MSF: Dread The Darkness Live Blog – Round #2 (Missions 1-8)

Dread The Darkness - Mission 1

Dark Dimension III: Dread The Darkness was the ultimate endgame content in Marvel Strike Force in 2020, and I began fighting it in May after finally getting my 5th character to Gear 14, before completing it in late December. While the Dark Dimension now has a 4th level, I start today in my quest to earn a 5-Red Star Ultimus now that I have built some other characters up. Unlike how I have written the individual experiences of each mission on separate pages/articles, I will chronicle the high level details of this second time through DD3 here in this lone article instead. My goal here is to run through the entire Dread The Darkness event with just my Pym Tech five, but this may take some time to build them up.

 

My Dread The Darkness eligible characters:

  • Spider-Man (Symbiote) – 131,081 power, Level 80, Gear 14 +3, Abilities Levels 7-7-7-5 – 6 Stars, 6 Red Stars – Level 4 Skirmisher
  • Wasp – 102,798 power, Level 79, Gear 14 +0, Ability Levels 6-6-6-5 – 7 Stars, 5 Red Stars – Level 2 Striker
  • Ant-Man – 101,111 power, Level 79, Gear 14 +0, Ability Levels 6-6-6-5 – 7 Stars, 5 Red Stars – Level 2 Striker
  • Stature – 79,024 power, Level 79, Gear 14 +0, Ability Levels 6-6-6-5 – 5 Stars, 4 Red Stars – Level 2 Healer
  • Yellowjacket – 77,572 power, Level 79, Gear 14 +1, Ability Levels 6-6-6-5 – 4 Stars, 4 Red Stars – Level 2 Raider

 

Dread The Darkness – Mission 1

Hela (1.43m), 8.4m enemy health

01.25.21 – My team checks in at 491k power. I find out quickly that the higher star levels and higher ability levels are going to be a huge piece to this – more than I realized. Early in the fight Ant-Man and Stature get hit a lot and are near death, showing how the added survivability is needed. I quit the battle and try this out with a slightly stronger team, using a 122k Carnage over the 77k Yellowjacket and see a bit more success, killing a few enemies before seeing my team start falling apart. I quit again and try a near maxed team that checked in at over 630k and see how that team can run through the enemies, and make the choice to pause this battle for the time being as I seek to beef these characters up and add Ghost.

02.26.21 – Now a month later, I still need 8 pieces of Superior Quantum Energy to get Ghost to Gear 14. In addition, I have added a couple of other Gear pieces to the others and should have Yellowjacket at Gear 15 when I max out the rewards from Mojo’s Mayhem after buying the MSF Battle Pass again this month/season.


My Dread The Darkness eligible characters (Updated):

Note that I will be adding Ghost at Gear 14 early this week.

  • Spider-Man (Symbiote) – 131,081 power, Level 80, Gear 14 +3, Abilities Levels 7-7-7-5 – 6 Stars, 6 Red Stars – Level 4 Skirmisher
  • Wasp – 120,079 power, Level 80, Gear 14 +2, Ability Levels 6-7-7-5 – 7 Stars, 5 Red Stars – Level 3 Striker
  • Ant-Man – 113,257 power, Level 80, Gear 14 +3, Ability Levels 6-7-6-5 – 7 Stars, 5 Red Stars – Level 3 Striker
  • Stature – 93,311 power, Level 80, Gear 14 +3, Ability Levels 6-7-6-5 – 6 Stars, 4 Red Stars – Level 3 Healer
  • Yellowjacket – 109,758 power, Level 80, Gear 15, Ability Levels 7-6-7-5 – 5 Stars, 5 Red Stars – Level 3 Raider

02.28.21 – Mission #1 – After more than a month of trying to build these character actors up at a low PTP rate, I am going to start this run on a Sunday since I can double up on Dark Energy refills. In addition, I just added another piece to Stature, got Wasp to Gear 15 and should have Ghost at Gear 14 any day now.

My team checks in at 567k, 76k higher than 33 days ago when I started this run which the game is timing, despite not finishing a board (purposely). My first run on this mission took me 5 days to complete it with single attacks each day. I start off by attacking Doctor Strange, a character I hate facing in the Dark Dimension, and I am able to set things up for Wasp to get the kill. I use Stature to taunt but in multiple tries I see the same result – they place a taunt on Wasp and then debuffs pile up and I am unable to escape it despite attacking different enemies each time. In this run I kills Falcon and Doc Strange first, but once I get down to 16 enemies they kill off my team.

My second run is a 664k team of Thanos, Ebony Maw, Captain Marvel, Minn-erva and Black Bolt. With two enemies in red health I am able to kill them off fast and knock out Ghost Rider before switching focus to Hela as this team flexes their muscles. The battle continues on with the Thanos disbursement of ability energy, Ebony Maw playing Offense Down on the enemies and Minn-erva healing on each enemy kill as I am able to tear through the enemies for the win and some gold.

 

02.28.21 – Mission #2 – My 664k team of Thanos, Ebony Maw, Captain Marvel, Minn-erva and Black Bolt is back after a fantastic showing in the first mission on clean-up duty, as I fight 32 enemies in a battle that took me 11 fight to defeat the first time around. After my initial hits the opposing Captain Marvel blasts my CM and kills her, setting up a more difficult task. After taking several hits, Black Bolt scores the first kill of the battle knocking out Star-Lord, but the next barrage of enemy attacks kills Ebony Maw. Minn-erva revives CM but the team falls apart with 31 enemies remaining.

My second run is an all-Mutant team of Phoenix, X-23, Beast, Cyclops and Namor which tallies up 584k power. Phoenix does her thing and kills An-Man early then weakens the restless when she transforms into the summoned Dark Phoenix, then she teams up with X-23 and Namor and kills off the first wave of enemies thanks to the use of each character’s ultimate. As the enemies start to kill off my team, I am able to take out the other Captain Marvel leaving 23 enemies remaining.

My third run includes Spider-Man (Symbiote), Carnage, Shuri, Invisible Woman and Ultron and checks in at 581k. I kill off Ant-Man first and start piling debuffs on the enemies with the Symbiotes, once I have enough debuffs to strike, Carnage kills Captain America and then Ultron takes CM out next. Ultron continues to summon his minion bots and then Groot clears many of the enemy debuts, but I start the process over again with this highly survivable combination of characters. Three straight Wasp ultimates weaken my five and kill the minion bots, but a well-timed dose of Barrier and heal from IW and Shuri help me stay alive. I kill off two of the three Wasps and then another set of reinforcements arrive. I now have 15 enemies remaining and 10 on-screen with my starting five all alive, and I continue to chip away removing the CM and Wasp left in the battle. At 10 enemies I get the last few enemies to join and attack as I have the final 10 all on-screen at once. I continue the same strategy, rebuffing the enemies and spreading Vulnerable around then having Ultron’s minion’s buff my team as IW and Shuri keep the team alive. I face a couple of anxious moments but Shuri heals at the right times as I kill off Captain America, Star-Lord and CM to start the run toward the end. I kill off Ant-Man, The Thing and finally Groot while refreshing my cool downs and the win is mine along with gold, 2k Mega Orb Fragments and 200 T4 Ability Materials.

 

02.28.21 – DTD Mission #3, Attempt #1 – I bring in 581k with Spider-Man (Symbiote), Carnage, Shuri, Invisible Woman and Ultron again, although they are not quite at full strength for this mission which took me 26 attacks over more than a month. I start this with an early SMS ultimate which allows me to fight for about 2-3 minutes and weaken the enemies a bit, but I am unable to kill anyone before they knock my five off.

My second run at this group comes with Punisher, Jessica Jones, M’Baku, Killmonger and Black Panther which checks in at 603k, but the slower speeds of this team means that I do very little damage at all before they kill me off.

My third and final attempt for today includes Nick Fury, Yo-Yo, SHIELD Trooper, SHIELD Medic and Scientist Supreme which tall 471k power. My expectations are low for this group given they are five of my weakest eligible characters, but it proves more effective than the last group based on speed and getting more attacks in on Drax. I get him down to low red health before they kill me as I leave all 42 enemies on the board and will have to wait until tomorrow to fight again.

 

03.01.21 – Mission #3, Attempt #4 – With 50.2m enemy health remaining, I start off with the Pym Tech five at 539k power now that I have Ghost at Gear 14 +1 piece. Facing all 42 enemies, I start with Ghost using a basic on Drax and the assist killing him. I use Wasp to stun America Chavez, then Stature kills her. After a few enemy turns Ghost is flirting with death and cannot hang on much longer. SHIELD Security taunts and I have to work around that, but lost Stature and Ant-Man next. Wasp land an AoE but Yellowjacket cannot get the kill as they take him out, then just before I am done Wasp finishes SS.

Mission #3, Attempt #5 – Now 39 of 42 enemies remain and 47.6m health to go and I bring in the 664k team of Thanos, Ebony Maw, Captain Marvel, Minn-erva and Black Bolt. After I land a couple of Vulnerables, I lose Ebony Maw and have to play from behind. BB kills Deadpool, but this deficit if a tough one to come back from. Minn-erva heals the team but I lose CM and then Thanos as it unravels. BB and ME land basics and that is it on this turn.

Mission #3, Attempt #6 – 38 enemies and 45.1m health remains and this multiple attacks each day thing is FAR more enjoyable than the first time around with this game mode. Going with a 584k power Mutant team of Phoenix, X-23, Beast, Cyclops and Namor, I am hoping to weaken this group a bit more. I test this team out a few different ways to see where I can get the most damage, and I settle on not using Phoenix’s special to stealth her teammates to start since there is nobody here to taunt and take pressure off of her once this happens. I lose Cyclops and X-23 as a result, but I am able to Phoenix Zap both Spideys  this way and bring the enemy tally down to 36. Unfortunately that is as far as this battle will go and I am killed shortly after.

Mission #3, Attempt #7 – 36 enemies and 42.4m health remains as I try my 581k team of Spider-Man (Symbiote), Carnage, Invisible Woman and Ultron, only this time placing Scientist Supreme with them. After killing Drax and Gamora I lose SS and stealth the team, living through their barrage of attacks. I am able to weaken and then kill Black Panther with Ultron’s minions and spread some debuffs but the enemies are too strong. SMS is able to last for a while, but once it is a 6 vs 1 he cannot hang on any longer.

Mission #3, Attempt #8 – 32 enemies and 38.8m health remains and I am going to try out four Wakandans and Jessica Jones to see if they can do anything at 572k power. With two enemies at 50% health, one at about 55% and the rest nearly full health, I can see that this will be a real challenge. Luckily I get the first five turns, but after that things unravel. I end the battle with a charged BP ultimate which doesn’t do much noticeable damage.

Mission #3, Attempt #9 – 32 enemies and 38.5m health remains as I take in Punisher and my four SHIELD characters – Medic, Trooper, Nick Fury and Yo-Yo. I get a couple of hits in on America Chavez and call Fury’s minions, but the minions did nothing to help or even distract the enemies as they picked my team apart quickly.

 

03.02.21 – Mission #3, Attempt #10 – With 32 enemies left and 38.9 health remaining I start another day of battles with Phoenix and the Mutants. This team includes Phoenix with X-23, Beast, Cyclops and Namor and checks in at 584k power. I start with a yellow health Spider-Man and a red health America Chavez across from me, so I focus the first several attacks on AC and Cyclops kills her off. I lose Beast first and they enemy attacks knock Phoenix down, but as my team gets killed off she is able to get her Phoenix Zaps in, the second just before they finish me off. This leaves 5 of the 6 enemies in yellow or red health and will help set up the next battle.

Mission #3, Attempt #10 – I am bringing in the Pym Tech five to start and if I do not like the result I will switch to another team. Ghost kills Spider-Man and then I decide to take out the SHIELD Security and do so quickly as Spidey (Miles) hides behind stealth. Now at 29 enemies, I land a couple of attacks on Deadpool, careful not to add debuffs, but reinforcements arrive as I now have 8 enemies on-screen. After getting stuck behind a Drax taunt with SMM still in low red health, Ghost uses her ultimate perfectly to kill Spidey Miles and a Wasp basic hits Deadpool next door to kill him too making it 27/42 left. With three tank characters on the screen in Drax and two Ms. Marvels, I have to plow through them to get to the attackers – Black Panther, Gamora and Psylocke. I lose Stature but Yellowjacket uses a special to kill off one Ms. Marvel as another round of reinforcements arrives placing me against 10 on-screen enemies. The survivability of this team is impressive as despite being stuck behind multiple taunts I get several additional attacks in, but eventually they finish me off= with 26 enemies remaining.

Mission #3, Attempt #11 – 26 enemies with a total of 30.9m health remain after some solid progress thus far, but getting through the 10 on-screen enemies will be a chore. For this battle I bring in my heavy hitters at a 664k team of Thanos, Ebony Maw, Minn-erva and Black Bolt with Invisible Woman for added survivability. Given the high health of others this fifth character is key as I am able to kill one Drax and eventually a SHIELD Security while weakening the enemies for future battles.

Mission #3, Attempt #12 – Now down to 24 enemies and 24.9m health, I face 9 on-screen enemies to start with Drax taunting. I try this once with Spider-Man (Symbiote), Carnage, Ultron, Shuri and Scientist Supreme, but a red health Ms. Marvel heals up due to the lesser offense, so I trade SS for Captain Marvel. Next I am able to kill Gamora bringing the enemy count to 22 and I get an Ultron from SMS. Ultron takes Black Panther out I land debuffs and try to get them to pile up as I take out Psylocke and get them down to 19 enemies before they kill me off.

Mission #3, Attempt #13 – 19 enemies and 21.2m health remains as I get down to my two weaker teams. I test these two teams out to see which is going to help me kill off a taunting Drax, and after a couple of tests I use a combo that kills him to make it 18 enemies. This included Punisher and the four SHIELD characters and did nothing else to note.

Mission #3, Attempt #14 – 19 enemies and 20.9m health remains as 9 enemies start off on-screen. Despite full speed bars my characters are killed off without taking more than single turn, so this is a waste of time.

 

03.03.21 – Mission #3, Attempt #15 – I start another day of battles with my with Phoenix/Mutants team at 584k as I look to Phoenix Zap the enemies’ health down a bit to start the day. I test out the Phoenix special the first time, and while her initial zap helps me remove one enemy I am looking for more, so I reset and try without the stealth early. I play this out a few times until I get the best scenario I can find, where the two back row Spideys are killed. That is all this team can do as I move on.

Mission #3, Attempt #16 – Now 16 enemies and 17.0m health remain so I bring in my top team of Thanos, Ebony Maw, Minn-erva and Black Bolt with Captain Marvel as this team can work through the Drax taunt more easily than my Pym Tech team. While I am not able to kill anyone, I get som really nice hits in and a big heal/drain from Minn-erva on all 10 enemies, but the stupid number of Assist Now buffs from the three Ms. Marvel enemies is killer – literally. In the end I knock off more than 2.5m health so I am pleased with my result despite no kills.

Mission #3, Attempt #17 – I bring in a throw-away team here just to get a few hits in and die, and that is my Wakandans plus Jessica Jones. They weaken Drax a bit and have some adjacent enemy hits, as they knock of a little health, about 600k, to help the next team up.

Mission #3, Attempt #18 – 16 enemies still remain and I bring in my Pym Tech five at 541k power to try and knock off a sizable chunk of the 13.8m health that the enemies still have. 10 of those remaining enemies are on-screen making today’s battles critical to the speed in which I finish this board. The Drax taunt is not nearly the problem it was in earlier tests thanks to the previous team weakening him, and I use Wasp to kill Drax and two Deadpools with his ultimate. This prompts three reinforcements to bring the on-screen enemy tally to 10 again, and Ant-Man slows the enemies with his AoE and Stature adds her AoE ultimate. The Assist Now function then kicks in and this battle ends much faster than I had hoped after the strong start. While I get the enemies down to 11.0m health, 13 enemies still remain and the 10 on-screen will still be tough to get through.

Mission #3, Attempt #19 – Now 13 enemies and 11.0m health to go as I focus on a red health Spider-Man in the front row. Carnage and Spider-Man (Symbiote) take him out, then Ultron kills off Black Panther to bring the enemy count to 10 as I apparently missed something, a counter attack I guess, as I was typing. Punisher gets an attack in before the battle ends but the end result is mixed. The enemies now have 11.1m health but I killed 3 enemies, so I guess I have to live with it. I may not hit with my SHIELD team later as they will likely not do any notable damage.

 

03.04.21 – Mission #3, Attempt #20 – With 11.1m health remaining on the 10 remaining enemies and I bring in the 584k Mutant team in hopes of Phoenix Zapping these 8 on-screen enemies down to complete this board today. I test this out once with Phoenix using the stealth at the beginning but then not making it to the Dark Phoenix ultimate. Neither situation sees me do anything better than killing one single enemy, Gamora, and then lowering the health of the rest of the enemies. These four Ms. Marvel enemies are a real pain in the butt, constantly adding Assist Now which wrecks any plans to fight beyond a turn for each character. I get the enemies down to 9 and SHIELD Security to red health, but that is all.

Mission #3, Attempt #21 – As I start to hate this board with a passion, I now have 7.1m health remaining across 9 enemies. I use my Pym Tech five on this board to see what they can do, and after a couple of test I decide to live with the result. I am able to focus all efforts on one of the four annoying Ms. Marvels and thanks to Yellowjacket’s first special, I am able to eliminate her right away. A Black Panther enemy replaces her and I wait for a turn for what seems like forever, finally getting to knock out SHIELD Security before they slowly kill my team off.

Mission #3, Attempt #22 – Just 7 enemies remain as I jump in with my Wakandans plus Jessica Jones so fast that I forget to look at the team’s health. I hit Spider-Man in the face a few times with Killmonger nearly finishing him. M’Baku takes 20+ hits before he dies, then I get a Black Panther ultimate which missed Spidey, but Shuri’s basic hits the MM beside him to finish him off. Now 6 enemies remain as my four good guys take a series of hits and do not take another offensive turn.

Mission #3, Attempt #23 – 6 enemies and 5.4m health remains as I bring in my SHIELD team with Punisher and lay every hit on Gamora, bringing her to yellow health and then I die.

Mission #3, Attempt #24 – 6 enemies and 5.7m health remains thanks to MM self-heals as I bring in Spidey Symbiot, Carnage, CM, Minn-erva and a revived Phoenix. I am not able to do as much as I hoped but kill one MM and have Gamora in red health moving forward as I just want to be done with this stupid board.

Mission #3, Attempt #25 – 5 enemies remain with Gamora, Black Panther, Deadpool and two Ms. Marvels left. I use Black Bolt, Minn-erva (revived), Ultron, Thanos and Ebony Maw and have Thanos use a basic, passing up the taunt to hit Gamora and then EM kills her. I land a couple of attacks on BP then lose Minn-erva fast and almost stop the battle, but I see I have strong speed bar for multiple characters and BB’s ultimate does major damage, nearly killing Deadpool. I finish him off and trade hits on BP, landing Offense Down with Thanos, then work around two alternating taunts of the two MMs. I kill off one MM, then BP, then it is my four, along with a few Ultron minions, against one single Ms. Marvel , who has nobody to assist her and cannot handle my power.

250k gold and 8k Gold Orb Fragments are my reward.

 

03.04.21 – DTD Mission #4, Attempt #1 – My teams of Black Bolt, Ultron, Thanos and Ebony Maw are joined by Invisible Woman and come in at 629k power. I am able to get a few hits in, including a Ebony Maw heal, to drain a bit of their health, but I don’t come anywhere close to a kill.

 

03.05.21 – Mission #4, Attempt #2 – 67.7m health across 45 enemies is what I am up against, and outside of Phoenix doing her thing this is a waste of time. Luckily she zaps the enemies when she summons Dark Phoenix and knocks off over 2m health in the process.

Mission #4, Attempt #3 – Using my Pym Tech five against these 45 enemies, with 9 on-screen all around 60-70% health, the results are impressive. I work toward attacking Shuri but have SHIELD Security and Stryfe taunts to work around. I am able to get all five Pym Tech to use their ultimate abilities, which is great, but the ultimate of Ghost and the power of Yellowjacket are impressive. While I do lose Stature a bit earlier than hoped, I am able to kill of both Stryfe and Shuri and leave all enemies in yellow or red health, reducing their overall health by about 7.2 million.

Mission #4, Attempt #4 – Now 43 enemies and 58.2m health remain as I bring in my 671k Black Bolt, Ultron, Thanos, Ebony Maw and Invisible Woman team. I am able to handle the opening barrage of hits and have IW barrier the team, and the buff-less enemies take a BB ultimate as 4 enemies die in one turn. Now down to 39 enemies left, reinforcements arrive as 9 are on-screen again with 3 in red health and 1 in yellow health. I am able to land another BB ultimate before the battle is over, killing Mordo and Killmonger, leaving 7 enemies on-screen in the end.

Mission #4, Attempt #5 – 37 enemies and 54.6m health remain as I turn to my Symbiotes as my last few viable characters which includes Spider-Man (Symbiote), Carnage, Captain Marvel, Ultron and Shuri at 585k. I am able to add Vulnerable to Kingpin and Namor, the two in red health, and SMS uses his ultimate to kill Kingpin and leave the enemies debuffed. Ultron calls minions and we trade hits before a SMS special kills Namor to bring them down to 35 left. One hit later 5 enemies join the group as they have 10 on-screen once again. Magneto adds blind to a couple of my heroes after I lay several hits on Hawkeye, then they get a Namor ultimate to really screw up my plans. I misplay a Shuri heal when Ultron has heal block, then Ultron gets a final attack in before they finish me off.

Mission #4, Attempt #6 – Given the enemies I will attempt this battle and the next since there are no healers on-screen as 35 enemies and 51.957m health remain. Using Punisher, JJ, BP, M’Baku and Killmonger and checking in attempt 599k power, I am able to get a Killmonger ultimate, and literally nothing else, as I knock off a little health.

Mission #4, Attempt #7 – Now 35 enemis and 51.279 health remain for my weakest team, the four SHIELD with Scientist Supreme at 471k power. I am able to hit SHIELD Security a few times and actually kill him, which at least will mean one less taunter on the screen. That is all that is notable as the run ends shortly thereafter as I knock off just over 200k health.

 

03.06.21 – Mission #4, Attempt #8 – This mission took me nearly a month the first time around and I am back for the 8th crack at it with my 584k Mutant team. 34 of 45 enemies remain as Styfe comes out hitting hard as Phoenix has summoned Dark Phoenix beforeI can take a turn. She zaps in her turn and places Defense Down across the board and an AoE from Beast kills Hawkeye. X-23 and Namor hit Pyro to bring him to red health and I am finished off a couple of hits later.

Mission #4, Attempt #9 – Thanos, CM, BB, Ebony Maw and Minn-erva withstand the opening barrage of attacks and kill Pyro, then a place hits on Magneto, including a Iso bonus attack from Black Bolt. Magneto is down and out as BB lands a Iso double-tap on on Stryfe as well and Minn-erva’s heal kills him to bring it to 30 enemies left. Before I did I am able to take out one Namor and the remaining Stryfe to drop the enemy tally to 28, then Black Bolt’s ultimate just before the end kills Killmonger.

Mission #4, Attempt #10 – Now 27 enemies and 38.7m health remain as Spider-Man (Symbiote), Carnage, Invisible Woman, Ultron and Shuri come to fight. I place several hits on one of the two Namor enemies and kill him finally, bringing the tally to 26 enemies. Kingpin brings in minions and the two SHIELD Security both taunt to make things difficult. I lose IW and Shuri but take out Kingpin and weaken the others significantly with SMS finishing off both Pyro and one SS to bring the enemy total to 23 before I die.

Mission #4, Attempt #10 – Now 23 enemies and 32.4m health remain as my Pym Tech five are set to come in at 544k power. I start opposite 6 on-screen enemies as I take out the Merc Lieutenant right away. After the enemies get their attacks in and a second Stryfe appears, Ghost uses her ultimate and kills Hawkeye as we are down to 21 now. I land several hits on Stryfe before Stature’s ultimate kills the adjacent SS as reinforcements arrive to put 8 enemies on-screen. YJ drain life from Magneto as Wasp lands a AoE and Iso bonus attack on him to put him in the red. Stature taunts and YJ is able to finish off Magneto, and after a few more hits on Namor and one Stryfe, Ghost gets in another ultimate against the 7 enemies, 4 of which have Defense Up. Wasp finishes off one Namor with and Iso bonus attack, and YJ zaps away one Stryfe as the enemies are down to 17. Stature lands another AoE and Wasp does too, using the AoE Striker role to get yet another kill to bring the enemy tally to 16. Reinforcements arrive again as I have 8 on-screen against me once again, and a YJ special kills Hawkeye. Namor’s AoE hurts, but I am able to heal up and hit the taunters I am stuck on – Stryfe and sometimes SS. Another Ghost ultimate drains more health as YJ takes several hits to go to yellow, but Stature’s AoE kills both SS and Mordo beside him as 13 enemies remain. I get some hits on Stryfe and dispel him allowing YJ to kill Killmonger, then Magneto joins the party as a reinforcement making 8 of the final 12 enemies all on-screen. I stun Magneto to help out the cause, then after the enemies get buffed up I use a 4th ultimate from Ghost to hit Magneto and dispel the Speed Up. YJ finishes Magneto off them another Stature AoE keeps the train rolling. Another Wasp AoE followed by an assist from YJ brings the enemy tally to 10 then YJ finishes off Namor and Ghost kills Kingpin as the final reinforcements arrive leaving my Pym Tech five against the final 8 enemies of this mission. I finish Killmonger, Hawkeye and the ML as 5 remain and I just smile as I continue to see my Iso-8 choices for the Pym Tech five pay off time and time again. Stryfe taunts and takes about 20 hits before dying as Namor, Hawkeye and Kingpin remain to finish this mission. I kill Hawkeye, then Namor and reset all cool downs on Kingpin to get the win thanks to an impressive showing from my Pym Tech characters. 250k gold and 5k Elite 5-Red Star Credits are my reward.

 

03.06.21 – DTD Mission #5, Attempt #1 – My Pym Tech five come in again after a fantastic showing in the last round, and I am able to start with ultimates from all five which kills two early. At 15 enemies left they bring in reinforcements including Magneto who blinds my team, and this eventually derails my train a bit as I lose Stature. Ghost and Wasp ultimates help me get some momentum back and the value of Stature is not in question as I am able to plow through the rest of the enemies, escaping a few close calls, and get another win for 250k gold and 8k Gold Orb Fragments. What took me 5 days the first time around is completed in about 15 minutes this time.

 

03.06.21 – DTD Mission #6, Attempt #1 – Another Global mission which took me just under two weeks to complete the first time around, I add M’Baku to the Pym Tech team to face 19.1m health across 26 enemies, but I lose Ant-Man on the initial attack from the enemies. I land hits on Invisible Woman, but they kill Ghost and I can see that this will not work out this time and I am killed off without any real progress, just 500k of damage.

Mission #6, Attempt #2 – My final attempt of the night has BP, Killmonger, Nick Fury, Yo-Yo and SHIELD Medic land a few hits before a Human Torch ultimate one-shots my five characters and I am done. Ouch.

 

03.07.21 – Before I start, since my Pym Tech team was so successful yesterday I thought I should share their current details:

My Dread The Darkness eligible Pym Tech characters:

  • Ghost – 99,949 power, Level 80, Gear 14 +1, Abilities Levels 6-7-7-5 – 6 Stars, 4 Red Stars – Level 4 Skirmisher
  • Wasp – 120,079 power, Level 80, Gear 14 +2, Ability Levels 6-7-7-5 – 7 Stars, 5 Red Stars – Level 3 Striker
  • Ant-Man – 113,600 power, Level 80, Gear 14 +3, Ability Levels 6-7-6-5 – 7 Stars, 5 Red Stars – Level 3 Striker
  • Stature – 93,311 power, Level 80, Gear 14 +3, Ability Levels 6-7-7-5 – 6 Stars, 4 Red Stars – Level 3 Healer
  • Yellowjacket – 116,477 power, Level 80, Gear 15, Ability Levels 7-7-7-5 – 5 Stars, 5 Red Stars – Level 4 Raider

Mission #6, Attempt #3 – With these five Pym Tech characters I take out Invisible Woman quickly and then a Rhino thanks to his taunt, then Human Torch and Scarlet Witch then I progress through the enemies as reinforcements arrive. Reinforcements come at 12 and 8 enemies as the battle progresses. The details will likely not help you out other than my tendencies to take out healers and heavy AoE offensive characters, just know that this team at the levels I have them is legit. In the end I earn 250k gold, 2k Mega Orb Fragments and 200 T4 Ability Materials which I use on Ghost’s basic to max her abilities out putting her at 103,115 power now.

 

03.07.21 – DTD Mission #7, Attempt #1 – This battle will be a chore as I have to face 38 enemies including Phoenix, but it appears that I completed it in just under 2 weeks the first time around. I am able to start off with ultimates from all five Pym Tech characters and take out one of the Jessica Jones enemies early, then I eliminate Daredevil just before Colossus taunts. I am able to knock Colossus out without killing Phoenix, then start working on the weakened remaining enemies on-screen when reinforcements arrive at 34/38, then Okoye and Killmonger are taken out. At 32 enemies left another round of reinforcements arrive and Phoenix summons her Dark self as 8 enemies are on-screen and the challenge gets real, but Wasp and Stature are able to kill Phoenix off without a turn-based zap. I take out Shuri quickly and land a well-timed stun on Iron Fist to avoid heals, M’Baku taunts which makes things challenging and it sets up Black Panther to kill Stature before I can get to him. Reinforcements arrive again at 29 and 25 enemies left, and at 25 another Phoenix appears. She places stealth on her allies and the enemies land several debuffs and hits on YJ as he dies, and I can feel this one slipping through my fingers. Wasp and Ghost land ultimates, which weaken Luke Cage enough for me to finish him just before Ghost is killed, but that is as far as I can get as I leave 24 enemies for this battle.

Mission #7, Attempt #2 – I bring in Scientist Supreme and my four SHIELD characters and take Phoenix out, summoning her darker side, and I am able to accomplish nothing more. At 23 enemies remaining I feel like this is a win and move on.

Mission #7, Attempt #3 – This battle sees my five Mutant characters come in and I quickly kill off Storm. The Phoenix Zap kills Psylocke then I take out Shuri and at 20 enemies reinforcements arrive placing 8 enemies on-screen. Phoenix lands her ultimate and kills Killmonger to make it 19 enemies left, then a Cyclops ultimate sets up X-23 taking out JJ. My next few hits do not kill anyone else, but they set up future battles nicely by weakening the enemies before I die.

Mission #7, Attempt #4 – Because this is a Global board my Cosmic Tech crew is unavailable, so I use Ultron with four Wakandans for my final battle of the day. 18.790m health and 18 enemies remain as I focus in on Psylocke immediately and kill her fast, prompting reinforcements once again. Now 8 enemies are on-screen and the enemy Wakandans prove much tougher than mine as the enemies kill me off quickly with just 240k damage dealt.

 

03.08.21 – Mission #7, Attempt #5 – I bring my Pym Tech five in to start in hopes of a full clear of this board. While I know this is a tall order, they killed off 14 enemies yesterday so I am hoping I can get the momentum to make this happen. 17 enemies remain with 8 on-screen, and the total enemy health is 18.6m. I take out Storm early and then get stuck behind M’Baku and Colossus taunts, killing Colossus next and then BP to drop the enemy count to 14, but this prompts reinforcements. At 12 enemies left I lose Stature and then Ghost at 11, followed by Wasp at 10 as the enemies are tough to corral enough to maintain this without all Gear 15 characters on my side, and I am done with 10 enemies remaining and Phoenix still on the lighter side.

Mission #7, Attempt #6 – I bring in Scientist Supreme and my four SHIELD characters to try and recreate some of yesterday’s major, and I am able to again take Phoenix out, summoning her darker side, and little else. While it reads 10 enemies left, there will be 9 enemies remaining for future battles.

Mission #7, Attempt #7 – Phoenix and the Mutants come in and the Phoenix Zap kills off Jessica Jones and is followed by a Cyclops basic killing one Daredevil. Phoenix is then killed and I place hits on the other Daredevil but cannot finish him before I die.

Mission #7, Attempt #8 – Now 7 enemies and 6.8m health remain as Ultron and the Wakandans come in and BP is able to use his ultimate immediately to kill Daredevil and then a basic on his BP counterpart who I weaken into low red health but cannot kill, leaving 6 enemies for tomorrow.

 

03.09.21 – Mission #7, Attempt #9 – Once again, I bring my Pym Tech five in to start in hopes of a full clear of this board. While I know this goal is a big one, this team is capable of doing this if I play things correctly and have some decent RNG (gaming luck). I am tempted to bring in Phoenix and the Mutant team first to try and work some health down on the 6 remaining enemies, but I’d like to save them for Mission #8’s start. I am able to kill BP on the first attack by Ghost, then I start working on the two Colossus, two Storm and Jessica Jones enemies. I get stuck behind both Colossus enemies taunting, but I survive long enough to kill one Colossus as well as the adjacent Storm with ultimates from YJ and then Ghost. Now 3 enemies remain but Wasp is in low red health. I kill off the final Colossus leaving JJ and Storm and I focus in on Storm, killing her off to leave basic attacks for JJ and finish the battle. My prize is 250k gold and 8k Gold Orb Fragments.

DTD Mission #8, Attempt #1 – This battle has 56m health and took me over 3 weeks to complete the first time around. This battle features 45 enemies and Rescue gives out barrier right away to all of her (enemy) friends. The Phoenix Zap does some damage, then the enemies start their AoE attacks and I am done having knocked off 1 million health.

Mission #8, Attempt #2 – I bring in Ultron and the Wakandans to see if I can get a few big hits out of the way from Iron Man, and I place a few hits on Rescue before things get crazy and they kill me dead.

Mission #8, Attempt #3 – Now I bring in the Pym Tech five at 551k to see if they can work their magic. Saving them until this point allowed me to avoid ultimates, and the little bit of damage on Recuse had her start in yellow health, which I exploited with the Pym Tech characters and I am able to kill her off first before significant damage is done to my team. I start working on the attackers and forgot that both Crossbones had yet to explode, but I am able to withstand both hits. Ghost, Wasp and YJ ultimates help me kill Falcon, then I take out War Machine and switch focus to one of two Iron Man enemies. Both Crossbones taunt, but I stun one to slow him down and Ability Block the other. YJ sets up a Ghost ultimate that kills a IM and Crossbones and I work on the same enemies on the other side. I finish off Iron Man and then Vision and the first 8 enemies are done for as 8 new ones arrive, all SHIELD. I go right after one Trooper, to try and minimize assists, but Wasp is dead from too many already. Stature is the next to die as I fall apart and Fury gets a heal in just before the battle ends. With just my weakest team left and no likely progress to be made by them, I will sit on 45.391m health to go until tomorrow.

 

03.11.21 – Mission #8, Attempt #4 – After taking a day off due to real life, I am back for my Pym Tech battle where I bring a now level 7 basic for Wasp and a Iso-8 Healer at level 4 for Stature after a couple of small upgrades. I start with 37 enemies and the survivability of the Pym Tech team allows me to walk a tightrope a couple of times facing these 8 SHIELD enemies who I have to get through. The SHIELD Security enemies prove to be tough to get around but I manage to stay alive and use the Iso-8 classes to my benefit to dispel and setup extra attacks. Once the SHIELD enemies are all dead, at 29 enemies left, reinforcements arrive from the Spider-Verse along with Doctor Strange and two Mordo enemies. Navigating this group is tough with a reviver plus several who can land Heal Block. I do well but finally lose Wasp at 26 enemies but I am able to continue on. I have Venom and a Mordo for the final two in this group and finish them off with basics to setup the next wave of enemies, who arrive at 20/45 with a combo of Heal Blockers, Doc Strange, Spider-Verse and SHIELD enemies. I go right after Doc Strange and it takes me forever to kill him, but finally when I do I have 3 of my 4 left in red health with Heal Block on. Coulson finishes off YJ and Ghost and then his buddies clean up the mess with 19 enemies to go.

Mission #8, Attempt #5 – My Mutant team is with a goal of weakening this team to setup tomorrow. The Phoenix Zap comes twice, the summons and the turn-based zap, which weakens the enemies a bunch and I have Rescue in red health by the time they finish me off.

Mission #8, Attempt #6 – 19 enemies and 19.4m health remain as I bring in Ultron and the Wakandans who are just making an appearance to try and add a small gain. I get a BP ultimate to start, then another attack to bring Rescue near death, but I am stuck behind a SS taunt for almost the entire battle. Ultron finds a hole after the taunt expires, double-taps Rescue and kills her, then I am defeated with ease.

 

03.12.21 – Mission #8, Attempt #7 – 18 enemies and 19.091m health remain heading into the day of attacks as I look to try and knock this board down. While beating it is the obvious goal, juts getting it to a point where I can beat it tomorrow is fine as I want to see that progress. I choose to start with my Mutant team to try and ensure I can make it through this group of enemies, so the Phoenix zap(s) will be the key. To the battle, with 8 enemies on-screen I do not take Phoenix to stealth and instead allow them to spread attacks around, but she gains taunt from the enemies and is takes out. The first zap weakens the group and is followed by Namor’s ultimate which, with Defense Down on the enemies, hits pretty hard. Then the turn-based zap kills Coulson and another to bring the enemy count to 16 (not counting summoned minions). The enemies kill off everyone but Beast and Dark Phoenix as I have War Machine and Falcon in the red with Defense Down and Beast is up and his AoE available. Beast’s hit kills the minions as well as both Falcon and WM leaving 4 on-screen and 14/45 enemies left as Dark Phoenix throws her swopping evil at the enemies and weakens them further. The enemies get their turns, finish off my two, and my Pym Tech are ready to clean things up.

Mission #8, Attempt #8 – I thought about fighting this tonight, as I am just a few pieces away from another piece of gear on Stature, but that will not impact today’s battle as I do not believe I can get this done today. The Pym Tech five enter the battle at 566k as I use Iso-8 to gain extra attacks and Green Goblin is down. A YJ ultimate is followed by three basics and Fury is down, then YJ finishes off SHIELD Security to leave just Venom, who thanks to his self-healing, is up to about 75% health. Once again I use Ghost as a Skirmisher to setup my Strikers (see all Pym Tech Iso-8 for MSF) and then use all basics to prepare for the last 10 enemies. At 10 left a group of 8 arrives and I greet them with a Ghost ultimate. I am able to focus in on SHIELD Trooper to eliminate the extra attacks, but tis group is setup to kill teams that heal a lot with Mysterio and Mordo dropping Heal Blocks that will derail the battle. Recuse adds barrier to make this tougher and while all five are alive, I am in trouble as I have Stature taunt. Both Crossbones taunt so I cannot even hit who I want, and a well-timed special from YJ bypasses the Heal Block on him to bring him from 5% to 100% health. I am able to survive another barrage of enemy attacks with Ghost barely hanging on (see photo for where I was at here), but there was too much to overcome as I lose both YJ and Ghost in the same turn. With the two best characters in the faction gone this will not take long… I land a couple of basic on Recuse and they finish me off. Given the makeup of my other two teams I think I am done for the day as I do not foresee the other teams making a dent in this grouping of enemies.

 

03.13.21 – Mission #8, Attempt #9 – This battle will start with 9 enemies and 9.034m health remaining. I decide that I want to weaken this group further before brining in the heavy hitters to finish the job, so Phoenix, Namor and the Mutant team comes in first. The first zap from Phoenix does not do a lot, but the turn-based zap by Dark Phoenix brings 6 of the 9 enemies into yellow health, so when Falcon uses his ultimate a moment later and kills my entire team I do not feel as bad.

Mission #8, Attempt #10 – 9 enemies and 5.647m health remain, but I am still 3 Superior Isomers from getting Stature another piece of gear, so my Pym Tech team remains at the same stats – 566k power. A Ghost ultimate to start brings all of the yellow health enemies to red health as I get the start I wanted, then Wasp weakens Rescue and Ant-Man’s ultimate ends up finishing her off. A Stature ultimate kills Black Widow to bring the tally to 7, then Ghost and Wasp team up to finish off Green Goblin. My next two attacks kill off the two Crossbones enemies and I am down to 4 enemies left. Ghost adds Vulnerable to Falcon, and Wasp finishes him off, the down goes Mysterio and his summoned clones. The final two are Mordo and Vision, and I use basics to kill them both and finish the board. 250k gold and 5k Elite 5 Red Star Credits are my prize.

 

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