Marvel: Avengers Alliance's Latest Roster Addition - Hercules
Introduced a few weeks ago as a Bruiser into Marvel: Avengers Alliance superhero roster, Hercules, at least in my opinion, is perhaps one of the more versatile characters, for a Bruiser, such that his strength lies not only on his Attack stat, sufficiently exceptional to hold a candle to his Asgardian counterpart, the Mighty Thor, or even the Incredible Hulk.
Abilities
Likes It Rough - Hercules restores a small portion of stamina every time he takes damage, which makes it rather unnecessary to boost his already above-average Stamina level, not to mention the fact that he is capable of inflicting damage upon the enemy at the expense of minimum stamina. (Note: To any readers out there with the inclination to take the ability's naming in an entirely different direction, do take note that there may be minors lurking around here.)
Son of Zeus - Hercules will take increasingly less damage while doing increasingly more damage with each round as long as he is either Strengthened, Fortified, Agile or Focused, which can be easily managed with a skill set such as Hercules's, even during earlier levels. Also, he gains Blessing of Olympus with the application of all four buffs, which not only reapplies said buffs each turn the Blessing is in effect, Hercules's attacks are all guaranteed critical hits as well, while granting him the ability to restore a small portion of health with each round.
Techniques
Pankration Pummel - Hercules deals unarmed melee damage, while inflicting Cerberus Bite, which reduces melee damage taken from the enemy by a considerable 40 percent, at the same time applying Fortified on himself.
Rock of Ages - Hercules throws a stone at an enemy, causing significant amounts of damage, more so on Flying targets with the Exploit Flying effect, as well as Wound of Cerynitis, which reduces ranged damage taken by a considerable 40 percent as well, while applying on himself Focused.
Gift of Battle - Possibly one of the few reasons why Hercules had become so popular among players. Hercules's Gift of Battle, while endowing Agile on himself, allows him to counter any attack, single target or area, with Pankration Pummel against melee attacks and Rock of Ages against ranged attacks. It is especially useful in PvP in softening up the opposing side for the first round, with as little health lost in the process of protecting allies on your side considering Hercules's ability to take in minimum damage.
Column Down - Hercules's only area attack, which deals extra damage with critical hits through its Deadly Crits effect with the chance to stun at most all targets, while applying Strengthened on Hercules himself. Guaranteed to hit, it can neither be protected against nor avoided from.
Is He Worth It?
Matched up against the big names of the Bruiser Class, i.e. Hulk and Thor, Hercules plays quite well with other allies. While not necessarily playing on his Attack stat as much as the Hulk, Hercules boasts a well-balanced approach toward his own self-fortification, and while not necessarily as immune to common status effects (e.g. Burning, Chilled, Poison) as Thor, obviously due to his demi-god status, he may (sometimes) prove to be even more efficient in holding up against Blasters in PvP than the latter two Bruisers, whose weaknesses had always been to me the guaranteed critical hits of a Blaster. Still, the jury is still out as to whether Hercules would be nerfed in the future within 'acceptable' parameters.
At the moment, Hercules can be recruited for 90 command points, and no doubt would make a great addition worth the cost to your roster, which of course is for the player to judge.