Xiahou Ba

Backbone of Aspiration 棘途壯志

**Rebelling Panther** 豹變
If Xiahou Ba has fewer than four units of health remaining, he can use "Instigate." If Xiahou Ba has fewer than three units of health remaining, he can use "Roar." If Xiahou Ba has fewer than two units of health remaining, he can use "Godspeed."
**Instigate** 挑嚣
Once during his turn, Xiahou Ba may select any player who has him in their attack range. This character must attack you. If they do not, you may select one of their cards and discard it.
**Roar** 咆哮
Xiahou Ba has no restrictions on how many times he can attack during his turn.
**Godspeed** 神速
During his turn, Xiahou Ba can exercise either or both of the following options to attack any character regardless of their distance from him:
1.) Skip his judgement and drawing phases.
2.) Skip his action phase and discard any equipment card.

**Clarification:**

* "Instigate" is one of Jiang Wei's abilities. It allows him to select a character that can reach him in their attack range and force them to play an *Attack* on him. If they do not, Xiahou Ba selects one of their cards and forcibly discards it.
* "Roar" is Zhang Fei's ability. It allows him to play as many *Attack* cards as he would like during his turn without restriction.
* "Godspeed" is Xiahou Yuan's ability. It allows him to skip his judgement and drawing phases to select any character and attack them. It also allows him to discard an equipment card and select any character and attack them. There are no distance restrictions when using either option of this ability and both options can be used so long as Xiahou Ba has a piece of equipment to discard for option two.
* Note that Xiahou Ba does not permanently gain "Instigate," "Roar," or "Godspeed" by simply reaching a particular health level. For example, if Xiahou Ba has two units of health then plays a *Peach* to heal himself, he can no longer use "Roar" until his health level is reduced below three again.
* Note that Xiahou Ba does not 'lose' abilities as his health level decreases. For example, if Xiahou Ba's health level is reduced from three to two, he does not lose "Instigate." At two units of health, he can use "Instigate" and "Roar."

 * "Rebelling Panther" gives Xiahou Ba quite a few abilities when he is low on health.
* "Instigate" not only gives Xiahou Ba a card destruction ability, but it also helps him more easily become damaged. While this was a drawback for Jiang Wei, it is useful for Xiahou Ba when he is trying to reduce his health level below three to gain "Roar" and use multiple *Attacks* per turn.
* Because Xiahou Ba does not have "Roar" at all times, it will come as more of a surprise to his enemies when he acquires it that it would if the player wielding him was Zhang Fei instead.
* "Godspeed" gives Xiahou Ba a kamikaze move when he is low on health.
* While "Instigate" and "Roar" work well together, "Godspeed" does not work well with either of these abilities. Using the first option skips the drawing phase, not allowing him to draw *Attacks* for "Roar" or *Escapes* to make "Instigate" less dangerous. Option two skips his action phase, the only part of his turn in which he could use these abilities.
* Xiahou Ba seems to be a standalone character with few useful allies.

Notable Combinations:

* Liu Bei/Guo Jia/Xun Yu - These characters can help Xiahou Ba by giving him *Attacks* and weapons to utilize "Roar."

 Loyalist
 Spy

**Final Remarks:**

Xiahou Ba seems to be a novelty character. "Rebelling Panther" is certainly a unique ability. Interestingly enough, Xiahou Ba seems to become more brazen as his health level decreases. When using him, try to stay at three units of health so that you can use "Instigate" to remove cards from your opponents. When you have many *Attack* cards and three units of health, target a character with many hand cards and pieces of equipment with "Instigate" and try to get them to *Attack* you. If they take the bait, do not play an *Escape*. Instead, take the damage and return fire with "Roar!"