The Iron Giant is currently the largest character in Multiversus. That colossal size is both his blessing and his curse. While he covers a large portion of the screen with his wide sweeping attacks, he’s also extremely vulnerable to the opponents’ team-combos.
Thanks to that vulnerability, piloting everyone’s favorite metallic colossus can be a titanic task.
If you’re trying to improve at fighting games in general, take a look at our guide.
The Basics
The Iron Giant’s beefy defensive stats make him a tank whose massive size that takes hits for his teammates and contests space on the stage. With his defensive skills, it takes far more damage to knock out Iron Giant than any other character.
However, his size is also the reason why he’s more fragile than he looks. He’s extremely susceptible to team combos. Good players can chain Down Air Attacks together to get an easy 80-90 damage team combo on his massive body. Iron Giant also lacks mobility outside of dodges, which means he has very few ways of escaping those combos.
While these problems will sometimes result in a direct knockout, it creates larger issues for helping his teammate. If the enemy team is chasing your teammate, Iron Giant’s lack of mobility will make getting to the other side of the stage a cumbersome task. Dodging across the entire stage helps, but it will also burn through all of his stamina.
Noteworthy Attacks
Out of Iron Giant’s move list, here are the attacks that are worth a special mention:
- Up + Attack: This is one of Iron Giant’s best attacks. It anti-airs opponents with its wide upward arc, throws a projectile, can be charged for more damage and knockback, and knocks enemies upward so you and your teammate can follow up afterward. The scrap it generates can also be picked up for a stack of screws.
- Forward + Attack (ground): Iron Giant’s fastest attack. Use this when you need to land a fast attack or trap enemies in a multi-hitting attack. Follow-up with the last hit of the attack when you need to knock opponents away. Otherwise, down+attack works just as well and gives you a plant to eat for screws.
- Bolt Friends (Neutral Special): Consume all of your screws to give yourself armor that’s immune to armor-breaking attacks. Each screw you consume will absorb one hit. When it’s activated, your ally will also gain grey health based on the number of screws you had.
Out of all of his abilities, Bolt Friends is what transforms Iron Giant from a sad punching bag into one of the tankiest characters in Multiversus. If you’re struggling in neutral, then you can put on this armor and force an attack onto your opponents. In addition, if you’re getting combo-ed, you can activate this and tank through the remaining hits.
- Down + Air Attack: It’s a combo starter, spike, and if you hit opponents with just the tip of the thrusters then you’ll burn opponents for a small DoT. The passive to give it firewalls makes this move even more useful.
The real value of this is how well it works as a combo starter. If there’s one combo you should learn, it’s DownAir -> Neutral Air -> UpAir. Once your opponent is over 100%, cut the Neutral Air out of the combo and go straight to UpAir.
- Up + Special: Iron Giant whirls a card around like a helicopter. This gives him immunity to projectiles like Bug’s Rocket and can hit multiple times. If you plan on protecting your teammates through a hailstorm of projectiles, then Up+Special is the tool you’re looking for.
This move is also amazing for carrying enemies off stage. It’s an air-tight link if you grab them first, walk to the side of the stage, then start your Up+Special. Alternatively, if your opponents aren’t aware of it, you can follow up an UpAir with this special to kill them off the top.
However, Cannonball deserves a mention here because it serves several different purposes. It’s possible to use it offstage to spike people, but there’s a small delay between landing it on your opponent and when you can dodge cancel it to safety, making it a rewarding but risky play. Alternatively, it’s a solid aerial kill move in 2v2s. If your opponents are too distracted with your partner, then using Cannonball at unexpected times can result in some cheeky KOs.
Last of all, Cannonball is amazing for the vertical mobility. You’re moving at a decent speed with a punishing hitbox surrounding you. Some characters may not be able to stop you consistently, allowing you to safely get back onto the stage. You can also dodge cancel it just before you touch the ground to avoid the horrendous landing lag.”
Perks
- Coffeezilla: Iron Giant will live and die based on how often bolts are up. Keeping that ability off cooldown will allow him to survive against combos for much longer and far more often. Plus, if you play with teammates who are also running Coffeezilla, they’ll appreciate the additional cooldown reduction.
- Absorb N Go: Every time you get knocked back by a projectile, your and your teammates’ cooldowns are reduced by 7% (15% with a teammate). If you’re going up against projectile-heavy characters like Velma, Tom & Jerry, or Reindog, then this perk will give you and your partner more ways to fight back.
- I Dodge, You Dodge, We Dodge: If you’re not against projectile-heavy teams, IDYDWD is an amazing way to make the most of Iron Giant’s massive size and strangely quick ground dodges. Each dodge is. Each dodge gives you 10% off your team’s cooldowns, but it only counts if the enemy’s attacks “hit” you while you’re invulnerable.
- Tasmanian Trigonometry: Even without this perk, mashing dodge will also help you influence your trajectory. With Tasmanian Trigonometry, Iron Giant gains more survivability from getting killed outright from any single hit.
- Retaliation-Ready: This perk plays well into Iron Giant’s passive. Iron Giant’s passive gives thorns whenever his teammate gains gray health. Retaliation Ready gives a teammate gray health whenever they land a projectile.
Strategy
In a team, your job is to make breathing room for your partner to do their job. This means using Bolt Friends and your massive size to contest space. The wide arc and projectile of UpAttack is perfect for this. Once your opponents get close, use your wide, sweeping attacks and Bolt Friends to buy more time for your teammate. If you get hit and have Bolt Friends up, use it immediately so you’ll fall out of their combo. Once the armor is up, you’ll also get a chance to knock enemies away with an attack that’s difficult to interrupt.
With perks like Absorb ‘N’ Go and IDYDWD paired with his massive hurtbox, Iron Giant becomes one of the best partners for characters with large cooldowns in Multiversus. These cooldown-reducing perks also benefit Iron Giant by giving him more chances to use Bolt Friends. If your teammate is reliant on cooldowns like Velma, then having an Iron Giant use these perks will give those characters more chances to run away with the game.
Looking for more platform fighting games? Here’s our list of the best Platform Fighting games in 2022. If traditional fighters are more to your taste, then here’s our list of the best fighting games with rollback.
