The King of Wakanda makes his second appearance in “Marvel Puzzle Quest” sporting two extra stars and tons more damage. T’Challa’s not pulling any punches and unsheathing his vibranium claws and D3 Go! Producer Josh Austin gives us the nitty gritty details on the hero’s newest variation.

Marvel.com: I have been waiting for a 5-Star Black Panther for a while now so I’m pleasantly surprised T’Challa’s our next new release. Why’s now the time for a new Black Panther?

Josh Austin: Since the Marvel “Civil War” event there has been a lot of interest in Black Panther. The Marvel Cinematic Universe Black Panther focused on vengeance and that went into the design in making him unique from the 3-Star Black Panther currently in the game. So for the 5-Star Black Panther (Civil War), we are really bringing a deadly updated version to “Marvel Puzzle Quest”!

Marvel.com: 3-Star Black Panther is a kind of jack-of-all-trades, adding strike tiles, creating defense tiles, and bringing serious team damage to fights. What was the focus this time around?

Josh Austin: The 5-Star Black Panther focuses more on damage in a non-direct way and his athletics to dodge attacks. He has a vengeance-focused ability that causes extra damage to the selected enemy character. The other two powers are passive, but focus on his agility and ability to lead a team and can both cause more damage by triggering their additional abilities. Overall this 5-Star version of Black Panther really adds a lot of extra damage to your team and when playing with him you notice how devastating his abilities are with a good team of heroes!

Marvel.com: Would you mind giving us a breakdown of his abilities?

Josh Austin: The first ability is called Panther’s Prey and it costs 9 black AP. It’s also his Vengeance-based ability. For this power, Black Panther chooses one enemy and he creates Countdown Tile that while on the board deals extra damage any time the chosen character would take damage. Yes, that’s any damage to that chosen enemy!

Black Panther’s second ability is called Spirit of Wakanda, which is a yellow PASSIVE (costs 0 AP) ability. T’Challa summons the wisdom and power to lead his teammates to victory. Whenever the team matches yellow AP and the team has the required amount of Team-Up AP the enemy will be dealt additional damage by spending the collected Team-Up AP. This is great for people like me that never use Team-Ups unless things are really going bad.

Black Panther’s final ability is a Red Passive (costs 0 AP) called Move or Be Moved. Black Panther uses his athletics to dodge an attack and strike back. If Black Panther would take a certain amount of damage (at power level 1 – 2787 and level 450 – 6161) then Black Panther dodges the attack, which negates some of the damage and he gets stunned for 2 turns. When Black Panther returns from being stunned or invisible, he deals additional damage.

Marvel.com: His kit definitely makes him feel like a single target monster and interestingly he gets the majority of his damage from making matches as opposed to using abilities. To clarify, Panther’s Prey and Spirit of Wakanda boosts all friendly damage right?

Josh Austin: That is correct! His first ability will definitely devastate an enemy if the player saves up their powers and unleashes them on an enemy while the Panther’s Prey countdown tile is on the board!

Likewise if the player matches yellow with the correct amount of team up AP collected, the Spirit of Wakanda will initiate no matter who owns the yellow tile. This Black Panther is definitely out for revenge, so don’t face him with Bucky!

Marvel.com: And how does Move or be Moved interact with Panther’s Prey? Just want to be clear on how that all works.

Josh Austin: As long as Black Panther returns from being stunned before the Countdown tile leaves the board, then yes his attack if it hits the targeted enemy would trigger an additional amount of damage with Panther’s Prey.

The damage dealt to Black Panther has to be above the amount specified by the level to trigger Move or be Moved to stun Black Panther which causes the attack, so if the enemy fires off any ability that meets that damage threshold then it could cause Move or be Moved to trigger which will keep Black Panther hopefully alive as it negates the damage then deals damage when he comes back.

Marvel.com: Ok I’ve been mulling over some potential teammates and Cyclops (Uncanny) stands out as someone who could motivate you to get that much needed Team Up AP to trigger the extra damage in Spirit of Wakanda. Anyone else that comes to mind?

Josh Austin: A really fun match up is The Hulk (Bruce Banner) after he transforms into the Hulk since he does the additional match automatically at the start of each turn, that along with Panther’s Prey will just keep hitting the enemy. Hulk smash!

Other than that anyone that helps Back Panther become invisible to trigger the extra damage for Move or be Moved like Invisible Woman (Classic)’s Grant Invisibility which is super cheap, Punisher (Max) and Venom (Agent Venom)’s Take Cover. For Spirit of Wakanda the player could team-up with Storm (Mohawk) or Captain Marvel (Ms. Marvel) to help with the Team-Up AP collection.

Marvel.com: I’m really liking how Black Panther is shaping up. He feels unique and could be a really dynamic inclusion in some specific teams. Is there anything else you want to tell us about T’Challa?

Josh Austin: Black Panther is available starting on February 2 and since he’s a 5-star he will be added to the Legendary store. His Highness will also have a Legendary Store, “Hail To The King,” tart then too. Players can earn tokens to this store from playing in the Civil War Story event that returns on February 2 and ends February 5.

Pick up Black Panther here and stay tuned to Marvel.com for more “Marvel Puzzle Quest” news and interviews.