Charge Beam
Charge Beam is an uncommon Riggs card.
Description
Costs 1 energy. When played:
- 1. Attack for 2 times the number of times you've drawn this card.
Exhausts when played.
Upgrades
Charge Beam A
Costs 1 energy. When played:
- 1. Attack for 3 times the number of times you've drawn this card.
Exhausts when played.
Charge Beam B
Costs 0 energy. When played:
- 1. Attack for 1 times the number of times you've drawn this card.
(Does not Exhaust when played.)
Strategy
Charge Beam allows you to turn your drawing power into a win condition on its own. It essentially deals 2 damage for 0 energy each time you draw it with no need to line up with the enemy, as you don't need to (and shouldn't) play it until it either kills the enemy or allows you to kill them before it's drawn again - 2 damage for 0 is great value, especially in a card-draw heavy economy. (If the enemy has a Brittle part, and/or if you have Jupiter Drones or multiple cannons, it can be even higher damage!) Cobalt Core has relatively few incentives for frontloading your damage, for the most part, so this is a great deal. Against Crystalline Entity and the The Cobalt and other enemies with a limited ability to chase you, this card along with a lot of Evade can be a win condition on its own - you can simply run away from them forever, wait for this to reach a point where it can OHKO them, then line up with them and kill them.
The A upgrade is +1 damage per draw - not the most impressive per-card, but the fact that this card is functionally zero-Energy is somewhat of a redeeming quality.
The B upgrade is interesting - intending for you to use it rather than simply hold it. Its Energy cost becomes 0, so like its brethren it costs no Energy when drawn. Assuming you use it, it does n damage each draw, where n is the number of times you draw this card. It takes 5 successful attacks with this card before it catches up to Charge Beam A in terms of raw damage (1+2+3+4+5 vs 3*5), and you need to line up the shot each turn, making it less desirable for Evade-heavy builds. With that said, this upgrade may be worthwhile if you have reasons why you want to be shooting the enemy often, e.g. Stun Source, Overdrive or Powerdrive, or enemy Missiles and Concussable. Books's Zero Doubler and Zero Draw also appreciate this upgrade. It does eventually outpace Charge Beam A in terms of raw damage in longer fights, too.
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