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Introduction
Beast, also known as Dr. Henry McCoy, is a Hero, Global, Mutant Support character in Marvel Strike Force (MSF), whose role and effectiveness have significantly evolved since his introduction. Initially seen as underwhelming, Beast has been reworked and integrated into the Astonishing X-Men team, transforming him into one of the most valuable characters in the game. This Marvel Strike Force Beast Guide will provide insights into how Beast’s abilities and synergies make him a powerful asset, turning him into a key player in various team compositions and game modes.
Now regarded as an essential member of multiple teams, Beast excels in a variety of game modes, offering a combination of healing, stat boosts, and utility to his allies. His kit is built around enhancing his teammates, making him a versatile and reliable support character.
With the ability to boost health, provide valuable debuff removal, and offer additional buffs, Beast has solidified his place in the roster of many players. This guide will walk you through Beast’s abilities, synergies, and the best strategies to maximize his potential in your team lineup.
Character Overview
Beast, whose real name is Dr. Henry McCoy, is a Hero, Global, Mutant, Support character in Marvel Strike Force. He is an integral member of the X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, Immortal X-Men, and Uncanny Avengers factions. Beast’s primary role in MSF is as a support character, enhancing his teammates through healing, cleansing debuffs, and providing other team-focused abilities.
In the Marvel comics, Beast was one of the founding members of the X-Men, known for his genius-level intellect and animalistic abilities. Originally a scientist seeking to cure the mutant gene, his experiment led to his mutation into a blue, ape-like form. This mutation granted him enhanced strength, agility, and reflexes, while his intellect remained a defining feature of his character.
Beast’s support-focused abilities make him invaluable to teams that rely on utility, healing, and debuff removal. His unique combination of synergies with Mutants, and his role in key X-Men-based factions, allows him to enhance the performance of any team he is a part of. Whether you’re utilizing him to cleanse debuffs, provide healing, or boost your team’s stats, Beast’s versatility makes him an essential character to have in your roster.
Abilities Breakdown
Beast’s abilities in Marvel Strike Force make him a highly versatile support character, capable of both enhancing his allies and disrupting enemies. Here’s a breakdown of his abilities:
Dignified Strikes
Level: 1
Damage: 100
Volatile Experiment
Level: 1
Damage: 80
Mutant Enhancement
Level: 1
Offense Up: 100
Stars and Garters
Level: 1
Gain Resistance: 0
Basic Ability: Dignified Strikes
Beast attacks the primary target for damage and hits adjacent targets as well. In addition to dealing damage, he flips one positive effect into a negative effect on each target, which is useful for removing buffs like Taunt or Deathproof from enemies.
When Beast performs a counter-attack or assist, he flips two positive effects into negative effects on each target, making his basic attack more impactful during counter-attacks and assists. This ability is particularly valuable against enemies that rely on positive effects, such as those with Deathproof or Defense Up. Although his basic attack provides decent utility, upgrading it is not recommended, as Beast’s damage is not his primary strength, with his damage rating being low.
Special Ability: Volatile Experiment
This ability has a low energy cost of 3 and provides a mixture of utility. Beast clears two negative effects from himself and heals the two most injured allies for 20% of his max health. This focused heal is not intended for the entire team but can significantly benefit key allies.
Additionally, Beast attacks all enemies for 250% damage, which can be upgraded to 300%. This special ability offers self-sustain, ally healing, and AoE damage, making it versatile for different situations. While similar to Squirrel Girl’s special in clearing negative effects, Beast’s version is focused on his own debuffs, and his AoE damage makes him more offensive. Upgrading this ability increases the negative effects cleared and boosts the damage dealt, but it may not be a high priority.
Ultimate Ability: Mutant Enhancement
Beast’s ultimate ability has a 6-turn cooldown and is available on turn 2. This powerful ability provides a variety of buffs to both Beast and his allies: Offense Up to self and all Blaster, Brawler, and X-Men allies, Defense Up to self and all Protector, Controller, and X-Men allies, Speed Up, and Ability Energy to self and all Support and X-Men allies, and Regeneration to self and all Mutant allies.
The stat boosts significantly enhance the performance of the entire X-Men team, making this ability invaluable in both offensive and defensive situations. It also benefits non-X-Men allies by applying important buffs like Offense Up to characters such as Ultron and Black Bolt, and Defense Up to characters like Hela and Invisible Woman. Upgrading this ability grants the Regeneration buff to self and Mutant allies, improving sustain for the team.
Passive Ability: Stars and Garters
Beast’s passive ability provides several key benefits, particularly for X-Men teams. If Beast has three or more X-Men allies at the start of battle, the first ally death does not count towards the loss of a medal in campaigns and challenges, which is especially helpful in modes where a loss of medal could impact rewards, such as when Phoenix often dies early.
Additionally, on his turn, Beast applies Regeneration to the most injured ally. If that ally is an X-Men, Beast also heals them for 15% of his max health. Beast and X-Men allies also gain 10% Resistance, which improves the team’s durability. This passive provides excellent sustain and resistance, helping the team remain effective in longer battles. Upgrading this passive increases the Resistance bonus, but it might not be a priority, as X-Men teams generally win quickly in most scenarios.
Combined, Beast’s abilities make him an excellent support character, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of X-Men teams with his healing, debuff removal, and team-wide stat boosts. His combination of utility and sustain makes him an essential part of many team compositions in MSF.
Synergies and Team Compositions
Beast’s abilities make him a valuable asset to a wide range of teams, especially those with the X-Men tag. His support skills and synergies can significantly boost the team’s performance in various game modes, such as raids and alliance wars.
Synergies
Beast is most effective when paired with other X-Men characters. His passive and ultimate abilities provide additional buffs to X-Men allies, enhancing their durability and damage output. Beast has a strong synergy with Storm; her basic attack grants her two charges instead of one if Beast is an ally, and her special has a 50% chance of not losing a charge if he’s on the team. Additionally, Beast’s ultimate ability grants offense up, which complements Storm’s AoE attacks.
With Phoenix, Beast’s passive ability ensures that the first ally death does not count towards the loss of medals, allowing Phoenix to transform into Dark Phoenix without penalty. His ultimate also provides offense up, making it ideal for Phoenix’s AoE attacks. Cyclops benefits from Beast’s ultimate as it grants offense up and speed up, boosting Cyclops’s AoE potential. Colossus thrives from Beast’s healing and the defense up granted by his ultimate ability. Beast also benefits other mutants, as his ultimate provides regeneration, offense up, defense up, and speed up, depending on the ally’s tag.
Team Compositions
Beast is a key member of the Astonishing X-Men, one of the top raid teams in Marvel Strike Force. A core team of Beast, Jubilee, and Bishop can be complemented with other mutants or non-mutants like Kestrel or Silver Surfer to form a powerful and durable team. Beast also works well in the Uncanny X-Men team alongside Phoenix, Colossus, Psylocke, and Cyclops, providing excellent synergy and support. In alliance war, a typical X-Men team might include Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Phoenix, Colossus, and Beast, with Beast and Colossus positioned on the ends for increased survivability.
His ultimate ability provides instant offense up, defense up, regeneration, and speed up to all X-Men allies, making the team more resilient and aggressive. Beast is also useful on hybrid teams, such as replacing Thanos or Vision on a BKT hybrid, where his buff-flipping ability helps to clear defense ups.
His ultimate ability can provide offense up to Ultron and Black Bolt, defense up to Hela and Invisible Woman, and speed up to Minerva, Scientist Supreme, and Ebony Maw. For raid teams, Beast can be paired with Storm, Colossus, Cyclops, and Phoenix, creating a powerful squad that benefits from Beast’s buffs, especially boosting Storm’s ultimate charges and providing offense up and speed up to key DPS characters like Cyclops and Phoenix.
Key Considerations
Beast excels as a support character and does not shine on his own. His abilities are designed to enhance his teammates, making him crucial to the success of the overall team. When first unlocked, Beast may be lower in power compared to other characters on your roster, but his contributions make the team much stronger. Beast’s fast cooldowns allow him to use his abilities frequently, providing continuous support throughout the battle. His versatility allows him to be effective across various team compositions and game modes.
In summary, Beast is an essential support character, particularly in X-Men teams, where his abilities provide crucial buffs and synergies. Whether in raids, alliance war, or hybrid teams, Beast’s versatile skill set makes him a valuable addition to many different team compositions in Marvel Strike Force.
Game Mode Analysis
Beast is a versatile character whose abilities make him useful across various game modes in Marvel Strike Force (MSF). However, his strengths and weaknesses become more apparent depending on the specific mode being played. Here’s an analysis of his effectiveness in each mode:
Alliance War
Beast is a valuable asset on offense in Alliance War. His ultimate ability, Mutant Enhancement, provides instant Offense Up, Defense Up, Regeneration, and Speed Up to all X-Men allies, significantly boosting their effectiveness. Pairing Beast with a team of X-Men like Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Phoenix, and Colossus can create a very powerful offensive setup. On defense, while Beast can be useful, some players prefer to use him on offense to counter specific teams, such as the Asgardians. His ability to flip positive effects with his basic attack can also help to strip buffs like Deathproof, making him effective in war scenarios. For team placement, Beast and Colossus are best positioned on the ends for better survivability.
Raids
Beast is considered a crucial support character in raids, particularly when paired with the Astonishing X-Men team. His healing, buffs, and energy generation make him invaluable for raid success. In this team, Beast works well with Jubilee and Bishop, with other mutants or even non-mutants like Kestrel or Silver Surfer filling the remaining slots. In addition, Beast can be very effective with Uncanny X-Men (e.g., Phoenix, Colossus, Psylocke, Cyclops), providing important synergies.
His passive ability is especially beneficial for Phoenix, allowing her to die and transform into Dark Phoenix without penalty. His ultimate ability can also be very useful in raids, especially if upgraded, providing defense up, offense up, and speed up to allies, while also generating extra energy. However, Beast may not be as useful in higher difficulty raids like Ultimus 7, where his healing and damage output might not be enough to help the team survive.
Blitz
Beast’s performance in Blitz is largely reliant on team synergies. While he doesn’t stand out on his own, he excels at boosting characters like Storm, turning her into a powerful threat by giving her extra charges for her ultimate attack. Some players have successfully used Beast in a BKT hybrid team to counter defense-ups, further showcasing his value as a support character. While he may initially be lower in power when unlocked, his ability to buff the team makes him valuable as a support. Additionally, his fast cooldowns make him effective in Blitz, allowing him to use his abilities frequently.
Campaigns and Challenges
Beast’s passive ability plays a crucial role in campaigns and challenges, where it prevents the first ally death from counting towards the loss of medals when paired with three or more X-Men allies. This is particularly helpful when using Phoenix, whose death is often part of her strategy. This passive can be especially valuable for newer players who haven’t yet three-starred all campaign and challenge nodes. In event campaigns, Beast can be helpful, provided that the X-Men team has the required tags.
Dark Dimension
Beast’s potential in Dark Dimension 3 (DD3) largely depends on his stats, particularly his speed and healing output. If Beast is too slow or lacks the necessary survivability, he may not be as effective in this mode. However, he can be useful in Global Nodes if his stats are high enough to make a difference in the team’s sustain.
Cosmic Crucible
On defense in Cosmic Crucible, Beast’s team can be tricky for opponents, but they might not be as formidable as they are in Alliance War. Success in Cosmic Crucible with Beast depends on having the right team composition and proper ISO setup.
Arena
While Beast can be used in Arena, he is not expected to drastically change the meta. Teams like the Black Order remain dominant in the Arena, and Beast alone will not disrupt this balance. To be viable in Arena, Beast will need to be ranked up sufficiently.
General Considerations
Beast is most effective when used with other X-Men characters. His abilities are designed to enhance his teammates, and he excels in team-based compositions rather than as an individual powerhouse. His performance in modes like raids and Dark Dimension depends heavily on his stats, particularly health, speed, and healing output.
In summary, Beast excels in modes where his team-enhancing abilities are most beneficial, particularly in raids and Alliance War. While he can also contribute to Blitz and campaigns, his effectiveness in Arena and Dark Dimension will depend on his stats and synergies with other characters.
Iso-8 Recommendations
Beast is a support character who excels at enhancing his teammates with healing and buffs, making his Iso-8 class essential for maximizing his effectiveness. The ideal Iso-8 class for Beast generally depends on the team composition and the specific game mode, but survivability stats like Health and Armor should be prioritized to optimize his role.
For most situations, the Healer Iso-8 class is the preferred choice. This class boosts his healing abilities, which is crucial for improving the durability of his team, especially in game modes like raids where survivability is vital. Alternatively, if his team already has strong survivability, the Skirmisher class could be a good choice to boost Beast’s offensive capabilities, providing extra damage potential in modes like raids or Alliance War.
When it comes to specific stats, focusing on Health and Armor is ideal, given Beast’s role as a support character who provides sustain and buffs. As for Resistance, while Beast already has decent resistance, enhancing it further through Iso-8 isn’t a high priority.
In team compositions, for teams like Astonishing X-Men, the Healer class is generally the best choice, as it enhances the team’s survivability. However, in less challenging content or situations where defense isn’t a major concern, switching Beast to a Skirmisher class can add more offense to the team, making him more versatile. For general X-Men teams, the Healer class is again a solid option, though Skirmisher can be used when additional damage output is desired.
In game modes like Raids, the Healer class is typically the preferred option to enhance overall survivability. However, in Alliance War, if you need more offensive power, Beast can take on a Skirmisher role to deal more damage. In other game modes, the ideal Iso-8 class will depend on the specific needs of your team and the mode itself.
Overall, the Healer class is the primary recommendation for Beast, as it maximizes his utility as a support character, improving healing and survivability for his team. However, the Skirmisher class is a good alternative when additional damage is needed, particularly in modes like War or when survivability is less of a concern. Focus on Health and Armor stats to bolster Beast’s durability, and be prepared to adapt his Iso-8 class based on your team’s needs and the challenges you face in each game mode.
Red Star Prioritization
Red Stars are a key part of character progression in Marvel Strike Force (MSF), significantly boosting a character’s stats. For Beast, prioritizing Red Stars is important to maximize his effectiveness as a support character. Since Beast’s role revolves around enhancing his team through buffs and healing, Red Stars should be focused on improving his survivability and other relevant stats.
To optimize Beast’s performance, aim for at least four Red Stars, as this will provide a significant boost to his health, damage, armor, focus, and resistance. Having five Red Stars further enhances these attributes, making him even more durable and effective in his support role. If resources permit, six or seven Red Stars can be a worthwhile investment, but these higher Red Stars are generally reserved for players who have already invested heavily in Beast and his synergy with X-Men teams.
Health should be the primary stat focus, as it directly impacts Beast’s survivability and the amount of healing he can provide to his team. Resistance is also important but less critical, since Beast already has a reasonably high base resistance. Armor is another key stat for increasing his durability, and Focus can be helpful for landing debuffs. While damage is not a priority for Beast, increasing speed could be beneficial since it helps him use his abilities more frequently.
The ideal time to invest in Red Stars for Beast is when he is first released, as there may be boosted drop rates during that period. Additionally, players who are building the Astonishing X-Men team should prioritize Beast’s Red Stars, especially if they frequently use him in high-level content like raids. Elite 4 and Elite 5 Orbs can also be used to obtain higher Red Stars for Beast, helping to enhance his overall effectiveness.
While Beast with low Red Stars may still perform his role, he will have reduced survivability, healing output, and buff effectiveness. These drawbacks highlight the importance of investing in his Red Stars to ensure he can support the team more effectively. However, it’s important not to overspend on Red Stars in order to maximize daily milestones, and it may be helpful to test Beast with different Red Star levels to see what works best for your team composition and strategy.
In conclusion, prioritizing Red Stars for Beast is crucial to enhance his survivability and support role. Aim for at least four Red Stars and focus on health, armor, focus, and resistance stats to maximize his effectiveness. Investing early, especially during boosted drop rates, is ideal, and if resources allow, aim for five or more Red Stars to further increase his value on X-Men teams, particularly in high-level content like raids.
Conclusion
Beast is a valuable support character who enhances the effectiveness of X-Men teams, especially the Astonishing X-Men, through his healing, buffs, and unique abilities. As a member of the X-Men, Beast significantly boosts his team’s survivability and damage output, making him an essential asset. While his full potential is realized with mutant teams, especially X-Men, he doesn’t perform as well outside of these synergies.
Beast works best when paired with X-Men characters like Storm, Phoenix, Cyclops, and Colossus, though he can also be used effectively with Uncanny X-Men and other mutant teams. His abilities are designed to complement these allies, including his basic attack, which flips positive effects into negative ones on enemies during counterattacks and assists.
His special ability clears negative effects from himself, heals the two most injured allies, and attacks all enemies, while his ultimate, Mutant Enhancement, provides offense up, defense up, speed up, and regeneration to X-Men allies. His passive ability ensures that the first ally death doesn’t impact star loss in campaign and challenge modes, also providing healing and resistance to the most injured ally. However, this passive does not apply in raids, which some players find disappointing.
For Iso-8 recommendations, Beast is best equipped with the Healer class, enhancing his healing and survivability, particularly in raids. The Skirmisher class is a viable alternative if the team already has good survivability and you want to add offensive power. Prioritize Health and Armor for maximum effectiveness as a support character.
When it comes to Red Stars, aim for at least four Red Stars to significantly boost his health, damage, armor, focus, and resistance. Five Red Stars or more further enhance his survivability and effectiveness. Investing early when Beast is first released is ideal due to boosted drop rates, and using Elite Orbs can help obtain higher Red Stars. Focus on Health, Armor, and Focus for the best stat priorities.
Beast excels in raids and Alliance War, where his buffs and healing are highly beneficial. He is also useful in blitz, arena, and Dark Dimension, though his effectiveness in these modes depends on his stats. In campaigns and challenges, his passive ability is especially helpful for guaranteeing three-star victories. However, Beast is not generally recommended for non-mutant teams. For team placement, it’s best to position him alongside Colossus on the ends of the team, as both can withstand the most damage.
Some players have raised concerns about his passive not applying in raids and feel his kit could be stronger, such as flipping two positive effects instead of one with his basic attack. Additionally, Beast’s overall effectiveness is influenced by his speed and health stats, so it’s important to tailor his upgrades accordingly. Testing different team combinations and strategies will help unlock the best use for Beast.
Looking ahead, Beast’s kit seems future-proofed for the release of new X-Men characters, and his synergy with Storm is particularly notable, allowing her to charge her ultimate faster. In conclusion, Beast is a strong support character, best utilized in X-Men teams, particularly Astonishing X-Men. Prioritizing his survivability through Iso-8 and Red Stars will make him an invaluable asset in multiple game modes, including raids, war, campaigns, and challenges.
