Character rankings 10/14 edition: the results!

Unknown

mischiefmaker wrote:

Red Panda is correct -- #1 is at the top of the chart, #48 (Yelena) is at the bottom.

Apologies for the delay getting today's edition out; I had too many things going on and forgot to put the post up, but it's there now. Almost halfway done!

Thanks for the clarification!

OzarkBoatswain

Beast is way high on this list. I had him at #34 or so, right beside Spider-man as worst 3* character.

Unknown

Pwuz_ wrote:

ecir2002 wrote:

Ah that would make sense. Curious who put the blonde widow first then haha.

I'm not 100% sure on that reading of this chart. I'm sure we are going to see by the end, but I think that may be the #1 ranked character with a single vote for #48.

The characters are horizontal, not vertical.

The vote at the very bottom is 1 person voting Yelena as the #1 character.

Just an obvious troll is all.

Ozark Boatswain wrote:

Beast is way high on this list. I had him at #34 or so, right beside Spider-man as worst 3* character.

At first glance, I was pretty surprised how high Beast's placement was too. But, to be honest, after watching the rankings unfold, I am more surprised he isn't higher.

Think about it;
We still have Iron Man, Psylocke, She Hulk, Spider Man and Lazy Storm that have not yet been announced.

That's a lot of 3 star garbage to wade through before we get to the useful characters.

I wouldn't place Beast above all of them, but definitely Lazy Storm and Iron Man, at the very least.

Some people might not agree with Iron man, because he is a good AP factory. But when you're using an entire team slot just for his yellow at level 1, that means there's something wrong with the character...

Unknown

When it comes down to it, Beast has 0 really usable and useful abilities. Iron Man 40 has 1. Lazy storm's powers are all useful (though overshadowed by better powers), to fill one or two gaps in your color coverage.

I'm guessing IW's rise corresponds with top players actually starting to fully cover her in anticipation of 4* buffs. I wonder how useful the bubble popping is in practice.

Pwuz_

onimus wrote:

At first glance, I was pretty surprised how high Beast's placement was too. But, to be honest, after watching the rankings unfold, I am more surprised he isn't higher.

Think about it;
We still have Iron Man, Psylocke, She Hulk, Spider Man and Lazy Storm that have not yet been announced.

That's a lot of 3 star garbage to wade through before we get to the useful characters.

Psylocke? Really? I mean I know she isn't top tier, but 2/3 skills are pretty useful. She's not quite as good as Punisher, but I can't think of anyone I placed higher than Psylocke that I ranked lower than Punisher. Her Blue is circumstantial at best, but when it goes off (especially in goon fights) it often means at least one character is looking down the barrel of a lot of AP. I haven't had too many chances to use her against the goons who generate multiple AP, but the Maggia Boss ALWAYS gives me Black AP.

vudu3

mischiefmaker wrote:

31. Daken, +1
Recommended build: 5/4/4. You want as much damage as you can get on the strike tile, so 5 purple, and it's pretty rare to have fewer than 7 blue tiles on board, so getting the extra punch on his blue at L4 is virtually free. 5/3/5 is plenty playable too, though I prefer the healing stability of L4 black, and having to make 4 strike tiles to get maximum usage out of L5 blue means you won't often be getting the full effect. 5/5/3 isn't bad either, if you're really paranoid about healing.

I strongly disagree with this build. The increase in strike tile strength from 3 to 5 is minimal and unlike his 3* counterpart you don't get the second one at 5 covers. I think 3/5/5 is the best build because it maximizes his regen and his kick-to-the-teeth blue.

Unknown

Pwuz_ wrote:

onimus wrote:

At first glance, I was pretty surprised how high Beast's placement was too. But, to be honest, after watching the rankings unfold, I am more surprised he isn't higher.

Think about it;
We still have Iron Man, Psylocke, She Hulk, Spider Man and Lazy Storm that have not yet been announced.

That's a lot of 3 star garbage to wade through before we get to the useful characters.

Psylocke? Really? I mean I know she isn't top tier, but 2/3 skills are pretty useful. She's not quite as good as Punisher, but I can't think of anyone I placed higher than Psylocke that I ranked lower than Punisher. Her Blue is circumstantial at best, but when it goes off (especially in goon fights) it often means at least one character is looking down the barrel of a lot of AP. I haven't had too many chances to use her against the goons who generate multiple AP, but the Maggia Boss ALWAYS gives me Black AP.

Well, when you see psylocke in pvp, does she scare you? I know she doesn't scare me.

If i ever saw a team with Psylocke on it, I'd attack. Unfortunately, you never see her in pvp. Because she's bad.

She does very little damage, it is all single target damage, she is low health, her red and black both require build up and her blue is useless.

I don't see any reason to ever use get.

Ever.

To me she doesn't even compare to Punisher. He has a more spammable black that hits the entire enemy team. He has a low cost green that clears the board and creates strike tiles to make his aoe black even stronger and he has a cheap execute in his red.

Psylocke is 3 star garbage. Maybe not as garbage as she hulk or storm or beast. But she is definitely garbage.

I'm more scared of Ares than I am of Psylocke.

CrookedKnight

vudu3 wrote:

mischiefmaker wrote:

31. Daken, +1
Recommended build: 5/4/4. You want as much damage as you can get on the strike tile, so 5 purple, and it's pretty rare to have fewer than 7 blue tiles on board, so getting the extra punch on his blue at L4 is virtually free. 5/3/5 is plenty playable too, though I prefer the healing stability of L4 black, and having to make 4 strike tiles to get maximum usage out of L5 blue means you won't often be getting the full effect. 5/5/3 isn't bad either, if you're really paranoid about healing.

I strongly disagree with this build. The increase in strike tile strength from 3 to 5 is minimal and unlike his 3* counterpart you don't get the second one at 5 covers. I think 3/5/5 is the best build because it maximizes his regen and his kick-to-the-teeth blue.

Agreed. The difference in strike tile strength from 3 to 5 is tiny unless he's boosted, which is very rare, while the fifth level of Chemical Reaction makes it a much much better knockout blow.

Unknown

onimus wrote:

Well, when you see psylocke in pvp, does she scare you? I know she doesn't scare me.

If i ever saw a team with psylocke on it, I'd attack. Unfortunately, you never see her in pvp. Because she's bad.

She does very little damage, it is so single target damage, she is low health, her red and black both require build up and her blue is useless.

I don't see any reason to ever use get.

Ever.

To me she doesn't even compare to punisher. He has a more Spammable black that hits the entire enemy team. He has a low cost heh that clears the boats and creates strike tiles to make his aoe black even stronger and he gas a cheap execute in his red.

Psylocke is 3 star garbage. Maybe not as garbage as she hulk or storm or beast. But she is definitely garbage.

I'm more scared of ares than I am of psylocke.

You know who else doesn't scare me in PvP? Punisher. Torch. Mags. Deadpool. LCap. Quite a few 3*s, honestly. With that in mind, think of Betsy as more of a utility character. She's a quick and easy way to make strike and attack tiles (and, FWIW, I think Psi-Katana is extremely underrated). She's got decent health, her skills all hurt at least a reasonable amount, and she's consistent. She absolutely compares to punisher. Psi-Katana is a full turn faster than Molotov, and drops a very meaty attack tile right away - the cocktail needs to keep a countdown tile around to drop even one lousy attack tile. Given the prevalence of Patch and Daken, that fact alone - "cheapest, fastest strike tile in the biz" - is enough to make her worth thinking about. Betsy's red drops one 192 strike tile and does over a thousand damage; Punisher's green, for the same AP, might do a few hundred, and drops three strike tiles for a total of 312. 100 is a pretty significant difference, but keep in mind that multiple casts of Judgment stand to potentially nuke strike tiles; multiple casts of Psychic Knife just make the skill cheaper and faster. Added bonus: Psychic Knife drops strike tiles and is red. Judgment is green. Sentry lurves big strike tiles, but he needs his green to use them. Just sayin'.

Betsy ain't a top tier hero, but she's not much worse than Punisher. The issue in my eyes is mainly that punisher is overrated. They're both solid characters (especially when you're transitioning to 3* land), and yeah, Punisher is better. But Betsy is definitely not garbage. She's a solid utility that teams well with a lot of characters due to her strong and cheap black and red.

Unknown

Budget Player Cadet wrote:

onimus wrote:

Well, when you see psylocke in pvp, does she scare you? I know she doesn't scare me.

If i ever saw a team with psylocke on it, I'd attack. Unfortunately, you never see her in pvp. Because she's bad.

She does very little damage, it is so single target damage, she is low health, her red and black both require build up and her blue is useless.

I don't see any reason to ever use get.

Ever.

To me she doesn't even compare to punisher. He has a more Spammable black that hits the entire enemy team. He has a low cost heh that clears the boats and creates strike tiles to make his aoe black even stronger and he gas a cheap execute in his red.

Psylocke is 3 star garbage. Maybe not as garbage as she hulk or storm or beast. But she is definitely garbage.

I'm more scared of ares than I am of psylocke.

You know who else doesn't scare me in PvP? Punisher. Torch. Mags. Deadpool. LCap. Quite a few 3*s, honestly. With that in mind, think of Betsy as more of a utility character. She's a quick and easy way to make strike and attack tiles (and, FWIW, I think Psi-Katana is extremely underrated). She's got decent health, her skills all hurt at least a reasonable amount, and she's consistent. She absolutely compares to punisher. Psi-Katana is a full turn faster than Molotov, and drops a very meaty attack tile right away - the cocktail needs to keep a countdown tile around to drop even one lousy attack tile. Given the prevalence of Patch and Daken, that fact alone - "cheapest, fastest strike tile in the biz" - is enough to make her worth thinking about. Betsy's red drops one 192 strike tile and does over a thousand damage; Punisher's green, for the same AP, might do a few hundred, and drops three strike tiles for a total of 312. 100 is a pretty significant difference, but keep in mind that multiple casts of Judgment stand to potentially nuke strike tiles; multiple casts of Psychic Knife just make the skill cheaper and faster. Added bonus: Psychic Knife drops strike tiles and is red. Judgment is green. Sentry lurves big strike tiles, but he needs his green to use them. Just sayin'.

Betsy ain't a top tier hero, but she's not much worse than Punisher. The issue in my eyes is mainly that punisher is overrated. They're both solid characters (especially when you're transitioning to 3* land), and yeah, Punisher is better. But Betsy is definitely not garbage. She's a solid utility that teams well with a lot of characters due to her strong and cheap black and red.

I don't know how you define 'scare.'

What I meant is that, if they get a lucky cascade or two, I lose. That's my definition of being scared of a character in PVP.

And Mags, Deadpool, LCap and many other 3 stars can win if they get a lucky cascade or two.

Psylocke and Punisher really can't.

I agree that Punisher is wildly overrated. I had him pretty low on my list (I kind of wish I kept a record of my list for reference in these situations) but that doesn't make Psylocke any better. If anything, that just means she is is even worse than she is perceived.

I think just about everyone agrees that Psylocke is a weaker version of Punisher.
Now, the degree to which she is weaker is up for debate. Is it significantly weaker? Marginally weaker? That's based on who you're asking. But I don't think many people, if any at all, ranked Psylocke above Punisher.

So if Punisher is overrated, what does that say about Psylocke.

I'll put it this way.

Start the match and give Psylocke 10 in every AP, you'd still win 99 times out of 100.

You can't say that about too many characters.

Her abilities are all good utility, but they don't actually kill anything. Especially under AI control. I just find her underwhelming in every possible way.

At least Punisher can luck into an instakill with his red haha.

Unknown

is it safe to assume
#1 sentry
#2 Fat thor
#3 Hood ?

Unknown

AdrianoD wrote:

is it safe to assume
#1 sentry
#2 Fat thor
#3 Hood ?

Um...X-force would like a word with you.

Unknown

AdrianoD wrote:

is it safe to assume
#1 sentry
#2 Fat thor
#3 Hood ?

It will likely be

Xforce
Sentry
Nick Fury
Fat Thor

Isay_Isay

18-25 should be called RIP Prologue Healing

mischiefmaker

AdrianoD wrote:

is it safe to assume
#1 sentry
#2 Fat thor
#3 Hood ?

I don't want to give it away just yet, but if you really want to know...

...you'll find out in just 3 days!

#18-25 are up today. I also updated the recommended build for 2* Daken; thanks to the enlightening comments by vudu3 and CrookedKnight!

Unknown

mischiefmaker wrote:

I don't want to give it away just yet, but if you really want to know...

...you'll find out in just 3 days!

Unknown

mischiefmaker wrote:

19. Black Widow (original), -9

So what's the problem? The issue now is health. She's never been too sturdy, but the additional gap in levels brought on by the shift means that 3* teams can easily dispatch her on defense before she can get off Aggressive Recon, and on offense she doesn't last long thanks to the combination of tanking multiple colors, true healing, and increased match damage.

She's still a worthwhile and useful addition to your roster, and the only 2* who holds up in the 3* range, but she's not the mainstay she used to be -- just look at how many threads there used to be about how OP she was, and how many there are now.

I fondly remember the days of laying down Punisher strike tiles and stealing/healing/espionaging my way through everyone. The catch 22 now, particularly in 3* land, is if you arrange your team so she double dips on strike tiles she won't last long, but if you hide her behind other 3*s, it renders espionage useless.

Unknown

mischiefmaker wrote:

18. Black Widow (grey suit), +1
She's a strong character for PvE, since goons don't do any damage to her while she's building up her AP...

Wait, what? Am I missing something?

Killinstinct

How is Spideys sustainability medium. Apart from everyone with true healing he definitely makes sure your team lasts way longer.

Unknown

Aw maaaaan. I did this whole big writeup about why GSBW has become completely overshadowed, and it didn't make the cut.