Heroism: Red Hulk

Introduction

Red Hulk was the Adamantium reward for Season 8, and more importantly, is being released for general sale on the 11th of July.  You might be wondering "Why is the Hulk Red?" and more importantly "What can he do for me?"

Red Hulk

Red Hulk is the now-Hulked out alter-ego of General "Thunderbolt" Ross, best known for telling his daughter Betty to "keep out of it, this is man talk" in the classic Hulk cartoon, and sending insane amounts of the army's resources to capture a green dude with anger management issues.  Now, after experimenting with Gamma radiation because why the hell not, he is a Red Hulk.

Red Hulk looks like he's been out in the sun too long.

He should cost 135cp when released (like all the other pvp heroes) when released, which puts him on the expensive side of the generally available heroes.  Should you buy him?  Well, he fills the same role as Captain America basically:  A tactician protector with reasonable aggressive power.  Unlike Captain America, he's not required to unlock any missions, but it is very likely in the future that he will be needed in a Special Operation mission as a deploy.  This means that buying him is a fairly reasonable proposition down the line, to try and save some gold and gain access to the loot from that epic boss.

Being similar to Captain America isn't really a strike against using Red Hulk:  If you need a protector character, he's one of the stronger ones, due to his protect granting him Energy Steal which steals health and stamina when attacked, and granting him Heat, a buff that stacks and as it stacks grants both Burning and Phosphoric to his attacks, as well as building into a critical mass Nova attack.

Because he can create Burning, he's a fine pairing with Human Torch or Mark 42 Iron Man, but also with other durable team members to keep him alive, such as Doctor Strange, Emma Frost, Rescue, Invisible Woman (Future Foundation) or Omega Sentinel.  He can also be used reasonably well to protect glass cannons like Quicksilver, although his protect being buff based makes him particularly susceptible to debuff removal.

PVP Strategy:  Using Red Hulk

On Attack

Little Known Fact:  Red Hulk often
has a stat bar for a face.

You generally want to lead with Gamma Bomb unless their team has a clear way to remove debuffs that hasn't been used yet (Omega Sentinel's Nanoheal Array, an agent with a Scroll, etc).  If they can remove debuffs, consider leading with Searing Smash to build up Heat, or just start using Bulwark immediately if their team has heavy hitters or you need the protect.

Bulwark is your core skill:  You will want to use it when you can to soak up attacks, acting as a constant drain on the HP and Stamina of the opposing team, and building up Heat.  Once you have 30% heat, Bunker Buster hits particularly hard, and if you can build to 70% you can unleash on your enemies and do significant damage.

In order to make sure Red Hulk can get to that point, you will want to either heal and shield him with your team, allowing him to protect and build to the point where you can win the fight.  Try and avoid Meltdown, as although it deals massive damage it stuns Red Hulk and hits your own team.  Phoenix is a fine partner if you actually want to trigger Meltdowns, since she can help a teammate survive then use Phoenix Fire to follow up after your Meltdown and polish off their team.

On Defense

Red Hulk's AI is reasonable, but not spectacular.  He often tries to build into Meltdown, and almost always leads with Gamma Bomb.  I don't tend to use him on my defense teams personally, because he's a micromanagement hero, and those tend to perform badly on defense compared to more straightforward characters that the AI understands.

PVP Strategy: Facing Red Hulk

You can approach beating Red Hulk by removing his Heat buffs and keeping his Bulwark down, either with Cornered status, Soulfire and Scroll attacks, or stealthy attacks to avoid his protection.  He doesn't present much of an offense without Heat, and if you can avoid giving that to him you will do well.