Intro:
This is PART 2 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.
Kevin Flynn
Overview
Strengths:
+Absolute best CC counter
+Bonus Reality for the team
+Decent single-target support skills
+Total immunity to Disables
+Great on auto and manual
Weaknesses:
-Only minor healing
-Utility is relatively situational
-Low durability
-Key skills have long cool downs
Gameplay:
Kevin is the perfect hero if you’re looking to minimize any negative status effects that may disrupt your team. Being completely immune to Disables allows him to continue providing support without any hindrance. Besides cleansing his team from all negative statuses, Kevin also provides huge single-target burst healing and shielding. If his team remains healthy, he contributes decent Fantastic damage instead of healing. Despite being the absolute best hero to have for countering CC, his utilities do not stretch much farther beyond that. Consequently, most of the other supports outclass him. His healing potential is low and his shield expires rather quickly for only being single-target. With PvP being so infested with CC, Kevin finds the most value at Arena and Coliseum. He’s not too useful for Invasion or City Watch until your team has to face heavy CC. Kevin’s anti-CC arsenal gives him a specific and important niche, but unless you have to, it’s often better to consider someone else over him.
Increased Broadband:
Much like the rest of Kevin’s skills, his Red Skill is also relatively situational. Firstly, let’s take a look at the bonus stats that it gives: more Skill Power, HP, and Shield HP from his Data Shield. These stats take immediate effect on Kevin, the most noticeable of which is his Data Shield. As long as you keep up with gaining levels, Data Shield will be approximately 150% stronger than it is without the Red Skill. There is another effect bestowed upon for Data Shield. An ally that is protected by Data Shield will have the timers on their buffs paused until the shield itself is removed or expires naturally. Assuming the shield’s HP isn’t completely depleted, then buffs are effectively extended by 7 seconds before resuming. For the main use of this skill, Power Cleanse gains the added effect of extending any buffs his allies may have presently, including himself. Power Cleanse will add 5 whole seconds to the buffs that are present at the time, but it will not extend any buffs that are applied after that. If you are unable to keep up with leveling this skill to max, it may fail to extend buffs. Should you choose to unlock Kevin’s Red Skill, you will be investing on a skill that is at its best when you have allies that bestow buffs as a main part of their skillset, as Kevin himself does not grant buffs other than his shield. This means Kevin will work even better with most other Supports, but this also works wonderfully on heroes that can self-buff. With the right partners, this does make a huge difference. For instance, Woody’s 5-second speed boost will instead last for 10 seconds. This skill is definitely less optimal in PvP where Kevin is forced to play on auto. When played on manual, this skill becomes much more flexible–but it can be considered more like a supplementary effect, as Power Cleanse should be used primarily as a counter to negative status effects. At the very least, the bonus stats are fantastic to have, strengthening exactly the right stats for Kevin.
Friendship Disks:
Kevin’s Disks both add even more utility to his defensively-oriented skill set. In particular, Quorra’s disk tremendously enhances Kevin’s “Data Shield”, and even adds a 20% chance for the shielded ally to completely avoid negative status effects for as long as the shield remains. This gives Kevin slightly more opportunities to protect his team from status effects while he doesn’t have Power Cleanse ready. The increase in Skill Power provided by Quorra’s disk also further enhances Kevin’s skills, especially his Green and Blue skills. On the other hand, Baymax’s disk gives Kevin a significantly better Power Cleanse. With the added healing effect, Kevin can now use Power Cleanse more liberally, since healing anytime is never a bad thing. The healing is relatively minor, even when maxed out, but it is enough to allow Kevin to provide just enough defensive utility to help his team survive. But most importantly, Baymax’s disk provides Kevin a small amount of energy at the beginning of every battle, allowing him to fire off Power Cleanse sooner and often with more impeccable timing. Both disks are great, and you can’t really go wrong either way.
Team Options:
Generally speaking, Kevin should be strongly considered for a team slot anytime you have to face moderate to heavy CC comps. Otherwise, you can get away without him. To further neutralize hostile CC, Kevin can be teamed with Goofy(Mi) and Donald for maximum coverage. Kevin particularly enjoys Goofy’s speed boost, as it helps Kevin overcome Slow effects. Kevin’s passive ability to provide extra Reality can be stacked with Joy(Ol), Alice(Qu), Sally(Ya), and Shank(Va) for an extremely durable core. Do note this is easily overcome by True Damage, which is thankfully not too common. When equipped with Baymax’s disk, Kevin and Genie make a wonderful partnership together. As long as there is even a little bit of healing, Genie’s Energize can maintain a speed boost which makes Kevin more adept at cleansing status effects.
Counters:
Kevin is very frail and is typically vulnerable to backline snipers like Jack Skellington(MH), Elsa, Calhoun, Elastigirl(Va) and Merida. For the exact same reasons, divers such as Darkwing Duck, Aladdin, Moana, and Mr. Incredible also pose as major threats. Woody makes for a special mention because he can pull Kevin out of position, setting him up for an easy KO. Something that’s also very important to mention is that Kevin is specifically immune to Disables, but not against Debuffs such as Slows, Armor/Reality shreds, Study, Scare, etc. While it’s true that Power Cleanse can also remove all of these Debuffs, Slow is particularly troublesome for Kevin. If the Slow effect is especially potent, Kevin will take way too long to fire off Power Cleanse to save his allies. It cannot be understated how detrimental Slows are for Kevin, so consider pairing him with Goofy or Woody when you see Mad Hatter and/or Finnick opposing you. And lastly, Ursula is arguably the most threatening enemy for Kevin to face. While Kevin can ignore the stun from “Poor, Unfortunate Souls”, he is still completely denied from using his Power Cleanse! Ursula is one of the only characters who can make dead weight out of Kevin.
Kristoff & Sven
Overview
Strengths:
+Excellent utilities
+Strong healing
+Great synergy
+Useful Friendship Disks
Weaknesses:
-Slow Energy gain
-Weak to CC
-Less powerful without Sven
Gameplay:
Much like Hiro and Jasmine that came before them, Kristoff & Sven come together as a unique package deal. Kristoff is the “permanent” unit, staying in battle until he is KO’d. Sven on the other hand works very differently from Rajah and the Megabot. As a definitive Support unit, Sven provides excellent utilities with his presence. Kristoff starts off by summoning Sven with “Best Buddies”. As long as Sven remains active, his presence bestows everyone with a hefty boost in Skill Power. Sven deals Normal Damage at the frontline while still active and he will dash through all enemies in front of him (also dealing Normal Damage) when he runs out of HP. In exchange for the supportive nature of Sven’s presence, Kristoff won’t have any reliable methods of bringing back Sven after he leaves, Sven himself also has extremely low HP, and the entire party loses the bonus Skill Power in Sven’s absence. Now this may sound like a lot to deal with, but Kristoff thankfully has a few tricks up his sleeves. “Troll Mend” is Kristoff’s team-wide insta-heal; it has rather slow recovery, but it also offers the entire party a great temporary Armor boost to further promote survivability. Kristoff also uses “Slippery Slide” to freeze and knock back enemies. As a matter of fact, this powerful freezing skill is exactly how Kristoff can legitimately pull off the task of keeping Sven around. “Ice Harvest” is arguably the most important skill within their arsenal though. With it, the duration of all slows and freezing from any source will be extended for 35% longer. This skill alone gives Kristoff an incredibly important niche for teams that heavily abuse slows and especially freezes. Do be aware that without Sven, Kristoff’s healing is noticeably weakened. Also, Kristoff tends to fall behind with gaining Energy quickly enough in some cases. Still, Kristoff & Sven revitalized the sheer potency of freeze teams across all competitive modes. They can act as the main healer for team Blue’s Invasion week, but they will struggle with wards that prevent their disables and/or cripple their already slow Energy gain.
Reindeer Rampage:
Reindeer(s) really are better than people, and this Red Skill essentially gives Sven a second wind. This skill gives Kristoff a boost to his HP and Skill Power while Sven gains an actual Reality stat. After Sven leaves the first time, Kristoff can use “Best Buddies” again after 8 seconds to bring back Sven. When this happens, Kristoff will play the animation of the “Best Buddies” skill and Sven will return. When Sven comes back, he will have a new HP stat that is tied to this Red Skill; the new HP stat will always be lower than Sven’s original HP stat the first time, even if the Red Skill is fully maxed out. The party will also regain the same Skill Power boost from before. Unlocking this skill also grants Sven the ability to freeze enemies every third basic attack. This new freezing power will always be present in Sven’s first and second appearance. Unfortunately, the freezing is really only usable when the skill is maxed out. Still, unlocking this skill is a must. It is the only way for Kristoff to bring back Sven otherwise.
Friendship Disks:
Kristoff & Sven’s disks improve either the supportive or disruptive nature of their skillset. Flynn’s disk gives Kristoff more HP and a team-wide Basic Damage boost. With it, Kristoff will have his own unique take on the “Most Wanted” mechanic. An enemy marked as “Most Wanted” will have their movement and attack speeds lowered, becoming more severe the more stars the disk has. Kida’s disk is much more versatile and also grants increased HP and Armor. It further improves Sven’s presence by allowing him to passively heal the team as long as he is still active. The healing value is based on the percentage of an individual ally’s HP. Additionally, Sven gains temporary invincibility when he reaches a very low percentage of his own HP, allowing him to stay just a little bit longer. The passive healing is a wonderful trait and allows Kristoff & Sven to heal while still building up Energy for Troll Mend.
Team Options:
It should come as no surprise that they work remarkably well with Elsa and Olaf. In fact, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff & Sven form an extremely powerful freeze core that can easily put entire enemy groups on ice. Of course, Kristoff can also make great partnerships with other characters that can use freeze including WALL-E, Genie(El), Powerline, and Merida(El). The same is true for heroes that abuse slows such as Finnick, Mad Hatter, Alice, and Pooh. As Kristoff struggles with gaining Energy quickly, a fellow healer like Mickey can help him out. In return, Kristoff provides solid control to protect Mickey.
Counters:
Kristoff is weak to CC and can be shut down quite early on. Maleficent stays out of range from Slippery Slide and can usually freely stun him. Her curses and Energy depletion are also quite devastating. She poses no threat if Kristoff is backed up by Elsa though. Aside from Maleficent, other characters that can give Kristoff a hard time gaining Energy include Ursula, Magica, Jafar, Jasmine, and Captain Hook. As Kristoff relies quite heavily on freezing, he does not appreciate Kevin being able to thaw out his team. Similarly, Donald might be even more annoying as he can even freeze Kristoff instead. Linguini and Remy can sometimes work fast enough to provide their team with stacks of Hardy to make them impervious to freezing and getting knocked back. Rapunzel is particularly worrisome; her own stacks of Hardy protects her from Kristoff’s shenanigans and she can even pull him out of position and stun him.
Launchpad McQuack
Overview
COMING SOON
Linguini & Remy
Overview
COMING SOON
Li Shang
Overview
COMING SOON
More in Part 3 (CLICK HERE)