Rocket Racoon Marvel Champions Review - Hero Spotlight

[@benjamindavan3288]

Rocket is easily one of my favorite heroes in the game, I just love the things you can do with him and how he has gotten better over time with more cards! Great review!

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Thanks!! Yea he’s so much fun!

[@professorkid5129]

I can see why everyone likes Rocket aggression and won't knock it but I play multiplayer and play Rockey as Justice exclusively. I think "Stealth Strike" was made for Rocket, 4 damage to take out a minion, remove 2 Threat from a Scheme, AND draw a card with "Murdered You!"? Too good! Also, with "Heroic Intuition" and his Boots he has a base 4 Thwart, throw in a "I've Got a Plan" and it's not unreasonable for him to Thwart 10 in a turn. And since the +2 Thwart stays for the rest of the phase it makes "Brains over Brawn" hit for 6 and more minion killing card draw. I know aggression has its advantages too, but when I sit down to deck build him, I just can't seem to pull myself away from Justice. 😉 Another great video, keep up the good work! 👍

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Really good point, he can be a monster in Justice! I’ll need to try him in a multiplayer game at some point! And thanks!!

[@VillainTheory]

Great review! I rate a few of the characters around where you've put him on the tier list a little differently, but for Rocket specifically I agree with his placement. I love him with Repurpose but aside from that build I think he's fundamentally a clunky design. War Machine is weaker overall but his ammo mechanic works so much smoother. So, while Rocket is one of my favourite Guardians in the MCU, he is almost last for me in Marvel Champions. He's fine, and in the right scenario with the right build he can feel awesome, but I have to go out of my way to set that up and I can do that for most heroes. But I do like that he does have some intricate sequencing, viable builds in every aspect and lots of variety within the aspects. I just feel like he needed some quality of life improvements in his kit/now needs more aspect cards that play with Tech. If I could get something like Repurpose in any aspect, or some way to tutor his Tech (starting with all 4 of his weapons buried in the deck is awful), I could really come around on him. I think he has a ton of potential to grow within the game. In regards to specific cards for him, Booster Boots is a great little basic card for him that he can also Repurpose. I find it very hard to rank the aspects for him though, I think he's so good in all of them. I do quite like him in Leadership since he can use Tinkering on the Tech-traited ally attachments (Reinforced Suit, Laser Blaster, and Comms Implant) and Leadership is so good in general. But Justice, Protection, and Aggression do so much for him. I don't think he should be good with Honed Technique since it doesn't affect his weapons, but his ability and resources are so good that it's pretty devastating in minion-heavy or multiplayer scenarios. Long story short? Interesting design, huge variety of decks, just wish he played smoother.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Ooooh Booster Boots is one of those cards I have not looked at in a long time! I like how you said that, he can be super fun but also clunky which bumps his power down a bit

[@WinningHandPodcast]

I totally disagree on how clunky he is. I think war machine is much clunkier…and rocket has an incredible power ceiling while also being not overpowered so still has interesting decisions when you’re playing. One of my faves and we just talked about him on our last episode of the podcast.

[@mattr.9825]

Rocket’s biggest problem is the box he came in. It was particularly punishing for him. I was so excited to run Rocket and Groot through that box when it came out, but it got pretty frustrating. I haven’t revisited either since, but I’ve been thinking a lot about picking Rocket back up soon. So, this timing was perfect! I’ve also been thinking of ways to “fix” that campaign, like house-ruling that the Collector can only take your cards (not his own, since he already “owns” them) and also probably ignoring Surge on a few cards (or, at least limiting it to once per villain phase). The errata making Ronan’s campaign card optional helps (and also shows that they realized they ramped the difficultly too high on that).

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

That is so true! Collector 1 absolutely wrecks Rocket. I do think Collector gets much better if he cant collect his own stuff!

[@professorkid5129]

Yes, don't be afraid to house rule some of those scenarios, that's the only way my group got thru the box with a reasonable amount of fun. One example was that on the Ronan scenario we ignored "Surge" unless the card surged because it couldn't do anything, i.e. the "Assault" card when the character was in Alter-ego would surge and cases like that. We just played the Nebula scenario as a stand-alone this weekend and only allowed the 1st Technique card to surge no matter what stage she was in. She still ended up pulling plenty of cards but it made things more fun and manageable. Hope this helps. Good Luck! 😱

[@mattr.9825]

Thank you both! I’m gonna have to try this because the theme of that box was so good. Flying around in the Milano and stopping by the market between each scenario is all so cool. I would love to be able to have this campaign be playable and not so frustrating. I don’t mind a challenge like Thanos or Venom Goblin, but expert campaign Ronan was virtually an auto-loss out of the gate for the majority of heroes and decks. And, the Collector is too heavy-handed. Nebula is swingy, so your house-rule suggestion sounds like the perfect fix for more balance. Thanks!

[@njh113]

Terrific run down. I love Rocket! I brought an aggression Overkill deck for Con of Heroes, but I played Venom almost all weekend, since he's less complicated, and I'm not a fast player. I agree with everything you said and want to add one thing. Leaning into excess damage in aggression, I really like the card Marked in his deck! That replaces Relentless Assault for me, and gives that benefit to almost any other excess damage card I'm running.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Oooh marked is a really cool card for him! That’s fun!

[@Ddwlf27]

I am a big fan of Rocket, and i think he is pretty underrated and i rate him higher than most. Proper Deckbuilding is important tho (and not always obvious). I think you are underrating Leadership a lot - he is a very good platform for Guardian Voltron (which is an highly underrated deck in general). Defense is an issue but you flip every turn and its fine. Justice is really strong also and a very good multiplayer deck. With his really high base thwart and CITT, he does the thwart and ready thing really well. Combined with his weapons, makes strkng at doing both damage and thwart at the same time. He does need help in the defense department, but i just run a higher than average # of allies and it works well, he has the money for it.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Yea he is a ton of fun, and the deckbuild is so critical to his survivability which, to me, brings down his power level I did have a ton of fun with the voltron deck I did with him and Ironman! Yea if he can get the allies out to help with the blocking he is in a much better spot, it just always stinks to need to play the ally for help and not be able to drop a gun because of that. But glad he has Salvage to get those guns back if you needed to dump them!

[@brandtsanderson4665]

This is absolutely spot on. He is one of the top thwart heroes in multiplayer games. And he’s incredibly versatile. People miss out in these two parts all of the time because they focus on his low HP and his Murdered You ability which are easily rounded out by deckbuilding. Well stated!

[@Ddwlf27]

@@NelsonAllOverCards you can typically do both, play an ally and a pistol. Plasma Cannon you really only should be playing once. Shrugs

[@tylerjromeo]

I've been on a rocket kick lately! I've been playing him with web warriors in a mostly basic deck with a little leadership. Otto octavius is fun with rocket!

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Ooooh now that sounds really cool!

[@wildkatze69]

Love Rocket. In the movies and in the game. His tinkering ability is great. I've been playing a leadership built where he leans heavy into bringing out Iron Man and cheap upgrading him (and salvaging). Maybe not top tier but thematic and fun.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Oooh yea that’s a fun deck! Love him in the movies too!

[@TAC3O]

I would place him higher, he is definetely stronger than Iron Man. Thanks for review! Rocket is blast to play.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Interesting, I am not saying I disagree, but why do you think he is stronger than Ironman?

[@TAC3O]

​@@NelsonAllOverCards I played both of them (solo) against wide variety of villains on expert. From my experience Rocket has more consistent winrate and could handle more higher difficulty villains than Iron Man.

[@WinningHandPodcast]

That’s the card we just talked about on the podcast! Great minds think alike 🧠 🎉

[@teagletron]

Ouch, looks like you will not be playing 2 handed anytime soon! Hope the injury is not too bad.

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

I'm hoping it heals soon, I'm starting to get impatient with it lol I want to play more games!

[@saintmatthew956]

Nelson, you mentioned on your CoH recap that you kiked Drax in Aggression. If you were playing a Guardians-only multiplayer game, do you like Drax or Rocket better?

[@saintmatthew956]

*liked

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

oh thats a tough one! I think I like Rocket more here!

[@seansmith2650]

So does B mean great to you? You said rockets is a good character without minions but even better with them. To me hes B without minions and A to A plus with them landing him at B plus

[@seansmith2650]

Amd funny enough with 30k games recorded he has the 5th worse win rate. I think some of that has to do with the expansions he came out in though

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Good point, I dont think B means "great" I did rank him there and then talk about how good he is right after that though lol I talked about some of his weaknesses at other spots in the video, but should have highlighted them again at that point. He lands at a B because of two main reasons, his survivability, he has a really hard time taking a hit meaning that you need to prioritize allies (or other ways to protect his health) which means you are not doing what you want to be doing - getting his guns out and blasting. The other reason I think ties into your second point about him being a lower win rate hero and that is he is tough to pilot and his deck build can be crucial to make him work. I think there is a negative correlation with how good a deck needs to be and how powerful a hero is. If a hero requires a really good deck to make work - that hero can be epic, but I think that means they are less powerful. The opposite is true as well, the higher a hero is in power rakings the less good (or perfected) the deck build needs to be. Hope that makes sense!

[@jerpanic1]

Can Milano be used as a resource and thwart each exhaust?

[@NelsonAllOverCards]

Sadly no, one or the other!

[@jerpanic1]

Keen Instincts (even 1) in and a Martial Prowess with a Red deck, you’re solid! I finished game two with her against Drang (standard). Space Pirates mod this run. Fun!!! Expert mode next game. Running: Drop Kick, Into The Fray Momentum Shift and For Justice!