** Ares (Dark Avengers) **

Unknown

Arclight wrote:

Celerity wrote:

5 in green is pointless as it drains your AP anyway, so the reduced cost won't help much. The 5th point in red increases its threshold to 30% instead of 25%, which sounds pretty important to me, since this synergy is the main appeal to playing him. I'm thinking 3/5/5 or 4/5/4 depending on how often I end up using the green.

IMO 4/5/4 is a bad build. There is neither an advantage of 4 green nor 4 yellow. As posted above, with 5Y the countdown drops to 2 rounds. 3/4G makes only a difference in the outcoming damage, cost stays the same. And as you said, the green will be consumed, no matter if you start it with 5 or 6 greens. The only downside I see is the additional green ap the enemy gets - which also depends if there will be two or three given at a cost of five.

I don't see why it would be a bad build. 4 in green and yellow increases the damage of both, although for yellow it only increases the countdown damage, which I admit is kind of suspect if you're operating with a 3 turn countdown tile. The choice basically comes down to how important the extra 25% damage on green is to you. It's a very high damage skill, that bonus is not irrelevant.

eidehua

jozier wrote:

I see your guys' point. I think I'll go 3/5/5 then. I think I was more influenced by the fact that Green has been his rarest cover so far and was wondering if the Devs were hinting at going that route.

Hasn't the cover order been switching up in the sub brackets?
Alaska is G>R>Y, I believe florida was R>Y>G, and savage lands is Y>G>R

Unknown

eidehua wrote:

jozier wrote:

I see your guys' point. I think I'll go 3/5/5 then. I think I was more influenced by the fact that Green has been his rarest cover so far and was wondering if the Devs were hinting at going that route.

Hasn't the cover order been switching up in the sub brackets?
Alaska is G>R>Y, I believe florida was R>Y>G, and savage lands is Y>G>R

Right, but yellow is the most common cover (there's a progression reward for it). So Red and Green are equally rare to an extent, but yellow is not.

Unknown

I just got my 2nd yellow Ares from the progression reward so the level 3 upgrade was shown. The yellow level 3 upgrade reads as follows:

Increases Countdown tile healing to 82.

Seems kinda lame for a whole level but whatever. I'm now at 1/0/2 and plan to try and get one cover per sub match in The Hunt. I'll probably sit at 3/3/3 until the last possible moment.

Unknown

Arclight wrote:

_fulu_ wrote:

After playing with Ares, I've decided he earns a spot on my roster. Punisher + Ares = 2 aoe attacks for lowish ap. Strike tiles before, then savage the other team. Hood or OBW in third spot to steal ap.

With shields in the game now I don't care about retaliations like I used to, but once its time for defense, throw out the all health all stars of hulk, im40 and rags. Lala.

Did you HP-train him up?

Nothing that exciting. Just tested each skill's function against baby hammer soldiers.

Unknown

Let me share my wisdom

Yellow - at 5 level is a must - Reduces Countdown to 2 - faster heal , faster damage, no brainer

Green - lets read his skill description - at level 5 : MINIMUM Green AP cost reduced to 5. So he will deal more damage when he will have 6AP then when he will have 5AP. At 30green ap he will deal maximum damage and at 5green ap at level 5 (or 6ap at level 3) he will deal minimum damage. So I propose to set his green level at Level 4 - more damage for green ap. When we match 2x3ap green and we will have green level at 5 we still deplete our 6ap so I don't see reason why to put green at level 5

Red - well no choice but I also think that level 4 is optimum. Difference between 4 and 5
Level 4: 85 damage or 170 if Ares is below 25% of max health.
Level 5: 85 damage or 170 if Ares is below 30% of max health (in different words: 170 damage if Ares is below 30% of max health )
I don't see much difference. Dunno what is the ares max health pool but if he has 5000 life 5% is 250 life. So basically we will do 170 damage (of course the damage will scale different at max 85 level) at 1500 of Ares life left at level 5 on red skill or at 1250 Ares life left at level 4 of red skill. 250 life difference is basically one round of damage taken to ares. I can wait this one round to dod max damage

Summary : 4/4/5

Unknown

The difference of 6 AP versus 5 AP for Ares's green is a defensive consideration, because the AI doesn't particularly care about any particular color and pulls random cascades/match 4 from seemingly nothing, so the fact that something costs 5 instead of 6 does matter to them. I mean, just look at the AP of your computer opponent sometime. They get some truly weird combination of numbers as opposed to the nice multiple of 3s that humans tend to have.

Unknown

Polkio wrote:

Let me share my wisdom

Yellow - at 5 level is a must - Reduces Countdown to 2 - faster heal , faster damage, no brainer

Green - lets read his skill description - at level 5 : MINIMUM Green AP cost reduced to 5. So he will deal more damage when he will have 6AP then when he will have 5AP. At 30green ap he will deal maximum damage and at 5green ap at level 5 (or 6ap at level 3) he will deal minimum damage. So I propose to set his green level at Level 4 - more damage for green ap. When we match 2x3ap green and we will have green level at 5 we still deplete our 6ap so I don't see reason why to put green at level 5

Red - well no choice but I also think that level 4 is optimum. Difference between 4 and 5
Level 4: 85 damage or 170 if Ares is below 25% of max health.
Level 5: 85 damage or 170 if Ares is below 30% of max health (in different words: 170 damage if Ares is below 30% of max health )
I don't see much difference. Dunno what is the ares max health pool but if he has 5000 life 5% is 250 life. So basically we will do 170 damage (of course the damage will scale different at max 85 level) at 1500 of Ares life left at level 5 on red skill or at 1250 Ares life left at level 4 of red skill. 250 life difference is basically one round of damage taken to ares. I can wait this one round to dod max damage

Summary : 4/4/5

All hail king Polkio!
Well said, didn't thought about the skills that way... For max health, he has the same as Thor (if the wiki is correct, s/o posted it on page 1)

Unknown

Phantron wrote:

The difference of 6 AP versus 5 AP for Ares's green is a defensive consideration, because the AI doesn't particularly care about any particular color and pulls random cascades/match 4 from seemingly nothing, so the fact that something costs 5 instead of 6 does matter to them. I mean, just look at the AP of your computer opponent sometime. They get some truly weird combination of numbers as opposed to the nice multiple of 3s that humans tend to have.

It doesn't matter how many times the skill gets used since the damage is only based on the amount of green AP spent. So, the only time lv5 would get extra damage over lv4 is if Ares dies while having exactly 5 green AP, which is pretty rare.

It is true that you give them less AP by using the skill on odd numbers, so 5 is better than 6, but this is a really minor upside as well.

NorthernPolarity

I'm thinking 4/4/5, since with that you get max damage on both abilities (green in particular is a 20% dps boost from 3->4). 5 green seems unnecessary in the average case where you get 2 match 3s (and you lose all your green anyways, as other people have said), and I don't think 5 red would really help too much (1602 vs 1335 at max level). The only time I could see 5 red being useful is if he gets buffed, but meh.

Unknown

This guy is going to a beast on dark avengers tournaments.

Unknown

I agree, I think 4/4/5 is optimum. I could easily see a player going 3/5/5 too, though, especially if they have someone else with a green ability they prefer.

Unknown

4/4/5/ sounds great, my big problem with this guy is that his green gives ap to the enemy team. Also he shares thors colors and the nordic god is better in almost all the abilities.

But for some reason i can see both in the same team thor using his hammer to feed yellow to this guy and sunder them to their graves. With a OBW or a wolverine as a third wheel.


I am afraid that the devs will nerf thor to give some spot light to this guy...

Dayv

Phantron wrote:

The difference of 6 AP versus 5 AP for Ares's green is a defensive consideration, because the AI doesn't particularly care about any particular color and pulls random cascades/match 4 from seemingly nothing, so the fact that something costs 5 instead of 6 does matter to them. I mean, just look at the AP of your computer opponent sometime. They get some truly weird combination of numbers as opposed to the nice multiple of 3s that humans tend to have.

Repeat after me:

The AI does not have an increased chance of match 4 opportunities or cascades. The AI is not magic.

What sometimes causes the AI to get "unusual" numbers of AP is the presence of non-matching goons such as HAMMER or Maggia NPCs. These characters receive a fixed amount of AP per turn, in addition to anything the AI is receiving for matches.

Unknown

Darkon wrote:

4/4/5/ sounds great, my big problem with this guy is that his green gives ap to the enemy team. Also he shares thors colors and the nordic god is better in almost all the abilities.

But for some reason i can see both in the same team thor using his hammer to feed yellow to this guy and sunder them to their graves. With a OBW or a wolverine as a third wheel.


I am afraid that the devs will nerf thor to give some spot light to this guy...

Don't worry, a Thor nerf is coming! Hope you didn't spend any HP on him!

Katai

Definitely leaning towards 4/4/5 myself.

Green is typically used for map clearing and AP gathering. Thor's green is pretty mediocre (by the time you can use it, two enemies should already be dead). Ares has a pretty hefty nuke under green, so it definitely fills a different role than most. I'd pair him with OBW for extra healing and AP stealing. His costs are pretty high, and I find it hard to use a lot of the time. It even counter-balances his green, as you can give green to the enemy, then steal it right back.

darkmagearcanis

Has anyone started building and leveling Ares up? I'm currently sitting at a 2/2/4 and have him leveled to 42 already. I plan to go 4/4/5 as well.

Unknown

Mine is 2/3/3, level 43 of 45. Only 5 more covers until the end of the event should be very doable

Unknown

darkmagearcanis wrote:

Has anyone started building and leveling Ares up? I'm currently sitting at a 2/2/4 and have him leveled to 42 already. I plan to go 4/4/5 as well.

I'm starting to, but you are further on level than me (I'm only now just ahead on covers). But I played with him some on the Shield tournament, and have not been disappointed so far with him. Given he matches Wolvs Colors exactly, I'm thinking a 2* team of Wolv/Ares/OBW, with Ares only leveled to 84. Wolv takes the hits and heals, and OBW can heal Ares when he hurts himself (in addition to his own heal). Won't get as much milage from his Red that way, which is why I might go a different route. And Wolv is on the block for changes anyhow. Would be good for longevity though.

darkmagearcanis

Kyosokun wrote:

I'm starting to, but you are further on level than me (I'm only now just ahead on covers). But I played with him some on the Shield tournament, and have not been disappointed so far with him. Given he matches Wolvs Colors exactly, I'm thinking a 2* team of Wolv/Ares/OBW, with Ares only leveled to 84. Wolv takes the hits and heals, and OBW can heal Ares when he hurts himself (in addition to his own heal). Won't get as much milage from his Red that way, which is why I might go a different route. And Wolv is on the block for changes anyhow. Would be good for longevity though.

Yeah, I've just been using the ISO from The Hunt event to level him. I think I should get at least to 60's before the end of the event.