Overview – Iceman is proof that you can’t simply re-skin a different Marvel: Avengers Alliance fire hero with ice powers in order to make a good hero. Despite the fact that this hero is incredibly similar in design to Sunfire, he represents a massive decrease in quality. His power set, while synergistic, is way too reliant on buffs and debuffs. This makes him almost worthless in PvP and also limits him in PvE. He simply cannot be teamed up with any hero that applies the burning condition, which is a rather high number of heroes and his defensive power is all but worthless due to his vulnerability to blasters. That said, while the base version of this hero is pretty bad, his alternate uniform is a significant improvement. He is still a moderately niche character in that uniform, but is good enough to use regularly if you are fond of either the character or ice powers.
How to Obtain – Iceman can be acquired by completing all 26 tasks in Special Operation 16 within the 37 day time period. If you miss this window, he may be available for special sale at some point in the future for 200 command points.
Special Abilities – Organic Ice / Dead of Winter – Organic Ice is a rather effective defensive ability that makes this character immune to burning, chilled, and pyrophoric. It all decreases damage he takes from fire and cold attacks by half. A very large percentage of enemies in the game deal damage of one of these two types, which makes this character a reasonable choice for trying to maximize your score when completing threats. Dead of Winter is a buff that this character starts with and that he can gain additional times, to a maximum stack of three. While this buff is active, if the character is defeated, he loses one stack of the buff, loses all debuffs, and resurrects at 10% health. These two special abilities, combined with this character’s high health, make him very difficult to defeat.
Chill Out (Level 1) – Chill Out is a high stamina cost single target ranged attack that deals moderate damage. The attack deals higher than normal damage on a critical hit and if the target of the attack has the chilled effect, any hits are automatically critical hits. When used against an enemy that is chilled, this is a higher than normal damage attack and there is never a good reason to use this attack against an enemy that isn’t chilled.
Ice Capades (Level 2) – Ice Capades deals moderately high melee damage to all enemies for an extremely high stamina cost. Additionally, all enemies hit by the attack are chilled and affected by the disabled debuff. The latter status effect is nearly worthless, but the former deals ongoing damage and sets up Chill Out attacks in later rounds. You should almost always start every fight with this power, unless you think you need the defense from Breaking the Ice.
Cold Feet (Level 6) – Cold Feet deals moderately low ranged damage to a single enemy for a moderate stamina cost. Additionally, the target is chilled, exhausted, and can’t dodge attacks. Ice Capades is usually a better choice for applying chilled to enemies, but this attack is optimal when facing a single enemy or when you need to exhaust an enemy. This is particularly important against tacticians when there is a blaster on your team. This attack also has a relatively low stamina cost, so you may want to use it when you need to conserve stamina. The degree to which this attack does roughly the same thing as Ice Capades is part of the reason that this character simply isn’t that good.
Breaking the Ice (Level 9) – For a moderately high stamina cost, Breaking the Ice puts a shield on all allies and gives this character a stack of Dead of Winter. This shield is rather small and has no other special abilities, unlike shields produced by Rescue, Magneto, or Iron Man. Additionally, Dead of Winter is a rather situational and easily bypassed buff. Overall, this power is simply underwhelming. It is worth using when you need extra defense or virtual health, but keep in mind that blasters will rip right through it.
Unlocks – This character is not currently required to unlock any Marvel: Avengers Alliance game content, and is unlikely to be required any time in the near future.
PvP – Modern Iceman is almost a complete waste in PvP because he is so reliant on debuffs which are easily removed by characters like Rescue or Emma Frost or items like the Scroll of Angolob. Also, his resurrection abilities are easily countered by enemies like Elektra. The Horseman of Death alternate uniform is much more viable in PvP. Doom and despair are both brutal in PvP, especially since the former all but neuters the above mentioned buff removal methods. More importantly, though, the Horseman of Death variant can make an area attack every single round that has a 40% chance of stunning any enemy hit. No other hero in the game can do that every round. It is almost a game breaking benefit and against heroes that aren’t immune to stun, it is pretty much the only strategy you need to win. Tacticians are currently popular enough in PvP that the bruiser version of this uniform is probably the best choice, but the metagame could easily change, so both version could be viable.
Variant Uniforms – This Marvel: Avengers Alliance character has a blaster and a bruiser version of the Horseman of Death alternate uniform. To acquire this alternate uniform, you need to complete all 6 side tasks during Special Operation 16 within 37 days. This uniform both adds new special abilities and changes this character’s powers. The new special abilities grant this character the Dead of Winter buff when an enemy is defeated and allows him to make a free attack when a chilled enemy attacks or is attacked. The extra attacks are a massive increase in effectiveness and improve this character from bottom tier to middle of the pack. Additionally, all of his powers are modified. His level 1 power gains brutal strike, his level 2 power has a chance to stun, both his level 2 and level 6 powers apply deathfrost instead of chilled, his level 6 power also gains fatal blow, and finally his level 9 power becomes a stealthy single target attack power that applies doom and despair to the enemy.
