Symbiotes... I hate these guys

Dormammu

One of my favorite aspects of MPQ is figuring out which tools to bring for the job. Knowing your enemy is half the battle, and choosing three characters with the right blend of colors and powers that can counter the enemy creates a satisfying win.

But these *tinykitty* symbiotes!

There are all sorts of characters that can help remove, delay, or flip countdown/strike/attack/protect tiles, but these powers are expensive in AP. Meanwhile, two symbiotes throw out a countdown plus either 2 strike tiles, an attack tile, or a protect tile each turn, all the while providing AP to some other character like Venom who is also providing match damage. No combination can keep up with that. YIKES! I don't mind a challenge, but with scaling some of the nodes start with enemies that are the same level (or higher) as the highest in my roster (unbuffed). I'm lucky to get two clears on the harder nodes or the character-required nodes, much less six clears! After that I'm looking at 220+ level symbiotes that shred my 3* roster up.

I get it, you can't win them all. I'm happy to clear what I can, get some ISO and tokens, and move on. But if we never see Venom Bomb again it'll be too soon.

Quick Fire

Let me start by saying i HATE these guys too and skip most events that have them.

However, Doc Oc is amazing at wrecking these punks... especially when he's buffed. 3* Bullseye's pink is cheap and fairly effective. One more is Ant-Man's blue is cheap and good for this.

I'm sure there are more but those are my go to powers for symbiotes.

Dormammu

Quick Fire wrote:

...Doc Oc is amazing at wrecking these punks...

Appreciate the advice! Unfortunately, he's one of the few 3* characters I don't have enough covers to champ. I have been bringing Bullseye. His green can help get rid of tiles too, in a roundabout way.

Kishida

Dormammu wrote:

But if we never see Venom Bomb again it'll be too soon.

So, like, 3 to 4 weeks?

ClydeFrog76

Cage's Unbreakable helps mitigate a lot of the damage from their attack tiles.

STOPTHIS

I hate these suckas too. Sentries as well, because both seemed designed to guarantee health loss. But what really bugs me is how the symbiotes ruin standard good nodes. There's no big stagey to them, just kill them quick. Fighting most goons can be interesting because you often have to make the choice to let some of the countdowns go off to prioritize a more deadly power or a better match or whatever. It almost makes the matches like puzzles . But the passives on the symbiotes are just the worst and removes the core fun element (for me anyways) from goons.

Punisher5784

IM40, JG and SW tear these fools up!!

Assuming you don't have JG, then I suggest Patch, Loki and Daken. This team helped me beat the Venom, Carnage, Demolisher node. The true heal every turn will overcome all.

Dragon_Nexus

It's more the water-torture style moves that get on my nerves.

Banner after banner of critcal mass *flash*, critical mass *flash*, critical mass *flash* Symbiotic tendrils...pause...symbiotic tendrils...pause...

"Your turn!"
You make a move.

"Okay, buckle in, here comes another 8 things that need to resolve before you can move again"

Eichen

I use team mind f*#k. Teen Jean, Switch, ProfX.

mckauhu

I dislike symbiotes too, but at least they are challenging indeed. "Guard dogs" are going down first, then carriers, horrors and finally those bulky bastardos. Having helps tremendously vs these.

broll

I actually have fun tearing these guys up with a team of Doc Ock, 3* Falcon, and Ant-Man. You Symbiotes like attack tiles, I can give you attack tiles

Smudge

When they get out of control, they're monstrous. Fast teams help fix that, though.

Not applicable to everyone of course, but since champing Hulkbuster, I've been using "one-eyed Fistbuster" - 3Cyc, IF, IMHB. So many battery/power options, full rainbow, and if you get any cascades, you will just wreck the symbiotes.

No team is perfect, and there are a lot of other good ideas here!

bbigler

I've been beating these guys with 3* Widow and Scarlett Witch or the Hood. The cycling is so good that I can sometimes kill them all in one turn.

Astralgazer

For the current event, my A team is GSBW+2Thor+SW. My B team is 3Cyke+IF+IM40. I don't have Gwenpoole so I have to do 5 clears each sub to get to 25CP. Having 2 teams for the job is very helpful. Especially with heavy hitters supported by good batteries.

DeNappa

Mind you, they were already nerfed, making their powers more expensive and do less damage. With the fun side effect that every time they are paired with active characters, you can get wrecked even more because why save up for the more expensive goon powers when you can fire cheaper active powers instead?

mckauhu

Holy cow that battle vs 2 x mutations and Carnage is difficult! Just made first time cleared and just barely. Even doesn't help much. I wish I had championed

shartattack

A lower level strategy is to use 2* Storm's Hailstorm to fill the board with tiles. Do they overwrite?

kobu

I've never really minded the symbiotes. They can get away from you, but there are a lot of options for dealing with them before that happens. Maggia goons, in particular Muscle, are a different story. On the final clears, one Threaten getting through and a short cascade can drop your party. A lot of times there's nothing to be done about it. I find that a lot more frustrating than symbiotes filling the board with tiles.