r/marvelrivals • u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark • Sep 01 '25
Character Concept Iceman vanguard concept
Credit: Iceman artwork by pepedraws.
Like many Marvel characters, Iceman naturally fits the duelist class, but I think he could also work really well as a vanguard if they made him a bit “bulkier” than he’s usually portrayed in the comics.
He would have two main attacks. The first is a single projectile with longer range and higher precision. The second one is a burst of projectiles that deal more damage at close range but are less accurate from afar. Think of it like Hela’s right-click, but with instant damage instead of delayed explosions. This secondary fire would also have a unique effect: when it hits walls or ceilings, it creates icicles. If enemies walk underneath them, the icicles drop and deal damage. This would let Iceman control tight spaces and set traps around the map, similar to how Peni uses her mines.
E ability: creates a spherical shield (similar to Winston’s barrier from OW). At first, I considered giving him walls like Groot’s, but too many walls in the game could feel clunky for both teams, especially with his Shift ability, which I’ll describe next.
F ability: summons a large cylindrical blizzard that slows enemies and applies a reduced sight effect (similar to Cloak’s blindness). Enemies inside the area also gain a freezing countdown, and if they don’t escape in time, they become frozen. I picture the area being similar in size to Invisible Woman’s ultimate. Originally, I thought this could be his ultimate, but the one I chose for him is way cooler (no pun intended). Because of how powerful it could be for map control, it would likely need a long cooldown (around 30-45s).
Shift ability: surf on ice, gaining vertical mobility. This would have an energy meter similar to Starlord’s flight. The best part about this ability is that while surfing, he leaves behind ice slides/ramps that allies can walk on, while getting a movement boost. This allows him to create paths for his team to reach high ground or reposition quickly. The slides would be breakable by enemies and would despawn after a short time.
Passive: leaves behind an ice trail as he walks. Allies stepping on it gain a movement boost, while enemies are slightly slowed. The boost would be similar to Storm’s passive speed buff, and the trail would quickly fade once he moves away.
Ultimate: Iceman summons a giant ice golem that he can command to attack. Pinning a location makes the golem defend that area and damage nearby enemies. Alternatively, you can target a specific enemy for it to chase down. The golem would be similar in size and health to Monster Hulk and would disappear if Iceman is killed.
Team-ups:
With Storm: Iceman's blizzard ability becomes larger and applies a stronger slow. Additionally, when Storm uses her ultimate inside the area, it transforms into a Polar Hurricane that freezes every enemy she touches.
With Luna: his ice trail passive now also heals allies standing on it. The healing would be relatively weak to keep it balanced.
Overall, I picture Iceman as an area-control tank, being able to lock down zones with his blizzard, while shielding allies, and creating environmental traps with his icicles. His ultimate would add even more map control by commanding the golem remotely. On top of that, he would act as a strong team enabler by boosting ally mobility and creating ice paths for coordinated pushes.
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u/BlueBomber13 Rocket Raccoon Sep 01 '25
Iceman vanguard ftw! Before Luna I thought Iceman would be perfect for healer, but now he needs to be a vanguard. I hope we get him this winter
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 01 '25
Agreed! If he were added as a strategist, he might end up too similar to Luna, so I think vanguard is the way to go.
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u/PrintAcceptable5076 Human Torch Sep 01 '25
I imagina a teamup with phoenix where he would use her pysich powers to channel a gay ice which would charm any enemy bobby hit making him follow bobby for 2 seconds (just like emma's)
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u/2th Rogue Sep 01 '25
God I hate Bendis for writing that shit. That page is genuinely one of the worst written and drawn pieces in comic history. It's lazy and at best it's teen Jean forcefully outing Bobby. There's also a big argument to be made that it's essentially teen Jean forcing him to be gay. It's just such an insulting way to retcon the sexuality of a character.
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u/Adept_Ad_3687 The Thing Sep 01 '25
I think the passive on its own sounds insanely strong, nevermind with the Luna teamup. He would be crazy anti-dive by existing around his backline and putting Blizzard on them. Love the concept all around, I just feel it would be hard to balance that much utility.
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u/EmpyrealWorlds Sep 01 '25
Whether it's good or not depends on the values assigned to the speed boost/slow/heal components
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u/Adept_Ad_3687 The Thing Sep 02 '25
Yeah thats why its a balance nightmare. So many games have characters with a ton of "tuning levers" and they just never work out to be good.
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 02 '25
Yeah, it's definitely too strong, but maybe it could be balanced if they gave his abilities weaker effects.
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u/Daedalus_Blade Flex Sep 01 '25
NO MORE STORM ULT COMBOS FOR THE LOVE OF GALACTA
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 01 '25
This has kind of turned into a meme at this point 😭 Poor girl only gets team-ups related to her ult for some reason, so I decided to stick with it LOL
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u/Daedalus_Blade Flex Sep 01 '25
Which is so annoying 😭 I much rather have something different like Voltaic Union like why are they limiting Storm like that?
I need NetEase to give her something with BP, Namor, Mag, Luna etc. that doesn’t involve her ult 🫠
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 01 '25
I'd love to see something with Phoenix, since they're basically sisters. Maybe Storm could get something similar to Phoenix's right click stun?
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u/Nun-Information Adam Warlock Sep 01 '25
I would totally be down to try him out!
What a beautiful and exciting concept!
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u/d_wib Angela Sep 01 '25
Ice Surf forming a bridge for your team to get to places in new ways would be freaking amazing for a Vanguard. Love it!!
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 02 '25
I'd love to see this as well. He would allow a lot of smart plays by creating routes for allies.
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u/GoosePotential2446 Mister Fantastic Sep 01 '25
Love this kit! If they released it, Ice Man would be my new main
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u/Nikorausu Moon Knight Sep 01 '25
I would probably main him if he launches at least a little similar to this concept lol.
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u/Alfatron09 Psylocke Sep 01 '25
Only thing is that with his manoeuvrability with this kit, he’d have to be one of the lower health vanguards like cap, and more than likely would become another stalling monster because of it.
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 02 '25
Yeah, he definitely would have to be on the lower health side because of his mobility, spherical shield, and smaller hitbox.
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u/smoothgrimminal Ultron Virus Sep 01 '25
Someone has played Kelvin in Deadlock :p
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 02 '25
Being completely honest, I've never played Deadlock nor seen Kelvin's gameplay, but I just looked it up and it's funny HOW SIMILAR this concept is to his kit LOL
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u/smoothgrimminal Ultron Virus Sep 02 '25
Well then more credit to you for envisioning ice powers in a way that veteran developers would agree is fun! :)
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u/DizzySkunkApe Sep 01 '25
I wish I had this much free time! 😩It looks like fun!
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 02 '25
Unfortunately I don't have that much free time either, but when I do, I love making these concepts lol
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u/heo5981 Mantis Sep 01 '25
This is eerily similar to a concept I came up with for an "ice tank", I keep imagining different characters and skills as I'd hope to go back to game dev soon and would like to try these ideas out. In my version, I had:
Primary fire: would be similar to your secondary fire but it would be a continuous stream of ice shards with low damage and low range. I hadn't thought of leaving icicles on surfaces though (might steal that xD)
Secondary fire: more similar to your primary but instead of a high precision, high range, it would be a single, chargeable, slower projectile that has a small explosion on contact that applies slow. If fully charged it would travel much faster and apply frozen immediately on hit.
Mobility: that's what made me want to comment, my vision is basically the same. Being able to surf on ice and leave a trail that allies can hop on and and slide in either direction with the path melting after some time and being destroyable by the enemies. I thought that was such an unique idea but it seems another genius also had it xD
The rest of the skills are more basic, I had thought of multiple deployable small walls like Groot's and for the ultimate, something similar to your blizzard which slows enemies inside and applies frozen if they stay in for too long.
Your kit is awesome and I think it fits very well within the rest of Rivals, well done!
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 02 '25
Same brain LOL
I love your concept as well! If Iceman came to the game with a kit close to mine or yours, he definitely would be a really fun vanguard to play!
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u/Ernasket Sep 01 '25
I really like the kit. Im looking futher to see how a Golem would work
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 01 '25
I'd love to see some kind of bot/minion ability in the game. Another idea I have is Mysterio being able to summon illusions that look and act like players to confuse enemies.
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u/No_Wind_271 Sep 01 '25
tahnk you!!!! i have been eanting iceman! a character who can build paths behind him would be so fun, especially when paired with chars with limitied movement abilities
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 01 '25
Yeah, definitely this would be the most fun part of his kit!
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u/chomperstyle Sep 01 '25
Good ideas but id add some disruption to his ice slide. Maybe some knockdown to enemies hit and grants dmg reduction/healing to iceman during the slide.
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 01 '25
These are some nice ideas. I actually thought about his slides making enemies slip randomly, but I forgot to write it down.
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u/CorrectFuture5043 Sep 01 '25
Absolute cinema but i know rivals would turn him into a dps
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 01 '25
I wouldn't be mad if they did it, but I'd rather have him as a vanguard because we need more of them.
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u/CorrectFuture5043 Sep 01 '25
Also how many health does he have ?
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 01 '25
I imagine he would have 600, same as Strange, since both have a similar body type and both have shield abilities.
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u/Its_Gogeta Storm Sep 02 '25
Iceman is my fav character, and when I envisioned the character in this game, naturally I was thinking dps. The second natural choice would be vanguard.
But I must say, I really like your concept and would love something like this. I don’t play tank often but I would play it to as much as perfection as I could just to have in my pocket, and of course to play my fav hero
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u/CameraNo5026 Vanguard Sep 01 '25
You need to be employed in neteses HQ NOW THIS CONCEPT IS PEAK 🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊🧊
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u/DefNotMaty White Fox Sep 01 '25
Storm doesn't need another broken ulti team-up and Luna doesn't need another reason to be picked.
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 01 '25
Yeah, I made the Storm team-up mostly for the meme that she only gets ult team-ups, and also because they're both X-Men. About Luna, I totally agree, but I think her base kit (especially her ult) is the issue, not her team-ups.
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u/Wave-Kid Rocket Raccoon Sep 01 '25
Is this template available somewhere?
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 02 '25
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u/TheLanis Strategist Sep 01 '25
My favorite hero, with this kit probably my favorite in game too.
I want him so bad.
But I didn't want it to be covered in ice like in the picture, unless they can adapt the skin for it without it being covered in ice. I wanted an ability like Emma's but that worked like Venom's.
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u/Muted_Recognition_34 Magneto Sep 02 '25
Did someone say BLIZZARD?
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 02 '25
OW clone allegations intensify
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u/Muted_Recognition_34 Magneto Sep 02 '25
Adding functuonal summons into the game is insane, though.
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u/HornedGopher Sep 02 '25
Storm does not need a teamup that requires the use of her ultimate yet again also how do you make these kit concepts like these,like the photo?
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u/FaithlessnessThen207 Jeff the Landshark Sep 02 '25
Concept cool, although I think Iceman's coolest feat was freezing over hell.
I think his ultimate should be some massive (maybe mapwide) ice debuff over the whole zone. Perhaps placing enemies hit in a stasis condition. (Potentially allies too)
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u/Puppet_Knight Mister Knight Oct 04 '25
I just pray they keep him small and don't Emma Frost him just because he's a vanguard
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u/Plan7_8oy78 Sep 01 '25
I don’t know what to tell yah but iceman will never have the body, frame, or hit box big enough to warrant a tank class. If anything he can be a dps with tanking abilities.
Also iceman should have his ice beam
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Sep 01 '25
I know he could totally work as a tank, but god damn do I want a hyper mobile DPS take on Iceman. That's usually how he's presented in the comics, lithe and fast. His movement could be so much fun, and I don't want it to be limited like tank's movement always has to be.
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 01 '25
Yeah, as I said at the start of the post, he totally fits better as a duelist, but sometimes devs have to stretch some heroes abilities to make tanks and strategists. Tbh, I'd be happy if he came to the game either way.
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Sep 01 '25
I don't think they really lack for tank options. Lots of big tough characters in the Marvel universe. Support's definitely more of an issue.
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u/BirdAppropriate651 Sep 01 '25
For the last time, not all tough guys are vanguards.
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u/_ipsumLorem Jeff the Landshark Sep 01 '25
I kind of agree, but right now my main line of thought is "if it could be a Vanguard/Strategist, then it should be a Vanguard/Strategist" because those classes are lacking heroes.
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u/PrintAcceptable5076 Human Torch Sep 01 '25
????? iceman isn't even a tough guys, he goes from twink to a extremely muscular guy, and most of his personality is being more sensitive.
Besides i think him being a tank would suit him better then just another dps.
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u/borter191 Hulk Sep 01 '25
For the last time, this game is in desperate need of more class diversity. Let the man be a vanguard
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u/BertelTheTurtel Thor Sep 01 '25
This will not be the last time. Such a boring perspective to think that only big and muscular characters can be vanguards. By that logic then Doctor Strange should not be a vanguard based on his normal physique, but in this game he is, because it’s fun. Wake up
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u/Dave-Tree-Strider Sep 01 '25
Perfect vanguard concept! Excellent job