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Making Lemonade out of Luke Cage

After a brief hiatus to allow me to acquire the Champion who is the subject of this latest article, we return to make lemonade out of Luke Cage. Now, Luke is an odd duck, as he is no longer considered to be a lemon, though he was determined to be the worst of the Science Class for 2017...hence my decision to include him in my inaugural group. He serves as a reminder that as the game’s meta evolves, those who were considered to be the best will inevitably be knocked from their pedestals and replaced, and those who were thought to be worthless will be eventually see their value increased.

Luke, the subject of many rather amusing memes and once affectionately (derisively?) christened “pillow hands” received a substantial buff late in 2012, so this article reflect the changes. Both his Attack and Heath pool are midrange among his Science contemporaries; however, they are enhanced by his abilities. The former is increased by debuffs inflicted on enemies, while the latter is improved by his Bleed Immunity, his high Physical Resistance, and his ability to reduce incoming Critical Damage. His survivability is further supplemented by becoming Indestructible and taking no damage once his Signature has been accessed; when Awakened, he can tank an enemy SP3, which is a significant benefit. In terms of his other attributes, his Armor is very low (favoring the aforementioned Physical Resistance), as are his Crit Damage and Crit Rate, but his Block Proficiency his slightly above average for the Science Class.

The usual suspects of Cruelty and Precision are must-haves due to Cage’s low Crit Damage and Crit Rate, and his damage output can be further increased with Assassin and Courage. Because he can readily and reliably apply debuffs, Despair will be a good fit, as well, since that will help to slow down enemy Regeneration. Because he does have Bleed Immunity, this will allow him to utilize Double Edge ramp his Attack without suffering any drawbacks. A single point only should be invested in Recoil because you will definitely want to be able to spam his SP1. There are also a few Masteries that will require some judgment to determine whether or not to invest in them. Luke’s Physical Resistance does not provide any protection against energy attacks, so Energy Resistance and Serum Science can help with that aspect; however, as a Class-Specific Mastery, the latter is quite costly, so that investment should not be taken lightly. Finally, because Luke’s damage output ramps in conjunction with the number of debuffs placed on the enemy, Resonate will work well for him, since it will provide another method of readily applying a Weakness debuff. Again, Resonate is a costly investment, and it also requires first unlocking Inequity, so some thought should be put into it.

Turning our attention to Synergy, there are a few worth mentioning, many of which build on his defensive role. Placing him on a team with Captain America (Infinity War) and classic Cap or Hulk, or Hulk (Ragnarok) will give activate the Science Experiment Synergy, which places a passive Weakness debuff on the enemythat will reduce incoming damage whenever your Science Champions are not being hit for the duration of the fight. This will offer protection against effects such as Dormammu’s Degeneration and Iceman’s Coldsnap for example. This build would work well the Science Serum Mastery because at least three of the Champions in use would be from Science Class to maximize the benefit from it. Another another option would be to use the Thunderbolts and Teammates Synergies to provide protection through Perfect Block chance and against Special attacks. The team of Juggernaut (or Iron Patriot) and the trio of Agent Venom, Red Hulk, and Wolverine (X-23) will 20% of each. Placing Luke Among Drax, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, and Star-Lord, will also provide 20% Perfect Block chance, as well as some Armor and an increase to his Critical Damage. There is also always the possibility of placing him on a team that utilizes the Enemies, Friends, Nemesis, or Rivals Synergies to increase his Crit Rate, Armor, Attack, or Crit Damage, respectively. You can check out the earlier blog entry on Masteries to see which pairs of Champions have reciprocal Synergies to maximize these.

To summarize, an ideal build for Luke Cage would be the team Thunderbolts/Teammates group because the Champions included on that team are fairly strong in their own right, and they include Red Hulk (who is Poison Immune), Agent Venom (who can shrug off debuffs), and X-23 (who can mitigate damage with her Regeneration), utilizing maxed Double Edge (with Willpower and Coagulate, if necessary), maxed Despair, and possibly a single point in Inequity and Resonate to ensure that at least one debuff can be placed on the enemy for the majority of the fight.

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Making Lemonade out of Unstoppable Colossus

Today, we look at OG Colossus’ Mystic counterpart, Unstoppable Colossus. Whereas the classic version was a Mutant, the change in Class makes for some significant changes, most notably with Synergy. As before, Unstoppable Colossus is not a a heavy hitter; he is intended to be used defensively, though the “utility” tag on his profile is dubious. Nonetheless, this version of Piotr can also take a beating. His Armor, Crit Damage, and Crit Rate are unchanged. His Block Proficiency and Health are increased slightly, and his Attack has a negligible reduction. His Bleed immunity is retained, but capacity to stack Armor buffs is traded for a Fury buff and the potential to become Unstoppable once Awakened.

The Mastery build for Unstoppable Colossus remains largely unchanged from the classic character, but there are a couple of noteworthy changes. If he is not Awakened, his play style will be essentially the same as with OG Colossus—saving Power to use in conjunction with either his Armor Up (with his SP3, specifically) or his Fury buff (with his other Specials), so maxing out Recoil will increase his damage output. However, once he is awakened, he can spam his SP1 for recurring Unstoppable buffs, and this is something that you will definitely want to be able to do. Therefore, once he is Awakened, a single point in Recoil will be sufficient to get to Double Edge without allowing yourself to be killed from using those Specials. Another major benefit that this version of Colossus has due to the change in Class is that of Mystic Dispersion—the best of the Class-specific Masteries, as it will give him a boost to his Power each time an enemy buff expires. This will, in turn, allow him to hit thar SP1 and trigger Unstoppable that much more frequently.

Now, a couple of words of caution are necessary. Because the Class-specific Masteries, like Mystic Dispersion, are so costly, I cannot in good conscience recommend unlocking them solely for a Champion who is lackluster like our lemons; however, if you have a strong group of other Champions who can benefit from it, then it will be worthwhile. Also, as I mentioned in my first Lemonade blog, I cannot endorses using Awakening Gems or Signature Stones on these Champions, either. I mention Signatures more for those who might be Awakened the hard way through Crystal openings, or through Arenas. As it pertains to Unstoppable Colossus specifically, he is available exclusively through the Loyalty store, and I am of the opinion that it is a better option to purchase the 4* version twice (at a lower cost) than to save for the 5* version simply because of the Signature unless you want the 5* for Prestige to get more points in Arenas. Furthermore, due to the nature of the Signature, he is a Champion where a high level is not necessary; simply having it at all will make a difference.

There are a variety of options can be explored in terms of Synergy. The Nemesis, Enemies, and Rivals Synergies will allow you to ramp his Attack, Crit Rate, and Crit Damage, respectively.

As before, the Enemies, Nemesis, and Rivals Synergies will all allow you ramp damage output. His SP3 damage output can still be increased with the Inseparable Synergy; however, the Mutant Agenda Synergy is out because of the Class change, as is the Mutant Evolution Synergy. And, the increase to his SP3 will really only be useful when he is not Awakened because once he is, you will really want to rely on his SP1 for recurring Unstoppable buffs. The Friends Synergy which increases the Armor rating for everyone on the team will increase the damage from his SP3, too, but the other Specials will not be affected. So, again, that is something that will only be helpful prior to having him Awakened. Another significant drawback to the Unstoppable version is that those Armor Up buffs only apply defensively when your are hit. Interestingly, UC is tagged as a villain, and this means he will have a chance to revive with the Dark Empowerment Synergy, and this something connected to Mystics, as well.

Thus, an ideal build for Unstoppable Colossus would questing team comprised of Doctor Strange, Dormammu, Juggernaut, and the Hood with Glass Cannon (this can be offset by Greater Vitality, if need be), Recoil (a single point, if Awakened), Double Edge (with Willpower, Coagulate for the non-bleed immune Champions), and Mystic Dispersion (if Awakened). This will increase Colossus’ Attack by ~50%, his Crit Damage and Crit Rate, his SP3 (if he is not Awakened), provide that chance to survive a knock-out, and also provide that extra Power gain when enemy buffs expire. Alternatively, a team built around reciprocal Romance Synergy (Archangel with Psylocke, classic Black Panther with Storm, or either Daredevil with Elektra; or even Blue Team Cyclops with Phoenix) in conjunction with Mystic Dispersion will allow you to really leverage Power Gain to it’s full potential and use those frequent Unstoppable buffs.

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Making Lemonade out of Colossus

After a couple of weeks looking at offensive Champions, it is time to look at a couple of defensive Champions—classic Colossus and Unstoppable Colossus. This week, we will concentrate on the former. Colossus gets a lot of grief because he doesn’t hit as hard as some, but he is intended to be used defensively as a tank; he can take a beating. Colossus has a fairly good Health pool; and while his base Armor is only slightly average initially, he can increase it significantly with stacks of Armor Up, and this is supplemented with above average Block Proficiency. Given the great number of Champions who are capable of inflicting Bleed Damage, his immunity to such damage is a major boon, as well. Sadly, both Colossus’ Crit Rate and Crit Damage are on the low end of the spectrum. In addition, it is true that his base Attack is a bit below average, but there are Champions with lower Attack, and the damage from his Special attacks increases based on his frequent and multiple Armor Up buffs. Therefore, timing those Specials to coincide with when he has multiple Armor Up buffs active make a difference.

Due to his deficient Crit Rate and Damage, the Cruelty and Precision Masteries are must-haves, and honestly, these should really be a given. His base Attack can be improved with Courage, Greater Strength, and Assassin (another safe Mastery for anyone). Pierce will help him get more of his damage through enemy Armor. Finally, to increase his damage output as much as possible, Glass Cannon (this can be offset by Greater Vitality, if need be), Recoil, and Double Edge are solid investments.

There are a variety of options can be explored in terms of Synergy. The Nemesis, Enemies, and Rivals Synergies will allow you to rank his Attack, Crit Rate, and Crit Damage, respectively. His SP3 damage output can be increased with the Inseparable Synergy, and the Mutant Agenda Synergy increase the damage from all of his Special attacks. Similarly, Mutants will receive a +20% Prowess nuff which increases Special Attack Damage by using Captain America (Infinity War) with Beast, Storm, or Wolverine. Also, because the damage his Special attacks deal are directly linked to his overall Armor, the Friends Synergy which increases the Armor rating for everyone on the team will increase his damage, too; and that’s a unique bonus. Finally, the Metal Mayhem Synergy with Omega Red will grant a 20% Attack Rating for each Armor Up Buff and well-timed blocks (think Parry) grant an unstackable Armor Buff.

Thus, the ideal build for Colossus would be the team of Archangel, Beast, Captain America (Infinity War), Colossus, and Cyclops; with Glass Cannon (this can be offset by Greater Vitality, if need be), Recoil, and Double Edge (with Willpower, Coagulate for the non-bleed immune Champions). This will increase Colossus’ Attack by ~40% and his Specials by 128% without stacking any Armor Up, and by using his SP3 exclusively, the Recoil cost will be reduced.

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Underrated (?) Masteries

Glass Cannon allows you to increase the Attack of your Champions by trading an equal percentage of their Health. With the exception of Arena-grinding builds (because of its increase to Prestige), most builds not use this Mastery unless it is for a single-point investment to access the suicide Masteries of Double Edge and Deep Wounds. However, for Champions who have low natural Attack, but decent-sized ratings for Armor and/or Health, this Mastery can have some value. At max, Glass Cannon trades 7.2% Health for Attack. The loss of Health can be offset by investing in Greater Vitality, if necessary, and additions Armor to protect with lower Health is readily available from a large number of Synergies.

Recoil is another Mastery that is usd primarily to unlock the suicides. It functions somewhat like Yellowjacket’s Biostinf, whereby your Champions are punished for using their Special attacks. At max, Special attacks have an increase of 60% to their damage output at a cost of 10% Health per activation. However, if you intend to regularly save up for your Champions’ ultimate attacks, the activation cost becomes more negligible. Champions like Hulk already deal significant damage with their third Special, and in Hulk’s case specifically, once he is Awakened, any damage he takes in route to filing his Power meter will only make it that much more devastating. It is also worth noting that because Limbo is triggered whenever Magik uses either her SP1 or SP2, she is guaranteed a degree of immunity to the effects of Recoil.

Unfazed is probably the most hated of all Masteries. At its maximum level, it gives your Champions a 55% chance to become Unstoppable, as well as a 55% chance to stack a +450 Critical Damage rating on their next Critical hit against enemies who naturally Evade. There are a few key points here. First, it only triggers against those natural Evaders. Secondly, the Crit Damage and Unstoppable buffs process independently from one another. So, it is possible to get either, both, or neither of them. Thirdly, while you will see a Cruelty indicator on-screen to let you know that it has been activated, the Unstoppable icon will not appear. You will just know it has by being able to block rather than being combo’ed into oblivion. Where I can see this Mastery having some value is when it is used for (mini)bosses for those who are running it in conjunction with Mystic Dispersion. Because the Science Champions have Class advantage against Mystic and Science also boasts the most heroes who are natural Evaders, using Unfazed in this manner can help to fend off such threats.

Inequity is another Mastery that sees virtually no play. It causes a reduction of up to 36% of your enemies’ Attack in 6% increments based on the number of active debuffs on them once it has been maxed out. Notably, this reduction (which functions essentially as a Weakness debuff) does not count as a debuff itself; therefore, it will not trigger Willpower on its own. This Mastery can be useful in a couple of scenarios. Firstly, if your Champion can readily inflict a large number of debuffs for a decent duration; and secondly, if your Champion can inflict debuffs but has relatively low Armor or Health. A perfect example of this is a hero with a glass chin like Iron Fist. He can hit like a truck, but his Armor rating of zero means he cannot take a punch. His frequent Armor Breaks used in combination with Inequity will extend his survivability by whittling down his enemies’ Attack allowing him to more readily take some damage while he is dealing his own damage.

Resonate is an extremely niche Mastery. At its maximum, it gives all of your Champions’ attacks an 18% chance to trigger a Weakness debuff reducing enemy Attack by 13% for 7 seconds. Even at its best, justifying this is practically impossible. That being said, there are a handful of situations where the Mastery might be useful. At level 1, your Champions will have a 16% chance to trigger Weakness reducing Attack by 7% for 7 seconds, and that is all that is needed for these situations. Elektra causes a reduction in defensive ability accuracy to enemies with active debuffs, Luke Cage’s Attack increases based upon debuffs, Red Skull reduces Powerr gain by 10% per active debuff, Taskmaster has a variety of benefits triggered by the number of debuffs on the enemy, Void causes Degeneration whenever an enemy is affected by a debuff, whenever she shrinks, Wasp’s next two hits are guaranteed to be Critical—the damage of which is increased by the number of debuffs on the enemy, and Yondu also causes a 10% Power gain reduction per active debuff. Ant-man will gain an increase to his Attack based on the number of debuffs with his Synergy from Ghost; because of the sheer number of debuffs and she can apply and maintain by spamming her SP3, by combining Resonate and Inequity, Medusa can virtually neuter enemy Attack; Sentry’s Fear of the Void Synergy needs a debuff to trigger, so Resonate provides an outlet for that; Joe Fixit’s Synergy with Kingpin increases his Attack based on debuffs; Cap gets a passive Attack increase against debugged enemies from his Synergy with Havok; Nightthrasher’s enemies suffer Armor rating reduction with his Synergy with either Darkhawk or Moonknight; and Sabretooth can benefit, if he is paired with Killmonger because their Synergy allows Sabretooth to reduce defensive Abity Accuracy by 100% for .7 seconds each time a debuffs is applied.

Unlocking the Resonate Mastery will allow each of these specific Champions to process their respective abilities with greater efficiency. It’s also worth noting that both Red Skull and Yondu are Tech Champions, so their Power gain reductions can be further augmented by 18% with the Collar Tech Mastery, for a total combined reduction of 28%. In summary, I would hardly suggest any of these Masteries with a “one size fits all” approach; however , there are certainly some specific situations where they might be beneficial. Ultimately, your mileage may vary, and the only way to ever know for sure is to look at the big picture and know your Champions.

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Making Lemonade out of Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)

Last time, we made lemonade out of Karnak. Today, we are looking at another, more recent addition to the Inhuman mythos, the new Ms. Marvel. So, get your juicer ready, and let’s make some lemonade out of Kamala Khan! Like Karnak, Kamala is a raw damage, offensive Champion; however, her damage output is definitely more burst-leaning, being heavily-reliant on Fury buffs. Kamala’s base Attack is not as high as it could, but fortunately, she does have multiple methods for acquiring those Furies to ramp it; and both her Critical Rate and Critical Damage are among the highest for Cosmic Champions. Her base Armor is low, as is typical for Cosmic Champs; however, this is offset by her Block Proficiency, which is at the high end of the spectrum for the Class, and it also increases in conjunction with those Fury effects that are readily available. Ms. Marvel has midrange Health, but this is aided by her immunity to Poison. The value of those Fury buffs really cannot be overstated for her, and they become even more beneficial once she is Awakened, being amplified both in duration and potency.

So, let’s talk about those Fury buffs, shall we? She can gain up to 3 stacks of Fury from charging Heavy attacks that will increase her Attack by 22% each for 10 seconds; she can gain up to 4 stacks for 16% each from her SP1 for 9 seconds; her SP2 will give 1 guaranteed at 38% for 10 seconds; and her SP3 has a 90% chance to provide a permanent Fury for that 38% increase. As long as she has at least 3 stacks of Fury, her specials will all remove 2 Armor Up is defects, and she will also receive the aforementioned increase to her Block Proficiency for each active Fury.

Looking at Masteries, Cruelty and Precision are standards that are always safe options, and thy will all Kamala leverage her already devastating Crits. As with Karnak, Courage, Greater Strength, and Pierce will allow Ms. Marvelous to ramp her offensive capabilities, and Assassin is another fight-finishing Masstery that will be invaluable. Both Extended and Enhanced Fury lend themselves to her tool kit, and Liquid Courage is an option to ramp her damage output further, due to her Poison immunity.

As far as Synergy is concerned, she will undoubtedly benefit the most from the Cosmic Supremacy by being paired with Black Bolt, as this will allow her to retain those Fury buffs even longer. The Cosmic Power Synergy with Captain America (Infinity War) with either Captain Marvel, Gamora, or Thor will also extend the duration of those Fury buffs. Her Synergy with Spider-man (Stark Enhanced) will increase the potency of those Furies by 30%. Aside from these, using the Friends Synergy to provide additional Armor or Nemesis to increase her Attack are options worth considering.

While Kamala loves those Fury increases, and, theoretically, her Heavy attacks are the quickest route to acquire them, this is also a risky undertaking. Because the buffs are not gained instantly, and a Heavy attack is used rather than a Block, the time needed to actually charge those Furies leaves an opening for the enemy to attack. In addition to this, those buffs are lost as the enemy connects with hits. The buffs gained from the second and third Specials are both more potent; however, it will take longer to build the Power meter to use them. Aside from this, the first Special has the potential to provide up to 4 Fury buffs. At 2 buffs, the first Special will provide nearly the same amount of increase as either of the other Special attacks; and it is possible to get as many as 4 is them in this way. Remember, too, the Block Proficiency increases is added on a per-Fury basis; therefore, using the SP1 with the chance to gain 4 increases is preferable. Moreover, by spamming that SP1, you can also increase your chances of maintaining buffs at all times. Or, instead of spacing the Furies out, by waiting until just before the second bar of Power is full to use the SP1, and then following up with a second one, and then filling the first bar again and hitting yet another, it’s actually possible to gain as many as 12 Furies and inflict massive damage in a very short period. The one notable exception worth mentioning here is when an ability (like Dormammu’s Signature Degeneration) triggers upon expiration of a buff, Kamala’s SP3 can be used to circumvent this by gaining a permanent Fury instead.

With that in mind, the cherry build for Kamala Khan would be Black Bolt, Captain America (Infinity War), Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), and Spider-man (Stark Enhanced) with points invested in the Greater Strength, Liquid Courage, Enhanced and Extended Fury, and Willpower (for non-Poison immune Champs) Masteries. This will increase her Attack by ~40%, extend her Fury buffs for ~55% longer, and increase the potency of those buffs by ~30%.

Check out the gameplay video here: https://youtu.be/qDwbinuSXBE and subscribe to the N0L1M1TS channel!

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Here’s a video that shows how to time Specials to coincide with buffs to use them more effectively.

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Evaluating Tier Lists

By now, most MCOC players are familiar with Champion tier lists that rate characters’ overall value. Whenever opening a Hero crystal, the hope is to score a God-tier Champion, and everyone dreads finding a trash Champion. It was this likelihood of receiving Champions who are perceived as the the worst that prompted me to begin my Making Lemonade series. However, when looking as tier lists, there are a few points that should be taken into consideration.

1) They are, to at least some degree, subjective. As such, they should not be taken as gospel. Tier lists are made based upon opinions, and those opinions are, again, to some degree, based on the following factors.

2) What is the intended use for the Champion? Some Champions are naturally better suited for some content than others. For example, Carnage has high Prestige. Prestige is excellent for Arenas because the higher the Prestige rating, the more points you can score per fight. The faster you earn points, the faster you can reach Milestones, and the higher your score will be at the conclusion of the Arena.

Champions who gain Persistence Charges, like Sentry, are not great for Alliance War attackers because AW generally includes fewer fights. Fewer fights means fewer opportunities to gain those Charges, and that means there is less opportunity for those Champions to reach their potential before the end of the War.

Champions who have abilities that do not require the AI to anything special in order trigger them are ideal for AW defense because, let us be honest, the AI is stupid. That is why Mordo (with his Astral Evasion), Nightcrawler (with his Evasion), and MODOK (with his Auto-Block), are used so often as defenders. Yet, none of them are considered God tier. Unstoppable Colossus is an even better example. He is generally regarded as one of the worst

Champions in the game; in fact, he was votes as the worst Mystic Champion in 2017. Nonetheless, he is suggested as a miniboss for AW defense, particularly when Awakened.

So, when determining whether or not a Champion has value, think about how you would use that Champion? What are your needs?

3) Differences in builds can make a profound impact. A lot of Mastery builds involve maxing out Deep Wounds. Star-Lord is regarded as God tier as an attacker once he is Awakened because his Signature increases his damage output based on the combo meter. Loki and Magneto are both lower-tiered Champions, but they have Synergy that increases energy-based attacks by 15% once you have reached 15 hits on the combo meter, this complements Star-Lord’s Signature. None of those three

Champions use Bleed, so Deep Wounds would have no value for them.

Resonate is a Mastery that is usually considered worthless. It gives all of your hits a 16% chance inflict a Weakness debuff on the enemy. For most Champions, there is not much value in that, and it is risky because of potential for the enemy to have the Willpower Mastery. However, Elektra has the ability to reduce enemy defensive ability accuracy by 85% whenever they are affected by a debuff; Void causes Degeneration to enemies suffering from a debuff, and Wasp deals additional damage after shrinking to enemies under a debuff.

So, look at the interactions between Champions’ abilities,

Masteries, and Synergies. The build can make a difference as to how effective a given Champion will be.

4) Play style is another major factor. Part of reason that some Champions are considered to be worse than others is because players become accustomed to fighting a specific way. In late-game content, it becomes necessary to dodge because even when Parrying, too much damage is taken. Likewise, Heavy attacks are virtually eliminated because they are slower and easier to avoid.

However, sometimes, these tactics are needed to get the most of a Champion. Parrying is an excellent way to set up a Heavy attack, and in some cases, you really want hit that Heavy attack. For Carnage, it is guaranteed to inflict Bleed, Carnage is all about Bleed damage; his Critical hits have an 80% chance to stack Bleeds on enemy who is already bleeding, and when Awakened, he gets additional Power gain from bleeding enemies. Dormammu uses a Heavy attack to place and detonate a Soul Bond on the enemy for significant direct damage. Phoenix gains Fury buffs based on the number Phoenix Force charges she has, and can gain those charges with Heavy attacks. These are just a few examples occasions where a Heavy attack is useful.

Iron Fist and Karnak are regarded as poor Champions, in part, because they cannot take a hit. They have zero Armor. However, this can be addressed with Synergy that provides them with Armor, and if you are adept at dodging, you may not need Armor; and you can still take advantage of their respective abilities.

Because of this, how one plays and fights can make a difference in the value of a given Champion to that specific player.

In summary, tier lists use broad strokes to show how good Champions are in general, but they do not factor in the immediate needs, builds, and play styles of specific players. Therefore, they are limited in terms of how useful they can be to any given player at any given time and should be taken with a grain of salt.

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Making Lemonade out of Karnak

This week, we are making lemonade out of the Inhuman who elected to not undergo exposure to the Terrigen Mists: Karnak. While our last subject was a defensive Champion, Karnak’s role is one of raw damage, making him better suited for offense. However, his ability to deal damage comes at a heavy price, as he possesses no Armor whatsoever. As such, playing with Karnak requires a great deal of skill at dodging, as he cannot endure a lot of hits, and his Signature only provides minimal sustainability. Sadly, his downside does not end with a lack of Armor, as his base attributes for Block Proficiency, Crit Damage, and Crit Rate are all also at the low end of the spectrum. He does, on the other hand, have nice-sized Attack and Health pools, a degree of Physical Resistance, the capacity to have his Class disadvantage removed over time, and his aforementioned Signature provides some Poison Resistance, as well as the ability to shrug off non-damaging debuffs such as Fatigue and Weakness.

Karnak is not without some useful tricks in his toolkit, either. As long as he is not struck, Karnak becomes Focussed, increasing is naturally paltry Crit Rating substantially. His first Special instantly refocuses him (otherwise a strike will trigger a 9 second cool down) and causes him to gain True Strike for 8.5 seconds at Rank 3/Level 30. This allows his attacks to ignore all Armor, Auto-Block, Evasion, and Resistances, which is a huge benefit, and it cannot be Nullified. Because Mordo’s Astral Evasion is Evasion, he cannot trigger this ability while Karnak’s True Strike is active. The damage from his Special 2 will increase proportionate to the enemy’s Health loss. Finally, the Dazs debuff from his his ultimate will reduce the enemy’s defensive ability accuracy by 80% for 20 seconds, which if timed well, can effectively shut down Armor up and Evasion, as well as the Regeneration of enemy’s like Ultron, among other uses. For example, because Civil War Black Panther relies on his Reflective Armor to reflect Stuns, and Daze reduces defensive ability accuracy, Daze can shut this down, too, as well as Electro’s Static Shock, Poison from Abomnation’s Signature, and Bleed from coming into contact with Morningstar after she has captured a soul. It should be noted that these events trigger multiple times, and Daze causes an 80% reduction on their ability, so it is possible for them to occur, but it will be reduced significantly. Because True Strike ignores Auto-Block, and this is a defensive ability, either Karnak’s SP1 or his SP3 can be used against them; the former will be a guaranteed opening for a shorter duration, while the latter will provide a larger window of opportunity, but with a chance for Auto-Block to still trigger.

Looking at Masteries, Cruelty and Precision are definitely must-haves, as they will allow Karnak to land those Critical hits more frequently and for more damage. Courage, Greater Strength, and Pierce will also allow him to ramp his offensive capabilities, and Assassin will help him to finish fights. If he is Awakened, the Poison Resistance can make Liquid Courage an option, as well because he will take less damage. Due to his lack of Armor, dodging enemy attacks will be necessary, so Dexterity is also a good fit. Defensively speaking, Salve, Recovery, and Willpower will provide more sustainability.

In terms of Synergies, probably the best benefit for Karnak is through the Friends Synergy (of which there is no shortage of options), as this will provide him with some much-needed Armor. Another great pairing is with Medusa, as this will cause him to become Focussed more quickly and retain True Strike for a longer duration. Captain America (Infinity War) with Black Widow, Hawkeye, or Thor (Ragnarok) will provide a nice Crit Rate boost, and Beast (with either classic Black Panther or Superior Iron Man) will provide an increase to Attack based on reaching 15 hits on the combo meter.

As for ideal builds, for those who struggle with Evading and Intercepting, placing Karnak on a team with Captain America (WWII), Hawkeye, Hulk, and Wolverine will provide +520 Armor to give him some sustainability and viable options for back-up. If you want to to go all-in on offense and are adept avoiding getting hit, Black Bolt, Captain America (Infinity War), Hawkeye, and Medusa will give +12% Health, +25% Attack, -35% time to become Focussed, +35% longer True Strike, and +250 Crit Rate on basic attacks.

As noted, Karnak is extremely offense-oriented, but that does not mean that there is no room for strategy. His Special 3 is the perfect foil for enemies who have troublesome defensive abilities, as it will cause an 80% reduction in their accuracy for 20 seconds, proving a nice window of opportunity to do significant damage. Aside from this, using a series of Special 1 attacks early in the fight will allow you to press the enemy with continuous Crits from Focus and to bypass defenses with True Strike. The Special 1 does require some care in its execution because it can leave an opening for the enemy to strike. I advise using a combination of a Parry, a Heavy, and then the Special 1 while the enemy is recovering. This will allow you to then dash back or block and avoid getting hit and losing Focus. As the enemy loses a fair amount of Health, you can then proceed to a Special 2 to inflict bonus damage based on the Health loss.

https://youtu.be/47f8N8Z9aY0

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Damage Over Time

The Contest allows Champions to inflict a variety of Damage Over Time debuffs to enemies. Among these DOTs are Bleed, Degenerate, Incinerate, Poison, and Shock. Typically, they are dealt as a percentage of the Champion’s Attack. With that in mind, by increasing a Champion’s Attack, it is possible to increase the DOT’s, as well, at the same time.

Sadly, although there are a variety of Masteries that will directly increase a Champion’s Attack, (Strength, Greater Strength, Courage, Liquid Courage, Double Edge, and Assassin) these will not result in a proportionate increase to the DOT’s. However, because the Fury buff increase Attack, too, the DOT’s can be indirectly increased by investing Mastery points in Enhanced Fury, and their duration can also be lengthened with Extended Fury.

The DOT’s can also be increased with Synergies, such as with Nemesis, which increases Attack for everyone on the team by an average of 5% per occurrence. Therefore, using a team with Ant-Man, Yellowjacket, either version of Cyclops, and classic Magneto, for example, would increase a Champion’s DOT by a nice 23%, and there are some unique Synergies that increase this damage for specific Champions, as with Abomination and MODOK, or Civil War Black Panther with either classic Black Panther or Hawkeye.

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Class-specific Masteries

Let us take a moment and discuss the Class-specific Masteries and whether or not it is worthwhile to invest in them. There is one for each Class available in the game, they are quite costly to reach maximum level, and are not of much use without being at maximum level.

Each requires its own respective Class-specific Mastery Cores to upgrade, and these Cores are rare drops in the Class Catalyst daily events. To fully upgrade one of these Masteries, you will need 155 (5 + 10 + 20 + 40 + 80) of the appropriate Cores, so farming for them will monopolize a great deal of time. Alternatively, the Cores can be purchased for either 30 Units or 8,000 Loyalty each. That’s well over 600,000 Loyalty; 4,640 Units, or a combination of the two resources. So, given that it is such a major investment, you absolute want to make sure that you are getting a return on that investment. With that in mind, let us look at each.

Mystic Dispersion is easily the best of the Class-specific Masteries. Once fully upgraded, any time an enemy’s buff is removed either by naturally expiring or being Nullified, your Mystic Champions will revive 12% Power gain. This is a game-changer in the hands of some Mystics, like Dormammu, Magik, and Scarlet Witch

Collar Tech is a useful resource that will reduce enemy Power gain by up to 18% at max level against your Tech Champions. Power control can also be a game-changer by either extending sustainability of Champions like Iron Man, or to really keep enemies pinned down with the characters who already have inherent Power control like Vision.

Pure Skill is the last of the Class-specific Masteries that I feel have some use. It allows your Skill Champions to ignore a massive 64% of enemy armor with their Critical hits. The issue here is that aside from Gwenpool and Thor (Ragnarok), Skill Champions typically have fairly average Critical Ratings, meaning that in order for Pure Skill to have a noticeable impact, it needs to be supplemented with the Precision Mastery, the Enemies Synergy, or an ability inherent to a specific Champion (Elektra, for example).

Cosmic Awareness. Now, we are getting to the Masteries that just are not good. Not only is this Mastery limited in terms of who can use it, it is also limited in terms of who it can be used against. Cosmic Awareness reduces enemy Armor Up abilities by up to 40%. However, it has no affect on base Armor, meaning that against enemies such as Hulk and Juggernaut who have high base Armor ratings, Cosmic Awareness is useless.

Serum Science provides your Science Champions Up to 960 Energy Resistance, so again, not only is it limited in terms of who gets the benefit, it is also limited to enemies who deal energy damage. Maybe a case can be made for someone like Red Hulk who gains Heat Charges from energy-based attacks while still taking damage from them otherwise. That is a very large maybe.

Mutagenesis is utter garbage. It allows your Mutant Champions to stave off Bleed effects 2.5 seconds faster. The problem is that there are two other Masteries that reduce bleed damage for all Champions. Coagulate reduces bleed damage received by 30%, while Suture reduces their durations by 30%, and again, those Masteries affect all Champions. With Suture, specifically, you would have that same 2 second reduction from a Bleed of about 6.5 seconds. Unless it’s for someone with inherent Bleed resistance like a Beast or an Old Man Logan, and the goal is to provide ersatz Bleed Immunity, there is really no value to Mutagnesis; and neither Beast nor Logan is great anyway.

[n0l1m1ts]

Making Lemonade out of Iron Patriot

Let us make one thing clear from the beginning: not all Champions are created equal. Without question, some Champions are better than others in certain situations, whether that be in Arenas because of Prestige, in Alliance Wars as attackers because of the amount of damage they can deal, as defenders because of the damage they can absorb or avoid, or because of the utility they bring for end-game content...and some Champions are simply better, period.

But, what happens when you have a roster of 3* Champions, and your first 4* is a lemon? Or, your first 5* Champion? A 4* Champion (even a bad one) at 3/30 will almost always be better than a maxed out 3* Champion because of the scale of base stats. Depending on the specific Champion and build, a 5* at 1/25 can have a higher base Armor, Attack, & Heath than a 4* 3/30 (and higher Armor and Attack than even some 4*s at 4/40) without investing any Catalysts. As such, leaving even the worst possible Champion on the bench when he or she is a higher tier is probably not a great idea.

Now, this should not be construed as an endorsement of lackluster Champions because a bad Champ is a bad Champ. With that in mind, I would not encouraged anyone to invest tier 4 Catalysts (Basic or Class) in a poor Champ. However, believe investing a single tier 1 Alpha for upgrade any 4* Champ to 3/30 is safe because they are fairly readily available. Similarly, I would not recommend using an Awakening Gem to Awaken a poor Champion, and would only increase the Signature ability or a poor Champ with a Signature Stone with a great deal of caution. Better options will be available in time. In the meantime, you have to make due with who is available...even if your best Champion is a lemon.

Today, we are taking a comprehensive look at Iron Patriot to see how we make lemonade out of him. True to the tag on his bio, Iron Patriot is a defensive champion who is able to withstand a great deal of damage, particularly when he is Awakened. He has one of the highest Armor ratings, as well as one of the highest Block Proficiency Ratings among playable characters. Offensively, on the other hand, while both his Crit Damage and Crit Rate are on the high end for Champs in the Tech Class, they are only average overall, and his base Attack is on the low end.

So, let us see what we can to do capitalize on what he can do well and address what he does not do well. First of all, Iron Patriot loves his Stuns. He has a 74% chance to Stun for 4 seconds on his Special 2, and a 100% chance for 4.75 seconds on his Special 3. Luckily, there are 3 Masteries that interact with Stuns. Stupefy will add half a second to each, Petrify will reduce Health and Power gain by 30%, and Pacify will reduce ability triggers by 30% for each Stun when the respective Masteries are maxed.

Iron Patriot also loves Armor Breaks, with a 70% chance on his Special 1, and a 54% chance on his Special 2. To help him make his hits more meaningful, Despair will reduce healing effects by 15% per debuff; and this will stack with Petrify. To further increase his offensive capabilities, Mastery points can be invested in Greater Strength, Pierce, Courage, and Assassin. If he is Awakened, Recovery will increase health gain from his Signature by 15% once it is maxed. One other Mastery that has some value is Collar Tech because it will cause up to an 18% reduction in enemy Power gain. However, because the Class-specific Masteries are so costly, like the tier 4 Catalysts and Awakening Gems, I would not recommend investing in them for the sake of a single Champion; Collar Tech is best suited for situations where you have a team of Tech Champions that will all benefit from it.

Looking at Synergies, there are a variety of options that can be utilized. To capitalize on his Stuns, he can be placed on teams with the pairs of either Daredevil and She-Hulk to increase his natural Stuns, or Black Widow and either Hulk or Hulkbuster for a separate chance to Stun with any Special attack. The pair of Hawkeye and Quake will increase his chance to Stun, to Armor Break, or to Armor Up when attacked. Or, he could be even given greater sustainability with the pairs of Dormammu with either Hood or Mordo; or Angela and Hela. This works especially well in conjunction with his Signature Ability, if he happens to be Awakened. Likewise, his Signature can be amplified by the Synergy with Green Goblin.

My preferred method of fighting with Iron Patriot is to use Special 2 immediately followed by a Special 1. With Stupefy maxed, there’s a 74% chance to Stun (82.88% with DD/She-Hulk, + another separate 20% with BW/Hulk) for 4.5 seconds from that Special 2.

If the enemy is Stunned, this will cause a 45% reduction in Regeneration (30% from Petrify, plus an additional 15% from Despair), Power gain will be reduced by 30% from Petrify, and a 30% reduction in Ability Accuracy from Pacify. The Special 2 also has a 54% chance to apply an Armor Break of 702.74 for 4 seconds and remove an Armor Up. If the Armor Break is applied, it will result in Despair reducing Regeneration by yet another 15%, for a total of a 60% reduction.

By waiting until just before the third Power bar is filled to use the Special 2, this can provide a 4.5 second window to attack the enemy while the Stun is in effect and follow with an Special 1. The Special 1 has a 70% chance to inflict another Armor Break of 2142.55 for 8 seconds (triggering another reduction in Regeneration from Despair) and remove an Armor Up. In this way, Iron Patriot can deliver maximum, meaningful damage in minimal time.

Check out the video https://youtu.be/wJHagRslIDY and subscribe to the channel!

[n0l1m1ts]

More on Synergies

Some Champions love a specific type of Synergy in order to reach their maximum potential. For example, the Wolverines’ Regeneration increases based upon his Power level, and the same is true for classic Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel’s Attack. So, for these champions, power gain is excellent to help them maximize their Signature Abilities. Because Iron Fist and Karnak have no Armor to speak of, Armor buffs help make them more sustainable.

Different Synergy types provide different buffs; Attack is increased with Nemesis, Armor with Friends, Critical Damage with Rivals, Critical Rate with Enemies, Health with Family, Perfect Block with Teammates, and Power gain with Romance.

There are also a variety of more niche synergies, but for now, we will focus on just these 7 core attributes. The important thing to remember here is that for each of these Synergies, a specified increase is typically added to all of the champions on the team: +5% Attack, +130 Armor, +155 Critical Damage, +115 Critical Rate, 6% Health, +5% Perfect Block, and +5% Power gain. However, there are some Champions who have reciprocating Synergy, which doubles the amazing amount of the buff. These pairings are:

***Armor***

Abomination and Rhino

Captain America (classic) and Spider-Man

Captain America (WWII) and Winter Soldier or Wolverine

Doctor Strange and Thor

Groot and Star-Lord

Hawkeye and Hulk

Magik and Storm

Rocket and Star-Lord

***Attack***

Ant-Man and Yellowjacket

Cyclops (either version) and Magneto (classic)

***Critical Damage***

Cyclops (new Xavier School) and Wolverine

Daredevil (classic) and Superior Iron Man

Daredevil (Netflix) and Punisher

Deadpool (X-Force) and Moon Knight

Drax and Gamora

***Critical Rate***

Abomination and Red Hulk

Captain America (classic) and Superior Iron Man

Colossus and Juggernaut

Electro and Spider-Man (Miles Morales)

Magneto (classic) and Wolverine

Rhino and Spider-Gwen

***Health***

Agent Venom and Spider-Man (symbiote)

Agent Venom and Venompool

Black Bolt and Karnak

Colossus (either version) and Magik

***Perfect Block***

Cyclops (blue team) and Storm

Drax and Star-Lord

Red Hulk and Wolverine (X-23)

***Power Gain***

Archangel and Psylocke

Black Panther (classic) and Storm

Cyclops (blue team) and *Phoenix

Daredevil (either version) and Elektra

Scarlet Witch and Vision (classic)

[n0l1m1ts]

The Top 10 Pieces of advice for Contest of Champions

1) Never sell Champions.

It is possible to sell Champions, and doing so will award ISO, gold, and shards for the next tier Champion crystal. However, this is a one-time award. The award is less than what is received for duplicating a Champion, and that can be done repeatedly. Having the option to passively farm rather than grind for materials is preferable. Therefore, it is always better to keep Champions, even if you have no intention of either upgrading or using them.

2) Never buy premium hero crystals.

Premium hero crystals have horrible drop rates. If it is absolutely necessary to buy crystals, the sample bundles are a marginally better option, as are the crystal shard crystals. The crystal shard crystals are offered on the weekend at the same cost, and can also award 3* and 4* shards. The best use for units, however, is for purchasing the Mastery cores necessary to unlock new Masteries.

3) Invest in (and learn to use) the Parry mastery.

A successful Parry not only blocks an enemy's attack, (thereby reducing the damage received) it also stuns the opponent, leaving your enemy wide open for attacks. It is one of the most useful Masteries available, as a result.

4) Mind the Summoner/Alliance events. This is an easy way to gain rewards because sometimes, the event will give points for simply upgrading or fighting with a Champion from a specific Class.

5) Follow the order of operations: catalyst quests, special events, monthly events, and story quests.

Catalysts are necessary for upgrading Champions, so you will need a lot of them. Thus, running these events should be a priority every day. The story quests, on the other hand, are always there. So, complete the daily event, then start on any special/monthly event. If time allows, then work on story quests.

6) Know the Class bonuses.

Each Class gets a buff when facing an enemy from another specific Class. That enemy also receives a debuff. Use this to your advantage whenever possible.

7) Know how your Champions' abilities function.

The ability information is not just flavor text. For instance, Wolverine's regeneration is tied to his power level. So, to get the full benefit of this, it's better to not use a special attack with him until you are ready to go for the kill-shot.

8) Know your Champions' Synergies' interactions.

When certain Champions are used together in a team, the team gets a buff. There are a variety of these Synergy bonuses, from Armor, to Health, to Power gain, to Critical Rating and Critical Damage. Use these to form the best possible teams. For example, Iron Fist has great offensive capability, but NO armor whatsoever. By pairing him with Black Panther, Doctor Strange, or Wolverine, the team gets a +130 armor bonus, making him more formidable, for example.

9) Know your Masteries' interactions.

Some Masteries benefit some Champions more than others. Hulk, for instance is a Fury monster, so Extended Fury and Enhanced Fury are great for him. Double Edge causes your champions to lose health from bleeding to gain an attack buff, but Vision is immune to bleeding. Keep these interactions in mind when choosing Masteries and Champions intend to use. Also, be aware that Masteries will be an ongoing process because, as you gain access to more expensive Masteries, you want to reclaim points from earlier ones to re-invest in those.

10) To the extent that you are able, run the 3v3 arenas.

Arenas are one of the best ways to gather resources. You can use earn gold, crystal shards, units, and battle chips. Battle chips can be used to buy to the special catalyst arenas or to by buy arena crystals that can get you even more gold or units (among other items), and units can be used to purchase a variety of things—Mastery cores in particular.