what next....

Gmax101

So I recently champed Iceman.... and that is proving extremely handy at the moment

However, I am rapidly approaching enough ISO to either Champ another 4* or generally raise levels across the board.

I have the following 4 stars that are at 13 covers
Antman, Jean Grey, Elektra, Thing, Winter Soldier, X-23 all level 181
Nick Fury, Thor, Sam Wilson all level 166
Prof X is level 140 (winfinite)
Wolverine XF is level 130
Invisible Woman and Venom are level 120

On 12 covers I have...
Kingpin at level 181
Deadpool (XF) at level 166
Peggy Carter at level 147
Iron Man HB at level 130 (I just don't enjoy using him that much....)
Star Lord at level 100
Chulk at level 94 (no I am not putting more ISO in him...)

I am not sure whether to get a number of 4stars to circa level 200 or get one up to level 270...

I really enjoy using Peggy and Winter Soldier (I am predominantly PVE) and X-23 is great to grind alongside OML...

Note that if I had the 13th cover for Peggy I would have champed her, cos I want 5 yellow for PVP and 5 Red for PVE...(her 5 blue is nuts!!!) but there is no guarantee that her cover will come along any time soon (did pull a 6th blue yesterday... the language was harsh )

I have found that by championing Iceman, I started relying on him while boosted... which gave me easy yet dull games. While not boosted, however, he is a useful extra tool alongside my boosted 3* in the 280+ range.

madok

I would go with Jean Grey. She is just so powerful in PVE and PVP especially when boosted. I agree with you that X-23 is great with OML for grinding but overall you will get more mileage from JG IMO.

Gmax101

True, and I can re-spec her to 535 for PVE etc... (she is currently 454 I think)

But I just don't use her that often... but then that might change with the better specification...

but in general a second 270 is better than a number of 190/200?

Quebbster

Gmax101 wrote:

True, and I can re-spec her to 535 for PVE etc... (she is currently 454 I think)

But I just don't use her that often... but then that might change with the better specification...

but in general a second 270 is better than a number of 190/200?

Depends on how you play. If you primarily play PvP you want a strong team (particularly for defense), so in that case it makes more sense to take one character at a time as high as possible. If you primarily play PvE it's probably better to bring up a wide variety of characters together so you have lots of options to tackle different nodes.
I don't Think Jean Grey needs to be an immediate priority though since she has exactly the same strong colors as Iceman. Aim for someone who complements Iceman better then bring Jean Grey up later - she's very handy to have in PvE with her ability to wipe out half a dozen countdowns in one go.

amusingfoo1

Congrats on Iceman; he really is awesome.

I'm not excited on any of the options you've listed for next, though. I think what would benefit you most is to get a good partner for Iceman for PvP, so you can start pulling 4* covers more regularly. To that end, I think your best bets are:

1) Use IM40, who is ridiculously strong on offense, if a bit weak on D (mostly due to lack of hp)
2) Level up Hulkbuster, who makes an excellent partner with Iceman (perhaps climb with these two, and switch Hulkbuster out for IM40 when hopping).
3) Level up Peggy. Her awesome blue overlapping with Iceman's similarly-awesome blue makes this a bit less of a no-brainer, but she really is great. I've only played her 3/5/5, but with Iceman, 5/5/3 might work well. Once you have the 13th cover (ugh!).

In general, though, another 270 will help you more than additional 200s.

And to get to more specifics on your options:
1) Antman. I like him, but he's very slow. When he gets going, though, he's like a locomotive.
2) Jean. I love Jean, especially for PvE, but she would fit the same place in a team as Iceman (and she doesn't need to be leveled that high for PvE)
3) Thing. He's fun when boosted, but not too great otherwise, unless partnered with XPool.
4) Elektra. She's a very niche character. Excellent versus some classes of goons, and has a couple other specialty roles, but she won't be carrying your team. Even boosted.
5) Winter Soldier. I really don't have much to say about him. I haven't really played him, because he doesn't strike me as terribly good. I'd love to hear arguments that I'm wrong, though.
6) X-23. She's fun, especially when boosted. She'll certainly save on health packs (I played OML, XPool, X-23 as my toughest PvE team for a bit. Never used health packs on them), but there are a number of better options around.
7) Fury. His blue is excellent, but the other two are pretty meh (the yellow largely due to how expensive it is; the effects, if you have all the AP, are pretty cool). Another one who won't carry you, even when boosted.
8) Thor. She's another strong one, but not a terribly good complement for Iceman.
9) Flaptain. Another one I like; his blue is really fun, and his red hits like a truck. But he's extremely slow, and his blue can work cross-purposes with Iceman's blue. Skip until you have a bunch of other 4* champions.
10,11,12) XFW, IW, Venom: Just skip. Each has their strengths, but none are great.
13) Kingpin. He's got three very good powers and a huge hp total. I haven't played him a lot, but he's quite good.
14) XPool. I think it's a bit early to go for him, but once you get to the 5* transition, he's super-important.
15) Star-Lord. Interesting character, but you need to build a team around him totally. Wait. Probably a long time.
16) Chunk. Just, no.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Zyrook

I can't really comment on all of them, but I've got half your 4*s champed and can give my experience with them:

Antman is good for wave nodes and pairs well with characters who give your opponents special tiles or against spam-happy enemies. Though if you pair him with Switch and Fal-Cap you can get punch happy. At 270 and 5 covers, both versions of Grow do 10k unboosted. Granted you're paying 18 AP for 10k damage, which isn't the best, but it's 10k with optional attack tile flooding or special tile stealing.
Opinion: Stronger than you'd expect, less than you'd hope.

Jean: Solid all arounder, if a bit squishy now. You're going to want to champ her evnetually, since she counters so many things. Though her colors match up to Iceman's so now might not be the time for her and I've found she works better with other 4*s than with 3*s, since you're going to want someone to tank for her.
Opinion: Better than most.

Lady Thor: Used to be part of the 4* meta back when both her and X-Force Wolvie were broken. Kinda fell off the map for a little while after they both got nerfed and better 4*s came out. Absolutely killer after the Ironman 40 boost though. Outside of bosses there aren't many teams who can stop these two on the play. Though she's not as beast when she's defending.
Opinion: Stellar transitional character. Highly recommend.

Wolvie X-Force: I still find myself using him, C-Mags, and Loki for PvE and the first few nodes PvP, though it's been a long time since he's been top-tier. He's got some crazy board shake up, but that's about it. His black can still easily one-shot a ton of characters, even unboosted with the right board; but therein lays the problem -with the right board-. I'm in the minority in saying he's still worth champing at some point, but he's far from top priority.
Opinion: Alright, you've got better options though.

Venom: Question: Do you find high-level 2* Bullseyes annoying? Because that's pretty much all Venom is really going to deal with. His green is nothing special, but his yellow packs a punch. At 5 covers it'll hit about as hard as HB's red at 9AP. However unlike Repulsor Punch, Lethal Protector doesn't benefit from excess AP nor is it fueled by Venom's other abilities.
Opinion: I don't regret champing him, but I can't recommend it either.

Kingpin: Just pulled him up to 270 and haven't champed him yet, so I've only used him at 3/5/5. At this build he's either an OML battery or AP denial that floods the board with countdown tiles. I've paired him with 5black Hood and Sam Willson in PvE, and it's like I'm playing a goon squad. I've heard Pin's black at 5 does bonkers damage for its cost and makes him quite the beatstick when paired with Switch.
Opinion: Solid character. Important for the 4-5 transition but also viable during the 3-4

Buster: One-time king of PvP and still top tier contender. However he only really shines at 5/5/3. Amazing damage output, good health, but not terribly engaging to play as.
Opinion: Super strong but kinda dull.