Character ranking Oct 15 - opinion of selected few

atomzed

In the past, the character has always been collective wisdom, where a poll will be created and everyone votes for their top character. While polling has its merits, it also has the problem of being hard for the analyst to understand why certain people ranked certain characters higher.

So i decided to put a different twist to it. I decided to ask specific top players whom I know to rate the characters, and then to explain their top 5 choices. Originally i was planning to get 10 players to rank, but not everyone got back to me... so i will open this up to the forum later.

The Method

All participants follow these 3 steps.

1) Using the A.Rating Scale, rate each character within their star level. For example, if you feel that IF is great within 3*, and is deserving in spending hp on it, you can rate him at a 9 or 10. Similarly, if you feel that OBW is great within 2*, you can also rate her at a 9 or 10.

2) After you have rank all the characters within their star level, pick the top five characters within each star level.. If there are ties in scores (e.g. 6 characters having rating of 9), you just pick the top 5 that you feel are the best. So you will have top 5 in 2*, 3* and 4* each.

3) Do a short write up for the top 5 characters. Include the following points a) Why is the character top tier, b) best build for the character, c) great 2-man team combi.

A.R.S

This is a 10-point scale. Choose the rating description that you feel best matches your opinion for the character, within the particular tier. Note that for 9/10, these are the top characters you find it worthwhile to buy the covers, when you have *spare* hp. For example if I am in the 2* transition, and I am willing to spend hp, buying the covers for OBW would be worth it, if the person can't wait.

1 - bagman/ yelena tier. Utterly useless. Can consider discarding it totally.
2 -
3 - only useful as essentials. Not useful when buffed. Keep but don't spend iso in it.
4 -
5 - useful in selected scenarios. If you have spare iso, you can afford to soft cap the character.
6
7 - great in either pvp or pve. Especially useful when boosted; max the character if you have spare iso.
8
9 - great all rounder in both pvp AND pve. Max immediately when you have it fully covered. If you have spare HP, you should consider buying the last 2-3 covers.
10 - SUPERB character. Worthwhile to whale the covers if you have the spare HP.

atomzed

These are the people who were originally invited to do the rating and ranking.

King dreadnaught (first max 5* holder)
Cologneissur (well respected senior for the game)
Misstique (crewsader, often fighting at top echelon of pvp)
Llohm (crewsader, top pvp echelon)
Salgyq (villains commander, top pvp echelon)
Over_clocked (django commander, *almost* completely f2p)
Nogard (SHIELD, one of the oldest major alliance)
Gamer_gpl (Skynet, also one of the oldest major alliance)
Babinro (BEST Forge, with lots of insightful opinions on characters)

Full Characters List (4* Cyclops and Rulk were not rated, because they are very new, but a few raters indicated that they are very strong)
4*

Antman
Carnage
Deadpool
Devil dinosaur
Elektra
Ice man
Invisible woman
IMHB
Jean grey
Kingpin
Mr fantastic
Nick fury
Prof X
Sam Wilson (cpt America) falcap
Starlord
The thing
Thor (Goddess of thunder)
Wolverines (Xforce)

3*

Beast
Black panther
Black widow (Gsbw)
Bullseye
Steve rogers (super soldier)
CM
Colossus
Cyclops
Daken
Daredevil
Deadpool
Doc doom
Doc oct
Falcon
Gamora
Human torch
Iron fist
IM40
Kamala khan
Loki
Luke cage
Magneto
Mystique
Psylocke
Quicksilver
Raganork
Rocket and groot
Scarlet witch
Sentry
She hulk
Spider man
Squirrel girl
Storm (mohawk)
Hood
Hulk
Punisher
Thor (modern) Lthor
Vision
Wolverine (patch)

2*

Ares
Black widow (original)
Bullseye
Steve rogers (cpt america)
Hawkeye
Daken
Human torch
Magneto
Moonstone
Ms marvel
Bagman
Storm
Thor (marvel now)
Wolverine (astonishing)

atomzed

4* Mean Rating
IMHB 9.75
Jean grey 9.75
Ice man 9.5
Deadpool 8.25
Kingpin 8.125
Thor (GT) 8
Carnage 7.5
Prof X 7.5
The thing 7.375
XFW 7.125
Nick fury 6.75
Antman 5.875
Mr Fantastic 5.625
Starlord 5.625
Falcap 5.5
Elektra 5.125
IW 3.125
Devil dino 2.75

Top five 4* characters (percentage of raters who rated him as top 5).

IMHB (100%)

Comments:

Colog: I've spent two summaries trashing Hulkbuster but he is an incredibly well-designed tank. One of the highest health levels in the 4* tier combined with two actives which feed his red single target damage. The consensus best build is 5/5/3 which allows you to fire red for damage then folllow-up with a cast of black (overdrive) and do another 6K with the added strike tiles. That is the straightforward smash variety. I have used 5/3/5 because with all of the green power moves in the game sometimes it is nice to convert the green on the board to red delaying one of those from going off while accelerating into my red powers. 5/5/3 is sheer power, 5/3/5 is board control and less power. Hulkbuster combos especially good with anything that is not red or black primary. I've already mentioned iceman and jean grey called icebuster and jeanbuster. There is also fist buster where you use 3* iron fist to generate black into an overdrive into a >6k punch if this is your go-to team 5/5/3 is the only build for Hulkbuster for this. The drawback is there are now multiple 4* powers which just kill Iron Fist before he can ever be helpful.

Babinro: Best Build: 5/5/3. Hulkbuster is easily the best character in this game and in my opinion he accomplishes this without feeling overpowered or unfair. His skills are well designed and provides him with some natural synergies that are balanced out by drawbacks. MPQ is currently all about taking down key threats quickly and that's where HB excels trading his own health or any useful utility powers for flat out damage. Hulkbuster can be paired with speed in mind using teams that hinge entirely on his survival or he can be paired with other huge spenderds to slowly gather Ap and unleash after building up AP for several turns. HB excels at PvE required nodes, Lightning rounds, PvP climbing, hovering and shield hopping as well as trio teams for events like Shield Sim and The Gauntlet. His health ensures that you can requently endure a few battles before having to heal as well. Pairs well with:
- Iron Fist for PvE required nodes and quick PvP matches
- Iron Fist and Scarlet Witch for quick battles vs tough PvE nodes, Shield Sim, The Gauntlet, etc
- Jean for hovering and shield hopping at endgame pvp
- Hood often as a 3rd or to counter opposing Hood in pvp
- Loki often as a 3rd
- 3* Cyclops to feed red
- Iceman for a strong set of damage skills and stun
- Carnage to deter hits on weeks where he's buffed
- The Thing as a third with Fist to let the team achieve their goals.

JG (100%)

Comments:

Colognoisseur: Jean Grey is just behind (Iceman at second) but her passive is why she is a spot down. You can keep from making match-5's until you kill her first. She is not at a high enough health level that she isn't easily dispatched by some of the more powerful abilities. Having to wait until 10 purple or 12 green can take too long. This is why she isn't at the very top. Even so with two of the best aoe abilities in the game she is a great counter to anything that generates special tiles. In PvE she is particularly good at keeping control of goon levels. Her best build is 5/3/5 as the passive stun at 3 covers does enough that you don't need to reduce the purple or the green. Because she is in essence the same color set as Iceman she goes well with the same combos of Hulkbuster and Red Hulk. She also goes well with new cyclops as together they cover everything but yellow, too

Babinro: Best Build: 5/3/5. Jean took me by surprise. I didn't think she was going to be so great initially but hands on play has absolutely changed my mind. Her blue isn't only good defensively but it's GREAT when using her. Being able to stun the enemy team and get those precious added AP to hopefully respond to their cascade can save you. Her green is a solid well designed skill that shines when it generates an attack tile to take advantage of stikes on the board. Finally her purple is flat out pushed and genuinely overpowered. Not only does it deal fantastic damage for the low AP cost but the kicker is incredible. Most 4* characters have special tile kickers and she maintains the big damage you want while answering those problems for only 10 purple AP. What keeps Jean out of top spot is the fact that she's only able to do team damage. This makes her weaker in a game where taking down the immediate threat is often more important to avoid damage. Jean is a very party friendly to boot. The AI cannot misplay her and she can fill in gaps for just about any team you want to form since green and purple are less common damage colours especially in 4* tier.

Pairs well with:
- Hulkbuster
- Scarlet Witch
- Just about any 3 person team

Iceman (100%)
Comments:

Colog: Top of the list is Iceman. He is a self-sufficient character who uses one power to enable his stun/ single shot nuke of his AOE nuke. He is the 4* equivalent to 3* Thor in that he doesn't need anyone else to make him shine. His best build is 5/5/3 because you want the green and blue to do maximum damage and purple at 3 does enough in drain and adding blue to the board. Despite him being an "anti-Hulkbuster" he goes very well with Hulkbuster as his red and black allow you to dominate on anything except a yellow heavy board. He will also be a great partner to the green generating ability of Red Hulk as you will be able to decide what you want purple to do drain red or green and power up the blue or red iceman power.

Overclocked: best build 5/5/3. Fills out a lot of team compositions (our first and only active green/ blue/ purple char). Amazingly cheap stun and nuke, self-feeding, an AoE to die for, very decent health, counters the many red char we have namely IMHB... he has it all. Bonus - creepiest art in the game. Combos well with Goddess, KP, etc. On paper, looks good with IMHB

Babinro: Best Build: 5/5/3 Note: I do NOT have hands on experience with this character yet.
My impressions are based on fighting against him in high end PvP and general word of mouth from other players. Honestly I'm concerned he might be overrated since the AI cannot play the character well and there are better duo teams. That aside Iceman deserves consideration for having the best stun in the game hands down. 4 turn stun is incredible and at 6 blue you can reliable disrupt the enemy team from firing off a serious damage skill while you build up your AP. 4* tier has also released quite a few characters that make stuns more important. Being able to stall Jean to match 5 or stun X-Force Deadpool/The Thing to target a greater threat is great. The fact that Iceman is also a BIG late game AoE and single target damage dealer gives him all tools to be top tier viable. I'm not conviced he's superior to rank 5 and below but the feedback I've received on him would put him here or higher.

Pairs well with:
- Hulkbuster
- Jean
- As a third for any team that could benefit from stun

XDP (50%)
Comments:

Colog: X-Force Deadpool is the best 4* for sustained play because his red self-heals upon using it. Even if you come out of a fight you can go into the prologue and heal him up. This healing coupled with a strong red damage ability is why he is so high. Which of his next two powers to max are a matter of taste I think. If you go to five black the passive does 3400 damage. I have chosen to go to five purple instead because I like the countdown ability as I've found I usually match three on average for 5100+ damage over as many as three targets. My besy build is 5/3/5 but 5/5/3 or 3/5/5 are also viable builds. No matter what your build Deadpool goes with Thing to make an ultra annoying barricade to get at the third character. Because they will take damage and then give it back you have to knock off a lot of health from two of the higher health characters in the game including one who can heal. My other favorite combo is kingpin and deadpool. Combining the Kingpin black with the deadpool purple makes for cds which when popped do 5200 from kingpin and an additional 1500 from Deadpool. costed at six black and seven purple you can be at this combo repeatedly during a match.

Tied 5th: KP/Carnage/GT (37.5%)

Kingpin
Comments:

Colog: Kingpin is my remaining top 5 4* because of that black. It is extremely fast and if you have anything which generate cds it can be 5200 damage for 6AP. I think this is vastly underrated for what it does. The purple drains the opponent strongest color which can sometimes be enough to delay a nuke by a couple of turns which allows the yellow generated to produce cd tiles which can do a lot of damage. My build is 5/3/5 because I like the extra cds from yellow at five so I have more to pop with black. Five purple does a more complete drain and so 5/5/3 is another viable build. Kingpin goes well with X-Force Deadpool for the cds but things like Iceman and Cyclops also leave out cds which could be popped before they go away. He also works well with Hulkbuster despite the color overlap on black.

Babinro: Best build: 5/3/5 This is another tricky 4* to rank as I feel that X-Force Deadpool, The Thing and 4Thor all deserve consideration. Among them I only have hands on with Kingpin and 4Thor with quite a bit of experience playing against xDP in PvP.

Since Iceman takes stun away from 4thor I feel that Kingpin deserves this spot. Kingpin shines in the fact that he's got all the synergy he needs built right into the character. Purple feeds yellow and black adds great spike damage. He can be used for speed with a rather frail team or placed with other 4*'s to fill out a rainbow and offer a sustained threat over a longer match. His internal synergy makes him a surprisingly annoying character to fight against in pvp as well despite his inability to use black properly.

Pairs well with:
- 4Thor is great with boosts as she charges yellow and blue to fuel threats
- 4thor and Hood
- Scarlet Witch and Iron Fist for speed
- As a third to any team that could benefit from 2 or more of his colours.

Carnage
Comments:

Missitque: Best build 5/5/3. Low ap damage dealer.

Goddess Thor
Comments:

Overlocked:Best build 5/3/5. Great health, self supporting, possess the most AP/ dmg firepower possible outside of PX combos and maybe newcomers like 4* cyclops, red hulk and 5*. Only has a rating of 9 due to terribly overpriced yellow and requiring AP support to get started. Absolutely the most powerful offensive char of the game when buffed and close to at all other times. Combo best with char that feed her, even 2*s, and as a bonus can use the yellow AP better. this includes MMN, IM40, 3* and 4* cyclops, IMB, loki, mohawk storm, hood, starlord, OBW etc.

Llohm: Many have underrated GT after her nerf. She can still carry the whole match once she gets going. Sure, she can't deal as much dmg as before. But does she control pve and pvp when she gets going? A resounding yes!

Honorable mention:

Prof X (25%)

Overclocked: Best build, anything with 5 blue (either 535,553 or 544) Winfinites, nuff said. Powers up a ton of combinations, makes the medicore char like 2* Ms Marvel or QS shine. Can win most games standalone slowly too, but that's just bonus. WARNING: Do not max or even bring over level 221, is pve value is too great. Best partners include GSBW, 3* hulk, SW, mystique, MMN, QS, IF, 2* Ms Marvel, Cmagneto, Loki, Kamala, Thor, Jugernaut etc. Can also be played with JG or cheap active skill char (such as carnage, SL, dino, psylocke, KP, beast, loki) for troll value

Babinro: Best Build: 5/5/3. Xavier's placement on this list is a tricky one. He's really not competitive in PvP anymore and that's the key focus of the game for a lot of players. Xavier gets this spot because he is king when it comes to those health pack draining matches in PvE, Galactus and The Gauntlet. While the winfinite build doesn't necessarily mean infinite turns it is amazingly effective and pretty quick to boot. It's important to note that winfinte requires Xavier to not tank primary colours and so his level should remain low. Something like level 158 will ensure others tank even when he's featured and Powered Up. This is my recommended way to build the character and he runs perfectly fine with just 5 blue and no other covers.

Plenty of people would rather level Xavier (or have already done so) which makes winfinite a lot riskier or relies on purple characters being boosted. For max level Xavier players you can now take advantage of his 5 purple covers. The goal here being to run less used characters as special tile generators and then make Xavier go invisible. Protect the invisible tile and gradually ramp up to 1000's of damage per tile match. This isn't nearly as reliable as winfinite but it does work and can save health packs.

Low level winfinite Xavier pairs well with:
- Scarlet Witch and GSBW for ideal winfinite
- Iron Fist and Quicksilver for slower riskier winfinte
- Mystique and ** Mags for the least reliable winfinite

Max level 5/5/3 Xavier pairs well with:
- Beast, Daken, Blade, Psylocke, Gamora, Punisher all make solid duo teams for required nodes. Some are better than others as Beast will tank yellow over Xavier while Punisher will tank nothing. It all works as long as you can protect your invis tile and Xavier tanks 2 or more colours

Thing (12.5%)

Llohm: Very tricky yellow. Especially when paired with XDP, the opponent waste so much time counting who to hit. Put up Countdown for What, and use Yancy Special for big dmg.

atomzed

3* Mean Rating
Iron fist 9.6
Scarlet witch 9.1
Cyclops 9.0
Luke cage 8.8
Hood 8.6
Thor (modern) Lthor 8.1
Magneto 8.0
Kamala khan 7.9
Loki 7.7
Steve rogers (super soldier) 7.6
Black panther 7.5
Rocket and groot 7.4
Wolverine (patch) 7.4
Black widow (Gsbw) 6.9
Deadpool 6.8
Blade 6.7
Daken 6.6
Doc doom 6.6
Hulk 6.5
Gamora 6.4
Mystique 6.4
Storm (mohawk) 6.3
She hulk 6.3
Beast 6.0
CM 6.0
Human torch 5.9
Daredevil 5.7
Falcon 5.6
Punisher 5.6
Squirrel girl 5.2
Doc oct 5.1
Colossus 5.0
Vision 5.0
IM40 4.9
Bullseye 4.6
Sentry 4.6
Psylocke 4.3
Quicksilver 4.1
Spider man 3.9
Raganork 3.6

Top five 3* (percentage of rater who rated them as top 5)

Iron Fist (100%)
Scarlet Witch (86%)
Cyclops (71%)
Luke Cage (43%)
Hood (43%)

Honorable mention: Lthor (29%), Loki (29%), Kamala Khan (29%), Patch (29%), Rocket and Groot (14%), Magneto (14%)

COMMENTS will be added in later.

atomzed

2* Mean Rating
OBW 9.6
Storm 8.1
Ares 7.9
Magneto 7.4
Daken 6.5
Hawkeye 6.2
Thor 6.0
Wolverine 6.0
Moonstone 5.9
Ms marvel 5.5
Human torch 5.4
Bullseye 4.4
Steve rogers 4.1
Bagman 1.4

Top five 2* characters (percentage of rater who rated the char as top 5)
OBW (100%)
Storm (100%)
Ares (80%)
Magneto (80%)
Thor (60%)

Honourable mention: Moonstone (20%), Wolverine (20%), Hawkeye (20%), Ms Marvel (20%)

COMMENTS will be added in later.

over_clocked

Thank you for posting this!
Still reading over, but I have a comment to make: Carnage's best standalone build is 5/3/5 due to black being of low relevance as long as you have a single cover in it. I would only agree with 5/5/3 if you always, always have a better green user like Jean Grey, Iceman or Red Hulk, etc, but that's not suitable for everyone.
I'm surprised Scarlet Witch made it into t5 of 3*s but I guess she does power up a ton of combos and I overlook the value of it. (GSBW/PX are more powerful than SW/PX, say, but SW powers Jean Grey, Kamala Khan, Fist... all top PvP characters too.)

Edit: Do not hurry to level XDP based on the ranking... He's easily outpaced by recent newcomers Red Hulk and Cyclops, making his t5 position dubious.

babinro

Excellent idea Atomzed!

This was fun and very time consuming since I love talking tactics. I'm going to share my opinions and personal rankings below for anyone to read or comment on just so it doesn't go to waste. I'll even try to catch some of the more obvious typo's, lol.

Note: Since submitting this list I've whaled Iceman and xDP.
While I don't have much hands on experience with these characters yet (less than a week), I'll expand on my thoughts regarding Iceman in his section.

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Babinro's Character Rankings

** Character Ranking List

Rating Name

9 Ares
9 Black widow (original)
3 Bullseye
3 Steve rogers (cpt america)
7 Hawkeye
7 Daken
5 Human torch
8 Magneto
5 Moonstone
5 Ms marvel
1 Bagman
9 Storm
3 Thor (marvel now)
5 Wolverine (astonishing)

Top 5 ** Characters

1) Black Widow (original)

Best Build: 3/5/5

OBW is the single most useful ** because she's amazing for a ** player and a ** transitioner. She's top tier in PvP and PvE. Her purple is arguably the best skill in the game and you'll only want 3 covers in it for efficiency reasons. OBW buys you the time you need to get things done and her blue shines against PvE goon nodes and the Galactus boss battle. Playing her correctly means having her tank purple tiles. If she can tank black and blue tiles that's fine to but she has low hit points so be weary about how often you let her take the front lines. Her purple Team Up is fantastic for all tiers of play as well.

Pairs well with:
- Any non-purple spender.
- As a ** player you'll want to pair her with characters like Ares, Storm, Human Torch, Ms Marvel.
- As a ** transitioner she works great with a ton of top damage dealers like LThor, BP, and Cyclops.

2) Ares

Best Build: 4/4/5

Ares is the strongest character for a ** player to use. His health and damage abilities feel pushed for ** tier. This makes him an auto-include for PvP and tough PvE nodes. The low AP cost of his skills makes him a genuine threat in PvP defense as well. His red skill is lacking but the build is designed to make him well rounded for play since the 5th green cover adds almost nothing.

Pairs well with:
- OBW is by far his the best pairing for a 2 person team.
- Storm for her blue stun, Daken for his strike tiles work great as a trio team.
- As a ** transitioner pair with 3*'s that lack strong yellow or green's such as Cyclops, Magneto or Deadpool.

3) Storm

Best Build: 3/5/5

Wind Storm is a ridiculously powerful power worthy of being a high end 3* skill. This skill alone elevates Storm to top tier play for ** players. 5 yellow shines for a ** player because it's powerful in pvp at that stage of the game and you'll be pairing her with better green spenders most of the time. As you get into higher tiers of play (established *** and beyond) I'd argue that yellow becomes too weak and opens up 5/5/3 as the potential best build for situations like required PvE node battles and limited roster pve's.

Pairs well with:
- Magneto as a duo team as his purple feeds her blue. Throw Hawkeye in as a third and it's a fantastic trio that takes down teams quickly with Speed Shot. Arguably the best way to clear the two DDQ ** nodes.
- Ares as a duo team for a focused offense. OBW making a fantastic trio team suitable to take out the most powerful teams at that level of play.

4) Magneto

Best Build: 3/5/5

Magneto is a combo character as he's pretty lackluster on his own. His blue is flat out terrible and his red deals a ton of damage but is very costly. His purple is amazing and elevates the character to top tier status. Pair him with Storm and Hawkeye for a powerful spike damage trio team. Use him to fuel blue and red AP for *** Cap in order to win extremely tough pve nodes as well as goons.

Pairs well with:
- Hawkeye to generate crits for Speed Shot.
- Storm to fuel her blue
- Red or blue spenders for ** transitioners most notably *** Captain America.
- Mystique to fuel blue in order to generate more purple and black.

5) Hawkeye

Best build: 4/4/5 or 3/5/5

Hawkeye is a personal preference choice. He's a niche character with a single narrow power that deals more damage than ** characters should. Speed shot is fantastic and fun to try and abuse. His red is solid as well but the nature of CD tiles makes it unreliable. The blue is too slow to be used in a timely manor which is why 3/5/5 is potentially the best build. I only barely place Hawkeye above Daken because Hawkeye is more useful to players who have transitioned to higher tiers of play.

Pairs well with:
- Magneto and Storm for ** players
- Mystique and Magneto
- Hawkeye as a 3rd for any character that generates crits (*** Thor, Iron Fist, GSBW).

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*** Character Ranking List

Rating Name

7 Beast
8 Black panther
6 Black widow (Gsbw)
7 Blade
3 Bullseye
8 Steve rogers (super soldier)
3 CM
3 Colossus
9 Cyclops
6 Daken
5 Daredevil
7 Deadpool
6 Doc doom
4 Doc oct
5 Falcon
5 Gamora
5 Human torch
10 Iron fist
4 IM40
7 Kamala khan
9 Loki
8 Luke cage
8 Magneto
5 Mystique
4 Psylocke
3 Quicksilver
3 Raganork
8 Rocket and groot
9 Scarlet witch
4 Sentry
6 She hulk
3 Spider man
4 Squirrel girl
6 Storm (mohawk)
9 Hood
6 Hulk
5 Punisher
8 Thor (modern) Lthor
4 Vision
9 Wolverine (patch)


Top 5 ** Characters

1) Iron Fist

Best Build: 5/5/3

Easily the best 3* in the game because he's useful at all stages of the game from ** transitioner to 4* established player. Iron Fists purple is borderline over powered in how fast it can fuel the many great black spenders. It's conditional damage is extremely powerful as well. His passive deals good damage on it's own but truly excels with strike tiles on the board since you get the benefit of them an extra time each turn. Iron Fist is all about match speed making him vital for shield hops in pvp or just taking down an enemy threats before they can build too much AP.

I'm in the minority who praises 5 green build over the 5 black build. In my opinion Fist's green is among the best green spenders in the game at 5 covers. It's close to 3000 damage on the turn you cast it (1000 for skill activation, 1000 for each tile match, 1000 for the passive tile trigger). Then each turn you add plenty of bonus damage even if the majority of tiles are matched in the next couple turns. I've run both key Fist builds and in my opinion 5 green is superior. It's also important to note that nearly every single good pairing with Iron Fist has no green spender. That said, 3/5/5 Iron Fist is absolutely viable and considered the superior build by many.

Pairs well with:
- Hulkbuster. A true endgame team for any PvP regardless of boosted characters. Supurb for PvE Required nodes.
- Any strong boosted black spender. Cyclops, Black Panther, Luke Cage, XF, ect.
- Hulkbuster and Scarlet Witch makes for the strongest trio team in my experience. HB and Hood are great as well.
- Quicksilver and Xavier as A slower riskier variant of 'winfinite' build.

2) Cyclops

Best Build: 5/3/5

When boosted, Cyclops becomes equivalent to one of the best 4*'s in the game right now. When not boosted his red loses some value but is still solid because of how his yellow fuels him and removes useless Tu's. His black is the best 3* single target finisher with a kicker that's not all that difficult to hit. He's got an impressive health pool for such a strong set of skills to boot. Cyclops is great for ** transitionser, *** players and *** trasitioners. When boosted he becomes a viable choice for 4* players as well. One key benefit of Cyclops is how he doesn't rely on team synergy to be useful. You can pretty much use him to fill out any team needing some of his colours and you'll do well.

Pairs well with:
- Iron Fist to fuel his black and offer a green spender
- As a red AP generator for Hulkbuster or *** Captain America for certain situations.
- Just about any team needing 2 or more of his colours to fill out the colour pie.

3) Scarlet Witch

Best Build: 5/3/5

This is admittedly a tough choice. Scarlet Witch isn't nearly as useful to ** transitioners or even *** players as she is for the endgame. She makes this list because as a 4* established player she's constantly being used. She's pivotal to competitive PvE and enables a ton of secondary teams through her blue and purple AP generation. Scarlet Witch's best build is debatable as I'm sure you could make a case for 3/5/5 as well. Especially as far as winfinite is concerned and the fact that you typically pair her with a superior purple spender. I still prefer 5 purple because every so often the 5 turn stun become more important than your other purple spender.

Pairs well with:
- GSBW and Xavier to enable 'winfinite' in PvE. Easily the best team to handle tough nodes.- Iron Fist and Kingpin
- Jean Grey
- 3* Deadpool
- Iron Fist and any boosted black character such as Cyclops, BP, or XF
- Nick Fury to generate blue and purple

4) Loki

Best Build: 5/3/5

Managing your opponents AP gain is an important part of *** tier play especially when trying to minimize health pack spending. Comparing Loki vs Hood for this is a very tough decision. I'll freely admit that I prefer Hood over Loki but that's personal taste. The reason I give this spot to Loki is because his secondary functions as a character help out FAR more than Hood's black and yellow. Loki has more health making him a lot more viable in PvP play. Loki's black can be used to counter certain enemy teams and works wonderfully with Patch. His purple is very cheap and can lead to cascades or just potentially improve your board choice for a given turn. If the AI is never triggering his passive then it likely means you're in a good position regardless.

Pairs well with:
- Patch
- As a 3rd for just about any duo team

5) Patch

Best build: 5/3/5

Patch makes the list because of his importance for the earlier stages of 3* play. His ongoing true healing will save a LOT of health packs for ** transitioners and *** players. He's perfect to clear out easier nodes in Lightning Rounds, PvE or just climbing in PvP saving the green to finish off battles. Loki pairs perfectly with him to take out tough battles while only using a single AP boost which is always nice to save on ISO spending. Most importantly Patch is used with Hulk as part of the hulkbomb team in PvP. Hulkbombing is fast and has enabled players to shield hop their way to 1000 (a few have even used it to break 1300 regularly). What keeps Patch from topping this list is the fact that he quickly becomes obsolete in the late game and will likely collect dust once you have a couple usable 4*s.

Pairs well with:
- Hulk
- Loki
- Daken for sustained true healing duo
- Elektra, Ant-Man, Daredevil, She-Hulk (all inferior to Loki but gives you diversity in options)

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**** Character Ranking List

Rating Name

4 Antman
5 Carnage
7 Deadpool
1 Devil dinosaur
2 Elektra
8 Ice man
3 Invisible woman
10 IMHB
10 Jean grey
7 Kingpin
3 Mr fantastic
6 Nick fury
8 Prof X
4 Sam Wilson (cpt America) falcap
4 Starlord
7 The thing
7 Thor (Goddess of thunder)
7 Wolverines (Xforce)


Note: I have little to no personal experience with the following 4*'s.
- Antman
- Mr Fantastic
- Sam Wilson - Faptain
- The Thing

Top 5 ** Characters

1) Hulkbuster

Best Build: 5/5/3

Hulkbuster is easily the best character in this game and in my opinion he accomplishes this without feeling overpowered or unfair. His skills are well designed and provides him with some natural synergies that are balanced out by drawbacks. MPQ is currently all about taking down key threats quickly and that's where HB excels trading his own health for flat out damage. You can use HB with speed in mind at the cost of using a frail team. HB can also be paired with other huge spenders to slowly gather Ap and unleash hell. HB excels at PvE required nodes, Lightning rounds, PvP climbing, hovering and shield hopping. He forms plenty of great trio teams for events like Shield Sim and The Gauntlet and his health ensures that you can frequently endure a few battles before having to heal.

Pairs well with:
- Iron Fist for PvE required nodes and quick PvP matches
- Iron Fist and Scarlet Witch for quick battles vs tough PvE nodes, Shield Sim, The Gauntlet, etc
- Jean for hovering and shield hopping at endgame pvp
- Hood often as a 3rd or to counter opposing Hood in pvp
- Loki often as a 3rd
- 3* Cyclops to feed red
- Iceman for a strong set of damage skills and stun
- Carnage to deter hits on weeks where he's buffed
- The Thing as a third with Fist to let the team achieve their goals.

2) Jean Grey

Best Build: 5/3/5

Jean took me by surprise. I didn't think she was going to be so great initially but hands on play has absolutely changed my mind. Her blue isn't only good defensively but it's GREAT when using her. Being able to stun the enemy team and get those precious added AP to hopefully respond to their cascade can save you. Her green is a solid well designed skill that shines when it generates an attack tile to take advantage of strikes on the board. Finally her purple is flat out pushed and genuinely overpowered. Not only does it deal fantastic damage for the low AP cost but the kicker is incredible. Most 4* characters have special tile kickers and she maintains the big damage you want while answering those problems for only 10 purple AP. What keeps Jean out of top spot is the fact that she's only able to do team damage. This makes her weaker in a game where taking down the immediate threat is often more important to avoid damage. Jean is a very party friendly to boot. The AI cannot misplay her and she'll fill in gaps for just about any team you want to form since green and purple are less common damage colours especially in 4* tier.

Pairs well with:
- Hulkbuster
- Scarlet Witch
- Just about any 3 person team

3) Professor X

Best Build: 5/5/3

Xavier's placement on this list is a tricky one. He's really not competitive in PvP anymore and that's the key focus of the game for a lot of players. Xavier gets this spot because he is king when it comes to those health pack draining matches in PvE, Galactus and The Gauntlet. While the winfinite build doesn't necessarily mean infinite turns it is amazingly effective and pretty quick to boot. It's important to note that winfinte requires Xavier to not tank primary colours and so his level should remain low. Something like level 158 will ensure others tank even when he's featured and Powered Up. This is my recommended way to build the character and he runs perfectly fine with just 5 blue and no other covers.

Plenty of people would rather level Xavier (or have already done so) which makes winfinite a lot riskier or relies on purple characters being boosted. For max level Xavier players you can now take advantage of his 5 purple covers. The goal here being to run less used characters as special tile generators and then make Xavier go invisible. Protect the invisible tile and gradually ramp up to 1000's of damage per tile match. This isn't nearly as reliable as winfinite but it does work and can save health packs.

Low level winfinite Xavier pairs well with:
- Scarlet Witch and GSBW for ideal winfinite
- Iron Fist and Quicksilver for slower riskier winfinte
- Mystique and ** Mags for the least reliable winfinite

Max level 5/5/3 Xavier pairs well with:
- Beast, Daken, Blade, Psylocke, Gamora, Punisher all make solid duo teams for required nodes. Some are better than others as Beast will tank yellow over Xavier while Punisher will tank nothing. It all works as long as you can protect your invis tile and Xavier tanks 2 or more colours.

4) Iceman

Best Build: 5/5/3

Note: I do NOT have hands on experience with this character yet.
My impressions are based on fighting against him in high end PvP and general word of mouth from other players. Honestly I'm concerned he might be overrated since the AI cannot play the character well and there are better duo teams. That aside Iceman deserves consideration for having the best stun in the game hands down. 4 turn stun is incredible and at 6 blue you can reliable disrupt the enemy team from firing off a serious damage skill while you build up your AP. 4* tier has also released quite a few characters that make stuns more important. Being able to stall Jean to match 5 or stun X-Force Deadpool/The Thing to target a greater threat is great. The fact that Iceman is also a BIG late game AoE and single target damage dealer gives him all tools to be top tier viable. I'm not conviced he's superior to rank 5 and below but the feedback I've received on him would put him here or higher.

Pairs well with:
- Hulkbuster
- Jean
- As a third for any team that could benefit from stun

Update : Having whaled out the character for only a few days I can give my initial impressions of the character offensively. IMO Iceman is currently overhyped. He's a slower character to build up and you often need all three of his colours to make him shine. That said his stun is legit and I still consider him worthy of rank 4 overall because when he's ready to fire it's going to hurt. I don't feel that Ice/Jean is worthy duo team but Ice/HB is excellent. Ice/KP works great as well but I still think KP pairs better with 4thor. Iceman shines when he can be used as 3rd team member. He's a great character but when it comes down to choosing Iceman or Jean, I'd personally rather have Jean for her ability to remove enemy special tiles.



5) Kingpin

Best build: 5/3/5

This is another tricky 4* to rank as I feel that X-Force Deadpool, The Thing and 4Thor all deserve consideration. Among them I only have hands on with Kingpin and 4Thor with quite a bit of experience playing against xDP in PvP. Since Iceman takes stun away from 4thor I feel that Kingpin deserves the spot.

Kingpin shines in the fact that he's got all the synergy he needs built right into the character. Purple feeds yellow and black adds great spike damage. He can be used for speed with a rather frail team or placed with other 4*'s to fill out a rainbow and offer a sustained threat over a longer match. His internal synergy makes him a surprisingly annoying character to fight against in pvp as well despite his inability to use black properly.


Pairs well with:
- 4Thor is great with boosts as she charges yellow and blue to fuel threats
- Iceman
- 4thor and Hood
- Scarlet Witch and Iron Fist for speed
- As a third to any team that could benefit from 2 or more of his colours.

20three

Scarlet Witch went from being underrated to overrated, she's fine and she can run a couple amazing gambits, but other than that she has her weaknesses too and in no way could carry a team without the characters listed that she pairs well with...

morph3us

20three wrote:

Scarlet Witch went from being underrated to overrated, she's fine and she can run a couple amazing gambits, but other than that she has her weaknesses too and in no way could carry a team without the characters listed that she pairs well with...

I guess in SW's case, it's more a matter of her value in the combos as mentioned. In some senses, she's occupying the position that The Hood occupied about 12 months ago, where her value in a vacuum is substantially less than her value in the context of the current meta. I am essentially agreeing with you here, but I'm also agreeing with her being so highly rated at present.

I'd say that SW's prominence (along with IF etc) is part of the reason why Jean Grey is rated so highly at present.

simonsez

20three wrote:

Scarlet Witch went from being underrated to overrated, she's fine and she can run a couple amazing gambits, but other than that she has her weaknesses too and in no way could carry a team without the characters listed that she pairs well with...

She's not supposed to carry a team by herself. She's a support character.

dkffiv

If the list is including PvE applications than the 3* list is a complete mess. Even boosted PvP wise, how could you rate R&G higher than Blade or Mystique higher than Torch? 4pool seems to be too high on the list (I'll gladly face him over most other 4* opponents)

20three

simonsez wrote:

20three wrote:

Scarlet Witch went from being underrated to overrated, she's fine and she can run a couple amazing gambits, but other than that she has her weaknesses too and in no way could carry a team without the characters listed that she pairs well with...

She's not supposed to carry a team by herself. She's a support character.

I'm not saying she's supposed to, I'm saying she can't. Since that's the case, she should not be higher than characters like Magneto, Thor, and Steve Rodgers who can stand on their own and have good synergy too.

atomzed

Sorry for the delay guys... My child was borne 3 days ago and I busy doing father duties. Will contribute more when I get back.

And I agree with aesthe that the ranking is skewed towards top end players. It's meant to be like that. For example, when I was in 3* land I really value grocket. But when I reach 4* land, grocket was merely one of the options. SW, however, as a purple generator AND match 5 generator, cannot be compared with any other 3*.

And oh the A.R.S specially state spare HP, because hey, who am I to know how much money you have? If you are rich and want to jump the 2* transition, then buying obw covers is the way to go (note : don't do it, you get her covered really soon). Similarly, if you are in 3* land and you want to max one character to give you an edge, the top 5 are all good considerations.

Huatimus

Thanks Atomzed and all the contributors, really appreciate the insight.

Just a quick add-on, do not level Prof X to level 221 for winfinite. Max should be 175 if I recall correctly, so that even when Prof X is boosted for the week, the team's strongest color would still be purple(SW/GSBW). And 5/x/0 is a better build if purely using him for PVE winfinite, because even 1 yellow cover might spawn special tiles that will mess up your chance to keep winfinite going.

Natsufan01

Hello all. I'm fairly new to the forums and don't really know how to go about doing this so I'm asking rather than trying myself.

How about doing a poll where the target user is a free or very minimal cost player?

Now what I mean is, every character and every build is available ( people get lucky), but consider how effective they would be if you:
1. Couldn't buy health packs to heal and had to use only what was given.
2. Couldn't buy boosts with hp, only with iso ( since it's much easier to obtain iso without spending real money)

Do you think that would make some characters less useful? (self damagers like Ares) Others more useful? ( ones with true self healing, ap generators, etc...)

Since a large majority of the player base is in this category of minimal spending, it would benefit more if they were considered this way. I would expect it wouldn't be much of a shakeup, but it might. It would also explain the huge response for Thor winning the last poll, tough ap generator that can survive multiple fights without having to use precious health packs.

I don't think 3 star Thor is best, but goes to show that different styles of play change what characters are better than others. Anyone want to try to orchestrate something like this?

Salgy

Atomzed - first, congrats on the new addition! Second, thank you for doing this & asking me to be a part of it... it's really interesting to me how the rankings differ so much from person to person... I'm not anywhere near as wordy as the others who have added their commentary, but I will post my whole review here as well... Where I am in my game play, high level pvp, the majority of the characters I use, outside of the feature, are 4*'s... I took the liberty of adding both 4clops & red hulk in my rankings... They were brand new when this was presented, but I just so happened to have them maxed & added them to my rankings... Since they were not included in the original ask, I didn't count them in my top 5 (although they would both be in it... Maybe next time...)... The 3*'s I use are primarily support characters... Luckily, the 3* class is deep with supporting characters... The 2*'s at this time in my play have been relegated to daily deadpool and see some work in the pve events I bring myself to do every once in a while... Which, I think, is still a good source to farm iso...

2* ratings

Black widow (original) - 9
Thor (marvel now) - 7
Storm - 7
Wolverine (astonishing) - 7
Ares - 6
Magneto - 6
Daken -6
Bullseye - 5
Hawkeye - 5
Ms. Marvel - 5
Moonstone - 5
Human Torch - 3
Steve rogers (cpt america) - 1
Bagman - 1

2* my top 5

Black widow (original) - 9
Best build: 3/5/5
One of the most versatile toons at any level. Her ability to heal & steal makes her useful in both PVE & PVP... can add time to countdowns making her invaluable against goons... Annoying to face (especially when boosted) at the 2/3* level in pvp... Low health makes her a almost a nonissue at the 3/4* level in pvp

Thor (marvel now) - 7
Best build: 3/5/5
Highest health tier for 2*'s... Good tank who generates useful ap colors with his move set... Call the storm is one of the games best aoe's & thunder strike not only feeds that aoe, it is one of the better moves to assist in creating cascades & board shake opportunities

Storm - 7
Best build: 4/5/4
Best stun at the 2* level... Add to that her ap generating green and passive attack and you have a well rounded and annoying threat... Her passive makes her the first toon you need to target when facing her, and it almost forces you to hold off of firing an aoe until you can down her with the ability...

Wolverine (astonishing) - 7
Best build: 5/5/3
Self healing, and 2 good attacks makes wolverine a 2* stud... Although they share overlapping colors (and I would pick Thor over wolverine if I could), his self healing ability keeps wolverine in the same ranking as Thor...

Ares - 6
Best build: 4/4/5
A step behind the other 2 r/g/y users in this rarity tier... Another high health tank with devastating moves... Although not as powerful as thor's, his moves are slightly better powered than wolverine at this same level... His downfall is his self damaging move, that is not conducive to extended play...

3* rankings

Iron fist - 10
Hood - 10
Cyclops - 9
Luke cage - 9
Scarlet witch - 9
Black panther - 9
Magneto - 8
Mystique - 8
Wolverine (patch) - 8
Rocket and groot - 8
Kamala khan - 8
Thor (modern) Lthor - 8
Daken - 8
Deadpool - 8
Doc doom - 8
Black widow (Gsbw) - 7
Steve rogers (super soldier) - 7
Captain Marvel - 7
Daredevil - 7
Doc oct - 7
Falcon - 7
Gamora - 7
Storm (mohawk) - 7
She hulk - 6
Sentry - 6
Beast - 5
Human torch - 5
Punisher - 5
Bullseye - 5
Colossus - 5
Hulk - 5
IM40 - 5
Psylocke
Spider man - 3
Squirrel girl - 3
Vision - 3
Raganork - 1
Quicksilver - 1

3* my top 5

Iron fist - 10
Best build: 3/5/5
Iron fists best use is as a support character to any black user... Specifically Luke cage, cyclops or Black Panther in 3* land, or IMHB in 4* land... His passive attack tile whittles away the defenders turn by turn and this is only increased using his green to generate strike tiles...

Hood - 10
Best build: 5/5/3
Hoods best move is his passive steal... The only way to defeat a team running hood in pvp is to bring your own... Has a devastating yellow power that can be used to help clear pesky enemy tiles, but just using him as an ap drain (and gain), you really cut the attacker down

Cyclops - 9
Best build: 5/3/5
when boosted cyclops is devastating... He's practically in the 4* tier... and easily one of the top 3*'s even when not... Self generates red that feeds one of his moves (and makes his other more powerful)... Since cyclops can generate his own red, he pairs well with iron first to help accelerate his black... Or Doctor Doom for the same reason...

Luke cage - 9
Best build: 5/3/5
Luke Cage is a great all around toon... Very versatile... Pesky protect tile enables you to almost ignore match damage, and focus on preventing aoe's from your opponent... Has a great, damaging finishing move in his uppercut... and if you double up on his black, you take advantage of his stun (with added damage)... Pairs best with iron first...

Scarlet witch - 9
Best build: 5/3/5
Scarlet witch main function is to accelerate pink. Period. Pairs great with fist & doom in 3* land... Or Iceman, Jean, Red Hulk in 4* land... She also has the best damage/stun out of all the 3* characters... SW also functions as a pivotal part of the winfinite combo with PX & GSBW...

4* rankings

IMHB - 10
Jean grey - 10
Ice man - 10
*cyclops - 9.5
*red hulk - 9.5
The thing -9
Deadpool - 9
Thor (Goddess of thunder) - 9
Wolverines (Xforce) - 9
Antman - 8
Carnage - 8
Kingpin - 8
Prof X - 8
Nick fury - 7
Elektra - 7
Mr fantastic - 5
Sam Wilson (cpt America) falcap - 5
Starlord - 3
Invisible woman - 3
Devil dinosaur - 3

4* top 5

Ice man - 10
Best Build: 5/5/3
Hands down the top of the current characters we were asked to rate... Devastating green aoe, best stun in the game with the opportunity to turn it into a nuke... Self feeding with his pink (that also depletes your opponents red, which historically is a powerful color...)... Pairs best with: IMHB, 4Clops, 4hor, SW

Jean grey - 10
Best Build: 5/3/5
Jean is just a step behind iceman, just because she is easier to defeat... Her passive blue can easily be worked around, where his powers are harder to avoid... Jean is a great special tile (and countdown) remover, and has 2 team damaging moves that are relatively inexpensive... Since they share colors, Jean pairs well with the above mentioned; IMHB, 4Clops, 4hor, SW

IMHB - 10
Best Build: 5/5/3
IMHB has it all... Strike tiles, protect tiles, self feeding, big damage capabilities, high health... What's not to love?!? IMHB pairs best with: Jean, Iceman, iron fist, hood, 3Clops

The Thing -9
Best Build: 5/3/5
The Thing is a great deterrent with high health, a stun & board shake... But his best attribute is his passive yellow... Making an opponent think about every move slows them down on matches & many will just pay the 10 iso "skip tax" instead of tangling with him... Pairs great with: IMHB, Red Hulk, 4Clops, 4hor, XFDP

Deadpool - 9
Best Build: 3/5/5
XFDP is a really fun character to play... Self healing & high damage potential... As with the Thing, one of his best attributes is his ability to get in the mind of your opponents... Due to his pink ability, XFDP pairs best with XFW to combo DP's pink into W's black for maximum damage... Other toons that play well with XFDP are; Thing, IMHB, Jean, Ice, hood

Unknown

Since this is something of a braintrust...

I am in the 3-4* transition. I would like input on a few things.

This is my roster:

http://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/woozyweasel13/

I have about 5000 hero points; should I max xforce wolvie, or should I start investing in 4thor? I want to make 4thor work soon, since I've always thought her mechanics were really fun, and I don't have any other great 4*s ready to go other than these two.

What would pair well with 4thor on my roster? I'm thinking 4thor, KK, and Hood, but did I ruin Hood by getting him to 160? I don't want him tanking blue for 4thor, but it might be unavoidable now.

I know this might not be the best place for it, but I really do appreciate any feedback. Thanks guys!

Buret0

Next time we should ask people who have all of these characters. :tinykittygrin:

Buret0

woozy wrote:

I have about 5000 hero points; should I max xforce wolvie, or should I start investing in 4thor? I want to make 4thor work soon, since I've always thought her mechanics were really fun, and I don't have any other great 4*s ready to go other than these two.

What would pair well with 4thor on my roster? I'm thinking 4thor, KK, and Hood, but did I ruin Hood by getting him to 160? I don't want him tanking blue for 4thor, but it might be unavoidable now.

I know this might not be the best place for it, but I really do appreciate any feedback. Thanks guys!

Obviously 5 in Surgical Strike will make a big difference in your XFW, but it really depends on how you play. A maxed out XFW isn't going to get you to 1300 in PvP, so if you are getting your legendary tokens from PvE, I would hold off on getting one maxed out character and use those HP for roster slots for new 4*s. If you are F2P, I would concentrate on slowly building up what you've got. Those covers will start coming faster the more legendary tokens you are obtaining.

If you look at the rankings, spending HP on 4Thor and XFW at this stage is premature. The newer characters like Jean Grey, 4Pool, Iceman, etc. are what most people are fielding at this time.

If you aren't hitting 1,000 in PvP without spending a fortune in shields, I would hold off for now on buying two covers.

Hood is great in PvE and when he is boosted in PvP, but his health is too low to rely on when he isn't boosted in PvP. Just be careful not to make a tanking match on Hood when the AI is ready to use an ability and you will be fine. Using someone like Cage will protect him from the effects of match damage, but even the best protect tiles in the game won't do much against an ability (except for lower level AoE damage).

If you are doing well in PvE, you might be better off working on your PX and Scarlet Witch. Your GSBW is at level 166, which means that you are three blue covers on PX away from being able to use winfinite. Getting a usable Arcane Incantation (5 blue covers) on Switch greatly accelerates that combo.

For now, I would hold on to that HP, concentrate on building your 4*s through legendary tokens in PvE, and maybe bank your taco tokens until Scarlet Witch's featured week to try and acquire those covers.

defixu

Great list and valuable opinions from high-level players. I'd just add one thing: Classic Storm's green needs to be at 5, her best build ist 553. The dmg of her passive it gains with 4-5 covers does not outweigh the *huge* ap generation a maxed green does provide. She can blow up half of the board with 30 green and generate 25ish ap from it to boot! (she does not generate the green she collects at 30ap, because the generated ap is added first, then the 12 green cost is deducted.)

This is especially valuable for wave nodes or the big enchilada. Yellow is not worth it, since while her passive may have saved your bacon a few times, it is by far less often procced and used than her green.

Pollozz

Thank you for doing this. Great post, from the OP to the people who contribute. Will help me a lot.