Character Rebalance - The Hulk (Bruce Banner)

IceIX

Note: Due to formatting issues with any gem icons creating a new line, I had to get around it by making those all images. If you're having issues reading this as a result, there is also a version on Helpshift here.

Seems Jen fixed Bruce's post-blip arm. Only fair that her release in Marvel Puzzle Quest fixes him up here too, right?

Yep, The Hulk (Bruce Banner) is getting an upgrade! Not only are both forms now benefitting (or suffering) from effects in one form to the other, but his abilities in general are getting a touch up to make The Other Guy angrier than ever! These changes are planned to go into the game on 8/23, just in time for the dual identitied rage monster to have his very own Versus Event!

The Hulk (Bruce Banner) 
5-Star Rarity
Affiliations: Heroes, Avengers, Geniuses, Gamma Mutates, Enhanced

(Abilities listed at level 255, followed by 450)

Health and stats have been updated.

Pretty basic but effective update here. Hulk and Banner now have more health across the board putting them on the level with more recent bruisers like Mighty Thor and also gained a sizeable bump in damage as well! Note: While Hulk form *looks* like it has more health than previous, he's also gained a new portion to his abilities in a new Purple that brings it back down to Earth. It still results in a higher amount of effective Health compared to previous numbers.

OLD:

(PASSIVE) Dr. Banner tinkers with deadly gamma radiation, focusing its power to achieve maximum potential. At the start of Banner's turn, if there are fewer than 7 Green tiles on the board, deal 272 damage and transform 1 random basic tile to Green. (Max 1093 damage)

• Level 2: Can transform enemy Attack tiles to Green basic tiles.
• Level 3: Can transform enemy Protect tiles to Green basic tiles.
• Level 4: Transforms 2 tiles to Green each turn.
• Level 5: Can transform enemy Strike tiles to Green basic tiles.

NEW:

(PASSIVE) Dr. Banner tinkers with deadly gamma radiation, focusing its power to achieve maximum potential. At the start of Banner's turn, if there are fewer than 7 Green tiles on the board, deal 272 damage and transform 1 random basic tile to Green. (Max 1093 damage)

• Level 2: If there are fewer than 8, can transform 2 enemy Attack tiles to Green basic tiles.
• Level 3: Deal 816 damage, Can transform enemy Protect tiles to Green basic tiles. (Max 3279 damage)
• Level 4: Fewer than 9 Green tiles.
• Level 5: Deal 1224 damage. Can transform 3 enemy Strike tiles to Green basic tiles. (Max 4919 damage)

The idea for this ability is that Banner would be tinkering with gamma radiation, causing a bit of low key mayhem and dealing some damage in the process while culminating in creating enough Green tiles that he's match enough to transform. Which comes across as a theme, but actual mechanics don't really bear it out as there aren't enough opportunities for Green AP gain. To get this across a bit better, we've amped up the damage and increased the Green AP tile creation threshold, as well as increasing the *number* of tile conversions. This makes the ability not only good at causing that mayhem, but also creating 'accidental' Green cascades that are also keeping the opponent off balance by converting their SAP tiles.

OLD:

When Bruce walks into a room, he immediately takes charge, earning the ire of his peers and fracturing team unity. Creates 3 strength 190 Attack tiles, and an additional strength 190 enemy Attack tile for each non-Downed ally. (Max 765 strength tiles)

• Level 2: Attack tile strength to 217. (Max 872 strength tiles)
• Level 3: Attack tile strength to 245. (Max 987 strength tiles)
• Level 4: Attack tile strength to 272. (Max 1094 strength tiles)
• Level 5: Attack tile strength to 326. (Max 1311 strength tiles)

NEW:

When Bruce walks into a room, he immediately takes charge, earning the ire of his peers and fracturing team unity. Creates 3 strength 380 Attack tiles, and an additional strength 380 enemy Attack tile for each non-Downed ally. For every Illuminati or Genius on his team, creates 1 additional strength 380 Attack tile. (Max 1528 strength tiles)

• Level 2: Attack tile strength to 433. (Max 1742 strength tiles)
• Level 3: Attack tile strength to 490. (Max 1971 strength tiles)
• Level 4: Attack tile strength to 543. (Max 2185 strength tiles)
• Level 5: Attack tile strength to 651. (Max 2619 strength tiles)

The idea of this ability is pretty neat, and the creation of enemy Attack tiles is certainly thematic, but in practice it works out to an ability that's not very powerful. A use of it is putting out about a single match's worth of damage a round, which for an Attack set that then dips into Strikes that are out, isn't *seriously* underpowered, but given that you're also giving the enemy a few tiles themselves with the same rules, it doesn't do enough to make it worth using in favor of a bunch of other Black options. So we've doubled the damage on the Attack tiles AND we've added a new tool to the set in that it'll create new tiles based on two new Affiliations: Geniuses and Illuminati. We'll also be adding these tags to applicable characters with this release!

OLD:

(PASSIVE) Banner strains to control his inner nature. At the start of Banner's turn, if his team has 10 or more Green AP and one does not exist, create a 2-turn Transform Countdown tile. When it goes off, Banner transforms into Hulk form. (The Hulk replaces Banner until Downed and makes matches for his team at turn start.)

• Level 2: Banner's transformation begins at 9 Green AP or more.
• Level 3: Banner's transformation begins at 8 Green AP or more.
• Level 4: Banner's transformation begins at 7 Green AP or more.
• Level 5: Banner's transformation begins at 6 Green AP or more.

NEW:

(PASSIVE) Banner strains to control his inner nature. At the start of Banner's turn, if his team has 10 or more Green AP and one does not exist, create a 2-turn Transform Countdown tile. When it goes off, Banner transforms into Hulk form. (The Hulk replaces Banner until Downed and makes matches for his team at turn start.) Banner's apparent frailty makes enemies pull their punches so as not to accidentally murder the 'innocent' scientist. Banner takes 10% less damage from enemy matches and powers.

• Level 2: Banner's transformation begins at 9 Green AP or more.
• Level 3: Banner's transformation begins at 8 Green AP or more. Takes 15% less damage.
• Level 4: Banner's transformation begins at 7 Green AP or more.
• Level 5: Banner's transformation begins at 6 Green AP or more. Takes 25% less damage.

At its base, this ability operates as a key to unlocking Banner's Hulk form. But it does nothing else other than this to add to Banner's kit. It could just as easily have been a part of Gamma Experiment and no one would notice the difference. To help differentiate this ability a bit and add a bit of *defense* to the Banner form in particular, we've added a damage reduction to this ability that increases as it levels up. Not in the face!

OLD:

The Hulk is ANGRY! SMASH! Hulk deals 1163 damage to the enemy team. (Max level 4674 damage)

• Level 2: Deals 1279 damage. (Max level 5141 damage)
• Level 3: Deals 1395 damage. (Max level 5608 damage)
• Level 4: Deals 1628 damage. (Max level 6542 damage)
• Level 5: Deals 2093 damage. (Max level 8411 damage)

NEW:

The Hulk is ANGRY! SMASH! Hulk deals 1163 damage to the enemy team. (Max level 4674 damage)

• Level 2: Deals 1279 damage. (Max level 5141 damage)
• Level 3: Deals 1395 damage. (Max level 5608 damage)
• Level 4: Deals 1628 damage. (Max level 6542 damage)
• Level 5: Deals 2093 damage. (Max level 8411 damage)

Simple but effective change in reducing the AP cost of this ability. with the ability to get a bonus match every turn through GRAAARGH and the cascades that will result from it, this ability will now be easier to spam and deal some cheap enemy team damage.

OLD:

The Hulk goes berserk, wreaking havoc on his foes. At the start of each turn, Hulk makes a match for his team, dealing damage but receiving no AP. This clears lines and creates Critical tiles as normal (but no extra turns). When The Hulk is Downed, he returns to Banner form.

• Level 2-5: No changes

NEW:

The Hulk goes berserk, wreaking havoc on his foes. At the start of each turn, Hulk makes a match for his team, dealing damage and receiving AP, then destroys a random tile of the same color, prioritizing enemy Strike, Attack, and Protect tiles. This clears lines and creates Critical tiles as normal (but no extra turns). When The Hulk is Downed, he returns to Banner form.

• Level 2-5: No changes

While the match every turn is pretty neat, the fact that it didn't give any AP pretty much just made it a random small chance of cascades and a tiny bit of match damage. As a result, it didn't feel as 'punchy' as it really could be. So we added in the AP gain from the match that Hulk made and brought in a bit of the Gamma Experiment mayhem in a different form in a little targeted tile destruction. It's all random and whatever Hulk feels like destroying at the time, but it's sure to shake up the board and the battle!

OLD:

None

NEW:

(PASSIVE) While in Hulk form, the Hulk has everyone's attention; he takes an additional 75% damage from matches and abilities. When Hulk manages to calm, he returns to (somewhat) more mild mannered Dr. Banner. When The Hulk is downed he returns to Banner form with full health.

• Level 2-5 No changes

This ability is new to the character, and takes the return to Banner form from GRAAARGH, which didn't make as much sense. The damage increase seems like it's a huge detriment, but it's really there so that Hulk form keeps the same high health for purposes of percent based abilities or those that deal unmodified damage but has the lower (but still higher) effective health as per previous designs.

JHawkInc

Looking forward to putting this into use!

atomzed

Ooh great, he is not going to be at the bottom of the pile! Glad that you guys improve him by more than a few ways! I like his mechanics and hope he can be useful now. 

HoundofShadow

Finally, the buff that everyone is waiting for. 

For his passive blue, does it prioritise converting enemy SAP tiles or is it still a random toss-up between basic and enemy special tiles? He could be a potential counter to BRB/Polaris. I remember I was considering BHing him when I was a 3* player to deal with R4G/Medusa/Carnage.


Does his black count himself (genius) to create the extra attack tile? For some reason, I'm always unsure if certain abilities such as this count that particular character as part of the criteria.

And purple is the main buff a lot of players were waiting for: gaining aps for matches. The 25% damage reduction is sweet.

Wasp and Kingpin are looking at their queue number.

Phumade

OH thank god.  At least its a change.  Fingers crossed to see an update to LR rosters

Tiger_Wong

Let’s go baby!! Time to brush off that old Bruce Banner. 

Notepaddy

Nice! Will..will Hulk form be buffed during his boost weeks?

Bzhai

IceIX said:

OLD:

Creates 3 strength 190 Attack tiles, and an additional strength 190 Attack tile for each non-Downed ally. (Max 765 strength tiles)

NEW:

Creates 3 strength 380 Attack tiles, and an additional strength 380 Attack tile for each non-Downed ally. 

To avoid any confusion (like I was reading it initially), the second part of the sentence is missing the keyword 'enemy attack tile'. It's a typo and doesn't mean the power creates attack tiles for you twice.

Tiger_Wong

Question : does the black power still create enemy tiles? It doesn’t actually say in the description. 

Question 2 : after the extra match, Hulk destroys a tile. Does that tile that’s destroyed also gain AP?

bigsmooth

This has been a long time coming. Looking forward to trying out the new version.

Omegased

Tony_Foot said:

No store for people to get him or do we assume he’s in the vault with the new 5*?

Come on mate.

A rebalance if a character and you find something to whine about?

dianetics

I like the increased match damage to bring him in line with newer characters.

Im not completely sold on the powers still and I’m not sure if this will be enough to bring him to the middle of the pack.
Doubling hulk forms hp and giving him damage reduction may be enough though.
I guess I’ll just have to try and find hulk in sim some time to see.

Godzillafan67

Adjust the numbers… tweak the powers a bit… kudos for the rebalance! I always found my 2/1/1 Hulk funnish to play, but this now feels way more Hulky. 

wymtime

Thanks for the buff.  Unfortunately black is still bad.  You might have actually made it worse by buffing the attack tiles since he will be giving the enemy these buffed tiles.  Unfortunately with the way the game is played an ally rarely gets downed, meaning Banner will almost always give out max enemy attack tiles.  I think for the affirmation it should be less enemy attack tiles instead of just more friendly attack tiles.

lastly I would like “the other guy” at level 5 to give a 1 turn CD instead of 2.  Or just have him transform without any CD tiles.

I like the buff overall and look forward to trying him out next week

Bad

This is the first 5* rebalance from the new devs and it's pretty good.
Having him transforming could be really annoying with that 25% reduction.
I'm glad that my old kingpin and cable will be rebalanced by the new team 

KillaBeeSwarm

Curious to see who will get the Genius and Illuminati tags.

CharlieLima

KillaBeeSwarm said:

Curious to see who will get the Genius and Illuminati tags.

I don’t know who, but I bet it’ll be fantastic!

KGB

25% damage reduction in Banner form is pretty strong. It means his 67K health is going to feel more like 85K health. It's funny to see Banner form have WAY more health + damage reduction than Hulk form (39K health, no damage reduction). It would have made more sense the other way.

Not sure why people worried about his Black power. He will transform much faster now thanks to his Blue changes so he should be spending more time in Hulk form.

Him and Carbage on the same team could net you +2 extra matches a turn when he's in Hulk form!

KGB

Colognoisseur

For those who have seen Dr Strange and the Multiverse of Madness you know who five of the Illuminati are and all of them are in game to be tagged. 

The geniuses should include two of those plus all Tony Stark Iron Man iterations. I’m sure I’m missing some but those ar the obvious ones. 

danielrandkai

this is absolutely brilliant and the kind of rebalances older characters need. thank you so so much! can't wait to try it out!

tonypq

I'm glad they did something for Banner as I've hoped for a very long time for buffs. I like the decent ramp up in health and match damage. I also like his abilities all got some improvements or in some cases additional perks they didn't have before like AP in Hulk form. Not sure how much better or playable he'll ultimately be, we'll have to see. Hulk being my favorite character I wish he got even more, but that's just me being greedy heh.