Marvel Avengers Alliance Iso-8 Guide

Marvel Avengers Alliance Iso-8 Guide by carrotparfait

What are Iso-8?

Iso-8 is this kind of space rock MacGuffin that drives the plot of MAA. All these bad guys are looking for it because, eh, who cares. The important thing to you, the player, is that space rock makes your agent and heroes awesome by permanently increasing one or more of your six core stats: health, stamina, attack, defense, accuracy, and evasion.

Unlocking Iso-8

Iso-8 can’t be equipped until you complete the quest to find a Mysterious Ore after defeating Baron Zemo in chapter 1-3. This shows up as a white rainbow Iso-8 quest icon and it unlocks a new research that is only 3 minutes (which means you can skip it instantly).

After finishing that, you get another quest, which is a blue iso-8. This starts a little tutorial where you are forced to equip a Healthy Iso-8 into your agent’s uniform. After this you can start research to get other kinds of Iso-8 and can equip Iso-8 on your agent and any of your heroes.

If you can’t find either of these quests, it might be because the Iso-8 quest got pushed off the screen and into the Task List. If you don’t see the Iso-8 quest, try clicking on the brief case under your other quests.

Equipping Iso-8

You equip Iso-8 by going through the Team page. On the Gear tab there is a big blue ISO-8 button near the top right of the screen. Clicking this brings you to the Iso-8 equip screen which shows the varieties you have unequipped in your inventory, as well as the number of sockets available for placing Iso-8. It also shows the total bonus to stats you’re getting from all equipped Iso-8 in green.

You can equip an Iso-8 by choosing one from your inventory and then clicking on an empty Iso-8 slot. You can overwrite existing Iso-8 by simply selecting the desired Iso-8 and clicking on an already-filled slot. After being prompted, the old Iso-8 is destroyed and the new Iso-8 takes its place.

Iso-8 is attached to the uniform you have equipped! This means that if you change your uniform by buying a new one (in order to change your agent’s class for instance), this uniform will have empty Iso-8 slots. This lets you customize each uniform as you need, putting extra evasion in your Infiltrator gear, or extra attack in your Scrapper gear. Some uniforms (especially the ones that cost gold) have more Iso-8 slots than others, making them even better.

Where do you get Iso-8?

A lot of Iso-8 comes from playing the game. Sometimes it falls out of enemies in the middle of combat, and sometimes you can get it as a reward from deploy buildings or boss fights. All players have access to Healthy Iso-8 Chip (+31 health) through gifting. It’s not the greatest but it sure beats an empty slot, and it can be put in the PVP bonus page if you don’t have anything else. Most of the Iso-8 you want comes from the store though.

On the store Iso-8 is found in the Resources tab. There are buttons that let you filter by color so if you know what you’re looking for it’s easier to find. It also shows some that aren’t available yet. Iso-8 that can be bought for gold is always available, while the rest of the stuff that only costs silver has to be unlocked by research. The gold Iso-8 is usually much better. For instance, the Refined Violent Iso-8 Chip gives +9 attack and +9 accuracy, while the Strong Iso-8 Chip only gives +6 to attack.

Varieties of Iso-8

Iso-8 comes in different colors that represent the different stats they increase. Blue corresponds with health and stamina, red with attack and accuracy, and yellow with defense and evasion.

Each Iso-8 can have one, two, three, or all six stats. When you mix the different stats, you get different colors. For instance, an Iso-8 with attack (red) and defense (yellow) becomes orange. Any Iso-8 with all three colors becomes the rainbow white color.

Each combination of stats has its own name. There are also different names for the different power levels. The power levels go: Chip (unlocked at level 1), Fragment (level 30), and Shard (level 60).

The following chart shows all the Iso-8 available through research and their colors.

There are different combinations of stats though that are only available by spending gold. The gold Iso-8 appear in the following variations:

At this point there is no Iso-8 that increases Stamina, Attack, and Evasion; or Stamina, Accuracy, and Defense.

Iso-8 Research Trees

If your Iso-8 page looks barren, chances are you need to do research. After completing the first research to unlock Iso-8, three researches open up for each of the colors (blue, yellow, and red). After completing these trees you get access to the secondary colors (green, purple, and orange). After doing all of the green and purple Iso-8 research you get to do the coveted chaotic Iso-8 which gives a bonus to all stats.

These are the research trees in the order you have to research them. Cumulative duration/cost shows how much you would have to spend if you took the shortest route through research to reach and research that particular Iso-8.

Blue tree

Enduring Iso-8
Adds: Stamina
Duration: 10 min
30 Silver, 3 SP
Cumulative Duration: 10 min
Cumulative Cost: 30 Silver, 3 SP

Healthy Iso-8
Adds: Health
Duration: 25 min
50 Silver, 3 SP
Cumulative Duration: 35 min
Cumulative Cost: 80 Silver, 6 SP

Red tree

Precise Iso-8
Adds: Accuracy
Duration: Duration: 6 min
Cost: 30 Silver, 3 SP
Cumulative Duration: 6 min
Cumulative Cost: 30 Silver, 3 SP

Strong Iso-8
Adds: Attack
Duration: Duration: 15 min
Cost: 50 Silver, 3 SP
Cumulative Duration: 21 min
Cumulative Cost: 80 Silver, 6 SP

Yellow tree

Speedy Iso-8
Adds: Evasion
Duration: Duration: 8 min
Cost: 30 Silver, 3 SP
Cumulative Duration: 8 min
Cumulative Cost: 30 Silver, 3 SP

Tough Iso-8
Adds: Defense
Duration: Duration: 20 min
Cost: 50 Silver, 3 SP
Cumulative Duration: 28 min
Cumulative Cost: 80 Silver, 6 SP

Purple tree

Careful Iso-8
Adds: Stamina, Accuracy
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Duration: 1 hr, 56 min
Cumulative Cost: 510 Silver, 10 SP

Relentless Iso-8
Adds: Stamina, Attack
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cumulative Duration: 2 hr, 56 min
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Cost: 860 Silver, 14 SP

Focused Iso-8
Adds: Health, Accuracy
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cumulative Duration: 3 hr, 56 min
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Cost: 1210 Silver, 18 SP

Powerful Iso-8
Adds: Health, Attack
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cumulative Duration: 4 hr, 56 min
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Cost: 1560 Silver, 22 SP

Flourishing Iso-8
Adds: Health, Stamina, Accuracy
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 6 hr, 56 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 2660 Silver, 27 SP

Robust Iso-8
Adds: Health, Stamina, Attack
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 8 hr, 56 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 3760 Silver, 32 SP

Steady Iso-8
Adds: Health, Attack, Accuracy
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 10 hr, 56 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 4860 Silver, 37 SP

Masterful Iso-8
Adds: Stamina, Attack, Accuracy
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 12 hr, 56 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 5960 Silver, 42 SP

Green Tree

Active Iso-8
Adds: Stamina, Evasion
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Duration: 1 hr, 3 min
Cumulative Cost: 510 Silver, 10 SP

Resilient Iso-8
Adds: Stamina, Defense
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cumulative Duration: 3 hr, 3 min
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Cost: 860 Silver, 14 SP

Deft Iso-8
Adds: Health, Evasion
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cumulative Duration: 4 hr, 3 min
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Cost: 1210 Silver, 18 SP

Sturdy Iso-8
Adds: Health, Defense
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cumulative Duration: 5 hr, 3 min
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Cost: 1560 Silver, 22 SP

Steadfast Iso-8
Adds: Health, Stamina, Evasion
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 7 hr, 3 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 2660 Silver, 27 SP

Durable Iso-8
Adds: Health, Stamina, Defense
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 9 hr, 3 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 3760 Silver, 32 SP

Lasting Iso-8
Adds: Stamina, Defense, Evasion
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 11 hr, 3 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 4860 Silver, 37 SP

Spry Iso-8
Adds: Health, Defense, Evasion
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 13 hr, 3 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 5960 Silver, 42 SP

Orange Tree

Dexterous Iso-8
Adds: Accuracy, Evasion
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Duration: 1 hr, 49 min
Cumulative Cost: 510 Silver, 10 SP

Exact Iso-8
Adds: Accuracy, Defense
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cumulative Duration: 2 hr, 49 min
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Cost: 860 Silver, 14 SP

Proficient Iso-8
Adds: Attack, Evasion
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cumulative Duration: 3 hr, 49 min
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Cost: 1210 Silver, 18 SP

Bulky Iso-8
Adds: Attack, Defense
Duration: Duration: 1 hr
Cumulative Duration: 4 hr, 49 min
Cost: 350 Silver, 4 SP
Cumulative Cost: 1560 Silver, 22 SP

Adroit Iso-8
Adds: Accuracy, Defense, Evasion
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 6 hr, 49 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 2660 Silver, 27 SP

Expert Iso-8
Adds: Attack, Defense, Evasion
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 8 hr, 49 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 3760 Silver, 32 SP

Mercurial Iso-8
Adds: Attack, Accuracy, Evasion
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 10 hr, 49 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 4860 Silver, 37 SP

Forceful Iso-8
Adds: Attack, Accuracy, Defense
Duration: Duration: 2 hr
Cumulative Duration: 12 hr, 49 min
Cost: 1100 Silver, 5 SP
Cumulative Cost: 5960 Silver, 42 SP

PRISMATIC Tree
Chaotic Iso-8
Adds: All stats
Duration: Duration: 4 hr
Cumulative Duration: 29 hr, 59 min
Cost: 2600 Silver, 6 SP
Cumulative Cost: 14520 Silver, 90 SP

Higher-Tier Research

To get the second or third tier of Iso-8 research, it requires the basic primary colors (red, yellow, blue) from the first/second tier, but it doesn’t require any deeper than that on the first tier. On the other hand, you have to research all the way down the second tier of Iso-8 all over again after that. So getting a Mercurial Iso-8 Fragment doesn’t require researching a Mercurial Iso-8 Chip, but it does require the rest of the Tier-2 orange tree.

Getting New Iso-8 Slots

Iso-8 slots become available differently for the agent and any heroes.

For the agent, the number of Iso-8 slots is determined entirely by the uniform and never changes. In order to get more Iso-8 slots, the agent must buy and equip a new uniform. New uniforms become available every 15 levels or so, and the higher-level uniforms have more Iso-8 slots. The uniforms that cost gold at each level boast 2 additional Iso-8 slots than their silver counterparts.

Level 1 (Kevlar): 2 slots
Level 1 Gold (DermoSteel): 4 slots
Level 20 (Nanolaire): 3 slots
Level 20 Gold (BetaCloth): 5 slots
Level 35 (Recon2): 4 slots
Level 35 Gold (SpecOp): 6 slots

. . . and so on (we can assume level 50 and 65 have 5/7 and 6/8 slots respectively). The different class uniforms are unlocked one per level after the generalist uniform becomes available and require research to purchase in the store. The uniforms for gold seem to be available at the same time as the generalist for every class.

For heroes, Iso-8 slots become available as that hero gains levels. On any level a hero doesn’t gain a skill, they get a new Iso-8 slot that can immediately be used. The chart below shows when these Iso-8 slots become available (in bold).

Level 1: Skill #1
Level 2: Skill #2
Level 3: Iso-8 Slot #1
Level 4: Iso-8 Slot #2
Level 5: Iso-8 Slot #3
Level 6: Skill #3
Level 7: Iso-8 Slot #4
Level 8: Iso-8 Slot #5
Level 9: Skill #4
Level 10: Iso-8 Slot #6
Level 11: Iso-8 Slot #7
Level 12: Iso-8 Slot #8