Who are the best champions in Marvel: Contest of Champions to invest in? Take a look!

Marvel: Contest of Champions was released on December 10th, 2014, and was immediately heralded as one of the best fighting games available on the app store. With 8 years of development now under its belt, MCoC has remained one of the strongest contenders for the best mobile fighting game available, and has a deep roster of 228 playable characters. 

New players are often overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of characters and content. So let’s take a look at ten of the most powerful champions available to collect in Marvel: Contest of Champions!

NOTE: This list is purely based on the reviewer’s experiences and opinions – this game has tons of depth and thus many characters not on this list could be contenders for another person’s top 10. It should be seen as a guide only – much of the content in MCoC can be completed without the ten champions listed below (though they do help make things significantly easier) 

10. Magneto (Red) – Mutant

Magneto staring menacingly

If you have been playing Marvel: Contest of Champions for a while, you might remember a day when seeing this character on a list like this would have been ridiculous. Magneto, for a very, very long time, was bottom-tier dog water. 

But in 2020, this champion received a mind-blowing buff that completely changed his validity in competitive play. Now, he is a go-to for quite a bit of content (it is saying something that the bottom character on this list is such a high-quality champion). The only reason Magneto isn’t higher on this list is because he is more limited in his scope (though he is very useful in many different types of fights).

Magneto demolishes all robotic enemies that do not have a specific counter node built into the fight. Magneto reverses the class relationships against robots (meaning that he gets advantage against robots he would normally have a disadvantage fighting), and has an ability kit that is armor-break centric, gaining bonuses when fighting against robotic enemies.

He has a parry-heavy playstyle that makes him easy to learn (though this also makes him significantly more difficult to play when fighting against a powerful stun-immune champion). Mastering Magneto is as easy as learning to parry, and then learning to hold your heavy. Keep doing this, and the fight is as good as over.

Magneto’s bleed buildup crushes the opposition in other fights, making him viable against most opponents (though his niche is definitely focused on robotic enemies).

9. Corvus Glaive – Cosmic

Corvus Glaive (featuring his intense chin)

Corvus Glaive is on the older side, but remains one of the most effective champions in the game, capable of prancing his way through Alliance Quest and Alliance War as long as the right champs are available for him to cleave his way through. Though he is no longer considered the best champ in the game, he still remains one of the most useful and effective champions in his niche.

Corvus’s strength comes from his ability to gain charges. Because of this, in order to reach his full potential, he must fight multiple champions that fit specific categories (a mutant champ, a tech champ, an avenger, and a champ who can evade). No order is necessary, and after beating all four with Corvus, he is unstoppable.

All Corvus’s damage comes from critical hits and armor breaks, which means that poison/bleed won’t stop him, but watch out for armor break and critical immunity champs and nodes.

8. Quake – Science

Quake - a living gimmick

Ah, Quake. She had to be on this list somewhere! Quake is one of the most unique champs in the game due to the simple fact that if you don’t know how to play her, she’s terrible, and when you master her, she can win some of the toughest fights in the game without taking a single damage. The issue with Quake (and the reason that despite this obvious positive I have her listed at #8) is that she is incredibly difficult to master.

Using her signature heavy-parry or heavy-dodge technique, Quake can win most battles available in the game by herself.

This technique is incredibly difficult to master, but if one implements the basics of her kit, she can still deal a hefty amount of damage.

Her DPS is not super high – even winnable long fights take a long time.

7. Warlock – Tech

I can't believe they included Warlock in this game (and that he's actually great)

Warlock’s kit is one of the most versatile Marvel Contest of Champions has to offer, allowing him to function effectively in multiple situations. However, though his utility is incredible, his actual damage output is topped by most of the other champions on this list (though that is not saying much, as Warlock’s Special 2 can effectively melt many enemies).

Quadruple immunity (Bleed, Poison, Coldsnap and Frostbite) makes Warlock incredibly versatile, and a valuable member of any team.

Both his Special 1 and Special 2 have solid utility (S1 has effective power drain, S2 has brutal armor break)

Heavy applies powerful bleed, though he is useful against bleed immune champs as well

6. Nick Fury – Skill

Don't get hit when playing Nick Fury

Nick Fury is another champ that can be difficult to master, but has incredible versatility as well. He is bleed-focused, and requires his dupe to be useful (definitely worth a skill or general awakening gem if you have one lying around!). His basic kit is very useful, but he shines after he dies once, as his “body duplicate” dies instead, and Nick Fury takes on his true form.

Incredible DPS, some of the best damage in the game

High skill requirement – when Nick Fury dies and is reborn, his health caps at 30%, making it very easy to lose him to a misplay

Excellent versatility, powerful bleed

Needs only 1 sig level to be considered one of the best champs in the game

5. Doctor Doom – Mystic

Everyone's White Whale champion

This one is majorly personal preference – I know many people would put Doctor Doom at the top of this list (or perhaps as #2). Doctor Doom is an incredibly powerful champion with one of the most finnicky kits in the game. This reviewer still has some practice to do before he gets used to Doom’s gameplay loop, but when it is executed effectively, Doom blasts away at his opponents without giving them much time to breathe.

Easy to understand but hard to master gameplay makes this champion an incredible tool in your roster

Immunity to shock and well protected against armor break

When set up properly, his Special 2 reaches some of the nastiest numbers possible in the game

4. Hercules – Cosmic

Every time Hercules flexes, time and space themselves both ripple

Hercules is another champion whose damage increases with every fight, but unlike Corvus, Hercules can reach his full potential in one long battle. Hercules gains strength by performing “feats”, which include striking a non-stunned opponent with a heavy, intercepting, and standing up after being knocked down. Every time he accomplishes a feat, he gains +1 Strength, significantly increasing his damage. The first three unique feats accomplished each battle stay with him after a victory, and he caps at 12.

Hercules requires an understanding of intercept methods against various opponents, and rewards players greatly for intercepting an opponent’s dash with a special attack. If this can be achieved, Hercules can reach massive damage numbers.

If awakened, Hercules has a pseudo-indestructible buff after he would take lethal damage, allowing him to continue to fight after his health bar has run out.

Strategies that need to be learned to play Hercules are valuable strategies across the playing field with various champs, and are not wholly unique to Hercules’s kit.

3. Black Widow (Claire Voyant) – Mystic

The other Black Widow (and in this game, the better Black Widow)

Perhaps BWCV’s placement on this list is inflated due to personal preference in experience, but she is perhaps the most versatile champion in this game. With three separate modes granting three separate immunities, BWCV is a Swiss Army Knife that can be suited for almost any fight in the entire game.

Three separate mode rotations, with an easy switch trigger.

Mode 1: Bleed Immunity/Healing

Mode 2: Poison Immunity/Power Drain

Mode 3: Incinerate Immunity/Massive Damage

Unless her other immunities are helpful or necessary, or power drain is crucial in the fight (or her health bar is running low), her third mode is the best one for inflicting massive damage on the opponent

She is easy to play – very little needs to be memorized and no new skills need to be learned to make her amazing.

2. Cosmic Ghost Rider – Cosmic

Ghost Rider, but good

There are few things in this game more satisfying than pulling off an amazing run with Cosmic Ghost Rider. His kit is everything players wanted from the original Ghost Rider (a mediocre champ with a ton of potential) to the nth degree.

Massive critical damage – the key to Ghost Rider is learning his rotations. He gets to his Special 2 quickly, and if you use a heavy first, he inflicts a total of 12 armor breaks, and has significantly increased critical rate and damage.

Most of his damage comes from buffs – his weakness is champions that have effective nullify (or champions that cannot take critical damage)

His traditional rotation is:

Combo 1: End with medium

Combo 2: End with Light

Heavy Attack

Special 2

The more you play him, the better you learn when to switch up this combo to fit the situation

1. Archangel – Mutant

The most fun champ in the game, don't @ me

Archangel is my personal favorite champion to play, and he has some of the best damage in the game. Inflicting a combination of poison and bleed to create neurotoxin, Archangel’s damage numbers scale hard throughout the fight, and (with a high enough sig level) completely neutralizes the opponent’s ability accuracy.

Best passive damage in the game

Easy to play: parry/heavy and use specials in most fights

Not usable in fights where the opponent is immune to bleed or poison, but almost ubiquitously amazing in every other circumstance unless there is a node that specifically counters his playstyle

At a high enough signature level, Archangel reduces opponent’s ability accuracy by 34% for each stack of neurotoxin, ensuring that 3 neurotoxin reduces ability accuracy to 0.

And those are five of the most powerful champions in Marvel: Contest of Champions! Were any of your favorites missing from this list? Let us know the champions you find most enjoyable to play in the comments below!

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