Anyone who’s played Marvel Strike Force long enough is likely familiar with all of the meta characters at this point, but there are quite a few characters that can shine in specific compositions or other areas of the game that you really shouldn’t sleep on. Let’s go through a couple of ‘em today.
Jessica Jones
People seem to be slowly waking up to Jessica Jones as I see her on arena teams here and there. Jones isn’t the toughest character on the roster, but she can be incredibly useful on the right teams for her utility. With some investment, Jessica Jones can clear all debuffs from your entire team, clear all buffs from a single target, provide debuff resistance to your entire team, and most importantly, generate energy for herself and the rest of your team.
Jessica’s kit is full of utility and if you’re running a team that has potent abilities with significant energy requirements, you may want to bring her along. She’s especially nasty if you field her along with someone like Cap who also generates energy for the team and also happens to be the game’s best tank. Want to make sure Crossbones gets his nuke off? Bring JJ and Cap.
Korath the Pursuer
I’m actually guilty of sleeping on Korath until I pulled him in a Mega Orb. If nothing else, Korath is one of the few non-minion blasters in the game, so he serves a purpose in filling out your Blaster Challenge team and he’s also got the Cosmic tag which makes him a candidate for your Cosmic campaign roster.
Korath’s got a lot more going for him than that, though. At 117, his speed is pretty high, and he starts each match with Speed Up (and gains Speed Up on enemy death), so he’ll be taking turns all the time, something that’s key for Arena.
Korath deals high amounts of damage (along with Piercing damage on his basic attack) and he brings a lot of utility for a blaster. He can apply Slow, Heal Block, and even Ability Block to a target. He’s also uniquely able to apply Taunt, which prevents the enemy team from shielding a vulnerable target behind a tank if you’re able to mark it quickly enough.
The downsides? Like Bullseye, Korath is an entirely single-target focused character. But all that added utility puts him far above Bullseye’s one-dimensional glass cannon kit.
Hawkeye
Clint’s so anti-meta that he’s becoming meta. I see him a lot more than I used to, but I’d still consider him an underrated character. Hawkeye’s rising popularity is due to his ability to clear buffs to negate enemy team tank walls and counter stealth. You’ll find tanks on just about every Arena team, so Hawkeye is a great option for getting through them and to the squishier targets. Hawkeye’s passive gives him a chance to automatically attack any target in Stealth (and remove the Stealth buff from said character) making him a hard counter to the ubiquitous Black Widow. To top it all off, Hawkeye brings the best debuff in the game and he can apply it to all enemy targets. Airburst will debuff the enemy team with Blind, which is arguably superior to Stun, since the AI will still waste energy using their most powerful moves if you time your Airburst properly.
Nebula
Even though Nebula makes this list, I’d still consider her a middle of the pack character. That said, she does offer more than people give her credit for. She’s a death by 1000 cuts type of character. Nebula won’t be bursting anyone down, but she can be extremely hard to deal with and thus mess up your entire strategy. Nebula’s always taking turns due to her perma-Speed Up through her basic attack, she’s also almost always got a stack of two Evades up, and to top things off, she can stack two Counter. So she’ll be dodging all of your big hits and countering you for just about everything you do. Oh, and did I mention she can also revive on death and assist allies at a fairly high rate? Despite all of these positive traits, she’s still not the best character, but she can be a great fit on your Cosmic campaign roster and shine on some fairly specific team compositions.
One great way to run her is along with Korath and Kingpin. Kingpin is one of the best characters in the game and he is the glue that keeps it all together for any team based around assists. His assists are also more likely to trigger with Villain tagged characters, which makes both Korath and Nebula great options since they are both villains with assist mechanics in their kits. How you fill out the rest of the composition is up to you, but I feel like Nebula can definitely find a solid place on a B or C team.
Mercenary Lieutenant
Merc LT is one of the best minions in the game, but there’s not a whole lot to say on him. He’s basically your poor man’s Black Widow. Black Widow is everywhere due to her ability to speed up her team, but she’s also incredibly hard to acquire, so you’re always at a huge disadvantage if you’re going up against a team with BW right from the outset.
Fortunately, if you’re willing to spend a slot, Merc LT’s got you covered. The LT can apply both Offense Up and Speed Up to your entire team for a turn, which is nothing to sneeze at. He can also generate energy for an ally with his basic attack. This makes him a great character to pair with some of the slower, but more devastating characters in the game, such as Thor and Hulk. These two are slow, but hard hitters, and the LT’s ability to both feed them speed and energy will enable you to make them viable members of a team composition if you don’t have access to Black Widow.
