Apocalypse Saga

Intro

Apocalypse Saga is the culmination of the whole MSF concept that started on the 4th year Anniversary of MSF. Through different Scourges and Sagas, players tried to unlock Apocalypse expecting that they will get a character never seen before in terms of power and usefulness.

The waiting is finally over but it seems that Apocalypse is not what most people expected. That is a different story totally and I will not elaborate on Apocalypse’s true usefulness at the moment. I will show you how to unlock him without problems.

Requirements

Unlike Horsemen Sagas, Apocalypse Saga has 8 Nodes per difficulty and different requirements for each Node. There are also specific requirements for each Difficulty:

• Apocalypse Saga Hard – Finish all Horsemen Sagas on Heroic Difficulty with 3*
• Apocalypse Saga Heroic – Finish all Apocalypse Saga Hard Nodes on 3*
• Apocalypse Saga Apocalyptic – Finish all Horsemen Sagas on Apocalyptic Difficulty on 3*.

Node Requirements are:

• Node 1- Darkhold on T15/T16, T2 Level 4/T17 T2 Level 5
• Node 2- Unlimited X-Men on T15/T16, T2 Level 4/T17 T2 Level 5
• Node 3- Gamma on T15/T16, T2 Level 4/T17 T2 Level 5
• Node 4- Deathseed on T15/T16, T2 Level 4/T17 T2 Level 5
• Node 5- Spider Weaver, Deathpool, Kestrel on T15/T16, T2 Level 4/T17 T2 Level 5
• Node 6- Agatha Harkness, Kestrel, Spider Weaver, Morgan Le Fay, Gambit on T15/T16, T2 Level 4/T17 T2 Level 5
• Node 7- Hulk, Strange [Heartless], Rogue, Deathpool, Archangel on T15/T16, T2 Level 4/T17 T2 Level 5
• Node 8- Morgan Le Fay, Rogue, Red Hulk, Archangel on T15/T16, T2 Level 4/T17 T2 Level 5

It is important to say that if you don’t have enough characters with T2 Level 4 Ions to reach all requirements for Heroic Nodes, you will be able to gather a huge number of those Ions through your progression in Saga:

• Hard Nodes 7&8 – 1.2 million T2 Level 4 Ions
• Heroic 1 – 700k T2 Level 4 Ions
• Heroic 2 – 700k T2 Level 4 Ions
• Heroic 3 – 700k T2 Level 4 Ions
• Heroic 4 – 700k T2 Level 4 Ions
• Heroic 5-8 – 2.55 million T2 Level 5 Ions

Videos for Hard and Heroic difficulty are recorded with 2 different accounts. Hard difficulty is recorded with an account with needed characters on T15, while Heroic difficulty is recorded with characters on T16 (all Horsemen are T17, to be honest, but I think that most of the players who can do Heroic also improved Horsemen on T17 already).

Node 1

HARD DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

HEROIC DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

In Node 1 you will use full Darkhold.

This Node is not particularly hard (regardless of Difficulty). The main threat will be the presence of Undying Duo (who are hard counters for Darkhold in WAR). They seem hard to kill but before start focusing on them, you will have to prevent Mister Sinister from cloning. That is why it is best to save Agatha’s ultimate on start and use her special on Mister Sinister, instead.

Darkhold has a lot of AOE attacks so it will be hard to avoid killing Hela adds after which the speed bar of your Darkhold members will be reduced. Whatever you do, do not focus on Iron Man Zombie first – focus on Hela instead. Hela should be your first killing priority but if the opportunity arises kill Ema Frost before she can use her ultimate. Emma is squishy so that shouldn’t be a problem. Since you will have Safeguard, even if she survives using her ultimate it will not affect you seriously.

Anyway, the faster you can kill Hella, the faster you will get rid of the Speed Bar reduction caused by her ad and you will be in position so you can start killing ZIM at last. Also, you shouldn’t use Stange’s ultimate immediately – there is no need for that while the first wave is there. You Wong will be under a lot of pressure and he will enter stealth most likely because Adam Warlock, Phyla-Vell, and Lady Deathstrike are all hard hitters but since you will have Agatha’s ultimate and Scarlet’s special at your disposal you shouldn’t be worried.

In the second wave, Madelyne Pryor and another Phla-Vell will appear. This is a good time for Heartless’s ultimate, especially if Infinity Watch members have a lot of buffs (the damage increases with every positive or negative effect on the primary target). Your primary focus should be on Madelyne Pryor (even though she will be Ability Blocked by MLFs ultimate). Before the last wave, Strife, Mystique, Sabretooth, and boosted Hela’s ad will slowly join the battle but you should use their presence to build up your Cooldowns and prepare for the last wave.

In the last wave, Emma, Madelyne Pryor, Adam Warlock, Iron Man Zombie, Mister Sinister, and Mondragon will join the battle. If you have Darkhold CDs ready you will have nothing to worry about because their Speed bar will be on 0 when they spawn which will give you enough time to start controlling the combat. MLF’s ultimate will neutralize Emma and Madelyne Pryor and you should focus your damage on ZIM first.

As on start, use Agatha’s Stun on Mister Sinister to prevent cloning. It would be ideal if you could kill Mondragon before she can play (the strength of your Strangeless’s basic attack will be the key). As you can see in the Heroic video, everything went smoothly without any difficulties even with auto-combat. The only real help I can offer you is that when the 3rd wave spawns, you don’t use MLF’s special first, but use her ultimate. That way she will have her special ready just before enemies can play and she will return their speed bar to 0 again.

All in all, you will not have problems with those Nodes. The difference in difficulty is almost non-existing – you will clear both difficulties easily!

Node 2

HARD DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

HEROIC DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

Node 2 is Unlimited X-Men Node. This is probably the easiest Node compared to other Nodes 1-4.

There is only 1 important hint for clearing this mission – your Dazzler must play before Weaver and that is it. It can happen (depending on RNG) that Spider Weaver plays before Dazzler and if that happens and she stuns Dazzler or Rogue you should start Node over immediately. That will happen rarely so the only thing you need is to use the Dazzler special on Weaver. You will place Ability Block on Weaver preventing her to use her ultimate and you will remove all debuffs Spider-man (2099) placed on you. After that, everything is easy and straightforward.

I decided to use Rogue’s special on Weaver but that is not mandatory – you can use it on Squirrel Girl or Sam Wilson as well, just be sure to kill Weaver before she can use her ultimate.

After that you need to prevent Sam Wilson from using his special – he will open battle with his ultimate so you will have 1 turn to prepare (you can Ability Block him, Stun him or place Disruput with Gambit’s ultimate).

When Titania shows up, she will be the main threat. However, without Absorbing man and Kang, you shouldn’t worry about her – she will go down as everyone else. Web Warrior’s dodge chance may cause problems (or not) so you may want to place Dazzler’s Blind on Ghost Spider. Keep in mind though, that if the second Squirrel Girl comes on her turn she will remove all debuffs you placed.

What is important to know about UXmen is that outside of CC, Gambit has only 1 Charge, meaning that he can place Ability Block with his special only once. That is why I strongly suggest that you use only Gambit basic attacks until the second Squirrel Girl spawns, so you can Ability Block her with Gambit. You also need to know (you can see that in Heroic Video) that Titania is unaffected with the Blind on her first turn (when she uses her ultimate).

In the last wave, Kestrel, Spider-Punk, and SM [Noir] will spawn. They will pose no threat to you, but you should place Vulnerability on Kestrel and focus your damage on her so she is the target for Gambit’s passive immediately. Other than that you can freely turn on auto-combat the same moment you kill both Squirrel Girls and Sam Wilson – don’t do that just in case, but you could actually do it without fear of failure.

There is no real difference between Hard and Heroic difficulty – it was the same for me really.

Node 3

HARD DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

HEROIC DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

It is time to check the strength of your Gamma team!

At the start, you will be against Hero Asgardians Magik and Psylocke. Your goal should be to eliminate Psylocke as soon as possible, not because she will transfer debuffs on you but because she will cleanse debuffs from enemies. Mighty Thor will also look like a threat since she can flip all your buffs in the first turn but you shouldn’t be worried about that because you have, She-Hulk. Nonetheless, in Heroic Video I decided to Stun her with Abomination.

I don’t know if that is on purpose or not, but for some reason, Thor doesn’t build up his Charges and you don’t need to be worried about his passive AOE. In the Video, I decided to Stun him so he can’t trigger passive and because that was the logical thing to do, but you don’t need to do that.

The main threat in this battle is that Valyrie stuns your She-Hulk. That is why I decided to show you the video when that happens and to show you that it doesn’t matter if she does that. If you want to avoid that, just Stun her instead of Thor. However, if you do that, she will not use her special and she will not buff Hero Asgardians with Offense Up, Defense Up, and Counter, which you want her to do so you can benefit from it with Brawn’s special (you can’t do that after you kill some Hero Asgardian and Valkyrie triggers Passive because of Safeguard – they shouldn’t get Safeguard outside of War but they will on this Node).

Anyway, after you kill Psylocke, Valkyrie should be your next primary target because that is how you will be sure that her Passive can be triggered only once (if triggered at all).

Upon killing 3 enemies from the first wave (preferably Psylocke, Valkyrie, and Magik) the second wave will spawn with Ikaris, Beast, Colossus, and Phoenix. At that moment, your Red Hulk will be probably ready to use his ultimate or in the worst-case scenario, he will need just another Charge.

Basically, there is nothing to fear because none of those characters can cause you real harm. It is important though that you kill Magik before you kill Phoenix but other than that the same moment you activate Red Hulk ultimate, the battle is practically over.

The last wave (containing another Valkyre+Silver Surfer) will spawn in the meantime. The only thing you need to worry about at this moment is to prevent Valkyrie from causing trouble. As you can see in the Video, even if you let her play and she Stuns your Red Hulk, that will change anything literally. The damage potential of Silver Surfer with Offense Up is high (he will not be immediately under the effect of Battlefield effect) but honestly, nothing of that really matters – as soon as Red Hulk activates ultimate and Magik is not among the living – you can turn on auto-combat.

The outcome will be the same regardless of difficulty, especially since I don’t believe that anyone hasn’t used all their resources to maximize Red Hulk – if he is strong enough, you can turn auto-combat from the start as far as I am concerned.

I must say that I was a bit disappointed with the challenge provided to us on Nodes 2 and 3 of the most important features of the game…

Node 4

HARD DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

HEROIC DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

Node 4 requires Deathseed!

Deathseed is one of my favorite teams, for one simple reason – if you know how to use them most of the match-ups will be extremely easy but at the same time if you don’t know how to use them things can look impossible.

Node 4 of Apoc Saga is a true example of this!

There are a few things that you need to know about Deathseed:

• Picking the primary target is always important because an additional attack (Dark Bests’s Basic with all possible effects) will follow after the initial one.
• When an enemy dies, the Speed bar of the rest of the enemy team is reduced, so basically if you can continuously kill enemies, they will not play at all.
• Dark Beast’s special doesn’t Clone outside Raids but it can Revive fallen members of Deathseed. However, saving this ability is not smart because it activates 2 follow-ups on the primary target which will cause serious damage and will kill the target much faster than you decide to use Dark Beast’s special.
• Killing enemies also provide Ability Energy to Deathseed so saving Cooldowns for later is the worst thing you can do – in short use everything that can help you kill the lowest HP enemy and don’t think about what will happen next.
• Archangel’s special places Offense Up on everyone
• Nemesis’s special places Speed Up on everyone and spread all buffs other buffs to the rest of the team

If you follow those rules, you will not have problems with Node 4. At the start, you will have Gambit, Omega Red, and Silver Samurai as the greatest possible threats. Early Blind will make them harmless, nonetheless and they are actually not the greatest threat – BP (1mm) and Moondragon are if you let them play (since you should start with Archangel’s l and Nemesis special if those 2 are not dead you will lose all your buffs due to Moondragons special and you will be highly vulnerable to BP (1mm) special in the second turn).

Do not pay attention to the fact that Gambit is constantly harassing you and that he will enter Stealth just unleash everything you have and focus on killing BP and Moondragon first – Gambit Omega Red will die in the process and you shouldn’t be worried about Omega Red’s ultimate. What should worry you is Silver Samurai’s special that can cleanse all debuffs from the team, so be sure to Omega Red, Gambit, Moondragon, and BP (1mm)) before that happens.

In the second wave, a few more mobs will spawn (Phyla-Vell, BP, Lady Deathstrike, and another Silver Samurai). Even though it may not look that way, the greatest danger is Lady Deathstrike – you need to kill her as soon as possible but since she will get 2 Evades and Deathproofs, it may be difficult to continue focusing on her while keep killing enemies in every turn. You will be in great danger if she is allowed to play her second turn, so just keep killing near-death targets and keep up the pressure.

By the time the third wave spawns, Magneto should have his ultimate ready for the second time (keep in mind, it is important who you target even with Magneto’s ultimate). Use his ultimate when Spider Weaver, second Omega Red, Deathpool, Nakia, and second Lady Deathstrike spawns. Mass Blind on them will seem like the perfect solution for all possible problems but be careful if Silver Samurai is there and can play – he will use his special and all blind will go away!

All characters in the last wave are potentially really dangerous, but I will repeat – do not underestimate Lady Deathstrike – if something goes wrong, she will be the main cause. Also, keep in mind that even if Weaver is under Blind that will not prevent her from getting Charged with her ultimate so either kill her before she can play or use ABility Block on her (I’ve used ABility Block on OR just to show you that you have enough time to kill her even if you don’t have Ability Block ready and even if she gets Charged).

Ok, basically this is all you need to know about this Node – do not save CDs, go on the full offensive, and don’t overthink – just kill the target who will die fastest.

I know that this sounds easy and looks easily presented like this. I also know that some of you had real difficulties with this node, but trust me there is nothing hard about it. Deathseed below 900k (which is the minimum power you can have on Heroic) will clear both difficulties without any problems, as long as you stick to the plan!

Node 5

HARD DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

HEROIC DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

On Node 5 you will use only 3 characters – Kestrel, Deathpool, and Weaver. Nick Fury will be a free addition to the team but you don’t need to worry about if he will stay alive or not.

To prepare for this mission, you must know that you will have no advantage whatsoever if all 3 characters are Strikers (which is the most used ISO-8 for all 3 of them). We decided to show you how to clear it if your Kestrel is Skirmisher (Hard) and if she is Raider (Hard). I prefer Skirmisher for Kestrel (I am using that as her main ISO-8) but since most players simply don’t see the benefit of it, I was forced to show you her as Raider on Heroic difficulty.

This mission is also easy, as you will see. As a matter of fact, I wanted to show you that even if you are using the worst strategy you will win in the end. If this Node is built so that characters are working and behaving as they should, you would need to stun She-Hulk first and focus on both Ghost Riders so their passives when you kill a target don’t waste your Waever’s Charges – in normal circumstances, you would want that Nemesis and Dark Beast’s attacks are spent without a negative effect against you. However, in this Apoc Saga, some most dangerous enemies don’t build Charges (Thor in Node 3, She-Hulk here), so you have nothing to worry about.

In the Hard video, I even showed you how to instantly kill both Deathseed and She-hulk without using Weaver’s ultimate on start.

In short, Node 5 should be really hard if they want, but it is actually extremely easy and you will clear it whatever you do. Our Videos show you this. This also means that it is absolutely not important if you have all 3 characters as Strikers – it is irrelevant.

Even if you leave both Ghost Riders alive during the entire mission and kill everyone on purpose with idea that their every passive hit you, it will be harder to die with 1 character than to clear the mission on Auto-Combat. As you can see, the Heroic video is actually recorded on Auto Combat.

I would not add anything more than this.

Node 6

HARD DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

HEROIC DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

In mission 6 you will have to use a combination of MLF, Kestrel, Gambit, Weaver, and Agatha Harkness.

Basically, the presence of Spider Weaver in almost any combination in the current META makes things ridiculously easy for you.

On this node, after the initial Stun on Bishop and MLF’s ultimate that will prevent Dark Beast and Magneto from their openings, the only thing you need to do is to make sure that Archangel and Nemesis will die. Kestrel’s special ability will one-shot them on Heroic difficulty (it is literally the same as on Hard). Since AI will never use the special with Archangel first, you don’t need to worry that Archangel will remove debuffs – he will not.

Ok, when the second wave spawns, you need to Stun Sharon – her ultimate may be dangerous and you don’t want that. The presence of Dazzler can also look scary due to the fact that if she plays she will clear debuffs and place ABility Block but since you have MLF’s special – she will not play as well (at least not soon enough).

This is the moment when Rogue spawns and when things should become complicated. Don’t worry, they are not complicated. In normal circumstances, I would start over after my Gambit is Ability Blocked so I can Ability Block Rogue so she can’t use her Special, but there is really no need for that. As you can see on Heroic Video, she simply can’t do anything against you.

On the Hard video, you can see how to avoid this, but it simply doesn’t matter – I wanted for you to see that even if your Weaver is stunned and you can’t target Rogue – the stats of enemies on Heroic difficulty are simply too low. It is just not challenging at all.

It is not as my characters on Heroic are too strong so this looks easy – it is easy – you can’t die.

I must admit that this really annoys me, it annoys me a lot more than the fact that the Apocalypse is not strong as it should be (according to some people). You see if it is irrelevant how to play PVE, then what is the point? I understand that some features were too hard for many people, but I don’t see the point if they are ridiculously easy… I will not comment on this anymore – you understand everything I want to say.

Once again – there is no difference between Hard and Heroic Difficulty. On the Hard video, you can see what you need to do to avoid difficulties. On Heroic Video you can see that it isn’t really important what you do and how you do it.

Node 7

HARD DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

HEROIC DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

Node 7 is my favorite node! This is the hardest node in the Saga and I finally feel that our help is actually needed.

For this Node, you will need Hulk, Archangel, Deathpool, Strange [Heartless], and Rogue.

This is the only Node in the entire Saga, where you need to give some time and effort in order to clear it. At the start, you will be against MLF, Spider-Woman, Sharon Carter Mister Negative, and Wong in order to clear it. With Mister Negative, there will be one of his ads who can have Stun Ability.

In short, there are several ways that your Rogue could be prevented to open the battle with her abilities and you need to start over until she can do it – Rogue must use her abilities in the first turn!

Also, it is of utmost importance that your Hulk has Healer ISO-8 class and that the character who is targeted by Mister Negative is mind controlled to attack Hulk (all other options are not viable) … I know, I know – most of you hate RNG, but at least this Node offers certain challenge compared to other Nodes.

If everything goes well and your Hulk survives while your Rogue can use her abilities on her first turn your main focus should be to try slowly reducing the HP of enemy mobs while killing Mister NEgative ads in the process – every kill of the add will reduce their Speed Bar due to Archangel passive.

And that is it … Lol. You can turn on Auto-Combat at this point as well because everything else is less important and not dependent on you – if you are still alive when Agatha spawns, you will clear the mission (you must turn off auto because you need to target Agatha with Rogue’s ultimate, even though you can do the same on auto as well).

This will be the first time your Rogue can play actually and Archangel will give her ability energy in the meantime. It is better to Stun Agatha than to use her special because it is most likely that many of your characters will be near death at that moment and you don’t want Agatha to play. Also, you need Rogue’s special for later.

Being near death complicates things because you can’t let AI play so you are “forced” to do it yourself. Basically, the strategy is easy – kill all targets that can be killed instantly and trigger Archangel Speed and DPS passive along with Deathpool’s passive. Pay attention to who will play next among enemies and plan your actions accordingly.

The second time Hulk can use his taunt will be the undoubted sign that you have cleared the mission (he will heal and Taunt, which will be enough for everything that goes next, considering the passive healing of other members).

In the last wave, Red Hulk will spawn along with another Agatha and Agent Venom. Fortunately, you will have Rogue’s special ready so you will momentarily remove Red Hulk as a threat. In Heroic Video, my 6RS Rogue one-shooted full HP Red Hulk with Defense Down (that speaks enough of enemy stats on Heroic Difficulty). I you can’t do that, just kill a mob who will die surely (every kill count and make things a lot easier).

Depending on the situation after killing Red Hulk everything will be over, you just need to kill someone every turn and activate Deathpool’s and Archangel’s passives.

Node 7 is not the same on Hard and Heroic. It will be important that you have all the needed characters on Level 90 for Heroic Difficulty because their maximum HP will decide the battle. For the Hard node, they must be at least level 80, but I suggest Level 85 if possible.

If I needed to describe the Apocalypse challenge for missions 4-8, I would pick Node 7 as representative – all other Nodes are not worth mentioning, especially the last node!

Node 8

HARD DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

HEROIC DIFFICULTY VIDEO HERE

On Node 8 you will use 4 Horsemen along with Apocalypse.

To be honest this Node is created as an introduction to Apocalypse kit and I don’t have a problem because it is easy.

Regardless of the difficulty, you can turn on Auto-Combat immediately and Nodes will be cleared but I advise you against it. Use the opportunity to understand Apocalypse at least a bit.

In our Hard video, you can see skill description options that you have when leading Apocalypse and 4 Horsemen. They are so strong and powerful, that they will fully obliterate everything in their path including Spider Weaver, Doctor Doom, Eternals, Secret Avengers, Emma, etc, etc…

Those 5 characters together have everything available from the entire MSF ability effects pool and at any time they can use it to their benefit without fear of being opposed by anyone controlled by AI. Their combined DPS and other stat boosts make them literally immune to everything the MSF roster has to offer but to 1 thing – the fact that Tangled Web + Eternals + Kang/Cable in Arena will play first and cause them enough initial damage so Ikaris can kill Archangel (who is squishiest), make follow Up and win the battle. That proved to be the Doom of Apocalypse and the 4 Horsemen.

They say they will boost him, but it doesn’t matter – the harm is already done. Also, the fact that no one will break 4 Horsemen teams so they can assemble this supposed-to-be META for any other feature is not speaking in Apocalypse advantage.

I know that I will have use for him, and I know that I will show him from a positive perspective but what I think is not really important in the end. Important is what the majority think and what is the current narrative and atmosphere around the game.

Conclusion

If everything was ok, this conclusion would be much longer and more positive. However, everything is not ok and all I can say is:

Apocalypse Saga (same as Famine, War, and Death Saga for that matter) is easy to the point that it makes me uncomfortable.

The Apocalypse is a good toon as it is. He will be even better, whatever that brings us in the future, but I feel empty after everything. Others are not satisfied because they want him better, I am not satisfied because the game-play experience of the culmination of the one-year process was literally non-existing. As a matter of fact for me, it was the same as they gave us Apocalypse through Milestone after reaching specific requirements.

I don’t know about others but I don’t enjoy auto-combat. If it must be that way then SIM is a much better and faster option considering that winning is guaranteed.