Marvel Strike Force Hela Guide

Introduction

Hela, the Goddess of Death, is a formidable character in Marvel Strike Force (MSF), renowned for her unique abilities and strategic value. Her kit is centered on spreading debuffs, summoning powerful minions, and maintaining survivability, making her a versatile asset across multiple game modes. With her ability to disrupt enemy teams and synergize effectively with allies like Iron Man (Zombie) and Asgardians, Hela stands out as a must-have character. This Marvel Strike Force Hela Guide highlights her strengths, emphasizing the importance of investing in her gear, abilities, and team compositions to maximize her impact on the battlefield.

Hela plays a pivotal role in unlocking two legendary characters: Black Bolt, through her synergy with the Asgardian team, and Phoenix, as a vital member of the minion team required for her event. Additionally, a recent rework has significantly enhanced her power, especially when paired with Iron Man (Zombie), creating a devastating duo capable of overwhelming opponents in key game modes. Players can also farm Hela’s shards from the Villains 7-6 node, though this challenging level requires a strong team of Mystic Villain characters.

This guide will explore Hela’s abilities, recommended T4 upgrades, optimal gear priorities, ISO-8 class recommendations, and team synergies. It will also cover her strategic uses in raids, war, and other game modes, providing a comprehensive roadmap for maximizing her potential in your roster.

Abilities

Hela’s abilities are built around disrupting enemies, spreading negative effects, and maintaining control over the battlefield with her Undead Asgardian summon, Greg. Her kit provides a blend of offensive power, sustainability, and utility, making her a versatile character. Here’s a detailed breakdown of her abilities:

Black Blade

Level: 1

Damage: 80

Command Undead

Level: 1

Damage: 120

Death Knives

Level: 1

Damage: 130

Goddess of Death

Level: 1

Gain Max Health: 5

Basic Ability – Black Blade:
Hela attacks the primary target for 300% damage and flips one Deathproof. She then targets the most injured enemy for 100% piercing damage, bypassing Taunt. This attack allows Hela to exploit low-health targets while ignoring traditional defenses, forcing opponents to plan their team protection carefully.

Special Ability – Command Undead:
This ability deals 350% damage to the primary target and applies Disrupt for 2 turns. It also triggers an assist from Greg, her Undead Asgardian summon. The combination of Disrupt and Greg’s attack makes this move effective for neutralizing key enemy abilities, such as healing or buff applications, while dealing significant damage.

Ultimate Ability – Death Knives:
Hela’s ultimate is available on turn 1 and delivers an area-of-effect (AoE) attack that clears 3 Deathproofs from all enemies, with +5000% extra Focus ensuring its success. It deals 350% damage to all enemies and spreads 4 negative effects from the primary target to all others (excluding Stun). This ability excels at dismantling Deathproof-heavy teams and turning the tide by spreading debilitating effects across the battlefield.

Passive Ability – Goddess of Death:
Hela’s passive ability summons Greg, her Undead Asgardian, at the start of the battle. If Greg is defeated, he is immediately resummoned. Hela also heals for 5% of her Max Health (plus an additional 5% per non-summoned Asgardian ally) whenever she Taunts. She gains 15% Max Health and grants this bonus to all her summoned Asgardian allies.

On War Defense, Hela summons an additional Greg at the start of the battle and gains 25% Damage, along with her Asgardian allies. This makes her a formidable presence in Alliance War defense.

Undead Asgardian (Greg):
Greg’s abilities enhance Hela’s control over the battlefield:

Basic Attack – Heavy Slash: Deals 260% piercing damage to the primary target and applies Heal Block.

Special Ability – Dark Sacrifice: Deals 400% piercing damage to the primary target, applies 2 Bleeds, and sacrifices himself by taking 2000% piercing damage. This action cannot miss but can be dodged.

Passive – Undeath: Upon death, Greg heals the most injured non-summoned Asgardian ally for 180% of his Max Health.

Greg’s relentless presence adds constant pressure to opponents. His damage, ability to disrupt healing, and sacrificial mechanics ensure Hela’s team benefits from his death while creating havoc for enemies. Combined with Hela’s skills, Greg provides sustainability, battlefield control, and synergy, cementing Hela’s place as a valuable and disruptive force in Marvel Strike Force.

Kit Breakdown

Hela’s abilities are designed for maximum disruption and control, leveraging her synergy with negative effects and her summoned minion, Greg. Here’s a detailed look at how her kit works and how to utilize it effectively:

Black Blade – The Pressure Point

Hela’s basic attack strikes with precision and purpose. By flipping a Deathproof and attacking the most injured enemy, she bypasses Taunts and prioritizes taking out weakened opponents. This makes her a consistent threat in prolonged battles, forcing enemies to manage their health pools carefully. Her ability to focus on vulnerable targets ensures that no enemy is safe from her reach.

Command Undead – Disruption and Damage

Hela’s special ability brings both control and extra damage. Applying Disrupt for 2 turns on the primary target shuts down their ability to gain buffs or heal, neutralizing characters who rely on these mechanics. Greg’s assist further amplifies the damage and disruption potential, ensuring the enemy remains vulnerable and pressured throughout the fight.

Death Knives – A Debuffing Deluge

Hela’s ultimate ability is her signature move, delivering a devastating combination of control and damage. By clearing multiple Deathproofs from the entire enemy team, she disrupts defensive strategies that rely on this mechanic. The highlight, however, is her ability to spread 4 negative effects from the primary target to all others. This powerful effect can cripple entire teams, turning their strengths into liabilities and creating opportunities to dominate the battlefield.

Goddess of Death – Sustainability and Synergy

Hela’s passive ability is what ties her entire kit together. She summons Greg at the start of battle, and his death triggers an immediate resummon, ensuring a constant presence of her loyal Undead Asgardian. She also heals on Taunt, granting her survivability when paired with tanks or facing aggressive enemies. Her Max Health boost to herself and summoned allies enhances the durability of Greg and any other summoned characters, increasing their overall effectiveness in battle.

Greg – More Than Just a Minion

Greg’s presence on the battlefield extends far beyond a typical summon. His Heal Block from basic attacks shuts down enemy recovery, while his Bleed application adds to Hela’s already impressive damage output. His self-sacrificing special ability deals significant piercing damage and applies Bleeds, and Hela’s passive ensures he is resummoned immediately. This cycle makes Greg a relentless source of disruption and utility.

Key Synergies

Loki: Loki’s defense down and Blind applications amplify Hela’s effectiveness, while Hela’s Asgardian synergy boosts Loki’s damage potential.

Thanos: Thanos provides energy regeneration to help Hela charge her ultimate faster. His tanking abilities also protect her, allowing her to focus on offense.

Mordo: Mordo’s stuns and blinds complement Hela’s control-heavy playstyle, further preventing enemies from retaliating effectively.

Iron Man (Zombie): This pairing elevates Hela’s ultimate to the next level, enabling her to spread all negative effects, making her an unrivaled debuffing powerhouse.

Strategic Considerations

Target Prioritization: Focus on enemies that can cleanse debuffs or provide healing, as they counter Hela’s primary strengths. Disabling these characters early ensures her debuffs remain effective.

Deathproof Management: Use Hela’s ultimate strategy to clear Deathproof from key targets, exposing them to follow-up attacks from your team.

Positioning: Protect Hela with strong tanks like Thanos or Juggernaut, as she is vulnerable to focused attacks. Maintaining her presence on the field is key to maximizing her impact.

Hela’s kit is a masterclass in disruption and control, making her a must-have character for players looking to dominate in Marvel Strike Force. When used effectively, her abilities can dismantle enemy strategies and secure victory for her team.

Gearing and T4 Priorities

Hela’s power and utility make her a worthwhile investment, but her gear and T4 upgrades require careful prioritization to maximize her effectiveness. Properly gearing Hela ensures she can thrive in any game mode, while targeted T4 upgrades enhance her abilities and synergy with her summon, Greg.

Gearing

Hela is a gear-intensive character, reflecting her value as a top-tier asset in Marvel Strike Force. Properly equipping her ensures she can survive longer battles and deliver significant damage.

Suggested Gear Level: Gear 15 and Level 90 is a strong baseline, but Gear 16 is highly recommended if resources allow. The stat boosts from teal gear significantly improve her survivability, damage output, and effectiveness.

Stat Prioritization: Focus on gear pieces that improve the following attributes:

Health: A larger health pool increases her durability and enhances her healing through her passive.

Damage: Higher damage output amplifies her debuff spreading and offensive potential.

Armor: Additional armor helps her withstand sustained damage, particularly in drawn-out encounters.

T4 Priorities

Investing T4 materials in Hela’s abilities significantly increases her effectiveness and the overall impact of her kit.

High Priority:

Ultimate Ability (Death Knives): This upgrade enables her to spread four negative effects instead of two, drastically increasing her battlefield control. The additional damage to all enemies further enhances her power, making this her most impactful T4.

Passive Ability (Goddess of Death): Boosting her passive strengthens Greg’s survivability and increases the healing Hela receives from Taunt. These enhancements improve her sustainability and synergy with her team, making this a valuable T4 investment.

Medium Priority:

Special Ability (Command Undead): Upgrading this ability extends the Disrupt duration to two turns, providing better control over enemies reliant on buffs or healing. It’s especially useful in matchups against teams with support-heavy compositions.

Basic Ability (Black Blade): This upgrade increases the damage dealt to both the primary and secondary targets. While not as critical as her other T4s, it helps Hela finish off weakened opponents more effectively.

Greg’s Abilities:

Greg’s abilities complement Hela’s kit, and upgrading them improves his overall impact.

Special Ability (Dark Sacrifice): This T4 prevents enemies killed by Greg’s special from reviving. While situational, it can be decisive against teams reliant on revive mechanics.

Strategic Considerations

Game Mode Prioritization: Focus on T4s that align with Hela’s primary role in your roster. For example, if you rely on her for War Defense, prioritize upgrades that enhance her performance in that mode.

Resource Management: Given the resource-intensive nature of Hela’s gear and T4 upgrades, prioritize based on your roster needs and available materials.

By focusing on her gear and investing wisely in her T4 abilities, you can maximize Hela’s potential as a disruptive and powerful force in Marvel Strike Force. With the right setup, she becomes an invaluable asset, capable of turning the tide in your favor across various game modes.

ISO-8 Class Recommendation

Choosing the ideal ISO-8 class for Hela is key to enhancing her effectiveness and supporting her team’s strategy. While various classes can complement her abilities, Fortifier is the most reliable option, particularly when paired with Iron Man (Zombie) or when Hela’s survivability is crucial to the team’s success.

Why Fortifier?

Fortifier is an excellent choice for Hela due to its focus on durability and staying power.

Enhanced Survivability: Hela’s primary strength lies in her ability to disrupt the enemy team with debuffs and her summon, Greg. Fortifier provides a Barrier at the start of battle and additional barriers when she takes turns, significantly improving her survivability. This ensures she can stay in the fight long enough to unleash her devastating ultimate ability, Death Knives.

Synergy with Iron Man (Zombie): When paired with Iron Man (Zombie), Hela becomes even more potent as he enables her to spread all negative effects. Keeping both characters alive is critical to maximizing their combined disruption potential, and Fortifier’s defensive bonuses help make this possible.

Prolonged Impact: The longer Hela remains on the battlefield, the more opportunities she has to spread debuffs, clear Deathproof, and summon Greg. By increasing her durability, Fortifier indirectly boosts her overall effectiveness and damage output.

Alternative ISO-8 Options:

While Fortifier is the most reliable and versatile option for Hela, other ISO-8 classes may be viable depending on specific scenarios or team compositions:

Striker: This class is a strong alternative in War Offense teams, especially when paired with Iron Man (Zombie). Striker capitalizes on Iron Man (Zombie)’s Speed advantage, allowing Hela to follow up his attacks with extra damage and apply additional debuffs through the Striker’s bonus attack.

Raider: Raider boosts Hela’s Critical Chance and Critical Damage, making her more offensive. This could work in teams where her primary role is to deal damage rather than control the battlefield, although her kit benefits more from survivability than crit-based bonuses.

Skirmisher: Skirmisher enhances Focus, making it easier for Hela to apply debuffs like Disrupt and spread negative effects. However, her base Focus is already sufficient in most scenarios, so this class is situational.

Healer: While Hela provides some healing through her passive, her kit is not focused on teamwide healing. Healer is generally not optimal for her role as a disruptor and debuffer.

Strategic Considerations:

Team Composition: If your team includes strong tanks or protectors to shield Hela, you may opt for a more aggressive ISO-8 class like Striker or Raider.

Game Mode: In modes like War Offense or Raids, where synergy with Iron Man (Zombie) or other allies plays a critical role, Striker may have additional value. For Arena or general use, Fortifier remains the most versatile choice.

Recommendation:

For most scenarios, Fortifier is the optimal ISO-8 class for Hela due to the added survivability it provides. This ensures she can disrupt the enemy team and maintain her presence on the battlefield, maximizing her utility in Marvel Strike Force. However, depending on your team composition and specific needs, exploring offensive options like Striker can also yield significant benefits in the right context.

Team Synergies & Uses

Hela’s kit makes her a versatile and impactful character in Marvel Strike Force, capable of thriving in multiple team compositions and game modes. Her ability to disrupt enemy strategies, spread negative effects, and sustain herself through healing and minion synergy ensures her place as a key member of any team. Here’s how she fits into various setups and uses:

Asgardians

Hela thrives as part of an Asgardian lineup alongside Thor and Loki. This team leverages a combination of debuffs, damage, and sustain to dominate opponents. Loki’s defense down ability perfectly complements Hela’s kit by boosting her damage output, while Thor’s high burst damage benefits from the Asgardian bonuses granted by Hela’s passive. Together, the Asgardians excel in War Defense and are essential for unlocking the legendary character Black Bolt.

Mystic Villain Controllers

Hela synergizes well with Mystic Villain Controllers like Thanos and Mordo, forming a powerful core for villain-based teams. Thanos provides energy generation, enabling Hela to unleash her ultimate ability, Death Knives, more frequently. Mordo’s stuns and blinds further amplify Hela’s disruption capabilities, making this trio especially effective for clearing nodes and taking on challenging encounters, such as those leading up to Villains 7-6, where Hela can be farmed.

Undying Synergy

The introduction of Iron Man (Zombie) in the Undying faction has elevated Hela’s versatility to new heights. Together, Hela and Iron Man (Zombie) create a devastating duo capable of spreading all negative effects to enemy teams, crippling them quickly. This synergy shines in Arena, where the pair counters powerful meta teams like the Eternals. Pairing Hela and Iron Man (Zombie) with characters like Emma Frost, Spider-Weaver, or Dormammu can create potent Arena compositions that dominate opponents.

General Uses

Hela’s broad utility makes her a reliable choice across many game modes:

Blitz: Her sustain, damage, and debuffing capabilities make her an effective character for clearing Blitz tiers when paired with synergistic allies like Loki and Thanos.

Raids: While Raids are not Hela’s primary strength, her ability to clear Deathproof and spread debuffs can be valuable in certain situations, depending on the raid and team composition.

Dark Dimension: Hela’s ability to sustain herself and summon Greg continuously makes her a strong option for Dark Dimension, particularly in challenging nodes where durability is key.

Cosmic Crucible: Hela’s debuffing capabilities make her an excellent option for Cosmic Crucible, especially in defensive teams that leverage her ability to spread negative effects and disrupt opponents.

Team Building Considerations

Protect Hela: Due to her vulnerability to burst damage, pairing her with tanks like Thanos or Juggernaut ensures she survives long enough to use her abilities effectively.

Synergy Over Power: While raw power is always beneficial, prioritizing characters with strong synergy enhances Hela’s performance significantly, allowing her to maximize her impact on the battlefield.

Hela’s unique combination of debuffs, sustain, and synergy makes her a highly versatile and valuable character. Whether on offense or defense, in Arena or Cosmic Crucible, Hela’s kit provides both disruption and utility, ensuring her relevance across Marvel Strike Force’s diverse game modes.

Conclusion

Hela, the Goddess of Death, has undergone a remarkable transformation in Marvel Strike Force, becoming a dominant presence across multiple game modes. Her reworked kit, combined with the rise of Iron Man (Zombie) and the Undying faction, has elevated her to a key role in the game’s current meta. Here’s why Hela stands out and how Commanders can leverage her full potential:

Hela’s rework has successfully enhanced her survivability, damage output, and debuffing abilities, addressing her previous shortcomings and establishing her as a top-tier character. Her synergy with Iron Man (Zombie) has made the Undying duo a game-changing force capable of spreading debilitating negative effects that dismantle even the strongest teams. This combination is particularly effective in Arena, where they counter powerful meta setups.

As a core member of the Asgardian team, Hela provides sustain, damage, and utility alongside Thor and Loki. This team is critical for unlocking the legendary Black Bolt and remains a formidable choice on War Defense. Beyond this, Hela’s versatility allows her to excel with Mystic Villain Controllers like Thanos and Mordo, and her presence is felt in Blitz, Raids, Dark Dimension, and Cosmic Crucible.

While Hela’s gear and T4 investments are resource-intensive, they are well worth the effort. Prioritizing upgrades that enhance her survivability, damage output, and debuff spreading capabilities ensures she reaches her full potential. Her durability and synergy make her a cornerstone of many powerful team compositions, whether focusing on offense or defense.

Hela’s resurgence has cemented her place as one of the most impactful characters in Marvel Strike Force. Her ability to disrupt and control the battlefield, coupled with her synergy with key allies, allows Commanders to harness her full potential and dominate in every game mode. The Goddess of Death has reclaimed her throne, proving to be an indispensable asset for those who invest in her.