Hero Asgardians

Scopely also informed us about the coming of two new Asgardian characters to join Thor, Sif, and Heimdal in a new Hero Asgardian AW Defense META. It will be Mighty Thor and Valkyre. Also, Heimdall, Sif, and Thor will be considerably boosted.

Heimdall

Heimdall will receive an improvement in all his base stats (Damage and Focus especially). Besides that, his special will clear up two negative effects on all Asgardians including him from now on. In addition, his passive is significantly boosted:

• On Heal Block, fill Speed Bar by 20%
• Asgardian allies gain +10% accuracy
• Heimdall and Asgardian allies gain a +25% Crit Chance
• When Heimdall or any Asgardian ally in War Defense drops below 50% HP, they are granted 2 Deathproof and Speed Up for 2 turns.
• In War, Heimdall generates 2 Ability Energy each turn for him or 2 random Hero Asgardian allies.

Sif

Sif will receive boosts in Hp, Damage, Armor, and Focus. From now on, her special will place Defense Up on her and all Hero Asgardians. Her passive is also improved:

• Sif and Hero Asgardians receive additional +25% Resistance
• In War Defense, Sif gains immunity on Spawn
• In War Defense, when Hero Asgardian drops below 50% Sif gains Taunt for 2 Turns and grants Offense Up to that Asgardian Hero

Thor

Thor’s stats will be literally doubled. His base stats will make him OP now (which he should already be) and his damage and sustenance will be (almost) the highest in the entire game. The only change in his skills is that his basic ability will flip Defense Up from now on and that his special will have a +20% increased Critical Chance. Honestly, the difference in his stats will be so great so it really doesn’t matter what his skills are – he will hit like a truck.

Many of us have those 3 Asgardians already fully maximized so those changes come as a free gift. Until I see two new Hero Asgardians, we can’t talk about counters in AW. For now, you should start improving your Thor if he isn’t already maximized – Thor will become Nordic God at last.

Mighty Thor

Jane Foster aka Mighty Thor is known to all of us. MCU lore and Comic lore are different though. In Comics, Jane is a nurse who meets Donald Blake aka Thor and becomes the love of his life. Even though they get separated afterward, Jane was picked by Mjolnir itself to become its new owner. As a natural-born Earth woman, Jane swore protection for both Asgard and Earth.

In Comics, Jane’s powers are almost the same as Thor’s but in Marvel Strike Force that is not the case.

First and for all, all of Jane’s attacks ignore Defense Up in AW (both offense and defense), can be used at the start of the combat, and always causes full Piercing damage.

Basic Attack

Her basic attack unleashes massive damage with the possibility to clear enemy buffs.

Specialty

Her specialty affects primary and adjacent targets, also causing massive damage. In addition, it places Disrupt on the Primary target or lowers their Speed Bar if the target is already Stunned.

Ultimate

Mighty Thor’s ultimate is a powerful Piercing AOE that flips enemy buffs and places blind on the primary target. It also grants +3 Charged to Jane.

Passive Ability

The passive ability allows her to execute a free attack against the enemy with the highest damage at the end of any turn if she has 5 Charged (lost afterward). In AW, this free attack also places Trauma on the target.

Mighty Thor charges herself and all chargeable Hero Asgardian with +1 Charged after every attack made by any of them. This means that she can execute this free attack every turn if everyone is alive.

For better sustenance Might Thor is granted passive healing whose strength depends on the number of live Hero Asgardians. If no one is dead, Jane heals herself with 25% of HP each turn (someone said Wolverine is a superhero?).

Finally, Mighty Thor’s presence in war will double the sustain of Hero Asgardians by improving their Resistance and over HP.

To fully understand the power of her passive increase of Charged, just imagine what happens when Thor (who will be twice as strong in stats compared to the current version) uses his passive-free AOE every turn. It will be devastating and honestly scary.

Valkyrie

When you get a strong character like Mighty Thor, it usually happens that the other new character from the team is just a supplement for the synergy with a decent skill set. Yay, not this time.

Valkyries are Nordic mythical beings that escort fallen Vikings to Valhalla. In Marvel, initially, there were nine of them and they escort Asgardians to Valhalla. Eventually, the Valkyries increased in numbers, and they became an army who were on

the first lines against all enemies of Asgard. Their leader and strongest of them is known by the name (you wouldn’t believe it) Valkyrie.

In comics, Valkyrie is using sword and shield with her superhuman strength and with help of Demigod powers. In MSF, Valkyrie is not a Demigod – she is a God who punishes everyone thinking is protected from Death.

Basic Attack

Her basic ability executes two moderate attacks one after another against a single target. The combined power of those two attacks is equivalent to the current Iron Man’s ultimate.

More importantly, if the unfortunate target has Deathproof, the damage will be significantly increased, they will receive Blind, the Deathproof will be transferred to the most injured Hero Asgardian and Valkyrie will gain +1 Charged. In short, don’t place Deathproof on self against Valkyrie.

Specialty

Her specialty is a significantly improved version of Kinpin’s ultimate. She places Offense Up, Defense Up and 2 Counters for two turns to all Hero Asgardians and punishes the primary Target with severe damage and Stun. If the target has Deathproof it will hurt more.

Ultimate

Valkyrie’s ultimate depends on the number of Charged she has. If she is not charged, she will cause moderate damage with a chance of placing Ability Block (that will depend on ISO-8). However, by the time she can use the ultimate (second turn) Mighty Thor will fill her up with Charges and she’ll chain this attack to at least four more enemies (2 Charged per another attacked target). Obviously, targets with Deathproof will receive additional punishment.

Passive Ability

Same as She Thor, Valkyries has passive healing each turn depending on the number of live Hero Asgardians. In the best circumstances, one-fourth of her HP will be healed each turn. When someone from her team dies (including her) she becomes extremely angry granting Safeguard, Immunity, Defense Up, Offense Up, and one ability energy to all survivors who will be healed for half of Valkyries HP.

Outside of AW’s defense, she has only a 50% chance to trigger this action but in AW’s Defense, she will do it always. This is not all, since in AW Defense all enemies start with Offense Down and all Cosmic enemies are prevented from any assists whatsoever.

The cherry on the pie is Valkyrie’s massive increase of Crit Chance to all Asgardians.

As you can see, Valkyrie, unlike She Thor can reach her full potential only in AW Defense, but lol – with her and She Thor, Hero Asgardians will be insane everywhere. Ok, there is a 50% chance that she doesn’t place that incredible salvo of passive buffs when someone dies outside of AW Defense, but hey – who mentioned dying with those Asgardians? I surely did not.

Speaking of counters in AW, it is still early to accurately predict what will happen, but I am sure that only 2-3 teams will be good enough to grant you certain victories. In my opinion, those teams are Darkhold, Weapon X, and maybe Eternals (it will depend on Hero Asgardian resistance). Undying + 2, Underworld should also beat them, but as you can see, there are just a few teams capable of resolving Asgardian problems.

Conclusion

Overall, I can’t say that I am fully satisfied with all those upcoming new characters. I can’t escape the feeling that Mighty Thor and Valkyrie are just too OP compared to the rest of the roster. Those new Hero Asgardians … will be just too powerful.

Teams like Brotherhood of Mutants, Shadowland, X-Force, X-Factor, and even Uncanny X-Men will be obsolete. A lot of people invested a lot of money in those teams. I know that it is hard to maintain balance with more than 200 characters, but it looks like all new characters are made to be mandatory. With this pace of releasing characters, playing for f2p becomes a burden.

Now, I am positive that Scopely is aware of all this and that its goal is to make everyone happy. However, I must suggest they slow down a bit – when you spend 3 months maximizing a Toon you don’t want that Toon to be useless. This is a friendly suggestion and my opinion.