Fellow Gamers, Let‘s Break Down I.M. Phace‘s Health Pool

As passionate Battle Cats players, you know how crucial it is to understand an enemy‘s stats when forming strategies. So for one of the most notorious alien foes, the sinister I.M. Phace, let‘s really dig into the raw numbers behind his health and abilities.

At 100% Strength, I.M. Phace Clocks In At…

Now right away we can see that base health pool is pretty small for an enemy with such a nasty reputation!

But when combined with his constant area attacks that temporarily immobilize your frontline attackers, even that modest HP becomes enough to cause massive headaches. It grants him enough time to unleash some punishing offensive numbers across the field.

So don‘t let his low-ish health fool you – getting frozen by ol‘ Phace here means taking some mauling damage while unable to fight back.

How The Floating Menace Stacks Up To Similar Enemies

Let‘s take a minute to understand I.M. Phace‘s 44,444 HP in context by seeing how it compares to other traited enemies.

No doubt about it, Phace‘s health pool sits far below what we‘d expect for an enemy that poses such a threat. Most enemies with gimmicks and abilities on his level boast way bigger HP reserves to chew through.

So this really speaks to how landing those freezes can have an outsized impact compared to raw stats. Once caught in his trap, you feel that 44k melt away rapidly.

Digging Into Design Decisions

This begs the question – why didn‘t Ponos grant everyone‘s least-favorite floating nucleus bucket loads more HP? A few theories from my gamer perspective:

• Keeps level from becoming a total stall slog if he hangs back
• Makes rush strategies/burst damage more viable counter-plays
• Forces you to respect freeze ability rather than ignore & power through HP
• Rewards players for exploiting his average health pool once freeze RNG falls your way

Curious to hear what ideas other fans have on this design choice as well! To me, it hits a nice balance – enough HP not to evaporate instantly, but low enough to make blitz tactics work.

Peak Phace Still Brings The Pain

Now when you take I.M. Phace all the way up to his maximum buffed state at 400% strength magnification, his threat level skyrockets:

Nearly 180,000 HP to grind through is no joke, especially when dishing out 5.3K destruction blows nonstop! This really forces you to respect the freeze by maximizing DPS to plow through his health before many cats get locked down.

So don‘t think Phace won‘t still wreck unprepared teams just because his base form seems flimsily frail. When boosted he becomes exponentially more oppressive across the board.

Counter-Strategies To Shatter That Smug Face

Alright, now that we know precisely what we‘re up against stats-wise, let‘s talk tactics. Here are my top tips for emerging victorious against Phace based on the above intelligence:

• Spam rushers & heavy hitters before he can freeze – his low HP and freeze chance means beating him down fast can work
• Long distance & AoE specialists – chip away as he approaches to limit freeze efficacy
• Freeze resisters – Units like Ice Cat won‘t get trapped as easily
• Meatshielding – soak freeze shots so your damage dealers avoid them
• Crit Chance Up combos – bypass more HP to shred him quicker

I‘d love to hear your own Phace-busting strats in the comments!

The Impact of Stat Changes Across Updates

Let‘s briefly discuss how I.M. Phace‘s stats have shifted over time as Ponos issues game updates:

• Introduced in 5.7 – Stats mostly unchanged since then
• Bug fix in 7.2 – Fixed description errors wrongly showing higher HP
• Surviving Herd nerf (8.5) – Harmed freeze combo somewhat

Luckily for players, Ponos has kept this floating nightmare largely contained in terms of raw power growth! But there‘s always a chance they revisit him in the future to spice things up…

So what do you think – should Phace get buffed more in line with deadly foes? Or is he troublesome enough already?

Hopefully this breakdown gives all you Battle Cats fanatics some added insight into precisely why I.M. Phace causes so much frustration despite a smaller health pool. When you combine:

• Decent mid-tier HP
• Constant rushing attacks
• 30% freeze odds
• High DPS for a rusher

You‘ve got an enemy that brings some serious pain if you can‘t DPS rush him down fast! So don‘t hesitate to unleash a blitz playstyle to counter that 44k HP before many units end up frozen.

Thanks for reading and be sure to share your own Phace experiences! Let‘s keep helping each other master Ponos‘ challenges.