Here’s my guide for Act 1.1.1 “Surrender” in Marvel Contest of Champions.
General Thoughts: The beginning of every MCOC addiction starts right here! Since you’ve just started the game, you likely only have a pair of 1 Star Champions, unless you created an account with Kabam and received a Premium Hero Crystal. Thankfully those 1 Stars will be more than enough for even a beginning player to clear the initial map of the story quest.
If you have questions about the basic attack moves and combos in Marvel Contest of Champions, please check out my MCOC 101: Combos guide.
Best Champs: Any
Restrictions: None
Global Node: None
Boss: Captain America
Lane 1 – Right
Gate: None (In later quests, a specific champion, class, or key may be required to enter.)
Defenders: Dr. Strange, Punisher
Nodes: None (In later quests, fights will be modified with “Nodes” to increase their difficulty.)
Team: 1 Star Iron Man Rank 1 , 1 Star Spider-Man Rank 1
Tips: At this point in your MCOC journey, you’re just learning to control your champions. Get comfortable dashing toward and away from the opponent, and see if you can string together multiple attacks in a row via combos. The standard combo at this point in the game is a 5-hit Medium-Light-Light-Light-Medium.
Hold block to prevent the opponent from landing attacks. Both Doctor Strange and Punisher have projectile Special 1 (Green power bar) attacks so be ready!
Remember class advantage will give your champions a match-up advantage. If you have the option, take a Science Champion against Doctor Strange, a Mutant vs Punisher, or a Skill vs Captain America.
Here’s your Marvel Contest of Champions news brief for Monday, June 15, 2020.
Schedule Notes: Round 2 of the 4* Masacre and Tigra Featured Arenas at 1pm EST. Summoner Sigil Owners, your Solo Event, Gold Quest, and items on a 7-day timer and the Legendary Crystal in the Black-ISO Market reset at 1pm EST. The Alliance Quest Series ends at 3pm EST. The Tier 4 Basic Arena begins at 6pm EST. UMCOC Podcast, Live on Discord at 8pm EST.
It’s Episode 21 of the Contest Realm Podcast! This week Rich and I discuss M.O.D.O.K.’s Island, Intel Compensation, Content Creators leaving the game, and compare our Wish Lists for the Road Map.
Next week in Marvel Contest of Champions Silver Surfer receives his first run as a 4 Star Basic Hero and Alliance War Season 18 concludes.
I hope you and your family are staying safe during these difficult times.
Alliance Wars Seasons We are currently in Alliance War Season 18. Season Rewards eligibility locked on Friday, June 5 at 6pm EST, and the season will end on Tuesday, June 16. Do not leave your alliance prior to receiving Season Rewards. Season 19 is tentatively set to begin on July 1.
Full Roster Availability (No AW/AQ): 100% champion availability starting at 2pm on Tuesday, June 16 through Thursday, June 18 at 2pm EST.
Sunday, June 14: Sunday Arenas begin at 1pm EST.
Monday, June 15: Round 2 of the 4* Masacre and Tigra Featured Arenas at 1pm EST. Summoner Sigil Owners, your Solo Event, Gold Quest, and items on a 7-day timer and the Legendary Crystal in the Black-ISO Market reset at 1pm EST. The Alliance Quest Series ends at 3pm EST. The Tier 4 Basic Arena begins at 6pm EST. UMCOC Podcast, Live on Discord at 8pm EST.
Tuesday, June 16: 100% Roster Availability beginning at 2pm EST following the conclusion of the final war of Season 18.
Wednesday, June 17: 100% Roster Availability all day! Incursions Milestones reset at 2pm EST.
Thursday, June 18: Round 1 of the 4* Silver Surfer and To Be Announced Featured Arenas begin at 1pm EST. 100% Roster Availability ends at 2pm EST. The Alliance Quest Series begins at 3pm EST.
Traditionally the “Laboratory Side Quests” haven’t been very popular with the player base. While much of the focus on this month’s Side Quest has been on the Gift Shop rewards, Kabam actually made quite a few improvements to this iteration of M.O.D.O.K.’s Laboratory that they aren’t getting credit for. Let’s break down what they did right this time.
No Daily Reset
Instead of 1 entry every 24 hours, this time players have 30 Sample Collectors used as entry keys. While this doesn’t seem like a big change, it actually is a huge reduction in grind stress. If you don’t feel like playing the event on a given day, you can just let your Sample Collectors accumulate and catch up later. This also significantly reduces the difficulty of the event, because you can skip the days when your best champions are locked in Alliance Quest and Alliance War, and then run several times when you have your whole roster available.
Class Specific Lanes
The other significant improvement that has greatly reduced the difficulty level is that there are now 6 paths that are all class specific. Planning for the nodes is trouble enough, but bringing a team that can handle the likes of Korg, Mr. Sinister, Nova, Dormammu, Nick Fury, and Annihilus all in a row is just too much.
This time around, Summoners can take the path with the class they can counter the best with their top 1-2 champs, and fill out the rest of the team with Boss counters. There are quite a few champions such as Corvus (Tech), Human Torch and Blade (Mystic), and Warlock and Sentinel (Mutant) that can counter pretty much anything on a single class lane. Furthermore, basically all the top Mystics – Claire Voyant, Doctor Doom, Longshot, Magik, Mephisto, Mojo, Sorcerer Supreme, and Symbiote Supreme – will take down anything on the Cosmic path.
Buff Deleter
While I don’t like that Buff Deleter costs Gold Coins, thus hurting your ability to maximize the Gift Shop, it’s a powerful new improvement. It’s particularly important given that the limited pool of nodes on the Boss reduces the usefulness of Randomizers. Perhaps next time a limited number of Buff Deletors can be earned through completing other parts of the Side Quest (for example the Solo Objectives) so that players don’t have to spend the special currency of the month on them.
Additional Components To The Quest
The ability to earn Gold Coins through Solo Objectives (easily achievable through Auto-Fighting) and Targets allows players who only want a few items in the store and don’t enjoy the Lab Quest to still get some extra rewards.
What do you think about the Island of Doctor M.O.D.O.K.? What improvements would you like to see the next time M.O.D.O.K.’s Lab reappears in The Contest?