In a previous post I gave you some basic tips for brand new Marvel Strike Force players to get their teams from a D+ to a B-.
Marvel Strike Force has a surprising amount of strategy in leveling, so it’s difficult to get to your A game. But I do have some tips on how to maintain your team’s progression. In short, you need to avoid these 3 early player mistakes!
#1 Know When to Stop Leveling Your Defenders
The Defenders are a source of contention for most Marvel Strike Force (MSF) players these days. The team that includes Luke Cage, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist are the easiest team to unlock early and they are viable in every game mode to a point.
However, there is a faction arguing that the Defenders can and should be skipped all together. While I am not of that mindset, I do think it is critically important to manage your resources well. That said, there are plenty of characters and teams that will help you in the advanced stages of this mobile game better than the Defenders.
If you can get the Defenders to 5 stars, 25K power each, and gear tier 9, you should slow down your efforts to build them up. And you should definitely make a pretty hard line at 6 stars, gear tier 10, and 40k power. Sure, over time, you will eventually still put a little more into them here and there, but there is no need to focus anymore on them.
While the Defenders are a viable team for Dark Dimension I (DDI) and the requirement for that is 6 stars, you also can work on different squads for DDI. That team that will serve you better in the long run…but I will get to that team in the next section.
There are a couple more things to know about the Defenders. Like on the Netflix series, there are only four of them: Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Daredevil. There are handful of toons you can use in the game to complete this team (because you almost always need 5 toons to start a match).
Many people use Ms. Marvel or Spider-Man to round out the Defenders and they both work well, but also, they both have other teams they can work well with. So the majority of people use Punisher. While he does not have the Defenders tag, he does have unique synergy with this team, and as you level him up he has a passive ability that protects Daredevil (which was adapted from the Netflix series!).
One other character that boosts the team well is America Chavez. She is a Hero Brawler who boosts other Hero Brawlers, which is half your Defenders! Your fifth member may very well come down to who you have available early on, but as you unlock characters, it is fun to play around with different squads!
#2 Plan Early for Legendary Characters
It is pretty much the universal agreement that Star-Lord should be your first legendary Event character focus and the Guardians of the Galaxy are a viable team into late stages of the game.
Alas, unlocking Legendary characters is one of the more grindy parts of the game. You will need to plan well to farm and level up your toons to be ready for each event, all of which have different requirements for participation.
Here is a list of the legendary events:
Most often you will need a specific group of characters at a specified star requirement to unlock a Legendary character. For Star-Lord, you can use any character with the Guardian or Ravager tag.
Those toons are:
- Gamora,
- Rocket Raccon,
- Groot,
- Mantis,
- Yondu,
- Ravager Bruiser,
- Ravager Stitcher, or
- Ravager Boomer.
Sorry, Nebula.
There are no other requirements to these characters, but to advance well through the event you should have them around gear tier 9 and 25K power each. You still have a little time to work on this as the next Star-Lord event doesn’t go live until June 22nd, but time is ticking!
For other future events, here is an info graphic for what you need:
#3 Be Wise with Currency.
We talked about knowing your currency in the previous post, but did not get to the most precious currency: War Store credits!
You have to be in an alliance that has high enough team level to compete in War, so most brand new players won’t get this until a few months into the game. Once you do, open it up. The currency is fun to spend because there are different characters available in this store.
But if you are not wise, your currency will go fast and you will have some regrets!
As of right now, there are only 3 characters worth spending this currency on: Graviton, Sif, and Carnage. DO NOT spend on Nobu. Sure, he is needed for Phoenix, but he is also farmable in a campaign node. So just be patient. It is unlikely you unlock the rest of X-Men fast enough to care about Phoenix unless you spend real dollars on the game!
The rumor is that Mr. Sinister just got added to the War Store, though I have not seen him yet. But he is a very nice character to have, so he would make the list of toons to spend War currency on.
Also, early on your gold will seem abundant enough to pour into your characters, but it starts to go faster and faster the higher you take your toons. So know which toons are worth investing in long-term.
I will do a more extensive article on that, but for now be mindful of pouring too much into characters you get early on, namely: Crossbones, Bullseye, and Elektra. They are necessary to get you going, but slow down around gear tier 8 and 10K power. So start focusing on other Villains characters as you unlock them!
As a Marvel Strike Force player beginning to turn the corner from early to mid-game, I got lucky on finding the right advice on Defenders and Legendary characters right away. However, I have plenty of regrets in the spending of currency. So my hope is that I can save my fellow gamers unnecessary mistakes!
Good luck, Commander!
On this Week’s Radar in Marvel Strike Force
- Night Nurse: Monday, 7pm – Thursday, 7pm
- Ironheart Part II: Thursday, 7pm – Sunday, 7pm
Tabletop Takeaways: Tips for Dungeon Masters with a Narrative Spin