Advantages

Inspiring Leadership raises all stats; cannot be removed.

Excellent defensive hero.

Unlocks a lot of content.

Disadvantages

Not as strong offensively as some.

You need to get Cap as soon as you can. Period. He is a very good “jack of all trades” hero, dishing out good damage in both melee and ranged attacks, functioning as something of a “tank” for your other teammates, and, with his automatic Inspiring Leadership passive, giving everyone on your team an increase in all of your statistics. He is a powerful defender, having the ability to Block attacks and take little or no damage. And Cap will unlock a ton of content for you throughout the game.

Offensively, Cap only gives above-average damage to your opponents, though his Leading Strike melee attack puts a Target Focus on the opponent, enabling everyone to pop him for extra damage, and Lock-On with his Shield Throw, making all of the other guys more vulnerable to ranged attacks.

By far the most useful capability is Shield Guard. He becomes a “tank” for your team, taking all of the hits (forcing the opponents to attack only him unless they have Stealthy attacks), shrugging off most (not all) of the damage, and responding to every attack with his most powerful offensive weapon, Shield Bash. However, he isn’t too hard to wear down, and if you find yourself using him as a tank for too long during a battle, you’ll end up either healing him or watching him go down.

PVP: In the early days of PVP, Cap was a defensive mainstay, tanking for the team while the other two laid waste to the opposition. As the game has advanced, he isn’t the dominant hero he once was. When people play him now, they almost always use one of his alts.

Alternate Uniform(s): Cap has three main alts. His WWII alt (Bruiser or Tactician) gives him Shield Guard as an immediate passive as soon as the battle begins, making him an “instant tank.” His Avengers alt (also Bruiser or Tactician) gives him and his allies the Avengers Assemble property, which gives everyone Coordinated Attack, Coordinated Defense, and finally Collaborate Effort. It’s a good alt, though you usually see the WWII alt in PVP.

The newest alt is the Captain Steve Rogers (Scrapper and Tactician) alt, a tie-in to the 2014 movie featuring him and the Winter Soldier. This is a far more offensively minded alt than the others, essentially revamping Cap into an entirely new hero. He is much more complex than before, gaining a range of new offensive actions in return for losing Shield Guard. Basically his second ability, Take Charge, gives him three nifty sets of options (that do not stack with one another):

• The first, Ranged Awareness, is the default; he gets this at the start of the fight. This gives all of his allies the chance to dodge ranged attacks. Even better, his Leading Strike gives the Flanked debuff, which allows everyone to take double attacks on the opponent.
• Offensive Operations must be invoked. It allows everyone the chance to counter-attack against any melee attacks. It also changes some of Cap’s debuffs, changing Leading Strike’s Flanked debuff to Fumbling, which provokes counter-attacks every time the opponent attacks.
• The last one, Counterintelligence, is most effective against opponents that apply a lot of buffs or debuffs, giving your guys a chance to pre-emptively attack an opponent who is about to use an action that gives a buff or debuff. It also gives the Depowered debuff to Shield Bash, which stops the target from applying further buffs to himself.

The conventional wisdom regarding the Steve Rogers alt is that the tactician alt is most effective in PVP (helping to take down those pesky high-damage blasters like Havok and Dr. Voodoo), while the scrapper alt will help in PVE and other missions, especially when command-point farming in Season 1, Chapter 12, Mission 2.

Strategy Suggestions

If you don’t use the Steve Rogers alt, Cap functions best as a defender and support hero, taking damage and providing counterattacks “leadership” (increased stats) for your team while the other guys wreak havoc.

The Steve Rogers alt transforms Cap from a superb defender into a strong offensive force with a number of options. If you can get this alt, you can go back and forth between the two based on your immediate needs. I predict the Rogers alt will pop up in a lot of PVP battles in 2014.

Go back to the Heroes by Class page.