Iconic Powers: Which are worth it/Not worth it and why?

I see several of the iconics come up as powers to take, with the rest never coming up. But I also rarely see an explanation as to why. Why is heat vision good? Why don't people take Batarangs? Is Super Strength ever worth it?

I know some folks may say that a power is ok or good, but I also want to know WHY it is good. Why take one power over another? Since the game doesn't give up many numbers in the actual powers, without testing, it can be hard to know how powers function and why some are must have and why some are avoided.

Thanks!

Solar amp doesn't buff batarangs. #1. If you like throwing cars. #2. Try all the iconics out yourself on a sparring target and make the decision for yourself. None of the iconics are a must have. Though hard light shield is a plus to have if you solo bounties or tank. If you prec dps, robot sidekick is free damage.

Honestly, there is no argument just for the sake of debate. How do you deem something as worthy? Damage output? Utility? Have you asked "some folks" why? If there was an artifact for every iconic suddenly everyone would be using every iconic.

People tend to use powers that do the most damage. This really goes without saying.

Well, to give an example, in one of his build guides, Obsidian Chill says to take Frost Breath. But I didn't know why use it over the actual powerset. And is heatvision only good if you bother with the artifact? Why Light shield over the shield that most powersets seem to have?

I'm not looking to test, which is why I am asking here. Ideally the game would tell me: this power does X damage for Y power. Or this shield absorbs x damage. So I can simply compare them in the interface. The iconics don't even tell you timers or anything like that unless you buy them. I am looking to avoid all the messing around and testing and just find out why some are good and some are bad. Do they have slow animations? Hard to clip out of? Cost too much power for their damage? Too short on range? Slow recharge. That kind of stuff.

Good | Situational | Bad
Combat Abilities:

Heat Vision: paired with Solar Amplifier artifact this is one of the best single target powers.
Sonic Cry: decent damage, melee. Most powersets have a similar ability that is better.
Robot Sidekick: on par with Fury and Crystal, pairs best with M.E.R.C.Y. artifact.
Freezing Breath: decent damage, range. Only the first two ticks of damage are needed then you can jump cancel to get back into your rotation.
Neo-Venom Boost: one of the best DPS supercharges, can be swapped out depending on the situation.
Sonic Shout: similar to Freezing Breath but not as strong

Support Abilities:
Amazonian Deflection: one of the strongest shields in game but is situational.
Mesmerizing Lasso: single target taunt + pull, all Tank powersets already have a single target taunt. With the Lasso of Truth artifact it loses its pull and becomes a multitarget drag.
Hard-Light Shield: one of the best shields in the game.
Pheromone Bloom: only used for Eye of Gemini spam.
Super-Strength: makes a few raid elements (such as moving heavy objects from the field) easier to complete.

Combat + Support:
Word of Power: pairs best with the upcoming Heart of Isis artifact.

Not Worth Investing:
Batarang Multi-Shot: subpar damage compared to other similar abilities.
Gag Glove: subpar damage compared to other similar abilities.
Clown Box: was used for an exploit years ago, now it's just a waste of supercharge.

Good explanation overall. Just a correction here, Sonic Shout actually has slightly stronger damage ticks than Freezing Breath, and it can benefit from the Dazed PI, giving it even more of an edge damage wise. Its range is shorter, however, requiring you to melee/semi-melee for it to actually hit (same range as Gadgets' EMP or Mental's Pain Blast). It is actually a pretty good, overlooked, power to use if you can afford to not need to max range a fight all the time to use it as often as you would use Freezing Breath, and if don't play the game with sound (or listen to outside music, muffling the game's).

Fantastic rundown! Exactly what I was hoping for. Thank you!

More generally, check AV’s guide out, very helpful across the board.

https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dc...very-power-and-how-to-build-test-them.307346/

This is my semi-educated guess:
When making optimal build, meta DPS choose powers, that have ideal damage/animation time/cooldown ratio, so that in their rotation pretty much all their powers are always on cooldown. Because generally - powers are balanced so that the longer the cooldown and animation, the more damage the power does. If one or more abilities are not red - you're missing out on that damage. OC probably needed a power that had the ideal cooldown/time/dmg ratio for his rotation and it happened to be an iconic.

I think it's decent without it, for a single target Might build, but you can do better in most powersets.

A few reasons.
1.Sometimes you need more shields than what your powerset gives you - eg. if you PvP, solo, or tank.
2. HL shield can be used in extra loadouts, eg. Mental's invisibility, while its native shields can't be.
3. It also probably has better stats than some other shields, because other shields give other benefits, but I don't know the numbers.
4. And most importantly - you can choose the color!

Freezing Breath is just a great might-based AoE channel that you can jump cancel out of whenever you please. Its easy to understand why you would use it if you actually used it.

Heat Vision is great for beginning Fire users. Because while the power is active you can switch targets and each one will be set on fire. (Unfortunately, this ability is removed if you use the Solar Amplifier.) It helps beginners understand how far away they can be while still doing damage. And how to change targets in an orderly fashion.

Fire has two abilities called Overheat and Spontaneous Combustion. You get both of these abilities included in Solar Amplifier at 180. So now you have three Fire powers going when activating only one. You can, and should, still use O and SC if needed. They don't override each other so yes you can technically have two Os and two SCs going at the same time.

At 200 you get the Empowered Channeling mod installed ONLY for Solar Amplifier. Meaning, while you're using Solar Amp you can't be interrupted and you get a nice defense buff at the same time. But honestly, that's not a big deal breaker. Most people will be perfectly happy at just keeping it at 180.

i just wanna add one detail for mesmerizing lasso, some of tank's single target taunt are bad and in some situations, its nice to pull an enemy while they focus on you (certain special adds, etc)

Can someone explain Amazonian Deflection to me? I swear it didn't work at all the times I've tried it.

When you activate that ability it puts you in a block animation that you have to remain in for the duration. The ability can be ended early if you try to move, jump or activate another power. You can be block broken by an enemy. I believe if you get hit with a grounding move or other CC that can end the duration prematurely.

For sure. It's an amazing ability but really only situational for fights requiring two tanks. If two tank fights were to become a standard with every episode I would definitely upvote Lasso to a must have.

Ah! That explains it. I guess that makes it almost useless for my style of play, although I can see it being great in some circumstances. Thank you!

Yeah, can't really argue with any of this, although I do actually use the Gag Glove on my Harley Quinn character, mostly for a laugh because it fits her style. She's primarily running as an Electric Prec build, so her loadout (with the exception of a shield and weapon buff) is mostly all acrobatic kicks and the Gag Glove, and to be fair, the Gag Glove does a decent job of pushing enemies away from me when needed, but that's about it. Damage is pretty lacking, but it is pretty fun to punch bosses in the face with it lol

I kind of wish they'd look at modifying Neo-Venom Boost with an artifact, like Heat Vision, into something less druggy-based and slightly more useful.

Neo-Venom boost is probably one of the best Iconics. I prefer it to almost all other supercharges.

Hope an artifact for the 3 Bad iconic Powers !