Hulkbuster

Tier List

Hero, Global, Tech, Protector, Bionic Avenger, Vigilant

Arena	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Alliance War Offense	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Alliance War Defense	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Blitz/Real-Time Arena	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Raid	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Dark Dimension	★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Cosmic Crucible	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Iso-8

Bionic Avengers are a unique team in MSF due to their Ability Energy distribution mechanics. Hulkbuster’s role besides providing Ability Energy is to generate Barriers for the team.

A Protector who creates Barrier will always benefit from the Fortifier ISO-8 class. This goes for Hulkbuster especially due to his basic attack that buffs him according to the strength of Barrier.

However, Hulkbuster could be equipped with Striker or Skirmisher as well depending on the team’s needs. As someone who will always assist Iron Man, it is important that he strikes as hard as possible. Also, in order to make sure that his utility is placed and to exploit his assists with the possible clearing of enemy buffs, he could use Skirmisher as well.

The final decision should depend on the class distribution to other Bionic Avengers.

T4 Priority

P – Passive ability

U – Ultimate ability

S – Special ability

B – Basic ability

Passive – Increased own HP by 25% and Bionic Avengers’ HP by 15%. Increased HP on Hulkbuster crucially influences the strength of his Barrier. However, Passive Level 5 also improves the Health of all Bionic Avengers as well which combined allows you to survive through insane damage output on Doom 3 Tech Nodes. If you want to have an efficient BA, this passive is mandatory.

Ultimate – Increased Damage +15% Max HP Barrier on all Bionic Avengers. This is what makes Hulkbuster META for Raids. Without this Bionic Avengers’ Doom 3 potential is almost halved. It may not seem as much, but it is the difference between life and death on Raid Tech Nodes and everywhere else.

Infographics

Theory Craft

Tony Stark has created the Hulkbuster Power Armor Suit to counter Hulk if he ever goes astray. The suit fits Hulk’s size and power but has many other advantages that make it unique.

Even though the goal was to pacify Hulk if needed, the Hulkbuster was used against many other powerful adversaries like Ultron, Cull Obsidian, Sentry, etc … Most importantly, Hulkbuster can be controlled remotely, so Tony can use it as an ally to his Iron Man.

In MSF, Hulkbuster is a Protector with increased Health and Armor who reduces enemy damage by providing a mighty Barrier to the team. Naturally, Hulkbuster will have a special synergy with Iron Man who will be additionally protected by Hulkbuster’s presence on the team.

Basic

With his Basic Attacks, Hulkbuster will cause heavy damage that will be always assisted by Iron Man. Each strike will give him a possibility to be buffed with Defense Up and Deflect depending on the strength of the Barrier that is already on him:

• 25%+ Barrier = Defense Up for 2 Turns
• 50%+ Barrier = 2 Deflect

In Raids, he will strengthen his Barrier by 5% of his Max HP with each use of Basic Attack.

When you learn other skills, you will easily conclude that Hulkbuster will be permanently under Def Up and Deflect by using his Basic Attack. However, he can generate enough Barriers only after using both Special and Ultimate abilities.

Special

Special Ability can be used immediately, and it has a cooldown of 4 turns. It attacks primary and adjacent targets causing up to 400% Damage and placing Offense Down for 2 turns. Additionally, Hulkbuster will place Taunt on himself, generate 1 Ability energy for 2 random Bionic Avenger allies and grant Barrier to the entire team (even non-Bionic Avengers) equal to 20% of his Max HP. In Raids, he will cleanse on debuffs on himself, and he will grant Ability Energy to the entire Bionic Avengers team.

This ability is not a typical Taunt Ability due to the severe damage Hulkbuster is causing and the fact that he will generate Ability Energy for the team. In Raids, this ability will be devastating, but it will be battle-changing in other features as well.

Ultimate

Ultimate Ability can be used immediately but will have a cooldown of 6 turns. It is a moderate AOE attack that causes damage to all enemies and Slows them down for 2 turns while ignoring enemy Dodge and Evade.

In addition, it grants a Barrier equal to 15% of his Max HP to all allies (30% HP to Bionic Avengers). In Raids it also grants 1 Ability Energy to the adjacent Bionic Avengers allies and places Speed Up for 2 Turns to all Bionic Avengers in the team.

The damage of his Ultimate is not that great (up to 360% damage) but the Barrier that is generated is extremely important. Since the ultimate can be used immediately it will create a dilemma whether to use special or ultimate first, but that shouldn’t be perceived as a problem but as an opportunity to control the battle.

Depending on the enemy composition you’ll be able to either mitigate the damage by placing Offense Down or to make your allies play before by placing Slow on enemies.

Passive

Hulkbuster’s Passive Ability permanently increases his Health by up to 50%, Bionic Avenger Allies’ HP by up to 25% and grants him Taunt when Iron Man ally drops below 50% HP. Whenever Hulkbuster or any other Bionic Avenger ally gets Ability Energy his Speed Bar is filled by 5%. If Hulkbuster has Taunt and his HP drops below 50%, Taunt will be cleared, and all enemies will be debuffed with Offense Down for 2 turns.

In Raids, on spawn, Hulkbuster will have a Barrier equal to 30% of his Max HP same as all other Bionic Avenger allies. 

Overview

As you can see, Hulkbuster speeds up his moves by granting Ability Energy. That means that for outside raids, he should open with special ability, so his new rotation comes faster for his ultimate. On the other hand, in Raids, all Bionic Avengers will start with a significant barrier on themselves which opens new options for Hulkbusters’ skill rotation.

Hulkbuster’s ability to protect the team is unseen so far. If we deduct the rest of Bionic Avengers (we don’t even know the skills for two of them) and look at Hulkbuster separately we can only conclude that no other Protector in the game offers an even close amount of protection as Hulkbuster.

More importantly, he can generate ability energy with two of his abilities becoming a battery that can be compared with even Deathpool.

In Raids that will be amazing despite what the rest of Bionic Avengers will look like.

Finally, the fact that he can passively place Offense Down for 2 turns once he drops below 50% HP suggests that he can be effectively used in almost any combination that can be especially important for Death Scourge.

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