Valkyrie is my current favourite character. I think she plays well in every affiliation. She has a great power in Warrior of Legend, but just how good does it make her attacks?

For two power, Valkyrie can mess with dice maths:

This has particular use against M.O.D.O.K., as he would normally invalidate wild results, turning them to a blank. Even if Valkyrie rolls five wilds, she can change them all to hits! Modifying your own dice happens earlier in the attack step than your opponent modifying your dice.

But how much increase in damage can you expect from your two power investment? I’ve run the maths and here’s the results:

Her strike goes from 5 dice up to something that is pretty equivalent to 7 dice. 7 dice attacks normally cost 3 power, not 2, and don’t gain you power. That’s impressive.

On her 7 dice Dragon Fang, it makes it significantly better than a 9 dice attack. ‘Averaging’ 6 hits is just madness. Plenty of times (24% on 3 dice, 15% on 4) your opponent will miss their defensive roll and go from full to dazed in one action. It’s worth pointing out though that this power doesn’t affect her chance of hitting that wild to trigger a free attack.

Unless you really need to do large damage, I think I prefer using Warrior of Legend on the Strike attacks. You are likely to get back at least some of the power you invest in the strike – especially in Avengers when you might only pay one for it. It also gives tricky decisions around bodyguard. Do you bodyguard the roughly 7 dice strike or the actually seven dice dragon fang that will come after? Any time you make your opponent make tough decisions they have the chance of choosing the wrong option.