Venom’s Build Guide

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Role

Unlike Deadpool, for unlocking Venom you don’t need to start the game from the beginning again – Thank you, God! As long as you clear “The Bell Tolls” mission in Chapter 2, an opportunity to finally cure Venom of his demonic embrace will be possible.

When he joins the Abbey, he will be overwhelmed by the guilt, and by trying to improve your Friendship with him you will learn that Eddie Brock and the Allien in him are 2 fragile souls longing for attention and forgiveness. Well, for as long as they are not hungry – when that happens the Monster emerges again and it happens often, to be honest.

It is hard to qualify Venom’s actual role in Marvel’s Midnight Suns. He has significantly higher initial damage than any other resident of the Abbey but his maximum damage potential is lower than most other damage dealers. On top of that, his initial Damage reduces with each Attack or Heroic Card played and he constantly needs to maintain his Ravenous number so he can be effective in prolonged battles. At the same time, he doesn’t have any means to buff or heal allies (he has 1 Lifesteal Card though) and his Heroism accumulation is symbolic or none – similar to Ghost Rider.

So why should we use Venom at all (in addition to that he is a new character)? Well, his mechanic gives you the only thing you really lacked until now. He allows you a strong battle opening and he can provide you with a constant flow of additional Card draws. Also, his Legendary Card is totally different in concept than any other existing Legendary Card – different in a good way.

In short, after Doctor Strange, Venom is definitely the most versatile member of the Abbey who can fit in almost any existing synergy alongside Hunter. His Cards (except the Legendary Card) are not amazing but you will have real difficulties in deciding which of his cards should be left aside.

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Best Build

ATTACK

  • Tendril Strike
  • Web Toss
  • Lethal Embrace

Skill

  • Assimilation
  • Insatiable Hunger

HEROIC

  • Spike Burst
  • Symbiote Bind
  • Tasty Brains
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Mechanics

Venom’s play style can be and should be adjusted according to the situation and he has answers for almost all situations.

However, his Ravenous mechanic limits him and you will need to constantly pay attention to his Ravenous Charges. The reduction of even 1 Ravenous charge considerably lowers its effectiveness significantly, so you will need to carefully plan your actions. That can be annoying but will be fruitful.

He has 2 ways of binding targets. Bind is better than Stun because it incapacitates all targets (even Bosses or Shielded targets) allowing you to attack them without breaking the effect. Most importantly, he will grant you Card Draw on every attack against indeed target (only if “Symbiote Bind” is used), which is actually one of the most powerful abilities in the game overall.

It is important to say that he will regain 1 Ravenous at the start of each turn but that will not be enough considering your potential needs.

The main problem for Venom is Heroism accumulation because he will need a lot of Heroism while being able to produce just a few (you cannot use his Attack cards continuously because of constant Ravenous reduction). If you can provide a steady flow of Heroism to Venom, he will become an unstoppable force that ruins everything in front of him.

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Skill Cards

Venom has 3 Skill cards in total.

“Symbiotic Senses” is a Basic Skill card that can be really helpful at the start. It provides 2 Heroism and draws 1 Attack or Heroic Venom card while preventing Ravenous reduction for the next 2 Venom attack cards. This card is ideal in combination with Venom’s Quick attack card and will help you with a quick clearing of trash mobs without reducing Venom’s damage potential. Unfortunately, when you assemble the entire Venom deck, this card will have to be left aside.

“Insatiable Hunger” is an Epic Skill Card. It is essential for Venom’s play style since it regains 1 lost Ravenous and grants an additional one at the start of the next turn. Having this card in the deck is mandatory. However, the improvement of this card may have negative effects. The card will become “Free” which is amazing but it will no longer provide 2 Heroism as ordinary Skill cards.

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If you plan to put Venom in a team where you can’t accumulate Heroism easily, I suggest that you use the unimproved card. However, when you assemble a synergy where Heroism will not be a problem, an improved “Insatiable Hunger” will be an essential tool for Venom’s efficiency.

“Assimilation” is Venom’s Legendary card gained after you maximize friendship with him and clear his Challenge at the Forge. This card is simply OP. It grants additional Venom’s Attack or Heroic cards while granting “Quick” and “Draw a Venom Card on K.O.” to all Venom’s cards until the end of a turn. When it is improved, it also grants 1 Ravenous.

The potential benefits of this card are limitless. Since it is a skill card, you can use it whenever you want and it will allow you the possibility to kill all enemies on the battlefield with just 1 available Card Play. I cannot really explain to you the possible strategy potential of this card, but I was stunned when I realized the full benefits. In short, you should maximize your Friendship with Venom as soon as possible!

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Attack Cards

Venom has 3 Attack cards and you will need all 3 of them in his deck, all the time.

“Web Toss” is a Basic Attack card that knockback targets in any direction. Improved version of the card grants “Forceful Knockback”. Even though this card doesn’t have initial damage outside of knockback damage it will reduce Ravenous. You should improve this card as soon as possible, because “forceful knockback in any direction” is something that is often crucial for successful battles. The possible benefits are limitless.

“Tendril Strike” is an ordinary “Chain” card. It has 2 Chains, but the damage with full Ravenous is equal to the damage of other characters’ Heroic “Chain” cards. Nonetheless, the only true benefit of this card is the “Quick” effect it gains after improvement. With it, the card becomes OP and capable of eliminating Elite mobs instantly without Card Play cost. Also, if your Ravenous is already spent, you can use it to clear trash Mobs without being penalized for reduced damage. In short, you must have it improved and, in your Deck, asap!

“Lethal Embrace” is a Rare Attack card that grants insane damage against targets with full HP. If Venom is at maximum Ravenous, he can K.O. elite mobs with this card even on the Ultimate difficulties, while accumulating 1 Heroism in the process. Even without improvement “Lethal Embrace” is insane – with the improvement, it’s really hard to find the better DPS Attack card in the game currently.

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Heroic Cards

Venom has 4 costly Heroic Cards and you will have to decide which one to leave behind.

“Tasty Brains” is a Basic Heroic card that grants Lifesteal and high damage against a single target at the cost of 3 Heroism. This card is similar to Blade’s “Stake” card but it causes 50% higher damage. Unlike “Stake”, the improvement of this card doesn’t reduce the Heroism cost but it grants (if the target is K.O. with it) that the next Venom card will not consume Ravenous. Even though this card costs a lot and you can cause higher damage with “Lethal Embrace” without Heroism cost, Lifesteal is just too important to be left aside. With this card, Venom can heal 50%+ of his HP while killing an enemy in the process. In my experience, having this card proved to be invaluable in a lot of situations.

“Devouring Strike” is a Rare Heroic card that grants 4 Chain attacks (low damage) at the cost of 3 Heroism. When it is upgraded, it doesn’t consume Ravenous if anyone is K.O. in the process. Honestly, I never preferred those Heroic Chain cards for 2 reasons – they are costly and you never want to spend Herosim to clear trash mobs (their damage allows you only that in most cases). If you want to focus all Chains on a single target, the combined damage is often lower compared to other existing single-target Heroic cards, so there is no real need for its use.

Nonetheless, placing certain Mods on those Cards can provide amazing effects. For example, if you can place Vulnerability with each chain, that would totally change the perspective of its usefulness. In the end, I was forced to ignore this card for the best build, because the other options provide more possible benefits overall.

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“Symbiote Bind” is a Rare Heroic Card that places Bind at the cost of 2 Heroism. Without upgrade, this card has no difference compared to Spider-Man or Doctor Strange’s Bind cards. With the upgrade, however, it becomes one of the deadliest tools of war for Venom and Midnight Suns. Upgrade grants that every attack against a target with Bind will draw an additional Card into your deck. This includes environmental and move attacks as well. I don’t know how to put it best, but you MUST have an improved version of “Symbiote Bind” in Venom’s deck. I could write an entire article about the possible benefits of it and why it is so important to have it. instead, I will be short – unlock “Symbiote Bind” and improve it immediately the same moment you lay your eyes on it!

“Spike Burst” is an Epic Heroic Card that causes serious AOE damage and has a 10% chance to Bind each affected target at the cost of 3 Heroism. When upgraded the cost of Heroism is reduced to 2. The damage potential of “Spike Burst” AOE is second to none non-legendary Heroic card. With 0 Ravenous it will cause the same damage as Hunter’s ” Holy Burst”. With full Ravenous, it can K.O. most Elite Mobs instantly on all difficulties but Ultimate.

The chance for Bind is not great but it will surprise you when you least expect it and make things a lot easier. This is one of the rare Cards in MMS, that I decided to mod myself and not wait to get a modded “Spike Burst” from Coils or OPs. I’ve chosen to put a “Marked” mod on it – the effects were insane, literally. Due to Venom’s lack of Heroism accumulation, it is important that the card is upgraded at the first possible opportunity – it will cost 120 Heroic Essence but it is worth it!

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Synergy

At the start, I said that Venom is capable of fitting in any possible synergy along with Hunter. That is definitely true and that is one of Venom’s advantages compared to other residents of the Abbey.

However, the best results will be provided if he is combined with Support characters who are Heroism batteries. For example, he is an ideal addition to Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Captain America, or any other character whose deck contains at least 3 Skill cards.

Those characters will allow Venom to flourish in battles and show the true potential of his kit.

I must repeat, though, even if you combine Venom with characters like Ghost Rider, Deadpool, Magik, or even Hulk, he will find a way to shine and prove useful.

Maybe Venom cannot be part of any of the existing best synergies, but he can be a part of any synergy without a doubt!

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Passive

Venom’s Passive ability is unlocked on Friendship Levels 3 and 5:

  • We are Venom I – 10% chance for Attack Cards to not consume Ravenous. The first attack Card in each encounter doesn’t consume Ravenouys
  • We are Venom II – 25% chance for Attack Cards to not consume Ravenous. The first attack Card in each encounter doesn’t consume Ravenouys

Venom’s passive actually has a great impact on his play style. Unlike Blade, who is practically ineffective without Bleed, Venom can play and adapt to the battle flow even though his passive is not triggered. When it triggers, it not only increases Venom’s damage potential with Attack and Heroic Cards – it also allows you to create additional strategies according to the situation.

Some Passive Abilities in MMS are not really helpful, honestly, but Venom’s Passive is not among those!

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Conclusion

After Deadpool’s DLC my feelings were mixed. He was an interesting character but the fact that I had to start a new game to unlock him was at least annoying (I will not use harder words) and the idea that MMS should be a grinding game where you will do the same things over and over again seemed really bad for me and the majority of other players.

Venom’s DLC, on the other hand, is quite the opposite – you can start playing Venom’s missions immediately, you have a nice twist with a few teasing information and you actually enjoy playing the DLC. On top of that, it is clear that Devs put some creativity into Venom’s kit, which suggests that they plan to increase combat strategic options and widen the possible combat scenarios.

All this provides a totally different perspective compared to the feeling most of us had after introducing Deadpool. I can say that I am somewhat optimistic now about the future of Marvel’s Midnight Suns!