Interesting Item Mechanics

Hello everyone! Here we will take a look at some interesting item mechanics in Marvel Super War, that are easy to misunderstand, especially if you’re new to the game. We will also discuss some of the items that might not look very impressive at first, but can actually be very good for certain characters. Most of them are rarely used, and they are almost never included in the default item builds.

First, we will examine the items that provide your hero with an enhanced basic attack after using and ability. These are Nightsword, Starlight Armor, and Mars Blaze.

Enhanced basic attack items

Well, most importantly effects of these items DO NOT STACK. So, if you have two, or all three of them, only one effect will be applied to your basic attack. As far as I can tell, Nightsword overrides the other two. In other words, your basic attack after using an ability will be enhanced by only one of these items. It’s pointless to have more than one of them in your item build. Now, let’s take a look at the actual benefits that they provide.

Nightsword – Description says +200% Basic Physical Attack, but you will actually get +100%. To simplify it, your next basic attack will deal double damage.

Starlight Armor – The enhanced basic attack deals 50 + 10/level additional damage, this part is simple. However, +5% Bonus Max HP, doesn’t include your base health, only HP bonus from items. For example, if your level 18 character has 10 000 HP, and 5000 of that comes from items, he will deal an additional 250 (5% of 5000 HP) + 230 (50 + 10/lvl) = 480 damage.

Mars Blaze – Unlike the Starlight Armor, Mars Blaze will grant you 10+5% of your total HP, as bonus damage. So, the previous character that has 10 000 hp would deal +510 additional physical damage, with his enhanced basic attack.

Percentage damage items

For the second part, we have two items, Twilight Beads, and Valkyrior Bow.  Both of these items will deal additional damage equal to a percentage of HP, but they DO NOT STACK. So, don’t buy both of them, as your hero will receive benefits from only one.

Heimdall’s Sword

This weapon can be easily overlooked and overshadowed by other attack items since it has a bit longer description. However, it’s very good in some situations. Heimdall’s Sword grants you an attack bonus and energy resist, that’s what everyone will notice. But it also provides an energy shield plus some minor healing, once the shield activates, and it will also reduce healing of the enemy you hit – this part is often overlooked. Reducing the healing of your opponent is great if you’re faced with squishy characters that rely on lifesteal. Usually marksmen and some junglers.

Energy resist (plus shield) and the reduced healing effect makes this weapon a perfect choice if you’re fighting energy heroes that have a lot of sustain. For example Hela, Adam Warlock, or Ancient One. It is also a good choice for countering life-stealing physical heroes, especially Hawkeye since his S2 also deals energy damage.

Titan’s Glory

There are no tricky mechanics with this one, only it’s functionality. Titan’s Glory is very good for melee damage dealers (like Blade, for example), since it will cancel any cc and make them immune to control effects for the next two seconds. As I already said, an excellent choice, but only if you have quick wits and reflexes.

Mjolnir

In my opinion, this is one of the most underrated items. Mjolnir provides solid attack, armor bonus, and it also slows down your target whenever you hit it with a basic attack. So, your character gains a decent cc out of it. Mjolnir is my favorite item for bruiser heroes, and I can’t imagine playing Thor or Executioner without it. It can be also used on some tanks (like Heimdall) if you want to try out something different.

Eye of Agamotto

The only Energy item that grants some armor bonus, and it can also make you immune to damage for 2.5 seconds. Eye of Agamotto is great for aggressive energy heroes. It grants a short invulnerability that might be enough for the allies to come to your aid.

Antimatter Cannon

Well, I have to admit that I totally misunderstood Antimatter Cannon mechanics when I started to play Marvel Super War. The description says +25% energy leech, and I understood that it will restore your Energy Points. However, this item will heal your mage for 25% of the energy damage dealt whenever he strikes the enemy with one of his abilities. So, it functions in a similar way as lifesteal does for the physical characters.

Casket of Ancient Winters

Casket of Ancient Winters slows down the targets when you hit them with one of your abilities, and reduces their healing. Just like the Heimdall’s Sword for the physical heroes. So, this is an Anti-Heal item for energy heroes. Again, it’s easy to overlook the second part due to the long description.

Goblin Mask

This is one of the most underused defense items, but it’s actually very good. Goblin Mask provides dual resistance and a 10% CD reduction that much is obvious. However, it also has an active function, that can be overlooked. When activated (60 sec CD), the Goblin Mask will provide a 100% bonus to armor and energy resistance for 4 seconds (and reduce your damage output by 40%), making your hero much more durable (to simplify, it will double your defenses). This makes it great for team fights. The Goblin Mask also has a passive effect, that is probably overlooked by the majority of players. It will activate a Ring of Ice if you receive damage equal to 40% of your max hp – without reductions.

Now, 40% might seem a lot, but tanks in Marvel Super War have very large resistances, and this effect will usually activate after your hero loses just 15-20% health. Anyway, the Ring of Ice will slow down all nearby enemies by 40% for 2 seconds, and this effect is great for tanks that do not have a lot of control. With that in mind, I often use this item on The Thing and other tanks. The Thing is very tanky, but has low cc, since 20% slow from his stomp isn’t that great. It can be also used on some support characters (mostly Mantis). Besides all these benefits Goblin Mask is one of the cheapest items in Marvel Super War, as it costs only 1800 gold.

NOTE: If you decide to buy Goblin Mask, take it as your fifth or sixth item. By this time you will already have some hp and resistance bonuses from other items – it’s much better to already have some resistance, and double it with this item. Also, Goblin Mask is the best choice for almost all tanks, if the game drags on. If you get to the very late game and have all six items, sell the boots and buy Goblin Mask for your tank.

Vibranium Suit

Vibranium Armor is excellent for countering heroes that rely on their basic attacks since it will slow down their attack speed and reflect some of the damage (your enemy will hurt himself by attacking you). It is great against most marksman in the late game (Hawkeye, Raccoon,etc.), and against fighters/assassins that use a lot of basic attacks (Blade, for example). Do note that the bot passive effects of the Vibranium Armor have a very limited range. With that said, this item is very good for tanks that are good at initiating fights (like Hulk, for example), and can be also used by junglers, in the late game – if you have to counter the aforementioned basic attack heroes, of course.

Skill Bonuses

Whenever you see that skill description that says +% Bonus Max HP, or + %Bonus Physical Attack, that means the skill will receive a bonus from items and it won’t benefit from your base HP/attack (just like the Starlight Armor that I explained at beginning of this post).