How to Defeat Taxmaster in Marvel's Avengers
By the time you switch to Black Widow and fight Taskmaster, Marvel's Avengers is still in training mode. But if you didn't die from fall damage while the game was teaching the Hulk to jump off a wall, this is the first part of the intro that puts you in mortal danger.
The fight is similar to the famous fight with Deathstroke at the beginning of Batman: Arkham Origins, albeit with a few extra tricks based on the tutorial. The first of these is a QTE section in which Black Widow meets Taskmaster mid-air as he approaches with a jetpack-like device.
The first major part of the fight looks a bit silly visually, but it captures some of the important aspects of the Marvel Avenger fight. In this section, Black Widow lands on a small platform and Taskmaster tries to submerge her with his sword. This part teaches you how to dodge and that there are hints for doing so, but more importantly, it teaches you the usefulness and limitations of ranged abilities.
The first time you dodge the Taskmaster, the game tells you how to shoot, but if you hesitate, you won't get a single hit through his shield. But if you lower the time and fire the moment after dodging, you will only do a little damage - you are actually trying to hit his flying device. Taskmaster will keep attacking you until you deal enough damage to ground him and the next part of the fight begins.
The combat overseer on the ground is a test of your reflexes and ability to quickly respond to signals from the screen. The Taskmaster will slash you with his sword, teaching you timings for dodges. He will also do a bigger unblockable sword slash (dodge again) and use explosives to show you the impact area before they explode. When you create an opportunity to fight back, you'll learn that you can't just push buttons in one-on-one combat.
When you lay down on the Taskmaster, he will eventually pull himself together and try to counter. If you take maximum damage, he will simply try to knock you out of the spirit, to which you will have to react and return to the defense. But if you don't mix your attacks between light and heavy, Taskmaster will actually parry you and punish you for your laziness. At this point, you will receive a notification from the game that will tell you about it, teach you how to do it, despite the simple combat controls, you will need to mix up your attacks.
For most of the fight, you'll be dancing through a loop of dodging, countering, and retreating for protection. If you find yourself getting hit, pay attention to what happens when you dodge Taskmaster's light attacks. If the action slows down for a second, you've earned a counterattack window. If not, Taskmaster uses his combo sequence, which you need to be ready to dodge chain before it opens.
Finally, when Taskmaster is on the brink, the final lesson comes into play. The Taskmaster will start using a new attack that fills the area with explosives. You can dodge, but you also have the option to use Black Widow's unique counter move. Pressing R2 when you see the yellow icon will allow you to use the grappling hook as a counterattack instead of an approach that turns into a nice knockback maneuver and gets you out of explosive danger immediately.
A little more persistence and you'll be able to use the generic delete command to suppress Taskmaster. Unfortunately, this is a fleeting victory as the prologue draws to a close and the events of Day A continue. Then the story will really begin and you will be taken to the actual beta.
How do you feel about boss fights in Marvel's Avengers? Do you like the Mano-and-Mano style of playing the Taskmasters, or do you prefer the unusual encounters with the likes of MODOK? Write to us in the comments below!