Act 4 Discussion (New Forum) - it was hard to locate information

I stopped exploring Act 4 (was at 100% Chapter 2 round 1) and only got back on it due to the current energy reduction to two per tile.

It was very difficult to find general strategy and tips and majority of the help requests focused on the very tough nodes (e.g. Magneto 4.2.6, Juggernaut 4.3.3, Venom and of course big bad boss Maestro). I tried going back to the old forum and only managed to retrieve a few threads.

I also could not find information on the changes made to Act 4 after the v12 patch and whether there was any subsequent update.

I believe there are still certain sections of Summoners like me who would like to have a bit more information on Act 4 in general.

Veterans
As for the veterans who are already on Act 5, help to complete Act is really very much appreciated. Just please bear with us who don't have the Guillotine, Scarlet Witch, Wolverine, Star-Lord etc etc. We really need an alternative strategy.

Would be helpful too not to suggest exploit like restarting game to get heal block on Magneto. It's an easy get around but somewhat kills the satisfaction of doing it the correct way.

So here goes what I found.

Act Revealed: 1 Oct 2015

There should be a thread on Act 1? Well, I can't find it.

Act 4 Chapter 2: 11 Nov 2015

Act 4 Chapter 3: 10 Dec 2015

Act 4 Chapter 4: 12 Feb 2016

Any help to find the changes to Act 4 after v12 patch?

Comments

Unsure what got into me. I was mistaken about Act 4 rewards and thought it was changed (did not realised it was the awakening gem and not signature stone). Anyway, last two rounds to complete Act 4 (one run).

I by-passed the 4.3.3 Juggernaut but took out 4.3.6 Venom on shortest path (two tiles).
It's fun collecting xp.

I can tell you that 4.4.3 is the last extremely energy consuming portion. I felt is got easier from that point on. There's thorns one one small part in maybe 4.3.x or 4.4.x, I can't remember. Unfortinatley I used SW on magneto, but it's my suspicion that maybe it can be nullified with dormmamu L1? Haven't tried it yet. I don't have any 4* 5/50's and I was able to complete it all with 1 L2 team revive. Maestro is easy once you figure out how to evade the last portion of his L1. Don't get worked up about the arc overload link, it's not that tough. Wish you luck on your adventures!

Took a short break and finally completed one run in each of 4.4.5 and 4.4.6 and yeah ... I completed Act 4.

I still have a fair bit to do and now have the luxury to skip the monthly quest as there are lots of isos to collect in Act 4 and also I am currently sitting on 9/11 T4BC (able to rank four three more champs).

Here are some brief notes for me to reminisce the Act 4 journey.
Firstly, kudos to all Summoners who beat and completed 100% Act 4 exploration using 3* champs and also before the arrival of all the OP champs created after Act 4.

Secondly, many thanks to all Summoners who posted thoughts on strategies to take on the very tough nodes.
I also benefited much from the youtubers.

Gameplay
I would not be suggesting any specific champs are required. Of course, some are better suited than others while there are a few OPs that will fit in almost every scenario.

It will be useful to try complete Act 4 while the IG level is below 60 to not waste the XPs. I am close to 60% to reach level 59 and I think by completed 100% exploration, I should reach level 60. Then I can join the chorus of Summoners asking why a level 60 still get XP boost.

Anyway ... a bit SPOILERS ahead.

Chapter 1
Generally manageable with a diversified range of champs. Just need to make sure the relevant class of champ is available to unlock the gates.

Act 4.1.3 has a 4k SIM boss with Arc Overload triggers every 20s is probably the first genuine obstacle.
Act 4.1.5 has "hidden" class champs and a 7k HB boss with powergain. Good news is the powergain benefits both champs.
Act 4.1.6 requires Colossus to unlock a path.

Chapter 2
I feel this chapter is quite fun to play. It has nodes which buffed another similar to AQ and AW.

4.2.1 has boss which is buffed by one path with Poison inflicting 100% health loss over 60s and another path with Bleed inflicting 100% health loss over 60s.
4.2.3 has a 12k YJ boss buffed by permanent bio-sting, which means avoid using specials.
4.2.4 has a poison buff every 7s, 160% of champ's attack as direct damage over 32s.
4.2.5 gets interesting with Gambler's fate, a random effect (buff or debuff) at start of match. Its really RNG.
4.2.6 gets an additional Double or Nothing, which is a second random effect. Joe Fixit as boss has Heavy Hitter buff.

That's it for now.

I may also post link to other threads with tips to this Chapter. Do help me out too.

Chapter 3

A minor update. The Starburst buff is terrible especially on the longer path. I have used up all the potions and still have three shorter paths to complete 100% of round 1.

Wondering if I should gamble with the remaining revives and use units or switch focus to Daily quests to harvest potions and then get back again.

So, I managed to barely survive the Starburst buff.

4.3.1 This round comes as a shock. The Starburst and Outlast buffs demands a roster of champs with high attack damage, regenerates and also playing very aggressively. It is not easy due two additional buffs, the Chaos buff, where both champs gets either a buff or debuff once a special is used.

There is also the random effect buff/debuff when gameplay starts but this buff is not found anywhere. Did I miss something here?

I don't know why but I forgot about using boost to increase health and attack. I forgot all about it. The only boost I used was the XP boost.

When the AI receives an unstoppable buff, its madness and using specials to 'break' the buff becomes essential. Several times I received a powerlock debuff and AI has unstoppable ... sad moment.

There are also fights where I had regeneration and AI had powerlock. So, I take care not to use specials and try not to get hit or take block damage.

This round has a 1* (yes, visually it is 1*) Symbiote Spider-man which is boosted by 10 buffs. Not very difficult and need to clear it once only.
The boss DD (Netflix) evades projectile attack 100% of the time, so hand combat is the only way.

I am sure glad to get rid of this round.

4.3.2 introduces a new buff, Transducer. Hitting the AI generates more power but the buff drains power.
The power keeps filling up and reducing. The consequence is trying to activate specials and then find out that its gone because the power bar level reduces. This means eating a combo but at least no Outlast and no Starburst.

There is also Enhanced Special 1 active and it means using evade / dexterity instead of block. Good gameplay practice since after a certain version, block damage is awful.

The shortest path requires Spider-man (Classic) to unlock. So Summoner who sold the 1*, and don't have a Spider-man (Classic) ... err ...

Luke Cage as boss has a Reborn buff

; indestructibility every five combo hits. Avoid being hit, and the buff don't activate.

Well, next round is Juggernaut.

Here are three links I found on dealing with Magneto with permanent regeneration in 4.2.6.

1/ Need Act 4 magneto tips to kill and slap him for good

2/ How to defeat permanent regen Magneto in chap 4.2.6?

3/ How to beat regen magneto act 4 chapter 2.6?

Additional thoughts on Chapter 4.3.2.
I am still unsuccessful to find information on changes made to the buffs in Act 4.
There seems to be Thorns buff active when it was first released.

So, I am now fighting a Luke Cage with different abilities or is it a same Luke Cage with different buffs?
Was Thorns a global node in Chapter 3 Round 2?

Magneto in 4.2.6. missing

After completing 100% of Chapter 2 Round 6, Magneto went missing!
I did not take a screenshot on Magneto and now in its place is a 17,300 PI YJ boosted by Power Drain, Enhanced Special 1, 200% Health, 200% Power Gain, Enhanced Special 2, Attack.

Round 3
It is confirmed that the current Act 4 is very different from the initial release. Although I still can't find the link on the changes, this thread Act 4.3.3 juggernaut mentioned having a Slashed Tires global node and also a specific Poison node which buffs Juggernaut and also Venom in Round 6.

I don't know how per-nerf Willpower works (obviously it was so strong that it had to be nerfed) and the interaction with Perfect Block plus the once God-tier Champs.

I do feel that it did clearly distinguished the skilled Summoners in this Contest.

State-of-mind
As I was approaching Juggernaut, there was this intensity that was clearly building up, after reading on how difficult it was. I did not understand about taking one or two chests but being in the quest itself, it was clear. Each chest was supplying Iso-degeneration and the more chest removed, the stronger Juggernaut gets. My hands was "shaking".

I decided that I will take all chests and see how the fight goes, having concluded that I will just quit the quest and restart from beginning once all my champs are K.O. There was still XP that will accrue so I still gain a little ...

I can't imagine going into the fight with no units, no revives, no potions left. The stress must be so high.

I noticed Juggernaut (27,410 PI with 130,365 HP) had a green icon (wished I could record the fight); seems like regeneration. So I lost the first four champs with hardly any dent to Juggernaut. Wow ...

On the fifth fight with Elektra, I managed to take something like 10% ~ 15% health of Juggernaut. That's not too bad. Since I had already exhausted all potions in the degeneration chapter, I was left with only revives and units.

I had to use four team revives plus a little bit potions (opened a few four hourly crystals) and another single champ revive and Juggernaut was down. That's it? Was not that difficult except for the first four fight but this is a tone down quest. The rest is academic.

Another point is whether Juggernaut's unstoppable buff could be parried? in the earlier release?

There was also a nasty 5* mutant Symbiote which spammed its special 2. My Wolverine survived and still ended the fight with full health.

War Machine as boss has third special activated but he never gets to use it.

Round 4
I have still one path left, but this is really an easy round comparing with the others.

There is a Villainy buff, with gain in cruelty and increase critical damage by 250% for 7s if using a champ which is designated a villain. So I brought Ultron into this round, replacing Mordo.

Deadpool (X-force) has Rainbow of Power, doubled power gain, Duodenum Prod, I don't really understand this, Bloodletting, bleed duration increased by 100%.
He did nothing against Ultron.

I reached level 59.

Round 5 is next but after I finish up that last path in round 4.

A little back tracking to Act 4.1.3
What can I say? Act is nerfed.

winterthur wrote: »

Act 4.1.3 has a 4k SIM boss with Arc Overload triggers every 20s is probably the first genuine obstacle.

Arc Overload triggers every 6s.

Before

After

Round 4

This round can catch Summoners off-guard not because it is difficult but it is monotonous and coming after the tough Round 3. So, over-confidence is the downside.

Champs are at rank 5 level 40/50 but unawakened.

New boost is Martial Mastery, every 6 hits inflict Stun plus True Strike, attacks ignore Armor, Resistance, and Evasion.

I did not think much about Electro. Read about him being poor on health base stat and often fought the lower tier versions and using Elektra.

With True Strike and Martial Mastery, Electro is a booby trap. I had disastrous result when the RNG gave an unstoppable buff to AI after a special. 6 hits means stunned and a special from Electro made me like a noob (well, I still am). There was one fight, I tried to break the unstoppable with a special and the resulting buff is still an unstoppable. That really hurts. So, tread with care.

Magik as boss has Power Leak and Power Seal. Strange that I find Electro the more dangerous opponent.

One more round to go to end Chapter 3. AI has 3rd special attack activated.

Chapter 3 completed. Thoughts on gameplay coming up.

After taking out Venom on the shortest path on Sep 8, there is really not much to report on the remainder paths.

There are two champs which each controls a global node respectively. Take out Deadpool and remove third special attack. Removing Black Panther clears out the Adaptive buff; cycling Physical and Energy resistance every 8s.

I find this Adaptive boost tougher as it takes a little bit more to finish AI. There is also block damage to avoid.

AI is smarter and it would be better to not dash in after the special attack. I was caught a few times but fortunately not a disaster.
I am unsure if this is the new AI mechanics.

Spent some units as I got impatient to wait for energy refresh.

Final Chapter of Act 4 on the horizon.

Chapter 4

Round 1 has Storm as boss. She has a very dangerous Unblockable Finale.

I don't remember being able to take her down with any first champ. She KOed my first champ almost every fight. However, on the second fight, she is taken down easily since she can't build up power quick enough to activate the unblockable.

Nodes in this round are buffed with Class Wrath; champs of a specific class gains fury over the whole fight, attack raised by 125%.

I reached level 60 after completing Round 1.

Round 2 consists of many different buffs on various paths.
There are Armor, Arc Overload, Fury, Heal Block, Immunity, Martial Mastery, Outlast, Poison and Replicate.

Those buffs in emphasis are to watch out for.

Jane Foster (Thor) is easy to deal with.

There is also a strong Rhino but as he is near the beginning of the fight, not a big issue to restart from beginning if he is too tough to overcome.

4 more rounds to go.

I found the gamblers fate globals in I THINK chapter 3 to be the most difficult because what that node really means is: bring in poison immune? Well you will get bleed. Bring in bleed immune? you will get poison. Bring in poison and bleed immune? You will get degen. LOL. That's how kabam rng works.

As for advice, you need:
1. An ability reducer (AA duped can stop unstoppables, evades, etc., or CB or BW duped high sig
2. A heal reverser or heal block or high dps champ (for overload nodes)
3. A regen champ for general pathing (GR, wolvie, x23, dupex SW, duped guilly, cable, duped ironmans)
4. Immunity champ, can help with certain path nodes
5. Champs that do not require dmt abilities or do not rely on enemy debuffs for damage (MM, CM, Caps even, etc).

Any mixture of 4* 3/30s or 4/40s of the above is more than enough. If it is not just practice your skills more instead of wasting units and potions.

I cannot stress that enough that while one might think the rewards will be game changing, they really arent so you should focus on changing you skill level first.

If there are any specific fights people need help with just ask and I will try to stick around as I 100% not too long ago.

FYI it is 4.4.2 that is the most energy requiring subchapter.

my english sucks but im stuck in 2 places

4.4.3 (elektra) 20k magneto and ronan, cannot evade so the destroyed me, after that elektra stuns me ALL THE TIME
4.4.6: maestro with healing, i dont have starlord duped so i dont know how to beat him

ty anyways

I literally beat storm in like 30 seconds or less my 4* rank 4 X-23 made her bleed out.The 10k Magneto I used Vision.

DOKTOROKTOPUS wrote: »

my english sucks but im stuck in 2 places

4.4.3 (elektra) 20k magneto and ronan, cannot evade so the destroyed me, after that elektra stuns me ALL THE TIME
4.4.6: maestro with healing, i dont have starlord duped so i dont know how to beat him

ty anyways

Not sure if I just got lucky with elektra or not but I only attacked while stunned with parry and never got stunned.

So parry > MLM or MLL that fight
The ronan and mags on either side try to even out the nodes powering up during the times you have to take the path (i.e. do not take out both bleed and thorns nodes on the same run) spread out that difficulty

Maestro assuming you do not have a duped AA or a guillotine 4*, use 3* maxed versions and you should not have problems with him. Archangels (AA) poison prevents healing so just keep parrying>heavy him and push to sp2 and dodge that as best you can. Guillotine use sp2 when he is about to heal to reverse healing.

DOKTOROKTOPUS wrote: »

my english sucks but im stuck in 2 places

4.4.3 (elektra) 20k magneto and ronan, cannot evade so the destroyed me, after that elektra stuns me ALL THE TIME

I just finished the path with Ronan. The is a buff Inevitability; special attacks are rare, but their activation is ... stunning. The buff effect is starring at me but I could not quite figure it out, so ... the moment the special starts, I get stunned and take the full blown special.

How I wish I have a power control champ. Even Mordo does not work!

My champs were all KOed on 2nd run at this stage. Do bear in mind that Elektra's sig. ability kicks in when champ is at 50% health, so one evade with stun is bye-bye. Although it it 7% chance to evade, I certainly feel, it procs more than Wolverine's 14% chance to regenerate.

Mordo works against Elektra here so ... left Magneto securing the last two paths.

vinniegainz wrote: »

The ronan and mags on either side try to even out the nodes powering up during the times you have to take the path (i.e. do not take out both bleed and thorns nodes on the same run) spread out that difficulty

Thanks for this. I need to bring Ultron in.

i have mordo 4/40 unduped and guillo 3* fully maxed, going to try again

Chapter 4, Round 3, cotinuing from discussion above.

The Thorns' buff does cause some problem as Magneto has high attack and his signature ability reduces damage from a single source.

I am reading that champs which reduces offensive ability accuracy can limit the Thorns damage.

The alternative is to bring a bleeder, use intercept and avoid hitting him when he is blocking.

I tried something on Elektra to avoid her evades which stuns and it works. It is just a simple, parry and heavy and repeat

Slightly less than 50% left of Act 4.

Keep in mind that those who completed Act 4 with 3*'s had Willpower and Block Proficiency teams with the OG god-tier Champions like Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, and Thor .

winterthur wrote: »

There should be a thread on Act 1? Well, I can't find it.

There was no thread on Act 1.

The nearest I could find was 5.0 Patch Notes

Round 4

This has to be one of the easier rounds.
Gates requiring 5 different classes except Mystic was needed to reach a path. On this path there was a stun immune 12,980 rating Black Widow. I think Unstoppable Colosus which alternates with Black Widow has to be a tougher opponent.

I used two boosts and managed to take her down at first try. It seemed like my skill against stun immune nodes had improved.
Black Widow was executing lots of heavies, and I believe her attack was controlled due to Dash Vulnerability, taking 200% more damage on a dash attack.

I could not figure out what exactly was Groot's The Last Stick buff. I did managed to achieve a combo exceeding 100 hits with Yellow Jacket and KOed by Groot's special 2. However, YJ was already at low health.

Two more rounds.

Round 5

I am glad this round is very much less energy consuming. A path can be completed with an additional two or three small energy refill for Summoners at 70 energy level.

It also has the highest variety of buff nodes but it does not have a global node buff.

The starting sections has 5 buffs (in each path), starting from the map top section, Replicate, Checkmate + Combo Shield, Parry, Genetic Memory, Heavy Hitter.

It then branches out to 8 paths in the middle section.
Buffs here are arranged in pairs (again starting from top section of the map), Arc Overload 2.0, Perfect Replication, Outlast, Caltrops, Poison, Bleed, Thorns, Degeneration.

The final third section of the map has Starburst, Adaptive, Martial Mastery, Strike Back.

A poison and/or bleed immune champ will be useful.
To deal with Caltrops, I try to intercept or hit only when Champ is not blocking.
A champ with high attack or regeneration can minimise the health loss on Degeneration and Starburst tiles.

Since the boss is a Guillotine, getting hit with a special 2 on a regen champs is real bad news. Having Spectre activating at the beginning is equally bad.

Round 5

What can I say?

I am a complete noob.

Sent a "b" team in and ... absolute disaster ... and still stuck, wondering whether to quit or press on.

Guess I should put some link first on what I found.

1/ Tips for fighting the Maestro 3/5/2016

2/

MCOC 30 sec Maestro (with regeneration) 30/4/2016 + the thread with other fantastic fights Insane play style, Duels 1* vs 5*, Maestro arc overload 30 sec and Jagger 4.3.3 30 seconds

3/ Why is maestro so much harder post 12.0? 23/7/17

Here is the theory.
It looks like there are three parts to the fight.

a/ evade the special 1 (third beam)
i/ This is essential else the degeneration takes the champ out.
ii/ Fight him similar to fighting Magik with Limbo; when he is close to first bar, stop hitting and try to get a parry with stun and then hit and hopefully push him past special 1
iii/ Don't let him go to special 3

b/ coping with the arc overload
i/ he start with regen on then regen 20s later, but is it not like 4.2.6 Magneto
ii/ this is psychological, play normally if you can (I still can't ...)

c/ stacking furies when health is low ( I did not see this yet though )
i/ blocking damage is very high, so intercept is the way

Champs needed.
I don't have the new champs and cannot comment much, but it seems like the usual suspects will work well. Champs which can chain stun, auto-evade projectiles, hard-hitters, power lock / steal and hard-hitters.

Many Summoners could end up with an attrition war, getting there eventually but with much costs.

Another point.
Was there change or no change to Act 4? post v12

Great write up glad you were able to get through it.

Finally !!!

Concluding remarks.

Well, it is all done and I must thank the many Summoners posting questions on gameplay and many others helping out with solutions and insights.

It was made possible for this early Act completion when I duplicated Captain America on 25 Oct. I was able to score zero hits from AI on the hardest path but the block damage was well ... just bad.

I still need revives and potions for Cap but it was certainly much easier.

I actually did not realise it is possible to block Maestro's special first and second beam. I tried to evade all three and was not so successful. A solution is to block the first two and then evade the third and its game on.

That's it for now. Cheers ...!

Should the next journal be to Act 5 or Road to the Labyrinth?

still got problems with ronan, talking 3rd mission (elektra boss)

i did the 2 magneto paths, but i dont understand the node of ronan, 1 special and im dead

i dont have power control champs, not even 1 (vision, magik, hawkeye, whatever) so im very confused, vause mordo's astral evasion doesn't work, clasic dd duped 4/40 should evade his specials right?

DOKTOROKTOPUS wrote: »

still got problems with ronan, talking 3rd mission (elektra boss)

i did the 2 magneto paths, but i dont understand the node of ronan, 1 special and im dead

i dont have power control champs, not even 1 (vision, magik, hawkeye, whatever) so im very confused, vause mordo's astral evasion doesn't work, clasic dd duped 4/40 should evade his specials right?

You just need to play well and evade specials as much you can. I wish I could give better advice but there is not many tricks to it. Just put a point into dexterity in the utility masteries and do the best you can. Im not even sure if its unblockable but ya best to evade because its not really hard to bait out and evade ronan's sp1.

DOKTOROKTOPUS wrote: »

but i dont understand the node of ronan, 1 special and im dead

This one is tricky. Your champ is stunned just as the special is launched. My Mordo did not help.

I think I did this. I stop hitting Ronan when he is close to 1 bar, try to get a parry on him and launch a few hits and run far away and wait. If he dash, I intercept and put a few more hits and run away again.

I needed revives if I remember correctly.

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