Good Oblivaeon Strategies?

What are folks finding to be good strategies for dealing with Oblivaeon?

My win ratio isn't so great, so I'm curious what people are finding that regularly works.

A consistent strategy in my few wins has been to use Tempest as one of the early heroes, so I can get his incap ability of stopping all damage of one type in the latter half of the game. Then I can stop energy damage or infernal damage as needed (depending on which stage Oblivaeon is at). The most recent game I won, Legacy managed to have Lead from the Front and Next Evolution combination up as well, so I'd use theTempest  incap to stop one and Legacy to stop the other.

But that was the only game I felt confident in. The other wins have been "skin of my teeth."

So... any strategies to suggest?

If you can protect Benchmark while he sets up, he can do stupid amounts of damage to ObliVeon due to lots of small ‘plinks’ and the Nemisis bonus. 

In the game I won on Friday, he had the Naturalist Bird form reward as well as assistance from Legacy and he was piling on the damage with multiple power uses a turn (starting with plus 1 damage power), discards for his cannon, damage from playing fly by and then a software card (with cooling system) then a whole bunch (8+) missiles - he was dealing 5-6 damage for each 1 point in that game which chewed through both the second and the 3rd form pretty damn quick!

Complete as many missions as you can.

Get the shield down. (Though it's been shown to me that you shouldn't get it down too fast, you want to be able to build up before he turns the first page.)

Ignore Scions in Phase 1 unless they become a hazard. Keep at least one hero in each battle zone, unchecked devastation token buildup is bad.

Save your good heroes for Phase 2 unless you need a specific fit for an available mission or shield objective.

Hope you get lucky with the Scion deployment. :/ I haven't won too many times.

Grab and complete what missions you can early and often.   Even if you can’t complete a mission it can be more worthwhile to take it instead of shuffling the deck as you may end up with the same reward you didn’t want on top.   You can swap out later if needed.   Keep in mind that heroes in the same Battlezone as a flipped Nixious do get to flip any mission cards without meeting their requirements.  

Mostly ignore Scions in phase 1 when you can since they get immediately replaced   In Phase 2 it only checks on OblivAeon’s turn and then only cares if a Battlezone has none so only take out those majorly causing you issues.   In phase 3 there is no check at all by OblivAeon so take them out if you have the extra damage.   Overall I’d say with Scions take them out if you have damage to spare but they should not be a priority most of the time.

For Phase 1 focus on getting at least the initial Shield flip otherwise you giving yourself less time to take down OblivAeon’s health in later phases.  In Phase 2 and 3 damage should be focused on OblivAeon as much as possible. 

A suggestion I was given hero wise was using Young Legacy and Xtreme Prime Wardens Fanatic in the initial team so you can use their incaps with a damage boost and forced redirection of all hero damage to a target respectively.  

It's pretty hard to give good Oblivaeon advice, so much strategy is extremely situationally dependent and I feel like the ability to improvise a strategy based on board conditions are much more important here then they are anywhere else in Sentinels. Here are the best tips I can give for now, hopefully as I improve over time I can give better advice (I'd love to get good enough to write an Oblivaeon guide at some point).

General:

1. I usually pick my starting heroes and environments at random for a little extra Challenge but I strongly recommend bringing at least 4 heroes. Oblivaeon is easiest for 5 hero teams and is very difficult for 3 hero teams.

Phase 1:

1. As a general rule I try to get past the shields as quickly as possible. I know a lot of players worry about flipping him too fast, but to me making sure you live through phase 1 successfully is more important than anything else. In around 25 or so games of Oblivaeon, I only recall losing once after successfully getting past the Shield and I gone on to win once or twice after failing to get past the shield in time.

2. The second most important thing to do phase 1 is work on completing missions. 1 tip is it's generally preferable to take on a mission even if you can't complete it than to shuffle the mission deck. Taking on the Mission means that it cannot end up back on top of the deck by an unlucky shuffle and it means you'll have something to trade with other player's if one of them pulls a Mission they can't compete but you can.

3. Whenever possible, destroy Aeon Locus so that Oblivaeon won't get extra plays off them. These guys are by far the most dangerous Aeon Men and are often more important than Scions to damage.

3. A lot of Oblivaeon' shields are highly positioning dependant. It often makes sense to look at the Oblivaeon and Scion decks (assuming you're playing digital) to see what cards could be played that would screw your plans up and trying to minimize that risk.

4. When choosing a new hero after 1 of yours is incapacitated, base your choice first on what hero can help you with the shield and second on what rewards you had with the incapacitated hero that the new hero may be able to utilize.

Phase 2: 

1. If you successfully beat Oblivaeon's first phase the beginning of phase 2 is the best time to farm up some rewards. If you get some good rewards in the first 2-3 rounds you'll probably be able to take out  most of Oblivaeon's 180 HP in the next 1-2 rounds.

2. Alternatively, you can choose to split your team between the 2 battle zones and focusing on Scions instead of Oblivaeon. You'll lose an environment at the end of the phase but if you can keep the devastation token count down you can be in a strong position for Oblivaeon's final phase.

3. If there are Aeon Men in play pay attention to the order Oblivaeon hits them. If you can order the hits so that the Aeon Loci are healed by Thralls so that Oblivaeon doesn't take out the Loci, it's incredibly worthwhile to do so. It can also be worthwhile for avoiding Aeon Vassal and Warrior "on destruction" effects.

Phase 3:

1. If you have the ability to block villain plays this is the time to use it. Otherwise it's important to remember that Oblivaeon will only play extra cards if you're in his battle zone. Only heroes that can do enough to Oblivaeon to outweigh the downside of his plays should confront him.

2. Unlike Phase 2, Phase 3 does not generally punish you for damage immunity or preventing villain damage.

3. If Voss is around, consider killing him if you have a means to overcome his damage reduction. He much less scary now than if he flips.

A lot of good tips in this thread already!

My #1 tip: Don't press Choose For Me. There are many things going on in OblivAeon mode, and choosing the order of damages (especially when OblivAeon is rampaging) can be the difference between winning and losing.

Also, some missions are way better than others. Seraph? Great. Arataki? Awesome. Lucky Break? Incredible.

Meager Winnings? Primordial Boon? Less so. Citizen Storm? Meh. El Mejor Legado? Niche. 

Mecha Knight? Game-breaking. Get this one EVERY TIME. Especially if you can also get Apex of Humanity and the ObliVAeon Shard. Add Kurt Angle Legacy to the mix? You can just melt him.

geez Xtreme Fanatic made that way easier, void soul ended up hitting OblivAeon for 40 damage and it lets you get around some of those nasty extra card plays. Thanks for the tip.

I really like Primordial Boon - it was vital in my game the other day, as it let Benchmark move back to ObliVeon’s zone after his card play knocked him out before my missiles went off (dealing around 54 damage!) which was pretty key - there are definitely some rewards which are stronger than others though.

Loving this thread!

So far, my main OblivAeon strategy is "don't die."

Hasn't really been working out for me.  Closest I've come is 40hp on phase 3, with Voss in the wings because how the hell do you deal with DR of 22?

Fixer is particularly potent with this one as he can get crowbars, grease, and harmony for an extra +3, the ability to change his attack type, and the ability to hit someone else for even more damage.  Alternitively you can swap out crowbars for the jack handle if you’re having trouble with a large group.

Irreducable Attacks is how I’ve tried to do it. 

GI Bunker’s power makes damage to one target Irreducable until the start of his next turn. 

One of Mr Fixer’s styles makes his attacks Irreducable. 

You can also pick up Chekov’s Hairdryer or Seraph. 

Still haven’t gotten Oblivaeon under 84 HP and I’m always nervous once Voss shows up that he’ll ruin things for me. 

Dandolo's advice is spot-on, as always. Definitely all great considerations.

I have beaten OblivAeon twice. Both times I credit the victory to absurd mission/hero combos. The first game was won by Freedom Five Tachyon carrying the OblivAeon Shard. She blew through the OblivAeon then Voss in one wild turn.

The second game was won by Mr. Fixer wielding the Mecha-Knight Ultra Strike. He irreducibly ripped Voss apart instead of focusing on second-stage OblivAeon, causing us to lose that battle, but come back strong to win the war with 20 and 35 flexible damage per power. Both games also featured Termination Unity exploiting T-Rex Bot mercilessly, which is great, but not nearly enough on it's own.

Mr. Fixer does well in this expansion - that first game featured him effortlessly holding off multiple scions by himself for several turns in the Festival. It's just a damn shame the Ultra Strike does not count as a Strike for Overdrive.

Fast damage dealers, damage enhancers, and irreducible damage are the ways to go.

I like Legacy (pretty much all versions), Ra (especially Ra of the Setting Sun), Parse, Chrono-Ranger (By Any Means on Oblivaeon goes a long way), Tempest, Lifeline, and Luminary as go tos.

I've played it on Steam twice so far and I'm 1-1 running five heroes.  First time was chaos as I was getting used to the platform and spent too much time on Scions. Second time, even with Voss there I pulled it off with an environment to spare.

I know there are weird interactions with jack handle, but can you use it with Xtreme fanatic’s redirect power to just hit Oblivaeon a ton?  This would also be good against Voss with Alternating Tiger Claw. Also, worth pointing out that the other good damage powers (Infinity Cannon and Checkov’s Hairdryer) also work well on fixer.

Jackhandle with Extreme Fanatic’s redirect should hit OblivAeon with the power X times where X is the number of villain targets in the zone.

1. Know how to use the mission deck.  Take is usually better than shuffle if you don't have a mission, because you might be able to complete it somehow or you can swap it with a player/mission deck later.  And if you shuffle you might see it still at the top or a few missions down.  Complete missions often as they are really useful.

2. Keep in mind incap abilities when picking your initial team, they are much more important then in single player.  Some incap abilities are downright amazing in oblivaeon.  But if they don't have much impact you can work on the mission deck instead.

3. As migrantP said, don't blindly hit choose for me and actually think about order, especialy on oblivaeon plays, as it often matters.

4. Pay attention to aeon men/ongoings, as they add devastation tokens or give oblivaeon plays.  Avoiding giving oblivaeon plays phase 1 is high priority as he has +H damage.

I am definitely finding one strategy I really like. Young Legacy in first slot. When she's incapped, replace her with regular Legacy. Then use her incap ability to add one each turn. Legacy uses his, and everybody's strikes are +2. If you can play Inspiring Presence, +3. That makes things like Freedom Five Tachyon and Benchmark rather huge damage dealers.

Then in slot two, I'm starting with Tempest, so I can use his incap ability to make characters immune to one type of damage. I start with Energy during Phase 2 and switch to Infernal just before Oblivaeon flips to Phase 3.

I've won a few games and those have been part of every win. Now I've also lost some with that combination, so it's not sufficient, but it helps.

I've been putting Xtreme Fanatic on slot 1 and Young Legacy in slot 2 for just those reasons. Tempest is going to start going in slot 3 for the damage immunity trick that let me FINALLY beat that sumbitch (with Voss going down like a chump next round). My final 5 were Benchmark (Omni-Unity letting ALL of his cards fire plus the Mecha-Knight plus Mejor Legado's boost made each card play and power use do a ridiculous amount of damage), Legacy (getting multiple Galvanizes by someone else's Incap power), Ra of the Setting Sun, F5 Tachyon and Expatriette. 

Idealist and especially Benchmark can also setup some irreducible combos.

As far as general advice, knowing when you need damage immunity from the destruction of an environment always helps. Sometimes it’s worth getting a destruction token by moving everyone out of a zone - especially if the death of a scion cancels it out. You can count on damage reduction a lot more than deck lockdown in Phase 3.

I don’t think I’ve won without the OblivAeon Shard (I almost did it today, but a Temporal Fracture whisked Legacy and the Virtuosos - good band name - to the other zone with Obby at 7 HPs on the penultimate hero’s turn). However, you won’t unlock it in Phase 1 without Nixious or Wager Master helping. It’s possible that I’ve had the Bloodstone in all of my victories too.

I have had a lot of success with Devastating Aurora, because it’s the only reward that can be swapped from hero to hero - often useable on two or more more turns in succession.

Parse has a lot of cards that make damage irreducible.

Literally all you need to beat this is legacy. Use legacy to take all the damage for everyone and ignore pretty much all the damage. Energy or Infernal, then use Argent Adept to have Legs be immune to the other. The rest of your team just needs to blow him up quick because immuning his damage means the counters go up fast.

i got a 0 heroes eliminated win against Oblivaeon with Legacy, Santa Guise, The Scholar, Setback, and Benchmark.

i've also had remarkable success with Chronoranger turbo, Super Sentai Idealist, or with Freedom Five Tachyon as my main damage dealer. 

Legacy is your boy.

             Good luck

I don't mind a random setup, except that I want five heroes. I will also remove The Celestial Tribunal since OblivAeon can waste a 10HP hero in one turn (as an aisde, really my only dislike about this mode is when I summon a new hero who goes down before getting a single turn).

I'll slot in Panzerbuster Bunker and Stuntman once Voss appears. If you can get the latter towards the start of the heroes' roster you might skip the villain turns with the Dramatic Cliffhanger/In Medias Res combo.

For Phase 3, Legacy and Nightmist are at the top of the list for deck lockdown.

Just as a follow-up, I've now won 4-5 times and have a better handle on things. (Still haven't won against a shield other than the "get all the rewards" one yet, but I'll get there.) 

* Xtreme Fanatic's "everyone punch that guy" power is invaluable, especially if you've got characters like Benchmark who have "hit all the people" attacks. The only think to be careful of is that you don't want her to get any really necessary rewards. Because if whoever you've got in her slot has some key-to-victory reward like Lucky Break or T-Rex Bot, then you have to give up that damage focus to get the reward out. 

* Ditto for any Incap abilities you might rely on (specifically Young Legacy's damage boost or Tempest's typed immunity). 

* Another key I've found is, whenever possible, play things that let you give turns to other people. Grandpa Legacy on your team means that anyone with the Mecha-Knight gets multiple attacks. I don't have this stuff memorized, but late game, I tend to pass up swings at more Rewards and focus on Incap abilities that give other characters card plays or power usage. 

* Try to have some version of Haka, Tachyon or Legacy around with "no damage for you" cards primed to go, especially near the endgame. 

Agree with committed hero on avoiding environments with insta-loss conditions beyond your control.  Mobile Defense Platform is also a risk, although frankly the idea of OblivAeon plummeting to his death because the engine blew up is almost funny enough to chance it.

1. First stage : destroy shield, get rewards, get strong ko powers. When’d the shield is destroyed Oblivaeon flips page and hp drops to 180.

2. For stage 2 just let countdown goes to 0 while fighting Xions and aeon men. Do not let that a battle zone have more Xions than heroes. Keep on getting strong rewards and ko powers. After count down reaches 0 Oblivaeon flips again and is reduced to 120hp.

3. Destroy remaining Xions in battle zones ( they will not be summoned at Oblivion’s end turn any more) and hit oblivion hard with everything you have. Cursor reward is great at this time against oblivion cards at the end of every hero’s turn. Good luck!