Advantages

Underrated offensive capabilities.

Can Remove Buffs from an opponent.

“Revenge” passive ability targets opponents for extra damage.

Outstanding “Grey Suit” alt.

Disadvantages

No area attacks.

No special defensive capabilities.

Low Health, Attack, Defense stats to begin with.

Natalia Romanoff is the second hero you get as a player, and you undoubtedly played her a lot in your initial gaming. Almost as certainly, you benched her when you started recruting other, more interesting Infiltrators. If you are smart, though, you’ve come back to her and realized that she really is a strong and relatively varied hero that can be an offensive force even with all the shiny new guys on the block.

You would think the Widow would have Stealthy attacks, but she doesn’t unless she gets Combat Reflexes. She does have an array of single attacks (no area attacks) and a potentially lethal ability to target her opponents. Her first attack is the straightforward Martial Arts Combo, which gives moderate damage and the Combo Setup debuff, which lets her hit for additional damage the next time around. Her second attack, Widow’s Bite, is a ranged gun attack that pops the opponent with Weakened and Incapacitation, two debuffs that can hasten your enemy’s demise. Her third and final attack, the Flying Kick, is less accurate than the others, but can, particular when Combo Setup is in place, inflict serious damage – and will Remove Buffs from her target. She is one of the only characters in the game who can do this. Her fourth ability, Widowmaker, is not an attack, but targets her opponent, guaranteeing that her following attack will hit and crit, and giving her the chance to Stun the opponent (if she doesn’t drop him in his tracks).

She has no special defensive capabilities aside from Marked for Revenge, which “paints” an attacker with a target similar to Widowmaker, giving her the chance to do additional damage. Her initial stats in Health, Attack and Defense are so low that many players dismiss her as “weak,” something she is definitely not.

PVP: In her traditional outfit, the Widow is far too limited and defenseless to survive in PVP, even with her offensive capabilities. Even with her alt, she is not the best choice for the arena.

Alternate Uniforms: Natalia has two alternates: the Avengers uniform, which only gives the Avengers Assemble capability, and the Grey Suit alt, a far more powerful outfit. Both come in Tactician and Infiltrator flavors. The Grey Suit is often seen in PVP, though usually not at the highest levels of play. It gives her the abilities of both Tactician and Infiltrator, a surprisingly powerful combination. As a Tactician, she can gain Combat Reflexes and launch Stealthy attacks; as an Infiltrator, she can gain bonus attacks against opponents Marked for Revenge.

Strategy Suggestions

She has some variety. Her most powerful combo is to first attack with Widowmaker and Martial Arts Combo, then follow with her Flying Kick in the second round to hammer the opponent. Her Widow’s Bite is not that strong, but the debuffs are worth considering.

Get the Grey Suit alt; your choice of class, though most veteran players prefer to buy the Tactician variety.

Go back to the Heroes by Class page.