**** War Machine (James Rhodes) ****

notamutant

Daredevil217 wrote:

Rhodey is at the bottom of my current plans (but he's on the list!).

Though I may bump him up to the top if I get the 900 progressional.

I have the following Champs:

Red Hulk, Chulk, Hulkbuster, Wolverine, Falcap.

I also have the covers to Champ Starlord and Miles.

(And the Iso to champ five 4*)

Of these SEVEN characters I have ONE active blue user and ZERO that do blue damage, yet Falcap benefits from matching blue and Chulk fuels blue. I think it'd be worth it for me to have a good outlet for said blue. Buster at 3 blue just isn't cutting it alone, though I will be champing Big Pun soon.

I feel like Rhodey is a good investment for a roster like mine, but would love opinions! Seeing my Iso drop from 2 mil to 500k (champing Punisher, Star-Lord, Miles and War Machine) is going to SUCK!

He just isn't that great of a character. The two main blue users in 4 star world are Peggy and Iceman blue up top, then Thor and Cyclops before WM.

Daredevil217

notamutant wrote:

Daredevil217 wrote:

Rhodey is at the bottom of my current plans (but he's on the list!).

Though I may bump him up to the top if I get the 900 progressional.

I have the following Champs:

Red Hulk, Chulk, Hulkbuster, Wolverine, Falcap.

I also have the covers to Champ Starlord and Miles.

(And the Iso to champ five 4*)

Of these SEVEN characters I have ONE active blue user and ZERO that do blue damage, yet Falcap benefits from matching blue and Chulk fuels blue. I think it'd be worth it for me to have a good outlet for said blue. Buster at 3 blue just isn't cutting it alone, though I will be champing Big Pun soon.

I feel like Rhodey is a good investment for a roster like mine, but would love opinions! Seeing my Iso drop from 2 mil to 500k (champing Punisher, Star-Lord, Miles and War Machine) is going to SUCK!

He just isn't that great of a character. The two main blue users in 4 star world are Peggy and Iceman blue up top, then Thor and Cyclops before WM.

My Peggy is 5/0/4
My Bobby is 1/5/1
My Thor is 2/1/5
My Cyclops is 4/2/2

There's some awful builds there, especially with vaulting being a thing and 4* bonus heroes NOT falling. Plus I risk yet another Peggy red (already have one dying), Bobby blue, etc.

Is he really THAT bad for a guy who doesn't have 20 4's champed.

DesertTortoise

I just got my 13th cover for him and he's next on my list to champion. I think a team that will have a lot of synergy and would make the most of Rhodes is Carol/Medusa/WM.

I'd probably set WM at 5/3/5, but I'm still undecided. I think 3/5/5 might be feasible since I think you can skimp on the damage his attack tiles do but I'd be afraid of his countdown being unfortified. Carol would be at 5/5/3 and Medusa at either of her builds, but I'd probably go 5/5/3 for her as well.

It's a full rainbow, Medusa would fuel her own purple and Rhodes' green/blue when there's enemy special tiles. Rhodes' green and Carol's passive yellow is a devastating combination. If you can manage to get Rhodes' red off with any success, you'll be healed massively by all of the attack tiles on the board.

I'll let you know what I think once I get the iso, but does anyone see any holes in this? Seems very potent.

Peelman

Carol is a great partner for War Machine. To what people have said above, War Machine certainly is not a top-tier 4*, but can be a good niche character for teams that thrive on countdowns and special tiles. Carol is a great example of that, but Carol is an excellent partner for a lot of characters.

Medusa works as a third, but she truly shines when enemy special tiles are in play. Without those, you would be getting the heals off of your matches, damage per turn with her countdown, and some shakeup when you run her purple. Getting the healing would help it as a PvE team to keep health pack use low, but you may find there are better partners out there.

I'm really anxious to get Carol, War Machine, and Agent Coulson together. Coulson has yellow overlap with Carol and Blue overlap with War Machine, but his passives would give you some extra AP generation and more countdowns to boost from Carol's passive even more.

Star-Lord could also be a good third to Carol and War Machine. There would be Red overlap between Star-Lord and War Machine though. I'd be more intrigued with Star-Lord, Coulson, and Carol.

Lytes420

Daredevil217 wrote:

notamutant wrote:

Daredevil217 wrote:

Rhodey is at the bottom of my current plans (but he's on the list!).

Though I may bump him up to the top if I get the 900 progressional.

I have the following Champs:

Red Hulk, Chulk, Hulkbuster, Wolverine, Falcap.

I also have the covers to Champ Starlord and Miles.

(And the Iso to champ five 4*)

Of these SEVEN characters I have ONE active blue user and ZERO that do blue damage, yet Falcap benefits from matching blue and Chulk fuels blue. I think it'd be worth it for me to have a good outlet for said blue. Buster at 3 blue just isn't cutting it alone, though I will be champing Big Pun soon.

I feel like Rhodey is a good investment for a roster like mine, but would love opinions! Seeing my Iso drop from 2 mil to 500k (champing Punisher, Star-Lord, Miles and War Machine) is going to SUCK!

He just isn't that great of a character. The two main blue users in 4 star world are Peggy and Iceman blue up top, then Thor and Cyclops before WM.

My Peggy is 5/0/4
My Bobby is 1/5/1
My Thor is 2/1/5
My Cyclops is 4/2/2

There's some awful builds there, especially with vaulting being a thing and 4* bonus heroes NOT falling. Plus I risk yet another Peggy red (already have one dying), Bobby blue, etc.

Is he really THAT bad for a guy who doesn't have 20 4's champed.

Seeing your other blue options,he wouldn't be a bad choice for you to champ.i use him very frequently when he is boosted.i have both a champed oml and Phoenix,so I run him at 3/5/5 when I use him.no regrets champing him.

OneLastGambit

DesertTortoise wrote:

I just got my 13th cover for him and he's next on my list to champion. I think a team that will have a lot of synergy and would make the most of Rhodes is Carol/Medusa/WM.

I'd probably set WM at 5/3/5, but I'm still undecided. I think 3/5/5 might be feasible since I think you can skimp on the damage his attack tiles do but I'd be afraid of his countdown being unfortified. Carol would be at 5/5/3 and Medusa at either of her builds, but I'd probably go 5/5/3 for her as well.

It's a full rainbow, Medusa would fuel her own purple and Rhodes' green/blue when there's enemy special tiles. Rhodes' green and Carol's passive yellow is a devastating combination. If you can manage to get Rhodes' red off with any success, you'll be healed massively by all of the attack tiles on the board.

I'll let you know what I think once I get the iso, but does anyone see any holes in this? Seems very potent.

Very solid team indeed!
I wouldn't lower red or green though. WM utility comes from his ability to generate a lot of attack tiles very quickly. Blue at 3 is pretty much a given for me.
Also if you have a goblin then WM/IM40/Goblin is a very fun team

Gmax101

Seems like Carol and Coulson could work quite well.... lots of countdowns to boost the attack tiles... and Coulson purple can easily accelerate War Machine powers....

plus Coulson's blue active component is nice but not a big loss if you want the damage from WM.

Anon

Just Champed War Machine. He's a riot with Carol. Is he top tier? Nope. But he's really fun to play. His Blue is great, and activating red before green (I have him at 3/5/5) means Carol is going to have a field day buffing all those attack tiles, along with the strikes she makes.

D4Ni13

Anon said:

Just Champed War Machine. He's a riot with Carol. Is he top tier? Nope. But he's really fun to play. His Blue is great, and activating red before green (I have him at 3/5/5) means Carol is going to have a field day buffing all those attack tiles, along with the strikes she makes.

He is one of the few heroes I never got a cover of... which is ashame because I really wanted him at some point. Now I have other priorities, but maybe in the future I will manage to cover him also. 

Carol & Rhodey are lovers in the recent comics, so having a good synergy in game is a plus and well appreciated

Dormammu

I just champed War Machine and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. I knew he wasn't a game changer or anything, but am I missing something or is he totally outclassed by Riri? I keep trying to build teams around him and every time I think: Riri would be better, here.

Anon said:

Just Champed War Machine. He's a riot with Carol.

I guess I'm going to have to try this. The synergy is obvious on paper but I'm skeptical about it in practice. I get nervy playing the tile-buffing game with board destruction; too often the tiles get matched away and war Machine's powers aren't cheap.

Also, what do you all use as his build? 5 in blue seems like a good idea, but both red and green seem like negligible differences between 3 and 5.

sinnerjfl

You actually want red and green at 5.

Red gets you fortification, 33% chance instead of 25% and it doubles the strenght of the atk tiles.
Green gets you 1 more tile and they go off the next turn, less likely they get matched.

He is very good with Carol.

Anon

I'd actually vouch for 3/5/5. I find Red is the weakest part of his kit. 1 turn green countdowns with heavy boardshake are nice. Blue hits like a **** when boosted. Red just isn't good enough for me to shortchange the other 2. If you use him with Carol, she doesn't care how strong the tiles are, and in practice the number of tiles spawned between 3 and 5 red is hardly noticeable. 

Dormammu

The difference between 3 & 5 on his blue is pretty wide - 3037 dam vs. 7722 dam on my level 275 War Machine. But it's spendy at 11 AP and the removal of invisibility/protect tiles is too situational. I like the idea of that red countdown tile being fortified at 5, especially when teamed with Carol.

Last night I tried a couple fights in SHIELD sim teaming him with Carol and Prof X. They won, but it was a slow starter and I took a beating both times. I may try a couple more with Coulson in for the Professor.

Rick_OShay

Dormammu said:

The difference between 3 & 5 on his blue is pretty wide - 3037 dam vs. 7722 dam on my level 275 War Machine. But it's spendy at 11 AP and the removal of invisibility/protect tiles is too situational. I like the idea of that red countdown tile being fortified at 5, especially when teamed with Carol.

Last night I tried a couple fights in SHIELD sim teaming him with Carol and Prof X. They won, but it was a slow starter and I took a beating both times. I may try a couple more with Coulson in for the Professor.

That will be a good team by adding Coulson. Be careful though, his passive may reduce the timer on WM's red CD. Just be sure to hold less than 6 TU (or spend it). Reducing the timer on green isn't a big deal, unless you have good matches on the board that get disrupted. 
Coulson's purple is a fantastic way to build up red AP quickly with that charged tile swap. Same for WM blue, but in this setup you may want to play Coulson's blue for once, assuming you have WM's green CD's out to help the AP steal. So for this team I'd go 3 in blue for WM.

hopper1979

I enjoy him.  His green is the must power, I switch back and forth between his blue and red depending on the team I am playing.  If you have a heavy matching or tile destruction team you need 5 in red those attack tiles are devastating after a couple of rounds, I usually pair him with Vulture who is maxed blue/black.   Once Vulture gets rolling you will be casting his green constantly.  Blue goes to Vulture, his blue removes stuff better than War Machines anyway.  Colson or Carrol are great third, I also like OML or Nova because you get a lot of strike tiles out to boost the attacks war machine puts out.  He is fun to play not super powerful but fun once you get the hang of him

Anon

hopper1979 said:

I enjoy him.  His green is the must power, I switch back and forth between his blue and red depending on the team I am playing.  If you have a heavy matching or tile destruction team you need 5 in red those attack tiles are devastating after a couple of rounds, I usually pair him with Vulture who is maxed blue/black.   Once Vulture gets rolling you will be casting his green constantly.  Blue goes to Vulture, his blue removes stuff better than War Machines anyway.  Colson or Carrol are great third, I also like OML or Nova because you get a lot of strike tiles out to boost the attacks war machine puts out.  He is fun to play not super powerful but fun once you get the hang of him

Last time War Machine was boosted, I used him with Coulson and Vulture. Board was flooded with countdown tiles and Vulture fueling WM Green and Blue. Board was blowing up left and right with heavy nukes sprinkled in and Coulson CD tiles giving AP and doing damage.

Twas glorious.

hopper1979

Yes boosted he is a monster, War Machine along with Agent Venom, Vulture and Carol are probably the best scaling 4's.  Vulture and Carol keep being awesome, War Machine and Agent Venom just way up in the 4 rankings.

That give me an idea we should do a ranking of boosted 4's, I think the order would change a lot it might be fun to see the results.

Anon

I'd imagine Kate Bishop would rank high as well. I just champed her last week and her numbers are already high. I can only imagine her boosted.

AlexR

Link to War Machine's rebalance last year. I've been looking for WM teams, but since he doesn't make multiple cds anymore, that makes many teams posted in this thread no longer functional unfortunately.

Rhodey is my current project. His blue nuke is good and the best part of his kit. His red, while not spamable sadly and somewhat meh, is still at least interesting and opens up synergy with board shake team partners. Green (no longer having synergy with C4rol) is supposed to support red with his own board shake, but... kinda fails at that imo. It just does not do enough board shake to really get you anywhere, nor does it do worthwhile damage (4k @5).

His current best spec is 5/5/3 imo-- you don't lose much for the boardshake between @3 and @5 (8 tiles to 10 tiles destroyed), the main change is the damage. And again, the damage isn't really good to start with. The only use for green imo is if the board is already filling with attack tiles and you want to push for new ones without clearing the existing ones all away. But his green isn't really efficient in getting you there on its own.

(Disclaimer: Polaris would certainly help Rhodey multiply his attack tiles. However, I'm assuming here that we aren't using Polaris-- for one, if Polaris is on the table, Polaris/Carnage will give you infinite attack tiles from turn 1 and a good blue in Polaris' cheap stun and also a boardshake green, so at that point, Rhodey is out of a job anyway. Let's stick to partners that help Rhodey more specifically.)

IMO, War Machine wants 2 things in his partners: a bigger/better board shake and a battery. (Rhodey is VERY AP starved: Ideally he wants to fire his nuke, get the red on the board for attack tiles and THEN you also need board shake. This is not going to be efficient without speed up. Even if you mainly want Rhodey for his blue nuke, a 10 AP main ability generally needs a battery in my book.)

• Various Boardshakers

Enter 4* Wolvie, the board destroy specialist, who got noticeably buffed half a year ago. With a boardshake green that destroys 15 tiles for the same 8 AP cost and additionally also does 7k damage. And a board destroy black that also destroys tiles and collects AP while at it. Even a cheap board shake yellow, if you aren't running IM40 as a third.

Some other options:
If you'd rather have a tank instead, there's Blob. His green boardshakes (12 tiles for 8 AP) from the bottom and he uses the attack tiles that make it all the way down for damage. RHulk can give you small passive board shake if he's hit enough and feeds green via purple. Domino's cheap 7 AP boardshake green (15 non-black basic tiles destroyed) can also work, however, only in conjunction with a good black user. Gwenpool can give you some board-shake in purple, with an additional high-damage green.

• Speed up

IM40 makes a natural battery partner in most WM teams, because WM teams tend to be 1) very AP-hungry and 2) red/blue/green-focused + lacking yellow.
Deathlok: Rhodey is tagged as technologist, so Deathlok works to generate 2 AP/turn in the team's strongest two colors.
Hulkling can give you unspecific speed-up; his Aerial Annoyance+team up conversion can battery in a more erratic manner that will usually collect AP across the board, which is decent speed up for AP-greedy characters that need AP in many colors. Hulkling also comes with his own board shake green (12 Ap for 20+ tiles, ends the turn).
Vulture is an option if you just care about beelining to boosted!WM's blue nuke and nothing else. For unboosted War Machine, there's not really much reason to go Vulture, since Vulture's own blue will give you the same thing on a better character.

• Team I like

War Machine/Wolvie/IM40. Recharge in between board shake, which will get you red to get the cd tile on the board and blue for Rhodey's nuke and green for Wolvie. Then board shake away with Wolvie to encourage attack tiles.
Wolvie will help Rhodey be a lot better at getting more attack tiles out of his red. If the board is starting to accumulate attack tiles, you can switch to WM's own green to boardshake around them. (Though in practice, Wolvie's 7k damage with his boardshake tends to just kinda win out anyway tbh, even at the cost of accidentally clearing some attack tiles away again. New ones will come in too, after all. YMMV.)