MSF: Fear The Darkness Live Blog – Mission #16

MSF - Fear The Darkness Mission 16

Fear The Darkness is the ultimate endgame content in Marvel Strike Force, and I began fighting about a month ago with each board (except this one) taking 1-3 days to complete for the most part. While I admitted before that this team (below) may not be an ideal team makeup for this game mode, I am going to live blog my daily attempts as I look to defeat the Dark Dimension and open Ultron.

MSF - Fear The Darkness Mission 16 - KhasinoAlso be sure to check out the video linked in the graphic below from Marvel Strike Force Envoy YouTuber Khasino as he reviews Fear The Darkness Battles 16 in the video linked. Note that Khasino’s content is Rated PG-13 (language).

 

My Fear The Darkness eligible characters:

  • Black Panther – 70,663 power, Level 70, Gear 13, Abilities Levels 6-6-6-5 – 7 Stars, 6 Red Stars
  • Minn-erva – 52,249 power, Level 70, Gear 13, Ability Levels 6-6-6-5 – 6 Stars, 4 Red Stars
  • Black Widow – 50,886 power, Level 70, Gear 13, Ability Levels 6-6-6-4 – 6 Stars, 4 Red Stars
  • Thanos – 50,713 power, Level 70, Gear 13, Ability Levels 6-6-6-5 – 7 Stars, 2 Red Stars
  • Captain Marvel – 48,132 power, Level 70, Gear 13, Ability Levels 7-6-6-5 – 6 Stars, 2 Red Stars
  • Nick Fury – 66,397 power, Level 70, Gear 13, Ability Levels 6-6-7-5 – 7 Stars, 5 Red Stars
  • Phoenix – 48,107 power, Level 70, Gear 13, Ability Levels 7-6-6-5 – 6 Stars, 2 Red Stars

 

Fear The Darkness – Mission 16

Ultron, 1.76m million power

07.22.19 – I start with my same 5, including Nick Fury now at 7-stars and 5k more power. 24 enemies in total are what you need to defeat to beat the 16th and final board, including 2 SHIELD Security, 2 SHIELD Troopers, Venom, Pyro, Spider-Man and Ultron. I plan to start on a SHIELD Trooper and hopefully make a nice dent today and go from there. When Black Widow cannot even land a stun on her turn it feels like foreshadowing, then I lose Minn-erva and Thanos fast. A few hits later they open up a can on me and it’s over just like that after about 270k damage from nearly 18m needed to win.

07.23.19 – Day 2 will hopefully be better than Day 1… And it is, but not much better. I continue to focus on the Trooper and rethink my strategy midway through the battle, but I feel like I am in too deep to turn back during this battle. I am able to stun the Trooper and work around the Security taunts, and later kill off the SHIELD Trooper just before Minn-erva dies. So I have one less attacker hitting me moving forward, but I am going to have to start researching strategies on this board to move forward any faster.

07.23.19 – I watched Khasino’s video above and decided to buy a refresh today and see if I can knock some health off of Ultron, only this time with Black Panther in place of Black Widow. This battle looks a lot like the others only my focus is on Ultron now. I am trying to spread out Speed Down when possible onto the attackers and of course lose Thanos first and revive him. I get Ultron below 50% health but his minions join the battle just before I die off, meaning he is at about 60% health when the battle ends. This is going to take a while…

07.24.19 – I start the battle up again with the same group that I ended with yesterday – BP instead of BW. I really want to go after Ultron to help the long-term success of the battle, but a yellow health SHIELD Trooper and Pyro feel like a solid short-term strategy to make the next few battles easier to target Ultron. I follow this route and am able to take out both the Trooper and Pyro before the wheel fall off, with Ultron at about the same 70% health he was when I started.

07.24.19 – I deceide to spend 200 power cores and place Black Widow in the spot BP held so that I can try again today. Ultron will now be the target with some attackers out of the way. On-screen I have Ultron (about 75% health), 2 SHIELD Security (both below 50% health), Venom near 60% and Spider-Man with about 40% health. It takes 20+ hits to even get Ultron down to yellow. Eventually the SHIELD Security guys both taunt meaning I have to hit them which, in turn, bring reinforcements in the forms of another SHIELD Trooper and Security to join the battle. BW lands two stuns on Ultron during this stretch which does not include him summoning, but eventually that does happen and the train gets derailed. I end the battle with Ultron at about 35-40% health and a strong desire to keep fighting, but 100 power cores per character is too steep for my blood.

07.25.19 – Back for another go-around, and I have added Phoenix as another option at Gear 13. While she and Black Panther will not be in my initial battle, I may bring them in for a second battle later today.

I start off with 20 of 24 enemies remaining and 7 on-screen. Two have red health in Spider-Man and a SHIELD Security, and only one has yellow health – Ultron. Also in the battle are Merc Lieutenant, Venom, SHIELD Trooper and another SHIELD Security. My focus is mostly Ultron as I am hoping to make a major dent in him this time around, but I do plan to go after the weaker SHIELD Security in an effort to make getting to Ultron a bit easier.

A couple of attacks in I land a stun on Ultron and 2 bleeds on Spidey as the adjacent target, but then both Security officers taunt and the dispel does not dispel. Ultron’s minions are called and are combined with the taunts of the SHIELD Security guys so I take out the weaker one to remove that annoyance, then follow with the Ultron minions. With Ultron now red I stun him again with BW and lose Thanos, but bring him back to life. An Ultimate from Captain Marvel has Ultron low red health, but he summons his minions and then Minn-erva is killed. Now two bars of health in the red I keep trying to hit him, despite the minons, to keep him as low as possible for my next attack.

07.25.19 – I have 181 power cores left and now two fresh options, so I use 150 to bring Thanos, Minn-erva and Black Widow back for another round to join Black Panther and Phoenix. It takes a good 6 or 7 hits and my working around the SHIELD Security, but a heal from Minn-erva kills off both Ultron and the Security. This leaves Spider-Man, Merc Lieutenant, SHIELD Trooper and Venom all alive with red health, and they are quickly joined by Pyro and another Venom. A BP Ultimate attack kills Spidey and then I take out the weaker Venom and immediately another SHIELD Trooper, Merc Lieutenant and Spider-Man join the fight. Now 15 of 24 enemies remain with 8 on-screen and 2 very close to being removed. I take out the weak Trooper and ML and now focus my attacks on Venom while annoyingly try to withstand the attacks of the SHIELD Troopers. This proves to be my eventual demise as the 2 SHIELD Troopers continue to barrage me with attacks as I get Venom to yellow health before I finally die.

07.26.19 – I am told by my alliance-mates that this mission may still take a few more hits to clear, but having Ultron dead is huge as apparently I only have to face him once. I start with Fury, Captain Marvel, Thanos, ME and BW and I am targeting the Merc Lieutenant and Venom first. I take a ton of hits but am able to keep all of my characters alive thanks to a well-timed stealth/heal from a SHIELD Operative minion and a similarly well-timed heal from Minn-Erva. I take out both the ML and then Venom and have 11 of 24 enemies remaining as I keep getting closer…

Facing 2 SHIELD Troopers (both yellow), Spider-Man and Pyro (both red), I am going to get the troopers out of the way to lighten the barrage of attacks. After taking out one of the troopers and having the other 3 on the screen in red, 4 enemies join the fight in Venom, Pyro, Spider-Man and SHIELD Security. I am now planning to remove the weaker characters to get this battle into a better spot for me to survive this grouping. Luckily it takes a single hit to remove the weaker Pyro and a Captain Marvel Ultimate has the weak remaining SHIELD Trooper a hit or two away. I take him out and follow with Spidey and now it is 5 vs 4 on-screen, and I hope it stays that way as only 7 of 24 enemies remain. I am teeing off on Venom and get a bunch of bleeds on all of the enemies thanks to Minn-Erva and BW and a SHIELD minion from Fury lasts long enough to stun Venom as he is around 60% health. SHIELD Security finally taunts and Captain Marvel dispels 2 turns later. Venom comes out of his stun only to have BW stun him again as all 5 remain alive, sometimes barely, and I continue to focus on Venom. I finally take out Venom and the final 3 enemies arrive in Pyro, SHIELD Trooper and a Merc Lieutenant. As much as I want to go after the SHIELD Trooper and ML, I choose to remove weaker characters first as SHIELD Security is red and Pyro and Spidey are yellow health.

The final 6 of 24 enemies with 3 below half health and I am looking to remove Spidey first given he is not in the red and has 3 bleeds over his head. I finish off Spidey and have taken a lot of hits and the bleeds from Pyro are taking a toll. I remove the SHIELD Security and am down to 4 of 24, but Pyro is back to yellow health from the efforts to focus on others. A few more hits from Pyro and SHIELD Trooper and the bleeds catch up to me as my characters fall one by one to leave me at 4 of 24 enemies, just short of the goal.

MSF - Unlocking Ultron07.26.19 – The addition of Phoenix as an option yesterday is the only reason I am fighting again today as I barely had the power cores for the heals, but here we go again with Phoenix, ME, Thanos, Nick Fury and Black Panther. The goal is to finish this board and reap the rewards and I am going straight after the Mercenary Lieutenant to start after BP places a speed down on the weaker Pyro. I get all enemies into the yellow, almost by accident, when Phoenix summons Dark Phoenix, and she uses her move to put them all at red health. ML dies two attacks later leaving 3 of 24 enemies – 2 Pyros and a SHIELD Trooper. Thanos, Dark Phoenix and finally Black Panther land AoE attacks and the BP ultimate finishes them off as the rewards come piling in. Wow.

 

After opening Ultron:

After opening Ultron you fight these battles once again in order to power him up and gain more rewards, only this time you have a lot more orange gear and (hopefully) more Gear 13 characters. While I am not going to live blog these battles, I will share my teams and results in case that helps others see what is effective. With the addition of Storm last night, I now have 12 characters at Gear 13: Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Jessica Jones, Minn-erva, Nick Fury, Phoenix, Quake, Star-Lord, Storm, Thanos and Vision.

Day 1, Battle 1 (1 total): Phoenix, Quake, Nick Fury, Black Widow & Black Panther (298k) – Phoenix is here for one job and one job only – weaken this team severely. Anything less is a disappointment as my goal is to remove Ultron as quickly as possible. It took me 8 battles the first time around and I would like to shorten that significantly this time…

I am able to get some very nice shots in that will make the long-term battle easier, and Dark Phoenix lasts long enough to get her ultimate attack in leaving Spidey in yellow health and while the rest all have green health, I made significant progress on each enemy.

Day 2, Battle 2 (2 total): Captain Marvel, Star-Lord, Thanos, Minn-erva & Jessica Jones (268k) – The goal here is just weaken Ultron more to setup tomorrow’s battles. I am able to kill off Spider-Man and leave the two SHIELD Troopers in red and yellow health, but Ultron is still around 60-70% health despite my efforts to weaken him more. As tempting as it is to buy refreshes with an Alliance War starting later today, I simply cannot spend the Power Cores.

Day 2, Battle 1 (3 total): Phoenix, Quake, Nick Fury, Black Widow & Black Panther (301k) –I start this off strong with Defense up and quickly get Dark Phoenix to replace Phoenix. I get Ultron into yellow health with Dark Phoenix and kill off two SHIELD Troopers and more with her ultimate, but a Merc Lieutenant and two more SHIELD Security characters come join the fight. Ultron is now in red, and I am looking to finish him off, but he summons his minions to kill my progress. I kill off the healer and work on him more and have him 2-3 hits from death when he finishes my team off with 20 of 24 enemies remaining.

Day 2, Battle 2 (4 total): Captain Marvel, Star-Lord, Thanos, Minn-erva & Jessica Jones (268k) – Three quick hits on Ultron and no luck, so Minn-erva’s heal is up and does the trick. Now I just need to survive… I start by removing a SHIELD Security and then go after the Mercenary Lieutenant since typing his name is annoying. After the ML is dead I lose Thanos, but Minn-erva revives him and I set my sights on one of the two Venoms. After one Venom is down two SHIELD Troopers, Spider-Man and another ML join the fun. 15 of 24 enemies remain and 8 are on-screen. This sequence will determine if this ends today or if I have to try again tomorrow. I am able to chip away at a SHIELD Trooper and kill him off just before their offense overpowers my team. 14 enemies remain for tomorrow, 7 on-screen with 2 in yellow health.

Day 3, Battle 1 (5 total): Phoenix, Colossus, Storm, Vision & Black Panther (274k) – Trying out a new team as I added Colossus to the Gear 13 ranks today. I start working on Pyro, get Phoenix to her Dar Side, and have him in red health when Black Panther’s ultimate comes up, while charged. He also takes out the SHIELD Security to make it 12 enemies left, then I add a Speed Down/Slow to ML and start to focus on the SHIELD Troopers to remove their offense. Colossus is brutal at Gear 13 eating up attack after attack from the enemies. Phoenix and BP remove a SHIELD Trooper and the ML on back-to-back attacks, and I am at 10 of 24 remaining with reinforcements now appearing. 7 of those 10 left are on-screen now, as I work on the other SHIELD Trooper. Storm is stacking charges, but still needs a turn or two to use her ultimate… hopefully I can get there as Colossus just died. Phoenix and Storm go down and BP is all that is left. I will start the next fight with 9 of 24 enemies remaining.

Day 3, Battle 2 (6 total): Captain Marvel, Star-Lord, Thanos, Minn-erva & Jessica Jones (268k) – I start with 9 enemies remaining, 6 on-screen, 4 in green health, 1 in yellow (Venom) and 1 in red (Spidey). I start working on the weaker Venom and get him to red health rather quickly, and after healing and killing off Venom I start working on Pyro and leave Spidey alone for now. After taking Pyro out and Spider-Man to follow, reinforcements arrive and I have 6 of 24 remaining, all on-screen. Venom is my main target, to remove the Heal Block debuff from the field of play, and I lose and revive Star-Lord then see my team nearing defeat. But a Minn-erva heal does the trick and I take him out with Captain Marvel’s ultimate. Star-Lord dies, and is revived, again, then I start working on the always-annoying SHIELD Trooper to minimize their offense. Pyro and all of his debuffs is proving difficult to deal with, but Jessica Jones continues to clear the negative status effects and ME gets another well-timed heal. After killing SHIELD Trooper it is 5 for me versus their 4 left, but we’re all weak. I kill off Pyro but lose ME, Thanos and Star-Lord before I can react. JJ gives 4 energy to Captain Marvel who uses her Ultimate to kill ML and it is my full health Captain Marvel and (red health) JJ versus a SHIELD Security in yello and a Spider-Man with about 65% health. They kill my JJ and stun CM and I get a couple additional attacks in on the SHIELD Security to get him to red health before I die, oh so close…

Day 3, Battle 2.5 (6.5 total): Nick Fury, Black Widow & Quake (176k) – Normally I do not do these under 5 member attacks, but I feel I have a good match-up here. I focus on Spidey and Slow him right away then call the SHIELD minions once both enemies are in red health, Stun Spidey and kill him. At this point I have this and I finish them off for the win. Tons of gear and a 7-star Ultron are the prize. Heck yeah!

 

 

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