Captain America Tier-2 Review - Ver2.1.1

APRIL 28, 2016

By POLISH TAMALES - The A doesn’t stand for France.

After countless Uniform iterations of Captain America, nothing changes him more than the recent Civil War patch. In addition to having Bucky by his side, Net Marble has finally given players the option to convert their favorite All-American to the Tier-2 line of characters. With all controversy brought from the 2.0 patch and Tier-2 characters, is it worth your time or is another win for Team Iron Man?

ON YOUR LEFT

With all the Uniform options for Captain America, the Civil War offers the best for your buck. Five seconds of damage immunity greatly enhances Steve’s survivability as he trades blows with his opponents. While his Skill sets remain largely the same or share some similarities between each Uniform, Ready for Battle now summons Winter Soldier for 10 seconds with 65% of Captain Americas’ stats. Not to be as overwhelming powerful as other summons in the game, it does provide Steve more DPS options and the ability to strip shields off of Loki and Silk in a pinch.

Another great addition borrowed by the Captain America: Winter Soldier Uniform is the ability to guard break using his Valor skill. This also provides Steve another tool to reduce damage taken from long animated incoming attacks. While it remains to be seen how common Obelisks with Immune Guard Break becomes in the meta,

Since comic cards were introduced in the 2.0 patch as a means of raising the level cap without actually raising it, it’s difficult to narrow down the definitive ISO-8 combo for each character, unless they’re assigned to specific end-game events, such as Alliance Battle or World Boss. Here are some recommended set -ups for those interested in the First Avenger:

Prince of Lie - While some may say the Dodge bonus may be dead because of comic covers and the ability to hit the 75% cap, it’s still a viable option for those that are using Obelisks instead of Dodge boosters. This build gives Steve excellent offensive neutral stats in the form of Defense Penetration and Attack Speed, which may be important for keeping opponents in continuous hit-stun.



- While some may say the Dodge bonus may be dead because of comic covers and the ability to hit the 75% cap, it’s still a viable option for those that are using Obelisks instead of Dodge boosters. This build gives Steve excellent offensive neutral stats in the form of Defense Penetration and Attack Speed, which may be important for keeping opponents in continuous hit-stun. Stark Backing - One of the most common ISO-8 sets for over half the game’s roster. Nothing much to say about self healing sets other than they’re most effective with Recover Boosters. In most cases, Steve might be better off with Dodge booster to avoid hit-stun loops and guard breaks since he relies being close-quarters to deal damage. A good option for one of the most effective tanks in the game.



- One of the most common ISO-8 sets for over half the game’s roster. Nothing much to say about self healing sets other than they’re most effective with Recover Boosters. In most cases, Steve might be better off with Dodge booster to avoid hit-stun loops and guard breaks since he relies being close-quarters to deal damage. A good option for one of the most effective tanks in the game. Drastic Density Enhancement - HP shields are great on characters with high HP. Combine that with Dodge boosters, you can extend the shield’s effect for quite some time until it breaks. What separates this from Binary Power are the neutral stats gained. DDE gives more offensive neutral stats while still granting Steve an HP boost. Likewise, Binary Power gives pure defensive stats, which depending on your play style, might be better if you have low stat Cards equipped.



ISO-8 combos will vary based on each player’s card sets and custom Obelisks. Some players may only have Heroic level cards, while some whales have a full stack of Mythicals.

For myself personally, I equipped Steve with a 10% HP Shield Obelisk with Prince of Lie for PvE/PvP events as a rush down character without a glass jaw. He wasn’t always that great for soloing story modes, until I upgraded him to Tier-2.





IF THEY KILL YOU, WALK IT OFF

First and foremost, the upgrade process for converting a 6-Rank hero to their Tier-2 counterpart is extremely resource heavy (not to mention having all your gear sets maxed out at 20 each). You’re going to need:

150 Captain America Bios

300 Combat Norn Stones

800 Black Anti-Matter

1,000 Chaos Norn Stones 2,500,000 Gold

If you’re a casual player or strictly F2P, obtaining Black Anti-Matter and Chaos stones will be the bane of your existence. You can only obtain them through defeating Black Order characters through the World Boss end-game event… or if you’ve got $100 laying around… Yo! Mobile games!

Luckily for me, I’ve been able to somewhat “farm” Black Order characters daily through focusing on specific characters and focusing half of my energy resources on farming cards/obelisks. It really hinders your energy and resources, but I’d highly recommend to farm at least 1 full rift a day to start your card collection for end-game.

As for specific strategies for each BO boss, it varies based on each boss and some of them will have a very strict striker requirement to even deal damage to them, such as Corvus. Here’s a quick cliff notes list of characters that are easily farmable and will help you beat BO bosses daily:

Iron Fist w/Uniform



Blackbolt w/Uniform



Thor w/Uniform



Groot w/Uniform

Luke Cage w/Uniform

Ronan

Elsa w/Uniform (as of v2.1.1)

Daisy Johnson w/Uniform (season 3) - For More Bang for your Punch



For Warwolf (as of v2.1.1) - Howl for Mars



Both Daisy and Werwolf are primarily used to for their self buff, which can be shared with teammates when they tag out. When you combine Daisy’s buff with Iron Fist’s The Iron Fist skill, it will melt through bosses like a lightsaber through a Wompa’s arm. Both buffs have different properties and restrictions, so keep that in mind. You can generally get by splitting Daisy and Werwolf among your roster for at least 2 clears and another if you have Loki based team. As a side note, this strategy also works in Villain Siege if you’re still having problems clearing it.

Unfortunately, not all characters are farmable. If you’ve been playing since launch, you may have access to a Hulkbuster and Loki, but not everyone starts off on the same page. Certain paywall characters also make farming easier, especially A-Force. Here are some commonly used teams (not all) to get an idea:

Team Loki - Ronan (L), Red Skull, Loki



A-Force Assemble! - She-Hulk (L), Sister Grimm, Singularity



Carnage Rebirth - Carnage (L), Spider-Man, Venom



Hulk in Bulk - She-Hulk (L), Red Hulk, Hulk



Team Pym - Giant Man (L), Yellow Jacket, Ant-Man



Again, I didn’t list every character or team, but some of the more commonly known ones. Each Black Order boss has it’s own quirks and tricks, so it’s important to do some research, ask the community, and select the right kind of strikers that may aid you in farming.

As for Captain America being a Tier-2 character… do not expect insane DPS outputs seen on Black Order Tier-2 characters. These are slight stat upgrades, with most of the bells and whistles found in their new passive traits.

HOLD THE LINE is Captain America’s exclusive Tier-2 passive trait that protects him from status effects, such as being webbed. For 10 seconds, any debuff and all debuffs after will be removed for 10 seconds, which also includes a 40% additional All Defense bonus. Steve will also receive 2 seconds of God-mode, which is useful against Hulkbuster’s initial Bind debuff into taking 0 damage from his Barrage Strike.

Now here’s the kicker. Don’t expect to clear Co-Op bosses in 5 seconds like Proxima. Unlike Black Order Tier-2 characters, upgraded characters won’t receive a drastic damage increase unless noted in their passive trait. Iron Man comes to mind as receiving a significant damage increase, but will still take damage normally like any other character.

Captain America does roughly about 600,000~800,000 damage w/Civil War Uniform in 30 seconds. This damage may vary based on which ISO-8 combo you’ve selected and what cards you own. While he isn’t going to speed-run his way to the top, he takes very minimal damage now compared to other characters. He can easily solo any story mode in the game without the need for healing items or ISO-8 recovery sets.

Overall, if you love the MCU and the Captain America movies, you can’t go wrong with a fan favorite. If you’re someone looking for min/max endgame only, I suggest saving your Chaos stones for Black Order characters.





I’M WITH YOU TIL THE END OF THE LINE

Aside from the bromance nod of having Bucky appear along side Steve, the Civil War patch some what fixes balancing issues with Tier-2 characters. Black Order characters are still fundamentally too strong for their DPS output and should be readjusted in future patches.



Captain America as a Tier-2 character was a great addition to the game, but seeing how he compares to the Black Order, it still pales in comparison for practicality, especially the steep 1,000 Chaos stones required for the upgrade.

If you’re on the fence between a Black Order character or upgrading your favorite characters to Tier-2, just ask yourself why do you play the game?





Marvel Future Fight IGN: PolishTamales

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