Deadpool Daily Quest Teams: My Personal Group

I consistently see forum questions asking for information on teams to complete the final DDQ node. This is an ongoing series where I examine different teams or strategies.

For my first installment, I am going to share the team I have been using to clear the DDQ events with minimal effort. This team has so far basically trivialized the events, as much as they can be. You still need to pay attention to countdown tiles and your AP reserves, but this team never seems to lose.

Character 1: Level 94 OBW, covered at 3/5/5. OBW is going to be the backbone of pretty much any team you see here, so this should come at no surprise. I am confident you can easily clear this node without her, but in order to consistently get first run clears, she is going to be a necessary edition. The 3/5/5 cover pattern is the generally accepted ideal. I initially had reservations about the 3 purple, which lowers the AP stolen per move. However, it is true that you are able to fire it much more frequently with 3 covers, and I have come around. Blue remains the most over powered move in MPQ, and that is no different here. Stall on the countdown tiles plus a team heal can't be beat. The heal is especially key in these mutli-round events. Her black is a nice damage boost, and at level 94 with 5 covers it actually helps work down the goons.

Anti-Gravity Device - The most OP move in existence

Character 2: Level 166 LThor, covered at 3/5/5. LThor is one of the best 3 stars, with a lot of versatility. He has the HP to tank, great damage output, plus tile generation. Mine is fully leveled to 166, which really helps reduce the time to kill, however you do not need him at max. You can easily replace with 2 star Thor as well, although I think you will want him at 94. I like 3/5/5 personally, although some argue for 4/4/5. I'm willing to let the red slide a bit because I want his yellow power generating as many green tiles as possible. I frequently find that I can fire Call the Storm twice, fire his yellow once, and then gain enough AP to immediately fire Call the Storm again.

Character 3: Level 131 X-Force, covered at 2/3/1. X-Force is obviously a strong character and generally useful. Mine isn't even close to fully covered, but I still include him here for a few reasons. First, his black power is great against goons. Goons tend to place countdown tiles in their strongest color, and Surgical Strike wipes them off the board. It is an excellent backup to OBW when you are low on blue AP. His yellow is also useful as a board shaker plus strong healing, although in this context you will want yellow AP to Thor. His green is a decent board clear, but I'd never waste the AP that should be going to Call the Storm.

The strategy:
The strategy is pretty straightforward. Round 1, against the goons, you want to build AP. I try to prioritize blue, since I want to get out of Round 1 with as much health as possible. Ideally you take no damage. Every turn make sure that no countdowns are about to fire, and just make matches. The only AP you should spend are blue to stall countdowns, and if you are facing Maggia goons, you can use OBW's purple to steal some blue in a jam. If a move is about to fire, carefully consider the value of wasting another special vs. the damage. If you are going to get hit by one shuriken tile, you should just take the damage. If 2 Tommy Guns are about to fire, use X-Force's black to knock them out.

My single exception is that when the last goon is under 1,300 health, I use Thor's red to wipe them. The reason is that this allows me first turn at the next round.

Strategy? Just fire Call the Storm until everyone is dead

Round 2, against the three mid-level characters, is time to dump my AP. I always fire Call the Storm first, making sure to switch the lead character in between for maximum damage. I then cycle through Thor's red, then Thor's yellow, and then I evaluate. Usually I have green AP for Call the Storm again, so that is a nice bonus, but if not fire X-Force's black. This is almost always enough to clear, if it isn't, check the enemy AP. If they have enough to fire any of their specials (check the living enemy heroes to verify), use OBW's purple until they can't. You can easily survive a round or two of matches, but they will try to fire their specials, and these can really mess you up moving forward.

I'd try to avoid firing OBW's blue if possible. You want it for the next round of goons.

Round 3, as long as you made it out of round 2 without taking a lot of damage, is similar to round 1. Its perfectly acceptable to have spent all your AP. Again, start saving up AP and blocking countdown timers. The round 3 goons are a little stronger, so be careful letting them fire their moves. The fact that they are stronger is really helpful though, as you can save up even more AP during the round. Again, the countdown blocking pattern goes OBW's blue, then if possible OBW purple to steal blue AP, then X-Force black, and as a last resort, any other power to stop an imminent attack.

One thing to consider this round is the Maggie Thug. They generate blue AP, which you can steal, so leaving them around is helpful. Also, one of their moves is threaten, which creates a strike tile. In some instances, you can let this fire without ruining your run. It only does immediate damage if it creates a cascade, so if you are in trouble, check the Threaten tile. If nothing falling above it will make a cascade, let it go off and save the blue AP. However, be mindful of this new tile, as it will make a lot of other attacks lethal.

Again, try to finish off this round with a Thor red to maintain your first turn status in Round 4.

Round 4 is both the scariest and the easiest round. By now you should have nearly max AP in most categories, except for blue. First things first, use two Call the Storms. This should basically kill at least one enemy, and leave the other two very low. Don't forget to change order between the first and second shot. You can then cycle your other powers until all are dead. If you don't have the legs to finish them in one round, make sure to steal down their AP with OBW.

One thing to watch out for on this round is Deadpool. Life of the Party blocks high damage from other characters, so you may need to kill him first. Call the Storm usually is fine (since it hits all) but any other moves he will step in front, take the damage, and immediately heal.

This round just go for broke, losing your guys is fine as long as you win in the end. Feel free to use OBW's blue to heal as needed, and enjoy your 3 star cover and 1,000 ISO.

How did this team work for you? Got a better team? Post it in the comments and I will try it out and do a follow up post.

2 Star Character Guide: Ares

Ares - Dark Avengers

Ares is a dangerous foe with strong moves that often have a significant downside. He is a powerful, if temperamental, character, strong in both PVP and PVE combat. 

Green - Onslaught: Ares’ green power is Onslaught. For 7 AP, Ares does high damage to the enemy target. For each additional AP over 7 available, he can do extra damage. However, the enemy gets half of the green AP consumed returned to them. Thus, this move can lead to some devastating counter attacks if the enemy team is strong in green. In the alternative, if the enemy has no use for green AP, this move becomes very strong. Additionally, 7 AP is a relatively low amount to set off a very strong attack. At times, Onslaught can be very spammy. It also requires a deft touch, as burning 20 green AP on an overkill is much less effective that using 10 AP on two different enemies. In PVP, it all depends on what powers the enemy team has. In PVE, this is a great source of damage output with minimal downsides. 

Red - Rampage: Rampage is Ares’ red power, and like his others it is situational. It does damage to the entire enemy team, and excellent feature, and it does close to double damage if Ares himself is at low health. At five covers you have some wiggle room (he must be below 30% health) but it still can be difficult to get the damage to stop in this range. When it does, however, this move can really turn the tide of the game. It only costs 10 AP, but can cause immense team damage. In PVP events, as long as the enemy does not finish him off, Rampage is an excellent move. In PVE it is effective for doing team damage, but makes less of an impact. 

Yellow - Sunder: Sunder is a very unique move. It does high damage, but also causes damage to Ares. A countdown is then placed, and when the countdown goes off, it does more damage to the enemy and heals Ares. The base damage is very high, but it returns close to half to Ares. The countdown add nice damage, but still does not heal the full amount lost. Thus, this move is always going to leave you in a worse state than when activated. Also, if the countdown gets stopped, it move becomes less damaging to the opponent and more damaging to Ares. Also, if the initial strike finishes the match, Ares takes the damage but does not have a chance to heal. This move is great for winning battles, but it does reduce the overall playtime and effectiveness of Ares as a cover. In PVP events it becomes a high risk, but very high reward, move. In PVE, the risk is mitigated significantly. 

PVP Summary: A very popular choice, since he has good hit points and crushing, low cost special moves. Ares can take down many teams with ease. 

PVE Summary: Ares is slightly above average in PVE. He causes good damage and tanks well. 

Team Up: Any are good, each carries with it the pros and cons of the original moves. 

Match-Ups: Ares matches well with The Hood’s countdown reducing power, and characters with healing moves like Black Widow.  

Counters: Ares is a good counter for tanks or any character that has strong healing and is tough to kill. The extremely high damage special moves make eating through hit points or healing powers much easier.