| Rarity | Base Stats | Price | Unlock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 1,000/1,300 | 330,000 | Challenge Mode, Challenge Booster Pack, Blackest Night Booster Pack, Most Wanted Pack, Special Challenge Booster Packs, Aquaman Celebration Pack, Shazam Celebration Pack, Joker Celebration Pack, Halloween Bundle, Phantom Zone reward (Elite) |
 Shifter: J'onn cycles through different offensive buffs: LIFE DRAIN (health siphoned goes to his entire team), increased POWER Generation and increased DEFENSE.
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Blackest Night Martian Manhunter is a unique character who shifts between different forms periodically, giving him different options and strengths at different times. He is also one the best defense characters in and out of Blackest Night Teams.
Strategy
Basic Attacks
| Basic combo | Damage pattern (% of damage stat) | Total (including Combo Ender) |
|---|---|---|
| Light (Combo Ender) | 2% - 2% - 2% - (3% - 3%) | 12% |
| Heavy | 4% - 4% - 4% | 12% |
Passive
The DEFENSE (blue) buff is always up first, and for the first time, it only lasts 3 seconds. It is followed by the LIFE DRAIN (red) buff, which lasts 6 seconds. Finally, his last buff, POWER GENERATION (yellow), allows him to generate power at a faster rate, and lasts 14 seconds. It would then cycle back to the DEFENSE buff - this time and after, it will last 14 seconds as well. The timer only runs while tagged in.
Defense
Defense buff.
Causes Martian Manhunter to take 50% reduced damage from all sources, including radiation, Batgirl/Cassandra Cain, The Joker/Insurgency and The Joker/Prime's passives. This buff seems to take some time to "load" upon tag in and may not reduce immediate damage despite the buff being displayed.
As the first defence buff only lasts about 3 seconds, it is possible to stun an opponent with one of your other characters, immediately tag in Martian Manhunter, wait for a couple seconds and then use a special: if timed correctly, the special can fully take advantage of both the life drain buff and the stun (especially with the Cloak of Destiny). Alternatively, Martian Manhunter can also be the first character on your team: tag him out after 2 seconds into the match, and when the situation calls for it, he can be immediately tagged in to lifedrain.
This defense buff can stack additively with other defense increases. When equipped with both a maxed out Gingold Soda and Killer Croc Companion Card EVOLVED and when paired with Shazam/New 52, Martian Manhunter may be completely immune to basic attacks and specials during the blue buff.
Life Drain
Life drain buff.
The Life Drain buff heal his entire team for the same amount depending on damage dealt to opponent. Different types of damage interact with it differently:
- Heals for 100% of damage dealt: Basic damage, damage over time, reflect damage, LexCorp Set (3-piece effect) and The Master's Death Cart (tag-in damage).
- Heals for 40% of damage dealt: Special Attacks and Super Moves.
- Does not apply Life Drain: Enemy self-damage (Red Lantern Hal Jordan), Claw of Horus (tag-in damage), Area Effect damage, Harley Quinn/Arkham Knight's surprise attack, Radiation and Darkseid/Apokolips's bleeding.
It will stack with other forms of life drain, like from the Gauntlets of Azrael or LexCorp Chest Armor V2.
Damage over time effects (including the burning from The Ibistick) inflicted by teammates can be converted to healing if you tag in J'onn while it is still running and while his life drain buff is active. This is extremely effective with Batman/Blackest Night, whose passive already synergizes with Blackest Night teammates, and his SP1 applies gear DOTs twice in one special, resulting in massive life drain that can sometimes rapidly refill the entire team's health even as he is being hit by enemy special attacks, especially with multiple simultaneous applications against high health opponents like Superman/Injustice 2. This is particularly useful in the later rounds of Survivor Mode, where opponent health reaches astronomical levels and The Ibistick's damage scales to match. However, if the enemy is under the effect of Blink, DOTs do not apply life drain, even if they are still doing damage.
It is easy to miss this buff, as it only lasts for a few seconds and buffs can change during a special's animation. A super move may be a good idea if you can't afford to set up an unblocked special or the buff is about to wear off.
Power Generation
Power generation buff.
J'onn generates 30% more power while this buff is active. This rounds out to 12% over the whole cycle, but likely higher as you can focus on generating power during this buff and expend it on specials during the life drain buff.
Gear
Although his Damage stat is relatively low, generally it is a good idea to prioritize doing damage instead of healing with gear because of how strong his life drain buff is, making healing gear redundant. On the other hand, if you are using Batman with a powerful DOT setup (e.g. The Ibistick, Quake Engine, The Master's Death Cart), BNMM's gear becomes less important because he can simply siphon health off Batman's DOTs.
One possible build is Cloak of Destiny, Nekron's Scythe, and Tantu Totem. Once the opponent is stunned (with BN Batman or Hawkgirl's SP1), this allows him to inflict massive damage with either special for great healing. Nekron's Scythe's power steal is also dependent on damage dealt, so hitting the opponent while they are stunned using this build can immediately steal lots of power if BNMM is under 15% health.
The defense aura of his passive allows for a immovable defensive build which makes use of Gingold Soda, Killer Croc Companion Card EVOLVED and Batman Ninja Helmet. With this setup, Martian Manhunter can become largely resistant to all forms of damage while the defense aura is active and would be further bolstered if teamed up with Shazam/New 52, which would then make him almost completely immune to any damage during his defense aura. It is also relatively easier for him to charge the Batman Ninja Helmet thanks to his power generation aura. With the assistance of a character with powerful DOT, Martian Manhunter would be able to heal the entire team and nullify damage from enemy attacks, making him an ideal tank.
Interactions
Please note that battles are highly situational: this section only mentions cards that have mechanics that, for any reason, are particularly effective with/against, or particularly ineffective against Martian Manhunter. Having a card that "counters" Martian Manhunter does not mean it is always a good choice.
Good With
- Other Blackest Night characters, especially Batman/Blackest Night and Hawkgirl/Blackest Night.
- Glass cannons, such as Ares/Prime and Bane/Luchador, as Manhunter can heal them by large amounts and stall as they gain power, which is a necessity due to their low health.
- Wonder Woman/New 52 and Shazam/New 52: Their passives benefit Justice League teammates, including Martian Manhunter.
- Superman/New 52: As Martian Manhunter is a Justice League teammate, he will count towards Superman's damage mitigation.
- Batman Ninja Helmet: As stated in Gear of the Strategy section.
Good Against
- Batman/Arkham Knight, Batman/Arkham Origins, Batgirl/Prime & Green Lantern/Hal Jordan Red Lantern: He starts with the defense buff to tank their early special attacks.
- Killer Frost/Prime, Solomon Grundy/Earth 2: Manhunter's increased power generation can effectively counter their power dampening.
- Batgirl/Cassandra Cain: Her tag-in attack would still have its damage halved, thereby limiting her effectiveness.
- The Joker/Insurgency: His death damage will be reduced during the defense phase.
- Reverse-Flash: Martian Manhunter’s passive can adapt to be used against Reverse Flash. His increased power generation will allow him to use more special attacks, which can quickly take up the chances of his Cellular Regeneration, leaving him without his passive early in the match. His team life drain can heal his teammates from the Area Effect damage dealt by Eobard's SP2 and his Defense buff can protect him from special attacks, particularly his SP2, which will reduce the Area Effect damage taken by his tagged out teammates.
- Characters or gears that can deal Area Effect damage: His defense buff will reduce damage taken by himself and his tagged out teammates. However, AOE attacks can damage him effectively while he is tagged out. He can also heal his team thanks to the life drain buff.
Countered By
- Killer Frost/Regime, and Batman/Flashpoint: Their passive abilities can severely limit the effectiveness of Manhunter's usually very powerful life drain.
- Raven/Prime: Her health swap will not be affected by his defense buff.
- Raven/Rebirth: The increased power generation allows Raven to steal more power.
- Sinestro/Antimatter: His SP1 drains 2 bars of power and also forces Martian Manhunter to tag-out, making him unable to cycle through his buffs.
- The Joker/Batman Ninja: Upon knocking out an enemy, Martian Manhunter's Life Drain will heal Lord Joker. Also, Lord Joker's specials can deal AOE damage, wounding the tagged out Martian Manhunter with full force.
- Batman/Batman Ninja: He is immune to life drain while being outnumbered. Additionally, with the right setup, Batman's SP2 can deal over 1 MILLION DAMAGE when maxed, easily knocking out Martian Manhunter even with his defense buff active.
Abilities
Here are Martian Manhunter's abilities.
| Ability | Classification | Description | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase Assault | First Special | Martian Manhunter phases through the ground and reappears with a devastating uppercut from under the opponent. | Rapid Swipe |
| Soul Survivor | Second Special | J'onn unleashes numerous shapeshifting strikes. | Rapid Tap |
| Son of Mars | Super Move | Martian Manhunter teleports his victim to his home planet for a crushing blow. UNBLOCKABLE. | Tap |
Soul Survivor will have faster animation if blocked, misses or deals no damage. However, the animation speed returns back to normal any of the hits of the special breaks the block.
Support Cards and Gear
Here are Martian Manhunter's support cards and gear.
| Card | Classification | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bag of Chocos | Health | 10% HEALTH BOOST. | 3,000 |
| Mars, the Red Planet | Damage | 10% DAMAGE BOOST. | 4,000 |
| JLA Watchtower | Energy | 10% ENERGY REGENERATION. | 5,000 |
| Martian Garb (Martian Hunter Garb) | Gear |
12% - 22% MAX HEALTH increase [Martian Manhunter] 15% - 25% UNBLOCKABLE chance on basic attacks [EVOLVED] HEAL SELF 15% - 25% on Special 2 |
25,000 - 1,000,000 (upgrading) |
Stats
These stats are the final damage and health levels at level 50, per Elite rank, with ALL support cards, and without any augmentations. With the 2.13 update, Elite 8, 9, and 10 have been added. The Elite 10 damage and health levels are for level 60 characters. Numbers with a * after them may not be accurate, please allow for a discrepancy of '+1/-1' damage or health due to rounding inconsistencies in game code.
| Tier | Damage | Health |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | 7,830 | 18,954 |
| Elite I | 11,745 | 28,431 |
| Elite II | 15,660 | 37,908 |
| Elite III | 23,490 | 56,862 |
| Elite IV | 27,405 | 68,234 |
| Elite V | 31,320 | 75,816 |
| Elite VI | 35,235 | 85,293 |
| Elite VII | 39,150 | 94,770 |
| Elite VIII | 43,065 | 104,247 |
| Elite IX | 46,980 | 113,724 |
| Elite X | 55,283 | 146,016 |
Trivia
- Blackest Night Martian Manhunter was released to coincide with Halloween.[1]
- His artifacts are: Boots, Medallion, Black Lantern Ring, Emblem, and Cape.
- Blackest Night Martian Manhunter has the longest name in the game with 29 characters, tied with The Joker Unhinged/Suicide Squad if spaces are counted.
Maritan Manhunter transforms into Superman/Prison.
- With a combined base stats of 2300, he was the first to tie with Shazam/Prime (along with The Arkham Knight) for the then-highest combined base stats.
- Just like his Prime counterpart, Martian Manhunter briefly shapeshifts into the likeness of his opponent when he uses his Super Move.
- His challenge returned from October 22, 2015 to October 13, 2016, almost exactly a year after his challenge originally aired.
- In the console version, Martian Manhunter has a combo named "Sole Survivor". His SP2 is therefore named "Soul Survivor" as a nod to his Blackest Night theme.
