Gaming
Games
Marvel's Avengers: Best character builds for each hero
The way you optimise your characters Marvel's Avengers can be quite complicated to understand at first, so we're here to break down the essential moves each character needs
The build system in Marvel’s Avengers is… complicated, to say the least. To get the most out of each hero’s combat style, you’ll need to understand how to play as them, what gear to equip, and where to focus your skill points. While the available gear is too endless to list here, a sensible rule of thumb is that bigger numbers result in better gear. Here, we’ll go through how to get the best gear possible, and how to best equip each hero to deal inflict maximum mayhem.
How to get the best gear in Marvel’s Avengers?
Knowing what gear to equip is essential to your success
© Square Enix
The main campaign in Avengers has a few ways for you to wander off, but realistically you’re going to remain relatively under-powered throughout the story unless you decide to dive into online play first. Even in sticking to the central missions though, there are a few ways to level up your gear.
First off, you should use Tactical Vision in open spaces to locate crates: these often have better gear than the regular story will offer, especially if you decide to run the campaign before going online.
Second, be aware that you can upgrade certain bits of gear (but it’s probably best to avoid this in the early game). Unless you’re really struggling on a certain section, an early upgrade wastes resources which could be conserved for upgrades on later, better gear.
Aside from scavenging and upgrading, there are two basic ways to pick up better gear: Faction Quests and Postgame Quests. Faction quests can be picked up at the Ant Hill or the Chimera, and involve doing specific sidequests, which are either rewarded with gear, with tokens to buy gear, or with resources. Sometimes these quests are missions themselves, and sometimes they’re tasks that can be completed in other missions, like ‘Defeat 10 Enemies With Heroic Abilities’.
As for Postgame Quests, each hero has a specific storyline that must be completed individually, as well as their own HARM Room Challenges. These reward a combination of gear and resources – so they're totally worth doing. There are also general Postgame Quests, (think Destiny raids with superheroes), and the harder the mission, the better the gear reward. These can be played online in squads, so having a good team is key to getting the most out of the game.
What skills should Kamala Khan have?
Kamala Khan is the most useful crowd controller in the game
© Square Enix
Gear aside, each hero has a unique playstyle, and there are certain skills you should head towards first to ensure your hero is in top condition. Kamala Khan is the most combo-intensive character in the game, and so her skills should cater to this type of play. Since you get swarmed a lot, any skills which take her above the crowd are particularly invaluable.
Unlock Flying Fists: This is good for pushing swarms back
Unlock Whirling Wallop: This breaks blocks and can be chained into air attacks
Unlock Hammering Strike and Hammer Fist: These are both great heavy attacks when Kamala is in the air
What skills should Hulk have?
Hulk – as you'd expect – is good at smashing
© Square Enix
Hulk is actually fairly viable as a ranged fighter (mainly because his projectiles are so much larger than any other hero's in the game!) but if you’re talking about his ideal build, he has to be the squad’s tank. Naturally. Hulk can deal with crowds much easier than any other hero, so his skills should lean into this and make him unstoppable when faced down with ten villains at once.
Unlock Monstrous Swipe: Even as a tank, Hulk needs to dodge, and this skill lets him combine dodging with attacks
Unlock Smackdown: Grabbing enemies is a must, and this one does incredible damage
Unlock Earth Smasher: a great attack once Hulk has drawn the attention of many enemies
What skills should Iron Man have?
Tony Stark is better at range than he is at melee
© Square Enix
Iron Man plays exactly how you’d expect him to: he’s good at flying through the air and shooting things with laser beams. You shouldn’t lean on hand-to-hand combat very often as Iron Man – although his laser beam and thrusters are powered by punching, they just don't pack that much of a wallop, so you should spend your early upgrade points on ranged upgrades.
Unlock Lasers and Rockets: These fill out Tony’s ranged arsenal
Unlock Power Blast and Power Pulse: These repulsor upgrades break blocks and do huge damage respectively
Unlock Whirling Tempest and Burning Edge: These laser upgrades allow Tony to spin and cover a huge area
Unlock Smart Rockets and Javelin: These rocket upgrades mitigate the need for you to manually aim
What skills should Black Widow have?
Black Widow's acrobatic ability is her best asset
© Square Enix
Black Widow isn’t the strongest hero, but she’s so fast, so well equipped with acrobatics and has such malleable abilities (plus the most accurate ranged attack in the game!) that she’s a valuable asset whatever the mission – and in whatever squad you’ve built around her.
Unlock Ammo Overload and Perforator: These give Widow’s pistols more ammo and more power, respectively
Unlock Spider Sweep: Rather than breaking blocks, this attacks underneath an enemy's block and also acts as a dodge
Unlock Baton Strike: This adds a strong heavy attack onto the end of Widow’s frequently used light combos
Unlock Impact Grenade: Widow is great in one-on-one melee but can be overwhelmed, so a grenade to clear the crowd is always useful
What skills should Thor have?
Getting smacked about by Mjolnir is going to make you Thor
© Square Enix
The Mighty Thor is strong enough to be used as a toe-to-toe fighter like Kamala, or a more tanky hero like Hulk, but neither really play to Thor’s unique strengths. He’s good at taking out airborne targets because of his hover abilities, but the Asgardian warrior is most useful as a ranged fighter thanks to Mjolnir’s recall – which basically gives it double damage.
Unlock Tornado Throw: This makes all Mjolnir throws more powerful
Unlock Crashing Thunder: This lets Thor slam Mjolnir down as he recalls it, dealing damage to any enemies nearby
Unlock Star Heart Slam: When Thor’s dealt with the airborne enemies, this lets him crash down on any enemies below
Spoilers below!
What skills should Captain America have?
Cap's shield is good for keeping crowds at bay
© Square Enix
Much like Kamala Khan, Captain America is a combo fighter, and benefits from getting enemies up and out of the crowd so he can pulverise them. Unlike Kamala though, his ranged attack is pretty worthwhile too. Cap isn’t the flashiest hero, but it’s difficult to waste your skill points on him as they’re all fairly useful.
Unlock Rising Hope: This sends enemies skyward so Cap can deal with them one on one
Unlock Truth Seeker: This lets Cap target five nearby enemies with a single shield toss, and the move is part of an upgrade chain which begins with Ricochet Throw targeting three enemies
Unlock Soldier Slam: After an airborne tussle, this lets Cap do huge damage with a powerful landing
