Marvel Strike Force- Starting out

[Ayleward2]

There is a DHO alliance in game, search Dadshideout and it should appear.

Getting started: (hopefully others chime in)

If you want to spend any money, the $10 Captain America pack is a great deal.  Most other packs you will see will cost more for the number of character shards that you get.

Power cores are best spent on energy refreshes- any other use is unlikely to net significant gains for your investment.

As of 4/2018 as a start:

Crossbones/Elektra event if available should be a priority.  Both characters have utility, even if they aren't the 'best'

Blitz mode: always try to get to the tier that unlocks the rank rewards.  Usually 1 tier past that gets you the >50% reward.  Gamora is probably a good first farm at least to the point of unlock in the Blitz Store

Arena - how much you focus here should be your personal preference.  This will mean gearing 5 characters and 5 characters only, as fast as you can.  Quake, possibly followed by Drax/Daredevil after unlock is the Arena Store farm to start working on.

Challenges-these become a choice.  If you are only running 5 characters to maintain/get ahead in arena, challenges which restrict the class of character you can use will become a stumbling point.

Alliance raids: We are running level 35/40 raids.  Even if you aren't at that level if there is room in the raid join and do what damage you can, the rewards will help you progress faster.  I am using raid currency for gear, not a character farm or the orb lotteries.  On the character side, looking Ronan is probably the 'best' farm.

Campaign: Heroes/Villains will be unlocked, Nexus is the next campaign to unlock followed by Cosmic.  I just  unlocked Cosmic (level 45 and 3 cosmic characters required)
Heroes Campaign: Grind Yondu in 1-9 as fast as possible

Villains Campaign: Grind Hawkeye in 1-9 as fast as possible.

 

Starting teams (from memory):

Heroes: Shield Medic, Wolverine(~7 day login to unlock), Luke Cage, Punisher, Spiderman, probably Shield Operative until Wolvie unlocks

Villains: Elektra (if event available), Hand Sorceress, Crossbones (if event available), Bullseye(this was an unlock as I recall), Hydra Sniper/Hand Sentry/Merc Soldier

You definitely want Night Nurse, Hawkeye, and Yondu as soon as possible.  Heroes/Villains are usually more powerful than minions (Night Nurse > Hand Sorceress/Shield Medic for example), and the best will call minion adds (Yondu/Kingpin are examples, I think Red Skull does as well.)

I probably missed stuff/gave wrong info, hopefully others correct me or give insights below.  I am playing with a focus on raids, so I have lots of characters very 'flat' in training level/gear level.

We are generally using the DHO Discord server for daily raid communication back and forth invite link: https://discord.gg/YrFjqQn

Ayle

[superbren33]

Great writeup Ayleward. Some good solid starting info. Thanks for taking the time to put it all together. 

[Mykk]

When he lays it out there like that, makes it tempting to join where before I had zero interest. Let us know how it goes guys.

[russde]

Is it level 20 before Alliance option opens up?

[russde]

Lol, yes. Just hit 20 and have sent request to join Dadshideout.

 

[Ayleward2]

Okay, a bit of an update as the game progresses- we are doing the top level Ultimus raid (as of right now) and generally 1 level down on all other raids.  Level cap and gear cap was just increased to 65.

Best starting advice:
If you want Iron Man or Star Lord, be patient.  Don't expect to get them the first run unless you want to spend money.

Mercenary squad should be a priority, there is a gold event that requires them.

A Hand squad may also be very useful, at least have 5, so that you can do their event as well.

Ayle

[Ayleward2]

New update, one year later....

Discord channel is the best option for asking questions, a lot of goals now will depend on what you want to do in game.

Starting recommendations:

Defenders for Arena/Blitz/Heroes/Nexus/War/Block Party event
Hand/Mercs for the gold and catalysts events and Villians campaign (maybe?)

Currency:

I would get Blitz orbs with Blitz currency, purple gear with Raid currency (you will get orbs from milestones, character orbs are better than buying specific characters early unless you want one specifically), gold gear with War currency.  Save the War Orb currency for the orange gear orbs (costs 1000 currency).  The main store, any useful Superior Uniques you see (we have a pinned list) that show up as 72k are instant buys.  Other items you will learn which pieces you are always short on.

Once you have Defenders + Punisher up to ~150k power, I would switch  to Guardians, maybe with Yondu for the Star Lord event.  Star Lord is the cornerstone of a couple of the best raid teams and end game PvE content (Fear the Darkness).

If you are a new account, don't worry about not being able to accomplish much in raids or War, we are here to enjoy the game, and with the rewards from those modes we will advance your roster pretty quickly.

Ayle