Nidhoggr

***Níðhöggr*** (Nidhoggr for convenience's sake) is a Fighter featured in *Bleeding Edge*. Named for the mythical dragon/serpent that gnaws at the roots of the world tree Yggdrasil, he is the Norse lord of black metal, a classically trained yet hard-rocking poet who waxes dark and philosophical when he's not in a roaring rage, belching fire or tickling electricity across his axe guitar. His rampages eventually brought him to the "Bleeding Edge" gang, where he can shred to his dark heart's content among his fellow cybernetic misfits.

## Biography

*Once the front-man for Scandinavia's most notorious Black Metal band, the dragon-throated Níðhöggr now wields his razor-sharp axe on the battlegrounds of illegal mech-fights, riding the lightning and calling down power chords to blow away his opposition.*

*The former scion of a wealthy shipping dynasty and an accomplished classical musician, Níðhöggr's life was incomplete until the day he discovered The Metal [at an illegal concert, buried deep under a rotting cannery district in a corner of Norway].*

*Unlocking his dark and tormented spirit, the hardest sound of all spoke directly to his soul and led him to a new life on the stage and in a rage; and now Níðhöggr's arenas are the secret fight clubs and backstreet combat zones where body-modded cyberpunks clash...*

## Abilities

### Basic Abilities

*Hack and slash enemies with your guitar.*
 Shredder | <Attack> (Hold)
*Charge and release static energy that bounces between enemies.*
 Evade | <Evade> + Move
*Dodge out of harm’s way. Costs stamina.*
 Parry | <Evade> (While still)
*Deflects an enemy's attack when well-timed.*
 Feedback | **Passive**
*Basic axe attacks against burning enemies grant lifesteal.*
Shredder does not count as a basic axe attack for the purpose of lifesteal. Burn is applied by Shredder, Powerslide and Fire Breath. Sources of Burn do not stack.

### Specials

Níðhöggr dashes forward a short distance, leaving a trail of flame in his wake. Any enemy who touches the flames at any point suffers Burn for several seconds.
Níðhöggr breathes a short-ranged cone of fire, dealing a chunk of direct damage and applying Burn for a few seconds.
Níðhöggr throws the electrical image of his guitar as a long-ranged boomerang that deals damage on both the forward flight and the return. The Boomitar will track back towards Níðhöggr on its return. He can still perform all other actions while the Boomitar is flying. Hitting an enemy with both flights applies both crowd-control effects simultaneously, with the stun taking priority.

### Supers

Níðhöggr roars in an instant large AoE centered on himself, dealing a chunk of damage to all nearby enemies. The roar silences all hit enemies for a few seconds, denying use of any Specials or Supers for the duration. If an ability is on cooldown when silenced, the cooldown timer will still continue.
For a few seconds, Níðhöggr will shred on his guitar and create a large AoE centered on himself that both ticks for damage and stuns any enemy who touches the area for as long as he rips his solo. Allies can freely pass through the lightning. Níðhöggr can neither cancel the solo nor move during it, and he is not invincible while shredding. Any hard crowd control that hits Níðhöggr will cancel Ride the Lightning early.

## General Strategy

> "An aggressive damage dealer who can quickly take down tanks with fire abilities."
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Níðhöggr is a berserker who thrives on the front lines, a bunker-buster able to close the gap and chunk any enemy he gets his hands on at myriad ranges with his singing axe, electricity and fire.

Níðhöggr's main feature is his unique Burn effect, a damage-over-time effect that deals a percentage of an opponent's max health for its duration, applied by Shredder, Powerslide and Fire Breath. Passing through the fire and flames is crucial for success as the headbanging metalhead, for two reasons. For one, burning ties into his Feedback passive, which gives his basic attacks lifesteal against burning enemies and thus lets him stay in the fight for longer as long as he stays aggressive. The other key point is that burning does damage as a percentage of the opponent's max life, not a flat damage value like many other attacks in the game; this means that burning damage scales to the size of the opponent's health pool across all targets - the larger the health pool, the more value the Burn effect has. For these reasons, Níðhöggr shines as a tankbuster, burning through those large health pools quickly with his burn and staying in the fight with the lifesteal from his Feedback. He should keep in mind that burning effects do not stack, so if he can help it, he should try to space out his burning abilities and ensure peak fire uptime rather than pop everything at once to try and burst something down (unless he really wants to narrowly secure a kill).

Shredder and Boomitar provide reliable ranged damage if Níðhöggr can't immediately get close, with Shredder providing a ranged source of burning; Powerslide and Boomitar both provide good crowd control, the former via minor area denial with burning damage and the latter with its long range and on-hit status effects. Powerslide serves as a good gap closer and fight opener to set his pace, get into range and quickly set an enemy on fire. Fire Breath does great standalone damage from both the base hit and the burn, great as a combo extender. His high stamina, Powerslide and Boomitar also help him make a quick escape if he needs to bail for any reason. Both of his supers shine as massive area disruption and can almost singlehandedly change the tide of a team fight. Ride the Lightning is a mass AoE stun that leaves its victims (and Níðhöggr) helpless while the guitar sings, while Death Growl is a mass AoE silence that denies enemy abilities and can leave them woefully underequipped for whatever Níðhöggr's team throws at them to follow up.

## Trivia

* While standing idle during a match, Níðhöggr will begin playing an audible guitar riff that keeps going for as long as he stands still.

## Gallery

Pixel ArtBLEEDING EDGE Nidhoggr Guide - Abilities, Supers, Tips & TricksNíðhöggr Trailer Bleeding Edge