Intro:
This is PART 1 of the complete guide to all the Support Heroes in the game. As the “Support” category would suggest, these characters specialize in enhancing the team’s performance, either offensively, defensively, or both. Each of them has a place in the game, so this guide will provide insight to each Support 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.
Alice
Overview
Strengths:
+Extremely survivable
+High burst damage potential
+Jack of all trades
+Good synergy
+Has Tenacity
Weaknesses:
-Relatively low utility
-High aggro
-Restricted on auto
Gameplay:
Alice is arguably the most unusual hero of the Support category. She is perhaps the only character who is a true “Jack of all trades” in the roster. While in her normal form, she provides very valuable speed control, giving 35% attack speed for allies with “Tantrum” or slowing down enemy units by 35% with “Flood of Tears”. Both skills are on very low cool down periods, so she will be providing this speed management until she uses her White skill. Speaking of which, once she becomes “Enormous” after using “Eat Me”, she gains a more massive HP pool, giving her one of the absolute highest HP stats in this temporary form. In her “Enormous” state, she is also capable of incredible burst damage potential, causing massive Normal and Fantastic damage. Playing her on manual gives her a lot of flexibility, as it allows her to continually provide speed-support. Do not underestimate her regardless of her size! She performs well in all game modes, but is arguably better on manual, especially in Guild Wars and Invasion.
Friendship Disks:
Alice has friendship Disks with Miguel and Quorra, both of whom emphasize very different aspects of her skill set. Keep in mind that both Disks absolutely depend on Alice turning Enormous. Overall, Miguel’s is generally more useful because of the increase in Skill Power (affecting ALL her skills), and the insane damage boost that she enjoys when in her Enormous form. While Miguel’s disk emphasizes Alice’s destructive potential, Quorra’s disk actually makes her a better Support hero. The shields she provides are extremely durable, and it also gives more Armor to everyone, making the team more survivable overall. Do note that the shields are only available the first time she turns Enormous, and cannot activate them again after that. Keep this in mind when taking her to Arena or on campaigns. However, she gets a lot more mileage out of it during Invasion. Every Breaker Quest and every Boss fight resets her uses for the shields, so she will always be able to protect her allies at least once every fight. The same is also true for City Watch.
Team Options:
Alice works well with heroes that benefit greatly from her early game speed management. In particular, Elsa makes for a great teammate. Not only would Elsa enjoy the increased attack speed, she also greatly benefits from attacking slowed enemies, enabling her to always do much more damage. If you are considering using Alice in game modes that demand more endurance, such as City Watch, then paring her with a main healer like Miguel or Joy will prove to be a huge boon for the long haul. For Invasion, you should be treating her more like a damage unit while relying on Genie and Megara to help sustain the team. Try fun teams that abuse speed by pairing her with Goofy and Woody, or teams that stack shields like Violet and Baymax. Alice may also be teamed with Finnick to abuse slows. She works remarkably well with fellow Wonderland heroes, Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts. Together, the three of them can cause ridiculous amounts of chaos, frequently displacing targets all over the battlefield.
Counters:
Heroes that can dive her such as Darkwing Duck, Aladdin, and Moana(Me) can pose a threat. Merida can pierce through the backline with her arrows and can also burst down Alice in more dire circumstances. When Alice becomes Enormous, she will have the highest HP, which also means she becomes a high priority target for Maleficent’s “Forest of Thorns” and Robin Hood’s “Alms for the Poor”. Depending on who else is on your team, Woody may target her with his Lasso and charm and is particularly disruptive to Alice overall. Quorra is also a threat to Alice, as Quorra’s “Disc Spin” is incredibly damaging to Alice even during her Enormous state. It’s also worth mentioning that Alice will actually bring herself within range of Quorra when she’s Enormous.
Animal
Overview
Strengths:
+Fastest attacker in the game
+Amazing backline peeler
+Ridiculous speed and damage boost
+Bonus HP for the team
+Self-sufficient
+High DPS potential
Weaknesses:
-Very situational healing
-Very little defensive support
-Susceptible to burst damage
Gameplay:
Animal is one of several speed-focused heroes in the game. To separate himself from Woody (who can isolate a target) and Goofy (who lacks spatial control), Animal specializes in causing frequent knock backs to take control of the space in front of him. Even backline divers have a hard time trying to force their way in with Animal guarding the area. As such, his brand of support is arguably the most aggressive among his peers–putting a specific focus on applying lots of pressure instead of improving defenses. So far, Animal has the highest natural attack speed in the game, and this speed only continues to rise more and more as time goes on. This rising speed gives Animal an exceptionally high DPS, even for a Support hero. Another lovely thing about Animal is his resistance to negative status effects. He can self-heal and self-cleanse, but he can still be affected by freeze, charm, and stun effects. Fortunately, he has impressive Tenacity growth to ensure he doesn’t slow down for too long. Animal’s hyper-aggressive support is a good for teams that put a ton of focus on brute force.
Keeping The Beat:
Animal’s Red Skill is relatively easy to invest in. Animal himself is quite a strong hero to use in City Watch in general, so you might find yourself getting loaded with his Skill Chips. The skill bestows modest improvements to Animal’s Basic Damage and Skill Power while also giving his own allies more Basic Damage as well. There are two important effects this skill grants that give Animal more control over the battle field. Both of these effects rely on Animal being able to use In the Groove. Upon activating, Animal slows down enemy movement speed by 20% for 3 seconds. This effect completely goes together with the other main effect, which is more knock backs! While In the Groove is active, the first 2 regular attacks done by Animal and all his allies will knock enemies back. Assuming that the skill is fully leveled, Animal’s team becomes capable of applying intense pressure by driving all the enemies into a corner. However, the knock back effect may fail should the skill remain under-leveled. Still, the slowing effects does remain and will always work without any level restrictions on it. This slowing power will still go very well with allies who can push enemies back as a natural part of their skillset anyways. While the knock backs may not always work, the stat bonuses and the slowing effect are enough to provide good value in return.
Friendship Disks:
Animal’s Friendship with WALL-E gives him an actual defensive utility to his skillset. WALL-E’s disk grants the team some minor healing as a defensive response whenever a Control role enemy activates their Active skill. What the game DOESN’T tell you is that the healing also activates for any White skill that happens to cause negative status effects, like Jack Skellington’s White skill for example. It also slows down allies that are being affected by charm. While its effects are relatively situational, it does make Animal a soft counter for most Control heroes (especially those that rely on charm). Considering the popularity of charm-inducing heroes, this disk can certainly come in handy when facing the likes of Jafar, Meg, and the Mad Hatter. On the other hand, Gonzo’s disk amplifies the speed factor up to 11! With it, Animal and his allies will start the fight with a shield that lasts for 10 seconds, very similarly to that of Calhoun’s Violet disk. These shields are very weak and the presence of these shields are pretty negligible. As mentioned, it is the speed that makes this disk very interesting. Even at just one star, allies will gradually experience a natural boost to their attack speed that will very quickly start to build up to intimidating levels. This speed boost is further amplified by any other speed modifiers bestowed by Animal or any of his allies. Technically speaking, this disk gives Animal one of the strongest late-game mechanics amongst the entire cast. Both disks are good, but Gonzo’s tends to be a little better most of the time.
Team Options:
Animal is very easy to fit in a team most of the time because of the nature of his skillset. Because his “In The Groove” grants speed and a tremendous boost in Basic Damage, he should preferably be teamed with heroes that rely on that stat more like Beast, Merida, Scar, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Anger, etc. While Animal can work well with other Supports like Judy and Timon & Pumbaa, he should not be paired with Woody. Even though it’s true that both of them can boost speed and can even stack Basic Damage bonuses, they tend to clash with how they handle spatial control. Animal has a tendency to push away targets that Woody was suppose to pull in for an easy KO. This pushing and pulling will also cause their allies to miss their attacks, so please reconsider their pairing.
Counters:
Bo Peep and Goofy are difficult for Animal to deal with. Bo can block his attacks and she cannot be pushed back once she starts spinning that staff. Goofy on the other hand can actually keep up with Animal’s speed and Goofy’s own speed boost can outlast that of Animal’s. Additionally, Goofy’s blinding effect causes Animal’s regular attacks to miss, significantly reducing his DPS. Similarly, Bogo(Mr) can effortlessly absorb Animal’s regular attacks and heal off most of that damage. He does have to deal with being pushed back however. Miss Piggy can be a terrifying nightmare for Animal, but only specifically if she has the Queen of Heart’s disk equipped. Otherwise, she is pressured by Animal’s relentless knock backs. Hercules can also withstand enough of Animal’s DPS to become invincible and unmovable. Be careful if Herc has Maui’s disk, because an invincible multi-tank comp can quickly overwhelm and shut down Animal’s speedy shenanigans. And lastly, Woody(Je) can pull Animal out of position, leaving him with very little space left to control while also making him extremely vulnerable to getting bursted down very early.
Gizmoduck
Overview
COMING SOON
Joy
Overview
Strengths:
+Potent healer
+Very useful Friendship Disks
+Bonus Reality for the team
+Rising power levels
+Very good synergy
Weaknesses:
-Zero damage contribution
-Absolutely no offensive enhancements
-Cannot mitigate True Damage
Gameplay:
Much like her fellow emotion, Anger, Joy uses a “stacking” mechanic that is the core of her play style. Every time she gains a stack of Happiness, her Skill Power rises, and so does the entire team’s Reality. This particularly makes it very difficult for Fantastic damage dealers to break a team that is protected by Joy. What makes her such a flexible defensively oriented Support is her ability to quickly fill up her energy. Instead of having a basic attack, Joy instead gains energy little by little. Her green skill even gives her an occasional burst of energy and Happiness, allowing her to quickly gain access to her team-saving healing skill. Her healing power rises the more stacks of happiness she has, which only continues to grow as the battle goes on. Do note that the Reality bonus of “Radiance” will only apply to Joy’s allies, and not Joy herself. This means that unless she has allies that can increase her defenses for her, she is entering every fight with raw stats alone. Joy can provide single-target shields (at the cost of one stack of Happiness) to protect her allies if she’s not ready to heal yet. These shields are on a low cool down as well, and is applied on an ally that’s below 50%. A team with Joy is a team with perhaps the greatest survivability. Her defensive prowess allows her to excel in all game modes and is especially good on Auto, so that she may heal as soon as it’s available while quickly building up her Happiness.
Friendship Disks:
Joy’s Disks mainly affect how she supports her team. With Olaf’s disk, stacks of Happiness also provide Armor. Joy will also start battle with stacks of Happiness, which gives the team a massive defensive boon right from the get-go. Overall very useful when facing against enemy teams with high damage potential. Anger’s disk focuses on preventing Disables from affecting your teammates at the cost of Happiness. This allows Joy to add further usage from her Happiness stacks, and also enables her to more confidently protect her team from CC-heavy comps. Both Disks are very useful, but switch them around depending on whether you’re facing against too much CC or too much damage. These disks need heavy investment as they are not very strong at low Star levels.
Team Options:
Joy’s skill set works well with just about any composition, especially when a team calls for a powerful defensive core. It’s no surprise that she works well with Anger, who appreciates Joy’s protection while also making up for Joy’s nonexistent damage. Along with Goofy(Mi) and Kevin, Joy can form an extremely reliable anti-CC comp. They are especially effective together against popular heroes like Merlin, Gaston, and Maleficent. Joy can stack her defenses with other heroes that can provide more Armor and Reality for the whole team. Shank(Va), Sally(Ya), Alice(Qu), Rafiki(Ja), and Kevin can stack their defenses with Joy(Ol) to form an extraordinarily durable wall. Do note that this is easily overcome by True damage. But as long as you’re looking for optimized protection, Joy(Ol) and Timon & Pumbaa(St) form a remarkable defensive core! Hakuna Matata gives Joy just enough time to build up several stacks of Happiness to provide defenses that extend beyond its duration.
Counters:
Joy is almost completely helpless against heroes that can dive her. Darkwing Duck, Aladdin, and Moana are all threatening to Joy. Even with Anger’s disk, Joy can only block one Disable at a time, so unless she has at least Kevin backing her up, Joy can be easily disrupted by too much CC. If she’s unable to heal, she is essentially dead weight. Maleficent and Tia can act as soft counters to Joy, as their curses can slow her down a little. Denying Joy of energy is also problematic. So Maleficent(Ur), Dash(Fi), and especially Ursula can give Joy great difficulty.
Judy Hopps
Overview
Strengths:
+Early speed advantage
+Very strong pushback
+Absurd power boost
+Has Evasion
Weaknesses:
-Low HP growth
-Very short speed boosts
-Somewhat stricter team options
Gameplay:
True to her being a bunny, Judy provides the whole team with short bursts of speed. Along with speed, she also provides bonus Basic Damage. This gives her team a strong lead early on in the battle. However, the outcome heavily depends on how the rest of her team performs. Having this speed available at the start of the game means your team is gaining energy more quickly as well. This burst in momentum can make a huge difference over the course of battle, as the team that fires off the game-winning skill can mean a stronger claim to victory. Judy’s early burst of speed and power can find use in any game mode, just be sure the rest of her team takes full advantage of it.
Friendship Disks:
Judy’s Disks interestingly affects how she interacts with the rest of her team. Bogo’s disk purely focuses on Judy’s individual performance. It helps with Judy’s survival on her own and even gives her increased attack speed and more temporary invincibility when she revives after playing dead. However, Felix’s disk provides a remarkable increase on the Basic Damage boost provided by her “Deputize”. This insane power boost is only available for as long as “Deputize” is active, so be sure to take full advantage of it. These bonuses are available again when her teammates successfully KO enemies or when Judy is forced to use “Play Dead”.
Team Options:
Because Judy relies heavily on taking full advantage of the short duration of her speed boost, she will need allies who are capable of acting upon that. Felix’s disk is almost always more useful, which means she should have at least one more Support hero paired up with her. While it’s true that she works wonderfully with all of them, Woody, Miguel, and Megara are the most notable ones. Woody helps provide even greater speed as well as more Basic Damage boost that stack with Judy’s own. Miguel is her most reliable Support partner for Invasion, even more so than Joy because Miguel can shred Armor (synergizes so well when the whole team has more Basic Damage). Megara can link with the ally who benefits from the Basic Damage boost the most. Since Judy strictly increases Basic Damage, heroes that use that stat more will get the most mileage. Merida, Jack Sparrow, Scar, Aladdin, and Anger will get the most out of Judy’s skills. Try not to rely on heroes that don’t need Basic Damage as much, like Vanellope, Elastigirl, or Elsa.
Counters:
Judy’s Evasion gives no protection from slows, unlike Disables, which she can sometimes avoid. Mad Hatter and Finnick are especially problematic because of this. Heroes with high dodge chances like Aladdin and Jessie pose a huge threat as they can sometimes even avoid her “Bunny Hop” completely. Maui with a maxed out Genie disk can also just bite her out of existence thanks to her extremely low HP. If Maui manages to KO her while she had high energy, he can very easily bite her again after she revived.
More in Part 2 (CLICK HERE)
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