Summoners!

Here’s some info to get you prepped for what’s happening in Marvel Contest of Champions next month. Expect to see the v27.1 update available for download around June 1. Read the Full Release Notes.

NEW CHAMPIONS

Born just an ordinary simian, Hit Monkey now has a score to settle and has made it his mission to bring all mercenaries to justice. Hit Monkey is a Skill champion whose kit features guaranteed critical hits, bleed damage, disorient, and he can ignore the opponent’s armor and resistance. He gains a bonus versus #Mercenary opponents, and can also shrug off debuffs or evade attacks depending on his combat mode.

Once a superhero named “Cat,” Greer Nelson was transformed by an ancient ritual into Tigra, a cat-like warrior. In Marvel Comics, Tigra has been a member of both the Avengers and West Coast Avengers. Tigra is a Mystic champion who specializes in preventing the opponent from gaining buffs, and has the ability to cause non-contact Special Attacks to miss when charging a heavy attack.

EVENT QUEST
In June’s event quest titled “Samurai’s Journey,” Hit Monkey and Tigra have just escaped from captivity. The pair team-up to discover who was holding them prisoner, and in the process uncover a deeper plot at work. “Samurai’s Journey” starts Wednesday, June 3 at 1pm EST.

SIDE QUESTS
M.O.D.O.K. is back! Journey to the Island of Doctor M.O.D.O.K., where the custom creations from his Hotel are running amok. Now M.O.D.O.K. wants to see how his experiments are performing and he needs your help.

You’ll receive a Sample Collector from a special calendar every day, and this will be your entrance ticket to the Island of Doctor M.O.D.O.K. quest. You’ll be able to choose one of six class paths, and each fight features random buffs. As with past M.O.D.O.K. events, you’ll be able to use Randomizers to re-roll the buffs, or the new Buff Deleter to remove a buff. Your prize for completion will be Gold Coins, which can be redeemed at the Hotel M.O.D.O.K. Gift Shop.

If you want to earn extra Gold Coins, use specific classes on specific days. There will be a champion of the day and a class of the day in the Island of Doctor M.O.D.O.K. quest.

There will also be M.O.D.O.K. Contracts during the month. These are 13 Special Objectives that will appear at random times. Find and defeat the Champion listed in the special objective to receive even more Gold Coins.

Once you’ve collected all your Gold Coins, head over to the Hotel M.O.D.O.K. Gift Shop to purchase rank-up materials, potions, revives, signature stones, or awakening gems.

ALLIANCE QUEST TICKETS
As revealed last week, the Alliance Treasury is no more, and starting with the June 10 Alliance Quest Series, you will need AQ Tickets to play Maps 6 and 7. Read all about the changes here.

BUG FIXES
Big fixes for the month include a fix to Claire Voyant’s medium attacks sometimes not making contact, Hyperion’s SP2 wind attack properly being tagged as a projectile attack, Sorcerer Supreme’s SP2 pausing the duration of runes, and Weakness will now react with other modifications to the target’s attack rating while active.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Tigra and Hit Monkey have the potential to be interesting champs with creative play-styles. Tigra I know very little about from the comics, and this is going to be my first introduction to Hit Monkey so I’m curious to learn more and see how their designs are executed.

In the past, M.O.D.O.K. events have been quite difficult and required a heavy grind, so I’m a bit skeptical to see them return. That being said, I’m hopeful the Buff Deleter will solve one of the major pain-points. The fact that the Gift Shop contains Signature Stones has the potential to make this event quite valuable for players, as a non-cash offer way of acquiring Signature Stones has been a common request as of late. If nothing else, the Island of Doctor M.O.D.O.K. is a great setup for Kabam’s amazing art team.

-Dano357