Heroism: Wolverine

Introduction

A mild improvement on the original,
Brown and Tan offers extra turns
when struck while protecting.  Sometimes.
Mostly when the AI uses him.
Yours will never proc.

Wolverine is one of Marvel's most popular properties, appearing in X-Men titles for years, the Avengers, X-Force, basically anything with an X in it, and I'm sure there's someone trying to figure out if he's a good fit for the Fantastic Four right now.  In Avenger's Alliance he's probably one of the first characters you checked the CP cost on, admit it.  And it probably gave you a shock to see the number 90 right up there.  Is he worth it?

The answer is "well yeah, now that they've buffed him".  If you're on the iOS, you're probably not that impressed, but the rest of us see him frequently and bemoan his ability to outheal us, and put out considerable damage.  He snikts bubs with the best of them.  The weapon Kuzuri is also named after him (being Wolverine in japanese).  You'll hear that a lot if you go see The Wolverine, which is in theaters at the time of this writing.

Wolverine

Wolverine is one of the better buys in the game at the 90CP mark:  He tears apart PVE with his self-healing, practical immunity to bleeds, and his ability to pump out large amounts of damage with his Berserker Rage.  Additionally, unlike many characters who are not PVP viable without their costumes, Wolverine is still surprisingly good, which makes him a good buy if you're early on.  Plus, he unlocks a Premium Mission!  It's almost like they want you to buy this guy.

And according to Season 2's previews, he's needed for one of the new mission types (in a solo fight against Sabertooth).  The 90 CP you spend on Wolverine is worth it, bub.

He gains a lot of synergy with other characters that exploit bleeds:  Nightcrawler (Pirate costume) and X-23 are both great choices.  Not surprisingly, since they are in the comics associated with Logan... or outright clones of the guy.

PVP Strategy:  Using Wolverine

On Attack

Shouldn't be standing.
Instead, Berserker Rage for the win.

He's the best at what he does, and what he does is ruin Infiltrators hard.  Once you get a target bleeding, proceed to Berserker Rage them into the ground.  Pesky protectors ruining your day?  Savage Rend them and get them to cut that out.  Can't do that?  Try his stealthy attack that also stuns!  He does it all... if what you want is attack.

Wolverine's biggest flaw is his lack of versatility.  He can't do much other than throw down bleeds, damage, and the occasional stun.  He doesn't provide buffs to the team, and not many other team members will really help him be much more than what he is:  A very powerful part of your team.

On the flip side, he's based on bleeds and can randomly just survive things that should kill you, letting you win fights you just don't really "deserve" to win, particularly against opponents who massively out-stat you.  For that reason, I use him a lot when I first start out.

On Defense

Well, on Defense he can be a house, randomly ruining attack plans and protecting when people don't want him to protect.  Also, his drawback of no versatility leaves very little for the AI to screw up!  A definitely plus for the sniktbub.  Depending on how much Rescue people are running, he can definitely be a solid defense team choice.  See the most recent Avengers Academy for a fairly foolproof low level defense team featuring Wolverine.

PVP Strategy: Facing Wolverine

Wolverine:  Not a fan of musicals.

The trick with Wolverine is many players will pair him with another protect character:  The most important tip I can give you on how to deal with this is that you want to target Wolverine, and kill the other protect first.  Targeting the other protect will proc Wolverine's protect often, and if he's Brown and Tan you run the risk of giving him a lot of extra turns, and that damage piles up fast.

If you're often facing Wolverine, characters who are immune to bleeds (like Colossus, for example) can give him fits, since much of his damage is based on exploiting bleeds.

Also, Bruisers can wreck him fairly quickly, but he has a habit of living through things.  DOTs can help mitigate his Healing Factor, provided they're not poisons or bleeds.