Summoners!

Here’s my guide for Variant 6, Chapter 1.1 “Something Amiss” in Marvel Contest of Champions.

General Thoughts:

Welcome to Variant 6, which is the “Villains Variant.” Non-#Villain attackers suffer large penalties in this Variant, so you should hold off on attempting this Variant until you have a handful of strong Villain champions that are at least 5-Star Rank 4. In general, the best Villain champions are the best choices for this Variant.

This is a quick chapter as there are only 3 paths. The only hard counters you need are a Mystic for Annihilus and a Coldsnap-Immune for Iceman. Both of these fights are on the Left Path.

Need a list of Villain Champions? Visit Auntm.ai.

Best Champs: Venom, Ghost, Doctor Doom, Apocalypse, Sentinel, Kingpin, Mephisto

Restrictions: Non-#Villain champions can be brought into the quest for synergy purposes but will suffer major penalties if used on attack.

Global Nodes:
Black ISO Resonance – Attackers increase their attack by 100% but take 5% of their max health as Direct Damage every second. This can not be prevented but attackers are immune to all other sources of damage. Does not apply to #Villain champions.
Malevolence – Non-#Villain attackers are unable to gain power.
Malignance – Non-#Villain attackers are unable to heal.
+400% Attack
SP3 Active

Boss: Rhino

Boss Notes:
+300% Health
Henchman – When triggering a Fury Buff, #Villain Attackers will Passively Purify all Debuffs.
Mastermind – #Villain Attackers increase the duration of Bleed, Poison, Incinerate, and Shock Debuffs by %100.
+45% Armor
Explosive Personality
Long Distance Relationship

This is a fairly simple Rhino boss. Remember you can’t hit into Rhino’s block because of Explosive Personality. This means you can’t use the trick where you dash in, hit his block, and then Parry him up close to avoid the Rhino charge, unless you have a way to remove the Armor-Up Buffs. Cycling his SP1 for openings is key. I recommend bringing a Villain that deals lots of damage-over-time Debuffs like Venom for a quicker fight.

Lane 1 – Left Path

Gate: None

Defenders: Annihilus, Ultron, Storm Pyramid X, Iceman, Masacre, Iceman

Nodes: Henchman, Poison, Blood in the Water 3

Team: The Champion (6-Star Rank 2 Sig 20), Kingpin (6-Star Rank 2 Sig 0), The Hood (6-Star Rank 1 Sig 0), Sentinel (5-Star Rank 5 Sig 157), Mephisto (5-Star Rank 5 Sig 200)

Tips: This lane is a bit tricky from a team construction standpoint as you need Villains that can deal with Poison as well as an Annihilus counter and someone that can handle Iceman’s Coldsnap.

I decided to go with 3 attackers – Sentinel, Mephisto, and Kingpin – and then 2 support champions in The Hood (increased Rage Purify for Kingpin) and The Champion (increased damage for Mephisto).

Mephisto is quite solid for this lane as he can handle the two biggest matchup issues in Annihilus and Iceman (I used The Hood as fodder for Annihilus to soften him up). That freed up Sentinel and Kingpin for the rest of the lane, and I used Sentinel for Ultron and Storm Pyramid X, and Kingpin for Mascare and Wasp. I then soloed Rhino with Sentinel.

Other options to consider for this lane are Dormammu, Red Hulk, Omega Red, and of course, Ghost.

Lane 2 – Center – Easy Path

Gate: None

Defenders: Yondu, Abomination, Warlock, Apocalypse, Man-Thing

Nodes: Henchman, Enhanced Abilities, Debilitate

Team: Magneto (5-Star Rank 5 Sig 21), Venom (5-Star Rank 5 Sig 40), Sentinel (5-Star Rank 5 Sig 157), Red Goblin (6-Star Rank 1 Sig 0), Ghost (5-Star Rank 5 Sig 1)

Tips: You won’t find much difficulty from the nodes here, and there are only 5 fights, 1 fewer than the outer paths. You will need a Poison-Immune champion for Man-Thing and Abomination, a buff-heavy champion for Warlock, and your best Apocalypse counter.

Personally I used Red Goblin for Yondu, Sentinel for Abomination, Apocalypse, and Man-Thing, and Venom for Warlock. Ghost was just a backup for me, but she could do the entire lane!

Lane 3 – Right

Gate: None

Defenders: Hyperion, Elektra, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Ronan, Mephisto

Nodes: Mastermind, Physical Resistance, Energy Resistance

Team: Doctor Doom (5-Star Rank 5 Sig 200), Void (5-Star Rank 5 Sig 200), Sentinel (5-Star Rank 5 Sig 157), Venom (5-Star Rank 5 Sig 40), Magneto (5-Star Rank 5 Sig 21)

Tips: For this lane you’ll need a Mystic to counter Hyperion and ideally Void for Mephisto. Other options include Red Goblin, Super-Skrull, Mephisto, or Red Hulk, although personally I would use a 4-Star Void before any of those. After that, any attacker that can stack multiple Bleed Debuffs is great for this lane.

I went with Doctor Doom for Hyperion, Void for Luke Cage and Mephisto, and Venom for Elektra, Wolverine, and Ronan. Venom melts these defenders thanks to the extended bleed duration, plus he can eat the Physical Resistance buff. I also used Venom for a Rhino solo, my quickest of the three attempts.

Recommended Videos:

RichTheMan – Variant 6 Cheat Sheet

Seatin – Variant 6 Completion Guide

Jump To:
Variant 6 Chapter 1.1 Guide
Variant 6 Chapter 1.2 Guide
Variant 6 Chapter 2.1 Guide
Variant 6 Chapter 2.2 Guide
Variant 6 Chapter 3.1 Guide
Variant 6 Chapter 3.2 Guide

-Dano357