Anyone Else?: Personal Spec Op 14 Log

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Foreword

This is just a personal log, but I will insert suggestions along the way. Don't take them as the absolutely "correct" way of going through the Op. Cross-reference guides from other people and your own judgment and you'll definitely get Heimdall.

Before Anything Else

415 CPs worth of heroes? Looks heavy for free players, right? In my case, the total cost of this would be 175 CPs (got MB from the second sale for 160 and She-Hulk for 15 way way back) + the effort during Valk's SO. I think, for some, this is even free (just effort during SO 1 and 5 and unlocking PVP if they chose She-Hulk). For players who are not around during SO 1 and 5, you'd need at least 400 CPs.

Well, don't decide to give out that 25 Gold just yet. With the seemingly scarce CP-drop rate, you might think that you won't have enough time to farm that much CP. Yes, you can. Back in the day, the total CPs only go to about 300. But we didn't have 12.2 before. Plus, the tasks (both from SO and Season 2) reward CPs every now and then. You also get some from lockboxes. There's a chance from the daily roulette. There's no reason to think you can't gather that much CP in 20+ days. (Never believe anyone who tell you these things are rigged to not give you CP when you need it. Ask Titeuf, it's just all about math.

Although, right now, there's a really good reason to weigh things up to decide on spending that 25 Gold on the last task. That's because we have Covert Ops requiring heroes (and high CP-cost ones at that). Veteran players might not have a problem because they already have most heroes, but newer ones would sometimes have to choose. In any case, it is still possible to farm 595 (415 for SO, 180 for Moon Knight's covert) CPs. But you'll need time (+ allies for the energy) and unfortunately not all of us have that. I'm pretty sure M:AA is not the only thing you care in life. In that regard, spending the 25 Gold may be a "practical" option.

In any case, the best thing to do, IMO, is to try and farm and go through the tasks until you only have the epic boss task remaining. Then, wait it out until the last day before you skip with Gold.

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Another thing, don't miss a day during the Spec Op. That's because of the U-ISO. Even if you won't be playing, just spin the roulette, try to fulfill your gift limit in U-ISOs, and visit your allies.

Efficient Paths

Not really 100% sure yet about this part. Proceed with caution.

Mission 1:

• Medium -> Medium -> Low -> High -> High -> High -> Destroyer.

Mission 2:

• Only thing I've tried is the epic run.

Mission 3:

• This seems to have a random initial load.
• High -> High -> High -> Medium -> Medium -> Malekith (+ Two earliest deploys)

Task Progress

Task 1: Dark Times

• Defeat 10 Dark Elves.
• Mission 1 is all we have at this point, so go ahead and fight the new grunts.
• There's really not much decision making here. Just go for the highest threat available. If you don't have all heroes, then you might want to reserve a fight with a Valkyrie team-up to open a two-bird opportunity. Otherwise, you will need to do the next tasks on the mini-bosses.

Task 2: To Arms!

• Use Sif’s Leaping Slash 4 Times.
• Use Valkyrie’s Dragonfang 4 Times.
• Since I have them, I reserved my U-ISOs and did this outside the Op. Any mission for me. Did it in one battle. Had to use some Phoenix Essence to heal the enemies, though.
• If you don't have Sif, she's a team-up in S1M5.1 and S1M7.4. You will save 20 U-ISOs and open an opportunity for two-bird.
• Valkyrie would be a team-up in one normal battle so you can avoid the mini-boss. It's not too bad to do this in the mini-boss, though. If you don't have the Doombringer or Epic Overkill machines in your arsenal, you will need to do two runs anyway (needed for a later task).

Task 3: Thunderer

• Use Thor’s Hammer Throw 5 Times.
• Again, my personal take is to use it outside the op.
• Go for Kurse if you are prepared to do two runs anyway. Otherwise, you may team-up with Thor in these missions.

Task 4: Weapon of the Ancients

• Defeat the Destroyer.
• Battled this construct with all the mini-bosses saving 60 U-ISOs. Used the Doombringer strategy, but I think you'll get high enough score for two stars as long as you go three-of-a-kind. Just keep all your characters alive, do heavy damage, yada yada.
• I can't remember anything that made my battle difficult, but it would be different for lower levels.

Task 5: Behemoth

• Complete a battle with Kurse.
• So, they decided to put this task before the 8-hour research this time, eh? That's a good move, IMO. Took a little bite out of my own Kurse. I just did the 5%, killed his goons, and recharged 'til he fled. Then, I left his arse for my allies to kick.
• It just makes sense to me that he's not tougher than Thanos. So, no complaints from me about him being an "easy" Group Boss.
• Go ahead and spawn your Group boss. I recommend that you do as I did - just bite off the 5% and let him go. Let your allies do their thing. You'll complete the task no matter the outcome of the battle.

Task 6: Face off

• Research the Dark Elf Mask in the Lab.
• I'm pretty sure anyone would have enough U-ISOs to do the research. So, don't think twice about it. Get the research up and running.
• While waiting, go forth and farm CPs or whatever else you're chasing for in the normal missions. You may do your second run of the mission if you only got one, but I'd recommend doing that after you've unlocked the Lockbox task.

Task 7: Unmasked

• Use 5 Dark Elf Masks to break the illusions used by 5 Dark Elves.
• Outside the Op. One battle.
• Anyone can do that, too. :D

Task 8: Versus

• Fight 5 PVP Battles.
• Practice fights!
• I tried to keep the fights fast by equipping sucky items plus choosing low-vitality heroes. But dang, the AI just doesn't want to kill me fast. So, I went back to my actual attacking team for fast battles.

Task 9: A Giant Problem

• Defeat 10 Jotuns.
• I opened M2 and battled the highest threat available. I'm doing deploys since I'm running this thing to epic.
• Before going to mission 2, I recommend getting that second star for mission 1 first. If you're battling Dark Elves after task 7, then finish off that run first.

Task 10: Mission Accomplished

• Get 2 Stars of Mastery in Mission 1.
• Auto-complete for me. Three-of-a-Kind run FTW.
• If you followed my advice, then this would be also an auto-complete for you. Otherwise, go and finish mission 2 and run mission 1 again. If you're not running mission 2 to epic, you might need to do another run anyway. So, you can finish some later tasks through that second run.

Task 11: Gone Clubbing

• Create the Stone Golem Club in the Lab.
• Well, research this thing. Again, do what you gotta do while waiting.
• After the research, if you have a Group Boss reward ready for collection, don't collect them yet. You'll need it later.

Task 12: Blunt Instrument

• Equip the Stone Golem Club.
• Use the Stone Golem Club in Combat.
  • Equip and use the Stone Mace.
  • Haha! Nice flavor text on the weapon. "Anyone Else?"
• Simple enough. I did this outside the Op.

Task 13: Sight Beyond Sight

• Use Heimdall’s Vigilance 2 times
• Use Heimdall’s Uru Blade 3 times
• Use Heimdall’s Gjallarhorn 2 times
• I did this all in one battle at the Jotun mini-boss team-up. I used a few Chrono Accelerators and some Phoenix Essences to prolong the battle. (Vigilance and Gjallarhorn got long cooldowns.)
• We all need to do this within the Op.

Task 14: Son of Secrets

• Collect 5 Mischievous Lockboxes.
• Remember when I told you to not collect that Group Boss reward? That's for this. I had my own GB reward at the ready. So, all I needed to do was collect it.
• If you have nothing to collect, battle your allies' GBs and try to score KOs as much as possible to get LBs.
• If there's not enough LBs readily available for you, just be patient. With enough allies, you'll have them. If you want to spend up to 5 Gold to get them, then that's for you to decide. There's no need to hurry anyway.

Task 15: Some Enchanted Evening

• Defeat Enchantress
• I'm still within mission 2 at this point. So, I just went ahead and fought Amora with Executioner. I didn't use the Doombringer here. Loki has a counter passive and the Jotuns are diminishing HP every turn, so less one-shot opportunity.

Task 16: Lab Practical

• Create the Eclipse in the Lab.
• I'm currently researching this. Still have more than 24 hours. I use the waiting time to gather U-ISOs and farm Empowered ISOs.
• After this is done, hold off on collecting your U-ISO gifts or visiting your alies.

Task 17: Dark Side of the Moon

• Equip the Eclipse.
• Use the Eclipse in Combat.
• Easy enough. I did this outside the Op. But it won't be bad if you did it as you start the run of mission 3 (or maybe mission 2 if you still lack a star) since you'll need to progress there for later boss tasks.

Task 18: Mission Accomplished

• Get 2 Stars of Mastery in Mission 2.
• Already done.
• Do mission 2 if you still lack a star.

Task 19: Hoarder

• Collect 20 Unstable Iso-8.
• Remember when I told you to hold off on the gifts and visits? This is what it's for. Well, you can also farm from combat. Won't be much of a limiting factor.

Task 20: Trickster

• Use Loki's Fog of Chaos 2 Times.
• Hmmm, currently on mission 3. So, did this 'til I got to Wrecker.
• But I think there's something better: If you haven't started mission 3, then go back to mission 1. Do this in the Loki team-up there. We'll need the star, and you;ll need to reserve the limited Svartalfheim battles for a later task.

Task 21: Grim Strength

• Fight Kurse 3 times.
• No GBs right now for me. I'll just wait it out and level up my heroes.
• Finally got my hands on enough Kurses.

Task 22: Field Trip

• Complete 4 Combats in Svartalfheim.
• After task 21, I battled Malekith to finish my first run of mission 3 which counted towards this task.
• Then, I ran the mission again to complete this task. There are 5 portals on the map and three of them are for the bosses. I only got two from the grunts so had to give up three-of-a-kind. Meh.

Task 23: The Accursed

• Defeat Malekith.
• Battled him. With this, I end my second run of mission 3.

Task 24: Mission Accomplished

• Complete 3 Stars of Mastery in all Spec Op 14 Missions.
• I only need another star for this and I want to catch some sleep. So, this would be for tomorrow. In any case, I'm pretty sure I can get the star with just another run of mission 1.
• Finished.

Task 25: Darkness Falls

• Defeat Malekith (again, but the Epic Boss incarnation).
• Just an epic run of mission 2 for me.

Yay! Heimdall!

Mission Progress

Mission 1

• Cumulative Score: 1,019,746
• Stars: 3
• Total Runs: 2

Mission 2

• Cumulative Score: 1,959,015
• Stars: 4
• Total Runs: 3

Mission 3

• Cumulative Score: 1,921,200
• Stars: 4
• Total Runs: 6

Lockbox Progress

Current Task: All Completed

Lockboxes Opened: 210

Duplicates: 13

Group Boss Tips

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