Piecing Together Marvel Puzzle Quest: Yondu

Hawkeye might be the greatest archer around, but nobody’s better with an arrow than Yondu. The blue-skinned Ravager’s ready to wreak whistling havoc on the enemy team and we talked to D3 Go! Senior Producer Josh Austin about “Marvel Puzzle Quest’s” newest alien addition to the roster.

Marvel.com: Yondu, don’t you mean Mary Poppins? Mary Poppins will be joining the “Marvel Puzzle Quest” roster?

Josh Austin: Yondu (Mary Poppins Y’all), I mean, Yondu (Awesome Mix Volume 2) is a 4-Star character coming to Marvel Puzzle Quest and is a celebration of the digital release of “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” movie. Since the film released in theaters, interest for Yondu has been incredible and we wanted to bring the old Ravager as a playable character to join in the Guardians festivities in “Marvel Puzzle Quest.”

Marvel.com: The blue-skinned Ravager and his arrow were my favorite part of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” bar none. What were some of the cool things the team wanted to bring to his “MPQ” version?

Josh Austin: What makes Yondu so awesome is not only his tough personality, but his Yaka Arrow and its uniqueness. So the team worked on bringing that out as much as possible in the game. He does damage and heals passively, and as someone on the team said, “why work when the arrow can do that for you?”

Marvel.com: Let’s talk about Yondu’s abilities in game. What’s he capable of?

Josh Austin: Yondu (Awesome Mix Volume 2)’s first ability is a Passive Yellow. “Mary Poppins Y’all!” Yondu uses his Yaka arrow like a parachute, cause, “Yeah, he’s cool.” If the player makes a match-4 or greater and Yondu is below 50% health, a Yellow Countdown tile is created that restores health each turn if one does not exist already.

His second ability is Ravager’s Ruse and it costs 7 Black AP. For this power, the Yondu looks out for his own best interest by destroying AP from the enemy’s highest colored AP pool, then creates a Strike tile for each AP destroyed.

Yondu’s last ability is called Centaurian Archery and it costs 10 Blue AP. Here’s where the Yaka Arrow comes in, as Yondu starts whistling and at level 5 damages the enemy for 9,698 damage and transforms this power to Yaka Assault.

Yaka Assault is a PASSIVE blue where the Yaka Arrow deftly flies across the battlefield damaging the enemy with the lowest health. At level 5 this means 1,592 damage at the start of the turn to the weakest enemy. The power becomes Centaurian Archery if Yondu receives damage past the power level’s threshold (at level 5 that’s 992 damage).

Marvel.com: I’m really interested in Centaurian Archery and Yaka Assault. Basically it’s a bunch of burst damage for 10 AP, then free, unavoidable damage afterwards? Is it balanced around the fact that if you commit to this, you lose his burst in favor of sustained damage over time?

Josh Austin: That’s correct in that you lose the more heavy damage attack, but the good thing about this is since it is 10 AP to trigger, the power continues to damage the weakest enemy while you can gather more Blue AP, however of course if Yondu receives enough damage, this power will then revert back.

Marvel.com: And how well does using allies like Carnage, that damage their teammates, work in reloading Centaurian Archery?

Josh Austin: Actually with the ability to create a bunch of strike tiles with Ravager’s Ruse for 7 Black AP, he works well with characters that create Strike tiles like The Punisher (Max), Rocket & Groot (Awesome Mix Volume 2) and Blade (Modern) or with characters that strengthen his Strike tiles like Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Sam Wilson (Captain America), Professor X (Charles Xavier), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), and/or Medusa (Inhuman Queen).

Marvel.com: And Yaka Parachute a permanent heal, or just for the current fight? Because then I can see my Carnage/Yondu team working even better!

Josh Austin: Haha, if you want to damage him to trigger his Yaka Parachute, then match 4 or greater, then of course you will get the Yaka Parachute Countdown tile which is a Permanent heal! That’s right, not burst, but permanent for Yondu only!

Marvel.com: When do we get to experiment with ol’ fin head?

Josh Austin: Yondu is releasing on August 10. He will be a placement Reward in a revamped Guardians event titled Honor Among Thieves that starts on August 10 and ends August 14. He will be a featured character in Thick As Thieves (of course right?) starting August 13 and ending August 18 where he will be available in the Vault. Lastly, his versus tournament will be called Ravager Clan and it starts August 17 and ends August 21 where he will be featured and available at best odds!

Whistle while you match with Yondu here (http://bit.ly/2ve1lKE) and stay tuned to Marvel.com for more “Marvel Puzzle Quest” news and interviews.