Summary
Highlights
Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, is often underestimated. His core gameplay loop involves causing panic from a distance, then making a devastating arrival for key picks, and returning to range. He's not just about disruption but inundation—overwhelming enemies with pressure before striking.
The Meteor Dive is a versatile ability, not just for basic damage. It can delete enemies from their ultimate abilities, knock them off the map, separate healers, set up teammates, and kill opponents like Luna Snow. The dive deals 40 damage in a 5m radius and knocks enemies back. Crucially, it detonates Blazing Blasts in the area, dealing 55 damage per fireball, making pre-placement of Blazing Blasts essential before diving.
Human Torch's primary fire, recently buffed, is a cluster of projectiles that spread out over distance. It's potent up close, especially against tanks, acting like a shotgun. It's most effective after a dive, enabling quick eliminations. The key is trigger discipline and aiming for headshots to maximize its new damage output of 98 to the body and 196 to the head.
Blazing Blast creates pools of fire that last 6 seconds, dealing 40 impact damage and 25 damage per second over time. This should be your primary ranged attack due to its consistent damage and no damage drop-off. You can connect these fire pools (up to 40m apart) to create fire walls (65 damage on crossing) or enclosed 'prisons' (50 damage per second inside). This charges your ultimate quickly and creates significant area denial and panic.
During his ultimate, Human Torch can continuously throw tornadoes (up to 4 on the field, 120 damage per second, now buffed) without cooldown, and use his plasma body movement for free. These tornadoes can also be detonated with a meteor dive. The ultimate activation itself deals 80 explosion damage, useful for engaging in a crowd or initiating from above. The dive can also be used defensively to escape and keep tornadoes active.
Human Torch flies silently, allowing for stealthy flanks. Be mindful that healers often operate at ground level, so request healing frequently. Key counters include Hela (due to her high flying accuracy), Scarlet Witch (requiring conservative play), and skilled Spider-Man players (requiring teamwork). Starlord is also annoying due to his dodges. Mastering Human Torch leads to high damage output and can force enemy character switches due to frustration.