Mockingbird Strategy

Mockingbird
	Organization:	S.H.I.E.L.D.
	Cost:	Complete Special Operations 1 200  (November 23 - 26, 2012)
	Base Stats
	Health:	126
	Stamina:	155
	Attack:	25
	Defense:	28
	Accuracy:	31
	Evasion:	31
Heroic Age Mockingbird	Effects:	Mock Combat    Tactical Insight
Bio: Barbara Morse was researching a way to recreate the Super Soldier Serum when she was recruited by SHIELD. There, she trained to match her athleticism to her intelligence, Despite a lack of powers, her natural combat prowess has earned her a place on the Avenger's team.

source: http://avengersalliance.wikia.com/wiki/Mockingbird


I'm amazed at how there is actually not a single page of discussion regarding Mockingbird's strategic potential in PVP battles on Marvel: Avengers Alliance.

Since Mockingbird became available for a limited time as a Black Friday sale from Playdom, I immediately spent all my Command Points and Gold to buy her. She is by FAR the most expensive hero in the game, sitting at a heavy 200CP, but I think she is actually well worth it. First off, her SpeOps requirements were pretty difficult (far more difficult than the other SpecOps missions), you couldn't skip tasks with Gold to get her because, in the first place, there was only ONE task in that first SpecOps: Get 15 Mastery stars. Another great reason to buy her is that she is a Top Tier hero in PVP matches. If you haven't met her already in PVP, then I will explain to you will she is so awesome.

Although she has very low Attack Power statistics (probably the lowest in the entire game), there is a good reason for her to be like that. Her lvl1 and lvl9 attacks deal extra damage when she inflicts critical hits. Combine that with her lvl6 ability to ensure critical hits on every single target for the next attack and her Paragon Exploiter passive ability for the lvl9 attack, which deals even more extra damage, and you have a very solid damage dealer.

Twin Strike			Pole VaultLevel 2
Stamina Cost:	79		Stamina Cost:	119
Target:	One Enemy		Target:	One Enemy
Cooldown:	n/a		Cooldown:	2 Rounds
# of Hits:	2		# of Hits:	1
Hit/Critical:	92% / 16%		Hit/Critical:	92% / 16%
Type:	Melee		Type:	Melee Unarmed
Deadly Crits    Pressure Points			Combo Setup    Stun
Critical IntelLevel 6			Mocking BlowLevel 9
Stamina Cost:	63		Stamina Cost:	199
Target:	All Enemies		Target:	One Enemy
Cooldown:	3 rounds		Cooldown:	n/a
# of Hits:	n/a		# of Hits:	1
Hit/Critical:	92%		Hit/Critical:	92% / 16%
Type:	Debuff		Type:	Melee
Critical Intel    Subtle    Quick Action  Weak Point			Paragon Exploiter    Deadly Crits

source: http://avengersalliance.wikia.com/wiki/Mockingbird


Now, there are other pretty efficient damage dealers in the game that can't compare to Mockingbird's power level. Most Blasters and Bruisers are proficient in that area, but Mockingbird has yet another trick: her TWO continuous passive ability: Mock Combat and Tactical Insight.

Mock Combat

This really cool passive is a pain in the ass for your opponents. Mock Combats enables Mockingbird to switch to its attacker's counter-class. That means, if a Bruiser attacks her, she will automatically switch to the Blaster class. In other words, if you attack her, she will attack back with full power because she will ALWAYS exploit your opponent's hero class weakness. If you think this is nasty, wait and see what happens when it combines with her second continuous passive ability:

Tactical Insight

Mockingbird's second passive ability gives her a 50% chance of gaining a EXTRA TURN whenever she switches classes (this applies to either Mock Combat or Critical Intel, from her lvl6 ability). Gaining an extra turn is, in its own right, a very powerful ability in this game. But what makes her so damn powerful is that she gets to attack with her attackers counterclass because of Mock Combat or Critical Intel. Playdom patched her to gain only one extra turn from this ability each round. In the past, she could loop infinitely and kill an entire opposing party before they even had a chance to take and action!

Mockingbird's Meta-Game

Now, we can easily see why Mock Combat/Critical Intel + Tactical Insight is a pretty strong mechanic for a damage-dealing character, but there is more to it that that. Mockingbird has even more secret tricks up her sleeve!

Dual-Classes and Triple-Classes!

Certain Clases gain bonuses that are not immediately exploited. For example, Bruisers first have to charge up with Enraged, Scrappers use their Close-Quarter Combat after they get hit by infiltrators or attack them, and Infiltrators Counterattack only after they have already hit or been hit by Tacticians. This means that these class bonuses accumulate when Mockingbird changes class. That's right. These are the possible 'Dual-Classes' for Mockingbird to obtain:

Infiltrator onto Blaster:

When Mockingbird is an Infiltrator with Combat Reflexes and a Bruiser attacks her, she counterattacks as a Blaster, dealing a Critical hit that ignores defense.

Bruiser onto Infiltrator onto Blaster:

I've even experienced situations in where Mockingbird has Enraged from a previous Bruiser class change, while having Combat Reflexes and counterattacking a Bruiser with a class change to Blaster for a critical hit that ignores defense PLUS the Enraged bonus!

Bruiser onto Scrapper:

When Mockingbird is a Enraged Bruiser and she changes classes onto Scrapper, the Scrapper will attack twice any Infiltrator with the accumulated Enraged bonus!

Bruiser onto Tactician:

When Mockingbird is an Enraged Bruiser and she changes classes onto Tactician, the Tactician can attack a Blaster with the full Enraged bonus and get an extra turn to take another action, preferably another powerful attack with the Enraged bonus.

Scrapper onto Bruiser onto Tactician:

This one is powerful. If Mockingbird has Close-Quarter Combat and is attacked by a Scrapper, she will change onto Bruiser and gain Enraged. Then, if she attacks a Blaster, she makes two strikes because of Close-Quarter Combat, then switch to Tactician, gain an additional turn and attack again while still being Enraged! Now thats an epic triple class change!

Scrapper onto Blaster:

When Mockingbird is a Scrapper with Close Quarter Combat active and she gets to attack a Bruiser while changing classes because of Tactical Insight, she will land TWO critical attacks on the Bruiser because she will be a Blaster with Close Quarter Combat. This almost always spells the death of the Bruiser because her Twin-Strikes and Mocking Blow deal extra damage on critical hits. This is one of the most unfair an epic 'dual-classes' for Mockingbird.

From what I've experienced, these are the only possible dual classes combinations. They can be a little difficult to exploit, but when the situation presents itself, you are almost sure to kill one or two heroes with Mockingbird's insane 'dual-classes' and 'triple classes'.

Critical!

As mentioned before, Mockingbird has two attacks that deal extra damage when they are critical hits. They can be exploited with Critical Intel, which applies the Weak Point debuff on every single opponent. Weak Point makes the next attack against that target an ensured Critical Hit, which means epic amounts of damage from Twin Strike and/or Mocking Blow. The only problem with Critical Intel is that it has a cooldown of 3 rounds.

There are some weapons that the Agent can equip which also give Weak Point to each opponent. One of them is the rather weak Target Painter. Another one is the Marksman Spotter, which was a rare drop from the Boss fight on Chapter 3, Mission 1 of SpecOps3 on the X-Men side of the story. The last and really useful one is Dark Sigil, a rare item dropped by Boss fight Dormammu on mission 6, Chapter 9. You can farm for it by replaying the mission until you get it. It inflicts Burning, Dark Void, Weak Point, and has a 100% chance to hit. This means that you can exploit the extra critical damage from Mockingbird every single turn! Also, notice that Mockingbird's lvl9 attacks, Mocking Blow, beside from the extra critical damage, it also has Paragon Exploiter, which deals extra damage against targets that have several different debuffs, including Burning, which Dark Sigil provides. You can also take advantage of Paragon Exploiter with Ghost Rider's Damnation Chains, Scarlett Witch's Probability Field and the complete Demon set (or at least Fury with Grief).

Hero Pairings

Mockingbird is a powerhouse than can inflict obscene amounts of damage with the appropriate Agent equipment and Hero pairing. Be sure to bring her into battle alongside a shielding hero. Dorks like Captain America, Phoenix Five Colossus, Spider Man and Hercules look very tempting, but you actually want her to receive attacks for her to trigger those extra turns and class changes. What you actually want are non-blocking defense types, like Invisible Woman (which, by the way, has the Reactive Shields passive ability), or maybe Modern Dr. Strange, which has a passive ability that enacts a shield automatically sometimes, when a character is attacked. He is not as protective as Invisible Woman, but he does deal a lot more damage, has healing and minor shielding spells, and can take extra turns just by attacking. I recommend Invisible Woman if you are using Dark Sigil because her Force Spheres and Force Volley also deal extra damage with critical hits.

 + or 

Finally, for Mockingbird's Iso-8 Crystals, purchase the ones that increase attack power, defense and hit points, like the white Refined Stalwart Iso-8 Crystal. You can actually put any crustal you want on her, just make sure that each and every one boosts her attack power.

Cheers!