**WINTER OF WOE - BONUS OBJECTIVE POINT**
As previously announced, the team will be distributing an additional point toward milestones to anyone who completed the Absorbing Man fight in the first step of the Winter of Woe.
This point will be distributed at a later time as it requires the team to pull and analyze data.
The timeline has not been set, but work has started.
There is currently an issue where some Alliances are are unable to find a match in Alliance Wars, or are receiving Byes without getting the benefits of the Win. We will be adjusting the Season Points of the Alliances that are affected within the coming weeks, and will be working to compensate them for their missed Per War rewards as well.

Additionally, we are working to address an issue where new Members of an Alliance are unable to place Defenders for the next War after joining. We are working to address this, but it will require a future update.

Champion Breakdown: Cosmic Ghost Rider

RookiieRookiie Posts: 4,682 ★★★★★
edited December 2020 in Strategy and Tips
Dear Forums,

One month ago, @SpideyFunko asked me to create a breakdown for Cosmic Ghost Rider as part of an initiative. That the initiative is no longer happening; therefore, I asked for his permission to bring the breakdown to you. Without further ado, please find it below:

Section 1 - Overview

Cosmic Ghost Rider is a Cosmic champion who has a wide variety of buffs at his disposal, and when each buff is triggered it places a Judgement on his opponent. When 5 Judgements are placed on the opponent, the opponent will be Power Locked for 6 seconds. After that, all the Judgements will convert into Armour Breaks reducing the opponent's Armour rating by 525 per Judgement. If Cosmic Ghost Rider is awakened, the opponent will be Power Locked, Heal Blocked, Fate Sealed and will be dealt additional damage for those 6 seconds.

It is important to remember that each buff has its corresponding Judgement, and they can only be triggered once while that Judgement is still active. For example: if I trigger Power Gain, it places a Judgement on the opponent. I cannot trigger Power Gain again until that Judgement has been converted into an Armour Break. So this is how you need to think about his rotation: I must trigger 5 buffs, which in turn will place 5 Judgements on the opponent, and when those are converted into Armour Breaks, I will be able to trigger those buffs again.

Another important thing to note is that each buff triggered increases the duration of the next buff triggered by 20%, and when 5 Judgements are placed on the opponent, this bonus is doubled by 100% (total of 200%). Yes, this means that you can get an insane Power Gain or super long Fury buff to deal maximum damage.

Section 2 - Cosmic Judgements aka Buffs

When struck:

1) Armour Up: triggered when he's struck and it increases his Armour Rating by 900 for 10 seconds.

Basic attacks:

2) Vigilance: triggered when finishing a 5-hit combo with a Medium attack and it prevents his attacks from Missing for 10 seconds.

3) Power Gain: triggered when finishing a 5-hit combo with a Light attack and it grants him 75% of a bar of Power over 1.25 seconds.

4) Aptitude: triggered when charging a Heavy attack and increases the potency of Armour Up, Fury, Cruelty and Precision buffs by 50% over 8 seconds.

Special attacks:

5) Cruelty: triggered when activating any Special attack and increases his Critical Damage Rating by 737 over 15 seconds.

6) Unblockable: triggered when activating his Special 1 attack and lasts for 1 second.

7) Precision: triggered when activating his Special 2 attack and increases his Critical Rating by 8400 for 15 seconds.
Important note: Dex-ing an attack also triggers the Precision buff and places a Judgement on the opponent, but in doing so you will not benefit from this massive increase in Critical Rating while that Judgement is still active.

8) Fury: triggered when activating his Special 3 attack and increases his Attack rating by 2876 for 15 seconds.

Notice how the Aptitude buff feeds into all of the Special attacks? This is why it would be optimal to Heavy-cancel before launching any Special attack. It's also important to remember that a Cruelty buff is triggered alongside each of the Special attacks' own buffs, so Heavy-canceling then activating a Special places 3 Judgements on the opponent, which is your quickest way of placing 5 Judgements on the opponent.

Section 3 - Rotations

Rotation 1: Maximum Chaos

This rotation focuses on you being able to build and maintain your Furies while also placing 10+ Armour breaks on your opponent. It takes a bit of patience and good gameplay to be able to pull off but when you do it's really satisfying.

1) Trigger the Vigilance buff, placing 1 Judgement on your opponent.

2) Trigger the Precision buff by Dex-ing an attack, placing 1 Judgement on your opponent.

3) Continue fighting with Light and Medium attacks until you have 3 bars of Power, but make sure you don't trigger any other buffs.

4) Parry your opponent then Heavy-cancel into your SP3.

At this point, you would have triggered the following buffs: Vigilance, Precision, Aptitude, Cruelty and Fury; placing 5 Judgements on your opponent.

5) Trigger the Power Gain buff while your opponent is still stunned from the Parry. This will give you 225% of a bar of Power over 3.75 seconds. This won't place a Judgement on your opponent because the previous 5 will still be active.

At this point, you will be very close to an SP3. Now around this point, the 5 Judgements previously placed will be very close to being converted into Armour Break debuffs. As soon as they do:

6) Trigger the Vigilance buff, placing 1 fresh Judgement on your opponent.

7) Parry your opponent then Heavy-cancel into your SP3. Placing 2 more Judgements on your opponent.

8) Trigger the Power Gain buff, placing 1 Judgement on your opponent. The Power Gain here will be 125% of a bar of Power over 2 seconds. At this point you should be just above 2 bars of Power.

9) Launch your SP2. Make sure you haven't activated Precision through Dex as of step 6, to benefit from that massive 8400 Critical Rating bonus.

Here's what Cosmic Ghost Riders buff situation will look like: 2x Aptitude, 2x Cruelty, 2x Fury, 1x Precision.

Here's what your opponent's debuffs situation will look like: 11+ Armour breaks on the opponent (can go up to 17 if you have the right synergies).

And this is why it's called maximum damage.

Rotation 2: Practical Chaos

This rotation focuses on you placing Armour Break debuffs on the opponent ASAP, it's a lot simpler than the rotation above and still gets you a healthy amount of damage.

1) Trigger the Vigilance buff, placing 1 Judgement on your opponent.

2) Trigger the Power Gain buff, this will give you 90% of a bar of Power over 1.5 seconds.

3) Parry your opponent then Heavy-cancel into your SP2.

At this point, you would have triggered the following buffs: Vigilance, Power Gain, Aptitude, Cruelty and Precision; placing 5 Judgements on your opponent.

4) Rinse and repeat.

In this rotation, you'll want to avoid Dex-ing attacks to the best of your ability because you'll be focusing on launching SP2s. If you really need to Dex, make sure there are 5 Judgements on the opponent, because it won't trigger a Judgement then.

Section 4 - Utility

Cosmic Ghost Rider has a lot more utility than given credit for, because most people just focus on those big yellow numbers. But here are additional bits of utility that really balance out his damage capability:

1) He has double immunities, he is immune to both Bleed and Incinerate.

2) His Cosmic Penance Stare places an indefinite Armour Break debuff against #Villain champions, reducing their Armour Rating by 700 and also removes one Armour Up buff.

3) In addition to triggering an Unblockable buff for 1 second, his Special 1 attack deals Incinerate damage (4 stacks) over 5 seconds, reducing Block Proficiency by 50% and removing Perfect Block Chance over the same duration.

4) In addition to triggering a massive Precision buff for 15 seconds, each hit of his Special 2 attack places an Armour Break on the opponent, reducing Armour Rating by 1718.2 for 15 seconds; and removes an Armour Up buff.

5) His Medium, Heavy and Special attacks deal Energy damage, which means he does not take damage from Korg's thorns and other nodes / abilities that might punish you similarly (eg. Psychic Thorns).

6) His signature ability, Damnation, is really interesting for a Cosmic champion. It gives him the ability to Power Lock, Heal Block and Fate Seal the opponent for 6 seconds, which are mechanics that are not really traditional for his class. It also deals 2877.8 energy damage over the same duration.

Section 5 - Synergies

Cosmic Ghost Rider is a champion that does not really rely on his synergies, but the right synergies will make you a lot more comfortable executing his rotations, as they tend to extend the duration of the buffs that he gains and the debuffs that he inflicts. Having said that, let's dive right in:

1) His most important synergy is 'Cosmic Justice on Wheels' with Night Thrasher, as it extends the duration of the Armour Break debuffs by 35%. Night Thrasher is pretty much the only synergy partner you will want to bring with Cosmic Ghost Rider, the rest are a bonus.

2) If you're a fan, you could bring Mister Fantastic along, because his 'Shared Knowledge - Astronomy' synergy with Night Thrasher enables Cosmic Ghost Rider to pause one of each buff on him for 0.2 seconds when landing a Basic attack.

3) Bring along Ghost Rider to activate the 'Spirits of Vengeance' synergy, which will increase his buff duration by 50% if there are no active Judgements on the opponent.

4) This partnership works for all Cosmic champions: bring Captain America (Infinity War) with Thor, Captain Marvel (Classic) or Gamora to activate the 'Cosmic Power' synergy, increasing buff duration by 25%.

5) This is a quirky one. The first time your opponent reaches an SP3 in each fight, drain 5% of their power and trigger a Power Lock debuff for 2 seconds using the 'Punishments of Infinite Variety' synergy with Punisher 2099. Obviously this isn't something you want to be aiming for, but again, it's quirky and can come in handy if you mess up.

Section 6 - Node Counter

1) Backblast: The Attacker's Critical Damage is doubled, however if damage from a critical hit exceeds 5% of the Defender's max health or the Attacker lands 4 or more guaranteed crits throughout the fight, the Attacker suffers from an Incinerate Debuff dealing damage equal to their last crit over 5 seconds.

Being Incinerate immune, Cosmic Ghost Rider is a counter to this node.

2) Biohazard: When struck 20% chance to inflict Bleed, dealing 100% of Attack as direct damage over 7.5 seconds. When blocking an attack, 50% chance to inflict Poison, dealing 100% of Attack as direct damage over 7.5 seconds.

Being Bleed immune, Cosmic Ghost Rider is a counter to this node.

3) Buffed Up: This Defender takes 100% less damage while the Attacker has less than 3 Buffs applied to them. These Buffs can be of the same type.

Although admittedly not as fast as Angela or Hyperion in gaining buffs, he is an excellent candidate for Buffed Up because of the arsenal of buffs he has at his disposal.

4) Caltrops: Dashing backwards against this enemy causes you to Bleed for X seconds.

Being Bleed immune, Cosmic Ghost Rider is a counter to this node.

5) Diss Track: The Defender takes 100% less damage while they have less than 3 Debuffs applied to them. These Debuffs can be of the same type.

Being able to inflict Incinerate debuffs and more importantly a ton of Armour Break debuffs, this makes Cosmic Ghost Rider an excellent counter to this node.

6) Freezer Burn: When striking the Defender, the Attacker has a 20% chance to be inflicted with an Incinerate Debuff, dealing 100% of the Defender's current Attack as direct damage over 5 seconds. When striking the Defender's Block, the Attacker has a 20% chance to be inflicted with a Coldsnap Debuff, dealing 100% of the Defender's current Attack as direct damage over 5 seconds.

Being Incinerate immune, Cosmic Ghost Rider is a counter to this node.

Section 7 - Reasons to Love CGR

1) His laugh at the end of his SP3 is hilarious.

2) His skull rotates when he is Stunned.

3) His chain whip technique when charging his Heavy is mental.

4) His block animation is one of the best, a bolt of lightning emanates from his shield every now and then.

5) He drops a freaking Cosmic-powered motorbike on his opponent.

Section 8 - Disclaimer

All stats are based on a 5-star Rank 5 Level 65 Sig 200 Cosmic Ghost Rider.

I hope you find this breakdown useful.

Best always,

Rookiie
Post edited by Kabam Porthos on
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Comments

  • SpideyFunkoSpideyFunko Posts: 21,795 ★★★★★
    why do you put the disclaimer at the end though
  • RookiieRookiie Posts: 4,682 ★★★★★

    why do you put the disclaimer at the end though

    Because the stats (eg. Armour Break reduction value) differ across different rarities and ranks.
  • RookiieRookiie Posts: 4,682 ★★★★★

    Imo, this was ur best breakdown so far

    Thanks man ☺️ glad you liked it
  • RockypantherxRockypantherx Posts: 3,897 ★★★★★
    Absolutely excellent. I shall return here if I’m lucky enough to pull the 6* in January
  • Moot4LifeMoot4Life Posts: 2,132 ★★★★
    Can you do a breakdown of Domino??
  • TheInfintyTheInfinty Posts: 1,382 ★★★★
    Absolutely awesome breakdown at least in my opinion second best cosmic in the game. Great work as always mate!
  • RookiieRookiie Posts: 4,682 ★★★★★
    Really appreciate the kind words gentlemen
    @TheInfinty @Xmas-Monke @Rockypantherx
    Thank you
  • PolygonPolygon Posts: 3,797 ★★★★★
    When is it better to go for the sp3 before the sp2 versus just cycling sp2’s , what health pool difference?
  • RookiieRookiie Posts: 4,682 ★★★★★
    GagoH said:

    When is it better to go for the sp3 before the sp2 versus just cycling sp2’s , what health pool difference?

    Ideally with larger healthpools (500k+), you will want to go for the SP3, because that's when you get massive 5-hit combos (47-66k mediums and the like).
  • EtjamaEtjama Posts: 7,981 ★★★★★
    Hopefully I can put this to good use when I pull him as a 6* on Tuesday. 👀
  • Colinwhitworth69Colinwhitworth69 Posts: 7,151 ★★★★★
    I really like the Ghost Rider synergy, because you can start with the power gain judgment and get to two bars of power quick. This is especially helpful coming out of an sp3.
  • PolygonPolygon Posts: 3,797 ★★★★★
    Rookiie said:

    GagoH said:

    When is it better to go for the sp3 before the sp2 versus just cycling sp2’s , what health pool difference?

    Ideally with larger healthpools (500k+), you will want to go for the SP3, because that's when you get massive 5-hit combos (47-66k mediums and the like).
    Are you referring to the first mode when you do 2 sp3’s? I meant using a single sp3 versus not using any at all and just using sp2’s.
  • ReferenceReference Posts: 2,899 ★★★★★
    Nice breakdown of CGR. My recent favourite. Thanks.
  • RookiieRookiie Posts: 4,682 ★★★★★
    Etjama said:

    Hopefully I can put this to good use when I pull him as a 6* on Tuesday. 👀

    Fingers crossed🤞🏽
  • RookiieRookiie Posts: 4,682 ★★★★★
    GagoH said:

    Rookiie said:

    GagoH said:

    When is it better to go for the sp3 before the sp2 versus just cycling sp2’s , what health pool difference?

    Ideally with larger healthpools (500k+), you will want to go for the SP3, because that's when you get massive 5-hit combos (47-66k mediums and the like).
    Are you referring to the first mode when you do 2 sp3’s? I meant using a single sp3 versus not using any at all and just using sp2’s.
    Yeah I was referring to the first mode. You can use one SP3, but the thing is it's super easy to get to a second SP3 almost immediately after the first one (trigger Power Gain after 5 Judgements), so I've rarely ever tried executing one SP3 alone. However, I'd assume it would work for 300k healthpools quite easily.
  • RookiieRookiie Posts: 4,682 ★★★★★
    Reference said:

    Nice breakdown of CGR. My recent favourite. Thanks.

    Cheers mate!
  • Unio77Unio77 Posts: 2,520 ★★★★★
    Even though I've seen this guide a few weeks back I still saw myself r adding though it again.
    I myself was luck to pull CGR with the sexenium crystals and he is honestly a banger.
    It's sad to still see people hating on him for various reasons.

    I'll definitely see myself coming back to this next time.
  • TheAngryOneTheAngryOne Posts: 436 ★★★
    "His skull rotates when he is stunned" is absolutely the biggest reason to R5 him 😁
  • RookiieRookiie Posts: 4,682 ★★★★★
    Unio77 said:

    Even though I've seen this guide a few weeks back I still saw myself r adding though it again.
    I myself was luck to pull CGR with the sexenium crystals and he is honestly a banger.
    It's sad to still see people hating on him for various reasons.

    I'll definitely see myself coming back to this next time.

    😇🤗
    Best alliance mate ever
    You too @Qacob
  • Colonaut123Colonaut123 Posts: 3,091 ★★★★★
    I was lucky enough to pull a 4*, took him straight to R5 and awakened him. I still have a lot to learn, but he's very satisfying to play.
  • Thicco_ModeThicco_Mode Posts: 8,852 ★★★★★
    Wow this is a really detailed guide. Nice job
  • Bugmat78Bugmat78 Posts: 2,107 ★★★★★
    Nice write-up @Rookiie . I got him as a 6r2 unawakened and so far I've been doing the practical chaos style your mentioned - works really well and is fast to reach the damage as stated.

    I think now I know the routine I'll try the maximum chaos in longer fights - I do sort of use it for buffed up in cav eq but usually only did one sp3 rotation so two will be a good thing t practice.

    The NT+ MF synergy is really nice to have too - makes WS ROL pot farming a breeze for a danger room practice session.
  • RookiieRookiie Posts: 4,682 ★★★★★

    Wow this is a really detailed guide. Nice job

    Cheers mate
    Bugmat78 said:

    Nice write-up @Rookiie . I got him as a 6r2 unawakened and so far I've been doing the practical chaos style your mentioned - works really well and is fast to reach the damage as stated.

    I think now I know the routine I'll try the maximum chaos in longer fights - I do sort of use it for buffed up in cav eq but usually only did one sp3 rotation so two will be a good thing t practice.

    The NT+ MF synergy is really nice to have too - makes WS ROL pot farming a breeze for a danger room practice session.

    Wow man thanks for the amazing feedback! I'm so glad you found the guide useful!
  • CrcrcrcCrcrcrc Posts: 7,935 ★★★★★
    Etjama said:

    Hopefully I can put this to good use when I pull him as a 6* on Tuesday. 👀

    Me too, but unfortunately I will be getting an Immortal Hulk for sure.

    Neat guide @Rookiie! I have been trying to figure him out.
  • RookiieRookiie Posts: 4,682 ★★★★★
    Crcrcrc said:

    Etjama said:

    Hopefully I can put this to good use when I pull him as a 6* on Tuesday. 👀

    Me too, but unfortunately I will be getting an Immortal Hulk for sure.

    Neat guide @Rookiie! I have been trying to figure him out.
    Cheers man! Hope it helps with your gameplay! @Crcrcrc
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