Summoners!

Here’s my guide for Act 6.2.1 in Marvel Contest of Champions.

General Thoughts: I know a lot of people don’t like Lifecycle, but I actually don’t think it’s a terrible node, unless it is paired with something like Aspect of War. I believe that because I made the choice to focus on my best counters for this chapter, instead of my hardest hitting champs, that I had an easier time with it. If you look at my champion list, Corvus only made the team for 1 out of 10 paths, and I only used Sunspot for the Mutant Gate path. While I brought Blade, he was really just an extra backup for the Dormammu Mini-Boss, and even Thing and Hyperion mostly stayed on the bench.

Instead, I chose to focus on countering Lifecycle to have an easy end to the fight. To do this you need 1 of 2 things, either heal block or stun. If you can get these debuffs from a knockdown (either a heavy attack or a special) they have significantly more value. Once I adjusted to the node and focused on countering it with Sentinel, Stark Spider-Man, and Hulk Ragnarok, I had a relatively straightforward time with minimal to no item use, except for the Aspect of War path, which I freely admit was a bit rough.

My Best Champs: Stark Spider-Man, Sentinel, Hulk Ragnarok

Other Options (Unavailable to me): Warlock, Void

Restrictions: 5* and 6* Champions Only

Global Nodes: Lifecycle – The Defender is immune from damage from debuffs and has a shield that prevents them from being knocked out. If the shield is not already disabled, knocking down the Defender disables it for .5 seconds. Each time the shield is disabled its downtime is increased by .5 seconds up to a maximum of 3.5 seconds. Every hit that would knock the Defender out while the shield is active heals 10% of their max health.
+250% Attack & Health Champion Boost
+500% Health
Special 3 Attack Active


Boss: Symbiote Supreme

Nodes: Prey on the Weak, Pilfer, Force of Will, Opportunist

Notes: Stark Spider-Man is a monster for this fight. The ability to get 100% stun on the SP1, plus his damage output allows you to get the shield down and continue your attack for the easy KO. That being said, this isn’t one of those bosses that requires a super-specific counter, and overall, this boss feels much easier than most of the 6.1 bosses.

Mini Boss: Dormammu

Nodes: Burden of Might, Dismay, Soft Guard

Notes: As long as you don’t get hit, it’s an easy Dormammu to fight. I recommend turning off dexterity unless you have a ranked-up Huk Ragnarok. If not, go with Blade, or any champ that doesn’t trigger a lot of buffs.

PATH GUIDES

Note: I am listing the lanes in the order that I completed them.


Lane 1 – Upper Right, Portal A

Gate: None

Defenders: Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel OG, Captain Marvel Movie, Ronan

Nodes: Pessimist (Path), Pilfer (Kamala Khan), +300% Cornered (Ms. Marvel), Bubble Shield (Captain Marvel), Energy Sensitive (Captain Marvel Movie), Aspect of Death (Ronan)

Team: Mephisto, Blade, Ghost-Rider, Stark Spider-Man, The Champion

Tips: This was my easy path, due to the easy nodes and cosmic defenders on the path. If you have any strong mystic options (in my case, Mephisto) you’ll breeze through and can save the rest of your roster spots for dealing with the mini and boss.

Lane 2 – Upper Middle

Gate: 2 Six Stars

Defenders: Guillotine, Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian, Ebony Maw

Nodes: Sadist (Lane), Spectre (Guillotine), Enhanced Special 1, Special 1 Bias (Proxima Midnight), Unblockable Finale (Corvus Glaive), Titan’s Favor, Titanic Conquest (Cull Obsidian), Critical Setup, Faltering Mind (Ebony Maw)

Team: Mephisto, Blade, Stark Spider-Man, Hulk Ragnarok, The Champion

Tips: So I was a bit fortunate here that I had two 6 stars that perfectly complemented both Mephisto, who I wanted to run for the main lane, and Blade, who I wanted for Ebony Maw.

Lifecycle aside, Guillotine is a straightforward fight, as is the Cull Obsidian further down the path. Proxima Midnight isn’t hard either, but she’s going to throw a lot of Special 1 attacks so make sure you’re good there. Corvus is where things get difficult. The combination of unblockable finale, Glaive Charges, and Lifecycle can be a bit much. I was able to solo with Mephisto, thanks to his natural power gain from the Aura of Incinerate. I had to intercept twice with Specials to end the fight. I think for most players, Hyperion is actually the best option for this fight, as his natural power gain allows you opportunities to quickly spam specials.

I started with Blade for the Maw fight but that didn’t go well. Hulk Ragnarok, on the other hand, was excellent. He can hang with Maw for a long time, and that’s what you need since it’s hard to blitz down opponents with Lifecycle. Highly recommend him for this fight.

Lane 3 – Upper Left

Gate: 2 Five Star Techs

Defenders: Sabretooth, Emma Frost, Omega Red, Magneto, Mr. Sinister

Nodes: Buffet (Lane), Brute Force (Sabretooth), Oscillate (Emma Frost), Force of Will (Omega Red), Masochism (Magneto), Dark Intellect (Mr. Sinister)

Team: Sentinel, Darkhawk, Stark Spider-Man, Blade, Ghost-Rider

Tips: Sentinel was an absolute stud for this lane, easily countering Buffet. I used him for every fight except for Magneto. Sentinel’s SP1 is an excellent all-around counter to Lifecycle because of the heal block. If you don’t have Sentinel for this lane, I would recommend Warlock for the same reason. Magneto was the toughest fight because he also has Masochism, which makes the parry timing with the Lifecycle Shield down a bit trickier.

Lane 4 – Bottom Center

Gate: 2 Five Star Mutants

Defenders: Hawkeye, Black Widow, Black Panther Civil War, Ronin, Nick Fury

Nodes: Bloodletting (Path), Limber (Hawkeye), Redoubled Determination (Black Widow), Sharpened Claws (Black Panther Civil War), Renewed Vigor (Ronin), Tactical Adjustment, Shank (Nick Fury)

Team: Sunspot, Iceman, Stark Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Blade

Tips: You’ll want a bleed immune mutant for this path, so hopefully you have Iceman and/or Colossus. I used Sunspot for Hawkeye. Iceman took Black Widow (evade counter) and Black Panther Civil War (bleed immune), and then I used Stark Spider-Man for Ronin. For Nick Fury I used Sunspot to get through the LMD phase, and then finished with Iceman.


Lane 5 – Lower Left, Portal A

Gate: None

Defenders: Star-Lord, Drax, Groot, Gamora, Yondu,

Nodes: Aggression Fury (Path), Backup Recovery (Star-Lord), Escalation (Drax), Groot (Opportunist), Pessimist (Gamora), Yondu (Pilfer)

Team: Sentinel, Stark Spider-Man, Blade, Mephisto, Hulk Ragnarok

Tips: This is another easy path option. There is nothing really tricky beyond Lifecycle to deal with. I will say that Sentinel shined on this path, and that you probably don’t want to use Stark Spider-Man unless you are very confident with intercepting. The Fury buffs will build up while you’re gaining poise charges and you’ll take a ton of block damage on your first parry.

Lane 6 – Lower Right

Gate: 2 Five Star Cosmics

Defenders: Stark Spider-Man, War Machine, Iron Patriot, Iron Man, Iron Man Infinity War

Nodes: Arc Overload 2.0 (Path), Arc Converter (Stark Spider-Man), Unblockable Finale (War Machine), Tank Buster (Iron Patriot), Special Bias 1, Enhanced Special 1 (Iron Man), Kinetic Transference (Iron Man Infinity War).

Team: Hulk Ragnarok, Stark Spider-Man, Corvus Glaive, Sentinel, Hyperion

Tips: Tony Stark’s fingerprints are all over this path. I started off with Corvus against Stark Spider-Man to get two charges. Make sure you work in a few heavy attacks early to extend the Lifecycle cooldown. Next up was War Machine, which might be the second most difficult fight on the path, if not the worst. Luckily Stark Spider-Man is perfect for this fight. His auto-evade counters War Machine’s hard to dodge Special 1, and the stun on his Special 1 allows you to work around the Unblockable Finale node for an easy takedown. Iron Patriot was a simple fight, I used Sentinel. Iron Man is another easy one, and I used Corvus to get the Avengers charge to bring him to 3 going into the Iron Man Infinity War Fight. The final fight does make you work a little bit, because you’re going to feed Iron Man IW power via the blocked hits you take, but if your Corvus is at 3 charges and you can dodge his Special 1 you should be in good shape. Again, make sure you work in some Heavy counters to get that Lifecycle cooldown extended by the time he enters the final 15% phase.

Lane 7 – Upper Right, Portal B

Gate: None

Defenders: Cable, Colossus, Juggernaut, Deadpool, Domino

Nodes: Vigor (Path), True Strike (Cable), Spiked Armor (Colossus), Spite (Juggernaut), Aspect of Evolution (Deadpool), Strike Back (Domino)

Team: Sentinel, Stark Spider-Man, Hyperion, Hulk Ragnarok, Symbiote Supreme

Tips: It’s the Deadpool 2 path! This one is a bit tricky, but I did manage to solo every fight. Vigor is present, so you’re going to want heal block, nullify, or big damage to overcome it. I brought a combination of all three. Cable is a straightforward fight, so I used Stark Spider-Man. Since I didn’t have a great counter to Spiked Armor (Crossbones, Namor, Omega Red) I just decided to “sacrifice” Hyperion, but he actually handled it ok and ended around 70% health. The Juggernaut fight is a challenging one, as between Vigor, Spite, and Unstoppable there is a lot to manage. I used Symbiote Supreme, which was a bit of a challenge until I got off my first SP3, then it was SP2 spam time. I think the newly released Sorcerer Supreme might actually be the best champion for this fight since she has Nullify and Slow. Deadpool was the usual Sentinel heal block gameplan, as was Domino, but of course the Domino fight was a lot more challenging. Make sure your health pool is in good shape for that fight. Overall these are some of the longer fights in 6.2.1. If you have Warlock or Void, they would be great options for this path.

Lane 8 – Lower Left, Portal C

Gate: None

Defenders: Hulk Ragnarok, Hulkbuster, She-Hulk, Hulk, Red Hulk

Nodes: Stun Immunity, Defensive (Path), Team Building Exercise (Hulk Ragnarok), Explosive Personality (Hulkbuster), Overreach (She-Hulk), Dismay (Hulk), Rage (Red Hulk)

Team: Darkhawk, Sentinel, Hyperion, Hulk Ragnarok, Stark Spider-Man

Tips: The stun immunity takes out one of your two big weapons against Lifecycle, so you need to rely on Heal Block. I tried Darkhawk for the first fight, planning on using the long SP3 Heal Block, but I didn’t play well and only took about 50% of Hulk Ragnarok’s health. I then switched to Sentinel, who I ran for the entirety of the path, and he finished with 50% health and I didn’t use any potions! Because these fights are so long, you can actually use the heal on Sentinel’s 2nd SP3. He gets an armor passive on the first SP1, and that combined with 100 Analysis makes him super tanky. After the 2nd SP3, switch over to spamming the SP1 and bring it home. Try to launch an SP1 when the opponent is at about 5% health to lock them at 1% health, then run in and punch block for the win. Sentinel’s SP1 is also great for removing those pesky armor buffs during the Hulkbuster fight.

Lane 9 – Lower Left, Portal B

Gate: None

Defenders: Thor Ragnarok, Heimdall, Hela, Hulk Ragnarok, Korg

Nodes: Oscillate, Ragnarok, (Path)

Team: Sentinel, Stark Spider-Man, Hulk Ragnarok, Thing, Mephisto

Tips: And now it’s the Thor Ragnarok lane! What’s nice about this lane is there are just the linked nodes, but no unique nodes you have to adjust to every fight. All of these defenders have a few quirks to them. Thor Ragnarok has his auto-block and power gain, Heimdall has auto-block, Hela has her Invulnerability at the end of the fight, Hulk Ragnarok can SMASH, and Korg is, well, Korg. I think for the most part though, load up with your best Lifecycle counters, and then bring one or two Korg counters and you’ll be ok. I actually used Mephisto and Thing as cannon fodder to chip Korg down, then finished him with Hulk Ragnarok. Having an Omega Red or Namor would have made things much easier. Oscillate makes these some pretty tanky fights overall, but at the end of the day, it’s nothing too difficult, just long fights.

Lane 10 – Upper Right, Portal C

Gate: None

Defenders: Symbiote Spider-Man, Venom, Carnage, Venom The Duck, Venompool

Nodes: Aspect of War (Path), Spry (Symbiote Spider-Man), Starburst (Venom), Masochism (Carnage), Extinction Protocol (Venom The Duck), Buffet (Venompool)

Team: Hulk Ragnarok, Stark Spider-Man, Sentinel, Venom, Symbiote Supreme

Tips: Save the worst for last, isn’t that how the saying goes? Aspect of War is always rough, so I boosted up to try to get through it all quickly. Venom I used to soften up Symbiote Spider-Man before finishing with Stark Spider-Man. Then on to Carnage, who is really tough to finish off with the combination of Lifecycle, Aspect of War, and Masochism. I managed to get him with Sentinel by intercepting with a Special 1 when Masochism was on cool-down, and then hitting into block for the win. Stark Spider-Man was able to solo Venom the Duck. Venompool was actually trickier than I thought he was going to be. That regen is really aggressive. This is where not having a Void or Warlock really hurt me. It did cost me a few revives but I did manage to eventually get him down with Stark Spider-Man. You just want to focus on minimizing triggering dexterity in that fight.

Recommended Videos:

KT1 – How to Deal with the Global Node and Boss

Katy Candy – Act 6.2.1, Global Node, Boss and Thoughts

Hector – Act 6.2.1 Guide & Tips

-Dano357