Piecing Together Marvel Puzzle Quest: Doctor Strange

Baron Mordo’s deadly apprentice Kaecilus threatens the “Marvel Puzzle Quest” universe with dimension-bending terror and it’s up to players to harness all of Doctor Strange’s mystical armaments and take him down. D3 Go! Producer Josh Austin dropped by to talk about this big new story event and the two different Doctor Strange variations players can earn in the coming weeks!

Marvel.com: With Doctor Strange dropping in theaters in a few short weeks I hear there’s a whole magical world waiting for players in “Puzzle Quest.” Can we get a tl;dr?

Josh Austin: Yes! Doctor Strange is coming to Marvel Puzzle Quest as not just one, but two playable versions! For the first time in probably forever, Doctor Strange will have a 3-star version (Stephen Strange) and a 5-star version (Sorcerer Supreme). This is the first 3-star we have released in some time (before my time on the project) and I’m sure a lot of Marvel Puzzle Quest fans will be very excited to get their hands on a new 3-star!

With the new character, we also have a new Story Event called Strange Sights, where the player will be entering three different doors with a new animation that takes the player to an alternate universe where mindless ones and other bad guys are in control. Get through the story mode to fight off against Kaecilius!

Marvel.com: I gotta ask, what goes into creating and executing on a big event like this? The boss fights, the artifacts, the enemies we’re fighting, who works on all that stuff?

Josh Austin: With these larger events that are a part of movie releases, there is a lot of planning and approvals to get through so we have to build in time to get things through in time for release. With a movie-based character and storyline, we receive direction from Marvel both in notes and from reference materials. As it gets moving, the game art is passed around for review to people at Marvel and the people working on the movie. The story outline is written by designers then passed to a writer (Alex Irvine in this case) to provide that awesome Marvel touch. When it’s all done and all sides are happy we are good to go!

Marvel.com: It’s awesome to hear that everyone works so hard to make these things a success. Ok now on to the meat and potatoes: can we talk about Doctor Strange and his abilities? What kind of eldritch energies will we be harnessing as the Ancient One’s successor?

Josh Austin: Because there are two characters coming out, this is going to be a little long!

Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) and Doctor Strange (Sorcerer Supreme) are 3 and 5-star characters respectively. Doctor Strange’s first ability is called Crimson Bands of Cyttorak and it costs 9 blue for both variations. This power converts a chosen basic tile into a Countdown tile and stuns the target for 2 turns at lower levels and up to 3 turns the higher the cover level. The Countdown tile for each turn deals damage on the board (3-star level 145 damage, to 1772 damage maxed 5-star) and destroys enemy AP of the color that the Countdown tile ends up being.

His second ability is Eye of Agamotto which costs 11 purple AP for both Doctor Strange Star tiers. For 3-star Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) this power removes up to 2 random enemy Attack tiles and the player gains 2 Purple AP. At higher levels this can remove random Attack, Protect, Strike, Invisibility and Trap tiles and up grant up to 4 Purple AP to the player. For 5-star Doctor Strange (Sorcerer Supreme) this power creates a colorless eye tile that activates each turn removing a random enemy at attack tile and the eye tile can’t be removed from the board. At higher levels this power removes 1 of each tile types above at random each turn.

Lastly the third ability is called Flames of the Faltine that has a Passive component and a 14 AP yellow cost for the 5-star added to the Passive ability. For 3-star Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) this ability is a passive and thus costs 0 AP. Each time an opponent uses a power, it deals 212 damage to the target and gives a burst of 45 health to the player’s team. For 5-star Doctor Strange (Sorcerer Supreme) this ability has both passive and active elements. It still deals damage to your opponent every time their characters use a power, but for 14 yellow AP, you can deal almost double the damage on a whim. At maxed level 5 this power deals 16,016 damage!

Marvel.com: What are some of the things players should be looking out for? Any special rewards for cleaning Kaecilius’ clock?

Josh Austin: This event will feature four or five ways to get your hands on Doctor Strange. First, like any other Story event, there will be a store that will have increased odds at getting the 3-Star Doctor Strange. There will also be a new Legendary Store that will feature the 5-Star version of Doctor Strange at increased odds. Lastly, there will be three, ten item Limited Vaults (one for for each sub-chapter) with one item being a pack for the special Legendary Store. The last mission of each sub-chapter will give you a token for each of the vaults. Additional tokens can also be purchased.

Marvel.com: And what else do we need to know about Doctor Strange’s big new event?

Josh Austin: Doctor Strange is available November 3 and his all-new PVE event is called Strange Sights. Strange will also have a Versus event as well, called Strange Days, that is set to run starting in the evening of November 10 where players can earn 3-star Doctor Strange. The event before that, Red Shift, is scheduled to start on the evening of November 8^, which will also reward Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) for the top players.

And I can’t forget to share that this is the first event that players can choose their own path. We are excited to see how people respond to it and hope to add it to future events. In addition, we’ve integrated some cool new animations into the event. Players will choose a node over a dimensional doorway, then an animation of the door and the camera zooming into that dimension will play. It’s just a cool thing we wanted to try out. Also, to keep things interesting, the Kaecilius boss node recharges daily.

Marvel.com: When does all this mystical mumbo jumbo come to an end?

Josh Austin: The Doctor Strange Story Event will conclude Monday, November 7, 2:00 AM EDT. The event will enter the normal Event rotation once it has concluded.

Take a crack at the Sorcerer Supreme here and stay tuned to Marvel.com for more “Marvel Puzzle Quest” news and interviews, as well as the latest on Doctor Strange in other Marvel Games. Marvel Insiders also earn points for checking out each of these articles. To become a Marvel Insider, join here: marvel.com/insider.