How did Human Torch become a Top Tier Science Champion?
altavista
Member Posts: 1,450 ★★★★
Disclaimer: I am not asking whether HT is good or not (that’s your opinion), but why his relative standing seems to have changed drastically recently.
When all the Fantastic Four was released, it seemed like the Thing was the consensus best of the bunch, with HT shining in niche fights (Mystic).
Abyss was released, and HT’s stock went up as being a Horseman, due to mystic countering and heal reversal.
There was also the rebalance by Kabam (https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/179325/human-torch-rebalance-information).
Still, it seemed like the opinion on HT was still that he dominates the fights he does well. When posts arose about HT v Void, or HT v Sunspot, the opinions seemed split, without HT being the clear cut favorite.
However, in recent weeks, I am seeing posts about how great HT is for so much content (without specifically referencing Mystic fights or niche fights) and how he potentially ranks behind only Quake in the Science class.
Why the recent change? it seems like opinions should have changed shortly in the months after the rebalance, if that’s the reason. But it didn’t, so there must be some other reason.
Its not like Void, CapIW, or other commonly considered top tier science champs were nerfed or neutered by new content that Kabam has put out. I don’t do AW so I don’t know if there are new defenders/nodes that HT is great for, to help explain the increase.
Thoughts on reasons his reputation has changed recently?
When all the Fantastic Four was released, it seemed like the Thing was the consensus best of the bunch, with HT shining in niche fights (Mystic).
Abyss was released, and HT’s stock went up as being a Horseman, due to mystic countering and heal reversal.
There was also the rebalance by Kabam (https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/179325/human-torch-rebalance-information).
Still, it seemed like the opinion on HT was still that he dominates the fights he does well. When posts arose about HT v Void, or HT v Sunspot, the opinions seemed split, without HT being the clear cut favorite.
However, in recent weeks, I am seeing posts about how great HT is for so much content (without specifically referencing Mystic fights or niche fights) and how he potentially ranks behind only Quake in the Science class.
Why the recent change? it seems like opinions should have changed shortly in the months after the rebalance, if that’s the reason. But it didn’t, so there must be some other reason.
Its not like Void, CapIW, or other commonly considered top tier science champs were nerfed or neutered by new content that Kabam has put out. I don’t do AW so I don’t know if there are new defenders/nodes that HT is great for, to help explain the increase.
Thoughts on reasons his reputation has changed recently?
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Comments
“Ohhhh.”
At least that’s my understanding.
Personally though I've thought he's been great for a while and not just over the past few weeks.
There was some doubt on him when he was initially released but the same can be said about Corvus and people not understanding the full potential of the champ
Also a no of new mystic champs and energy attack based champs have been released recently so his value is only increasing.
Some of it may be nature of science class. You have 2-3 top champs Quake, Cap, Void. I haven't seen much arguing HT better than any of them, aside from Abyss. I could see choosing HT over Void in many instances for speed.
Part of it probably also a meta shift to more specialist attack champs over all-around champs. Building a quest team now is more about identifying problematic node/champ combos and using hard counters for them vs. bringing your top 5 all-around champs. And in that case HT's stock rise cause he's best incinerate attack champ in the game. Probably same reason Red Guardian is "hyped" highly regarded, might be right behind Torch.
Also, in the last two years Kabam has released a lot of great mystic champs (Doom, Sasquatch, Sorcerer Supreme, Longshot, Mojo, Dragon-man, BWCV), which has increased HT's value, seeing that he completely crushes mystic champs.
HT also counters regen and miss, and not one champ in the game is immune to his Nova flames.
You see Colossus on a similar trajectory upward. Very hard hitting champ, but also has strong utility that makes him useful in more situations. He has a good set of immunities including rare ones like cold snap. He triggers a lot of buffs (good sometimes, not good other times). He's immune to armor break, and he has armor buffs that counter certain situations.
For the record, the thing I was thinking about is that IMIW is immune to Mix Master, something I discovered this month and had never thought about before, and I have no idea why this idea completely evaded my thought process. I stumbled into using him against Red Hulk purely by chance. Now I'm wondering what similar ideas I've completely overlooked.
That has really set torch so far above other science as his 3 debuffs are so easy to access and doesn't require any skill.
Also doom as AQ boss.
There's content now that he really shines in, excuse the pun. Although he is also amazing anyway.
I took capiw to 5/65 last month and regret not taking torch or shulk instead...
When legacy was saying he was a beast, he actually wasn’t that great. The slight buff they gave him was what pushed him over the edge. Before the small buff he was not good because he couldn’t hold temp. So when Legacy was using him, it was kinda him sticking to his guns more so then him really showcasing what he was capable of( because he wasn’t)
They explained it really well here:
The rate at which Temperature increases while charging Heavy is increased by 25%.
This may seem like a small change, but he can now go from 0-20 Temperature in approximately 2 seconds, which means he can reach Max Temperature from both a Parry, and from his SP2.
Additionally, because Temperature doesn't fall off for a few seconds when it reaches 20 (max), being able to easily reach Max Temperature has a compounding effect on how much time he spends at high Temperature overall.