Agents of Mayhem: A Beginner’s Guide for New Field Agents

This tips and tricks guide will get you off on the right foot -- kickin' ass and chewin' bubble gum. Welcome to Mayhem, Agent.
This tips and tricks guide will get you off on the right foot -- kickin' ass and chewin' bubble gum. Welcome to Mayhem, Agent.

In Agents of Mayhem, you’re going to find yourself in all kinds of interesting situations. I know you’re ready to take the fight to the Legion cronies crawling all over the city, but try to holster that excitement for a moment. What if I told you that by taking a minute to read this veteran’s guide for beginners, you could be even more of a badass on the battlefield?

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That’s right, In this following Agents of Mayhem beginner’s guide, I’m going to share with you some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned over the last 20 hours of kickin’ ass and chewin’ bubble gum — so let’s get into it!

Squad Up

Your Agents may be tough, but they’re not a one-(wo)man army — which is why you work in groups of 3. Initially you’re limited to your choices of squadmates, but as you progress and do the special solo missions you’ll unlock a plethora of interesting characters with their own unique skills and weapons. Make sure you’re paying attention to the people that you’re putting on your squad.

Each agent has 2 areas of specialization from 6 different areas:

  • World Savior
  • Skinpiercer
  • Shieldbuster
  • Deadshot
  • Master Programmer
  • Giant Slayer

For example, agents like Hardtack, Red Card, and Braddock have the Skinpiercer specialization — allowing them to do more damage to armored enemies. This makes them good at dealing with the tougher veteran troops you’ll start encountering in the harder difficulty modes.

You want to make sure that you get a good mix of skills on your squad so that you can deal with whatever situation you might end up in. 

Choose Gadgets That Compliment Your Playstyle

As you complete missions and find loot chests, you’ll unlock gadgets for your various agents. Gadgets break down into 3 categories — Special, Weapon, and Passive.

Special gadgets can change your agent’s special attack in a number of ways. It can make it deal more damage, add status effects, have a longer duration, etc.

Weapon gadgets affect the abilities of your primary weapon. From increasing your magazine size to giving you stat buffs or greater damage, weapon gadgets are the ones that end up getting used most often — so when you get new ones, check them out.  

Passive gadgets are great because they boost your other skills. For example, Hollywood’s Star Power Amplifier passive inflicts debuffs on enemies he dashes towards. Other characters like Hardtack, for example, have passive gadgets that give them health boosts which are great for making tanks tankier.

If You’re Struggling, Turn the Difficulty Down

I know it might seem common sense, but there is no shame in dropping the difficulty a level or two if your team is wiping on missions. Really, the only thing that you’re missing out on is increased XP and Cash rewards when you complete the mission. 

Make Sure to Clear Legion Side Missions From Time to Time

It can get pretty annoying trying to take down an objective while Legion drops in reinforcements or turns the citizens against you with their hate machines. Make sure to take the time to clear this little side missions so that they don’t build up all over the map.

It’s also good to note that from time to time, Legion will retake their outposts and Relic’s trading posts — which are the fastest way for you to earn money for upgrades. It’s important to keep on top of that, or you might end up playing for 3 hours only to realize that you haven’t been passively earning cash the whole time because Legion = dickbags.

Channel Your Inner Parkour Master

There is a lot of vertical real estate in Agents of Mayhem — so explore it! Not only is it fun and challenging to scale some of these structures, but it’s a great way to find loot chests and crystal fragments tucked away in hidden corners of the city. 

Crystal shards are an important item for your agents. You use them for core upgrades — permanent upgrades that make them more of a force to be reckoned with. You’ll earn cores from doing some missions but the fastest way of getting them is to collect crystal shards. 10 shards make 1 core, and there are 300 shards spread out across the map

Loot chests drop all kinds of goodies depending on their “rarity” level — which follows the same white (common) and purple (super badass) color scheme used by every other game out there.

Chests have everything from character skins to Legion/Gremlin tech, so seek them out.

Making Use of Consumables

There are 2 types of tech. Legion tech includes agent-specific and attaches to the gadgets via the armory. Gremlin tech includes consumables that you can requisition Gremlin to make for you on the Ark. 

These Gremlin tech items can confer very powerful buffs and abilities to your agents in the thick of battle, and are especially useful on the higher difficulties. Don’t be afraid to use these if you’re in a tight spot. Items like Lightning Strike and Tag-tical Nuke have been the difference between a lost boss fight for me more than once. Plus, who doesn’t love explosions?

  • Note: If you’re running low on R&D materials, you should put Joule in your party and toss some points into her Scavenger upgrade, which earns you bonus materials.

Other Miscellaneous Tips

  • If your agent is about to die, swap them out. They’ll regain health while out of the fight. This can be further sped up by buying the Ark upgrade from Relic once you meet the agency level requirement.
  • Listen to your agents. If you’re facing enemies that a particular agent fares well against they’ll suggest you tag them in.
  • Make use of your dash in combat. Moving quickly in the middle of a firefight makes dealing with mobs easier.
  • If you’re taking too much heat look for Legion stations on the map to destroy. This effectively drops your “wanted level.”
  • The Mayhem meter is character dependent. Try to get 1 or more of your agents charged up for easier boss fights.
  • Tag team. If your current squad keeps getting crushed consider swapping in a different agent.

Hopefully, these beginner tips help start you off on the right foot — the foot you’ll be kicking Legion ass with. Got any tips you’d like to share? We’d love to see them in the comments below. And stay tuned for more Agents of Mayhem guides!


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Author
Justin Michael
From Atari 2600 to TTRPG and beyond I game, therefore I am. Can generally be found DMing D&D on the weekend, homebrewing beer, or tripping over stuff in my house while playing VR. Hopeful for something *Ready Player One* meets *S.A.O Nerve Gear* before I kick the bucket.