Consecutive Iceman pulls brings me up to 10 covers (2/5/3)

Vhailorx

And his PvP cycle as the 1k cover should be coming up soon too (green I think).

Given those facts, raising him up to his current max asap is an easy decision, right?

TxMoose

as a purple/blue user, sure. that green will be pretty weak though if that's your only green. putting iso into him will depend on the other things you're choosing from. a fully covered rulk or cyke, I'd level them. if he was at 4/5/3 and you knew green was coming within weeks - that's a no brainer. as-is, the green won't be doing much for you. cheap stun is always good and he can follow that up with a strong punch, so he'll have some function for you. but that green - so much damage. and his boosting is here right after the witch pvp.

edit: looking at 3 pvps of the season which will be his boosted week, looks like punisher/mystique/panther. not a great green user anywhere, and bad overlap with mystique. maybe could run with xfw or shulk? not sure who you have champed. gamependium roster?

Vhailorx

Thanks Moose.

I obviously wouldn't get much from his green in the short term. But it seems to me that there is absolutely zero chance that I won't want to max Iceman the moment he is fully covered, and now that he has 5 blue covers I can see him being useful as a throw-in stun/nuke 3rd in PVE.

Alas, I still don't have any of the purple/green top tier 4*s ready to champ. JG was my best for the past 3 months at 9 covers. Now it's Iceman w/ 10. I am finally getting close to covering my second flight of 4*s (JG is at 9, Iceman is at 10 with 1 more coming soon, Cyclops is at 10 with another whenever I get my next 3* cyclops cover, GR is at 10 with the PVP cover coming up soon, etc). So maybe the best thing I can do to maximize efficiency is take all of those 4*s up to 166 or so (when they start getting expensive to level) and then stockpile and see who gets covered first. (also, I know that GR isn't nearly as good as the other 3, but pennance stare seems like a good candidate for use during the 5* transition, so I think leveling him is a fairly good idea; just not before the rest of the top tier 4*s.)

TxMoose

ice is certainly a no-brainer once covered. in fact right before the hp nerfhammer hit, I whaled him and leveled him from low level over finishing my jean, who was at 240 or 250 (but finished her shortly after). to me he's hands down #1 of the 4s. huge aoe and stun/single nuke that is accelerated with some red ap destruction thrown in. if I had to start a roster with 1 character, it'd be him. taking them to 166 isn't a bad plan. but the thing is, you won't get much out of them at 166 unless some good abilities are at 5 covers. ice could be a purple/blue user you could use with any team that needed those and he'd still work with im40, but maybe with torch to get that red/green used. or heck, im40s red isn't a bad ability as a finisher too. so for green/black = xfw, storm, gamora (meh without fist), and quicksilver. all could work with your current build. heck, maybe even your GR.

Tatercat

Vhailorx wrote:

I obviously wouldn't get much from his green in the short term. But it seems to me that there is absolutely zero chance that I won't want to max Iceman the moment he is fully covered, and now that he has 5 blue covers I can see him being useful as a throw-in stun/nuke 3rd in PVE.

You'll definitely come to love him when Venom Bomb comes around again. 5 Blue Iceman is a godsend to deal with an AP fed Carnage, even with weak green. Just beef up his health and pair him with characters to tank for him so the symbiote passives don't eat him away.

Vhailorx

TxMoose wrote:

ice is certainly a no-brainer once covered. in fact right before the hp nerfhammer hit, I whaled him and leveled him from low level over finishing my jean, who was at 240 or 250 (but finished her shortly after). to me he's hands down #1 of the 4s. huge aoe and stun/single nuke that is accelerated with some red ap destruction thrown in. if I had to start a roster with 1 character, it'd be him.

I think I posted something like this on the last "character tiers" ranking thread on the forums. JG or hulkbuster often win the voting, but IMO ice is the clear king of 4* land. His power set is almost perfect for all-around utility.

So my problem is more about the meta-theory of when/how to spend iso, rather than any question about the value of ice.