INTRO:
Summary
It’s AV back at it again with a guide! I want to make something very clear: Unlike most of my guides, this one is less practical… in most circumstances. Please keep that in mind as you proceed to navigate this article. The intention of this guide is to showcase just how heroes from the same franchise are meant to work together. They indeed have natural synergies and recurring themes within their skillsets that allow them to make a powerful core within a given team. Hopefully this guide also helps with team construction for players of all levels, progress, and backgrounds.
Wreck-It Ralph
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- AOE damage
- Mixed offense
- Balanced composition
- Reversal mechanics
OVERVIEW
Three Tanks at the front and two Damage dealers at the back, there is a great balance of close range and long range combat. While it’s true that between Vanellope and Calhoun this team can deal meaningful Normal and Fantastic damage, the team overall favors Normal damage because of the Tanks. All 5 characters specialize on AOE damage; they all have access to Skills that allow them to hit multiple targets at the same time. Ralph and Felix provide CC, while Shank, Ralph and Calhoun have comeback mechanics to help reverse a losing situation. This team lacks spatial control and is very weak to knock backs. Their utilities cover a lot of ground, but somewhat difficult to sustain with limited healing.
The Incredibles
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Hyper offense
- Mixed offense
- Spatial control
OVERVIEW
When using almost any combination of these characters, chances are, you’ll end up with a very balanced core in terms of Normal and Fantastic damage. Mr. Incredible, Dash, and Syndrome focus on Normal damage while Elastigirl, Violet, Jack-Jack, and Frozone specialize on Fantastic damage. These characters are extremely aggressive together; this is further emphasized by how Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Violet, and Syndrome all have moves that knock back enemies. Their hyper offensive approach lacks reliable sustain though. Violet’s shields are decent for stopping moderate margins of damage while Frozone has some minor healing with EVE’s disk. Unfortunately, Violet is not a real healer, and Frozone’s healing is not reliable.
Zootopia
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Diversity
- Speed control
- Spatial control
- AOE damage
OVERVIEW
If there’s a “jack-of-trades” for franchises, it’s this one. The virtue of diversity is one of the main themes of the movie, and it certainly carries over with the Heroes that represent it. There is at least one character that falls into each category of roles this game has, with Judy and Yax both filling the Support role. This team puts a particular emphasis on momentum. Yax, Judy, and Finnick manage speed control from beginning to end. Bogo even attempts to stun his enemies at the start of battle to further help with this. This flow of combat helps Nick increase his combat potency, allowing him to summon more and more lemmings that are carried on to consecutive rounds. This deadly momentum makes this team highly effective in City Watch and especially Invasion Breaker Quests. Unfortunately, they are hardly practical together in PvP.
Aladdin
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Energy management
- Single-target focus
- Redirection
OVERVIEW
This cast of characters puts a very special emphasis on Energy flow. Aladdin, Jasmine, and Jafar are all capable of depleting Energy while Genie can provide a burst of Energy. Jasmine and Aladdin are excellent for redirecting aggro; Jasmine through Rajah, and Aladdin by diving in the middle of the enemy team. Genie and Jafar appreciate how this relieves some pressure off of them. Even with Jafar’s Whirling Dervish, all the characters favor using moves that tend to single out one target at a time. They are susceptible to knock backs and AOE damage, and Genie’s lack of self-sustain limits survivability.
Toy Story
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Spatial control
- Speed control
- Hyper offense
- Mixed offense
OVERVIEW
The characters involved in this franchise wastes very little time with finesse and works fast to put lots of pressure as quickly as possible. Buzz, Bo Peep, Rex, and Duke are all capable of using skills that knock back enemies. This makes it easier for Jessie and Woody to hit multiple targets at once. Between Jessie and Woody, there is also an emphasis on denying enemies from taking advantage of buffs. This franchise has characters that are capable of extremely high damage potential, which is further amplified by the speed boosts provided by Woody and Duke. However, there is also very little room for defense and/or sustain. Woody’s healing is only situational and Duke’s healing is dependent on investing on a disk and a skill on cooldown.
Monsters, Inc.
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Scare mechanics
- Fantastic damage
- Burst damage
OVERVIEW
Technically speaking, Randall is quite self-sufficient and does not necessarily need help from other scare users. However, there is no denying that all three characters of this franchise perform much better when other scare users are present. All three also have abilities that specifically combo with scare mechanics; Sulley gains more Skill Power and Armor, Mike can stun scared targets, and Randall does significantly more damage to scared targets. While there is great damage potential to be found within these characters, they lack spatial control and natural speed. They don’t tend to do well against CC skills, especially against freeze and slows. They start out a bit slow in the beginning, but are exceptionally threatening once they get the scares going.
Tron
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Buff management
- Anti-CC
- Fantastic Damage
OVERVIEW
This trio of characters put a lot of emphasis on making sure that their performance remains unimpeded. Both Tron and Kevin use skills that minimize the prevalence of negative status effects while Quorra is one of the only Heroes that have both Tenacity and Evasion growth so that she can shake off hostile CC. Additionally, Kevin can extend buffs on his team while Tron removes buffs on enemies, which greatly helps temper the ratio of advantages and disadvantages. Despite their great utilities, the three of them are particularly weak to brute force. They tend to struggle recovering from high instances of damage, but their true value lies on smart, strategic action.
Mickey Mouse & Friends
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Diversity
- Balanced composition
- Buff management
- Blind mechanics
OVERVIEW
Some friendships can transcend eternity, and now that these three are together again, the iconic trio work together to form a balanced core that can take nearly any combination of heroes quite far. Goofy’s speed boost and Mickey’s power boost and healing are extremely powerful when used together. Donald’s presence also mitigates CC, ensuring that the buffs keep coming with little interruption. Goofy further helps with Mickey’s disk, granting shields that block disables. Donald and Goofy are also capable to perpetuating blind effects as well. This encourages them to work together with other Heroes that cause blinds as well. While the three of them strike a wonderful balance together, they notably lack spatial control. They become susceptible to losing ground very quickly so they should be teamed with heroes that can use knock backs reliably.
DuckTales
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Heavy CC
- Energy management
- Spatial control
- Reversal mechanics
OVERVIEW
Donald can easily form solid cores with fellow DuckTales cast mates. They have a lot of overlapping skills that exaggerate the overall success rates of their mechanics because there’re more than one of them doing it. Launchpad and Donald have comeback factors, the Triplets and Scrooge have knock backs, Gizmoduck and the Triplets can pull targets forward, Launchpad, Donald, and Magica can gain Energy very quickly, and in one way or another, all of them are capable of causing stuns. Heavy, heavy crowd control is their bread and butter, so retaliating against them is particularly difficult. It should be noted that their healing is somewhat random and sometimes unreliable. They start fights kind of slow, so they are susceptible to being overwhelmed before they gain proper footing.
A Goofy Movie
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Blind mechanics
- Speed control
- Hyper offense
OVERVIEW
More so than most characters, Goofy and Powerline are some the best at blinding their enemies. As such, they have a tendency to be impervious to regular attacks most of the time. Both characters also support their team with speed boosts, making them very easy to fit in most teams. They do lack spatial control and are much less effective when pushed back into a corner. Still, the speed alone is reason enough to put them to good use.
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Hyper offense
- Mixed offense
- Stun mechanics
OVERVIEW
Both Darkwing and Megavolt use skillsets that are highly efficient and showcase a lot of finesse. They are definitely good at taking down targets with style. Both characters are also capable of stunning their targets, allowing themselves plenty of opportunities to do lots of damage uncontested. Amazingly, another thing these two have in common is how effective they are at being able to attack targets at any range. In particular, they both have the necessary techniques to bypass bulkier frontline enemies and cause lots of damage to targets that they otherwise can’t normally reach. Despite their excellent offensive utilities, neither of them are capable of recovering from damage. They must rely on other heroes to keep them sustained.
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Healing
- Heavy CC
- Hyper Offense
- Mixed Offense
OVERVIEW
This particular group of characters rely on healing more more so than anything. They have high survivability as a result and are capable of withstanding and recovering from otherwise devastating damage. There is also a very healthy mix of Normal and Fantastic damage being used, so there’s really nothing they can’t hurt. Despite their propensity to heal and recover quickly, all Lion King character are extremely weak to CC. They have very little ways around it and they can be easily shut down as a result. Thankfully, this particular cast of characters do their work very fast and are capable of even attacking targets from any range.
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Spatial control
- Heavy CC
- Speed control
- Hyper offense
- Mixed offense
- Diversity
OVERVIEW
It’s absolute madness when Wonderland heroes are involved! Very few franchises can cause the kind of chaos that these three can pull. They mostly take control by heavily using slow effects and a few varieties of disables. On top of this craziness is how often and easily they can moves enemies around the battlefield. The Queen of Hearts can switch around the positions of her targets while Alice can push back enemies when she stomps her gigantic foot. This chaotic approach is a blessing for the Mad Hatter, who benefits from those displacements as he will be able to charms enemies he otherwise couldn’t reach. The Wonderland Collection also gives these characters a small chance to stun enemies with their regular attacks. It’s not much, but it does further add to the chaos. While they thrive on randomness and discord, they lack reliable recovery. They are highly susceptible to being overwhelmed by high instances of damage.
CHARACTERS
SPECIALTIES
- Heavy CC
- Hyper offense
- Energy management
OVERVIEW
When I say villains I specifically mean the bad guys that came out of the movies that were produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. With that out of the way, there is something very special when any combination of these characters are put together. You can almost guarantee dirty tactics will be in play. There is a great propensity for many of them to disrupt Energy flow. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of villains belong in the Control category. And even if they don’t, they are all capable of using negative status effects in one way or another. That’s really the main selling point of these guys–using heavy amounts of status effects to keep enemies oppressed and crippled. Let them have their way, and they will guarantee pain and suffering. But fight them back properly, and they will be overwhelmed. As powerful and intimidating as they tend to be, they lack resilience. They have very poor recovery and have a hard time dealing with heavy damage.
(MORE COMING SOON)
