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Welcome back, Guardians fans! We hope you’ve had a chance to check out some of our earlier previews covering the basic mechanics of Guardians, such as how teams and decks are drafted, the action phase of your turn, scoring locations and more! If not, you can find links to all our Guardians previews below. Today we start previewing the ten heroes found in the base game of Guardians. Each week, we’ll be exploring two heroes in the base game of Guardians, as well as their accompanying cards. Let’s dive in for a closer look at the first two heroes now: Astra and Grave!

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Astra

Astra’s cards are all about dealing damage from afar. Her Far Shot ability lets her attack enemies at adjacent locations, and with 4 attack this can be a huge advantage during combat. Crippling Shot is great for immobilizing enemy heroes and disrupting their plans, and with range 2, it can be hard for enemy heroes to outrun. With a lower life value, Astra is more susceptible to aggressive heroes moving to her location, but Ballistic Barrage will make your opponent think twice about bringing any heroes too close to her. Ammo Cache is a great way to charge up one of your ultimate cards when actions are tight. Finally, we have Arc Strike. This ultimate card is a major tempo boost if used at the right time. Removing all charge tokens from an enemy’s ultimate card can undo plenty of your opponent’s hard work, not to mention exhausting one of their heroes as well. Additionally, Arc Strike gives one charge point itself, meaning this ultimate can help you play another ultimate the moment you activate it. Astra has a lot of potential to chain ultimate cards together when she’s on your team, all the while leaving your opponent struggling to keep up.

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Grave

Grave’s cards slowly erode your opponent’s team, while moving them into the perfect position. Grave’s Noxious ability can hit multiple enemies at once, so long as they’re at Grave’s location at the end of your action phase. Necrosis will actually do more damage against stronger opponents, so it’s best to save it for an early attack against the biggest threats. Dark Call can be triggered off either a friendly or opposing hero being knocked out, allowing for an easy way to disrupt your opponent’s plans or setup a strong combo on your own turn. Along with Dark Call, Necrogenic Cloud can also work to bring enemy heroes to Grave’s location to fuel her Noxious ability. Finally, Last Gasp works as a surefire way to knock out any enemy hero in range, regardless of their life vale.  

That’s all for this week, be sure to check out our other Guardians previews below, and join us next week as we explore the next two heroes from the base game! Remember, Guardians is available for preorder now and will be hitting retailers and our own web store in just a few weeks!

Posted by Callin Flores Callin Flores the Plaid Hat Games Communication Specialist. Follow @MarsTheChild