capable of striking back at your opponent and causing some real concussive damage with wild stuns and wild pushs. The problem with quick bruisers is generally you pick one or the other. You are either quick or you stay in the fight long enough to be able to bruise people. Daredevil does both, but not optimally. His strike back oddly enough hurts him on his injured side if he rolls a skull, potentially killing him in the process. He has a middle grade defensive statline with 3/3/3 (counting blanks for physical and energy attacks) and 5/6 stamina respectively. But none of this screams bulky except for radar sense. Many 3 threat characters rock a similar or better stat line than Mr. Murdock or come with enough frills to really help flesh out the kit. 

But, there is one thing I do like about Daredevil. He is a long mover. But, you know who else is a long mover with a pretty decent statline. Sabretooth. And, if you are looking for a bulky bruiser, I would go with Sabretooth over Daredevil. I am not recommending this. Not in the slightest. I am saying that if I had to choose, it would be Sabretooth. He has a long move, is hard to move due to size three, has healing factor, bleed, pierce, an execute, a strike back, a combo spender. Sabretooth is pretty darn decent and I still don’t recommend him for Web Warriors. That should tell you how much I dislike Daredevil in Web Warriors. But, we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Let’s look at the numbers on the number one reason I ever hear anyone wanting to take Daredevil: Devil’s Deliverance.


Devil’s Deliverance is an AoE attack that starts small at 2 dice for 5 power, but gains 2 dice for every non-dazed or dead character it could hit. After the attack is resolved, you push your enemies small away. More often than not, I find that you are hitting two characters for a 6 dice A2 attack with a push. 

Thanks to Xavier Protocols and their J.A.R.V.I.S spreadsheet for the numbers. You have saved this friendly neighborhood spider dude from the clutches of math.

6 Dice attacks

6 Dice vs 3 Defense
Daze/KO	8 damage	7 damage	6 damage	5 damage	4 damage	3 damage	2 damage	1 damage	0 damage
0.02%	0.11%	0.58%	2.20%	6.15%	12.67%	19.40%	22.03%	18.47%	18.38%
6 Dice vs 4 Defense
Daze/KO	8 damage	7 damage	6 damage	5 damage	4 damage	3 damage	2 damage	1 damage	0 damage
0.01%	0.07%	0.40%	1.57%	4.59%	10.04%	16.57%	20.73%	19.68%	26.34%
6 Dice vs 5 Defense
Daze/KO	8 damage	7 damage	6 damage	5 damage	4 damage	3 damage	2 damage	1 damage	0 damage
0.01%	0.05%	0.27%	1.12%	3.40%	7.86%	13.87%	18.86%	19.88%	34.69%

If you catch 2 opponens, you are looking at the most likely result being you deal 2 damage to each one. 5 power for 4 damage spread out doesn’t seem too appealing, and it is generally the most likely scenario that you will find Daredevil.

8 Dice Attacks

8 Dice vs 3 Defense
Daze/KO	8 damage	7 damage	6 damage	5 damage	4 damage	3 damage	2 damage	1 damage	0 damage
0.43%	1.22%	3.44%	7.60%	13.28%	18.30%	19.82%	16.75%	10.95%	8.20%
8 Dice vs 4 Defense
Daze/KO	8 damage	7 damage	6 damage	5 damage	4 damage	3 damage	2 damage	1 damage	0 damage
0.30%	0.88%	2.57%	5.94%	10.96%	16.15%	19.01%	17.83%	13.27%	13.09%
8 Dice vs 5 Defense
Daze/KO	8 damage	7 damage	6 damage	5 damage	4 damage	3 damage	2 damage	1 damage	0 damage
0.21%	0.63%	1.90%	4.59%	8.92%	13.97%	17.70%	18.14%	15.03%	18.90%

Hitting three opponents sees you more often dealing 3-4 damage. But, as will be stated later, hitting this many opponents is either difficult or requires an All Webbed Up turn. Neither of which makes Mr.Murdoch especially appealing.

9 Dice Attacks

9 Dice vs 3 Defense
Daze/KO	8 damage	7 damage	6 damage	5 damage	4 damage	3 damage	2 damage	1 damage	0 damage
1.26%	2.59%	5.88%	10.76%	15.89%	18.87%	17.92%	13.51%	7.99%	5.34%
9 Dice vs 4 Defense
Daze/KO	8 damage	7 damage	6 damage	5 damage	4 damage	3 damage	2 damage	1 damage	0 damage
0.90%	1.93%	4.57%	8.77%	13.74%	17.51%	18.14%	15.21%	10.27%	8.97%
9 Dice vs 5 Defense
Daze/KO	8 damage	7 damage	6 damage	5 damage	4 damage	3 damage	2 damage	1 damage	0 damage
0.64%	1.44%	3.52%	7.07%	11.68%	15.86%	17.73%	16.28%	12.26%	13.53%

J.A.R.V.I.S. didn’t seem to like me trying to do 10 dice attacks, presumably because it realized we were working with Daredevil’s stats and it refused to take part in this exercise in fear of Daredevil’s long-term relationship with ineptitude rubbing off on it. As such, we will only get a close approximation of what things will look like. However, if you were able to catch four people in his Devil’s deliverance it often means you were on the singular scenario where that may happen: Research Station. From my experience it is rare to have fights outside of Research Station that will catch out four enemies within R2. I am not saying it doesn’t happen. I am just saying it's rare. Even getting three enemies into this range requires your scenario to be very specific or your opponent to just not know what Daredevil does. In this range we are seeing the range go up to 5 damage consistently (for a range of 3-5 damage per enemy, resulting in 12-20 damage spread out). But, again, I have to stress this, this is rare and you may see this once in every 20 games. Maybe. Don’t quote me on that. I don’t have magic Xavier Protocols provided stats for your at home gaming consistencies like I do for how poorly Devil’s Deliverance pays out.

While the auto push is nice, it isn’t truly worth the 5 power you spent to do it, especially when you consider Black Panther does it for free on his basic attack and he carries an AoE push on a cheaper spender (granted, on a wild roll). Black Panther also has an attack steroid, has Radar Sense with better defensive stats, and has better mobility due to pounce. There is a reason T’Challa is a king and Daredevil is still paying off student loans.

However, I already hear the comments: BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL WEBBED UP TURNS! BLACK PANTHER DOESN’T BENEFIT FROM THEM! You are absolutely correct, All Webbed Up turns will ramp the damage even more. However, you are now investing 8 power from Daredevil to do this or you are bringing in a ringer to do it for him, which then allows your opponent to move away, since Devil’s Deliverance is about as subtle as J Jonah Jameson looking for pictures of Spider-man. Moreover, bringing in another character skews how much threat we are dedicating to this maneuver, which also messes with the dynamics of the math. At that point we are looking at being able to afford Thor for our AoE needs, who actually benefits your team a bit more by passing out shocks from R5 and has throws/staggers in his kit while also generating 2 power a turn. All in all, the signature move of Daredevil is middling at best and doesn't really find a true home in Web Warriors. Everything it does our other characters can already do, and they usually do it better.

I will give you a list of characters that fill the 4 threat slot that I feel fit better in Web Warriors that do his defensive and displacement abilities better than Daredevil:

• Black Panther - Already explained above.
• Dr. Voodoo - He brings a throw, he brings power sap, he is a defensive behemoth at 4/4/6 while holding Daniel, and he can outright deny your enemy from playing the objective game. Dr. Voodoo is a beast that should not be ignored in any list.
• Captain America (Steve Rogers) - He has a push, he has a high strength ricochet throw that builds power consistently, he can be up to 6 energy and physical defense (what is your radar sense picking up from this glorious vibranium man meat wall?) and he can body guard for your weakened Webheads when needed.
• Omega Red - You know what people hate? Walls. You know what Omega Red is? A Soviet Wall. 3/3/4 doesn’t look impressive, until you factor in his drain life ability on his basic attack and his Carbonadium Armor ability. He can also drag enemy characters toward him like Venom and then poison them for being too close.
• Vision - B4 Str 5 Energy Sapping shenanigans are the name of the game here. You don’t have to be close to bruise people when you can laser snipe them from afar. Vision also gets to choose which of his physical or energy defenses are going to be 5 for the turn, making him a bigger wall than Daredevil. In addition, a medium thow is gross. Not my top pick, but Vision should not be slept on as a better Daredevil.
• Spider-Man (Peter Parker) - Same stat line. But Baby Pete brings a whole slew of control along with Spider-Sense. Just saying, Daredevil wishes he were Spider-Man. But, then again, don't we all (minus the whole...dead uncle thing...)?
  

I understand that some have had good success with the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. However, from a competitive standpoint, there is a reason you don’t see him. He is overcosted for what he does and could have really used the Bullseye Glam-up treatment for him to have been a threat in Web Warriors. But, unfortunately, I cannot recommend enough that you don’t use Daredevil in your lists. I am actually hoping that the next Daredevil release sees him as a usable three threat, which seems to be the Web Warrior’s bread and butter. But, as it is now, you either won’t get results with him on the table or you may get a brilliant stroke of blind luck to see you to victory.


Till next time fellow web-slingers.