Undead nation created the 5 category class (brawler, splash etc) that’s supposed to be somewhat different. However, there are a few survivors that doesn’t sit squarely with one category or another – While someone like Hank or Claudia definitely falls into “Tanks”, unit such as Ema (I have previously written a piece on her) falls between ranged and splash.
So today, let’s discuss Amanda. Amanda is definitely falls into the brawler category. She has no AOE capability and doesn’t have any massive HP. What she does have, is dodge. If you have played any other role playing game, you might call her an agility based tank. Her first skill allows 50% of hits to be dodged and her 3rd skill allows these dodges to be a counter-attack. This means that in a hand to hand combat, not only is she hard to take down, there’s a fairly good chance she will take you out.
She isn’t invincible for sure – Since she isn’t a tank, she does have a relatively low HP, making her more vulnerable to non-melee attack than regular tanks (ranged etc). She also is a single target character, so can struggle if she is faced against a mob (well, to take them down, the dodge factory still can help her survive).
So, covering her strengths and weaknesses, what’s my thought around using her?
I spoke briefly about this in my article about synergy, but if there is anyone who can truly benefit from a “healer”, then Amanda + healer (well, this game really only gives you two choices so-far) is great. – Healers (Doc and Soldier 88) in this game can have one bottle-neck and that is that they appear to heal in absolute value, (e.g, 1000 hp) not in relative value (e.g., 10% of max hp). This means that some tanks with massive HP (Hank, Deborah etc) can see less benefit from healers than those with less HP (hint hint, Amanda). – As an example, I have a team that has Amanda + S88 as my starting line up team that is meant to stall and buy time to charge BP in full auto team. She does a great job at tanking enemies while slowly chipping away at them.
The same way this team can fail is a good example of her weakness. The dodge doesn’t kick in (no pun intended) with ranged and splash, so anything from the flame thrower, to zombie spits becomes a race against time. Any situation that they have a tank and ranged, can spell game over in the comp.
So in summary
Pro
- Relatively cheap (4BP)
- Can tank and DPS
- Great combo with heals (unit, tactic, vamp)
Con
- As a brawler, she does have less HP than tanks
- As a tank, can be more susceptible to ranged than tanks
- Can go down very easily with stuns
- Single target damage dealer – doesn’t really clear rooms like splash units
- Not much utility
Despite all this, I think she’s a pretty good unit that’s worth leveling at least one copy of her up.
Happy hunting.