Detailed Thoughts on Iron Man (IW) -- Warning: It's a long read!
Hi, folks! Hope all is well with everyone!
First: a warning: This is gonna be LONG. If you don't like a ton of words and whatever, don't get frustrated, because here's the short version: Iron Man (IW) is a very, very good character -- but to maximize using him, you need to be skilled. He is not a character where the damage is immediate, and you need to be good at baiting specials and not getting hit, especially when his molecular armor is not up. Plus: He does not need to be awakened...but it helps if he is.
OK. Got all that? That's that simplest explanation I can give. If you want more details about how I came to these conclusions, read on!
First, the basics: I have the three-star version, rank 4/40. I had an awakening gem, which I used, and took him to level 8. I'll cover that at the end, because really, you don't get much benefit from the signature ability until you have taken a beating in a fight...but when it kicks in, yeah, it's helpful. Really helpful.
Where did I test him: Expert difficulty in the Daily Proving Grounds, primarily. Mainly because those lanes feature pretty aggressive AI, with decent opponent health pools and the L3s activated. That's where I do the bulk of my testing for 3-stars, because their health pools aren't the greatest.
What I think:
1. Iron Man (IW) is not a horribly complicated character...but: You need to decide how you're gonna play him for each fight. You really kinda need a plan of how you want to distribute the damage he can inflict, because this character is all about Shock, Incinerate or Plasma Damage.
2. What does that mean?: IM (IW)'s basic attack damage isn't great -- it's pretty average, actually. You are not tearing through content just by punching. The play style is getting to the L1, L2 or L3, firing off whichever special you want, and then inflicting either Shock, Incinerate or Plasma Damage. That's where you see the damage start to accumulate -- he's very much like Void in the regard that this character is absolutely punishing with DOT (Damage Over Time, if you're new to game terminology.)
3. But why?: Because now we're to the good part, people: Once Shock or Incinerate or Plasma Damage is inflicted, it's gonna be on for just about ever -- the only time it will fall off is if you have to try to bait out a special over an extended period of time and it falls off. That will happen, but don't get too frustrated -- you'll be able to fire off another special soon enough and get right back to dealing pain, misery and death to your enemies. I really like how Kabam designed this mechanic -- as you know from reading the Character Spotlight, Iron Man's basic attacks feature Unblockable/Non-Evadable Repulsor Bursts which refresh whichever debuff state is active. So once you fire off that special, you are dealing the kind of damage that you will want to see.
4. However...: That means you are not going to get the big "Corvus Glaive/Proxima Midnight" special attack annihilations, or the Captain America (IW) special damage. Again: Iron Man (IW) is not like that. He's making you suffer, again, like Void -- IIRC, there's no character immune to Shock, right? Or maybe Corvus Glaive is now? So that's the money play -- if the character burns or can be shocked, welp. Game Over, man. Game Over.
5. That's it? That's all there is?: Nope. There's all kinds of good stuff still, including this little feature: Iron Man (IW) is absolutely lethal against Mutants. Holy cow. I didn't face a Magneto so I don't know if Magnetized might do something funky and keep the DOT from proccing, but if it doesn't, the Master of Magnetism dies just like the rest.
6. What do I mean?: Another significant feature for Iron Man (IW) is the Armor Break and Heal Block he inflicts, especially the Heal Block. Oh, my gosh. Annoying X-23s and OMLs and OG Deadpools...done like dinner. That's a 16-second Heal Block, folks. SIXTEEN SECONDS. The armor breaks aren't quite as long, but once they're on, they absolutely do help with the base damage the character deals. Think about it like this: Know those really irritating nodes in Infinity Dungeons, with Arc Overload 2.0, or mutants and Iron Man, etc., healing at the least opportune times? Yep. You are ABSOLUTELY SHUTTING THAT S*** DOWN. See what I mean?
7. Reminder: I am only an above-average player, sooooo...: If you are skilled, you will love this character for one reason: Molecular Armor. Iron Man (IW)'s Molecular Armor procs on offense AND defense. See the difference between Iron Man (IW) and Cap (IW)? Cap's Kinetic Charges only proc on hits -- and skilled players don't like taking any damage, chip or otherwise, to proc it. But with Iron Man, skilled players will be able to do their thing, get his Molecular Armor up, and when you do: Look out. His damage reduction with the Molecular Armor up is something to behold -- a skilled player is gonna be able to tank some content with this character, and that's a credit and reward to them for being skilled enough to intercept consistently and not eat a lot of chip damage.
8. What about the Signature Ability? Did you forget?: Nope, here's the the thing: You aren't going to see this until you are below 15 percent health...but when you are there, it's REALLY, REALLY, REALLY helpful. Here's an actual example: I missed an intercept against a Jane Foster, then compounded the problem by missing an evade on an L1. So now I'm shocked. THEN, to make it even worse, I miss another intercept and get stunned because I'm shocked. Yeah. I am just eating damage while stunned, should've died for my carelessness, would've with many other characters...but Iron Man (IW)'s signature ability hooked me up like this: I have taken my beating all the way to 5 percent health...but because I have taken a beating, I have Molecular Armor up, and because of the signature ability, I am now gaining power CONTINUOUSLY.
9. Wait, what? What was that, again?: Yep. Gaining power CONTINUOUSLY. So here's what I did, with 5 percent health against a Jane Foster with roughly 10K health remaining: Gained power to hit her with an L3; boom. Plasma Damage. Still gaining power continuously...so then I hit her with an L1...and the Shock stacks WITH the Plasma damage. Whoa. AND I'M STILL GAINING POWER CONTINUOUSLY, because I'm below 15 percent health, and I'm refreshing the Molecular Armor AND the DOT by hitting her with those Unblockable/Non-evadable Repulsor Bursts from point No. 3. Remember? And almost before I know it...Jane Foster's done like dinner. So, yeah. You don't have much use for the signature ability until you are in trouble...but man, is it handy when you are.
10: So where would I even use this character, if he isn't dealing Burst Damage?: One word, kids: SAFEGUARD. Oh, my gosh. If you find that node annoying, and if you found last month's Chadwick/Tom Challenge to be annoying AF...I'm thinking maybe an Iron Man (IW) would be seriously helpful there, as well as in long fights where, if you're skilled, you are just going to be dealing a ton of DOT just by playing and firing specials.
In summation: There's really a lot to like about Iron Man (IW). There really is. For my play style and how I like to build teams, this is a great character to me, especially since I don't have a four-star or five-star Void.
But if I had to bet, some folks aren't going to like him as much as they want, because the damage isn't huge and immediate. This character is really balanced between offense and defense -- and to get the best out of him, you really want to pair him with Cap (IW), because of the additional damage reduction. Combine the defensive capability with the DOT, serious Heal Block capabilities and Armor Break, to me, this is an extremely useful and effective character...but I am curious about what the rest of the community will think.
Thanks for reading!
