Boombox is a support Phighter who specializes in controlling the battlefield with his intense knockback and shield-based abilities. Pulse Wave allows Boombox to knock enemies away from him and his allies as well as increase his own damage or the supportive effects of Shielding Amplifier through gaining charges. Protecting Overtone grants Boombox a forcefield that blocks incoming projectiles, allowing for better gap closing between his team and the opposition. His Phinisher, Raining Tacos, can turn the tides of the battle with powerful crowd control and granting his teammates an insane amount of temporary shields, making them nearly invincible for the duration.
Abilities
Charging Blitz
Charging Blitz
Type
Ability Type Passive
N/A
Perfectly timing your primary boosts your primary, gives you and allies short burst of speed, and grants you a charge. Being late or early only grants a charge.
Ability Demonstration
Timing between perfects: 1 second Haste duration: 0.5 seconds
Details:
Perfectly timing your primary has various texts
PERF!
PERFECT!
GREAT!
COOL!
RADICAL!
NEAT!
Pulse Wave
Pulse Wave
Type
Ability Type Primary
AoE
Fire a wave forward that knocks enemies away.
Ability Demonstration
Damage: 8 + 2 * no. of charges Knockback force: 8 + 2 * no. of charges Range: 20 Fire rate: 0.9 seconds Ammo: ∞
Details:
The ring is centered around Boombox's upper torso.
Shielding Amplifier
Shielding Amplifier
Type
Ability Type Ability
AoE
Fire a soundwave that shields allies and grants haste depending on your charges.
Ability Demonstration
Damage: 5 + 5 * no. of charges Shield: 15 + 15 * no. of charges Overshield duration: 6 seconds Knockback force: 5 * no. of charges Haste: 12 * no. of charges Haste duration: 2 seconds Max charges: 4 Range: TBA Cooldown: 8 seconds
Details:
Bass Boost/Beat Drop
Bass Boost/Beat Drop
Type
Ability Type Ability
AoE/Mobility
Jump in the air and pull enemies in, reactivate to slam down and push enemies away.
Deploy a 300HP forcefield that follows you for 15 seconds or until it is destroyed. Reactivate while the forcefield is up to destroy it and push any enemies back.
Jump high into the air and slam the ground with a giant explosion. The explosion will give you and allies a temporary 500 shield, as well as slow enemies.
Ability Demonstration
Damage: 8 + 15 * airtime duration, max. 40 Knockback force: 20 + 7 * airtime duration, going up only, max. 50 Shield: 100 on cast, 400 decaying immediately at a rate of 2 per tick upon landing Slow: 30% for 3 seconds Radius: TBD Phinisher cost: 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
Versatile support, with charge allowing for greater offense and defense simultaneously
Raining Tacos can deny enemy Phinishers
Knockback on abilities helps counter melee Phighters
Cons
Passive maybe be difficult to time for players not familiar with rhythm games
100 HP, something that cannot be regained without a Medkit
Poor range
Long Phinisher cast animation
Boombox excels when he can consistently hit his Charging Blitz. Not only does it give anyone around him a 25% speed boost, but it also allows him to constantly deal damage and then bring his team's shields back up. Boombox is best played around his team or at least one teammate.
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.