How did you beat JG, PX and 4Clops in the last PVE?

westnyy2

I ended up 9th overall for the last PVE earning me 3 new shiny Wasp covers. On the last day I was able to clear all nodes to with 1 exception. The Invisible Woman essesntial node vs Professor X, Teen Jean and Cyclops was basically impossible for me to beat. I have a big roster and the match scaled to 447 for me. That equates to 37k health for PX and about 60k health for the other 2. After completing the first 4 clears (using 10 health packs) I was unable to beat it again during my final clear. That combo easily decimated everything I threw at it including Champed OML and Surfer, 435 Green Goblin and Iron Man and any boosted 4 I had champed including Drax and Flap. I was even unsuccessful in getting whales off with 3 star Deadpool. Did anyone clear this node to 1 and how did you do it? I was shocked I still finished top 10 despite not beating the node at all in the end.

JangoLore

I went with the LThor IM40 route but still puttered out after the 6th clear. I have two champed 4* (LThor being one of them) and lotsa champed 3* to give you a sense of my roster.

GrumpySmurf1002

Mine were level 342 for the final grind, so considerably weaker health than yours, but my roster is also weaker. So yay scaling!

I used OML (375, 2/5/1) and Ant-Man (275ish) to clear it, bringing AoE TUs, with about 50% success. Basically raced to blue while targeting Jean, then flipped whatever tiles PX put out in the meantime.

Funny, I didn't even think to Whale it. I probably could've/should've.

Meander

Quicksilver OML had some ok synergy, but would randomly bite it hard. I also did the 4hor/IM40 thing, but they would need Health each run. That node was a phone chucker

SnowcaTT

I beat them the first time with HB/Iceman/(I forget 3rd).

Then they scaled, and my only character above level 300 (Phoenix) was locked out. I tried XF/GT - wiped. I tried DPXF/Thing - wiped. I tried HB/Iceman - wiped. I couldn't pull the CP out of that node, thanks to scaling considering a character I couldn't use.

Nick9819

I am in 3* land but did it with im40 and lcap boosting a match of yellow AP

pheregas

I used champed OML and Miles. Kept his Red in my back pocket if there was ever a five-match.

My record was 6 wins, 2 wipes (funny to thing that a bad cascade involves making multiple 5-matches in a cascade).

simonsez

The problem is that people's experience with this node varied wildly because the numbers blow up exponentially past a certain point. Within just two battles, I went from being able to use Quake to completely negate JG, to having JG able to one-shot my IW. That rate of progression is awful game design. PvE isn't supposed to be Gauntlet. There should be no unbeatable nodes.

That said, I was able to get through it with xdp, boosts, a bunch of health packs, and a few prayers.

stochasticism

As someone else said above, my only viable team was im40 and 4Thor, boosting yellow +3 and even then I only had about 50% success. I gave up after 6 clears, just not worth it for a second cover in the worst skill of a new 4* I won't be able to level for years anyway.

Warbringa

Outside of the gauntlet that node is perhaps one of the worst in all PvE (Carnage feeder node is in contention too). I wiped out on that node 6 times while being able to only clear it twice! I tried using IM40/Cap several times but the "board" wouldn't give me yellow matches and the AI would get amazing match 5's every match. So yeah, my team was at least 40+ levels higher and sometimes almost 100+ higher with boosted characters and I still lost more often than not to it. I quit after two clears since I had progression and wasn't playing for placement. Part of the issue is being stuck with IW makes this AI combo way worse since she is about useless. Hopefully they re-tool her as they did with Iron Man.

Tarheelmax

I was in your bracket West - ended up 6th myself. I think the difference between our scores was that I was able to finish off that horrible, horrible node.

First few times I used OML (435) / IF. But once JG was high enough to one shot IF with either power, I switched out IF for XFDP.

I boosed all 2 color AP for clears 4-8. Usually I could survive long enough to pop OML's claws and end up beating it, but he was generally the only one left, and I got to take advantage of the hardly ever used Whaled up version of OML's red when he's low health.

Snowcatt - your third was IW since she was essential

Calnexin

I didn't even get the CP on this one. After the third clear I was running Lv 313 OML. I tried pairing him with LThor, She-hulk, and IF. The first power they fired was doom unless PX was already downed. I managed that once, but then an unlucky cascade gave me a match-5 and, well, that was that. Couple turns in stun and my entire team was either down or without enough health to survive a couple more matches from nearly-full-health opponents.

I did not like that node. I wasted 8 packs trying different combinations that all failed. I needed a couple left for PvP so I quit.

dr tinykittylove

My initial set of 4 clears were with IMBobby and much cursing and swearing at the numerous match 5s on both sides, with judicious application of health packs and adding ap boosts on the final clear.

On the grind down, with the node scaled to 417, I tried OML/IF on someone's suggestion and the node mopped the floor with them before throwing them out.

I'd pulled a yellow peggy from Crash LT though, and took OML and my 2/4/3 level 155 Peggy in... she hid behind OML and IW, and I won the last 3 clears (stopped at green, did not grind to 1) without ap boosts, though the 2nd attempt both OML and Peggy kicked it and IW was left with 1k+ health hiding and trying to match damage Cyc into submission. Think I used all 3 teamups that match and IW took 2 casts of green to finish off Cyc.

There was considerable luck involved all 3 matches, but Peggy's yellow really was the game-changer here - Jean's purple and green basically one-shots IW and Peggy, but Peggy ensured it was always PX using the purple and held off Cyc's blue and red long enough to let OML heal enough to survive a hit.

westnyy2

Looks like I'm not alone. Should an essential node be that difficult? I'm all for a challenge and love battling through Gauntlet with various combinations but I simply couldn't beat this node. Just wondering if I was alone. JG's purple was doing close to 10k aoe which would one shot my IW and pretty much any other 4 like Iceman or XFDP. I never tried Miles for the invisibility but without anyone else as a damage giver I would have had to rely on OML match damage which likely wouldn't go far.

Fightmastermpq

Node scaled to 415 for me, my IW is level 70, but I did manage to take this one all the way down to 1.

I had most success with OML (435) / Iceman (290 or so) - 2 of my final 4 successful attempts were with this team. I also beat it with OML/IF once, and OML/Carnage (290 or so) once. I wiped with OML/SS (405), and OML/IF.

Really the thing that saved me was IW. Use the big guns to take out JG first, get some big strike tiles out, and let IW go invisible to finish the rest if need be. Twice she was the only one left standing. I have JG/Cyclops/Professor X all champed as well, and typically would try them out on a node like this - but all of them plus my phoenix were locked which made it that much tougher.

vinnygecko

On my first 2 clears I used 4hor (272) and XFDP (190 - 0/5/5). On the 3rd try this combo stopped being effective and I wiped multiple times. I also tried various combos with OML but still no luck.

I switched this out for LCap (188) and a under-leveled IM40 (5/2/5 - 136). Boosted on R/Y AP and rainbow AP. This worked for clears 3-5. I probably could have tried 4hor with IM40 as well, but LCap's ability to overwrite special tiles was working pretty nicely for a while.

On clears 6&7 that team stopped working so I resorted to 3* DP and his super whales, along with R&G who were boosted pretty high this event.

I also found the 2* essential ridiculously hard for a 2* essential. The 3* essential was a bit easier.

Vhailorx

This node was definitely challenging (and I remember it being so in prior runs of HoD too). Probably spent 10-12 healthpacks on this node while grinding sub 3.

But I have never seen this combo in PvP. Has anyone tried it? Is there something about overleveled ai opponents, or having to use iw, that makes this team scarier in pve than in PvP?

GrumpySmurf1002

Vhailorx wrote:

This node was definitely challenging (and I remember it being so in prior runs of HoD too). Probably spent 10-12 healthpacks on this node while grinding sub 3.

But I have never seen this combo on. PvP. Has anyone tried it? Is there something about overleveled ai opponents, or having to use iw, that makes this team scarier in pve than in PvP?

In shield Sim that group wouldn't be higher than maybe 290 (anyone higher than that likely uses 5*), and that group at 290 is trivial for a 5* lineup.

IW reducing you to 2-man teams doesn't help either.

westnyy2 wrote:

Looks like I'm not alone. Should an essential node be that difficult? I'm all for a challenge and love battling through Gauntlet with various combinations but I simply couldn't beat this node.

In a placement system, no, a node should not be that difficult. Especially not for developed rosters, given the stated goals that they should have an advantage.

In a progression system, IMO they absolutely should be that difficult. Maybe harder.

simonsez

Vhailorx wrote:

But I have never seen this combo on. PvP. Has anyone tried it? Is there something about overleveled ai opponents

Pretty much. JG/Cyke was a pretty popular combo before 5s took over, and PX isn't the best choice for a 3rd wheel because of the purple conflict. I'm sure many people were saved on some attempts when PX fired purple instead of waiting for another match for JG that would've wiped you out.

amusingfoo1

This was the only node I had any trouble with, and it gave me fits. Being unable to use Phoenix hurt a lot. I beat it four times (first, or maybe first two, using Ice/IM40), then did some unsuccessful dickering around, then beat it a couple more times with OML/XPool (both times were close). I beat it once during my grind, but I was out of time, so I used a whales TU to get it once, which got me top-10 for the sub. Made it with no more than seconds to spare. Actually, it was so close, it was weird. It said I got no points, but my placement for the sub was 12th before, and I did get top-10 sub rewards. So not sure what happened there.

Anyway, my scaling was about the same as yours (topped out at 439).

Bowgentle

OML, Creepsicle and a lot of luck let me grind that down to 1, scaling was up to 406 after clear 4.

Zero boosts used, PVE is a no-boost zone.

That node had the potential to go south at any moment though, one match 5 and it was over.