MSF: Dread The Darkness Live Blog – Mission #12

MSF - Dread The Darkness Mission 12

Dark Dimension III: Dread The Darkness is the ultimate endgame content in Marvel Strike Force, and I begin fighting the 12th mission after about 20 days of fighting the 11th mission. This mission again requires Cosmic characters, and Invisible Woman has proven to be a very important piece to this puzzle give the survivability she adds to any team. Below 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 Cosmic characters:

Here are the starting stats for my Cosmic characters fighting this mission, a little more than a week after the initial release of Iso-8.

  • Captain Marvel – 112,037 power, Level 75, Gear 14, Abilities Levels 7-7-7-5 – 7 Stars, 5 Red Stars – Skirmisher Level 3
  • Minn-erva – 116,160, Level 75, Gear 14, Ability Levels 7-7-7-5 – 7 Stars, 6 Red Stars – Healer Level 3
  • Black Bolt – 104,718 power, Level 75, Gear 14, Ability Levels 7-7-7-5 – 6 Stars, 5 Red Stars – Striker Level 3
  • Invisible Woman – 98,857 power, Level 75, Gear 14, Ability Levels 7-7-7-5 – 7 Stars, 4 Red Stars – Healer Level 3 (major power updat 10.20.20)
  • Thanos – 96,836, Level 75, Gear 14, Ability Levels 7-7-6-5 – 7 Stars, 4 Red Stars – Fortifier Level 3

Dread The Darkness – Mission 12

Stryfe (3.73m power), 36.5m total enemy health

10.07.20 – The 12th mission has 36 enemies, and 8 on-screen to start, and my team checks in with 528k power. These enemies come out strong and the two Stryfe enemies will prove to be a real problem. I start this battle over  a few times to get a better start given the importance of a good start, and in doing so I find that any scenario where I have all 5 characters alive at my first attack is a good start. I literally get a single attack in, a basic from Captain Marvel, and nothing more, resulting in a little over 200k damage.

 

10.08.20 – Hoping for a better second attack, I now have Black Bolt at level 4 on his Iso-8 mods. My team as a whole checks in at 531k now.

 

To the battle, I take a couple of hits before I take a turn and I am stuck hitting a Stryfe to begin. I survive through the second wave of enemy attacks, thanks to Minn-erva reviving IW and her barrier then being added, and now Black Bolt has his ultimate to use on the 8 enemies for the first significant attack of this mission. After this attack I only get two more hits in before I am finished. For tomorrow, I will have 34.846m health remaining.

10.09.20 – Today my team is even stronger at 537k – both Black Bolt and Minn-erva are now at level 4 of their Iso-8 enhancements and Invisible Woman has added health and armor from crystals upgrades to level 4, although she is still level 3 overall.

Battle time and I have 34.8m health to clear across 36 enemies. I take two hits, from Stryfe and Vulture, then CM lands her ultimate on the taunting Stryfe. IW gets killed and Minn-erva heals, draining the enemies a bit, BB gets two hits on Stryfe, the second being a Iso bonus attack, then Thanos taunts. I hear a lot of attacks and look down from my typing and my otherwise well-performing team is dead… Yeah, so that is that. 32.954m health remain moving forward.

 

10.10.20 – A quick battle sees me do very little, landing a few basics and getting killed much too fast. Nothing to report on that will help anyone in any way.

 

10.11.20 – After a busy day with the family saw me not get an attack in, I am back again with a full five some of level 4 Iso-8 characters. With 32.1m health to go my team now checks in at 542k power. I am facing 35 enemies and they have weakened me nicely by the time CM take her turn. Her basic does next to nothing against Stryfe and Thanos dies immediately afterwards. I am able to get a Black Bolt ultimate in and weaken the enemies, but that is all of the progress I can make as my team dies off far too quickly. Tomorrow will begin with 35 enemies and 31.1m health to go.

 

10.12.20 – Checking in again at 542k power, even another level across the board in Iso-8 is not going to matter at this point. These battles are just crazy hard. Thanos is dead before I even take a turn, so two hits later I return the favor killing Vulture. My Minn-erva gets killed by Pyro, who Black Bolt then eliminates and the enemy count is now 33. Reinforcements arrive that’ll make this even tougher, which is laughable at this point. I choose to save the Captain Marvel ultimate for tomorrow so that it can last two turns with the AoE and lay a hit on a weakened Stryfe, but Namor’s ultimate kills my team off and that is it. Tomorrow will see me face 33 enemies with a total of 30.848m health remaining.

 

10.13.20 – Starting with 30.848m health to go, there are two taunting Stryfe enemies on the screen and one in red health who I will be attacking mercilessly until he is dead. While I can accomplish this goal, I can do little else.

10.15.20 – After forgetting to battle yesterday I start today with my 542k power team facing 32 enemies totaling 29.747m health. After CM’s basic does next to nothing hitting a taunting Stryfe, the enemies go crazy with a Namor ultimate and the other Namor’s special killing CM. A basic from Minn-erva is followed by Deadpool killing Thanos and BB and this is about to be over with little to no progress. I get a basic in from IW and ME to end it and made about 70k progress for the day.

 

10.16.20 – Starting at 29.6m health on the 32 enemies and I focus my efforts on Scarlet Witch until I kill her off. In the process I end up severely weakening both Namors, Cable and Wasp thanks to ultimates by Minn-erva and Black Bolt, but I die leaving 4 of the 7 enemies on-screen in red health.

 

10.17.20 – Starting with 25.5m health on the enemies, I just realized how well I did yesterday on this board. Odds are I will not repeat the same success. My team checks in again at 542k power and before I take a turn I have 3 of my characters at half health with Ability Block on them. I decide to restart until I have a better result and get that, where Stryfe’s attack only hits CM and BB before CM self-heals before her turn. She kills Cable, then dies at the hands of Namor, but I use ME to revive her before Sabretooth and Deadpool land multi-attacks on my team. BB finished off Wasp, then Ant-Man and the other Namor kill off my team. While I eliminated two enemies, I only took about 400k health off the whole.

 

10.18.20 – Now at 543k power after upgrading a Iso-8 crystal to level 5 for both Minn-erva and Black Bolt, I have 29 enemies left to defeat. CM takes the first turn and hits Deadpool, then Stryfe taunts and I choose to rest the battle a few turns later.

Now my second time around, I have CM hit Stryfe first, marking him Vulnerable, and while it takes me a lot longer to finish Stryfe off than I would have preferred, I take him out just after losing Minn-erva. A few hits later Thanos is down, and I kill off Sabretooth as well. Now down to 27 enemies remaining, reinforcements arrive placing 9 enemies on-screen with Black Bolt’s ultimate up. That turns out to be a well-timed hit given 9 enemies are impacted, then Captain Marvel is up with her ultimate, which I choose to save for tomorrow since my team is not going to last much longer. I hit one of the two Namor enemies, both of whom are in red health, but that is all I can do today. Tomorrow I will start with the enemies having 23.55m health remaining.

 

10.19.20 – Again at 543k, I start with 27 total enemies to go and 9 on-screen, 3 of which are in red health. I place CM’s ultimate on one of two Namor enemies and kill him, leaving a Deadpool and another Namor in red. After Namor uses his ultimate on my team BB uses his special to finish off Deadpool and we are down to 25 to go. I hit Namor twice then lose ME, Thanos and BB allowing CM and IW to use basics on Namor, killing him just before they are killed as well. I will have 24 enemies to go and 22.78m health remaining tomorrow.

 

10.20.20 – 22.78m health remains across 24 enemies, but the low-hanging fruit has been picked. The 8 enemies on-screen are all in high green health as I start. One notable difference for my team is Invisible Woman is now 120,160k power after upgrading her from 4-red stars to 6-red stars last night. A lucky pull after I saved up my 5-Red Star credits pulled a 6-RS version and improves this team by 18k power.

I start with CM’s basic on Stryfe since I have her as a Skirmisher still (mainly for this game mode).I take some hits and IW places barrier on my team, then ME heal drains the enemies. My Striker, Black Bolt, land two hits on Stryfe and removes his taunt, and I use the Thanos AoE. A few hits later I start my focus on Doctor Strange as I hate healers and revivers in the DD, as he and Pyro are the first enemies to yellow health on the screen. IW adds stealth to all but Thanos, a nice bit of RNG, and I continue to hit DS adding Vulnerable, then having BB hit his 3 times thanks to his now red health. CM finishes him off to take us to 23 enemies left, and now I start placing hit on Pyro as we trade attacks. BB is up with his ultimate and lands it, then I take a few more hits. CM finishes Pyro with a basic, and I lose Thanos shortly thereafter. I pass on ME’s revive and instead use basic attacks on Cable, as my team will not withstand much more, and I prove myself correct as a few hits later I am done. Tomorrow will see me facing 23 enemies with a combined 20.08m health.

 

10.21.20 – Day two with my newly super-powered Invisible Woman, and I start off facing 6 on-screen enemies. I save Captain Marvel’s ultimate for today so that the AoE after effect would have more impact, so I start with that one, targeting the always annoying Ant-Man which puts him in yellow health. After seemingly their whole team takes a turn, IW uses a basic and Ant-Man attack me making it Minn-erva’s turn with her ultimate heal available and much-needed if I plan to survive long. The heal drain leave Ant-Man in the red and Stryfe, Deadpool and Cable in the yellow, and Black Bolt finishes off the Vulnerable Ant-Man with the Iso bonus attack. Now reinforcements arrive and I am in trouble as 10 of the final 21 enemies are now on-screen.

I continue targeting the weaker enemies as no healer or reviver is in this mix of new enemies, and I place a hit on Cable to get this rolling then revive Thanos. IW stealths the team but then Namor hits me with an AoE which stinks. Now Stryfe is taunting and I have to use attacks on him, but BB dispels and I still, miraculously, have all five alive. Barely. CM’s special is well-timed hitting Cable and dispelling his counter attack buff, then I lose BB. Both Minn-erva and IW land attacks on Cable and kill him off, but that is all that is in store for me today.

 

10.22.20 – Starting with 17.936m health to go, my battle starts off terribly. I restart several times looking for good RNG and the best I can do is having just two alive after the enemies take their first turns. I score a couple of basic attacks on Stryfe to knock him into red health, but nothing else is accomplished.

 

10.23.20 – Starting with 17.778m health across the 20 remaining enemies, my team checks in at 561k, but turn order is my biggest foe today. The enemies get the first six turns of the battle, and I restart several times for better RNG, finally getting to play with 4 of my 5 characters alive. CM and Minn-erva use basics on Stryfe, and because I have Captain Marvel as a Skirmisher for this game mode it sets up Black Bolt to finish him off. Thanos lands his AoE and CM skips the ultimate to use a basic since she is all that is left, and my battle is finished right after.

 

10.24.20 – Starting with 17.394m health left, my team checks in once again at 561k to face off with 19 total enemies. Captain Marvel is up first with her ultimate, which I saved yesterday, and she knocks Deadpool to red health and marks him Vulnerable. Invisible Woman barriers the team and Black bolt’s ultimate finished Deadpool and weakens the other 7 on-screen, but all remain in green health. I start placing hits on Ant-Man as I find him quite annoying and with his ability to buff Wasp, removing him is my priority at the moment. A Iso-8 mark from CM makes him Vulnerable, and Black Bolt hits him 2 times, knocking him into the red, then gets a 3rd attack thanks to his kit. I lose Thanos but a basic from Minn-erva finishes Ant-Man off. A AoE from their Namor nearly kills my team and then they swoop in and finish the job right away. 15.463m remains for tomorrow.

 

10.25.20 – Starting at 15.463m, I check in once again at 561k power with the lone difference being a Iso-8 upgrade for Invisible Woman to max her health stat completely. I have 17 enemies to beat and start my offensive focus on Namor as his AoE and overall offense really annoys me in this game mode. I place Vulnerable on him and clear it with BB’s attack and subsequent Iso-8 bonus attack and take some hits until CM is dead. Minn-erva revives her and I continue to hit Namor, finally bringing him to yellow health and marking him Vulnerable a second time. I lose ME as I get Namor to red health, and I use CM’s ultimate in an attempt to finish him off. I am unsuccessful, which irks me since this is not how I usually use my attacks, and end up getting killed before CM’s ultimate can have full effect.

 

10.26.20 – I will start with 12.888m health remaining after a strong Sunday attack. Once again I check in at 561 power despite another level 5 Iso-8 upgrade to IW who is two away from the overall level 5 stat upgrade.

After the enemies get an attack from Vulture, my CM is up first and fails to be able to kill Namor. This proves costly as he, Deadpool and more kill Thanos and weaken BB. However ME is up next and kills Namor leaving 16 enemies left. I place a few hits on Cable and pass up an ultimate from IW, but choose to use BB’s ultimate which leaves 3 enemies in low, red health. That proves to be my final attacks today as I will start Tuesday with 16 enemies and 11.489m health to go.

 

10.27.20 – Each day I continue to chip away, at least that is what I tell myself… I start with 3 enemies in low red health – Cable, Vulture and Wasp. I tested Captain Marvel hitting Wasp first and that did not finish her, so I reset and she killed Cable in one hit. While I then lose CM early, I get to a Invisible Woman ultimate for the added survivability, then Black Bolt finishes Wasp leaving 14 enemies in total. However this prompts reinforcements as I now have 8 on-screen again as I work to finish off Vulture. Thanos does just that, which then prompts Namor and Doctor Strange to reinforce and this last bit will be ugly for a few days. Stryfe taunts, with barrier, and Scarlet Witch heals and it is me against 10 very strong enemies. I take some hits, lose CM again and try to hit Doctor Strange whenever I can but the battle is over rather quickly from here. Tomorrow I will start with 13 enemies and 11.343m health – barely any lower than I started (thanks to the heals) but at least I have 3 fewer enemies to kill.

 

10.28.20 – A couple more small Iso-8 upgrades to Minn-erva, but nothing else of note as I enter this battle with my five tallying 561k power. As I start the battle only 6 of the 13 remaining enemies are on-screen, better than the 10 that were on-screen yesterday to finish me off. I keep expecting more to join but they do not as I focus all attacks on Scarlet Witch in an effort to remove the healer. Minn-erva’s heal proves to be the key attack on this group of 6, and after I kill Scarlet Witch, Black Bolt has his ultimate available so I put it on them and 3 reinforcements arrive. Now 9 on-screen enemies are here as I shift focus from one of two Sabretooth enemies to Doctor Strange. I lose ME and avoid the temptation of using CM’s ultimate at the end of the battle as I lost Thanos and Invisible Woman on the next round of attacks. BB gets a double-tap basic in on Doc Strange to end my offensive progress and they kill me off. 8.746m health remains across 12 enemies who I will take on tomorrow.

 

10.29.20 – No changes since yesterday’s battle but I certainly hope I can recreate the success. That having been said, my City character are not ready for Mission #13, so taking longer on this mission may be of benefit to me. Meh, the competitive side of me wants to win, and win now, so that is what I will strive for no matter what.

I start the battle opposite these 12 enemies by landing CM’s ultimate on Doctor Strange. I hate facing healers/revivers in this game mode, so taking him out is my top priority. After the initial attack I get my butt kicked, restart, do it all again, restart, and the do it a 3rd time, finally not losing Minn-erva. This time around she revives Invisible Woman and then Black Bolt hits Doctor Strange 3 times, killing him. Thanos hits the weaker Sabretooth and taunts, then is killed immediately after. I place a couple more hits on the same Sabretooth, reducing him to red health, and then they kill me off. Tomorrow I will have 11 enemies remaining with a total of 7.683m health.

 

10.30.20 – 11 enemies to kill and out off the gate I am focusing on the weaker of the two Sabretooth enemies. I restart in an effort to see if I can have all five survive the enemies and their opening barrage, which follows Captain Marvel’s basic of course, and on my 3rd try I am able to hang on – barely. My second attack is Black Bolt finishing Sabretooth with his special, then Minn-erva is up with her ultimate which is much-needed as it drains both Wasp enemies and Deadpool to red health. I decided to go after Deadpool which weakens him before Stryfe taunts, and Invisible Woman uses both her special and then ultimate to keep me alive in her next two turns. With all five still alive, Black Bolt’s ultimate kills Deadpool and summons the final two reinforcements as I have all 9 remaining enemies on-screen. Thanos uses his AoE heal ultimate and CM dispels Stryfe as the weaker Wasp goes down. The enemies get a ton of attacks in to weaken my group, but I keep all five standing as IW hits and then BB kills the other Wasp to leave 7 enemies. As he is the lone enemy in yellow, I start hitting Cable, but then the wheels fall off. I get another basic or two in, but the enemies overwhelm me and finish me off after a great run. 7 enemies and 4.544m health remain as I head into the weekend.

 

10.31.20 – Another Iso-8 upgrade for Invisible Woman has her almost to level 5 overall, but I remain at 561k for my team’s power. After yesterday’s nice run I have big hopes for finishing this in the next few days…

7 enemies remain including Cable with low red health. Captain Marvel is up first with her ultimate which I test once and the AoE aftershock does not kill Cable, so I reset and use it on him instead to ensure he does not get a turn. I lose Invisible Woman, but revive her and she adds stealth to the team leaving Thanos exposed as Black Bolt’s ultimate is up. While I am sure it caused a lot of damage, it did not change any health bar colors, so it didn’t “feel” too effective. I continue to place hits on Namor and lose Black Bolt, Thanos and CM. The enemies finish me off shortly thereafter with Stryfe and Namor in yellow health and Vulture in red. 6 enemies and 3.386m health remain as I am thinking 2-3 days max to complete this mission.

 

11.01.20 – Back again with 561k power to use, I have 6 enemies left to get the win. CM starts it off, marking Namor Vulnerable, then I take a couple of hits prompting Minn-erva to use her ultimate, which kills Vulture. Black Bolt is up next and uses his basic to hit Namor, then again with his Iso-8 bonus hit which finishes Namor off. Now just 4 enemies remain and I am going after Sabretooth to remove his offense from the battle.I take a couple of hits, but Invisible Woman adds barrier to the team, and I mark Sabretooth Vulnerable. BB gets his special in and another round of attacks and Sabretooth is dead, shifting my offensive focus to Cable. Stryfe has yet to taunt today, so I am expecting it soon, and he does so immediately after I type this… CM tries to dispel it and fails, but I get a round of hits, including a CM ultimate in on Stryfe as he is near the end with Deadpool and Cable both high yellow health. I lose Thanos, but ME is up again with her ultimate, which kills Stryfe and allow me to finish off Cable, then Deadpool. It is not easy, but it wasn’t exactly nerve-wracking either. My reward is 250k gold and 5k Elite 5-star credits, which I turn into an upgrade of Colossus from 4-red to 5-red stars.

 

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