Marvel Avengers Alliance Special Operations Guide

Marvel Avengers Alliance Special Operations Guide by Indysysyve

What are Special Operations?
Special Operations are Limited Time challenges where you can earn unique boss items through battle and even a new hero by completing all of the chapter’s tasks (new for Spec Ops 2).
Once the time for the mission has expired, the hero is put back in the vault. So act fast, Agent!
Special Operations require the resource Unstable Iso-8 to access it’s mission events, including battles and deploys.

How do I unlock Special Operations?
Complete Story Missions to unlock Spec Ops!

How do I earn Unstable Iso-8?
You can earn Unstable Iso-8 through battle or deploys, gifts from friends, or buy it from the store to help you complete the challenge. You may ask your friends for Unstable ISO-8 by clicking the ‘+’ arrow next to the Unstable ISO-8 box and then selecting ‘Ask Friends.’ However, once the mission is expired that flavor of Unstable Iso-8 goes away with it, so try to use it all up!
The odds of getting Unstable ISO-8 from a hero-specific deploy in Special Operations is low. There is no guarantee that it will pop-up in any of the other deploys.

Where can I see my available Unstable ISO-8?
You may view your available ISO-8 from inside of the Special Operations tab.

I just accepted a bunch of Unstable ISO-8 from my gifts, why hasn’t my total Unstable ISO-8 increased?
You will need to refresh your game client (F5) to see the change.

How do I obtain the hero that is associated with the Special Operation?
In SpecOp1, you must achieve 5-Star Mastery in all three missions to unlock/earn the hero reward.
In SpecOp2+3, you must complete all 25 tasks in order to unlock/earn the hero reward.

What happens if I run out of time?
Once the timer expires, the Special Operation will no longer be available for play.

What happens when I abort a Deploy mission?
Aborting the Deploy mission consumes the Unstable Iso-8 used to activate it. So abort at your own risk!

I want to send a hero on a deployment, but it says they are busy and already out for deployment.
You can play Special Operations simultaneously with story missions. If you are in the middle of a story mission, you may have heroes that are already out for deployment. They will not be available until you either complete or abort the deploy mission.

Some Tips on Tackling Special Operations
Below I will include general tips on how go through Special Operations. If you want me to add some tips, please post in this thread or send me a PM. For more helpful tips, the developers has also created a guide for your viewing pleasure.

• Collect UISO-8. Accept nothing but UISO-8 from your daily gifts each and every day until you have at least completed your goal.
• Fight the minimum. You want to maximize your score per energy spent since the Unstable ISO-8 are only given in a limited supply unless you spend gold. You do not need to clear all threats and deploy missions to complete a mission.
• Deploy when Necessary. In Special Operations 1, it was unnecessary to send deploys because they did not contribute much to your overall score and was essentially a waste of UISO-8. In Special Operations 2, you may want to consider deploying at least once or twice a mission. The reason being is that it is difficult to three-bird the mission without using deploys. You may have to end up fighting a mini-boss battle for 20 UISO-8, or you could use that 20 UISO-8 for deploys and attempt to three-bird the main boss battle.
• High to Low. Fight only the high and medium level threats for a higher score per UISO-8 ratio. Do not fight the low level threats unless you absolutely have to to unlock more threats.
• Restart Missions. You can abort and restart missions to change the types of threats you see at the start of a mission. The higher the level threats you play, the better your mission score. Do this if you only see deploys and low level threats in the beginning. Keep in mind that some missions will not have high level threats at the start and you may need to settle for medium level threats. Please note that you will not need to restart missions for Spec Ops 2.
• Choose your Battles. Sometimes you will be choosing between two different medium or high level threats with different enemies. Choose the ones that are easier to handle with your team. Below I have provided you with the two choices that will come up. Use it to help you decide which of those two battles are better for you. In Special Operations 2, you won’t need to make any choices.
• Make use of bonuses:
  • Quartermaster/Endurance. There is at least a 125-250 point bonus (Quartermaster) at the end of the battle if you use between 5-10 items. There is also another 150 point bonus for not recharging during a mission. You can use stamina packs instead if you are low and this way you can preserve the endurance bonus as well as contribute to the quartermaster bonus.
  • One-shot/Overkill. One-shot kills give 150 bonus points and depending on the magnitude of the overkill, you can get up to an additional 150 points for each one you perform. Performing overkills is relatively simple if you dwindle your enemies HP before hitting them with a big attack. However if you want to one-shot kill your enemies you will need to boost your hero’s stats. In addition to slotting ISO-8, you can buff during battle with gadgets and/or items. Some items to use are Revenge Strikes (with Protect to get enraged), Kinetic Amplifiers, Armor Piercer, Strike/Focus Patch and Zap-8.
  • Vitality. Maintain your health at the end of the battle to get a max bonus of 500 points. Use health packs or weapons that cure. You can also use shield weapons/items to prevent any damage at all.
  • Two/Three Bird Boss Fights. You will get higher multipliers for tackling mini-bosses and main bosses together. Please note that you will not be able to do this in certain missions.
  • Team-Up Bonuses. Click here for more information on team-up bonuses.
• Avoid Losing. Once you exit the mission, you are given a survival bonus. If you did not lose, then you will double your mission score. If you did lose, you could lose anywhere from 10 to 20k points.
• Take your time. While there is a time limit on these Special Operations, there is no need to try to 5-star all the missions as soon as possible. You can store your Unstable ISO-8 that you gain from battles or gifts and use them at a later time. Use the time in the beginning to level up your heroes if you need to so you will have a stronger characters to deal with the enemies. Play the regular story missions in the mean time. Keep in mind in Special Operations 3, you will need to set aside 80 hours to complete research.
• PVP. I added this last because some of you probably don’t like PVP. However, the UISO-8 can drop from any battle and PVP allows you to get more when you don’t have energy to play missions. Take advantage of this to get more of the UISO-8 before your time runs out!
• Need CP? There are times when you will need specific heroes in order to unlock the epic boss.

SPECIAL OPERATIONS 006 –
Unlock Havok: Complete all 25 Tasks required for Spec Ops Mission 6
Unlock Magneto: Open lockboxes and collect covers to complete the Magneto Collection. Play SpecOps 6 to collect lockboxes.
Availability: January 28th to February 24th. (27 days)FREE UISO-8
Check your e-mail for free 20 UISO-8

List of Tasks:
Please Read: These tasks must be completed in order, you will not unlock the next task before the previous one is complete. The only tasks that can be done ahead of time are ones that require you to reach a certain mastery star in a mission. Unless otherwise stated, these tasks must be done in Special Operations missions.

1. Club Hopping: Defeat 3 Hellfire Club Soldiers – Hellfire Club soldiers are the best mercenaries that money can buy. They can be found in Mission 1: Dragon’s Kiss.
   Requires 10 gold to skip
   Reward: 100 XP
2. Broadcast: Get 1 Distress Call – You can only receive Distress Calls by visiting allies. Add allies to help you win more battles.
   Requires 10 gold to skip
   Reward: 1000 Silver
3. Villains for Hire: Defeat a Mini-Boss in Mission 1 – Defeat either Bullseye or Constrictor in Mission 1 to complete this quest.
   Requires 10 gold to skip
   Reward: 200XP
4. Guns of the Elite: Defeat 3 Hellfire Club Elite Soldiers – Hellfire Elite soldiers are experts in squad based combat. They can be found in Mission 1: Dragon’s Kiss.
   Requires 10 gold to skip
   Reward: 1 CP
5. Dragonfire: Defeat Dragoness – Dragoness is the Boss of Mission 1: Dragon’s Kiss.
   Requires 10 gold to skip
   Reward: 100 XP and Pymaridion
6. Capstone: Research the Pyramidion in the Lab
   Takes 8 hours, and costs 100 Silver and 60 UIso-8
   Requires 20 gold to skip
   Reward: Pyramidion
7. Shattered: Use Havok’s Shattering Punch 3 times – Shattering Punch is Havok’s first ability, which applies Melt Armor. Havok is a Team-Up in all Spec Op 6 Missions.
   10 gold to skip
   Reward: 10 Lockboxes and Unlock Mission 2 and Master of Magnetism Sidequests.
8. Bad Vibrations: Defeat Avalanche – Avalanche is a Mini-Boss in Mission 2: Brotherhood In Arms
   Requires 10 gold to skip
   Reward: 1000 silver
9. Mission Accomplished: Get 2 Stars of Mastery in Mission 1 – Complete missions to add points to your cumulative score. Achieve a high enough score to earn a new Mastery Star!
   Requires 10 gold to skip
   Reward: 2000 silver
10. New Leader of the Brotherhood: Defeat Mystique – Mystique is a Boss of Mission 2: Brotherhood In Arms.
    Requires 10 gold to skip
    Reward: 3000 silver and Acinaces
11. Weapons of the Ancients: Upgrade Acinaces to Spatha in the Lab – The Spatha can be researched after acquiring the Acinaces.
    Takes 24 hours, and costs 100 silver and 80 UISO-8
    Requires 20 gold to skip
    Reward: 100 XP
12. Catch the Wave: Use Havok’s Plasma Wave 3 times – Plasma Waves is Havok’s second ability, which causes Burning and removes the buffs from enemies. Havok is a Team-Up in all Spec Op 6 Missions.
    Requires 10 gold to skip
    Reward: 100 XP
13. Neighborhood Watch: Complete 5 Deploys – Deploy heroes to advance through a mission. Deploys reward items and powerups.
    This can be done outside of specops
    Requires 10 gold to skip
    Reward: 1 CP and Mission 3 Unlocked
14. Jet Set: Complete 5 Flight Deck Missions – Send any hero on any flight deck mission.
    Requires 10 gold to skip
    Reward: 100 XP
15. Versus: Fight 5 PVP Battles – Compete in PVP to test your skills against other players. PVP requires completing Chapter 1 Mission 4 of Story Mode.
    Requires 20 gold to skip
    Reward: 100 XP and Radian Pistol
16. Weapons of the Future: Upgrade the Radian Pistol to the Radian Rifle in the Lab – The Radian Rifle can be researched after acquiring the Radian Pistol.
    Takes 48 hours, and costs 300 silver and 120 UISO-8
    Requires 20 gold to skip
    Reward: 1000 silver
17. Magneto’s Legacy: Defeat 10 M-Series Sentinels – The M-Series Sentinel was repurposed by Magneto to eliminate “Norms” instead of mutants. They can be found in Mission 3: Cosmic Forces.
    This CANNOT be done outside of specops
    Requires 10 gold to skip
    Reward: 100 XP
18. Binary System: Get 2 Stars of Mastery in Mission 2 – Complete missions to add points to your cumulative score. Achieve a high enough score to earn a new Mastery Star!
    Requires 20 gold to skip
    Reward: 3000 silver
19. Plasma Donation: Use Havok’s Plasma Spheres 3 times – Plasma Spheres is Havok’s fourth ability, which causes Dizzy and Slowed in all enemies. Havok is a Team-Up in all Spec Op 6 Missions.
    Requires 10 gold to skip
    Reward: 100 XP
20. Victory: Win 3 PVP Battles – Compete in PVP to test your skills against other players. PVP requires completing Chapter 1 Mission 4 of Story Mode.
    Requires 30 gold to skip
    Reward: 100 XP and Scythe of Ptah
21. Instability: Collect 20 Unstable Iso-8 – Unstable Isotope-8 can be found in normal combat, as well as rewards from deploys and boss fights. You can also get some from your friends!
    Requires 20 gold to skip
    Reward: 4000 silver
22. Collector: Collect 10 Lockboxes – Collect lockboxes to unlock Magneto as a playable hero. They can be earned from lockbox sidequests, or won from deploys or Spec Op 6 bosses.
    Can be gotten from boss rewards, Master of Magnetism Sidequest task rewards, SpecOp deploys, and bought with gold
    Requires 20 gold to skip
    Reward: 4000 silver
23. New Kingdom: Defeat the Living Monolith – The Living Monolith is the Boss of Mission 3: Cosmic Forces.
    Requires 10 gold to skip
    Reward: 100 XP
24. Special Operative: Complete 3 Stars of Mastery in all Spec Ops 6 Missions – Complete missions to add points to your cumulative score. Achieve a high enough score to earn a new Mastery Star!
    Requires 25 gold to skip
    Reward: 5000 silver
25. Hidden Nightmare: Defeat Green Goblin – Green Goblin is the Epic Boss in Mission 3: Cosmic Forces. HINT: Participate in Deploys as soon as they appear.
    Requires 25 gold to skip
    Reward: Unlock Havok!

Master of Magnetism Sidequest Tasks – Unlocks after completing task 7 above.
These are optional tasks to help you obtain more lockboxes. Completing all tasks does not unlock Magneto. You need to obtain all 8 comic book covers that complete the Magneto collection to unlock Magneto.

1. No Mercy: Defeat 10 Hellfire Club Soldiers – Hellfire Club soldiers are the best mercenaries that money can buy. They can be found in Mission 1.
   Requires 15 gold to skip
   Reward: 8 Lockboxes
2. Brotherhood Hunt: Defeat 5 Mutants – Toad, Blob, Juggernaut, Sabretooth, Dragoness, Magneto, Mystique, and the Living Pharaoh are all mutants.
   Can be done outside of SpecOps. Some missions they can be found in C2M5, C3M4, C4M6, C6M2, C6M6, C7M2.
   Requires 15 gold to skip
   Reward: 8 Lockboxes
3. End of the Pharaoh: Defeat the Living Pharaoh – The Living Pharaoh is the Epic Boss of Mission 2. HINT: Participate in Deploys as soon as they appear.
   Requires 30 gold to skip
   Reward: 16 Lockboxes
4. Bot Buster: Defeat 15 Sentinels – Sentinels are built for destroying mutants. They can be found in Mission 2: Brotherhood In Arms.
   This can be done outside of SpecOps. Some missions they can be found in C3M4, C7M2, C8M4.
   Requires 20 gold to skip
   Reward: 8 Lockboxes
5. Green and Mean: Defeat Green Goblin – Green Goblin is the Epic Boss in Mission 3. HINT: Participate in Deploys as soon as they appear.
   This MUST be done in SpecOps
   Requires 40 gold to skip
   Reward: 16 Lockboxes
6. Completionist: Complete 4 Stars of Mastery in all Spec Ops 6 Missions – Complete missions to add points to your cumulative score. Achieve a high enough score to earn a new Mastery Star!
   Requires 50 gold to skip
   Reward: 32 Lockboxes

Mission Tips

• Recruiting Heroes: You will need certain heroes to face epic bosses in order to complete some tasks. To face the Epic Boss in mission 2, you will need to recruit Nightcrawler and Phoenix. To face the Epic Boss in mission 3, you will need to recruit Beast, Deadpool, and Tigra.
• Preparation: Make sure you have distress calls available to be collected, otherwise use them so you can collect them the next day.
• Completing Tasks 1 ~ 6: These should be relatively straight forward. Defeat the medium threat to complete task 1. Then collect a distress call from a friend to complete task 2. Both mini-bosses should appear, so choose to face either one to complete task 3. In order to complete task 4, you will need to defeat the remaining mini-boss and high threat because they contain Hellfire Elites. Then defeat the main boss to complete task 5. Finally start the research and wait for it to be completed to finish task 6.
• Completing Tasks 7 ~ 11: Wait until your research is complete to restart mission 1. After starting it, face a mini-boss so you can use Havok’s Shattering Punch 3 times to complete task 7. Now you should have also unlocked the Master of Magnetism Sidequests, and the first task tells you to defeat 10 hellclub soldiers. Complete the rest of the mission and you should accomplish this goal, and you should also get 2 stars in mission 1 if you didn’t already get it in your first run. If for whatever reason you did not get 2 stars yet, make sure you do before you start task 8.
  Choose whether or not you want to go for the epic boss or not (I did because it coincides with one of the tasks in the sidequest to defeat the epic boss of mission 2) when completing mission 2. Don’t defeat Avalanche by himself. Utilize one of the optimum paths provided below to 2-bird the boss. Here you will want to defeat Avalanche (and two of either Sabretooth, Juggernaut or Mystique if you didn’t complete task 2 of the sidequest) before losing the fight purposely. This should complete task 8 and task 9 will automatically be completed afterwards. Now you can go ahead and two-bird the main boss again, this time defeating it to complete task 10. This method should get you a higher mission score. Finally start the research and wait for it to be completed to finish task 11.
• Completing Tasks 12 ~ 16: If you decided to go after the epic boss, you can wait til the research is done to face the epic boss so you can complete task 12 (and task 3 of the sidequest). Otherwise, just replay either mission 1 or 2 and wait at a boss so you can use Havok’s abilities in battle. I recommend repeating mission 2 to get 2 or 3-star mastery if you haven’t done so already. Task 13 requires you to complete deploys, which should be able to be done outside of specops. Have some flight ops ready to be collected to complete task 14 and then fight pvp battles to complete task 15. Finally start the research and wait for it to be completed to finish task 16.
• Completing Tasks 17 ~ 21: On the day that your research ends, do not collect any UISO-8 beforehand. Make sure you got at least 2-stars in mission 2 before starting task 17. Since task 17 cannot be done outside of specops, you will need to do at least 2 runs of mission 3 to complete it. Once done, task 18 should automatically complete itself. For task 19, you should be in the middle of the second run and ready to take on a mini-boss. Choose to fight Toad because Havok is a team-up and you can use his fourth ability three times to complete task 19. Task 20 involve winning PVP fights and you can complete task 21 by collecting UISO-8.
• Completing Tasks 22 ~ 25: Now you need to collect 10 lockboxes. You could do this by completing the Master of Magnetism sidequests, or get lucky through deploys. Once done, continue or repeat mission 3 and defeat the main boss to complete task 23. Now all that is left is to repeat mission 3 until you get 3 stars to complete task 24 and beat the epic boss to get Havok!

Mission InformationWhich mission has the epic boss? The epic boss can be found in 2 and 3. You need to complete all deploys, threats, and bosses in order for the epic boss to appear. The required heroes are: Nightcrawler and Phoenix (Mission 2); Beast, Deadpool, Tigra (Mission 3).

Mission 1 – Dragon’s Kiss

• Unlock Requirements: Already unlocked!
• Star Level:
  • 0★: The mission scales to your Agent Level
  • 1★: 12,000 Cumulative Points
  • 2★: 206,000
  • 3★: 412,000
  • 4★: 824,000
  • 5★: 1,648,000
• # of Threats:
  • Low: 2
    • Hellfire Gunner, Hellfire Heavy (35 XP)
  • Medium: 2
    • W1: Hellfire Sniper, Hellfire Heavy | W2: Hellfire Sniper, Hellfire Officer (55 XP)
  • High: 1
    • W1: Hellfire Heavy, Hellfire Elite, Hellfire Heavy | W2: Hellfire Hunterx2(130 XP)
• Deploy Missions:
  • Any Hero x3 – 3,1,3
  • Hercules – 2
  • Quicksilver – 2
• Bosses/Drops/Team-Up:
  • Mini-Boss: Bullseye, Constrictor
    • Hellfire Elite, Bullseye, Hellfire Elite (110 XP)
    • Hellfire Elite, Constrictor, Hellfire Elite (125 XP)
  • Boss: Dragoness
    • W1: Bullseye, Constrictor | W2: Hellfire Elite, Dragoness, Hellfire Elite (240 XP)
  • Boss Drop: Touch of Madripoor
  • Team-Up: Havok
• Optimum Path:
  • Medium, 1 Hero Deploy, Mini-Boss, High, Medium, 2-bird boss. (80 UISO-8)
  • Medium, Low, Mini-boss, High, Medium, 2-bird boss. (80 UISO-8)

Mission 2 – Brotherhood In Arms

• Unlock Requirements: Already unlocked!
• Star Level:
  • 0★: The mission scales to your Agent Level
  • 1★: 16,500 Cumulative Points
  • 2★: 330,000
  • 3★: 660,000
  • 4★: 1,320,000
  • 5★: 2,640,000
• # of Threats:
  • Low: 2
    • Iapetos Sentinel, Phoebe Sentinel (20 XP)
  • Medium: 3
    • Hyperion Sentinel, Rhea Sentinel, Coeus Sentinel (85 XP)
  • High: 2
    • Cronus Sentinel, Crius Sentinel, Rhea Sentinel (90 XP)
• Deploy Missions:
  • Nightcrawler – 3
  • Any Hero x3 – 2,1,1
  • Phoenix – 1
• Bosses/Drops/Team-Up:
  • Mini-Boss: Avalanche
    • Hellfire Elite, Avalanche, Hellfire Elite (110 XP)
  • Boss: Mystique
    • W1: Avalanche, Sabretooth | W2: Juggernaut, Mystique (230 XP)
  • Boss Drop: Enigma .45, 20 UISO-8
  • Epic Boss: Living Pharaoh (65 XP)
  • Epic Boss Drop: 12 Lockboxes?
  • Team-Up: Mr. Fantastic (mini), Havok (epic and main)
• Optimum Path:
  • Epic Run: All deploys, all threats, 2-bird main boss, epic boss. (160 UISO-8)
  • Medium, High, Low (probably can be replaced with a deploy), Medium, Medium, High, Low (can probably be replaced with a deploy), Deploy, 2-Bird boss. (100 UISO-8)

Mission 3 – Cosmic Forces

• Unlock Requirements:
• Star Level:
  • 0★: The mission scales to your Agent Level
  • 1★: 17,000 Cumulative Points
  • 2★: 331,000
  • 3★: 662,000
  • 4★: 1,324,000
  • 5★: 2,648,000
• # of Threats:
  • Low: 2
    • Hellfire Hunter, M-Series Tau MK III, Hellfire Hunter (80 XP)
  • Medium: 2
    • Hellfire Elite, M-Series Tau MK III, Hellfire Elite (90 XP)
  • High: 1
    • Hellfire Elite, M-Series Tau MK III, Hellfire Elite (90 XP)
• Deploy Missions:
  • Tigra – 1
  • Beast – 2
  • Any Hero x2 – 2,1
  • Deadpool – 1
• Bosses/Drops/Team-Up:
  • Mini-Boss: Toad, Blob
    • M-Series Sigma MK III, Toad, M-Series Sigma MK III (125 XP)
    • M-Series Rho MK III, Blob, M-Series Rho MK III (125 XP)
  • Boss: Living Monolith
    • Living Monolith, Toad, Blob (180 XP)
  • Boss Drop: Source of the Nile
  • Epic Boss: Green Goblin (65 XP)
  • Epic Boss Drop: OsCorp Prototype
  • Team-Up: Havok (Toad mini, Living Monolith main), Mr. Fantastic (Blob mini, Green Goblin epic)
• Optimum Path:
  • Epic Run: All deploys, all threats, mini, 2-bird, epic (160 UISO-8)
  • Medium, Low, Mini, High, Medium, 2-bird boss, 2 deploys (100 UISO-8)
  • Note: To 3-bird the boss battle, you must start deploys before the fight then lose to a mini-boss on purpose. Then you will be able to complete the deploy and more battles will appear. This may only work for epic runs, not sure.

How to Calculate Amount of UISO-8 Needed to Reach a Star Level

A lot of people are asking if they have enough time to complete SpecOps on time. This is to help you figure the information out yourself.

Before we start, there are a few things you should jot down:

• Required Cumulative Score = This is the total score you are attempting to achieve (5 star or 3 star). You can find this info above.
• Your Cumulative Score = This is your current cumulative score for the mission.
• Average Score per mission = This is score that you would get on average per run.
• Your maximum use of ISO-8 per mission = This is the amount of UISO-8 that you spend per run.

Once you have this info, you can calculate how many ISO-8 you need to complete each mission:

• (Required Cumulative Score – Your Cumulative Score) = Remaining Score
• (Remaining Score / Average Score) = Amount of runs left. Round up.
• (Amount of runs left x Maximum ISO-8 used) = How many ISO-8 are required to 5-star the particular mission.

Add up all the ISO-8 needed for each mission for the total amount of ISO-8 required to complete SpecOps.

Once you have this total, you can figure out if you will get enough ISO-8 before SpecOps ends.