Winter Soldier

CHARACTERISTICS

REAL NAME James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes ALIASES Bucky

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

BIRTHPLACE Shelbyville, Indiana GENDER Male EYE COLOR Blue HAIR COLOR Brown

STATUS INFORMATION

CHARACTER TYPE Playable Character ROLE Duelist HEALTH 275 DIFFICULTY 3 Stars (Medium AFFILIATION HYDRA Logo HYDRA (formerly)

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION

Terrifying experiments turned him into a brainwashed assassin, but now James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes is in control of his own fate once again. With his enhanced mechanical arm, the Winter Soldier is primed to deliver earth-shattering blows to any foe in his path!

PROFILE

Winter Soldier is a Duelist hero in Marvel Rivals. He has team-up abilities that work in conjunction with Punisher and Rocket Raccoon.

Strengths

Combo-based assassin that can quickly shift from mid-range attacks to devastating close-range combos with conditional area-of-effect potential. Above-average health compared to other duelists, which can be brought even higher thanks to his passive. His passive, Ceasless Charge, automatically reloads his primary fire whenever he uses any of the bionic-arm related abilities while also providing bonus health. This makes his kit flow in synergy, as players can use bionic-arm abilities instead of manually reload as the situation demands to connect his combos seamlessly. In addition, Winter Soldier gains 30 bonus health when using Bionic Hook and Tainted Voltage, and 50 bonus health when using Trooper's Fist and Kraken Impact. This bonus health is granted even if the ability doesn't connect with an enemy. It also can stack, granting him exceptional longevity.

His primary fire, Roterstern, not only has fast projectiles and deals high damage, but also has an unique property of dealing splash damage that hits enemies in a small cone directly behind the primary target, granting Winter Soldier a powerful conditional area-of-effect damage. His secondary fire, Bionic Hook, which is a charged attack that extends the length of his bionic arm in a straight line to hook and pull the first target caught in its path towards the Winter Soldier. This ability is the core of the Winter Soldier's combo-oriented gameplay, allowing him to pull key targets overextending, such as Strategists, to quickly follow-up with his other abilities in order to deal devastating damage. Bionic Hook's ranged increases based on charge time, extending twice as long at maximum charge. In addition to dealing direct damage for the first target hit, it also deals damage to enemies in a small cone directly behind the victim.

Trooper's Fist is a short-ranged forward dash that ends in an uppercut. Enemies caught by it are pushed and launched upwards. The dash can hit multiple targets if they're very close to each other, leading them perfectly into the uppercut. This ability is an excellent follow-up to Bionic Hook. Tainted Voltage is an energy projectile launched in a straight line after a small build-up. The projectile has piercing properties, allowing Winter Soldier to hit multiple enemies if they're caught in the line of fire. Enemies hit are slowed by 35% for 2 seconds. If this ability hits flying enemies, such as Iron Man and Star-Lord (during Rocket Propulsion or Galatic Barrage), it'll knock them down to the ground. This ability is a great opener for the Winter Soldier, as the slow effect leave enemies vulnerable to pull them with Bionic Hook. His Ultimate, Kraken Impact, has Winter Soldier leaping high in the air while charging his bionic arm before slamming down to the ground, dealing high damage in a radius. Enemies hit by Kraken Impact are temporarily marked with a debuff called Culling, displayed as a small dark red bar overlapping the left side of the targets healthbar. This red bar mark represents 20% of a character max health. If a marked character's health drops below this 20% threshold, they will be instantly executed.

In addition, taking down marked targets will instantly refill Kraken Impact, allowing Winter Soldier to use it again. Winter Soldier can consecutively use Kraken Impact as long as he's able to dispose of marked characters. This reset works even against Loki's Doppelganger, Hulk reverting to Bruce Banner, or when triggering Wolverine's Regenerative Healing Factor. Rocket Raccoon can use Ammo Overload when paired with the Winter Soldier, providing him with Infinite Grit, a temporary effect that grants his Rotersten infinite ammo and 25% increased rate of fire.

Weaknesses

Lacks mobility outside of his Ultimate. While Trooper's Fist gives him access to a quick dash, the distance covered is too short to be a reliable dodge tool. Winter Soldier is very reliant on his bionic-arm abilities to keep damage going; if he mismanages them, he can be left incredibly vulnerable. Roterstern has the lowest ammo in the game, with only 3 rounds per magazine. This means players need high accuracy to maximize his damage-per-second. The Culling debuff from Kraken Impact lasts for only 5 seconds. Winter Soldier has no control over his team-up with Rocket Raccoon; the player controlling Rocket has to manually place the Ammo Overload device on the ground. The device has a limited radius and short duration.

Strategy

As Winter Soldier is built around continuous brawling around the frontlines, he will typically want to position close to his team's Vanguards and Strategists, weaving abilities between firing to whittle down enemies while looking for opportunities to pull in unaware enemies with Bionic Hook for an easy, isolated kill. The Roterstern blaster fires explosive projectiles that deal damage to the target and a small AoE behind it. It is best fired into large clusters of enemies or in between ability uses to maximize Winter Soldier's damage output. Bionic Hook has Winter Soldier charge up a ranged grab to pull enemies toward. Like his Roterstern, this attack has a small AoE behind, allowing it to hit and pull in multiple targets. Prioritize out-of-position enemies to pull them in for an easy kill. Note that Bionic Hook will pull enemies directly in front of where Winter Soldier is facing, meaning that if you are fast enough, you can pivot your view toward your team right after it lands to pull them even further out of position. Tainted Voltage fires a large red spark from Winter Soldier's arm. This spark will pierce enemies, hitting anyone it passes through, however it cannot pierce barriers. On top of dealing solid damage, it also slows enemies, making it easier to land follow-up shots on them. Trooper's Fist has Winter Soldier charge forward a short distance, seizing any enemies he hits before dealing a powerful uppercut to them, launching them up. This will leave the opponent floating in the air for a brief moment, allowing for an easy follow-up shot. It can also serve as an impromptu mobility option if need be.

Since this ability is capable of seizing and forcibly moving enemies, you can use it in conjunction with the previous Bionic Hook tip to push enemies even further into your team, on top of dealing extra damage. Winter Soldier's passive, Ceaseless Charge, is the bread and butter of his gameplan. Always make sure to try and weave abilities in between shots in order to maximize your damage output while minimizing your downtime. Take careful note of what abilities you have available at any given time, and be ready to take fewer risks if you see that they are still on cooldown. Kraken Impact is one of the game's strongest snowball ultimates. Upon activation, Winter Soldier will leap into the air and can come crashing down on top of an enemy, dealing strong damage as well as marking them for Culling. While marked, if the target's health goes under 20% of their maximum HP, they will instantly be KO'd, as well as refreshing Kraken Impact for another use. He can continue this over and over until he either misses the attack, fails to use it again within 8 seconds, or fails to get a kill on a marked target before the debuff fades.

Because of how devastating the ultimate can be if not planned for, most heroes, especially Strategists, will attempt to save their defensive abilities and ultimates until you decide to use it. Take careful note of which heroes and abilities have been used so you can pull out your ult at the most opportune moment. Winter Soldier's team-up with Rocket, Infinite Grit, allows Winter Soldier to continuously fire his weapon without needing to reload while he stands within Rocket's Ammo Overload beacon. This allows Winter Soldier to lay down continuous, high-damage fire down range without having to use an ability, allowing him to hold on to them for a more opportune moment.

Lore

Captain America's sidekick during World War II, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes was thought to have been killed in action. In truth, he had been recovered by enemy forces and rebuilt into their ultimate assassin. But the Winter Soldier eventually broke his conditioning to become a hero once more. Captured during an operation to sabotage Charteris Base, the Winter Soldier was subjected to horrific experiments at the hands of Hydra scientists. He was rescued by Hawkeye and a version of Captain America from the year 2099, who gifted an upgraded arm to his former partner.

A Helping Hand

The news streamed in from all over the world. The people in charge were calling it the Timestream Entanglement — a sudden disruption in the fabric of space and time that had sent chaos rippling across countless realities. The heroes of Earth had assembled to face the crisis head on. Not all of them had survived. "...entire world is in a state of mourning for Steve Rogers, the beloved hero known as Captain America, who was struck down earlier this week when..." "About damn time," a security officer in a Hydra uniform grunted, cracking a smile as he watched the satellite feed in the monitor station of the hidden Arctic base where he was stationed. The officer switched the channel to see another news report discussing the theory that Victor von Doom, the ruler of the European nation of Latveria, was behind the Timestream Entanglement. "Should've been us..." the security officer muttered, looking up at the large, red Hydra logo hanging proudly on the wall. He shook his head in disappointment. He had devoted his life to helping Hydra destabilize the world. And now, some Super Villain in a metal suit had beaten them to the punch. Still, he thought, there would surely be plenty of opportunities for Hydra to benefit from the world's new status quo. And the top-secret experiments being performed on the lower levels of this base were merely the beginning of what was to come...

The officer stood and began his patrol, exiting the monitor station and walking across the hangar to an open bay door. He gazed wistfully out at the snow-swept landing apron beyond. "Another peaceful night on the edge of nowhere," he said to himself. But he had no idea how soon his words would be proven wrong. Without warning, a squad of soldiers clad in white Arctic combat gear emblazoned with Hydra's red and black logo, came running toward the door. Before they could reach the safety of the hangar, they began to drop to the ground, one after another, each one with an arrow in their back. The remaining soldiers turned, their weapons raised, as a hooded figure leapt through the snowy night sky toward them. The twin katanas in his hands flashed in the moonlight, shining brighter than the frost-covered landscape. In a ballet of flashing steel, the mysterious assailant managed to wipe out the entire Hydra detachment, including the security officer. The first stage of his mission complete, the invader pulled down his hood to reveal the face beneath. It belonged to Clint Barton, the Avenger known as Hawkeye.

As he entered the Hydra base, stepping over the unconscious Hydra soldiers, he tried to get a sense of his surroundings as quickly as possible. There was no time to waste. Someone was waiting for him. "Hang in there, Bucky," Hawkeye said. "The cavalry's here." Soon... After navigating his way into the depths of Mount Erebus, Hawkeye entered Hydra's Super-Soldier Lab. Nine cylindrical glass tanks filled with fluid, each connected to a computer terminal via huge conduits, bubbled and glowed ominously. On the wall, screens cycled through human anatomical diagrams, energy equations, and images of decaying, mutated cells. Hawkeye stepped closer to the glass tanks, his dual blades in hand, ready for anything. He surveyed the tubes one-by-one, finally stopping at the final tank, which had a label that read "CANARY". "Jackpot," he said with a grin. Inside, partially concealed by the thick, glowing fluid, was the man that Hawkeye had been sent to retrieve. James "Bucky" Buchanan Barnes. The assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Before he could begin to set his friend free, though, a shadow unexpectedly passed behind one of the other tanks. Hawkeye looked in that direction, sword at the ready... He paused... ...but nothing... "Hmm." he muttered. "Nobody home." He began to sheathe the swords, returning his attention to the Winter Soldier's tank... but instead he pivoted at the last second, parrying as an unseen figure nearly took his head off with a steel-gauntleted fist.

A Hydra Super-Soldier emerged from the shadows. Seven-feet-tall, teeth bared, flesh twisted, madness in his eyes. He bellowed as he charged toward Hawkeye. Hawkeye dodged and counterattacked, jamming one of his katan into a joint of the Super-Soldier's mutated arm. Quickly realizing that his swords couldn't penetrate the Super-Soldier's dense flesh, Hawkeye changed tactics, trying to stay out of the Super-Soldier's reach and get enough space to use his weapon of choice: his bow and arrows. As Hawkeye acrobatically bounded towards the other side of the lab, the Super-Soldier dislodged the katana jammed in his arm and threw it aside with tremendous force. The spinning blade shattered the glass of one of the holding tanks, sending glowing fluid splashing everywhere. The attached computer began to short out in a shower of sparks. Hawkeye was too busy surviving to notice that something in the shattered tank had begun to move. He finally got enough space to raise his bow and notch an arrow, but the Super-Soldier was already on top of him. Hawkeye had nowhere left to go...

As the Super-Soldier swung his enormous fist down toward the archer, a mass of tentacles entangled the brute's arm. The startled Super-Soldier tried to struggle free, but the tentacles were too strong. With a sudden pull, the Super-Soldier was sent sailing through the air, smashing against the wall. Eldritch energy surged through his massive frame, and he slumped to the floor, a lifeless husk. Hawkeye scanned the room for the source of the tentacles. He was thankful for the save, but not entirely sure that he was ready to discover what new horrors had been unleashed. There, standing in the shattered tank, dripping with glowing fluid, stood the Winter Soldier. But something had changed about him. Where his cybernetic arm should have been was the same writhing mass of squid-like appendages that had just made quick work of Hydra's experimental enforcer. Hawkeye stared in astonishment, for once speechless. "You sure make a lot of noise," the Winter Soldier said as he stepped out of the tank. "Didn't mean to interrupt your nap," Hawkeye retorted, doing his best to mask his shock and concern with humor. Lowering his bow, Hawkeye retrieved his katana from next to the shattered tank and sheathed it. "Come on," he said, clearly uncomfortable as he put a hand on his old friend's shoulder — the one without the mass of squirming limbs extending from it. "We'll find a way to fix this. You'll be okay. We just need to get you out of here."

"Not yet," the Winter Soldier replied. "There's something I have to do first." "What we have to do is go back up to the landing platform," Hawkeye said. "Gotta go down before we go up, Clint," the Winter Soldier responded. "And I'm gonna need your help. Please." Hawkeye was taken aback. The Winter Soldier wasn't one to say "please." He could tell that this — whatever it was — was important to Bucky. It was enough to make Hawkeye push down his instinct to get the hell out of Hydra Town. "Well..." Hawkeye said with a sigh, "I guess if it was easy, anybody could do it..." Hawkeye followed the Winter Soldier into a vast space, with lines of giant robot-like vehicles in various stages of construction. As they crossed an elevated catwalk that traversed the room, they heard shouting and the thudding of boot heels rapidly approaching. Hydra was on their trail. Wherever they were going, they would have to move fast. Reaching a heavy door, they entered a chamber with a vaulted ceiling supported by pillars at least a hundred feet tall, each carved to look like a horrific monster. A portal yawned on one wall, with ancient energy radiating from it. Something was trying to come through from the other side.. and even though Hawkeye could see it, his brain couldn't process what the hell it was.

The Winter Soldier approached an altar near the portal and climbed on top of it. Hawkeye followed reluctantly. The Winter Soldier extended his tentacles into the carvings on the altar, each one naturally sliding into the ancient stone grooves, as if they had been carved ages ago for this very moment. Fragmented memories flooded the Winter Soldier's already fractured mind. He relived the day he first infiltrated Hydra's secret base, getting as far as the Hive chamber. He had tried to destroy it then, but failed. Hydra soldiers overwhelmed him and tore off his cybernetic arm. Before he knew what was happening, he was sealed inside a glass tank, tiny nubs of tentacles growing from his shoulder socket, his teeth bared in a permanent scream. Snapping back to reality, the Winter Soldier steeled himself, realizing what he had to do. Hawkeye glanced nervously from Bucky to the mass of Hydra soldiers that had just forced their way into the chamber. "You'd better make this quick, Buck," Hawkeye said. "Clint..." the Winter Soldier responded, gazing back at the portal behind him. Tentacles strangely similar to his own had begun to break through the membrane between realities. "How sharp are those swords of yours?" "Sharp enough to cut down an entire Hydra army," Hawkeye said proudly. But his face dropped as he realized he had no idea what his friend was about to ask him to do. "Why?" "We have to close that portal," the Winter Soldier said. "And let's face it... I can't exactly wear this thing to the next Avengers cookout anyway..."

Hawkeye glanced at the Winter Soldier's bizarre new arm and took a deep breath. He had come here to save his friend, not to cause him more pain. But this was Bucky's call... and it wasn't like the guy hadn't lost an arm before... "Fine," Hawkeye said after a long pause. "Say when." As the creature emerging from the portal wrapped its tentacle around the Winter Soldier's waist, the altar began to glow. It was almost as if a circuit had been completed, and the Winter Soldier was the conduit. Mystical power coursed between the altar and the portal, overloading Bucky's body with energy and agony. "When!" the Winter Soldier screamed. With a single clean slice, Hawkeye's blade severed the entire bunch of tentacles just below Bucky's shoulder, releasing a huge shockwave of energy, knocking both heroes and their Hydra pursuers to the ground. A rumble echoed through the chamber, deep cracks forming in the surrounding walls, pillars beginning to topple. Then, for a moment everything fell silent... until the portal surged with energy and the monster coming through it howled in pain, retreating back to the other side. When the dust cleared, Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier pulled themselves to their feet. With a quick survey of the room, reality set in. They had succeeded in stopping whatever was happening down here, but they had also cut off any escape routes in the process. "Guess you shouldn't have come after me..." the Winter Soldier said. "Don't say that," Hawkeye replied. "I was just doing my job."

"You were a hell of a soldier, Clint..." Bucky said, ready to accept the inevitable as the pillars shifted and rubble began to rain down towards them. The chamber was about to collapse and Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier knew full well that this mission would be their last. Suddenly, the ancient portal began to glow again. Bucky and Clint braced for the worst, not knowing what horrors might come through it this time. But neither of them could have possibly prepared for what they saw next. A round, metallic object launched through the portal at tremendous speed, ricocheting through the chamber. Chunks of falling debris shattered into tiny pebbles that sprinkled down upon the heroes harmlessly. "What the —?!" the Winter Soldier gasped. He was completely shocked, but also moderately annoyed by the fact that, once again, this world wasn't done with him quite yet. A figure burst forth from the mystical gateway, lunging forward and catching the metal disc in midair. He used it to effortlessly deflect a huge stone a split second before it could crush the bewildered heroes below. The stone didn't even make a dent in his brightly polished red, white, and blue shield. "Bucky," Captain America said, landing on the chamber floor and extending his hand to his former partner. "It's been too long." Both Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier stared in awe, fighting through the pain and exhaustion to try and process what they were seeing. Wasn't Cap supposed to be... dead...?

"Sorry I missed your funeral, old timer..." the Winter Soldier said. "Sorry I went to your funeral," Hawkeye chimed in. "Clearly, you didn't need one." "I'm... not the Steve Rogers you knew..." Cap said, trying to find the words to explain. "It's a long story. One even I don't fully understand yet. And one that we unfortunately don't have time for at the moment. My friends in Wakanda were able to hijack and redirect this portal's energy signature to open a gateway of their own, but there's no guarantee how long they'll be able to keep it open..." Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier looked at each other and shrugged. This was far from the weirdest thing that had happened to them today. And they were willing to wait for the full story if it meant they could get out of Hydra's house right now. "I was pretty sure we were gonna die down here," Hawkeye said. "Wasn't about to let that happen," Cap said confidently. "Nobody gets left behind." "Glad you're not dead, Steve," Bucky said, collapsing into Cap's arms. "Umm... I think I'm gonna need a hand..." "Looks like you need more than that, Buck..." Cap said, looking at the oozing stumps on the Winter Soldier's shoulder. "You know arms," the Winter Soldier said, forcing a grin. "Easy come, easy go." "Can't say the same about partners," Cap said back. The Winter Soldier looked over at Hawkeye, nodding at the man who had rescued him. Hawkeye nodded back knowingly. "Couldn't agree more..." the Winter Soldier said.

Moments later, in a crackle of energy, the heroes stepped out of the portal. They weren't anywhere near Hydra's frozen base. That was instantly clear. In fact, it didn't even look like they were on Earth anymore. The strange chronal energies of the Timestream Entanglement ripped across a star-filled sky as they gazed in disbelief at the spaceport of a futuristic city. If this was Wakanda, it certainly wasn't the one that Bucky and Clint knew. As the portal closed behind them, the heroes were greeted with a Wakandan salute from the Black Panther himself. Cap raised his hand to his forehead, offering a salute of his own. Hawkeye and the Winter Soldier remained silent and still, trying to assess their new situation. Shuri, the sister of the Black Panther and the brilliant mind behind some of Wakanda's most impressive inventions, stepped forward and offered a box to the newly-arrived heroes. Clint took the container and held it with both hands as Bucky flipped open the lid with the one he had left. Inside was a cutting-edge cybernetic arm. "I was told you might need this," Cap said, "so I called in a favor." Bucky picked up the arm with his good hand and snapped it into place. It was a perfect fit. "And now, I'm going to need a favor from you..." Cap said. The Winter Soldier didn't know what Captain America was about to ask him, but he wasn't about to say no. Whatever came next, he would be there 'til the end of the line.

Achievements

Brothers in Arms: As Winter Soldier, land 1 KO with an assist from Rocket Raccoon. Arm Race: As Winter Soldier, land 3 KOs with a single use of Kraken Impact.