How do you shield hop properly?

wymtime

With season 4 having such high scores I am having to try and shield hop in order to get in the top 25 let alone top 10 like I used to. It is actually kind of fun. I feel like I am playing russian roulete with my HP and placement. I get nervouse and excited at the same time. If I try and go to far I get attaked and loose 100+ points and need to grind back up. The shield hop even feels like a time trial so it is like a game within the game. My questions are these:
1) when you line up 3 opponents to start what point totals are you looking for? 25+ 30+ 40+
2) how many points are you looking to jump in 1 hop?
3) How many matches are you trying to finish in 1 hop?
4) What boosts do you use?
5) any additional advice?

HairyDave

Good question! And I'm not going to answer because I'm sure I'm doing it poorly

Unknown

I'm not an expert shield hopper and have decided to stop doing it, but here are my answers (for what they're worth)

1) 25+, if you have a high score, the chances of you finding high points decreases and even skipping a lot doesn't guarantee you'll see the higher folks due to the messed up MMR.
2) Depends on how far away from where I'm looking to place. I'm pretty risk averse, so I generally didn't aim for more than 50.
3) I started out trying to get 2-3 in, and ended only trying to get 1 in. Again, risk averse here.
4) Depends on who you're using, but I typically used the AP boosts so I could get my attacks off quicker.
5) Try to allow enough time after shielding before breaking the shield to help ensure that you have disappeared off everyone's queue. Keep in mind that there's no guarantee as I had an 8 hour shield once and not too long before it expired I got hit, but waiting helps increase your chances. Speed is obviously the key in shield hopping.

Good luck!

vudu3

I generally have to start hopping between 900 and 1,000 points. Anything below that and you're just wasting HP. I generally look for two quick fights worth at least 30 points. I will spend a couple hundred ISO skipping low point matches. If possible I try to find a couple X-Men which tend to be worth 40+ points.

The most important thing when shield hopping is to minimize the time you spend unshielded. You don't need to worry about a good defensive team because you're going to shield immediately after. Lots of people use Sentry and either Daken or Hood to shield hop because you can finish a game in less than a minute. Paired with Hood (with 5 in black) you want to boost 3x red/yellow, 3x green/black and 3x all AP. You need one green match, one yellow match and one black match and you're done. Try to get the green match first or second so you can set off World Rupture a turn early. Match yellow or black third. Use Sacrifice and then Intimidation (with the highest HP opponent in front) and you've most likely won the match. You might be left with one or two very low-health characters but the match is basically over. Heal, boost again, and jump into the next match. Repeat if needed until you shield again.

If you're using Daken instead of Hood you can go without boosts but you'll lose some speed. You definitely don't need green AP boosts because you need those green matches to lay down Daken's strike tiles. If you plan to use Sentry's sacrifice then you can boost you yellow/red and possibly all AP to speed along the process.

You obviously don't have to use Sentry and Daken/Hood. Any fast team will work. You probably want to avoid using characters like Cap who takes a while to get going. If you're using Thor or Panther you're going to want to boost to speed things along.

Boost as much as you need to reduce the number of tile matches you need to make. Generally AP boosts are going to be more effective than match damage boosts. That said, extra match damage certainly doesn't hurt so if you have open boost slots available there's no harm in using them. Keep in mind that most boosts can be purchased with ISO--the two AP combo boosts are 5 for 200 ISO--but some cost HP. The +1 to all AP boosts cost 100 HP for 10 of them. I generally don't use match damage boosts very often so I'm not sure if any of these cost HP.

Six more pieces of advice--

1. You want to slow down anyone attacking you while you're unshielded. You can do this by using at least one but preferably two high-health characters. The meat shields will slow down any attackers you have which may mean the difference between the battle ending a few seconds before you shield and a few seconds after you shield. However, don't do this at the expense of your own attack speed. For example, Hulk will slow down anyone attacking you but he's also going to be dead weight on your attack team.

2. Try not to shield hop with 8, 6 or 3 hours to go in the event. This is when everyone else is doing it too which means you're most likely to be attacked. If you shield hop during "off times" you may have to spend more on shields but you're less likely to be attacked while unshielded.

3. After you reshield make sure you stay shielded for a while so anyone who queued you up will attack you while you're protected.

4. Don't wait until you're ready to attack to queue up high-point targets. You can only find someone while they're unshielded so if you want until you're ready to attack you're limited to those people who are unshielded at that moment. If possible, try to find opponents several times throughout your shield to queue up 40+ point matches. You'll spend more ISO doing this but it's a better use of your HP.

5. After you shield, immediately check your rank or your alliance's rank. This forces your device to contact the MPQ servers which lets it know you're shielded. If you don't do this it might take a few seconds or even a few minutes to sync up in which time you may still be attacked for a point loss. This used to happen to me all the time and it was infuriating but since I started checking my rank I haven't be attacked for a point loss once while shielded.

6. Don't forget that shields cost HP. If you're a F2P player then you need to make sure you're not spending more on shields than you can make in a PVP event. Assuming you score at least 800 points, rank in the top 10, and you're in a top 250 alliance you'll earn 250 HP each event. If you're in a top 50 alliance you'll get an additional 50 HP; if your personal rank is only top 50 you'll get 50 HP less. Also keep in mind that you need HP to buy roster slots. You can generally fund these using HP from PVE events but if you're still building up your team you may need more HP than you can get from PVE.

wymtime

vudu3 wrote:

I generally have to start hopping between 900 and 1,000 points. Anything below that and you're just wasting HP. I generally look for two quick fights worth at least 30 points. I will spend a couple hundred ISO skipping low point matches. If possible I try to find a couple X-Men which tend to be worth 40+ points.

The most important thing when shield hopping is to minimize the time you spend unshielded. You don't need to worry about a good defensive team because you're going to shield immediately after. Lots of people use Sentry and either Daken or Hood to shield hop because you can finish a game in less than a minute. Paired with Hood (with 5 in black) you want to boost 3x red/yellow, 3x green/black and 3x all AP. You need one green match, one yellow match and one black match and you're done. Try to get the green match first or second so you can set off World Rupture a turn early. Match yellow or black third. Use Sacrifice and then Intimidation (with the highest HP opponent in front) and you've most likely won the match. You might be left with one or two very low-health characters but the match is basically over. Heal, boost again, and jump into the next match. Repeat if needed until you shield again.

If you're using Daken instead of Hood you can go without boosts but you'll lose some speed. You definitely don't need green AP boosts because you need those green matches to lay down Daken's strike tiles. If you plan to use Sentry's sacrifice then you can boost you yellow/red and possibly all AP to speed along the process.

You obviously don't have to use Sentry and Daken/Hood. Any fast team will work. You probably want to avoid using characters like Cap who takes a while to get going. If you're using Thor or Panther you're going to want to boost to speed things along.

Boost as much as you need to reduce the number of tile matches you need to make. Generally AP boosts are going to be more effective than match damage boosts. That said, extra match damage certainly doesn't hurt so if you have open boost slots available there's no harm in using them. Keep in mind that most boosts can be purchased with ISO--the two AP combo boosts are 5 for 200 ISO--but some cost HP. The +1 to all AP boosts cost 100 HP for 10 of them. I generally don't use match damage boosts very often so I'm not sure if any of these cost HP.

Six more pieces of advice--

1. You want to slow down anyone attacking you while you're unshielded. You can do this by using at least one but preferably two high-health characters. The meat shields will slow down any attackers you have which may mean the difference between the battle ending a few seconds before you shield and a few seconds after you shield. However, don't do this at the expense of your own attack speed. For example, Hulk will slow down anyone attacking you but he's also going to be dead weight on your attack team.

2. Try not to shield hop with 8, 6 or 3 hours to go in the event. This is when everyone else is doing it too which means you're most likely to be attacked. If you shield hop during "off times" you may have to spend more on shields but you're less likely to be attacked while unshielded.

3. After you reshield make sure you stay shielded for a while so anyone who queued you up will attack you while you're protected.

4. Don't wait until you're ready to attack to queue up high-point targets. You can only find someone while they're unshielded so if you want until you're ready to attack you're limited to those people who are unshielded at that moment. If possible, try to find opponents several times throughout your shield to queue up 40+ point matches. You'll spend more ISO doing this but it's a better use of your HP.

5. After you shield, immediately check your rank or your alliance's rank. This forces your device to contact the MPQ servers which lets it know you're shielded. If you don't do this it might take a few seconds or even a few minutes to sync up in which time you may still be attacked for a point loss. This used to happen to me all the time and it was infuriating but since I started checking my rank I haven't be attacked for a point loss once while shielded.

6. Don't forget that shields cost HP. If you're a F2P player then you need to make sure you're not spending more on shields than you can make in a PVP event. Assuming you score at least 800 points, rank in the top 10, and you're in a top 250 alliance you'll earn 250 HP each event. If you're in a top 50 alliance you'll get an additional 50 HP; if your personal rank is only top 50 you'll get 50 HP less. Also keep in mind that you need HP to buy roster slots. You can generally fund these using HP from PVE events but if you're still building up your team you may need more HP than you can get from PVE.

Thanks for the great advice Vudu. I am looking to get from 750 ish to 900 so I can get back into top 5-10 placement for the extra cover and HP. I don't know if I will be aiming for the X-men yet as I only have 2 maxed 3*. I will be 1 cover short of Sentry after this PVP if I get top 25 so the HP is worth the cost if I can hop correctly. Thank you again for the advice.

wymtime

vudu3 wrote:

I generally have to start hopping between 900 and 1,000 points. Anything below that and you're just wasting HP. I generally look for two quick fights worth at least 30 points. I will spend a couple hundred ISO skipping low point matches. If possible I try to find a couple X-Men which tend to be worth 40+ points.

The most important thing when shield hopping is to minimize the time you spend unshielded. You don't need to worry about a good defensive team because you're going to shield immediately after. Lots of people use Sentry and either Daken or Hood to shield hop because you can finish a game in less than a minute. Paired with Hood (with 5 in black) you want to boost 3x red/yellow, 3x green/black and 3x all AP. You need one green match, one yellow match and one black match and you're done. Try to get the green match first or second so you can set off World Rupture a turn early. Match yellow or black third. Use Sacrifice and then Intimidation (with the highest HP opponent in front) and you've most likely won the match. You might be left with one or two very low-health characters but the match is basically over. Heal, boost again, and jump into the next match. Repeat if needed until you shield again.

If you're using Daken instead of Hood you can go without boosts but you'll lose some speed. You definitely don't need green AP boosts because you need those green matches to lay down Daken's strike tiles. If you plan to use Sentry's sacrifice then you can boost you yellow/red and possibly all AP to speed along the process.

You obviously don't have to use Sentry and Daken/Hood. Any fast team will work. You probably want to avoid using characters like Cap who takes a while to get going. If you're using Thor or Panther you're going to want to boost to speed things along.

Boost as much as you need to reduce the number of tile matches you need to make. Generally AP boosts are going to be more effective than match damage boosts. That said, extra match damage certainly doesn't hurt so if you have open boost slots available there's no harm in using them. Keep in mind that most boosts can be purchased with ISO--the two AP combo boosts are 5 for 200 ISO--but some cost HP. The +1 to all AP boosts cost 100 HP for 10 of them. I generally don't use match damage boosts very often so I'm not sure if any of these cost HP.

Six more pieces of advice--

1. You want to slow down anyone attacking you while you're unshielded. You can do this by using at least one but preferably two high-health characters. The meat shields will slow down any attackers you have which may mean the difference between the battle ending a few seconds before you shield and a few seconds after you shield. However, don't do this at the expense of your own attack speed. For example, Hulk will slow down anyone attacking you but he's also going to be dead weight on your attack team.

2. Try not to shield hop with 8, 6 or 3 hours to go in the event. This is when everyone else is doing it too which means you're most likely to be attacked. If you shield hop during "off times" you may have to spend more on shields but you're less likely to be attacked while unshielded.

3. After you reshield make sure you stay shielded for a while so anyone who queued you up will attack you while you're protected.

4. Don't wait until you're ready to attack to queue up high-point targets. You can only find someone while they're unshielded so if you want until you're ready to attack you're limited to those people who are unshielded at that moment. If possible, try to find opponents several times throughout your shield to queue up 40+ point matches. You'll spend more ISO doing this but it's a better use of your HP.

5. After you shield, immediately check your rank or your alliance's rank. This forces your device to contact the MPQ servers which lets it know you're shielded. If you don't do this it might take a few seconds or even a few minutes to sync up in which time you may still be attacked for a point loss. This used to happen to me all the time and it was infuriating but since I started checking my rank I haven't be attacked for a point loss once while shielded.

6. Don't forget that shields cost HP. If you're a F2P player then you need to make sure you're not spending more on shields than you can make in a PVP event. Assuming you score at least 800 points, rank in the top 10, and you're in a top 250 alliance you'll earn 250 HP each event. If you're in a top 50 alliance you'll get an additional 50 HP; if your personal rank is only top 50 you'll get 50 HP less. Also keep in mind that you need HP to buy roster slots. You can generally fund these using HP from PVE events but if you're still building up your team you may need more HP than you can get from PVE.

Just trying to give Vudu some more love as I achieved top 10 in the last starfall event and just outside the top 10 the previous event with VUDU's advice. I would add a couple of things.

1) if you are boosting (i was using Sentry) I could hit 4 matches preety easily and could have probably done 5 before I got attacked.
2) I used 2 shield hops to better my placement. I grinded up as high as I could and used a 3 hour shield. I then hit 4 matches without boost hit another 3 hour shield then with about 1 and 1/2 hours left I hopped 1 final time with boosts for 4 matches. Because I was top 10 I still came out ahead with 25 HP.

My big advice is to let anyone who is not shield hopping that shield hopping is now a major part of PVP. If you are a 2* team that is struggleing to reach top 25 you will need to use 1 shield hop. If you are struggleing to hit top 10 you might need to hop twice. The good news is that you can still earn HP while hopping which can earn you more rewards. I would also look at it this way for someone struggleing to hit top 25. If you can hit 800 points with 2 shield hops and get top 25 placement it is worth the 25 HP cost. If you buy the 3* cover out right then it would cost you 1250. This is why hopping is so prominate becuase it is cheepter to hop than to buy covers.

If anyone has any other advices please post here as I got some great advise and am now gaining better rewards.

over_clocked

Great write-up, vudu.
Some tidbits though:
Do not take AP boosts against the Hood ever, unless you need the AP for the blitz attack on him, but still, with an unlucky board, Hood will just leech the AP off you. I had more defensive wins with Hood than with anyone else.
Hulk may be slow, but he is still suitable for shieldhops along with Patch. Just don't fight other Hulk teams with it, and definitely not cStorm teams unless you down cStorm with Berserker Rage. The idea is to have Hulk tank for Patch and throw out Berserker, then make a Hulk match, and watch Anger fly. The combo can be quite faster than Patchneto.
Sentry is a bad idea against cStorm as well (enemy Hulk is okay because WR + Sacrifice usually downs the Hulk before any Anger tiles can proc). Then again, you are lucky to run into any cStorms when you can afford to field Sentry. With the BP yellow buff, BP/Sentry will probably be the next flavour of the month combo. They only share yellow but BP's yellow is functionally the same without self-damage, and he also possesses a high multiplier for that EAP/TU thingy which he needs for the yellow to be deadlier. They will have 3 terrific AoE abilities and a ton of health to mow through while still speedy on offense.

Unknown

nice nice write up - kudos. I' mtrying to get patch now, so I'll put it to use...
- Unreall

Unknown

I hate the idea of spending HP on shields, but this strategy has tempted me. That and losing points as fast as I can earn them

Unknown

GreyGore wrote:

I hate the idea of spending HP on shields, but this strategy has tempted me. That and losing points as fast as I can earn them

Hate the idea of spending HP on shields? Not going to get very far with your placements then...

vudu3

GreyGore wrote:

I hate the idea of spending HP on shields, but this strategy has tempted me. That and losing points as fast as I can earn them

I was right there with you when I was still building my roster. Every single HP I earned went towards new roster slots. But eventually you start earning HP faster than you can spend it on roster slots alone. I currently have 5,000 HP banked and none of it was purchased with cash money. I'm against outright purchasing covers so there's really nothing to spend HP on except shields and certain boosts. Besides, if you spend a couple hundred HP on shields and it gets you an additional 3* cover you wouldn't have obtained otherwise it's certainly cheaper than spending 1,250 HP to purchase it.

wymtime

vudu3 wrote:

GreyGore wrote:

I hate the idea of spending HP on shields, but this strategy has tempted me. That and losing points as fast as I can earn them

I was right there with you when I was still building my roster. Every single HP I earned went towards new roster slots. But eventually you start earning HP faster than you can spend it on roster slots alone. I currently have 5,000 HP banked and none of it was purchased with cash money. I'm against outright purchasing covers so there's really nothing to spend HP on except shields and certain boosts. Besides, if you spend a couple hundred HP on shields and it gets you an additional 3* cover you wouldn't have obtained otherwise it's certainly cheaper than spending 1,250 HP to purchase it.

I 100% agree. You can spend 25-50 HP to win the extra cover compared to spending 1250.

VUDU I see you are in my Cage Match bracket, I will try and keep up!!!

Unknown

Question: is there a difference between breaking your shield and letting it expire before attacking? The reason I ask is, every time I break shield I get mobbed very quickly whereas the times I let shield expire, win a couple fights, then re shield I seem to achieve better results as the attacks come seemingly slower.

If there is some sort of a penalty to breaking shield vs expiring it, it'd be useful to know.

wymtime

camichan wrote:

Question: is there a difference between breaking your shield and letting it expire before attacking? The reason I ask is, every time I break shield I get mobbed very quickly whereas the times I let shield expire, win a couple fights, then re shield I seem to achieve better results as the attacks come seemingly slower.

If there is some sort of a penalty to breaking shield vs expiring it, it'd be useful to know.

There really is no difference between breaking a shield and having it expire. You are probably breaking your shield during a peak time where a lot of players are trying to jump up at the same time. How much you get hit depends on how high of a score you have and what your team looks like. If you are above 800 in the last 3 hours you will only be able to get 2-3 matches in with boosts. After that you will probably loose more than you win.