I have been seeing a great number of people on the forums calling for Rescue to be nerfed, and a great deal more simply expressing dislike for the way she extends games in a manner that can approach infinity. Well I may do a blog as to whether or not I think Rescue needs to be nerfed, but for now I will just say that I am not opposed to the idea but do not think its strictly necessary. Anyway beating the crap out of Rescue, EXCELSIOR!
All in all there are really a few good ways of dealing with Rescue. One, by powering through her, which is tough as you need to be able to deal a LOT of damage with very little set up in order to be successful and not fall into pattern. But here are some ways to do it.
Captain Britain - Save the Queen exploits flying and can hit like a truck, if you are going first, its totally possible to 1-shot Rescue like this. Trust me, I have been on the receiving end of this. If you are going to do this, you may want to go all-in on a turn order gambit (no not that one). Quicksilver can make a good partner in crime by going first automatically and making a combo set up for CB, Neurotrope and The Toolbox can help as well. But all in all. I rate this low on the list of strategies. Don't rely on favorable turn order if at all possible. Grade: D
Thundra - Clearly meant to break walls (god, I am clever), her passive gives her a good advantage over Rescue, especially if your opponent is running Savant Spear and you are going first. But on the other hand she kinda fails at the same time. See, she's supposed to Rolling Thunder -> Lightning Round, on round 1 in order to buff herself and debuff the foe. Then Round 2, Perfect Storm hits for a billion damage crit. Unfortunately between rounds 1 and 2 Rescue may exist, and she will probably Status Reset -> Flyby Attack -> Protector Protocol, thus getting rid of everything you built up and removing the big advantage. Which is a little annoying. For this reason I also rank her pretty low. Grade: C-
Iron Man Mk42 (Tactician) - Most of his kit is directly countered by Rescue. The only thing we are here for is Heartbreaker Unibeam, so named because it maybe what causes them to break up. I mean how would you feel, if you learned that your boyfriend built a weapon that seemed specifically designed to take you out? Heartbreaker exploits and removes the shield she will put up when you attack, plus Unibeam Focus means the next hit will probably kill. If you are a blaster the reduced damage and giving her an extra turn makes this stupid. Grade: C+
Union Jack - Didn't really know where else to put this strategy, but it does mainly involve killing Rescue, so here we go. Union Jack is seriously underrated in my opinion. He's seriously a hard dude to beat if he gets any set up. Against Rescue the strategy is pretty simple, V For Victory will give everyone follow-up attacks on her (and them him a follow-up from their follow up sometimes due to his passive), and she can't really remove them all with Flyby Attack (Unless you run a blaster, seriously, don't run a blaster if you are worried about Rescue), Panacea Protocol and Status Reset can get rid of it, but with some favorable turn order it can still be really helpful in dishing out hurt. But even if she does use Status Reset, this actually just sets you up more. If you use Over the Top, you remove all her buffs (including the protect) and counter attack all her defensive moves. The only downside is the need for someone to protect him so he can do all this since he relies on counters and follow-ups and thus flyby attack can shut him down hard. My personal vote is WW2 Cap for dealing with Rescue specifically (he baits the turn 1 status reset), and Rescue at all other times. Grade: B+
Juggernaut- This Bruiser isn't elegant the same way I find Union Jack, but he's a serviceable beatstick. He doesn't rely on crits for high damage (except with I'm The Juggernaut!), he can remove the shield she puts on herself which negate most of the damage she receives, exploit it, and make use of his quick action buff the turn it happens. Just remove the shield and pound away, she'll drop soon enough. He's a little fragile due to the risk of a blaster 1-shot (Ironically), and a bit inaccurate, so either use some Violent, Bulky, Relentless, and Steady Isos; run Rescue, or run an agent with a protect and a Target Painter. You can also go all-in on damage with Tactician Alt Black Widow (In the specific case of Rescue, Infiltrator Grey Suit is probably better, but Tactician alt is better in most cases, you I would keep it). Widowmaker + Jump Kick + Momentum + Strengthened = Lots of damage. Grade: B
When you try to power straight through a wall there are going to be issues, be warned they are designed to stop that. Furthermore every round you fight with them is a round they have done their job. Tomorrow, I will focus on playing around Rescue instead of powering through.