Intro:
This is PART 3 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.
Megara
Overview
Strengths:
+“Link” is the best mechanic in the game
+Can turn her partner OP
+Very useful Friendship Disks
+Decent disruption support
+Superb in any game mode
+Works amazing in auto and manual
Weaknesses:
-High aggro
-Low damage contribution
-Prone to taking too much damage
Gameplay:
Since her introduction into the game, Meg’s “Link” ability has since redefined what it means to support a team. Instead, rather than directly supporting the whole team, Meg opts to narrow down her support to a single ally. Whoever Meg links with cannot be KO’d for as long as Meg is still active. She also reduces damage that ally takes to maximize their extended performance. Her purple skill further amplifies the link by having Meg share her offensive stats with her ally, empowering them with even greater fighting strength! This powerful ability is a double edged sword, however. Meg redirects 25% of damage done on her ally, so she suffers every hit they take. Additionally, she can still get damaged independently from her ally, so she gets into trouble pretty quickly. Luckily, Meg can actually heal herself to help survive the onslaught of damage coming at her. She is also highly disruptive to the enemy team, plaguing them with triple charms and the occasional silence to wreak havoc in the battlefield. Meg is always useful no matter which game mode you put her in. She links with the front-most ally when on auto, but you may freely choose her partner when playing on manual.
Friendship Disks:
Her disks improve different aspects on her ability to provide Support. Aladdin’s disk improves her HP, her Skill Power, and the strength of her disabling moves. This disk is much more ideal when you intend to actually keep Meg around over long periods of time. Aladdin’s disk is best suited for Invasion and City Watch for this reason. On the other hand, Shank’s disk improves Meg’s Basic Attack and Skill Power, while also providing her Link partner with temporary invincibility after Meg gets KO’d. This disk is much more suited to PvP environments, where you can expect enemy teams to prioritize targeting Meg. Shank’s disk excels in Arena and Coliseum.
Team Options:
Meg works well with practically anyone. Tanks like Hercules, Bo Peep, and Maui all take full advantage of her Link. Hercules is especially good because his invincibility greatly minimizes the damage Meg has to deal with. She also pairs well with frontline Damage heroes like Aladdin and Ducky & Bunny. Kevin is a notable ally who can cleanse Meg and her partner from harmful statuses. Genie is an especially good Link partner for Invasion. You will be able to freely pair her with Genie, allowing him to continually provide excellent healing while Meg prevents him from being KO’d. The Meg/Genie duo is one of Team Blue’s best healing options.
Counters:
As powerful as she is, Meg has plenty of counters. Divers like Darkwing Duck, Moana, and Aladdin are key threats. Of course, many backline snipers are also troublesome for her. Elastigirl, Ducky & Bunny, Merida just to name a few. Merlin is especially problematic for her. Her Link will often be the first target to be transformed into a squirrel, then quickly followed by Meg herself. Meg is also the “Farthest” hero most of the time as well (with the exception of Jafar), so she will usually be the first target by specific skills like Woody’s lasso.
Mickey Mouse
Overview
Strengths:
+Universally useful power boost
+Amazing synergy
+Great healing
+Very useful Friendship Disks
Weaknesses:
-Low durability
-Helpless against disruptions
-Key skills on moderate cooldowns
Gameplay:
Mickey’s brand of support is very versatile and well-balanced. While he doesn’t have anything in his arsenal that can disrupt enemies, the skills that he does have are universally beneficial to everyone in the team. Mickey’s Green and Blue skills provide huge bursts of healing and energy on a single ally who needs it the most. More importantly, Mickey’s White and Purple skills allow him to slowly heal the whole team while also giving them a 50% damage boost! The effect lasts for 10 seconds (which is substantial) and the damage boost applies to ALL kinds of damage types! It should be noted that Mickey’s skills may have a reduced effect or may fail all together if the skill levels are not at least equal to his allies’ levels. Therefore, Mickey is a high-priority hero to invest in if you’re absolutely certain you want him for your team. This also means that if you use him for Invasion, you must ensure that Mickey’s Power-Ups are equal to or higher than the rest of Team Red.
Friendship Disks:
Both of Mickey’s disks are useful and both will greatly improve upon Mickey’s ability to support his team. Sulley’s disk is based purely on healing. It improves Mickey’s Skill power, which only affects “Apprentice Sorcery”. It also makes Mickey’s healing much more potent, which makes this disk useful for any situation. Jack Skellington’s disk on the other hand, focuses much of Mickey’s support to empowering his Damage role teammates. Any hero from the “Damage” category will receive significantly more healing and power from Mickey, pushing their potential to the edge. Sulley’s disk is good under any circumstance, but Jack’s disk is preferable if Mickey is teamed with at least two Damage heroes.
Team Options:
Because of the nature of Mickey’s skillset, he fits incredibly well with any team. He’s essentially the “water” in the “just add water” part of the formula. Being one of Mickey’s eternal pals, Goofy works remarkably well with Mickey. Both have incredible team-boosting White skills that can be combined for devastating effect. And of course, Mickey with Jack Skellington’s disk fits well in a hyper-offensive team featuring multiple Damage heroes.
Counters:
Mickey of course struggles against backline divers like Darkwing Duck and Mr. Incredible. Jack Sparrow and Merida both have incredible burst damage that trivializes Mickey’s slow healing rate. Characters that can do damage over time such has Sally and Hades are also troublesome, as they can hinder Mickey’s slow healing. Mickey also struggles against Control heroes in general; Maleficent and Tia Dalma can disable him and their curses significantly cuts down the value of his healing. Ursula can also deny Mickey from using “Team Cheer” which is a huge blow to his usefulness.
Miguel Rivera
Overview
Strengths:
+Most versatile healer
+Charm immunity
+Still functional even on certain disables
+High Reality growth
+Great synergy
Weaknesses:
-Painfully slow early game
-Zero damage contribution
-Resetting music notes is counter-intuitive
-Very limited on auto
Gameplay:
Unlike Joy, who builds up power to be able to heal, Miguel will always be able to heal in any situation. He has immunity to charm, but it’s also worth mentioning that he still functions optimally when silenced or blinded, and his healing is so strong that it can overcome curses! Miguel uses 3 different notes: Healing Notes, Sharp Notes, and Flat Notes. Heal Notes heal friendly HP, Sharps increase friendly target’s Skill Power, and Flats reduce enemy target’s Armor and speed. Miguel can stack up to 3 notes for every unit present in the battlefield. Enemy units are straightforward in this regard. Friendly units can be bestowed a maximum of 2 Sharps. Miguel must always be able to put at least 1 Healing Note on an ally, and so he will never grant an ally more than 2 Sharps at any time. However, Miguel can still bestow a max of 3 Heals and 0 Sharps in more dire situations. When he finally activates “Crescendo”, Healing Notes give burst healing, Sharps give burst energy, and Flats will stun afflicted enemies. Miguel’s unique skill set works well with any team in any game mode. However, he is at his absolute best when played manually. He particularly excels in Guild Wars, as it is similarly competitive like Coliseum, but is completely unrestricted by auto.
Frienship Disks:
Miguel’s disks provide him with added effects that significantly changes the way he plays. Jessie’s disk gives Miguel more and more attack speed for every note that is present on screen. This alleviates his otherwise slow animations while also increasing his Basic Attack stat, which directly improves his healing. It is important to keep in mind that when Miguel activates “Crescendo”, he also resets his speed bonus back to normal. Elsa’s disk converts Miguel’s stuns into freeze instead. Normally, when Miguel stuns enemies, they gain back the Armor stat that they lost. However, Elsa’s disk punishes frozen enemies by reducing their Armor. The freeze effect also lasts substantially longer than his stun. Both have their uses, but Jessie’s disk is often better in most situations.
Team Options:
Miguel works very well with most teams. Miguel is often very good with Kevin, who can snap Miguel out of being stunned or frozen. He also partners well with Judy, especially for Team Yellow’s Invasion week. Miguel can also be a key partner for Maui. “Sharpen” increases Maui’s Skill Power, which directly affects Shark Bite’s damage threshold so that Maui may bite sooner than usual. Speed comps with Goofy, Woody, or Alice are particularly helpful for compensating Miguel’s slow animations. Even with Jessie’s disk on, it’s good to always have some speed available for him when he resets with Crescendo. Lastly, Miguel can be teamed with Merida and Mr. Incredible(El) and Mad Hatter for some devastating Armor shredding.
Counters:
With absolutely no Tenacity for him to work with, Miguel is especially vulnerable to freeze and stun inducing heroes. Elsa in particular can even freeze him from the backline. Maleficent, Ursula, and WALL-E are similarly problematic because they can disable him at any range. High burst damage from heroes like Jack Sparrow, Merida, and Duke Caboom are often strong enough to overcome Miguel’s healing.
Rafiki
Overview
Strengths:
+High HP growth
+Great disable potential
+Very good single-target support
+Good stall potential
+High survivability
Weaknesses:
-No Tenacity
-Very Passive
-No spatial control
Gameplay:
Rafiki is a rather unique Support hero in that he is one of the few among his peers that is positioned in the frontline. His Green and Blue skills cause him to leap into different directions, depending on circumstances, while also avoiding damage in the process. He provides solid control with his powerful stun and frequent blinds, but it’s when he whacks his ally is when he’s at his best. “The Past Hurts” bestows a tremendous buff to his target’s Basic Attack and Armor, giving that ally a great boost in their potential. As a frontline hero, he also has great survivability, constantly healing himself and occasionally leaping out of harm’s way. “Healing Breath” is an absurd self-preservation move that can make even Wolverine blush. He becomes immune to all disables and will survive everything. Not even the full force of Jack Sparrow’s “Avast” can put him down during this state of trance. This key ability gives him a good niche for stall teams, brilliant for defense! Rafiki’s unique mix of disruption and enhancement works well in any game mode. Unless you absolutely need to heal, you can opt to not activate “Healing Breath” if you’re on manual so Rafiki can continue to disrupt with blinds and be more proactive in general.
Friendship Disks:
Rafiki’s Friendship Disks puts a greater focus on either his disruption or his support. Merlin’s disk significantly increases the damage of “Martial Mandrill” to the point where Tank heroes can’t underestimate it. It also makes Rafiki’s stuns and blinds last longer. However, Jack-Jack’s disk is much better in almost every situation. “Healing Breath” will get the added effect of also healing everyone in Rafiki’s team! Over the course of 11 seconds, Rafiki actually heals a significant amount, and now his allies get to benefit from a portion of that restorative strength as well. It must be stated that Jack-Jack’s disk doesn’t heal very much at only 1 star, so it will take a lot of time and resources to get the most out of this disk. Otherwise though, Jack-Jack’s disk still provides the whole team a boost in HP and Armor, which is very valuable in any case.
Team Options:
Rafiki works well with Damage heroes that rely heavily on their Basic Attack stat. Unsurprisingly, Scar makes for a great partner for Rafiki. Of course, Merida, Jack Sparrow, Robin Hood, and many others. Similarly, Gaston(Ca) benefits greatly from Rafiki’s stun and “The Past Hurts”. If you intend to face a lot of CC, then you should have at least Kevin or Goofy with you so that Rafiki can continue to support without hindrance. As with a handful of others, Rafiki can take advantage of Jack-Jack’s disk to help low Armor heroes like Sulley & Boo, Elsa, etc.
Counters:
Being a frontline hero with no Tenacity is difficult for Rafiki sometimes. Even though he eventually got the Evasion stat to help him avoid disables altogether, he will still suffer the full extent of disables should he find himself getting caught. Olaf is highly problematic if he sticks on to Rafiki, keeping him frozen in place and unable to help his allies. Maleficent is also a key threat because not only can she put him to sleep, she could also potentially keep him rooted in place with her thorns. And of course, her curse is also a huge detriment! Even though the curse won’t bother Rafiki himself, it will horribly devalue the healing his allies would receive from Jack-Jack’s disk. Heroes with team-wide pushbacks limit the leaping space Rafiki would otherwise have, so watch out for the likes of Rex, Finnick, Hercules, and especially Bo Peep.
Rapunzel
Overview
Strengths:
+High HP growth
+Very strong early-mid game
+Backline counter
+Useful Friendship Disks
+Powerful healing skill
Weaknesses:
-Healing skill on cooldown
-Vulnerable positioning
-Weak without stacks of Hardy
-Restricted on Auto
Gameplay:
Rapunzel is a relatively simple character with a somewhat basic and yet highly effective skillset. With the combined powers of “Sun’s Gift” and “Saved by a Hair”, Rapunzel has one of the best early-game strengths of any Support, individually speaking. The 400 Energy, the Skill Power bonus, and 6 stacks Hardy all give Rapunzel the distinct advantage of being able to do her job without ever worrying about being disrupted. With so many heroes now capable of using extremely damaging skills so early on in a fight, it is absolutely key for Rapunzel to provide a defensive response by healing without being interrupted. Her “Healing Hair” is more potent that it seems–not only does it strongly heal the entire team, it also provides a temporary hefty Reality boost for everyone as well. The 400 Energy she starts out with is also a key effect to her combat flow. This allows her to use “Frying Pan Pummel” much earlier, which is effective for disabling a key backline threat while also grouping enemies together. Despite all this, it doesn’t change the fact that the nature of Rapunzel’s attack pattern is very restricted by design. As powerful as her healing is, it is a cooldown skill that cannot be used again for a little while after being cast so early on in the fight. Even with her stacks of Hardy, her midline positioning makes her highly susceptible to taking lots of damage in the process. Sometimes this forces her to use her White Skill, which then has a tendency to interrupt the use of her often more valuable healing. Luckily for Rapunzel, her stacks of Hardy allows her to get away with things that other Supports simply can’t. Her resilience can be highly valuable for most kinds of PvP, especially for attacking in Guild Wars. However, she finds herself competing heavily in Invasion against the many, many amazing healers available to Team Yellow.
Golden Glow:
Unlocking Rapunzel’s Red Skill amplifies her otherwise off-beat support qualities. She gains a generous boost in her own Reality stat. She gains a raw numerical boost to the healing she can do with Healing Hair, which is also further increased by the Skill Power boost provided by this skill. The greatest value she gets out of this skill is her newfound ability to also remove negative status effects whenever she uses Healing Hair. This essentially allows her to help mitigate CC skills from affecting her team, which is an incredibly rare niche that only Kevin was previously capable of. And lastly, she shares a little of the Sun’s Gift to the front-most ally, giving that ally 100 starting Energy, a temporary boost on their Skill Power, and 1 stack of Hardy for good measure. The stack of Hardy and the cleanse from Healing Hair may fail to apply when it is under-leveled. This otherwise means Rapunzel gets to keep all the other extremely valuable effects this Skill has to offer, including the Skill Power boost and 100 starting Energy.
Friendship Disks:
Bo Peep’s disk features a more noticeable effect to Rapunzel’s Frying Pan Pummel. This disk somewhat improves Rapunzel’s otherwise lacking damage output by allowing her to also inflict (Fantastic) damage to all enemies that are being knocked back by Frying Pan Pummel. She also now slows down their movement speed as well, making it very, very difficult to gain back the space they just lost after getting knocked back. Jasmine’s disk on the other hand is much more subtle. This disk allows Rapunzel to counter shielded enemies, weakening their Basic Damage while empowering the damage her allies can do against shields. Also, she passively provides more Skill Power and Basic Damage for her allies. Bo’s disk tends to make a more noticeable impact more often, but the value of Jasmine’s disk is really just as good if only for the Skill Power and Basic Damage boosts alone.
Team Options:
Rapunzel works rather effectively with heroes that prefer to attack grouped enemies together, like Jack Skellington. This is especially true for many heroes that have attacks that can hit multiple enemies that are close together. This includes (but not limited to) Hercules, Beast, Flynn Rider, Captain Hook, Hades, and Woody. Elsa gets a special mention because not only will she able able to freeze everything more easily, she will also greatly benefit from Bo Peep’s disk if Rapunzel is using it. Assuming she has successfully unlocked Golden Glow, she can pair up marvelously with Kevin to keep their teammates free from most negative status effects. To a lesser extent, this idea holds up pretty well with Goofy(Mi) and Joy(An) as well. The Reality she grants with her Healing Hair helps many heroes that are typically weak to Fantastic damage such as Flynn Rider, Shank, Captain Hook, etc.
Counters:
Aladdin and Gonzo are divers that give Rapunzel a difficult time from doing her job. Aladdin is especially slippery as he can sometimes even avoid being peeled off by her knock back. He can also stay in range to frequently steal her Energy. Speaking of which, the Energy given to her by the Sun’s Gift makes her a prime target by characters that can steal/deplete energy such as Jasmine, Jafar, Ursula, and Maleficent(Ur). Jasmine when equipped with Aladdin’s disk is especially annoying since she can give the energy stolen to all her allies too. Due to her positioning, she tends to stand quite within range of powerful attackers like Ducky & Bunny. While it’s true that she can just heal off their Laser Eyes early on, she is quite susceptible to being hit by their Carney Crash. Similarly, The Beast can push back her frontline allies and can reach her rather easily. Even with her knock back, his relentless assault allows him to easily regain momentum. If he reaches her, his overwhelming melee attacks will stop her from using her Healing Hair through sheer brute force alone (no Disables needed).
More in Part 4 (CLICK HERE)
her…