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 the second part of 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. For my second go at Missions 1-9 click here.

 

Mission 10 – Fighting this a second time through with non-Legendary City characters, I beat this mission in two attempts previously, but my only difference is I now have Iron Fist in place of Punisher. Since Punisher is borderline worthless in this game mode this feels like an upgrade, but it is not a significant one IMO. Checking in at 658k power I go after Mordo again, Justin like last time, and I lose my 5th member early, just like last time. Mordo revives and delays my progress a bit, but I am able to get past him and another while navigating Nobu’s surprisingly bothersome counter attacks as I make it to the 9 enemies left mark that got me the first time through Mission #10. I go after the left side of the defense and focus on Squirrel Girl while piling debuffs on the enemies. A well-timed Stun helps me out as I finish her off and I fight the enemies down, experiencing more bad revive RNG as America Chavez revives after a lot of hard work in killing her off. The battle takes many turns as I avoid problems and then again seem fully in control only for it to swing the other way again, and at 4 enemies left I lose Anti-Venom. I kill Crystal, who then revives, then kill her again and can work through the remaining enemies for the win. 300k Gold and 10k Gold Orb Fragments are my prize.

 

Mission 11 – Mission 11 has 41.4m health and 34 enemies, and as always with 5 Symbiote characters used, landing debuffs and capitalizing on those constant debuffs is the key. Because I lost Iron Fist above, I use Punisher, who is worthless, and he dies early. I keep with my typical strategy to go after cleansers first, healers/revivers second, and high offense characters third, always adjusting as needed throughout the battle, and when the second wave appears I go right after Rescue. I continue to go after Rescus or Scarlet Witch when they appear in these battles and it serves me well as I make it to 6 enemies and 5.5m health to go.

08.22.21 – Day #2 of attacks and I have 5.5m health to go across 6 enemies as my 658k team (with Iron Fist again) is ready to finish this off. Spider-Man and Vision are yellow health with the others in green. It takes me 3 hits to kill Spidey and SMS uses his ultimate to slow the enemies as I Ability Block Graviton with Venom’s second ability. I pile debuffs on the enemies, and actually kill Graviton before he takes a turn. Another SMS ultimate stuns Thor as I take out Rhino and pick the others off 1 by 1 for the win. 300k Gold and 2k Mega Orb Fragments are my prize for the win.

 

Mission 12 – 08.22 – I begin fighting 27 enemies who have 42.6m health and start the battle at 11:55 pm ET, so I rush through in hopes of not missing a chance to do a little damage. As a result I accomplish very little in knocking maybe 30% health off of Jessica Jones as 41.3m health remains.

08.23.21 – I return with my 658k power lineup and go right at JJ, slowly weakening her into yellow health, which means a Ms. Marvel taunt, and eventually red. I lose Iron Fist first which is expected, but at least he lasts longer than Punisher. I look to finish JJ off but lose Venom and get stuck behind a Captain America taunt at the end of the run. All 27 enemies remain, but I have them down to 39.7m health to go so I feel my progress is solid given I am much farther ahead of my pace from when I fought this the first time around. I use Dark Energy and 100 cores for a second attack, this time with (worthless) Punisher as my 5th. Checking in at 691k, I kill JJ on a SMS ultimate and actually get a hit in from Punisher before he dies right away afterwards. The enemy Punisher is the weakest on the board so I go after the right side with him, Star-Lord and Ms. Marvel. Well-used Iso-8 helps me finish them off as I progress, debuffing the enemies and buffing my foursome. I battle on and take out Rescue and Star-Lord in the next group but eventually the enemies get to me and take out AV, finishing me off with 17 enemies and 27.0m health to go.

08.24.21 – I start this battle and kill Punisher quickly, then watch as reinforcements arrive including Emma Frost which changes the tone of the battle. I restart and try again, this time weakening Punisher and trying not to kill him while weakening everyone else on screen as well. This allows me to go from 17 enemies left to 13 enemies remaining in 3 turns and does not see Emma gang up on me as quickly with the baddies. While the five on-screen still wipe me out rather quickly, ending the battle with 13 enemies left and 19.2m health feels like a win, especially when I realize how far I have come in 4 attacks. The first time around this battle took me 3 weeks to complete…

08.25.21 – After reviewing my notes from the first time around, I am ready to go as 13 total enemies remain with 5 on-screen. All are in green health other than Venom, so I go right at him, and while I lose SMS first, I am able to kill Venom after just one turn on his part. I then lose Iron Fist and the battle proves it will not be a long one. I place a couple of hits on Iron Man to get him into yellow health and the enemies finish me off with 12 left and 18.5m health to go.

08.26.21 – Remembering that this took over 20 days to complete before is keeping me from allowing the frustration to get too high, but my daily goal is simply one phrase – “significant progress.” 4 enemies are on-screen and 12 remain with Iron man in yellow health and the other three, Emma Frost, SMS and Carnage, in green. I decide that Iron Man is the weakest of the three and go right after SMS landing debuffs on him right away. Using AV’s middle ability to add Immunity proves wise as Emma tries to throw debuffs onto my team, and I lose Iron Fist first, but after two turns taken. Emma cleanses and it starts to go bad, but a SMS stun of his counterpart gets the enemy SMS to yellow health and another AV middle ability heals and helps me ward off attacks and debuffs. I get the enemy SMS into red health as the enemies overwhelm me and finish me off with 12 enemies and 16.5m health to go.

I attack again thanks to some Dark Energy refills for the Thursday daily and once again go right after SMS, killing him before he takes a turn thanks to well-used Iso-8. Next up is Carnage who starts at about 70% health and I get him to yellow quickly, but Emma slows me down. I restart and try this a few times and finally get one where Scream missed on one of his attacks which opens the door for me. I lose Punisher first of course, without taking a single turn (he is worthless) and then SMS and Carnage as well, but AV lasts long enough to buff himself and Venom, then revive SMS as I get Scream to red health. SMS finishes Scream off and now I have a 3 on 2 with Emma and Iron Man as my living enemies on-screen. I am able to kill Iron Man with basics as just 9 enemies remain and now I have a 3 v1 with Emma Frost. While many of my attacks are pointless, AV brings Carnage back to life and now it is a 4 v 1. This goes on for at least 5 minutes before I finally kill her off and the last wave of 8 enemies appears. Jessica Jones is the key to the rest of this battle, so I go right after her and take off 30-35% of her health before the enemies finish me off as 8 remain with 12.8m health.

08.27, 08.28 & 08.29 – This battle is brutal; just the worst. I restart probably 15-20 times to find a start that does not leave me down one of my four Symbiotes and finally get a battle where the CM ultimate kills Iron Fist, but even with this I barely get JJ into yellow health before the enemies kill me off. This is terrible. My battle on the 28th is hardly any better as I restart 8-10 times before I can get a battle where I get JJ into red health. I head into Sunday with 12.3m health to go… I try a run through to see how this battle will play out and I am able to kill off JJ after 8-9 hits but lose AV immediately after. I try this a few more times and learn that my first run was a good one, so the next time I get a run where I kill JJ I take it, dying shortly after that small win with 11.8m health to go.

08.30.21 – I start with Punisher in the lineup since I am planning a second attack today now that I have enough Dark Energy to save 50 power cores on one character, and I restart multiple times until I get a battle where Punisher is killed off by CM’s opening ultimate. I start by testing my focused attacks on CM, but restart after I lose AV early. I finally get a mother good start and go right after Black Bolt and survive long enough to get 3 turns in for all of my characters. I get BB to about 55% health and have all four Symbiots alive when X-23 and BB go off with their ultimates and wipe out my team in a blink of an eye with 10.8m health to go. 7 enemies still remain as I go in for a second attack and I get BB below 50% health on my 3rd hit on him and lose Iron Fist on the next enemy turn. I work around the Ms. Marvel taunt and land 3 Bleeds on BB before I lose SMS. I then get Carnage to land 2 more Bleed debuffs on him and last just long enough to get BB to take a turn, absorb the debuffs, and kill my team. 7 enemies and 10.1m health remain as I look to knock out BB as soon as possible…

08.31.21 – Finally making progress, I know this will take a while and I am trying to be patient (and not blow all of my cores). I did level each of my starting five characters to Level 81 to help add a bit more power, so I check in at 677k power now. I survive the initial ultimate from Captain Marvel for the first time ever, and Black Bolt starts in yellow health but the hits on him knock Black Panther into yellow and force the MM auto-taunt. I place every hit I can on BB until I see BP low and allow some attacks to hit him, to benefit from the Vulnerable there, knowing adjacent enemies get hit as well. I lose Iron Fist and take a BP ultimate which sets up AV getting killed by X-23. I then finish BB and BP on the next two turns and use my last two attacks on CM before they wipe me out with just 5 enemies and 8.3m health to go. Sensing the end of this battle is near, I spend 200 cores to fight again and check in at 711k power with Punisher as my 5th member. I put all of my efforts on hitting CM and of course lose (worthless) Punisher early. I get a well-timed SMS ultimate and slow the enemies, and navigate around taunts from MM and Captain America to kill CM, then focus on X-23 as the taunters get in the way. Now spreading debuffs like COVID’s Delta Variant at an indoor gathering, I take out the tanks while weakening both X-23 enemies and finish them off for the win in less than half the time it took me the first time around. My reward is 300k gold, 200 T4 Ability Mats for my H4H team with Shang Chi, and 5k Elite 5 Credits.

 

Mission 13 – 08.31 – I choose not to blow all of my gold today on bumping these characters to Level 81 despite have 5m ready and 35 gold orbs saved up, and I start with Black Bolt, Ebony Maw, Phoenix, Invisible Woman and Doc Oc and get to 15 of 21 enemies left before they kill me off with 9.8 of 17.3m health to go. I spend 100 cores ro revive Phoenix and BB and add Jubilee, Shuri and Nick Fury as I head in to attack again. Phoenix and Jubilee are my stars here with ultimates that make a huge impact while Fury and Shuri look to keep Defense Up. The last wave of enemies comes at 6 left and I get Defense Up again and a Jubilee ultimate helps me kill ML quickly. I am able to kill Zemo but then lose Shuri so it is 4v4 FTW. I lose Fury, but the Phoenix zap keeps hope alive as I take out Cyclops and they then kill BB. They finish off Jubilee and Dark Phoenix does not have enough for a 1v3 and I will have 3 enemies and 1.2m health to go tomorrow.

09.01 – I go in with extra survivability in mind with IW, Doc Oc, Fury, Ebony Maw and BB. I kill Kree Noble first, then move on to Colossus as the enemy Doc Oc heals a bit. I get through Colossus and keep the summoned Sinister Six minions from helping for long and go right after Doc Oc, working to reduce cool downs. It takes some effort but I kill him off and earn 300k gold and 10k Gold Orb Fragments to advance.

 

Mission 14 – 09.01.21 – This battle looks like it took me 6-7 battles over 3 days the first time around, and I want to do my best to beat it fast. I begin with Black Bolt, Ebony Maw, Invisible Woman, Jubilee and Phoenix and check in at 761k power as each is now Level 81. After testing this one out a few times I resort to a Phoenix with IW, Shuri, Doc Oc and Nick Fury team and use it to just weaken the enemies with the Phoenix Zap. This knocks over 1m health off and I am back at it with Phoenix, Ebony Maw, BB, Fury and Jubilee as Fury has a Defense Up to apply right away. This works out and I get good RNG as they focus on Phoenix first, without the stealth needed, and she gets the Defense Down and allows me to attack. A BB ultimate helps as I kill Ghost Rider and Ebony Maw finishes off Hela just before the Dark Phoenix ultimate. I get it down to Cull and Heimdall and start to prep for the next wave, stunning both enemies and having the SHIELD minions help heal my team. New enemies arrive at 34/41 and I start hitting Squirrel Girl, but it takes forever to kill her and I lose Phoenix and Fury. At this point I use basics only to set up a future attack and they kill me off with 33 enemies to go. My third attack of the day starts at 41m health and features BB, Ebony Maw, Doc Oc, IW and Jubilee. I go after Psylocke, because of her ability to cleanse, and stun and then kill her off. Reinforcements arrive but I kill Proxima Midnight immediately after to lessen the burden, and I start working on the Carnage enemies and take out the attackers. The remaining enemies prove easier to deal with than expected as I debuff them and basic them all to death prompting a new wave of baddies to arrive at 24/41. Ready for this, I debuff the 7 new enemies and stun Psylocke as I dominate until reinforcements arrive at 22 enemies left. Another Jubilee ultimate does what I need as I look to keep debuffs on the enemies and Barrier on my team as I take them out one by one. At 14 enemies left a new group of 7 arrives and I immediately greet them with ultimate abilities as my heavy debuff attack strategy continues to work perfectly. I work to have at least 2-3 enemies in red health at all times as I progress, ready for a wave of reinforcements so that I can immediately improve my odds when they arrive, but the last group does not arrive until 7 enemies remain. I am able to stun and then kill Psylocke just before I lose Jubilee to a barrage of attacks, then knock off Ironheart as I look to finish this today. Doc Oc finishes Falcon and I am down to 4+1 enemies and start putting my hits win the enemy Heimdalls before switching to Cull Obsidian. The loss of Jubilee on this team proves more and more damaging as I am losing health but still have my four alive when I kill Cull. At this point I go all-in on Hela to see if I can end this today, and when she is down I just have the two Heimdall enemies in my way. I am able to rest my cool downs and get the win for 300k gold and 2k Mega-Orb Fragments.

 

Mission 15 – 09.01 – Here we go as my quest to power up Doctor Doom is almost at the peak as 91.6m health is all that I have to fight through. My team checks in at 751k with Doc Oc, IW, Shuri, Ebony Maw and BB and I have 62 enemies to beat… I lose IW early but am able to recover from the enemy attacks and get Star-Lord down to yellow health, then red, and eventually kill him thanks to a BB ultimate and Defense Up from EM and Shuri. Defense Up proves to be the key to this battle as when I have it I do so much better and get Mordo to red health before the enemies kill me off after 5m damage is done.

09.02.21 – I start off with my favorite lineup consisting of Ebony Maw, BB, IW, Phoenix and Jubilee and see BB get his life drained into yellow quickly by YJ, but Barrier from IW gets my side going as an ultimate from both Jubilee and Ebony Maw helps the momentum. I kill off Black Widow first then the Phoenix zap starts to clear the enemies out as reinforcements arrive at 54/62. It sets up well as EM adds Defense Up to the team and the Dark Phoenix ultimate weakens the enemies a bit before the Korath enemies get their attacks in, but this group is too strong as I am killed off with all on-screen enemies around 60-70% health and 76m health to go. Back at it for a second battle as I use some Dark Energy and 50 cores, I get almost all of my progress from Phoenix. Her zaps cause the battle to go far better than it would have otherwise, leaving 52 enemies and 71.4m health. Now for a final battle today, I have Nick Fury, IW, Doc Oc, BB and EM at 735k power as Fury gets hit right away by Korath, kills Deadpool and then dies on a counter attack. From here I use Iso-8 to kill Korath and weaken Taskmaster, then kill TM and then have a 4v3 battle that I win with ease. With 46 enemies now left I use nothing but basics to setup tomorrow’s attacks and die with 46 enemies and 68.0m health to go.

09.03 – I start with a 756k team with Phoenix, BB, EM, Doc Oc and IW and Doc Oc cannot land any debuffs then Ebony Maw gets Offense Down on the enemies, but JJ clears. My team stays alive long enough to get Phoenix to stealth them, then she summons Dark Phoenix and the zap helps a lot. I lose Dark Phoenix after her turn-based zap but before the ultimate, but BB gets an ultimate off with all enemies having Defense Down and JJ is dead. I finish off one Human Torch then lose BB and cannot kill the second as the enemies are too much. Back again to face the 54 remaining enemies and their 59.3m health, I have Phoenix, BB and EM again with Jubilee and Shuri this time at 757k power. Phoenix is the key here as her turn-based zap kills 5 enemies and I am down to 39 with just Ultimus on-screen as I look to prepare for the next wave of enemies. That group is here at 38 enemies left and setting up cool downs on my ultimate abilities is key. I stun Thanos with a Jubilee ultimate and then work on Scarlet Witch, killing her before Thanos can taunt and laying hits on Taskmaster as well. At this point I am happy with what I have accomplished as my team falls apart and I get hits in on Cable and Thanos and kill Taskmaster to set up the final attack of the day. 36 enemies and 47.9m health as Doc Oc, Jubilee, Shuri, Nick Fury and IW head in at 713k power. While I lose Fury early, I kill Cable and reinforcements arrive with another Human Torch up front. I try to corral HT with Jubilee’s Blind on her basic, and the Defense Up from Shuri and the healing of IW and Doc Oc keeps my team alive much longer than expected. Jubilee is the damage-dealer here, using her special and ultimate quite well as I last several rounds of attacks, eventually killing off Human Torch before it falls apart. In the end 34 enemies and 44.9m health remain as 7 enemies will start on-scree, one in red and 4 in yellow health.

09.04 – I start this battle using Phoenix, Ebony Maw, Black Bolt, Shuri and Doc Oc by taking out the offensive threats and pick off the on-screen enemies one by one to get to the reinforcements at 27 enemies left. While this group of enemies is able to handle and kill my team, I do significant damage and eliminate JJ from the screen as 26 enemies and 30.8m health remains. This battle starts well and at 24 enemies another round of reinforcements join the battle, and I am able to fight through the entire group of 8 killing off Ultimus at the end to move on. Human Torch and Nick Fury are the first two I kill off thanks to controlling the enemies with ultimates from Park Phoenix, Black Bolt and Jubilee, and then Scarlet Witch as I progress through the enemies and have the final 8 to face. Ultimately es start this off strong before Emma Frost flips the script, and I am unable to finish any enemies off from this group. In the end 8 enemies remain with 6.7m health to go. My final battle of the day is a 714k team of Jubilee, Doc Oc, Shuri, Fury and IW and after a few tries really does not have the offense to do much as I cannot kill anyone and make just a small bit of progress as 6.5m health remains for tomorrow, which I hope will be my last day of fighting.

09.05 – After a long day I start fighting at 10:30 pm and hope to finish this off with ease, knowing it will not be easy. My team consists of Phoenix, BB, Ebny Maw, Shuri and Doc Oc and I finish off Graviton before the Phoenix zap weakens the enemies significantly. BB kills the Merc Lieutenant and Dark Phoenix swoops in with an ultimate and 5 enemies remain. I get the enemies down to just Mordo and Emma Frost and I finish off Mordo as Emma is every bit the pain in the butt I expected. I lose Shuri just before killing Mordo, so I have a 4v1 and the key is Iso-8 debuffs for extra attacks. I prove to be strong enough to finish her off and the 4-red star Dr. Doom and final 500 shards are my reward, along with a ton of gear.