Dark Dimension IV: Embrace Your Doom was the ultimate endgame content in Marvel Strike Force in 2021, and I began fighting it at the end of March after having the characters that qualified, finally beating it in August. While a rumored 5th level to the Dark Dimension appears to be in the works, I start on my quest to power up Doctor Doom 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 DD4 here in this article instead.
Mission 1 – Fighting this a second time through, I use the Pym Tech three from my first time around – Yellowjacket, Stature and Ghost – with Black Bolt and Ebony Maw. This battle proves to be no problem with this team.
Mission 2 – This battle is much tougher as I kill off one enemy before Ebony Maw is killed from my team, but by Pym Tech three and BB fight on. Taking out the healers and offense is key as once they are covered I am okay here. At 28 enemies reinforcements arrive, as I see BB get weaker and weaker before finally getting killed at 27 enemies to go. I finish off Hela which is important, but struggle after I get past her, falling to the enemies at 25/34 left.
I then bring in Spider-Man (Symbiote), Carnage, Venom and Anti-Venom with Kestrel as a second team and I am able to consistently pick the enemies off one by one. While this battle offers some strong challenges, in the end I am able to come out of it with all five of my characters alive to move on with another 300k gold and 10k Gold Orb Fragments in my inventory.
For Missions #4, 5 & 6 are non-Legendary Global boards so I used Doctor Doom, Emma Frost and the Pym Tech three of Ghost, Yellowjacket and Stature. Mission 5 proved to be easy with this lineup, but in Mission #6 I ran into trouble at 25 of 46 enemies left, losing Stature firsthand, then the others. I was able to do a second battle with my leftover Global characters – Iceman, Kitty Pryde and Namor, and I added Doctor Doom via Dark Energy. This group made it to 23/46 enemies before being defeated forcing a second day of battles.
I fight another day on Mission 6 with my 630k team of Doctor Doom, Emma Frost and the Pym Tech three of Ghost, Yellowjacket and Stature, starting with 23 enemies left, and I tear through the four on-screen with ease to advance. While I face a couple of semi-close calls, I am able to patiently fight through these enemies until just Negasonic and her extra barrier are left in the end, but I finish her off with Yellowjacket’s middle ability for the 300k gold, 200 T4 Ability Materials and 5k Elite 5 Credits.
Mission #7 and we’re on to Cosmic only where I have not added any new characters, and the opening 6 enemies are tough. I restart a couple of times and decide to ride one battle out as revives from Minn-erva are key and some good RNG allow me to survive with ME and Kestrel alive after I get to 9 enemies left. I go all-in on the right side enemies and get one Hulk to 50% health and that is all for today.
08.18.21 – Back for another go at it with my four Cosmic characters and after a restart I get things to go my way. Fighting 8 enemies with 6.9m health, I start by focusing in on X-23 given her ultimate is so hard to work around. Once she is dead and Hulk and Negasonic on the right side as well, I then go after the left side original enemies Hulk and Negasonic. After that it is just making it through Domino and the two Deadpools at the end for the win as well as the 300k gold and 10k Gold Orb Fragments.
Mission #8 has 36.5m health across the 34 enemies and I am still using just 4 Cosmic characters with Thanos, Kestrel, Minn-erva and Hela at 571k power. I go right after Rocket Raccoon and kill him first, then focus on the Star-Lord enemies to avoid the Blind debuff and the ability energy they give out. Once they are dead I work my way through the enemies, picking off the weaker ones that suffer from the effects of the many debuffs I am applying and the AoE attacks, and remove any cleansers and Healers early when possible. Jessica Jones and Doctor Strange always get my focus to keep them from cleansing or flipping buffs to debuffs, and Falcon is always a concern with a buff-heavy team. It turns out my foursome is enough to beat this mission in one attack as I get 300k gold and 2k Mega-Orb Fragments as a prize.
Weak from a tough battle, I begin Mission #9 and the 70.3m health across 46 enemies looking to setup tomorrow, when I should have a 5th member added to my Cosmic team. I begin by applying a ton of debuffs and focusing on Scientist Supreme since she can flip debuffs and revive, and while I do not kill her, I do finish off one Graviton and one of the AIM baddies, but that is all for today. I will have 63.5m health across 44 enemies to work with tomorrow.
08.19.21 – I have now added Gamora to my team as my 5th member and changed up the Iso-8 classes for my MSF characters. Kestrel is being tested as a Raider, Thanos remains a Fortifier and Minn-erva as a Healer, Hela is being tested as a Skirmisher and finally Gamora is a Striker. We will see what I think of this as I look to better use Iso-8 in this battle with this specific makeup of characters. I start with Gamora killing Doc Strange and getting a hit on SS, but the enemies attack and force Minn-erva to heal and get this thing going. After SS is down it is a matter of spreading debuffs and keeping cool downs in good shape as I work my way through the enemies. The next group appears at 38 enemies left and I am debating Gamora as a Skirmisher or Striker on this team, but Kestrel as a Raider is looking good. As the battle progresses her offensive firepower is so valuable that the Striker class still feels like the best fit. The Mysterio Heal Block debuffs become a pain and I lose Hela only to revive her as I look to remove the Mysterio duo and keep rolling. At 22 enemies another new group appears and I go right after Red Skull to avoid the summoned bad guys. After killing him I start to hit Green Goblin and the Hydra baddies on his side and the game freezes. Frustrated I start to try everything I can to make this work and even start a screen recording for Boundless Entertainment to learn from, but after hitting every speed, auto and using the hamburger menu I am getting nowhere. I then try the chat feature and when I come back it works! Now fighting again with 21 enemies to go, I take out Vulture and Green Goblin and more enemies arrive, and Heimdall kills Minn-erva to limit my run today. I am able to kill a couple more enemies before I get finished off with 16 enemies and 24.3m health to go.
08.20.21 – Back at it with 24m health to go and my 690k team starts off strong, killing the five on-screen with relative ease. I am then able to land a bunch of debuffs on the next group and take out Human Torch and Cull Obsidian before reinforcements arrive, When I get down to just 6 enemies left I lose Minn-erva and try to hang on, but I die with 7.5m health to go.
08.21.21 – In what will hopefully be my last battle on Mission 9, my team now checks in at 703k after getting Gamora from 4-red stars to 5. A total of 6 enemies and 7.5m health are in my way, and since Heimdall is in yellow health I go right after him and finish him quickly. I use Kestrel’s ultimate on Human Torch to get him to yellow, but he then uses his ultimate on my team and I survive with Minn-erva’s heal up next. I am able to then finish HT and Taskmaster and then pick the remaining enemies off 1 by 1 for the win. The prize is 300k gold, 200 T4 Ability Materials and 5k Elite 5 Credits.
