Rebalancing 5* Hulk
Cactus_Jack_87
Posts: 210 Tile Toppler
So Hulk is my favorite comic book character. I was super excited when a 5* version came to MPQ, and even though I only have a single cover for him (purple, thankfully), I do have an alliance mate that has him champed. Sadly, his feedback on the character goes along with most that I've heard...he's just not that great a character. He's definitely fun, but he's not as scary as the Hulk SHOULD be. We should be terrified to let that countdown tile tick down to zero, because when Banner Hulks out, things get crazy. So, an idea. What if, once Banner transforms to Hulk, he throws out a hefty, fortified strike tile each turn before he makes his auto-match? Each turn, a new, slightly more powerful strike tile get thrown out. This would simulate Hulk's strength growing with his anger. Once you take Hulk down and he reverts back to Banner, all the fortified strike tiles disappear. Obviously Banner would need to be adjusted as well with his attack tiles, or he would just be ridiculous. Thoughts? Should I be doing better things with my time? 
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It also doesn't fit thematically - the idea is that he goes from zero to ZOMGMURDER when he gets angry all at once, not that he slowly gets stronger and stronger.
Banner's moves are just a mess. His gamma ray experiment is fine, but his attack tiles make no sense to me.
Thematically it makes more sense (if taking the 'make him angry approach') to have hulk spit out strikes when he is attacked and damaged over x amount. Thus he only gets stronger when he gets angrier.
His AOE should also be beefed up a bit as it's very weak for his tier. Banner often feels more like a 4.5*
Blue ability: I would like him to be able to create timers when the enemy creates one, "cause he is a scientist after all" and his timers would generate 2 green ap when it expires. If there are too many timers on the board (4) "his experiment goes awry and he blows up his lab" stunning himself for 1 turn and destroying 9 tiles in the process the tiles generate ap.
Passive: when ever friendly timer expires he generates 2 green ap
Black ability: cost 7 ap, creates 2 friendly attack tiles and 1 enemy attack tile, whenever there are enemy attack tiles on the board he destroys 4 random tiles and turns one into a timer
Passive whenever there is an enemy attack tile on the board he transform 1 into a 3 second timer
Pink: remains the same
Hulk
Green; increase smash damage
Red: works as before along with every match he makes strengths friendly special tiles by (200) just like (prof x blindspot). If his team has 12 or more ap in any color he decreases enemy special tiles by 150
I have a simple solution -- why not combine the powersets of both disappointing versions of the Hulkster?
In Hulk form, give him Anger, and make it proc above a level-based damage threshold, rather than a percentage (given his massive health), perhaps hitting everyone else in the match like the level 5 version. Tie that threshold closely to Banner's Smartest Guy enemy Attack tiles (and maybe - gasp! - beef them up!), so that any aggravation left behind by puny Banner just enrages the Hulk even more, giving this annoying ability an actual useful reason to be annoying. (Perhaps this might be a good use of the "in front" mechanic? I think that would actually be overpowered, though...) To compensate for all the loads of green generated, change SMASH into a tile destruction power rather than straight damage (every other Hulk in the game has a tile destruction power, but 5* Hulk doesnt?!? It's a Hulk power called SMASH, c'mon!!), with per tile AOE damage/no AP.
I'm toying with the idea of red ability in Hulk form that drains his green, turns him back into Banner, and stuns everyone else in the match, but that might be taking my concept too far. Anyway, tell me if I'm crazy or if I might be on to something!
I like the general idea of the character I just wish he was not so underpowered. On his character thread I had also posted that simply gaining AP on his extra matches would go a long way to making him a lot more useful and I still think that would make a difference. There have been a lot of good suggestions in this thread as well. I have another couple of suggestions:
Bang bang?
His blue passive only triggers when there are fewer than seven green on the board, and at 5 covers creates just two green tiles while doing less damage than a match 3 in one of his strong colors. This passive will only trigger if you're actively working to clear the board of green, and will rarely make any immediate matches.
In fact, the "seven of fewer of this color" requirement is the amen one that 4* Hulk (Amadeus Cho) had for his black, which was pretty much useless because of how hard that threshold is to meet predictably.
Compare Banner blue to the passive powers on 4* Cloak & Dagger. Theirs at five covers create four tiles at a threshold of fewer than nine tiles, and they have another effect to take place when the tile threshold isn't met. These powers are never idle.
Mwanwhile, 4* Rocket and Groot now have a passive to do free matches under the right circumstances -- but theirs gathers AP.
Two out of Banner's powers are so totally outshined by 4* characters that it's basically crazy.
In addition, once The Other Guy is on the board you're basically getting double match damage, which usually adds another 400-500 damage per turn even with only the 2 covers I have. I absolutely wish I could keep the AP, sure, especially when he matches away something I've been waiting for. But really, he doesn't need a fix to be a worthy 5*, he just needs some careful managing.
Strongest There Is! - 0 (Black?) AP
(PASSIVE) If one doesn't exist, creates a 10 turn Countdown tile that increases Hulk's damage as it counts down. When the Countdown resolves, Hulk smashes the board in his anger, destroying 16 random tiles, dealing damage but not generating AP.
The modification would work something like "damage increased by (100 + 100/(CD time))%", which would mean 110% damage when CD says 10, 111% at 9, 112% at 8, 114% at 7, 116% at 6, 120% at 5, 125% at 4, 133% at 3, 150% at 2, and 200% at 1. That example may be too cumbersome. Perhaps a flat damage increase that goes up each turn instead of percentage? Let's see, (135 + (10/CD)*23) at level 270, which would be 158 damage at CD count 10, 365 damage at 1. I don't know. Any addition could help.