Piecing Together Marvel Puzzle Quest: Thor: Ragnarok

An all-new Odinson appears this week in “Marvel Puzzle Quest,” heralding the coming of Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok” next week in theaters everywhere. If you’ve been looking for a beefy, high damage 5-Star to round out your roster you’re in luck—and we talked to D3 Go! Senior Producer Josh Austin to get all the juicy details. Let’s Ragnarok and roll!

Marvel.com: Ragnarok is upon us! What does the team have in store for everyone before the coming storm?

Josh Austin: We have added a 5-Star Thor (Gladiator) to the roster and a new event called Sakaar Arena for “Marvel Puzzle Quest.” Thor is sporting his new look for “Thor: Ragnarok” with swords and a shield along with the helmet inspired by the movie. The Sakaar Arena contains bonuses for every variation of Thor and Hulk since following Thor (Gladiator) we will be releasing Hulk (Main Event) in the coming weeks that will bring on a different phase of the Sakaar Arena.

Marvel.com: This is the first 5-Star Thor to grace “Marvel Puzzle Quest.” With 2,3, and 4-Star variants, what did the team focus on to make this Odinson feel unique?

Josh Austin: This Thor is still the God of Thunder, but he is designed off the Gladiator look he has in the [movie]. So he’s got the same short hair, helmet and sword/shield look from the Sakaar or Grandmaster Arena in the “Thor: Ragnarok” movie. Every power that Thor (Gladiator) has focuses on dealing massive damage. He destroys random basic tiles when low on health, and has a power that creates Protect tiles every turn.

Marvel.com: And with that, what kind of abilities are we looking at?

Josh Austin: Thor’s first ability is called God of Thunder and it costs 12 Green AP. For this power, Thor charges his attacks with lightning for an explosive attack that deals—get this—at level 450 and power level 5, 13,126 damage to all enemies! This power has a Passive that at the beginning of each turn and if Thor is below a certain amount of health, he destroys basic tiles.

His second ability is called Asgardian Tactics and costs nine Red AP. Thor slashes with his twin swords at the enemy’s defenses dealing serious damage to a target and ignores all Protect tiles. Thor deals additional damage for each friendly Special tile up on the board to 10.

Thor’s third ability is called Smoldering Fire which costs nine Yellow AP. Thor leaps into the fray to protect his team which creates a Repeater tile that generates Yellow Protect tiles each turn. This power then becomes Raging Fire. Raging Fire costs 12 Yellow. Thor strikes out with fury and removes his Repeater tile to deal damage to a target. This power has a Passive component that when Thor’s Repeater tile no longer exists, all friendly Protect tiles convert to Strike tiles and this power becomes Smoldering Fire again.

Marvel.com: Seems he’s got a little bit of everything: board shakeup, special tile generation, and team damage. Who works to augment the Thunder God’s battle fury?

Josh Austin: Thor (Gladiator) works well with characters that create Protect tiles like Wasp, Luke Cage, Sam Wilson (Captain America), and Sandman (Flint Marko). He also benefits from characters that create AP in his colors like Red Hulk and Star-Lord.

Marvel.com: And there’s a whole big Ragnarok event you’ve got planned right?

Josh Austin: We will be running the event three times and players will get to compete in the Sakaar Event that will be Thor-focused for the release of 5-Star Thor (Gladiator) in the first two runs and then when the new Hulk (Main Event) comes out in time for the third run—date TBD—it will have more of a Hulk flair to it. The event is a Surged Up version of Lightning Rounds that is about 90 minutes in length with 20 Combatants in an Arena-like structure. The Featured Champion will as mentioned above be Thor first, then Hulk in the future run. This means all versions of Thor will be buffed for the first phase then all versions of Hulk will be buffed for the next phase. For new players, they will be loaned a copy of 3-Star Hulk and 3-Star Thor, but any version of either is allowed for the event. The event rewards tokens for a special store or Heroic tokens depending on placement.

Marvel.com: When does all this madness get started?

Josh Austin: The first run of the Sakaar Arena will begin on October 27 at 1 PM PDT and ends on November 2, and will feature the Sakaar Arena Store that runs simultaneously with the event. Thor (Gladiator) will be available starting on November 2 and a special 5-Star for him will start that same day. We will also host a second run of the Sakaar Arena from November 3 through November 9 with chances to earn 5-Star Thor through tokens. And finally there will be a special Legendary Store called Friends from Work that runs from November 2 through November 5.

Pick up your very own Thor (Gladiator) here and stay tuned to Marvel.com and @MarvelGames on Twitter for more “Marvel Puzzle Quest” news and interviews.