Note: As a member of the Marvel Contest of Champions Content Creator program, I was granted early access to a 5* Rank 3 Sig 200 Longshot for the purposes of this review. I do not get to keep this champion and he will be removed from my account shortly after this review goes live.

One of his world’s greatest gladiators, Longshot rebelled against Mojo and the Spineless Ones to escape a life of televised forced combat. He arrived on Earth, and joined up with the X-Men during the “Australian Outback” period. Eventually, he fell in love with, and married, Dazzler. Longshot is extremely lucky, and is adept at taking down his foes with thrown projectiles.

Review

An interesting mix of Stark Spider-Man, Squirrel Girl, and Morningstar, the first new mystic of 2020 brings a combination of huge burst damage and utility to The Contest.

Art/Design:
First off, yes, he only has three fingers and a thumb, because that’s how he appears in the comics. He’s a little stockier in MCOC than I expected (remember, this dude only weighs 80 pounds thanks to hollow bones) but I think the look and move-set capture the agility and innate quirkiness Longshot brings to the table. The Special 3, in particular, showcases how everything just seems to fall into place for Longshot.

Gameplay:
Longshot is a single-fight ramp-up champion, whose damage is dependent on building up Good Karma on himself, and Bad Karma on his opponent. Thankfully, it is relatively easy to build-up and refresh both. Good Karma builds up from dodging attacks, so if you’re used to gaining Poise charges on Stark Spider-Man, it’s the same mechanic in play. Bad Karma is transferred onto the opponent via Heavy Attacks. Longshot also has a “bonus status” called Pure of Heart that is easy to achieve and adds different effects to his Special Attacks.

Damage:
If you’re looking for a hard-hitter for basic attacks, Longshot is not for you. However, if you enjoy a bit of a ramp-up and then watching the opponent absolutely melt from instant burst damage during a special, you’re going to have a very good time with Longshot.

Utility:
Like many mystics, Longshot is able to nullify and prevent buffs on the opponent, which is useful to have. Much like Morningstar, he can denote the opponent’s buffs via the Special 2 for extra damage. Additionally, Longshot’s SP1 cannot miss or be auto-blocked, which is always a welcome mechanic to have in a champion’s kit. On the down-side, Longshot has no regeneration or immunities.

Fun Factor:
Personally, I found Longshot fun, because the ramp-up is relatively quick, it’s sustainable, and the damage payoff is there. I also really enjoy champions that can nullify the opponent’s abilities, so Longshot has a nice combination of damage and utility.

Conclusion:
As champions get more complex, every new champion seems to be judged by the “Is The Juice Worth The Squeeze” question. Longshot, for me, is very much worth it. The payoff for investing in the champion is there, and it’s great to have another quality offensive option in the Mystic class. If you are a player that doesn’t run suicides (like myself) and you pull Longshot, I think you’re going to want to take a hard look at Longshot to decide if he’s worth maxing out. Personally I would be very tempted to take him to 5/65 as a 5*.

That’s it for the editorial part of the review. Keep reading for an explanation on how to play the champion, tips, and additional pros and cons.

View Longshot on Auntm.ai

Key Information:
Like I mentioned in the review, Longshot is all about Karma. He builds up Good Karma on himself via dodging attacks up to a maximum stack of 5. At 5 stacks, he enters his Pure of Heart phase which grants additional bonuses when launching special attacks. When Pure of Heart expires, all remaining Good Karma is transferred to the opponent as Bad Karma. Good Karma can also be reduced by being stunned or having a non-damaging debuff.

Bad Karma is built-up on the opponent, also to a maximum of 5 stacks. For each stack of Bad Karma, Longshot gains 12% of the power generated by the opponent. You can transfer Bad Karma onto the opponent via a heavy attack (two stacks per heavy). Special Attacks and Heavy Attacks also refresh existing Bad Karma. Bad Karma can be detonated for additional Incinerate Damage from the SP2.

Charging Longshot’s Heavy Attack allows him to gain Good Karma every .4 seconds.

Longshot is very resistant to ability accuracy reduction. His base ability accuracy is 300% and can only be lowered via Debuffs.

Signature Ability:
Longshot’s Signature Ability boosts his Nullify powers and allows him to stack additional Bad Karma on the opponent. He will also duplicate a nullified True Strike, Unstoppable, or Unblockable buff for 7-seconds. This is a significant boost in utility for the champion and makes him a strong candidate for a Mystic Awakening Gem.

Team Building/Key Synergies:
In testing, Longshot performed quite well without his core synergy partners, which is always great to see. He does have some good synergies that allow him additional damage and a quicker ramp-up. “Civil War Stories” with Captain America and Captain America Infinity War grants 5 Good Karma to Longshot at the start of the fight when facing a Villain. The “Mojovese” synergy with Mojo, which I couldn’t test, allows Longshot’s Special 1 to place degeneration on bleed-immune champions. “Love Triangles” with Rogue grants a chance to place additional Incinerates on the opponent when removing Bad Karma from the SP2. “Probably OP” with Domino extends the duration of Pure of Heart by 4 seconds.

I don’t think you have to run any synergy partners with Longshot to play him, but the Domino synergy certainly gives you additional room for error, which is nice. During testing I was running Longshot with Domino, Rogue, Captain America Infinity War, and Doctor Strange (for Captain America IW “Mystic Craft” synergy).

Mastery Setup:
It’s a good idea to run Longshot with some Mystic Dispersion since the big damage comes from the Special Attack burst damage, but he’s not going to be a great fit for suicides.

Alliance War Defense:
Longshot will likely have some value on Alliance War Defense since he has projectile special attacks, but he doesn’t have any tags that allow him to benefit from the dominant Defensive Tactics at the moment. One important note is that Longshot’s 300% ability accuracy is active for Alliance War defense, so for example, if he is placed on a node with a 10% chance to evade, he will actually have a 30% chance to evade.

Special Attacks:
The SP1 consumes two Good Karma, and cannot miss or be Auto-Blocked. If Pure of Heart is active, it deals 7 Instant Bleeds and benefits from the Critical Damage Multiplier.

The SP2 inflicts an Incinerate debuff on the last hit of the attack lasting 12 seconds, and this Incinerate Fate Seals the opponent and nullifies all buffs while removing Bad Karma effects. Each buff and Bad Karma that is removed inflicts an instant passive Incinerate (max 10 stacks) and benefits from the Critical Damage Multiplier. If Pure of Heart is active, the Incinerate triggers at the start of the special, with a paused duration through the attack.

The SP3 stuns the opponent for 3.5 seconds and has increased damage based on Good Karma if Pure of Heart is active.

Pros:
Excellent combination of buff control and burst damage that work well in conjunction with each other.

Absolutely destroys buff-heavy champions like Angela, Groot, Venom, and Old Man Logan.

Fantastic for Rage and Explosive Personality nodes.

Burst damage abilities bypass Safeguard nodes.

Provides another option for the Mystic/Doctor Doom role in Abyss of Legends.

SP1 anti- miss/auto-block mechanic is not dependent on gaining a buff, so you have 100% uptime if it is needed.

Quick and sustainable ramp-up allows for Longshot to take both short and long fights, and you can launch multiple SP1 during a single Pure of Heart phase. His ramp-up also doesn’t require the same level of “clock-watching” that causes some players to struggle with Silver Surfer and Reed Richards.

Synergies are nice but not required. If you do decide to fully invest in Longshot, he will be a fantastic addition to the Domino Trinity, which is already a tremendously popular team. Another of his main synergy partners is Captain America Infinity War, an extremely valuable Champion who is widely used. Even Rogue, while not at the same level of Domino or Cap IW, is clearly a useful champion. Captain America IW also has the “Mystic Craft” synergy, which allows mystic champions to deal 30% of their attack as direct damage when nullifying a buff, granting Longshot an additional damage boost.

Signature Ability is very useful, but Longshot’s ability to do damage is not dependent on being awakened.

Cons:

Extremely dependent on specials to do meaningful damage. Be wary of any fights that will limit power gain, especially Plagued Mind.

Master Modifiers Hurt Locker and Special Deliver will limit Longshot’s usefulness in AQ.

No regeneration or immunities limit Longshot’s sustainability and usefulness.

Players that run suicides will likely be more interested in champions like Claire Voyant, who are more sustainable and offer much of the same utility.

Heavy attack is critical to the rotation, making stun-immune match-ups a bit trickier and debuff immune match-ups negate his main source of damage.

Be wary of match-ups like Reed Richard and Void, and nodes like Long Distance Relationship, as non-damaging debuffs will slow Longshot down.

Pro Tips:
It’s important to know which special attack you are going to rely on in the fight so you can plan how you will play Longshot, as there are different ramp-ups for the SP1 and SP2.

If the defender gains a lot of buffs, the SP2 is going to do the most damage. You’ll have to work in your heavy attack as you build up to 2 bars of power. You want to have 5 stacks of Bad Karma and as many buffs on the opponent as possible when you launch the SP2.

If the opponent is not buff-heavy and is not bleed-immune, you can use the SP1 ramp-up. You want to dodge a few attacks early in the fight, just like you would with Stark Spider-Man, to get to 5 Good Karma and enter Pure of Heart. Then you can launch the SP1. If you aren’t in Pure of Heart the SP1 basically does no damage, so make sure you have it active.

-Dano357