It has been a while since the last Marvel Ultimate Alliance game, nearly 10 years. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order recently came out on the 19th, rebooting the series and bringing back a lot of the classic features from the older titles. One of those features is Team Bonuses, which increase the stats of the characters, giving players more power to complete challenges.
There are six stats that Team Bonuses effect. One is Strength which deals with a hero's physical attack power. Another is Durability which is their defense, then there's Mastery that affects the amount of damage done with energy and ethereal attacks. Resilience is their resistance to said energy attacks, Vitality is their HP and Energy is how much EP they have. There are 36 playable characters, making many different teams combinations to create, and bonuses to benefit from. Here is the Ultimate Guide to Team Bonuses.
7 Brush Up On Marvel Lore
Most comic book fans will be pleased with the way Team Bonuses work, as they're based on the Marvel Comics lore of these characters. For example, the Team Bonus "Original Avengers" can be used by Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, and Hulk. Captain America isn't included in this one as he was still frozen in ice when the Avengers first formed. Players who want to get the most out of each individual Team Bonus will want to team up multiple characters with the same bonus, as it will give the bonus an even bigger boost.
6 Most Characters Have More Than One Team Bonus
Throughout the Marvel Universe, there have been a number of crossovers, alliances, and team-ups between characters. While no one could say that every mashup has been on good terms, the heroes of the Marvel Universe always come together when a threat is big enough. So players will find that most characters have more than one Team Bonus attached to them.
For example Black Widow, so far, has seven different Team Bonus applied to her. She has Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Agile Fighters, Femme Fatales and Web Warriors to name a few. It's possible to utilize more than one bonus for a team, as only two characters with the same bonus are needed to trigger it.
5 When In Doubt Pick Wolverine
There are 36 playable characters, with more coming out in DLC, so it's understandable to be a little indecisive on who to put on the squad and which bonuses to utilize. As mentioned before, most characters have more than one Team Bonus they can use. And one of the best characters to start off with, who has a lot of Team Bonuses is Wolverine.
He uses both the X-Men and X-Force bonuses, Anti-Hero, Cutting Edge (because of his claws), Martial Artists, New Avengers, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He also has the Healing Factor Hero Trait, which means he heals over time.
4 More Teambuilding Tips
Most of the characters fall into specific archetypes, so there isn't a real need to put them all on the same team, even if they do make a Team Bonus. For example Spider-Man, Miles Morale,s and Spider Gwen all play similarly; they're nimble, quick and mostly fight above ground. So having one on the team for a fast aerial fighter is a good idea. Hulk is a tank, so while he's slow he can dish out and take a lot of damage.
Scarlet Witch makes for a great support character, both because she has the ability to slow enemies down and because she gains the ability to heal allies once she's leveled up enough. And put in a character like Captain America or Thor, with fairly solid stats, to round everything off for a pretty great team.
3 Mix 'N Match For Best Results
As of right now, there are 20 different Team Bonus available in Ultimate Alliance 3. Some of them only have a few characters categorized in them, and others have a ton. Each Team Bonus gives a sizable boost to one of the six stats, which is pretty good. But the best way to utilize the Team Bonuses is to find the right combination that gives a good balance between each of the stats.
For example, starting off, three of the best characters to keep in rotation are Venom, Wolverine and Scarlet Witch. Especially Venom and Wolverine, as they give the Anti-Heroes Team Bonus, which gives a 2% boost to Strength. Pairing these two with other characters that will work with their abilities is the best way to efficiently use Team Bonuses and use Synergy Attacks to make combos.
2 But What Are Synergy Attacks?
Players will find that holding the R button will allow them to access their characters' special abilities. Characters that have complementary abilities, and are close by, can be triggered to create powerful combo attacks! There are 15 Abilities to master and these abilities can be combined to perform 14 different Synergy Attacks.
For example, a character that has the Bash ability can combine it with another character with an Elemental Trait (Burn, Freeze, Shock, Whirlwind), and create the Synergy Attack combo Catalyst. Catalyst will give the attack a larger range, allowing characters to hit enemies further away from them. Being able to perform Synergy Attacks is the key to winning fights in the game.
1 Team Bonuses Aren't Everything
While Team Bonuses give a boost to the power of the team and can certainly help, building a team solely off of these bonuses isn't the best way to play the game. There is no "perfect" or "best" team really, each character has their strengths and weakness. It is up to the player to determine which of these characters suit them and how to best utilize their abilities and stats in a team.
If a player wants to focus on Durability a team that includes Luke Cage, DareDevil or Deadpool is a good way to go. For strength, it is hard to go wrong with either Hulk, Venom or Wolverine on the team. And Wasp, Star-Lord and Scarlet Witch are pretty good for Energy.