Freaking LOVE this update — I had extensively tested the kit before they announced it was getting updated and was going to write a too-long post about how the kit was SO CLOSE to being good
They took care of that bit of business
I am definitely gonna R4 and really want to R5, but that’s dependent on resources — the T5B and T2A is just so freaking slow to come sometimes, as a solo player
My P2099 is tied up in Alliance War, so haven't used him since the changes went live; but I'm going to ignore a lot of the noise on the thread and listen to @ESF here. He's got form on understanding how to use complex champions, and P2099 is someone you have to think about using.
@ESF can I ask for a proper thread on him in a few days once you've had a chance to play around? Always love your thought-through stuff that other people miss.
Screw the hate, I'm taking my Punisher 2099 to 6r3. I love him! Good damage and good utility
Where's the utility?
Aside from the Armor Break, Heal Block, Stun on Heavy, Regen, and Disintegration on the Sp3, he has insane Power Control ability that is incredibly easy to access. With your enemy having 90% reduced power rate, you can safely backdraft intercept them for a long time before they get to a bar of power and while you are doing that, you can toss in quite a few sp1s to extend your 150% attack bonus by a fair bit.
There’s really nothing complicated about him. His rotation is all about controlling his battery so ideally you want to spam heavy attacks to control it, medium heavy stun medium heavy stun again and again, until you build up to an sp2 then right before you go into overdrive you want to use your sp2 then use heavy attacks again to manage his battery, keeping it from hitting 100 too early, until you build up to his sp2 only this time 1st go into overdrive then use his sp2, after that all you have to do is spam sp1s to keep his overdrive up with overcharge. This works with or without Red Skull synergy, difference being armor breaks last a little longer obviously.
Earlier in the thread someone made the suggestion to use Mister Fantastics prefight ability, but that wouldn’t work because it would burn through his battery too quickly to be useful instead tech collar mastery or Cap IW tech synergy would be more viable in combination with going into overdrive for 90% power gain reduction then using his sp3 right after for another 90% reduction from debuff. After all this you should be around 50% battery which you would upkeep with his sp1s.
Things I wish he had, unblockable sp2 and increased power combat rate based on battery charge along with a taunt mechanic. The most annoying part about Punisher 2099 is having his rotation disrupted by passive ais who don’t want to attack or use their specials then hitting overdrive too soon or losing battery when they hit their sp3. His utility is way too overrated coming at the expense of his damage so I’d easily trade his powerlock from his sig ability for a taunt mechanic maybe based again on his battery charge.
I really like the buff - his compilation is now like a tech Magik but way more damage
I think the P2099 buff was pretty decent and a good tuneup, but never dare ever again put P2099 on the same level as magik. Magik’s power control is beyond fathomable. Referring to P2099 as superior is significantly downplaying the queen of limbo herself. For your own safety I advise you never to speak of P2099’s power control as being magik level ever again.
Punisher 2099's power control is similar to Magik's tho... He's spot on...
Freaking LOVE this update — I had extensively tested the kit before they announced it was getting updated and was going to write a too-long post about how the kit was SO CLOSE to being good
They took care of that bit of business
I am definitely gonna R4 and really want to R5, but that’s dependent on resources — the T5B and T2A is just so freaking slow to come sometimes, as a solo player
No wait @ESF please write a thread about this some time, I really wanna read it. All your stuff is in depth, and provides lots of information.
There’s really nothing complicated about him. His rotation is all about controlling his battery so ideally you want to spam heavy attacks to control it, medium heavy stun medium heavy stun again and again, until you build up to an sp2 then right before you go into overdrive you want to use your sp2 then use heavy attacks again to manage his battery, keeping it from hitting 100 too early, until you build up to his sp2 only this time 1st go into overdrive then use his sp2, after that all you have to do is spam sp1s to keep his overdrive up with overcharge. This works with or without Red Skull synergy, difference being armor breaks last a little longer obviously.
Earlier in the thread someone made the suggestion to use Mister Fantastics prefight ability, but that wouldn’t work because it would burn through his battery too quickly to be useful instead tech collar mastery or Cap IW tech synergy would be more viable in combination with going into overdrive for 90% power gain reduction then using his sp3 right after for another 90% reduction from debuff. After all this you should be around 50% battery which you would upkeep with his sp1s.
Things I wish he had, unblockable sp2 and increased power combat rate based on battery charge along with a taunt mechanic. The most annoying part about Punisher 2099 is having his rotation disrupted by passive ais who don’t want to attack or use their specials then hitting overdrive too soon or losing battery when they hit their sp3. His utility is way too overrated coming at the expense of his damage so I’d easily trade his powerlock from his sig ability for a taunt mechanic maybe based again on his battery charge.
There’s really nothing complicated about him. His rotation is all about controlling his battery so ideally you want to spam heavy attacks to control it, medium heavy stun medium heavy stun again and again, until you build up to an sp2 then right before you go into overdrive you want to use your sp2 then use heavy attacks again to manage his battery, keeping it from hitting 100 too early, until you build up to his sp2 only this time 1st go into overdrive then use his sp2, after that all you have to do is spam sp1s to keep his overdrive up with overcharge. This works with or without Red Skull synergy, difference being armor breaks last a little longer obviously.
Earlier in the thread someone made the suggestion to use Mister Fantastics prefight ability, but that wouldn’t work because it would burn through his battery too quickly to be useful instead tech collar mastery or Cap IW tech synergy would be more viable in combination with going into overdrive for 90% power gain reduction then using his sp3 right after for another 90% reduction from debuff. After all this you should be around 50% battery which you would upkeep with his sp1s.
Things I wish he had, unblockable sp2 and increased power combat rate based on battery charge along with a taunt mechanic. The most annoying part about Punisher 2099 is having his rotation disrupted by passive ais who don’t want to attack or use their specials then hitting overdrive too soon or losing battery when they hit their sp3. His utility is way too overrated coming at the expense of his damage so I’d easily trade his powerlock from his sig ability for a taunt mechanic maybe based again on his battery charge.
Mr Fantastics pre fight ability does work because knocking down the opponent with sp1 also refreshes the debuff
He is completely wasted time. I did some lol with him. Punisher is terrible.
Even after update.
My punisher is 6*
My 5* r3 arch angel does more damage and has more utility, My 5* r3 colossus does more damage.
His synergies are with champs who are total trash Thor , cap, and punisher ...who uses them?
Another total miss by kabam.
Between my 5* and six stars. I have over. 50 champs I would play before punisher 2099.
yeah they're some of the highest damage champs in the game and some of the best mutants. I don't know what to say if you expect every buff to create a champ that's top 3 in their class
I don’t expect him to be on par with the best champs in the game. But I expect a 6* to be on par with a 5* r3 after the developers took time to fix him. Why even bother if it’s just another champ to ho hum meh r4 with a gem cause I got to rank somebody,
He’s uninspiring, a wasted chance for improvement. Lazy developers
do you ever not complain about stuff in this game?
He is completely wasted time. I did some lol with him. Punisher is terrible.
Even after update.
My punisher is 6*
My 5* r3 arch angel does more damage and has more utility, My 5* r3 colossus does more damage.
His synergies are with champs who are total trash Thor , cap, and punisher ...who uses them?
Another total miss by kabam.
Between my 5* and six stars. I have over. 50 champs I would play before punisher 2099.
yeah they're some of the highest damage champs in the game and some of the best mutants. I don't know what to say if you expect every buff to create a champ that's top 3 in their class
I don’t expect him to be on par with the best champs in the game. But I expect a 6* to be on par with a 5* r3 after the developers took time to fix him. Why even bother if it’s just another champ to ho hum meh r4 with a gem cause I got to rank somebody,
He’s uninspiring, a wasted chance for improvement. Lazy developers
How is he not on par with 5* r3? My 5* at r2 was able to get 5k crits.
There’s really nothing complicated about him. His rotation is all about controlling his battery so ideally you want to spam heavy attacks to control it, medium heavy stun medium heavy stun again and again, until you build up to an sp2 then right before you go into overdrive you want to use your sp2 then use heavy attacks again to manage his battery, keeping it from hitting 100 too early, until you build up to his sp2 only this time 1st go into overdrive then use his sp2, after that all you have to do is spam sp1s to keep his overdrive up with overcharge. This works with or without Red Skull synergy, difference being armor breaks last a little longer obviously.
Earlier in the thread someone made the suggestion to use Mister Fantastics prefight ability, but that wouldn’t work because it would burn through his battery too quickly to be useful instead tech collar mastery or Cap IW tech synergy would be more viable in combination with going into overdrive for 90% power gain reduction then using his sp3 right after for another 90% reduction from debuff. After all this you should be around 50% battery which you would upkeep with his sp1s.
Things I wish he had, unblockable sp2 and increased power combat rate based on battery charge along with a taunt mechanic. The most annoying part about Punisher 2099 is having his rotation disrupted by passive ais who don’t want to attack or use their specials then hitting overdrive too soon or losing battery when they hit their sp3. His utility is way too overrated coming at the expense of his damage so I’d easily trade his powerlock from his sig ability for a taunt mechanic maybe based again on his battery charge.
Mr Fantastics pre fight ability does work because knocking down the opponent with sp1 also refreshes the debuff
Yea, it would work but that’s not necessary the problem. The problem comes in not losing it while juggling his sp2s and battery charge if your trying to get the most damage out of him. If your just trying to control power by going into overdrive then spamming sp1s to upkeep the debuff yea it can be pulled off just don’t think that it would be worth it with his damage unless you maybe r5 him lol.
He is completely wasted time. I did some lol with him. Punisher is terrible.
Even after update.
My punisher is 6*
My 5* r3 arch angel does more damage and has more utility, My 5* r3 colossus does more damage.
His synergies are with champs who are total trash Thor , cap, and punisher ...who uses them?
Another total miss by kabam.
Between my 5* and six stars. I have over. 50 champs I would play before punisher 2099.
Another total miss by Kabam? As far as I can think of, Kabam really hasn’t made a bad champion buff. A buff may not be your cup of tea, but I don’t think any of them are objectively bad or anything close to it.
He is completely wasted time. I did some lol with him. Punisher is terrible.
Even after update.
My punisher is 6*
My 5* r3 arch angel does more damage and has more utility, My 5* r3 colossus does more damage.
His synergies are with champs who are total trash Thor , cap, and punisher ...who uses them?
Another total miss by kabam.
Between my 5* and six stars. I have over. 50 champs I would play before punisher 2099.
Another total miss by Kabam? As far as I can think of, Kabam really hasn’t made a bad champion buff. A buff may not be your cup of tea, but I don’t think any of them are objectively bad or anything close to it.
There’s really nothing complicated about him. His rotation is all about controlling his battery so ideally you want to spam heavy attacks to control it, medium heavy stun medium heavy stun again and again, until you build up to an sp2 then right before you go into overdrive you want to use your sp2 then use heavy attacks again to manage his battery, keeping it from hitting 100 too early, until you build up to his sp2 only this time 1st go into overdrive then use his sp2, after that all you have to do is spam sp1s to keep his overdrive up with overcharge. This works with or without Red Skull synergy, difference being armor breaks last a little longer obviously.
Earlier in the thread someone made the suggestion to use Mister Fantastics prefight ability, but that wouldn’t work because it would burn through his battery too quickly to be useful instead tech collar mastery or Cap IW tech synergy would be more viable in combination with going into overdrive for 90% power gain reduction then using his sp3 right after for another 90% reduction from debuff. After all this you should be around 50% battery which you would upkeep with his sp1s.
Things I wish he had, unblockable sp2 and increased power combat rate based on battery charge along with a taunt mechanic. The most annoying part about Punisher 2099 is having his rotation disrupted by passive ais who don’t want to attack or use their specials then hitting overdrive too soon or losing battery when they hit their sp3. His utility is way too overrated coming at the expense of his damage so I’d easily trade his powerlock from his sig ability for a taunt mechanic maybe based again on his battery charge.
I don't think Spicy Slicer sees what some of the rest of us are seeing. Maybe he doesn't value letting rip whilst giving your opponent almost no power.
Of course there are better champs still; but not everyone will pull Ghost or Warlock. If you like his style, then P2099 is a lot more useable now. Testing him before and after update, his damage output has easily doubled, even without a maximal rotation (I'm sure @ESF can do better!)
I've got him as a 6* R1, and was playing with him in ROL:
Base attack has gone from 1854 to 1952 Time to 100% battery has dropped: Pre-buff, playing passively - 90 seconds Pre-buff, firing SP1s twice - 55 seconds Post-buff, firing SP1 once - 35 seconds
That's a huge improvement in his fast he charges up to his high damage/power limitation Overdrive. It's far more accessible now. Playing without any synergies, no suicides, no boosts, I timed how long it took to put down Winter Soldier, comparing him to other non-top-tier 1/25s I had to hand (all Unawakened):
Pre-buff P2099: 10 mins 20s 1/25 Terrax: 8min 55s 1/25 Darkhawk: 7m37s 1/25 Nightcrawler: 6m05s (class adv) Post-buff P2099: 5 min 30s 1/25 Emma Frost in 5m15s (class adv) 1/25 Carnage: 3m44s
Now certainly I wasn't playing him perfectly, but he was previously significantly outpaced by the notoriously pillow-fisted Terrax! Now, with very little practice he's ahead of Darkhawk (who I do know how to play with!), and on par with Emma Frost, who as we know has pretty decent damage, and had class advantage over WS.
He's definitely become a decent useable champ, which makes this a very successful buff for me; definitely on a par with the Red Hulk/Luke Cage buffs. Is he top-tier? No, but he's a heck of a lot better, and if he's who RNG gives you, then you could do a lot worse.
Time to 100% battery has dropped: Pre-buff, playing passively - 90 seconds Pre-buff, firing SP1s twice - 55 seconds Post-buff, firing SP1 once - 35 seconds
Playing without any synergies, no suicides, no boosts, I timed how long it took to put down Winter Soldier, comparing him to other non-top-tier 1/25s I had to hand (all Unawakened):
Pre-buff P2099: 10 mins 20s 1/25 Terrax: 8min 55s 1/25 Darkhawk: 7m37s 1/25 Nightcrawler: 6m05s (class adv) Post-buff P2099: 5 min 30s 1/25 Emma Frost in 5m15s (class adv) 1/25 Carnage: 3m44s
Now certainly I wasn't playing him perfectly...
Playing today, with Red Skull as a key synergy partner the time is even better: Post-buff P2099 with Red Skull: 4 min 0s
That's a pretty decent time for a 1/25, surely?
RS gives him +60% duration on armour break, making it much easier to stack two. At which point, he's inflicted -6000 armour on the Opponent, and regularly throws 10k medium crits. Most importantly: he can hammer away relentlessly, since he can easily maintain a 90% Enervate on the opponent, making this a viable method outside of ROL.
Bearing in mind that he remains a power control champion, and they traditionally have fairly low damage, he's doing pretty good, offensively.
In case the benefits of P2099's kit weren't clear: this 90% Enervate is completely passive. You don't need to throw a special, or even hit your opponent. It works if they're debuff-immune, or immune to Power Lock/Drain/Steal. All you have to do is wait - as soon as you hit Overdrive, it's activated and you're good to go; even if you're on a node like Empathic Lock.
The drawback is, of course, that he doesn't really have any means to deal with opponents who have Power Gain effects, which is a bit of a problem for him.
Still - this buff is looking better and better, the more I play with him. Looking forward to other people's opinions once they've had time to play with him a bit.
Time to 100% battery has dropped: Pre-buff, playing passively - 90 seconds Pre-buff, firing SP1s twice - 55 seconds Post-buff, firing SP1 once - 35 seconds
Playing without any synergies, no suicides, no boosts, I timed how long it took to put down Winter Soldier, comparing him to other non-top-tier 1/25s I had to hand (all Unawakened):
Pre-buff P2099: 10 mins 20s 1/25 Terrax: 8min 55s 1/25 Darkhawk: 7m37s 1/25 Nightcrawler: 6m05s (class adv) Post-buff P2099: 5 min 30s 1/25 Emma Frost in 5m15s (class adv) 1/25 Carnage: 3m44s
Now certainly I wasn't playing him perfectly...
Playing today, with Red Skull as a key synergy partner the time is even better: Post-buff P2099 with Red Skull: 4 min 0s
That's a pretty decent time for a 1/25, surely?
RS gives him +60% duration on armour break, making it much easier to stack two. At which point, he's inflicted -6000 armour on the Opponent, and regularly throws 10k medium crits. Most importantly: he can hammer away relentlessly, since he can easily maintain a 90% Enervate on the opponent, making this a viable method outside of ROL.
Bearing in mind that he remains a power control champion, and they traditionally have fairly low damage, he's doing pretty good, offensively.
In case the benefits of P2099's kit weren't clear: this 90% Enervate is completely passive. You don't need to throw a special, or even hit your opponent. It works if they're debuff-immune, or immune to Power Lock/Drain/Steal. All you have to do is wait - as soon as you hit Overdrive, it's activated and you're good to go; even if you're on a node like Empathic Lock.
The drawback is, of course, that he doesn't really have any means to deal with opponents who have Power Gain effects, which is a bit of a problem for him.
Still - this buff is looking better and better, the more I play with him. Looking forward to other people's opinions once they've had time to play with him a bit.
Great analysis! I was impressed testing him out earlier as well!
Time to 100% battery has dropped: Pre-buff, playing passively - 90 seconds Pre-buff, firing SP1s twice - 55 seconds Post-buff, firing SP1 once - 35 seconds
Playing without any synergies, no suicides, no boosts, I timed how long it took to put down Winter Soldier, comparing him to other non-top-tier 1/25s I had to hand (all Unawakened):
Pre-buff P2099: 10 mins 20s 1/25 Terrax: 8min 55s 1/25 Darkhawk: 7m37s 1/25 Nightcrawler: 6m05s (class adv) Post-buff P2099: 5 min 30s 1/25 Emma Frost in 5m15s (class adv) 1/25 Carnage: 3m44s
Now certainly I wasn't playing him perfectly...
Playing today, with Red Skull as a key synergy partner the time is even better: Post-buff P2099 with Red Skull: 4 min 0s
That's a pretty decent time for a 1/25, surely?
RS gives him +60% duration on armour break, making it much easier to stack two. At which point, he's inflicted -6000 armour on the Opponent, and regularly throws 10k medium crits. Most importantly: he can hammer away relentlessly, since he can easily maintain a 90% Enervate on the opponent, making this a viable method outside of ROL.
Bearing in mind that he remains a power control champion, and they traditionally have fairly low damage, he's doing pretty good, offensively.
In case the benefits of P2099's kit weren't clear: this 90% Enervate is completely passive. You don't need to throw a special, or even hit your opponent. It works if they're debuff-immune, or immune to Power Lock/Drain/Steal. All you have to do is wait - as soon as you hit Overdrive, it's activated and you're good to go; even if you're on a node like Empathic Lock.
The drawback is, of course, that he doesn't really have any means to deal with opponents who have Power Gain effects, which is a bit of a problem for him.
Still - this buff is looking better and better, the more I play with him. Looking forward to other people's opinions once they've had time to play with him a bit.
@Magrailothos awesome review! I'm new to P2099 and I'm thinking whether to rank him up after the buff. Is there any vis you recommend to understand him better? My initial understanding on his best usage is that I have to wait the battery charging to over 100% and then fire Sp2. Is there any others I have to learnt? Thanks in advance.
Time to 100% battery has dropped: Pre-buff, playing passively - 90 seconds Pre-buff, firing SP1s twice - 55 seconds Post-buff, firing SP1 once - 35 seconds
Playing without any synergies, no suicides, no boosts, I timed how long it took to put down Winter Soldier, comparing him to other non-top-tier 1/25s I had to hand (all Unawakened):
Pre-buff P2099: 10 mins 20s 1/25 Terrax: 8min 55s 1/25 Darkhawk: 7m37s 1/25 Nightcrawler: 6m05s (class adv) Post-buff P2099: 5 min 30s 1/25 Emma Frost in 5m15s (class adv) 1/25 Carnage: 3m44s
Now certainly I wasn't playing him perfectly...
Playing today, with Red Skull as a key synergy partner the time is even better: Post-buff P2099 with Red Skull: 4 min 0s
That's a pretty decent time for a 1/25, surely?
RS gives him +60% duration on armour break, making it much easier to stack two. At which point, he's inflicted -6000 armour on the Opponent, and regularly throws 10k medium crits. Most importantly: he can hammer away relentlessly, since he can easily maintain a 90% Enervate on the opponent, making this a viable method outside of ROL.
Bearing in mind that he remains a power control champion, and they traditionally have fairly low damage, he's doing pretty good, offensively.
In case the benefits of P2099's kit weren't clear: this 90% Enervate is completely passive. You don't need to throw a special, or even hit your opponent. It works if they're debuff-immune, or immune to Power Lock/Drain/Steal. All you have to do is wait - as soon as you hit Overdrive, it's activated and you're good to go; even if you're on a node like Empathic Lock.
The drawback is, of course, that he doesn't really have any means to deal with opponents who have Power Gain effects, which is a bit of a problem for him.
Still - this buff is looking better and better, the more I play with him. Looking forward to other people's opinions once they've had time to play with him a bit.
@Magrailothos awesome review! I'm new to P2099 and I'm thinking whether to rank him up after the buff. Is there any vis you recommend to understand him better? My initial understanding on his best usage is that I have to wait the battery charging to over 100% and then fire Sp2. Is there any others I have to learnt? Thanks in advance.
I haven't played him enough to be really sure. If you want max damage, then Red Skull makes a big difference.
I'm trying out maxing power control with CAIW synergy to speed up initial Overdrive. Then you can spam SP1 and stay in overdrive pretty much permanently.
For damage, try this: play normally (possibly going all way through Overdrive once, or using Heavies to drain the battery) until you have nearly three bars of power* and you're approaching Overdrive. Throw SP2 before hitting overdrive; then punch your way back to SP2; throw it again. You should now have two Armour Breaks stacked (for a good 20 seconds if you've brought Red Skull); and Overdrive in action, so you can let rip without granting your opponent too much power.
*Using classic Punisher for synergy might make this easier, as you start with just under a bar of power.
There’s really nothing complicated about him. His rotation is all about controlling his battery so ideally you want to spam heavy attacks to control it, medium heavy stun medium heavy stun again and again, until you build up to an sp2 then right before you go into overdrive you want to use your sp2 then use heavy attacks again to manage his battery, keeping it from hitting 100 too early, until you build up to his sp2 only this time 1st go into overdrive then use his sp2, after that all you have to do is spam sp1s to keep his overdrive up with overcharge. This works with or without Red Skull synergy, difference being armor breaks last a little longer obviously.
Earlier in the thread someone made the suggestion to use Mister Fantastics prefight ability, but that wouldn’t work because it would burn through his battery too quickly to be useful instead tech collar mastery or Cap IW tech synergy would be more viable in combination with going into overdrive for 90% power gain reduction then using his sp3 right after for another 90% reduction from debuff. After all this you should be around 50% battery which you would upkeep with his sp1s.
Things I wish he had, unblockable sp2 and increased power combat rate based on battery charge along with a taunt mechanic. The most annoying part about Punisher 2099 is having his rotation disrupted by passive ais who don’t want to attack or use their specials then hitting overdrive too soon or losing battery when they hit their sp3. His utility is way too overrated coming at the expense of his damage so I’d easily trade his powerlock from his sig ability for a taunt mechanic maybe based again on his battery charge.
Mr Fantastics pre fight ability does work because knocking down the opponent with sp1 also refreshes the debuff
Yea, it would work but that’s not necessary the problem. The problem comes in not losing it while juggling his sp2s and battery charge if your trying to get the most damage out of him. If your just trying to control power by going into overdrive then spamming sp1s to upkeep the debuff yea it can be pulled off just don’t think that it would be worth it with his damage unless you maybe r5 him lol.
What I’ve found works if you want to use the mr fantastic pre fight to completely shut down power combining that with CAIW synergy and punisher synergy will allow you to wait for the first few seconds of the fight then throw a heavy or 2 full combo sp2 then just spam sp1s and you’ll be around 20-30 or so charges until the fight ends, but I do agree the collar tech mastery is probably the best way to shut down power. What I’ve found though is that the 90% by itself is more then enough as long as you don’t hit the opponent while out of overdrive.
He has a lot of utility including some good damage output. Kinda silly to compare him to high damage output champs when he has power control, regen, and SP3 protection. Completely different champ that is really good!
Comments
@ESF can I ask for a proper thread on him in a few days once you've had a chance to play around? Always love your thought-through stuff that other people miss.
Earlier in the thread someone made the suggestion to use Mister Fantastics prefight ability, but that wouldn’t work because it would burn through his battery too quickly to be useful instead tech collar mastery or Cap IW tech synergy would be more viable in combination with going into overdrive for 90% power gain reduction then using his sp3 right after for another 90% reduction from debuff. After all this you should be around 50% battery which you would upkeep with his sp1s.
Things I wish he had, unblockable sp2 and increased power combat rate based on battery charge along with a taunt mechanic. The most annoying part about Punisher 2099 is having his rotation disrupted by passive ais who don’t want to attack or use their specials then hitting overdrive too soon or losing battery when they hit their sp3. His utility is way too overrated coming at the expense of his damage so I’d easily trade his powerlock from his sig ability for a taunt mechanic maybe based again on his battery charge.
My 5* at r2 was able to get 5k crits.
Of course there are better champs still; but not everyone will pull Ghost or Warlock. If you like his style, then P2099 is a lot more useable now. Testing him before and after update, his damage output has easily doubled, even without a maximal rotation (I'm sure @ESF can do better!)
I've got him as a 6* R1, and was playing with him in ROL:
Base attack has gone from 1854 to 1952
Time to 100% battery has dropped:
Pre-buff, playing passively - 90 seconds
Pre-buff, firing SP1s twice - 55 seconds
Post-buff, firing SP1 once - 35 seconds
That's a huge improvement in his fast he charges up to his high damage/power limitation Overdrive. It's far more accessible now. Playing without any synergies, no suicides, no boosts, I timed how long it took to put down Winter Soldier, comparing him to other non-top-tier 1/25s I had to hand (all Unawakened):
Pre-buff P2099: 10 mins 20s
1/25 Terrax: 8min 55s
1/25 Darkhawk: 7m37s
1/25 Nightcrawler: 6m05s (class adv)
Post-buff P2099: 5 min 30s
1/25 Emma Frost in 5m15s (class adv)
1/25 Carnage: 3m44s
Now certainly I wasn't playing him perfectly, but he was previously significantly outpaced by the notoriously pillow-fisted Terrax! Now, with very little practice he's ahead of Darkhawk (who I do know how to play with!), and on par with Emma Frost, who as we know has pretty decent damage, and had class advantage over WS.
He's definitely become a decent useable champ, which makes this a very successful buff for me; definitely on a par with the Red Hulk/Luke Cage buffs. Is he top-tier? No, but he's a heck of a lot better, and if he's who RNG gives you, then you could do a lot worse.
Post-buff P2099 with Red Skull: 4 min 0s
That's a pretty decent time for a 1/25, surely?
RS gives him +60% duration on armour break, making it much easier to stack two. At which point, he's inflicted -6000 armour on the Opponent, and regularly throws 10k medium crits. Most importantly: he can hammer away relentlessly, since he can easily maintain a 90% Enervate on the opponent, making this a viable method outside of ROL.
Bearing in mind that he remains a power control champion, and they traditionally have fairly low damage, he's doing pretty good, offensively.
In case the benefits of P2099's kit weren't clear: this 90% Enervate is completely passive. You don't need to throw a special, or even hit your opponent. It works if they're debuff-immune, or immune to Power Lock/Drain/Steal. All you have to do is wait - as soon as you hit Overdrive, it's activated and you're good to go; even if you're on a node like Empathic Lock.
The drawback is, of course, that he doesn't really have any means to deal with opponents who have Power Gain effects, which is a bit of a problem for him.
Still - this buff is looking better and better, the more I play with him. Looking forward to other people's opinions once they've had time to play with him a bit.
I'm trying out maxing power control with CAIW synergy to speed up initial Overdrive. Then you can spam SP1 and stay in overdrive pretty much permanently.
For damage, try this: play normally (possibly going all way through Overdrive once, or using Heavies to drain the battery) until you have nearly three bars of power* and you're approaching Overdrive. Throw SP2 before hitting overdrive; then punch your way back to SP2; throw it again. You should now have two Armour Breaks stacked (for a good 20 seconds if you've brought Red Skull); and Overdrive in action, so you can let rip without granting your opponent too much power.
*Using classic Punisher for synergy might make this easier, as you start with just under a bar of power.