Marvel Ultimate Alliance Team Bonuses

[Laylow Skidmore]

TeamBonuses are stat buffs derived by putting together two or more affiliated heroes with one another based on their relationship in Marvel lore. While a single bonus only enhances one of six different parameters, they can overlap with other existing bonuses and become more effective if activated via trio or quartet rather than just a pair. With the right setup, players will be able to use these bonuses to amplify the strength of their whole team.

With over 30 characters to mix and match into whatever dream team you can fathom, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 provides freedom to form all kinds of groups, but which team combinations and bonuses stand out as the best of the best?

Players have quickly learned that while the easiest difficulty can be breezed through with eyes closed and any four random characters, Mighty is a little tougher, and the later unlocked Superior difficulty can feel downright punishing. It is at these points that optimizing teams for bonuses and also individual strengths, not just preference, becomes integral to success.

Note how Elektra, Psylocke, and Wolverine are in each of those teams, leaving a flex spot in many cases for preference or one of the three top-stated options above. With that said, team bonuses are considered to be less important than team synergy. By synergy, we refer to how well a character compliments another in the role that they fulfill, as well as the ability to coordinate special attacks together.

Consider for a moment that we may want a high DPS character, and another that can cast status effects, and another that can heal the group. The default plan might be to pick three characters with those traits, while the superior option would be to pick Scarlet Witch, which can fulfill all three roles.

By then selecting three other characters that excel in more than one role, you develop a well-rounded team that can do anything and everything. The following are some examples of strong synergistic teams, but by no means the only options.

The Hulk is an all-around strong tank that we get at the beginning of the game. His high health pool means he we can sustain a lot of punishment, he has good stagger potential to get the boss into prime synergy attack position, and his charged attack is strong.

Wolverine is a fan favorite right now for several reasons. His DPS is strong, he has a regeneration that is defaulted into his character and only gets stronger as team-wide enchantments are applied, and perhaps most important of all, his second special ability combines damage with the grouping of enemies together. This type of utility is perfect for allowing allies to keep laying down a beat down in one area.

Magneto is not unlocked until later but shares this same form of utility with Wolverine by grouping foes together. On Superior difficulty, the ability to control where the enemy is positioned makes the difference between a difficult play through and a walk in the park.

As mentioned above, Scarlet Witch brings the damage down from a distance, but she has great utility in slowing enemies down or healing allies. Once enemies are grouped together thanks to Wolverine and Magneto, Wanda can cast her slowing Area-of-Effect (AoE) ability or simply use her attacks that hit grouped foes from a distance. Psylocke can contribute as her melee attacks have enough AoE damage to warrant an inclusion on the team.

Finally, like the Avengers team above, there is enough synergy with Wolverine and Magneto to guarantee that bosses will take a flurry of damage all at once with coordinated special moves. Although this team is great, remember that one needs to unlock Magneto through an Infinity Trial, so check out this great guide by Tony Bing, as he always creates great content on Marvel related games.

When we stated that stat bonuses are not everything, we meant it. There are several characters that in their own right are fantastic in terms of raw power and utility. Deadpool for example is often compared to Wolverine for his regeneration which may be key for players who execute playstyles rooted in attrition.

Dr. Strange, The Sorcerer Supreme, falls under the radar of some players due to how late one unlocks him in the campaign mode, but you can be sure that he is strong with arguably the highest DPS at the moment. Since his attacks are all ranged, you can kite enemies for a safe encounter. In addition, Dr. Strange can also heal, giving him great utility.

Without a doubt, many of these characters can be mixed and matched, and others are likely to become popular once the game has been out for a while longer, but for now we can say that the above teams and characters can surely take you all the way through Mighty and Superior difficulty with a little practice. Surely, we glazed or skipped over some other strong characters, but this simply goes to show how diverse the options are to tackle the hardest parts of this game.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order encourages you to really consider your team build by offering buffs based on who and what kind of characters your active 4 is comprised of. Teams like The Guardians of The Galaxy, the 2012 movie Avengers, 4 of the Spider-Man characters and so on and so forth, get special bonuses when you use them together. But even when you split the team up and get less married to team composition, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order still rewards you with a portion of whatever active bonus you might be building towards.

Minor grievances aside, the biggest problems with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order are mostly of the technical variety. The camera is hilariously bad at times, getting locked up on some geometry, going in walls, or just zooming in and out in odd intervals in an attempt to be helpful. While the frame-rate has a tough time holding up when the action and particle effects start to kick up. The loading times are abysmally long and managed to actively keep me from completing more challenge missions considering the load to get into them was just about as long as the mission itself.

I played through this game in Easy mode, and got my guys all to Level 60 almost what with Gold on comic missions and so on. I didn't know that what I had done did not carry over to Normal/Hard, and that I need to play Normal just to unlock Hard, at which time I can then retain Normal for Hard.

I'm wondering who to bring along for my Normal team. Should I get a team together that earns a money bonus, and focus on boosting powers or costumes for preparation for Hard? Should I get a team together that has a health regen for Normal or save that for Hard? Does putting any points into the Team Bonus panel carry over for Hard?

I think everything carries over that will make a difference. What you want to do is form a team with as many decent characters as you can, then take any four of those at a time. Get the team level up so you have plenty of extra bonuses for them and maybe take some of the characters from the preset teams (New Avengers etc.) so you get even more bonuses. I usually had Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and Black Panther. That gets you the New Avengers bonus, plus they were all in my custom team so they had even highers stats =)

During Normal, level up as much as you can. Kill as many enemies as you can with the same team, do team simulator missions for a bit to get more experience if needed. Save up any good items and equip them where needed. If you can beat this difficulty with ease with your team then you should be able to get through Hard quite quickly if you also level up during that game too.

When you actually get around to playing on Hard, make good use of your hero's powers. When you have levelled your team up a bit pick four or five powers and put all of your power points onto those powers and nothing else. That makes them even stronger so you will be able to one or two hit most enemies. I didn't use boosting powers most of the time because they didn't help so much but if you find them useful then use them when you get into a tight spot.

Well, if you are only using four or five characters you won't need as much money so unless you are desperate to max out all of your stats/powers before Hard (which you won't need to) then go for cash bonuses. Otherwise stick with a team that increases any other stat except the momentum charge ones (it's a bit pointless since it goes up quickly anyway).

Hmm its been so long but this is what i did, I think everything carried over...i got all my sim disc before hard mode, then got all gold on hard mode. I figure when i lvled up the sim disc got harder.

When it came down to doing hard mode i used Black panther i Used Claw maxed out got all his suits maxed out. Cant really remeber config but i remeber i didnt have a team bonus i used who i liked and who i knew worked better like cap america and wolv. how i beat hard mode was i just ran by everything i beat the bosses and that was it. Quick and easy

except hard isn't actually that hard. Playing in hard mode allows you to upgrade your moves even more, so you can make one or two moves really strong. The items you pick up while playing hard are really good also (in the range of +3 skill bonus and 6-10 defense)

and if your just playing for the achievement, you can bypass a lot of stuff. Me and my friend played through hard mode in a night. We skipped all the optional quests (which leads to a very amusing ending cinematic) and most of the enemies. When we finally beat dr. doom we were around level 55 and it was pretty easy using just two characters.

I know I was able to use my stats from easy but only because I continued on using Co-op with a buddy from XBL. I was able to start a new Campaign with HARD difficulty while loading the stats from our previous campaign on easy. Although this may not be an option for you unless you have a friend or some to play with.

It is nice that you can bump up your powers a little extra in HARD mode. Good Luck. If you are going for all your achievements while playing the campaign too remember to use each of the characters to get your 250 kills with each character. Also make sure to save often and get the new characters in at the right times to get the new achievements.

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