Variant 1 is not that bad.

“Oh, you were expecting back issue Variant but it was me, Loki Variant!”

When people dubbed Variant 1 as the hardest Variant ever, I was expecting Act 6 Mordo level chaotic fights. I had done every Variant except this one so I thought I’d give it a try as well. And it’s safe to say it’s lot less harder than I anticipated.

Paths aren’t very long while defender hit points are low compared to Act 6-7 or even the newer Variants. The bosses however get tankier as the chapters progresses and so do the attack values. The hardest was definitely the Ultron boss who gets crazy regen or power gain from debuffs.

In terms of champions I used, my MVPs were: Warlock for Chapter 1, Hyperion for the second one and Thing for the final chapter. Thing is probably one of the best options for Masochism & Pilfer and with the full team synergy, he pretty much destroys everything. Also, can anyone tell me a better love story than Immortal Hulk and Aspect of chaos? I’ll wait.

And last but least, the rewards. They feel quite outdated and don’t seem justifiable for the efforts one have to put in. Let me know if you think it’s worth exploring or not. Thanks.

Comments

Grootman1294

1.1% degen oscillate sentinel overrides your statement. It's even worse than the 6.2 mordo imo.

xNig

“Oh, you were expecting back issue Variant but it was me, Loki Variant!”

jk

When people dubbed Variant 1 as the hardest Variant ever, I was expecting Act 6 Mordo level chaotic fights. I had done every Variant except this one so I thought I’d give it a try as well. And it’s safe to say it’s lot less harder than I anticipated.

Paths aren’t very long while defender hit points are low compared to Act 6-7 or even the newer Variants. The bosses however get tankier as the chapters progresses and so do the attack values. The hardest was definitely the Ultron boss who gets crazy regen or power gain from debuffs.

In terms of champions I used, my MVPs were: Warlock for Chapter 1, Hyperion for the second one and Thing for the final chapter. Thing is probably one of the best options for Masochism & Pilfer and with the full team synergy, he pretty much destroys everything. Also, can anyone tell me a better love story than Immortal Hulk and Aspect of chaos? I’ll wait.

And last but least, the rewards. They feel quite outdated and don’t seem justifiable for the efforts one have to put in. Let me know if you think it’s worth exploring or not. Thanks.

That’s because Variant 1 was introduced when and designed for 5*R4s were the top champs. We didn’t have Ghost, Thing, iHulk then as well.

If you truly want to experience how difficult it was meant to be, try limiting yourself to 5* R4s and champs introduced to the game when it was released.

Agent_X_zzz

1.1% degen oscillate sentinel overrides your statement. It's even worse than the 6.2 mordo imo.

Mmm I quaked him back in the hood ol days

zuffy

Isn’t chapter 1 restricted to mutant and skill? How is it possible warlock is your mvp for chapter 1?

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Pulyaman

1.1% degen oscillate sentinel overrides your statement. It's even worse than the 6.2 mordo imo.
I didn’t know there was a fight like that. I might have taken a different path.

My man, the exploration of V1 is a whole different beast. Magik and Dr. Strange with energize and power gain everywhere with no way to control power, Unavoidable degen. Are the rewards worth it for exploration now? No. But, you can try it for the experience if you have expiring resources. That is what I did.

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LeNoirFaineant

It's amazing how many people still think Variant 1 is insanely hard. It was really hard when we had the rosters we had at the time it was released, but with current rosters it isn't bad at all.

Kill_Grey

1.1% degen oscillate sentinel overrides your statement. It's even worse than the 6.2 mordo imo.

And that mordo boss isn't nearly the worst fight in 6.2.5.

Masterpuff

1.1% degen oscillate sentinel overrides your statement. It's even worse than the 6.2 mordo imo.
I didn’t know there was a fight like that. I might have taken a different path.

Exploration is the real hell.

DrZola

1.1% degen oscillate sentinel overrides your statement. It's even worse than the 6.2 mordo imo.
I didn’t know there was a fight like that. I might have taken a different path.
Exploration is the real hell.

Agreed. Mine still sits at 100% Ch1-2 and a couple of passes on Ch3.

Other than bragging rights, I don’t see why Ch3 status will change any time soon.

Dr. Zola

Savage123456789

I still want to know for those people that say V1 is easy, what do they mean by that? Can they just explore it in their sleep like the other variants? Is it because it's easier to farm potions and revives now? Or do they have a full roster of 6* R3s? Or something else? Yes, it's easier than when it was released if we are comparing that cause of better champs, but that doesn't mean it's easy on its own right now. Curious on people's opinion.

DrZola

I still want to know for those people that say V1 is easy, what do they mean by that? Can they just explore it in their sleep like the other variants? Is it because it's easier to farm potions and revives now? Or do they have a full roster of 6* R3s? Or something else? Yes, it's easier than when it was released if we are comparing that, but that doesn't mean it's easy on its own right now. Curious on people's opinion.

I would think the release of new champs that counter the nodes better than the champs at the time have altered the dynamic a lot.

Consider Warlock, CV, Torch, Thing. All of those champs make some of the fights much more straightforward than they used to be.

But it’s still thorny. I’ve exited Ch3 quests recently when I found myself getting walloped. Easy? Nope. Easier? Sure.

Dr. Zola

Savage123456789

I still want to know for those people that say V1 is easy, what do they mean by that? Can they just explore it in their sleep like the other variants? Is it because it's easier to farm potions and revives now? Or do they have a full roster of 6* R3s? Or something else? Yes, it's easier than when it was released if we are comparing that, but that doesn't mean it's easy on its own right now. Curious on people's opinion.
I would think the release of new champs that counter the nodes better than the champs at the time have altered the dynamic a lot.

Consider Warlock, CV, Torch, Thing. All of those champs make some of the fights much more straightforward than they used to be.

But it’s still thorny. I’ve exited Ch3 quests recently when I found myself getting walloped. Easy? Nope. Easier? Sure.

Dr. Zola

That's my thinking too. But I hear too many people making it sound like V1 is as easy as the rest of the variants. It's still a lot of hell in there, lol. But it would have been a lot easier if there were no class restrictions.

Mauled

It’s something that I’m going to dip back into after SoP and when I get around to finishing up V7. I like the free 2015 R4 gems and I’m not going to complain about a R5 gem but it’s not content that I think is worth actively exploring if you can’t do it cheaply.

Tesladon

I still want to know for those people that say V1 is easy, what do they mean by that? Can they just explore it in their sleep like the other variants? Is it because it's easier to farm potions and revives now? Or do they have a full roster of 6* R3s? Or something else? Yes, it's easier than when it was released if we are comparing that, but that doesn't mean it's easy on its own right now. Curious on people's opinion.
I would think the release of new champs that counter the nodes better than the champs at the time have altered the dynamic a lot.

Consider Warlock, CV, Torch, Thing. All of those champs make some of the fights much more straightforward than they used to be.

But it’s still thorny. I’ve exited Ch3 quests recently when I found myself getting walloped. Easy? Nope. Easier? Sure.

Dr. Zola
That's my thinking too. But I hear too many people making it sound like V1 is as easy as the rest of the variants. It's still a lot of hell in there, lol. But it would have been a lot easier if there were no class restrictions.

Agreed. Not terribly inclusive, considering it’s now 2021.

Worknprogress

I still want to know for those people that say V1 is easy, what do they mean by that? Can they just explore it in their sleep like the other variants? Is it because it's easier to farm potions and revives now? Or do they have a full roster of 6* R3s? Or something else? Yes, it's easier than when it was released if we are comparing that cause of better champs, but that doesn't mean it's easy on its own right now. Curious on people's opinion.

I haven't really seen anyone saying it's easy. It's still pretty darn tough and punishing. It is however MUCH easier than it was at release. Most of us that did it when it released had tiny rosters in comparison to people doing it today and we're using a lot of old R4 5*s to get through it.

Rasilover

V1 is ten times easier then it was at launch

BigPoppaCBONE

V1 is ten times easier then it was at launch

Yep. It's still not easy though. It's a masochistic slog compared to much more satisfying content that has better exploration rewards.

LeNoirFaineant

I still want to know for those people that say V1 is easy, what do they mean by that? Can they just explore it in their sleep like the other variants? Is it because it's easier to farm potions and revives now? Or do they have a full roster of 6* R3s? Or something else? Yes, it's easier than when it was released if we are comparing that cause of better champs, but that doesn't mean it's easy on its own right now. Curious on people's opinion.

Not so much a full roster of rank 3*s as way more champs at 5/65. When it first came out most people didn't have that many R5 5*s and didn't have a lot of good counters for some of the fights and paths. Chapter 3 was particularly hard, and Thing can cheese most of it with his synergy team.

SirGamesBond

There was a content drought after 6.2 released.
Exploration of 6.2 with gates was way too restrictive for a limited roster..

After v2 and v3, I went for v1 exploration.
Few r5s, Couple r4s, maybe about 7-8 6*s, only useful 6* was rulk.
Long fights with 4*s like AA, gulk, SW etc and 4* gambit(if you know you know lol). No thing.

Chapter 3 was where I restarted the quest most.. chapter two wasn't any smooth either.lol

Ghost dominated most of chap2, V1 was the reason I learned how to use ghost without wasp.
Quake dominated chap3, since I explored v2 first, V2 was the place I learned how to quake.

So many rankups were done specifically for v1.
It was the most punishing content i had faced then... Mann that korg on buffet+poison oof.. and those pilfer power, degen, 100-200 power gain etc Rough..

When all was done and dusted, I realised it was the most exciting content I did. Fun infused with mini rages here and there.

F2p so didn't had the power of units man,
Done with all hoarded items... Took me 2-3 months to explore v1, in comparison to v2 and v3 which were explored in weeks.

BIG RIP...for anyone who's gonna skip V1.
I'll suggest to explore v1, even if you do it last.

SwarmOfRavens

I still want to know for those people that say V1 is easy, what do they mean by that? Can they just explore it in their sleep like the other variants? Is it because it's easier to farm potions and revives now? Or do they have a full roster of 6* R3s? Or something else? Yes, it's easier than when it was released if we are comparing that, but that doesn't mean it's easy on its own right now. Curious on people's opinion.
I would think the release of new champs that counter the nodes better than the champs at the time have altered the dynamic a lot.

Consider Warlock, CV, Torch, Thing. All of those champs make some of the fights much more straightforward than they used to be.

But it’s still thorny. I’ve exited Ch3 quests recently when I found myself getting walloped. Easy? Nope. Easier? Sure.

Dr. Zola
That's my thinking too. But I hear too many people making it sound like V1 is as easy as the rest of the variants. It's still a lot of hell in there, lol. But it would have been a lot easier if there were no class restrictions.

Only time I'd say its easy is if you have a ranked up thing.
Thing with synergy (and an optional science power boost) actually cheeses the entire last chapter which is where most of the difficulty lies imo.

Chapter 2 was the second most annoying but with the amount of new tech and mystic champs it's less of a hassle.

Chapter 1 has the lowest health pools and is also the mutant/skill chapter. Both classes are pretty much the most stacked currently