6: Start On Normal Difficulty And Work Your Way Up
Higher difficulty levels are a means to an end — there’s no reason to play them when you’re just getting started. Higher Challenge Levels are designed specifically for replaying. Like Diablo 3 or other action-RPGs, you’re meant to earn better gear by completing the standard difficulty levels, then return to previous missions and bump up the challenge when you’re ready to grind higher and higher gear.
This is the end-game of Marvel’s Avengers. After completing the main campaign, you’ll eventually unlock the new Power Level mechanic. Power Level works like other games — if you’ve played Destiny of The Division, you’ll understand this system. By equipping better gear, you cumulative gear score is averaged out to designate your power level. At that point, the game is all about grinding gear, earning XP for perks, and boosting your faction prestige.
7: Don’t Make This Mistake When Buying Gear From Vendors
Like any sensible action-RPG, you can purchase items from vendors to increase your Gear Score — but, you’ll always want to stop and equip anything you find. Why? Because the Gear Score of items sold by vendors is directly proportional to your current GS. Literally, you’ll watch vendors update the stats of the items they sell instantly if you equip better gear.
Always equip the highest possible GS stuff before visiting a vendor, and even right after buying from a vendor. If you’re planning on making more than one purchase, always equip — or if you want a better GS item, try buying something else higher, then going back to that item you really want. It’ll be even better than before.
8: Every Character Has Free ‘Battle Pass’ Tiers — Here’s How To Level Up
Every character has Hero Challenge Cards, and completing them can earn you some extremely awesome rewards. It’s kind of like a ‘Battle Pass’ but without the seasonal content. You can complete these for free to earn useful rewards — and they can be completed at any time. There’s no rush like in traditional battle passes. But you will have to level them up, and it isn’t entirely clear how to do that if you’re a starting player.
To level up your Hero Challenge Cards, check the Challenge Card and look at the bottom for Daily / Weekly Challenges. Those challenges will change, so try to complete them before the daily / weekly timer is up, or you might get stuck with something worse. You might also get something better, so waiting is a solid strategy sometimes.
There are four challenges — two daily, and two weekly. You’ll see a checkmark if you’ve completed the challenge or a percentage (%) showing how far you’ve progressed in the challenge. It’s a little confused, but you’ll get the hang of it.
9: Gold Strongboxes Give You The Best Shot At Good Loot
And you can find them guaranteed a few ways. Whether you’re just grinding, or have a challenge mission to complete, Gold Strongboxes are incredibly rare — so if you’re aiming to farm a few, you can take on the following missions.
- Vaults will always contain Gold Chests on Challenge 4 difficulty.
- A Gold Strongbox will always spawn on the mission ‘Enter The Avengers’ after defeating five bosses. There’s a guaranteed chest in the puzzle room.
If you’re looking to grind gear, one of the best ways is to complete Villain Sectors in the end-game, but it can’t hurt to dip your toes in some gold strongbox grinding. Just don’t let that replace even better methods for earning Power Levels.
10: Reaching Power Level 150 Is A Grind — Follow These Basic Steps
To hit the maximum Power Level hardcap of 150 efficiently, you’ll need to grind to get the best possible gear. The world changes whenever you gain an increase in your Power Level — if you’re PL 30 and boost yourself up to PL 31, all drops will now be PL 31 or higher. It’s annoying to ditch your gear constantly, but it’s important to always have the maximum PL gear equipped so you’re earning higher and higher level loot.
To efficiently level up, you’ll want to follow a basic gameplay pattern. Start with HARM Rooms and replay missions on higher difficulty levels, then unlock the Iconic Mission for your chosen hero. Finally, you’ll want to grind Villain Sectors — Villain Sectors are always +5 PL to what you have currently, so there’s a higher chance of acquiring +5 PL gear when you defeat them. You might not win every attempt at the Villain Sector, but these are the best, most straightforward way to earn higher level gear.
That’s all our tips for this surprisingly complex game. Here’s hoping you have fun in the end-game after completing the linear story! Everyone is already surprising by this game, and I think it’s only going to get better.
