Underworld Team - a new WAR menace

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Introduction

Version 6.4 is up, and the new team is in front of us: Underworld! Mr. will lead this criminal team Negative, and his teammates – Kingpin, Nobu, Green Goblin, and Taskmaster. When we take a look at them, we can instantly see that they have a general potential. Their main specialty will be the Alliance War, though.

It is still early to jump to conclusions since it will be really easy for most of the players to assemble this team. Even though their availability is open to everyone, this team will be an answer for almost all WAR META defenses.

So, we are going to introduce Mr. Negative, and explain all changes for other characters in the Underworld team, before we can conclude the bigger picture.

Mr. Negative

It’s known that Mr. Negative was a member of a gang involved in human trafficking operations, but his real identity is unknown. He took the name of Martin Li – the man who died on one of the cargo ships involved in the illegal operations. Soon after that, “Martin Li” was captured by a gang-developing design drug called “D-Lite” and used as one of the many test subjects.

He is one of the rare subjects who survived the tests, and in that process, he acquired superhuman abilities. He can control Darkforce and Lightforce, so he can use those powers to corrupt individuals and make them his servants. He also has superhuman strength and endurance.

Mr. Negative is the controller for the Underworld team and has one of the best Health, Focus, and Resistance in the game.

Traits: Villian, City, Mystic, Controller, Underworld

Basic – Negative Strike

His basic attack (single target) can do heavy damage and is increased per summoned allies. In other words, the more summons you have in the fight – the more dmg Mr. Negative will do with his basic attack. It also flips 2 positive effects to negative.

Considering that the Underworld team will almost always be supported by a maximum number of summons, Mister Negative’s basic will cause insane damage. The fact that he can flip 2 positive effects in addition, only means that he is created to be extremely important. For instance, Sersi has a similar basic ability, but her damage potential is considerably lower.

Special – Demonic Assistance

Special costs 8 energy and can be used in the first turn. It’s also a single target attack, with a nice amount of damage, which places Defense Down plus Ability Block. In War-Offense, applies Trauma as well. Target will be mind-controlled and will attack the lowest speed, non-summoned enemy, 2 times with a minor damage increase, before spreading all negative effects to the lowest speed target.

So, what happened? Mr. Negative attacked 2 targets with his single target attack and placed Ability Block, Defense Down, and Trauma (only in WAR) on both targets.

This special ability is very useful. It is useless against targets with Immunity, so be careful. In theory, if you fight against H4H or Young Avengers in WAR (for example) you will prevent Shang Chi/Squirrel Girl from their most dangerous moves, while at the same time you will do the same to Luke Cage/Ms. Marvel.

In combination with Taskmaster’s ultimate this ability will be crucial for defeating War META Defense teams. As I said, it will be harmless against teams such as Infinity Watch, Hero Asgard (War), or Uxmen (CC).

Ultimate – Wave of Negativity

Ultimate costs 5 energy and starts with 3. A huge AOE attack on all enemies while flipping all positive effects to negative. Cannot be blocked or dodged. On War-Offense clear revive once and 1 charged from the primary target. This is the first ability in the game that can reduce the number of charges.

Being able to flip all positive effects is extremely powerful. Just remind yourself of Empowered Thanos when Black Order showed for the first time. The problem with this ability is that it can’t be used before the second turn of combat. That reduces your options in attack, especially against Horsemen teams and even 8W. It will be good enough for Emarauders, H4H, and Young Avengers, though.

Passive – Inner Demons

Passive is interesting. Summon an Inner Demon (Cyclops) and gain defense up for 5 turns. On every other turn summon 1 more Demon in this order: Dragon, Demon, Cyclops.

Those Demons are powerful summons, which can put debuffs with their basic attacks and get buffed in the process:

Dragon – Bleed x2; Speed Up
Demon – Offense Down; Defense Up for 2 turns
Cyclops – Heal Block; Offense Up for 2 turns

When any of these summonses die, they reduce the speed bar of all enemies by 10% and clear up to 3 negative effects from all non-summoned Underworld allies (Only in WAR). The main stats of summons are significantly increased in WAR.

Besides that, Mister Negative permanently increases Max HP and Focus to self (always) and all Underworld allies (only in WAR).

Mister Negative is the 4th character made by Scopely. Naturally, his importance will be significant. From what we can figure out immediately, he will be improved by everyone because Underworld will be a natural counter to H4H, Young Avengers, and Emarauders. It will be even possible to challenge Darkhold in War with Mister Negative and other criminals. When you see improvements in the rest of the team you will know why.

Green Goblin

Base Stat Increases:

Health +15%
Damage +40%
Armor +20%
Focus +60%
Resist +25%

His basic attack is unchanged.

Special no longer targets the random enemy with stealth – it targets most injured enemies with stealth. The damage is increased a little, but a huge bonus attack is added. Bonus damage per positive effect is also there, so this ability can easily annihilate injured enemies who think that they are protected by Stealth, especially since it will never miss. Characters killed by this attack cannot be revived.

Ultimate damage is also increased, as well as the number of targets it will affect – instead of 3-4 additional random targets, it will affect 5 random targets now. Green Goblin ultimate was already dangerous but now it will be devastating considering the overall increase in stats and percentages.

Passive is reformed to be in service of both Spider-Verse and Underworld teams. On any Underworld ally’s turn, it removes 1 positive effect from 2 random enemies without Safeguard. Also, from now on, Green Goblin will place Defense Down for 2 turns to the enemy with the highest resistance (this debuff is granted).

In War-Offense on the other hand, as long as Mr. Negative is on the team, Defense Down will be placed on all enemies regardless of their Resistance check. Finally, Green Goblin will increase Armor by 30% to the entire Underworld team in WAR.

Green Goblin is essentially boosted without a doubt. With him on the team, Underworld will not have any difficulties against enemies like Emarauders or Tangled Web. Even Unlimited X-Men will not be safe against him in WAR because all their passive defenses will be neutralized by Green Goblin.

Taskmaster

Base Stat Increases

Health +20%
Damage +30%
Armor +15%
Focus +10%

Basic ability is updated just in the form of damage done (little increased). Everything else is the same.

The special gains extra focus so it is a lot harder for a target to resist stun. The damage is slightly improved. If Taskmaster is with his Underworld team, then he will always chain to 3 additional targets because the attack can’t be counterattacked anymore.

Ultimate is coming in the form of a nice damage boost, with Heal Block as an additional debuff along Blind. The greatest change comes in WAR – from now on Taskmaster will place Blind alongside Heal Block to all enemies. Those debuffs will be granted if he is in the Underworld team because his Focus will be significantly increased as long as there are at least 3 Underworld allies. Also, his follow-ups on targets with Bleed are literally 2 times stronger now.

The Taskmaster’s passive remained the same with 2 crucial changes. From now on it affects Underworld allies also and it triggers War Offense as well. So, in short, the Speed Bar of all Mercenary and Underworld allies will be increased by 40% at the start of combat (in a full team), and at the end of every turn, Taskmaster will place Taunt on the target with the highest damage.

Earlier Taskmaster was only effective in War Defense. From now on, he can do everything with considerably higher efficiency in War Offense. This practically means that he will place mass Blind and mass Heal Block after Mister Negative puts Trauma, meaning that Shang Chi and Squirrel Girl (for example) will be totally harmless and helpless.

Most importantly this means that he will passively place Taunt on the target with the highest damage even in Offense. To understand the power of this just imagine Wong who is totally incapable of protecting Morgan Le Fay because she is the target with the highest damage in Darkhold. Honestly, this Taskmaster’s improvement makes Underworld the strongest War offensive option after Weapon X. Outside of WAR the story is different but in WAR Taskmaster is now OP.

Kingpin

Base Stat Increases

Damage +62%
Armor +110%
Resist +28%
Speed +42%

Basic attack now has increased Critical Chance depending on the number of Underworld allies and grants Barrier on every Crit.

His Special still summons up to 3 Bodyguards but those Bodyguards have 2 Deathproofs now. Also in War, Kingpin will place Safeguard on the entire Underworld team.

Kingpin’s ultimate now affects all allies and Offense Up lasts 2 turns. Also, an Underworld ally and random ally will always assist his ultimate.

Passive got the biggest change of all Kingpin’s abilities. From now on he will summon 1 Bodyguard at the start of combat with Taunt and Deathproof. Also, if Kingpin has any Barrier at the end of the turn, he will buff all summons on the screen with Speed Up and Offense Up. Every Villain in the team will have a 50% chance to be assisted by a random ally.

Whenever he receives damage, Kingpin will fill the Speed Bar of all summons by up to 20%. Most importantly he will permanently increase the Focus and Resistance of all Underworld allies by 60%.

The real strength of Kingpin is literally doubled. His effectiveness will be almost the same in WAR and outside. Indeed, he will grant Safeguard in WAR, but even without it, we can say that Kingpin is finally what he should be. His importance will not be considerably increased but at least we can say that he is a useful character now.

Nobu

Base Stat Increases

Health +60%
Damage +30%
Armor +51%
Focus +25%
Resist +25%

Nobu’s basic attack got a slight increase in damage and from now on it will always place Stealth on Nobu and the most injured ally.

Special will now clear all negative effects from Nobu and will grant 3 summons with Offense Up and Regeneration.

Nobu’s ultimate now grants 2 Counters, 2 Deflects, and 2 Deathproofs (WAR only) to all allies.

Passive remained the same with 2 changes – it now affects Underworld allies as well and grants increased Critical Chance and Critical Damage to allies with Counter.

I had great expectations when I heard that Nobu is going to be reworked. He is boosted indeed, but he is still one of the most useless characters in the game. I must say that he will have synergy with Kingpin in War but outside of that, he is just a helpless character who summons useless ads and nothing else.

It is true that the stats of Nobu’s summons are increased. However, I can’t see how that will be of any help to anyone including Underworld and Hand. The only good thing that he has is his Underworld tag, honestly. Fortunately, several characters are without teams at the moment, and they can be used instead of Nobu to help the Underworld team. Using characters like Dormammu, Kestrel, Zemo, or even Silver Surfer will prove to be a lot better option than spending resources on Nobu – trust my words.

Maybe I am wrong… Maybe, the new Hand Archer and Hand Blade summon will prove otherwise … We will see soon, definitely.

Conclusion

One thing is certain – the new Underworld combo is easy to assemble and will offer you solutions for the current strongest premade AW defense synergies. I’ve read their kit twice, both in the Blog and in the game, and something is definitely strange.

According to their kit, Underworld will be able to challenge almost all teams in AW Defense. Maybe I am reading those skills wrongly, but if I don’t it seems that we will get a new WAR META by investing Gold and Resources in only 1 character. All Veteran players have Taskmaster already maximized. Their Kingpin and Green Goblin are also on at least T13. Since Phoenix required Nobu, he got some love from almost everyone. That leaves us only with a new character who will need our attention.

As it seems at the moment, investing in Mister Negative will not be mandatory because he is not needed for any Scourge or Saga. However, the potential of the Underworld team in WAR is just too great to be ignored. They will be a stronger offensive option than A-Force, Ravagers, or Dark-Hunters and yet they will be ready for WAR without any serious investment.

Having Scopley grant us rewards like those is somewhat hard to believe, so I will have to wait and see what will be needed for unlocking Mister Negative. There must be some catch in all this.

Stay tuned, War Scourge is just a few weeks away. 😉