Marvel Champions Codex

RulingHall of Heroes (rules 1.6)2025-06-17

Is Retaliate damage considered to be dealt by the character that has it? For context, the Change of Fortune…

⚠ This ruling is from an older rules version (Hall of Heroes (rules 1.6)) and might be outdated.

Question

1.Is Retaliate damage considered to be dealt by the character that has it? For context, the Change of Fortune protection upgrade and being able to draw 2 cards. 2.Is Overkill damage considered to be dealt by the character that attacked with it? For context, the Schadenfreude Rocket Racoon event and being able to heal 2 damage twice from a single attack. 3.With the Innocent bystanders obligation from the Thunderbolts scenario, could you explain what each of the multiple uses of “you” refer to in the ability? 4.There is some confusion from the community around what the triggering condition of “attacks and damages you” or “attacks and damages a character” means regarding overkill damage. Some players think it means that character A has to both attack and damage Character B with that attack.(Excluding Overkill damage). Some players think it means that character A just needs needs to damage character B with an attack it made. (Including overkill damage). So we would love to know which way it should be played.

Answer

  1. Yes, Retaliate is considered damage dealt by the character with the keyword. Change of Fortune will trigger if Retaliate defeats an enemy.
  2. Yes, Overkill damage is considered damage dealt by the attacking character. Schadenfreude can heal 2 damage from Rocket twice when he deals Overkill damage, given he dealt damage to both a minion and the villain.
  3. “After you attack an enemy” triggers when specifically your identity attacks an enemy, while “after [an] enemy attacks you” triggers when either your identity or an ally you control is attacked. (This exception to “you = your identity” is outlined in Rules Reference v1.6.)
  4. An ability with the triggering condition “attacks and damages X” will trigger when Overkill damage is dealt to X, as Overkill is considered damage from an attack. Basically, if X took damage from the attack, the ability triggers, even if X was not the specific target of the attack.

— Alex