My Epically Painful Epoch of Pain Experience
Grootman1294
Member Posts: 968 ★★★★
Two guides in one day from Grootman? Who could've imagined this? In all seriousness, I was able to brute force/explore this thing within the first 2 days, figured I'd get this guide out before I forget. We're covering every path and fight in this guide, so strap in and let's get to it!
QUICK DISCLAIMER: I will not be covering Ares in this guide due to how complicated and annoying he is. That **** has his own little guide here: https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/389334/assaulting-ares-how-to-beat-the-toughest-boss-weve-seen-in-mcoc-in-years#latest
The Stash:
2943 units
47 L2 revives
24 L1 revives
1 L3 revive
11 team revives
About 250 L3 potions
About 40 L5 potions
25 L4 potions
About 50 L3 team potions
492 free crystals
Lots of boosts
Masteries:
Same as all my other challenges, so no suicides with willpower, pacify, and max despair.
Now let's go by path and document my experiences!
Hulkling path (Tech/Science):
The Squad:
7* R3 sig 80 silk with 6* spidey 2099 relic
7* R3 sig 40 hulk with 6* hulk relic
7* R2 unduped punisher 2099 with 5* vision relic
LINK NODE ALERT: Every fight on this path has hurt locker on top of the normal nodes. This isn't too hard to play around so mind your specials and you'll be good.
Fight: Hulkling
Requirements: Literally any hero champ with half decent special damage, bonus points if they can easily land heavy attacks
My pick: Silk
Deaths: 0
Silk destroys this fight since she has easy access to heavies to remove the protection, but most other characters can heavy counter the sp2 or use relics. Make sure hulkling has 3 or more buffs and he isn't indestructible, then drop specials into the block for insane damage. To do this, I normally do MLLL combos, then quickly dash back and then immediately drop the special to force hulkling to block it. Try not to block any hits yourself and you'll be good.
Fight: Absorbing Man
Requirements: Strong heal prevention (max despair is almost essential to open up more counters)
My pick: Silk (and hulk to finish)
Deaths: 1
The biggest problem with abs man is his healing, as it becomes absolutely ridiculous at lower health. Awakened Silk counters the unstoppable with her heavy attack and also reduces regen from both the sig and the massive amount of physical vulnerability debuffs with despair. Heavy counter abs man's specials when he activates a refined form to get rid of it, and try to manage your physical and energy damage with heavy attacks to counter his forms. Since my silk wasn't near max sig, the healing eventually started to become a problem around 20% health, so I just quit out and used hulk to finish it. Hulk's trauma debuffs from the sp2 completely turn off the healing instantly so you can just pound abs man after that.
Fight: Infamous Iron Man
Requirements: Literally anybody who has less than 3 buffs, slow and grit champs help a lot though
My pick: Silk
Deaths: 0
Make sure you know how to evade Idoom's specials as you need to punish them to get the grit to get around his aura, though you can just simply push him to sp2 constantly as he doesn't trigger the aura from it. Reparry or counter his heavy with your heavy to prevent the damage after each special attack. Very easy fight otherwise. Wanted to save hulk for onslaught so I just revived silk and nuked this one.
Fight: Onslaught
Requirements: Any non-metal champ with good damage
My pick: Hulk
Deaths: 0
Onslaught's nodes aren't too bad outside of the power sting, but him being onslaught he is very annoying by himself with his special attacks, cracked AI, daunted debuffs and crush debuff. You can punish onslaughts sp1 by dashing in before the final wave of shrapnel, then evade it and charge in to punish. Do not parry so you can take advantage of willpower healing from the crush debuff and power stings, and make sure you know how to intercept since you can't punish his heavy attacks. Depending on how good you are at dealing with onslaught, this fight can be very easy or very very hard. Heal up and do your best to slug through him.
Fight: Jessica Jones
Requirements: Literally anybody who doesn't purify
My pick: Silk
Deaths: 1
Make sure you punish Jessica's specials to ignore her unstoppable, deal with the protection asap and try to get intercepts since crits are the best way you can deal damage. If she goes debuff immune, you can still use relics to remove the heavy protection so save them in case this does happen. Should've been a solo with silk but I messed up.
Fight: Jabari Panther
Requirements: Anyone who doesn't apply debuffs on basic attacks (rip Titania), miss counters make things way easier
My pick: Punisher 2099
Deaths: 0
End all of your combos with your 4th light attack to prevent the cleanse from triggering. Make sure you time your special attacks and use them when jabari doesn't have cleanse or else you'll get destroyed. If she does get the permanent cleanse, you can use a sp3 to safely remove it and then wait out the damage reflection. Mind the dexterity failure while she has the hunt active and play around the falter. Bit of micromanagement needed but this fight is doable.
Nebula Path (Tech/Science and Cosmic/Skill)
Squad 1:
7* R2 unduped red skull with 5* goblin relic
7* R2 unduped punisher 2099 with 5* vision relic
7* R3 sig 80 silk with 6* spidey 2099 relic
Squad 2:
7* R3 sig 40 venom with 6* venom relic
7* R2 sig 60 knull with 5* venom relic
7* R3 unduped masacre with 5* winter solder relic
LINK NODE ALERT: This one requires some planning. You can't deal damage to the defender, however when you inflict a non-stun debuff, they lose 2% of their health, with a 1 second cooldown. Keep in mind inflicting multiple debuffs at once will only trigger this damage one time.
Fight: Nebula
Requirements: Anyone with consistent debuffs
My picks: Silk (Squad 1), Knull (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 for both runs
Silk and Knull carried these runs with their physical vulnerability and living abyss debuffs respectively. Don't hit into nebula's block during the shock phase, then hit her block to play around the unblockable. Mind the auto block (you can parry 3 combo to counter this, knull also has true accuracy on medium and heavy attacks) and you'll be fine, not a terrible fight by any means.
Fight: Northstar
Requirements: Anyone with consistent debuffs on basic hits, miss counters are also nice but not needed
My picks: Silk (Squad 1), Knull (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 1 (Squad 2)
Mind northstar's jank animations, bubble shield, and the untouchable after his special attacks and you'll be fine. Died once with Knull because I messed up.
Fight: The Destroyer
Requirements: Anyone with consistent non-damaging debuffs and minimal buffs.
My picks: Silk (Squad 1), Knull (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 1 (Squad 2)
Try to push destroyer to sp2 as much as possible as he'll almost always still get some charges on the sp1. Mind the unblockable every now and then and you'll be good.
Fight: Photon
Requirements: Anyone with consistent debuffs, built in dexterity makes this fight much easier (look for characters who cannot be struck by attacks while dashing back in their kits)
My picks: Silk (Squad 1), Masacre and Knull (Squad 2)
Deaths: 1 (Squad 1), 2 (Squad 2)
Watch your power meter and use your specials wisely. If you reach zero power or reach three bars of power, you die. If you use specials too quickly, you die. Hit photon's block with a light to stop your power gain and do your best to play around pure light form. This one is definitely tricky, heal up and be prepared to die.
Fight: Adam Warlock
Requirements: Anyone with consistent debuffs and at least 3 buffs
My picks: Red Skull (Squad 1), Venom (Squad 2)
Deaths: 2 (Squad 1), 2 (Squad 2)
If you plan on using Red Skull for this, bring punisher 2099 since your intercepts will apply a heal block debuff and thus deal damage. Push him to sp2 as much as possible and punish it with heavy attacks to apply the soul barb and prevent the stun from the pod. Only intercept with light attacks or else your non-armor buffs get nullified and you die. Be aware of Adam's stun immunity while he has his sovereignty buff. This one will also be tricky.
Fight: Aegon
Requirements: Anyone with consistent debuffs
My picks: Silk (Squad 1), Knull (Squad 2)
Deaths: 2 (Squad 1), 3 (Squad 2)
Do not block unless you intercept and get the reinforce passive or you will die. Use your relics to land heavy attacks after Aegon finishes a special or you will take a lot of damage. Watch out for the root once you get 3 cement charges. I could never figure out the tempo for this fight, be prepared for a rough time here.
Cassie path (Cosmic/Skill and Mutant/Mystic)
Squad 1:
7* R3 unduped serpent with 4* ms marvel relic
7* R3 sig 200 deathless thanos with 4* thor relic
6* R5 ascended sig 200 kingpin with 6* black panther relic
Squad 2:
7* R3 unduped onslaught with 6* sinister relic
7* R3 sig 40 juggernaut with 6* juggs relic
7* R2 sig 60 dust with 5* storm relic
LINK NODE ALERT: This one is annoying considering the fights you have to deal with on this path. Every 15 seconds, you lose all your power unless you are dashing back or using a special. Not bad by itself, but very horrible in combination with some fights on the path.
Fight: Cassie Lang
Requirements: Any evade counter who ideally doesn't have any debuffs
My picks: Serpent (Squad 1), Dust and Onslaught (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 2 (Squad 2)
Watch the evade and miss timers on Cassie, and make sure you parry to get the correct counter to them. Do not let her throw sp1 or this fight gets 10 times worse. Mind the power stings and play aggressive to remove them. Serpent's true focus makes this fight ridiculously easy, however I didn't have any good mutant or mystic counters ranked up so I just settled for using some revives here.
Fight: Gwenpool
Requirements: Literally anyone who isn't reverse control immune, bonus points if they rely on sp1 to deal damage
My picks: Serpent (Squad 1), Onslaught (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 0 (Squad 2)
If you suck with constantly inverting controls, you're probably screwed, but if you are good with inverted controls, this fight is very easy. Make sure gwenpool doesn't use her specials right when the controls invert/revert since that can easily throw you off. Try to constantly use sp1s to avoid having to deal with the power removal node and you'll be fine.
Fight: Iron Fist
Requirements: Anyone who doesn't rely on buffs or debuffs, passive damage effects and high survivability are encouraged
My picks: Serpent (Squad 1), Onslaught (Squad 2)
Deaths: 2 (Squad 1), 0 (Squad 2)
Don't get 10 pressure gauge charges or you'll die, which I learned the hard way twice with serpent. Blocking and launching specials helps reduce the gauge. Parry his specials to get the massive bulwark and minimize block damage. Watch the constant root and heavy counter his specials as much as possible to remove the protection. Onslaught and Serpent are ideal for this fight due to their high passive damage numbers and tankiness. Healing up is strongly encouraged.
Fight: Toad
Requirements: Any poison immune or incredibly high damage champ
My picks: Deathless Thanos (Squad 1), Juggernaut (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 1 (Squad 2)
Intercept constantly to remove Toad's prowess and do not corner him or else he'll start regenerating. Mind the alternating root and inverted controls, try to bait sp1 but if you need to get rid of some prowess you can push to sp2 during the inverted controls phase and evade it to reset everything. Died once with Juggs due to poison but still kept things cheap all things considered.
Fight: Heimdall
Requirements: Anybody who makes his AI act normal (which is impossible)
My picks: My entire team and team revives (Squad 1), Juggernaut (Squad 2)
Deaths: 5 (Squad 1), 1 (Squad 2)
Not a hard fight node-wise, but Heimdall's AI took an entire crack house worth of stuff and will do the most random nonsense in this fight. From spamming heavies across the stage to never throwing sp1s, this guy will actively make your life miserable. Mind the power removal node as well since it can prevent you from throwing specials consistently. Watch out for the auto block from his true strike buff and try and remove that asap or else you will die. Once that's done, hit him during his heavy animation to remove the unstoppable, then knock him down with a special to deal big damage. This fight should not have been this expensive and miserable.
Fight: Prowler
Requirements: Any miss counter who isn't power drain immune, fight is very very difficult without one
My picks: Serpent (Squad 1), Onslaught (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 1 (Squad 2)
This fight is where the power removal link node really bites you. You need to alternate special attacks to keep the indestructible in check, but with the link node and a power drain every 30 seconds this fight requires hyper aggressive gameplay or you'll get stuck. Bring in miss counters so you can punish his specials and stay aggressive, and expect to take a lot of fun and interactive power drain damage during this fight. Heal up and go crazy on this one.
Spam Path (Mutant/Mystic)
The Squad:
7* R3 unduped Onslaught with 6* sinister relic
6* R5 ascended Professor X with 3* storm relic (he was a last minute rank up as I didn't have any other counters for spam and annihilus, should've brought him on the cassie path instead of dust)
7* R3 sig 40 Juggernaut with 6* juggs relic
LINK NODE ALERT: This one isn't as bad as it sounds. You take a big burst of damage every time you hit the opponent with a contact attack in the corner, but most of these fights require a lot of baiting specials anyways so you shouldn't have to worry about this too much.
Fight: Spider Ham
Requirements: Any evade counter
My pick: Professor X
Deaths: 0
With Prof X, get 25 charges by using heavies and you completely counter the evade. From there, throw the corresponding special attack with 3 or more debuffs on you to deal crazy damage back to spam. Bait sp1 and it is a very easy fight.
Fight: Viv Vision
Requirements: Literally anyone
My pick: Juggs
Deaths: 0
Bait sp1 since it is much easier to deal with compared to parrying every hit of the sp2. Use combo ending attacks constantly to prevent the evade from triggering and you'll be good. Be aware your parries will trigger Viv's phase and make her stun immune.
Fight: Annihilus
Requirements: Anyone with 3 or more buffs who isn't armor break immune
My pick: Professor X
Deaths: 1
Reparry constantly to get openings, bait sp1, and make sure you parry the final hit of the sp1 or else you'll take damage. With Prof X, build to your sp3 and do your mind control stuffs, though keep in mind annihilus is power lock immune so try not to push him to sp2. From there, keep your prowess buffs up at all times so you can deal damage. Died once here because I pushed him to a sp2.
Fight: Mole Man
Requirements: Anyone with good, consistent DOT
My pick: Onslaught
Deaths: 2
Easily the hardest fight on this path. Stack up your neuroshocks with onslaught and play around bubble shield and the stun immunity. Don't hit mole man's block, bait his special attacks, and you'll get through it. Be ready for a long, sad time here.
Fight: Dani Moonstar
Requirements: Literally anyone, miss counters are very helpful though
My pick: Onslaught
Deaths: 0
Practice evading Dani's sp2 beforehand or else you'll die a lot here, aside from that try not to parry too much and you'll be okay.
Fight: Tigra
Requirements: Anyone with a quick heavy attack or very high physical resistance and is also not reliant on red numbers
My pick: Professor X
Deaths: 0
Spam heavies to knock Tigra back and prevent the neutralize, if you get neutralized you are almost certainly dead. Bait sp1 since it is much easier to evade while rooted.
FINAL COSTS FOR EXPLORATION (including Ares, you can find the specific costs for him in my guide linked at the top):
42 L2 single revives, got lucky on my free crystals and got quite a few revives from those
13 L1 revives
7 team revives, mostly spent on Ares
50 free crystals
Innumerable amounts of potions, my stash is basically empty now
Not a single unit (It's an incredibly belated Christmas miracle)
No boosts (which was a mistake)
The Rewards:
Pulled the following from my class 7* crystals:
Cosmic: 20 more levels on silver surfer. Rip.
Tech: Pulled mysterio for the first time. Not bad.
Mutant: 20 more sigs on dust. Rip.
Skill: Duped crossbones for the first time. Pretty good
Science: Pulled spam for the first time. Awesome.
Mystics: Duped dragon man for the first time. Eh.
Pulled a mutant awakening gem from my 7* AG shard crystal, immediately threw that into onslaught
Pulled Spiral from my completion Titan crystal. Pretty damn good.
Saving my 2-3 generic gem for now, got quite a lot of options though so we'll see who I use it on.
Awakened Neferia from my titan nexus. Epic.
Pulled Bullseye for the first time from my 5 choice nexus. Awesome.
Pulled a science 3-4 gem, put it into silk.
Saving the generic AG for now, again I do have some good options so we'll see.
Used my class 1-2 gems on the following champs:
Cosmic: Superior Iron Man
Tech: Idoom
Mutant: Saving for domino or dazzler
Skill: Bullseye
Science: Spam
Mystic: Shathra
Final Notes and Tips:
1. Don't be like me and try to complete content day 1 or even week 1. If I had waited, I would've found some better options for some of the other fights, and also would've spent considerably less on Ares. Someone's gotta do it first, but that someone does not have to be you!
2. BOOST. I say this every time and yet I still forget to do it. It can make a big difference in these fights considering how difficult many of them are.
3. PLEASE DON'T REPLY TO THE ENTIRE POST. It will save everyone some scrolling time. You can reply to bits and sections of it if you want though.
Back to hibernation I go, thanks for reading, and hope this helped y'all!
QUICK DISCLAIMER: I will not be covering Ares in this guide due to how complicated and annoying he is. That **** has his own little guide here: https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/389334/assaulting-ares-how-to-beat-the-toughest-boss-weve-seen-in-mcoc-in-years#latest
The Stash:
2943 units
47 L2 revives
24 L1 revives
1 L3 revive
11 team revives
About 250 L3 potions
About 40 L5 potions
25 L4 potions
About 50 L3 team potions
492 free crystals
Lots of boosts
Masteries:
Same as all my other challenges, so no suicides with willpower, pacify, and max despair.
Now let's go by path and document my experiences!
Hulkling path (Tech/Science):
The Squad:
7* R3 sig 80 silk with 6* spidey 2099 relic
7* R3 sig 40 hulk with 6* hulk relic
7* R2 unduped punisher 2099 with 5* vision relic
LINK NODE ALERT: Every fight on this path has hurt locker on top of the normal nodes. This isn't too hard to play around so mind your specials and you'll be good.
Fight: Hulkling
Requirements: Literally any hero champ with half decent special damage, bonus points if they can easily land heavy attacks
My pick: Silk
Deaths: 0
Silk destroys this fight since she has easy access to heavies to remove the protection, but most other characters can heavy counter the sp2 or use relics. Make sure hulkling has 3 or more buffs and he isn't indestructible, then drop specials into the block for insane damage. To do this, I normally do MLLL combos, then quickly dash back and then immediately drop the special to force hulkling to block it. Try not to block any hits yourself and you'll be good.
Fight: Absorbing Man
Requirements: Strong heal prevention (max despair is almost essential to open up more counters)
My pick: Silk (and hulk to finish)
Deaths: 1
The biggest problem with abs man is his healing, as it becomes absolutely ridiculous at lower health. Awakened Silk counters the unstoppable with her heavy attack and also reduces regen from both the sig and the massive amount of physical vulnerability debuffs with despair. Heavy counter abs man's specials when he activates a refined form to get rid of it, and try to manage your physical and energy damage with heavy attacks to counter his forms. Since my silk wasn't near max sig, the healing eventually started to become a problem around 20% health, so I just quit out and used hulk to finish it. Hulk's trauma debuffs from the sp2 completely turn off the healing instantly so you can just pound abs man after that.
Fight: Infamous Iron Man
Requirements: Literally anybody who has less than 3 buffs, slow and grit champs help a lot though
My pick: Silk
Deaths: 0
Make sure you know how to evade Idoom's specials as you need to punish them to get the grit to get around his aura, though you can just simply push him to sp2 constantly as he doesn't trigger the aura from it. Reparry or counter his heavy with your heavy to prevent the damage after each special attack. Very easy fight otherwise. Wanted to save hulk for onslaught so I just revived silk and nuked this one.
Fight: Onslaught
Requirements: Any non-metal champ with good damage
My pick: Hulk
Deaths: 0
Onslaught's nodes aren't too bad outside of the power sting, but him being onslaught he is very annoying by himself with his special attacks, cracked AI, daunted debuffs and crush debuff. You can punish onslaughts sp1 by dashing in before the final wave of shrapnel, then evade it and charge in to punish. Do not parry so you can take advantage of willpower healing from the crush debuff and power stings, and make sure you know how to intercept since you can't punish his heavy attacks. Depending on how good you are at dealing with onslaught, this fight can be very easy or very very hard. Heal up and do your best to slug through him.
Fight: Jessica Jones
Requirements: Literally anybody who doesn't purify
My pick: Silk
Deaths: 1
Make sure you punish Jessica's specials to ignore her unstoppable, deal with the protection asap and try to get intercepts since crits are the best way you can deal damage. If she goes debuff immune, you can still use relics to remove the heavy protection so save them in case this does happen. Should've been a solo with silk but I messed up.
Fight: Jabari Panther
Requirements: Anyone who doesn't apply debuffs on basic attacks (rip Titania), miss counters make things way easier
My pick: Punisher 2099
Deaths: 0
End all of your combos with your 4th light attack to prevent the cleanse from triggering. Make sure you time your special attacks and use them when jabari doesn't have cleanse or else you'll get destroyed. If she does get the permanent cleanse, you can use a sp3 to safely remove it and then wait out the damage reflection. Mind the dexterity failure while she has the hunt active and play around the falter. Bit of micromanagement needed but this fight is doable.
Nebula Path (Tech/Science and Cosmic/Skill)
Squad 1:
7* R2 unduped red skull with 5* goblin relic
7* R2 unduped punisher 2099 with 5* vision relic
7* R3 sig 80 silk with 6* spidey 2099 relic
Squad 2:
7* R3 sig 40 venom with 6* venom relic
7* R2 sig 60 knull with 5* venom relic
7* R3 unduped masacre with 5* winter solder relic
LINK NODE ALERT: This one requires some planning. You can't deal damage to the defender, however when you inflict a non-stun debuff, they lose 2% of their health, with a 1 second cooldown. Keep in mind inflicting multiple debuffs at once will only trigger this damage one time.
Fight: Nebula
Requirements: Anyone with consistent debuffs
My picks: Silk (Squad 1), Knull (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 for both runs
Silk and Knull carried these runs with their physical vulnerability and living abyss debuffs respectively. Don't hit into nebula's block during the shock phase, then hit her block to play around the unblockable. Mind the auto block (you can parry 3 combo to counter this, knull also has true accuracy on medium and heavy attacks) and you'll be fine, not a terrible fight by any means.
Fight: Northstar
Requirements: Anyone with consistent debuffs on basic hits, miss counters are also nice but not needed
My picks: Silk (Squad 1), Knull (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 1 (Squad 2)
Mind northstar's jank animations, bubble shield, and the untouchable after his special attacks and you'll be fine. Died once with Knull because I messed up.
Fight: The Destroyer
Requirements: Anyone with consistent non-damaging debuffs and minimal buffs.
My picks: Silk (Squad 1), Knull (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 1 (Squad 2)
Try to push destroyer to sp2 as much as possible as he'll almost always still get some charges on the sp1. Mind the unblockable every now and then and you'll be good.
Fight: Photon
Requirements: Anyone with consistent debuffs, built in dexterity makes this fight much easier (look for characters who cannot be struck by attacks while dashing back in their kits)
My picks: Silk (Squad 1), Masacre and Knull (Squad 2)
Deaths: 1 (Squad 1), 2 (Squad 2)
Watch your power meter and use your specials wisely. If you reach zero power or reach three bars of power, you die. If you use specials too quickly, you die. Hit photon's block with a light to stop your power gain and do your best to play around pure light form. This one is definitely tricky, heal up and be prepared to die.
Fight: Adam Warlock
Requirements: Anyone with consistent debuffs and at least 3 buffs
My picks: Red Skull (Squad 1), Venom (Squad 2)
Deaths: 2 (Squad 1), 2 (Squad 2)
If you plan on using Red Skull for this, bring punisher 2099 since your intercepts will apply a heal block debuff and thus deal damage. Push him to sp2 as much as possible and punish it with heavy attacks to apply the soul barb and prevent the stun from the pod. Only intercept with light attacks or else your non-armor buffs get nullified and you die. Be aware of Adam's stun immunity while he has his sovereignty buff. This one will also be tricky.
Fight: Aegon
Requirements: Anyone with consistent debuffs
My picks: Silk (Squad 1), Knull (Squad 2)
Deaths: 2 (Squad 1), 3 (Squad 2)
Do not block unless you intercept and get the reinforce passive or you will die. Use your relics to land heavy attacks after Aegon finishes a special or you will take a lot of damage. Watch out for the root once you get 3 cement charges. I could never figure out the tempo for this fight, be prepared for a rough time here.
Cassie path (Cosmic/Skill and Mutant/Mystic)
Squad 1:
7* R3 unduped serpent with 4* ms marvel relic
7* R3 sig 200 deathless thanos with 4* thor relic
6* R5 ascended sig 200 kingpin with 6* black panther relic
Squad 2:
7* R3 unduped onslaught with 6* sinister relic
7* R3 sig 40 juggernaut with 6* juggs relic
7* R2 sig 60 dust with 5* storm relic
LINK NODE ALERT: This one is annoying considering the fights you have to deal with on this path. Every 15 seconds, you lose all your power unless you are dashing back or using a special. Not bad by itself, but very horrible in combination with some fights on the path.
Fight: Cassie Lang
Requirements: Any evade counter who ideally doesn't have any debuffs
My picks: Serpent (Squad 1), Dust and Onslaught (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 2 (Squad 2)
Watch the evade and miss timers on Cassie, and make sure you parry to get the correct counter to them. Do not let her throw sp1 or this fight gets 10 times worse. Mind the power stings and play aggressive to remove them. Serpent's true focus makes this fight ridiculously easy, however I didn't have any good mutant or mystic counters ranked up so I just settled for using some revives here.
Fight: Gwenpool
Requirements: Literally anyone who isn't reverse control immune, bonus points if they rely on sp1 to deal damage
My picks: Serpent (Squad 1), Onslaught (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 0 (Squad 2)
If you suck with constantly inverting controls, you're probably screwed, but if you are good with inverted controls, this fight is very easy. Make sure gwenpool doesn't use her specials right when the controls invert/revert since that can easily throw you off. Try to constantly use sp1s to avoid having to deal with the power removal node and you'll be fine.
Fight: Iron Fist
Requirements: Anyone who doesn't rely on buffs or debuffs, passive damage effects and high survivability are encouraged
My picks: Serpent (Squad 1), Onslaught (Squad 2)
Deaths: 2 (Squad 1), 0 (Squad 2)
Don't get 10 pressure gauge charges or you'll die, which I learned the hard way twice with serpent. Blocking and launching specials helps reduce the gauge. Parry his specials to get the massive bulwark and minimize block damage. Watch the constant root and heavy counter his specials as much as possible to remove the protection. Onslaught and Serpent are ideal for this fight due to their high passive damage numbers and tankiness. Healing up is strongly encouraged.
Fight: Toad
Requirements: Any poison immune or incredibly high damage champ
My picks: Deathless Thanos (Squad 1), Juggernaut (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 1 (Squad 2)
Intercept constantly to remove Toad's prowess and do not corner him or else he'll start regenerating. Mind the alternating root and inverted controls, try to bait sp1 but if you need to get rid of some prowess you can push to sp2 during the inverted controls phase and evade it to reset everything. Died once with Juggs due to poison but still kept things cheap all things considered.
Fight: Heimdall
Requirements: Anybody who makes his AI act normal (which is impossible)
My picks: My entire team and team revives (Squad 1), Juggernaut (Squad 2)
Deaths: 5 (Squad 1), 1 (Squad 2)
Not a hard fight node-wise, but Heimdall's AI took an entire crack house worth of stuff and will do the most random nonsense in this fight. From spamming heavies across the stage to never throwing sp1s, this guy will actively make your life miserable. Mind the power removal node as well since it can prevent you from throwing specials consistently. Watch out for the auto block from his true strike buff and try and remove that asap or else you will die. Once that's done, hit him during his heavy animation to remove the unstoppable, then knock him down with a special to deal big damage. This fight should not have been this expensive and miserable.
Fight: Prowler
Requirements: Any miss counter who isn't power drain immune, fight is very very difficult without one
My picks: Serpent (Squad 1), Onslaught (Squad 2)
Deaths: 0 (Squad 1), 1 (Squad 2)
This fight is where the power removal link node really bites you. You need to alternate special attacks to keep the indestructible in check, but with the link node and a power drain every 30 seconds this fight requires hyper aggressive gameplay or you'll get stuck. Bring in miss counters so you can punish his specials and stay aggressive, and expect to take a lot of fun and interactive power drain damage during this fight. Heal up and go crazy on this one.
Spam Path (Mutant/Mystic)
The Squad:
7* R3 unduped Onslaught with 6* sinister relic
6* R5 ascended Professor X with 3* storm relic (he was a last minute rank up as I didn't have any other counters for spam and annihilus, should've brought him on the cassie path instead of dust)
7* R3 sig 40 Juggernaut with 6* juggs relic
LINK NODE ALERT: This one isn't as bad as it sounds. You take a big burst of damage every time you hit the opponent with a contact attack in the corner, but most of these fights require a lot of baiting specials anyways so you shouldn't have to worry about this too much.
Fight: Spider Ham
Requirements: Any evade counter
My pick: Professor X
Deaths: 0
With Prof X, get 25 charges by using heavies and you completely counter the evade. From there, throw the corresponding special attack with 3 or more debuffs on you to deal crazy damage back to spam. Bait sp1 and it is a very easy fight.
Fight: Viv Vision
Requirements: Literally anyone
My pick: Juggs
Deaths: 0
Bait sp1 since it is much easier to deal with compared to parrying every hit of the sp2. Use combo ending attacks constantly to prevent the evade from triggering and you'll be good. Be aware your parries will trigger Viv's phase and make her stun immune.
Fight: Annihilus
Requirements: Anyone with 3 or more buffs who isn't armor break immune
My pick: Professor X
Deaths: 1
Reparry constantly to get openings, bait sp1, and make sure you parry the final hit of the sp1 or else you'll take damage. With Prof X, build to your sp3 and do your mind control stuffs, though keep in mind annihilus is power lock immune so try not to push him to sp2. From there, keep your prowess buffs up at all times so you can deal damage. Died once here because I pushed him to a sp2.
Fight: Mole Man
Requirements: Anyone with good, consistent DOT
My pick: Onslaught
Deaths: 2
Easily the hardest fight on this path. Stack up your neuroshocks with onslaught and play around bubble shield and the stun immunity. Don't hit mole man's block, bait his special attacks, and you'll get through it. Be ready for a long, sad time here.
Fight: Dani Moonstar
Requirements: Literally anyone, miss counters are very helpful though
My pick: Onslaught
Deaths: 0
Practice evading Dani's sp2 beforehand or else you'll die a lot here, aside from that try not to parry too much and you'll be okay.
Fight: Tigra
Requirements: Anyone with a quick heavy attack or very high physical resistance and is also not reliant on red numbers
My pick: Professor X
Deaths: 0
Spam heavies to knock Tigra back and prevent the neutralize, if you get neutralized you are almost certainly dead. Bait sp1 since it is much easier to evade while rooted.
FINAL COSTS FOR EXPLORATION (including Ares, you can find the specific costs for him in my guide linked at the top):
42 L2 single revives, got lucky on my free crystals and got quite a few revives from those
13 L1 revives
7 team revives, mostly spent on Ares
50 free crystals
Innumerable amounts of potions, my stash is basically empty now
Not a single unit (It's an incredibly belated Christmas miracle)
No boosts (which was a mistake)
The Rewards:
Pulled the following from my class 7* crystals:
Cosmic: 20 more levels on silver surfer. Rip.
Tech: Pulled mysterio for the first time. Not bad.
Mutant: 20 more sigs on dust. Rip.
Skill: Duped crossbones for the first time. Pretty good
Science: Pulled spam for the first time. Awesome.
Mystics: Duped dragon man for the first time. Eh.
Pulled a mutant awakening gem from my 7* AG shard crystal, immediately threw that into onslaught
Pulled Spiral from my completion Titan crystal. Pretty damn good.
Saving my 2-3 generic gem for now, got quite a lot of options though so we'll see who I use it on.
Awakened Neferia from my titan nexus. Epic.
Pulled Bullseye for the first time from my 5 choice nexus. Awesome.
Pulled a science 3-4 gem, put it into silk.
Saving the generic AG for now, again I do have some good options so we'll see.
Used my class 1-2 gems on the following champs:
Cosmic: Superior Iron Man
Tech: Idoom
Mutant: Saving for domino or dazzler
Skill: Bullseye
Science: Spam
Mystic: Shathra
Final Notes and Tips:
1. Don't be like me and try to complete content day 1 or even week 1. If I had waited, I would've found some better options for some of the other fights, and also would've spent considerably less on Ares. Someone's gotta do it first, but that someone does not have to be you!
2. BOOST. I say this every time and yet I still forget to do it. It can make a big difference in these fights considering how difficult many of them are.
3. PLEASE DON'T REPLY TO THE ENTIRE POST. It will save everyone some scrolling time. You can reply to bits and sections of it if you want though.
Back to hibernation I go, thanks for reading, and hope this helped y'all!
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Comments
In my 2 paths I went against him just using revives without heals
I seem to recall using Mojo and Werewolf when the fight came out, but won’t waste a spot on either of them. Doing it with Skill/Cosmic, I found it a struggle to do enough battery damage for Sp3 to work. And that dashing to save your power bar is a real pain.
Dr. Zola
In contrast, Titania has long lasting debuffs and a ton, but no petrify the way someone like sandman does, so not sure if shell work