Advantages

Strong attacks that inflict Burning debuffs.

Ability to spontaneously regenerate health in the first two rounds.

Lots of team-up bonuses.

A must-have for low-level players.

Disadvantages

Opponents who are not susceptible to fire damage have little to fear from Johnny Storm.

Near-useless area attack.

Much less useful at higher levels of play.

I never understood why MAA treats the Fantastic Four so shabbily. Maybe it’s because Fox owns the movie rights to the FF and not Marvel/Disney (you are aware that MAA is primarily intended as a marketing tool to gin up interest in the Marvel/Disney movies, right?). I’ve never been sure, but it’s a fact that none of the FF are particularly powerful heroes in the game. The Torch is the most powerful of the four, and a hero that low and midlevel players will rely on for dozens of levels until they are finally able to acquire more powerful blasters with a wider range of abilities.

Just like in the comics and movies, Johnny Storm does one thing well: set things on fire. In the game, if an opponent is susceptible to fire damage, the Torch will hurt them. His best combination is his first attack, Flame Stream, followed with his Fireball. Together he can inflict enormous damage. The third attack, Ring of Fire, costs slightly less stamina and only inflicts Burning after the target takes an action – in real terms, it isn’t different enough from the Flame Stream to bother with.

Where Johnny’s abilities fall down is on his area attack. His Nova Blast is only useful in desperation attacks, when his teammates are both down and he is on the ropes. If he is near death, the Nova inflicts massive damage. If he’s relatively healthy, it doesn’t inflict nearly as much. Even worse, it damages both enemies and teammates.

He regenerates health automatically during the first two rounds, which makes him a nice target for the opposition (for you) – they hit, he regenerates. He also inflicts burning and damage on those who attack him. Unfortunately, his defensive capabilities are not strong, so even if you have concentrated on his defense in his ISO chips, he will still take a lot of damage when attacked. After the first two rounds, he regenerates health when he Recharges.

PVP: He is a mainstay in low-level PVP bouts. If you see him on the other team, your best strategy is to leave him alone until you’ve knocked off the other guys, since he regenerates anyway and you’re just asking to be Fireballed if you attack him and get Burning as a result. You ought to have something to remove the Burning debuffs if possible. Once he’s by himself, your team can overwhelm him without too much difficulty. Naturally, an opponent such as Thor, who is immune to Burning, or an agent who is protected from fire damage by the Heavy Metal buff, can give Johnny what for without too much difficulty. After you start reaching higher levels, you’ll find better blasters than the Torch for your PVP battles. After that, you’ll find yourself either playing him only in missions, or perhaps relegating him to the bench entirely.

Alternate Uniforms: Johnny has two versions of alternate uniforms, the Annihilus alt in blaster and bruiser configurations. Neither one is a game-changer, though the Future Countdown property gives a modest advantage if paired with another Fantastic Four member in their Future Foundation alts.

Strategy Suggestions

The Torch has a reputation for being a “glass cannon” which I think is somewhat unwarranted. His ability to automatically regenerate Health twice in the first two rounds, and any time he Recharges, makes him a tough out.

He should focus on incinerating a single opponent, first by his Flame Stream and then with Fireball. Since anyone who attacks him with a melee attack gets Burning via the Plasma Body property, you can instantly Fireball anyone who first gets scorched with this, without worrying about Flame Stream. (I prefer Flame Stream to Ring of Fire because Burning takes place immediately with Flame Stream, and not until the opponent takes an action with Ring of Fire.)

If you’re playing against him in PVP, leave him alone for the first two rounds (except to take care of the Burning debuff if you can), as he regenerates most of the damage he takes. (Obviously if you’re playing Iceman or Storm, whose attacks doubly affect him via Chilled, then that’s a different story.) Take down the other two opponents and then gang up on him to take him out without getting too burned yourselves.

If you find yourself one-on-one against him in PVP where both you and your opponent have the Torch, you’re in for a long fight. Don’t bother with Flame Stream or Ring of Fire, use nothing but Fireball – obviously your opponent’s Torch will not take Burning damage. Since you’ll find yourself recharging a time or two, an Empowered ISO chip that regenerates health in some form or fashion might be good for these fights.

Go back to the Heroes by Class page.