Intro:
This is PART 3 of the complete guide to all the Damage Heroes in the game. As the “Damage” category would suggest, these characters specialize in causing a lot of damage as quickly and efficiently as possible. As it is largest category of roles, the heroes featured here also happen to have the greatest variety in functions. Each of them has a place in the game, so this guide will provide insight to each Damage hero’s value.
Disclaimer: This Guide will always be under construction, either through updating information or adding more content as more new heroes are released in the game. I will be doing updates accordingly for as long as I continue to play the game.
Elastigirl
Overview
Strengths:
+High single-target damage
+Good synergy
+Lots of crit tech
+Useful Friendship Disks
Weaknesses:
-Highly susceptible to CC
-Vulnerable positioning
-Below average Reality growth
Gameplay:
Elastigirl was the original Damage hero of the game. Introduced to the player at the very beginning, Elastigirl teaches players the importance of offense, showcasing a skillset that puts an emphasis on high pressure and intense focused damage. More so than most heroes, her skills really specializes on doing incredible amounts of damage to just one target at a time. “Iron Fist”, “Element Of Surprise”, and “Roundhouse” are skills that do respectable Fantastic damage. While this does mean that she will compete against other Fantastic damage specialists, her highly focused offensive skillset does give her a unique niche. She tends to heavily compete for a team slot in Arena, but she has plenty of chances to shine in Coliseum and Guild Wars. She tends to compete with Quorra for Red Invasion Teams, but she differs herself by having a strong push back and anti-Reality tech.
Friendship Disks:
Both of Elastigirl’s disks put a strong emphasis on her damage potential while still keeping herself useful to her teammates. Vanellope’s disk changes the attack preference of her Iron Fist. Normally, Elastigirl is supposed to use Iron Fist on the closest target. But with Vanellope’s disk, she reaches all the way to the backline, now sniping the target that’s farthest away. This disk also increases Skill Power, so this does give Iron Fist the potential to KO a backline target. The ability to potentially wipe a (typically) frail backline target often bears a significant strategic implication, making this disk the popular choice for PvP almost all the time. Jack-Jack’s disk gives Elastigirl a unique, exclusive talent; the ability to shred Reality. Overall, it is the more flexible disk. While it does mean that she loses the ability to threaten the backline, she can get away with using Jack-Jack’s disk if she partners up with heroes that can snipe the backline for her. The sheer value of Vanellope’s disk is hard to ignore, but you might be surprised by the strength of Jack-Jack’s disk if given the chance.
Team Options:
It should come as no surprise that Elastigirl works very well with her family. Her single-target focused damage puts a balance to their AOE attacks, promoting an aggressive tempo of intense pressure. Genreally speaking, Elastigirl works quite well with other Fantastic Damage specialists. Quorra is particularly strong, especially when they work together in Invasion week. In PvP settings, Elastigirl can be considered a strong pick when facing teams that have important backline targets. In particular, she is a high-value counter against teams that rely on Meg. Kevin makes for a good support for her. His cleanse helps her overcome her inability to resist disables. On a similar note, Goofy(Mi) is great for blocking disables for her, but he cannot remove them if they do connect. Along with Kevin, Joy(An) is a great ally who can provide lots of Reality and may also block disables occasionally too.
Counters:
Being a midline hero with no Tenacity or Evasion is tough. Elastigirl finds herself struggling to get any value from her skills if she is being frequently interrupted by disables. Huey, Dewey, and Louie can completely exploit this with their traps, strongly oppressing her very quickly and easily. Many powerful CC can come from backline heroes. Maleficent and Elsa are quite notable in that respect, but they do have to watch out getting sniped by the Iron Fist. Mad Hatter doesn’t typically have to worry about Elastigirl’s Iron Fist though, and he can even charm her if she’s close enough. Unless she’s getting protection from Joy, Ducky & Bunny, Jafar(Sc), and Anger can almost cleanly delete her very easily. To a lesser extent, Jack Skellington(MH) can deal extra damage to her, especially when he is working together with Mike. Although they must also watch out for Iron Fist if their team setup wasn’t optimal.
Elsa
Overview
Strengths:
+Great damage potential
+Multi-angular attack patterns
+Powerful freezes
+Good synergy
Weaknesses:
-Slow attacker
-Low Armor stat
-Weak to all CC
Gameplay:
As one of the final heroes introduced in 2018, Elsa stepped into the following year with the force of a blizzard. With Olaf taking the lead, the Frozen duo perpetuated the once overwhelming “Freeze Meta” that dominated the early winter months of 2019. With the introduction of more heroes that can overcome CC skills in general, Freeze teams were eventually phased out of the highest competitive slots in Arena. However, Elsa’s destructive potential still found lots of use elsewhere. “Snow Strike” (formerly Winter’s Gale), “Cold Snap”, and “Icy Blast” (formerly Crushed Ice) are powerful Fantastic-type damaging skills that mixes raw damage and strong freezes to great effect while also covering different enemy positions. “Getting Colder” (formerly Gloves Off) amplifies Elsa’s damage potential—greatly increasing the damage she can do against targets that are frozen or slowed. Elsa also experienced a lovely refresh to her skillset featuring longer and stronger freezes and an overall boost to her damage in general. Even with all her power, Elsa finds herself competing against other Fantastic damage specialists that don’t necessarily rely on freezing anything. Fortunately for her, she is blessed with incredible burst damage and can quickly take control of the field with her freezing presence. She is a decent choice for Blue Invasion teams that can use AOE Fantastic Damage, but she does greatly struggle against anti-Disable wards found along Breaker Quests (and also occasionally in Hard/Epic City Watch runs).
Frosted Over:
Elsa’s Red Skill is one that rewards her for having frozen targets on the map. First, let’s take a look at the immediate benefits she receives: Elsa experiences a very generous boost to both her Basic Damage and her Skill Power. Additionally, the damage from her Snow Strike is also marginally boosted, thus increasing her threat level considerably. Aside from the stat bonuses, the skill does grant a couple of really nifty effects that will make a very noticeable impact. The first thing to notice is that Elsa’s presence will cause the enemy with the highest Basic Damage to be frozen for 8 seconds. Successfully freezing an enemy unit for that long will actually delay them long enough to be potentially frozen again. For example, a frontline hero like Bo Peep will not be able to use her knock back and counter skills and will likely be frozen again by Cold Snap. Similarly, a backline hero like Robin Hood won’t be able to use his specialty arrows and will probably be frozen again by Icy Blast. The rules of Evasion and Tenacity will be taken into account when the skill is in play. Naturally, poorly investing in this Red Skill will cause would-be targets to more likely evade the freeze or thaw out of it more quickly. The other (more important) effect of this Red Skill is that Elsa will now gain 75 Energy every time enemies are frozen or slowed by ANYONE. Obviously, this allows her to use her newly empowered Snow Strike much sooner and more frequently. Even when under-leveled, Elsa will still gain very small bursts of Energy. This does go a long way as it does make up for her slow attack speed. Overall, it is a very good Red Skill to have–the stat boosts are nice, the effects are not entirely useless even when under-leveled, but it’s also not about to make Elsa OP in any way.
Friendship Disks:
Olaf’s disk greatly patches up Elsa’s HP while also granting her Tank allies a strong, temporary shield. This disk was specifically designed to strengthen her synergy with Olaf (and other Tanks of course) however, this disk often sees far less use than the alternative. Frozone’s disk is preferred most of the time. This greatly increases Elsa’s Skill power, thus it improves her damage potential in the most meaningful way. Additionally, this disk also gives Elsa a unique niche as an anti-Control hero. Her freezing will last longer specifically against opposing Control Heroes, making Elsa a powerful answer against certain characters. The diversity of Control Heroes means this disk is sometimes inconsistent in that regard, but the Skill Power boost is undeniably useful in every scenario.
Team Options:
Coming in as a surprise to absolutely no one, Olaf has always been one of Elsa’s most consistent partners—even now. Together, they can freeze everything in the map and can almost keep it that way just by themselves. The same can be said about Kristoff & Sven. Their Ice Harvest greatly amplifies everyone’s freezing potential and they also provide valuable spatial control that both Elsa and Olaf lack. Of course, WALL-E(Da) can be considered as an almost necessary component to the classic freeze core, as his utilities helps Elsa in every way. However, due to the ever changing meta, Merida(El) has also risen to become one of Elsa’s favourite partners. At minimum, Elsa should ideally have Olaf or Kristoff & Sven backing her up. That said, Elsa greatly appreciates the speed boosts from the likes of Goofy, Woody or Duke Caboom. Alice and Animal get special mentions—Alice(Qu) can give Elsa some Armor and can even slow down enemies to amplify Elsa’s damage; Animal not only provides speed and power, he can also peel off hostile enemies that can reach her at the backline. Speaking of which, Elsa loves attacking large groups of enemies all at once with her Icy Blast. As such, she appreciates allies that can reliably group enemies together like Timon & Pumbaa and Hercules. Finnick gets a special mention because his slowing powers compliment Elsa very well.
Counters:
Divers like Darkwing Duck and Mr. Incredible can absolutely wreck her day if they manage to get in range. They might have to watch out for a Cold Snap, though. Jack Skellington(MH) can do a lot of damage with his menacing demented ducks, but he also has to watch out for Icy Blast. Elsa is generally annoyed by all CC. Non-Control heroes like Simba & Nala can reach her with ease. Snipers like Merida can be a pain, but Ducky & Bunny are particularly deadly. Similarly, Elastigirl or Woody can single out Elsa and wipe her out cleanly. Kevin is a fairly consistent counter. His immunity to being frozen allows him to continue providing support, allowing him to cleanse his frozen allies. To a similar extent, Donald can also minimize her impact with his presence and he easily stop the effects of Frosted Over as well. This typically means Elsa looses out on a lot of potential bonus damage while also robbing her of some of her personal value.
Emperor Zurg
Overview
Strengths:
+High damage potential
+Useful Friendship Disks
+Has Evasion
Weaknesses:
-Underwhelming green, blue, and purple skills
-Very slow attacker
-Vulnerable positioning
-Very low durability
-Zero threat without energy
Gameplay:
Zurg has always been a very interesting design from the very beginning. He was once the first hero to use a channeling White Skill, with “Ion Blaster” being the first of its kind. To this day, Ion Blaster may still technically be one of the very best White Skills to date. It channels incredible power, it hits everything perfectly, and it also has the potential to wipe whole teams by staggering KO’s. Unfortunately, Zurg has a lot he needs to overcome before, during, and after the use of Ion Blaster. He is one of the slowest attackers in the entire roster, so his threat level is almost non-existent until he reaches full energy. With the use of “Energy Heist” and “Evil Genius”, he can gain small bursts of Energy to try and compensate for his tragically unreliable regular attacks. If he manages to successfully reach full energy, only then will he be able to finally pull his weight. It is not easy for Zurg to earn his keep, however. During this entire process, he is extremely susceptible to being interrupted. It is especially detrimental if he is disrupted by any form of CC while he is in the middle of channeling his Ion Blaster. Unless he is heavily fortified with protection, it is sadly very difficult to make use of his otherwise impressive power in any game mode.
Unparalleled Power:
Zurg’s Red Skill further amplifies the one thing that’s great about him–his Ion Blaster. Unparalleled Power bestows raw additional damage for every shot coming out of Ion Blaster. The bonus Skill Power also amplifies the overall damage potential. And it doesn’t stop there either–this Red Skill’s main effect is to boost the damage done by every shot of Ion Blaster 50%. Actually, that’s only the first shot. Every subsequent shot will do 50% more damage than the last, for a maximum of 300%! At maximum effect, Ion Blaster evolves from pea-shooter to nuclear warhead! Even when not fully leveled, the damage of Ion Blaster is still being (very) generously amplified. And of course, Zurg also enjoys a rather hefty amount of bonus HP to help patch up his otherwise pitiful survival rate. Should you insist on using Zurg, then investing in this skill is a must. It is, by design, one of the very best Red Skills to date. While unlocking this skill doesn’t fundamentally change Zurg’s main difficulties, it still improves him significantly. With this skill, Zurg embodies an extreme ideal: if you happen to be good at one thing, then master that one thing so that you can overcome everything else just by being good at one thing.
Frienship Disks:
Zurg’s disks adds a great deal of dimension to his otherwise simple skillset. Rex’s disk is the more aggressive choice. With it, Zurg will do more damage against Tank heroes. He also gets increased Basis Damage to sort of compensate for his lackluster regular attacks. Hiro’s disk is a little more supportive in nature. Hiro’s disk will passively grant a relatively small amount of Skill Power to all allies. Additionally, it also allows Zurg to share a small portion of the Energy he gains to his team, allowing his allies to get their White Skills a little sooner. Both are very good for Zurg, so you can’t really go wrong either way.
Team Options:
It should come as no surprise that Zurg works very well with the other Toy Story heroes. He is especially fond of allies who can push enemies away from him, which makes Rex and/or Bo Peep very ideal. Giving him more breathing room in general gives him a much better chance of using Ion Blaster without being interrupted. Finnick, Timon & Pumbaa, and Hercules are all good choices. Animal gets a special mention as he can push enemies back and gives Zurg some much needed attack speed. Zurg appreciates allies that can improve his defensive stats too. Shank(Va) and Sally(Ya) are decent choices for this, but Joy(Ol), Kevin(Qu), and Gizmoduck can also provide incredible utilities. Linguini & Remy are similarly able to minimize Zurg’s problems with disruptions by providing stacks of Hardy while also providing even more healing.
Counters:
With such low defensive stats, Zurg has a lot to worry about. The likes of Ducky & Bunny and Jafar can almost immediately KO Zurg so early in the fight. Characters with incredible survivability like Alice and Rafiki will happily use the damage of Ion Blaster as a means to gain full energy quickly. In the case of Alice, she can usually just stomp her foot to crush the poor toy with her feet. In general, Zurg is not too practical to use.
EVE
Overview
Strengths:
+Good damage
+Good synergy
+Self-sufficient
+Useful Friendship Disks
Weaknesses:
-Slow attacker
-Weak to all CC
-Low Reality stat
Gameplay:
Before there was Elsa, there was EVE. She was by no means OP, but she demonstrated just how a team composition can greatly affect the potential of any given hero. In EVE’s case, she is at her absolute best when centered within a team that puts a great emphasis on Disables. “Combat Efficiency” causes EVE to do 100% more damage against targets that are suffering from Disables. Do note that this damage bonus specifically only applies to Disables (freeze, stun, charm, etc.) and not Debuffs (slow, scare, study, etc). To a certain degree, EVE can provide herself with the bonus because she can stun enemies on her own with Ion Shock. However, having at least one partner that can cause more stuns for her will go a very long way. As a means to mitigate damage done on herself, EVE can also shield herself with “Shield Directive”. Her skillset is specifically designed to punish teams that are unprepared to handle Disables. She tends to heavily compete against other backline Normal Damage specialists in most cases. However, her talent for Destruction is still very impressive should she be given the chance that is.
Friendship Disks:
EVE’s disks put an emphasis on either offense or defense. WALL-E’s disk turns EVE into an off-support type of hero. She may now apply shields for herself and one more ally as well. On top of that, the shields also gain a modest healing function, slowly healing EVE and her ally for as long as the shields are still active. On the other hand, Calhoun’s disk is the much more aggressive choice. Ion Shock now gains an area of effect on top additional stun time. The increase in Skill Power also ensures EVE is doing as much damage as she can with Ion Shock and Hand Cannon. Both disks are pretty useful depending on the situation. Calhoun’s disk is quite a bit easier to use even at low stars.
Team Options:
It should come as no surprise that EVE works remarkably well with WALL-E. Everything that WALL-E does, EVE will appreciate. She especially enjoys the Energy that he can provide for her. Thanks to Combat efficiency, EVE works very well with the many, many heroes that excel at causing Disables. She can work with freeze-inducing heroes like Elsa, but she does probably prefer to work with Merida. Her arrows can shred armor, further enhancing EVE’s remarkable damage potential. With Calhoun’s disk, EVE can partner up with Gaston. Both are capable of causing stuns, and both will frequently reap the benefits of bonus damage on stunned enemies. With WALL-E’s disk, she can fit in a fun team that abuses shields, but there is technically less opportunities to take advantage of Combat Efficiency in a team like that.
Counters:
Divers like Darkwing Duck and snipers like Elastigirl(Va) serve as standard hard counters for backline heroes like EVE. Because most of EVE’s value comes from Combat Efficiency, she will struggle greatly to earn her keep when dealing teams that have heroes that can greatly mitigate the effects of Disables. One of the most obvious heroes capable of that is Kevin, who can reliably remove Disables from his teammates which steals much of EVE’s key opportunities to do meaningful damage. Other heroes that can block Disables such as Goofy(Mi), Joy(An), and Donald are highly effective at deterring EVE. Then there’s Anger and Miss Piggy(Ga) who become stronger as a means to punish the usage of Disables. Also watch out for Mad Hatter, who is completely unfazed by any negative status effects and will continue to cause chaos relatively unhindered.
Hector Barbossa
Overview
Strengths:
+Highly efficient skillset
+Useful Friendship Disks
+Great damage potential
+Intense single-target pressure
+Good Synergy
Weaknesses:
-Low HP growth
-Useless Tenacity growth
-Extremely susceptible to negative status effects
-Self-healing often staggers his damage
Gameplay:
Barbossa was perhaps the first user of the Study mechanic, which was one of the earliest ways to force critical hits on enemies as well as to mechanically mirror the effect of Scare. The game has since evolved to become much more complicated than that, but Barbossa himself has remained relatively effective even after all this time. Both “Chain Shot” and “Hot Shot” greatly improve his regular attacks, which is actually his only real source of applying any kind of damage. Luckily, his other skills supplement his over-reliance regular attacks rather generously. Arguably his best skill is his “Scan the Horizon”, which grants him a massive boost to his attack speed while also studying all enemies present on the field. The Study effect is a key aspect that contributes greatly to his strength. After all, he is a Normal Damage specialist, so combined with his speed, it becomes rather easy for him to rack up damage pretty quickly. He tends to compete against Merida, Robin Hood, and Stitch in a slot for a competent backline Normal damage specialist. He still has great value is PvP, especially in Coliseum and Guild Wars. He is quite strong against Mama Bots during Invasion, very quickly doing tons of damage while slowing down the Mama Bot for his team to exploit.
Friendship Disk:
Both of Barbossa’s disks greatly help his performance, mostly by making him a much better team player. Tia’s disk allows Barbossa to start every fight by applying the Study effect on all enemies for a short time. This disk has been pivotal in the exploitation of certain team comps that were once too easy to abuse. Generally speaking, this disk is preferable for comps that rely more on the Study mechanic. Stitch’s disk on the other hand, greatly intensifies the slowing effect of Chain Shot by making it last longer. Being slowed by 90% is already pretty brutal, so this disk intends to greatly amplify that specific utility. Both disks are very good but for very different purposes.
Team Options:
True as it is now as it was before, Barbossa still works very well with Jack Sparrow and Tia Dalma. Tia’s diverse control gives Barbossa plenty of opportunities to use his utilities more safely while Jack benefits greatly from Barbossa’s ability to slow down and study enemies. With Tia’s disk at hand, Barbossa formed the Merlin-study core together with Merlin himself, Aladdin, and (to a lesser extent) Baymax. By having all enemies studied right at the beginning, Aladdin swoops down to land multiple critical hits, which almost immediately allows Merlin to fire off transformation spells in rapid succession. This was nearly unstoppable until Timon & Pumbaa made it almost unviable. Indeed, as long Timon & Pumbaa are present, using this powerful study comp has been made impractical. However, this comp is still easy to abuse in Coliseum and Guild Wars–not on defense, but on attack where players can actively exploit teams that lack the protection of Timon & Pumbaa. Barbossa is otherwise appreciative of heroes that can shred armor for him such as Mr. Incredible, Simba & Nala, and Bo Peep.
Counters:
Due to how closely associated he is with Merlin, Timon & Pumbaa can also be considered a consistent counter to Barbossa as well. Barbossa typically focuses only on the front-most target as he attacks, so backline snipers like Jack Skellington, Elsa, Merida(El), and Elastigirl can all give him lots of trouble without much to worry about themselves. Out of all the backline divers, Mr. Incredible is perhaps the most threatening one to watch out for. His speed can keep up with Barbossa and his impressive Tenacity allows him to shrug off the slowing effects of Chain Shot. The likes of Woody, Rapunzel, The Queen of Hearts, and Huey, Dewey, & Louie are all capable of yanking him out of the backline in order to compromise his positioning. As Barbossa relies so heavily on his regular attacks, being blinded is arguably more detrimental to him than any other status effects. Watch out for Goofy, whose blinding effect will always be able to reach Barbossa no matter what.
More in Part 4 (CLICK HERE)
For the first time in forever 
