Silk Champion Guide

Silk Summary

When I think of a nuke in Marvel Contest of Champions, Silk is one of the first characters I think of. Silk is excellent at dealing enormous damage with very little ramp. This makes her perfect for gamemodes like Battlegrounds, but she also shines in places like the Coliseum.

Silk relies heavily on her combos. As a rule, the longer a combo is, the more damage Silk can do. Silk can increase the damage she does in two ways: physical vulnerability and fury. Both of these values will go up as you continue your combo and will go away after you end a combo using a 2nd medium attack or knock the opponent down with a SP1, SP2, or heavy attack. Learn about how both of these damage scalers work below.

Physical Vulnerability

Every attack inflicts a short physical vulnerability debuff that is refreshed every hit. This means the debuffs continue to stack as long as you are striking the opponent. In practice, this means that you deal more damage for every hit in the combo you do.

Fury

Silk’s furies are triggered on the first hit of her heavy attack and stay active as long as Silk is hitting her opponent, just like the physical vulnerabilities. These furies will disappear if you finish your heavy, so the only way to keep them around is to cancel out of your heavy attack with a striker or special attack.

I find that these concepts are difficult to think about conceptually, so here is a video showing how Silk’s combos work. Pay attention to how I use heavies but do not knock the opponent down until I am unable to do anything else to keep my combo going.

Special Attacks

As for Silk’s special attacks, the SP1 and SP2 deal a big burst of cashout physical damage on the last hit. You can use either of them as convenient, but you should focus on the SP2 if the opponent has high critical resistance (such as Rintrah or Doctor Doom). The SP2 inflicts a Sunder debuff, which locks the opponent’s critical resistance at zero.

The SP3 has a different purpose. The SP3 is only really useful in the “I really hope this kills” rotation. This special is also the only way you can gain access to your third fury and hit your damage ceiling. More on this rotation later, but it's good to know it's there.

Silk Sense

Silk Sense is a super powerful ability and can shave seconds off Battlegrounds times if used properly. This gives Silk a 100% chance to evade a special attack if she would be hit by it. This has a cooldown, but I find that I can use this ability every 3 special attacks the opponent throws. This can be used to save you, but it can also help you avoid specials that are difficult to dex or punish. Because these interactions are so specific, I’ll review them individually in the Specific Matchups section. (Don’t miss this, there is a little-known bug you can use in one specific matchup.)

My Thoughts on Silk

I think Silk is a perfectly made attacker. She has been in my Battlegrounds deck ever since she came out because she continues to have Mystic matchups to nuke through, and there are very few metas that slow her down. I love getting 52K Battlegrounds scores against tricky defenders like Nico Minoru and Enchantress.

This is more personal preference, but I also love Silk’s animations. They are super smooth and satisfying, and once you get used to them, you can optimize fights further. I really like Silk’s ability to stand-up intercept after a heavy knockdown, which helps push the opponent to their wall and makes fights quicker.

Does Silk Need to Be Awakened?

TL;DR: Yes, but only sig 1.

Silk’s signature ability has 2 clauses: 1) A slow while the opponent is near the wall and shortly after a heavy attack and 2) regeneration rate reduction while this slow is active.

Clause 1 is really important, and opens Silk up to matchups that wouldn’t be available otherwise. Examples of this include Rintrah, Sasquatch, Wong, Rhino, Spider-Woman, Heimdall, and Deathless Thanos. You get full value for this ability at sig 1.

Clause 2 is less important, especially if you are running the Despair mastery, because they do the same thing. Both effects reduce the opponent’s regeneration rate based on the presence of a debuff. The Despair mastery reduces the opponent’s regeneration rate per debuff on them, down to -100%. In a typical mastery setup, the opponent is also running recovery, which adds +15% to regeneration effect potency (added after despair), leading to a net reduction of -85%. Silk’s signature ability can then subtract regeneration from the opponent, often reversing their regeneration rate into dealing damage. However, this isn’t as helpful as it would be normally because Silk only has access to this ability while she is hitting the opponent.

Overall, having the despair mastery alone is often enough for Silk to reduce the opponent’s regeneration while she combos them into oblivion. If this reduction is not enough, I still wouldn’t choose a max sig Silk over other Science champions that have more consistent regeneration reversal, like Leader or Sandman.

Best At?

Combo Chaining - Damage

There are two characters in the game I would consider to be the best at combo chaining: Spiral and Silk. Both can use a combination of strikers and their own abilities to extend their combos for a really long time. The difference between these two is that Silk’s combo chaining is best at damage whereas Spiral’s combo chaining is best at power control. Silk is able to use her combo chain to dish out an enormous amount of damage while the opponent can do nothing but get hit. However, this combo chain can frequently push the opponent to three bars of power, so you need the opponent to be dead by the end of the combo.

Silk is the best in the game at using super long, high damage combos. Spiral, on the other hand, will rarely push an opponent to three bars of power with her combo chain, but cannot do as much damage as Silk.

Overlooked Interactions

Rupture Duration Reduction

I often forget about Silk’s ability to reduce rupture duration by 90%. This rarely comes up in her target matchups, but can be very helpful in some places in Alliance War. It can also be an unhelpful surprise when using Lady Deathstrike, Prowler, Patriot, etc. against her.

Matchup Summary

This is a list of matchups I wanted to highlight because they are good, bad, or tricky and force you to modify your normal loop.

Absorbing Man

The main threat from Absorbing Man is his physical resistance in Black Uru form. Even with Silk’s physical vulnerabilities, she cannot cut through his resistances to deal serious damage. You can deal with this by countering his special attacks with your heavy attacks, bait a SP2 to get him in Magma form, or not bait any specials and wait out the duration of Black Uru. I find this last approach to be best when punching down.

Rintrah

The main threat here is Rintrah’s unstoppable. Just keep him up against the wall, knock him down frequently, and watch out for his stun immunity if his charges get too high. Rintrah also has high critical resistance, so focus on Silk’s SP2 to utilize the Sunder debuff, which locks critical resistance at zero. You can also use Silk Sense for a very safe dex of his SP2 and go for an easy punish.

Sasquatch

Silk is great for Sasquatch. She counters his unstoppable and Silk Sense can save you on bad SP1 dexes. However, Sasquatch will go stun immune in Wrath of Tanaraq, so you can’t use your heavy chain stun.

Rhino

Silk can work pretty well for Rhino. Rhino has physical resistance, but Silk can cut through it, and her slow counters his unstoppable. Just avoid letting him dash forward and keep him close to the wall. Keep in mind that Rhino’s trauma debuffs can reduce your attack via the inequity mastery in Battlegrounds and Alliance War.

Spider-Woman

Silk works well for Spider-Woman as long as you get and keep her in the corner, bait SP2s, and be attentive to her evade when your slow is down. Keep in mind that Spider-Woman’s various debuffs can reduce your attack via the inequity mastery in Battlegrounds and Alliance War. See the video below for an example of this fight. I do get hit, but you can see the fight theory in practice.

Thanos (Deathless)

If you come up against Thanos (Deathless) in Battlegrounds, use a Mystic if possible. That being said, Silk can work for Thanos, but she is slow. You need to watch his combat power rate, and his protections will blunt your damage a lot. Otherwise, if you’re patient and keep him against the wall, it can be a safe fight.

Enchantress

This fight has 2 steps: turn off Enchantress’s starting spells, then never let her use another special attack. Enchantress won’t always cooperate with this and may throw her SP1 into your block, so you just have to disable the spells again. If you are able to remove all the spells, I prefer to use the Combo 3 rotation. If you can’t remove all the spells, each one will give her protection, so your combos won’t deal the damage you expect them to.

Kindred

I think Silk is good for Kindred, but she has things working for and against her in this fight.

Advantages: Silk is a Spider-Verse Hero, so she gets extended pauses on Kindred’s Nightmare Outbreak when she punishes special attacks. She can also use Silk Sense to dodge the final hit of the SP1 to avoid some block damage. Kindred also doesn’t have a way to mitigate Silk’s damage.

Disadvantages: Kindred can become stun immune, which takes away Silk’s ability to use her heavy stun chain. Silk also has no way to avoid Kindred’s root at the end of the fight, so you have to plan through that phase and try to have power left over.

Nico Minoru

This fight is pretty easy because Silk doesn’t gain the dex buff and won’t get poisoned. The main thing to consider with this fight is that Silk doesn’t have an answer to Nico’s miss. Other than that, Nico is a pretty easy match for Silk because she doesn’t have access to any damage reduction. The video below is a Battlegrounds fight that I consider to be basically perfect.

Mojo

This is a pretty simple fight because Silk doesn’t gain the dex buff. The only way this can go badly is if Mojo gets his prompt 5 times in a row, which is pretty easy to avoid. Just keep in mind that Mojo has very high health, especially if he is ascended, as this can impact which combo you choose to go for.

Wow, Silk Can Take...?

Arcade

This is a super interesting matchup that I really like taking. The main threat in Arcade’s kit is the arcade tokens, which can cause him to auto-block and parry you if they get to 3. These can be removed using knockdowns (which Silk is really good at). Silk also counters Arcade by getting around his special attacks in very unique ways.

Special 1: You should dex this in the same way you do with other champions. See the video below for an example.

Special 2: This is where this matchup gets interesting. If you block or dex the final hit of this special, Arcade gets 3 arcade tokens, but he does not gain the tokens if Silk evades the attack using her Silk Sense. This is all normal behavior.

Now onto the fun bug. If you dash into Arcade’s SP2 repeatedly, Silk Sense will not go on cooldown like it should. As far as I know, this is not intended and may be fixed at some point. See the video below for an example.

Defender Summary

Silk is a really bad defender until you accidentally fight her with a champion that can’t land critical hits. She has a guaranteed evade for special attacks that can be turned off with a critical hit, and if you don’t have an evade counter or critical hits, you need to stun the opponent before using your special attack. For example, you can use Shocker against Silk, but if you do, you need to parry Silk before using your SP2 if you want it to land.

Gamemode Summary

In this section, I’ll cover the general rotation first, then highlight the gamemodes where you may need to adjust your approach or pay attention to additional details to perform effectively.

General Rotation Summary

Silk’s rotation is focused on her combo chains. While you can mix and match her combos, I find that these 4 are the ones I use just about everywhere. I’ll reference back to them as I talk about Silk in different gamemodes. Damage numbers are based on a 7 Star R4 A0 Silk with the Hulk relic, special damage stat focus, and no class advantage/disadvantage. They also include normal combo damage to build power before the primary combo starts (if necessary).

Note (Combo 4): The stun on Silk’s SP3 gives her +100% combat power rate and the opponent -100% combat power rate. However, the base combat power rate of 7 Stars is 120%, so the opponent will still gain power while stunned and can go to 3 bars.

Combo 1

Combo 2

Combo 3

Combo 4

Incursions

In Incursions, the right hacks make all the difference for Silk. With some strategy and a decent bit of luck, you can get a combination of hacks that allow you to steamroll a whole Incursion run.

Silk has two hacks that you need for a solid Incursions run: Tide of Combat, which gives you furies based on expiring debuffs, and Effect Upgrade - Stun, which increases the duration of your stun debuffs.

Effect Upgrade - Stun is a must-have for Silk. It increases the duration of her heavy attack to be long enough that you can run in and start a new combo while the opponent is still stunned. In other words, you get a permanent stun lock. (Unless the opponent has miss, auto-block, or purify. You need to have other counters for those or play very carefully.)

Tide of Combat is not as much of a must-have as Effect Upgrade - Stun, but is the best damage booster for Silk by far. This buff allows Silk a chance to get a fury buff every time a non-damaging debuff expires on the opponent. Given that Silk can inflict 7-9 very short non-damaging debuffs per combo, the furies stack up very fast.

I don’t have any video of this setup, but MSD does:

Battlegrounds

Which combo you use for Silk will depend on the defender you are facing and if you are punching up, down, or even rank. I do have a lot of experience with Silk in Battlegrounds, but don’t take this advice as absolute truth. Changes in metas and personal preference should influence which combo you choose to use.

Punching down (opponent is weaker than you): Use Combo 3

Punching up (opponent is stronger than you): Use Combo 4

Even Rank: This is where it gets complicated. You will need to decide this for yourself based on a number of factors. If the defender you are facing doesn’t have many things mitigating your damage (such as Nico Minoru), you can feel safe going for Combo 3. However, champions that are tanks (like Deathless Thanos), you should consider other rotations. In some places you may consider Combo 4 or even Combo 2 and then Combo 4. However, if you do need to go for Combo 2 then 4, you might consider just using another attacker.

Coliseum

Silk performs very well in the Coliseum, but her rotation tightens as the opponent gains more combat power rate. Because Silk’s long combos naturally give the opponent significant power, they are riskier in the Coliseum. As a result, the types of combos you use become more limited, since you don’t want to push the opponent to their Special 3. Once you get to about 6 health bars, I usually don’t feel comfortable using Combo 3 because it gives the opponent too much power. At the end of the fight, when things feel out of control, I prefer using a long SP3 rotation. With this approach, you can often remove about two full health bars while the opponent is stunned in the corner. Of course, after that, you will lose the fight, but Silk is still very effective, often reaching around 13 to 14 health bars in the Coliseum.

Bonus Videos

Peni Parker - Battlegrounds

This was a really fun fight. Just note that the current meta nodes made it a lot easier and that I got lucky on the last hit of my SP2 not being autoblocked.

Jean Grey - Battlegrounds

Another super fun fight. You need to be on top of reversed controls (though Silk Sense can save you) and Jean's exhaustions will reduce your damage. This fight still works great.

Solvarch - Battlegrounds

This Solvarch fight isn't perfect because Combo 4 doesn't quite deal enough damage, but it can be a very good fight.

Mr. Sinister - Battlegrounds

This fight happened in a "nuke" meta where my attack rating was increased a lot. Without that, this isn't a very good fight. I probably could have just gone for a SP2 to get a better time, but I wanted to be sure I could kill him at the end of my combo.

Hulkling - Epoch of Pain

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