Lebron is one of the more technical characters in the game and has a lot going for him, but with the recent nerfs, people are playing him a lot less than they were initially on his release. Thankfully, with some practice and a good Perk selection, Lebron is one of the more pressuring MultiVersus fighters.
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So, let’s go over some of his best options, why they’re useful to him, and maybe even some other backup Perk options for certain situations.
Best Perk Build For Lebron James & Why
While Lebron James is defined as a Bruiser-Class character, he’s also defined as a Hybrid of both Vertical and Horizontal damage. Because of this, and the fact that his Pass mechanic has some Support-type elements to it, his best Perks are a bit of a mixed-bag between melee and projectile types:
Signature Perk: Keep Possession Utility/Offense: Retaliation-Ready or Make it Rain, Dog Offense: Ice To Beat You Utility: Triple Jump
This isn’t the most “standard” or iconic pick for Lebron’s best Perks, but it gets the job done. Before Morty came out, Lebron was the only Bruiser with all these projectile and technical options, which is where his unique Perk choices come from. Now, let’s go over each choice, one by one, and explain the reasoning for picking them.
Keep Possession
Lebron is another one of those lucky characters that get to have three separate Signature Perk options instead of two, but all of his are surprisingly complicated compared to other fighters in the roster.
For example, the first Signature unlocked while players are leveling him to get exp toward the Battle Pass is Hot Hands, a Perk based around doing a No-Look Pass to a teammate, having that teammate use that passed ball to then hit an enemy, and then using that ball that bounced off the enemy to dunk with.
Then there’s For Three, a Perk that causes the basketball to explode when it hits enemies from far away and also inflicts 12 damage (and knocks enemies further back) instead of 4 if it explodes. But, considering how much Lebron players tend to struggle without a basketball in their hands, that’s also a risky pick.
Finally, there’s Keep Possession, which is by far his best choice. This Signature makes it so that whenever Lebron receives his own pass or passes to an ally, the receiver gains grey health for a few seconds. While it’s not a Signature Perk players will always notice they’re using, it absolutely makes a difference over the course of a match, especially if they’re also running Retaliation-Ready.
Retaliation-Ready For Teams & Make It Rain Dog For One-On-Ones
Speaking of the Retaliation-Ready Perk, here it is. This Perk makes it so that whenever Lebron or his ally knocks an enemy back with a projectile, their teammate gains grey health for a few seconds. And, considering Keep Possession also basically does this, and Lebron likes to engage with a Buckets pass into his Dime Drop, this Perk is triggered often, which means Lebron’s team almost always has some grey health active.
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That said, in the one-on-one mode, Retaliation Ready literally does nothing, so Make it Rain Dog is a good substitute. With Make it Rain Dog, the Buckets pass is harder to react to with the increased speed, and it even travels further, too.
Ice To Beat You
Next up is Lebron’s only Offense-type Perk in the build, Ice to Beat You. Just like for every other character that runs either this Perk or That’s Flammable Doc, the reasoning for why one should be used over the other is entirely up to each individual’s choice. But Lebron’s moves, while quick, aren’t incredibly fast like Arya’s or Finn’s.
So, using Ice To Beat You to slow down the opponent’s dodges and move speed makes it a bit easier to connect his attacks together.
Triple Jump
It only makes sense that a basketball player has some great moves in the air, such as Alley-Oop, Check, or Watch Your Head.
Alley-Oop, in particular, is a fantastic move for chasing people vertically but can be a bit hard to hit if Lebron doesn’t have the right height. Thankfully, with Triple Jump, it’s a lot easier, and it’s also easier to recover from off-stage since Lebron’s horizontal recovery is a bit lacking.
Other Perk Choices For Lebron
All that said, of course, there are a lot of other Perks that “work” with Lebron James. With all the different variables at play in MultiVersus, such as each person’s playstyle, the matchup of the enemy team’s characters, whether the person is playing One-on-Ones or Teams, and so on, the setup isn’t going to be the same every time.
So, let’s look at some backup options or alternate ones to switch to in certain situations:
(O) = Offense Perks, (D)= Defense Perks, and (U) = Utility Perks
(O) Deadshot: For Lebron players who have really nailed when to use his Buckets pass and how to use it to finish off people off-stage. (O) Lumpy Space Punch: A great alternative for those who don’t want to spec into Ice to Beat You or That’s Flammable Doc. (O) That’s Flammable Doc: Already mentioned why in the Ice To Beat You explanation – either of these two Perks are great. Is especially good at building up passive damage on excessively heavy characters like Iron Giant. (D) Absorb N’ Go: Good to use against a Projectile character like Velma or Reindog as it gives Lebron’s Ball back quicker. (D) School Me Once: Like Absorb N’Go, used to counter Projectile characters. (D) Slippery Customer: Makes it a bit easier to stay in the thick of it with other characters who dodge a lot, like Arya and Batman. (U) In A Single Bound: Makes it a bit easier to chase with Alley-Oops. (U) Aerial Acrobat: Same reasoning as In A Single Bound, but also helps with all of his other Aerial Attacks. (U) Coffeezilla: Cooldown helps with Buckets and is also great to run on a team with another ability-dependant character like Bugs Bunny or Velma. (U) Hit Me If You’re Able: Makes it easier to Dash-cancel into more attacks or even just dodge away from faster attacks from Finn or Harley players. (U) I Dodge You Dodge We Dodge: Again, very useful against fast attackers, and it helps reduce the Cooldown for Buckets. (U) Leg Day Champ: Makes it easier to set up obstacles with Denied, chase with Alley-Oop, or jump over an enemy attack to set up for a Dunk. (U) Tasmanian Trigonometry: Gives Lebron a bit more survivability against heavy hitters like Garnet or Iron Giant.
MultiVersus is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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