Re: Best Characters In Marvel Strike Force
Nasha Goodridge
In Marvel Strike Force, players form teams of five characters at a time to fight through Raids, Arena, War, and more. With hundreds of characters available to collect and power up, it can be overwhelming for players to know where to put their resources.
Legendary characters are the most powerful heroes and villains in the game, but with 14 Legendaries released so far, there is significant variance even among this top class. A few are rarely used anymore, but most dominate at least one mode of play. Unlocking these toons should be a priority for any player looking to make the most of their roster.
While stronger teams with more synergy have largely power crept Black Bolt out of use, he was once a member of some of the best Raid teams in Marvel Strike Force. An Inhuman Blaster-class hero, the King of Attilan is an offensive powerhouse with a unique passive ability.
Characters like Ultron and Minerva thrive through reviving themselves or others, and Black Bolt was the first character who could prevent revival altogether for any character that he defeated. With the growing popularity of Dormamu, Black Bolt has seen some increased niche use in Arena and War.
Invisible Woman has some synergy with Doctor Doom, but the two are rarely used together. Instead, the Fantastic Four pair with She-Hulk to make a powerful War defense team, and Invisible Woman can join any four characters to make them harder to take down.
Invisible Woman's other significant advantage is that she uses Bio gear. Fewer top-level characters use these resources, so many have found success with her in the Legendary sections of the Dark Dimensions. However, as Legendary characters are released, her usefulness there is likely waning.
Phoenix is one of the best characters in Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and her power is equally impressive in Marvel Strike Force. Her damage potential is no longer among the best in the game, but her unique mechanics make her helpful in Dark Dimension.
When Phoenix dies, she comes back as Dark Phoenix. Her Special steals a flat percentage of all enemy health in this second form, and this move scales incredibly well with the buffed health pools in Dark Dimension 1-5. Furthermore, the recent release of Magik has boosted the Uncanny X-Men back into War usability.
Shuri was initially supposed to be the healer for the Wakandans, but she has never seen much play there. While Scopely described them as the "apex Raid team," Black Panther and friends never performed better than their peers. Fortunately for Shuri, she functions well as a healer on any team.
Shuri is still useful due to the lack of a cohesive Tech Raid team in Doom Raids. She can join characters like Doctor Doom, Kestral, Lady Deathstrike, and Misty Knight to provide healing and Defense Up.
There was once a time when The Black Order was the best team in every Marvel Strike Force game mode except Raid. This is no longer the case, but Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, and Thanos are still challenging for most teams to defeat.
Ebony Maw is the team's Support character, and he combines impressive buffing, debuffing, and healing into one package. His Ultimate bypasses heal block, so he is a good choice for players who haven't unlocked better Mystic Raid characters like the New Warriors or Eternals.
Many fans felt underwhelmed when Scopely first revealed Doctor Octopus' kit, but time proved him a much more formidable character than he seems on paper. This tanky healer still has use in Doom Raids and War.
Doc Ock grants charge to two of his fellow Sinister Six members, and their War-specific bonuses make them a common sight at all levels of War play. Furthermore, he gives heal to all teammates with his Special and deals Slow with his Basic, so many players use him in the Tech nodes of Doom Raid and the Legendary Dark Dimension sections.
Adam Warlock was the first Mythic Legendary character in Marvel Strike Force, and his power level and team reflect the increased difficulty obtaining him. He may seem like one of the more obscure characters in Marvel Strike Force to exclusive Marvel Cinematic Universe fans, but comic readers know how important Adam is to several popular stories.
When Scopely announced that they were introducing a new Mutant team and Legendary character to Marvel Strike Force, many fans expected a popular X-Men member like Nightcrawler or Professor X. Jubilee seemed to be an unexpected choice when she hasn't seen much multimedia representation outside of the popular 1990s cartoon.
Despite any initial doubt, Jubilee has proven herself as one of the most enduringly valuable characters in the game. She is a top Dark Dimension choice, and the Astonishing X-Men is still the best mutant raid team available.
This year, Marvel Strike Force is going through its first-ever long-form narrative event. Individual Horseman (separate from those in the comics) will come out as Legendary characters with their own teams; then they will come together with Apocalypse in late 2022.
Morgan Le Fay is the first Legendary character who uses a Scourge event instead of a traditional unlock campaign. Players will play through narrative missions to earn points toward a leaderboard that grants character shard. Morgan joins Scarlet Witch, Wong, Agatha Harkness, and Doctor Strange (Heartless) to form the Darkhold team. This group's Arena dominance is worthy of the smartest magic users in comic books.
The Heroes for Hire was one of the most controversial team releases in Marvel Strike Force history due to their complete dominance of War. Omega Red and his Weapon X are a direct counter to them and are the current strongest War offense team.
Omega Red was also the first character to use the Trauma debuff, which stops characters from clearing negative effects. Outside of War, Omega Red is also one of the most popular Legendary characters in Dark Dimension due to his attack that steals a flat percentage of enemy health.
Marvel Strike Force has one of the largest rosters of playable characters on the mobile gaming market. With over 150 heroes and villains to choose from and new additions being added regularly, it can be hard to decide which teams are worth prioritizing to get the biggest payoff. While the latest and greatest teams pack a significant punch, several squads of the older tried and true protectors of the world are still just as viable for aspiring commanders looking to boost their collection's power level.
Teams can be made up of heroes and villains from all over the multiverse, but the strongest synergies are found among heroes who are known to fight together. With the right strategy, these teams are still forces to be reckoned with and are easier to upgrade than their premium counterparts. Even for the most villainous among us, investing in a few strong hero teams in Marvel Strike Force is a good strategy to unlock stronger characters in the Hero Campaign.
One of the first teams new players will have access to is the Wave One Avengers, but don't count them out just because they're the ones on the box. This recognizable team has decent synergies for clearing the early Hero Campaign, and most of their members can be added to other more specialized teams down the road.
As one might expect, the Wave One Avengers include Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk. Cap's Assemble! ability makes him even tankier when he's surrounded by his fellow Avengers, and team-up attacks with both Thor and Iron Man give the team a higher damage output. Hawkeye shards can be farmed early in the game from Heroes 1-9, making him a strong option for newer players.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. team has fallen a long way since Marvel Strike Force's debut, but their team synergies are still strong. Despite not having any superpowers to speak of, the additional blocks, heals, and bonuses to critical hit provided by S.H.I.E.L.D. Security, S.H.I.E.L.D. Medic, and S.H.I.E.L.D. Assault can punch through raids and are a strong defense in Alliance War.
The core of a S.H.I.E.L.D. team is going to be Security, Medic, and Assault, but the last two spots can up their potential quite a bit. Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow are also members of S.H.I.E.L.D., and as such can give minion characters the boost they need in intermediate levels.
Beyond that, Agent Coulson and Nick Fury are longer term options that can make the team sticky and hard to get rid of. Kestral, one of the strongest characters in Marvel Strike Force, also shares a lot of compatibility with Nick Fury, although currently there is no way to farm her in the game; Kestral is currently only randomly available in premium orbs.
The X-men can be an offensive powerhouse, but the number of characters they synergize with can make it difficult to decide who is best to include in a team. An optimal X-men team includes Wolverine, Cyclops, Psylocke, Colossus, and Phoenix.
Wolverine is easy to power up due to being the daily objective reward--keep playing, he'll be seven stars in no time! Cyclops and Psylocke provide support in the form of extra attacks and flipping negative status effects, while Colossus acts as a reliable tank who can apply Deflect to his allies.
In the worst-case scenario, Phoenix, should she be taken out, revives as Dark Phoenix, who both heals her remaining allies and dishes out massive damage. Unfortunately, Phoenix is one of the harder characters to unlock, but Beast's support abilities can be a strong substitution.
Mojoverse mutant Shatterstar has offensive abilities that only get deadlier when combined with Longshot's ability to boost his allies' chance for a critical hit, which then procs Shatterstar's even more boosted abilities. To keep them safe, Multiple Man creates dozens of Dupes for the enemy to waste their hits on, while still providing buffs of his own. Polaris rounds out the team with her support abilities that protect her allies and negative effects that prevent opponents from healing.
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