Things have been looking up as of late for Marvel's Avengers, a live service game that hasn't always had the best track record since it launched almost a year ago. While the game has struggled to retain players and add new content in a timely manner, there's a new buzz within the community following a very positive free to play weekend which saw the game's player base get a big spike, especially on the PC platform.
In addition to going free to play for a period of time, the game's first expansion War for Wakanda is also right around the corner. As the initial reveal trailer showed, players are heading to Wakanda in a brand new story featuring Black Panther and some familiar characters such as his tech savy sister, Shuri. Players are also getting away from A.I.M and boss characters like Taskmaster in favor of new types led by Ulysses Klaue and his private army.
In the latest Marvel's Avengers blog post, Crystal Dynamics dives in a bit deeper to not only reveal more about the Klaue Company but how they're going to be changing the way players adapt to combat. Unlike the A.I.M. robots, these mercs are introducing two new status effects: Sonic and Vibranium. For enemies that are under the Corrupted Vibranium status, like the large axe-wielding Bruiser, they become Overcharged after a number of successful hits.
Highlighted by a large orange glow, these enemies take reduced damage, flinch less, and gain new special attacks that they normally can't perform. To counter these enemies, players will want to equip sonic charged gear, which bypass the reduced damage effect and dispels the Overcharged state.
The other enemy highlighted in the Marvel's Avengers blog is called the Strategist, a support style enemy that controls enemy buffing drones. Players will need to shoot down the drones with ranged attacks and if players attempt to take out the Strategist, they can deploy a Sonic Aura. Essentially, this is a shield that deflects projectiles and blocks melee attacks while firing a sonic wave. Players should equip Vibranium gear to bypass the aura and dispel the effect completely.
In addition to new gear and enemies to fight, a recent live stream also showed off more of the changes coming to Marvel's Avengers. The UI is getting completely overhauled combining many of the tabs into one single screen per character. In addition, faction challenges will be accessible from any single terminal, resource management is getting streamlined, and the gear tab will let players access their inventory locker instantly.
Marvel's Avengers is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.