With Marvel's Avengers officially launching today on PS4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC, everyone will get the opportunity to jump into the shoes of their favorite Avenger from the game's launch roster. While more Heroes will be added to the game down the line such as Hawkeye and Kate Bishop, to start you'll have the game's core team of six Avengers: Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and Ms. Marvel.
If you're picking up the game today and plan to fight alongside the rest of Earth's Mightiest Heroes but don't know where to start, don't worry: we have you covered. After spending some time with the game throughout this week, here are a few tips to get started with Marvel's Avengers, because we love you 3000.
Play through the campaign
When you first boot up Marvel's Avengers, one of the key things that the game suggests is that you should spend some time with the story campaign before delving into the Avengers Initiative, which houses all of its multiplayer and co-op modes. While you have the option to jump into the multiplayer early on, going through the campaign for Marvel's Avengers is a solid way to get acquainted with what to expect from how it plays, what multiplayer is like, and of course, to experience its action-packed story.
The campaign is pretty great in its own right, especially coming from Tomb Raider's Crystal Dynamics. Unlike other similar "live-service games" such as Destiny 2 or The Division, the campaign for Marvel's Avengers is an entirely story-driven experience that is built with that in mind and isn't a framework for the multiplayer on top of a story. Taking you through the events of Kamala Khan as she attempts to reassemble the Avengers to fight off a dangerous organization known as AIM, the campaign tells a well-crafted story featuring each of the Avengers and is worth seeing through to the end.
For the most part, the campaign serves as a good introduction to each of the different characters you'll play as--Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and Ms. Marvel--and setting up the basic story for the Avengers Initiative. The campaign also doesn't take a ton of time to complete, but still offers a solid experience. If you stick to the main story missions, the campaign will take about 10-12 hours to complete, but there are additional missions and objectives you can complete to extend it further.
Learn the ins and outs of each Avenger
Whether you decide to finish the campaign or not, the earliest recommendation when getting started with Marvel's Avengers is to really spend some time getting to know each and every character before deciding to stick with a "main" or specific playstyle. Though the basic controls for each of the Avengers are mostly the same, they each have their own unique powers, abilities, and quirks, and with the addition of customization, how one Avenger plays with one player could change depending on how they are kitted out.
On a base level, Captain America and Black Widow are the characters you'll want to go to for fast-paced close combat encounters with some ranged options, such as Cap's shield and Black Widow's dual pistols. Iron Man is primarily your go-to for ranged combat, as he can fly around the map and blast foes with his repulsor beams to provide support from above. Thor similarly has the ability to fly and can throw Mjolnir, but he also is a bit more serviceable up close by bashing foes with his hammer and hitting them with lightning attacks. Ms. Marvel is agile and great at crowd control with her ability to embiggen her limbs, while Hulk is your clear standout for being a tank, at the expense of some of the other characters' mobility.
Each character has their own set of skills that you'll be able to unlock over time as you play as them and level up, so there is a lot to work with in Marvel's Avengers. Naturally, you'll probably want to gravitate towards playing as a specific character or two, but given that you can't have two of the same character in a team for the multiplayer modes, it will be helpful to have some basic familiarity with how each Avenger plays from one another.
Equip the best gear and use Power Boosts
Much like Destiny, Marvel's Avengers goes big on gear and leveling up your characters as you play. Maybe a bit...too much. Regardless, there is a lot of customization at play that can let you tailor each and every Avenger to your own specific playstyle, and for the most part, that is all dependent on which gear you equip on your Avenger of choice.
Avengers uses a color code system to note the rarity of each piece of equipment that you earn: white (Common), green (Uncommon), blue (Rare), purple (Epic), orange (Legendary), and red (Exotic). As you pick up new items, you'll want to head to the "Gear" section of the menu to explore what your options are for your current Avenger and how to improve their stats by equipping better gear, which the game will periodically remind you to do if you have new and improved gear in your inventory.
Generally, the focus is equipping new gear with higher stats to improve your character's Power and their specific stats (Melee, Ranged, Defense, and Heroic), depending on what type of build for that character you want to make. Higher rarity gear (from Uncommon and above) also gives the player access to new Perks that can enhance the abilities and powers of each character, giving you more flexibility in how you kit them out. Additionally, you can also use Power Boosts to improve a specific piece of gear by using resources you collect from missions. While Uncommon and Rare items can only be boosted a few times, once you get access to Epic gear (and above), you'll be able to boost them a substantial number of times to make them even more powerful.
Consider Mission Modifiers and completing Assignments
Every mission you complete in Marvel's Avengers will offer a requisite number of rewards after completing it, mainly in the form of resources and gear that you can use to upgrade your characters and improve their Power level. However, you can potentially enhance what you earn through a mission by going after specific tasks and challenges whether you're going through the campaign or completing War Table objectives with friends.
Before taking on a mission on the War Table, one of the first things you should check are the Mission Modifiers that may impact how challenging a mission may be. Mission Modifiers highlight specific obstacles or challenges you may face while playing, such as hazards in the environments, buffs for certain enemy types, or specific types of damage that may be boosted for enemies against your team. With this knowledge, that should give you the opportunity to either switch up the gear that your team has to counter the Modifiers, or consider taking on a different mission where you may have a higher chance of success.
Additionally, you should also spend some time chatting with the different Faction vendors (SHIELD and Inhuman) that you can find on the Chimera, which each offer their own challenges to complete called Assignments. There are both Daily and Weekly Assignments that rotate gradually between the vendors, but if you plan on playing Avengers consistently, make sure to check what Assignments are available to see what you can complete to work your way towards Faction gear and rewards.
Explore each area for hidden chests and secrets
Once you start delving into missions from the War Table, you'll find that Avengers puts you into several open environments with a lot of room to explore. While each mission you take will have a specific mission or objective to complete, you'll also have the opportunity to uncover hidden areas and challenges that can help you unlock special gear or items.
Whether before or after you complete an objective while on a strike team, give yourself time to explore different areas to see if you can find hidden areas that can potentially net you some useful new gear or items. Specifically, make sure to listen to Jarvis -- he'll often point you in the right direction towards an item chest or other loot that you can find while exploring the environment. The Tactical Awareness ability for all of the Avengers will also give you a hand to identify objects in the environment that you can interact with, such as breakable walls and door switches, or to identify other objective markers in the area.
Marvel's Avengers is available now on PS4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC, with the game also coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X at a later date. For more on the game, stay tuned for our upcoming review, which should be hitting early next week.