10.5 Update Recap - Symbiote and Spider-Man

Introduction

Another Symbiote update was expected for a while - Knull and Agent Venom both being on the rework poll all but confirmed this, and timing it to (roughly) align with Venom 3 was also a no brainer. Sadly this long-awaited update has been mired by visual downgrades to almost all characters, a lack of PvE-focused uniforms, and overall just feeling like a retread of the previous Symbiote updates with many of the same characters involved.

One of the few times that the mid-month still being tied to the main update theme has felt like a massive L, though the quality of those characters (especially Knull's much-awaited Tier-4) were a step up.

• Characters

  Characters

  These are listed roughly in quality order, but difficult to divide them into sections like previous recaps. Knull is clearly the best but they all have their ups and downs.

  Knull [Ancient History]

  Knull [Ancient History]

  This uniform feels like it's both the best and worst part of the update. Solely on performance, it is the clear winner of the update, likely being the strongest overall PvP character in the game. Sentry being dethroned so quickly is a surprise, but fitting that it's done by another Native Tier-3.

  He is easy to play, performs incredibly well even at lower levels, and has the in-built immortality effect. Uniform aside you don't need to put a lot of investment into him to get results, which is nice for a character with a Native T3's upfront cost. Like Sentry, the Artifact is nice but not required.

  However the sore spot is the PvE performance, especially compared to expectations. As the 3rd place in the rework poll it's been known for a long time that a Tier-4 was coming for Knull, whose base uniform was a staple meta PvE character upon release. Add on the fact that Universal Alien Male covers two ABL restrictions, and that the current meta (Loki) is a year old and a massive pain to play, and it's no surprise that many expected Knull to solve a lot of their PvE problems.

  The reality is that he's worse than both Thanos and Loki in ABL. While decent enough in WBL, there's no way building a NT3 to T4 is worth it just for a few restrictions - not to mention Thanos is very good in WBL as is. With Strange raising the bar for PvE characters just last update, it feels very odd that Knull was switched to a pure PvP role. Being a little better than last year's metas is not a big ask.

  Venom [Warstar]

  Venom [Warstar]

  It's not a symbiote update without Venom, the first of three new uniforms for existing Tier-4s this update. Despite an uninspiring design to his model and animations, this uniform is a clear PvE improvement over the previous, and a worthwhile upgrade to those who have already invested heavily in him.

  While his damage has increased greatly, his versatility is unfortunately still limited. He remains Hero meaning he can only enter one ABL day (vs. two if he were Villain), and is worse than the existing Ock/Hulk meta regardless. This relegates him to a very niche WBL character, similar to Zaptain but without the added PvP use.

  It is nice to have a modern uniform for fans of the character (especially as The Last Dance has just come out), but overall isn't strong enough to recommend to everyone as a staple PvE character.

  Carnage [Superior Carnage]

  Carnage [Superior Carnage]

  Comments on appearance aside. This uniform has a lot of similarities to Spidey's, being a PvP-centric uniform for an existing PvP-centric Tier-4. It does add a noticeable bump to his PvP performance, though not enough to put him into the Timeline conversation, especially wtih Knull's dominance in the same mid-month patch.

  It is enough to bump him back into Otherworld/AC menace territory, and can be pretty scary in a 5-man lineup with Agent Venom's support and the other Symbiote PvP characters. Not much else to say about his performance - just like the old Carnage but better. Or "Superior"?

  Spider-Man [The Symbiote Suit]

  Spider-Man [The Symbiote Suit]

  After a string of hugely impactful uniforms, the Parker Luck has finally caught up with a pretty middling uniform. It performs very similarly to the [Back to Basics] uniform (added in Jan 2023), with the added Symbiote tag. This does allow for a nice support combo with Agent Venom that makes him quite tanky, but still nowhere near as impactful as his previous uniforms.

  Back to Basics was a top tier PvP character on release, but a uniform in late 2024 that performs similarly has almost no chance at all. And with no noticeable bump to damage for PvE, it looks like Spidey may be out of the new player staple roster for the first time in years.

  One good use of him could be in a full Symbiote lineup in Otherworld Battle, though with Carnage, Knull, and Silver Surfer all being Symbiotes too, he wouldn't be the primary dealer in that group.

  Agent Venom [Guardians of the Galaxy]

  Agent Venom [Guardians of the Galaxy]

  Agent Venom is the sole Tier-4 Advancement of the main patch and quite a disappointing one. He basically exists to carry the Symbiote buff that comes with the uniform, either for Knull in Timeline (though he doesn't really need it), or for the full Symbiote team in Otherworld.

  The full OWB setup probably consists of 4 fixed choices: Knull, Carnage, Silver Surfer, Agent Venom. You could then add in Spider-Man or a debuff cleanse (like Sleeper or just a generic one) in the 5th slot.

  This is also more viable than previous updates' attempts at themed PvP characters purely because so many of these have already been PvP metas before. Many veteran accounts would already have some of Spidey, Carnage, Surfer at Tier-4, any account that cares about PvP would want Knull T4 ASAP, then you just need to add Agent Venom to complete the set. This does add some appeal over previous flop support Tier-4s like War Machine.

  With all this said, most people would probably rather focus on more impactful Tier-4s than a niche PvP support that won't do much outside of that. The uniform might be useful just to keep at Transcended, but it only adds 5% Chain Hit Damage reduction over the previous. Agent Venom was a weird one for the poll in the first place, and keeps up with the trend of the questionable ones not even getting good reworks anyway.

  Sleeper

  Sleeper

  Always good to see new characters, and Sleeper is a nice departure from the visual slop of the other characters in the main update. It is also the 2nd ever character (behind Destroyer, who was in the game at launch) to have a "Neutral" gender. You could say this is kind of woke but you'd be wrong as the name suggests.

  Sleeper is Premium as with most modern new characters, but does have a nice hybrid support for Symbiotes and a dedicated lead for Venom. On paper this might seem like it makes it more worth picking up than a nothing burger like Cassandra Nova, but the typing is what kills it on the PvE side. The Neutral tag means Sleeper cannot enter Male restrictions (e.g. with Venom or Knull), it is also typed as Alien so it cannot enter Human restrictions with most Symbiotes, and is also Combat which fits Venom well but not Knull.

  It becomes a whole puzzle to figure out which modes and restrictions you can use Sleeper with any given Symbiote and it's not one you should plan on solving. 35% damage is not that great, even if you're using Venom with the 80% attack lead, as there are better general supports you should probably be using anyway.

  This just leaves the PvP part of the support passive, where we discover that shockingly he has been designed as the missing piece of the Symbiote Otherworld Battle team, as the provider of the debuff cleanse passive. This is better than nothing but it's getting very boring. Not that many people care about Otherworld Battle...

  Molten Man

  Molten Man

  Hydro-Man

  Hydro-Man

  These two are the Transcendeds of the update due to the Spider-Man connection. As these elemental men aren't too old they actually have proper rotations and are already good Shadowland characters. Transcended Skills go a long way to improving Shadowland performance so it's hard to be mad about these - there are far worse choices for veterans with too many awakening mats.

• Odin's Blessing Awakening

  Odin's Blessing Awakening

  A system where you can buff the stats of an Odin's Blessing, essentially in the same way that you do for C.T.P. Reforging. Awakening is guaranteed for some increase in the OB's stats, along with an Instinct bonus. Then a lower % chance of getting a Super Success and making an "Odin's Glory", which is just the Brilliant C.T.P. equivalent.

  This does require a new material, Eternal Flame, but it is very easy to farm these through Zombie Survival, as it is tied to the challenges you can complete by just doing the first stage. The implementation is questionable, but it is nice to have a dedicated material for the mode. On a side note, the addition of Eternal Flames to the Zombie Token Shop might be what the previous patch notes were referring to when they mentioned more additions to the Shop in future updates.

  This continues a nice trend (starting with Emblems) where new character/account growth systems are made to be as simple as possible. It's hard to be mad about this as it's a cheap way to push your favourite characters to do a little more damage, and provides the Brilliant equivalent for whales to chase after. Quite surprising this hasn't happened earlier and will be interesting to see what they do with the eventual ISO-8 extension system.