Gauntlet Write Up - Pt 2
BitterSteel
Member Posts: 9,264 ★★★★★
Last time the gauntlet was here I wrote down my thoughts and my team, then walked through each fight and how I took it. That thread is here if you want to take a look - my team last time was IMIW, Dr Doom, CGR, Prof X and Quake (all R3 6*s but Quake).
https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/267540/my-gauntlet-run#latest
This time however, I wanted to see how well I could do without using the worlds most boring champion to play, and set myself the challenge of not using her. I wanted to construct another team entirely, and this time I didn't use any of the same champions.
This challenge started off with a pretty big roster move, I have been sitting on a mutant awakening gem for a fair while now, and staring at my unduped R3 Archangel wondering whether to use it on him, or wait for Kitty in the future. But today I decided to make @Fluffy_paws proud, and not only awaken the King of Neuro, but take it a step further...
That is R4 Number 5, but not the main point of this thread..
Overseer is also mega underrated and I wanted to try him out in big content.
So here was the team
Bear in mind most of this was fully boosted, I had a cosmic power boost on for the first section, and a mutant power booster thereafter, but that didn't really make a difference with the health pools. Onto the paths!
Terrax- Hercules: Pretty simple fight, don't worry about going into immortality, it allows you to just go crazy. Terrax's AI is also more aggressive during rock field, so it's as though he constantly has infuriate. His rock field may expire, if it does, just bait out another Sp1 and continue, don't panic and push him to SP3. RCs: Kitty Pryde, Hercules, Namor, Magik, Gambit
Vision- Hercules: Overseer can also do this fight with his taunt, as it counters surging vengeance but it's a slower fight. What I ended up doing was restarting Doom and Terrax 3 or 4 times until I got the perfect set up with Herc. My tactic was to begin the fight on 1% health, get 1 Sp1 off, get to Sp2 make sure I got pushed into immortality just before throwing SP2, meaning I can go crazy after the Sp2 and finish off the fight. With an R4 boosted Herc, after the SP2 he would be on around 10% health, so a combo or two is plenty to finish. RCs: Magik, Herc, CGR, Overseer, Mr Fantastic, Doom, Magneto
MODOK- Archangel: Needs a bit of RNG with AA here for Neuro's, remember that he doesn't count disorient from nodes at the moment (whether that's a bug or not is a different matter I'm not sure about) so your parries won't be 100%. If you get neuro's on him and shut him down it'll be fine though, disorient won't stick. RCs: Hercules, Archangel, Killmonger, Ghost, Shang Chi, Magneto
Spider Ham- Hercules: This is a long and patience-needing fight, he's debuff immune and passive so he is going to be dodging, ducking, dipping, diving, and dodging like he's just been binge watching Vince Vaughn films. SpiderHam's abilities all start getting annoying when he gets spider nonsense, which you give him when you're over a bar of power. If you throw a special right away, he never gets annoying abilities like evade or poppers. That's easier said than done though sometimes. He won't evade under 6, so don't worry there (he does have a separate evade that can trigger when he dashes back and holds block though, so watch out for that even at 0 nonsense). RCs: Hercules, Killmonger, Prof X, Kingpin, Ghost, Falcon. (An aside, I *think* black cat could be good for this fight, her DAAR would stop annoying debuffs and evades triggering, and her heavy playstyle knocking ham down could help bait specials - though she would lose all her bleed damage)
Thing- Apoc: very straight forward fight, get Sp2 for concussion, use heavies to control rock stacks, use Sp1 then 3 to lock in all debuffs. Carry on. I got caught once where he stopped throwing specials on fury, decided to throw 4 heavies in a row and trap me in the corner, another one I just mis-managed rock stacks, which was user error, not match up error. RCs: Hercules, Apoc, Tigra, any slow champ, as long as you can manage rock stacks anyone can do.
Korg- Apoc: This is one of the hardest match ups on the run, expect to use a revive or several here. Block damage just gets higher and higher here until it's too much, add in mix master and the node that reduces damage per hit unless you throw a heavy, and it's a tough one. Using Apoc, this is where I ramped up his evade counter. Using an SP1 first to apply weakness, I then parried, and did two light attacks only, one during the stun and one after, letting Korg evade but being aware it would happen. Once I got to 100, i started trying to win the fight. It took me two tries, but Korg went down really easily with Apoc. RCs: Ghost, Apoc, Sorcerer Supreme, Kitty, Prof X
Dragon Man- Overseer: It would be hard to solo with overseer here, since the damage gets higher and higher with aspect of evolution and eventually is too much on block, but I managed to get 70% off in one go. Essentially bait out specials with the taunt, build up into your damage mode and SP3 then go crazy. I made sure to use the taunt before my damage mode so I didn't waste time baiting specials. If you use a concussion champ, or AAR champ you can stop his power gain ever coming back, as it turns off the timer completely. RCs: Spidey 2099, Negative, Overseer, Mags, Magik, Torch, She Hulk
Black Panther- Horseman Archangel: Tricky fight here, took me a while to get into the fight and get some neuro's stacking. You will need RNG's blessing here if you use Archangel (being a horseman helped here), and be able to deal with the unblockable. Once some neuro's are on, you're laughing. Until then, it's dancing around an unblockable, footloose panther. Watch out for him going unstoppable during your heavy if he has armour buffs, sometimes you may need to hit and hope there. RCs: CGR, Tigra, Ghost, Kitty, Claire (or any mystic with strong buff control), Anti Venom may do alright with his decelerate.
SpiderGwen- Apoc: You can't stun here, so it's a little slower than your typical apoc fight since you can't refresh debuffs. She is also immune to AAR, so your concussion won't land meaning you only get 3 debuffs. It's up to you whether to Sp1 spam, that's probably the best damage but I got bored so I shook it up with some SP2s some SP1s. RCs: Killmonger, Prof X, Apoc, Stealth Spidey, Nick Fury.
Domino- Nimrod: Pretty straight forward, power shield and matador so just bait her SP1 and use a big special damage champion. Someone immune to AAR is great, but really we all know how to fight Domino by now, almost anyone with big specials will manage her. RCs: Apoc, Archangel, Nimrod, Omega Sentinel, Longshot, Warlock.
Mojo- Archangel: Just a big scary Mojo, not quite as scary as when we last saw him as we have a lot more counters now, but still a big ugly boy. His prompts auto complete every 20 seconds, but that's the only big issue. Any strong Mojo counter will work here. I used Archangel and he shredded through as a horseman in less than a min, I had 10 neuros at one point. RCs: Spidey 2099, Negative, Red Guardian, Torch, Archangel, Ibom, Spam - anyone with few buffs.
Ibom- Nimrod: Do not assume this is an Ibom for Archangel, applying bleeds is a bad shout here. I'm sure with the perfect RNG it's possible, but with the high health pools I wouldn't recommend trying. Safer to bring a poison immune. I'd suggest pushing him to SP2, so he starts to use up his poisons and reduce his damage (he has more attack with how many debuffs are on him). Don't double dash back or you get disorient, so I tend to just block most the SP1, it won't do much damage. RCs: Poison immune champs.
Sasquatch- Overseer: Another tricky fight here. With overseer, you'll need a few damage rotations to take him down, I believe I did it in 4 or 5, those rage stacks really reduce the damage. I tended to try and line it up with almost the end of Wrath of Tanaraq, so rage was on low amounts, but not during wrath so he didn't have increased combat power. The good thing about overseer here is that you build special concussion very fast, with how many specials Sassy throws, and with 2/3 despair you reduce healing by 70% and his healing is 800-1000 per tic (easily manageable with Overseer's DPS), with 3/3 it's 105% so he never procs regens. Overseer's burst also gets around life cycle, and he doesn't need to parry too much so you don't get much disorient on you. The sp1 stun is also great to finish off the life cycle fight. RCs: Apoc, Overseer, Spidey 2099, Torch (pre fight needed), Ibom (poison won't do damage, Acid burn will), Void, YellowJacket. As *maybe* options Archangel and She Hulk could both work, but I'm not sure with the combo of nodes.
Killmonger- Archangel: I found an odd interaction here, Killmonger was gaining 15% of missing power when a debuff was applied even with 3+ neuros on him, maybe it's not linked to his ability accuracy but that threw me off. However, remember that since it's missing power, it can never push him to SP3. Still, something to watch out for. AA can easily do it though, as long as you bear it in mind. You want someone who can gain power through the debuffs or their own kit, and someone who can counter Killmonger's armour (though really you can just play around it if needed). RCs: Apoc, Archangel, CGR, Hyperion, Hercules (with Cap IW synergy if possible)
Void- Hercules: Power boosters are your friend here. Find someone who can get to a big special fairly quick and blast him away. Last time I used CGR, this time Herc. One SP1, then Sp2, got me back to SP2 and another one to finish. The DOT from Long distance relationship is bad, but won't drain you in seconds. Don't use Archangel, there is bleed/poison immunity. RCs: Hercules, CGR, Apoc, Ghost, Mr Negative
Nick Fury- Archangel: If you're going to use Archangel, watch out for lionheart when you apply poison. Your neuro's can stop it applying to you, but it'll eat some health at the start. I'd advise going in with full health here. If you're using an R3 or lower AA or a non horseman, I'd even consider intentionally dying at 70%ish, and that's because you want to be at an SP3 when Nick's LMD dies. That way you can use an SP3 immediately, place a neuro on him and heal block, wiping out the second phase. If you have a 5/65 or even R3, you may start at 100%, but only get nick to 30%, meaning your second try you won't have time to get to an Sp3 and ignore the second phase. Just something to bear in mind. Apart from that, watch out for kinetic transference if you aren't shutting it down - having said that, it can actually be used to your advantage by pushing Nick to 2 bars of power so you don't need to deal with his Sp1. RCs: Peni Parker, Toad, Apoc, Archangel, Hercules, Kitty, Doom, Shang Chi.
100%-95%: nothing special at all. No abilities.
95%-65%: You get a bleed if you hit him, he regens some damage if he autoblocks you
65%-30%: He gets an evade, watch out for the SP2 and only evade the shiny balls of energy, don't hit him during evade or you get stunned. The degen takes 80% of current health, it won't KO you.
30%-0%: intercept, take SP3 damage, reset. Someone like Herc is fantastic for the infuriate debuff to get an easy intercept. Don't let him touch your block or hit you, you'll instantly die
I used Nimrod and got him to 70%, Overseer next got him to 20%, Herc finished off the last bit. No revives used.
Need a counter: Doom, Terrax, MODOK, Weapon X, Korg, Spider Gwen, Ibom (any poison immune though), Sasquatch,
Would like a counter: Vision, Dragon Man, Black Panther, Mojo, Killmonger, Nick Fury
Most can take: Spider Ham, Thing, Night Crawler, Domino, Apoc, Void
So start by finding a 5 man/lady/robot team that can take the top row, and then see if they can also take the second row. If not, switch someone out and see repeat. Once you can take the top 2 rows, you're almost definitely going to be able to take the bottom row. You may have an unideal match up on the bottom row, but trust me, it's better to come up short against the Apoc that you can power through, than sasquatch or Korg for whom you can't. Some fights may be tougher for you personally, so move champs up or down as needed.
Also, I'm absolutely happy to help recommend teams, so if you want to throw your roster below I'll help suggest a 5 champ team that can take the gauntlet down. Equally, I'm happy giving advice on specific fights.
If you're taking Apoc, I'd advise ramping his evade up on Korg rather than Spider Ham, I've seen people do it, but I think it's risky against Ham and you're unlikely to take much damage off. Korg however, you will make a dent even while ramping. It's also harder to ramp on a % chance to evade, since Ham's is random it could happen any time, whereas Korg is mixmaster, so you know that the double L attack you do will cause an evade and you can prepare. All in all, Korg is much safer and more likely to save you a revive.
As for bringing Cable, don't. It will save you at most one revive on Weapon X, and you may still solo. You won't need Apoc for the first lane, so cable is a waste of a spot that you could have brought another counter for a hard fight. Even if you're making a mutant a horseman, you can make them a HS on Weapon X, or later and then ramp Apoc again on Nightcrawler. Again, Cable is saving you 2 revives max at the cost of 20% of your team.
Aegon and Quake would also be MVPs, I didn't include them as recommended counters because they're pretty much usable on every fight. Also, I have no doubt missed some good counters, so feel free to share who worked for you, as it may help others. This was a quick look through each of the fights, and the counters that came to mind.
Lastly, don't go out of your way to bring an avenger for the final phase of Thanos, it's really not worth it. If your team allows it with Namor for Terrax/Killmonger then fair enough, but don't bring BPOG just for Thanos and expect it to save you many revives. Compared to the rest of the gauntlet, Thanos just isn't that difficult.
1 on SpiderHam with Hercules, used a special with a popper on me.
2 on Thing with Apoc, mis managed rock stacks, then he didn't throw specials in fury mode
1 on Korg with Apoc, block damage just gets too much
1 on Dragon Man with overseer, damage just gets too much
1 on NC with Apoc to ramp
1 on Spider Gwen with Apoc, got bored during the fight and died
Last time, I used 5 team revives, 7 40% and 2 small revives and that was while I had Quake to counter almost half the quest, so I'm definitely happy with my progress as a player and with my roster.
For rewards, I pulled Guardian new and awakened BP OG from the featured, both decent pulls. I got Sentry new, Agent Venom new and Venompool sigs from the Nexus, decided on AV for the hope of pulling Scorpion and Anti Venom for their synergy, so not too bad. The sigs and the R4 Mats were the main draw though, I'm hoping I can awaken Nimrod from EoP (I also have 3 Tech Nexus I'm waiting to open when Omega Sentinel is added to the basic), so one of those two will be my next R4 I'm sure.
I said this in a line chat but it's worth saying again, Gauntlet is the single greatest piece of Content Kabam have ever done in my eyes, and the fact it still holds up in difficulty, fun and rewards a year later is a testament to how good this content is. The challenge, planning, strategy and gameplay is so good. There is no BS in there, just good fights and fun. I'm so glad it's back!
In any case, I hope this guide helps, and feel free to direct any questions my way.
https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/267540/my-gauntlet-run#latest
This time however, I wanted to see how well I could do without using the worlds most boring champion to play, and set myself the challenge of not using her. I wanted to construct another team entirely, and this time I didn't use any of the same champions.
This challenge started off with a pretty big roster move, I have been sitting on a mutant awakening gem for a fair while now, and staring at my unduped R3 Archangel wondering whether to use it on him, or wait for Kitty in the future. But today I decided to make @Fluffy_paws proud, and not only awaken the King of Neuro, but take it a step further...
That is R4 Number 5, but not the main point of this thread..
The Team
So Archangel joined the team at number 1, closely followed by Hercules R4 to deal with Terrax and other annoying fun damage, then I brought R3 Apoc specifically for Korg - but also with the opportunity to have a Rank 4 Horseman Archangel, next up Nimrod joins the team as an R3 unduped, but mainly to handle the mutants plus Ibom, and last up was Overseer. I had considered between Spidey 2099 and Negative, but seeing as Sasquatch has disorient I decided against Negative, and because Archangel could handle Mojo easily it meant this last slot was to counter Sasquatch, Doom and Dragon Man - so i went for Overseer with the XL advantage for Doom.Overseer is also mega underrated and I wanted to try him out in big content.
So here was the team
Bear in mind most of this was fully boosted, I had a cosmic power boost on for the first section, and a mutant power booster thereafter, but that didn't really make a difference with the health pools. Onto the paths!
Path 1
Doom- Overseer: Tactic here was to parry as little as possible to avoid bubbleshield. Build up to 6 gamma charges, then get to my Sp3 and get as many light combos in as you can for damage. In hindsight, it would have been absolutely fine to use Archangel or even Negative, though it would have cost more health potions, as I soloed with 80% with overseer, but Archangel would get down to 20% health through block damage alone and Negative can solo, but will lose a lot of health. Recommended Counters (RCs): Overseer, Ibom, IHulk, Archangel, Magneto, Mr NegativeTerrax- Hercules: Pretty simple fight, don't worry about going into immortality, it allows you to just go crazy. Terrax's AI is also more aggressive during rock field, so it's as though he constantly has infuriate. His rock field may expire, if it does, just bait out another Sp1 and continue, don't panic and push him to SP3. RCs: Kitty Pryde, Hercules, Namor, Magik, Gambit
Vision- Hercules: Overseer can also do this fight with his taunt, as it counters surging vengeance but it's a slower fight. What I ended up doing was restarting Doom and Terrax 3 or 4 times until I got the perfect set up with Herc. My tactic was to begin the fight on 1% health, get 1 Sp1 off, get to Sp2 make sure I got pushed into immortality just before throwing SP2, meaning I can go crazy after the Sp2 and finish off the fight. With an R4 boosted Herc, after the SP2 he would be on around 10% health, so a combo or two is plenty to finish. RCs: Magik, Herc, CGR, Overseer, Mr Fantastic, Doom, Magneto
MODOK- Archangel: Needs a bit of RNG with AA here for Neuro's, remember that he doesn't count disorient from nodes at the moment (whether that's a bug or not is a different matter I'm not sure about) so your parries won't be 100%. If you get neuro's on him and shut him down it'll be fine though, disorient won't stick. RCs: Hercules, Archangel, Killmonger, Ghost, Shang Chi, Magneto
Spider Ham- Hercules: This is a long and patience-needing fight, he's debuff immune and passive so he is going to be dodging, ducking, dipping, diving, and dodging like he's just been binge watching Vince Vaughn films. SpiderHam's abilities all start getting annoying when he gets spider nonsense, which you give him when you're over a bar of power. If you throw a special right away, he never gets annoying abilities like evade or poppers. That's easier said than done though sometimes. He won't evade under 6, so don't worry there (he does have a separate evade that can trigger when he dashes back and holds block though, so watch out for that even at 0 nonsense). RCs: Hercules, Killmonger, Prof X, Kingpin, Ghost, Falcon. (An aside, I *think* black cat could be good for this fight, her DAAR would stop annoying debuffs and evades triggering, and her heavy playstyle knocking ham down could help bait specials - though she would lose all her bleed damage)
Path 2
Weapon X- Apoc: Originally, I planned to go into the fight with Apoc to ramp him up, then die and use Nimrod, but while playing I saw I was making headway so I pushed on and ended up Soloing! If you time it right with his berserk mode, you can use an Sp1 and an SP2 then weave in heavies when his berserk mode goes on cooldown, meaning you can lock in all 4 debuffs permanently, and they will tick him down nicely. If you're wanting to make someone a horseman, do not do it here! If you're bringing Apoc, you're likely using him for Korg and maybe Thing too, so unless you have a plan for those champs with someone else don't use your charges or you'll be facing them with a 0 charge Apoc. RCs: Nimrod, Warlock, CGR, Apoc, Archangel (maybe? If you get good neuro RNG), Ibom (again, maybe, I think his DOT will do enough plus poison can still reduce his regen rate), Omega Sentinel.Thing- Apoc: very straight forward fight, get Sp2 for concussion, use heavies to control rock stacks, use Sp1 then 3 to lock in all debuffs. Carry on. I got caught once where he stopped throwing specials on fury, decided to throw 4 heavies in a row and trap me in the corner, another one I just mis-managed rock stacks, which was user error, not match up error. RCs: Hercules, Apoc, Tigra, any slow champ, as long as you can manage rock stacks anyone can do.
Korg- Apoc: This is one of the hardest match ups on the run, expect to use a revive or several here. Block damage just gets higher and higher here until it's too much, add in mix master and the node that reduces damage per hit unless you throw a heavy, and it's a tough one. Using Apoc, this is where I ramped up his evade counter. Using an SP1 first to apply weakness, I then parried, and did two light attacks only, one during the stun and one after, letting Korg evade but being aware it would happen. Once I got to 100, i started trying to win the fight. It took me two tries, but Korg went down really easily with Apoc. RCs: Ghost, Apoc, Sorcerer Supreme, Kitty, Prof X
Dragon Man- Overseer: It would be hard to solo with overseer here, since the damage gets higher and higher with aspect of evolution and eventually is too much on block, but I managed to get 70% off in one go. Essentially bait out specials with the taunt, build up into your damage mode and SP3 then go crazy. I made sure to use the taunt before my damage mode so I didn't waste time baiting specials. If you use a concussion champ, or AAR champ you can stop his power gain ever coming back, as it turns off the timer completely. RCs: Spidey 2099, Negative, Overseer, Mags, Magik, Torch, She Hulk
Black Panther- Horseman Archangel: Tricky fight here, took me a while to get into the fight and get some neuro's stacking. You will need RNG's blessing here if you use Archangel (being a horseman helped here), and be able to deal with the unblockable. Once some neuro's are on, you're laughing. Until then, it's dancing around an unblockable, footloose panther. Watch out for him going unstoppable during your heavy if he has armour buffs, sometimes you may need to hit and hope there. RCs: CGR, Tigra, Ghost, Kitty, Claire (or any mystic with strong buff control), Anti Venom may do alright with his decelerate.
Path 3
NightCrawler- Apoc: As my Apoc was used to make AA Horseman, I died once before the end and revived so I would be back at 4 charges. Simple fight, by now your apoc will be 100 evade counter from Korg, if not, you can use it to ramp up. RCs: Anyone - just push him out of evade mode.SpiderGwen- Apoc: You can't stun here, so it's a little slower than your typical apoc fight since you can't refresh debuffs. She is also immune to AAR, so your concussion won't land meaning you only get 3 debuffs. It's up to you whether to Sp1 spam, that's probably the best damage but I got bored so I shook it up with some SP2s some SP1s. RCs: Killmonger, Prof X, Apoc, Stealth Spidey, Nick Fury.
Domino- Nimrod: Pretty straight forward, power shield and matador so just bait her SP1 and use a big special damage champion. Someone immune to AAR is great, but really we all know how to fight Domino by now, almost anyone with big specials will manage her. RCs: Apoc, Archangel, Nimrod, Omega Sentinel, Longshot, Warlock.
Mojo- Archangel: Just a big scary Mojo, not quite as scary as when we last saw him as we have a lot more counters now, but still a big ugly boy. His prompts auto complete every 20 seconds, but that's the only big issue. Any strong Mojo counter will work here. I used Archangel and he shredded through as a horseman in less than a min, I had 10 neuros at one point. RCs: Spidey 2099, Negative, Red Guardian, Torch, Archangel, Ibom, Spam - anyone with few buffs.
Ibom- Nimrod: Do not assume this is an Ibom for Archangel, applying bleeds is a bad shout here. I'm sure with the perfect RNG it's possible, but with the high health pools I wouldn't recommend trying. Safer to bring a poison immune. I'd suggest pushing him to SP2, so he starts to use up his poisons and reduce his damage (he has more attack with how many debuffs are on him). Don't double dash back or you get disorient, so I tend to just block most the SP1, it won't do much damage. RCs: Poison immune champs.
Path 4
Apocalypse- Nimrod: Pretty straight forward Apoc fight with Nim, he starts with 2 charges against a robot here, so just get rid of his prowess and you'll be fine. When facing a hero champion he treats them as mutants, so he starts with 2 for defending a quest node, and 2 for facing a mutant, so he will be directly on 4. Ideally bring a non-hero, a robot, or someone like Nimrod who counters everything about him. Apart from that, he's a beefy Apoc. RCs: Nimrod, Ibom, Ghost, anyone you're comfortable withSasquatch- Overseer: Another tricky fight here. With overseer, you'll need a few damage rotations to take him down, I believe I did it in 4 or 5, those rage stacks really reduce the damage. I tended to try and line it up with almost the end of Wrath of Tanaraq, so rage was on low amounts, but not during wrath so he didn't have increased combat power. The good thing about overseer here is that you build special concussion very fast, with how many specials Sassy throws, and with 2/3 despair you reduce healing by 70% and his healing is 800-1000 per tic (easily manageable with Overseer's DPS), with 3/3 it's 105% so he never procs regens. Overseer's burst also gets around life cycle, and he doesn't need to parry too much so you don't get much disorient on you. The sp1 stun is also great to finish off the life cycle fight. RCs: Apoc, Overseer, Spidey 2099, Torch (pre fight needed), Ibom (poison won't do damage, Acid burn will), Void, YellowJacket. As *maybe* options Archangel and She Hulk could both work, but I'm not sure with the combo of nodes.
Killmonger- Archangel: I found an odd interaction here, Killmonger was gaining 15% of missing power when a debuff was applied even with 3+ neuros on him, maybe it's not linked to his ability accuracy but that threw me off. However, remember that since it's missing power, it can never push him to SP3. Still, something to watch out for. AA can easily do it though, as long as you bear it in mind. You want someone who can gain power through the debuffs or their own kit, and someone who can counter Killmonger's armour (though really you can just play around it if needed). RCs: Apoc, Archangel, CGR, Hyperion, Hercules (with Cap IW synergy if possible)
Void- Hercules: Power boosters are your friend here. Find someone who can get to a big special fairly quick and blast him away. Last time I used CGR, this time Herc. One SP1, then Sp2, got me back to SP2 and another one to finish. The DOT from Long distance relationship is bad, but won't drain you in seconds. Don't use Archangel, there is bleed/poison immunity. RCs: Hercules, CGR, Apoc, Ghost, Mr Negative
Nick Fury- Archangel: If you're going to use Archangel, watch out for lionheart when you apply poison. Your neuro's can stop it applying to you, but it'll eat some health at the start. I'd advise going in with full health here. If you're using an R3 or lower AA or a non horseman, I'd even consider intentionally dying at 70%ish, and that's because you want to be at an SP3 when Nick's LMD dies. That way you can use an SP3 immediately, place a neuro on him and heal block, wiping out the second phase. If you have a 5/65 or even R3, you may start at 100%, but only get nick to 30%, meaning your second try you won't have time to get to an Sp3 and ignore the second phase. Just something to bear in mind. Apart from that, watch out for kinetic transference if you aren't shutting it down - having said that, it can actually be used to your advantage by pushing Nick to 2 bars of power so you don't need to deal with his Sp1. RCs: Peni Parker, Toad, Apoc, Archangel, Hercules, Kitty, Doom, Shang Chi.
Thanos
Pretty much anyone can be used here, if you're used to Grandmaster, Kang Act 7, Gwenmaster etc, you won't have an issue here.100%-95%: nothing special at all. No abilities.
95%-65%: You get a bleed if you hit him, he regens some damage if he autoblocks you
65%-30%: He gets an evade, watch out for the SP2 and only evade the shiny balls of energy, don't hit him during evade or you get stunned. The degen takes 80% of current health, it won't KO you.
30%-0%: intercept, take SP3 damage, reset. Someone like Herc is fantastic for the infuriate debuff to get an easy intercept. Don't let him touch your block or hit you, you'll instantly die
I used Nimrod and got him to 70%, Overseer next got him to 20%, Herc finished off the last bit. No revives used.
Team Building
In my view, start off with the hardest and most niche fights and find counters for them, then build the rest of your team around them. That sounds simple, but it's worth saying. To me, there's 3 categories of fights here: Need a counter, would like a counter, most can take them. This is a rough guide for which fights to focus on while making your team.Need a counter: Doom, Terrax, MODOK, Weapon X, Korg, Spider Gwen, Ibom (any poison immune though), Sasquatch,
Would like a counter: Vision, Dragon Man, Black Panther, Mojo, Killmonger, Nick Fury
Most can take: Spider Ham, Thing, Night Crawler, Domino, Apoc, Void
So start by finding a 5 man/lady/robot team that can take the top row, and then see if they can also take the second row. If not, switch someone out and see repeat. Once you can take the top 2 rows, you're almost definitely going to be able to take the bottom row. You may have an unideal match up on the bottom row, but trust me, it's better to come up short against the Apoc that you can power through, than sasquatch or Korg for whom you can't. Some fights may be tougher for you personally, so move champs up or down as needed.
Also, I'm absolutely happy to help recommend teams, so if you want to throw your roster below I'll help suggest a 5 champ team that can take the gauntlet down. Equally, I'm happy giving advice on specific fights.
If you're taking Apoc, I'd advise ramping his evade up on Korg rather than Spider Ham, I've seen people do it, but I think it's risky against Ham and you're unlikely to take much damage off. Korg however, you will make a dent even while ramping. It's also harder to ramp on a % chance to evade, since Ham's is random it could happen any time, whereas Korg is mixmaster, so you know that the double L attack you do will cause an evade and you can prepare. All in all, Korg is much safer and more likely to save you a revive.
As for bringing Cable, don't. It will save you at most one revive on Weapon X, and you may still solo. You won't need Apoc for the first lane, so cable is a waste of a spot that you could have brought another counter for a hard fight. Even if you're making a mutant a horseman, you can make them a HS on Weapon X, or later and then ramp Apoc again on Nightcrawler. Again, Cable is saving you 2 revives max at the cost of 20% of your team.
Aegon and Quake would also be MVPs, I didn't include them as recommended counters because they're pretty much usable on every fight. Also, I have no doubt missed some good counters, so feel free to share who worked for you, as it may help others. This was a quick look through each of the fights, and the counters that came to mind.
Lastly, don't go out of your way to bring an avenger for the final phase of Thanos, it's really not worth it. If your team allows it with Namor for Terrax/Killmonger then fair enough, but don't bring BPOG just for Thanos and expect it to save you many revives. Compared to the rest of the gauntlet, Thanos just isn't that difficult.
Revives and Rewards
As for my revive count, I used 7 total. 5 were me being bad, 1 was annoying shouldn't have happened, 1 was to ramp Apoc1 on SpiderHam with Hercules, used a special with a popper on me.
2 on Thing with Apoc, mis managed rock stacks, then he didn't throw specials in fury mode
1 on Korg with Apoc, block damage just gets too much
1 on Dragon Man with overseer, damage just gets too much
1 on NC with Apoc to ramp
1 on Spider Gwen with Apoc, got bored during the fight and died
Last time, I used 5 team revives, 7 40% and 2 small revives and that was while I had Quake to counter almost half the quest, so I'm definitely happy with my progress as a player and with my roster.
For rewards, I pulled Guardian new and awakened BP OG from the featured, both decent pulls. I got Sentry new, Agent Venom new and Venompool sigs from the Nexus, decided on AV for the hope of pulling Scorpion and Anti Venom for their synergy, so not too bad. The sigs and the R4 Mats were the main draw though, I'm hoping I can awaken Nimrod from EoP (I also have 3 Tech Nexus I'm waiting to open when Omega Sentinel is added to the basic), so one of those two will be my next R4 I'm sure.
I said this in a line chat but it's worth saying again, Gauntlet is the single greatest piece of Content Kabam have ever done in my eyes, and the fact it still holds up in difficulty, fun and rewards a year later is a testament to how good this content is. The challenge, planning, strategy and gameplay is so good. There is no BS in there, just good fights and fun. I'm so glad it's back!
In any case, I hope this guide helps, and feel free to direct any questions my way.
Post edited by Kabam Valkyrie on
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Comments
Congrats on the gauntlet run!
Edit to add: question wise, what do I have to do to be able to stare at my own R3 AA? I've got gems awaiting, getting dusty. When do I need to make the goat sacrifice?
As for my sacrifice, I actually went for chicken - on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon when Jupiter and Neptune were in the sky together, but not too close. Hope this helps!
Are you going mutant from EoP? Fingers crossed you get him soon!
With that, I'd probably say unless you have an R4 boosted Herc, go for SP3 once against Vision, you'll get a power gain buff, he will throw SP3 and give you more power, then drain a bar of it, so you'll likely end with around a bar of power. That'll be plenty to allow you to easily get to Sp1, then Sp2 and finish off the fight. If you aren't sure, or would like to be safe, just keep doing Sp3s. Lucky thing is, it's early on in Gauntlet, so you can restart if things are going bad.
I won't make it to the class nexus this time, because life and stuff = no time to grind units and no way can I solo the path, but shall keep my fingers crossed for the normal nexus. I did do the carina challenge with 3* Aegon for the dual class but no luck hah.
Off to find some chickens and some astrology maps before EoP rewards drop.
Can u help me make a team? I'm really afraid about Terrax
As @TheBair123 has pointed out, a Terrax counter is where you’re lacking. And seeing as he’s on the first path, you can’t even just do one path and grab those rewards.
I’d probably recommend holding off on it, it’s permanent content and isn’t going anywhere at all. So wait for a few more lucky pulls, awaken your Herc, or your Kitty, or rank up Magik, namor etc and give it a go then. None in your current roster there can really make a dent in terrax without a lot of revives.
Maw is probably the closest by just using heavy attack but you’d want him to be R3 at least, and even then it’s an incredibly hard fight. If he uses even one special you’ll probably be KOd.
Once you’ve got a terrax counter it may be worth going for Path 1 and maybe path 2 to grab those rewards. The whole thing may be a bit of an expensive stretch unfortunately.
Doom - Mags
Terrax - Herc
MODOK - Mags
Weapon X - Apoc/Nimrod
Korg - Apoc
Spider Gwen - Nick
Ibom - Nimrod
So then we come to Sasquatch. If I've already got Nimmy, Apoc, Mags, and Herc on my team, who's the best counter for Sasquatch? I was thinking maybe AA, but mine is only 5/65. iBom might also work, and apparently Spidey2099 is bugged atm but could work. Any suggestions? Thanks
I can use like AA, Torch, Nimrod... I see ppl use in the Gauntlet champs that I do have so where's the problem?
As for Sassy, I think Apoc could work.
You said you had 1/3 despair, but with 2/3 despair, you’d need 7 or so debuffs to make it manageable. 4 from his specials, made permanent, then if you parry heavy over and over, you should be able to keep 2-4 bleeds up fairly easily. Add in your concussion taking care of power snack most of the time, less unstoppable with the concussion, and your disorient immunity. Apoc is a good counter.
So with Mags, Herc, Apoc, Nimrod you’d only need one more slot. You’re really wanting someone to deal with Mojo and BPCW, the rest is kinda covered with who you have now. Mags can be used for Mojo but I’m personally not a fan, one anti life field when you double your prowess can be a quick way to die. My suggestion would be to bring in Torch/Spidey 2099 for Mojo, even a 5* torch will crush. That way you can use them on Sasquatch if needed.
And for BPCW, work your way through it with Apoc, it’ll be tough but if you go straight for sp2 you may be able to tone down the footloose and make some progress.
You could revive through it with 5* Hercules, but this is only 1 path out of 4.
If you are really set on it, I’d suggest a team of 5* Herc, Torch, 5* ghost, 5* magneto, nimrod
But with a low ranked team like that you are going to have a really, really hard time. I don’t want to sugar coat it and tell you it’ll be absolutely fine. Obviously your skill level plays a part and you have to be honest with yourself whether it’s worth the revives. Up to you dude.
My advice would be run the first path, see how many revives it takes you and work out if it’s worth it.
I have the following stash as well, and can easily and quickly farm 40+ L1 revives using my energy refills (all story content and EoP is 100% so I don’t need them really).
My strategy, though not the best, is to slowly chimp away at opponents using Herc when needed using a L1 revive and his immortality, using max attack, health and 30% green boosts.
Besides my suboptimal plan, does it look like I have a somewhat suitable counter, or am I missing one?
I mean r3 NIMGOAT, r2 Torch, maybe R3 Prof X for Korg and such... and then let's say my 6* Herc is awakened, hypothetically. Isnt this a good team? I mean after we add someone else to make it 5. What about my r3 Overseer? These guys arent low rating
Or do you think Diablo would work? That’s another option I was considering and then use him for Apoc and Ibom. Any help is much appreciated!
As for your team, it’s looking good! I’ll only mention a couple fights to watch out for. Weapon X, I’m not sure how Ultron would do there if you were planning on using him. If you’re thinking of Apoc or Archangel, maybe practice on the 7.1 (I think it’s 7.1) Weapon X boss to get a feel for it. Both of them theoretically should be able to do it, but he’s a tough fight.
And Sasquatch - she hulk, Apoc and AA all should be able to do it, but with Apoc you want to have at least 2/3 despair, she hulk could be tough if you aren’t confident with that fight but again can do it, archangel as @Etjama points out is tough. At least with AA you can throw revives at it until you get some good RNG with neuros, but I’d practice heavy countering his heavy or his sp2
I would consider R5ing your nimrod in Ultron’s place if you have the spare resources. He will do every fight Ultron can and better, plus he’d guarantee an easy Weapon X fight.
Aside from that, I’d recommend following who I used for each fight (with she hulk replacing overseer aside from Doom who you can take with AA) and you should have this in the bag!
So without Herc and nimrod you’re looking for Terrax, Ibom, Apoc counters really. The rest can be handled by other champions. Someone like Warlock, Kitty, Magik will help there.
It’s hard to suggest who to bring without seeing your roster, I could recommend 10 champs you don’t have! Feel free to post a screenshot and I’ll take a look there.
If it was any other fight I’d just say go for it, but Sasquatch is the only real fight that could possible roadblock you. Every other fight you can power through eventually, but with Sasquatch you want to be sure or at least have a back up.
I don’t know about Diablo. You only get one big damage spike and once the sp3 is used it’s gone. Again disorient can mess with you and it could be hard to heavy counter. Give it a try on practice mode and see if you can reliably keep poisons up by heavy countering.
Apoc, archangel, torch, Kitty and for the last spot Ghost/G2099
Apoc and archangel take the same fights I used them for (except archangel takes Doom as well)
Torch takes dragon man, mojo, Sasquatch
Kitty takes Terrax, BPCW, spider ham, maybe Nick fury
G2099 would be able to take Apoc, Ibom, weapon X but would have a tough time with vision I think (though you could try vision with Kitty)
Ghost would be able to take vision (tech power booster), Apoc, ibom but not Weapon X - you’d have to take him with Apoc (or maybe archangel).
So your choice between those two is based on whether you want an easier time with WX or Vision. You would also be going against WX unramped, though if you start the match with 6 heavies you’ll have a good combo safety net.
I’d probably recommend taking ghost, Weapon X is doable with Apoc, and archangel as back ups if it doesn’t work.
That team has a decent counter for everyone but one or two, so that’s pretty good overall. If you don’t decide to awaken archangel, feel free to let me know and I’ll think of another team. That’s what I’d suggest though.