Strategy Guide for Daimon Hellstrong in Marvel: Avengers Alliance

Daimon Hellstrong nearly redefines what it means to be a complex character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance, making previously complicated characters like Deadpool, Omega Sentinel, and Cable seem rather simple. He is a blaster, but you are likely to forget that fact since he has almost none of the normal qualities of blasters, except for the fact that he always scores critical hits against bruisers. Unlike just about any other blaster in the game, he is highly durable, has defensive powers, and supports his allies. If you play him right, he isn’t much of a liability against tacticians, making him arguably the best blaster in the game. Alone he is great. Teamed with his sister Santana, he is useful in just about any battle you can engage in.

You could originally earn this character for free by completing all 25 missions of Special Operation 11. He has since been made evergreen and can be purchased for 200 command points.

Special Ability (Darksoul) – This first ability is what makes this character so durable. He suffers reduced damage from damage-over-time effects, counterattacks while burning, and heals from attacks while affected by dark void. Since he has the ability to put both of these status effects on himself, he can basically heal and counterattack regularly. The counterattacking ability is especially effective at reducing his weakness against tacticians.

Special Abilities (Netheranium Spire) – Netheranium Spire is an ability that is rarely likely to come up in PvE, but will be incredibly useful in PvP. It can nullify magic attacks against him and his allies and then puts dark void and burning on him. This makes him particularly effective against Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, and the dreaded Scroll of Angolob. This special ability is also one of the keys to winning the Heroic Battle against Satana. Without it, you won't have enough stamina to keep Satana from healing towards the end of the battle.

The Succubus power is a multi-function action. This means that you can perform multiple different actions with it. Unlike multi-function actions on characters like Nico or Dr. Doom, you need to unlock the extra options on this power. When Daimon Hellstrong is either burning or has dark void on him, La Petite Mort unlocks. When both status effects are on Daimon, Beast With Two Backs also unlocks. If you use any of the Succubus attack powers, Daimon is stripped of burning and dark void effects, if they are currently affecting him.

Level 1 Power, From Hell’s Heart (One Enemy, Melee Slashing, 18% Stamina Cost) – From Hell’s Heart allows you to deal high melee damage to a single target. Additionally, the target is affected by soulfire, which both deals damage over time and removes all buffs on the target. Finally, Daimon gains burning, which will cause him to counterattack.

Level 2 Power, Cloaked in Shadows (All Allies, Buff, 12% Stamina Cost) – Skittering Darkness is one of the best team ally buffs in the game. Your entire team has a 50% chance of avoiding any attack and all attacks become stealthy. As an added bonus, Daimon Hellstrong gains dark void, which means he heals from attacks. This is a remarkable power and unless you absolutely need to deal damage or heal an ally in the first round, this should always be your first round action.

Level 6 Power, Succubus: Amorous Congress (All Enemies, Magic Summon, 15% Stamina Cost) – Amorous Congress is a subtle attack that has a chance to mind control all enemies. This benefit is quite low because it has a 30% failure chance for each enemy and mind control isn't particularly powerful. There is very little good reason to ever use this attack.

Level 6 Power, Succubus: La Petite Mort (All Enemies, Magic Summon, 20% Stamina Cost) – La Petite Mort is a stealthy melee attack that deals moderately low damage to a single enemy, poisons them, and prevents healing and resurrection effects with the despair debuff. Against an enemy that heals or resurrects, this is amazing. Generally this won't come up much in PvE, but this is definitely a bread and butter attack for PvP.

Level 6 Power, Succubus: Beast With Two Backs (All Enemies, Magic Summon, 40% Stamina Cost) – Beast With Two Backs deals high catastrophic ranged damage to all enemies. Additionally, the attack causes more damage if this character has debuffs on him. Daimon can only put two debuffs on himself, but when paired with Satana, he can easily get enough debuffs to obliterate enemies with this attack. This is also particularly effective in PvP when facing Horseman of Pestilence.

Level 9 Power, Purifying Flames (One Ally, Magic Heal, 20% Stamina Cost) – Purifying Flames is one of the most unlikely powers to find on a blaster. It heals an ally for over half his or her health, removes all debuffs, and, most importantly, prevents any further applications of debuffs. This power will not remove dark void or burning from this character, but that is more of a benefit than a flaw. Purifying Flames is one of the best healing powers in the game and one of the best debuff cleansing powers in the game. It costs this character an action, but that action is basically never wasted.

Level 6 Power, Succubus: Amorous Congress (All Enemies, Magic Summon, 15% Stamina Cost) – Succubus is a very difficult power to use because you have very little control over what version of it you use. It has three versions that produce three very different results when used. The first version, Amorous Congress, activates when this character doesn’t have either burning or dark void on him. The second version, La Petite Mort, activates when he has one, but not both of those effects on him. The third version, Beast With Two Backs, activates when he has both effects on him. Amorous Congress is a subtle attack that can mind control all enemies for a high stamina cost. La Petite Mort is a very high stamina cost stealthy melee attack that deal incredibly high damage to a single enemy and also poisons them and prevents healing and resurrection effects. Beast With Two Backs has an unbelievably high stamina cost and deals high ranged damage to all enemies. Additionally, the attack causes more damage if this character has debuffs on him. Whichever attack you use, both dark void and burning are lost after use. The trick to using this power is that you want to determine which attack is best for your current enemies and only build up enough to use that particular attack. This is particularly important when you want to use La Petite Mort, because this attack is key to defeating opponents like White Crown Phoenix in PvP.

Daimon has reasonably balanced stats. Despite this, his health and his stamina are both lacking due to the nature of his abilities. Since he is constantly losing health, you need to increase his health in order to counter this drawback. Additionally, his powers are exceptionally expensive, which means you also need to improve his stamina. You can stop there if you want. If you don't boost his accuracy. While it isn't bad, Daimon tends to attack rarely enough that it is especially important that he hits when he does attack.

There is absolutely no doubt as to who the best ally is for Daimon Hellstrong. His sister Satana is a perfect match for him. Her ability to give him debuffs synergizes perfectly with Beast With Two Backs, allowing him to deal incomparably massive damage. The only downside to this combination is that you desperately need your agent to be a protector, because Satana is flimsy and Daimon can't protect her well enough on his own. He also pairs well with Horseman of Pestilence. In this combination his Purifying Flames power is mildly weakened, but it still offers strong healing. Just about the only character you don't want to pair him with is Rescue. Her special ability that removes debuffs absolutely devastates Daimon.

Daimon Hellstrong can be a monster in PvP because he counters many of the popular tactics in the metagame. Skittering Darkness makes protect abilities basically worthless against your team, while From Hell’s Heart can strip annoying buffs from enemies. He can prevent healing and resurrection powers from working, can negate the Scroll of Angolob, and can remove negative status effects from a teammate. His ability to counterattack also prevents him from being a complete liability when faced with tacticians. He offers advantages against both Horseman of Pestilence and Iron Fist, which is very rare for a single character. Almost any team up works with him, but he is particularly effective when teamed with his sister Satana. When using him, pay attention to exactly what will work best against your enemy, but usually La Petite Mort is your best bet. On offense, more than on defense, he is a powerhouse that will win battles for you.