The Gauntlet

Unknown

I am probably going to be lonely on this island, but I really enjoyed it. I feel like it is long enough that it could be done by players with the proper rosters, or even semi improper assuming you have all the essentials. I don't have a proper covered LCap so I didn't use him at all. I only whaled the Ultron node. I tried it for three days and man, whichever dev came up with that one... kudos. I like a challenge and it was nice that it was challenging to just me. I could play it at my leisure. I didn't have to set alarms every 8 hours. I didn't have to shield hop. I could just play the nodes as my Health packs refreshed. It was SUPER frustrating at times. Sometimes the matches took 15 minutes because I was using Loki/Hood/Someone to stop the AI from one shotting me (I am looking at you Ares/Juggernaut/Hulkbuster). I think at the time I completed them 8 nodes were 395. I actually have gone back and attempted the Tetris node a few times after beating it just to see if I could do it with no whales (in answer to your question no, I got down to just ultron and I had thor, I popped my yellow and it sent a bomb from the second row to the bottom downing me...).

thesamuraipig

You're not alone. I'm in the later stages of a three transition and all along I have been gauging my roster by how well I do in the Guantlets. Got the farthest I have ever gone in this one. And beat some pretty tough matches. I still have two nodes left and an under-powered Mystique....so not quite sure I am going to finish but I am having a good time trying.

Malcrof

This being my first time ever completing it, i did in fact love it. Just like last time (the first time i beat a board in GD) i learned some neat new teams i want to try.. if the AI can beat me with them, i can do even better against the AI with the same team (tested some in shield simulator).

It is a stress free PVE, sure you die and eat health packs, but you have a week and need to get creative..

No amount of creativeness helped against the final IW essential though, i resorted to whales.. i did get close once, loki saved me and brought 2 bombs back to the top!

Buret0

Prior to this, I had never even gotten to the first round of essentials in the second gauntlet. Then again, I was still using an under covered 3* and maxed 2* roster the last time we had this event.

This time I started late (gauntlet started well before the last slice in DvE ended and I was also in the last slice of Top Gun), but I have worked my to full points in the first two gauntlets and I have finished the first three essential nodes on global domination.

I wiped a couple of my weaker parties on the Falcon, 3aken, Cage node, so I'll take another shot at it today. I'm thinking this is going to be another Hood/Loki match... stealing AP and using Trickery to snag those Falcon boosted special tiles.

I like how many different parties I've been using to try and solve these puzzles. I feel like gauntlet, more than any other event, exemplifies the principles that the Devs have espoused about making broad rosters useful.

FaustianDeal

My feelings are mostly mixed. I liked how some nodes knocked me out of my comfort zone; using characters I would normally select. I often find essentials interesting puzzles that often teach me a hidden value in a character I'm not regularly using.

But that Ultron node... (Full disclosure my scaling was such that the node was @ 395s from my earliest attempt.) I would challenge you to pick any 2 other playable characters to pair up with Ultron to create a more difficult node. She-hulk has the dual impact of draining 2 pools of AP for 6 green, and a board shake that seems to more reliably bring bombs nearer to the bottom than destroy them. Loki's passive steal punishes match-4 in some cases forcing you to give away AP to destroy a bomb with match-4 - and don't get me started on his purple... I had several matches where that purple power would bring 2 or more bombs straight to the bottom row to end a match. Pair this inevitability with the requirement to use Invisible Woman... that node would be difficult if you were allowed to pick all 3 characters.

Once I resigned myself to super-whales it still took me several chances to get to 14 AP to end it all. (Trying with both my own Deadpool chasing purple, or with a team-up and chasing TU AP).

(The Iron Fist/Hulkbuster node was also criminally difficult. @ 395 Iron Fist's attack tile does a roster destroying 1138 damage each turn. Many people who beat that without Whales admit that Iron Fist matching away his own tile several times was likely a key to victory.)

Prior Gauntlets tried to make the last several nodes seem difficult, but the bar this time feels to have been raised. Hopefully this was because there was a 4* at the end of it all, and this isn't a harbinger of how a Gauntlet will still look if they go back to just having a 3* as the last prize.

Unknown

I enjoyed it because the Hulkbuster reward.

madsalad

I've been on the IW essential node for 1 full day. It is the last node I have left. I really enjoyed the Gauntlet (it's my favorite PVE) as it is not a relentless grind of playing the same node into dust. I like the challenge of looking at the enemy team and trying to figure out which team would be best to use against it. It was challenging and fun. I never felt like any one node was particularly unfair UNTIL this **** Ultron node. I've tried several times with a 120 Mystique, IW and 120 Deadpool and I can never get enough purple for Super Whales before a bomb hits the bottom and Deadpool jumps on top of it. It's infuriating. This was on top of doubling up on boosts that provide purple so I was already starting the game with 4 blue and 4 purple. Used Mystique's blue once or twice to get more purple and it never helped as they've always been spaced out.

So, now, I have under 24 hours left to get this done. Anyone have suggestions on how to beat this node without Super Whales?

Unknown

madsalad wrote:

I've been on the IW essential node for 1 full day. It is the last node I have left. I really enjoyed the Gauntlet (it's my favorite PVE) as it is not a relentless grind of playing the same node into dust. I like the challenge of looking at the enemy team and trying to figure out which team would be best to use against it. It was challenging and fun. I never felt like any one node was particularly unfair UNTIL this **** Ultron node. I've tried several times with a 120 Mystique, IW and 120 Deadpool and I can never get enough purple for Super Whales before a bomb hits the bottom and Deadpool jumps on top of it. It's infuriating. This was on top of doubling up on boosts that provide purple so I was already starting the game with 4 blue and 4 purple. Used Mystique's blue once or twice to get more purple and it never helped as they've always been spaced out.

So, now, I have under 24 hours left to get this done. Anyone have suggestions on how to beat this node without Super Whales?

If you have SW then use her and DP and you will get enough Pink to whales reasonably fast. I am still working on beating it without whales

madsalad

traedoril wrote:

madsalad wrote:

I've been on the IW essential node for 1 full day. It is the last node I have left. I really enjoyed the Gauntlet (it's my favorite PVE) as it is not a relentless grind of playing the same node into dust. I like the challenge of looking at the enemy team and trying to figure out which team would be best to use against it. It was challenging and fun. I never felt like any one node was particularly unfair UNTIL this **** Ultron node. I've tried several times with a 120 Mystique, IW and 120 Deadpool and I can never get enough purple for Super Whales before a bomb hits the bottom and Deadpool jumps on top of it. It's infuriating. This was on top of doubling up on boosts that provide purple so I was already starting the game with 4 blue and 4 purple. Used Mystique's blue once or twice to get more purple and it never helped as they've always been spaced out.

So, now, I have under 24 hours left to get this done. Anyone have suggestions on how to beat this node without Super Whales?

If you have SW then use her and DP and you will get enough Pink to whales reasonably fast. I am still working on beating it without whales

I have her but only 1 blue cover, and she always seems to spawn her CD tile two from the bottom.

Unknown

madsalad wrote:

traedoril wrote:

madsalad wrote:

I've been on the IW essential node for 1 full day. It is the last node I have left. I really enjoyed the Gauntlet (it's my favorite PVE) as it is not a relentless grind of playing the same node into dust. I like the challenge of looking at the enemy team and trying to figure out which team would be best to use against it. It was challenging and fun. I never felt like any one node was particularly unfair UNTIL this **** Ultron node. I've tried several times with a 120 Mystique, IW and 120 Deadpool and I can never get enough purple for Super Whales before a bomb hits the bottom and Deadpool jumps on top of it. It's infuriating. This was on top of doubling up on boosts that provide purple so I was already starting the game with 4 blue and 4 purple. Used Mystique's blue once or twice to get more purple and it never helped as they've always been spaced out.

So, now, I have under 24 hours left to get this done. Anyone have suggestions on how to beat this node without Super Whales?

If you have SW then use her and DP and you will get enough Pink to whales reasonably fast. I am still working on beating it without whales

I have her but only 1 blue cover, and she always seems to spawn her CD tile two from the bottom.

****, 1 blue isn't quite as helpful. I have had the most luck using Cyc/LCap. My LCap is SERIOUSLY horribly covered wrong, but I use cyc's yellow to give me a ton of red and can usually get two shields rolling by turn 5. I have had a couple bad drops on bombs when it was just ultron, but I have had 7 consecutive matches where it was LCap/Cyc still alive vs just Ultron

Unknown

madsalad wrote:

I've been on the IW essential node for 1 full day. It is the last node I have left. I really enjoyed the Gauntlet (it's my favorite PVE) as it is not a relentless grind of playing the same node into dust. I like the challenge of looking at the enemy team and trying to figure out which team would be best to use against it. It was challenging and fun. I never felt like any one node was particularly unfair UNTIL this **** Ultron node. I've tried several times with a 120 Mystique, IW and 120 Deadpool and I can never get enough purple for Super Whales before a bomb hits the bottom and Deadpool jumps on top of it. It's infuriating. This was on top of doubling up on boosts that provide purple so I was already starting the game with 4 blue and 4 purple. Used Mystique's blue once or twice to get more purple and it never helped as they've always been spaced out.

So, now, I have under 24 hours left to get this done. Anyone have suggestions on how to beat this node without Super Whales?

BTW you can superwhale it (if you choose so) with whale TU. Shulk can't drain your TU AP

Unknown

I got lucky as hell and beat this one first try with xf/LCap. 3 match5s on first turn, waited until turn 2 to finish loki with cap shield (covered bomb with it). Dropped a 11K surgical strike on shehulk as well. Only had Ultron left by turn5, AI never got off a power.

Unknown

For the last IW node I used LCap and MMags with full AP boosts (RY/BP/ALL). Focus fire Loki and stun She Hulk. I beat it on the third try. It felt reliable to me.

Unknown

I love gauntlet, no matter how hard it is. Traditional pve's really are just pvp's called something else. The fact that you are still competing against others for placement...

But the gauntlet is just done so well, wish there was more pve type events where you are not competing against others. Every 2nd or 3rd pve should be a gauntlet imo... Just nice to have a break from the grind...