Marvel Avengers Alliance Tactics: PVP Strategy

Player vs. player combat (PVP) is the meat and potatoes of Marvel Avengers Alliance Tactics. Attacking other players is the #1 best source of Silver, ISO-8, and SHIELD points in the game.

PVP can also be a big source of frustration, unless you read this guide.

This PVP guide covers:

• How PVP works in M:AA Tactics
• Why you should play PVP
• How to assign defenders to each of your base’s buildings
• What to have in your home base before you go into PVP
• Triggering the Base Destroyed prize roulette
• Resource payouts sorted by building

How M:AATactics PVP Works: the short version

PVP combat is asynchronous. When you attack an enemy player the AI controls their defending characters. When they attack you back, the AI plays your defenders in the fight. You never fight against another live player in M:AA Tactics.

Choosing a Target. PVP targets are found by exploring the World Map. Fly your Quinjet to an enemy base target and then choose buildings to attack from inside.

Defenders:  A building’s defenders are the heroes and agents the owner assigned to it. Each of the 8 buildings in your home base has its own set of 4 defender slots. (Click on a building to see who is assigned to defend it.)

Each building comes with 2 agents to defend it, but your goal should be to get four heroes/agents defending every building as soon as possible. The higher level, the better.

These defenders will show up as defenders in a PVP attack against your home base.

PVP Restrictions

• Heroes defending your buildings are “busy” and can’t be used anywhere else. For example, a hero can’t be on defense and on flight deck at the same time. This restriction sucks, but at least it applies to your opponents, too.
• Energy limitations.PVE (story) and PVP share the same energy bar.

Other than that, it’s a free for all and anyone can attack anyone else. There is no ELO ranking system or tournaments like in MAA [yet?].

Why attack other players?

How I learned to stop worrying and love PVP

Many players will try to ignore PVP, but it’s unavoidable: your base is always vulnerable to attack, and there’s no way to “opt out” aside from spending gold on immunity shields. PVP isn’t ranked or even particularly difficult, though, and it’s the game’s best source of resources. Ignoring PVP means missing out on big opportunities to earn currency, and it may also make your own base more vulnerable if you are neglectful in setting up proper defenses.

Here is why PVP is worthwhile:

SHIELD points are available in the Enemy Base Destroyed prize roulette

• PVP is the best source of Silver, Refined Iso-8, and SHIELD POINTS in the game
• It’s a natural part of the game: you’ll get attacked regularly, and the best way to recoup losses is to attack others
• You get a prize roulette when you defeat the last building in an enemy base
• Get revenge against players who attacked you
• It’s fun 

Winning & Losing PVP

Here’s what happens when you win and lose offensive PVP and defensive PVP matches in M:AA Tactics.

• Offensive PVP= when you actively attack another player
• Defensive PVP= when another player attacks your base

OFFENSE: Win

When you win an attack that you started, the following happens:

• You get a Silver / Iso-8 reward, varies by building attacked
• You take a percentage of the defender’s Silver and Iso-8 resources, varies by building attacked
• Your heroes/agents in the fight get XP

OFFENSE: Lose

When you lose an attack that you started, the following happens:

• You get a small amount of XP as a consolation prize

DEFENSE: Win

• When your AI-controlled heroes successfully defend your base against an attacker, you don’t gain anything, but you don’t lose anything either.

DEFENSE: Lose

• You lose a percent of the Silver and ISO-8 you had saved up, depending on which building(s) were defeated. If you had a lot of money, losing defensive PVP matches hurts. If you were broke, haha – sucks to be the other guy.

Vulnerable Resources in M:AA Tactics PVP

VULNERABLE RESOURCES:

• Silver
• Refined Iso-8

CANNOT LOSE:

• Gold
• SHIELD Points
• Command Points
• Energy

As far as I know, you can also lose Silver and Refined Iso-8 that you bought with real money, so don’t convert all your gold to silver and then sit on it.

Know Before You Go: General PVP Tips

Here are the best tips for PVP in Marvel Avengers Alliance Tactics.

Best Heroes for PVP

There is no way of knowing who you will be fighting against, so (in general) you want to bring your highest level heroes. If you do not have four heroes, bring your highest level agents. A level 2 hero is usually better than a level 3 agent, so keep that in mind, too.

Since everyone starts with Iron Man and Black Panther, if you do find any heroes on defense it will probably be one of those two. Your own Black Panther is strong against Iron Man.

It is too soon to say who the best heroes for PVP are since the game is still in beta and many heroes are unbalanced and buggy. The worst hero today might become the best hero tomorrow. I’m partial to Iron Man, because Unibeam turns some PVP fights into one-strike wins (and now that I’ve said that here, Unibeam will get nerfed tomorrow).

Upgrade your SHIELD Vault

Mo’ money, mo’ problems: attacking other players pays way better than Assignments, so your SHIELD vault will fill up quick unless you upgrade it a couple times. You should build a SHIELD vault and upgrade it to at least Level 2 before you get heavy into PVP, or else you’re just going to hit your Silver and Iso-8 caps after a couple fights.

Don’t let this happen to you:

Easy Wins vs. Big Payouts

There is no way to preview the defenders in an individual building, but as an attacker there are a few factors working in your favor:

• Most players only have a few heroes to assign to defense, if any.
• Newbie players don’t typically have more than 2 agents defending a building
• Most players are not using heroes for defense

Players who do assign heroes to defense will probably take the game’s hint and assign them to the Command Center or SHIELD Vault. This means buildings like the Barracks, Training Center, and Flight Control are usually weakly defended. Those buildings don’t reward as big a prize, but they are usually easy wins.

Unified Energy Bar

Unlike in M:AA, PVE and PVP in Marvel Tactics share the same energy bar. A PVP fight uses 10 energy (same as a story fight).

Players from M:AA who are used to switching between PVE and PVP while the other recharges will find this change interesting, but it does not really impact game play that much. Just play whichever one you’re interested in at the time.

Newbie bases = Easy wins

Newbie bases are easy wins, just look for bases in the default configuration and attack the three buildings so you can get the prize roulette.

Do not leave home unguarded

If you remove all the defenders from a building, that building becomes undefended. When the attacker clicks on your undefended building, the attacker gets all the silver and Iso-8 they normally would have to fight for!

You do not want people to walk away with your money, do you?!

PVP Roulette: Enemy Base Destroyed

Destroying the last building in an enemy base (even if you were not the destroyer of the other buildings) triggers the Enemy Base Destroyed roulette. This is an easy roulette to get (you can get one every 10 minutes or so if you hunt newbie bases exclusively) and the only decent source of SHIELD points for anti social people without allies.

Prizes:

• Hero abilities
• ISO-8 chips (for hero stats, not the currency)
• SHIELD points in varying quantities

It is also fun to see the enemy base all blown up:

Accessing the Battle Report

The BATTLE REPORT (log of recent player vs. player battles) is disabled in the closed beta, but is expected to be made available soon. Its button is in the lower right of the screen:

Resource Prize Payouts by Building

• Different buildings give different resources (and in varying %, which are currently unknown).
• Command Center: Silver and Refined ISO-8
• Quinjet Hangar: Silver and Refined ISO-8
• Training Center: Silver only
• Barracks: Refined ISO-8 only
• Refinery: Refined ISO-8 only
• SHIELD Vault: Silver and Refined ISO-8
• ISO-8 Workshop: Unknown
• Flight Control: Silver only

Don’t Wait, Dive In

PVP is not for “high level players only”, it’s for everyone. You can get attacked at any time starting just 2 days after you start playing, and you can start attacking others as soon as you finish the tutorial.

If you find yourself needing more Silver or SHIELD points, PVP is the #1 best source of those things in the game, so don’t be shy: get out there and kick some red base ass!

This was just the high level overview of PVP in Marvel Avengers Alliance Tactics. The next guide covers offensive PVP in greater detail.