With the exception of poor She-Hulk, every hero in Marvel: Avengers Alliance has at least one passive ability. Passive abilities define heroes as much or even more than powers. And, unlike powers, passive abilities can’t be prevented with the depowered status effect. As the game continues to evolve and more passive abilities get added, it gets more and more critical to choose heroes with useful passive abilities. While the heroes that possess the following abilities aren’t always the optimal choice for any given battle, these are the best passive abilities in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
God of War – This slick passive, only found on Ares, is granted to every ally at the start of battle. Whenever a hero makes a single target attack, any ally with this ability has a chance to join in on the attack. Additionally, whenever a hero is attacked by a single target attack, any ally with this ability has a chance to counter that attack. On average this ability activates once or twice a round, which is effectively like having an extra hero in the battle.
Combo Breaker – Combo Breaker is the passive ability that has redefined the PvP scene. When it activates, it outright prevents a follow-up or counter attack and also deals damage to the character that tried to make that attack. It can activate multiple times per round and even multiple times per attack. Additionally, it can even activate against stealthy attacks and when the hero with this ability is stunned. Only Iron Fist has the Combo Breaker passive ability. While the base Iron Fist isn’t that great a hero, his Heroic Age Variant is actually quite spectacular and this ability is only part of the reason why.
Dancing Queen – There are a lot of passive abilities in the game that grant a 20% chance to avoid attacks, but none is as good as Dancing Queen. Some only protect against a particular subset of attacks, like melee attacks, while others grant evasion but no other perks. Dancing Queen grants evasion against any type of attack, activates the Macabre Fandango attack for free when the ability evades an attack, and grants Spiral an immediate extra turn. The extra turn would be justification enough even if it didn’t also include a free attack. The full combination makes it arguably the best defensive passive ability in the game.
Supersonic Speed – Supersonic Speed is nearly identical to Overclocked, except it has an additional function. Both special abilities grant their respective heroes two turns per round, but Supersonic Speed also gives Quicksilver a high chance of acting first in combat. This passive ability is the sole reason that Quicksilver is considered a top tier PvP hero and is also remarkably helpful for getting a high score in PvE battles.
Ring Imperial – Given that Dr. Doom can’t be on a team with any character other than your agent, it isn’t surprising that he has one of the best passive abilities in the game. At the start of each round, Ring Imperial places cower on all enemies and places an effect on all enemies that damages them highly at the end of the round. No other hero has an effect that is even vaguely similar, and if the effect isn’t removed, the damage it deals is even higher than the damage that an average ally could deal in a single round.
Scarcity – The Scarcity passive ability is the reason that Rogue jumped from third string PvP hero to top tier PvP hero in a single season. This special ability removes a positive status effect from an enemy at the start of that enemy’s turn. In PvP, especially, this is brutal, effectively preventing heroes like Rescue or Hercules from doing their job.
