My Ironheart honeymoon phase has ended

When she was first revealed, I was lovestruck with her kit, and she was one of my desired Titan pulls.
After pulling her, I thoroughly enjoyed Ironheart, and supported her even as detractors lamented her low damage and narrow rotation.
Even after the chance at being buffed came and went, I was still a fan.
But now .... I have fallen out of love.

I am generally a Utility over Damage guy, as I don't play much competitive modes where speed or big damage is important.
And while Ironheart's Utility >>> her Damage, there is this annoying thing where both can disappear at the same time.

Stacking 5 debuffs and keeping them paused with SP1 seems like it wouldn't be difficult, but with the AI playing keepaway or doing shallow intercepts, common timers that prevent applying debuffs (eg. unstoppable, miss, evade, etc), and common nodes that remove all buffs/debuffs/power, all this means it can be difficult to apply and maintain 5 debuffs.

And if I want to heavy to remove Prowess? I now have a shorter window to maintain debuffs, and with less debuffs, I can remove fewer Prowess.

Use utility > lose damage > lose utility > lose more damage.

Choosing Utility vs Big Damage is not unique to Ironheart. What is unique to her is that her Utility and Damage (the DoT) can disappear even if one skips the Big Damage loop. Stick with SP1 to maintain Utility, but even then, my debuffs can fall off even if I am focused on SP1, because of the defender or node abilities.
And even when I choose to "cashout' on my utility by going for the SP2 damage, it seems a bit underwhelming even after stacking a bunch of debuffs (I encounter the same problem with Rintrah, where the SP2 damage after stacking ruptures doesn't seem to hit as hard as it should).

And this is made worse by the fact that her more 'permanent' utilities can easily be turned off by champions and nodes (armor breaks, nullifies, etc). Her sig Regen ability also seems underpowered (compared to other Tech champions) to where the opponent can easily outdamage the regen rate.

The final cherry on top of all this is seeing the next dating show contestant, Jack o Lantern, having similar Utility without needing to sacrifice Damage.

Comments

EdisonLaw

I think she should’ve gotten a tune up but apparently Kabam doesn’t like the tech class, so she didn’t

captain_rogers

She just reminds me of Omega Sentinel. A champ with great potential limited by the unrealistic rotation.

captain_rogers

Is it too much to ask if her sp1 refreshes her debuffs instead of pausing them? As a tradeoff I'm ok if her sp2 consumes all debuffs.

Harryatomix

She just reminds me of Omega Sentinel. A champ with great potential limited by the unrealistic rotation.

Omega Sentinel hits very hard tho.

EdisonLaw

Is it too much to ask if her sp1 refreshes her debuffs instead of pausing them? As a tradeoff I'm ok if her sp2 consumes all debuffs.

That could possibly work. Or they could’ve increased the duration by a few seconds

PT_99

Well she counters Kabam's dearest Onslaught, so ofc there was no chance for her to get buffed.

She can parry non-contacts and with 5 debuffs she can parry onslaught without getting daunted.

She really needed damage boost but Kabam said NOOOO and now we have hero who's just there because, "she was in movie so she's now in game hehe 😚"

Archit_1812

Is it too much to ask if her sp1 refreshes her debuffs instead of pausing them? As a tradeoff I'm ok if her sp2 consumes all debuffs.

Yeah, that's the same problem with OS as well. On a rather related note, that's one of the problems with Annihulus on attack. Too short durations of Armor Break and Obliteration and pause, no refresh except on sp1.

With AI trained so they backdraft intercept like prime MSD, have RNG better than Domino from the comics, and somehow hoarding power like a permanent All or Nothing node, most champions that have time-critical rotations are falling off steadily.

Check out @AllisonEdits video on the poor AI.

EdisonLaw

Well she counters Kabam's dearest Onslaught, so ofc there was no chance for her to get buffed.

She can parry non-contacts and with 5 debuffs she can parry onslaught without getting daunted.

She really needed damage boost but Kabam said NOOOO and now we have hero who's just there because, "she was in movie so she's now in game hehe 😚"

And now we have Jack O Lantern

BigBlueOx

When she was first revealed, I was lovestruck with her kit, and she was one of my desired Titan pulls.
After pulling her, I thoroughly enjoyed Ironheart, and supported her even as detractors lamented her low damage and narrow rotation.
Even after the chance at being buffed came and went, I was still a fan.
But now .... I have fallen out of love.

I am generally a Utility over Damage guy, as I don't play much competitive modes where speed or big damage is important.
And while Ironheart's Utility >>> her Damage, there is this annoying thing where both can disappear at the same time.

Stacking 5 debuffs and keeping them paused with SP1 seems like it wouldn't be difficult, but with the AI playing keepaway or doing shallow intercepts, common timers that prevent applying debuffs (eg. unstoppable, miss, evade, etc), and common nodes that remove all buffs/debuffs/power, all this means it can be difficult to apply and maintain 5 debuffs.

And if I want to heavy to remove Prowess? I now have a shorter window to maintain debuffs, and with less debuffs, I can remove fewer Prowess.

Use utility > lose damage > lose utility > lose more damage.

Choosing Utility vs Big Damage is not unique to Ironheart. What is unique to her is that her Utility and Damage (the DoT) can disappear even if one skips the Big Damage loop. Stick with SP1 to maintain Utility, but even then, my debuffs can fall off even if I am focused on SP1, because of the defender or node abilities.
And even when I choose to "cashout' on my utility by going for the SP2 damage, it seems a bit underwhelming even after stacking a bunch of debuffs (I encounter the same problem with Rintrah, where the SP2 damage after stacking ruptures doesn't seem to hit as hard as it should).

And this is made worse by the fact that her more 'permanent' utilities can easily be turned off by champions and nodes (armor breaks, nullifies, etc). Her sig Regen ability also seems underpowered (compared to other Tech champions) to where the opponent can easily outdamage the regen rate.

The final cherry on top of all this is seeing the next dating show contestant, Jack o Lantern, having similar Utility without needing to sacrifice Damage.

She’s emblematic of attacker design philosophy in 2024. Great utility but sometimes buried behind rigid playstyles that are easily disrupted by nodes or passive AI (which of course is widespread now). Even Nefaria and Shathra whom seem better suffer from this issue.

I think White Tiger keeps being the exception this year, Shathra may prove me wrong though. Nefaria’s damage potential is greatly capped by AI reaction speed, and the unfazed mastery so we are already seeing he’s in this same bucket as Ironheart.

Terminatrix

I love Ironheart, but I totally understand this. What I DON'T understand is how she was made to counter Onslaught, a champ who was made for BGs, yet she is a little slow for BGs.

Kabam really could have made her a GREAT champ instead of just a good one.

EdisonLaw

She just reminds me of Omega Sentinel. A champ with great potential limited by the unrealistic rotation.
Omega Sentinel hits very hard tho.

Yeah it’s good but not top tier

Here’s a r3 Omega Sentinel

https://youtu.be/OgFA5zu831g?si=2-qq0VUhwaa9nTv_

ItsClobberinTime

She just reminds me of Omega Sentinel. A champ with great potential limited by the unrealistic rotation.
Omega Sentinel hits very hard tho.

😂😂😂

BeastDad

OP you described exactly why I did not invest heavily into her.

Nemesis_17

Fully agree. I’m the owner of a duped 7* ironheart and it’s both aggravating and sad on how close she is to greatness yet while falling so short.

When I watched her deep dive I thought she looked awesome, an sp1 sp2 rotation champ with a lot of solid utility and seemingly an onslaught counter. How could that not be great? Well it would be if that’s what she actually was, and it’s what she should’ve been. But in her current state instead of being a strong versatile attacker she’s a much more niche, slow but safe utility champion, which is quite a shame.

All she needs is a longer pause, or some sort of debuff refresh, or extra attack on her sp2 per debuff, but nah we got nothing. Idk why the rebalancing team is afraid of giving her a slight damage bump to make her a great champion instead of being stuck to her 3/5 damage. But hey, serpent is balanced right?

Deacon

i love my RiRi. she could benefit from a better debuff refresh but i have zero regrets about ranking her up.

EdisonLaw

i love my RiRi. she could benefit from a better debuff refresh but i have zero regrets about ranking her up.

Where do you use her?

Kingnaes

I still LOVE my R3 ironheart... she has been so clutch for me everywhere. Bounty I always choose the mutant target and use her.

She's always on my aw atk team saga atk champ easy to get to 5 and above.

BGs good 2 way champ.

In most medium fights I don't bother with sp1 to pause .. I keep doing MM to apply many debuffs and dex special to apply more and race to sp2 do big dmg.. rinse and repeat as needed usually 2 sp2s does it

altavista

I still LOVE my R3 ironheart... she has been so clutch for me everywhere. Bounty I always choose the mutant target and use her.

She's always on my aw atk team saga atk champ easy to get to 5 and above.

BGs good 2 way champ.

In most medium fights I don't bother with sp1 to pause .. I keep doing MM to apply many debuffs and dex special to apply more and race to sp2 do big dmg.. rinse and repeat as needed usually 2 sp2s does it

Glad you still like her. I have used her again Dani in the bounty missions, but I can use other R1/R2 and finish the fight faster.

Mine is still an R2, which might be why I am finding her damage side of things underwhelming. And while I could R3 her, with her rigid rotation and how her Utility can easily disappear due to Nodes/AI, I can't commit to spending R3 resources on her just to make her damage feel better. I feel like in the current state of the game, and R2 should feel satisfying to use, with R3 damage being an extra bonus. It shouldn't feel like a champion has to be R3 just to feel good.

Rebark

Well she counters Kabam's dearest Onslaught, so ofc there was no chance for her to get buffed.

She can parry non-contacts and with 5 debuffs she can parry onslaught without getting daunted.

She really needed damage boost but Kabam said NOOOO and now we have hero who's just there because, "she was in movie so she's now in game hehe 😚"

She's not exactly an Onslaught counter.
Because she's metal, she can't remove neuroshocks, so she loses a lot of life.
In AW and BG, for example, she's terrible. If you try to do Onslaught as a boss in AW, you'll die from neuroshock.

ThePredator1001

Honestly I really enjoy Ironheart, I have her at R2 and have been considering R3 since I use her so much. She’s one of my most used tech 7* along side hulkbuster. I find it very easy to maintain atleast 5 repulsor debuffs. Shes not a nuke champ but she’s not that slow either. In BG usually I just go for MM to sp2 and that just about kills most mutants. In content like AW where I’m not racing the clock just spam sp1 and watch the health bar melt away at a pretty good speed. She’s got so much utility, and is so tanky that being slightly slower on attack isn’t a big deal to me.