When this character is given a ranged combat action and deals damage, an area of effect may include all untargeted characters that are adjacent to one or more hit targets. Hit targets are dealt damage normally, other hit characters are dealt 1 damage for each  printed on this character’s base.

2012 Wording: Give this character a ranged combat action to make an attack that deals no damage. For each target character successfully hit, all adjacent characters are attacked as well. Each character hit is dealt damage equal to the number of times it was hit by this attack (characters adjacent to multiple targets might be hit more than once). Critical hits deal 1 additional damage to all characters hit.

•See Area of Effect

•(Players Guide, 2014): When knock back occurs from this attack, all characters that take damage from this attack are knocked back normally in the direction away from the attacker starting with those farthest from the attacker. If the attacker itself takes damage, it is not knocked back.

The first sentence reads: "When this character is given a ranged combat action and deals damage, an area of effect may include all untargeted characters that are adjacent to one or more hit targets assigned at least 1 damage."

When a special power indicates that a character can use Energy Explosion and it adjusts the number of  the character can use, this only changes the number of different targets the character can target with a single ranged combat attack. It does not alter the number of printed ; when calculating damage to untargeted but hit characters, use only the printed .

•(HeroClix Website 05-07-2013) Right up front, there is a major change to how Energy Explosion activates. Energy Explosion now activates any time you are given a ranged combat action; it doesn’t require its own action for activation. The important thing to remember is that you no longer give your character an action to activate Energy Explosion. It automatically activates whenever that character is given a ranged combat action.

•(HeroClix Website 05-07-2013) Energy Explosion activates EVERY time your character is given a ranged combat action that deals damage.

•(HeroClix Website 05-07-2013) Remember that you get to decide if you are using Energy Explosion, but once you decide to use it, the area of effect exists for friendly and opposing characters alike. You can’t choose to only have the opposing characters be hit by the Energy Explosion part.

•(HeroClix Website 05-07-2013) Combos:

RANGED COMBAT EXPERT – We’ll start with the easiest one. Since Ranged Combat Expert is a power action, Energy Explosion does not interact with it at all.

PENETRATING/PSYCHIC BLAST – Another relatively easy interaction. Penetrating/Psychic Blast says “Damage from the attack is penetrating damage.” That means the targets are being dealt penetrating damage and the “other hit characters” are also being dealt penetrating damage.

INCAPACITATE – With its new capability to deal damage to an already-pushed character, Incapacitate with Energy Explosion opens the door for some potential extra damage. First, remember that this only applies when you are using Incapacitate through a ranged combat action. Second, it only activates when you assign a targeted character damage from the attack, so if you are only targeting characters with less than 2 tokens, Energy Explosion does not activate. But if you hit that pushed character while using Incapacitate, then it will be dealt 1 penetrating damage, and then any “untargeted but adjacent characters” can be checked to see if they are dealt damage, too. Now, unlike Penetrating/Psychic Blast, the only damage that is specified as being penetrating is the 1 being dealt to the pushed character, so the Energy Explosion damage, in this case, would not be penetrating. Still, extra damage is good, isn’t it?

PULSE WAVE – Now it gets a little interesting. All of the characters “inside” the wave are “targeted characters”, so who might be the “untargeted hit characters”? First, look at the outer “edge” of the wave. Any characters on that edge that have someone adjacent to them (but outside the wave) are potentially hit as well. But there’s one more character who may be hit – the attacker. Pulse Wave got a boost a few years ago, allowing characters to use it while adjacent to an opposing character. When you have Pulse Wave and Energy Explosion going off together, be careful if the attacker is adjacent to an opposing character. The attacker has not been targeted, so if any adjacent character is hit by Pulse Wave, then the attacker is suddenly having to check themselves to see if they’ve been hit, too.

•(HeroClix Website 05-07-2013) Does a character with Shape Change that is not a target of the attack get to roll to possibly prevent the Energy Explosion attack?

No. The character isn’t being targeted with an attack, it is an “untargeted hit character”. Shape Change only activates when the character is (a) targeted by (b) an attack. While this is an attack, they are not targeted.

•(HeroClix Website 05-07-2013) Does a character with Super Senses that is not a target of the attack get to roll to possibly evade the Energy Explosion attack?

Yes. The only criteria for Super Senses is that the character is being dealt damage from an attack. Even if you are untargeted, you are still being dealt damage from an attack, so you would be able to use Super Senses.

•(HeroClix Website 05-07-2013) Does a character with Energy Shield/Deflection that is not a target of the attack get +2 to their defense value when determining if they are hit?

Yes. Energy Shield/Deflection activates for all ranged combat attacks (and the power doesn’t even specify that you need to be a target).

•(HeroClix Website 05-07-2013) If a Mystic is an “untargeted hit character” and takes damage because of Energy Explosion, would the team ability activate?

Yes, because Energy Explosion is damage dealt from the attack. In order for Mystics to activate, the character needs to take damage from an attack. Both conditions are met here. Moreso, if you use Energy Explosion and damage a bunch of Mystics, that 1 unavoidable damage to your attacker for EACH Mystic, so I hope it’s worth it!

•(HeroClix Website 05-07-2013) If one of the characters taking damage from the attack has Mastermind and shifts the damage to another character that’s taking damage from the attack, is the damage dealt “twice?” And, does it matter if the Mastermind character is a target or an “untargeted hit character”?

Firstly, it doesn’t matter if the Masterminder is the target or not. Also, all of the damage being dealt is from one attack and all at once. So while the Mastermind character can shift the damage to someone else, all of that damage gets dealt at once so any damage reducers would be calculated against the total damage dealt to the character, not against each damage individually.