Marvel Contest of Champions Champion Spotlight: Ruby Thursday

Ruby Thursday arrives in Marvel Contest of Champions as a Tech-class defender specialist whose Organic Circuitry mechanic, Rupture-on-crit Always Active, and Unblockable Special 2 make her a ticking time-bomb in Battlegrounds and Alliance War.

One of Marvel's strangest villains just crashed into Marvel Contest of Champions. Ruby Thursday, the cybernetic head-swapping mad scientist of the Headmen, arrives as a Tech-class Champion with a kit built around Ruptures, Unblockable Special 2s, and one of the most frustrating Auto-Block packages in the entire roster.

About Ruby Thursday

The origin of Thursday Rubinstein's powers is officially unknown, but what we do know is that she augmented her own head with a mass of organic circuitry and joined the Headmen — a group of megalomaniac villains who all share one very specific gimmick. Together, Ruby and the Headmen pursue world domination, though, as Kabam points out, "sometimes they do so through non-violent methods."

Champion Attributes

• Survivability: 3 / 5
• Damage: 3.5 / 5
• Ease of Use: 3 / 5
• Utility: 3 / 5
• Defender Strength: 4 / 5

Core Mechanics

Ruby's damage pipeline is a little unusual. Her main damage tool is her Special Attack 2, but you can only fire it while Organic Circuitry is active — and the only way to activate Organic Circuitry is through her Special 1. Once it's running, you want to race to 2 Bars of Power and then wait to unleash the Special 2 just as Organic Circuitry is about to expire. The longer Organic Circuitry has been up, the harder her Disintegration damage hits.

Attacker Summary

• Critical Hits are replaced with Ruptures.
• Special 1 grants Organic Circuitry.
• Special 2 is Unblockable and only activatable while Organic Circuitry is active.
• Special 2 deals Disintegration damage scaling with how long Organic Circuitry has been active.

Defender Summary

• Special Attacks grant Auto-Block.
• If Ruby's Block is broken by an Unblockable attack, she inflicts Disintegration. If the attack was a Basic Attack, she also gains a Combo Interruption.
• When struck with a Light 1, Medium 1, or Heavy Attack, Ruby inflicts Suppression — unless Intercepted.
• Special 1 grants Organic Circuitry and inflicts a Special 2 Lock.
• Special 2 is Unblockable and can only be activated while Organic Circuitry is active.
• Awakened: Reduce the Opponent's Stun Ability Accuracy.

Always Active Abilities

Ruby is Immune to Delirium, and the Opponent's True Strike, True Accuracy, and True Sense effects have their Ability Accuracy reduced by 100%. For each Daunted on Ruby, the Opponent's Neuroshock Ability Accuracy is also reduced by a flat 50%, up to a cap of 150%.

The signature touch: when Ruby would land a Critical Hit, she instead inflicts an Instant Rupture that deals the Critical Damage the hit would have dealt. On top of that, every third hit she lands does not increase her Combo Meter — a handy tool for stalling out mutant abilities that activate on specific Combo thresholds.

Defensive Punishment

When Ruby takes damage from blocking an Opponent with an active Pierce effect, she inflicts a 10% Disintegration Debuff dealing 2,536.5 Direct Damage over 10 seconds. If her Block is broken by an Unblockable attack, that Disintegration's damage is increased by 200%. And if her Block is broken by an Unblockable Basic Attack, she activates a Combo Interruption Passive — knocking herself down and ending the opponent's combo cold.

When struck by a Light 1, Medium 1, or Heavy Attack, she also inflicts a 20% Suppression Passive for 6 seconds (max 2 stacks), unless she's Intercepted or the Opponent has an Undermine effect.

Auto-Block

On the final hit of her Special Attacks, Ruby gains an Auto-Block Passive for 6 seconds or until triggered. Auto-Blocked Basic Attacks get hit with a Laser Beam Counter-Attack. As a Defender, she also gains the Auto-Block if she takes 20% of her Max Health in damage within an 8-second window.

Special Attack 1 — Tactical Revolver

• On activation, grants an Organic Circuitry Passive for 12 seconds (paused during Strikers and Special Attacks).
• While Organic Circuitry is active, every hit or non-Well-Timed Block inflicts an Instant 0% Disintegration scaling with Ruby's Armor and Attack Rating.
• At the end of the Special, inflict a Special 2 Lock Passive for 15 seconds, during which the Opponent is more likely to activate Special 1.

Special Attack 2 — Head Beam

• Only activatable while Organic Circuitry is active, and Passively Unblockable. The Unblockable cannot be reduced by Mutants.
• Each hit inflicts a 5% Disintegration Debuff dealing 1,014.6 Direct Damage over 3 seconds (max 5 stacks).
• The final hit removes Organic Circuitry and inflicts an Instant 0% Disintegration dealing 3,043.8 Direct Damage per second Organic Circuitry has been active, capped at 30 seconds.

"The longer Organic Circuitry stays active, the more damage the Special 2 instant Disintegration does. As a Defender this special is Unblockable and does a lot of damage — in general you are better off avoiding this Special altogether." — Dev Notes

Special Attack 3 — Floating Head

Inflicts a 25% Disintegration Debuff dealing scaled Direct Damage over 20 seconds, and grants a 25% Energize Passive for 20 seconds to boost Ruby's own Combat Power Rate while slowing the Opponent's.

Signature Ability — Enhanced Organic Circuitry

The Special 2's Instant Disintegration damage is increased by 33%. While Organic Circuitry is active, the Opponent's Stun Ability Accuracy is reduced by 50% (disabled while the Opponent has an active Undermine effect). And the first time Ruby hits the Opponent's Block after gaining Organic Circuitry, the timer pauses for 5 seconds.

Key Synergies

• Defenders (with Doctor Strange, Hulk, Valkyrie): Pre-Fight Ability swaps her Special 2 Lock for a Special 1 Lock.
• Head Shot (with Wasp, Bullseye): Special 1 activations grant a +560 Armor Up Buff.
• Champions for Hire (with Shang-Chi, Black Cat, Misty Knight): While Organic Circuitry is active and above 2 Bars of Power, Ruby is inflicted with a 25% Suppression Passive — a tradeoff to watch.
• Orb Heads (with Mysterio): Auto-Block Counter-Attacks inflict Physical Vulnerability.

Recommended Build

Relic: Cruel Tech Relic of Fitness — improves Ruby's Critical Rate and Critical Damage, which translates directly into bigger Ruptures. Combine with the Orb Heads synergy for extra Physical Vulnerability stacking.

Offensive Stat Focus: Critical Rating / Critical Damage Rating

Defensive Stat Focus: Armor

Why Ruby Thursday Matters

Ruby's standout value is her Defender Strength of 4 — a rare thing for a Tech Champion. Between her Suppression punishes, her Auto-Block Counter-Attacks, her Special 2 Lock, and her self-knockdown against Unblockable Basics, she's designed to burn the clock against unprepared attackers in Battlegrounds and Alliance War. She's not a raw damage dealer on defense, but she will absolutely cost you a timeout if you don't come prepared.