**** Nova (Sam Alexander) ****

12357…10

Comments

  • NickHewitt12
    NickHewitt12 Posts: 116 Tile Toppler
    D4Ni13 wrote:
    My first impression is that a compromise build would be 4-5-4.
    I think strike tiles value is more important than damage value. Having all strike tiles at 184 and 198 is more reliable, rather than having 126.
    5 covers in yellow is a requirement. 4 in black is the compromise between good damage and good strike tiles, and hopefully 4 in red won't be to much of a damage loss.

    Unless I'm mistaken, I think red's power stays static, regardless of covers. He seems like a pretty solid 3/5/5, shame it'll take about 6 months of lucky Legendary Token pulls before I can find out for myself.
  • Quebbster
    Quebbster Posts: 8,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    Cthulhu wrote:
    Another edit, I removed stunned from Rocket Man because technically the enemy is airborne and player is unable to attack the airborne character.
    Even if I send one of my characters airborne with Colossus Fastball Special? Would be fun with an epic mid-air confrontation...

    I'm looking forward to sending Galactus Airborne next week. That works, right? It's not a stun, so Galactus is not immune?
  • hurcules
    hurcules Posts: 519
    Hi Cthulhu,

    Many thanks for the timely update on both Characters stats and uncovered bugs information.

    May I suggest to put the bug information together in the opening post (under the main stats) so that all the information is in one post? Large number of people wouldn't read past the first post when they come to this thread, and that bug information is easily lost. This would help lessen tickets submitted to Customer Support too.

    Again, your timely communications are much appreciated, and hope you would continue with this practice.
  • GrumpySmurf1002
    GrumpySmurf1002 Posts: 3,511 Chairperson of the Boards
    babinro wrote:
    Initial impressions from on paper stats:

    Red:
    Strong. Takeoff is a decent skill on it's own (assuming the level 5 version of creates 3 strikes is accurate). Rocket Man is on the other hand is great and puts Thing's red to shame. The damage and stun are both going to be excellent for the cost when you consider they get further boosted by the strikes on the board.


    Yellow:
    Great. Another yellow damage dealing skill! I prefer this one to Venom's as I put a lot more value in strikes than I do pure damage. This skill's lingering damage through the strikes should easily justify the cost. You have to assume people will follow this up with Nova's red which means it'll be dealing 5100 damage and stunning for 2 turns for only 6 red AP more often then not.

    Black:
    Average. 4 powerful strikes for 8 black AP is a below average value for this AP colour. More powerful strikes are great but it's clear that you'd rather have HB's black over this. As a finisher that requires jumping through hoops this skill also gives below average value. The damage is substantially lower than someone like Falcon and if used earlier in the match will really hurt your damage output going forward. This skill feels beautifully designed to me. It's giving the player 2 meaningful choices that are weaker than a single choice skill all while making both benefits good enough to still be relevant.

    Initial Build:
    3/5/5 or 5/5/3
    I feel as though his yellow is a must have 5 and the other skills could vary based on preference and pairing. It's tricky because all 3 skills have great good jumps at the 5th colour. If Rocket Man's 4518 damage is static regardless of covers then 3/5/5 is the standout generic build.


    Overall:
    Top tier.
    I freely admit that I value a strike tiles damage over time much higher than others. I considered Iron Fists green to be the best green spender in the game right up until the likes of JG, Iceman, and Rulk. With that in mind I love the quick fire nature of this character with substantial added match damage and skill damage for the rest of the match. I can easily see him being in the top 10 4*'s and he might even fall into the top 5 (above Cyke).

    He'll pair extremely well with Iceman, Rulk, and Jean Grey. I'd personally lean towards Jean Grey since her green can generate attack tiles but Rulk is clearly the superior choice in pvp to deter hits. Iceman is great when up against enemy OML, Rulk or within PvE.

    Edit: My post made a few assumptions which are still not completely clear. I assumed red was stun but it's been clarified that this is in fact airborne which is less useful. I'm also assuming red creates 3 strikes and black creates 4. I'm also assuming the damage on red doesn't change with covers.

    Think this is pretty bang on. He basically has a slightly cheaper version of FailCap's combo. For 14 yellow - 8 black he does 15k damage (w/ the 1200 in strike tiles), and if you have 6 red he tacks on another 4500 to someone else.

    With rocket man static max at level 3, there's no reason to sacrifice the damage on his black, so he's pretty clear 3/5/5. Going to be a royal PITA to fight. Envisioning a Nova/PX/Iceman team just creating all sorts of havoc.

    Edit: Oh and one more, he hides perfectly behind OML and has actives for OML's passives. So tack generating strike tiles on top of generating strike tiles. Hell just use Bullseye with them. Strike tiles for everyone!
  • simonsez
    simonsez Posts: 4,663 Chairperson of the Boards
    D4Ni13 wrote:
    I think strike tiles value is more important than damage value. Having all strike tiles at 184 and 198 is more reliable, rather than having 126.
    I don't get that at all. The strike tiles only exist to fuel black, similar to how KP's countdowns are more valuable as fodder for his black. It's nice bonus damage, but it's all about getting off the 8k attack. Sacrificing damage on black isn't going to be recouped by strike tiles worth 60 extra damage.
  • Polares
    Polares Posts: 2,643 Chairperson of the Boards
    GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

    ...

    Edit: Oh and one more, he hides perfectly behind OML and has actives for OML's passives. So tack generating strike tiles on top of generating strike tiles. Hell just use Bullseye with them. Strike tiles for everyone!

    I don't think he is a good partner for OML at all. Yes his powers are cheap but having the same colors is very bad. If you start spending black and yellow, OML is never going to transform, and lets not forget that the main goal for any team is to transform him so he can start doing 10k+ (way more if maxed) damage with his attacks. And it is even worse for the AI that will always fire Nova powers instead of OML ones.

    I think he is quite good, and he will play fantastically well with jean, iceman and rhulk.
  • GrumpySmurf1002
    GrumpySmurf1002 Posts: 3,511 Chairperson of the Boards
    Polares wrote:
    GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

    ...

    Edit: Oh and one more, he hides perfectly behind OML and has actives for OML's passives. So tack generating strike tiles on top of generating strike tiles. Hell just use Bullseye with them. Strike tiles for everyone!

    I don't think he is a good partner for OML at all. Yes his powers are cheap but having the same colors is very bad. If you start spending black and yellow, OML is never going to transform, and lets not forget that the main goal for any team is to transform him so he can start doing 10k+ (way more if maxed) damage with his attacks. And it is even worse for the AI that will always fire Nova powers instead of OML ones.

    I think he is quite good, and he will play fantastically well with jean, iceman and rhulk.

    True if you're fighting other 5* where you need to get those big damage numbers quick. If you're fighting 4*, hard to see it as a bad thing to have a duo that takes no damage and spams tiles. One cast of yellow (one match with +4AP boosted!) & black each and you're doing 2k per turn on primary colors with the duo. For someone like me with a 0/3/1 (thus no option to transform now anyway), Nova can easily make OML viable even faster.

    Of course he plays well with the off-colors, but this should work quite well. You can add the PUG users for PvE/Sim, or use the duo alone to climb quick on zero health packs. Neither is a bad thing.
  • SolidQ
    SolidQ Posts: 247 Tile Toppler
    Polares wrote:
    And it is even worse for the AI that will always fire Nova powers instead of OML ones.
    AI will fire 95% OML black. and Nova can be good partner for OML( i mean before transform) icon_e_wink.gif
  • TheHueyFreeman
    TheHueyFreeman Posts: 472 Mover and Shaker
    The max level match damage for black seems low (43). Typo?
  • Gowaderacer
    Gowaderacer Posts: 310 Mover and Shaker
    Looks really good, actually. First character in a while I would consider maxing instantly. Too bad they nerfed whaling... icon_rolleyes.gif
  • Tilesmasher
    Tilesmasher Posts: 127 Tile Toppler
    I'm excited to play him in once I have enough covers in 2017, he looks fun!
  • wymtime
    wymtime Posts: 3,759 Chairperson of the Boards
    Nova the new #1 4* he will replace HB In PVP as soon as people have him maxed out. Imagine him with JG, OML, Carnage.
    Too bad by the time I get 13 covers I am more likely to have 1-2 really good 5* I am playing with. Maybe the devs will do something about the ISO shortage so people can actually level him with all the other 4*
  • Buret0
    Buret0 Posts: 1,591
    Anyone else going to just keep pumping out black strike tiles with OML and using the cheap red to keep your enemy airborne?

    Also, can we fix this so that if all enemies are airborne they don't instantly fall like with Colossus' move?
  • woopie
    woopie Posts: 311 Mover and Shaker
    Remember when XFW green was considered over powered? Now we have 7 yellow for 3k damage + strikes and 8 blue for 4* Cyclops 3k damage, AP gen and some cascade potential.
  • Lidolas
    Lidolas Posts: 500
    What if you knock Iron Man or other flyers? It doesn't seem like they should have more control and take less or even no damage. icon_question.gif
  • Cthulhu
    Cthulhu ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 410 Site Admin
    babinro wrote:
    Initial impressions from on paper stats:
    Red:
    Strong. Takeoff is a decent skill on it's own (assuming the level 5 version of creates 3 strikes is accurate).

    That is correct, he does create 3 Black Strike tiles of strength
    BlackSheep101 wrote:
    Cthulhu wrote:
    Takeoff- 6 redtile.png AP
    ...
    Level 5: Creates 3 Black Strike tiles of strength 102.
    Max Level
      Level 5: Creates 2 Black Strike tiles of strength 198.
    Does level 5 Take Off create 2 or 3 strikes?

    My bad, fixed it, thank you for noticing the typo!
    grunzadin wrote:
    Cthulhu wrote:
    Danger Zone - 8 blacktile.png AP
    Trying to impress his teammates, Nova increases his flight speed even further. If there are fewer than 5 friendly Black Strike tiles on the board, creates 3 Black Strike tiles of strength 37. Otherwise, Nova loses control and crashes into his enemy, converting all friendly Black Strike tiles to basic tiles and dealing 1751 damage.

    Level Upgrades
      Level 5: Creates 4 Black Strike tiles of strength 114, otherwise deals 4169 damage.
    Max Level
      Level 5: Creates 3 Black Strike tiles of strength 221, otherwise deals 8119 damage.

    3 or 4 strikes?

    My bad, yes it's 4, fixed, thank you for noticing the typo!
    hurcules wrote:
    Hi Cthulhu,

    Many thanks for the timely update on both Characters stats and uncovered bugs information.

    May I suggest to put the bug information together in the opening post (under the main stats) so that all the information is in one post? Large number of people wouldn't read past the first post when they come to this thread, and that bug information is easily lost. This would help lessen tickets submitted to Customer Support too.

    Again, your timely communications are much appreciated, and hope you would continue with this practice.

    Thank you and sure, I will add to the bottom of the character stat post.
    TheHueyFreeman wrote:
    The max level match damage for black seems low (43). Typo?

    Correct, I copied the wrong number, thank you for noticing the typo!

    Cthulhu
  • Buret0
    Buret0 Posts: 1,591
    Excellent work!
  • Buret0
    Buret0 Posts: 1,591
    Cthulhu wrote:
    Known Issues
    • Damage dealt by Nova's power Rocket Man is unaffected by Strike and Protect tiles. This will be addressed in R94.
    • There is a bug in the airborne functionality that shows an incorrect amount of turns being airborne. The amount of turns being airborne is one less than what is stated. As a result, Nova's power Rocket Man shows the enemy being airborne for three turns but it is actually only two turns, which is the intended amount. We are still investigating a fix this to issue.
    • Heroes will return from being airborne immediately on that player's next turn if there is only one hero left on that player's team. This will be addressed in R95.
    • The player will see the enemy Nova's Rocket Man power go off when the enemy Nova's power Taking Off changes to Rocket Man. This will be addressed in R94.
    • Nova's power Rocket Man can be used to send an invisible enemy airborne if they are the last hero on that players team. This will be addressed in R95
    • Airborne minions still generate AP for their team. This will be addressed in R94.

    We apologize for the bugs and will fix them as soon as possible.

    This is exactly the kind of information we are always so hungry for. Thank you for providing this.
  • greenglove
    greenglove Posts: 111 Tile Toppler
    I don't know if this is a bug or not, but when he makes a countdown goon airborne, the countdown tile still fires. This is worse than useless with countdown goons, because you not only can't hit the goon when he's airborne, but also his countdown tile is sure to fire unless you can match it away. The airborne skill will then ONLY be useful in pvp. If the airborne skill actually prevented countdown tiles from firing, it would be far more useful.
  • greenglove
    greenglove Posts: 111 Tile Toppler
    I've only played him a little bit so far at 270 on my sandbox account. So far I have found it exceedingly difficult to have more than 4 black strike tiles so that his black will fire damage. Pairing him with OML doesn't fix the problem because OML makes RED strike tiles, whereas Nova's black skill requires BLACK strike tiles. What you really need with Nova is someone like IF, who can generate black AP quickly. This means that pairing Nova with Iceman makes more sense than with JG, because you can use IF's purple instead of Iceman's, whereas if you used JG, you would want to fire off her purple skill more.

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