Infestation
Introduction
Infestation is one of the top War Defensive teams released in 2023 and it all comes down to Spider-Man (Big Time) since he’s the only new character on the team.
The other 4 are older but reworked characters who can be very dangerous with Big Time around but won’t do much on their own.
Team Members
(left to right)
Utility
- Alliance War Defense
- Gamma Raid (Kree, Wakandan, Pym Tech nodes)
The only real use for this team is in Alliance War mode. They won’t be able to perform well on offense or anywhere else. To negate that a bit, Infestation Trait was also added to the Gamma raids for the (Kree, Wakanda, Pym Tech nodes).
If you have no need in a strong War Defensive team it’s best to ignore Infestation
Spider-Man (Big Time) and Black Widow are good options for Dark Dimensions. Spider-Man (Big Time) is also usable on Arena Offense.
Team Placement & Turn Order
Team placement for Infestation is not that important, they do not have any Protectors and mainly rely on going all out with their attacks.
Turn Order in War (on Defense):
- Spider-Man (Big Time)
- Black Widow
- Swarm
- Ant-Man
- Yellowjacket
Iso-8 Classes
- Spider-Man (Big Time) – Raider
- Black Widow – Skirmisher
- Ant-Man – Skirmisher
- Swarm – Raider
- Yellowjacket – Striker
Spider-Man (Big Time) will be the first to take a turn and as a Raider he can set up a few Vulnerable effects early on.
Black Widow and Ant-Man will assist on all Infestation attacks, and their attacks will steal Positive effects and can apply Vulnerable.
Swarm and Yellowjacket are the main damage dealers, both can be equipped with Striker or Raider.
Team T4’s
Essential
- Spider-Man (Big Time) – Ultimate, Passive
- Black Widow – Passive, Ultimate, Special
- Swarm – Passive, Ultimate, Special
- Ant-Man – Ultimate, Special
- Yellowjacket – Ultimate, Special
Big Time’s Ultimate is the first ability that you should max out, without this Ability the Infestation team is very easy to beat. This Ability will apply Trauma to all enemies, Blind to 2 enemies with the highest Speed, and will steal up to 2 Ability Energy from every enemy. After this attack most of the normal team will be crippled and it will be easy for Infestation to finish them.
Big Time’s Passive will his the Speed Bar +20% for himself and all Infestation whenever he gets attacked, and on War Defense will reduce all Speed Bar that is generated by enemy controllers by 50%.
Black Widow’s Passive will allow her to always Assist her Infestation allies (instead of 50% chance). Her Ultimate will now also have the additional effects of her Special, and her Special will clear 1 Negative effect from her Infestation allies and apply Immunity for 2 turns to them.
Swarm’s Passive will increase the Damage of all Infestation allies by +25% on War Defense. His Ultimate and Special will now share each other’s effects.
Ant-Man’s Ultimate and Special will share each other’s effects.
Yellowjacket’s Ultimate and Special will share each other’s effects.
Recommended
- Spider-Man (Big Time) – Special
Special will clear all Barrier from the primary target and the target with the highest Speed.
All of these abilities are very beneficial if you aim to make them a dangerous War Defensive team.
Team Red Stars
If you want to make this team even more dangerous on War Defense, try to upgrade Yellowjacket and Swarm to 6-7 Red Stars. Other characters can remain at 4-5.
Red Stars for Infestation can drop in the Incursion Campaign:
Black Widow – Node 3-3
Ant-Man and Yellowjacket – Nodes 1-4, 2-4, 3-5
Swarm – Nodes 1-8, 2-8, 3-5
Spider-Man (Big Time) requires Dark Promotion Credits for upgrades, as such Red Stars for him can be skipped entirely.
Farming Locations
- Spider-Man (Big Time) – Raid Season Rewards
- Black Widow – Nexus 3-9
- Ant-Man – Blitz Store
- Yellowjacket – Nexus 4-6, Milestone III Orbs
- Swarm – Mystic 3-9, Alpha Raid Orbs
On Spawn Buffs
Team – Defense Up for 2 turns
Spider–Man (Big Time) – Speed Up
Swarm – 4 Charged
On War Defense:
Team – Immunity, Defense Up for 2 turns
Spider-Man (Big Time) – 1 Charged, Speed Up
Swarm – 4 Charged
Black Widow – Stealth, Speed Up
Team Mechanics
This team has 2 distinct mechanics that can make them very dangerous on War Defense, on both of those are reliant on Spider-Man (Big Time) being present.
Spider-Man (Big Time)
(+50% Max Health, +150% Focus for Infestation on War Defense)
The most important part is his Charged mechanic. He gets only 1 Charged on Spawn and only on War Defense. It can happen only once, so he won’t get charged on subsequent attacks.
When he’s Charged, his Ultimate attack will apply Trauma to all enemies, Blind to 2 enemies with the Highest Speed, and will steal up to 2 Ability Energy from everyone (will gain a maximum of Ability Energy only) This will also flip all Positive effects into Negative and apply Disrupted to all enemies.
This attack is Unavoidable, unblockable, and gets +1,000% extra Focus. It also cannot be assisted.
This Ultimate ability on War Defense will be used by Big Time on his first turn, and he’s fast so he will often be the first one to take a turn.
His Passive allows him to apply Stealth to an Infestation ally when they drop below 50% Max Health (on War Defense it will also apply Evade).
He also has a 2 different Modes he can operate in – Stealth Mode and Anti-Sound Mode.
While in Anti-Sound Mode: Lower the Armor of enemies by 20%. While in Stealth Mode: Gain +20% Dodge Chance
He activates Stealth Mode when he uses his Ultimate, and Anti-Sound mode when using his Special.
His Special attack can clear all Barrier and Revive Once from 2 targets – primary and highest-speed target. Then he will attack them and apply Offense Up and Defense Up for 2 turns to Infestation allies.
This attack is Unavoidable and Unblockable
His Basic attack will deal damage and apply Defense Down.
The Second distinct mechanic is that when on War Defense with Big Time present, some characters can have the effects of their Special and Ultimates Abilities combined. This means that when an Infestation character uses his Ultimate, he will also use his Special for free hitting the Primary Target. And when he uses his Special, he will also use his Ultimate for free.
Swarm
(+25% Damage for Infestation on War Defense)
Swarm’s Passive is fairly simple, he gets 4 Charged on Spawn. On turn, heals himself for 20% of his Max Health and flips 2 Negative effects into Positive. He also gains +3% Dodge Chance per Charged.
His Basic Ability will hit the primary target for damage and small Drain, he will then rebound chain to 2 other targets and repeat that attack. If he has Charged, he will lose 1 Charged. If he doesn’t have Charged, he will deal damage to himself.
His Special Ability will attack the primary target 3 times, and apply Disrupted, Defense Down, and Slow.
If he has Charged, he will lose 1 Charged. If he doesn’t have Charged, he will deal damage to himself.
And his Ultimate Ability will attack all enemies and apply 2 Bleed for 2 turns to them.
If he has Charged, he will lose 1 Charged. If he doesn’t have Charged, he will deal damage to himself.
If he’s on War Defense and Spider-Man (Big Time) is present, the Special and Ultimate abilities will share each other’s effects. But do not consume additional Charged
Yellowjacket
Yellowjacket’s Passive allows him to gain +20% Speed and +25% Drain when he has Offense Up. His Basic will attack the primary target twice dealing decent damage.
His Ultimate attack will apply Offense Up to him (up to 3 max) and attack Primary and Adjacent targets for heavy damage. On Kill, he will apply 2 random Positive effects to
Self and all Pym or Villain Tech allies and repeat the attack on the most injured enemy.
His Special will steal 30% Health from the primary target and redistribute it to self (this bypasses Heal Block)
He then will gain Evade+Regenaration.
In Dark Dimension, it will also prolong all Positive effects on Swarm by + 1 (up to a maximum of 4).
This attack ignores Deathproof and passives that trigger when a character drops below a certain Health.
If he’s on War Defense and Spider-Man (Big Time) is present, the Special and Ultimate abilities will share each other’s effects.
It’s quite unfortunate that he can only Revive an ally in Raids. But at least he can still Stun 1 target and will provide a decent heal.
Iron Fist’s Special attack will deal some damage to the primary and adjacent targets, and will also extend all Positive effects on all Invader allies for +1 turn (up to 3 max). After that, it will heal all Invader allies for 20% of his Max Health. In Raids, it will clear Heal Block from the Invaders before healing.
His Basic Ability will attack the primary target and apply Barrier for 10% of this character’s Max Health to the most injured non-summoned ally.
Ant-Man
Ant-Man on turn gets a 25% Chance to gain Evade and he will Assist on all Infestation attacks. His Basic Ability will deal damage, and will copy and clear a Positive effect (excluding Taunt)
His Ultimate will attack all enemies and apply Slow to them. If Big Time is an ally it will also clear Revive Once from the primary target.
His Special will attack the primary target and apply Ability Block for 2 turns to them. If Big Time is an ally, it will also clear Revive Once.
If he’s on War Defense and Spider-Man (Big Time) is present, the Special and Ultimate abilities will share each other’s effects.
Black Widow
Black Widow’s Passive allows her to increase her speed by +15% after any character has taken the first turn. When she goes into Stealth she will also apply Offense Up to self.
On any Infestation turn she will also Assist them.
On War Defense if Big Time is an ally, she will gain Stealth and Speed Up on Spawn.
Her Basic attack will copy and clear all Positive Effects(excluding Taunt) when she’s in Stealth. And most of the time, if not always, she will be in Stealth, unless that’s removed from her.
Her Special will clear all Negative effects from her and apply Stealth to her. It will also clear 1 Negative effect from all Infestation allies, apply Speed Up and Immunity for 2 Turns to them and herself.
Her Ultimate will transfer a Positive effect from the primary target to herself and will attack that target and apply Stun. After, it will to 3 adjacent targets and apply 2 Bleed for 2 turns.
If she’s on War Defense and Big Time is an ally, her Ultimate also gains all the effects from her Special. Meaning that she will apply all those Positive effects again.
But her Special wont get the benefits from her Ultimate.
Combat Tips & Tricks
As such, you can’t control and experience the full might of Infestation because they are tied to the War Defense mode. Maybe one day we will have a new mode or new Rules for Crucible or Trials that will allow this, but for now you can only fight against them, not with them.
Facing them in War there are only a few teams that can reliably punch up on them. The first one would be Knowhere, Nova will take the first turn and Stun Big Time, after that the fight is over.
You could also use Infinity Watch. Because they start out with Safeguard and Immunity Big Time’s attack wont be able to apply any Negative effects so it’s possible to win, but the subsequent attacks from Swarm and Yellowjacket can deal a lot of damage and break through your characters, while Ant-Man will remove the Revive Once if he targets the right character, so Infinity Watch works best when punching down.
There’s also a third option that allows us to save Knowhere for someone else
If we use 2 Tangled Web characters( Weaver and 2099), pair them up with Kang, and add to them Yo-Yo and Daredevil we can have a good chance of countering Infestation even on punch-ups.
Big Time with his Ultimate will apply Blind only to 2 fastest characters, which in this case are Yo-Yo and Daredevil(needs T4s in his Passive). That will allow you to use Weaver and Kang to deal enough Damage to get rid of all the bugs (pun intended)
The focus would be to target Swarm and Yellowjacket first, the 2 main damage dealers. Weaver’s Ultimate will buy you enough time to get to them and once they’re done it will be significantly easier for Kang to finish everyone off.
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