Dark Dimension III: Dread The Darkness is the ultimate endgame content in Marvel Strike Force, and I begin fighting the third mission after 11 days of attacking the second mission. 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 earn a 5-Red Star Ultimus.
My Dread The Darkness eligible characters:
- Phoenix – 109,809 power, Level 75, Gear 14, Abilities Levels 7-7-7-5 – 7 Stars, 6 Red Stars
- Black Panther – 104,770, Level 75, Gear 14, Ability Levels 7-6-7-5 – 7 Stars, 6 Red Stars
- Punisher – 103,438 power, Level 75, Gear 14, Ability Levels 7-6-7-5 – 7 Stars, 6 Red Stars
- Captain Marvel – 100,813 power, Level 75, Gear 14, Ability Levels 7-6-7-5 – 7 Stars, 5 Red Stars
- Ultron – 68,148 power, Level 75, Gear 14, Ability Levels 7-7-7-5 – 7 Stars, 0 Red Stars
- SHIELD Trooper – 77,694 power, Level 75, Gear 14, Ability Levels 7-6-5 – 7 Stars, 4 Red Stars
Dread The Darkness – Mission 3
America Chavez, 48,407,167 enemy health
05.14.20 – Wow, more than double the health of Mission #2 which took me 11 days… This appears, on paper (or on digital screen, lol), VERY difficult. My team is 486,978 power and ready to go to work.
The battle begins with 42 enemies to defeat and 8 on-screen, with one pre-taunting Drax, a stealthed Spider-Man (Miles) as well as America Chavez, Deadpool, Spider-Man, Psylocke, Ms. Marvel, and SHIELD Security. Two hits and my Gear 14, 6-Red Star Black Panther is dead. Wow. This begins the process of the unravel. I did not have Phoenix stealth the team in her first turn and this proves to be foolish as all 4 are dead around her before she is left to end the battle alone. Sure, she gets her revive/summon in, but all enemies remain in strong, green health when the battle ends.
05.16.20 – According to the enemy health my first battle I took off nearly 3m health on 05.14 which must be a typo or something as I got a Phoenix summon in and a CM ultimate and nothing else. This day of battles will begin with all 42 enemies still alive and 8 ready to come after me, but it comes a day later than it should after I forgot to attack yesterday. I did place another gear piece on Minn-erva to get her to Gear 13 +4 pieces, so maybe another week and I will have her ready.
42 enemies to beat, 8 on the screen and all are at about 60-75% health. With Drax, SHIELD Security and Ms. Marvel I am basically stuck hitting taunters at all times which is quite annoying. This team hits incredibly hard and it is difficult to get to the attackers, and once again I am dead without much progress. According to the enemy health I took off 2m, but I am not sure that anyone other than Phoenix and her summon did anything.
05.17.20 – Well, I did not forget to fight today, so I guess that is good. The game says the enemies have 43m of 48.4m health remaining so despite not having killed a single one, I will take this as a positive.
Of the 8 enemies on the screen, only Drax is in the red with 5 having yellow health and 3 with green health. I am able to take out Drax on this attempt, but these enemies are stupid tough. In the end I watch my characters all die after taking 1-2 hits and according to the game I made 500k progress which feels like nothing.
05.18.20 – Usually I do this live blogs and enjoy what I am writing about. Whether MSF, SWGoH or other games, this is typically fun. I think this specific battle is the first where I feel like I have to “work” – granted I realize how fortunate I am to call this work. That having been said this battle sucks – it’s not even a little enjoyable…
My 486k team heads into battle against 41 enemies and 7 on-screen with Deadpool close to dead and 4 in yellow health. It takes three attacks to kill Deadpool and then the crazy begins. 3 hits kills Ultron twice and Phoenix has made her big change, only today she gets to use her middle ability, unlike yesterday. This leaves America Chavez and SHIELD Security in low red health and a defense down debuff on all but one of the 6 remaining on the screen, so I am going to go against my typical strategy and use the Captain Marvel ultimate just before the battle ends. This kills AC and SS and results in my team being wiped out shortly after without another turn. All in all this feels like a successful run.
05.20.20 – This day began at 40.8m of 48.4m health for the enemy and came after another forgotten day of battles. Of course if I felt like this was more worth my time I would likely not forget… But I digress…
Starting with 38 enemies remaining I have one of the two Spider-Man characters in the red and want to finish him off. After a bad start I restarted and tried another start, and was able to work around the Drax auto-taunt and kill him off before they crushed my characters.
05.21.20 – Now 37 enemies of the 42 total remain and 7 are on-screen. Drax and the auto-taunt is killing me, so I am going to take a few days and only hit him, and as that starts today it is readily apparent how annoying this mission is. My characters all get one-shot or two-shot at best and today’s run is over before it began. I have 39.4m health remaining to remove and the momentum of an injured turtle.
05.25.20 – When you combine a board that is so difficult that it is not even fun to fight and a busy schedule around a holiday weekend, the recipe is a lack of battles. Apparently that is the case here as I failed to attack the DD3 for 3 straight days.
Today’s attack was no different and just as dumb. I started with 37 enemies left and 39.4m health remaining on those enemies and ended with 38.1m health on those same 37 enemies. I was able to get Psylocke and Spider-Man (Miles) down to red health for tomorrow’s battle.
05.26.20 – With the above in place I start with Drax and the pre-taunt again and after a couple of attacks my Phoenix and Dark Phoenix are dead in 3 hits. Let’s be real, that is dumb. Spider-Man (Miles) cannot survive the Phoenix summon, but my efforts to try and make a dent after that fail and I am dead with 36 enemies remaining. Honestly, this is not even worth attempting anymore with this lineup…
05.27.20 – Back for my daily beating, I have 37.8 million of 48.4m health remaining on my enemies after 8 attacks for a pitiful average of 1.325m damage per day… This is brutal…
My 486k power team enters the battle with 6 enemies on screen and 36 remaining. CM removes the taunt from Drax and BP hits the nearly dead Psylocke, but cannot finish her setting me up for trouble. Phoenix adds stealth to her crew only to take a three hits and be one attack from death, but a little bit of good RNG today gives her a chance to zap the health of the now 10 enemies on screen as Psylocke died when Phoenix summoned her darker self. After Phoenix is killed Punisher finishes off Drax and CM’s basic is enough to kill BP giving me 3 kills today already, one of my best days to date on Mission #3 of Dread The Darkness. Again BP cannot finish as he hits Gamora and she, in turn, kills Ultron twice and my team unravels from there. Three enemies and 3m damage for the day, including the removal of Drax and the pre-taunt, leaves me feeling a bit more optimistic.
05.28.20 – After a great day yesterday (relatively speaking), I am hoping to build on that success. I think I caught a big break on Phoenix not dying too quickly, but we will see how this day goes…
CM starts it off well by eliminating Gamora, and BP lands slow on Spider-Man while Ultimus also gets in a hit, but the enemies quickly kill off BP and Captain Marvel then cause Phoenix to summon Dark Phoenix. However, her zap of health on the enemy is the last of my attacks and I am done for today. 32.8m health remains meaning I knocked about 2m off after yesterday’s 3m tally.
05.29.20 – 10 attacks in and I am 33% of the way done…
One change is that I upgraded two abilities, one on CM and one on Punisher, to up my team’s power to 494k.
I start with 6 enemies, a Ms. Marvel in yellow health and the rest in green. My first hit of the day is on America Chavez as CM hits her and BP is up with charged and his ultimate in play. This puts AC and Deadpool into yellow health and triggers taunts from both Ms. Marvels on the screen and the SHIELD Security. Phoenix gets hit and summons Dark Phoenix, my only real offense, and then zaps the enemies and suddenly the MM that started in yellow health is low red. Punisher finishes her off and I take some hits leaving me with just CM and BP left, and both hit AC leaving her barely hanging on. But alive is too much as she helps her teammates decimate what was left of my team and I am done for another day.
05.31.20 – I will start this day with 31.2m health remaining on the enemies as my 494k team enters battle against 30 enemies, 5 on-screen, two in red health and one in yellow. Hits to the red health Deadpool and America Chavez weaken them, but Phoenix has to summon Dark Phoenix to kill them off. Four reinforcements arrive and her health zap kills off SHIELD Security leaving me with 27 enemies and 6 on-screen, including another Drax. Given my dislike for him in this game mode he will continue to be a major focus of my attacks, but Spider-Man (Miles) had defense down and red health so I finished him off. Unfortunately that was all for today as the enemies overwhelmed my team and I am done for the day. While both are still several days away, I have a Gear 13+5 Namor and Minn-erva powering up and hoping to join the roster of Gear 14 characters soon…
06.01.20 – 28.6m health is spread across 26 enemies, 9 of which appear on-screen as I start today. Drax start with his taunt which will plague me for a few days I expect, and now that I see a second Drax has joined him my worry that this will continue to move at a snail’s pace is confirmed. I dispel the stronger Drax to work on the weaker one, and add a weak hit from BP before Phoenix adds stealth to the team then take a beating, but she lives to health zap the opponents. Punisher, BP and CM all land basics on Drax to get his health into the yellow before I die off as I leave the enemies with 25.2m health remaining.
06.02.20 – After 1.4m health was removed yesterday, 25.2m health remains across 26 enemies. I will keep my focus on the two Drax characters, the one on the left primarily, to hopefully open the door for more success next week. I land two hits (CM and BP) and then Phoenix gives health to all and summons, but survives to zap the group, knocking off the weaker Drax. Punisher and CM get an attack in, the latter kills off Ms. Marvel, and then my team is wiped out. 21.8m health remains which somehow means I knocked off 3.4m today which is crazy, but I will not argue.
06.03.20 – Like a punch-drink boxer who has take a few too many blows to the head, I keep coming back for more…
Starting at 21.8m health and 24 of 42 enemies remaining, I begin to work on the remaining Drax and have a CM ultimate to start the battle which is then followed up by a BP ultimate and Phoenix’s stealth move. She summons, which kills Gamora, then takes two hits and survives which will mean today will be one of my better days damage-wise. Her health zap kills Drax and leave 3 of the 5 on-screen in red health. Punisher takes out SHIELD Security, but reinforcements arrive as I now have 8 enemies on-screen. BP and Ultimus take out Spidey-Miles, and a new Drax arrives in the latest round of reinforcements. Now 10 enemies are on-screen and 19 remain, and after a Punisher attack on Drax the battle ends with my characters getting crushed.
06.04.20 – After 2.6m damage yesterday and the removal of 5 enemies, today will be a tough one as I plan to focus on Drax, yet again. But the battle starts with only 6 on-screen and America Chavez has red health, so she will get the first attacks. I am able to take her out, but after typing this out I look down to see Phoenix/Dark Phoenix are both dead. Punisher sprays the enemies with an AoE but is killed by the counter from Psylocke and now the reinforcements join placing 9 on-screen for the end of my battle. CM and BP get basics in on Drax and then I am wiped out leaving 18.2m health to go.
06.05.20 – I added Namor (6 stars, 6 red stars) to my Gear 14 roster last night and fought with him and SHIELD Trooper and knocked off around 400k, but when I started with them today I did not see the same success as SHIELD Trooper is too slow to get a turn and Namor is stuck doing all of the work. After these two hits I start this battle with my 494k five-some with 17.5m health. 18 of 42 enemies remain and I begin my work on Drax. Phoenix does her thing and, thanks to the Ultron minions, is able to get to take her turn as Dark Phoenix. I add more hits to Drax and actually kill off an enemy, I am not sure whom, thanks to Dark Phoenix’s attacks. I land several more hits and have Drax at yellow health, ending the battle with 14.8m health remaining across 17 enemies.
06.06.20 – I begin the main battle with 14.8m health on the 17 enemies after Namor landed a basic on Drax and was killed in my extra battle. I am debating adding him to my main lineup to get an additional attack in each day as Punisher’s speed is an issue most days. My 494k team will continue to focus on Drax, and a CM ultimate and BP basic start things before Phoenix stealths the team then takes enough hits to be dead completely. Ultron, CM and Punisher add basic attacks and that is all for today, although Phoenix really zapped some health away despite the otherwise poor performance. 14.0m health remains to start with tomorrow.
06.07.20 – I am going to try and mix it up a bit and add Namor to the starting lineup in place of Punisher, based off of their speed. Starting with 14.0m health remaining, I now have BP, Phoenix, CM, Ultron and Namor in the starting 5 and check in at 490k power.
17 of 42 enemies remain with 8 on the screen. Drax and one Spider-Man are red health, another Spidey and 2 Deadpools are yellow with the other three in green. A nice start as CM and BP hit Drax with BP killing him and then hitting Spidey before Phoenix places stealth on her allies and now Namor gets a turn, far faster than Punisher… Namore kills Spidey and then Phoenix takes several hits to cause the summons and then her death. Unfortunately only and Ultron basic attack is all I can get in before they just mow over my team and end my day with 13.4m health left before Punisher and SHILED Trooper fight and a counter from ST is all the damage landed.
06.08.20 – After trying all day to get two yellow gear Nanites for Minn-erva I have given up and will fight with the same five as yesterday. While I hope to add Minn-erva to my starting five tomorrow, I stick with yesterday’s team including Namor for today.
15 enemies remain of the 42 that began, and 10 are on-screen. Two Deadpools are in red health and a Spider-Man and America Chavez are yellow with the rest green. I hit Deadpool and then the enemies attack and kill Phoenix and her summoned Dark Phoenix, but she manages to weaken on DP enough for Namor to kill him. Now 14 enemies left, an Ultron basic is not enough to kill the other DP and I cannot even get another attack in to finish him off. I end with the 12.1m health remaining on the bad guys as I hope to have Minn-erva join the fun tomorrow.
06.09.20 – With Minn-erva now added to my team in her 6-star, 5 red star, 94,566 power form, I am eager to see if I can improve my day-to-day numbers a bit. The added benefit of this is depth as I will now have a second team of 3 hitting the same battles daily, and while I do not them to do much damage at all, progress is progress…
I am going to try out this following for my starting five: Phoenix, Captain Marvel, Minn-erva, Ultron and Namor. I find Black Panther is really ineffective on any non-Wakandan team, so I bumped him down to the B-team for now. This team checks in at 480k power given the two 6-star characters (Namor & Minn-erva).
14 enemies remain with 9 on-screen. Deadpool is red health and a hit or two away from death, and CM proves this correct by finishing him with her basic. Phoenix goes basic, takes hits and does her summons and then gets to zap the enemies for a big hit allowing a weakened America Chavez to be zapped away by Ultron before I am dismantled. Phoenix proved to be a hero today as I am down to 12 remaining enemies and 9.6m health to go.
06.11.20 – A busy day and some travels kept me away yesterday, but I am back today to continue chipping this iceberg down. 12 of 42 enemies remain with 8 on-screen and both Gamora and Spider-Man in yellow health. Gamora is my target as he offense at this level of competition is sick. Between a CM basic, Minn-erva heal and Phoenix summon I get her to low red health, but I cannot take another turn before being wiped out, thus leaving 7.5m health to go to finish this battle off.
06.12.20 – I start with Punisher, BP and ST and I am able to take out Gamora, but that is all. This means I will start at 11 of 42 enemies remaining for my main attack. My 480k team goes into battle with a beginning focus on Spider-Man with CM’s ultimate, and after that Phoenix and her abilities are all that does anything. The end result is another 1.1m removed with 6.4m remaining across 10 enemies.
06.14.20 – After a busy Saturday of family activities, I am back facing the final 10 enemies and both Black Panther and Deadpool are in read health making them my first targets. I weaken both and then both die when Phoenix does her summons. Reinforcements arrive and I am able to land two attacks on one of the Ms. Marvels to bring the enemy count to 7, all of whom are on the screen. The enemies tear through my team and Minn-erva is able to revive CM, but it matters not as they kill me off without a single attack.
My second attack of the day is the threesome of Punisher, SHIELD Trooper and BP. I land one BP attack and a ST counter as I will begin tomorrow with 7 enemies and 3.7m health to go.
06.15.20 – I am trying a few different combos to start this battle, as I suggest you do as well, and one thing I have found is that despite my desire to not waste attacks on the two Ms. Marvels in red health in hopes that Phoenix can zap them away, it is best to eliminate them before they have a chance to heal or attack. Thus, I start with Phoenix, Captain Marvel, Minn-erva, Ultron and Black Panther, and after a CM basic kills one MM I focus on the other who dies when Phoenix summons her darker side. Her zap weakens the SHIELD Security leaving just 4 enemies to beat, but I am down to three myself and do not see how this can be finished today. I land three hits on Gamora b/c she has defense down, but the enemies wipe out my team. 2.772m health remains across 4 enemies as I head into a 3v4 battle to setup tomorrow’s battles.
Despite being tempted to use crystals to make this a 5v4, I resist the urge and take in Namor, Punisher and SHIELD Trooper in hopes of weakening the enemies, even if just a little. Gamora one-shots Punisher and this is clearly not going to be a good experience, and all I get are a basic from Namor and a ST counter attack before I am done. Tomorrow will start with me facing 4 enemies having a total of 2.705m health.
06.16.20 – I am hoping today will be the day that I finally finish this unbearable challenge. Honestly, if not for the site, I doubt I would even bother attacking or I would at least put it on auto when the battle is this one-sided. I cannot imagine how long this would take without Phoenix…
I start with my strongest five, which includes BP over Namor. I land basics on Gamora before Phoenix takes her hits and changes it up, and her special kills Gamora and leaves BP and Spidey in red health with Ms. Marvel around 50%. A rare battle where I get a ultimate attack from both a charged Black Panther and from Dark Phoenix and I am down to just MM left. Several hits later and BP gets the finishing blow for the win.
The rewards for Mission #3 of Dread The Darkness are 250k gold and 8k gold orb fragments.
