Epoch of Pain Q for those of you who have finished exploration - easiest and hardest path?

Oakenshield

Question for those of you who have explored Epoch of Pain already : Which path did you find easiest? Which was hardest?

Thanks!

Oliver345781

Im not sure.

I hate to admit it but i found the debuff path really easy, IF u have the right counters (cosmic/skill: all u need is knull with odin pre fights and science/tech: sentry destroys most of the path if not the whole path, but dhulk also does very well)

But overall i would say all the paths r pretty balanced and the main thing thats gonna decide how hard a path is will be how hard u find the path fights to be. For example i struggle a lot on path 1 onslaught bc his ai is literal shi* but others have soloed him np.

Friendly001

Cosmic Cassie path was easiest for me since I have R3 Serpent and he destroys all of it. I don’t know about the hardest path but the hardest fight was Nebula, to me.

Average_Desi

I feel there's one hard fight in every path.

First path there's Abs Man.

Second Path there's Adam Warlock and aegon

Then there is Cassie and prowler

And then Annihilis and moleman

Second is the easiest if you have sentry. Adam will take one revive, but that's it.

Oakenshield

Average_Desi said:

I feel there's one hard fight in every path.

First path there's Abs Man.

Second Path there's Adam Warlock and aegon

Then there is Cassie and prowler

And then Annihilis and moleman

Second is the easiest if you have sentry. Adam will take one revive, but that's it.

Thanks - unfortunately no Sentry. Thinking about Howard the God, Silk, and Photon. Only fight I’m a bit nervous about is Adam.

Oakenshield

Friendly001 said:

Cosmic Cassie path was easiest for me since I have R3 Serpent and he destroys all of it. I don’t know about the hardest path but the hardest fight was Nebula, to me.

Thanks @Friendly001 Unfortunately I don’t have a 7* Serpent. Debating between my 6* Sig 200 Serpent or my 7* R3 Scream.

Friendly001

Oakenshield said:

Friendly001 said:

Cosmic Cassie path was easiest for me since I have R3 Serpent and he destroys all of it. I don’t know about the hardest path but the hardest fight was Nebula, to me.

Thanks @Friendly001 Unfortunately I don’t have a 7* Serpent. Debating between my 6* Sig 200 Serpent or my 7* R3 Scream.

I’d say Serpent since he counters the entire first fight which is arguably the hardest, just boost up big.

Hulk808

Cassie path hardest. Hulkling or Nebula path easiest. R3 Photon/Silk for the easy paths. R3 Serpent for Cassie path.

MasterAKUMA

I would say cassie path with mutant and mystic is the hardest for me. It's just hard to find good counters from these two classes for the whole path, and you can't bypass the linked node easily as cosmic champs.

You have to always keep the timing of dashback in mind to avoid power remove. And this path have several fights with reversal control or root, so it's very tricky and you gotta be very skillful as some local nodes will restrict you at some point.

But Jugg is the best option for this path imo. He carried my very hard.

Oakenshield

MasterAKUMA said:

I would say cassie path with mutant and mystic is the hardest for me. It's just hard to find good counters from these two classes for the whole path, and you can't bypass the linked node easily as cosmic champs.

You have to always keep the timing of dashback in mind to avoid power remove. And this path have several fights with reversal control or root, so it's very tricky and you gotta be very skillful as some local nodes will restrict you at some point.

But Jugg is the best option for this path imo. He carried my very hard.

Yeah I’m going to run Juggs on both Mutant/Mystic paths as I suspect he will help me quite a bit as well.

FeydRautha

The rightmost path is very easy with Juggernaut and Kushala(preferably awakened). Ham, Viv and Moleman are pretty much a cheese with her while Juggs can take others beside Annihilus. He is the only biggest pain point in this path imo.

Corkscrew

Easiest: For most would say Hulking path. But either of the Science/Tech paths are easiest depending on how your roster and personal ability to handle the interactions

Hardest: Cassie with Mutant/Mystic. Power drain on that fight messes with your rhythm. Since 3 of the fights need power to do damage, getting drained extends the fights.
Gwenpool fight, not hard it's just annoying.
Heimdall, I often interrupted the heavy just to get drained before I could launch the special.
Prowler, since you rotate specials to keep off the indestructible, can get an untimely drain and he goes indestructible.
The Cosmic/Skill version of this path isn't nearly as bad because there are Cosmics with Power gain.

Halley

I think all paths are quite balanced, all hard equally, it depends on which champs you have, if you don't have required champs, that path will be extremely hard.

But above all, Ares is the hardest one, a pain in the ass indeed!! He cost me double revives compared to that whole path.

captain_rogers

Oakenshield said:

Average_Desi said:

I feel there's one hard fight in every path.

First path there's Abs Man.

Second Path there's Adam Warlock and aegon

Then there is Cassie and prowler

And then Annihilis and moleman

Second is the easiest if you have sentry. Adam will take one revive, but that's it.

Thanks - unfortunately no Sentry. Thinking about Howard the God, Silk, and Photon. Only fight I’m a bit nervous about is Adam.

Ironheaet is better for adam

yoss

For me the easiest was Cassie's path with cosmic/skill and the hardest one was nebula path with cosmic/skill.

Jack2634

i find mystic/mutant path into cassie pretty challenging

captain_rogers

How sone of y'all think hulkling path is easy. I haven't attempted it, but by the looks I think it is going to be tough with tech + science champs. Which team y'all used for that path?

Average_Desi

captain_rogers said:

How sone of y'all think hulkling path is easy. I haven't attempted it, but by the looks I think it is going to be tough with tech + science champs. Which team y'all used for that path?

Silk for every fight. Can solo all except AbsMan(maybe) with silk. Jabari can be taken with Sentinel. For AbsMan you might have to do a big sp2 and quit before he heals after you cross 50%. Else bring someone only for him.

Friendly001

captain_rogers said:

How sone of y'all think hulkling path is easy. I haven't attempted it, but by the looks I think it is going to be tough with tech + science champs. Which team y'all used for that path?

Photon and Futute Ant Man for all fights but Abs, I used Luke for Abs.

Vanitelia

I saved the Cassie with mystic/mutant for last and that path was definitely the worst for me. Agree that the power drain node tacked onto it was cruel...ramped up the difficulty of the Cassie/Prowler fights since you need to either throw specials (Cassie) or alternate specials (Prowler). Aegon fight is good practice for Areas but was also tough with the uncertain intercepts.

Paths 1 and 6 were the easiest for me. For path 3, if you have Knull and Scream, Scream gets the immortality buff which is really handy. Knull was really great with his easy access to debuffs.

As for Ares, I had the most success with Juggs and Odin. No solo, but not going to go back in and try again any time soon.

Squammo

MasterAKUMA said:

I would say cassie path with mutant and mystic is the hardest for me. It's just hard to find good counters from these two classes for the whole path, and you can't bypass the linked node easily as cosmic champs.

You have to always keep the timing of dashback in mind to avoid power remove. And this path have several fights with reversal control or root, so it's very tricky and you gotta be very skillful as some local nodes will restrict you at some point.

But Jugg is the best option for this path imo. He carried my very hard.

Planning on doing this path next myself. Due to limited options right now I am thinking of bringing Sinister, NTW and Spiral. Good thing Cassie is the first fight. That ones seems like the most annoying one.

TheUglyone123

I found the death by debuffs path to be far and above the easiest path. Some options include Sentry (imo the best option, has buffs and debuffs), silk, photon, Medusa, scream, chee (not good for destroyer), Titania, sentinel. I’d love to give any other tips if it helps people save some revives and/or units

Oakenshield

Ok I’m now two paths in. I’ve done the Nebula Science/Tech path and the Hulkling path. I found the Hulkling path easier, but it may just have been my counters were more optimal.

I did encounter a bug(?) on the Hulkling path Ares fight as I was only getting a vigor every 2 or 3 revives. Either that or there was something with the nodes that I didn’t get.

Herbal_Taxman

I thought Cassie with cosmic and skill was easiest once you remember the global node. Serpent just aced most of the fights. I guess it depends ultimately on how comfortable you are with Gwen and Heimdall. If those don’t bother you, the rest of the fights are pretty smooth with Serpent. I brought Thanos for Toad.

willrun4adonut

Oakenshield said:

Ok I’m now two paths in. I’ve done the Nebula Science/Tech path and the Hulkling path. I found the Hulkling path easier, but it may just have been my counters were more optimal.

I did encounter a bug(?) on the Hulkling path Ares fight as I was only getting a vigor every 2 or 3 revives. Either that or there was something with the nodes that I didn’t get.

I'm sure you knew this, but he wasn't ko'ing you with a sp3, correct? You don't get a charge if he does.

Oakenshield

willrun4adonut said:

Oakenshield said:

Ok I’m now two paths in. I’ve done the Nebula Science/Tech path and the Hulkling path. I found the Hulkling path easier, but it may just have been my counters were more optimal.

I did encounter a bug(?) on the Hulkling path Ares fight as I was only getting a vigor every 2 or 3 revives. Either that or there was something with the nodes that I didn’t get.

I'm sure you knew this, but he wasn't ko'ing you with a sp3, correct? You don't get a charge if he does.

Thanks! I didn’t know that but I don’t believe that was the issue. Will pay closer attention on my next run.

Oakenshield

Herbal_Taxman said:

I thought Cassie with cosmic and skill was easiest once you remember the global node. Serpent just aced most of the fights. I guess it depends ultimately on how comfortable you are with Gwen and Heimdall. If those don’t bother you, the rest of the fights are pretty smooth with Serpent. I brought Thanos for Toad.

Sadly I only have the 6* R5A max sig version of Serpent. Debating whether to use the 6* vs a less optimal 7*.

willrun4adonut

Oakenshield said:

Herbal_Taxman said:

I thought Cassie with cosmic and skill was easiest once you remember the global node. Serpent just aced most of the fights. I guess it depends ultimately on how comfortable you are with Gwen and Heimdall. If those don’t bother you, the rest of the fights are pretty smooth with Serpent. I brought Thanos for Toad.

Sadly I only have the 6* R5A max sig version of Serpent. Debating whether to use the 6* vs a less optimal 7*.

I'll be using my 7r2 [maybe r3 by Wednesday when I run it] unduped instead of my duped r5a since I'm planning on dying, and the unduped keeps the charges when you die. @Oakenshield

Oakenshield

willrun4adonut said:

Oakenshield said:

Herbal_Taxman said:

I thought Cassie with cosmic and skill was easiest once you remember the global node. Serpent just aced most of the fights. I guess it depends ultimately on how comfortable you are with Gwen and Heimdall. If those don’t bother you, the rest of the fights are pretty smooth with Serpent. I brought Thanos for Toad.

Sadly I only have the 6* R5A max sig version of Serpent. Debating whether to use the 6* vs a less optimal 7*.

I'll be using my 7r2 [maybe r3 by Wednesday when I run it] unduped instead of my duped r5a since I'm planning on dying, and the unduped keeps the charges when you die. @Oakenshield

Yes this is why I’m debating. Given I will also be dying, the fact that my 6* is awakened is a negative.

altavista

willrun4adonut said:

Oakenshield said:

Herbal_Taxman said:

I thought Cassie with cosmic and skill was easiest once you remember the global node. Serpent just aced most of the fights. I guess it depends ultimately on how comfortable you are with Gwen and Heimdall. If those don’t bother you, the rest of the fights are pretty smooth with Serpent. I brought Thanos for Toad.

Sadly I only have the 6* R5A max sig version of Serpent. Debating whether to use the 6* vs a less optimal 7*.

I'll be using my 7r2 [maybe r3 by Wednesday when I run it] unduped instead of my duped r5a since I'm planning on dying, and the unduped keeps the charges when you die. @Oakenshield

Do we know if Ares’ ability that locks the attack value means it ignores the fury buff or not? I know Serpent gets his fury buff at the start of the fight, but do we know how the Ares ability interacts with that?

Diablord

altavista said:

willrun4adonut said:

Oakenshield said:

Herbal_Taxman said:

I thought Cassie with cosmic and skill was easiest once you remember the global node. Serpent just aced most of the fights. I guess it depends ultimately on how comfortable you are with Gwen and Heimdall. If those don’t bother you, the rest of the fights are pretty smooth with Serpent. I brought Thanos for Toad.

Sadly I only have the 6* R5A max sig version of Serpent. Debating whether to use the 6* vs a less optimal 7*.

I'll be using my 7r2 [maybe r3 by Wednesday when I run it] unduped instead of my duped r5a since I'm planning on dying, and the unduped keeps the charges when you die. @Oakenshield

Do we know if Ares’ ability that locks the attack value means it ignores the fury buff or not? I know Serpent gets his fury buff at the start of the fight, but do we know how the Ares ability interacts with that?

Its their attack rating at the start of the fight. As per runs i've seen (mind you, i haven't fought ares with serp yet), serpent's attack doesn't get the benefit of the fury buff. Though its worded as "attack rating at start of fight is locked at tht value", kabam has coded it as "Attack value cannot increase beyond his base attack".
This is why the vigor system is there, it doesn't increase ur attack, it increases the damage taken by ares.