Looks like we finally have ourselves a real challenge, 24 fights plus Ares certainly wasn't a cakewalk. Let's break down how things went!
The Squad:7* R4 sig 40 Stark Spidey (Sparky) with 6* sparky relic
7* R4 sig 200 Jean Grey with 7* magneto relic
7* R4 sig 40 Okoye with 7* bullseye relic
7* R4 sig 20 Photon with 7* thing relic
7* R4 sig 200 Hulkling with 7* hulkling relic
The Stash:8893 units
35 L1 revives
47 L2 revives
18 L3 revives
11 L2 team revives
About 60 L5 potions and 45 L3 potions
1917 free crystals
Masteries and Boosts:Same as always, willpower with no suicides. Max despair is a MUST for Absorbing Man. Ran the full set of 1 hour boosters for this run.
Now let's go to war with a god!
Fight: Hulkling
My Pick: Photon
Deaths: 0
Not a terrible fight, hit his block often and don't take any blocked hits. Use relics or heavy counter his sp2 or his heavy attack to remove the protection. Drop specials into the block to deal huge damage and stun him afterwards for an easy opening. Keep in mind that Photon will have an unblockable sp2 in pure light form so try and use sp1 instead once you enter it.
Fight: Absorbing Man
My Pick: Photon
Deaths: 0
Bring a counter to his regeneration or else you are getting roadblocked. Heavy counter his special when his form is refined and try not to parry too often since it will give him lots of his charges. Mind the unstoppable and this one isn't the worst.
Fight: Infamous Iron Man
My Pick: Sparky
Deaths: 0
DO NOT USE A CHARACTER WITH MORE THAN 3 UNIQUE BUFFS. Other than that, stupidly easy fight. Punish his special attacks to get the grit passive, then heavy attack him to prevent you from taking damage. Push to sp2 as much as possible, however Sparky's evade will help you out in dexing the sp1. Stay aggressive so you don't get shocked and you'll be good.
Fight: Onslaught
My Pick: Hulkling
Deaths: 0
This one is damn tricky since you can't punish Onslaught's heavy attack for openings. Bring a non-metal champ and try to intercept as much as possible. Be confident with the full sp1 evade AND punish (just dash in before he launches the final projectiles, dex those, then go in). Onslaught's AI is stupidly passive and uncooperative so be wary of this.
Fight: Jessica Jones
My Pick: Sparky
Deaths: 0
Stupidly easy fight. Punish special attacks for the grit so you can drop specials safely to remove the protection, aside from that just don't get hit.
Fight: Jabari Panther
My Pick: Jean
Deaths: 0
Jean's neuroshocks counter the falter and she can parry Jabari if duped. However, slow your combos after parrying so that you don't accidentally trigger the damage reflection from your neuroshock debuffs. Ramp as normal and try to kill her before your force field runs out and you'll be good.
Fight: Nebula
My Pick: Hulkling
Deaths: 0
Make sure you have 6 or more buffs on you to get around the auto block. Hulkling cheeses this since he's shock immune and thus gains easy pierce buffs when striking block. Mind the unblockable every now and then and be aware you have a buff nullified when you parry.
Fight: Northstar
My Pick: Jean
Deaths: 0
Jean counters the untouchable and has lots of massive red numbers, so this one isn't hard. Be aware of Northstar's janky animations and note you can only use special attacks when dashing in or punishing his heavy or specials.
Fight: Destroyer
My Pick: Photon
Deaths: 0
Push to sp2 as much as possible to prevent the power gain. Try not to get the unblockable buff since it means you'll take rupture damage when hitting him.
Fight: Photon
My Pick: Sparky
Deaths: 0
This fight can really suck. Mind your power, drop special attacks when stage fright is off cooldown, and don't forget you can light attack into her block to reduce your power gain. Play around Photon's pure light form and you'll be okay, Sparky's evade came in massively clutch here.
Fight: Adam Warlock
My Pick: Hulkling
Deaths: 0
BRING A CHARACTER WITH 3 OR MORE BUFFS. Other than that, make sure you heavy punish his specials to apply the soul barb (You can heavy counter the sp1 by dexing the first hit, then dashing in before blocking the last beam hits). Don't intercept him with a medium attack or you'll get rekt, light intercepts are fair game though.
Fight: Aegon
My Pick: Jean
Deaths: 1
Probably the hardest fight for most people, even with a decent counter this guy can ruin your day if he doesn't play into your intercepts. Intercept to prevent the crits and unblockable, then make sure you block hits every now and then or else you'll be rooted. Use your relics to drop heavy attacks after his specials and you'll be okay. Be aware that if he hits you even once with his crits you're probably dead. Prepare to die here.
Fight: Cassie Lang
My Pick: Okoye
Deaths: 0
Not the worst fight in theory, however for every debuff on Cassie she reduces the duration of future debuffs, so start by dexing to apply the ensnare if you go with Okoye for this one. Mind the special miss and power stings, and try to push to sp2 so you don't have to deal with the combo detonation.
Fight: Gwenpool
My Pick: Sparky
Deaths: 0
If you are good with constantly reversing controls this fight is easy, otherwise this fight can suck. Drop specials with the prowess active to deal big damage and you'll get through this one.
Fight: Iron Fist
My Pick: Sparky
Deaths: 0 (barely)
This one is a hard one, mostly because finding good damage champs who don't rely on buffs or debuffs can be damn tricky. Mind the pressure gauge node, and make sure you don't get too aggressive or else you'll take damage. Parry the special attacks as much as possible, then dex the last hit and heavy counter to remove protection. Very annoying fight, prepare to die a LOT here.
Fight: Toad
My Pick: Hulkling
Deaths: 0
Intercept to remove his prowess passives, mind the alternating root and inverted controls on specials. Do not corner him or else he'll starting regenerating like crazy.
Fight: Heimdall
My Pick: Okoye
Deaths: 0
This is pre-buff Heimdall. So no increased auto block chance, poison resistance, or unstoppable on the sp1. Dodge his heavies while rooted, and make sure you smack him once between the hits to remove the unstoppable. Bait sp1, mind the auto block, and knock him down with a special while the unstoppable isn't active to deal huge damage.
Fight: Prowler
My Pick: Photon
Deaths: 0
This one can really suck, bring a miss counter for a much easier time. When he's about to power drain you, charge heavy after parrying him to safely minimize the damage you take. Alternate your specials to prevent the indestructible. Heal up since you'll be taking lots of damage from the power drain.
Fight: Spider Ham
My Pick: Okoye
Deaths: 0
Use the ensnare to counter the evade with Okoye, aside from that make sure you are dropping special attacks while you have at least 3 debuffs on you and the corresponding special attack number to reflect the damage.
Fight: Viv Vision
My Pick: Sparky
Deaths: 0
Bait sp1 unless you are very confident in parrying every hit on the sp2. Use combo ending attacks frequently or else she'll evade. Sparky's evade can clutch up on the sp1 dex big time.
Fight: Annihilus
My Pick: Hulkling
Deaths: 0
BRING A CHARACTER WITH 3 OR MORE BUFFS. Aside from that, try and play around the stifles and unstoppable to the best of your ability. Bait sp1 and make sure to parry the last hit or else you'll take damage.
Fight: Mole Man
My Pick: Jean
Deaths: 0
BRING STRONG DOT OR POWER STING CHAMPS. Even then, this fight sucks because spite can screw you over if he is being very stingy with special attacks. Mind the stun immunity, bait specials constantly, and you'll get through here. Prepare to die quite a bit.
Fight: Dani Moonstar
My Pick: Jean
Deaths: 0
Know how to evade the sp2 consistently. If you do, this fight isn't too bad, especially with a miss counter.
Fight: Tigra
My Pick: Sparky
Deaths: 0 (barely)
This fight can be very annoying. Bring champions with a quick heavy attack to push her back and prevent the neutralize. If you get neutralized try not to dex or trigger buffs or else you'll take huge rupture damage. Expect to die here a couple of times.
Fight: Ares
My Pick: The whole damn team
Deaths: 3
Know how to fight him and mind his phases. Once he gets to the immortality phase feel free to team revive spam since damage won't matter at that point. I made a detailed guide to fighting him here:
https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/389334/assaulting-ares-how-to-beat-the-toughest-boss-weve-seen-in-mcoc-in-years#latestFor my tries, started with Jean and took off 60% (force field is CLUTCH here), then used Hulkling and pushed him to the final immortality phase. Okoye and Photon managed to clean house after that.
And that's it! Definitely much more tricky than the other challenges before it, but this one was fair and pretty fun to run through!
The Final Cost:1 L1 revive
About 35 L5 potions and 20 L3 potions just healing people up when I saw fit
1 set of 1 hour attack, health and champion boosters
Just over an hour of my time
The Rewards:Pulled Gentle from my greater empowered crystal. First ascension so sure I guess.
Took Nefaria to R4 with the 3-4 gem, gonna be bringing him for the villains run next week.
Saving the relic AG until something special comes along probably.
Final Thoughts and Tips:1. As mentioned, this challenge is easily the hardest one we've gotten so far. BOOST UP AND STASH UP ITEMS, especially if you have a lower rank team or a more limited roster.
2. Take breaks if needed, especially against Ares. Poor mentality will only make that fight worse.
3. Unlike the original quest,
THERE ARE NO LINK NODES, it's just the fights with their local nodes so you don't have to factor those in.
4. Got enough resources for the first R5, however I'm waiting until next week to pull the trigger since I don't want to double up on a single class if I can help it
Thanks for reading, and as always, hope this helped y'all!
