Ares, a Good Sign or a Destroyer of MCOC (2025)

• Nacho98 Member Posts: 386 ★★★

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  I’m on my 4th run. Was frustrating at first but now I got the Rhythm down and now it’s not so bad

  16

• BeastDad Member Posts: 2,128 ★★★★★

  February 13

  The Ares boss is the manifestation of terrible design and greed by Kabam

  The game has to make money, but with the control issues at the moment this was the wrong time to release something like this.

  13

• captain_rogers Member Posts: 11,448 ★★★★★

  February 13

  The Ares boss is the manifestation of terrible design and greed by Kabam

  Grandmaster has a intended design, where you have to play his missions skillfully and kill him. Similarly superior kang had his missions which you have to play around to kill him. Same for all act 8 and 9 bosses.

  But look at abyss collector, No missions, no place for skill. Just some random die now mechanics, especially at last 10% where he goes unstoppable randomly.

  Now look at ares, He has a intended design of completing his missions, by performing specific actions during his specials. Quite easy right. Similar to kang Or glyhkan.

  Except kang only had 3 time slots, and you have a second to prepare and visual cues to help, not like the time starts out slow and become faster each phase, while he throws random specials with no callouts

  My point is, 99% of the playerbase is going to bruteforce ares Very few players are going to play around his intended deisgn. Not many if us have the reflexes to do so. If this is what kabam aimed for, I'm completely fine. Revive spamming isn't new for me.

  But the worst thing. They looked at the current ai, they seen how unpredictable intercepting is, and decided to have a node where you have to interceot the boss 50 times at 1% health while he's unblockable. I can't believe how they came up with this at the current state of Ai. This is what I'll call "pure greed". I'm okay with his design and difficulty, but having this node at currently state of AI is horrible.

  30

• ahmynuts Member Posts: 8,105 ★★★★★

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  I'm down to like 10 revives per ares attempt if i mess up during the fight.

  It definitely is a big sink at first when you're getting used to the fight and the timings of his specials but you can definitely get better.
  The only thing I'm not a fan of is him gaining haste. It only draws out the fight in the last phase, nothing more. No reason to have put that there other than hoping players mess up the longer they're in the fight itself.

  11

• Chuck_Finley Member Posts: 1,603 ★★★★★

  February 13

  I will not take part in EPOCH because of Ares

  Fight looks horrendous

  I hate revive fest nonsense

  Don’t have the time, skill, or resources to explore… and a couple of R3’s for completion aren’t worth it to me.

  11

• Equints Member Posts: 171 ★

  February 13 edited February 13

  See Also

  Ares - Patch Notes [Version 91]Gülben Ergen Sürpriz Indir, Nebe Süresi Indir, Son Sürüm Ares Indir, Son Sürüm Winamp Indir

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  First time in there its more like a learning curve, so yes you'll need some revives. After that though, you understand that his kit is pretty easy and that there is a lot of assistance from the starting phases that let you do the fight. For one instance, the specific actions you have to perform after the sp1 and 2 allow you to get a guarenteed hit which can be useful if the ai attempts to dodge your counter attacks. Then you have the power gain when he doesnt connect, this is such a massive help for the final phase when hes constantly going unstoppable, yoj can just dodge till he reaches a special or untill the unstoppable is gone and then make him gain power by you htting him atp.
  

  3

• Khellendros138 Member Posts: 604 ★★★

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  They give you pity vigors each time. They didn't have to do that lol.

  That said the specials only give a split second to react, especially in the later phases, but it's rewarding when you get it right. I quite enjoyed it. Even while watching my revive stash dwindle.

  5

• PT_99 Member Posts: 5,408 ★★★★★

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  My biggest complaint is the MOST disgusting thing Kebem have done in recent times,
  It's this,

  L-2 revives are cheapest revives available to purchase with units, then why tf Kebem is forcefully stripping my 39% HP just like it's nothing?

  stopping willpower healing wasn't enough? That now there's "39% HP go brrr lol lol" nodes??

  Everything else is cool, whatever, bleh, Kebem being Kebem,
  But this 39% nutkick is disgusting.

  4

• Kappa2g Member Posts: 289 ★★★

  February 13

  The Ares boss is the manifestation of terrible design and greed by Kabam

  He's meant to be difficult and I'm starting to accept he's slightly beyond my skill level.

  They did design him to be able to be taken down with revives, there's no hard skill check such as old 6.2 champion which is great. So I'll just have to tackle each path with time as I build up my resouce stash.

  I agree with the going forward part. They've said they plan for Ares to show up more than one occasion for end game content. I guess it really depends how often he does pop up. If its annually then I think most people won't be too annoyed to slowly clear through the content.
  But if he's going to show up every month or 2 in content, I think it'll be a massive turn off for players who need to revive through him

  8

• GroundedWisdom Member Posts: 36,900 ★★★★★

  February 13

  First, people complain about the lack of challenging content.
  Then they complain when it's released.
  No win.

  7

• JLordVile Member Posts: 283 ★★

  February 13

  Haven't done it yet, but from what I can see it is not the most enjoyable fight
  

  3

• Pikolu Member, Guardian Guardian › Posts: 8,244 Guardian

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  Looks like it'll be fun. I'm glad we are getting unique bosses that can't be cheesed and rewards high-skill gameplay.

  2

• Wicket329 Member Posts: 3,647 ★★★★★

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  I’ve done two runs on Epoch so far. Ares bullied me both times. I still had fun throughout most of it.

  Do I think he’s perfect? No. I think there needs to be a clearer distinction between the sp1 and sp2 or some other means of giving the player a second to determine if they need to dex or parry that first bit. Also, his “lose an immortality charge at fight start” isn’t working at all and needs to be fixed. And I’ve had it twice now where no matter what I did, he refused to throw his special and just swiped at the air until he got his sp3 and womped me. But I don’t think anything about the fight rises to the level of needing a dramatic overhaul or anything like that.

  I look back at all the custom encounter bosses Kabam has made over the years. Collector, OG 6.2.6 Champion, Grandmaster, Nameless Thanos(s), the list goes on. The worst by far was Nameless Collector, especially in a time before something like a Grit passive so you could counter his random unstoppable.

  I like Ares. His design is such that new champion power creep won’t trivialize him, but that skilled play and persistence will get him down. I think he could use some tweaks before we see him again, but overall I like what the design team did here.

  3

• ShashankGupta Member Posts: 592 ★★★

  February 13

  https://youtu.be/OzRdNJlSak4?si=jXOvV-5NXFUCUAgJi would have loved the mechanic same as glykhan where he would have gotten unstoppable on sp1 and unblockable on sp2 to make it easier even when his specials are too fast

  5

• MagicBenton Member Posts: 295 ★★★

  February 13

  GroundedWisdom said:

  First, people complain about the lack of challenging content.
  Then they complain when it's released.
  No win.

  There is a huge difference between challenging content and something you have to spam revives at. They are not the same.

  17

• Nescio Member Posts: 147 ★★

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  Just finished 100% Epoch today and I'm actually a big fan of the Ares fight even though I didn't manage any solo. I went from 20 revives on my first try against him to 2 on my final path, he's a learnable fight and not Abyss Collector 2.0 which is perfect. Honestly if he was a single fight somewhere I'd go in regularly just to try to solo him if I was bored.

  6

• Etm34 Member Posts: 1,683 ★★★★★

  February 13

  Some of the skill based fights I’ve very much enjoyed. Necro GM, the Act 7-8 special bosses are all fun and rewarding. Ares after one run is just not a fight I’m ever going to enjoy. I can honestly barely see the weapons, the lack of any cues popping out make me wholly unaware of when to actually start the prompt the kick at the beginning of each special has also been a hindrance on my timing, and I just don’t have the capacity for it. For me, exploration will unfortunately just be handing out revives like candy.

  7

• Yaga Member Posts: 44 ★

  February 13

  The Ares boss is the manifestation of terrible design and greed by Kabam

  Nescio said:

  Just finished 100% Epoch today and I'm actually a big fan of the Ares fight even though I didn't manage any solo. I went from 20 revives on my first try against him to 2 on my final path, he's a learnable fight and not Abyss Collector 2.0 which is perfect. Honestly if he was a single fight somewhere I'd go in regularly just to try to solo him if I was bored.

  I wish there was a place that we could practice on bosses, at the very least, if not specific node combinations. People like myself that need to "git gud," need a place to practice without spending all of our resources or $$$.

  I'd love a "sparring gym" that cost 100 units per day to enter and practice fights with no cost on revives. I know that's a ridiculous ask but I can dream right?

  5

• Nemesis_17 Member Posts: 2,584 ★★★★★

  February 13 edited February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  The fight seems mostly well designed. The degen is the main thing that seems dumb to me, but dealing with his specials was very well done and quite unique.

  Some very cool design aspects, some questionable ones, but I think the good outweighs the bad here

  6

• Polygon Member Posts: 5,041 ★★★★★

  February 13

  Nemesis_17 said:

  The fight seems mostly well designed. The degen is the main thing that seems dumb to me, but dealing with his specials was very well done and quite unique.

  Some very cool design aspects, some questionable ones, but I think the good outweighs the bad here

  They couldve made the degen not apply in the final phase

  8

• TheUglyone123 Member Posts: 228 ★★★

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  Nemesis_17 said:

  The fight seems mostly well designed. The degen is the main thing that seems dumb to me, but dealing with his specials was very well done and quite unique.

  Some very cool design aspects, some questionable ones, but I think the good outweighs the bad here

  Agreed. The health drain feels bad and lack of special indication seem a bit too much. But I agree, learning that fight was the most fun I’ve had with a boss in a while
  

  4

• Nemesis_17 Member Posts: 2,584 ★★★★★

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  Polygon said:

  Nemesis_17 said:

  The fight seems mostly well designed. The degen is the main thing that seems dumb to me, but dealing with his specials was very well done and quite unique.

  Some very cool design aspects, some questionable ones, but I think the good outweighs the bad here

  They couldve made the degen not apply in the final phase

  TheUglyone123 said:

  Nemesis_17 said:

  The fight seems mostly well designed. The degen is the main thing that seems dumb to me, but dealing with his specials was very well done and quite unique.

  Some very cool design aspects, some questionable ones, but I think the good outweighs the bad here

  Agreed. The health drain feels bad and lack of special indication seem a bit too much. But I agree, learning that fight was the most fun I’ve had with a boss in a while
  

  I agree with both of these

  4

• Wicket329 Member Posts: 3,647 ★★★★★

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  Nemesis_17 said:

  The fight seems mostly well designed. The degen is the main thing that seems dumb to me, but dealing with his specials was very well done and quite unique.

  Some very cool design aspects, some questionable ones, but I think the good outweighs the bad here

  Oh yeah I forgot the degen. That is also a silly design choice.

  3

• Pikolu Member, Guardian Guardian › Posts: 8,244 Guardian

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  Wicket329 said:

  . I think there needs to be a clearer distinction between the sp1 and sp2 or some other means of giving the player a second to determine if they need to dex or parry that first bit.

  I heard of some people pausing to see which attack he is using and give them time to react accordingly.

• TheUglyone123 Member Posts: 228 ★★★

  February 13

  While Ares is difficult, his design is engaging and enjoyable for the challenge and rewards

  Pikolu said:

  Wicket329 said:

  . I think there needs to be a clearer distinction between the sp1 and sp2 or some other means of giving the player a second to determine if they need to dex or parry that first bit.

  I heard of some people pausing to see which attack he is using and give them time to react accordingly.

  I tried this, and it worked early on, but in the later phases, ares is too fast and you risk missing the first hit of the special. But that’s totally my subjective opinion. I’m sure if I was a bit faster, it would work
  

  2

• captain_rogers Member Posts: 11,448 ★★★★★

  February 13

  The Ares boss is the manifestation of terrible design and greed by Kabam

  I don't have problem with degen rather I'll have ares throw specials without slowing down or speeding up time.

• GroundedWisdom Member Posts: 36,900 ★★★★★

  February 13

  MagicBenton said:

  GroundedWisdom said:

  First, people complain about the lack of challenging content.
  Then they complain when it's released.
  No win.

  There is a huge difference between challenging content and something you have to spam revives at. They are not the same.

  Actually, there isn't when it comes to this game. Not when people are so adept at it, and there's only so many mechanics you can challenge people with. I've seen people protest over having to die in this game more times than I can count, and if a game is to continue past a decade and still remain a challenge, you're going to have to make even the best Players KO now and then.

  5

• Kingering_King Member Posts: 1,364 ★★★

  February 13

  The Ares boss is the manifestation of terrible design and greed by Kabam

  I hate him with a passion. All he eats is revives, revives, and more revives…

  3

• Unknown

  February 13

  This content has been removed.

• Raganator Member Posts: 2,590 ★★★★★

  February 13 edited February 13

  Don't enjoy it at all. Even after a few runs. The littlest thing like adding aggression in Phase 4 would make a huge difference. Instead, they give him horrible AI.

  8

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