Tips and Tricks - Midnight Suns Guide - IGN (2025)

Whether it's figuring out how to maximise the amount of damage you inflict in a round or how best to use the mystical Abbey to upgrade your fighters, Marvel Midnight Suns is a game that takes some time to learn. That can make its early hours confusing, especially if you're a newcomer to developer Firaxis' unique brand of strategy game.

For those wanting a few tips and tricks to get them started, here are some handy pointers to make your battle with the Mother of Demons a little less challenging.

Marvel Midnight Suns Tips and Tricks

Below we'll list some tips and tricks to get you started. If you want to skim through all the tips listed below, we'll leave some links so you can jump freely jump between them:

Get To Know Your Team

This one may seem simple but it's key to taking the best squad you can out on missions. As soon as you're able, get to know each available hero's strengths and weaknesses. Specific hero combinations can be bad match-ups as each member fills a similar role in the team, while others complement each other and allow you to combo enemies with ease.

A good example is a hero like Ghost Rider. While Ghost Rider is a powerful combatant with high-damage abilities, his best cards will drain his health, leaving him susceptible to enemy attacks. If you put Ghost Rider with a squad of other damage-focused heroes, you'll likely find yourself on the end of a harsh beating.

However, put Ghost Rider with a team of support-focused heroes that can heal and buff him (such as Nico or Dr Strange), and you'll be able to balance his abilities and use him as the explosive weapon of vengeance he was built to be. Understanding what heroes are capable of and balancing your team to accommodate that will quickly see you become more efficient on the battlefield.

An extension of the point above, don't fixate on the same squadmates every time you head out on a mission. Although your playstyle may mesh more with certain heroes, it pays to get to know how each one works, especially as missions will always force you to take at least one pre-selected, essential hero. That means you'll be playing all of them from beginning to end, whether you want to or not.

Considering every hero in the game plays differently, it's a good plan to play them all, figure out how you want to assemble their personal decks and keep them levelled up for the battles ahead. Nothing's worse than ignoring a hero's progression and skills just to be forced into using them during a particularly tricky boss fight.

Quick Attacks Are Your Best Friend

When it comes to combat, there are a ton of tricks the game doesn't teach you that will definitely come in handy. One that's best to learn early into your time with Midnight Suns is that quick attacks are crucial to making the most out of every round.

In most damage-focused characters' decks, you'll find certain abilities that are marked as "quick". These attacks (which range from light punches to repulsor blasts) deal low damage in comparison to the majority of a hero's other abilities. However, they will instantly kill the grunts on the battlefield that don't have health bars.

That's not all though. Every time you use a quick ability to KO an enemy (grunt or otherwise), you'll have the card play refunded. That means you can continuously use quick attacks as long as you're getting KOs. That caveat is crucial to limiting the enemy attacks dealt to each of your heroes at the end of a turn, but it's also a way to get a ton of hits on bigger foes.

Especially with heroes like Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America and The Hunter, quick attacks will frequently have knockback. You can use this knockback to hit stronger enemies or detonate explosives, allowing you to weaken significant threats without using card slots before unleashing devastating moves that finish them off for good.

Not only that, but quick attacks generate Heroism, meaning you can power up your stronger abilities while clearing the field of grunts. Quick attacks are the key to making the most of rounds in Marvel Midnight Suns, so be sure to use them.

Balance Your Deck

Early into Marvel Midnight Suns, there's a temptation to create a deck exclusively filled with hard-hitting cards. When you see an ability like The Hunter's Bladestorm attack that can inflict huge damage and knock enemies halfway across the arena, it feels like a no-brainer to stack as many of these powerful attacks as possible in an effort to up the damage potential of your deck.

However, the game's most devastating cards always require a certain amount of heroism to perform. Your heroism level is displayed in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and is increased by defeating or damaging enemies with attacks that don't require heroism. That mostly means relying on quick attacks or standard attacks to build up your meter and unleash your best moves.

As a result, you'll want to make sure your deck has attacks that are easy to pull off but deal low damage in order to build heroism, unlock your best moves and bring the fight to the enemy. Make sure every character has weak, mid-level and high-level attacks on hand and you'll never find yourself with a full hand you can't play because you can't generate enough heroism to unleash it.

Use Movement Wisely

Alongside being able to attack three times and redraw two cards, you'll also notice you're able to move once. This may seem trivial at first; you can already move anywhere on the battlefield while attacking, so what does it matter? The truth is, movement and positioning are two of the most crucial aspects you need to consider to make the most out of every turn.

When using a knockback ability or an environmental attack, you'll be able to maximise its potential by considering what's around the enemy you wish to bring down. With a knockback, you may notice a generator or explosive can be hit if your hero attacks from a certain angle, upping the damage inflicted when the enemy hits it. Meanwhile, with an environmental attack, you may be able to hit several enemies instead of one by changing where your hero is stood before utilising a stray pillar or crate.

When pointing your cursor over the spot you intend to move to, you'll see green projections indicating the range your hero will be able to knock back an enemy if they're standing where you're indicating. Use that to maximise how much damage you inflict with a powerful move.

Get Shove Early and Use It Frequently

Tying into the point above, early into Midnight Suns you'll be able to research a martial art known as The Art of The Fang. It requires you to reach level 1 research in The Forge and unlocks a brand new upgrade for the Yard: Training Dummies.

After building these, you'll access a new ability known as shoving, which allows every hero to use a move slot to knock back an enemy. Although its usefulness may not be apparent immediately, it will quickly become a key part of every turn in Marvel Midnight Suns.

Much like quick attacks, shoving two grunts into each other is an excellent way to thin out the opposition on the board without using up your precious card slots. So, if you don't intend to move a hero into a new position and still have the move slot by the time the turn comes to the end, make sure to use it on a shove. It may not deal much damage, but it can quickly thin the horde if used wisely.

Don't Waste Redraws

Similar to the point above, when you've drawn a decent hand of cards, it can be easy to completely forget about the two redraws you're automatically awarded at the beginning of every turn. However, these leftover redraws can be essential to a strong next round.

If you've done everything you want to do in a single round and have redraws to spare, look at your current hand. If you have any cards spare that won't come in handy or you don't want to play, redraw them. Redrawing your less valuable cards at the end of every turn can often net you some great cards for the next round, setting you up for success before your next hand is even drawn.

Don't Go Overboard on Environmental Attacks

Early in the game, it can be tempting to use a lot of your built-up heroism on the environmental weapons scattered around the environment. After all, they allow you to deal additional damage to enemies in the near vicinity without lowering your number of available card plays.

However, this can be a double-edged sword. Playing a ton of environmental attacks will mean your heroism level is constantly depleted, forcing you to rely on low-damage attacks. Unless your foe is on its last legs or the opportunity to hit several foes at once arises, try to save up your heroism rather than spending it on environmental weapons. It'll mean you're always prepared for that one high-damage card to land in your deck that can clean house or set up the opportunity to end the encounter.

Use Timed Projectiles Against Enemies

A small one that can trivialise foes that rely mostly on AOE attacks, you can actually use a lot of enemy projectiles for your own gain. Wait for an enemy to throw a grenade, aim a missile strike or sacrifice their ally to create a timed explosion. When you see the small red radius indicating the AOE of the move, evacuate your heroes from the spot and use a knockback to hit foes into the circle. When you switch turns, they'll get a taste of their own medicine, often leaving them stunned and heavily damaged.

Funnily enough, the best way to teach yourself this trick is by fighting Crossbones. Captain America's arch-nemesis is one of the main antagonists that will pop up in battles, although it's easy to bully the supervillain simply through his love of throwing grenades. Whenever Crossbones lobs a bomb, evacuate any hero in the blast radius and knock him into the centre. When it detonates, he'll be stunned, so you can launch a barrage of brutal attacks.

Stock Up On Items

Although the game won't consistently remind you, items are a hugely important part of surviving Marvel Midnight Suns' biggest battles. Created via the Item Bench when you unlock it early in the game, it's worth building and utilising as many items as you can to ensure you have extra options in a jam.

Whether it's allowing you to move more than once or inflict various status debuffs on enemies, there are a ton of useful items found at the Item Bench, many of which allow you to finish battles faster (and grab more gloss as a result). Keep researching new items in The Forge and bringing them to battles to give yourself a useful leg up.

Focus on Main Objectives To End Encounters Early

Whether failing to quell waves of grunts joining the battle as reinforcements or being battered by the storm of rapidly reproducing Dark Legion, it's very easy to get overwhelmed in battle. If you do find yourself low on health, out of items and searching for a way to quickly finish the fight, it's usually worth focusing on objectives rather than attempting to thin the wave of enemies attacking you.

If you're fighting story bosses or Nest Mothers, you'll often find that the fight ends immediately after they're defeated, while the same can be said for certain other story objectives. If signs are beginning to point to defeat and you don't want to repeat the encounter, turn your attention towards the main goal and attempt to finish the fight before it finishes you.

Commit To Clubs

When outside of combat, one of the best cycles you can get into is frequently attending as many clubs as possible. There are three clubs formed throughout the story: Emo Club, Shop Club and Book Club. Emo Club will see you interact with Nico, Magik and Dr Strange, Shop Club will focus on Spider-Man, Ghost Rider and Iron Man, and Book Club will feature Blade, Captain America, Captain Marvel and Wolverine.

Although you can completely avoid these clubs and instead opt to limit your evenings to hangouts with heroes or scavenger hunts around the Abbey grounds, you'll miss out on a ton of free goodies and friendship XP by forgoing clubs.

Shop Club specifically will kit you out with some very useful pieces of equipment needed to fight some of the game's toughest bosses, making it a key side activity for those struggling with major villains. Considering you can gain friendship XP for every hero at a club as well, they're a great way to boost multiple friendship levels at once without having to wait for a designated hangout event.

Advance The Abbey Side Quest

Early into the game, Marvel Midnight Suns' main storyline will set up a side story focused on Agatha Harkness and the grounds surrounding the Abbey. It'll quickly introduce you to Moon Seals, magic gateways to combat challenges, words of power and a large map filled with blocked passages, then spend the rest of the game never acknowledging it.

It can be easy to forget you even had a tutorial about the secrets hidden beyond the Abbey's walls, but continuing this side quest on your own time will provide you with a lot of benefits. These include a ton of Arcane Keys, Arcane Chests, new ability cards and provide access to "havens", which are hangout spots that allow you to significantly boost the friendship XP of one hero.

That's without mentioning that you're missing essential lore regarding Lilith if you don't complete this side story, with the optional objective making her transformation from The Hunters' mother to the Queen of Demons a little more transparent. Overall, the Abbey Sidequest should be on your list of essential activities to complete.

Save Arcane Keys and Chests For Later In The Game

Listen, I get it. You see one of the various shiny chests scattered around The Abbey and you have a colourful key on hand. Your first instinct is, of course, to unlock the chest and gain access to the mountains of high-value loot trapped inside. However, if you want as much loot as possible, the best idea is to be stingy with your Arcane Keys and horde them while you upgrade your Arcania level.

By interacting with objects or petting The Hunters' dog, Charlie, you'll raise your Arcania level. Every time you raise the level, you'll be able to find more items in Arcane Chests, meaning you'll get far more bang for your buck (or, in this case, Arcane Keys). Although chests do respawn over time, Arcane Keys are a limited and valuable resource, so keep some in your back pocket to make the most out of Arcane Chest loot drops.

Utilise Gifts and Havens To Max Friendships Fast

From increasing your number of powerful combo cards to netting you new cosmetics and abilities, cultivating friendships with your allies is a key part of Marvel Midnight Suns. However, it can be quite difficult to bump a friendship meter up, especially as designated hangouts are a rare occurrence you won't be able to rely on.

If you're struggling to increase a specific hero's friendship XP, your best bet is to use gifts and havens, preferably at the same time if you want the best results. Gifts are the easiest of the two to get your hands on. After levelling up your Team Friendship Level for the first time, you'll see a gift shop spawn in the Abbey, just left of the doorway leading to The Forge. Here, you can peruse gifts and purchase them using Gloss.

The trick with gifts is to find something the hero you're trying to impress would like. For Spider-Man, that might be a comic, while Ghost Rider will be more interested in a candle that smells like a car interior. The more custom-fit a gift is, the more bonus friendship XP you'll receive for gifting it. You can give gifts at the end of a hangout or haven visit, adding additional friendship XP to the hangout's total.

As for havens, you'll be able to find them scattered around the Abbey grounds. Haven spots are marked by mystical blue circles, as shown above. Approach and interact with them and, when you next approach a hero in The Abbey, you'll be able to invite them there. You can only invite one hero to each haven, and each hero can only visit a haven once in a playthrough. However, the activity will dramatically increase their friendship XP, giving you that extra boost needed to get closer to max friendship.

Find Out Each Hero's Morality Preference

Alongside gifts and havens, another easy way to quickly boost a hero's friendship XP is to learn what they want out of a friend. While some heroes may want a pure-hearted ally that gives them hope, others will prefer an accomplice that understands their darker side and allows them to vent their frustrations.

Learning whether the hero you're attempting to befriend is more attuned to light or dark choices is key to winning them over. A good guideline to follow early on is that most of the Avengers lean towards light choices, while the Midnight Suns tend to lean towards dark choices.

A good example is a hero like Magik. Although it seems the light choices are the kindest and most compassionate when speaking to her, it's often wiser to use the more honest dark choices. Magik responds well to these and so you'll find you gain far more friendship XP in standard conversations. Capitalising on this knowledge will boost your friendship levels faster, shortening the amount of time needed to reach max Friendship.

Spar With Heroes Every Day

Another way to keep a pumping friendship XP to heroes is to spar with them every day. As soon as The Hunter wakes up, head to The Yard and access the training menu. From here, select daily sparring and choose a hero to spar with.

It'll cost a little money, but you'll be able to boost the selected hero's battle XP, friendship XP and grant them a buff, making it a very useful technique to keep heroes levelled up and boost their friendship. You can only spar each hero once every four days, but if you're trying to ensure all your heroes are well-equipped, this is a solid way to keep your allies in top shape.

Make Time to Pet Charlie and Ebony

No modern video game is complete without a "pet animal" interaction, and Marvel Midnight Suns is no exception. However, unlike those other weak-sauce video games that make you do the petting out of the kindness of your heart, Firaxis has put a little reward in there for those willing to go the extra mile for their four-legged friends.

When you see Charlie around the Abbey, make sure to pet her. You'll not only raise your friendship with the hellhound, unlocking powerful abilities when she joins you in battle, but also raise your Arcania level.

Charlie isn't the only pet that offers useful rewards for those willing to seek her out and deliver some superhero scritches. Finding and petting a small cat named Ebony out in the grounds will heal your wounded teammates, saving you the trouble of giving them all time in the recovery pool.