Variant 4 – Chapter 2.2 Guide

Summoners!

Here’s my guide for Back Issues (Variant) 4 – Waning Moon – Chapter 2.2.

General Thoughts: A bit of a step up in difficulty after 2.1, both in terms of the boss and the lane planning required, but if you do your homework you’ll do just fine. I did find this the most enjoyable chapter in Variant 4 so far.

MVP Champs: Emma Frost, Iceman, Night Thrasher, Warlock

Global Node: +300% Attack and Health Boost

Restrictions: 3* Champions Only

Boss: Moon Knight with +100% Health, Will of Khonshu (all Moon Knight passives active), Clapback, Aggression Fury, Mix Master (if attacker attempts the same basic attack twice in a row, defender has 100% chance to evade), Force of Will

The most important thing to remember here is to alternate your combo like when you fight as Corvus, or you’re playing against Sentinel, so you don’t get evaded. It helps to bring an anti-evade champion. Emma Frost and Iceman (Clapback doesn’t apply to Coldsnap/Frostbite) work well, and Night Thrasher is excellent. Also remember that Clapback is active on Moon Knight, so you can’t use damaging debuff champions (sorry Archangel). Other options include Captain America IW (parry/heavy until SP2), and Domino (heavy method).

Lane 1 – Far Left

Defenders: Spider-Man (Classic), Stealth Spider-Man, Nightcrawler, Quake, Ultron, Spider-Gwen

Nodes: Spry, Enhanced Abilities

Team: Quake, Emma Frost, Iceman, Warlock, and Archangel

Tips: So it’s pretty obvious looking at the defenders and the nodes you’ll need to bring all your evade counters for this one. If I had a 3* Venom ranked-up he would have been on the team. Killmonger would also have been a great option here. Remember Spider-Gwen will nullify true strike, so bring someone like Archangel, Iceman, or Emma Frost who counters evade by other means. Warlock is currently bugged and reduces the defender’s evade chance, but that is being corrected in the January 2020 update.

Lane 2 – Left Center

Defenders: Diablo, Mr. Sinister, Annihilus, Mysterio, Archangel

Nodes: Poison, Debilitate

Team: Mephisto, The Champion, Iceman, Emma Frost, and Warlock

Tips: The Poison node will limit your options here. Thankfully, two of the best boss counters, Emma Frost and Iceman, are poison immune. Warlock is also a great champion to take to make the Mr. Sinister fight an easy one. That leaves Annihilus as the one issue left to address. Mephisto and Dormammu are poison immune mystics, and Claire Voyant can also get poison immunity from her curses, so try to add one of those to your team as well.

Lane 3 – Center

Defenders: Punisher 2099, Morningstar, Omega Red, Darkhawk, Hulkbuster

Nodes: Cornered, Enhanced Special 2, Burden of Might, Power Alternator

Team: Scarlet Witch, Warlock, Emma Frost, Iceman, and Vison AoA

Tips: The path doesn’t look to difficult, but you can take a lot of chip damage if you’re not careful. Bring a robot with power control or two, it really helps to control the fights.

Lane 4 – Right Center

Defenders: Man-Thing, Hulk Ragnarok, Hyperion, Nick Fury, Hulkbuster

Nodes: Enhanced Fury, Aggression Fury, Burden of Might, Power Alternator

Team: Star-Lord, Emma Frost, Iceman, Night Thrasher, and Warlock

Tips: This is another path where my boss options also had solid usage. I used Iceman to tank Hyperion’s specials and to keep Nick Fury’s tactical charges in check.

Lane 5 – Far Right

Defenders: Psylocke, Sentinel, Thor Ragnarok, Doctor Octopus, Agent Venom, Hulkbuster

Nodes: Burden of Might, Power Alternator

Team: Iceman, Night Thrasher, Emma Frost, Warlock, and Venom The Duck

Tips: This isn’t a hard lane, but the Thor Ragnarok is sneaky because of the Power Alternator node. Warlock was clutch in that match-up. If you don’t have him, bring another power control champion to be safe. I tried Night Thrasher against Moon Night, since his skate board attacks can’t be evaded, and actually found him to be a safer option then Iceman or Emma, and I got the solo.

Jump to Chapter Guides:
Chapter 1.1
Chapter 1.2
Chapter 2.1
Chapter 2.2
Chapter 3.1
Chapter 3.2

-Dano357