Strike Force
A Strike Force is a large-scale story arc in City of Villains. Strike forces are equivalent to Task Forces in City of Heroes.
Strike forces are similar to Story Arcs in that they are a set of missions that tell a story. Strike forces are started by talking to a strike force contact, which is typically a unique NPC or signature villain. Unlike story arcs, strike force contacts cannot be outleveled. Strike forces can be started at any time, provided a team meets the strike force's requirements, and characters may run them more than once.
Restrictions
Each strike force has a minimum level requirement that must be met before the strike force can be started. Each strike force also has a maximum level associated with it; team members who exceed the maximum automatically malefactor down.There is no minimum team size for strike forces, but for many of them, a solo player will struggle.
While running a strike force, none of the team's other missions are available to them, and normal contacts won't interact with the player. This means that most stores are unavailable; however, Arena stores, Pocket D, the Black Market, and Ouroboros are still accessible to purchase (often much needed) inspirations. Once the strike force has formed, you must continue to run the strike force until you finish it or drop from it. Strike force missions can be run over several play sessions; the game allows you to log out without dropping from the strike force.
As of 2008-03-05 strike forces will always spawn according to the number of members associated with the team, no matter if they are online or not. If 4 people start the Virgil Tarikoss Strike Force, and one logs out, the groups will still spawn as if for 4 people on the team. If the person instead quit the strike force, then the spawns will scale for 3 people.
Strike Forces by Level
A "non-signature" strike force spawns according to the highest level person on the team. The Imperious Task Force, Dr. Aeon and Mortimer Kal's Strike Force are the only non-signature strike forces at this time that are accessible for a Villain.
| Badge Awarded |
Strike Force Name | Contact | Suggested Team Size |
Level Range | Merits | Missions | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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The Beast Beneath the Mountain | Virgil Tarikoss | 4 | 15 to 20 | 13 | 6 | |
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Pirates of the Sky | Silver Mantis | 4 | 20 to 25 | 42 | 6 | |
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The Fire and the Flames | Mortimer Kal | 4 | 20 to 40 | 22 | 2 | Requires completing Wizard's Weakness to start |
 |
The Temple of the Waters | Strike Force Operative Renault | 4 | 25 to 30 | 24 | 14 | Grants Coral weaponry temp powers. |
 |
The Crystal of Serafina | Ice Mistral | 4 | 35 to 40 | 26 | 7 | Grants Enchantment of Serafina temp power upon completion, accolade requirement for Megalomaniac. |
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Time's Arrow | Imperious | 6 | 35 to 50 | 26 † | 4 | Takes place in Cimerora. Heroes and Villains can team up with each other. Has access to Advanced Difficulty settings, which grant bonus rewards including Prismatic Aether Particles. 
|
 |
Chasing Fool's Gold | Dr. Aeon | 4 | 35 to 50 | 40 | 7 | Awards your choice of extra merits or a D-Synch enhancement, as well as the Boomer Sonic Cannon temporary power, and the Golden Throwing Wrench temporary power. Has access to Advanced Difficulty settings, which grant bonus rewards including Prismatic Aether Particles. |
 |
Lord Recluse's Strike Force | Lord Recluse | 8 | 45 to 50 | 25 † | 5 | Reward choices includes random Synthetic Hamidon Enhancement, accolade requirement for Marshal. |
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The Lady Grey Strike Force | Lady Grey | 8 | 45 to 50 | 37 † | 5 | Mission entrances are all located in the Rikti War Zone. Heroes and Villains can team up with each other.
|
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Thus Spoke the Reichsman | Barracuda | 4 | 45 to 50 | 20 † | 5 | |
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Trading Places | Mender Silos | 1 | 46 to 50 | 10 | 3 | |
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Alpha Strike | Apex | 8 | 50 | 40 | 2 | Mission entrances are all located in the Rikti War Zone. Heroes and Villains can team up with each other.
|
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The Praetorian Offensive | Tin Mage Mark II | 8 | 50 | 40 | 3 | Mission entrances are all located in the Rikti War Zone. Heroes and Villains can team up with each other.
|
† Merits only received if the Incarnate Component is not available and selected.
Denotes that the task is cooperative.
Rewards
Strike forces typically have badges associated with them and often have unique mobs.
Hardcore Badges
Master Badges
Complete the hardest Strike Forces in the game without using Temporary Powers (including Veteran Rewards) and without any deaths.
- Completion of the Lord Recluse Strike Force with the above requirements will reward the team members with the Master of Lord Recluse's Strike Force Badge.
- Completion of the Imperious Task Force with the above requirements will reward the team members with the Master of the Imperious Task Force Badge.
- Completion of the Barracuda Strike Force with the above requirements will reward the team members with the Master of the 5th Column Strike Force Badge.
- Completion of the Lady Grey Task Force with the above requirements will reward the team members with the Master of Lady Grey's Task Force Badge.
Earn all of the optional badges in the Incarnate Strike Forces.
- Earning the Drone Protector, Burden Bearer/Arm's Length, and Already Dead badges in the Apex Task Force awards characters with the Master of Apex's Task Force badge.
- Earning the Hacker, Midnight Dodger What Dodges At Midnight, Kitty's Got Claws, and Army of Neu badges in the Tin Mage Mark II Task Force awards characters with the Master of Tin Mage's Task Force badge.
- While the Dr. Aeon Strike Force is not an incarnate trial, its Master Badge is earned in a similar fashion to Apex and Tin Mage, by getting the four optional badges when played at a difficulty setting of Malicious (☆) or higher. The badges are Unfriendly Fire, Ripple Raider, Power Overwhelming, and Can't Touch This.
Other Badges
- Defeating of the Aereus Colossi encounter in the third mission of the Imperious Task Force - accessible only in Advanced Difficulty modes, awards the Freezer Burn badge.
- Completing the Flashback variant of the Lord Recluse Strike Force with the 'Old School Challenge' setting enabled grants the Worthy Opponent badge. This challenge disables all incarnate powers, enhancement set bonuses and super inspirations.
Merit Rewards
As of Issue 13, rewards from Strike Forces consist of Merit Rewards, which can be turned in for recipes, enhancements, salvage, badges, and more.
Each Strike Force has a different reward amount assigned to it, based on datamined time required to complete it.
After claiming Merit Rewards from a Strike Force, a player will receive half the amount of merits they gained the previous time for that same Strike Force each time it is completed within the next 24 hours, to a minimum of 1 merit. Players can still receive a Synthetic Hamidon Enhancement from Lord Recluse's Strike Force, or earn full merits from other Strike Forces.
The timer will reset after 24 hours, and players will again earn the full amount of merits from the Strike Force.
Completing multiple different Strike Forces in the same 24 hour period will not subject each subsequent different Strike Force to diminishing returns.
Previous Rewards
This section contains information that no longer applies to the current version of City of Heroes/Villains. It is provided for historical purposes.
Unlike Story Arcs, every team member received a completion reward at the end of a Strike Force, not just the leader. Major Strike Forces (i.e. not Ouroboros) offered the option for a Pool C Recipe drop, or the option to pick a standard Single Origin enhancement (out of Accuracy, Damage, Endurance, Recharge, and Range) instead.
The team leader Notoriety level setting affected enemy spawns according to specific criteria. It also affected the completion reward at the end, with a same-level rare recipe (if chosen) on Villainous, +1 level on Vicious, and +2 level on Relentless. This obviously did not apply if the character's true level was 49 (for the +2 level recipes) or 50 (for the +1 or +2 level recipes), as recipes above level 50 do not exist.
After claiming a recipe reward from a Strike Force, a player could not receive another recipe from Strike Forces for the next 3 hours. Players could still receive other rewards from it, or earn recipes from Trials, or could wait out the timer, e.g. by leaving the reward window up while playing or logging out and logging in back later.