11.0 Update Recap - Marvel Animation's X-Men '97

Introduction

In the hit television series X-Men '97, the character of Bastion is quoted as saying "when your skin's not in the game, apathy is your answer". This quote refers to Jubilee, Jean Grey, Madelyne Pryor, Magneto, Rogue, and many other characters not getting uniforms in this highly anticipated update.

Instead of updating some of the aforementioned characters, the mid-month theme was the "Ironheart" television show on Disney+.

• Characters

  Characters

  Remember It

  Storm [Marvel Animation's X-Men '97]

  Storm [Marvel Animation's X-Men '97]

  A ridiculously powerful uniform that makes her the best PvE in the game. A strange choice to do this the month before the Summer uniforms returned (where Psylocke's uniform would have sold decently well for ABL), but we'll take an F2P single-cost character replacing an extremely expensive paywall anyday.

  She has immediately dethroned Strange for open days in ABX/L and packs a punch in single-target modes too. While a little harder to play than Strange, with a tendency for her lingering damage to trigger the next rotation's procs early, she's so strong that you could play her horribly and still be better than basically every other character in the game.

  Insane upgrade, a must-have for players at any stage in the game.

  Cyclops [Marvel Animation's X-Men '97]

  Cyclops [Marvel Animation's X-Men '97]

  After his baffling Tier-4 upgrade with no new uniform with the Goblin Queen update, Cyclops finally gets a new uniform and it is excellent. With a crazy 90% Energy Attack and 30% Damage to Villain lead/support he replaces Polaris in the relevant ABL day, and becomes Storm's dedicated lead in no-restriction days too.

  His own performance won't matter for most people but it also does not disappoint, which is rare for a support. Lovely animations and enough damage output to make those who do insist on using him to be more than satisfied, though there are not many places for him due to restrictions.

  Overall a great upgrade and a nice modern visual overhaul to the base model.

  We are not Gods, Magnus

  Ironheart [Marvel Television's Ironheart]

  Ironheart [Marvel Television's Ironheart]

  One of the sickest looking uniforms ever but sadly otherwise it's just fine. Her skills are well animated but she doesn't do a ton of damage, which is to be expected for a support (BUT SHOULDN'T BE!!!).

  Sadly her support passive only increased by 10% Damage to Bosses from her previous [Wakanda Forever] uniform, so it's not a huge upgrade in that regard either. Given her lack of versatility (0 ABX, 1 ABL day you won't use her in), this could definitely have been tuned up to give her more viable in general (e.g. WBL).

  Overall, probably slightly better than expected from an Ironheart uniform, but still doesn't have a place anywhere. If you are a fan of the character you will appreciate the visuals and she is strong enough at Tier-4 for WBL.

  Sunspot

  Sunspot

  Netmarble cleverly skirts around any concerns of colorism by having him permanently in solar form, which has the side effect of looking SICK! Sadly he only has a 40% Fire Damage lead with no other supports, but more than makes up with it with potentially the best animations of the update, and really strong performance for a Tier-3 (not that it really matters). Being available from X-Gene Selectors is a big plus as well, giving new players someone else to use them on once Kid Omega is levelled for Shadowland.

  Could have easily released with a Tier-4 and been a banger of a WBL character but oh well. Hopefully he is not stuck at Tier-3 for too much longer.

  Inferior Freak Fluids

  The Hood

  The Hood

  Some decent animations and pretty high DPS, but not much else to say about this one. A good Leadership but hardly justifies being a Premium with no Tier-4 or damage supports to speak of.

  If they were going to add 2 new characters this update cycle, this second one really should have gone to Forge or Bastion.

  Bishop [Marvel Animation's X-Men '97]

  Bishop [Marvel Animation's X-Men '97]

  Bishop's first uniform since his addition in update 5.1. Sadly in-game he's always essentially been an worse version of Cable and this uniform doesn't really change that.

  Even his animations aren't that much better than his base look, though that base uniform was unusually goated for the time. He stands completely still in place for his rotation and every cancel is instant, which is made worse by the fact that he's Transcended so even the 6th skill rotation is lame.

  In terms of usability, there aren't many places to throw a Blast Male Mutant Hero with Storm dominating both Mutant ABL restrictions, and Strange having the crown for Blast Male.

  Nice for a character who's been left in the dust for so long to get an upgrade, but this particular one is not it.

  Beast [Marvel Animation's X-Men '97]

  Beast [Marvel Animation's X-Men '97]

  Beast has always drawn the short straw from the very moment the X-Men were introduced to this game. This makes sense as the other core X-Men have cool powers, and Beast is a blue fur man. Nothing but respect for the dedication to having him be absolutely useless each and every time he gets a uniform. That is all.

  Goliath

  Goliath

  Yellowjacket

  Yellowjacket

  Cassie Lang

  Cassie Lang

  Our Transcended Trio of this update doesn't provide any value outside of Shadowland, though Cassie Lang is a modern enough character that she's pretty good with her 6th skill.

• Elite Gear

  Elite Gear

  A new upgrade system usually rolls around each x.0 update. This one is pretty easy to understand and provides an extra way to squeeze more stats out of a Tier-4 character. There isn't too much reason to invest largely in this system yet, though if Tier-5 ever happens it will probably require a maxed Elite Gear. Scary to think about as the costs from Lv.160+ are quite intense.

  A large impact of this is how the new Elite Gear upgrade materials drop in much higher quantities in WBL+, which is a huge disincentive from playing regular WBLs. This is not cool because it gates several S.H.I.E.L.D. Archive drops which were just moved from WBU into WBL, and rerolling for WBL+ can be quite costly, and people are having to play the "Black Dwarf & Maw" stage which may be the worst ever. WBL+ should probably be rebranded to something else at this point and moved into its own tab.

  You may think that currently there is not much benefit to Elite Gear and continue to run the lower WBLs, but this could "bite you in the bum" later on if maxed Elite Gears are required for key upgrades and the Elite Gear mats are a potential limiting factor.