Red Hulk
Tier List
Hero, Global, Bio, Brawler, Gamma, Horseman, Legendary
| Arena | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Alliance War Offense | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Alliance War Defense | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Blitz/Real-Time Arena | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Raid | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Dark Dimension | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Cosmic Crucible | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
Iso-8
Red Hulk is a character who will retaliate a lot. Once all his Charges are Up, he will perform a Counterattack every time someone hits him. Having that in mind, it would be logical to equip him with Skirmisher, especially if you want to be sure that his utility from the ultimate and basic attack (flipping positive effects) will always be effective.
If you give him Skirmisher, he will always flip positive effects with his assists and counterattacks but the main effect of Skirmisher (removing buffs against a target with Vulnerable) will be useless. That is because Red Hulk already has the ability to flip positive effects with every attack.
Your decision for ISO-8 should depend on the strength of your Red Hulk. If you are using him for PVE, he doesn’t need a Skirmisher – it is better to give him a Striker. However, if you are using him in PVP against characters that are considerably stronger in power than him, giving him Skirmisher is the only option to be sure that he will flip positive effects with his attacks.
One thing is certain, once you maximize Red Hulk the only course of action is to give him the Striker Class.
T4 Priority
S – Special ability
U – Ultimate ability
P – Passive ability
B – Basic ability
For Horsemen characters, it is advisable to improve all abilities. Additional levels from Sagas can be linked with any ability so the best way to be prepared is to improve all abilities. Nonetheless, some T4 abilities are more important than others.
Special – On Level 7. it has increased damage, and more importantly, it reduces the speed bar of primary and adjacent targets. Since Red Hulk’s speed is one of the greatest in the game with improved Special, he can delay turns of characters who would otherwise play before. It is essential for all game segments!
On Special Max (Awakened) level, Red Hulk will add some more buffs for his Horseman team. It will fill Speed Bar to one random adjacent Horseman ally by 10% and Apocalypse by 15%. If he is in the group with Apocalypse or three other Horsemen, he will clear Revive Once on adjacent targets.
Ultimate – Increases damage and always removes other Battlefield effects. Since Red Hulk is currently the only character who places battlefield Effects this improvement may not seem important. However, this will be extremely important sooner rather than later because it is only a matter of time before we will get another character/s with Battlefield effects.
Passive – Increases healing and fills Speed bar by 50% at the end of turn if Red Hulk has 5 Charged. Without Passive Level 5, Red Hulk needs to wait for his turn rotation to cast his ultimate, but with Passive Level 5, he can do it almost instantly. In practice, this difference proved to be crucial!
On Passive Max (Awakened) level, Red Hulk will give +60% Focus to Apocalypse and all Horseman. At the same time, if Apocalypse is an ally, he will gain one additional Charge at the end of his turn.
Infographics
Theory Craft
The true identity of the Red Hulk was a mystery for many years. He participated in a lot of major events but for a long time, no one knew who he really was. The truth was shocking. The person who was the greatest opponent of Hulk and everyone exposed to Gamma Radiation, General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, is in fact the most powerful Gamma Radiated being.
His relentless and unsuccessful pursuit against Hulk which eventually led to the death of his daughter Betty made him desperate to the point when he decided to become exposed to Gamma Radiation himself.
He would do anything to take his revenge against Hulk who he held responsible for the death of Betty. As time passed General Ross changed his perception and started using his powers to do good. He tried everything to hide his true identity, but eventually, Hulk found out the truth and the two of them become allies instead of enemies.
Unfortunately, Red Hulk was unable to bring back Betty from the dead which was his original intention when he decided to be exposed to radiation. As many times before, villains who promised him to revive his daughter (M.O.D.O.K. and Leader) just used General Ross for his own purposes. Red Hulk is still trying to bring Betty back to life, but his priorities are permanently changed – he is now the Super Herro of Earth 616 and a friend of Hulk.
In Marvel Strike Force, Red Hulk is a Hero Brawler who introduces new Battlefield Effects into the game. Battlefield Effects is a new mechanic that allows certain characters to set unique conditions on either enemies or allied sides of the screen. Battlefield Effects affect an entire team and last until the end of the battle or until they are cleared. Red Hulk is a Legendary Horseman for a reason, and I will explain why.
Basic – Fiery Fist
With his basic attack, Red Hulk causes medium damage and flips 1 positive effect into a negative. The attack is repeated once outside of War and twice in War. If Red Hulk has 5 or more Charges on himself every assist or counterattack will cause additional damage and will flip additional positive effects.
This basic ability seems nothing out of the ordinary when we look at attack percentages and available effects. However, in War, there will be three repeated attacks on a single target, and three buffs will be flipped. Just imagine Ikaris with his basic flip buffs and you will have a full picture of this basic potential. Outside of war, there will be one attack less, but nonetheless, this basic ability is one of the most powerful in the game.
Special – Pavament Pummel
Red Hulk Special Ability costs 3 energy and can be used at the start of combat. This ability clears any barrier on primary and adjacent targets before causing heavy damage to each target and placing Offense Down for 2 turns. Most importantly, it clears Revive Once on the primary target and repeats the same attack 2 more times in War (once outside of War).
Considering the current META, this is probably the most important special ability in the game now. Rogue’s special is insane indeed but this one seems to be even more. At the same time, it counters the current Arena META and current AW Defense META.
Darkhold’s biggest advantage compared to other teams is the amazing Barrier that buys them enough time to survive and prevail. Dormammu’s most important advantage is the passive Revive Once to all allies. This special ability counters both advantages in full – Wong will be vulnerable instantly and you will not have to fear Dormammu’s teams (do not forget that Hulk also removes Revive Once with his ultimate).
Also, it fully counters the H4H team in War making it possible to beat them with huge punch-ups. On top of all that this ability will lend more than 1000% damage in War (700% damage outside of War) to primary and adjacent targets. It is OP, plain and simple!
Ultimate – Meteor Crash
Red Hulk’s ultimate costs 8 energy and its Energy Bar is fully empty at the start of combat. This Ultimate causes heavy damage to all enemies and flips all positive effects into negative ones, before placing Trauma and Heal Block to each target for 2 turns. Red Hulk’s ultimate ignores all protections (Def Up, Block, Dodge) and Red Hulk is granted +500% Extra Focus before executing it.
The most important effect of the ultimate is that it removes all existing Battlefield Effects from the enemy team (there aren’t any at this point, but it is likely that some future characters will have the option to place new Battlefield effects on allies, meaning that those will be removed by Red Hulk) and places Gamma Radiation Battlefield effect on the whole enemy team. While under the effect of Gamma Radiation you will be granted with:
- On the enemy Turn, attack that enemy for 250% Piercing damage + apply 3 Bleed.
- Attacks from this Battlefield Effect are unavoidable.
As I said before Gamma Radiation lasts until the end of a match or until it is cleared (probably by other Battlefield Effects when it is introduced).
Red Hulk’s ultimate is definitely the most powerful ultimate in the game currently. It is significantly more powerful than Ikaris’s, Omega Red’s, or Dormamu’s and you know how powerful those 3 abilities are. It is the same in War and outside of War. The only problem is because it costs 8 energy and in normal circumstances, you would have to wait for 7 turns to use it. Don’t jump to conclusions because I haven’t explained Red Hulk’s passive yet.
Overall, considering all existing teams in MSF, once Red Hulk uses Meteor Crash you will win the battle. When he lands Gamma Radiation and flips all positive effects (like Ikaris) and places Trauma (like Omega Red in War), there is nothing that any of the existing team combinations could do to prevent certain defeats. Once Gamma Radiation is set that will be gg.
Passive – Seeing Red
Passive Ability grants Red Hulk Safeguard and Immunity at the start of combat if Hulk is in the team. Like All GAMMA Members, Red Hulk also heals 20% of Max HP each turn. When an enemy attack Red Hulk he gains 1 charge up to the maximum of 5. When he is on 5 Charged at the end of the turn, he will instantly gain 7 Ability Energy and his Speed Bar will be increased by 50% (these triggers only once per battle).
For Each Charged Red Hulk Speed will be increased by 10%, Block Chance by 20%, and Counter Attack by 20% (this increase is permanent during the battle because he doesn’t lose Charges). Additionally, he will further increase the Focus of all Gamma members by up to 60%.
In War, his Speed will be increased by 10% per Gamma member at the start of combat. Instead of getting 1 Charge when he is attacked, he will gain 2 Charged. Also, he will gain 1 Charged (up to a maximum of 5) when any of the Gamma members is attacked. On top of that, the Gamma team will have a 50% damage reduction (??!!??) and increased Resistance. Be warned though, because, in War, it will be impossible to place Defense Up on Red Hulk or any other GAMMA ally.
Ok, this is definitely insane. As you can see the fact that Red Hulk’s ultimate costs 8 Energy and starts with (Energy basically means nothing because as soon as he gets 5 Charged, he will instantly gain 7 Ability energy and almost be ready to play next. In War, that means that he will cast his ultimate most likely during the second turn of combat because he will be charged whenever a Gamma member is attacked.
Outside the War, the story is somewhat different, and he will need some time to build up Ultimate, but hey, just imagine the battle where your goal is not to hit the most powerful and most dangerous enemy. During the battle, he doesn’t lose charges meaning that whenever he is hit, he will become faster and harder to hit, to the point that all received damage will be blocked and counter-attacked (when you try to imagine this first read his basic ability;)
One thing is certain, it will be impossible to kill the GAMMA team in WAR Defense except with the GAMMA team – they will have 50% damage reduction and constant regeneration, and the enemy team will be under Gamma Radiation from the second turn of battle. Simply said, and trust my words, there is no counter for the GAMMA team in War …yet.
The most important question at the moment is if Red Hulk will be a part of Arena Meta. I cannot be 100% certain without testing, but everything suggests that he will be. He will be buffed by the MLF level 8 special, and he will open Wong for easy killing. As a Bio Brawler, he is not afraid of Agatha’s ultimate. Also, he will remove Revive Once from Dormammu’s combination.
Everything points out that Red Hulk will be part of the new Arena Meta. That means that unlocking him in War Scourge and improving him as much as possible is your first priority. In other words, if you wanna keep track, focus everything on Hero Asgardians momentarily because their strength will fully affect the strength of your Red Hulk. If you maximized Hero Asgardians already, focus on Ravagers and Wave I Avengers now, just in case you need them as well.
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