Leveling 2*Hawkeye, Cap, Torch, MsMarvel.....Yay or Nay?

TLCstormz

Does the "joining a few hours later" go for PvE, as well? Or JUST the PvPs?

All of the characters in the title, I already have properly and fully covered. And I have about 70,000 Iso saved up, which is why I'm at this crossroads of "Should I just save it for when my pitiful 3*s go up from only three and four covers each? Or do I level up one of these below average 2*s?"

Also, I start seeing fully covered 94s and 166s AS SOON as my seed teams are done. Which.....again.....totally sucks and is totally incomprehensible! How in the world could I defeat them??? And even if it WERE possible, WHY in the world would I do it, when they will only give me 12 points or less????? lmao

For instance, my freaking SHIELD Simulator has all 5 nodes at 94s and 166s, but the max point node is at 16 points. Uhm........

Arondite

idk why you're surprised about 94's. 94's are very common. You will face a metric ton of 94's.

esoxnepa

TLCstormz wrote:

Does the "joining a few hours later" go for PvE, as well? Or JUST the PvPs?

PvE is a bit different. You can try to delay joining to try and miss the "Super Grinder" bracket.

I've found its better to just play when I want to play and pick an end time that allows you to "Play at the start, and grind down at the end." The very top players start right at the beginning, hit one clear of nodes each refresh and grind them down to nubs at the end. Now, unless you decide you want to be really hardcore, don't worry about perfect clears, but if you can make a pass of all the nodes at the start, and then a couple passes at the end, you will hit top 100.

You have a great roster for doing really well at PvE.

I'm not sure what is up with your match making for PvP. I would expect a lot of max 94s right after the seed teams, but not 166s right out of the gate. You might be caught in one of the edge cases D3 is trying to fix, if so, the best you can try is to tank like crazy for a bit (A couple days even), and see if you can get it to balance.

Zen808

You gain nothing from joining PVP early. you're better off waiting 12-24 hours, to let others build up points. Strong teams start early to maximize shield hopping. The weaker teams tend to trickle in later, because they're just trying for 300-400 pts, which they don't need more than a day to get.

It's possible that you're running into 166's because you're joining too early. However, if you're joining late, and still running into 166's right after Seed, then you may have to do a little tanking. Early on is the best time to lose, because the point loss penalty is lower. Just remember that retreating doesn't work, and that the algorithm also has countermeasures programmed in to detect tanking/sandbagging. Play like you're trying to win - hit your match 4's, use your powers, inflict as much damage as you can. They don't encourage tanking, but do acknowledge that sometimes it's necessary.

Conversely, PVE is less about when you join relative to starting, and more about when you join relative to the start of your bracket. If you're in a freshly started bracket, you're better off than being in one that you're player #1000, and the other guys have a full refresh head-start on you.

Lystrata

I have one maxed 3*, and many, many others 100+ with covers in the order I want. So, coming from that perspective - definitely max up Hawkeye and give him 5 purple covers. He's absolutely killer when paired with Magneto (or anyone who can place tiles to make at least one 5 match, really). They're not necessarily great against character teams (unless you take in boosts), but they're one of my go-to teams for goon nodes in PvE.

Torch and Cap aren't such a priority, because their 3* versions are more worthwhile. But Hawkeye doesn't have that, sooo... yes. Level him on up. The number of people who say not to each time this sort of thread pops up baffles me. He's awesome.

Unknown

Nay

I have maxed covered 3* and many near maxed covers and only ever used 4 2* characters. These include obw, Mags, storm, and thor. You will never use torchling, cap, or ms. Marvel when you have better 2* like obw and ares. I started in late June and got my 1st 3* max covered in mid November because of lucky pulls and bracketing and even though its spiderman, he is better at 130 than most 2* buffed.

SnowcaTT

Have all 2*'s maxed except bagman. I the kind of 2* you mention when they are buffed in PVE - so right now I'm running a few of the weak nodes with Hawkeye/Cap/Torch. Only to get them used, really.

If I started today, there is no way I level anyone in the title - nor Moonstone, Bagman, or Bullseye. I wouldn't put them on my roster or spend any ISO for them: in fact I am debating about getting rid of them and regretting leveling them, since roster spots cost 800HP each at this point (something D3 needs to fix if they want us to keep these characters for "diversity".)

Deadpool daily lets me run the best 2* teams I used to: OBW + (Mags/Storm) or (Ares/Daken) or (Thor/Daken) or even (Wolvy/Daken), and I easily breeze through any of the nodes needing 2*'s. These ones are worthwhile when buffed. I can see reasons for others (most specifically Hawk/Cap) - but really the occasion should be pretty rare, and making sure all the 3*'s are started on your roster is much more important.

I have a mix of 127's and 140's, about 2/3rds with 13 covers. Even around 10 covers many of the 3*'s are vastly better at level 127 than the "bad" 2*'s are buffed to 135.

I never, ever play with 2* anymore in PVP - just inviting attacks.

The best advice I could give a 2* roster is ignore most of these characters and consider putting resources into a 2nd OBW: she'll be a great third on most teams, it will let you run longer in PVP and PVE both.

Unknown

Disclaimer: Did not read the whole thread.

In PvP, not much is going to help you beyond OBW, Thor, Ares. You take OBW/Ares plus Guest or your 3*, gain maybe 525 points, and 8 or 3 hour shield to the end of the event, and hope that's good for top 100. The 166 wall is just going to take some effort and shields to climb.

In PvE tho, the extra 2*s will help you. When you don't have to worry about being attacked back you can send your B roster guys in for quirky situations. Cap is great at tile removal (so vs Goons, or Spidermans, or other special tile users). Damage in 2* cap isn't good, and you will sell him once you get 3* Cap rolling, but he would help you short term. Hawkeye is great, I still have my 2* Hawkeye and he's helping me in the DDQs quite a bit, Storm/MNM/Hawkeye devastates the 2* required nodes. Torch and MsMarvel would help you in the sense you would need less health packs. Always do the PvEs in reverse after the frist clear. If A-team goes down, then B-team steps in (A team OBW/Ares/Daken probably, B Team Thor/Hawkeye/MsMarvel or Torch).

In short; I'd level Hawkeye at least, the other 3 maybe, depending how long you are stuck in 2* land.

GothicKratos

TLCstormz wrote:

Does the "joining a few hours later" go for PvE, as well? Or JUST the PvPs?

It doesn't matter as much in PvE. PvE is more about the end than the beginning. However, it really depends on what you're wanting to earn in the rewards. If you just want progressions, than joining early and riding the rubberband is the best bet. If you're looking to grab top placement for specific covers, joining about 8 hours late can work, but keep in mind this can potentially bar you our of progression rewards, since you'll likely see less points per node.

TLCstormz wrote:

All of the characters in the title, I already have properly and fully covered. And I have about 70,000 Iso saved up, which is why I'm at this crossroads of "Should I just save it for when my pitiful 3*s go up from only three and four covers each? Or do I level up one of these below average 2*s?"

Basically, like I said, Torch has uses and Hawkeye is pretty good and them Ms Marvel should be pretty good, and Captain America is butt. The "best" decision is to wait until you get a 3* decently covered and pop him up to around 100 in one go and then do that for someone that pairs well with that character.

TLCstormz wrote:

Also, I start seeing fully covered 94s and 166s AS SOON as my seed teams are done. Which.....again.....totally sucks and is totally incomprehensible! How in the world could I defeat them??? And even if it WERE possible, WHY in the world would I do it, when they will only give me 12 points or less????? lmao

Part of that problem might be 'cause the event is still fresh. There's not necessarily a lot of people that are "appropriate" for you to be matched with the earlier in an event you are, so you end up with 'the wall' being lower than it would be mid-event or late-event.

Additionally, points are aggregated by the differential of points between you and them, so if they're worth 20 or so points, it's a good bet to hit that person, because you're likely 4 or 5 points for them and not worth their time. Just something to keep in mind.

Oldboy

Most here have given advice i would give. However i would recommend Ms Marvel for PVE. Mine is at 3/5/5 (the build i wanted).

Red - is good for clearing protect tiles esp when fighting bullseye. Sure there are better uses for red (Adamantium Slash) but that's why i keep her at 3 red covers and use her red only if needed. I dont know how many protect tiles she clears at 5 red, but if she clears all of them then she would be very useful in nodes that have Falcon or CMagneto. I normally use 3* Marvel for those.

Yellow - at 5 covers you have a chance of overwriting special tiles (CD, strike, attack, trap, protect) and is pretty useful when the board is littered with enemy tiles. Watch out though, they do overwrite friendly tiles as well. Oh, and it could generate cascades and potentially a useful hero to have if you want to use up those Sniper Rifle or Twin Pistol team ups. Thor's yellow is better in terms of payoff (green cascading to COS) but sometimes getting rid of CD tiles produces a better payoff.

Personally i found her Yellow ability to be a pleasant surprise as i didnt realise it could overwrite specials. I normally run her when i need someone to overwrite special tiles.

Black - most of the times, in 2* land, there aren't any good black abilities. So when you need to clear/deny black, this is a good outlet for it. Good AOE damage similar to Rampage if the CD tile goes off.

I wouldnt run her in PVP. Only PVE. I think most people like the main heroes (eg obw, ares, thor) but in PVE, thinking outside of the regular PVP lineup can sometimes give good, repeatable results. I tend to use her when she's buffed as that means more health and damage dealt with her black.

I also recommend Hawkeye for reasons mentioned already by others.

Unknown

1. I would not waste the ISO leveling those you mentioned but that's just me.

2. Dumb question but do you skip the opponents when you hit "the wall." i was such a noob that I didn't realize you could skip until about a month into the game. Then I have gotten cover rewards ever since.

3. I used obw/ares/featured during my 2* days and this was after they nerfed healing and it was more than enough to place. It just takes a while since ares will use health packs a lot due to sunder. Also if obw purple is at 5 consider 3 as its so much quicker to get off and gives you a great advantage.

4. I was in the transition a long time...I would not burn the ISO unless it's on a legit 3* to anchor that transition...like a patch or lazy thor...even cyclops, Panther...that will help the transition a lot.

5. Just my opinions, hope it helps.

konannfriends

Well Storms I will say that you have the stars best 2 stars already but. If your roster is at a standstill and youvdont have any other characters who need leveling I would say level those characters. The more cgaracters the more points. A set of 2 stars will get 3 matches before you need healing. So I'd level them in this order

Ms Marvel
Hawkeye
MoonStone
Bullseye (Tied with Johnny)
Johnny Storm
NEVER LEVEL BAGMAN

you've hit the transitioning point. Where you aren't going to always fight characters who are weaker. Your going to have to get used to fighting teams that are also level 94 or maybe a little higher.

You should not be seeing 166 teams til you hit around 500 points.
Which you stated you don't get more that 150.

You should also use the skip button.

With black widow you should be able to take out teams that are 100 to 125.

But seriously 150 points is nothing. Make it your goal to hit 300 for the token. When I was st the transitioning point I always got to 300 Now that I'm a 3 star player I can make it to 600 but I don't have enough 3 stars to compete or more than 80-120 points at a time.

Btw it's angel

esoxnepa

So I went and pulled out my 2* team for the start of the Cyclops PvP. (Cap, OBW, Ares, Thor @ 94, Storn @ 56, Mag @ 39)

I had no issues climbing to 350 before I got bored of this experiment. Since I started right out of the gate, I thought I'd see more seed teams, but only saw 3. I did go right into a wall of double 94s, as expected. Climbed to 250, winning the last match with Storm/Mags, or basically, bait. Came back 6-8 hours later, I had lost 43 points, as expected. There were some sweet 166 teams I wanted to hit, but I kept the experiment going. Two of the teams that hit me were worth 40 points each. After those wins, I saw sub 94/94 teams over 400 (at 350, I changed to my normal teams.)

The moral is if all you are seeing are 166 wall teams, even when you skip, before 500 or so, then you're trapped in some real MMR HELL!

Unknown

TLCstormz wrote:

I already have THE BEST of the 2* star characters leveled to 94 (OBW, Daken, Ares, Storm, Thor, Mags, Wolverine), but I still get my butt handed to me in the PvPs (can't ever get beyond 150 - 300 (difficulty keeps going up to 84 - 166 wall, yet points keep going down to paltry 8 - 12 points each fight)), not to mention the last battle for the 3* covers in Deadpool's event. PvE is usually doable, though. I am at Day 90, as of today.

Same as you, I have the same 7 maxed and I don't really see any reason to level or get the others. The Seven in question are all either superior in Damage/Tanking/or Support roles. My suggestion would be not to bother, as the roster space is better saved for 3* characters.

TLCstormz

I'm actually thinking about leveling up my second OBW (2/5/5), since many are saying that's better than my list in the title.

I did level Hawkeye to level 60, though. And he is now LOLing through my PvE. He got me my Cyclops, and I've still got 2 more days left to spare.

Unknown

I am in a small minority (maybe the only one?) that thinks that 2* Cap is essential for survival nodes if you don't have a 3* Cap. Running Cap/OBW/MStorm gets me through most survival nodes with little damage, if any, but I prefer longer fights with 0 damage as opposed to chancier fights.

Hawkeye is a great addition to the CStorm/MNMags combo, but I find that he makes it very hard to get off polarity shift more than once, nearly impossible to get it 3 times or more. If you're fighting a node with enemies with more than 6000 health each, I find he becomes worse than adding a different Yellow/Black user, eg Captain Marvel.

I concur with GothicKratos; Captain Marvel is decent as a tank but just doesn't have the right synergy most of the time. You really need to rely on powerful team-ups to make her useful.

Unknown

Nay. My final list of 2*s are as follows:

mnmags - by far the most useful 2* ever. OBW. cStorm. Thor. Ares. (these are all incredibly potent when boosted) Wolverine.

Those are the only ones I'm keeping, and Wolverine is on shaky grounds. He does show up enough in pve as boosted that he's still paying for his stay on my roster, but I'm keeping an eye on him.

All other 2*s are heavily outclassed by even underlevelled, undercovered 3*s.

I don't get people's obsession with either Cap. They are both way too slow. Their mechanics are kinda interesting, but they are never the best at playing any part. Spider man, 4t and cstorm are all better stunners. Any number of characters are better nukers, and blade snowballs much, much harder than cap. He's excellent when he's boosted, but a ton of characters are. Even on survival nodes, you're better off running obw thor and just gathering a billion ap while you heal.

Unknown

Personally, I've sold Hawkeye and Cap twice (after maxing their covers)! Whenever I planned to sell MS Marvel, she becomes boosted and makes a wonderful performance in the event by mostly tanking Reds and Yellows. She's actually quite decent if she's tanking for the likes of 2* Torch & Wolverine. Her yellow really shakes the board up as well as creating a ton of crit matches (with some luck).When Torch is boosted, I use him on the easier nodes with the knowledge that he's good for usually 1 or 2 nodes at-most. So if you actually have the ISO and roster slot for them, I'll say Ms Marvel is definitely worth a shot, the other 3, not so much.

wirius

Honestly, I think pvp is a terrible way to get 3*'s. Get enough 2*'s to benefit from the bonus characters in pve, and get high there. After a certain point, invest in money to buy the remaining covers for you 3*'s. Do it. You'll save yourself months of work. Once you get a pair of 166's, you're now able to pvp to win 3*'s, and move on. Wait for an HP sale. Until you get a decent 3* roster to about the 120 lvl range, don't pvp.

Unknown

wirius wrote:

Honestly, I think pvp is a terrible way to get 3*'s. Get enough 2*'s to benefit from the bonus characters in pve, and get high there. After a certain point, invest in money to buy the remaining covers for you 3*'s. Do it. You'll save yourself months of work. Once you get a pair of 166's, you're now able to pvp to win 3*'s, and move on. Wait for an HP sale. Until you get a decent 3* roster to about the 120 lvl range, don't pvp.

This is incorrect.
I'm at day 200 and I've a 5/1/5 goddess and every 3* character I care about with max covers (hell even the ones I don't care about have max covers, other than cyclops). The only cover I ever bought was a Patch yellow, and he was vaulted.

PvP is the best way to get 3* covers. You can turn anywhere between 300 and 375hp into three to four covers instead of less than one.

Put that together with the DP daily and buying 3* covers that are not incredibly specific pillars to your roster (hood, patch, hulk, blade and a couple more) is straight up dumb.