AW Defense - Team Counters

The most wanted information in Marvel Strike Force is what are counters for a specific team. With the official War Bot, you can get partial answers to the questions. The problem with this bot is that it draws information from the MSF base and gives you results depending on the winning percentage of teams that were used by players in the game. Those results are accurate, but they can be misleading.

When you choose a team that should challenge the existing defense you don’t want to know which team has the highest win percentage – instead, you want to know what team from your roster can beat the defense most efficiently. Most importantly, you want to know what alternate options in addition to well-known counters are.

I will try to help you.

The initial concept of the page which was to show you only justified counters is no longer enough mainly because the official bot is no longer being updated, so the community cannot see the obvious counters. This affects especially new players who are not familiar with usual counters nor do they have some older teams that were considered justified before. Therefore, I am forced to list all counters at this moment (similar to the Cosmic Crucible page). This is an initial version during Knowhere Siege.

When we learn if Knowhere Siege is a permanent War setup and if we will have new War Events in the future, we will divide justified counters from the list of all counters per War Defense according to the currently most used Defensive Setup.

At this moment we lack counters for:

Knowhere (it will be just one counter at the start but we need to confirm that)
Dark Hunters, Ravagers, and War Dogs (those teams are specialized for Offense and they started being used in defense only recently so we still collect data and do testing – if you wanna help you can share your insight with us on our Discord)

Explanation

The names of the teams for which I will suggest counters will be highlighted in Info Boxes. Below you will see the list of viable counters. At the Top of the page, you have a list of Teams and with a simple click on the team’s name, you will be instantly transferred to their list of counters with a brief explanation for each counter. Next to each counter team, you will see a symbol that represents possible Punch Ups.

Here is the list of symbols:

10% Punch Down – ▼
Even match up – ⊜
5% Punch Up – ▲
10% Punch Up – ▲▲
20%+ Punch Up – ▲▲▲

Hero Asgardian

Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
TW+Undying ▲▲
Underworld ▲▲▲
Eternals + 3 ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲▲
War Dogs ▲
Unlimited X-Man ▲
Rebirth ⊜
Masters of Evil ▼▼
Infinity Watch ▼▼▼
A-Force+ Apocalypse ▲
Ravager ▼▼▼

Hero Asgardians are the latest AW Defense team. As such, they can be an unsolvable enigma for most teams but obviously, some team combinations deal with them easily.

Eternal synergy is the best counter for them. Ikaris ultimate literally made them harmless to the point where you can use only Sersi and Ikaris alone to deal with them. Hero Asgardians don’t have an answer to Eternals and the possible punch-up is insane – Ikaris and Sersi 350k strong can practically eliminate 1 million strong Hero Asgardians all by themself.

Weapon X is another hard counter for Hero Asgardians. Trauma from OR’s ultimate fully negates Valkyrie’s passive, so insane punch-ups are possible.

Aside from Eternals, existing Horseman teams can also easily beat HA. Unlimited X-Men in particular, as long as you incapacitate Thor with Rogue.

Astonishing X-Man

Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲▲▲
TW+Undying ▲▲
Underworld ▲▲▲
Eternals + 3 ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲▲▲
Rebirth ▲
Masters of Evil ▲▲▲
Infinity Watch ▲▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲▲
Ravager ▲
Dark Hunters ▲▲
Black Order ▲▲
Shadowland ▲
Uncanny X-Men+Psylocke ⊜
Bionic Avengers ▲▲▲
Astonishing X-Men ▲

Astonishing X-Men can be an exceedingly difficult opponent if you let them kill any of your team members. It is best to avoid teams with summons when fighting them.

Black Order is an obvious answer for them – Thanos plays first allowing you to quickly transfer your targeting from Bishop to Beast while his special fully counters Beast’s ultimate. Regardless of RNG, you can allow yourself a huge punch-up with BO against Axemen.

I am fully against using Unlimited X-Men against Axmen neither in War nor CC, but they are the team that can grant you the greatest punch-up. For example, if your Uxmen are 400k strong you can freely engage 1 million strong Axmen. Having that in mind, it was important to pinpoint them as counters.

In AW, Shadowland is the team that fully counters Axmen. They can fully control the battle by placing Abi Block on Beast and quickly removing Jubilee with Elektra’s ultimate.

Original Uncanny X-Men (with Psylocke) is another team that can easily beat Axmen. However, you can’t expect the same punch-up as with BO, but a certain win is a certain win.

Bionic Avengers is a natural counter for Axmen. They cannot be killed easily with Axmen’s initial burst, and they can fully take out Jubilee and Beast from the battle. With Bionics against Axmen, punch-ups from 300k to even 500k are possible, as long as your Hulkbuster is decent.

Bionic Avengers

Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲▲▲
TW+Undying ▲▲
Underworld ▲▲▲
Eternals + 3 ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲▲▲
New Warriors (full) ⊜
Rebirth ▲
Invaders ▲
Masters of Evil ▲▲
Infinity Watch ▲▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲▲
Ravager ▲
Dark Hunters ▲
X-Factor + Baron Zemo ⊜
Bionic Avengers ▲

Even though Bionic Avengers are considerably less powerful outside of Raids, their synergy and their kit can be extremely dangerous in both War and CC. Knowing how to deal with them without using META teams will definitely be important in the days to come.

Infinity Watch is an obvious solution for Bionic Avengers. Infinity Watch starts with Immunity meaning that they will be fully safe from any Ability Block Bionic Avengers has to offer.

Unlimited X-Men is another logical solution. Being able to fully cripple Viv Vision at the start of combat, makes Bionic Avengers harmless against Rogue and the company.

Weapon X will beat Bionic Avengers with their own weapon – Omega Red will use Ability Block against main Bionic threats making them helpless (especially in AW). Bionic Avengers is a new synergy and there are definitely more teams that can deal with them and save you the teams I already proposed for other enemies.

X-Factor with Baron Zemo should be able to easily counter Bionic Avengers. Zemo will initiate a fight by clearing Defense Up from all enemies and by picking who should be Ability Blocked (Viv Vision, obviously). After that, you should eliminate Deathlok first and Viv Vision second and you are good to go.

The Punch Up depends on the strength of the enemy Hulkbuster. Maximized Hullkbuster grants an insane amount of HP to BA, and you cannot eliminate main targets fast enough so you can take control of the battle. If Hulkbaster is low you can afford significant Punch Up, if not do not risk.

A mirror match-up is a viable option against BA. AI will never be fully effective meaning that you will be the one who controls the battle. That fact allows you some punch-ups, but don’t be greedy and do not risk unreal matchups. As long as you prevent enemy Viv Vision from flipping debuffs while your Viv can do that, you have nothing to fear. However, if the enemy is significantly stronger than you, even your wit and strategy understanding will not save you.

Black Order

Knowhere Siege:

War Dogs ▲▲▲ (RNG – not an MC 100% win counter)
Gamma+Apoc (obviously) ▲▲▲
Eternals+Apoc+Undying (be careful about Thanos special) ▲▲
Apoc+TW+Nick Fury+Quicksilver ▲▲▲
Deathseed + Apoc▲▲
Underworld + Apoc▲▲▲
Nova+Korg+3 ▲
Darkhold ▲
Infinity Watch ▼▼▼
Unlimited X-Men ▲▲

Normal:

Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲▲▲
TW+Undying ▲▲
Underworld ▲▲▲
Eternals + 3 ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲▲▲
Masters of Evil ▲▲
Infinity Watch ▲▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲▲
Ravager ▲
Secret Avengers + Kestrel ▲▲
Uncanny X-Men ⊜
Symbiotes with Skirmisher + Silver Surfer ▼▼
Invaders ▲
Black Order ▲▲
Rebirth ▲▲
X-Factor + Namor ⊜

Knowhere Siege:

Black Order will have 3 (??!!) Safeguard, Evade, Offense Up, and Speed Up on spawn along with their existing stats doubled while on defense (for example, 1 mil Black Order will now be 2 mil Black Order just because of Stat increase), but 1 thing is for sure – Apocalypse is a natural counter to them because he negates Safeguard. Also, Black Panther (1mm) when using ultimate on targets with Safeguard in War, grants Safeguard to all War Dogs, making them lethal against this new BO. However, since Thanos will play first always, in case he is fully maximized (350k+), and if he makes a critical hit against your Nakia or BP (1mm) they will die regardless of their power, and you will lose. The chance of that is less than 7% if Thanos is not with the Raider class or around 15% if Thanos is Raider. In short, it happens and you can’t do anything about it because it doesn’t depend on you – it’s RNG. MC usually doesn’t put RNG counters on our War CC list but since BO is like this only for 3 Wars and since War Dogs are widely accepted as a hard counter, we must mention them!

After the first War, it became obvious that the fully improved Darkhold are capable of dealing with BO. It is not the happiest match especially since we proposed DH on Defense due to defending effects but it can be done, so now you have even more options for you to consider.

Thanos will definitely play first and with his opening he will punish 2-3 members of your squad before he flips effects on both Black Order and attackers. Due to the granted Speed on start, he may play even 3 times, before you can play.

In the end, some members of the community insisted that I put Infinity Watch as a counter since they were designed to be one (8W is even not put as a BO counter in normal circumstances because I thought that it is not justified to use them there considering that you can use successful teams of a lesser WAR value for the same task). However, this BO and the original BO are 2 totally different things, so at least make sure that you have an acceptable punch down before attacking.

Personally, I didn’t want to put Unlimited X-Men as a justified counter because it was I who also said that Unlimited X-Men should be one of the mandatory defenses in this War event. Nonetheless, it is true Unlimited X-Men can counter Black order because Rogue’s Special is not affected by Evade meaning that Thanos will be helpless against it and then you will slowly clear them from the node. However, I repeat If you put Unlimted X-Men in Defense you basically set 2 main mandatory targets for War Dogs, allowing either BO or UXmen to link another Meta Offense on self and reducing enemy options. It is your choice 🙂

Normal:

Black Order is no longer META and there are numerous options to deal with them. The trick is to find a team that is the least important and can be used for this task.

Secret Avengers + Kestrel is one of those teams. I personally avoid combining Kestrel with SA for CC and AW offense, but without a doubt, they can easily deal with BO with a significant Punch Up.

The other team that can be freely used for BO is Uncanny X-Men. The introduction of Magik happened with only one purpose – so X-Men can counter BO. Having that in mind, it would be a mistake to forget to mention the team that is assembled to be the counter for BO.

Most of the players are fully familiar with how to counter BO with a mirror match-up. It is commonly known that you can afford a big punch-up as long as your Thanos uses his special after the enemy Thanos does the same. If your Thanos can successfully flip positive effects from the enemy team, everything else is easy.

In an even match-up, X-Factor with Namor can deal with Black Order without many difficulties. In AW, Namor’s ultimate always crits and removes positive effects from enemies while reducing their speed by 50% which will give you an opportunity to set up the perfect opening. Since Thanos will use his special before Namor’s turn, you will have no fear of placing debuffs on BO after Namor executes the ultimate. Shatterstar’s special, Longshot’s special, and Polaris’s ultimate should leave BO in the red zone with Defense Down, Bleed, and Disrupt without means of removing those debuffs.

After that, everything should be easy. As I said you cannot expect any punch-ups with this setup because if Thanos kills any of your characters at the start or you can’t place debuffs on enemies you will fail.

The third team that I will propose is Symbiotes with Silver Surfer (instead of Venom). As long as your Symbiotes are equipped with Skirmisher class, so they can deal with Obsidian’s Taunt, Silver Surfer will make Thanos totally harmless. Using 4 Symbiotes with Silver Surfer against maximized BO in AW definitely seems like an excellent bargain.

Brotherhood + Doctor Doom

Secret Avengers + Kestrel ▲▲
Ravagers + Emma Frost ⊜
Uncanny X-Men ⊜
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲▲▲
TW+Undying ▲▲
Underworld ▲▲▲
Eternals + 3 ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲▲▲
Rebirth ▲
Invaders ▲
Masters of Evil ▲▲
Infinity Watch ▲▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲▲
Dark Hunters ▲

DD combined with Brotherhood is an often-used defensive setup in AW and CC. Using DD on defense was never my thing but there are people who are doing that. When dealing with DD, the most important thing is to place Ability Block on him and kill him before he can use his ultimate (Ability Block prevents him from triggering his passive that activates his ultimate instantly).

When DD is with Brotherhood, Magneto’s initial Blind and Blob’s Taunt prevent most teams from controlling Doctor Doom with Ability Block, so the secret is to cleanse that Blind before you are about to place Ability Block and remove Taunt from Blob.

Secret Avengers and Kestrel are easy picks. As long as you initiate a fight with Sam Wilson’s special, Maria Hill will cleanse Blind on her first turn allowing Sharon to place Ability Block on Doctor Doom. In the meantime, Kestrel will deal with Blob.

Ravagers are an ideal team for countering Brotherhood + DD. You must use Emma instead of Stitcher or Bruiser to grant yourself cleansing, though. Ravagers don’t have Ability Block, but T’Challa can steal Ability Energy from Doctor Doom, dealing his ultimate long enough for you to deal with the rest of the enemies.

Original or Uncanny X-Men are logical counters to Brotherhood, but the presence of DD can fully change the outcome. That is why it is important to be patient and not over-damage Doctor Doom before your allies are fully charged and ready to bring annihilation.

Darkhold +Apocalypse

Knowhere ▲▲
Deathseed +Apocalypse ▼
GAMMA ▲▲
Underworld ⊜
Dormhold ▼▼ (only if Wong or Agatha has the lowest damage in the team)
Uxmen+Kang ▼▼▼
Undying+Apocalypse+Dormammu+Kang ▲▲▲

GAMMA is the ultimate War Offense option at the moment. They are quite capable of dealing with anything AW Defense has to offer. However, Apocalypse will place Safeguard on 4 members of the team (except the one with the lowest Defense) and Red Hulk’s ultimate will not flip their buffs. Gamma will win nonetheless, but usual punch-ups are no longer possible against this Apoc/DH synergy.

Underworld is an ideal counter for this team (as for most of the others in WAR except GAMMA). However, in order to succeed, they need to be strong enough to match the current power of most Darkhold Defenses. Not many players can afford that, at the moment.

Dormhold is quite capable to oppose DH+Apoc. They will have Revive (that can’t be jeopardized) and even Dormammu is not even near Apoc, he has everything to assure the victory. Nonetheless, to be sure, you will need an advantage in power.

If you place Kang instead of Sunfire or Fantomex, your Rogue will play first. Placing her special on MLF (or Wang – there is a debate about who is a better target for Rogue’s special outside of CC) should be enough for Victory. At some point, APocalypse will kill her with his empowered Basic, but the rest of the team with the help of Kang should be enough for a win because Rogue will be alive enough to use both special and ultimate abilities.

When you combine Undying (hard counter for DH) with Dormammu, Apocalypse, and add Kang to ensure everything will be placed before enemy APocalypse can play, there is really not much that needs to be explained. You can replace Dormammu with Baron Zemo (who needs to be Skirmisher and at least even with enemy Apoc power) to have the same results in WAR against this defensive set-up.

Dormammu+Eternals+Tangled Web

GAMMA ▲▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Dormhold ▲▲
Darkhold ⊜
Apocalypse+TW ▲▲
Weapon X ⊜
TW+Nova+Undying ▲▲▲
Underworld ▼

This is a potent synergy taken from Cosmic Crucible. It is (was) especially efficient in Knowhere Siege where Dormammu’s stats are boosted so he fits perfectly with this known combination. Most importantly due to CC needs most players have all members of this synergy fully maximized so there will be no room for underestimating.

Darkhold / Dormhold

GAMMA ▲▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Underworld ▲
Dormhold ▲
Darkhold ⊜
Darkhold (without Scarlet Witch) + Emma/Loki/Cable ▼
Weapon X ⊜
Undying/TW+Dorm ▲▲▲

GAMMA is the ultimate War Offense option at the moment. They are quite capable of dealing with anything AW Defense has to offer. Darkhold/Dormhold is no exception.

The Underworld team in War is quite capable of countering Darkhold. Mr. Negative can place Ability Block on the desired target (Wong or Morgan Le Fay) before they can lay after which Taskmaster will place mass Blind. Green Goblin is your solution for targets in stealth. This team can easily beat Darkhold but your moves must be clinically precise and focused on the right targets.

Darkhod / Dormhold is a current META for all game features and not only for Arena. To beat them you must use their duplicate. Keep in mind that players who unlocked new levels for MLF do not necessarily need Dormammu to beat Dormhold – they can do it with full Darkhold. There are several rules though.

The Undying duo is a hard counter for Darkhold. Against Dormhold it is best that they are supported by Dormammu. It is important to say that they can beat Dormhold even without Dormammu (due to ZIM’s ability to prevent Revives) but the punch-up cannot be as high as usual. I usually support the Undying duo with Baron Zemo and Loki but any other combination on your mind will do just fine.

Agatha’s basic is assisted by two team members in Arena (MLF and Scarlet Witch should be those two members) and by only one in other features (MLF). Fully maximized Morgan Le Fay doesn’t need Skirmisher for placing ultimate therefore it is best to equip her with a Striker. It is mandatory that Agatha’s ultimate is on level 7.

It is important to say that an easy answer for Darkhold/Dormhold is Darkhold without Scarlet Witch and with a character who can grant your MLF to play first (Emma/Loki/Cable). You cannot expect a high punch-up but, in this matter, any punch-up is ok as long as you deal with Darkhold/Dormhold in a single battle.

Weapon X can beat the defending Darkhold / Dormhold in War. However, there cannot be any punch-up if you wanna succeed.

The tactic to beat Dormhold with WX in Alliance War is kinda tricky – you cannot do it in the first attempt due to the fact that you can’t prevent Wong from taunting which will be your doom in the end. To prevent that you must send a sacrifice team (I am using X-Force because they play first in War and Deadpool removes debuffs passively).

When you send a sacrifice team against Dormhold you must reduce Dormammu’s HP as much as you can, and you must survive until Wong is about to use his ultimate.

At the moment he starts executing ultimate you should pause the game and wait for the battle to pass. After the fight is over unpause the game and enter with Weapon X. MLF will not have ultimate, same as Agatha and Wong.

You will not be able to place Ability Block on Dormammu, but you can prevent MLF from granting free turns to her team. After that with your Skirmishers remove Immunity from Dormammu and use Omega Red’s ultimate on him as the primary target.

Once you kill Dormammu the rest should be easy. Unfortunately, there cannot be a significant punch-up here. Even though Dormhold will not have the most important CDs, Agatha’s passive can make your life miserable, especially if Dormammu is not down soon enough.

Death Seed

Knowhere ▲▲▲
Undying+TW+Rhino ▲▲▲
Underworld ▼
War Dogs ▼▼
Infinity Watch ▲
Rebirth ▼▼
Unlimited X-Men ▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Darkhold+Rhino (instead of Scarlet Witch) ▲
Weapon X ▲

It is still early to accurately suggest which teams are justified to be used against Death Seed in WAR. There are a lot of combinations whose kit suggests that they could challenge Death Seed. However, before knowing for certain about turn rotation, I cannot accurately give you advice.
At the moment, it is instantly obvious that Infinity Watch has everything that should grant them victory. They have Immunity and Safeguard at the start (will protect them against initial mass Blind and buffs stealing) and their damage potential is high enough to deal with the new Horseman team.

Weapon X can also easily deal with Deathseed. Omega Red will play first which will open several available tactics for you. You can place Ability Block on Magneto to prevent Blind, or you can willingly take Blind knowing that Silver Samurai will cleanse. In that case, it would be best to Abi Block Archangel. Anyway, after you chose your initial target, all DPS should GOP against Dark Beast. Killing him first is mandatory. Silver Samurai’s and Omega Red’s ultimate should prevent Magneto and Archangel from using their abilities. You shouldn’t be worried about Psylocke because Trauma will prevent her from transferring debuffs. All in all, it is an easy win even with a significant punch-up.

Gamma is also an obvious counter. There is no stronger team for War and they will easily beat Death Seed, even with considerable Punch Up.

Unlimited X-Men is the team that should easily counter Death Seed. They will be unaffected by Blind and their control and damage potential is considerably higher than Death Seed’s who have specialized for Raids after all.

I will test Death Seed with other teams (Darkhold, Weapon X, Tangled Web+Undying, War Dogs, etc…) in the next few days and I will update COunters accordingly. At the moment 3 teams that I mentioned should grant you victory 100%.

Dormammu + Heroes for Hire

Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Apoc+Undying+Kestrel+1 ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲
Darkhold ▼▼▼
Darkhold+Apoc/Dorm ▼
Apocalypse+Undying+2 Tangled Web ▲▲
Dark Hunters + Dormammu ⊜
Underworld + Dormammu ▲
Tangled Web+Quicksilver+Dormammu+1 ▲ – Captain Kuba’s solution-tested and confirmed!

Weapon X is the only original pre-made that is a true counter for Dorm/H4H in War. Generally, you cannot expect the same punch-up as against H4H without Dormammu, but you can afford 100k-200k punch-ups. The only thing you should care about is that Misty Knight does not target Omega Red with her abilities.

Undying+TW is a brutal combination. However, they alone cannot beat H4H, nor H4H+Dorm for that matter because they don’t have enough sustain to survive prolonged battles against H4H who are always in advance due to constant buffs and constant healing. However, if you replace [Noir] with Apocalypse you will get the needed edge to prevail. Considerable punch-up is possible, but you must be clinically accurate with your decisions. That means, that your team must have Immunity before Dormammu Stun and that you mustn’t allow Misty Knight to control the narrative with her Ability Blocks and stuns.

As long as Omega Red doesn’t have the highest damage and HP you will have no problems whatsoever. Taking down Dormammu right after Shang Chi is mandatory, therefore it is best to use Omega’s ultimate on him and Stun him with Silver Samurai while focusing on Shang Chi in the meantime as usual.

Dark Hunters with Dormammu is another viable way of dealing with Dorm/H4H. You cannot afford any punch-up whatsoever and you must be careful since Morbius’s initial Blind will not affect Dormammu. Having toons with Skirmisher of high level can help you remove initial buffs on Dormammu, after which you can take control of the battle and hopefully prevail before the time is off.

Underworld is the new Offensive option that counters AW META’s defense. Even improved Nobu is still almost harmless and can easily be replaced by Dormammu. If you do so, you will have everything at your disposal to challenge Dormammu+H4H.

Dormammu + Young Avengers

GAMMA ▲▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Undying+3 ▲▲▲
Unlimited X- men ▲
Deathseed+Dorm/Apoc ▲
Weapon X (Alliance War) ▲
Darkhold/Dormhold ▲▲▲
Underworld + Dormammu ⊜
Apoc+TW+Quicksilver ▲▲
Eternals+TW ▲▲
Wardogs ⊜

The combination of Dormammu and Young Avengers is pretty common nowadays. In Alliance War, Weapon X is the most justified counter for them if you have Dark Hunters to deal with H4H. The tactic is easy – initiate a fight with Abi Block on Squirrel Girl while putting the rest of the Focus on Dormammu.

If you have high-level Skirmishers in the team, you will remove Dormammu’s buffs in the process. Once, Omega Red is ready for its ultimate, target Dormammu (who would die soon after it) and transfer your focus to Squirrel Girl. Next in the line is Kate Bishop and you are good to go.

Darkhold with MLF passive level 6 can easily deal with Dorm/YA. Keep Squirrel Girl controlled by Agatha’s Stun in the first turn and Scarlet Witch’s ultimate and focus on Dormammu. You should not have any difficulties and you can allow yourself a punch-up of at least 100k. If you use Dormhold, a punch-up can be significantly higher, and the strategy is the same. You will not have Stun prolonged, but hey there is your Dormammu to say a few things to YA.

Underworld is a natural counter for Young Avengers. If they are boosted by Dormammu, the only thing you need to do is to add Dormammu to the Underworld.

Dormammu + Hero Asgardian

GAMMA ▲▲▲
Knowhere
Eternals+Inhumans ▲▲
Wardogs ⊜
Weapon X ▲
Underworld ▲
Undying+TW ▲▲
Darkhold ⊜
Dormhold ▲

With the introduction of Hero Asgardians, many players tried to find a way to boost them up by replacing Heimdall. The most powerful replacement is obviously Dormammu. Not only that he will Revive fallen Asgardians, but Valkyrie’s passive will affect also the character that is revived making your killing order significantly trickier.

The best way to deal with them is to combine Eternals with Black Bolt, Yo-Yo, and Crystal. Inhumans’ stats are mediocre now, but Yo-Yo’s presence will significantly increase sustain of your Eternals giving Ikaris enough time to survive and use his ultimate for the second time.

The presence of Crystal grants healing to your Inhumans while Eternals are doing the job and BB is here only to exploit his passive and finish out enemies earlier. Dormammu’s Resistance is insane, therefore, you cannot expect the usual punch-up with Eternals against Hero Asgardians but as long as the odds are not unreal, you should have nothing to worry.

Weapon X in War is capable of miracles because its kit allows you to do almost anything. Your main focus should be taking down Dormammu as soon as possible, after which you should prevail on pure strength. Depending on the enemy’s strength, the initial Abi Block from Omega Red should be focused on either Valkyrie or Sif depending on your ISO-8 class.

If you can remove Taunt from Sif easily with Skirmisher, use Ability Block on Valkyrie, if not prevent Sif from Taunt. Everything else is straightforward – Kill Dormammu, then Valkyrie, then everyone else.

Eternals +3

Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲
TW+Undying ▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲ (if Eternals are without Apocalypse)
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ⊜
Darkhold ▲▲▲
Infinity Watch ▲
Eternals + Loki + Emma Frost + 1 ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲

The natural counter for Eternals is Darkhold. Agatha can fully neutralize Sersi and Ikaris so Darkhold can beat Eternals with a great punch-up. Even combinations that allow Ikaris and Sersi to play first are fully harmless against Darkhold even in the Arena.

Infinity Watch is another clean counter for Eternals if they are fighting outside of the Arena. Safeguard on start neutralizes Ikaris ultimate and Infinity Watch prevails on a pure consistency of synergy and sustain. Depending on the Eternals setup, there can be a punch-up or not. If Morgan Le Fay is with Eternals things can become tricky at best.

A duplicate team is always a counter because AI cannot fully take advantage of character abilities. However, to be sure that your Eternals will be victorious make sure that they will play first by adding Loki and Emma into the equation.

Weapon X is one of the best teams for War and as such, they are quite capable of dealing with even Eternals in AW. It is not the happiest match-up, but they can do it if there is no other solution.

Gamma Team

Knowhere ▲▲▲
GAMMA Team ▲

Knowhere will be a hard counter to Gamma. Until we test it we will not go into details but in promotion videos, we could see that T12 KNowhere obliterates T17 Gamma. The conclusion is simple, if they can do that to Gamma just imagine what they can do against other teams 😉

The only viable counter for the GAMMA team in AW (until Knowhere is full) is a mirror match. In theory, you can afford a certain slight punch-up, but even if you are a lot stronger nothing can guarantee you success. It will depend on RNG and whose Stunners will be effective first. Because of Brawn, both teams will have Immunity, therefore, a team with more Skirmishers who will penetrate Immunity with Vulnerability and leave enemy members open to control will prevail.

Basically, as long as you keep, She-hulk and Brawn stunned, while focusing on Red Hulk, you have nothing to fear. I know that it is easier said than done, but you can expect a video guide as soon as possible.

Heroes for Hire

Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Apoc+Undying+Kestrel+1 ▲▲▲
Tangled Web+Quicksilver+Silver Surfer+1(Emma/NF/Cable/RedGuardian..) ▲ – Captain Kuba’s solution-tested and confirmed!
Weapon X ▲▲
Darkhold ▼▼▼
Darkhold+Apoc/Dorm ▼
Dark Hunters ▲
Apocalypse+Undying+2 Tangled Web ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Infinity Watch ▼▼▼
Underworld ▲▲

Dark Hunters and Weapon X are natural counters for H4H in AW. While Weapon X can allow themself a great punch-up if Omega Red is not the character with the highest HP in the teams, Dark Hunters must be of similar strength if they wanna have a chance to win.

Beating H4H with 8W in WAR can be extremely tricky. What you need to do is to give Skirmisher ISO-8 to Adam Warlock and to make sure that he will place Disrupt on Luke Cage when using his special. As long as you are focusing on Shang Chi and prevent Luke Cage from Taunting you have a real chance to achieve a win. As soon as you kill Shang Chi, I honestly suggest you turn on auto-combat because that is the only way to win on time.

Underworld is a new WAR counter for AW META defense. in War, they will place Trauma, Heal Block, and Blind the entire enemy team, which should be more than enough for everything H4H has to offer. In addition, Green Goblin will prevent them from reviving when needed. If Shang Chi resisted Ability Block, the outcome of the battle will not be so certain.

Infinity Watch

Darkhold/Dormhold ▲▲▲
Apoc+Eternals ▲▲▲
Infinity Watch ▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲
Underworld ▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Apoc+Deathseed ▲▲
Apoc+Unlimited X-Men ▲▲
Apoc+TW ▲▲
Apoc+A-Force ▲▲

Even though Infinity Watch is not a Horseman team they are still a formidable foe whose only real counter is Darkhold and themselves.

Apocalypse will remove the initial Safeguard from 8W – everything else is easy because Ikaris will be in a position to flip 8Ws buffs and after that, they will be literally harmless. Do not let Moondragon change the tide with her opening – just annihilate her asap.

Countering Infinity Watch with Infinity Watch is probably the most justified and safest option. To be honest, the majority of players are fully experienced and learned how to counter 8W with 8W while they were Arena META and all of them know that significant punch-up is possible.

To beat Infinity Watch with Infinity Watch you must focus on Moondragon first and Phyle-Vell second while trying to place Stun with your Adam Warlock before the enemy does the same. Keep in mind that Gamora is fully resistant to Defense Down so do not try to soften her – just try to control her with Slow and Stun.

In AW, Weapon X is another answer for IW. Omega Red and the company fully negate their assists and as soon as Safeguard and Immunity are off, Infinity Watch has no means to answer them. That is why it is important to be patient with Weapon X and wait until the right moment to place Omega Red’s debuffs salvo.

Inhumans + Silver Surfer + Agent Coulson

Uncanny X-Man ▲▲
X-Factor + Baron Zemo ▲
Shadowland ▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲▲▲
TW+Undying ▲▲
Underworld ▲▲▲
Eternals + 3 ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲▲▲
New Warriors (full) ▲▲▲
Rebirth ▲▲▲
Invaders ▲▲▲
Masters of Evil ▲▲▲
Infinity Watch ▲▲▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲▲▲
Ravager ▲
Dark Hunters ▲
Bionic Avengers ▲

This combination is a common enemy in War. It utilizes Coulson’s immunity in AW Defense with Silver Surfers sustain that is boosted by Yo-Yo.

Magik and Phoenix can easily deal with this combo because they don’t have an option to remove Storm’s debuffs and penetrate the Uncanny X-Men Barrier.

X-Factor and Baron Zemo is another simple solution for this team. Baron Zemo will initiate the combat by removing Immunity from enemies before placing Ability Block on either SS or Crystal.

In Alliance War, Shadowland has all answers needed for this synergy. They will play first and easily prevail.

Invaders+/Kestrel

Eternals+New Warriors/+Jubilee, Bishop, Beast/+Inhumans ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲
Underworld▲▲
Secret Avengers+TW ▲
Black Order ▼▼▼
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
TW+Undying ▲▲
Underworld ▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▼
New Warriors (full) ▲▲▲
Rebirth ▲
Invaders ▲
Masters of Evil ▼
Infinity Watch ▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲

Ivvaders’ greatest strength in Raids is their main weakness in WAR. Nick Fury’s adds and their strength that gives you a crucial advantage against most teams make INvaders an easy target for those who can flip buffs and profit on fast kills.

Eternals and Deathseed are fine examples. Not only that Ikaris will flip all those death proofs but he will kill ads and follow up with another AOE before Sersi does hers. After that, everything is easy as long as you focus on NF and IF to prevent them from healing the team.

For Deathseed it is not that easy to win against Invaders like against other teams with summons because of death proofs that protect NF adds from instant death. However, you have plenty of options at your disposal as long as you are careful and make sure that start killing those ads.

Using Underworld against Invaders may be overkill, but I think it is a legitimate counter considering the average strength of UNderworld in most of the rosters. However, if Underworld is fully maximized to challenge H4H and DH then you should not use them against Invaders.

Any efficient combination of Tangled Web and other characters is good enough against Invaders. In my opinion, 3 Secret Avengers are perfect for the task.

Black Order’s kit allows them to be efficient against Invaders, especially in the Knowhere Siege event. However, they don’t have their stats doubled outside defense and their original stats are considerably lower than Invaders’ so considerable punch down is needed for a certain win.

Characters like Black Bolt or Deathpool who follow up after kills are always welcomed against summoner teams. However, the strength of NF ads doesn’t allow Symbiotes to be effective as well. The only way to profit from Symbiotes is to add Carange or Scream to Eternals alongside Anti-Venom and SMS.

Marauder + Emma Frost

Underworld ▲▲▲
Undying ▲▲▲
X-Factor +Zemo/Kestrel ⊜
Secret Avengers + Kestrel ▲
Black Order ⊜
Shadowland ▲
Ravagers ⊜
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
TW+Secret Avengers ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲
Darkhold ▲▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲
New Warriors (full) ▼▼
Rebirth ▼
Invaders ▼▼▼
Masters of Evil ▼
Infinity Watch ▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲▲

Marauders with Madelyne Pryor and Emma Frost are no longer an unsolvable enigma in MSF. If you prevent them from buffing or you use their buffs against them, you are good to go.

Underworld and Undying will easily deal with Emarauders. Their kit is much stronger so the only question of it is justified to use them against those evil mutants.

X-Factor is the obvious answer for them if the 5th member is either Baron Zemo or Kestrel. If you lead Baron Zemo, he will play first and prevent Emma Frost from using her special. If you lead Kestrel, she will prevent Mister Sinister from making clones and she will exploit Multiple Man summons’ attacks against targets with Defense Down. Whatever you choose you won’t make mistakes.

Many players prefer to combine Kestrel with Secret Avengers due to Sharon’s passive. This team with the addition of Nick Fury is more than capable of beating Emarauders. Kestrel will prevent Mister Sinister from cloning while summons from Maria Hill and Nick Fury will do the rest while attacking an enemy with Defense Down.

Black Order is a team that can easily deal with Emarauders. The trick is to wait with Thanos’s special until Emma uses her special. That way you will flip Immunity and Defense Up on enemies as well as every other buff they have. When that happens, you can turn on the auto-combat.

In Alliance War Offense, Ravagers and Shadowland have answers for everything Emarauders can bring. Those two teams are specialized in War, but they can’t do much outside of it.

Underworld is a justified counter to Emarauders. Taskmaster’s and Mr. Negativity’s kit together will tear apart Emarauders with an insane punch-up.

Mercenary Team variations

X-Force ▲
Black Order ▲
Unlimited X-Man ▲▲▲
Eternals + Loki +2 ▲▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲▲▲
TW+Undying ▲▲
Underworld ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
New Warriors (full) ▲
Rebirth ▲▲
Invaders ▲
Masters of Evil ▲▲
Infinity Watch ▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲▲

X-Force is a natural counter for the Mercenary team in War. Their kit is made so they can prevent Mercenary Riot Guard from using Taunt and Taskmaster from executing ultimate on start. After those two things are done dealing with Mercenaries is easy regardless of team composition.

Black Order is the team that can easily survive the initial Mercenary combo and flips their advantages into their doom. Thanos special is the answer for all debuffs caused by Mercenaries at the start and all protection they are relying on. As long as Thanos’ focus is high enough to flip buffs on Mercenaries you can afford almost any punch-up.

Unlimited X-Men and Eternals will probably make overkill when facing a Mercenary team, but frankly, with them, you don’t have to worry about Mercenary strength because you can afford insane punch-ups.

Masters of Evil

Tangled Web + Undying ▲▲▲
Infinity Watch ▲
War Dogs ▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲▲
TW+Undying ▲▲
Underworld ▲▲
Eternals + 3 ▲
Weapon X ▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲▲
Rebirth ▲
Invaders ▲▲▲
Masters of Evil ▲▲
Infinity Watch ▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲

Masters of Evil are indeed a totally different team in CC and in other features. However, their strength outside CC should not be underestimated. The synergy between Absorbing Man, Kang, and Titania is insanely powerful for all game features. Absorbing Man kit will force you to focus your attacks on him and with every attack, your characters will get slow and buff Absorbing Man with additional Defense Up. Only this will be an unsolvable problem for most of the teams and we didn’t mention any of Master’s of Evil insane attacking capabilities yet.

To counter this team, the strategy is simple – you need to place Disrupt+Trauma on Absorbing Man or to place Ability Block while removing Taunt in the process. When you do that you will have to kill Kang fast and deal with the rest of the team. It is sufficient to say that Ultron will not be your first priority and that he will build his permanent turn rotation unopposed.

Possible justified counters are obvious. Eternals and Tangled Web have everything required to avoid being stuck by Absorbing Man. Infinity Watch has Immunity on start that will protect them from Slow and they will easily prevail after initial difficulties. War Dogs is one of my favorite teams. Their WAR mechanic allows you to challenge literally every team if you are aware of their potential and if you built their ISO-8 properly. However, unlike other META, War Dogs need precise and clinical decisions depending on the situation and power of enemies they are facing (knowing who can be killed on start is the difference between win and lose).

New Warriors (Full)

Dark-Hunters ▲▲
Shadowland (War) ▼▼
Astonishing X-Man ▼▼
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲▲▲
TW+Undying ▲
Underworld ▲▲▲
Eternals + 3 ▲
Weapon X ▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲▲▲
New Warriors (full) ▲
Masters of Evil ▲
Infinity Watch ▲▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲

New Warriors are usually combined with Eternals for offensive purposes since there are only three of them and only 2 Eternals and they synergize perfectly. However, many players decide to put New Warriors in Defense combining them with other Mystics such as Silver Surfer, Supernaturals, etc …

The natural counter for them as long as they are not with Eternals are Dark Hunters and Shadowland (only in War). They will prevent Cloak from controlling the battle and they have enough self-healing to survive New Warriors’ initial burst.

Astonishing X-Men is another pick against New Warriors. Beast provides them with full cleansing after being hit by Cloak’s ultimate and Jubilee/Bishop synergy will tear apart New Warriors after that.

X-Factor may not be as effective as previous teams but if they are combined with SS, Zemo, or Kestrel they will have no problems against New Warriors.

Pym Tech

Brotherhood ▲▲▲
Web Warriors ▲▲▲
A-Force ▲▲
A.I.M. ▲▲
don’t use other teams if isn’t necessary!

Pym Tech is not even near META, but they can be a problem for some really strong teams due to their evade mechanics and incredible damage output granted to Yellow Jacket + Ghost. Nonetheless countering them is easy and it can be done with teams that are not considered as first offensive options at the moment.

Brotherhood is a natural counter to Pym Tech. Mass Blind on start and constant removal of Pym Tech’s buffs make things really easy for Magneto and the company. You can afford some punch-ups with them but with limitations. The only thing you need to do is to use Magneto’s special on Ghost.

When a team is dependent on Evade the obvious answer for them is a team that is stronger and depends on Evade/Dodge. Web Warriors fulfills those requirements in full.

A-Force is probably underrated in my guides, but they are more than capable of annihilating Pym Tech with even a double punch-up.

A.I.M. is almost forgotten as an offensive option but if you have them and need to battle with Pym Tech, they are an ideal pick. Pym Tech has no means to remove debuffs, so A.I.M.’s main strength will remain unopposed and good enough for an easy win with a considerable punch-up.

Rebirth

Eternals+3 ▲▲▲
Rebirth ▲▲
Tangled Web+2 ▲▲▲
A-Force + DD ⊜
Underworld ▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲
Death Seed ▲▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Underworld ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲▲
New Warriors (full) ▲
Rebirth ▲
Invaders ▼▼
Masters of Evil ⊜
Infinity Watch ▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲

Rebirth seems like an ideal team for War Defense. They have the best self-sustain in the game and they seem immune to debuffs. However, that would be true only if a Human can control them in Defense which is not the case.

The fact that Captain America will open battle with the ultimate instead of his special and that you can easily prevent Captain Carter to make things dangerous makes Rebirth an easy target for most War Offense specialized teams.

The principle is always the same – control Captain Carter with Ability Block or stun, and focus all your damage against Captain America. If you can’t kill Captain America fast enough and he is about to use his special in the second turn, things may become difficult but depending on the team you are using (all suggested counters fit the criteria) you will have plenty of options to slow or control Captain so he cannot use his special ability on time.

When Captain America is dead, you practically won the battle and in most cases, you can turn on Auto-Combat as well.

Secret Avengers + Nick Fury + Kestrel

Eternals + 3 ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Infinity Watch ▲
Astonishing X-Man ▼▼▼
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲▲▲
TW+Undying ▲▲
Underworld ▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲
New Warriors (full) ▼
Rebirth ▼
Invaders ▼
Masters of Evil ▼
Infinity Watch ▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲

Secret Avengers synergize perfectly with Skil Heroes, therefore Kestrel and Nick Fury are logical choices for assembling a dangerous Defensive set-up. Unfortunately, this team has a lot of summons that are Ikaris’s best friends

. Having summons on the battlefield grants Ikaris’s ultimate to always land twice making it possible that any combination with Eternals can obliterate the Secret Avenger team with a punch-up that can be doubled or even tripled.

In short, when you see Secret Avengers with Nick Fury just use your 2 Eternals regardless of their strength and you will win.

For all other teams, Secret Avengers will pose an unsolvable enigma that can be beaten only by META teams. Having that in mind, the most justified options are Weapon X and Infinity Watch which will prevail on a bare strength.

On normal occasions, teams that have a lot of summons are easy prey for Axmen and Symbiotes. SA can easily deal with Symbiotes regardless of power and they can easily beat Axemen in Offense (just avoid summoning).

However, Axmen who are attacking will not have problems with SA because they will get initial feed on Nikc’s minions that will buy them enough time to cripple the enemy before they can pose threat. Unfortunately, with Axmen you cannot expect wins if punch-up is significant (50k+).

Sinister Six with Dr. Octopus

Astonishing X-Man ▲▲
Symbiotes ▲▲
Web Warriors ▲
New Warriors ▲▲▲
do not use other teams!

The natural counters for Sinister Six are Symbiotes and Astonishing X-men because they can easily neutralize Dr. Octopus and exploit his summons. Easy kills fill those teams with additional Speed, and Sinister Six is helpless against them.

Neutralizing Dr. Octopus is the main goal of beating Sinister Six. No one can do that better than Rogue and her friends. Unlimited X-Men can always beat Sinister Six regardless of power, just by using Rogue’s special on Dr. Octopus. Having that in mind, I had to pinpoint them as a justified pick.

Symbiotes

Web Warriors ▲▲▲
Brotherhood ▲▲
Secret Avenger + Kestrel ▲▲▲
Shadowland ▲
Bionic Avengers ▲▲▲
Rebirth ▲▲▲
Do not use other teams!

Most of the veteran players have Symbiotes fully maximized and when they decide to put them in Defense it is always annoying to spend META teams on them. To avoid doing that, there are two quite simple solutions – Web Warriors and Brotherhood.

Both teams can grant you an insane punch-up and you will not be bothered if you spend any of them against Symbiotes.

SA with Kestrel can also grant you a similar punch-up due to Maria Hill and her cleansing. Even her summons will not be a liability since they will help Kestrel to exploit Defense Down on Symbiotes making it impossible for them to heal fast enough.

Shadowland can fight with Symbiotes with ease. You cannot expect the same available punch-up as with previous teams but their initial burst grants you the possibility to kill Anti-Venom fast after which, everything is just a matter of time. As long as Night Nurse’s ultimate is on level 7, you have nothing to fear because Symbiotes’ debuffs will be your advantage on NN’s turn.

Tangled Web + Dormammu + America Chavez

A-Force + Dr. Doom ▲
Infinity Watch ▼
Undying + Tangled Web / New Warriors ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Underworld ▲▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Apoc+QS/Kang+Eternals ▲▲
Darkhold/Dormhold ▲▲
Unlimited X-Men+Kang ▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Apoc+Deathseed ▲▲

This team is interesting because people combined America Chavez with Thangeld Web, so there will be a speed increase for the main characters.
I am not justifying breaking Young Avengers to create something like this, but more than a few players are doing it, so we will show teams who can beat this War Defense combination.

A Force is a strong team for AW Offense and with Doom added to them, they are more than capable of winning against this opponent. Dr. Doom Basic will never miss, same as Doombots. Nico Minoru Passive will synergize well with Jesica Jones, which will be one of the keys to the victory.

Infinity Watch needs to be a bit stronger to be able to win. IW also has some always-hitting attacks, and more importantly, they start combat with Safeguard and Immunity.

Undying is best to pair up with TW or NW because both teams have three members, which is ideal. You will not break any other existing team. Iron Man Zombie and Hela are a powerhouse for War Offense, and they will win easily with anyone on their side. Just be sure to place Ability Block on the right opponent (Spider Weaver) and spread it with Hela Ultimate.

Gamma is Gamma – the best War team in the game. Play smartly, and do not waste some of your powerful abilities if Weaver has Charged – you will win.

Underworld is the top team for War Offense. Place Abi Block with Mister Negative on Spider Weaver – If you can do that, victory is near. If you can’t – you will still win, but with a little more effort. Taskmaster will create chaos on the enemy team with his ultimate. After that, everything is easy.

Uncanny X-Men

X-Factor + Zemo/Kestrel ▲
Ravagers ▲
Shadowland ▲
Bionic Avengers ▲
Masters of Evil ▲▲
Rebirth ▲
Do not use other teams unless necessary!

Uncanny X-Men with Magik can be a real threat so it is safest to use META teams against them. However, some ordinary teams can be an answer for them, but you cannot afford a significant punch-up when using those teams.

X-Factor + Zemo/Kestrel, Ravagers, and Shadowland (War) can successfully oppose Phoenix and the company, by preventing their most important abilities. If Magik is not allowed to charge up Storm and Cyclops, and if you can control Phoneix when she is reborn, the odds are in your favor.

Keep in mind, that Magik will grant Phoenix additional Revive, so eliminating Magik should be your priority in a kill rotation.

Underworld

Gamma ▲▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▼▼
Unlimited X-Men ▼▼
War Dogs ▼▼
Darkhold ▼
Rebirth ▼▼
Underworld ▲▲
Undying + Tangled Web /Eternals ▲▲

Underworld is a fantastic team in War Offense, but at the same time, they can be a tricky opponent in Defense too. Most of them have additional bonuses just for Offense, but Taskmaster has everything in Warr generally. Not just in Offense but in Defense as well. That makes it hard for them to beat opponents, and I will present you some of the teams which can take them down.

Gama is the best War team in general, but at the same time, you will need to have them strongly built up for this matchup. If you can survive their initial burst and use Ultimate with Red Hulk – victory is yours. It will not be a big problem for the Green-Red War squad.

Unlimited X-Man should be able to win, but I am not 100% sure. Mainly because we didn’t have a chance to test them versus Underworld (Mister Negative is still not farmable in the game, and 99% of players keep the Underworld team for Attack). I think they can prevail over initial damage and debuffs from Underworld.

Darkhold can beat almost anyone in every game mode, so they are a logical choice. Especially when they are fighting versus a team not specialized for Defense.

The Underworld in War Attack > Underworld in War Defense – simple as that.

Iron Man Zombie and Hela are powerhouses in the War Offense, so this is a victory for Undying. As long as she is alive, he will keep reviving. A ton of Bleeds will prevail, and there we are. Use Zombie Special in combination with Hela Ultimate, and do not worry.

Unlimited X-Men

Infinity Watch ▼
Gamma ▲▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Undying+Apoc ▲▲▲
War Dogs▲▲▲
Deathseed+Apoc ▲▲▲
TW+Apoc ▲▲
Eternals+Apoc ▲▲▲
Eternals + 3 (read below) ▲
Darkhold ▲
Unlimited X-Men+ Emma ▲▲▲

Horsemen teams are designed to be meta for specific features. Uxmen are one of the best teams for Cosmic Crucible without a doubt and only Infinity Watch is one of the few teams that have the real answer for them. Infinity Watch starts with Safeguard and Immunity, which nullifies Rogue’s early special ability. That opens a possibility to prevail on pure strength, but you cannot expect a bug punch-up with them against Uxmen.

Uxmen are fully vulnerable against the Undying duo. It is not even needed to bring anyone else but Hela and ZIM and you can afford ridiculous punch-ups

With War Dogs against Uxmen in WAR, the only thing you need to do is to use Nakia’s special on Rogue, and focus the initial burst on her – she will have Disrupt, therefore, she will not enter Stealth and you will kill her. After that just turn on auto-combat!

Outside of Cosmic Crucible, Unlimited X-Men don’t have Safeguard at the start of combat which opens a possibility for Ikaris to flip all their initial buffs. After that, everything is much easier depending on who accompanies your Eternals. However, you must be aware that if Rogue is allowed to play her special in the first turn, not only that she will get Safeguard and be protected by Eternals’ flipping, but she will have a considerable chance (a 45%) to totally incapacitate either Ikaris or Sersi and win combat. That is why it is important to understand which characters can be added to the Eternals to guarantee victory. Emma, Kang, Baron Zemo, Tangled Web, Apocalypse, Cable, Loki, Undying… – those are characters who can be combined with Eternals to counter Unlimited X-Men in War. Punch Up is possible, but I don’t encourage too much of risk.

There is no real defense from Rogue’s special, that is true, but with Eternals kit, you can easily overcome everything Uxmen has to offer in War. Due to Uxmen’s self-sustain, you cannot afford a big punch-up, but as long as your Ikaris is capable of flipping their buffs, you are good to go.

Maybe the best option against Uxmen is a duplicate team boosted with Emma Frost. With Emma Frost, your Rogue will play first and neutralize an enemy Rogue and her special. It is questionable who should be replaced with Emma.

The only thing I can say is that Fantomex, Gambit, and Rogue are mandatory. Whether you replace Dazzler or Sunfire depends entirely on you and your roster.

With Dazzler you will have a mass cleansing option while with Sunfire you will significantly increase the damage output of the entire team.

Wakandan (original)

Eternals + 3 ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Undying+3 ▲▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲▲▲
TW+Secret Avengers ▲▲
Black Order ▼▼
Infinity Watch ▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Bionic Avengers ▲
Underworld ▲▲▲
Weapon X ▲▲▲
Darkhold ▲▲
War Dogs ▲▲▲
New Warriors (full) ▲
Rebirth ▲
Invaders ▼
Masters of Evil ⊜
Infinity Watch ▲
A-Force+ Apocalypse/DoctorDoom/Dormammu/Quicksilver ▲

The new Wakanda team is really strong. It is hard to get used to the fact that you can’t beat them with previous counters (Power Armor, Brotherhood, etc …) but once you accept it, the answers will become obvious. All teams that can use Wakanda’s buffs against them are natural picks. Eternals and Black Order can do that.

Infinity Watch will beat Wakanda on pure strength and will offer you a significant punch-up.

New Bionic Avengers proves to be a really powerful team. Hulkbuster’s barrier and additional HP to the rest of the team grant you an easy survival against Wakanda’s initial burst. Their damage output is greater than Wakanda’s even in CC but you should be careful though because immunity on Wakanda members will prevent you from controlling the battle with Ability Block. I don’t suggest significant punch-ups because of those reasons.

Outside of Cosmic Crucible, Wakanda is not that strong, but there are not many counters against them (except the ones we already mentioned) that can expect any luck unless there is a significant punch up in their favor.

Weapon X

Underworld ▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Gamma ▲▲▲
Undying + Tangled Web ▲▲
Weapon X ▲
Darkhold/Dormhold ⊜
Unlimited X-Men+Red Guardian ⊜ (RG in the corner opposite from Rogue with Fantomex next to him)
Apoc+Eternals/TW+Quicksilver ▲

Weapon X is one of the best War teams, and their ruling quality is that they have the same bonuses in attack and Defense. Unlikely some other excellent War teams that have bonuses just in one segment of this mode, this team can be equally lethal in both. It is always better to use them in Offense because we do not trust AI enough, but sometimes we can see them in Defense. For those reasons, we picked up some teams who can beat them.

Gamma is the best team in the game for War by far. They can beat anyone, so Weapon X, same as all other teams, does not have a chance versus them.

Tangled Web trio plus the Undying duo will comfortably wipe the floor with Weapon X, but they can have some problems if Omega Red (who will play first) attacks Spider Weaver at the start of the combat. You can still win if that happens, but it will be trickier.

A mirror match is always a solution because we play better than AI :). If your Omega Red is playing the first target opponent Omega Red, focus on him with other characters and try to turn rewind Silver Samurai (with Lady Deathstike). After OR is out of combat, everything is easy. Focus on SS, and after him, do whatever you like. A smart move is to put your Omega Red in the corner. That way, he can have a better chance to avoid debuffs if his Omega plays first. If you have RNG on your side (your OR needs to play first or need not be targeted by his OR if he plays first), some fine punch-up victories are achievable with mirror matches.

Weapon X is one of the few specialized WAR teams that have all benefits in both Offense and Defense. Since we already mentioned them as a justified counter against Darkold/Dormhold, it may sound strange that MLF and company can be used against Weapon X in the opposite direction. And yes, if Weapon X uses its abilities properly Darkhold and even Dormhold don’t have a chance against them. However, as we all know, AI controls the team in Defense meaning that the battle can go in your favor if AI doesn’t target Wong with OR’s ultimate (which is essential for Weapon X to win the match-up). I had my doubts if I should put Darkhold/Dormhold in the list of justified counters against WX, but since there are only 3 possible options at the moment the decision was obvious even though the RNG will decide the outcome in the end. The chance that OR will put Abi Block on Wong is only 20%. That should be enough for you to consider using DH, especially if there are other teams that can be only beaten with Gamma, Undying or WX.

Web Warriors

Kestrel + X-Factor/Secret Avengers/Invaders ▲▲▲
Rebirth ▲▲▲
Bionic Avengers ▲▲▲
Uncanny X-Men ▲
Dark Hunters ▲▲▲
New Warriors ▲▲
Do not use other teams!

Web Warriors can be a formidable opponent but there are several teams that can help you not use META teams against them.

Kestrel is a Hero who is a nightmare for Web Warriors. Her passive attacks will destroy Web Warriors one by one. It is not important whether you use X-Factor or Secret Avengers with her, you will be able to beat Web Warriors whose strength is doubled compared to yours.

The obvious counter for the team that fully relies on Dodge is the team whose attacks cannot be dodged. With the recent update, we got such a team. Bionic Avengers will almost fully ignore Web Warriors’ dodge potential making them easy targets, even if the punch-up is very high.

Uncanny X-Men with Magik is another team that is a natural counter to Web Warriors. Ghost’s passive will always target Phoenix, allowing her to quickly summon Dark Phoenix while all her allies are alive and fully charged. Once that happens, there is nothing that can save Web Warriors from Dark Phoenix, Cyclops, and Storm’s AOEs. A significant punch-up is possible when using this team against WW.

In War, Dark Hunters and Weapon X should be used against some more important enemies than WW, but outside of War, those two teams can easily deal with them. WW entirely relies on Dodge so picking teams that will be unaffected by their Dodge Chance (Dark Hunters and Weapon X) is an obvious solution.

Young Avenger

Undying ▲▲▲
A-Force + Doctor Doom/Silver Surfer ▲
Weapon X ▲▲
Unlimited X-Men ▲
Eternals + New Warriors ▲▲
Underworld ▲▲
GAMMA ▲▲▲
Knowhere ▲▲▲
Deathseed ▲▲
Darkhold/Dormhold ▲▲▲
TW+Secert Avengers ▲
Eternals+TW ▲▲
Wardogs ▲
Rebirth ▼

Young Avengers form a powerful team. It is sufficient to say that Infinity Watch cannot beat them in War to understand that they are extremely strong and dangerous. Even outside of War, unlike many specialized War teams, the Young Avengers save most of their War synergy so beating them in Cosmic Crucible is not an easy task, on contrary.

The secret when fighting Young Avengers is to prevent Squirrel Girl from healing while controlling Kate Bishop’s turns.

One of the teams that are fully equipped to deal with them is Darkhold. They are natural counters for Young Avengers. MLF will initiate a fight with permanent Abi Block on Kate Bishop, while Agatha can stun Squirrel Girl before she starts to heal her allies. You can afford significant punch-ups without fear of losing.

Young Avengers have no answer to the Undying duo as well. Once Hela spread ZIM’s debuffs, there is nothing YA can do. Possible punch-ups are broken and you don’t need anyone else but Hela and ZIM.

Unlimited X-Men is another natural counter. Rogue will fully incapacitate Squirrel Girl at the start and Gambit will do the rest. The only thing you need to do is to save Dazzler’s ultimate if Gambit is somehow Blinded by Kate Bishop. A huge punch-up is possible.

In War, Weapon X is a viable solution for YA. The importance of YA is high enough to justify using Weapon X against them in war. Omega Red’s passive will place Trauma and Heal Block on start, which will fully neutralize Squirrel Girl. The rest is easy. Unfortunately, outside of War that will not be possible.

If combined with Doctor Doom, A-Force is fully equipped to deal with YA. As long as there are all A-Force members, Nico Minoru will place Trauma and Disrupt on her primary target (Squirrel Girl) and most probably on Ms.Marvel and Echo. Right after her, Spider-Woman will place Ability Block and Heal Block on Squirrel Girl and Heal Block on the rest of the team (depending on the position of Squirrel Girl). That alone should be enough for A-Force to safely win the matchup.

However, for higher Punch Ups you will need Doctor Doom and his ultimate. I am not a fan of combining Doctor Doom with A-Force in War, but that is definitely a legitimate option.

A team that can be used against them in both Cosmic Crucible and War is Eternals + New Warriors. However, you must save Ikaris’s ultimate to be used in the second turn to flip mass Evade that will be placed by Echo. Depending on debuffs placed by the Cloak’s ultimate the fight can be easy or challenging. Because of that, the punch-up cannot be easily set because the outcome of the battle will depend on RNG.

There is always an option to use a duplicate team in dealing with Young Avengers. In War, that wouldn’t be so smart, but in Cosmic Crucible, it is definitely possible. Keep in mind though, that fights between Young Avengers last too many turns so you should consider this option only if all other options are not possible.

Trauma and Heal block are everything you need against Young Avengers. When you have a character that will harass them and use their buffs against them you can afford a big punch-up. Everything you need to do is to Abi Block Squirrel Girl and save Negativity’s ultimate when Echo place mass Evade, and Young Avengers will be good as gone.

Conclusion

The list of Counters we provided will be updated and improved constantly. At the moment we have only the most important Defense Teams mentioned, but as time passes, we will add all teams along with their counters (including teams that are specifically meant only for offense).

If you have your insights and ideas, please share them with us so we can make the best possible list of Counters. The idea is to present teams that can win with the greatest Punch up, so everyone can make their roster effective.

With every new update, this list will be improved and increased. Do not hesitate to contact us and help us in our goal to make MSF easily playable for the entire community. Thank you in advance!