Strengths of Deimos 9

Honorable Mention – March Article Contest
by: Owain Salter

I am one of the few Monsterpocalypse players around that thinks using Diemos-9 is not a way to commit gaming suicide (most players acknowledge that his mega form is playable so I will concentrate on ultra and the alpha). I can understand why most people think this; he is probably the least mobile monster in the game, he has a blast stat that would be hard pressed to hurt a fly, he has not much in the way of defense or health, in fact, it appears that his only redeeming point is his insanely good brawl.

Diemos’ ultra probably possesses the best brawl in the game. His ultra form has a brawl stat of 8 with three boost dice. This may not seem that great, but our three-legged friend has a whole host of abilities to back him up.

First off, we have penetrator. This skill means that all of Diemos’ brawl targets reduce their defense by one. This is equivalent to throwing an extra power dice, or two action dice. Diemos’ first trigger, lightning attack, is where his damage potential comes from. If he hits a monster with a brawl attack, he gets to use the dice in play to make another attack of the same kind against the same monster.

“Whatever” the critics say, “ you can still get far more damage from that with a power attack.”

This is, of course, true. Power attacks like throw and body slam can deal 3, 4 or even 5 damage when well executed, so how does Diemos make up for this? Easy, power dice. His other brawl trigger (siphon) means that whenever he hits an opposing monster, Diemos gains a power dice and his opponent loses one. This can be devastating when in combination with lightning attack. Assuming both attacks hit (which with his good stat and penetrator is very likely) your opponent will take 2 damage, he will lose 2 power dice and you will gain 2 power dice. This can be especially nasty when combined with the Martians other abilities like the power pods amplify, the vanguards power gorge and the TV Network High-rise, all of which help to increase the difference between the players power pools.

Like I said before, Diemos’ blast stat is rubbish, or is it? At first glance, with a stat of 4, no boost dice and short range it does seem a bit pointless. But again, triggers come to the rescue. Both the alpha and the ultra have power gorge and hit and run. This means that if he blasts a unit (which is all he will be able to with that stat) he will gain an extra power dice and be able to move an extra 3 squares. This is quite a good technique for running away from the enemy.

I have to acknowledge that Diemos’ lack of mobility can be a problem, but the fact that he doesn’t need to be aligned with the enemy to exploit his full potential goes some way to counter this.

Some tips and tricks:

1. After making an attack, drop out of your ultra form. This protects your ultra from damage and as it only takes three power dice to ‘hyper up’ it shouldn’t prove too much of a drain on your resources.
2. Try to use your units to screen him from power attacks. Diemos is quite fragile.
3. Your vanguards should be able to do one point of damage to the enemy monster each turn.
4. Don’t be afraid to rampage or stomp to get rid of buildings that you could be power attacked into.

I hope that I have convinced you that Diemos-9 can be a powerful, Earth conquering killing machine. So next time you come up against one in a tournament, don’t underestimate him, be wary and may the best Martian win!