Mister Sinister is underrated. Here’s why...

Don’t really do these, but decided to explain why sinister is so damn underrated, as I love the character and have as a sig 200 r5 5* (and it wasn’t just for defence).

Molecular Regeneration - First is his sustainability. It’s incredible. While rng dependent to an extent, it has saved me countless times, as he is able to regen from critical hits. Not much else to say.

He also has pretty high block proficiency and health, so is already a rather tanky character.

Science gene - More of a cool interaction, but still useful. The science gene boosts his regen rate from basically any source from what I’ve seen. This includes the close encounters node, so you actually heal more than other champs would when close to the opponent. Niche but cool.

More importantly though, it boosts will power, which is great when you want to be topped up, and very useful for damaging debuffs (more on that soon).

Immunities - Firstly I want to add that they are very niche, but can be nice in certain scenarios. He has reverse controls, unblockable specials and taunt immunity. His unblockable special counter is actually very useful for certain fights. For example he’s very nice for 6.3 nick fury, since he’s a mutant and doesn’t give a damn about whether his sp 1 becomes unblockable or not. It’s niche but nice.

Reversed controls immunity is easily his most useful. He can very easily counter nodes such as delirium and special chaos inversion, whilst also countering Emma frosts inverted controls aswell. Example would be the delirium path in 6.3.1. Plus having psychic resistance makes him nice for stryfe, as he can not cloak against him.

Taunt immunity is... pretty much useless lol. The only use I’ve had for it is against a mister fantastic with an insecurity node, like the one in this monthly event. That’s pretty much it though.

The more juicy stuff...

His sp1 - He can transfer all damaging debuffs from his sp 1. I love this ability. Unfortunately he’s not so good for scenarios with rapid debuffs like freezer burn, but still very helpful. For example against the poison nick in 6.4.3 and poison masacre in 6.2.5 mutant gate (I don’t have a poison immune mutant). He did great for these. As a horsemen he also did great against biohazard dd in the v6 and also came in clutch against the man thing on the special connoisseur lane in 6.4.2. It’s just so nice to shrug anything off, and sometimes even deal quite a lot of damage.

If you have willpower, and science genes, it means that he can heal a good chunk of the damage he takes from some DOT effects, making them so much nicer to transfer on his sp1. This is why science genes can be very nice to have.

Sp 2/3 - This is by far his greatest piece of utility, which is his 100% concussion, which is HUGE. Sp 3 is much better for when you want to keep it up, as you power leech and it’s double the duration.

With this sp 3 spam, I have been able to counter.. havoks, Hyperions (yes really) electros, such as the boss in v6, void such as the one in the special connoisseur lane, and other really annoying matchups, such as most evaders and so much more. This enables him to do so much more than people actually think. Obviously there are countless nodes aswell, but I’d honestly be here all day naming them all. STOP UNDERESTIMATING HIS CONCUSSION. Think of what falcon and quake shut down for reference. Even though he admittedly doesn’t do it quite as easily of course.

As I mentioned he also has power leech on the sp 3, this is what really helps for both power control, but also keeping the concussion up for as long as possible. I’d argue he is easily one of the best if not THE best mutant power controller in the game, and it’s actually saved me at times in some scenarios. Not much else to say. Power control is power control.

Also... I want to add he has a synergy with kingpin (and others who are irrelevant) where he can power lock the opponent for 5 seconds after they do a special. This mixed with his power leech, actually makes him completely viable as a power controller such as 200% energise lane in 6.3.2. It’s great and so underrated. I may test it in vivified and see if it works there...

Other nice things...

Pausing concussion and power leech - This is SO crucial for his sp3 spam and building his power BUT it’s so nice for when you want to pause your concussion for timed encounters. An example would be voids debuffs, stealthies evade (which is shut down permanently btw), arc overload etc, it’s really nice at times.

Pausing stun - By doing this he actually ignores limber completely, as he can just pause his stun and heavy all he likes. This is so nice for limber evade scenarios for example. Also in the corner he can actually spam 2 heavies in one parry stun, making him really enjoyable and easy to play for lifecycle. There will be other examples where pausing these debuffs will be useful of course. This made him easy to play against the aegis heavy rogue last month aswell (I know it was easy, but still it’s something.)

A perfect example is the black bolt mini in 6.3.1 - He ignores the limber, so can heavy all he likes, therefore making him so easy to play against the lifecycle node. PLUS his concussion shuts down aggression regen aswell, so not even much healing occurs. (One of the many node interactions concussion has).

I wish to add that he is one of the best options for the third and hardest phase of the grandmaster, as he can actually heal from the grandmasters sp 1, AND is immune to the reversed controls. Plus, he does give a damn about his unblockable sp 1 if you slip up.

His BIG issue...

His damage. It’s simply so underwhelming, and I can’t deny that at all. HOWEVER...

Unlike other noodles, he can really make his damage nicer if you ramp up on cosmic genes and mutant genes. Plus him being a mutant means he can benefit massively from being a horsemen with 50% prowess and prof x synergy of up to 100 special damage increase. Not to mention his synergy with cable gives a chance of a 25% fury buff. So it isn’t always underwhelming.

Apologies for the stupidly long post. He simply has more than people think.

I am by no means saying he’s BGT or anything though, but I would put him AT LEAST high Demi god (if you care about tiers).

Comments

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Will3808

👏🏻 Nice right up. I really hadn’t heard much about mr sinister as an attacker other than this post and one a while ago but I’m not intrigued. If his damage wasn’t as bad I’d definitely consider ranking him up.

OGAvenger

I see what you’re saying and I like the write up....

But he kinda sucks

SpideyFunko

@FluffyPigMonster

KDSuperFlash10

Debuff immune (Mini Emma Frost)
Debuff pausing (Unique ability)
Regeneration on hit (Mini Blade)
Cruelty and Precision (Mini Corvus)
100% Concussion (Mini Quake)
Power control (Mini Doctor Doom)
Degeneration (Mini Apocalypse)
Gains bonuses based on the opponent you're fighting (Mini She-Hulk)
Cool synergies (Mini Nick Fury)
Immune to Taunt and Reversed Controls (Mini Professor X)
Able to block unblockable attacks (Mini Stryfe)

Best champion in the game?

Agresssor

Mister Sinister underrated ? maybe he needs a buff too ? xD

unknown

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Jaded

After reading everything, he appears to be perfectly rated.

AssumedName

I see what you’re saying and I like the write up....

But he kinda sucks

No.

AssumedName

Appreciate the responses. I agree his damage is quite poor and that he’s got a lot of stuff but not great for anything. A buff would be very nice in the future. Maybe a kingpin level update, so he gains a couple more abilities, but stays the same for the most part.

AssumedName

Psylocke has bette power control but nice write up

I honestly forgot she existed lol.

AssumedName

After reading everything, he appears to be perfectly rated.

Depends who’s rating him. But given I’ve seen quite a few put him at nightcrawler and rogue p tier, I’d say he’s very much underrated.

Terra

Taunt immunity doesn't really matter when you're playing Sinister, does it? You usually are 100% in control of when to throw specials making the debuff meaningless
I've always loved Sinisters kit, I'd love a 6*.

Jaded

After reading everything, he appears to be perfectly rated.
Depends who’s rating him. But given I’ve seen quite a few put him at nightcrawler and rogue p tier, I’d say he’s very much underrated.

I mean taking into consideration everything I can find written up on Mister sinister and My own personal experiences with him. He appears to be rated just fine. He can move up or down a tier depending who is rating him.

BuffBeast

You see, I wanna say MS just needs a sprinkle of more damage. But I don’t want him to get hooded

MaxtheSilent

Mr. Sinister is like a job offer where everything is great... except the pay. You did a really nice post. I enjoyed reading it and I understand why you like him. But he needs better damage to be worth it in most fights.

Rasilover

Horseman sinister still kinda wack

Kerneas

Debuff immune (Mini Emma Frost)
Debuff pausing (Unique ability)
Regeneration on hit (Mini Blade)
Cruelty and Precision (Mini Corvus)
100% Concussion (Mini Quake)
Power control (Mini Doctor Doom)
Degeneration (Mini Apocalypse)
Gains bonuses based on the opponent you're fighting (Mini She-Hulk)
Cool synergies (Mini Nick Fury)
Immune to Taunt and Reversed Controls (Mini Professor X)
Able to block unblockable attacks (Mini Stryfe)

Best champion in the game?

Precision+cruelty = mini corvus, sure buddy Kekw. I suppose BW (Classic) is mini corvus, mini quake and DPX is mini Nick combined with Mini Hyperion

AssumedName

Mr. Sinister is like a job offer where everything is great... except the pay. You did a really nice post. I enjoyed reading it and I understand why you like him. But he needs better damage to be worth it in most fights.

I appreciate that thanks. I’m by not means saying everyone should use him..
This post is more of a “don’t be too disappointed with him” and that he does a lot more than people think.

But yes, his damage is piss poor unramped.

AssumedName

I want to add that sinister has done some ROL fights in a few minutes ramped, so his damage can be really solid. It’s just quite impractical to ramp him.

I will say tho, that he is very fun for incursions.

AssumedName

You see, I wanna say MS just needs a sprinkle of more damage. But I don’t want him to get hooded

Lol very true haha. I hope this hood issue doesn’t become a trend...

AssumedName

Taunt immunity doesn't really matter when you're playing Sinister, does it? You usually are 100% in control of when to throw specials making the debuff meaningless
I've always loved Sinisters kit, I'd love a 6*.

Well taunt does lower your damage I believe, and the insecurity node as mentioned, will power drain you. But only mister fantastic and sparky apply it passively. It’s just so forgettable honestly.

altavista

Good write up. I always thought he had an interesting kit, but questioned the practicality, as the utility is tied in with specials (power levels)

1. You're saying that the SP1 debuff transfer is viable. I haven't experimented very much, but it always seemed I took too much damage from debuffs before being able to transfer it (usually just from not having a SP1 available to use to be timed with the debuffs). You mentioned using Sinister against Biohazard. What is the playstyle there? Never get above two bars of power and use only SP1? It seems hard to predict when a bleed will be applied on you.
2. Since Concussion relies getting to SP2 or SP3, it seems like you'll have to play against the nodes/abilities until you get at least two bars of power. Isn't this stressful to achieve? (kind of like how I feel when using Magik/Doctor Voodoo against Hyperion, and hoping the AI is compliant enough to let me reach my SP2 before he reaches his SP3).

AssumedName

Good write up. I always thought he had an interesting kit, but questioned the practicality, as the utility is tied in with specials (power levels)

1. You're saying that the SP1 debuff transfer is viable. I haven't experimented very much, but it always seemed I took too much damage from debuffs before being able to transfer it (usually just from not having a SP1 available to use to be timed with the debuffs). You mentioned using Sinister against Biohazard. What is the playstyle there? Never get above two bars of power and use only SP1? It seems hard to predict when a bleed will be applied on you.
2. Since Concussion relies getting to SP2 or SP3, it seems like you'll have to play against the nodes/abilities until you get at least two bars of power. Isn't this stressful to achieve? (kind of like how I feel when using Magik/Doctor Voodoo against Hyperion, and hoping the AI is compliant enough to let me reach my SP2 before he reaches his SP3).

If you have willpower, i don’t seem to take much damage from the debuffs. And remember he’s only really viable for the nodes that place damaging debuffs at a slower rate. So freezer burn he won’t be too good for. I mentioned biohazard as a horsemen, because as a horsemen he’s immune to bleed. For example, he’s great for biohazard dd in v6 as he can transfer the bleeds and due to bleed vulnerability, do a lot of damage. I want to add that prof x with colossus and wolverine also provides poison resistance, so he also becomes viable for heavy poison scenarios aswell.

In terms of sp 2 and sp 3... firstly I need to say that sp 2 is a big NO if you want to reduce aa. It’s only 6 seconds on sp 2 and it’s very hard to build back up. I only use the sp 2 for quicker damage or for pushing opponent to certain specials with the stun or for lifecycle and nodes where heavies are important mainly.

In terms of building up to sp3... yes he is very similar to magik in that it takes time before your aa reduction and power control comes into effect. However, in most scenarios, this isn’t too much of a problem except for champs like Hyperion. You really want the ai to play into you. HOWEVER, I should remind you that his mystic genes and also the power gain buff he sometimes gets with cable, really does help get there as soon as he can. This is why mystic genes are imo the second most helpful gene.

His power leech is great for building back to sp 3 and maintaining that concussion for as long as possible. Before doing sp 3... parry, hold heavy and then hit them with heavy (bit more damage) and then as soon as his heavy hits, throw off his sp 3. As soon as it ends, go into the stunned opponent with a medium and hold heavy, to constantly steal power by power leech. Sometimes if the opponent is kind enough they may go back into you quickly, so you can pause another stun ad hold onto power leech for longer, although this is tricky.

For the most part, your concussion will be up most of the time, until you get to another sp3. This of course depends on how aggressive the ai is.

Apologies for the long response.

altavista

Its always great to know about tricks to champions. I hadn't thought about utilizing debuff pause prior to SP3 so that they are still stunned afterwards.

Shaqatac

I would love to r5 him but his damage just needs a buff

Heterminus

He does a lot of things but none of them stand out for his average numbers

AssumedName

I agree. I honestly think an angela type buff is all that is needed. Doesn’t need much more utility, but a numbers increase would be great.

Also yes Ik mutants are strong and stuff.