By Gamer Dan • April 1, 2018

Welcome to the best tutorial for Marvel Strike Force. In this guide, we will go over all the information you need to know about the game! This guide is for players lower than level 35!

Basic Stuff

When you start the game, focus on the campaign maps first. You are going to need a lot of gear. Utilize all the free refills every 12 hours to do more campaign maps.

Also upgrade your characters as you level so you can complete the campaign maps. If you cannot beat a certain map, don’t keep trying and waste energy. Go back to other campaigns, farm the required gear of a character to improve your power and try again.

In the campaign modes, as long as you defeat all enemies and have the entire team alive, you will get 3 stars. That will unlock auto win mode.

The key is to focus on 5 characters first where you can use it to run campaign maps and events. After that, you focus on another 5 for the Villain mode as you will need items from the campaign maps to further upgrade your characters.

So there are some restrictions when it comes to certain campaign mode.

Heroes Assemble – Only good characters can participate. You will have a full roster here with Spiderman, Daredevil, Punisher, Luke Cage and Wolverine. This is more than enough to get to the latter stages of the campaign if you focus on upgrading them.

Villains United – Only the baddies can be in this. Since it is harder to assemble hero characters, you only start off with Elektra and then Crossbones if you farm the event. I suggest getting Nebula, Yondu and Hand Sorceress as the basic villain team.

Nexus – This campaign allows both the good and bad characters. This will be the easiest since there is no restrictions.

Cosmic Conflicts – Only cosmic characters are allowed here. You will also need to be level 45 to unlock it. I suggest Nebula, Yondu and Gamora as starter characters for this campaign.

Mystic Forces (not released yet) – Only mystic characters are allowed here. I suggest Elektra, Hand Sorceress and Yondu or Iron Fist as the starter team!

Spending Power Cores (Real Money Currency)

It is best to spend power cores on refills for farming campaign maps. The first refill costs 50 power cores and I would do it if you need a specific item. The only thing you should be spending cores on, is energy twice a day for 50 cores each and nothing else.

Also, do not spend any power cores on orbs, they give you the worst return of investment per dollar spent on power cores (don’t even use your free power cores on it either).

Daily Objectives

This would be the first priority for fast leveling. Completing it will give you a nice chunk of player experience to quickly level up and increase the level cap of your characters. Now you can unlock Wolverine by completing it 7 times.

Open 2 orbs – 10 campaign energy refill, 100 xp, 25k gold

2 arena battles – 250 arena credits, 25k gold

Play 3 villain united missions – 100 xp, 100 blitz charge

Spend campaign energy for ultimate raid keys – 600 ultimus key

Play 3 heroes assemble missions – 75 xp, 5k gold, campaign energy refill

Train 1 character – 50 xp, 5k gold, 2 l2 training module

Finish 10 campaign missions – 10 power cores, 75 xp, 15k gold

Equip 1 piece of gear – 50 xp, 3k gold

Auto win 3 missions – 60 xp

Complete 2 challenges – 100 xp, 10 power cores, 10k gold

Complete 2 battles in blitz – 125 xp, 5 power cores, 250 blitz credits

Make 3 supply purchases – 1 l2 training module, 50 xp, 12k gold

Clear all objectives – 25 power cores, 100 xp

Campaign energy – 80 energy every 12 hours

Challenges

Challenges are events you can do to farm for various materials or items to advance in the game. You only get 3 tries per day on these challenges. Some tiers will require certain requirements to unlock.

Gold Rush – Opens Monday, Thursday and Sunday. Earn gold! Pretty straightforward event.

Medical Supply Chain – Opens Monday, Thursday and Sunday. Obtain blitz charges and raid health packs. Blitz charges are used to do Blitz events while raid health packs are used to heal your characters in Alliance Raids.

Training Day – Opens every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. Earning training modules which is used to level up your characters.

Ability Enhancements – Opens every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. Earn ability materials to upgrade your character’s abilities. Only tanks are allowed in this campaign.

Orb Fragments – Opens every Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday. Get red and blue orbs which can be exchanged for characters shards and materials.

Catalyst of Change – Opens every Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday. Get important materials to improve the gear of your character. You will need Blasters to unlock higher tiers.

Characters to Farm

So as a free to play player, you have limited resources to get a decent team together, especially in the early stages.

Here are some characters you will want to focus on early on. I have grouped them into Heroes and Villains.

Heroes – Campaign

Where to get: Heroes 6-9, Nexus 5-9, Mystic 3-6

The ever popular CA is a great tank that always does what he does best – blocking! His first skill can attack multiple enemies and give him a defense up.

His second skill taunts enemies and he gains defense up. The cool thing about his taunt is that a random ally gets 1 energy bar, which helps if your team has characters that have high energy cost.

His third skill clears positive effects of enemies. That means he can help clear taunt sometimes, depending on the tank. For example, if you fight against Drax, he can clear his taunt right away!

Iron Fist – A great brawler type that has a very strong single target attack, a self heal and potential health regeneration every turn. He is a great candidate for Alliance Raid as he can sustain himself there. You can farm him via Nexus 1-9. Will take a while to get him but well worth it!

Hawkeye – His primary attack cannot be dodged and pierces! He has a mini AoE in his second skill that clears positive effects and slightly reduces enemy speed bar. His third skill can apply blind to all enemies, making it a great crowd control skill. He is pretty much an assassin counter. He does well against Nebula, Elektra, Spiderman etc. You can farm him via Villains United 1-9 and Heroes 6-6.

Villains – Campaign

Yondu – He is a support attacker that can summon allies and give the entire team offense up. His third skill Yaka Arrow attacks everyone and has a very high undodgeable chance that pierces. If you don’t have Kingpin, Yondu will be someone you want to unlock early for Villain and Cosmic campaign. You can farm him Heroes 1-9 and Nexus 6-9. Check out Tony’s review of him below.

Nebula – She is an offensive brawler that you will want in your villain team. She is very much a speed attacker that can counter with her second skill. Her third skill is a small AoE chain attack and she gains evasion. Nebula is built to attack multiple times before the enemy can move. While she may not be a heavy hitter, she shines when you level her passive “Exploit Weakness”, which gives her a chance to assist in an attack! You can farm her in Heroes 4-9 and Nexus 1-3.

Blitz

Gamora – Gamora is an offensive brawler that is built for killing blows. As long as she gets to finish the enemy off, she gets to go again. That means she can move multiple turns if she gets chain kills. Her passive increases critical chance, so she becomes more potent as you level her abilities.

Crossbones – Crossbones is actually a very good offensive tank with his third skill being able to deal a lot of damage to the enemy team while hurting himself. The goal is to taunt the first round, then explode on the enemy team for massive damage after in the arena.

Spiderman – Spiderman is your squishy dodge character but has a lot of utility. His third skill does decent damage and he can stun. The second skill applies defense down. His first two skills can chain attacks vs nearby enemies. His passive increases his dodge chance. I would farm him just for utility.

Alliance Wars

Thor – Thor is slow but hits very hard. His first skill only hits one enemy but his second and third skill are both AoE attacks. His third skill stuns the primary target and also gives a chance to stun other enemies as well. He is a great crowd control Blaster. I try to farm him ASAP!

Character Farming Spots

If you want to know where to farm a character, take a look at the table below.

Name Side Location (To Farm) Area Powers Role Affiliation Black Widow Hero Global Skill Controller Avenger, S.H.I.E.L.D. Captain America Hero Heroes 6-9, Nexus 5-9, Mystic 3-6 Global Bio Protector Avenger, S.H.I.E.L.D. Daredevil Hero Arena Store, Nexus 8-9 City Bio Brawler Defender, Martial Artist Drax Hero Arena Store Cosmic Bio Protector Guardian Gamora Hero Nexus 2-9 Cosmic Skill Brawler Guardian Hawkeye Hero Villains 1-9, Heroes 6-6 Global Skill Controller Avenger, S.H.I.E.L.D. Hulk Hero Achievements Global Bio Protector Avenger Iron Fist Hero Nexus 1-9 City Mystic Brawler Defender, Martial Artist Iron Man Hero Event: I am Iron Man, Requirements: 5 5* S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, December 23rd 2017 until Jan 1st Global Tech Blaster Avenger Jessica Jones Hero Villains 2-9,Nexus 4-9 City Bio Controller Defender Luke Cage Hero Heroes 3-3, Blitz Supplies City Bio Protector Defender Nick Fury Hero Not yet available Global Skill Support Avenger, S.H.I.E.L.D. Night Nurse Hero Villains 3-9, Heroes 5-9 City Skill Support Punisher Hero Heroes 1-6, Villains 4-3, Nexus 5-6 City Skill Blaster Quake Hero Arena Store Global Bio Controller S.H.I.E.L.D., Inhuman Rocket Raccoon Hero Cosmic Tech Blaster Guardian S.H.I.E.L.D. Assault Hero Raid Store Global Skill Blaster S.H.I.E.L.D., Minion S.H.I.E.L.D. Medic Hero Heroes 2-3, Villains 1-6, Nexus 3-3 Global Skill Support S.H.I.E.L.D., Minion S.H.I.E.L.D. Operative Hero Nexus 1-6, Villains 4-6 Global Skill Support S.H.I.E.L.D., Minion S.H.I.E.L.D. Security Hero Heroes 3-6, Cosmic 3-6, December 2017 Monthly Login Global Skill Protector S.H.I.E.L.D., Minion S.H.I.E.L.D. Trooper Hero Arena Store Global Skill Blaster S.H.I.E.L.D., Minion Spider-Man Hero Arena Store City Bio Brawler Thor Hero Raid Store Cosmic Mystic Blaster Avenger, Asgardian A.I.M. Assaulter Villain Villains 6-3, Mystic 1-9 Global Tech Blaster A.I.M., Minion A.I.M. Infector Villain Blitz Supplies Global Bio Controller A.I.M., Minion A.I.M. Monstrosity Villain Blitz Supplies Global Bio Brawler A.I.M., Minion A.I.M. Researcher Villain Heroes 4-3, Nexus 5-3 Global Skill Support A.I.M., Minion A.I.M. Security Villain Villains 5-3 Global Tech Protector A.I.M., Minion Bullseye Villain Heroes 2-6, Villains 1-3 City Skill Blaster Mercenary Crossbones Villain Event: Double-Crossed, Villains 4-9 Global Tech Protector Hydra, Inhuman Elektra Villain Event: Elektra Assassin, Heroes 3-9, Nexus 3-9 City Mystic Brawler Hand, Martial Artist Hand Archer Villain Arena Store City Skill Blaster Hand, Martial Artist, Minion Hand Assassin Villain Villains 5-6 City Mystic Controller Hand, Martial Artist, Minion Hand Blademaster Villain Nexus 5-3, Villains 3-6 City Skill Brawler Hand, Martial Artist, Minion Hand Sentry Villain Nexus 7-3 City Mystic Protector Hand, Martial Artist, Minion Hand Sorceress Villain Heroes 2-9, Nexus 3-3 City Mystic Support Hand, Martial Artist, Minion Hydra Armored Guard Villain Heroes 6-3, Cosmic 2-3 Global Tech Protector Hydra, Minion Hydra Grenadier Villain Global Tech Blaster Hydra, Minion Hydra Rifle Trooper Villain Blitz Supplies Global Tech Blaster Hydra, Minion Hydra Scientist Villain Blitz Supplies Global Skill Support Hydra, Minion Hydra Sniper Villain Villains 2-3 Global Tech Blaster Hydra, Minion Kingpin Villain Villains 6-9, Mystic 2-9, Nexus 8-6 City Skill Protector Korrath the Pursuer Villain Villains 5-9, Cosmic 3-9 Cosmic Tech Blaster Kree, Mercenary Kree Cyborg Villain Nexus 3-6, Cosmic 3-6 Cosmic Tech Blaster Kree, Minion Kree Noble Villain Cosmic 1-6, Mystic 2-3 Cosmic Bio Controller Kree, Minion Kree Oracle Villain Blitz Supplies Cosmic Tech Support Kree, Minion Kree Reaper Villain Heroes 5-6, Cosmic 2-6 Cosmic Bio Brawler Kree, Minion Kree Royal Guard Villain Blitz Supplies Cosmic Bio Protector Kree, Minion Mercenary Lieutenant Villain Villains 3-3, Nexus 6-3 City Tech Support Mercenary, Minion Mercenary Riot Guard Villain Supplies City Skill Protector Mercenary, Minion Mercenary Sniper Villain Nexus 4-6, Mystic 1-6 City Tech Blaster Mercenary, Minion Mercenary Soldier Villain Raid Orb City Skill Blaster Mercenary, Minion Nebula Villain Heroes 4-9, Nexus 1-3 Cosmic Tech Brawler Nobu Villain Nexus 9-6 City Mystic Controller Hand, Martial Artist Ravager Boomer Villain Blitz Orb Cosmic Tech Blaster Ravager, Minion Ravager Bruiser Villain Supplies Cosmic Bio Protector Ravager, Minion Ravager Stitcher Villain Supplies Cosmic Tech Support Ravager, Minion Ronan the Accuser Villain Nexus 7-6, Mystic 3-9 Cosmic Mystic Controller Kree Scientist Supreme Villain Nexus 7-9, Cosmic 2-9 Global Tech Support A.I.M. Winter Soldier Villain Cosmic 1-9, Nexus 9-9 Global Bio Blaster Hydra Yondu Villain Heroes 1-9, Nexus 6-9 Cosmic Mystic Support Ravager

Join Alliance for Alliance Raids

As soon as you get to level 30, start joining an alliance. Alliance allows you to participate in raids where you can earn raid credits to buy raid orbs, blue gear orb and purple gear orb in the store.

Blue gear orb gives you a good amount of mid tier upgrade items while the purple gear orb gives tier 6+ items. I suggest getting the blue orbs first as you will need a lot of the mid tier items for various characters.

As you spend energy on campaign maps, you will gain Ultimus Key, which is then used to unlock raids. In the raids, you will have to fight a series of battles and defeat the boss. Keep in mind that you will need to pay attention to your team’s health because if they die, they are done for that entire raid.

You can heal your characters using the green capsule if they get low. Any healer character becomes very valuable for Alliance Raids as it reduces the raid health packs you use. You can obtain raid health packs from winning Blitz matches or doing Medical Supply Runs(Tier 4+).

Also, any moves you use on the previous battle carries on to the next one. For example, if you use Luke Cage’s third skill unbreakable in the previous fight, that skill will start on cool down. So make sure not to use unnecessary skills if you know you can win that fight easily.

Increase Character Combat Power

There are a few ways you can improve a character’s combat power, hence increasing the overall team power.

The first method is just raw leveling up by using training chips and gold. You are however limited to your player’s max level. If your player level is 30, then the max your character can get to is 30.

The second method is upgrading gear. You can get gear materials by doing the missions that they recommend. If you want to know which map to farm, just click on the missing gear you need and it will let you know where to farm.

The third method is to improve the skills of the character. Each upgrade will cost ability materials which you can get in the Challenge Events on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. You can also get some from Alliance Raids.

The last method is by collecting enough shards to upgrade your character to the next star grade. Currently, the max star grade level for a character is level 7.

PvP

There is quite a bit of PvP in this game, but it will be against AI. Hopefully, they will release a live PvP version sometime in the future.

Blitz Battles – Currently, the Blitz battles will hold events where you can win characters shards. The character changes based on who they want to give you. Do your best to defeat your opponents. As you win more battles, the win multiplier increases. You will need Blitz Charge to participate in the battles, which can be obtained from Medical Supply Run under Challenges!

Arena Battles – You can battle up to 5 times per day. You get to pick your opponents and if you don’t like the matchup, you can refresh for a more favorable one. Winning the battle against your opponent will replace their rank to yours. You also have to wait for a bit after 1 arena battle before you can try again without refreshing using power cores.

Grunts/Characters Worth Farming

Here is an excellent infographic by Southern_Sage! He tells you who you should be farming!

To sum it up for you, here are the must have grunt characters you want:

Shield Operator – She is the fastest grunt that is currently available with a decent kit. The slow on crit meme is back but it has an actual decent chance at removing buffs on every basic attack that’s boosted by her passive whilst her Special can heal a ludicrous amount if the target avoids AoE attacks that can kill it. She is easily the strongest solo-healer available as far as mooks are concerned and if paired with Jessica Jones, can constantly spam her Extraction ability. We are talking 500+5% of her health +20% of the target ally’s health in a single turn with some delay.

Hand Blademaster – With speed almost equal to Elektra but a much higher DPS due to the fact that he is not reliant on applying Bleed effect on his basic attack, BLademaster is your best damage character as a B-team attacker. The lower damage stat is helped along thanks to the high modifiers on his skills as well as his passive granting extra damage. His special, Assailing Blade deals huge damage and only on a 3 turn cooldown makes it a very easy skill to spam with support Jessica Jones. If the bonus attack hit, he will out damage Elektra. If not, he will just fall short of her burst but provide more DPS. Special mention is that if the first hit of his special crits, the second will also crit.

Hand Sentry – More of an Off-Tank like CB instead of a full fledged tank like Luke Cage, the sentry does his job very well. His basic attack has a large modifier on it and his Smoke Bomb special is a great way to keep allies safe from either turn 1 specials or as a GET OUT OF JAIL free card for enemy ultimates as long as the Sentry himself can actually tank them. With his passive and stat growth, he is surprisingly bulky.

Shield Security – He is harder to farm compared to the rest. His damage output is good enough but the kicker lies in its ability to either stun or slow an enemy for 1 turn which is massive even with his sub-par speed. The stun’s on a chance but the slow is guaranteed to roll against the enemy’s resistance. His special is lackluster and only worth it for the stun, which is on a dice roll so no. His passive is a life saver when actually using him and one of the biggest annoyances one can face when fighting against him thanks to his low speed.

Useful Resources

Below are some useful places to find more info about Marvel Strike Force.