Which characters are considered AP generators?

Unknown

I know 2** Storm is considered a good AP generator (her green). What other characters are there? I think I read somewhere that 2**Mags and The Hood are also good at creating AP. Your thoughts?

Thanks!

Spiritclaw

You can add 2* Widow and 2/3* Thor to the list.

Unknown

Just a few examples

Loki
Hood
Cyclops
Mystique
Iron Fist
Storm (all versions)
Thor (2* and 3*)
OBW (best ap steal)

Der_Lex

If you're looking at AP generation in the form of tile generation on the board, you have 2/3* Thor's yellow creating a lot of green, and his red creating a tiny bit of yellow. 2* Mags creates blue and red tiles. Then you have Iron Fist creating black tiles with his purple, Kamala and 3* Widow create green tiles with their purple, and Mystique's purple creates purple and black. 3* Cyclops' yellow creates red, and Doom's blue power creates black tiles by converting blue ones.

Then you have two characters that generate AP when damaged: Hulk in the form of countdown tiles that create green tiles on the board, whereas 3* Captain Marvel directly generates AP into your pool.

Kingpin kind of bridges the gap betwen AP generation and AP stealing since he drains the opponent's strongest color, but always generates a set amount of yellow.

Finally you have the characters that give you AP by stealing it from the opposing team. Yelena and 1 and 2* Widow do this with an active power, whereas Hood and Loki have a passive power that triggers under certain conditions.

When looking for an AP generator, who's good depends on what colors your team uses. If you're looking for a general AP advantage, Hood and Loki are good, but they're also very squishy hit point-wise.

Inarius

There's also captain america, the guy can generate ap like crazy once you have enough to cast his abilities.

seth_is_OK

There are different types of AP generators:

Stealers - Hood, Loki, Black Widow (1*/2*), Yelena, Blade, Psylocke
AP generators (AP added directly to pool) - Captain Marvel (3*), Kingpin, Professor X, Iron Man (3*), Captain America (2*/3*) sort of - he generates back most of the AP spent, but it is not a net positive
Tile generators - Thor (2*/3*), Iron Fist, Hulk, Black Widow (3*), Kamala Kahn, Magneto (2*), Ragnarok, Mystique, Captain Marvel (2*), Doctor Doom, Cyclops, Venom (only 1 random green), Captain America (2*/3*) - he adds new colors to the board but you generally don't want to match them (maybe the yellow)
Tile destroyers (generate AP from destroyed) - Storm (all 3), X-Force (soon to be removed), Invisible Woman (soon to be removed), Squirrel Girl
Charged tiles - Thor 4*, Ragnarok

I'm sure I'm forgetting someone.

dfields3710

seth_is_OK wrote:

There are different types of AP generators:

Stealers - Hood, Loki, Black Widow (1*/2*), Yelena, Blade, Psylocke
AP generators (AP added directly to pool) - Captain Marvel (3*), Kingpin, Professor X, Iron Man (3*), Captain America (2*/3*) sort of - he generates back most of the AP spent, but it is not a net positive
Tile generators - Thor (2*/3*), Iron Fist, Hulk, Black Widow (3*), Kamala Kahn, Magneto (2*), Ragnarok, Mystique, Captain Marvel (2*), Doctor Doom, Cyclops, Venom (only 1 random green), Captain America (2*/3*) - he adds new colors to the board but you generally don't want to match them (maybe the yellow)
Tile destroyers (generate AP from destroyed) - Storm (all 3), X-Force (soon to be removed), Invisible Woman (soon to be removed), Squirrel Girl
Charged tiles - Thor 4*, Ragnarok

I'm sure I'm forgetting someone.

You forgot about nick fury, blade, the punisher, iron man(3"), and she-hulk.

Unknown

Punisher tile destruction does not generate AP, nor does She-Hulks.

However I believe Human Torch and Johnny Storm red do.

morph3us

The way I tend of think of it is in the following categories (this is all off the top of my head, so apologies if I miss someone):

AP stealers
This is potentially the most powerful of the group, as these characters generate AP by stealing it from the opposing team. The reason why it's so powerful is because it has the potential for generating substantial AP swings, both in denying your opponent the ability to use powers, and also in fueling your own attacks. Because this category is so powerful, Demiurge appear to have tried to balance this group by limiting the health of characters with this ability, which allows them to be downed more readily.

Steals from multiple colours

The Hood
Loki
Mystique


Black Widow (Original)


Black Widow (Modern)
Yelena Belova

This is the group with the biggest ability to swing the game. Arguably, the Hood is the best at this, because he steals as a passive, and has a nuke to go with it. Loki also steals as a conditional passive, but can be played around as an opponent, at the expense of tempo, but has uses in also alleviating the effects of bad cascades (plus shakes the board up for very, very little). OBW is also is incredibly strong in this area, but her low health limits her use beyond the 2-3* transition (unless boosted as a featured character). Mystique, despite stealing from multiple colours, is actually quite weak in this area due to the cost of activating her AP stealing ability, plus the fact that it's dependent on a randomly placed countdown tile, which often gets matched away. MBW's steal is reasonable, but really expensive, and Yelena's even more so, so neither really have a lot of use beyond the 1* game.

Steals from a single colour

Kingpin
Nick Fury


Blade
Doctor Octopus
Psylocke

This is still a useful ability, but can be a little situational. Blade steals from the enemy's strongest colour, whereas Psylocke steals from the enemy's largest colour pool. Blade's AP steal is stronger, based on the fact that the strongest colour is associated with an active ability (usually), so you're usually stealing a colour that matters to your opponent. Psylocke's ability doesn't generate that same sort of swing, because a substantial majority of the time, your enemy will accumulate a large pool of AP in a colour that they can't use. That's great, if you can use that colour, but by and large, you're generally not denying your enemy a useful colour in doing so. Plus, it's associated with a reasonable length countdown tile, that may get matched away. Kingpin's a bit of an oddball, given that he reduces AP in a single colour (strongest, which is useful), and then generates yellow AP, rather than AP of that colour. It does allow you to plan ahead with your team however, in playing a strong yellow user (in addition to Kingpin's own yellow ability). Fury steals up to 9 AP from the enemy's strongest colour, so potentially very useful, but it's tied to a randomly placed countdown tile, so it's hit or miss as to whether it actually goes off or not. Doc Ock can steal up to 2 green AP, all for the low, low cost of 12 green AP (although admittedly, he has a grab bag of effects that go with that), so I wouldn't really regard him as useful in this respect.

AP reduction (without steal)

She-Hulk

Pre-buff, this wasn't all that useful. It looks intriguing, based on her new ability, given it reduces AP in two colours now, and at a cost of only 6AP. The fact that it's random makes it variable in use, but it may very well form the basis of a good AP denial team.

AP generation

Professor X
Elektra


Human Torch (Classic)
Squirrel Girl
Storm (Mohawk)


Human Torch (Johnny Storm)
Magneto (Marvel Now)
Storm (Classic)


Storm (Modern)

This category has three components. The first is pure AP generation based on tile destruction. Storm does this via her green, Magneto (MN) does this via his red. X-Force and The Hood were in this category, pre-rebalancing. Part of the value in this ability set is the AP generation itself, the second is in board shakeup, particularly if the board is starting to run dry of the matches that you need. Personally, I think this ability is undervalued, particularly in the context of survival nodes, where you can use it to end a wave with an active power, and generate more AP in the process. Having said that, I'd pick Hood or Loki for AP stealing over AP generation via tile destruction in most instances - it's a bigger swing, and doesn't require AP to set off. It's still a useful ability to have in your armamentarium, though.

The following characters generate a small amount of AP via tile destruction, but with a substantial net loss, so it effectively defrays the cost of the ability to a small extent. Squirrel Girl generates AP via tile destruction, but it's a pretty small amount of AP, all told. HT also generates a small amount of AP via collateral tile destruction. Elektra's traps generate a single black if they're destroyed via ability activation.

IM40 is a bit of a unique player in this category, since he's actually converting yellow AP via an active ability/CD tiles into other useful colours. Best at 1-2 covers.

Professor X forms the third part of this category, where he generates AP in your team's strongest colour as a passive on Match 5s.

Specific colour AP generation via tile colour conversion

Black Widow (Grey Suit)
Cyclops
Daken (Classic)
Dr Doom
Iron Fist
Kamala Khan
Mystique
Thor


Captain Marvel
Daken (Dark Avengers)
Magneto (Marvel Now)
Thor

Pretty self explanatory. Can be game ending in the right colour (particularly in the example of Cyclops, IF, and Thor). The idea is to accelerate into a high cost or game ending ability. Sometimes there's internal synergy with another of that character's abilities, sometimes you need to set it up with another character. Even though Daken's technically in this group, he doesn't generate much green via Chemical reaction, so it's less an accelerant, and more a setup for further strike tiles.

AP generation when damaged

Hulk
Captain Marvel

That's been well explained by Der_Lex above already (Hulk converts tiles to green when damaged, 3* Cap Marvel directly generates red +/- black when damaged).

AP return

Captain America


Captain America

Generates AP in the same colour that you just used, with a net loss of 1 AP. Also useful as a team up, to "convert" TU AP into coloured AP. Technically, Daredevil's blue sort of does this too, but the amount that is returned from a Billy Club CD match is small.

Charged tiles

Thor


Ragnorok

Generates charged tiles, which generate triple AP on being matched. Two edged sword, since your opponent can match them too. Rags' charged tile generation doesn't really count, he doesn't generate enough tiles to make a match all that likely.

Hopefully that helps make better sense of it for you.

Edit: Useful corrections from Taloncarde, Infrared, Overclocked, and Daibar

Unknown

Excellent post Morpheus, but correct me if I'm wrong doesn't Iron man 3* also generate AP on the blue? doesn't say "does not generate AP" (although I guess it also drains AP, so, there is that)

and I think everyone is forgetting both versions of Human Torch fireball generate Red AP

Infrared

Elektra generates black. And Doc Octopus (after the buff) steals green. Both are more of a partial rebate though, like Torch's red.

Maggia Don and one of those Brotherhood goons also steals AP. So Moonstone could generate AP for you if you stole those countdown tiles with Control Shift. All for the low price of 17 black.

over_clocked

Daken (both versions) can be considered to generate a small amount of green via his blue (converts blue tiles to green). It's detrimental to his healing, though.

taloncarde, IM 40 doesn't generate AP from destroyed tiles on blue. It's an awful, awful skill

Skills that do not generate AP directly but can still do so via multiple cascades:
She-Hulk red, GSBW green, X-Force (all skills post nerf), Juggernaut green, cMagneto red, Hulk green, Grocket yellow, Loki purple, etc. All these skills are considered to be fairly reliable as AP generators.

metallion

MnMags generates AP from tiles destroyed, though it's not mentioned in the skill description, don't think anyone mentioned that yet, only been seeing his blue generation being mentioned

Unknown

seth_is_OK wrote:

There are different types of AP generators:

Stealers - Hood, Loki, Black Widow (1*/2*), Yelena, Blade, Psylocke
AP generators (AP added directly to pool) - Captain Marvel (3*), Kingpin, Professor X, Iron Man (3*), Captain America (2*/3*) sort of - he generates back most of the AP spent, but it is not a net positive
Tile generators - Thor (2*/3*), Iron Fist, Hulk, Black Widow (3*), Kamala Kahn, Magneto (2*), Ragnarok, Mystique, Captain Marvel (2*), Doctor Doom, Cyclops, Venom (only 1 random green), Captain America (2*/3*) - he adds new colors to the board but you generally don't want to match them (maybe the yellow)
Tile destroyers (generate AP from destroyed) - Storm (all 3), X-Force (soon to be removed), Invisible Woman (soon to be removed), Squirrel Girl
Charged tiles - Thor 4*, Ragnarok

I'm sure I'm forgetting someone.

I seem to recall a discussion over whether Modern Magneto's fully covered red power returned AP or not. I think it does, but it isn't in the description of the power, or something like that.

over_clocked

MMN red always earns AP on all levels. Maxed, it can return 25 AP from the destroyed tiles (5x5) + plus any cascades. Skills that generate AP usually don't have to mention it. See MMN blue; it specifically mentions 'Does not generate AP'.

Unknown

over_clocked wrote:

MMN red always earns AP on all levels. Maxed, it can return 25 AP from the destroyed tiles (5x5) + plus any cascades. Skills that generate AP usually don't have to mention it. See MMN blue; it specifically mentions 'Does not generate AP'.

Hmm. Storm's Lightning Strike & Lightning Storm both specifically mention earning/generating AP. So I guess the general rule then is: if the power description says it does/doesn't generate AP, then it does/doesn't but if there is no mention of AP in the power description, assume it generates AP if it breaks tiles?

simonsez

garbageman72 wrote:

Hmm. Storm's Lightning Strike & Lightning Storm both specifically mention earning/generating AP. So I guess the general rule then is: if the power description says it does/doesn't generate AP, then it does/doesn't but if there is no mention of AP in the power description, assume it generates AP if it breaks tiles?

It's never safe to assume anything around here.

Lidolas

garbageman72 wrote:

over_clocked wrote:

MMN red always earns AP on all levels. Maxed, it can return 25 AP from the destroyed tiles (5x5) + plus any cascades. Skills that generate AP usually don't have to mention it. See MMN blue; it specifically mentions 'Does not generate AP'.

Hmm. Storm's Lightning Strike & Lightning Storm both specifically mention earning/generating AP. So I guess the general rule then is: if the power description says it does/doesn't generate AP, then it does/doesn't but if there is no mention of AP in the power description, assume it generates AP if it breaks tiles?

The general rule is that it specifically mentions that it when the move does not generate AP. See , etc

Unknown

@morpheus
Kamala Khan has been overlooked again; she should be added to Specific colour AP generation via tile colour conversion

Unknown

In MPQ speak, there are 3 scenarios:

Destroy tiles, description says generates AP = generate AP
Destroy tiles, description says do not generate AP = do not generate AP
Destroy tiles, description doesn't say anything = generate AP

While even devs may forget about their own naming convention (the original nerf to Surgical Strike would still have it generate AP because it doesn't specifically say 'do not generate AP'), last time I checked all my characters they're consistent with these rules. Dev error, of course, can always trump any rule.

Unknown

morph3us wrote:

The way I tend of think of it is in the following categories (this is all off the top of my head, so apologies if I miss someone):

AP stealers
This is potentially the most powerful of the group, as these characters generate AP by stealing it from the opposing team. The reason why it's so powerful is because it has the potential for generating substantial AP swings, both in denying your opponent the ability to use powers, and also in fueling your own attacks. Because this category is so powerful, Demiurge appear to have tried to balance this group by limiting the health of characters with this ability, which allows them to be downed more readily.

Steals from multiple colours

The Hood
Loki
Mystique


Black Widow (Original)


Black Widow (Modern)
Yelena Belova

This is the group with the biggest ability to swing the game. Arguably, the Hood is the best at this, because he steals as a passive, and has a nuke to go with it. Loki also steals as a conditional passive, but can be played around as an opponent, at the expense of tempo, but has uses in also alleviating the effects of bad cascades (plus shakes the board up for very, very little). OBW is also is incredibly strong in this area, but her low health limits her use beyond the 2-3* transition (unless boosted as a featured character). Mystique, despite stealing from multiple colours, is actually quite weak in this area due to the cost of activating her AP stealing ability, plus the fact that it's dependent on a randomly placed countdown tile, which often gets matched away. MBW's steal is reasonable, but really expensive, and Yelena's even more so, so neither really have a lot of use beyond the 1* game.

Steals from a single colour

Kingpin
Nick Fury


Blade
Doctor Octopus
Psylocke

This is still a useful ability, but can be a little situational. Blade steals from the enemy's strongest colour, whereas Psylocke steals from the enemy's largest colour pool. Blade's AP steal is stronger, based on the fact that the strongest colour is associated with an active ability (usually), so you're usually stealing a colour that matters to your opponent. Psylocke's ability doesn't generate that same sort of swing, because a substantial majority of the time, your enemy will accumulate a large pool of AP in a colour that they can't use. That's great, if you can use that colour, but by and large, you're generally not denying your enemy a useful colour in doing so. Plus, it's associated with a reasonable length countdown tile, that may get matched away. Kingpin's a bit of an oddball, given that he reduces AP in a single colour (strongest, which is useful), and then generates yellow AP, rather than AP of that colour. It does allow you to plan ahead with your team however, in playing a strong yellow user (in addition to Kingpin's own yellow ability). Fury steals up to 9 AP from the enemy's strongest colour, so potentially very useful, but it's tied to a randomly placed countdown tile, so it's hit or miss as to whether it actually goes off or not. Doc Ock can steal up to 2 green AP, all for the low, low cost of 12 green AP (although admittedly, he has a grab bag of effects that go with that), so I wouldn't really regard him as useful in this respect.

AP reduction (without steal)

She-Hulk

Pre-buff, this wasn't all that useful. It looks intriguing, based on her new ability, given it reduces AP in two colours now, and at a cost of only 6AP. The fact that it's random makes it variable in use, but it may very well form the basis of a good AP denial team.

AP generation

Professor X
Elektra


Human Torch (Classic)
Squirrel Girl
Storm (Mohawk)


Human Torch (Johnny Storm)
Magneto (Marvel Now)
Storm (Classic)


Storm (Modern)

This category has three components. The first is pure AP generation based on tile destruction. Storm does this via her green, Magneto (MN) does this via his red. X-Force and The Hood were in this category, pre-rebalancing. Part of the value in this ability set is the AP generation itself, the second is in board shakeup, particularly if the board is starting to run dry of the matches that you need. Personally, I think this ability is undervalued, particularly in the context of survival nodes, where you can use it to end a wave with an active power, and generate more AP in the process. Having said that, I'd pick Hood or Loki for AP stealing over AP generation via tile destruction in most instances - it's a bigger swing, and doesn't require AP to set off. It's still a useful ability to have in your armamentarium, though.

The following characters generate a small amount of AP via tile destruction, but with a substantial net loss, so it effectively defrays the cost of the ability to a small extent. Squirrel Girl generates AP via tile destruction, but it's a pretty small amount of AP, all told. HT also generates a small amount of AP via collateral tile destruction. Elektra's traps generate a single black if they're destroyed via ability activation.

IM40 is a bit of a unique player in this category, since he's actually converting yellow AP via an active ability/CD tiles into other useful colours. Best at 1-2 covers.

Professor X forms the third part of this category, where he generates AP in your team's strongest colour as a passive on Match 5s.

Specific colour AP generation via tile colour conversion

Black Widow (Grey Suit)
Cyclops
Daken (Classic)
Dr Doom
Iron Fist
Kamala Khan
Mystique
Thor


Captain Marvel
Daken (Dark Avengers)
Magneto (Marvel Now)
Thor

Pretty self explanatory. Can be game ending in the right colour (particularly in the example of Cyclops, IF, and Thor). The idea is to accelerate into a high cost or game ending ability. Sometimes there's internal synergy with another of that character's abilities, sometimes you need to set it up with another character. Even though Daken's technically in this group, he doesn't generate much green via Chemical reaction, so it's less an accelerant, and more a setup for further strike tiles.

AP generation when damaged

Hulk
Captain Marvel

That's been well explained by Der_Lex above already (Hulk converts tiles to green when damaged, 3* Cap Marvel directly generates red +/- black when damaged).

AP return

Captain America


Captain America

Generates AP in the same colour that you just used, with a net loss of 1 AP. Also useful as a team up, to "convert" TU AP into coloured AP. Technically, Daredevil's blue sort of does this too, but the amount that is returned from a Billy Club CD match is small.

Charged tiles

Thor


Ragnorok

Generates charged tiles, which generate triple AP on being matched. Two edged sword, since your opponent can match them too. Rags' charged tile generation doesn't really count, he doesn't generate enough tiles to make a match all that likely.

Hopefully that helps make better sense of it for you.

Edit: Useful corrections from Taloncarde, Infrared, Overclocked, and Daibar

Wow, how did I miss this!?! Thanks for taking the time to write this! Also thank everyone for their input.