Boombox is a defensive support Phighter that utilizes his shields and forcefields to protect his teammates from damage. Boombox also has access to a variety of crowd control to disorient enemy Phighters and knock them away from his teammates. His ultimate Raining Tacos sends his foes up into the air while giving his team a gigantic shield to absorb large amounts of damage for a few moments. While exceptionally difficult to remove from fights, Boombox lacks mobility and range, making him vulnerable to being poked down from distance.
Abilities
NOTE: Boombox does not have a Passive.
Pulse
Pulse
Type
Ability Type Primary
AoE
High cooldown attack around you that knocks enemies around you away. Boombox's jump height is reduced during use.
Ability Demonstration
Damage: 8 Knockback force: 8 Range: 30 Jump Height penalty: -25% Fire rate: 1 second Ammo: ∞
Details:
The ring is centered around Boombox's upper torso.
Sound Wave
Sound Wave
Type
Ability Type Ability
AoE
While Sound Wave is off cooldown, damaging at least one enemy with Pulse generates a charge (up to 4). On use, consume all charges to fire a sound wave that shields allies and damages and knocks away enemies.
Ability Demonstration
Damage: 5 + 5 * no. of charges Shield: 10 + 15 * no. of charges Shield duration: 8 seconds Knockback force: 5 * no. of charges Max charges: 4 Range: TBA Cooldown: 5 seconds
Details:
Sound Wave cannot stack. Using Sound Wave will replace the older shield with a new one.
Forcefield
Forcefield
Type
Ability Type Ability
Utility/AoE
Deploy a open semi-cylinder forcefield that follows your crosshair for 15 seconds or until it is destroyed. Recast to end the forcefield early, doing damage and shoving enemies away.
Boombox jumps high into the air, pulling nearby enemies towards him and damaging them. Reactivate to slam towards the ground, damaging and knocking enemies away on landing.
Jump extremely high into the air and slam the ground with a giant explosion. The explosion will give you and allies a temporary 200 shield, as well as slowing enemies.
Ability Demonstration
Damage: 8 + 15 * airtime duration, max. 40 Knockback force: 20 + 7 * airtime duration, going up only, max. 50 Shield: 500 decaying immediately at a rate of 2 per tick Slow: 30% for 3 seconds Radius: TBD Ult points: 125
Details:
The effects of Raining Tacos is cancelled if Boombox dies before slamming the ground.
The damage and slow of Raining Tacos will not apply if the player is out of line of sight of Boombox. The shield application ignores line of sight.
Multiple instances of Raining Tacos' shield and slow does not stack. If the player is provided a second Raining Tacos' shield, nothing happens.
Strategy
Pros
Considered to be the easiest Phighter to play due to trivial skill floor and ceiling.
Raining Tacos is exceptional for offensive and defensive use for its 500 HP shield, slow and high AoE damage.
Access to displacement on multiple abilities.
Forcefield allows Boombox to tank up to 300 HP worth of damage.
Cons
Without Forcefield or Raining Tacos, Boombox can be easily taken out due to low hitpoints.
No mobility, can be outrun by many Phighters.
Poor range outside of Raining Tacos.
Extremely telegraphed ultimate, can be killed during the cast-time of Raining Tacos.
Boombox is a support Phighter that has a wide access to displacement effects and defensive abilities to disorient fights and tank damage for his team. The defensive utility of Forcefield and Raining Tacos can be used to gain ground or protect teammates. With correct timing, Raining Tacos can turn fights into a team's favor due to the shield granted to Boombox and his allies on landing.
This is offset by multiple weaknesses. Boombox faces significant difficulty in approaching and dealing with mobile Phighters due to limited mobility options and range in his abilities. At a frail 150 hitpoints, Boombox is dependent on Forcefield or Raining Tacos to protect himself, making him easy to dispatch if caught without them. His ultimate Raining Tacos has a slow start-up and is telegraphed. Enemies can avoid the AoE of Boombox's ultimate or kill him before he lands, effectively wasting it. It is not a feasible option for responding to burst damage due to the time it takes before Boombox lands.
Ability Usage
Pulse
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Sound Wave
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Forcefield
Position in front of your teammates to make the most of Forcefield.
Forcefield can also be utilized to protect ranged Phighters, such as Hyperlaser in ranged exchanges.
Forcefield's knockback on activation and reactivation is powerful enough to throw Phighters out of bounds on maps such as Rocket Arena and The Iron Cafe when given the opportunity.
Jump Smash Move
Use Jump Smash Move before Raining Tacos to gain additional height and damage for Q2.
Pulse, Sound Wave and Forcefield can be used during the end-lag of the reactivation. Use it to squeeze in additional damage.
Raining Tacos
It is not recommended to use Raining Tacos at low health as there is a large risk of dying and wasting the ultimate.
Counterplay against Boombox
Ranged Phighters with any source of mobility can outrun a Boombox. Maintaining distance from Boombox prevents him from gaining charges for Sound Wave and doing damage with Pulse and Jump Smash Move. On smaller maps, the player should be mindful to avoid backing themselves into a corner/dead-end.
A significant weakness to Forcefield is its open cylinder shape. Ranged Phighters such as Rocket or Slingshot can take up a higher elevation and damage Boombox and his teammates without issue. In addition, shield piercing and AoE damage can pass through the forcefield. Without Forcefield, Boombox is frail and can be taken out from the fight with ease.
Raining Tacos is extremely telegraphed and risky to use in the middle of a teamfight. The player should take a moment to kill any Boombox attempting to use it at low health. Ranged Phighters with hitscan projectiles such as Hyperlaser and Slingshot have the opportunity to shoot down the mid-air Boombox. If Boombox is too healthy to kill in this state, the best option is to back out or seek high-ground to avoid the damage.
REWORKED: Damaging at least one enemy with Pulse grants you a charge, max. 4 charges. On activation, consumes all charges to release an AoE that heals allies and damages enemies. Each charge increases the damage, healing and knockback force.
Damage changed from 10 to 5 x no. of charges.
Healing changed from 0 to 10 x no. of charges.
Knockback force changed from unknown to 5 x no. of charges.
Forcefield
NEW EFFECTS: Forcefield now follows the player instead of staying at an area. Now uses an open cylinder shape instead of a sphere.
Health reduced from 400 to 250.
Size significantly reduced.
Duration increased from 11 seconds to 15 seconds.
REMOVED: Forcefield can no longer be recasted.
Raining Tacos
REWORKED: On landing, allies in the AoE are granted a 200 HP shield that starts to decay after 2 seconds. Damaged enemies are slowed by TBA% for 4 seconds.
REMOVED: No longer creates an 12 HP/sec AoE heal on landing. No longer heals allies.
19 May 2022
Forcefield
NEW EFFECT: Forcefield disappears and goes on cooldown after 11 seconds.
BUG FIX: No longer becomes invulnerable if the player who casted it leaves.
15 May 2022
Sound Wave
Lifetime increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.
Forcefield
NEW EFFECTS: Duration no longer resets when recasted. Now goes on its first cast cooldown when the duration expires.
Knockback force decreased from 10 to 6.
Duration reduced from 45 seconds to 10 seconds.
Cooldown decreased from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
18 April 2022
Soundwave
BUG FIX: No longer does more damage than intended.
17 April 2022
Forcefield
Health reduced from 450 to 400.
Knockback force reduced from 15 to 10.
Recast cooldown increased from 5 seconds to 8 seconds.
Cooldown increased from 12 seconds to 15 seconds.
16 April 2022
General additions and changes
The Bass Drop badge was added to the game.
Pulse
Knockback force reduced.
Forcefield
Forcefield first cast cooldown increased from 10 seconds to 12 seconds.