**Mastery Loadouts**
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
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DarkNight and HawkThrasher.. or something like that
Fluffy_paws
Posts: 2,677 ★★★★★
Hi! Some of you may know me, if you do, it's probably as the apothecary-haunting, 6* archangel-hunting crazy person who spends too much time here, and you'd have a very accurate knowledge of me already.
Some of you may also know my 8+month hunt for, probably rather unusually, Night Thrasher. Now, I'm not here to tell you he's underrated or the best skill champ or an absolutely OP-game changing pull, but I am gonna point out he whacks his opponents with a damn skateboard and that's pretty damn cool if you ask me.
While I usually run all my champs without synergy partners (I WOULD run the Horseman syngergy with blue mutant bird man but I don't have big blue mutant god man), I tend to run ol' skateboard dude with ol' space bird - shoutout to @Darth_Alden_7 for one of my favourite posts EVER:
So I guess I'm going to ramble on about both of them... but first I'm gonna say a few points before anyone comes for me.
While Darkhawk and Night Thrasher are (imho) good champs, they require a lot of investment - specifically sig stones - they both ideally want to be max sig, Darkhawk more than Night Thrasher. Therefore, for most people it's probably a much smarter idea to invest skill/tech gems and sigs in Aegon and Ghost who can clear much content with much ease. Ol' skateboard dude and ol' space bird are definitely not on par with these two.
Also I'm no big expert on the game, these are just champs I enjoy playing on a regular basis and I'm bored and I miss my essays okay, lemme write.
I'm going to start with Darkhawk, because honestly he's a pretty simple champ who doesn't get much spotlight these days as better tech champions have come and prodded him futher and futher down the line. I guess the same can be said for Night Thrasher. I'm also gonna start abbreviating to DH and NT.
Now for NT.
@Scarcity27 incase you fancy a read on your new champs
Some of you may also know my 8+month hunt for, probably rather unusually, Night Thrasher. Now, I'm not here to tell you he's underrated or the best skill champ or an absolutely OP-game changing pull, but I am gonna point out he whacks his opponents with a damn skateboard and that's pretty damn cool if you ask me.
While I usually run all my champs without synergy partners (I WOULD run the Horseman syngergy with blue mutant bird man but I don't have big blue mutant god man), I tend to run ol' skateboard dude with ol' space bird - shoutout to @Darth_Alden_7 for one of my favourite posts EVER:
So I guess I'm going to ramble on about both of them... but first I'm gonna say a few points before anyone comes for me.
While Darkhawk and Night Thrasher are (imho) good champs, they require a lot of investment - specifically sig stones - they both ideally want to be max sig, Darkhawk more than Night Thrasher. Therefore, for most people it's probably a much smarter idea to invest skill/tech gems and sigs in Aegon and Ghost who can clear much content with much ease. Ol' skateboard dude and ol' space bird are definitely not on par with these two.
Also I'm no big expert on the game, these are just champs I enjoy playing on a regular basis and I'm bored and I miss my essays okay, lemme write.
I'm going to start with Darkhawk, because honestly he's a pretty simple champ who doesn't get much spotlight these days as better tech champions have come and prodded him futher and futher down the line. I guess the same can be said for Night Thrasher. I'm also gonna start abbreviating to DH and NT.
DH has 3 modes. Shield, Stealth and Null. His synergy with NT allows him to start in one of the 3 modes. He also has some synergy with Moon Knight which seems decent but Moon Knight sucks and his moon phases confuse me, I have no idea what phase the moon it is, sorry dude. He has a bunch of others of course but I've never really bothered.
Shield Mode
It sorta sucks, there's no sugarcoating it. Its his defence mode and he gains a bunch of armour, reduces crit damage and does some energy (shock) damage if he blocks a contact attack.
Awakened at sig 200 he also triggers the parry mastery when he auto-blocks attacks (100% chance).
Using his sp1 in shield mode stuns the opponent for 3.5 seconds
Bit meh. He enters this mode when he is knocked down, or he can start in this mode with the NT synergy.
Stealth Mode
This mode is much more useful, he has a 30% chance to miss light/medium attacks which doesn't do much however this gives him rather decent power control if there aren't any external power gain sources. He reduces defensive power gain by 70% and when awakened (sig 200) he gains 60% offensive combat power rate for himself.
He enters this mode when launches an sp2, or he can start in this mode with the NT synergy.
Using his sp1 in stealth mode gives no power to the opponent
If you start in this mode, you can yeet yourself to an sp3 very very fast without having to bait many, if any, specials from the opponent. This puts you in Null Mode and this is his best mode.
Since you've switched a mode, it also gives you some regen - around 10%. He can basically regenerate on command and he can regenerate as many times as you want.
Null Mode
*numbers used here are based on a 5*r4*
This is his damage mode. Awakened at sig 200 he gains 3644 attack rating - 1822 from his sig and 1822 from the mode. He also gains 25% block penetration and his basics all inflict shock damage. Additionally he inflicts a 30 second heal block. He really does hit hard in this mode but he's a bit gimped by shock immunity (not reccomended against Dooms, Stryfes Terraxs, Korgs, Silver Centurion (DH can't armour break) and Things and... is Super Skrull shock immune?)
Using his sp1 in null mode inflicts a shock debuff dealing 1822 damage.
He enters this mode when launches an sp3, or he can start in this mode with the NT synergy.
I like to cycle my sp2 and sp3, his sp1 is rather useless. I build to sp2, bait special to make sure the opponent power bar is as low as possible, throw it to enter stealth mode and gain my increased power rate, nuke in and reach sp3, build back to nearly sp3, bait special, throw sp2.... repeat. He's gonna regen every time as long as you throw the special before his mode expires, and you can purposefully get hit by the last hit of a special to force him into shield from another mode and hey, more regen. He's pretty suicide friendly.
That's all really. He doesn't gain buffs, apply many debuffs, counter evade, or deal massive yellow numbers but he does solid work. He's immune to bleed and poison since he's a robot and he glows bright pink. His wing attacks have 100% armour and resistance penetration, which has gotta be useful, right?
Shield Mode
It sorta sucks, there's no sugarcoating it. Its his defence mode and he gains a bunch of armour, reduces crit damage and does some energy (shock) damage if he blocks a contact attack.
Awakened at sig 200 he also triggers the parry mastery when he auto-blocks attacks (100% chance).
Using his sp1 in shield mode stuns the opponent for 3.5 seconds
Bit meh. He enters this mode when he is knocked down, or he can start in this mode with the NT synergy.
Stealth Mode
This mode is much more useful, he has a 30% chance to miss light/medium attacks which doesn't do much however this gives him rather decent power control if there aren't any external power gain sources. He reduces defensive power gain by 70% and when awakened (sig 200) he gains 60% offensive combat power rate for himself.
He enters this mode when launches an sp2, or he can start in this mode with the NT synergy.
Using his sp1 in stealth mode gives no power to the opponent
If you start in this mode, you can yeet yourself to an sp3 very very fast without having to bait many, if any, specials from the opponent. This puts you in Null Mode and this is his best mode.
Since you've switched a mode, it also gives you some regen - around 10%. He can basically regenerate on command and he can regenerate as many times as you want.
Null Mode
*numbers used here are based on a 5*r4*
This is his damage mode. Awakened at sig 200 he gains 3644 attack rating - 1822 from his sig and 1822 from the mode. He also gains 25% block penetration and his basics all inflict shock damage. Additionally he inflicts a 30 second heal block. He really does hit hard in this mode but he's a bit gimped by shock immunity (not reccomended against Dooms, Stryfes Terraxs, Korgs, Silver Centurion (DH can't armour break) and Things and... is Super Skrull shock immune?)
Using his sp1 in null mode inflicts a shock debuff dealing 1822 damage.
He enters this mode when launches an sp3, or he can start in this mode with the NT synergy.
I like to cycle my sp2 and sp3, his sp1 is rather useless. I build to sp2, bait special to make sure the opponent power bar is as low as possible, throw it to enter stealth mode and gain my increased power rate, nuke in and reach sp3, build back to nearly sp3, bait special, throw sp2.... repeat. He's gonna regen every time as long as you throw the special before his mode expires, and you can purposefully get hit by the last hit of a special to force him into shield from another mode and hey, more regen. He's pretty suicide friendly.
That's all really. He doesn't gain buffs, apply many debuffs, counter evade, or deal massive yellow numbers but he does solid work. He's immune to bleed and poison since he's a robot and he glows bright pink. His wing attacks have 100% armour and resistance penetration, which has gotta be useful, right?
Now for NT.
I have more to talk about here. NT has no modes, but dude has a skateboard he's happy to whack you in the face with.
He relies less heavily on his sig, to get the max out of DH, he needs sig 200. NT can work with lower sig which I'll discuss in a minute. However, NT relies heavily on being able to apply at least one of his 3 gadget debuffs and then applying a taunt. If you have an opponent immune to all of disorient, shock, incinerate and taunt, use someone else. If debuff immune, he gonna suck real bad, may I reccommend using DH instead?
He's also going to sorta suck if you use suicides. You can work from one debuff generated by the sp1, but you ideally want all of them as they increase his damage output. That's 3 sp1s, then you want an sp2 and he cannot regenerate and nor does he have immunity to bleed/poison.
*Any values used are based on a sig 195 5*r5 NT*
Gadget Debuffs
His sp1 can inflict 1 of 3 debuffs depending on what attack you used before it:
- Medium: Incinerate (50% BP decrease and no perfect block)
- Light: Disorient (DAAR and BP decreases by 50%)
- Heavy/parry/something else: Shock
He has an inbuilt powergain mechanic when below 1bar of power to allow throwing multiple sp1s in quick succession, each time you dex or parry he gains 5% of his max power. These debuffs barely do damage so resistances don't matter.
Once you have these debuffs, or as many of them you can get, his heavy attacks refresh his debuffs and have a sig based (37.4%) chance to apply taunt per debuff. Once you have this taunt, every time NT hits the opponent with his skateboard (mediums/heavy and specials except the last hit of his sp1 which is a projectile) he gains a fury buff which stacks to 10. (Yay for buffed up and diss track!)
So being able to apply this taunt is pretty important. If you have a shock/incinerate immune opponent (wassup Super Skrull!), you can work off the disorient debuff alone, but you'll likely need many more heavies. This is why he isn't as reliant on being very high sig, you can spam heavy and refresh debuffs until you get the taunt and you will eventually. Once you've got your furies, he's gonna start hitting hard. They won't fall off unless you get knocked down, even if you lose the debuffs, but ideally you want to keep them for a big sp2. They refresh easily, just knock your opponent down with the sp2 itself or a heavy attack.
A few things to point out here - NT works pretty well for Mephisto since he's immune to incinerate but keep in mind that you don't want to apply an incinerate on Mephisto - avoid hitting the sp1 after a medium attack as this gives him extra power for the duration of the incinerate debuff. You'll have to let all the debuffs fall off and start again, you don't want him constantly gaining power from your debuff.
Similarly be careful on clapback nodes. Apply the incinerate but don't apply the shock. You've gotta keep in mind what debuff applies from what attack otherwise the shock is gonna reflect on you. Perhaps a good point to mention Electro - uh don't do it. Hitting Electro in the face with a skateboard still deals his energy damage. Bishop deals direct energy damage while shocked/incinerated too now (I really gotta learn to fight this guy)
Emma will be pretty annoying as she'll shrug your debuffs if you can even apply them, similarly Rogue will be awkward due to her reduced debuff duration but the sp3 should help there. Nebula will shrug off 3 shock debuffs and gain 15 electroshock charges, but you're not a robot so as long as you don't get parried, you're good.
NT won't have a fun time against shrug-off champs - Kingpin/XBones etc. Also I don't think anyone would, but NO HAVOKS. NT has no armour buff. Shock + Havok = DEATH. Havok + NT = death. He won't have much fun against buff punishers either since he kinda needs those fury buffs - mojo and dormammu and sym supreme might have a field day.
When NT has all his gadget debuffs and his 10 fury buffs, in longer fights or in the case of Rogue or limber nodes, throw the sp3. With Rogue go sp3 first. The sp3 gives a debilitate passive that increases debuff duration by 75% for 45seconds. Any debuffs are also refreshed to have this new extension.
In shorter fights, I get all my debuffs and my taunt and launch the sp2 which gives him a precision buff that increases his attack based on how many debuffs he has applied.
Ontop of that, he's also tanky with high phys res (without needing 6 buffs, I'm not looking at you Venom, I promise) and good block proficiency, true accuracy on skateboard attacks - no evade or autoblock. Except Peni Parker because rules are made to be broken. He's a skill champ but his debuff purify isn't amazing. You need to be knocked down and it's only a aprox 50% chance. Kinda meh.
I'll be honest, I use NT with DH mostly because I find DH too boring without starting in stealth or null mode but NT benefits too - each debuff reduces armour rating by 20% so he can get some big yellow numbers. I'm excited for Guilly's buff as she has a synergy that gives NT access to bleed. He can gain more debuffs with Mr Fantastic's pre-fights but I don't have him ranked so haven't really experimented but I imagine those would be some niiiice yellow numbers.
He relies less heavily on his sig, to get the max out of DH, he needs sig 200. NT can work with lower sig which I'll discuss in a minute. However, NT relies heavily on being able to apply at least one of his 3 gadget debuffs and then applying a taunt. If you have an opponent immune to all of disorient, shock, incinerate and taunt, use someone else. If debuff immune, he gonna suck real bad, may I reccommend using DH instead?
He's also going to sorta suck if you use suicides. You can work from one debuff generated by the sp1, but you ideally want all of them as they increase his damage output. That's 3 sp1s, then you want an sp2 and he cannot regenerate and nor does he have immunity to bleed/poison.
*Any values used are based on a sig 195 5*r5 NT*
Gadget Debuffs
His sp1 can inflict 1 of 3 debuffs depending on what attack you used before it:
- Medium: Incinerate (50% BP decrease and no perfect block)
- Light: Disorient (DAAR and BP decreases by 50%)
- Heavy/parry/something else: Shock
He has an inbuilt powergain mechanic when below 1bar of power to allow throwing multiple sp1s in quick succession, each time you dex or parry he gains 5% of his max power. These debuffs barely do damage so resistances don't matter.
Once you have these debuffs, or as many of them you can get, his heavy attacks refresh his debuffs and have a sig based (37.4%) chance to apply taunt per debuff. Once you have this taunt, every time NT hits the opponent with his skateboard (mediums/heavy and specials except the last hit of his sp1 which is a projectile) he gains a fury buff which stacks to 10. (Yay for buffed up and diss track!)
So being able to apply this taunt is pretty important. If you have a shock/incinerate immune opponent (wassup Super Skrull!), you can work off the disorient debuff alone, but you'll likely need many more heavies. This is why he isn't as reliant on being very high sig, you can spam heavy and refresh debuffs until you get the taunt and you will eventually. Once you've got your furies, he's gonna start hitting hard. They won't fall off unless you get knocked down, even if you lose the debuffs, but ideally you want to keep them for a big sp2. They refresh easily, just knock your opponent down with the sp2 itself or a heavy attack.
A few things to point out here - NT works pretty well for Mephisto since he's immune to incinerate but keep in mind that you don't want to apply an incinerate on Mephisto - avoid hitting the sp1 after a medium attack as this gives him extra power for the duration of the incinerate debuff. You'll have to let all the debuffs fall off and start again, you don't want him constantly gaining power from your debuff.
Similarly be careful on clapback nodes. Apply the incinerate but don't apply the shock. You've gotta keep in mind what debuff applies from what attack otherwise the shock is gonna reflect on you. Perhaps a good point to mention Electro - uh don't do it. Hitting Electro in the face with a skateboard still deals his energy damage. Bishop deals direct energy damage while shocked/incinerated too now (I really gotta learn to fight this guy)
Emma will be pretty annoying as she'll shrug your debuffs if you can even apply them, similarly Rogue will be awkward due to her reduced debuff duration but the sp3 should help there. Nebula will shrug off 3 shock debuffs and gain 15 electroshock charges, but you're not a robot so as long as you don't get parried, you're good.
NT won't have a fun time against shrug-off champs - Kingpin/XBones etc. Also I don't think anyone would, but NO HAVOKS. NT has no armour buff. Shock + Havok = DEATH. Havok + NT = death. He won't have much fun against buff punishers either since he kinda needs those fury buffs - mojo and dormammu and sym supreme might have a field day.
When NT has all his gadget debuffs and his 10 fury buffs, in longer fights or in the case of Rogue or limber nodes, throw the sp3. With Rogue go sp3 first. The sp3 gives a debilitate passive that increases debuff duration by 75% for 45seconds. Any debuffs are also refreshed to have this new extension.
In shorter fights, I get all my debuffs and my taunt and launch the sp2 which gives him a precision buff that increases his attack based on how many debuffs he has applied.
Ontop of that, he's also tanky with high phys res (without needing 6 buffs, I'm not looking at you Venom, I promise) and good block proficiency, true accuracy on skateboard attacks - no evade or autoblock. Except Peni Parker because rules are made to be broken. He's a skill champ but his debuff purify isn't amazing. You need to be knocked down and it's only a aprox 50% chance. Kinda meh.
I'll be honest, I use NT with DH mostly because I find DH too boring without starting in stealth or null mode but NT benefits too - each debuff reduces armour rating by 20% so he can get some big yellow numbers. I'm excited for Guilly's buff as she has a synergy that gives NT access to bleed. He can gain more debuffs with Mr Fantastic's pre-fights but I don't have him ranked so haven't really experimented but I imagine those would be some niiiice yellow numbers.
@Scarcity27 incase you fancy a read on your new champs
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Comments
Wonderful Darkhawk write up, still not convinced I’m going to give mine a gem and sigs though
Also yes Super-Suck is shock immune
To this day, I still take every possible excuse to use him.
He's been one of my best AW defenders for quite some time and snags kills even in top 5 Master war content.
He slaughters most of the Tech lanes in Cav quests.
He's been useful in story content.
He's just cool in general.
I support all pro-Darkhawk propaganda and I am happy to share any gameplay with him I can muster.
Also yes that's very fair. I get that not everyone is gonna want to invest in him Nice to see another DH user 😄 would love to see gameplay actually he must hit so hard in null mode as a 6*r3. Is he sig 200?
However, I really wish I could give these two away to good home, I can’t use them unfortunately
Look at them, they're even duped 🥺
But yeah fair enough. I took my DH to sig 200 first and he's going to r5 when I get catalysts but can't deny most people would definitely rank Guardian.
And who knows, he'll probably get a tune up before Iron Fist gets his buff lol
Honestly, Darkhawk with a tuneup could be amazing. Iron Fist’s time will come. I would argue it should have come before Diablo’s but I’m not going to complain about how good our favourite drunk is
My favorite sig 200 skill skater.
I have Darkhawk as a 6*, but he isn’t awakened, and I’m not at the point in the game where I’m getting tons of 6* dupes and sig stones. Don’t have a 5* either. Would probably rank him up though because he’s a robot space bird. What else could you want
wait a sec I do have one now this is weird
I should perhaps not have said that
Do itt.