Back Issues #4: Waning Moon

Once upon a time, a rogue hero took matters into his own hands, seeking to dispel evil by any means. The Collector sought to return him to The Contest... via some unlikely allies.

Introducing Back Issues #4: Waning Moon

Available 10am PT, Wednesday December 11th!

As the Contest has grown and evolved we’ve introduced many Event Quests, each with their own unique stories, and many that have expanded on the mythos of The Battlerealm and The Contest of Champions. We want to give Veteran Summoners a way to relive those moments, and newer ones that weren’t with us at the time a chance to experience the stories of the Contest that they had missed out on!

This Event Quest is available in TWO difficulties:

CLASSIC difficulty is a recreation of the original quest. While not completely 1:1, the layouts, difficulty, and dialogue are all the same as you remember. Take a stroll down memory lane and see how far you've come, or experience a quest you never got the chance to play!

VARIANT difficulty is a new spin on the quest, available for Summoners level 45 and up. This version features extreme challenge, new opponents, some minor map layout updates, and Champion Requirements that will ask you to reach deep into your roster and pick up some old favorites. This quest will test even the mightiest of Summoners, so be prepared!

The Variant Challenges!

With each Back Issue Variant Difficulty, we aim to shake up the Summoners Roster, either through implicit, or explicit Champion Requirements. This time, we’re making Summoners dig deep into their Rosters, and reviving some of your old favourites through the use of Rarity Restrictions!

Each Quest will require you to bring only certain Rarity Champions. Remember, this is permanent Content, so if you’ve lost your lower Rarity Champions over time, you’ll have time to rebuild that Roster. To assist in this, Summoners over level 45 will regain access to the “Hero Crystal” in the Misc. tab of the store, which contains 1 and 2-Star Champions.

Quest 1: 5 and 6-Star Champions Only
Quest 2: 5-Star Champions Only
Quest 3: 4-Star Champions Only
Quest 4: 3-Star Champions Only
Quest 5: 2-Star Champions Only
Quest 6: 1-Star Champions Only

New Buffs
In addition to some challenging Buffs that you’ve probably already seen around the Contest, this Variant Difficulty will introduce 4 new Buffs:

Crackling Energy:
Striking the Defender with a Contact attack puts a Passive Energy Damage over time effect on the Attacker dealing 0.5% of their max health every second for 10 seconds, stacking up to 10 times. Striking the Defender with a Non-Contact attack Removes all stacks.

Fundamentals:
The Defender has a -100% chance to use Special Attacks, instead they gain a bonus based on their Current Power:

Less than 1 Bar: Reduce all incoming Damage by 95%
1 Bar: Gain +2100 Block Penetration
2 Bars: All Attacks are Unblockable
3 Bars: All Attacks are Unblockable and Charging a Heavy Attack deals 50% of the Defender's Attack as Direct Physical Damage.

Will of Konshu:
All of Moon Knight’s passive abilities are activated, regardless of the current lunar phase.

Echo Barrier:
Defender gains an energy barrier with 15 charges. Striking the Defender, applying a Bleed effect, or applying an Armour Break effect removes a charge. The Defender is immune to all damage while the barrier has charges remaining. Charges are restored to 15 every 20 seconds.

Rewards:

Like Back Issue #3, this Quest features 6 Individual Quests over 3 Chapters, unlike Back Issues #1 and #2, which featured 9. Quest Rewards reflect this.

For completing and exploring all of the Classic quests, you earn:
Tier 2 Generic ISO x3
Tier 3 Generic ISO x16
Tier 4 Generic ISO x9
Gold x9575
Units x150
Premium Hero Crystal Shards x8000
3-Star Hero Crystal Shards x2000
Stony Core x1

For completing and exploring all of the Variant quests, you earn:
5-Star Rank 2 → 3 Gem Crystal x3
5-Star Rank 3 → 4 Gem Crystal (2015/2016 Champs Only) x3
5-Star Rank 3 → 4 Gem Crystal x1
5-Star Rank 4 → 5 Gem Crystal x1
5-Star Awakening Gem Crystal x1
5-Star Crystal x2
Tier 5 Basic Catalyst Fragments x27000
6-Star Crystal Shards x2250
5-Star Signature Stone Crystal x42
Gold x2,100,000
Units x270

EDIT: Clarified the Collector Crystal is only available to Summoners: Level 45+

EDIT: There is a typo on the Fundamentals node that is displaying the wrong damage value for when the defender charges a Heavy Attack at 3 bars of Power. The actual damage value is 50% of the Defender's Attack. We have corrected that in this announcement and are working on getting this visual error corrected within the game as well.

Comments

RogerRabs

Caustic Temper continues to be a horrible node. Over 200 hits to get down a Beast with 1 star Hulk.

NOMF

How many 1* champions can we have? I have 9, just want to know if it’s capped.

BeroMan

I bought 600 units worth supposedly 1* crystal and got only 1 1* others were 2* champion. That's beyond ridicules. This could have been nice, fun content but the 1-star thing made it one of the most frustrating content ever made that makes you unhappy as an end game player.

Rasilover

Whoever has been designing these variants deserved a raise

LeNoirFaineant

How many 1* champions can we have? I have 9, just want to know if it’s capped.

There are 12 I believe

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Jaina97

Bottom line... don’t sell champs...

Funny thing is, only the first 2 1 stars ever were guaranteed. After that if you got lucky it would be impossible to pull 1 stars. I haven't sold any of mine and I have only 5. Its easy to say "huhuhu don't sell champions", but in this case that doesn't even answer the whole problem.

Jaina97

Can we get a breakdown of chapter rewards?

It might actually be a decent variant for those without a decent upper tier roster.
You do realize the 1st 2 quests are the 5 and 6* quests right?
I have seen a few youtubers hype up people about getting this variant done without having 5* and 6* roster depth ... I can see many people getting disappointed ...

Exactly. Its so silly. My baby account has one good champion which is corvus glaive. I literally cannot make it past the first Namor fight because he doesn't have the firepower without charges.

Lovek

Good job kabam !!!

Love this variant 4 ! The best variant !

MaxLee

Bottom line... don’t sell champs...

Bigger Bottom Line would be.. KABAM REMOVE'S the sell option from all 1*, 2*, & 3* Champs...If you do not want us to sell champs then why even have the option.

LeNoirFaineant

Bottom line... don’t sell champs...
Bigger Bottom Line would be.. KABAM REMOVE'S the sell option from all 1*, 2*, & 3* Champs...If you do not want us to sell champs then why even have the option.

I wouldn't want that. I reserve the right to sell 4* Joe fixit every time I pull him. I'm too far in to stop now.

MaxLee

I don’t agree with everyone saying it’s punishment. It definitely isn’t. We chose to sell those 1 Star champs and we made the conscious decision to do so. But I do agree with the community that we should be given access to them as end game players. The lower tiered players have access (they can’t even touch this content) and we should also, if we chose to. If we have to purchase them with units thats ok, but making them 50 and adding 2 stars is a bit much I think. Especially when there are only 11 and over 100 2 stars. Chances of pulling them without spending 1000 units is slim. If you make them 10 units then sure that’s not horrible.

Also we understand it’s permanent content but most of us love clearing content as it launches, that’s what makes the game fun for us. Having to wait for an event that may or may not happen isn’t something 99.9999% of the end game players want to do.

Totally agree with you..end game players love to clear content as it launches. Over the top of it, this month is turning out to be boring.. The event quest is not too great...Special quest is weekly time-bound..only 1 champ release this month that too is a disappointment.

RoninMan

This variant was an absolute blast... until 3.2, I know it’s been mentioned quite a few times but it seems like the dev team had no idea what they were doing with some of these node combinations. Biohazard/caustic temper + bleed vulnerability? There are no 1* champs that fit that profile. Also Hulk is the only 1* you can use for caustic temper and OG Vision is the only champ I had to deal with biohazard which seemed cheap. Especially when biohazard had like 10 fights on it and Magik on caustic temper was pretty cheap too. Overall it was fantastic but 3.2 was pretty awful compared to the rest of V4.

Seraphion

Caustic Temper continues to be a horrible node. Over 200 hits to get down a Beast with 1 star Hulk.

**** I thought he would do it very fast. Maybe get a bit lower so your fury proc more?

Seraphion

Just no more skill gems for me....please! I just want one cosmic.

(Pulls 3 three skill gems from v4).

I pulled my 5th cosmic 2-3 gem from 12 in total. And I had noone to use on so 1 went bye bye. It hurt a bit

NinjaTuc

Best varient to-date

MaxLee

I bought 600 units worth supposedly 1* crystal and got only 1 1* others were 2* champion. That's beyond ridicules. This could have been nice, fun content but the 1-star thing made it one of the most frustrating content ever made that makes you unhappy as an end game player.

You need to spend 6000 units, then you will get 5-6 1* champs and if you are worried about how to get units Kabam's Christmas deals are coming soon, buy those. Kabam wants you to spend all your money on the game and don't buy gifts for family on Christmas...Merry Christmas from Kabam.

Pyrda

This variant was an absolute blast... until 3.2, I know it’s been mentioned quite a few times but it seems like the dev team had no idea what they were doing with some of these node combinations. Biohazard/caustic temper + bleed vulnerability? There are no 1* champs that fit that profile. Also Hulk is the only 1* you can use for caustic temper and OG Vision is the only champ I had to deal with biohazard which seemed cheap. Especially when biohazard had like 10 fights on it and Magik on caustic temper was pretty cheap too. Overall it was fantastic but 3.2 was pretty awful compared to the rest of V4.

U have 2 Heroes who can handle it, where is the prob after each fight just heal them up u get enough small health for free

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SKOutsider

Over all I have to agree with many of the posts here. V4 has been the most fun I’ve had in this game in a long time. My only criticism would be about the 1* chapter as almost everyone in my alliance is in agreement about having limited 1* rosters despite never selling any champs.

Whoever did the design of this variant chapter should get a raise and be drafted to create future content.

Eevo

Sounds like it’s going to be a nightmare for people like me who don’t have 2* and 3* ranked up and only 11 maxed out 4* champs 🤦🏻‍♂️
One of the reasons why i think doing champion or class restrictions is bad idea especially considering how gold is needed and its not like we all have money to burn in order to get sigil.
Ah yes those 1* and 2* sure do cost a fortune to rank up
Wasnt talking bout 1*...i was talking bout 3*

Lol if you’re worried about the 3*s I’d hate to see what youre like when your pulling 5*s

Eevo

I don’t agree with everyone saying it’s punishment. It definitely isn’t. We chose to sell those 1 Star champs and we made the conscious decision to do so. But I do agree with the community that we should be given access to them as end game players. The lower tiered players have access (they can’t even touch this content) and we should also, if we chose to. If we have to purchase them with units thats ok, but making them 50 and adding 2 stars is a bit much I think. Especially when there are only 11 and over 100 2 stars. Chances of pulling them without spending 1000 units is slim. If you make them 10 units then sure that’s not horrible.

Also we understand it’s permanent content but most of us love clearing content as it launches, that’s what makes the game fun for us. Having to wait for an event that may or may not happen isn’t something 99.9999% of the end game players want to do.
Totally agree with you..end game players love to clear content as it launches. Over the top of it, this month is turning out to be boring.. The event quest is not too great...Special quest is weekly time-bound..only 1 champ release this month that too is a disappointment.

Not everyone chooses too. I was engaged and it ended up not working out. When we split she ended up logging into my game (it was on both our phones connected through iTunes so I could play whether mine or hers had battery) and deleted everything that was under a 5* sold literally all my items and cats and donated all my loyalty battle chips and gold within an hour or 2 while I was working and didn’t see it happening. Stuff happens sometimes. I absolutely will not be spending 600 units to pull 1 freggin 1* so I guess I’m just not going to be completing this event which in every way does feel like a punishment.!

MaxLee

Why are you punishing players who don’t have 1* heroes ? So now I have to spend few thousands units to get a 1* champions that will not help me anywhere but in V4 ? Or I should just not play new content at all ? That’s a horrible treatment for a lot of players.
Please give us opportunity to get 1* now from 1vs1, at least for a week or 2. Or even if you so greedy make only 1* crystal for 10-20 units.
50 units to get 2* over and over it’s insane.
Our definitions of "Punishing" must be very different. You'll have the opportunity to get 1-Stars again from Crystals, or there may other opportunities in the future.This is permanent Content, and having the choice to get crystals now, or waiting for other opportunities in the future is not a Punishment for content that isn't going anywhere.

It's not a punishment, but still, you could have provided more opportunities for players to get 1* champs and if you saying it will be provided in future that is no right way to go about it. I am sure Kabam team never thought when they stopped releasing 1* champs long back, that they would be a content focused on 1* champs else you would still be releasing 1* champs. You still release 2* champs, even give out for free like Cap Marvel movie. But why not 1* champs? why you have less than 8% of your overall champs as 1* ? It seems one day you guys woke up and release you still have 1* champs in-game so let's make content with it, which is the same as you guys released about She-Hulk and then decided to nerf her.

When you launched Variant 2 or 3 with XL & Tech champs condition, players still knew there are quests, events & arena where they can get champs or shards to get the champs. But here you are only providing 1* champs by units, this is not punishment but more like BLACKMAILING..pay money and get your 1* champ

Eevo

Why are you punishing players who don’t have 1* heroes ? So now I have to spend few thousands units to get a 1* champions that will not help me anywhere but in V4 ? Or I should just not play new content at all ? That’s a horrible treatment for a lot of players.
Please give us opportunity to get 1* now from 1vs1, at least for a week or 2. Or even if you so greedy make only 1* crystal for 10-20 units.
50 units to get 2* over and over it’s insane.
Our definitions of "Punishing" must be very different. You'll have the opportunity to get 1-Stars again from Crystals, or there may other opportunities in the future.This is permanent Content, and having the choice to get crystals now, or waiting for other opportunities in the future is not a Punishment for content that isn't going anywhere.

It's not a punishment, but still, you could have provided more opportunities for players to get 1* champs and if you saying it will be provided in future that is no right way to go about it. I am sure Kabam team never thought when they stopped releasing 1* champs long back, that they would be a content focused on 1* champs else you would still be releasing 1* champs. You still release 2* champs, even give out for free like Cap Marvel movie. But why not 1* champs? why you have less than 8% of your overall champs as 1* ? It seems one day you guys woke up and release you still have 1* champs in-game so let's make content with it, which is the same as you guys released about She-Hulk and then decided to nerf her.

When you launched Variant 2 or 3 with XL & Tech champs condition, players still knew there are quests, events & arena where they can get champs or shards to get the champs. But here you are only providing 1* champs by units, this is not punishment but more like BLACKMAILING..pay money and get your 1* champ

In regards to Kabam Mikes comment👆👆
Yeah.. I get to spend almost 2 energy revives or 1 6th of a carb core on a crystal that will have an 80% chance to give me a 2* and in all fairness spend the entire cost of a carb core to get a 1* or I get to wait months to get something someone that logs into the game first time and gets a couple of for free just because I’ve progressed and finished 6.3. Your right, seems totally just and fair. 🤙

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__Tony_Stark_42

Plz give us 1*.Even though u guys made crystal for that but why 1* chance is just 20%? and it also costs 50 units this doesn't make any sense.Provide us 1* like in 1v1 arena fights crystal not from that type of crystals in which u have to spend 50 units and still there's just 20% chance or increase 1* chance to 80%..Thanks

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Nick_Caine_32

This is probably the best piece of content Kabam have released in YEARS. After a lot of letdowns this year, I can actually say I had fun doing this, enjoyed it, appreciated the designs and the creativity, LOVED getting to use lower roster champs, and couldn't stop playing last night. I haven't felt that way in a while in this game. Good job whoever did this and let's hope more similar content is coming in 2020.

Timone147

Overall IF you didn’t sell your champs this is probably the easiest variant ever. Hardest bosses are in the first chapter so minimal passes at them and they are both fairly easy to one shot with the right champ.

For me domino destroyed electro and ghost all the way for Deadpool Xforce.

The rates on the crystals are a little odd but I get why. The content is tailored to be friendly across a diverse roster. High ranked champs are the entry point but if you can burst your way through the beginning the rest is more forgiving(and potion friendly due to health pools). Versus the cost being potions for units it’s crystals those who sold.

Overall for people who did not sell champs this is the most accessible and unit friendly variant or content giving rewards of this level yet. Great place to build some depth in your endgame roster if you have the champ to get through the first chapter and didn’t sell your champs.

For those that sold this will tell like a punishment for doing so because it’s going to cost to acquire the champs to clear it.

Bugmat78

Bottom line... don’t sell champs...
I understand that now crystal clear. I didn’t when I was a complete noob, didn’t visit forums, didn’t watch YouTube videos, and frankly didn’t understand much about online progression games. And of course, didn’t expect myself to play this game this long. Simple as that xNig bro! not complaining here as I’ll find a way to clear quest 6 with my 6 1* champs. Just presenting a different perspective.

Exactly this - not everyone who started this game would've even known what alliance game mode was, much less using forums to get key info like "don't sell champs - duping, iso, shards, rarity gate etc". I didn't join an alliance until 3-4 months after playing..and I've been playing less than 2 years. Still I completed this with my six 1 stars, but I'd have had a more diverse roster to use on it if

(a) the impact of selling ANY champs was explained in the game guide - when you install this app for the first time and explore the game in isolation you do things because you don't know better. Same way I used to think back then that PvP was real and not P vs Ai.
(b) there was a failsafe mechanism eg the same way we currently can't sell 5 stars, they should have locked down 1 stars as these are champs you can't get again normally once you reach a certain level.