| Rarity | Base Stats | Price | Unlock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 950/1,350 | N/A | Gold Booster Pack, Most Wanted Pack, Phantom Zone (Veteran), Shazam Celebration Pack |
 Lightning Fury: Upon Super Move activation, Shazam deals 300% more damage with basic attacks, takes 50% less damage, and can use special moves without power cost for 12 seconds.
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Shazam is one of the most classic and rare powerhouses in the game. In addition to his long stretch of health, Shazam packs a powerful punch, and can easily decimate entire teams. He also used to have the highest health stat for the longest time, before being surpassed by Hal Jordan/Red Lantern (1400) in the 2.6 update.
Shazam is unusual in that he can only be obtained in the Gold Booster Pack (3.25% chance), the Most Wanted Pack (8% chance per slot), the Shazam Celebration Pack (9.00%) and cannot be unlocked.
Strategy[]
Basic Attacks[]
| Basic Combo | Damage Pattern (% of damage stat) | Total (including Combo Ender) |
|---|---|---|
| Light (Combo Ender) | 2% - 2% - 2% - (3%) | 9% |
| Heavy | 5% - 7% | 12% |
Shazam's heavy combo has only 2 hits, which deals the same total damage but with fewer hit than standard heavy, granting both him and opponent less power.
Passive[]
For 12 seconds after using his super, Shazam will retain two bars of power even after using a special, and he is not affected by most power drain effects. During this time, if he is not interrupted, he can use Bolt of Zeus up to 7 times, or Roaring Strike up to 5 times. It is possible to gain further power in this state (at a greatly reduced rate). All power will be removed after the buff wears off - including any power he gains during his passive. The timer for his passive will still run during his tag-out.
After using his super, it is actually possible to use another super before his passive wears off using the reverse power drain from the Lexcorp Set or tag out and in quickly with Tantu Totem equipped (especially with Hawkgirl/Prime as support). If Shazam has multiple stacks of Lightning Fury active, the boosts stack additively, meaning 2 stacks will reduce all incoming damage by 100% (he would need to be under bleeding DOT to be damaged) and basic damage will be increased to +600%. Likewise, with 3 stacks, he has 150% damage reduction (he can only receive damage with 3 bleeds or more) and +900% basic damage. Because multiple Lightning Fury effects can run simultaneously, their durations will not stack, but instead run independently of others.
Shazam using his Supermove!
Shazam's passive is activated after using his Supermove.
Shazam unleashing his full might on his opponent.
Shazam is immune to POWER DRAIN effect while using his effect!
His basic damage potential with his passive is often understated. Because this buff stacks additively with other boosts and therefore diminishes comparatively when stacking basic damage gear, basic critical chance and critical damage boost gear stacks more favorably with his passive.
Moreover, since his special 2 can land unblocked if used right after his heavy combo, the combination of his hard-hitting heavy basic combo chained to a cost-free SP2 can be used to great effect during his passive.
The 50% damage reduction is applied before any recoil from the Super itself is calculated. For example, if a Super is used to KO The Joker/Insurgency, Shazam will only lose 20% of his max health instead of 40%. Damage from Black Adam/Regime's Lightning Shield is also reduced if a Super triggers it.
His popularity has gradually declined as more and more new and powerful characters and gears are released with less avoidable damage, mostly because of the efficiency of the Tantu Totem + The Master's Death Cart setup on strong SP2 users. The enemies can block his specials, make his passive is actually less effective than it seems, and waiting to catch the enemies off-guard for a use of special can eat up the already short duration of his passive. Despite this, he still makes up for being a solid damage dealer with specific characters and gear setup, such as The Joker/The Killing Joke, Batgirl/Prime or Tantu Totem, etc.
All Shazam characters, including this Prime version, do not count as Justice League character for Shazam/New 52's passives, as well as Wonder Woman/New 52 and Superman/New 52's ones.
Gear[]
Offense[]
Shazam's passive in action
Shazam uses his Supermove, activating his passive.
Getting to three bars is often a pain, as his light basic combos are rather awkward, and while his heavy combo is fast and easier to use, it also only deals 2 hits so he gains power much slower. Killing Joke Joker, Batgirl/Prime and Ra's Al Ghul's Scimitar can help with this issue. As for power generation gear, The Ibistick gives some of the highest power generation of any gear (recently surpassed by the League of Assassins Adept Knives and Heart of Darkness), as well as giving him a large damage boost to both specials. If you don't have it (or if you want to stack more power generation) try Raven or Shazam's own specific gear, the former offers crit on SP2 while the latter has stun on SP2, both of which can be useful (the latter also has Area Effect on SP1, although that is not quite as useful).
As his super allows him to do his SP2 up to 5 times in quick succession, Kryptonian Battle Suit (or equivalent), which increases max health and heal on SP2, would be very useful, allowing you to completely recover health with one super.
Tantu Totem and The Master's Death Cart will both give him a bar of power on every tag-in when maxed out, giving him two bars of power if used together. Note that the power return from Tantu Totem will not function while Lightning Fury is active.
Defense[]
In order to counter Shazam, power drain is recommended to handle him, draining him before he can reach 3 bars. However, when you are on offense, it is very unlikely for Shazam to build up to three bars of power (watch out for Killing Joke Joker however, who is a classic combination with Shazam), and dealing with him is usually fairly straightforward, with the only problem being his very high base health, so he would heal quite a lot repeatedly with heal on SP1 gear.
If he does use his super move, block gear would be very useful in mitigating the incoming damage, as he has no trick to get around block, and block gear can reduce his special damage to just 10% of the normal value. Be very careful when dealing with him during his passive; his personal gear grants him stun chance on special 2, so it might leave you open to yet another special.
Shazam, along with Darkseid/Prime and Superman/Godfall, were often used together as an online defense team. While their passives are not very useful for online defense and they have almost no synergy with each other, their very high base stats will attract many attacking teams, as the matching system will try to match players against stronger defense teams, allowing you to gain more battle rating. This has since become mostly obsolete due to the 2.6 update that introduced 3 new characters whose base stats surpass even Shazam and 2 more that tie with him.
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 Shazam. Having a card that "counters" Shazam does not mean it is always a good choice.
Good With[]
- The Joker/The Killing Joke: His passive grants his teammates full power when he is knocked out.
- The LexCorp Set: Giving Shazam at least two pieces makes him immune to power drain and actually gives him power. This makes it easier for Shazam to gain power and means his opponents must weather his specials.
- Ares/Prime: Ares' SP2 can disable opposing team-wide blocking (provided it doesn't KO the current opponent). If Shazam has full power, he can tag in, fire off his supermove, activate his passive, and then proceed to land unblocked SP2's for the majority of the block disable.
- Harley Quinn/Suicide Squad: Aside from being able to heal Shazam and buff his damage, her "extra trick" will give all teammates a bar of power, making it easier for Shazam to reach full power.
- Batgirl/Prime: She gives Shazam a bar of power at the start of the match, allowing him to use a super move earlier in the match.
Good Against[]
- Slow characters, particularly Killer Croc/Arkham and Solomon Grundy: Since their basic attack speed is slow - even more so with Killer Croc's case - they can be easily caught off-guard when Shazam spams his SP2 when his passive is activated.
- Bane/Luchador, and Batgirl/Cassandra Cain: Shazam's SP2 comprises of multiple hits. If first few hits KO an opponent, if either Bane or Batgirl tag in, their passives will not activate, giving Shazam an opportunity to exploit their low health stats, especially when he has his passive activated.
- The Flash/Blackest Night: Shazam can use special attacks to bypass his evasion, and shred through his resurrections with a barrage of special attacks.
- The Joker/Insurgency & The Joker/Prime: Shazam will receive reduced damage from their passives if he defeats them with his Super Move.
Countered By[]
- Power Drain: During Shazam's passive, he is immune to almost any form of power drain; however, it is very useful to prevent him from reaching 3 bars.
- Aquaman/Regime: Upon using his Super Move, he drains the entire enemy team of all power. It is currently unknown whether this works during Shazam's passive.
- Raven/Prime: Shazam entirely lacks a one-hit nuke required to deal with Raven's extraordinarily powerful health swap passive as his super only does 20% damage, and the rapid-fire indiscriminate damage of the subsequent Roaring Strikes is exactly what Raven preys upon. But keep in mind that one can use Shazam to brute force her health swaps while his passive is active, essentially wasting them on a single character.
- Green Lantern/John Stewart: Similar to Raven, except less devastating but extends the effect to his whole team; the four-second invulnerability for each character stops Shazam dead in his tracks and wastes at least a third of his passive.
- Hawkgirl/Regime: She disables specials upon tagging in, preventing Shazam from using his specials or super at all for 5 seconds.
- Zod/Man of Steel: His passive allows him to take a fairly large amount of damage off of Shazam's special 2, so you have to use more to knock him out, resulting in you having less time to use your special 2 on other opponents.
- Batman/Dawn of Justice, The Flash/Wally West Rebirth, and Superman/Injustice 2: Their passives allow them to "dodge" Shazam's special attacks, thus wasting away his precious passive duration.
- Raven/Rebirth: Her passive steals all his power if he has more than her, keeping him from activating his super. If his passive is activated and Raven tags in, her passive can still steal 1 bar of his power, preventing him from using Roaring Strike.
- Sinestro/Antimatter: His special 1 forces Shazam to tag out, wasting most of his passive duration; however, Shazam is immune to its power drain while Shazam's passive is active.
- Killer Frost/Prime, and Solomon Grundy/Earth 2: These characters can slow down Shazam's power generation. Making it harder for him to reach 3 bars.
Abilities[]
Here are Shazam's abilities.
| Ability | Classification | Description | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bolt of Zeus | First Special | Shazam summons and hurls the Bolt of Zeus at his opponent. | Rapid Swipe |
| Roaring Strike | Second Special | A series of quick strikes is accented by a shocking end. | Quick Tap, Rapid Tap |
| The Power of SHAZAM | Super Move | Shazam charges a powerful lightning punch, sending his opponent into the clouds where he inflicts multiple, powerful blows before flinging them back to the ground. UNBLOCKABLE. | Tap |
His SP2, Roaring Strike, can be chained from his heavy combo.
His Super Move, The Power of SHAZAM deals reduced damage, only 49.5% of his damage stat (while other characters' Super Moves do 247.5% of their damage stats), or 5 times weaker than a normal Super Move would do.
Support Cards and Gear[]
Here are Shazam's support cards and gear.
| Card | Classification | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tawny | Health | 10% HEALTH BOOST. | 6,000 |
| Jebediah of Canaan | Damage | 10% DAMAGE BOOST. | 8,000 |
| Rock of Eternity | Energy | 10% ENERGY REGENERATION. | 10,000 |
| White Cloak (Lightning Cloak) | Gear |
8% - 18% POWER GENERATION increase [Shazam] 100% AREA EFFECT: opponent's team takes 10% - 20% damage from on Special 1 [EVOLVED] 15% - 25% STUN chance 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 | 7438 | 19,683 |
| Elite I | 11,158 | 29,524 |
| Elite II | 14,877 | 39,366 |
| Elite III | 22,305 | 59,049 |
| Elite IV | 26,035 | 70,858 |
| Elite V | 29,754 | 78,732 |
| Elite VI | 33,473 | 88,573 |
| Elite VII | 37,192 | 98,415 |
| Elite VIII | 40,912 | 108,256 |
| Elite IX | 44,631 | 118,098 |
| Elite X | 52,518 | 151,632 |
Trivia[]
- Shazam used to have the highest health in the game, until Doomsday/Containment surpassed him with 1500 effective health (600 base). He was then the character with the highest maximum health in the game in a single bar (since healing Containment Doomsday scales with his base maximum health, 600), until he was surpassed by Scorpion/Mortal Kombat X. He was still the character with the highest base health (as MKX Scorpion's health is tied to his passive and requires promotions) until surpassed by Hal Jordan/Red Lantern. However, since Red Lantern Hal's passive causes him to take percentage max health damage to use specials or supers and he cannot be healed, it can be argued Shazam was not truly surpassed until the release of Darkseid/Apokolips (1400). For a very long time, he also has the highest total base stats, until surpassed by Batman/Arkham Knight and The Flash/Metahuman.
- On average, it would take about 339 Gold Booster Packs to obtain a Elite X Shazam.
- The animation of the last hit of Roaring Strike (a bolt of lightning from above) is very similar to Solomon Grundy/Regime and Solomon Grundy/Prime's passive revival animation.
- There was previously a bug that causes the flowing lightning effect to spread from the lighting bolt on his chest to his entire model, and it was fixed by the 2.6 update; despite this, it may still occur if you're playing on older devices.
- When using his heavy combo, the last hit will be different depending on if the opponent will be KO'ed or not. If the opponent will be KO'ed on the last hit, he kicks up and outward, but, if the opponent will not be KO'ed, instead the last hit would only stomp them down to the ground.
- A Shazam Prime card can be sold for 118,500 Power Credits, so if you get him from the Gold Booster Pack (which is worth 100k credits), you'll get 18,500 more credits than before buying the pack.
- Shazam is one of the characters who were in the first Injustice game, but did not make it to Injustice 2 console. However, Shazam is playable on Injustice 2 mobile, although in that case his appearance is based on the 2019 Shazam! film instead. Injustice 2 Mobile's Shazam also has Bolt of Zeus as special 1, Roaring Strike as special 3, and The Power of SHAZAM as his super move.
- Shazam currently holds the world record for highest single basic attack strike ever recorded without use of the Soultaker Sword in Injustice Gods Among Us Mobile with a single attack of 440,192.