Piecing Together Marvel Puzzle Quest: Agent Venom

Agent Venom, aka Flash Thompson, makes his “Marvel Puzzle Quest” debut guns blazing and symbiote raging. Eddie Brock better watch out, because there’s a new Venom in town!

We talked to D3 Go! Producer Josh Austin about Flash’s new look, his abilities, and just what the heck the black-suited soldier’s capable of in the “Puzzle Quest” universe.

Marvel.com: Flash Thompson finally gets to fight next to his hero Spider-Man! What’s going on with Agent Venom?

Josh Austin: I’ve been a huge fan of Venom since I was a kid, and now having Agent Venom in “MPQ” along with Venom (Eddie Brock), you’re never really sure when they will snap or when the suit will take over completely. While Eddie completely bonded with the suit, Flash is constantly fighting for control and when the suit fights back, well that’s really cool to see in the game.

Marvel.com: We already have a 4-star Venom in the game. How did the designers want to make Agent Venom different from the Eddie Brock incarnation? Any key themes that stick out?

Josh Austin: Agent Venom is more tactical, with Flash’s military training playing a big part. He deals damage, but he also has a great power called Take Cover that gives his allies invisibility for a few turns. However, players will need to carefully manage their AP to keep the symbiote under control. If they don’t, Venom can hurt himself and the player won’t generate AP! We wanted to show that Flash is constantly fighting with the symbiote’s more violent tendencies.

Marvel.com: Let’s go over Agent Venom’s abilities. I feel like there are so many different directions you guys could have gone. 

Josh Austin: Flash’s first ability is called Symbiotic Assault and it costs 10 Red AP. Venom channels the power of his alien symbiote to unleash the ultimate tactical strike to deal damage. If you have at least 12 AP in any color, it deals bonus damage as well.

Agent Venom’s second ability is called Military Might and it costs 5 Black AP. Flash Thompson’s military skills help keep his alien symbiote in check—for a time. He drains 2 AP from the highest friendly AP pool and deals damage. If you have at least 14 AP in any color, this power becomes Alien Weakness.

Alien Weakness costs 0 Black AP. The Venom symbiote asserts its dominance, lashing out and fighting with Flash for control. At the start of your turn, it drains 2 AP from the highest friendly AP pool, destroys random tiles and deals self-damage to Venom. The destroyed tiles do not generate AP. If all friendly AP pools are below 14, this power becomes Military Might again.

Lastly, Flash’s third ability is called Take Cover and costs 11 Yellow AP. For this ability Agent Venom lets loose his arsenal and lays down cover, so his allies can regroup. Deals AOE damage to the enemy team and renders all of Venom’s allies invisible for two or more turns.

Marvel.com: What’s his most effective build? How do you think players will get the most mileage out of Agent Venom and why?

Josh Austin: The team here believes that Agent Venom’s best build is 5/3/5 because it forces the player to keep the AP less than 14, requiring the player to fire off powers as soon as they get the AP for it. The extra damage from Symbiotic Assault has a cushion of 2 AP from Alien Weakness activating. Military Might deals 1804 damage for 5 AP, thus allowing a decent amount of damage to be dealt while managing the AP pools. Definitely want Take Cover to give the team four turns worth of invisibility. Overall this build allows Agent Venom to strike fast and often to avoid Alien Weakness.

Marvel.com: Who does he fight well with? I imagine he’s got at least a little synergy with the Guardians of the Galaxy right?

Josh Austin: Because Agent Venom has the threat of Alien Weakness, it’s best to get a well-rounded team to make sure the player doesn’t have too much AP stored up. For testing purposes. I used Kingpin to generate Yellow AP to fire off the Take Cover ability, granting the rest of the team Invisibility. The last person on the team should be someone that has the remaining colors, so using Rocket and Groot allows the team to have someone that will use Blue and Green.

The rest of the team recommends characters that generate lots of AP, like Kingpin, Scarlet Witch, Iron Fist, and Iron Man (Model 40). He’s also good at defending weaker characters with this Yellow Power. Team him up with characters that have defensive passives like The Thing or Deadpool for a fun combo where the enemy is forced to attack Agent Venom and activate the defensive powers of Rock Solid and X-Enforcer.

Marvel.com: And when can we recruit Flash into our own personal “Puzzle Quest” army?

Josh Austin: Agent Venom is available starting on November 17 and can be earned in the Thick as Thieves Event that same day and will also be available in the Simulator Story Event Vault on November 21.

Take your shot with Agent Venom here and stay tuned to Marvel.com for more “Marvel Puzzle Quest” news and interviews.