Top 10 Mutant Updates

A very subjective top 10 list of mutant updates thus far. This only counts updates where the main update was mutant-centric, not including mid months. Also does not include main updates that include 1-2 mutants that are not the focus (e.g. "Enter the Phoenix" featuring Wolverine).

  • Not Included

    Not Included

    There are 16 mutant updates to date, so 6 of them don't make the top 10 list. They are listed below, in a roughly worst-first order.

    Uncanny X-Men (5.1)

    Added Iceman, Jubilee and Bishop as new characters. Added Jean [X-Men Red], Beast [Uncanny X-Men], Storm [X-Men Red] and Psylocke [Disassembled] as new uniforms.

    An unremarkable filler update. Iceman as a crystal-wall and Jubilee as paywall in the same update are no good, though Bishop was a nice addition. On the uniform side, Jean's [X-Men Red] and Psylocke's [Disassembled] were nice upgrades.

    X-Force (4.9)

    Added Warpath, Sabretooth and Juggernaut as new characters. Added Deadpool, Wolverine and Nightcrawler's [X-Force] uniforms.

    Another filler update that was essentially the blueprint for the Uncanny X-Men one, with one paywall, one crystal-wall, and one farmable character. Warpath was never that good, Sabretooth was not worth the crystal cost, leaving just Juggernaut as worth building.

    The X-Force uniforms were also nothing special apart from being recolours.

    Inhumans vs. X-Men (6.3)

    Added Dazzler and Thane as new characters. Added Black Bolt [Marvels X], Medusa [Inhumans vs X-Men], Kamala Khan [Inhumans: Attilan Rising], Storm [Inhumans vs X-Men] and Iceman [X-Men Blue] as new uniforms.

    Mostly an Inhumans centric update with Black Bolt and Medusa being the stars. Ends up being the worst of both worlds as many other Inhumans did not get the attention they would have if this was a full Inhumans update, and the X-Men were sidelined.

    Dazzler was a great addition but a pure support from the very start. Unfortunate whitewashing controversy aside, Storm's uniform and Tier-3 were good at the time, while Iceman as usual did not make a splash.

    Gets some points for being part of the insane 6.x COVID run but as far as mutant relevance is concerned, there was not much here.

    X-Force Vol. 2 (9.3)

    Added Omega Red as a new character. Added Cable [Heart of Darkness], Stryfe [Classic], and Domino [Krakoa X-Force] as new uniforms, along with a Black Panther themed mid-month.

    This obviously loses points for the unrelated mid-month - it's essentially only 4 mutants getting updates. Of those only Cable and Stryfe were any useful - and both their uses are quite limited (Cable for one ABL day and some ABX, Stryfe for Otherworld debuff removal).

    Honorable mention to the cinematic Cable vs. Stryfe sneak peek which is one of the hardest ever.

    X-Men vs. Sentinels (4.5)

    Added Gambit, Nightcrawler and Sentinel as new characters. Added Magneto [Marvel NOW!], Emma Frost [Marvel NOW!], X-23 [X-Force] and Archangel [X-Force] as new uniforms.

    This update is notable for adding Giant Boss Raid (with Master Mold as the first boss), which has stood the test of time but was a bit of a disaster at launch. If you managed to make it through a match without disconnecting chances were you'd get killed by a teammate with the Brainwash debuff. Many of these issues would get ironed out with time, but stability still remains an issue in GBR to this day.

    Character-wise the update was also not that great. Nightcrawler has always been weak, Sentinel didn't make waves as a paywall, and all the uniforms were not remarkable upgrades. The bright spots were Magneto's Tier-3 and Gambit - but not bright enough to earn it a spot in the top 10.

    X-Men (Marvel NOW!) (3.9)

    Added Magik, Emma Frost, Angel and Colossus as new characters. Added Wolverine [All-New Marvel NOW!] and Cyclops [Marvel NOW!] as new uniforms.

    This almost made the cut as this update added many solid characters. Angel being the first character with permanent damage immunity was crazy at the time, and Emma's damage reduction made her very annoying in PvP. Magik was less remarkable but still strong, leaving Colossus as the only weak link (though he would become a staple PvP support later on).

    However the uniform selection here was weak - Wolverine and Cyclops had both gotten Age of Apocalypse uniforms about half a year ago, and these new ones were not much better. Cyclops reverting to Hero arguably made him less useful.

    Another sore spot was the character acquisition. 2 paywalls and 1 crystal-wall is nasty work at a time where the main content of each update was new characters (rather than uniforms and Tier-3/4s like it is today).

  • 10. Deadpool & Wolverine (10.2)

    10. Deadpool & Wolverine (10.2)

    New Characters
    New Uniforms
    New Tier-3 Advancements
    New Transcended Potential
    New Tier-4s

    Pretty hyped as the only MCU update of 2024 but not that hot on it to be honest. The only parts to really make a splash are Wolverine's new uniform and Psylocke's paywall. Deadpool is a bit useful in Otherworld but skippable, Cassandra was dead on arrival, and Yondu and Gwenpool are not mutants.

    Gets some more points if you consider Gwenpool to be mutant-adjacent but overall pretty standard update with a seasonal mid-month. Points also docked for the lack of Legendary Battle.

  • 9. Mercs for Money (5.6)

    9. Mercs for Money (5.6)

    New Characters
    New Uniforms
    New Tier-3 Advancements

    Mostly a Deadpool centric update but a very interesting one. Two of the new characters are not mutants but the funny clown and monkey will always have a place in our hearts (and were pretty good at Shadowland). Negasonic was a pain to get through Danger Room but was a very helpful def down striker until that mechanic was nerfed.

    The uniforms were amazing - Lady Deadpool was strong and turned her into female for the first time, and Cable and Apocalypse's were meta for ages. The only weak link here was Domino, who was overshadowed by Deadpool.

    This also added the first ever seasonal uniform update, which after some controversy ended up settling as 1 crystal-wall and 1 paywall. Both these uniforms were insane, especially [Holiday Party] Deadpool which was a World Boss cheat code until WBL was added.

    Overall a bit of a weird theme, but amazing character and uniform additions.

  • 8. Goblin Queen (9.7)

    8. Goblin Queen (9.7)

    New Characters
    New Uniforms
    New Tier-3 Advancements
    New Transcended Potential
    New Tier-4s

    This had all the potential to be an amazing update, as the first Epic Quest in a long time, but ended up being quite a sore disappointment. The Epic Quest seemed to both be prohibitively expensive while tailored to newer players, and the characters failed to have the relevance of previous Quests.

    The character choices are baffling: Havok was very strong but stuck at Lv.70, assumedly because they thought it would be weird to have him at Tier-4 when Cyclops was still at Tier-3. As a result they made Cyclops the Tier-4 but without a new uniform, so we end up with both of them being useless.

    The other characters are not that much better. Exodus is stuck at Tier-2, Hope is solid but only for one ABX day, and Madelyne is insanely expensive and also requires an Artifact (not provided in the EQ in any way) to be a fringe Timeline character. Compare this to previous deluxes like Psylocke and Jean and it's an insult - even weird ones like Molecule Man were panned at the time but ended up being more useful. Rachel's uniform is also alright, but she is expensive and also requires the Artifact only to be a niche OWB/AC character.

    Even the mid-month with Mystique's much-awaited uniform and Tier-4 was an L, as she seemed purposefully weak as a DPS due to her support value.

    Despite all this, a new Epic Quest is always a good thing for the material farming, and it's nice to get an update with more than 2 new characters even if they're not that useful.

  • 7. Phoenix Five (5.4)

    7. Phoenix Five (5.4)

    New Characters
    New Uniforms
    New Tier-3 Advancements

    A very nice focused update which added many useful characters and uniforms.

    Rachel, while hard to get, dealt high damage and had Mind Control for WBU, and Kid Omega has always been insane and is still useful currently for Shadowland. Kitty was sadly the weak link here.

    The uniforms were excellent, turning all the characters to villains, which increased versatility. Cyclops was useful as a main at the time with his new Tier-3 (and is still used as a Blast Villain support), Colossus gained his goated PvP support, Emma's and Magik's new skills had a solid PvE rotation, and Namor ruled Combat Villain for ages.

    Despite these additions it is just a character/uniform update at the end of the day, with nothing too remarkable. 4/5 of the Phoenix Five being crystal-or-paywall is also a tough pill to swallow.

  • 6. Dawn of X (6.8)

    6. Dawn of X (6.8)

    New Uniforms
    New Tier-3 Advancements
    New Transcended Potential

    A big mutant content update with a much-needed upgrade to the Rogue & Gambit duo. Kid Cable was also a vast improvement and became one of the best DPS characters in the game.

    Not all of this content was good, however - Nightcrawler continued to stink as they refuse to make him deal any meaningful damage, even with a 6th. X-23's anticipated Wolverine uniform changes her to Combat but is also piss-weak (as was the Logan Wolverine at the time). The Deadpool uniforms had amazing animations but were not anything special either.

  • 5. House of X (5.9)

    5. House of X (5.9)

    New Characters
    New Uniforms
    New Tier-3 Advancements
    New Transcended Potential

    Hard not to rate this update just based on the characters that were added. Both Professor and Mystique were annoying to obtain but very strong, with Mystique's general support being one of the first that supported everyone against any boss. The Sinister Minister had some interesting mechanics with summon-based damage increases but sadly did not live up to his potential.

    The uniforms were also amazing: Jean finally became Universal and returned to being meta for everything, Scarlet Witch was similar with her new Tier-3, and the other 3 were solid though not quite as remarkable.

    It was around this update that 6th skills started taking off, so it was nice to get 3 mutants (if you count Wanda) their 6ths in the one update.

  • 4. Age of Apocalypse (3.4)

    4. Age of Apocalypse (3.4)

    New Characters
    New Uniforms

    The 2nd ever big mutant update (Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch count as mutants) and the 2nd round of World Bosses. This did not disappoint with 4 new and unique World Boss stages, 4 insanely strong Native Tier-2s unlockable from those stages, and some crazy uniforms to go with them.

    Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were both amazing hybrid characters with an unprecedented 60-70% passive penetration. Cable had this too but was always more PvE oriented, playing (probably intentionally) as an amped-up Cyclops. Apocalypse was similarly PvE oriented, though he dropped off a bit faster than the others.

    The uniforms were a mixed bag - Beast, Wolverine and Rogue's were a mid, though the latter two were strong enough that just the stat boost was worth it for a lot of people. Cyclops was the standout, changing him to Villain and adding some nice residual damage for a 4dc5 combo.

    Overall kind of the ideal update - new challenging content and powerful characters to unlock for beating the content.

  • 3. Deadpool (4.3)

    3. Deadpool (4.3)

    New Characters
    New Uniforms
    New Tier-3 Advancements

    The moment the mutant floodgates opened people were clamouring for Deadpool, and this well-timed unofficial Deadpool 2 tie-in was the best way to do it. Featuring an Epic Quest that safely copied the X-Men template the previous year, with actually well-written dialogue, the demands were met more than sufficiently.

    Both Domino and Fantomex were serviceable in Shadowland, which was what people were looking for at the time, and Psylocke and Stryfe made big waves in PvE as the deluxe unlocks. As EQ protagonist, Deadpool followed the pattern set by Strange and Wolverine, being similarly dominant in all modes.

    The extra farming of mutant materials was also a big help, as there would only be more and more uses for the materials in the future.

  • 2. Destiny of X (8.6)

    2. Destiny of X (8.6)

    New Characters
    New Uniforms
    New Tier-3 Advancements
    New Transcended Potential
    New Tier-4s

    This update ended a massive drought of main mutant updates - Dawn of X (6.8) had been the previous one, making the gap significantly over a year. It did this in rather grand fashion with some of the most long-lasting meta characters all crammed into the one update.

    Jean alone would have put this update into the top 10 - her uniform was immediately the best thing in the game and was the top in both PvE and PvP for around a year. Even today it still has its place as a versatile PvE uniform, though not meta for anything other than GBR.

    In addition to Jean, this also added Polaris, who will likely never be irrelevant due to her crazy double lead+support for Mutants, and Magneto's Winter uniform, which would be meta all the way until Zombie Strange in update 10.4.

    While a high number of uniforms is nice, they were sadly not all good - Beast sucked as usual, Angel leaned PvP but was not good enough to crack Timeline viability, and Magik was a massive flop for a paywall uniform. Cyclops' was pretty good with great animations, but once again reverted him to Hero (from Phoenix Five) which makes him eligible for less content. It doesn't help that Magneto was added this update, so a Blast Villain support was in demand.

    There was also a very nice cinematic sneak peek to tease this update. Jean!!

  • 1. Rise of the X-Men (3.1)

    1. Rise of the X-Men (3.1)

    New Characters
    New Uniforms

    Unsurprisingly the top pick is the OG X-Men update and Epic Quest. This update did absolutely everything right after a disappointing Anniversary GOTG2 update - character choices, models, animations, new Epic Quest format, all peak. The uniforms are an odd one but we can ignore those.

    All the characters except Beast were very strong for the time. The new infinite beam mechanic for Cyclops and Storm, and buff removal with Rogue, made easy work of Shadowland, with all 3 of them being viable World Boss clears too.

    Then we get to the main characters - Wolverine's healing was so far above anything else in the game at the time that Timeline Battles would often last the full 5 minutes with two Wolverines slashing at each other. Magneto's DPS was immense and Jean was simply the best at everything, as the most expensive character in the game at the time. 6600 Crystals was a lot to swallow at first, but the value of the characters and Deluxe Pack were also quite obvious even at this early point.

    Add all this on to the fact that X-Men characters were strictly off-limits in games up to this point. The first sneak peek for this update showed a gene mutating and players were so sure mutants were off the table that they convinced themselves it was a symbiote update. To go from no expectation of ever seeing mutants in the game to one of the best updates ever in the span of a couple of weeks - you just had to be there.

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